Resolution

by Douglas E Roff

  Adam said, “They couldn’t help; they could only be further burdened with my fears and anxiety.”

  “You’re deflecting. You and your life have been more frightening, caring and forgiving than any man I know. Whatever it is that Misti claims is the gravitational attraction to those who love you, who truly love you, it is real. Your wives feel it. I feel it too.”

  Tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

  “I have seen what you have shared with everyone, including me. You have trusted me with everything you have in your mind, whether out of need, desire or necessity; I am now the custodian of the real you and your legacy along with Misti and Hana. No others have been given that honor, not even the Immortals. I cannot express what that means to me or the emotional burden I know it imposes on you. I get it. No matter how much we love you, we must all stop grieving after your death, get moving and follow your plan. It will be possible for some, and impossible for others, such will be their loss. There are those who plan their deaths upon your death. I will stop them if you wish.”

  Adam was silent.

  Patsy continued, “I shall be the instrument of transformation after your death and faithful to all you represent and all that you mean to happen in this world.”

  Misti poked her head in the room. “A thousand apologies, but it is urgent I speak to you both now. And Patsy, welcome to your new home and family. You are already loved by the populace and those of this household.”

  “Thank you, Lady Misti. I must confess to wishing that I had been his first, the one who owns his soul and heart in such an unrelenting a fashion. I should hope to get to know you more, time permitting.”

  “It is I who look forward to knowing you. Beauty is short lived, but your blessings shall survive eternity.”

  ***

  “I just returned from two days of consultations with my favorite Congressman from Texas, his staff and some other politicians and world leaders that he pulled together on short notice from key countries around the world. We talked at length for six or seven entire days and never left the resort in Virginia where we were staying secretly. We must have had fifty people in this war room the Congressman had set up communications around DC, the NATO countries and other former Ministers from other friendly nations. We got right to work; I think I got about two hours of sleep. We talked big picture, small picture, US, the world, regionally and specifically, and about religious impacts with friends and foes. What the team pulled together is in this report, about one hundred pages long, which I will now give to both of you through mind exchange.”

  Patsy watched the two carefully, expecting pushback. Adam gave none. “You agree with Vasquez and this assessment, this ‘how to sell’ what we are doing and the basic assumptions he’s making?”

  “Not he. An entire global team with knowledge of their people, religions and culture who, all to a man and woman, agree with the general principles and how to apply them to their homelands.”

  “And you like this Vasquez guy? One of the Vasquez twins from Texas? The other twin was with Obama?”

  “The same.”

  “Crushin’ on him, are you?”

  “A little, for sure.”

  Patsy was wide eyed listening to Adam and his wife talk about flirting as if it were a daily occurrence. She was silent. Her face said everything that was on her mind.

  Adam said, “Don’t mind Misti. Or me; we talk pretty openly about all things erotic. The astounding thing is that Misti does not prefer the male gender. In our marriage, she is free, within reason, to pursue as many other women for her own sport, recreation or even short-term relationships as she wants. That’s how I met Kendra Boles, one of my closest confidants and bodyguards. But I am the only man in her relationship life. I have the same arrangement with all my wives; Vera is married to me, but also to Hannah. My wives, who are so inclined, sleep with each other; some only with me. I think you know most of this already. It isn’t how Misti and I started out; but each of my wives plays a critical role in what I do. As a result, our needs have evolved into a polyamorous relationship based on need, desire and a weird kind of connection we all feel. What happens when this is all over I can’t say, except they will be free to pursue their natural inclinations and go their own way. Welcome to the family.”

  Patsy was gobsmacked by this revelation. Sure, there was speculation in the ranks about what went on in the St. James residence, but not this.

  “I … am … amazed.”

  Adam turned to Misti, “And? There’s more?”

  “I gave him a little mind video to play with whenever he felt like it.”

  “Video or videos?”

  “Plural. Busted.”

  “Not at all. It’s the best solution. And it really isn’t as bad as it could be.”

  “You think it was out-of-line?”

  “Not as far as I’m concerned. But I wonder if his wife would agree. There is that.”

  “I didn’t think of it that way. I just thought of it as a gift; a present for a friend who had done something wonderful. Maybe I should have thought that through and only been the horrible flirt that I am.”

  “I would say he probably feels differently; a gift he will treasure always. You gave him a kill switch?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then it’s out of your hands. He’ll handle it in a manner that’s best for him. I wouldn’t worry.”

  Misti turned to Adam. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I should have thought about how you might feel; have I betrayed your trust?”

  “We’ve done far worse to each other, Misti Alarcon St. James, mother, wife and friend. I’ve got like a zillion wives and a lot of little kids who look like me running around the City. Who am I to judge you or this thing you have done in friendship?”

  Misti flew into Adam’s arms. “Say you forgive me. Say you still love me. I’m so close to losing you forever, and then I do this. I’m so sorry.”

  “First, I love you with all my heart. That can never change. Forgive you, no. I cannot.”

  Patsy was expecting bad things now, if past was prologue.

  “But you have always forgiven me in the past. Is this so bad, so different?”

  “Yes, because there is nothing to forgive. It is a meaningless gesture for someone who has done nothing wrong.”

  “Say it anyway. Say them both together. Please.”

  “Misti, I love you and forgive you. There, happy?”

  “Can we have makeup sex now?”

  “Now that I think of it, I am a little bit peeved with you. Your actions were a little naughty and very, very bad. I think something should be done to correct your outrageous behavior.”

  “I can call you daddy ... if you want.”

  “We can have makeup sex, very loud makeup sex right after we talk over this plan. I really like it. It’s like a political campaign. I don’t need everyone to buy in right away, just certain places, people and groups. Then we build out from there. I think I was trying to be too rational and have a fifty-state strategy when all I needed was a strategy for twenty-five states. Then, we continue our work. It’s brilliant!”

  “I was impressed with the simplicity of the strategy, just not the complexity of the task. Vazquez says you’ll have to go on the road and bring your team with you. I’ll get the band back; they’ve been waiting for your signal.”

  Patsy had been listening, eyes wide open and jaw dropped to the floor. She personally knew little of relationships in the Manor House before now, but accepted that, in the world they inhabited, some rules were meant to be broken, and some new rules were meant to be adopted.

  Immortals, multiple wives, many children and an immense amount of permissiveness among a small group of women, who seemed at ease with the fluidity of what had organically developed, was the reality of Adam’s life; the life that Patsy has parachuted into. Patsy was sad to have only just arrived in Adam’s life.

  But weeks, maybe only months, would be enough to fulfill her life, if s
he focused like a laser beam on Adam, his needs and his work.

  Chapter 54

  Misti was in constant contact with Vasquez, who was coordinating with the key countries, leaders and other stakeholders in the future of the planet. As time was drawing near for Adam’s final exit, the schedule would be tight but they thought that getting as many people, organizations and countries on board as possible beforehand was the best way to go. There would be a targeted campaign focused on the stature, relevance and the pull of those they had in mind to blaze the trail ahead.

  Though the demonstration at the UN was convincing to some; it was not proof of anything to many others. The war was a separate matter, and proved little other than Adam had badass tech, way ahead of its time, and that new beings existed on planet Earth no one knew about previously. So what? However, the war didn’t prove anything else about the future, the need for planetary change, or the existence of a threat so existential that immediate changes needed to be made to save mankind.

  Those in the industrialized world simply thought it was light and magic, a clever ruse invented for some unknown reason, but certainly related to Adam’s desire for power and wealth. Holographic imagery was hardly the mystery it had once been, and changing forms was a magician’s trick, a mere deception. What world leaders, thought leaders, and the general convincible public needed was tangible proof.

  Vasquez thought that knowledge transfer, limited in scope, plus the proof of the existence of the Gens and the Nobilus in person might be all that was necessary, but he demanded much more. He asked Adam to create projects that could be quickly demonstrated in large scale that would benefit mankind. His tech, though not technically part of saving the planet, would tangibly go farther in convincing the average human that, if his tech was real and improved their lives, so too might he be truthful about the imminent danger the planet faced. If people came to believe that Adam was being truthful then governments, religions and the whole world might also change course and support the effort.

  While the planet was blue and small, the global reach required to demonstrate urgency was a huge problem and time was closing in on them. They had wasted a lot of time on the scientific and political approach which, though required, was too slow in response. The planet would be in cinders by the time most politicians and academics could agree to even start the process of what needed to be done.

  Vasquez dropped everything he was doing and brought back into the loop everyone who had been in Virginia and started a working group that included ex-President Obama, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and current Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. Vasquez thought of the three as the “power center” who had the credibility and a reputation for veracity around the world.

  On the Paraiso end, Adam was now working with Misti, Hana, Patsy, Bitsie and his Immortals on a multiplicity of projects, all of which were essential to success in the near term. Tar, Orsin and Derek Nobilus were working together to showcase transformation, up close and personal in its most calming and frightening aspects. Adam asked Hana to recruit more of her people, the Wildmen, and to use her handmaidens and attendants from the Wildmen for televised interviews, town halls and other demonstrations. The beauty of the transformed Wildmen could not be underestimated in terms of the influence it could have on the male and female human community. The men were gods and the women goddesses. Recruiting might not be very difficult after all.

  Patsy was tasked, along with her team, to discuss and demo the tech and materials to showcase what and why Adam had refused to hand over the processes to the Americans, Brits and Israeli’s. He also wanted geek input into how to explain the process in terms anyone could understand. Making anything from a toaster to a home was what Vasquez, Adam and Misti wanted to demo. Life could be easier and comforts from housing to conveniences, to education, medicine, industry and beyond would all be affected, and beneficially for all who needed it.

  Patsy was also tasked with working with Misti and Vasquez to show not only what the tech could do that was positive, but how it could easily be used as a weapon of war. If a single country got hold of it, it could mean the end of democracy and any hope for the future. The Alfred Nobel story loomed large in everyone’s mind, and Vazquez thought that it should be the lead-in to every presentation.

  All of these ideas had to be spliced into a compressed mind presentation along with physical demonstrations of both tech and the transformation of each of the three species. The various versions were then transferred to Vasquez and his working teams via “Immortal Delivery”.

  The plan to identify traitors had been elaborate and designed to encourage the traitors to make a move and leave under cover of war or threat of further war. But the idea to pinpoint the traitors had come from Alana and Kendra, who thought they knew the darker side of humanity well enough to extrapolate that some mischief must be under foot, especially once Alana began to find sequestered emails that never went out, but easily could have if given less diligent managers. Who was likely to comprise those disloyal groups was a Bitsie project, and she had been mostly correct in predicting which groups, if any, would be swayed by cash dollars, or whose loyalty to the exigency of the moment was soft. They had all seen the attempt at betrayal for money before, so it wasn’t a complete wild ass guess who might succumb to temptation. But Bitsie had clear to Alana and Kendra that she could predict who might be leaning that way generically, but not who specifically might be involved, if anyone. The emails, which never did get out, suggested conspiracy, but not all might be involved.

  ***

  Hecate was annoyed with her father for keeping Orsin in the dark about the plans to discover treachery; she had been curtly instructed by Alana not to tell Orsin of the conspiracy and to do her part. Orsin, she knew, would be very angry, but hoped he would realize that it was not her decision to keep him out of the loop. But Alana and Kendra believed that, to be believable, meant that some friends, wives and family would not be told the full story before the plan was put into effect. Discord was sown, though not for real, and most played their parts perfectly; it seemed as though there was trouble brewing at just the right time. This time it was not Adam’s plan to keep his family in the dark, but Hecate assumed it was. That there was division and distraction was what the traitors counted on; when the UN debacle was coupled with the war, it suggested that some of the loftiness of the ideals had been ignored in favor of exigencies that they ostensibly did not understand or sign up for. These folks would threaten to leave in fake protest, then go directly to the Feds and industry to collect their rewards.

  The Immortal sisters tried hard to keep Hecate from her father, at least for the time being. He needed no distractions right now.

  While the mortal wives and colleagues could not prevent Hecate from seeing Adam, his other Immortals could. Hecate grew tired of waiting, knowing that her adoptive father was simply avoiding the hurricane confrontation he knew was coming his way. Hecate herself wasn’t completely sure whether she was angry at him or just sad to have been asked to leave her husband out of the plan. Either way, she would have her say as he was going to listen to her eventually. Might as well be now rather than later, as she was getting angrier every day, not less. She felt terrible and blamed her father.

  She found where Adam was, but was blocked by Niona. “I want to see him. Now.”

  “He’s busy and not taking unscheduled visits.”

  “Fuck you Niona, I’m going to see my father whether you like it or not. You can’t stop me.”

  “Actually, I think I can. Don’t make me Hecate. He’ll see you when he’s ready; not before.”

  “His orders?”

  “No, mine.” The voice came from Fionna. “I suggest you turn your immature little ass around and go see your husband until I say you can see your father.”

  “What are you going to do? Get your sister to draw her Sari blade on me? Fuck you too. I demand to see him, and to see him now!”

  They were arguing in holographic form, but the voi
ces could be heard everywhere. Mortals were scattering. They had no idea what a fight among Immortals might look like. All the mortals loved the Immortals, but they were all afraid of them too. Niona scared the Gens; Hecate scared the humans, and Fionna scared everyone, including other Immortals.

  Fionna said, “Look Hecate, I love you but now is not the time to distract your father. He knows you’re angry with him and chasing him everywhere, but he has no time for you or this kind of behavior.”

  “Says who?”

  “Says me. Now, leave like a good little girl or I’ll send you across the RealVerse back to Liara. I’m not kidding. Your behavior is ill timed. Go.”

  “I’m staying right here. He has to come out some time, and I think you’re bluffing. Father would never allow you to do that to me. Never.”

  “You’re right, I wouldn’t, but Fionna is only doing what’s best.” It was Adam. “Come in. Let’s get this over with so I can get back to work.”

  Hecate walked past Niona and Fionna and said, “See? I told you so. He’s my Dad. Fuck you both.”

  Niona and Fionna went invisible immediately, which Hecate took to mean they would both be listening in. She didn’t care. They were something to Adam, but not to her.