by Michael Todd
“I do not,” Madigan snarled. “Everyone and their mothers have seen those movies.”
He shrugged and turned back to Courtney. “What have you found out about that leg?”
She shook her head. “This metal isn’t like anything I’ve seen before. It’s light, it’s hard, and I haven’t been able to remove any of the plates.”
“Can’t we simply take the leg?” Kennedy asked.
“It’s light, but not that light—still in the two-hundred-kilogram region, so unless you want to lug it around and explain it to the guys at the Staging Area when we get back—”
“Just take a sample and tag it with a GPS marker,” Sal said impatiently. “We’ll see if we can’t come back and pick it up on a later run or send someone to do that for us.”
Courtney nodded. There were a couple of chunks that had been torn off by whatever it was that had severed the leg. It still took some work to free the pieces, but she bagged them and sealed them in her pack.
“Okay, let’s head back,” Sal said. “I’m sure that they’ll understand if we get back early again and if not…well, we’ll bring the first live specimen back from the Zoo.”
“The first?” Kennedy asked. “Really?”
“Yes, the first,” Sal said firmly, and she nodded quickly in understanding.
“Let’s get on out of here,” he announced. “You keep an eye on the tiny thing. She’s your responsibility.”
“Yes, boss.” Kennedy snapped a quick salute. “And her name is Shuri.”
“Whatever,” he said and shook his head.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
It took most of the day to reach the JLTVs, and after a quick discussion, Kennedy said that they had enough space in one vehicle to carry the rest of their squad out, so Sal signed off to take the extra one to transport them back to the Staging Area. They had little resistance since they carried some very valuable cargo.
Sal had to listen during the whole ride back to what Kennedy thought of him for calling Shuri cargo.
When they arrived and had to declare what they had found, Shuri was the talk of the commandant’s office. A location to keep live animals had been set up when the Staging Area had first been built, but the problem with actually acquiring live animals had left the place to fall into disrepair over the year and a half since then. It took considerable time for them to register her since the company officials tried to make the argument that since Shuri had been recovered on their company’s time, she should belong to them.
Sal responded by advising them that Heavy Metal now waived the financial compensation for all teams sent in on the fact-recovering mission.
The lawyer left in a huff when he realized that he’d been out-lawyered by a twenty-two-year-old doctoral candidate.
In the meantime, they were told that it would take a few hours before the holding locations could be prepared to host any live animals, and Sal asked if he could break away early. They didn’t need three people to keep an eye on Shuri, who had been given a bottle of warm milk and a small cage to rest in. The furball had obviously had a long day and was fast asleep in fifteen minutes.
Kennedy agreed, and Sal headed on home. He’d told her that he would work on whitepapers, but the fact that he picked up the shards that Courtney had collected from the leg armor revealed that he had lied.
Neither Courtney nor Kennedy complained, though, as they sat in silence and waited for someone to come to tell them where they could take Shuri to spend the night.
“You know,” Monroe said softly, “Shuri doesn’t need two people to stick around with her either.”
Madigan looked up from where she performed some repairs of her own on a piece of her armor.
“What are you talking about?” she asked and set both the piece and her tools down.
“Well, I wanted to head over to talk to Sal about the piece of armor we recovered,” Courtney said. “Plus some…other things.”
Kennedy immediately grinned. “Hey now, I want to talk to him about Shuri…and other stuff too.”
“But you brought Shuri back,” Courtney argued. “She’s bonded to you and—yeah, I know, that’s bullshit. I couldn’t even finish that sentence.”
Kennedy grinned. “So how do we decide this? Rock, paper, scissors?”
Monroe thought about it for a few seconds and finally nodded. “Sure. Best two out of three?”
Madigan nodded, and they raised their hands. Courtney won the first one with paper beats rock, but the other woman quickly took the next two with a rock and scissors win in succession.
“Fuck,” the loser muttered.
“You have a tell,” Kennedy said with a smirk and pushed from her seat.
“A tell? In rock, paper, scissors?” Courtney asked skeptically.
“Absolutely.” She headed toward the door.
“Hey, Madigan,” Courtney called, “would you mind if I showed up after Shuri is tucked in for the night?”
Kennedy glanced at her for a second and shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t think I’m there yet.”
She nodded and looked away when the panther cub woke with their talking and now stared at her with huge, black eyes.
“No, it’s not that,” she said like she could read the tiny cub’s mind. “Of course we want to hang out with you. It’s just…we’d like to hang out with Sal, too.”
Shuri tilted her head and meowed softly before she rested it between her paws once more.
Sal opened the door, surprised to see Madigan there and changed into her civilian clothes.
“Hey,” he grunted as she pushed into the house without waiting for an invitation. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay with Shuri?”
“Huh?” She looked blankly at him. “Oh, yeah. Courtney’s looking after her. We thought it might be a while, and we didn’t need two people watching her, so she let me go.”
“That was…nice of her?” he said. It was interesting to sleep with two women. Both knew that he was sleeping with the other, and both seemed to be on talking terms with it. He was in uncharted territory, though, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“What are you up to?” Madigan asked and fixed him with an enquiring look as he shut the door again.
“Oh, apparently, Shuri’s arrival has made some waves, even at this hour,” Sal said and moved back into his room. She noted that he’d set up what looked like an intensely improvised lab around the chunks of metal pried from the leg of armor.
“What kind of waves?” she asked and sat on the bed while he resumed his place in his “lab.?
“The…money spending kind, actually,” he replied with a chuckle. “It’s been…what, three hours since we announced her arrival, and I’ve received fifteen messages from companies who want a crack at studying the first animal to be brought in from the Zoo.” Madigan opened her mouth and Sal waved her off. “No, don’t worry, I made sure to let them know that a shitload of contracts against animal cruelty would have to be signed before any kind of deal could be struck. It turned out that I had so many offers for exclusivity, I put it up for auction.”
Sal pulled his phone from his pocket and unlocked it before he tossed it to her.
“Holy shit,” Madigan said with a laugh. “The bid is at three million and still climbing.”
“Yeah,” he said. “You know, I’ve been thinking while I worked that we might need some new digs. A real lab and an actual, proper base of operations of our own. If these guys are serious about paying that much for Shuri, I think that’s what we should invest in.”
Kennedy nodded. “It would be nice not to have to store our equipment in our homes.”
He nodded. “Right? I mean, I know Heavy Metal is mostly about us working without government interference all up in our asses, but…I don’t know, I’ve had some thoughts that maybe we should make it something bigger, something more than only about money, you know?”
Madigan nodded and lay on the bed. She had arrived with the intention to get him naked and on
top of her, but with him this excited, she assumed that he wouldn’t notice if she stripped down and gave him a lap dance.
A part of her resented the reality that her plans would have to be shelved, but this was a part of him that she actually liked. He was passionate about these things, and while right now, it meant that she would probably not move him from that chair, it wasn’t something that she would ever want him to change about himself.
Sal seemed oblivious to her thoughts as she suspected he might be.
“While I wait for the money guys to top themselves out,” Sal said, “I’ve looked at these pieces of metal that Courtney recovered. The mineral composition seems to have had some work, but once I’ve isolated the different minerals involved, it’s…well, impossible.”
He looked at her and Madigan nodded. She did that sometimes—simply tuned out all the science talk but didn’t want it to seem like she was ignoring him, so she nodded when he expected an answer from her. He knew that she wasn’t that interested in what he had to say, and he appreciated that she let him talk.
And he really wanted to talk about this.
“There are some hints of silicon and steel in there, but there’s nothing that can bond iron to silicon among the known elements. But here it is. The molecules are bonded by something that allows the steel to retain structural integrity while it allows the silicon to fill in the gaps. That makes it less dense and…well, stronger. It’s hard to say how it’s possible, but the evidence is right here.”
Sal didn’t wait for her to respond this time. “I’m trying to study the bonding mineral, but in my defense, all I really have to use is the microscope function in my helmet’s HUD, so there’s not much that I can do. Either way, it looks crystalline and is obviously a bonding agent, which you would think is impossible since the two are usually mutually exclusive in nature. I’d like some closer looks at this and maybe to find someone more qualified, like a metallurgist. Still, even a better, good-quality microscope would probably be…best…”
His voice trailed off as he turned and saw that Madigan lay on his bed. She’d brought her knees up near her chest, and her eyes were shut. Well, he supposed that he should be used to putting women to sleep these days.
Sleep. That was probably a good idea right now anyway. The people running their auction wouldn’t be finished any time soon, and there really wasn’t much that he could realistically do with the pieces of armor at this point.
Sal pulled his shirt off and turned out the light, careful to climb into bed without waking Madigan. He draped his blanket over her shoulder and curled up himself. It had been a long day. A good day, but definitely tiring. It wasn’t long before his eyes shut as well, and he was fast asleep.
Sal groaned. Something tugged and jerked at him. He rumbled a protest. He didn’t want to wake up. Let him sleep. He could look at stuff later. Whitepapers could wait, dammit!
Finally, he realized that he wasn’t asleep and wasn’t likely to be so again unless he addressed whatever it was that had woken him up.
His eyes snapped open, and he pushed himself up to lean on his elbows to see what was happening. The first thing he noticed was that he must have had some of the best kind of dreams since he was rock hard and tented the shorts that he’d fallen asleep in.
The second thing he noticed was that Madigan had moved from his side and now laid between his thighs. She nuzzled her nose and lips gently against his cock through the fabric as her hands worked desperately to get the shorts down.
“Madie?” he asked tentatively.
“Yeah?” She lifted her head, which marked the first time that she’d ever responded to the shortened version of her first name.
“What are you doing?”
She shrugged and continued to tug at his shorts. “I noticed that you were rocking some morning wood and I suddenly wanted you in my mouth. Do you think you can help me?”
Sal pushed himself up higher. “Are you naked?”
She shook her head.
“Get naked.”
Madigan huffed with frustration. she rolled off the bed, yanked her shirt and pants off, then her panties, which she tossed at him. In the meantime, he had pulled his shorts down and kicked them the rest of the way off. She settled back onto the bed with a hungry smile as she leaned in and wrapped her lips around his head.
“Fuck,” he gasped, and his head dropped back. At least he wasn’t asleep for this one.
Epilogue
Five point two million dollars.
Sal had never thought to see that much money in his whole life, much less a single payout.
Now that they had successfully cut the government out of their business, not much of it vanished into government coffers. Of course, there had been some provisos and conditions, one of which Kennedy had absolutely demanded. It was that they be allowed to see and visit Shuri while she remained in the Staging Area. Considering that she was a Zoo creature whose venomous fangs were already in place and developing venom, she wasn’t likely to be moved anytime soon.
Sure, the condition had knocked three hundred thousand from the price, but Pegasus hadn’t been too difficult. That was the company that had paid out the massive amount to have the first shot at running tests—all animal-friendly, they were assured—and made things incredibly interesting for Heavy Metal.
Upgrades for the suits came first, of course.
After a few days of scouting, Sal had found a location that would work for them to set up shop in. It had been built by another similar startup that had also come into a lot of money. They had unfortunately lost a couple of their money makers to the Zoo, and things had unraveled since then. The remaining members wanted to get rid of the property as quickly as possible. It had taken three months of negotiation, but they were anxious to jump on Sal’s offer of two million dollars for the whole operation, including the pair of heavy-duty JLTVs and the fully operational lab that had been built in the property.
The fact that it was right up against Wall Two and about an hour’s drive away from the Staging Area was probably why the price was that low, Sal realized as he inspected their new complex.
Well, it would help with Kennedy’s drinking problem, he mused. A decent tradeoff.
On top of a warehouse which had space to park both vehicles, there were three offices and five personal apartments, one of which was penthouse quality with three bedrooms. There was also an industrial kitchen much like the one at the Staging Area’s mess hall, as well as an enclosed area to grow fresh vegetables.
Sal’s attention was diverted when Kennedy pushed one of their new JLTVs faster than it was intended to go. He gritted his teeth when he heard her redline the engine across the road and skid as she entered the path that led to their new complex.
She screeched to a halt some ten meters from where he stood and engulfed him in a cloud of yellow dust. He coughed and waved his hand to dispel the sand as best he could.
“Sorry!” Kennedy called as she cut the engine. “I’ve had so much fun in our new vehicles. ‘Our new vehicles.’ Fuck, that has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
“Damn straight,” he said with a grin. “Did you get all the papers signed?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said and handed him the ownership papers. “That includes all the different stuff that comes with it. The vehicles, lab equipment…the works. Of course, they insisted on the whole payment up front.”
Sal nodded. “It makes sense, considering the line of work we’re in. So, that plus closing our contracts for living in the Staging Area, as well as signing on for a decent satellite connection out here… The company’s bank account looks a lot lighter than before.”
“It’s worth it for a halfway decent internet connection,” Kennedy said with a chuckle. “I’m sick and tired of having to rely on the Staging Area’s fucking database connection.”
“True story,” he agreed. “Even so, five point two million goes so damned fast.”
She smirked and nodded as she moved beside him to loo
k at their new complex.
“Ask me for anything but time,” he lamented and squeezed her shoulder. “Come on, we have a lot of work to do.”
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
December 26, 2018
THANK YOU for not only reading this story but these Author Notes as well.
(I think I’ve been good with always opening with “thank you.” If not, I need to edit the other Author Notes!)
RANDOM (sometimes) THOUGHTS?
Wow, Christmas is finished and all through the house,
Practically no one is stirring…
Not even my spouse.
Until a few minutes from now, when we are going to go see Mortal Engines. :-)
I’m excited to see the movie not because of the story, but because of the visuals. The special effects look damned cool and I wonder how they are going to pull some of it off. I think it looks like a version of pirates on land, personally.
I’ve never read the books (I’m assuming the story came from a book series, but that might just be my bias that all stories come from books.)
I hope that YOU are having a peaceful holiday season (if you are reading this on release day, welcome to 2019!)
Or maybe, you are reading this with a hangover. If that is the case, I suggest lots of water and two ibuprofen. I’m told this is good for hangovers.
I wouldn’t personally know, I have headaches from weather changes (yes, I’m that kind of person) not from drinking too much.
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