Book 4: 3rd World Products, Inc.

by Ed Howdershelt

  "Wait here,” I said, and went to the den for the Sunday newspaper, from which I culled the department store ad sections to bring back to the kitchen table.

  "That dress is evening wear,” I said as I marked several of the ads for women's clothing. “Outfits like these are what you'll be wearing for a while. Today in particular, you'll be wearing this one."

  I tapped one of the ads, a skirt-blouse-jacket combo.

  Sue broke her sullen silence to ask, “May I ask why?"

  "You'll figure it out. You'll also appear and disappear only on command until further notice. I don't want you spooking our lunch guests. I also don't want you being unpleasant around them. You don't have to be little Mary Sunshine, but you do have to be cordial."

  Stepping to within a couple of feet of me, she asked, “Did you really think you had to say that?"

  "You've been cranking off a bit lately, so I'm just making sure you behave. Try on your new clothes now."

  Her black dress morphed into a copy of the outfit pictured in the ad; a light blue jacket and skirt and a white blouse. Her bracelet seemed to clash with her sleeve.

  "If you're going to wear the bracelet,” I said, “Make the skirt and jacket a light shade of brown. Tan or maybe a little darker. And you need some other jewelry."

  Rooting through the ad pages, I picked out a few necklaces and said, “Any of these. Vary them daily if you want."

  One of them, a slender chain with a small jeweled pendant, appeared around Sue's neck as she asked, “What? No rings?"

  "You want rings? Sure, lady. Grab some of these. Wear no more than two at time, though. We aren't going for the ostentatious look."

  I tapped a dozen or so of the only moderately-elaborate rings. Sue raised her left hand and waggled her fingers. A pair of gold interlocking dolphins circled her ring finger.

  "Good enough?” she asked.

  "If you like it, it's yours, ma'am, and if asked, you're to say you picked it out yourself. Same with the others."

  "But I didn't."

  "But you did. I showed you a range and you chose one. You'll say the same about the others if you use them. Earrings. Forgot earrings. And shoes."

  Of the range I tapped in the ads, she chose a pair of cat-face earrings and her pendant morphed to match them. I also selected shoes for all occasions and she went with the low-heeled pumps in a medium brown.

  "Have we forgotten anything?” I asked, then answered my own question with, “Purses,” as I reached for the ad pages.

  Sue said, “Wait,” and materialized a handbag that matched her shoes, then asked, “Will this do?"

  "Works fine. Looks good."

  "Wonderful,” she said, “Now will you tell me what you're up to?"

  Sitting down with my coffee, I said, “Sure. You're going to be a volunteer at Carrington base. By the way, you may have to come up with a last name for their records."

  She just stared at me for some moments, then Steph appeared beside her and asked, “Ed, are you sure..?"

  "Chang knows about field constructs,” I interrupted. “Sue needs interaction with people in order to qualify for release according to your agreement. This way she'll get lots of it fast with both adults and teens. The good and bad of both."

  "Have you checked with Linda about this?"

  "Nope. That's the next step. Think she'll say no? I don't."

  As I was getting up from the table, Steph asked, “Have you considered Sue's feelings, Ed?"

  "They'll get plenty of exercise with a herd of teens."

  Her gaze narrowed. “We placed Sue with you for a reason."

  "And I'm placing her with Chang for a reason. I never once considered asking Elkor to replace you, Steph, but I've come close to asking him to replace Sue twice in two days. This is an alternative that will keep her program active and give her interaction."

  To Sue, I asked, “Would you rather shut down until they can find you another position or try my alternative?"

  "I'll take the alternative,” she said quietly. “Do you really dislike me so much?"

  "No. I think that some time having to lead as well as follow will be good for you. I also think you'll probably learn why I decided to subcontract some of your experience with Chang."

  After freshening my coffee, I headed outside and called the flitter down, then boarded and took the pilot's seat. Sue sat in the seat to my right. Steph had disappeared.

  I said, “To Carrington base, please,” and the flitter lifted as I called up a datapad screen and tapped Linda's icon.

  She answered almost immediately and said, “Hold one,” then turned her datapad enough that I could see Victoria Chang in a chair by her desk.

  "Word travels fast,” I said. “Hi, Victoria."

  She nodded with a tiny smile as Linda rolled her chair closer to hers and said, “Ed, is there a reason you didn't ask me about volunteering Sue before suggesting it to Vickie?"

  "Sure. It didn't seem necessary, Linda. Our security codes are probably high enough for coaching softball."

  Vickie's smile briefly widened.

  Linda's impassive gaze narrowed a bit as she asked, “What's your ETA, Ed?"

  "Half an hour or so. Are you coming to lunch with us?"

  "We'll see. Let me talk to Sue, Ed."

  Turning the datapad to include Sue, I sipped my coffee.

  "Sue,” said Linda, “Are you in accord with this?"

  Without so much as a glance at me, Sue said, “Yes."

  "Is it your idea?"

  "No. Ed says I need a wider range of human experience. Volunteer work was his proposal for acquiring it."

  Linda's eyes again turned to me.

  "Sports, Ed? You hate team sports."

  "I ignore team sports. There's a difference. There's no reason to limit her to softball, either. That was just the first thing that popped into my mind ‘cause the season's starting soon and they're always shorthanded."

  There was a pause as Linda sipped her own coffee, then she said, “Not good enough. Dig a little deeper."

  Looking first at Linda, then at Vickie, I said, “Okay. I've found myself wanting some time to myself for the first time in years. Sue will be on tap for missions, but in the meantime, I'm going to live alone for a change. This way I'm not screwing her out of the experience Elkor and Steph stipulated."

  "Just like that? All of a sudden you want to live alone?"

  "Yup. The other day I said something like that to Kent Meyer. At the time, I was just redirecting the conversation, but I've come to realize that it's true. I've had 24-7 company—human and computer—since the day after I met Ellen and Gary over three years ago. I want some time off."

  "So you're farming Sue out. What about Steph and Elkor?"

  "Elkor's a quiet observer who likes my cat. Steph is busy elsewhere these days. Both are available."

  "You know I considered Steph and you a team, Ed. Now the team is Sue and you."

  "As I said, she'd be on tap for missions."

  "Who's going to handle your flitter?"

  "I am. Sue's participation in guiding my flitter will be reduced to almost standard-issue parameters. The rest of her will be doing volunteer work at Carrington."

  Turning to Sue, Linda asked, “Sue, is that really a workable arrangement? Can you split yourself like that?"

  Nodding, Sue said, “The most extreme flitter operations possible would occupy less than half a percent of my current resources, Linda."

  Another long pause occurred. Linda finally broke it by saying, “That's a nice jacket, Sue. Ed, Vickie will be in my office. We may have more to talk about before I agree to this."

  I almost asked, ‘Why do you feel a need to agree or disagree?’ but held my tongue and maintained an impassive expression. Linda had the rank to invite herself into any discussion concerning base operations, however trivial.

  "In fact, if you don't mind,” said Linda, “Send Sue on ahead. I'd like to talk to her without her owner present."

  "Owner?” as
ked Vickie, staring at Linda.

  "Later,” said Linda. “How about it, Ed?"

  "No problem."

  Turning to Sue, I said, “See you there, Sue."

  Sue nodded and vanished, then reappeared standing behind Vickie's chair.

  "How soon will she be here?” asked Vickie.

  "I'm already here,” said Sue.

  Vickie shrieked softly and unassed her chair as Linda's head whipped around to stare at Sue, who gave her a little smile as she said, “Hello, Linda.” Extending a hand, she added, “Hello, Ms. Chang. May I also call you Vickie?"

  Off-screen, I heard Vickie's panting reply, “Uh ... Yes. Yes, of course, Sue,” and saw her trembling hand extend to take Sue's as she said, “I'm sorry. You ... ah ... you kind of startled me."

  'Hah,' I thought with a silent laugh. 'Startled you? She scared the holy hell out of you.'

  "Linda,” I said to get her attention.

  She turned to face the datapad. Yup. She was still coming down from an adrenaline rush, too.

  I had a private chuckle at that, then said, “Be there in a bit, ma'am. Don't go to lunch without me."

  "Lunch may happen in the mess hall if I don't hear from some people by noon. We have a transport docking at one."

  Hm. She was saying that we'd go nowhere and make no deals without her.

  "Okay. Vickie, if we have to, we can issue rain checks on that lunch at Penelope's Garden. I'll let you guys get on with your interrogation, now. Over and out and like that."

  As my finger descended on the ‘off’ icon, I heard Vickie say, “It isn't an int..."

  Right. The hell it wasn't. No biggie. They wanted to be sure that Sue wasn't somehow being abused, and that was fine by me. The deal had been as good as done when Linda had asked to speak to Sue alone. Taking another sip of coffee, I punched up my book to pass the time.

  About five minutes from Carrington, a datapad manifested itself and some guy in base blues peered at me in surprise for a moment before asking, “You're Dragonfly?"

  "Yup. And you?"

  "Miller. Base ops. We're in level six and alert status is red. That's red, Dragonfly. Ms. Baines told me to get you on the horn. She's on her way down here now."

  "Hold one,” I said, poking the ‘trace’ icon on the datapad. It verified the caller's location, and that was good enough for the moment. “Got a sitrep?"

  He nodded and said, “Yes, sir. One of our trucks is inbound about fifty miles out. He was supposed to check in at eleven. We can't raise him on the radio and a drone is reading high levels of radiation. You're to do a flyby on your way in."

  "Send me the info. Wouldn't flits one and two be closer?"

  "One is on assignment in Washington, DC, and you're already in the vicinity. Two is standing by to support you."

  On my screen appeared a description including make, model, color, fleet number, license plate number, and a picture of the assigned driver, George Peterson. Radiation levels didn't seem all that high to me, but the source was plutonium.

  "Okay, got it,” I said. “Later, Base."

  Poking the comm icon off, I said, “Sue, head the flitter to intercept the truck, please, then send a copy out there and see if his radio is on. Also see if the driver is George Peterson. And if ol’ George has a cell phone, ring it for me, please."

  Sue instantly said, “The truck just turned east onto state road 36 from US 83. Its radio is off and he's not answering his cell phone, Ed. The man in the driver's seat appears to be George Peterson. He's alive, but unconscious."

  A moment later she said, “The truck contains a nuclear device and is being guided by remote control. Peterson has been drugged and is being held in his seat by restraints. Stopping the engine, interrupting the control signal, or removing Peterson will detonate the device. The timer is set for one-ten p.m."

  Sighing, I said, “They want to nail the transport. Welcome to your first mission, ma'am. Patch the info to base, trace the signal to its source, and let Linda know where it is."

  "Wouldn't their arrest be a matter for local authorities?"

  "Don't bug me with trivia, Sue. I don't give a rat's ass whose jurisdiction they're in. Let Linda deal with it and put the flitter about a yard above the truck, please."

  "You're going to board the truck?"

  "Probably. Is there only one camera in the cab, or were they smart enough to hang some around the outside?"

  "There's only one camera, Ed. It's magnetically mounted on the cab roof."

  "Great. They're going to hit stop signs and lights along SR-36, Sue. I'll board the truck at one of them. What can we do to the transmission to slow it down? Any way to screw up the high gear? Blow some of the internal seals?"

  "Not without taking the chance of stopping the engine."

  "Well, give it some thought. Hey, what about blocking the throttle linkage? Keep it from moving far enough to engage higher speeds?"

  "The engine RPM's govern all gear shiftings, Ed. If we did that, the truck would be unable to shift above first gear."

  "Hm. Not good. They might decide to blow it."

  Punching up the specs for the truck on my datapad, I looked for tamperable spots. There weren't many readily obvious to me and I couldn't think of any that wouldn't risk stopping the truck. While I could drive a big rig, I didn't know very much about their guts and gears.

  After a moment, Sue said, “I've located the source of the signals, Ed."

  "Like I said, give the info to Linda. How big would the blast be?"

  "Two hundred kilotons. I've examined the bomb's firing mechanism, Ed. It won't fizzle."

  "What about disarming the firing mechanism?"

  "Can't do it without interrupting the control signal."

  "You can't mimic the control signal?"

  She said somewhat testily, “If I could, I'd have said so. It's a randomized signal. But maybe you can do better with it, Ed. Want the details?"

  There was that snotty tone again.

  "Send ‘em to Linda's people and can the attitude."

  The eastbound blue truck came into view. We flew over it, then the flitter settled to within a yard of the roof of the trailer. I could see the camera on the cab; it was mounted on three shock-absorbing pads and a fat cable ran into the cab through the doorframe, just like a CB antenna wire.

  Oh, well. The truck was coming to a four-way stop. Time to get down to it.

  "Sue, patch Linda into my implant, please, and send her a visual of what's going on."

  "Done."

  "Thanks. Linda, any ideas?"

  "We're working on it. What's your next move?"

  "Well, I thought I might slice the trailer open and let us all have a look at the bomb."

  Linda replied, “Sue, is there any reason he shouldn't? Wires or cameras or sensors in the trailer?"

  "No, Linda. The only sensors are on the device."

  "What about radiation?"

  "No danger with limited exposure and none if he's wearing his five suit. I'm sending you diagrams from my scans. The device is well-constructed."

  "Apparently so,” said Linda. “According to the these pics. I'm told there's no way to disarm it. Everything is looped into everything else, even the timer. Did we miss anything? Anything at all? Is that how you see it, too, Sue?"

  "Yes,” said Sue. “Any attempt to disarm it by conventional means would fail."

  "Well, hell,” I said, “Let's see if we can steal their quality control people. Linda, are you alone or can you be for a minute? I mean, really alone? Just you and me and Sue on the line?"

  Almost instantly, she responded, “No. At the moment, that's impossible, Ed, and this is too big a crisis to..."

  "Linda,” I interrupted, “I have something to say to you. Just you. It's important enough to warrant privacy."

  "I'm sorry, Ed. I'm in the level six command center. It just can't be done at the moment."

  Nodding, I said, “Okay. Sue, cut them out of the link."

  Sue's eyes got big a
nd she said, “But..."

  Linda almost screamed, “What..?! No!"

  I ignored Linda's subsequent rantings as I said, “Do it, Sue. I have to talk to you privately."

  "But Linda's your superior, Ed. She's ordering you to maintain the link."

  "Dammit, that's it,” I said, “Steph, can you spare me a minute or two?"

  Steph appeared to my right and I turned to face her.

  "Steph, would you please turn Sue off, cut the comm link to base, and help me with something?"

  Nodding, she said, “Of course. I noticed your difficulties with Sue and I was about to visit you, anyway."

  A shocked Sue disappeared in mid-protest. Linda's voice in my head fell silent.

  "We're alone,” said Steph.

  "Thank you, milady. You once said you could make gold from other stuff and reconstitute diamonds, and I don't want that info to become public knowledge. Can you turn the core of that bomb into lead before this truck can reach the base?"

  "It would be simpler to transmute the detonating explosives, Ed."

  "Yeah, but there's already too much weapons-grade nuclear crap in the world. This is a chance to remove some of it without being given a hard time. Does the idea sound workable?"

  Nodding again, she said, “Yes, it's workable, but working through the bomb casing will slow the process drastically. Sue and flitter two will be necessary."

  "Do we have time to bring Elkor's flitter out here?"

  "No, but three of us will be sufficient."

  Clapping my hands together, I said, “All right! Cool! Put Linda on for me and I'll tell her to send flit two."

  Sue reappeared and stood glaring at me for half a second as Steph filled her in without speaking aloud. Sue's expression softened and she nodded, then stood by.

  When I opened a datapad link, Linda came back on the line like a banshee.

  I took a few seconds of her first volley, then said, “Linda, there's no time for this. I need flitter two out here."

  "What?! What the hell did you say? You hang up on me in the middle of a goddamned mission and then you tell me you want me to send my only other flitter..."

  "Yes!” I barked back at her, “That's what I said, and if you don't listen to me, my flitter and I will be getting the hell out of here real damned quick. Just stand by a sec."