by M. Garnet
Come on, let's go inside, and I will introduce you to my favorite."
Not having any experience with the storing of animals, Traci had to suppose that this barn was the usual way such large four-legged creatures were warehoused. There were sections boxed off on both sides with high boards on the front that allowed the Drawns to hang their heads out, and that was what was happening.
Beautiful large heads of beasts with friendly large eyes and long noses were looking out, watching the two intruders. There was something intelligent and amiable about the heads that were watching them. The most fascinating was that there was some glowing color beginning to show between their larger perky ears. It was their short hair that was turning from brown to orange to pink.
Fargo went down to one Drawns that let out a low rumble, and the color of orange deepened. He reached into his pocket and came out with what looked like a small root. He held his hand out flat, and the Drawns snickered and nibbled the root away. The orange now was so bright it reflected on Fargo's face.
"This is Pal. I raised him from a pup. He will do a dozen tricks for me."
Walking up beside Fargo, Traci slowly put her hand out to stroke the long head. "He is beautiful."
Looking over at the face of Fargo and how he stared at the pet, she found this all disconcerting. He was the son of one of the biggest crime lords in this side of the civilized universe. How did all of this fit together? Did Fargo work with his father? Was he being trained to take over the company eventually?
Leaving Fargo with his friend, Traci walked back from the barn with mixed feelings. She found she liked the young man. Her work was a learning process. During the next few weeks, she found her work often distracted by two things: a pleasant young man and the other was a pair of dark eyes.
****
On the first day of work, Traci pulled aside dark drapes and curtains to allow natural light into the dim office. Next, she went through all the drawers to see what might be in each one that she could use or learn about the job.
Turning on the two monitors, there were some obvious areas that she would need to take care of, and it involved getting information. So, it seemed her job was getting details and putting them together, then and making reports. Did the reports go up to Big Query? Damn.
On the second day, she brought Toy down on the elevator and into the office to move furniture around. Once they were in the room and the door was closed, Toy did a fast spin.
"Any problem?" Traci addressed the bot.
The bot extended its head out, and the blue light of what she thought was its eye was looking around the room. It rolled around the room and then went into the small cleansing room. It came out after a short time.
"Toy, I want to move the desk, so it has my chair and back to the wall. That way, I can look out the window and still see anyone coming in the door. You will have to move those tables around and also reset the chairs. Please do all of that for me now." While she stood back, the bot that could lift a small airship started carefully shifting all of the furniture.
While the last of the chairs were being put into place, she decided she had to pee and went into the cleansing room, closing the door behind her. As she pulled down her clothes and sat on the stool, she looked up at the mirror over the sink. There was a note written on it, and it was from Toy.
LISTENING DEVICE HERE = OTHER ROOM MONITORED = CAN ELIMINATE ON YOUR COMMAND
Waiting for the automatic system to finish for her, she thought about the note. It was essential to know that someone was listening and watching her in the office. But it made her wonder, not only did Toy discover the problem, but that on its own, it warned her. What kind of tampering with the program had the previous owner done?
Getting up and adjusting her clothes, she went out to admire the new look of the office. Since it was such a nice day, she even went over and opened a set of doors, letting the smell of fresh-cut grass come into the room.
"I think that is all I need you for today. Oh, before you return to my suite, you can eliminate on my command now." She wasn't sure if the sentence would make sense to the bot, but the head extended, and there was a small flash of white light.
For the first time, Toy spoke to her. "I can find my way back to the suite now, Mistress Cen. Is there anything you require of me when I get there?"
Standing by her desk, she had to wonder if the bot got lonely up in the suite. "Yes, I wonder if you would bring me lunch at noon."
"It would be my pleasure." With that, the bot spun and rolled to the door.
A routine began as she discovered her job; Toy brought her lunch and tidied up her office before returning to her suite. Toy was just another robot moving in the halls of this busy mansion. After supper and another hour or two in the office, there was a walk to the barn with Fargo.
At the end of the next seven days, Traci was beginning to have information and reports coming in from different heads of departments on this large ranch. Something this large took a lot of people and hard work to keep it running smoothly. She was surprised to see from the details some problems that needed to be solved.
What surprised her as she collected all the statements and transactions was that it all seemed to be run honestly. This big crime lord had at least one ethical business. Traci was beginning to think that maybe, hidden away on this planet that was most dangerous, wasn't such a bad idea.
Looking out the open doors of her office, she saw all the expensive automatic machines handling so much of the work on Maurier Gardens. Close was the grass cutters. Over near an outbuilding floated a large machine that delivered some crates of something, perhaps food for animals.
Off in a field were several automatic machines moving down rows of plants. They could be harvesting, or they might be controlling weed infestation. In this day and age, there was so much that could be programmed into these machines that had limited AIs to take care of what used to be manual labor. Then Tracie saw a human on a floating lift flying slowly overhead that seemed to be overseeing the machines below.
Her stomach let her know it was time for supper, so she went out of her office door, intending to walk up the stairs to the second floor. She always ate with the others to listen to the gripes and problems.
This time she was surprised, as Fargo was sitting on one of the antique settees.
"Hello." Fargo stood up and smiled. "I didn't wait long. You are a person of habits." He waved at the stairs. "I wonder if you would change your routine just this one time and join me in a dinner outside."
As she took a few steps forward, she could see a robot the same style as Toy behind him. It held a large metal basket in one grip and a blanket in another. In a third, it had a bucket of ice with a couple of bottles poking out.
"Well," she smiled. "It looks like you are prepared, so it would be rude of me to say no. Lead the way."
To her surprise, he turned and went towards the long way out the back of the lobby. It was an extended walk to get past all the doors and to the wide-open glass doors in the rear of this substantial central room. There were wrap-around steps that led down to the paths that meandered through gardens of flowers from many different worlds.
As he went down the middle path, she followed, and so did the robot. She expected him to lead her to some gazebo or fancy table under a rose-covered arch. Instead, he just walked out onto the grass and chose a place under a tree.
"Does this look okay?" Fargo turned to her and seemed to want to please her. This was a bit strange, but she looked back at the garden and the over-bearing mansion. Finally, she turned and looked out at the trees and the bushes in bloom.
"It looks perfect."
The young man smiled, and he and the robot began to spread out the blanket and set out a spread from the basket. Again, he surprised her. She thought it would be full of small bites of expensive cheese and slices of meats and fancy crackers.
Instead, what was set on the white napkins were tall sandwiches in thick bread and fat pickles sitting besid
e with toothpick spears. It was the type of meal she would prefer but couldn't get up at the elaborate buffet.
The bottles in the ice bucket weren't special wines; it was fruit juice with just enough tart to it to wash down the heavy food. What a marvelous meal. Sitting cross-legged with her back to the ornamented building, all she could see were trees and flowers and bushes with short grass under everything.
Getting to eat while she listened to Fargo talk about the latest ride he had with his Drawns. She only heard every other word as he spoke softly and with the love of his animal. She smiled around the food that tasted so good. Listening and looking at this clean-cut young man—she had to wonder what he was doing on this world.
"Fargo, can I ask you something?"
Munching on a crunchy pickle, he nodded. "Ask me anything. I will be truthful with you. I like you." He was watching her instead of the flower garden.
"What happened when I helped you get into your father's shop? You were in danger."
Now his face changed, from the smiling youth to a deep sadness behind his eyes. He put the pickle down and reached for a napkin and began to wipe his fingers as if he was thinking of the right way to answer the question.
At last, he looked away from her, out at the trees and the distant lawn. "You know my father isn't an angel, right."
"Fargo, I know who your father is and that he is dangerous. That most people away from this world are afraid of him, and I think the OOW has a price on his head." Traci kept her voice very low as if the flowers were listening.
"Well, I think the warrant out for him is large. When he does go out, he travels not only in a disguised ship but with several heavily armed escorts along to protect him."
Nodding but keeping quiet, Traci picked up his half-eaten pickle and began to take a bite. She would not push him but wanted to let him tell his story in his way.
"Believe it or not, my father tried to keep me away from his business for most of my life. But you would have to be stupid not to understand the little things that didn't make sense. You know, the people that deferred to him, but that looked like they could kill the first person that looked at them directly in the eye.
Then there were the real funds that would be brought in, not credit or deposits, but real funds, and expensive metals and rare gems. They would appear and disappear. Yet anything I wanted, or he wanted, or his friends wanted, would suddenly be available.
The problem was that I wasn't stupid. In fact, I was a little bit too smart and had grown through my schools and tutors. So eventually, I did my studies and understood what I would one day inherit."
Stopping to reach for his bottle of juice and take a long drink, he finally looked over at her. She had the feeling he was checking to see if she was still there or running away toward the house to hide from him. Instead, she put the last of the pickle down and smiled. She let him finish his juice and his story.
"My father had it out when I told him I knew all about his shady business practices and about the bodies buried on a moon. I told him I wanted to know what I was going to get when I got old enough, and he finally agreed if I would go for two years at a special college at a faraway world.
I was there for three months before I was kidnapped. After my father got me back, he just gave up and took me into the business. Of course, he was careful to give me tons of protection, which was worse than being in one of the OOW's jails.
When you helped me, I had gone off the reservation and almost got too deep into the muck. My father doesn't own that whole area where the shop has a place. I had the information I had to get to him, but someone as big as him was out to prevent me from returning home. I lost three bodyguards and took a stab to my leg when I bumped into you." He waved his hands. "Thank you."
So now, two friends ate a picnic supper every third or fourth evening, out among the trees and flowers, watching the sun sink and evening birds catch bugs.
Chapter Sixteen
When almost ten days had gone by, and Fargo had not appeared with their invitation for an outside supper, Traci found she didn't like the change. It had rained a couple of days, but then the weather had cleared up, and the evenings were lovely. She missed the handsome youth, the good food, and the evening air.
There also was a difference in her work. It seemed that it was time to wrap up all the reports and make a final audit to submit to the owner of Maurier Gardens. This meant that she had to talk to the heads of each of the departments of the large ranch and make sure she had two essential items from them. She needed the final figures on all items pertaining to the last of the season for their division, and the second was the estimation of the next year's budget. This would include any new production or construction or large purchases.
After long hours talking to people on the inter-ranch comms, Traci had what she felt was a final audit. Sitting back, she looked at the chip that held all the information and wondered what the hell she was supposed to do with this information. There were no instructions on the monitors or in any of the chips or hidden in the drawers.
So much time had gone by that Traci had not noticed that her hair had grown out to her shoulders. She had first cut off all the streaks of red and black and finally let the natural red that went with her slight green skin grow. She was becoming natural.
This day, Toy brought her lunch right on the dot, and she instructed him to set it up on the patio. If she couldn't eat dinner out in the garden in the evening, she could eat lunch out in the sunshine on the deck.
"You are sad. Is it because you are lonely?" The tinny voice of the bot was something to keep her company as she sat at the small table outside the open doors of her office.
"Toy, I am meant to lead a life of loneliness. Do you even know what the word means?" She stirred some honey into her drink.
"Lonely, an adjective that means sad because one had no friends or company also without companions; solitary…"
"Stop. That is the dictionary's explanation of the word. It is different to experience it as a human."
"Or as a machine that is different from all other machines." The bot rolled back to stand quietly.
"Oh damn, what did your previous owner do to you." Traci stared at the small round head that was now just on top of the body. She thought for a moment and wondered if she had done it an injustice when she had not wiped its memory. It was impossible to wipe the memory away now that it had progressed to have some learning abilities and some stored memory in different locations.
"Do you remember him?" She asked the robot.
"Yes, he was a thoughtful human. Others are not so." The blue eye lit up. "Someone is at your front door."
At that moment, there was the buzzer that announced a visitor. "Stay here. I will answer it." Traci got up and walked through her office to the door and hit the palm panel. She could have ordered the door to open by voice, but she was curious to greet her visitor.
It was Ada.
"Ah, Chief Ada. Please come in. I was eating lunch, but it can wait. What can I help you with?" Traci turned away to walk to her desk, assuming he would follow her. But when she got behind her desk and looked, he was still standing at the door, looking out at the patio.
"You a have a robot on the porch." It was a harsh statement.
"You came to check on my porch?" Traci made her question sound as snippy as his words.
"What? No, I was just surprised. Is that your personal service unit?"
Traci sat down in her chair and took a deep breath. "Of course. Where else would I get a robot? I instruct him to bring me my lunch every day to continue to work in my office. Is that why you are here?" She shifted stacks of discs and chips on top of her desk, wondering why the man was really in her office. Toy kept blocking the surveillance equipment in her office, and that had to make someone unhappy.
Chief Ada turned and finally walked over to her desk. "No, sorry, it just surprised me. I am here to get the audit reports. There is an airship leaving for the main office in twenty minutes, a
nd all the yearend reports need to be on it. Do you have everything ready?"
Standing up to be on equal ground with him, she pulled an envelope from a drawer and dropped several chips into it. She pulled the tab that would seal it, pulled out a stamp from the same drawer, and put it over the seal. She then held out the envelope across the desk, making him walk closer to reach for what he claimed he had come for to her office.
Without a word, he walked over, took the envelope from her without comment. Ada turned and walked over to the door. She pushed a button on her desk to have the door open before he reached it, and he just walked out with no comment.
Well, that was interesting. Traci didn't have anything else to do for the rest of the day, but she let Toy stay and clean up the lunch. She also noticed that he put away the table and chairs without instructions, and she decided to keep him in her office until evening.
After she had closed out each computer and monitor, she began to wonder how far it was to the little landing field. Traci remembered when they had first landed here with Fargo unconscious. It couldn't be far, but the small ship was long gone.
"Toy, follow me and act like the usual personal service unit."
Going out of her office with just her usual small bag and a jacket, she left the door open. Toy rolled quietly close behind her. Going out the wide front opening, she looked around as she went down the impressive wide steps. The robot just tilted his rollers and was more than capable of moving down smoothly.
Although she didn't stop at the top, she did look around as if admiring the scenery. From there, it was easy to see the flat area with airships lined up. Traci went directly toward the flat area with the stripes on black and many lights that were not needed yet. There were a couple of airships that were loading some produce to take into the city.
Stopping, Traci handed her bag to Toy. It took the brown square sack full of papers, personal items, and the usual things Traci likes to keep with her. Now she walked up to the first unit that was loading.