She walked over to Michael, who was just making it up to a standing position. She stopped in front of him, looking up into his eyes. “You know, I’ve been wanting to slap your face ever since I woke up and your ass wasn’t around. For now, you get a reprieve, but I haven’t commuted your sentence yet. Understand?” Michael suppressed a grin; she didn’t seem to be in a joking mood right then, or at least not one that was directed in his direction.
“What do you want me to do?”
She smiled. “Nothing, but if you pinch my ass I will kick yours, understand?”
He didn’t until she bent down and grabbed him around the waist, lifting him up in a fireman’s carry. Now his head was, in fact, staring right at her ass when she carried him back around the bed. From upside down, it was pretty fetching.
Stephen reached out with one hand and grabbed the arm she was using to hold Michael. She used her other hand to grab Ashur. “Let’s go, boys.” They disappeared.
15
The closet was pretty close to how she remembered it. She lowered Michael down. Even as pissed off as she was, she wouldn’t have him in such an embarrassing position when he met Nathan and Frank.
He looked around. “Where is this?”
Bethany Anne could hear Stephen introducing himself to Nathan and Frank. She knew with Nathan’s hearing he would now know Michael was with them. Damn shame she couldn’t see his face.
Ashur walked around, sniffing her shoes again. Then he went out of the closet and started growling almost immediately. She yelled from the closet, “Gott Verdammt, Ashur. Stop your fucking alpha battles. Don’t make me bitch slap you again!” Ashur calmed down.
“I swear, it’s like going home at Christmas when you’re seeing cousins.” She held Michael’s arm, giving him some support as they walked out of the closet. At least most of his color had returned. “We’re in Key Biscayne, Florida. Miami is a few minutes from here.”
She had to pause as Michael stopped walking. “Truly? You just moved us from Germany to Florida? How?” Stephen took Michael’s arm, sensing how tired Bethany Anne was.
She let him take Michael. She sat down on a chair and pulled the blood bag around, getting a pouch of blood out. “It’s called using the Etheric to translocate. Something you might be able to do now and certainly after I fix you.”
Stephen helped Michael lay down on her bed. Nathan’s face was a mask, not revealing anything. She smiled at him, he finally rolled his eyes and walked over to her. “What happened?”
“David had him in a device that would kill him immediately if he was in a normal body. Don’t ask more about that, but suffice to say Michael was almost dead. We got him out and now we’re here. We’re going to have to get him healthy again and I’m sure David and Anton know they don’t have him anymore. For the next couple of days, he’s going to be healing. He and I have some talking to do, which reminds me…” She looked over at Michael. “Michael, I’m throwing the strictures out the fucking window. That bullshit has fucked up so many lives it’s ridiculous. I’ve run into a couple of situations where I understand why you did it, but we have to come up with another solution.”
He looked at the three men around him and the white dog lying on the floor. She truly was a force of nature. He wasn’t sure what happened while he was gone, but it was obvious the biggest mistake of his life was allowing David and Anton a free hand and his biggest success was sitting right in front of him. She was everything he had hoped and so much more and he had nothing of himself invested in her success. He spoke after careful consideration, reflecting on his thoughts while in the chamber, “Maybe it was appropriate for another time.”
She nodded her head, closing that conversation. She believed that was probably the most Michael could bend right now. Nathan just stared, first at Michael, then back at Bethany Anne. The strictures, the rules the UnknownWorld had lived under for hundreds of years had just been torn apart. An agreement between the two most powerful beings he knew to forge a new destiny. Nathan sat on the couch, at a loss for words. Frank noticed Nathan’s reaction and was itching to get his notebook. He hadn’t known what to expect when Nathan asked him upstairs and now he wasn’t prepared.
Anton’s residence, Buenos Aires, Argentina
At his desk, Anton reached for the ringing phone, one that he had for three years but never used. It stayed charged and was one of three he had to communicate should David call him.
He smiled as he answered the phone, “Hello David, tell me dear old father is dead.”
Anton’s face lost its color. “What? How the hell did he get out!” Anton screamed into the phone, “YOU TOLD ME YOU HAD HIM. HE WAS DYING AT ANY MOMENT!” Anton stood up and started pacing in his office. “Well, fucking find him you jackass!”
He listened for a minute. “Don’t worry about that bitch and stop trying to change the subject. I know where she’s at and I have a plan to take her out. You find dear old dad and take care of him… What? “
Anton stopped pacing and sat behind his desk. “That isn’t a bad idea. If he goes back home, we can take care of him there. Yeah, I’ll put the word into a couple of ears and they’ll watch for him. Dammit, David. I handled my side of this. You know Michael isn’t going to forgive me for killing Bill. No, I guess he won’t be too pleased with you, either. I’m going to have to push forward on the serum. No, I’m out of the original, I’ve got our changed version. No, we had to kill the most recent three subjects. The last one was impressive though, a real monster. Yeah, I imagine you do need more protection now. Michael isn’t going to let this go. You have a target on your back and you’re not willing to leave that stupid castle. It’s going to be the noose around your neck. Fine, I’ll take care of myself, you take care of yourself. Thanks a lot for being such a worthless fuck. Why you didn’t just encase him in cement I will never understand. Yeah, good bye to you too!” Anton stood up and slung the phone as hard as he could. It shattered against the wall, the sound like a gunshot.
There was a knock on his door, “Boss?”
Anton looked around at the pieces scattered everywhere and called out to the closed door, “Francisco, find someone to sweep up for me, I need to go to the research lab. Call up the car.”
“Yes, boss.” Footsteps quickly walked away.
The Queen Bitch’s Ship Ad Aeternitatem
Bobcat, Marcus and William were standing around the frame William had pulled together with help from the engineering crew. This ship version had most of Bobcat’s design but very little of Marcus’ help yet.
They discussed what should work, and with Marcus’ insights what certainly wouldn’t work.
William sighed. “This isn’t going to fly, is it?”
Marcus shrugged. “We have an untested engine, a nominally untested air frame design and not a clue exactly how we are supposed to steer yet. The one individual who might be able to help us is in Europe, right?” He looked over at Bobcat for verification and got a nod of agreement from him. “Ok, so we have some details but can’t fully bake everything in at this time. Is there any harm in trying it out? What happens if we lose it?”
William snorted. “It sinks?”
Bobcat rubbed his chin. “I don’t think Bethany Anne wants us littering the ocean floor with our efforts here. We had better put scuttling charges on it. If we lose one of these things, no one should be able to figure out how we have it working by what’s left of the parts.”
Both men nodded their agreement.
Marcus could understand the secrecy, but as a researcher he was still having trouble with the concept that knowledge that would benefit all mankind was being hoarded. Once he had a discussion with Bethany Anne, his desire to release any of the technology early had been squashed, like his desire to ever leave and pursue research somewhere else again. That woman was fascinating. That she was beautiful never entered Marcus’s analysis. Then he met Gabrielle and walked around in a daze for ten minutes before he recognized the mirth in Bobcat’s eyes. He had the good grac
e to at least blush at his scientific infatuation with the women.
16
Today was not a good day to fly. At least, if you were the first effort for Bobcat’s team.
Captain Wagner put out to sea after retrieving the last of his crew from their shore leave. Once he located an area safely outside the viewing area of other boats, he permitted the team to put the testing vehicle on a pontoon platform they lowered off the side. Bobcat had the ship move off a quarter of a mile. At first, the craft didn’t respond at all to any commands. It took another hour for the team to communicate with Bethany Anne, who replied back with the answers. She apologized for not being there, but she was needed in Miami for a little while longer. She hoped to be there that evening.
They were surprised to find out she was in Miami.
The team decided to move ahead with ideas, incorporating the input they got from Bethany Anne. After three more hours they tried again.
Everyone who was available went up to the main deck to watch the ‘amazing liftoff.’ As they counted down from ten to one, the team hit the button to test the ability to launch on its new gravity based engine. The cheering was loud for the first few seconds as the triangularly shaped rocket, all of twelve feet long, slowly rose off of the pontoon platform. It attained about five feet when Bobcat sent the command to reverse gently and land. Unfortunately, something wasn’t wired or coded correctly and the craft accelerated in the down direction at its maximum velocity. The pontoon boat disintegrated, pieces flying fifty feet up in the air, as the heavy vehicle went straight through it. Bobcat quickly sent the command to detonate the scuttling charges and the team could see a large amount of bubbles boiling to the surface thirty seconds later. Marcus wondered how far it had gone down in the scant time before Bobcat had hit the command.
One person commented that they should label that version the ‘X6.’ Apparently he was a fan of Top Gear and since the team was Bobcat, Marcus and William it fit to call them Team BMW and name their first failure after the car Jeremy Clarkson dubbed the ‘stupidest model BMW had ever shipped.’
Captain Wagner asked them if there was anything they needed to do about salvaging the rocket. Bobcat told him no, they had the electronic recordings sent before the scuttling charge activated and there wouldn’t be anything of value after they went off. Besides, the water was too deep here to accomplish any salvaging.
Captain Wagner did have a team retrieve the parts of the pontoon boat, there was no reason to litter and if anyone wanted to know what caused the large explosion, at least he would have some physical proof to concoct a story around.
Down in the workshop, Marcus was reviewing the electronic data they had been able to retrieve right before, and after, the debacle. Bobcat came into the room with a bucket of ice and beer. Marcus looked up from his laptop and gave it a curious glance.
Bobcat smiled. “Look, if the numbers don’t make much sense, maybe our minds aren’t lubricated enough to understand them.” Marcus smiled and reached for the first beer of what would become a serious effort to lubricate the hell out of his mind.
William came in an hour later. He had helped the team retrieve the pontoon boat remnants and had been taking some serious shit for the test. One of the engineering guys grabbed a couple of pieces they had retrieved and made a casket to put the pieces in and a headstone. He brought a three-foot casket and headstone back from the engineering section. The headstone read, “R.I.P. Pontoon 001, We Hardly Knew You. May Pontoon 002 last a little while longer.” William had to suffer the congenial ribbing. Captain Wagner thought it was a hilarious effort and had the deckhands clear a small area to put up the headstone and coffin. The original jokester asked William how large they should make the graveyard and William flipped him off as he walked away.
They were well past their third round of lubrication when Marcus came across some numbers that didn’t make sense. He swung his laptop around to push it across the table to William and asked him to review it. William was sober, he didn’t want Bethany Anne coming in and smelling any alcohol on his breath. It took him about ten minutes to see what Marcus was having problems with. He put his head down on the table, and then proceeded to beat his head slowly against it.
Marcus and Bobcat stopped in mid swallow, recognizing that their sober teammate might have figured something out.
William tried to explain what he thought was wrong, but his teammates had lubricated a little too much. They agreed to sleep it off and get back together in the morning. William made sure Marcus was able to get back to his berth. Marcus didn’t seem to be able to hold his alcohol any better than William, while Bobcat could probably have passed a sobriety test so long as they didn’t breathalyze him.
Las Vegas, NV, USA
The microwave dinged and Tom got up from the table. He brought back the chili con queso he had warmed up and pushed the corn chips in Jeffrey’s direction, offering him a few. Jeffrey grabbed a handful, dipping his chip in the cheese and munching the whole chip in one bite. No double dipping for him.
He talked around his chewing. “We’re getting closer to decision time for the most important aspect of this whole AI project.”
Tom grabbed his Wagner’s Draft root beer and raised it in a toast. “I know, exciting right?”
Jeffrey agreed, “Pretty momentous. This decision could be great, or it could get us ridiculed for decades, hell, possibly centuries.”
Tom looked at his bottle. “Maybe this is too light? Need something heavier for this discussion.”
Jeffrey concurred so Tom went to the refrigerator and brought back two Cokes. “Need caffeine for this discussion.” They clinked the two bottles together, Tom reading the ‘Hecho en Mexico’ written on the side. “Why does this stuff taste so much better than what they bottle in the plastic?”
Jeffrey put his bottle down. “Real sugar?”
Tom shrugged. “Maybe, but fuck it’s good.”
Jeffrey sighed, put the Coke on the table and looked back at his partner. “Ok, we’ve put this decision off long enough. Male or female?”
Tom barked out his answer, “Female!”
Jeffrey closed his eyes in weary acceptance, he knew they would have a disagreement, just not this fast. “Seriously? You want another female AI voice? Aren’t SIRI, Cortana and whatever the hell Google names their voice good enough for you, yet?”
Tom thought for a second. “You know, I don’t know what they call their voice command. It’s just Google Now, right?”
Jeffrey snorted. “Maybe they call it Julia, I don’t know. Stop dodging the question. Do we want to follow everyone else, or strike out on our own?”
“Like they did in War Games?” Tom lowered his voice to sound like an electronic computer, “Would-you-like-to-play-a-game?”
Jeffrey stopped to consider his point. “Yes, I see what you mean. Plus, there’s Dave from 2001.” Jeffrey thought about it. “Seems to me the idea is that a male voice comes across as more menacing.”
“Yes, but then you have the female coming across as too mothering. “Here, let me lock all of the doors so you can’t leave the house, then you can’t possibly get hurt.” Tom thought for another second. “Great, she could decide we don’t need to leave the planet, and here I was wanting to get voice samples of James Earl Jones.”
Jeffrey looked at the man, shock on his face. “Darth Vader? You want to give Darth Vader’s voice to our AI? Hell, why not use what’s his face, Hannibal Lecter?”
“Anthony Hopkins.”
“Yeah!”
Tom looked over at him. “What? You want to give him Mickey Mouse as a voice? If you made me squeak all the time, I would definitely choose team evil.”
Jeffrey calmed down. “This is our world shattering discussion and hang up? What if ADAM decides to research the actor or actress and then model its behavior on the actor or the part?”
“Good point. No psycho killers, agreed?” Tom said.
“Agreed. What about a scientist, like Einstein?” Jeffrey r
eached for another chip.
Tom scratched his chin. “I don’t know. What if the scientist is just a theoretician, do those guys ever get any real work done?”
Jeffrey smiled. “Lawyer?”
Tom’s face scrunched up in disgust. “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.” Tom smiled evilly at his boss. “Politician?”
It was Jeffrey’s turn to be disgusted. “I hate you. I really, really hate you.”
Jeffrey reached down with his chip, but the cheese was gone.
17
The two men tabled the question and went back to Building 1. Jeffrey brought up the next point of concern. “Ok, we start with a core download to give the system enough information to start figuring out causality and questions to ask. What should we inject second?”
“What have you thought of so far, and what have you rejected?”
“The classics, but then which classics? We could go for religious, the Bible, but then the whole Old Testament eye-for-an-eye thing. The Qur’an? No thank you. Plus, I don’t want to take the chance of giving the thing a God complex.
“So, we believe that whatever we feed it will start it down the path we want it to go?”
Both men sat there a moment. Tom looked up. “Why don’t we punt?”
Jeffrey returned the man’s look. “Call Nathan?” Tom grinned when Jeffrey reached for his phone.
Nathan answered after two rings. “Yes, Jeffrey, is ADAM awake already?” Jeffrey snorted.
“No, actually we’re trying to decide on an input path. Are you on speaker?” Jeffrey explained what the guys had considered doing and what their concerns were.
“So you two have done what, moved it up the chain?” Jeffrey could hear the grin in Nathan’s voice.
“Pretty much! What are your thoughts?”
Nathan snorted. “Like this is my baby. I’m going to do what great men have done before me.”
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set One: Books 1-7, Death Becomes Her, Queen Bitch, Love Lost, Bite This, Never Forsaken, Under My Heel, Kneel or Die (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets) Page 99