Steph stepped forward almost hesitantly, as if wondering how to go about merging into the group. Selena and Toni opened their embrace to include her and drew her inward. Steph looked slightly confused as she gazed at me.
"Doesn't Steph get a kiss, too?” asked Toni.
"Yeah,” mimicked Sel. “Doesn't Steph get a kiss, too?"
"If she wants one,” I said, looking at Steph. “But she might be more comfortable working her way through hugs first."
Selena said, “If you were nicer to her, she'd already know how to handle hugs. Kisses, too."
"Uh, huh. If we were that close, you'd both think that I'd been taking advantage of the fact that I technically own her."
"Damned right,” said a grinning Toni. “You just can't win, Ed. But how come this subject hasn't come up before? Look at her. She's gorgeous. What about it, Steph? You want some kisses, too?"
I said, “Slow down, ladies. No pressure, okay?” I gazed into Steph's eyes for a moment, then said, “I'm leaving it entirely up to you, ma'am."
"I think it would change the nature of our friendship, Ed."
Toni bumped her hip and grinningly said, “That's the whole idea, sweetie."
Steph looked at her for a moment and said, “But I'm not sure it's necessarily a good idea, Toni. Sensuality and sexuality are human issues. The feel and texture of skin was relatively easy to achieve, but without certain additional physical stimuli that I've never included..."
Selena interrupted her with, “So sample each of us and create an average of whatever you think you're missing, then use it. Take a chance, Steph."
Steph looked at each of us in turn and finally said, “Not now, please. I'd like to give the matter more consideration."
Toni asked, “Does that mean you'll give it a try later?"
"I may make an attempt later. Now I'll bring Tiger down. Correction. Elkor says that will be unnecessary."
A “Yahhh!” came from above us and we all looked upward, but there was nothing to be seen until Elkor's transport disk cleared the flitter field and Tiger appeared about ten feet above the ground.
Elkor released him from his field near the ground and Tiger jumped off the disk into the sand. He immediately tried to walk on it instead of in it without much success, shaking it off his paws with each step.
I planted and opened the beach umbrella as I watched Tiger. After some moments of dubious examinations of the sand and many catty comments—texture, smell, taste, etc ... —Tiger flopped down by the cooler and examined a small shell closely before turning his gaze toward the breaking waves.
"That's it?” asked Toni. “His first-ever trip to an ocean beach and he plunks his little butt in the shade?"
Selena asked, “Well, what do you think he ought to be doing? Swimming? He's just about bait-sized for a lot of the fish out there."
"Still...” said Toni, “Well, I expected maybe some running around. Kicking up sand or something like that. A little bit of excitement, for God's sake."
As if to support her opinion, Tiger suddenly stiffened and sniffed the air avidly for some moments, then stood up and started walking directly toward the water.
Steph and Elkor immediately followed him, fanning out slightly to his right and left. I wondered what was worth their trip, but I didn't wonder enough to go with them.
Myra walked up behind us and said, “Well, I found you, so I must be a real secret agent, right? I see you brought Tiger down. How's he taking the beach?"
She'd bought a big blue beach towel, a small blue bikini, and a bottle of sunscreen. As she bent and stretched to lay her stuff out on the sand under the umbrella, I had to admit that—except for being as pale as library paste—Myra looked real damned good. Almost lean and very fit. Long, well-filled legs and firm breasts and no unnecessary jiggles.
When I looked to see how the others were taking Myra's appearance, both Toni and Sel fixed me with stolid glares, as if to tell me that I better not even think about it. I returned their glares with as much innocence as I could muster.
When Toni and Sel seemed to ignore Myra's question, I said, “At first Tiger wasn't 'taking it' at all. He just flopped down in the sand and nosed at a shell for a few minutes, but now he's up and moving again. We don't know why yet."
Myra deliberately twisted herself slightly and raised her arms to tweak a neck strap that didn't really need adjustment, an action which made her arms frame her face and hair as she jiggled her boobs slightly to “settle” them in the fit of the bikini bra. Nice little show. Facing me, of course. Smiling, too.
She then slightly lifted an eyebrow at me before shaking her head and sitting down on the cooler with a sigh. Her eyes were on Steph, Elkor, and Tiger.
"What?” asked Selena, following her gaze.
"I'm just having a hard time understanding why one computer would want to turn itself into a stunning brunette and the other chooses to look and act like a housecat. It just doesn't make any sense to me."
"Why not ask them why they do what they do?"
Myra looked up at Sel and asked, “They're computers, aren't they? As I see it, they ought to be doing what they're told and that ought to be something worthwhile."
Toni said, “We don't much give a damn how you see things, lady. You're just along for the ride, and it may still wind up being a short one."
"They are doing as they've been told,” I said. “Some years back I told them to follow their own interests. How about hoisting your butt off that cooler long enough to hand me a tea, ma'am?"
As she knelt by the cooler, Myra asked, “Why not a beer?"
"It's a dry beach,” said Selena. “No drinking outside the restaurants and bars up by the streets. Big fines. Haven't you ever been to the local beaches before?"
"Just one, and nobody gave us any trouble about drinking on it,” said Myra, handing out the cans of tea.
With a grin, Toni said, “That bikini may get you in trouble, too. They don't allow butt-floss T-backs on this beach, either."
Myra gave her a saccharine smile and said, “I checked. It's legal, if only barely. Thanks so much for the warning, though."
And so it went. The ladies took verbal shots at each other as we swam and lounged. Tiger prowled the shoreline with Elkor and Steph, occasionally pouncing after some unlucky thing that moved or appeared likely to move. Now and then Elkor, Steph, and Tiger would seem to discuss something, then continue their explorations.
At one point I left the water to join Myra under the beach umbrella and get a Dr Pepper from the cooler. I heard her hand softly move things in her purse and I could feel her eyes on me as I reached into the cooler. To confirm the feeling I turned quickly to offer her a can of tea.
Her fingers quickly slipped out of and away from the purse beside her leg and began to flick sand off her thigh. Her eyes rose from my swimsuit to my face in a calculating fashion. She smiled as she reached for the tea.
As she took the tea, I kept my grip on it for a moment longer than necessary and said, “If Sel and Toni suddenly find themselves in any kind of trouble at school or anywhere else—for any reason—I'll immediately assume that you and your agency are behind it."
Myra blinked at me, then met my gaze without comment.
"If that happens,” I added, “You can forget about any possibility of cooperation."
"People can find trouble on their own, you know."
"Yeah, but if I can't determine that's the case for certain, I'll assume that you people are behind it."
"You don't think you're being a little melodramatic, Ed?"
I sighed as I sat on my towel and sipped my drink, then said, “A series of small, expensive problems like car repairs that would interfere with their classes and getting to work and our visits. Calls to their school and jobs that would incite suspicion of drug use or immoral activities. Publicizing things best left private. Drugs or open booze bottles planted in cars, then tips to cops. In short, all the usual crap used to smear people and put pressure on them. Been t
here, seen that."
As she gazed at me with a raised, skeptical eyebrow, I said, “Save the fake skepticism, lady. Anything like that, from any direction or source. Your people want something from me and they already know that I'm not particularly inclined to blindly go along with them. Let them know that they have to make a sound, reasonable case for what they want and that Linda will have to agree. They sent you and you're not a problem at the moment, but if they resort to any further devious tactics I'll lock up and that'll be the end of it."
After a moment, Myra smiled and said, “Sure. I'll tell them what you've said, Ed, as wild and paranoid as it may seem."
I pointed at her purse and grinned back at her as I said, “Right. Just give them that tape and put your paranoia crap back in the bull, ma'am."
Some minutes later Myra headed back to the water as I finished my Dr Pepper and put the bottle in a trash bag.
Steph asked through my implant, “How did you know Myra was taping you, Ed?"
"I heard her reach into her purse. When I turned around, I startled her. Nothing from her purse was in her hand and she was a little slow in moving her hand to her leg."
"Myra could have been reaching into the purse for anything, Ed."
"Nope. Not like that, and she wouldn't have reacted that way. She's definitely on duty out here, Steph."
Perhaps an hour into our visit to the beach I walked away from the others to pretend to examine a shell as I keyed my implant and said, “Steph, this would be a good time to disable the bug that Myra planted."
"Done. May I ask why now is better than any other time?"
"We're not there, ma'am. They'll have to assume it may have just plain died for some reason."
"Won't they have Myra install another one?"
"Very probably, if they don't immediately replace this one while we're away from the house."
Elkor asked, “Shall I modify the house field to prevent intrusion?"
"Nope. If they show up, let ‘em come in and plant bugs and look around. Might be nice to know if they have a valid warrant for this kind of stuff, though."
Steph said, “There are no warrants on file concerning you or your residence, Ed."
"So much the better, Steph. Elkor's recordings will prove they were there illegally if they visit. Linda can use that kind of legal ammo to shake their tree a bit."
By the beginning of our second hour at the beach Myra had realized that she was turning rather red and excused herself to visit the storefronts for some skin cream. When she came back, she handed the tube to me and asked me to do her back.
Sel and Toni weren't happy about that, but it had been a fairly reasonable request. After a few moments, Toni came over and took the tube from my hand.
"You're having too much fun, Ed. You're missing some spots, too. I'll do it."
Stretching out on my towel, I said, “Well, yes, ma'am, ma'am. Pardon the hell out of me, don'tcha know."
Myra chuckled softly as Toni blatted a handful of the cream on her back and quickly spread it around. Her dislike of Myra not withstanding, I noticed the way Toni's eyes roamed over Myra's body. An interesting development, that. When she was finished, Toni gave the tube to Myra and headed for the water.
Toward the end of our third hour a beach cop headed our direction from the restaurant area. I waved at him.
When he glanced our way I whispered, “Elkor, make both cats vanish, please. I think that's why the cop's coming."
The cop looked back toward the shoreline, peered up and down the beach, then pulled out his opera glasses and looked again. After a moment he continued to approach us. Steph began walking back toward us as well.
"Do those cats belong to you?” asked the cop.
"Cats?” I asked. “Where?"
The cop sighed and said, “Don't be difficult, sir."
As Stephanie neared us, the cop turned to her and firmly asked, “Ma'am, are those cats yours?"
"I don't own a cat,” said Steph.
"Does anyone here see any cats?” I asked the ladies.
A chorus of negative responses answered my question.
The cop looked hard at me and said, “Sir, you were reported as being the people with the cats, and I saw cats down by the water as I was coming over here. I'll have to write you a ticket for them and tell you to get them off the beach."
Selena asked, “But did you actually see any cats with us, or did you only see them down by the water? A couple of cats on the beach could belong to anybody.” She glanced around and said, “And I still don't see any cats."
"They were reported as being your cats, ma'am. There's a fifty dollar fine for bringing an animal on the beach. You people brought two of them. Now, who gets the ticket?"
Toni said, “You don't have proof that any cats you may have seen were ours."
Tiger suddenly sounded off with a “Yahhh!” that emanated from a spot about twenty feet away and ten feet above the ground. The startled cop's eyes searched the immediate area, but saw nothing. Tiger spoke again as the cop walked a few paces toward the sound.
I softly said, “Elkor, it's probably way too late, but would you tell that little hairball to shut up?"
Through my implant, Elkor said, “I anticipated your wish and asked him to be silent, Ed. His response was to ask if he should attack the policeman for you, so I'll add audio dampening to my field."
"Thanks, Elkor."
The cop whipped around and sharply asked me, “Did you just say something, sir? Would you care to repeat it?"
"I wasn't speaking to you, officer, and whatever I may say to anyone else is our business."
"Anything said in my presence while I'm on duty is my business, sir."
Toni said, “Then take your presence elsewhere. This is starting to feel like harassment."
The cop told us to stay where we were and stepped a few feet away to mutter into his radio. Whatever someone told him caused him to smile slightly. Not a good sign.
I looked at Steph and said, “Time to go. We'll need to disappear fairly quickly.” To the others, I said, “Grab stuff and saddle up, we're leaving,” while I gathered up my clothes in my beach towel and folded the umbrella.
My field implant immediately began to tingle in sympathy with the nearness of the much more powerful field surrounding the flitter. I couldn't see it, but I knew that the flitter was only a few yards away from us toward the water.
The cop started to step forward, so I used my field implant to send a tendril at his ticket book, knocking it out of his hand and behind him. He turned and bent to retrieve it, and that's when I nodded to Steph. She nodded in return and we all disappeared as the field effect quickly extended from the flitter and swallowed us.
We could see the cop and a few gasping bystanders gawking at our disappearance as we boarded the flitter. As soon as all personnel and equipment were aboard, Steph took us up to around a thousand feet and we entertained ourselves for some moments by watching the people below as they milled around the area where we'd been.
"Oh, wow!” said Myra, peering and pointing along the shoreline. “Look at the view!"
Toni drolly said, “The Atlantic side has bigger waves."
I saw Toni's eyes travel the length of Myra's body. So did Selena. She glanced at me with an expression that asked, "What the hell..?" but said nothing.
Selena shook her head as she agreed, “Yeah. Right. Bigger waves,” then she asked, “Ed, isn't it about time to drop Myra off somewhere and get back to the house?"
"Yeah,” said Toni, dragging her eyes away from Myra's boobs. “Let's do that. I'm getting hungry."
Almost laughing at her use of the word ‘hungry', I nodded.
Tiger knew the word 'hungry', too. He turned and added his voice to the others. Myra looked at him oddly, then faced me.
"Okay, okay. You all want to get rid of me and I need to take care of my sunburn. I'd appreciate being dropped off at my office building."
I nodded to Steph and we set course toward Tampa.
Myra's words had seemed to be in accord with our thoughts, but her next actions weren't.
She flipped her beach towel open, shook out the clothes she'd been wearing when we'd met and draped them over her suitcases, wrapped her big towel around herself, then slipped out of her bikini top and let it fall to the deck.
Chapter Thirteen
Myra dropped her bikini bottom, as well, then bent to pick up her panties and shake them out again. Her towel came loose and she naturally dropped the panties smack in front of my feet as she grabbed at the edges of the towel, then she asked me to hand her panties to her after she'd adjusted her towel.
Toni angrily began to get to her feet, but Sel's hand on her arm stopped her. Sel shook her head slightly and whispered something to Toni. Toni stared at Selena for a moment, then looked at me for another moment, then sat down with a sullen glare. Sel leaned to whisper with Steph and Toni for a moment, then looked at me as Toni had.
Myra performed a fairly cunning striptease, showing even less than when she'd worn the bikini and using tiny, sudden snatches at her towel to keep it generally together as she dressed within it.
I was supposed to watch Myra's show, so I watched. Very nice. Her hair color seemed real, too. It matched, anyway.
Myra smiled broadly at me as she stepped into her panties and shimmied them up and into place, then she asked me to hand up her bra.
As she turned a bit to reach through the straps, one of her breasts peeked out at me. Toni and Sel couldn't see it at that angle. They weren't intended to see it. Only me.
Myra followed my gaze downward as if only then noticing her exposure, then met my eyes in a deliberate manner, never losing her grin, as she shifted her bra into place and fastened it.
She loosened her towel and repositioned it around her hips, leaving her bra-clad breasts exposed as she put on her blouse and buttoned it, then asked me for her skirt.
Pulling her skirt up, Myra hooked and zipped it as we began our descent toward her building. As she tucked in her blouse and rather wincingly put on her suit jacket, Steph slipped us into one of the upper parking decks and settled us in a corner.
Through my implant, Steph said, “Her car is the red BMW to our left."
Book 4: 3rd World Products, Inc. Page 8