“Oh, there are definitely things I'm a grand master at. Just ask Azure,” the young man asserted, doing a pretty good job of imitating Robert's overwhelming confidence and shooting the blue maiden a knowing grin.
“I don't know about grand master,” she replied, rolling her eyes before giving him a coy smile. “Although, I have to admit that, at least in certain areas, you do seem to have genuine natural talent.”
“What areas?” he asked with a wink.
“Making pancakes, for instance,” she laughed. “You can't cook anything else but, you've got a real gift when it comes to those.”
“It all comes down to practice,” he said, actually managing to flirt. “When you've got a talent, you should use it. That's how you get to be a grand master.”
“Then, head for the kitchen, Hos,” Robert chuckled. “Because, you've got time to practice now.”
“How much time?” Morgan asked, turning his gaze to Cleo.
“How would I know?” she replied with a shrug.
“I mean,” he explained, “how much time is it going to take you to build the backup power thingy?”
“Oh. A few hours, I guess. It should actually be fairly simple. It's just an auxiliary power unit with remote activation.”
“How long before we get there?” Morgan asked, turning back to Robert.
“About six hours,” the traveler replied, glancing down at the console. “The target planet is pretty far out.”
“What is the target planet?”
“Kreple.”
“So, the natives are Kreplians.”
“Exactly.”
“Awesome,” Morgan smiled. “Either way, a few is three and six is six. Which leaves us with three hours. That's more than enough time to spar.”
“A few is three or more,” Robert pointed out.
“Well,” Cleo said thoughtfully, “I can't imagine it taking us more than four hours. So, we actually do have some time.”
“Perfect!” the young man cried triumphantly. “You ladies go slip into your silk doboks and meet us in the gym.”
“They're made out of cotton,” Robert replied. “They're karate uniforms, Morgan, not pajamas.”
“Silk would allow them to move more freely,” Morgan speculated, moving his hands in a very martial-arty type of way. “It has almost no resistance. It would probably be almost like fighting completely...”
“What do you think, Cleo?” Robert interrupted.
“I suppose silk would...”
“No,” he chuckled. “I mean; what do you think about training together? I know you said you thought we should at some point but, do you feel it's safe to start now?”
“How do you feel?”
“Under control.”
“Me, too,” she nodded. “It would be a good idea to have Doc with us, though; just in case.”
“That's a fact,” Morgan agreed. “I might accidentally wreck Rob if I'm not careful. Having Doc there would mean I wouldn't have to hold back. Well, not much, anyway.”
“Be that as it may,” Robert chuckled, “it's probably a good idea to let you get a little practice in before this next job. So, I guess we may as well make use of the time.”
Minutes later, the four companions were down at the dojo. Robert had attempted to invite Vox and Celeste to join them. However, for some reason, Vox hadn't answered the intercom. Doc told them to start without him. He said that he couldn't imagine there being any danger until after they had worked up a sweat. He also said he was working on something. Which was technically true. He was at the very end of that e-book and wanted to finish it before he did anything else. He had been interrupted enough already and felt that he deserved a little quiet time. Which is something I can certainly understand.
The ladies and Robert changed into their uniforms, the girls' being plain white suits and the traveler's being a black suit with a white belt wrapped around it.
“Why is your dobok different?” Morgan asked as soon as Robert stepped into the room.
“Because I am a grand master,” he explained. “Plus, I think it's cool.”
“It is,” the young man admitted, falling back into a rather awkward 'cat stance' as the ladies made their way into the room. “Let's go!”
“Not yet, Morgan,” the traveler chuckled. “We have to stretch out first.”
“This is ninja training, Rob,” the young man replied, “not a yoga class. Let's go!”
“Not until we've limbered up,” Robert replied, reaching down to put his palms on the floor. “Start by touching your toes.”
“Stop stalling, man,” Morgan chuckled. “I'm not going to hurt you.”
“I'm not worried about that, bro,” the traveler replied, lifting his head up to gaze at his friend. “I just don't want you to hurt yourself.”
“That ain't gonna happen,” the young man assured him. “Now, come on, tiny.”
“I'm not tiny,” Robert replied with half a chuckle.
“That's what all tiny men say, Rob. Let's do this.”
“I'm not going to spar with you until you stretch out,” the traveler insisted. “You don't know what you're doing yet and you're liable to injure yourself if you're not careful.”
“Don't know what I'm doing?” he replied with a tone of disbelief. “Check this out, ladies.”
Morgan's mind had flown through all the martial possibilities; searching for the one thing that would be most likely to impress the girls. Finally, he selected the flying spinning jump kick – both because it looks awesome and, with his weight and strength, he might be able to break the chain that held the punching bag to the ceiling. That would unquestionably leave an impression.
In less than a second, he had turned, focused his chi, and started running toward the bag full-tilt. Before Robert even had a chance to speak, the young man leapt into the air, spun around - consequently twisting his back - missed the bag completely, and slammed into the wall with an almost stunning amount of force. In fact, it did stun him.
“Are you alright, Morgan?!” Azure exclaimed, rushing to his side.
“No...” he said, refusing to move. “No, I'm not. I've broken my foot, my ankle, all the bones in my leg, my hip, and my back.”
“Have you?” Doc asked, stepping into room. “Let's take a look.”
Fortunately, Morgan was very mistaken. He had only sprained his ankle and his spine. Both of which, Doc was able to fix in a matter of minutes, although, he did ban Morgan from any more martial arts for at least twenty-four hours. As soon as he was out of the medi-bay, the young man tracked down Azure and Cleo who were already working away on the power unit with Vox. After several minutes of fruitless conversation, Morgan made his way to the bridge, where he found Robert singing along to some of his favorite eighties' music.
“You might as well turn that off,” he said, slipping down into his seat with a sigh. “I don't think either of us are going to be rocking the cradle of love anytime soon. Cleo refuses to listen to reason.”
“Meaning what, exactly?”
“Meaning, she won't turn the program back on.”
“It's only been off a day, bro,” Robert pointed out. “You were kissing Azure yesterday morning.”
“I know,” he replied with another sigh. “It's not the amount of time, though. Since you restored that backup, the program's not going to fire off all that many events, anyway. It's just the principle of the thing. When it's running, I'm always on edge; always anticipating what might be just around the corner; constantly listening for the sound of solitary footsteps. It's crazy exciting. You know what I mean?”
“Yes...” the traveler nodded. “Yes, I do... In fact, that very anticipation was one of the things causing me to slip my cogs, bro. You can be sure it's also part of what pushed Cleo over the edge. Well, that, and not seeing me for months. It all added up to a micro-disaster. Such are the dangers of deception, Morgan.”
“What deception?”
“Our modifying the program,” Robert explained. “C
leo spent a great deal of time working out the numbers, doing her best to ease us into the water without causing any slip-ups. You and I decided to modify those numbers in order to cut into her safety window for our own personal gratification. You got to kiss Azure more, I got to outsmart Cleo. And, of course, kiss her more.”
“And they got to kiss us more. I think they appreciated it, whether or not they knew we did it.”
“Oh they did!” the traveler assured him. “They really appreciated it. At least, I know Cleo did.”
“Well, you can take my word for it. Azure did, as well.”
“I believe you,” Robert nodded. “But, that very appreciation is what's led us into this current desert of physical affection. Cleo got a little too ready to show me her appreciation and I was way too ready to accept everything she was willing to show. As a result, she's decided that we have to have a cool down period and basically start over once we're cold.”
“How long will that take?”
“I'm not sure. In the past, Cleo's had the shield of basically being angry at me all the time to protect her. She doesn't really have that now. We're engaged, I've been generally behaving, she just spent days being mad at me for something I didn't do, and I'm even trying to cut back on lying to her. All that adds up to me being in her good books, which makes me even more irresistible than usual. Which is almost hard to imagine... Still, she'll probably be ready for a reset in a week or two.”
“Two weeks!” Morgan exclaimed. “Man, this stinks!”
“Well, if you'd prefer, we can err on the side of caution next time to make sure this doesn't happen again.”
“What do you mean?”
“We can decide to forgo the – let's face it – truly epic rewards for our mildly nefarious activities and leave the program as it is.”
“There's no reason to take it to extremes,” Morgan replied shaking his head. “Not hacking it at all is clearly a mistake. That's no kind of close sailing/edge dancing. We just have to be more careful next time. We need to put enough thought into it so that we can push you two right up to the line of unbridled animal passion without shoving you over it.”
“I've got to admit,” Robert smiled, “I'd find the challenge exciting. Not to mention all the rest of it.”
“Right. So, when do we get started?”
“There's no point until Cleo turns the program back on.”
“Oh, yes, there is,” Morgan disagreed. “I want it firing at full efficiency the moment it's back online.”
“What if Cleo decides to go over the code before she turns it back on?”
“You're right,” he sighed. “I hadn't thought of that.”
“That's because you're not a deceiver by nature.”
“Well, I have to admit it, you have a gift.”
“It's good of you to notice.”
With a plan in mind that couldn't be set in motion for days at least, the pair decided to spend the next few hours going over the details of the upcoming mission. In truth, it seemed fairly straightforward. All they needed to do was break into a lavish mansion protected by a state-of-the-art – at least, for the time – security system, complete with robot guards. The lab where the time machine was kept was several floors below ground and, essentially, a vault. However, Robert was confident that Cleo would have no problem getting the door open. Especially considering the fact that they would have hours to do it, if need be.
He had also managed to acquire the master code for the security system. This meant that, if they could get inside the control room and subdue the guard, they would be able to take control of it. That would allow them to use the cameras to their own advantage and make sure no one caught them opening the door to the lab.
In truth, Robert felt that he and Cleo could probably handle the job by themselves. However, he also felt that it was a bad idea, at least for the moment, for the two of them to put themselves in a situation where they might end up all alone, in a vault, for several undisturbed hours. If either of them even got so much as slightly overheated, it could lead to a number of pheromone fueled slip-ups. The fact that, while he was explaining the danger of this to Morgan, he unintentionally referred to such a series of a events as a chain reaction of unfettered ecstasy underlined the reason why the couple needed a chaperone for the time being.
Morgan was more than willing to go, not wanting to miss out on any of the action. He also pointed out that they should also take Azure along with them as well, in case they needed to break up into separate groups for any reason. Robert saw the sense in this. For one thing, it would allow he and Morgan to control the security system while the girls broke into the vault and installed the auxiliary power unit.
With the major details of the job attended to, Morgan made his way to the galley. He felt it would be a good idea for them to eat before they set out and, as Azure had just complimented his flapjacks, he decided to cook breakfast for dinner. (Plus, of course, pancakes were the only thing he actually knew how to cook.) Everyone was appreciative of his efforts although, Celeste did point out that she was either going to have to take over the role of ship's cook or teach him more about what he was doing in the kitchen. Robert agreed but, he insisted she refer to it as the galley in future.
After a brief discussion, Celeste decided that she wanted to go on the mission, as well – along with Vox, of course. Robert could hardly refuse, as she pointed out that the danger was minimal and that she didn't intend to spend the next fifty-thousand years or so sitting on the ship while everyone else was getting to see the universe. Under the circumstances, Doc decided to go, too. He had just finished his e-book and didn't want to start the next one in the series until he headed for bed, so he had been looking for something to fill up the time, anyway.
All seven of the crew headed to the armory, where they were each equipped with a tranq-gun, an energy weapon, a stealth-belt, a personal force-field, and a suit of cloth armor. This done, Robert pulled seven thin metallic headbands from a concealed cabinet.
“Put this on your head,” he said, handing one of the circlets to Morgan.
The young man obeyed while the traveler distributed the remaining circlets to the rest of their companions.
“Can you hear me, Morgan?” Robert asked without moving his lips.
“Yes,” the young man said, rolling his eyes. “But, don't expect that to work again, bro. I ain't gonna cluck like a chicken or nothing like that.”
This caused the traveler to laugh.
“This isn't ventriloquism,” Robert replied, shaking his head. “It's technological telepathy.”
“Of course it is, Rob. If you want clucking, though, you're going to have to get yourself a technological chicken.”
“He's actually telling the truth, Morgan,” Cleo said with a smile of unmoving lips.
“Wow!” the young man replied. “I didn't know you were a ventriloquist, too, Cleo. Although, I think trying to help Rob trick me shows a certain lack of gratitude for my recent honesty.”
“She's not trying to trick you,” Doc pointed out. “These headbands are a specific type of brain-scanner connected to a transmitter.”
“Alright, Doc,” Morgan replied, shaking his head. “If you say it, it must be true. But, how do they work?”
“A lot like other brain-scanners,” Robert replied. “Anyway, stop talking and start thinking.”
Morgan stood, silently staring at the traveler for a moment.
“Et tu, Doc?” he finally asked aloud.
“Oh, sorry,” the traveler chuckled. “Think about the color red before you think what you want to say.”
“Why do I need to do that?” Morgan thought.
“The color red is the call button,” Robert explained. “I mean; you wouldn't want Azure to be able to read all your thoughts, all the time, would you?”
For several seconds, the young man stood, refusing to think a reply.
“You know, Rob,” he finally thought, “that's a really stupid thing to ask me when I'm hook
ed to a brain-scanner!”
“It's alright, Morgan,” Azure giggled silently, gently biting her lower lip. “I think things I wouldn't want you to hear, too.”
“Really?!” he asked excitedly. “Hot dog!”
“Vox thinks things that none of you would want to hear,” Celeste asserted.
“I like thinking them, too, baby,” Vox thought, laughing out loud as he did so.
“So, why have we never used these before?” Morgan asked.
“They tend to give you a headache,” Robert replied. “Plus, we've never really needed them before.”
“Why do we need them now?”
“James Morgan and sons actually developed security systems for several decades. As a result, they had their house pretty well wired up. Their security cameras recorded audio as well as video. So, we can't speak the whole time we're on this job. Well, not in most of the rooms, anyway. Plus, their robot security guards have great hearing. You'd be able to whisper us into getting shot in no time at all. I knew you wouldn't be able to be quiet for an hour or two, so I figured I’d rather risk the headache than risk getting shot.”
“Good call,” Morgan agreed.
Minutes later, they were all packed in the car. Doc, Vox, and Celeste squeezed into the back seat, while Robert, Morgan, Azure, and Cleo were all jammed in the front. (In exactly that order.) Morgan loved the fact that they barely had room to move. For one thing, it gave him a reason to put his arm around Azure, which he did the moment they were both buckled up. As soon as everyone was ready, the bay doors were opened and the car was sent hurtling into space.
They descended through the atmosphere before making their way – quite invisibly – to the outskirts of a large metropolis. Robert flew over a massive mansion with extensive grounds, landing the car on a neatly trimmed lawn near the back of the premises. They then set out for the servants' entrance that was their initial target.
“Now,” Robert began, as they were crossing the lawn, “keep in mind that we don't know where everybody – or every robot – in this place is going to be the entire time we're in here. So, we have to stay on our toes.”
“Why don't we know?” Morgan asked. “We did on the Delmont job.”
Bad Behavior (The Last Time Traveler Book 3) Page 3