by Clay Moore
Brian laughed. “Most of Eridani is populated with religious emigres. Most of them have problems with the naked body. I don’t, and I get to see enough women naked that it is no longer a surprise. It is always a pleasant experience.” Brian winked at Janice.
“Oh, Mister Butler, you are a rake.”
“What do you do, Miss Scott?”
“Oh, my stars, I forgot introductions. I am the horticulturist here. I am planting for weather change here. I have enough acreage that fog is the only weather we get right now. I am pleased with the success of the Farm Oasis. I am thinking of broadcast planting dry land tolerant grasses like alfalfa. Oh, my stars, is that not Ofana?”
“Yes, that is her. Ofana is my charge. I am pledged to her defense.”
“You are her guardian Knight?”
“Although the weapons I make the knights of old look like pikers.”
“Is she naked?”
“She is learning bad habits from me.”
“You and she are enjoying sexual congress?”
“I cannot lie.”
“Why do you do it.”
“She is beautiful. She wants me to, and she is quite good at it.”
“I imagine that you will have to give her up.”
“Yes, and that will be a problem. I am entangled, and disentangling was always a problem for me.”
“You need someone that can help you get disentangled. I suspect you work at a profession that sometimes requires you to get involved. Someone at home who cares for you and understands that you keep coming back to her.”
“I don’t have that right now. At home, I have friends who get me to go golfing with them. They are either forbidden because they are a direct subordinate, or I don’t find them attractive.”
“Friends like that know you. Don’t be surprised by the greeting you get when you go home. You’ve been away a long time, and that gives your subordinate time to plot and plan your life. Just remember, ol’ Janice when you get home and are surprised.”
“You want to meet Ofana?”
“Really? You think she would want to meet me.”
“I think she will be glad to meet you.”
As Brian and Janice walked to the bungalow, Ofana realized that she was naked. She dashed into their bedroom and put on the first caftan her hand laid upon. She came out to the living room just as Brian and Janice came into it.
“Hello,” said Ofana introducing her self, “I am Amelia Grace Stegitz sometime called Ofana.”
“This is Doctor Janice Scott, Horticulturist for the University. She has managed to produce a fog that condenses to water upon the ground.”
“It’s a beginning,” she said self deprecatingly.
“The Oasis has a goodly bit of humidity.”
“I know. The oasis may need a little more grasslands. I’ll have to confer with them. We are both after the same thing. Green plants are living in the open on Giesling.
“You are close to Giesling City. You can make it there easily with a grav-car.”
“We have one, Janice.’
“Wait till I tell my friends I met the Ofana and her boy toy.”
“Could you wait a day or two. Give us a chance to get out of town?”
“Oh, yes, I got to get going too. Trees don’t plant themselves.”
Janice departed. Brian tossed Ofana a package of breakfast bars. The other four team members arrived, and Brian threw them a food base breakfast bar. He distributed bottled waters to them all.
“This is what we got going on today. It’s a slow day. About three to four hour driving time to the Hotel in Giesling City. Once there I’ll release you to catch the sights. You want to walk as far as you can to the stage. Get a lay of the land. Go shopping. Ask questions about which merchants have just arrived. Don’t be obnoxious, just ask. If they say no, take it and walk away.”
“Is there going to be a nuke there,” asked Luana?
“Possibly, there might be one. I trust you all, and You have come a long way. I will walk with you to the stage. You get her up because I will be looking for it. There are a couple of places I know where I would plant it.”
“Can I have some shopping time tomorrow for myself?”
“Sure, wear a veil and that drab caftan. No account cards, cash only.”
“You’re going to let me go shopping by myself.”
“I said, yes.”
“You said yes, too quick.”
“Get yourself packed. I have to get dressed.” Brian went into the bedroom. Ofana followed.
“I said you said: ‘yes’ too quick.” She said, walking into the bedroom.
Five minutes later she was wearing a drab caftan and a bag of her other caftans. Brian walked out with his suitcase, and He was wearing his gray suit. He had his pistol back. His hair was a little longer than Brian liked to wear it. He slicked it back. Brian put on his sunglasses. Then he shouldered the Athro. Everyone thought Brian looked dangerous. The smile he usually wore was gone.
“Are those more than normal glasses?”
“Right now I am out of direct range of Amarantha. She can put an overlay on the lenses, and she can see what I see. They are supposed to be adding functions to the sunglasses every week.”
“Must be nice having gadgets to use.”
“Imagine I have two shavers, one normal, and the other designed to deliver a massive shock. Makes morning a little nerve rattling.”
They all chuckled. The humor was still there, but the face could make a donkey move.
“If there are no other questions, let’s get going.”
They all went to the grav-car. Brian started the car and drove off the University. Five minutes later, Amarantha reported. Brian threw Amarantha’s report
“As you suspected, Brian, a call was placed moments after you left.”
Amarantha is my onboard expert system tasked with spying. One of the things she does automatically is to invite herself into the central nodes for any computer system. I had her get into the personal com system, as well as any data trunks.
“You could gather the entire network that way.”
“Yes, Luana, I’m not a spy, so I am not interested in the flow of data so much as what is in them. A lot of traffic about a nuke is worth more to me that finding out that data about wheat movement shows it ends up in that warehouse.
“Here is the gist of the message. The use of Giesling slang required a moment of translation.
“The guests, we had, have left the university on their way to Giesling City.”
“What are they driving?” The faux upper accent was pure Anton.
“Amarantha tag the previous quote as potential Anton Hecton. Compare with one hundred percent known Anton Hecton. Looking for a good enough for voice lock match.”
“Working.”
“What are you looking for?”
“Well, Joe, I’m looking for information that I can match with him that can place him involved directly with a crime. That might cause the Committee to place him on the open season list.”
“Open Season?”
“Yeah Joe, it puts him on my Slate in the category of shoot on sight; no getting permission, no calling the Director, and no sorrow over his death.”
That quieted them down. “You talk of killing someone without any emotion.”
“Anton was the idiot that brought those two nukes. He was told to use the last one day after tomorrow. I have no emotion. I am more of a Pest Control man. I waste no emotion on something that deserves to die.”
“On his first mission, he helped a depressed person to die because her people would reject her after her rape. He could not kill her but would give her something that would kill her. She took it. Then when she was dead, he put a bullet in her head to hide his hand in the murders he had to do in that house. The criminal’s got the message ’Stay away from the gold.’ Eridaniians love gold.”
“We heard that. How did helping that girl commit suicide make you feel?”
“Luana, i
t made me feel impotent. It opened a chink in my armor. I worked hard to strengthen it.”
“You know, in the fairy tales, all Righteous Knights have a chink in their armor which causes them problems. It makes their victories all the more remarkable. Perhaps your victories are so remarkable for that component.”
“Are you saying that saving the innocent might be my mission signature?”
Ofana said: “I wouldn’t go searching for one. If you run across one, give it a try again.”
“That’s why I am leaving you after you get her to the stage. I am going to look for the bomb. I’ve had training in defusing bombs, just not nukes. If we are safe, I will tell you, or Amarantha will say to you. Then you can relax. Keep up your scan.
“Luana, you get to wear and keep my tactical Helmet. It’s solar charged, which is why we had it in the car all that time. The manual of use is in your Slate. Learn it until it is second nature. Then charge it as much as possible. Wear it in the morning but don’t turn it on until you get to the Stadium. Find the sensor you want to use and stick with it.”
“Any suggestions?”
“Maybe the temperature sensor would be a good selection. Guns are usually cold, and they will appear blue. When they fire, they are bright white and red.”
“I understand. That will really come in handy.”
“It’s also good for chasing after someone else. You can see footprints. They appear reddish for a little bit of time.”
“It will come in very handy.”
“Ofana I’ll need my pistol back and the silencer.”
Ofana took the pistol out of her wrist holster, and She grabbed the extra magazines and the black cylinder-shaped silencer. He took the weapon and put it in his belt holster. The magazines and silencer he put in their place.
Amarantha said: “Voice lock match, Anton Hecton.”
“Damn,” commented Brian.
“What is a voice lock match.”
“A voice lock is anything that requires a voice to unlock it. The algorithms for that feat of computer power are a carefully guarded secret. We found that the industry uses an algorithm developed by a deceased computer programmer. We found his algorithm and are using it for voice print matching.”
“Must be nice being smarter than everyone.”
“Not hardly, Joe, my tests all came back high average. I am no genius by any stretch of the imagination. I am just highly trained.”
“I can vouch for that. The agents go through ninety days of training on all the subjects they need to be able to do.”
“I heard they have something called a fox hunt.”
“Yes, they do,” said Ofana, apparently educated on the fox hunt. “It something of a treat. They run, and the men usually try to catch a woman runner and vice versa.”
“That’s it? Tag your it, and that’s all.”
Ofana foundered trying to explain. Brian took over.
“Eridani is one of the most liberal and most repressive societies. About a quarter of the population will have sex at the drop of a visor. The rest have taboos about the sexual act. Since as a Special Agent, you may need to get information, you have to be at ease with your body, and it’s sexual responses.”
“Oh, is it fun?”
“You mean chasing a woman, catching her, getting permission, and then having sex where you lay?”
“Yeah, that one,” said Joe.
“It is fun as hell, Joe.”
“I thought so. Do you think the Eridani Secret Service would take me?”
“Well, you are fairly physically fit. Your shooting has improved. Are you a good lover?”
“Yes,” said Luana.
Brian smiled. “Can you stand to be away from her for more than three or four days at a time. Don’t forget to add transport time.”
“Well…”
“There’s the problem with most men who are paired. We like our regular nookie.”
“Brian!”
“What?” said Brian to Ofana.
“Don’t be coarse.”
“Okay, we like our regular time with our mate.”
“That’s better.”
Everyone had a big laugh over that.
They were in the middle of their drive to Giesling city when Ofana asked a question of Brian. “Do you think I could Drive Blue.”
Brian hit the brakes which turned off the Main engines and lifted all the flight flaps. He sat there for a moment, looking at Ofana. She produced her Drivers license card. Brian’s first thought was: Like anyone would deny a license to the Ofana regardless of passing the exams. He did not say that to her.
“Okay, let’s do something first. This car is prepared with something called smart paint. The paint on this car can change colors. They are expecting a blue piece of junk. We change colors we may mess them up.”
“What colors,” asked Ofana.
“Well, we have red, blue, green, yellow, purple.”
Ofana turned to the Team. “You have a preference?”
“You have such style,” said Luana. “You choose.”
“How about purple?”
“Why,” asked Luana?
“I know that it will irritate Mister Butler to drive around in a purple car.”
“Not irritate, vex. Yes, that is it. It will vex me.”
“It means the same thing.”
Brian remained silent.
“Okay, Brian, set the car for purple.”
“If you want to see the transformation step out of the car. At least the interior will remain the same.”
Brian flipped open the glove compartment. He set the dial to purple and pushed the button.”
He stepped out of the car and walked to where Ofana stood. “The Man who makes these beat up solid grav-cars quoted a price. Then we asked for smart paint. He agreed and gave us the slow paint and limited colors. A full starship set would have no trunk because of the computer requirements.
They watched the grav-car slowly turn purple over a few minutes.
Forlorn Luana said: “I’m gonna miss ol’ Blue when you go home.”
“Ofana, take the driver’s seat. You’re driving.”
Ofana ran to the driver-side door clapping her hands together, and She got into the car. The Team looked at Brian, wondering if it would be safe. Brian shrugged and got in the car. They followed him into the grav-car.
“What took you so long?”
“We said a prayer for our lives.”
Ofana chucked him the arm. “I am an excellent driver. I have not gotten a ticket at all.”
“Who would give the Ofana a ticket. How many stops have you had.”
“A lot,” Ofana admitted.
“This is the only bad part of having a royal family, privilege. The Stegitz family has been good, but they never forget that they are the royal family.”
“What caused you to go easy on the drinking.”
“Dad told me he was not going to pardon me for the FWI.”
“That is Flying While Intoxicated. Ten thousand crown fine. She lost her pilots license, though. She can reapply for a pilots license in 5 years.”
“3 years.”
“The offense was two years ago. You have 3 years left.”
“You know, Brian, you can be a real ass.”
“I may be one, but you have a nice one.”
“Really?” Ofana had to dodge some incoming traffic because she turned to look at Brian. She deftly righted her grav-car and avoided the grav-truck.
All could breathe again. Brian said: “You need to pull over soon. Giesling City can be a network of alleyways mixed in with boulevards. It can be confusing.”
“Yeah, I haven’t driven outside of Eridani. There was a Large market. She pulled into the parking lot of the Market and shut down the purple grav-car.
Brian and Ofana switch positions. Brian skillfully got the grav-car on the boulevard. He weaved through traffic.
Giesling City was not a planned community. Houses were built next to smelters, H
ospitals next to coke plants, schools next to chemical plants. The only place that seemed to be regulated was the Core of the city, and the thing that was at the Core of the city was the Stadium. Ringing the Stadium was a series of high rises, some of them wholly owned by a Giesling corporation or a Miner’s Guild approved foreign corporation. The only thing not a high rise building was the Giesling City Market.
The shopping at the Market was said to be fantastic. Brian would not know and probably would never know the contents of the City Market. It was bound to attract Ofana. Today, after all, was a holiday in preparation of the Rally, and then the Election.
He found the Hotel. Amarantha did her usual best in booking the rooms. He pulled into the reserved spot that was assigned to him because he rented a suite for He and Ofana. The others had two mini-suites, a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
They brought their baggage with them to the lobby. The Team used a kiosk to check in and get the Team's keycards. Brian distributed the cards. They all went to their rooms.
Brian looked at the amenities in their room. Like all suites, it was a small apartment; Two bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, and a sun deck connected via a patio door.
Brian hoped that Amarantha had managed to move part of the dress collection he bought on Eridani. He entered the master bedroom. There were two closets. He opened one, and it was empty. That’s par for the course. He opened the second closet and saw a collection of couture clothing. Some were more mature than she usually wore. The others were party girls dresses.
“Amarantha, you got the mix right for dresses.”
“Thank you. “
“Will you be able to get them hung up in the quarters.”
“All is taken care of, sir.”
He was alone, so Amarantha would never use the sir. That meant that someone was in the room with him. He turned to see Ofana looking in awe at the closet behind him. He threw the closet door aside to reveal everything including one of the gray suits. Brian took that one and hung it in the empty closet.
“Oh, Brian, are these dresses for me?”
“I’m afraid they are not my size. When I told the Emir I was going shopping for a new wardrobe Fifty-thousand crowns found their way into my account card. I took that money and went shopping at Devers Avenue.”