3rd World Products, Inc., Book 5

by Ed Howdershelt

  I waved my arm in front of her and watched the hairs lean in her direction as I said, "I think you're leaking, ma'am. Have you figured out what I've been getting at yet?"

  The anger in her face froze for a moment, then disappeared as a somewhat suspicious expression replaced it. Another moment passed before the static field faded and Sue stepped back a pace. She studied me without comment for a short time, then took a seat.

  "No," she said. "I haven't figured out what the hell you've been 'getting at', Ed."

  "Too bad. Kinda thought you would. Choices, Sue."

  In a flat tone, she repeated, "Choices."

  "Yeah, choices," I said with a slight nod. "This may sound a bit melodramatic, but you have the power of the stars at your command. I lack your abilities in all but the smallest ways and I quite frankly lack your inhibitions about using them, yet I'm in command of you. Does that make sense, ma'am?"

  Taking her seat again, she said, "No. It doesn't."

  Grinning, I asked, "It hasn't made sense to you since the day you met me, has it?"

  Nodding slightly, she softly agreed, "No, it hasn't."

  "But your agreement with Steph and Elkor binds you to me. How would you like a day off? This day in particular, in order to handle this situation in your own way?"

  Peering at me as if expecting some kind of trap, Sue nodded slightly again and said, "I suppose I'd like that."

  "Then discuss it with Steph and Elkor now, please."

  I had time only to sip my coffee and shift in my seat a bit before both Steph and Elkor appeared. Steph stood by the console and Elkor took his usual place on the dash.

  "Hi," I said. "Are you guys gonna give her the day off?"

  "If you wish it," said Elkor. "But this will extend her year of service with you by one day."

  Shrugging, I said, "Suits me. I kind of like having her around, y'know. Linda said 'go get 'em'. She didn't say how. Sue doesn't like my way, so I'm stepping aside for hers."

  Stephanie asked, "You don't want to command this effort?"

  "Still won't call it a mission, huh? Oh, well. 'Command'? Do any of you really need a 'commander' at this point? Anyway, it doesn't matter to me who's in charge, as long as we end up with a deep lake where that mountain is now and a bunch of freed hostages. If you two aren't real busy elsewhere, how about helping her? I'd like that lake in place an hour or more before dark. When's sundown in Yazd?"

  "Official nightfall will be eight-thirteen. Why before then?"

  "To give everybody concerned some camera time and a good look at things. Flitter, ring up Linda for me."

  The flitter said, "Yes, sir," and the console screen came on as it made the connection. A few moments later Linda's face filled the screen.

  "Yes, Ed?"

  "Hi, there. Can you make sure everybody is watching the mountain this afternoon? Maybe put a satellite on it?"

  Cocking her head slightly, Linda said, "We already have a couple of satellites watching the area, Ed. What's up?"

  "Remember the big blue truck? Is this link clean?"

  Her gaze sharpened. "I'll call you back in a few minutes."

  "Good 'nuff. See you then."

  Linda poked her screen off. I fished a can of chicken noodle soup out of my backpack and used a thin field tendril to slice out the lid. The soup was gone before Linda called back some ten minutes later.

  "What's on your agenda, Ed?"

  "Not mine, ma'am. Sue's. She wants to turn the mountain into water. To make a lake where it is now. The job should be finished about an hour before sundown, Yazd time."

  For some moments, Linda stared silently at Sue, then her gaze shifted to me and her silence continued for a time.

  "Ed," she said shortly, "If you're kidding, I'm not amused. If you aren't kidding, the idea sounds great. Can they really do something like that?"

  "They can. They couldn't use this technique for the truck job, but this one is big enough that they can put a bunch of booster generators around the mountain and make it go away."

  "My God... To turn a mountain into water..." she shook off her amazement. "News people. Satellites. I take it you're looking for a big audience for this magic trick?"

  "Yup. Eyewitnesses and plenty of 'em. People who'll talk about it for generations and maybe stop donating their children to the suicide squads. There are villages and towns all around us. Are there any western news outfits in the area?"

  Sue raised her eyebrow at me as if to ask why I hadn't asked her that question. I gave her a 'wait' hand signal below the view of the flitter's screen.

  "Probably," said Linda, "But we couldn't count on them receiving travel permits from their current locations quickly enough. We could, however, get word to the news media in Iran and surrounding countries to keep an eye on the bunker's mountain this afternoon. That tip from the right source would make them send cameras to the region."

  "Sounds good. Tell 'em not to stand too close, and like that. That's all we had for you, milady."

  With a short laugh, Linda said, "That was enough, I think. Oh, an update; the State Department wants the hostages taken to Landstuhl."

  "Kewl. I haven't seen that part of Germany for a while."

  "You may not recognize the place. The old hospital building is gone. They built a new one a few years ago."

  "Too bad. I liked that place. Who's going to meet us and take delivery?"

  "I'm sending Lena Danvers from the Frankfurt office. It's your choice whether to make a grand entrance or not."

  "We'll see how it goes. Anything else?"

  "No, nothing at this moment."

  "Good 'nuff, then. Oh, one more thing... Sue's running the show because we couldn't agree on methods."

  "That must mean she came up with a plan to avoid killing."

  "Yup."

  Sighing, Linda said, "Oh, well. Thanks for the update."

  When Linda had signed off, Sue looked at me and said, "She was disappointed."

  "Maybe a little. Not really."

  Manufacturing a deliberate sigh, Sue said, "Yes, she was."

  "Well? What did you expect? She's not fond of terrorists, either. She'd rather see them all dead, just as I would. Have you made arrangements to move all the human and non-human critters off the mountain?"

  Elkor said, "My flitter will join you shortly. Stephanie and I will relocate whatever life forms we find while you and Sue free the hostages and remove people."

  Nodding, I said, "Thanks, Elkor. And you, Steph. Thank you both for joining us."

  Steph studied me intently for a moment. "I believe that has been your goal since learning of this... effort... last night."

  Trying to look somewhat stricken, I asked, "Excuse me? Are you accusing me of having bamboozled you aboard, ma'am?"

  A pair of field-generated, bright orange overshoes appeared and hovered in the air between Steph and me.

  She guided them to her feet, where they melded with her existing field, and stated, "I believe you bamboozled Sue, and through her, us."

  Sue laughed at Steph's overshoes and Steph laughed with her. Elkor's demeanor was as unexpressive as ever.

  Shrugging, I replied, "You caught me, ma'am. I wanted the best team possible for this job."

  Steph's boots turned bright red and extended upward to her knees as Sue laughed again.

  "Okay," I said, "All right! I'll confess; I wanted a quick solution that would generate worldwide press and get the 'don't mess with 3rd World' message out there, but I also wanted a solution that all of you could support, because -- tall galoshes or no -- you are the best team possible."

  Looking at Sue, I added, "I cornered you with the subject of killing, knowing you'd come up with an answer. If you're okay with that, congratulations, milady."

  Appearing a bit tense, Sue gave me a hard gaze and asked, "What if I'm not okay with that?"

  "In that case, my apologies, for what they may be worth. It's a good plan that covers all bases, so unless someone has a better idea, we're going with i
t. Besides, we got you a day off, didn't we?"

  She shrugged. "Oh, big damned deal that is. I'm working anyway and I'll have to make it up later."

  I turned to Steph and Elkor. "How about that? Is it really absolutely necessary to tack it back on at the end?"

  Elkor said, "I suppose not."

  Turning back to Sue, I said, "Well, there you go, ma'am. Now you've scored two days off. Ain't life just grand?"

  Sue created a three-foot-wide field screen displaying a calendar that appeared to have been hand-scrawled with Crayons. Her release date was circled in red.

  With a solicitous little smile, she asked, "Two days off, you say? Look, Ed, at this calendar I made just for you. Take note of my release date -- a date that hasn't changed, by the way -- and please explain to us how basic math works in your world."

  Steph laughed and Elkor chuckled as Sue continued her solicitous little smile. I sipped my coffee and sent a neon-green field tendril to gently pat her cheek.

  "There, there, milady. You didn't lose any pay or benefits, did you? No need to get all fuzzed up, is there? Sometimes it's the thought that counts, right?"

  Giving me a tight glower, Sue said, "Oh, yes, sir, sir. It surely is, sir. Let me demonstrate for you."

  Overriding my control of the tendril, Sue disconnected it from me and twisted it into an elaborate knot. The knotted remnant slowly turned blue and deflated, then faded away.

  Glancing at Steph, I said, "Well, that certainly looked painful enough."

  "Indeed it did."

  "I think she has a mean streak, programming or no."

  "Could be."

  Studying Sue, I asked Steph, "Should that little display of pique add any time to her sentence?"

  Sue's glower darkened slightly.

  "No, I think not," said Steph. "There have been times when... Well, let's just say that I can empathize with her to a degree."

  With a quick grin, Steph added, "We'll be back later," and she and Elkor vanished.

  Laughing, Sue reclined her chair and put her feet up on thin air. I created a field footstool and did the same as I again eyed her perfect legs. Sue turned her head to look at me.

  "You have absolutely great legs, lady," I said, "That calendar was a good comeback."

  Grinning wryly, she noddingly said, "Thank you. I was hoping you'd take it well."

  "Oh, I surely did, ma'am. When this is over, you're fired."

  Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened.

  "What?! Ed, I..." she stopped when she saw my grin.

  Punching up the internet on the console, I said, "Gotcha. It'll take more than that kiddie calendar and some attitude to make me dump you, sweetie. Now I'm going to check my email. Think you can find something constructive to do?"

  Through clenched teeth and a saccharine smile, she muttered, "Oh, I think so," and vanished.

  Damn, she was good with human mannerisms. I processed some ebook orders, zapped some inevitable spam, and checked my Yahoo newsgroups.

  In the AUWG group, a member of the old guard of the Aurora Universe had cobbled up another chapter in a superwoman story.

  Mentally shrugging, I clicked to the chapter and gave it a quick browse. It wasn't a bad read, but I'd been kind of tired of the same old superwoman theme in general for quite a while.

  Clicking to the next group -- one concerning ebooks -- I found that someone had yet again brought up the threadworn subject of DRM and copy protection schemes, apparently only to give himself an excuse to post his sig lines and URL.

  A few groups and no interesting messages later, I said to hell with it and clicked up the intra-company mode to look up basic info about Lena Danvers.

  Chapter Six

  'Danvers, Lena Marie', read the sidebar text beside a picture of a redheaded woman. Her face and hair reminded me of Tanya Roberts, and I wondered if her voice would have the same husky, raspy quality. Probably not; that much coincidence would be just too damned fine.

  After noting her three college degrees and her age -- thirty-four -- I looked for info about what she might be doing for 3rd World by clicking on the 'position' link. The resulting pop-up window merely listed her as 'Deputy Director, Frankfurt', with no further job description.

  If I'd been interested enough, I could have pulled her info from another location, but I'd have had to explain my request to someone, and I'm never in the mood for bureaucracy.

  Clicking the 'past employment' link got me exactly what I'd expected -- another blank box. I hit the contact link and was given the choice of padmail or direct connection. I chose the direct link and the little 'secure' icon that meant her pad was bleating softly appeared at the bottom of the screen.

  Her face filled the screen as she answered, "Danvers here," in a voice somewhat higher-pitched and sharp than was comfortable for my ears.

  She was in her mid-thirties and had medium-green eyes that focused on mine like aiming devices. I could see the interior of a car behind her and I realized that she was instinctively trying to talk above ambient noise to a dash camera, but I didn't hear any ambient noise to speak of because her car's pad system knew what to filter out.

  "Hi, there," I said. "You do know that your car pad is filtering out road noises, don't you?"

  In that same tone, she distractedly replied, "Yes," as she turned a corner and accelerated. "What's on your mind?"

  "We'll be meeting later today. Is there anything we need to discuss before then?"

  "Not until we know the condition of the hostages. What are your instructions?"

  "Drop 'em off with you at Landstuhl."

  Seeming slightly surprised, she asked, "Nothing else?"

  "That's all. What were you expecting?"

  She shook her head tersely. "Never mind. You're to deliver them to the helipad. We'll have teams standing by. Have all your teams and flitters land for decontamination procedures."

  I almost laughed. Almost. "Do you think we'll have desert cooties or something?"

  "Don't try to be funny. Just do it."

  "May I ask where the decontamination order came from?"

  Her face set in a mask of irritation, Danvers snapped, "It comes from me. I'm going by the book."

  "Well, don't drag out all that gear on our account. Decon won't be necessary. Confirm it with Linda."

  For a moment she was silent, then she said, "All right, I'll do that. I'll also set up an adequate response team for your arrival on general principles. How many personnel will be involved in the assault? What are casualty expectations?"

  Could she really not know? Had Linda only told her to haul ass down to Landstuhl?

  She noticed my surprised expression and her gaze narrowed a bit as she snapped, "Well?"

  Shrugging, I said, "I'm actually not expecting any casualties unless the prisoners have been mistreated. Maybe I should ask what your instructions are."

  She instantly responded, "I'd rather not discuss my instructions, thank you."

  Danvers was a joy to behold, but she seemed somewhat cool and distant and had that rather piercing voice. I decided that talking with her wasn't very entertaining.

  "Fine," I said, "Expect one flitter."

  "What? But for an extraction like this..."

  "One flitter," I interrupted. "And talk to Linda before you gear up for a big show. Is there anything else?"

  Studying me rather narrowly, Danvers said, "Oh, yes. Definitely. But not just at this moment."

  Danvers seemed to be inferring that she wasn't completely satisfied with the outcome of the conversation. Oh, well.

  Nodding, I said, "Okay. Later, then," and hit the 'off' icon.

  Damn. If that woman got pissed or excited, her voice would shift up another octave or two. Bet she could shatter glass on a good day; she wasn't that far from a C-flat note as it was.

  Soft, warm laughter came through my implant.

  "You have a comment, milady?"

  "That woman bugs the hell out of you, doesn't she? You've been all clenched up since
she answered her padcall."

  "Her voice made my ears and teeth hurt. Want to bet she can she hit a shattering C-flat?"

  "No bet. She's done it at parties and bars and once in 3rd World's London office."

  "What the hell is she? A frustrated opera singer?"

  More laughter. "There's no mention of that in her records."

  "Uh, huh. A favor, Sue. I may have to spend some time with her. Please tune one of my implants so that whenever she speaks in my presence, her voice is filtered to a pleasant contralto."

  "Done. You'll learn how well it works when she calls back."

  "She doesn't need to call back. Linda can tell her what's up."

  "Yes, but she was curious enough to stop the car and look you up. She just drew a blank window when she clicked on your 'position' link, and when she tried to get the information through her office link, it showed you as an 'unlisted' operative, told her nothing, and automatically referred a notification of the inquiry to Linda's office."

  "Sue, why can't she pull my info? Is it rank or clearance?"

  "Neither, Ed. Linda simply put a referral flag on your info. In the course of her regular duties, Danvers has no 'need to know' about such people as you."

  "Such people as me, huh? Gee, I hope you meant that in a kindly manner, flitter girl."

  "Oh, of course, sir. Oops, stand by, she's calling now. Shall I put her through, or would you like a moment to prepare?"

  Sighing, I said, "Sometimes you almost have too much personality, lady. Just patch her through on a field screen."

  A three-foot screen appeared and Danvers coolly said, "Hello. I hope I'm not disturbing you, but I have a question."

  Sipping my coffee as she spoke, I noted that Sue's fix had made Danvers' voice tolerable. I answered, "Shoot."

  "Uhm... What exactly do you do for 3rd World?"

  In a slightly drawling Texas accent, I said, "Ah'm just wunna Linda's flunkies, ma'am. A mere minion to her whims."

  Sue's laughter came through my implant.

  Danvers regarded me silently for a short time and replied, "Just tell me if you won't -- or can't -- tell me."

  Shrugging, I said, "So don't believe me. Ask Linda. She calls me to run errands and do stuff now and then, that's all."

  Enunciating each word clearly, Danvers repeated, "Do stuff?" and paused before asking, "Like rescuing hostages, you mean? Why would a simple errand boy have a closed file?"