Chapter Fifteen
Alex and Jade had hit it off as soon as they met. “You could’ve knocked me down with a feather when Aggie told me; Aggie with a beau? never thought I’d see the day, man.”
“And why not Jade? “ quipped Phoebe, “Aggie’s a beautiful girl; she’s charming, smart, refined, well to do, famous and as far as I’m concerned, a national treasure. It’s not her fault that she’s so busy with Kellor Resources that she doesn’t take time to smell the roses; well it looks like she has now.”
“Brutish Men Aftershave by Avon, if you don’t mind.” said Alex wiping his cheeks.
“But what an amazing story Alex, just jumping in your car and driving up here to follow a mysterious trail; how romantic; and you say you knew nothing of Aggie before?”
“Not in the slightest. I only came to recognize the name Kellor later, after Edna here, came and rescued me from the cells in Guilford. That’s where I saw Aggie for the first time; and it may sound corny, but it was love at first sight. I nearly collapsed when she came over and kissed me. It’s something that’s burnt in my mind, and I can’t think of a more exhilarating moment in my life; even my first space-walk. And I’m not embarrassed to say that I’m in love with her.”
“I would say a match made in heaven.” said Edna with a little wry smile on her face.
They were sitting in the staff dining hall drinking hot chocolate. Aggie was not there and Edna had started unpacking the large picnic basket.“Aggie has been head down since early this morning. She’s run some the staff ragged. I know she needs a break, but this business with the professor and that other security man has her running around in circles.”
As if on cue, “Aw hello everyone!” Aggie hollered as she passed through the warm air curtain. “Good...I see you’ve met Alex; nice trophy ain’t he Phoebe?” she said with a wink and kissed him on the top of his head and tweaked his ears. “Sorry about keeping you waiting so long, a slight problem with some wiring; all fixed now; just about complete; just need a suitable wave generator and it’s all fin. What have we here aunt? cream buns, coffee rolls, quiche and yummy caramel tart; come on guys, let’s get stuck in; time’s a wasting; darn wave generator; don’t forget bubble wrap; and oh I love these little savoury meat balls; straps, must get straps for anchoring.”
“Whoa there, young lady. Sit, I said sit. Deep breaths; deeper; calm; get those little gremlins in your brain to settle down; you’re only human.”
“Sorry, ah that’s better. Poor Alex...please just humour me for a little more my love and I can put this place behind me. I see you survived the Sunday yard sale trek with the queen of fossickers. You could have said no if you didn’t want to go.”
“I actually drove the Hummer, saw a lot more of this beautiful country; the mountains are breathtaking. Anyway I did manage to find a bargain; for my father. He collects old radio transmission sets, you know, like walkie talkies from WW2, ANPRC25s, Bakelite telephones and things. Barney’s Bric a Brac on Pine Banks Road was having a clear-out and I found an early model CB radio, it’s a squeaky Seiki, the model before SSBs were made. Only has nine channels, but it actually still works; Barney even threw in the antenna.”
“That’s it!” shouted Aggie. She stood up and ran for the door, turned at the surprised group and said, “Citizen Band Radio; the generator; that’s exactly what I need; oh Alex you darling, you’ve come to my rescue again; see you shortly.”
“Was it something I said Edna?”
“Well I don’t need to tell you how important this is to Aggie; if there is even the slightest chance that she can do something to find our men; only a brave person would stand in her way. We just have to be patient and bide our time.”
“Hey sport, fancy a quick trip to Algeria while you’re waiting for our Aggie; got plenty of room. And how about you Aunty Edna?”
“No thank you, not this time Jade, I need to keep an eye on my girl; but Alex, it’s not a bad idea for you to go for a little ride; might take a little pressure off Aggie. I know she will be feeling a bit guilty about spending time away from you in the lab; and it may improve her concentration as well.”
“I do have my passport with me, but I don’t know if my controllers back at NASA will allow it; then again, I’m on extended leave. Stuff ‘em, yes please Jade, I would love a ride; thank you for the invite, and you too Phoebe.”
Phoebe punched Jade in the arm and said, “Now we’ll see just how good a pilot you are with a NASA astronaut watching you.”
“No problemo, my little butterfly. But first, we’d better get our boss’s approval before adding him to our precious manifest.”
-oOo-
“Oh darling you are a blessing, whenever I come up to a problem, there you are with the solution...no no, I don’t mean I want you to go away from me, but I desperately need someone I can trust to help set up the contraption in Reggane. I had planned for different people to assemble different components, each not knowing what the other was doing , but now, you wonderful man, I have you; and I trust you with all my heart. You deserve so much more... may I at least give you this?” It was a warm, lingering kiss, broken only when Aggie felt that Alex’s desires were getting more physical. “Have to put you on hold for a little while longer sweetheart; let’s get over this meccano rig and I swear you will have my entire being...and then some.” Dwarg was a little frustrated as well; he desperately wanted to communicate with Slig.
“So this is it, not exactly the best looking thingy I’ve made but it’s relatively easy to set up. If you like, you can write a checklist as we go along. Should give it a techno name, what do you think Alex?”
“How about ‘Aggie’s Angst’, or ‘FOO Fighter’, er..well it’s going to point, how about Goomeri Mark Two?”
“I like it; Ok, now let’s start with component A1 of Goomeri Mark Two’, the motherboard...”
Edna had already gone back to Putney, think I’ll wine and dine myself with Barbara at the Diner tonight. She should have some doggie scraps for the animals as well. Poor security patrol, still behind me; maybe I’ll shout them dinner as well.
Phoebe and Jade were sharing a spa bath in the Hangar. “Wow wow, woman, it’s gonna take me a lot of time to recover from that; haven’t see you so, so.. frisky since our first solo flight in the G650. Had something on our mind did we? and I don’t mean Hal.”
“Aw, don’t be so awful; I just wanted to do something special for you; are you complaining captain?”
“No, no no!”
“Then shut up and pucker up Guinea Pig boy...yes, I want you again..now.”
Phoebe thought to herself, dear Aggie, what a wonderful person and I dearly love her as a sister, now she’s got her man, quite the hunk too; I hope it’s true love; looks like it is; wonder if they already have....she’s such a lovely, innocent and lucky bitch.
-oOo-
Alex had assembled and disassembled the Goomeri Mark 2, three times. Aggie was satisfied. “Now here are some other components; don’t laugh. Firstly, this torch; it fits in here...this cord plugs into this socket. Here is the remote for it, keep it in your pocket; you will have to activate it well away from the site. Secondly we have this dish, this is where the feed-horn will send some waves of radiation to the FOO and hopefully deactivate the carrier beam.” Alex raised his eyebrows questioningly. “No it won’t blow the FOO to bits, but I’m sure something interesting will happen; by the way, Ernie Tonges is the only one there that knows about the FOO; I’d like it kept at that.”
“I’ll initiate start up of the Capacitor from here and it should be on quarter absorption induction by 2400 hours, so you must, must have GM2 in place by then. If you find there is not enough time or something else happens that suggests you can’t complete the setup..abort and we’ll try again the following night. Just hope we don’t frighten the FOO away.”
“Could you at least give me some sort of predicted outcome Aggie?”
“Hmm, no, not a prediction my l
ove; I don’t have the power of foretelling or prophecy..but this is what I’m about.” She took a deep breath.
“Remember those two little lines? those beams we found coming from the FOO? I want to inhibit and attract them back to Earth using the GM2. I believe that somehow, the Professor and Mister Kain are trapped; dematerialized, inside those beams. The beams from our GM2 are going to bring them back, Star Trek style, and rematerialize them..I hope.”
“...Aw Alex, I’ve seen that look before. If it helps, I’ll use techno talk...the GM2 is going to organize the coincidental convergence of assorted particles in a media of untested radio activity from multipoints onto...”
“Whoa there, young lady. Sit, I said sit. Deep breaths; deeper..calm; Aggie you’re starting to get a little spooky.”
“Please, please tell me I can rely on you darling, even if you think I’m wacky – please just play along with all this – this is so extremely important.”
“Of course you can rely on me Aggie, still you can’t blame me for being a bit er, surprised. A Star Trek transporter? Shouldn’t this technology belong to the far distant future?”
“Yes, you’re quite right...and this is a one off attempt..the GM2 will destroy itself after its first transmission; all the schematics, diagrams and computer files have already been deleted, destroyed or erased. You and I are the only ones on the planet with knowledge of it; and I’ve no desire to introduce that technology in my lifetime.”
“Fair enough doctor, I’ll play along; now look over my shoulder and see if I am calibrating these SCRs correctly. God where did you get these old potentiometers?..Barney’s Bric A Brac?”
“That’s about all I can do for now. You have the sequence and oh...there is one more thing. She reached over and picked up a rolled up piece of coloured cardboard. If you have the time, I’d like you to unroll and leave this near the spot where you place the GM2.”
“Oh yes, and what exactly is this?”
“There’s an interesting story about this. By the way it’s getting very late – I do have private quarters here – when I work overnight sometimes – and you need to be up early in the morning – and Aunt Edna’s already left...so...”
“So what?”
“So dear heart, if you want to hear that story, pick me up and carry me down that corridor.”
Dwarg and Slig were able to communicate again, within a matter of minutes.
The Goomeri Pointing Bone : Sequel to Dwarg in the Seventh Dimension Page 15