Into the Ether

by Andrew Bardsley

  Chris nodded and signal for Sarah to stop the convoy at a small diner he could see in the distance. As the vehicles were arriving at the diner, Chris asked if her group could find a property matching what he had always thought of as the ideal house.

  Chris turned to Sarah and Abigail, “We can have a meal while we wait, if they find anything then we can go and see.”

  As all the vehicles pulled up to the front of the diner, the security quickly got out and entered, checking for anything suspicious. When they were satisfied, Chris’ door was opened, and he was able to walk in, flanked by guards.

  One of the guards spoke to Chris, “We have a table in the corner for you sir.”

  Chris nodded and with Abigail, sat at the table. The rest of the crew and team seated themselves around the diner. It was like most tables in the diner, a booth table. Chris was on one side, while Abigail took the other side of the table. As they started to look at their menus, a young waitress walked up to them to take an order.

  When she saw Abigail, she smiled widely. “You’re Abigail from the magazine program! I don’t suppose I have your autograph please?” She stammered.

  “Of course,” Abigail said, as the girl passed over a folded piece of scrap paper from her pocket for an autograph.

  The waitress was bouncing at her luck, “I wondered why we had all this security entering the diner. Now I realise it was for you!”

  Abigail smiled as she pointed one finger lazily at Chris, “Oh it’s not for me dear, it’s for him.”

  The girl looked at Chris, sitting nonchalantly in his casual clothes, and asked. “Are you famous too then?”

  Chris just shook his head not wanting to be in the spotlight here. Both of them put in order for food. Out of habit, Chris kept his order simple, while Abigail went for a complex salad. She had the waitress make special arrangements with the chef for her meal.

  Once they were served, Abigail asked Chris, “So then. Is this the everyday ‘fine’ dining you are accustomed to?”

  Chris stopped moving his cutlery and looked up. “No, what I eat is normally a lot worse than this.”

  Abigail was clearly surprised. “Chris, what do you spend your money on? Don’t mind me saying it, but it obviously isn’t clothes.”

  “I really haven’t spent any significant amount on myself since I started making the money, so the answer is nothing.” Chris admitted to Abigail.

  Before Abigail could reply Sarah appeared at his shoulder and said, “We have a few choices of properties that we could look at now. Do you want to have a look at them and chose which ones you want to see?”

  Chris nodded, and started to look at a scroll with images and information about the different properties. After careful consideration, he selected one to view. Sarah was able to make the arrangement and they were soon on the way.

  It took a little more an hour this time to reach the property in the mountains. The conversation was pleasant, but minimal as Chris made a habit of studying his notes. The vehicles lowered to the ground outside the wooden cabin, everybody got out. They were in a beautiful mountain valley, with no other houses in sight. The undulating hills crisscrossed the isolated valley. Chris could smell the fresh air and hear birds tweeting. Abigail in her fashionable shoes looked very out of place in the wilderness. An old man, the estate agent, was there to meet them and he was looking in wonder at the security guards and the rest of the entourage that had quickly descended on his property.

  Chris walked up to him and shook his hand and said, “Hi, I’m interested in the property you have around here. Could you show use around please?”

  The man said, “Of course, but who are you people? You're not the usual type to come out this way.”

  Chris said, “Sorry about the entourage, but there's a famous reporter over there.”

  The man looked and saw Abigail and nodded his head at Chris. “I’ve seen her before in that magazine program. She doesn’t look the type for this place. I’ll show you around anyway.”

  Chris nodded and was led into the cabin. The cabin had a living area that had a kitchen and dining area of the side. The bedrooms were on the second floor and were small but homely. In the back of the house was a cramped utilities room. The whole house was very basic and a bit rough. Abigail was very dismissive of the whole house. The agent looked more and more down cast with every comment she made. Chris asked to see the land that came with the house, and the agent pulled out a map of the area. He indicated that all of the mountain valley was part of the deal, but it was protected land and that there was only a couple of acres around the property which could be developed.

  Chris liked the beautiful area and the houses isolation. He turned to the agent, “It’s really nice, I think I’d like to buy it.”

  The agent smiled wryly and said, “And I’d like you to have it, but unfortunately for both of us, it’s not up to you. The lady who's been commenting so badly about the house is the rich one.”

  Chris laughed, and said, “Don’t worry about her, I have enough money to buy it. How much are you selling it for?”

  The man said, “It’s quite expensive as all the land comes with it, I would like to get at least a million for it.”

  Chris didn’t blink. “That's fine with me. Would it be possible to pay now and take the property today assuming the paperwork is fine?”

  The agent indicated that he was fine with that and Chris was able to transfer the money through the farseeing system. Shortly after the agreement was reached, he was placing his mark on the property, indicating his ownership. Just before he left, he used an inscription scroll to change the back-utility room, into a set of workshop areas and install a transportation doorway to the lock-up.

  Abigail had been waiting in the vehicles for him to leave. As he climbed inside, she said, “So this your ideal house, in the middle of nowhere?”

  Chris smiled sincerely, “Yes, it did seem to fit most of the criteria I was looking for.”

  On the way back to the office the ride wasn’t as quiet. It seemed like Abigail asked hundreds of questions, about his likes and dislikes. As he tried to answer them honestly, she got more and more annoyed. She eventually said, “You really seem to be quite boring. Most of your interests are purely academic in nature. How about any love interests in your life? Anything?”

  Chris shook his head and said, “None at all, I’ve only dated a bit at university and not much since.”

  Abigail got even more annoyed at that answer. “At the moment the article is just going to be ‘Boring boss nearly killed by his own guards’.”

  For the rest of the journey she was quiet.

  The evening event was a charity gala for a Children’s Medical Centre. Sarah had chosen the event as ‘Ether’ previously donated money to it. Chris was told in no uncertain terms that he was required to wear a new suit to the event. It was tailored perfectly but had none of the usual inscription on the clothing that everybody seemed to want. Chris had insisted on this. When the convoy arrived at the event, Chris saw that there was a red carpet for the rich and famous to enter the facility. There were large crowds gathered watching from the sidelines, roped off so they could not break through to the people on the red carpet.

  Abigail quickly got out of the vehicle to a cheer from the crowd. She was wearing a very gorgeous dress, all in a deep blue, with inscriptions for glamour all over the fabric. Chris thought that her hair most have taken hours to put in her slightly wavy style. As she walked up the red-carpet, cameras took images of her in different poses, with a smile plastered to her face. When Chris got out of the black vehicle, the security guards formed up around him. Nobody seemed to notice him, except one reporter, who had not been able to interview Abigail.

  The woman came up to Chris, as Chris nodded to the guard to let her by, she spoke loudly over the roaring crowd, “You just got out of the same vehicle as Abigail! Are you with her for this event?”

  Chris said, “She’s just doing an interview for her magazine on me, so
I guess she is the one following me around technically.”

  The woman reporter looked more interested in Chris, “Sorry, but I don’t recognize you. What's your name?”

  Chris said, “Chris Prof, what is yours?”

  She replied, “Betty Hand reporter for Grand Herald. The name rings a bell but what do you do?”

  Chris said with a smile, “I’m the owner of the Ether company, we’re producing magical inscriptions for a range of things.”

  Betty gaped in shock, “You’re that person that nobody has met, and every reporter is trying to interview! Could I talk to you for a while?”

  Chris glanced around. “Sure, I think Abigail is going to be a while from the look of things. Why don’t we go to the table we have booked?”

  Chris turned back to Sarah who was with the security guard and asked if they could arrange for another person at the table. She went off to deal with it, while Betty and Chris, with the guards, walked past everybody who was posing for the crowd and interviewing with reporters. The banquet hall was very quiet, as everybody was still on the red carpet. Chris and Betty sat down at the table together as the guard positioned themselves close by.

  For the next half an hour Betty interviewed Chris. To him it felt more like a friendly conversation with Betty. The interview was over a range of topics and some of the questions were about the plans the company had for the future.

  Chris answered as best he could. “We have more inscriptions that the company will be issuing. I think that they will be a lot more exciting than what we currently have to offer.”

  Betty interrupted him, “More exciting than what you currently offer? But what you already offer has nearly turned the world upside down as it is.”

  The interview carried on as the banquet hall slowly filled up, with well-dressed people. Towards the end of the stream of people, Abigail came to the table. As she saw Chris talking to Betty, she first had a look of shock and then anger. Abigail was guided to the chair beside Chris while Sarah took a chair opposite him.

  While Abigail sat down, she spoke through a gritted smile, “Hello Betty. Are you have a good time?”

  Betty just smiled, “Yes, Chris and I have been having very interesting conversation. Did you enjoy yourself out there tonight?”

  Abigail only replied with silence. Soon the diner started, and Chris found that the two women were competing, to talk to him. Often, one would interrupt when the other was talking with some kind of comment which appeared a thinly veiled jab at the other. After the dinner, there was a presentation about the children’s charity. Following that there would be an auction, to raise money. Chris was impressed by the work the charity was doing and was happy to bidon things that caught his attention when the auction started. The items in the auction were all art work the children in the medical centre had produced. Many of them were pictures of people or scenes. When a unique picture came up for sale that was childish drawing of planets in space, Chris took a liking to it. He set a bid at the lowest value, of one thousand Drachmas. Soon the bid was up to ten and then there was nobody left bidding. The auctioneer glanced around before announcing “Sold! To Doctor Chris Prof, Ladies and Gentlemen, the owner of Ether!” At this point, most of the people in the hall looked around to see who Chris was and there was a slight murmuring that passed through the crowd.

  At the end of the evening, each of the buyer’s tables had their image taken with the children who had created the art they had brought. As Chris was standing there holding the picture with Abigail, Betty, Sarah and the girl who had drawn the picture, most of the reporters for the event were taking images or trying to ask Chris questions.

  The little girl said to Chris, “Are you famous?”

  Chris said, “Not at all. I’d like you to know that I do love the picture you have done. Thank you for it.”

  As Chris left, the little girl was beaming with a smile. For Chris, leaving the event was a lot more difficult than entering had been. Most of the guests and reporters wanted to talk to him. Luckily for Chris the security guards kept all the people away as they flanked him and escorted him out from the event.

  Before saying goodbye to Betty, Chris said “Come by the office sometime, and we can finish the interview”

  This had left Abigail fuming as she got her transport home.

  The next day Chris was up early and following his usual routine of exercise. Since he had been abducted, he had been practicing martial arts by himself. Chris’s fitness had now returned, to the level it was before he had become homeless. Since Chris was practicing martial arts, his body now was more muscular than it had been before as well. He was satisfied that even without his shield inscription he would be tougher to abduct or try and capture again.

  As he got back to his research, he started ordering parts and materials to develop some initial prototypes for some of his ideas. He also arranged for the wooden cabin furniture and fixtures to be furnished according to his tastes and was planning to move his workshop to the cabin, to start living in the middle of the nowhere.

  Before that could happen though he would have to finish his mandated PR tour. The first event of today was in the afternoon. The plan was to look around some luxury vehicles and have a photoshoot with them. In the evening they would be going to high class party located in an art gallery.

  Chris had been working, until mid-morning when Abby came into his workshops. She was still annoyed about the problems with the security detail and expressed it to him for several minutes.

  When she had vented enough to calm down, Abby said to Chris, “Not the best start to the interview I guess, but do you still want to continue with the whole article?”

  Chris said, “Yes, though I think we had better to try and give Abigail more information than just the accident yesterday.”

  Abby nodded with an exasperated sigh, “We have a Betty Hand from the Grand Herald, in the reception who wants to meet with you. She says that you promised to continue the interview with her from last night. Is that correct?”

  Chris nodded his head and said, “Yeah, I did promise that last night. I wasn’t expecting her so soon though. Have her come into the workshop so I can carry on working, while she talks to me.”

  Abby said, “Sarah says told me that the Grand Herald is a bit more of a serious news platform and Betty has some background in math-a-magical work, so she may cover some of the more important issues you are researching.”

  Chris nodded his head and Abby left as he got back to work on his projects. In a few minutes, Betty was shown into the workshop, by one of the security guards as she entered. She looked at all the magical equipment around the room.

  As Betty was shaking Chris’s hand and looked around the room, she said, “You really have a very costly and sophisticated set up in here. Some of this equipment I’ve only seen in the top universities.”

  Chris nodded and said, “Yes, it's the one area of my life that I want the best I can afford. After all, it’s for the work I do.”

  Betty looked at some of the scroll work Chris was developing, and said, “You do know that throughout the rest of the world people are desperately trying to repeat the work you have been doing, but none have achieved it yet. Why is that so? What is so unique about the inscriptions you do that it is impossible to repeat at the moment?”

  Chris laughed and said, “I’m not giving away my companies advantage that easily. Advantage in magical inscriptions tend to be only temporary, so you’ll excuse me if I don’t answer that question, but I will say, what the world has seen is only the start of what the Ether company has to offer the public.”

  Betty noted something on a scroll and asked another question, “A lot of politicians want you to give out the magical techniques to other companies, to break the monopoly you have at the moment. There’s also a lot of increased public pressure for an increased production of the inscriptions that your company is already providing. How are you going to deal with this problem?”

  Chris said with a no
d. “I do want to increase production, to alleviate the high level of demand. That’s a matter of increasing efficiency. But as for me losing the right to the magical inscriptions, that a big no for me. The company is willing to work with the politicians to address their issues though.”

  Betty was writing away as she asked some more questions to Chris before he ended the interview and got back to work.

  That afternoon, with Abigail and her crew, he found himself looking at luxury sports vehicles. Mostly Abigail’s producer was interested in getting images of Chris and Abigail in different vehicles. When the producer asked Chris to drive one of the vehicles Chris had to admit that he could not operate one. This got a shocked look by Abigail and she tried to delve into his past for more information. Chris managed the avoid the question, but not entirely to her satisfaction.

  Chris was on a large yacht that his company had rented for the afternoon, so they could get some pictures of him and Abigail within it. Sarah had asked Chris to change into some beach wear for the image shot. Chris was now standing in loose board shorts and a t-shirt with Abigail beside him in an elegant one-piece swim suit and a light robe draped around her shoulders. She also had an elegant hat. Chris felt out of place the entire time he was on the yacht, but Abigail seemed to love every second. Chris was starting to wonder if the whole article was more about Abigail than him.

  When it came to the evening party Chris was allowed to dress casually, as it could be excused at an art event. His idea of casual clothing was monitored by Sarah though. Arriving at the event there were only a few freelance cameramen taking picture of people entering the galley. By this time Chris’s image had been in the news for most of the day and people were starting to recognize him. His anonymity had now disappeared much to his chagrin. Many of the cameramen shouted for Chris and Abigail to stand closer together for image. Chris was hesitant, but Abigail pressed her body close to his side. This felt too intimate for Chris, but he could not move away, as Abigail had a firm grasp on his arm. Moving into the art gallery people came up to Chris to try and talk to him. Most of them, just seemed to want to get and image with him before they would walk of. One annoying politician delivered what had to have been a prepared speech about breaking up Chris’s monopoly. When Chris tried to reply, the politician, having said his bit, was not interested at all.