“Hold on, bro,” Robert interrupted. “Let's make sure all of them are there before...”
“Whether or not they are, we have to rescue Celeste!”
“I'm well aware of that. However, I'd like to know what we're looking at before we head in. Plus, we need to wait until tonight.”
“Rob, I am not going to wait...”
“Yes, you are,” Robert asserted. “We can't let whoever did this...”
“Did you just seriously say whoever did this?” Morgan interjected.
“I did, Morgan! Because, we don't know who did it yet – no matter what we may suspect. If we don't want to have to keep looking over our shoulders, we're going to have to find and stop whoever it may be – Sturm or not Sturm.”
“You're right, brother,” Vox sighed. “It's just been a real bad couple of weeks.”
“Don't I know it,” Robert chuckled. “But, now we know where Celeste is and we know that she's fine. She probably doesn't even realize she's late for date night yet. When we go to get her, we need to make sure – not only that we succeed – but that we don't get caught. That means waiting until tonight. For one thing, we need to order outfits that match what they were wearing when they were kidnapped. It would be a bit of a giveaway if they suddenly changed clothes.”
“True.”
“Now, let's find the other girls.”
This proved exceptionally easy to do, as they were in the two tanks adjacent to the one containing Celeste. Morgan's heart was pounding in his chest. He hadn't realized just how upset he had been over the last few days until after he knew that all the girls were safe and sound. Tears began to run down Vox's cheeks – which he quickly wiped away – and Robert's eyes seemed somewhat more moistened that usual.
Doc, on the other hand, seemed to feel nothing more than satisfaction. His faith that – in the end – the ladies would be recovered safe and sound, had never once wavered. Morgan had thought he had felt the same way. At that moment, however, he realized that he had been far more anxious than he had allowed himself to believe he had been.
With the girls discovered, they only needed to be recovered. Fortunately, this would likely prove an easy task – at least, compared to their normal we have to sneak in activities. Vox and Robert modified seven stealth-belts in just under three hours. This done, the team geared up; fitting themselves out in cloth armor, shield generators, the modified stealth-belts, tranq-bullpups, and a deadly force weapon – just in case. They then sat on the bridge, staring at the clock, until the sun finally orbited below the edge of the island.
“I never thought about it before,” Morgan said, as they rose to make their way to the medi-bay, “but, it's weird that the sun orbits the island. Why didn't you guys set it up where the island would rotate while the sun sat still.”
“That would have been a pain,” Robert replied.
“Fair enough.”
They quickly unpacked the clones, turned them back on, fired up their new programming, and left them to change into their new clothes. This done, all seven of them climbed into the car. Having carefully maneuvered the ship where the car's bay was facing the pitch-black nothing that surrounded Never Never Land, Robert cloaked the vehicle, opened the bay doors, and left the ship.
He then headed directly – and invisibly – toward The Institute of Advanced Clone Studies. They left the car on the top floor of the parking garage and headed for a side entrance. Most of the staff had left more than an hour before, so the only people they were likely to encounter were very dedicated researchers and night watchmen. They hoped to encounter neither.
Bypassing the security on the side door proved to be something that Robert could have done in his sleep. In less than five minutes, they were all jammed inside a single elevator that was heading for the bottom basement.
“I just had a thought,” Morgan quietly claimed.
“I call,” Robert whispered in reply.
“What?”
“I think you're bluffing.”
“Funny,” Morgan said, shaking his invisible head, “but, I'm serious. What about all the doors and what not?”
“We're going to open the ones we need to, and leave the rest of them alone.”
“Right. But, what if someone goes through the security footage and sees doors just opening on their own. Since we're planning to leave the clones here as spies, that could arouse suspicion and blow the whole gaff.”
“I love that phrase,” Robert chuckled. “Anyway, Morgan, I think you're getting better and better at this. Don't worry though, I plan to fix it in post. Which is another phrase I like.”
“What do you mean?”
“I'll show you in a couple of hours,” Robert replied as the elevator doors opened. “Now, come on.”
They made their way to, and then inside, the high-security area in what amounted to no-time. As soon as they were in, they raised the shields on the girls' tanks, scanned their brains, and then scanned the clones.
“What are you doing?” Morgan asked.
“Replacing the clones' memories with the girls',” Doc replied. “Now the clones will remember everything – assuming there is anything to remember – that's happened since the girls got kidnapped. That way, if their captors interact with them, the clones will know what the girls knew.”
“Good idea. Should we give the girls the clones' memories?”
“Seriously?!” Robert exclaimed as loudly as he dared.
“Oh, right!” Morgan replied, momentarily stunned by his own – occasional – stupidity.
Just minutes later, all three girls were laying unconsciously on the floor; the clones having taken their places in the tanks. Robert slipped the rather unique engagement ring he had given his fiancée – that he had recovered from the clone just moments before – back on her finger. He, Morgan, and Vox, each wrapped a stealth-belt around the waist of their respective lady before lifting them from the ground. This stimulation temporarily awakened the green maiden.
“What's happening?” she asked extremely groggily. “Where am I?”
“Shhh,” Robert said softly. “That doesn't matter, dear. What matters is that I'm with you and that you're safe.”
“If you're with me,” she replied, “I know I'm safe.”
Having made this assertion, she relapsed into unconsciousness. Less than half-an-hour later, the entire crew was back on board the ship and the ladies were safely in bed. With these details attended to, Robert hacked into the security system at The Institute of Advanced Clone Studies and edited the surveillance video – replacing any mysteriously opening doors with doors that stayed just as closed as they should have.
“Why didn't Sturm do the same thing with the videos that incriminated him?” Morgan asked as he sat at Robert's side watching him work.
“Cars, and trucks, and people, and birds, and whatever else were all in the video caught by the street cams. It would have been an enormous task to edit it all without leaving traces. All we've got to do is replace video of opened doors with closed ones. Even at that, Cleo might be able to figure out that someone's altered it.
“All our opponent – whoever they may be – had to do was make sure no one recorded whatever it was they did. Their only real slip-up was using the same vehicle each time but, they may have had a reason for that. We always use the same car.”
“We only have one.”
“True, but, even if we had more, that one has a lot of features that your standard off-the-shelf vehicle doesn't have.”
“Agreed.”
Once all the video editing was complete, the menfolk locked the ship down tight and went to bed. They agreed to get up first thing in the morning to have a private meeting about what to do next as well as discussing exactly what they were going to tell the girls. The fact that Vox was an hour late to this meeting showed that things were already beginning to get back to normal.
“Celeste doesn't remember anything after having stepped into a changing room at The Apparelial Palace,” Vox sa
id, taking a seat at the conference table as he spoke. “For the moment, I told her that I knew what had happened, that I would explain it all to her later today, and that she shouldn't worry about it.”
“Apparently, she didn't,” Robert chuckled.
“No,” Vox said with a very wide smile, “that she did not.”
“Alright,” Robert said, glancing at each of his companions, “we've all got to work together on this because the girls can never find out exactly what happened between the clones and Morgan and me.”
“What exactly did happen?” Vox asked, “I mean, I know they kissed you but...”
“That's good!” Robert interrupted. “You don't know any of the details, then?”
“I know you two kissed the clones. Afterward, they each claimed they loved the wrong guy to make you two jealous or something.”
“That's exactly what happened, Vox. The clone girls kissed the real us-es. That's all you need to know.”
“It must have been some kind of kissing for you to be this worked up about it,” Vox chuckled.
“Let me ask you a question, bro. Would you ever be willing to tell Cleo a bald-faced lie?”
“Sorry, Rob, no,” Vox said, shaking his head. “Me and small girl kind of have an agreement in that area.”
“Oh well,” Robert sighed. “I don't really have a choice in this case but to tell the absolute truth.”
This statement caused Morgan to shoot a very concerned look at Robert.
“The truth is,” the traveler continued, “that clone-Cleo wasn't a very good kisser and neither was clone-Azure. Morgan and I just thought they were trying something new and had a laugh about it.”
Morgan sighed with relief while Doc couldn't keep himself from smiling.
“That ain't exactly a big deal,” Vox said, shaking his head. “It's not like you two were really laughing at them. Still, if they don't ask, I won't tell.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Doc,” Robert said, gazing at him with a thoughtful expression, “have I ever lied to you?”
“Constantly.”
“Have you ever caught Morgan in a lie?”
“More than once.”
“You didn't actually see what happened,” Robert asserted.
“I didn't,” Doc nodded.
“So, you only have the word of two known liars to go by?”
“Correct.”
“If Cleo or Azure ask you anything about anything, I would appreciate if you would stick to what you know happened and nothing else.”
“I'll do my best,” Doc laughed.
“Morgan, although honesty is a very fine thing, it can also get your legs broken. You reading me?”
“Loud and clear,” the young man nodded.
“Seeing as how your abilities are rather limited, you and I are going to sit down in a few minutes and discuss what really happened until we agree on every single detail.”
“Sounds good.”
“Now,” Robert said, “we need to let the girls know that they were kidnapped, that the clones did a fairly good job of impersonating them, that clone-Celeste did not completely impersonate real-Celeste...”
“Amen!” Vox interjected.
“…that – due to a number of little mistakes – we caught them, and that – having done that – we rushed to their rescue. We should go into as few details as possible. That being the case, I think we need to stick with: we were all fighting a lot and we don't want to talk about it.”
Everyone agreed with this.
“That takes care of our first problem,” Robert asserted. “Our second is going to be a little harder to deal with. Someone has thrown clones into the mix – on top of which – we can't be sure who may or may not be in on this conspiracy. As a result, we have to very carefully decide who we can trust.”
“I think we should begin,” Doc said thoughtfully, “with Sister, Brother, and Chairman Ross. They're already involved in our investigation and, if we can't trust them, we can't trust anyone in Never Never Land.”
“I agree,” Robert nodded. “I'll invite all three of them to have dinner on the ship with us tonight. Once they're on board, we can jump into non-space and have a bit of a meeting. Until then, we're going to spend the day relaxing with the ladies.”
The meeting concluded, Robert contacted Sister, Brother, and Chairman Ross to issue invitations. He then sat down with Morgan and went over all the details of what had actually happened – most of which hadn't happened at all.
When this was finished, Robert got on the comm and informed the girls that it was pajama day and that their only duty for the time being was to enjoy themselves. Due to the effects of prolonged hibernation, they were all relatively exhausted. As a result, Morgan asked why they never just hung out and watched TV. They decided to. In fact, one of Robert's sealed rooms was what amounted to a ship's theater.
They started with a couple of hours of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Azure loved it. It turned out – she explained to Morgan – that, when he had asked her if she liked it, she had said no meaning; 'I don't like it', not 'I don't like it' because she had never seen it before. However, she suspected she would because she liked most of the Monty Python movies that Sister had programmed her with after Morgan had asked her about it. Morgan was ecstatic about this as it gave Azure yet another check mark on his love list.
As Robert had suspected, both Cleo and Celeste thought it was stupid. But, they were good sports about letting everyone else enjoy it. After this, they watched a few chick flicks that would have made Morgan – and probably Robert – puke if it hadn't been for the fact that the girls were cuddling up to them in their pajamas. In fact, after TV time, Morgan pointed out that Cleo really needed to turn the program back on soon. Robert agreed.
When the time drew near for Chairman Ross and company to arrive, Robert explained to the girls that they were going to have visitors and that they might want to change clothes. They did. Just minutes after this, the chairman arrived by flying-future-limo.
“Hello, Joe,” Robert said, scanning his old friend's head with a brain-scanner as he came on board, “good to see you.”
“Good to see you, too, Rob,” the chairman chuckled. “May I ask what you're doing?”
“Checking to see if you're a clone... And… you're not.”
“Should I have been?” Joe asked. “I'll feel horrible if I've messed up your plans for the evening.”
“No, no. This is strictly a no-clones affair. As soon as Brother and Sister... Ah, here they are now.”
Moments after they arrived, Robert gave them a similar greeting before he and Morgan led them into the conference room where the rest of the crew was already gathered.
“So,” Chairman Ross said with a wide smile as he scooted up to the table, “when do we eat?”
“Oh, right...” Robert replied as he was pulling out Sister's chair for her. “Sorry, Joe, I lied about that. Why? You hungry?”
“Of course I'm hungry!” he exclaimed. “You invited us to dinner, you lunatic. I haven't eaten all day.”
“We’ve got some MREs if you want one.”
“I hate MREs...”
“I’ve got ya covered,” Morgan assured him. “I'll whip up some pancakes.”
“Are you any good at it?” Joe asked.
“Are you kidding?” the young man laughed. “I can cook an entire breakfast.”
“In that case,” the chairman replied, “I'll have a short-stack, bacon, eggs...”
“How do you want your eggs?” Morgan asked.
“Would you just go cook something, Morgan!” Robert replied. “We've got bigger fish to fry.”
“Sorry, we're out of fish.”
“Oh, that's a riot, that is. How long did it take you to come up with that.”
“That was right off the cuff, brother,” Morgan replied, snapping his fingers a few times.
“I'll take care of it, Rob,” Celeste said. “For one thing, it will spare us all Morgan's what happened
while I was gone? inquisition later this evening. For another, he hasn't really mastered bacon yet.”
“Well,” Morgan nodded, “it is an art.”
With food somewhere on the immediate horizon, Robert's guests were ready to begin talking business. Robert sent the ship hurtling into non-space and commenced the meeting.
“To start with, Joe,” Robert said, shifting his gaze from the chairman to his fiancée, “Cleo has a question for you.”
“Did Doctor Sturm tell you that I had given him permission to clone me?” she asked.
“No...” he replied slowly. “Doctor Sebastian Quail did.”
“Who is he?” Morgan asked.
“A protégée of Doctor Sturm's,” Brother replied. “They've been working together for close to two centuries now.”
“If I had to guess,” Robert said, “I'd say that Quail told you the same thing about Azure and Celeste.”
“He did,” Joe nodded. “But, that hardly matters, Rob. If anyone in Never Never Land has higher security clearance than you, it's me.”
“That's not the issue, Joe,” Robert informed him. “The problem with it is that they didn't give him any such permission.”
“It's not like I just took his word for it,” the chairman replied. “Quail had them sign permission forms - as well as thumbprint them – on video.”
“Obviously, he grew the clones before he asked for permission, and then had the clones sign the forms.”
“I'll have him brought in for questioning immediately,” Joe nodded.
“Hold on,” Robert said. “We have to take this one step at a time. Step one is; review the evidence we have and try to determine where we can look for more clues. Have you made any headway on figuring out who shut down the time-generators in Never Never Land or how?”
“Not much,” Brother replied. “Whoever did it was a genius. We believe they infected the computer control systems with a virus that would cause them to shut down. However, we can't be sure because, whatever the software was, it deleted itself as soon as it finished executing. Meaning that, as soon as the generators were brought back online, the virus was gone. In fact, the only reason we discovered that much was because an auxiliary file log caught the change. And, I think that was just an oversight on the part of our attacker.”
Bad Behavior (The Last Time Traveler Book 3) Page 25