Tom butted in, “Punt it up the chain?”
“Exactly, and the person I need is in the house. Both literally and figuratively. I don’t think you’ve met her, but she’s the one who runs this whole thing.”
“Bethany Anne?” Both men were curious. They knew of Bethany Anne and had been instructed of her concerns, but neither had spoken with her, just with Nathan.
“Yes. One minute.” The phone was muted on Nathan’s side. It wasn’t too long before the phone was un-muted and Nathan was back. “Jeffrey, Tom, let me introduce you to Bethany Anne. Please give her the same overview you gave me. Maybe the four of us can wrangle this question.”
Her voice was pleasant over the speaker. “Hello Jeffrey, Hello Tom. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. What’s going on?”
Tom liked that the head honcho didn’t sound pretentious, but rather down to earth. He explained how ADAM worked and how what they fed the software could potentially affect the learning process to sentience.
Bethany Anne spoke slowly, like she was forming her thoughts while speaking, “Soooo, let me understand. We feed the software Mein Kampf and we get a digital Hitler?”
Tom said, “Not exactly, but we’re going to have to work on the sense of ethics with you eventually. But we don’t want to skew the direction unnecessarily.”
She replied, “So, we want to give it a broad education. I know this might sound off the wall and trust me, I have a reason, but what about using Science Fiction? Some of the classics dealt with ethical issues and large societies and the chance to meet alien cultures. The best and worst of humanity are in those stories.”
The two men looked at each other, trying to figure out what the software would do with the stories.
“Guys?”
Jeffrey jumped back in, “Sorry, both of us were trying to figure out what the software might do in that situation. You’re suggesting we give it stories and let it ‘read’ about potentials and results of humanity? What about just feeding it history?”
This time, Bethany Anne snorted. “Because I don’t want it to make a judgment on reality. I want to have a discussion about stories. I would have a hard time arguing, say the stupidity of World War II and the atrocities over the last eighty years. I would rather have what-if discussions. Much easier to converse when the facts aren’t available.”
The talk lasted another hour, but in the end they decided to follow Bethany Anne’s lead. They also decided to leave off the last couple of hundred years of history in the core data load.
Ecaterina was sweating, trying to keep up with Pete’s team. She had taken Bethany Anne up on the chance to train and went to Pete. Everyone in Pete’s group knew she was with Nathan, which guaranteed nothing but courtesy from the new recruits.
Pete, however, wasn’t willing to cut her any slack. She felt as though she had gotten out of shape because of muscles that were in revolt and rebellion. Her body was one large sack of pain and completely incapable of following even the simple muscle commands.
Like stand up.
She lay on the mat, breathing through her pain, eyes closed and trying to get her stomach muscles to stop cramping. She could feel someone step onto the mat with her. If that prick told her she should, ‘stop being a whiny human’ one more time, she would eventually get her muscles in control enough to flip him off. Maybe a ‘fuck you’ would be enough? That is, if she could stop the effort of breathing enough to waste the time to speak. Back to the flipping him off idea it was.
She opened her eyes to see Bethany Anne’s face inches away. “Sh… Sh… Sh… Shit!” She continued panting while Ashur went over to the other Weres who stopped what they were doing and greeted him like a rock star.
“How’s my little out-of-shape Romanian ducky doing today, hmmm?” Bethany Anne stood up and reached down. Grabbing Ecaterina’s outstretched hand, she pulled the woman up off of the floor but had to help steady her so she could stand.
“Dying, I’m dying here.” she continued the effort to get her breathing back under control. “That guy is a sadist. An animal.” Bethany Anne looked up to where Ecaterina was trying unsuccessfully to point.
“Who, Pete?” Bethany Anne watched as Ecaterina changed from a sort-of pointing to a sort-of thumbs up gesture. Bethany Anne waved Pete over. He came over and smiled as Ecaterina finally arched her back and seemed to get herself under control.
“Yes, my Queen?” Pete said.
Ecaterina rolled her eyes. Him, too? She was still a little sore over the Pepsi incident but not sore enough to sneak any Pepsis back into Bethany Anne’s personal fridge. For now, they stayed in the galley.
“How is wonderbutt here doing?” Bethany Anne smiled as Ecaterina tried to get her finger to flip her off, finally she used her left hand to pull up her right middle finger.
Pete watched Ecaterina while answering Bethany Anne’s question. “Pretty fantastic, I would say. I trained her like you asked, making sure she was being pushed like a Wechselbalg. For a human, she ranks pretty high. Probably has more stamina than Scott, actually.”
Ecaterina’s mouth dropped open. She was being trained against the TQB Guard’s abilities? She didn’t know if she should be proud of herself, or trying to locate the nearest gun to shoot them both. She would probably accomplish shooting her foot off because she couldn’t lift the damn thing at the moment.
“What about the other three?”
“Not even close to John and Darryl. John for obvious reasons and Darryl because he came back from the sandpit and never stopped pushing himself. Eric has good days and bad. But overall he’s still pretty solid—she’d need another month to catch him.”
“Hmmm, going to have to make sure Gabrielle works him more.” Pete grimaced, he didn’t mean to point out Eric had bad days. It was something that just occasionally happened, but even trying to throw in a bone to help Eric out would only get Bethany Anne’s attention fixated on the subject. Pete shrugged, what didn’t kill you, made you stronger.
Bethany Anne called Ashur over and helped Ecaterina to limp back to her temporary room on the Ad Aeternitatem. The Weres had been moved in order to get accustomed to the boat they would be protecting. All of them had been ‘sworn in and sworn at.’ Pete took them all aside, individually and collectively. He would allow nothing less than the best they had in them. They were the first generation, what would be the greatest generation of Wechselbalg Guardians. They would be setting the standard every Guardian would need to meet for generations to come.
In Pete’s eyes, every one of the new team, from Tim and Joel to Rickie, Joseph and Matthew were measured and found wanting. They would measure up or they would die trying. Pete’s expectations for each of them, unique to their own accomplishments to date, were stretch goals. Even Tim found himself working to reach a goal above his own expectations.
To live is to believe. They would be the hardest, fastest, meanest guardians ever before them, and ever after them. They would never accept defeat.
Over the next century, the core beliefs Pete instilled and these men accepted became the cornerstone of the Guardians. Even when killed to the last fighter, the enemy would know to expect another group to come to take the position and their brothers’ bodies. Often, if a position was held by the Guardians, the enemy would try their damnedest to go around. Occasionally, they just decided it wasn’t worth it and went elsewhere.
18
While Ecaterina was cleaning up, Bethany Anne worked with Team BMW and heard the firsthand account of what happened and what they had figured out.
With further insights, which Bethany Anne was able to provide with TOM’s input, the team did confirm the information Marcus and William had surmised was the problem. She stayed an extra hour, detailing new technologies for Marcus who was able to grasp the concepts, if not the details. Marcus could not figure out how she was able to review such technical documents and figure out the solutions so quickly.
It wasn’t until Bethany Anne admitted she was communicating with a
technical representative of the alien’s technology to help them that Marcus understood, and then sat down, completely overwhelmed.
“You are speaking with an alien?” He sat on the chair, trying to come to terms with it.
She stared at Marcus, not understanding his seeming inability to accept she was talking with an alien. “You’ve seen the space ship; I’ve taken you through it. Well, certain parts. You still have a problem believing I’m communicating with an alien?”
He looked up at her. “No! No, I don’t doubt you’re doing it.” He waved his hands at the blueprints and calculation sheets on the table the men had been working on. “I can tell that a lot of this is over your head.” He looked back at Bethany Anne, his neck coloring. “No offense intended.”
She smiled. “No offense taken, Marcus. I’m not a rocket scientist, I just know someone who is.”
I’m a pilot.
You’re an alien whose whole naming structure begins with the answer to a mathematical problem. I’m thinking I can throw in rocket scientist as the least of your accolades!
Well, since you put it that way, I suppose I am.
Having made TOM feel better about himself, she continued. “If I could, and we really should have figured out a way to do this already, I would give others access to communicate with him. But I warn you!” Marcus looked up at her eyes, “He can be a handful and a bit of a smartass.”
William snorted. “Sounds like he fits right in.”
“Yeah, he fit in just fine, I’m sure he will fit in again.”
The men had no clue what she meant by that.
After her conversation with Bobcat’s team, she and Ashur took Ecaterina to Bethany Anne’s home in Key Biscayne. Exiting the closet, Ecaterina was surprised to see a man sleeping in Bethany Anne’s bed, even if he did look a little under the weather. She hissed at Bethany Anne “You’ve got a man in your bed!”
“Yeah? That’s Michael. He got messed up pretty badly in Germany. He’s sleeping, getting himself rested up and healed. Right now, he’s a sort-of invited guest.”
“Yeah, but he is kind of cute in an older-man kind of way.” Ecaterina was staring at Michael, making no effort to leave the room. Ashur went to the foot of the bed and laid down. Bethany Anne walked back over to stand next to her.
“Yeah, as in much older. You realize he is probably as old as your great, great, great, great…” She stopped for a second, counting on her fingers, “How many years is one generation? I’m not sure how many greats to say frankly. Fuck it, he’s at least a thousand years old.”
Michael’s voice interrupted them, “And he is trying to sleep, not listen in while two women describe him as an old man!” Ecaterina put a hand to her mouth, her eyes flying open.
Bethany Anne smiled, she had heard his breathing and heartbeat, so she had known he was awake before they left the closet. “Well, don’t be a bump on a log then, codger-boy. The blood will be here tonight; we’ll get you back in action soon. So rest up and let your betters talk about you while we pretend you can’t hear us, ok?”
Michael opened one eye and stabbed Bethany Anne with it. “Wait till I am better, I’ll put you over my knee…”
Bethany Anne interrupted him, “And probably lose your concentration while staring at my ass, you lecherous old coot.” Ecaterina’s eyes got impossibly larger, her head jerking around to stare at Bethany Anne, not believing what she was hearing.
“Maybe it is a chance I will have to take, isn’t it?”
Bethany Anne only “harrumphed,” and then pulled Ecaterina to the door. “He really does need his sleep and blood. I probably shouldn’t be around to make his blood pressure rise like this anyway.”
Michael’s eye closed and his lips broke into the slightest grin. It was the first time he had scored any points against the fiery woman.
Stare at her ass, indeed.
Shutting the door behind her, Bethany Anne started towards the stairs. Ecaterina asked her, “Why did you need me here?”
“One, you’re becoming useless without getting your Nathan injection…” Ecaterina slapped her arm, but then rubbed her hand realizing she wasn’t going to hurt the woman that way. Bethany Anne pointed at her. “See? You’re already so wound up any little thing sets you off!”
She smiled at Ecaterina who finally just went with the flow and whispered to Bethany Anne, “Damn right! We will have to get a room at a hotel or risk damaging your sensitive ears!” They went down the stairs.
“God, I only wish it was just you two! I’m more worried about…” They arrived at the bottom of the steps as the front door opened. Lance and Patricia entered, both smiling. “Speak of the devils. Patricia, let me introduce you to Ecaterina.” The two ladies exchanged greetings, but Bethany Anne noticed Patricia eyeball Lance once when she realized the beautiful woman was the Ecaterina Lance would occasionally mention. It was probably a good thing Patricia had the good manners not to kick him in the shin right there in front of his own daughter.
Fortunately, Nathan was close behind them and the two of them had a very public display of affection. Bethany Anne stepped between them and almost physically pushed them apart. “Hey! I’ve got to get back to talk with Pete. You two make nice for those of us with sensitive eyeballs.”
Lance kicked in, “Damn right.”
Bethany Anne spoke over her shoulder, “Not you, I’m pretty sure your DNA doesn’t have any sensitivity in it.”
“Ha! That DNA is in you, too.” Patricia elbowed Lance.
“And has been refined by alien technology to remove all horrible aspects. That was probably why it took six months to fix me.”
TOM was sniggering in her mind.
“Ecaterina, I need you to work with Patricia and get her up to date on what you know. Patricia is a master at handling things with decades….”
Patricia interrupted, “Hey now!”
“…of experience. Good lord, am I going to leave here without another interruption?” She let the faintest red glow enter her eyes and stared at them. Her father wasn’t bothered, but it got the right reaction from the other three. Lance was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. “So, get with her and I’ll get you back for your workout tomorrow morning after you spend the night here, for obvious reasons.” She put up a finger in Ecaterina’s face, “Don’t give me any lip about your workouts. If you didn’t make it through them, boy-toy here wouldn’t have signed off on your joining the covert group. Before you get your panties in a twist, he IS the Covert group lead, so you had to pass it before he gave approval. I’m happy to say you passed.”
She stepped away from the two affectionate individuals and kissed her dad on his cheek. “Looking good old man, looking good. Talk tomorrow about the businesses?” Lance nodded. Michael hadn’t wanted anything back in his control. He rather enjoyed how Bethany Anne had taken over. But Lance was using as much time as Michael would provide to get his arms around the vast holdings. Frank was constantly under Michael’s feet until Bethany Anne told him to go work at a Starbucks or she was going to find and burn his notebooks.
He left in a hurry, carrying considerably more notebooks than usual. Stephen went with him to experience more of the United States. She figured Frank would find a bank and rent a safety deposit box. He really was passionate about acquiring information and Stephen was happy to talk to him. Frank was in heaven.
Apparently, Ivan and Claudia were doing ok. Claudia was healing after the deaths of so many in her life, and Ivan was making sure everything with the house, and Claudia, was being taken care of.
She went back upstairs to fetch Ashur. She knocked once and entered. Ashur stood up. She shut the door and walked to her closet. This time, Michael was actually asleep.
She shut the door and the two of them stepped away, back to the Ad Aeternitatem and the special room reserved for her coming and goings. She told Ashur to stay put, but left the door open in case something happened and he needed to leave. She didn’t want him involved when she was sparring with
Pete’s team. She stepped out and headed toward the gym. One of Todd’s Marines caught up to her before she went thirty feet and stayed a respectful five feet behind her. These guys were getting as bad as John’s clique. She waved behind her to let him know she was aware of him, and not trying to be inconsiderate.
She stepped back into the Weres training area and moved to the side, allowing the Marine to step in with her. Joel was squaring off against Rickie, Rickie’s sarcastic wit working overtime as the two of them tore into each other. When Pete finally called it, Joel had broken Rickie’s wrist. Rickie was grimacing in pain, but didn’t let a squeak come out of his mouth. The Marine just stared as the broken wrist started to fix itself and Rickie tested it.
The Marine leaned towards Bethany Anne, forgetting for a moment Todd had told him to be seen, but not heard. “They are some tough sons-a-bitches, aren’t they?”
She whispered back, “They are, but they are also a little sensitive about their moms being called bitches, so I wouldn’t use that term freely, mmmkay?”
The Marine straightened back up and nodded his head sharply once.
The fight over, she walked into the group and got Pete’s attention. She looked around at all six guys. They had come a long way in just a few days. Mind you, these were balls-to-the-wall days that only Wechselbalg could do. Pete had them sleeping for four and hard training for twenty. He had done something amazing here and she was glad he had asked for the chance. “Ok, you pussies feeling pretty good about yourselves?” She noticed Tim straightening his back, becoming incensed by her rudeness. Matthew let it roll right off of him and Joseph’s eyes narrowed, trying to find the play she was making.
Pete didn’t let it faze him, she had called her personal guards much worse and more often. “Why? What do you have in mind?”
“A little Were-on-Vampire action.” Tim tried, but couldn’t control his snort. She gave him a small smile; he would pay for that reaction.
Pete asked, “How do you want to play it?
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 100