"Yup. Sure did. Maybe you diplomatic types can ignore stuff like that, but I don't, and she wouldn't be much of a Marine if she'd just sat and watched. Now, do you want me to put your bureaucratic ass to sleep until we get to Germany?"
Steve huffed up and yelled, "Do you even know who you're talking to?! Do you have any idea at all?!"
Fuck him. I stunned him hard and watched him fall, then told the flitter to move him to the rear deck and keep him asleep until further notice.
"Yes, sir," said the flitter computer, lifting Steve and floating him toward the rear.
Alanah rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly as Barbara simply stared at Steve for a moment, then at me.
Sue said, "We're ready, Ed."
"Thanks, Sue. Have you already told Linda or do you want me to tell her?"
"I haven't. You may if you wish."
"Nah. It's your show. You get the honor."
She laughed softly and popped up a blank field screen. Linda's face appeared a moment later. She smiled slightly as she said hello to the assembly, then her gaze narrowed as she saw Steve lying on the deck.
Before she could ask about him, I said, "He had an attitude problem. Got loud and rowdy and rank-conscious."
Her left eyebrow went up. "Would everybody there agree that stunning him was necessary?"
"I didn't take a vote on it. Sue has an announcement."
Linda's eyes flicked to Sue, who said simply, "We'll commence in exactly five minutes."
Nodding, Linda said, "Three-thirty on the dot. Thanks, Sue. I'll pass the word."
Leaning slightly out of the screen for a moment, Linda told someone to spread the news, then faced us again. Before she could speak, someone called her name from her left.
"Gotta go," she said. "Ring me back if anything comes up."
With that, she tapped her 'off' icon. Sue made the field screen disappear. I told the flitter to put a countdown display on the console screen and wake up Steve.
The effect of theta waves is instantaneous, as is their cessation. Steve sat up, shook his head and blinked at us, then glared at me and opened his mouth as if about to say something likely to be rather caustic.
"Steve," I said, "Whatever you're about to say, don't. The bunker mountain'll blow up in a few minutes. If you want to be awake to see it happen, take a seat and be quiet."
His glare continued, but he came forward to sit beside Carl. Everyone's eyes switched back and forth from the console to the mountain in front of us for some moments before Frank spoke.
"Uhm, shouldn't we be a little farther away?"
"No," I said, tossing my beer bottle over the side. It flashed to plasma when it hit the exterior field, which startled the hell out of all the passengers except Alanah.
Sue said, "We're six miles from the mountain."
Through my implant, she said, "Steph and Elkor bored a number of tunnels to the surface. We'll begin by transmuting the interior rather than the surface."
Keying my implant, I stood up and walked back to nudge the rifles and gear with my toe as I quietly replied, "Sounds good, ma'am. That'll let Linda and company make up any story they want about how the job was done."
"That's the idea."
"Just for the record, milady, I think you're pretty special. Most of the ladies I've known couldn't blow up a mountain."
With a snicker, Sue said, "Gee, thanks, mister. I hope I've spoiled you for all other women."
"Nah. Steph did that. Sorry you weren't my first."
Barbara rose from her seat and walked toward me.
When she got close, she whispered, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I was just having a quiet talk with Sue. You want one of these rifles?"
She looked at them and shrugged. "I doubt they'd let me keep it. What are you going to do with them?"
"Toss 'em overboard."
"Uh... you mean like the beer bottle?"
"Yup. Want to fire off the last of the ammo right quick?"
Glancing back at Steve, she said, "No, I guess not. I may already have some explaining to do about shooting."
"Fuck him." I picked up the '74, slapped in a magazine and racked the bolt, set it to automatic, and pulled the trigger.
The rifle emptied itself into the air behind the flitter, then I tossed it upward. When it hit the perimeter field, it flashed brilliantly and vanished.
Handing the other rifle to Barbara, I said, "Your turn," and reached for the last magazine in the belt pouch.
She took the rifle and magazine with a big grin, set the selector to automatic, and held the trigger until the bolt locked open for lack of another round.
After studying the weapon for a few moments, she grasped it firmly by the muzzle and heaved it upward to watch it flash to plasma as mine had.
"Damn," she said softly. "That is so cool."
Handing her one of the web belts, I said, "These go too. If ol' Steve gets snotty later, he'll do it without any evidence."
Barbara grinned and we threw our belts to bright oblivion together as she said, "He'll still have witnesses, if he wants to push it."
I shrugged. "You wanna throw the guys overboard? I don't think the ladies will rat on you and I certainly won't."
Laughing, Barbara said, "I'll think about it. We'd better get back to our seats or we'll miss the big event."
Looking at the mountain ahead of us, I said, "Oh, I think we'd be able to see it well enough from here," but I walked with her back to our seats.
The screen countdown had reached thirty-four. We received some stares as we sat down and I reached for my coffee by the console pedestal. Popping the lid off, I sent a warming field into it for a few seconds, then put the lid back and sipped.
There was an air of tense anticipation aboard the flitter as all eyes focused either on the mountain or the timer. Frank began softly counting with the timer at ten, his gazed fixed on the mountain. It was so cliche I almost told him to shut up.
At exactly zero, vast gouts of steam shot from tunnel entrances around the base of the mountain. Thick clouds formed that nearly obscured the lower half the mountain, then more gouts of steam blasted out of the top.
A column of stark whiteness about two miles wide rose quickly above the area. Unlike a nuclear blast, no ring formed around the column; it was simply one tall blast of steam that raced upward to the heavens.
Various exclamations of amazement came from the others aboard for some moments, then Sue caused '40,000 ft.' to appear on the screen. I looked at her and she mimed clapping and whistling with a big grin.
Oh. That. Well, I'd said I would, so I started applauding and whistled. When Barbara and the others gave me curious looks, I gestured at Sue and continued applauding with a grin. Barbara laughed and joined me, as did Alanah. I whistled again and yelled, "Way to go!" at Sue. She took a small bow just to one side of our view of the steam geyser.
Less than five minutes later, there was no mountain left. The last of the superheated steam withdrew swiftly upward from the gap where the mountain had been, allowing us to see the neatly-carved notch created by the generators.
Both sides and the floor of the gap were absolutely flat and looked almost polished. A truly huge 3rd World Products logo had been crisply carved into the damply-glistening bottom of the notch.
"Going up," said Sue, and the flitter quickly rose until it was above the top of the geyser, which was flattening and spreading for miles in all directions. I looked over the side and saw that, even at that altitude, the logo in the notch below was clearly visible. Satellites would have no trouble seeing it.
Keying my implant, I asked, "Steph? Elkor? Are you busy, or can you drop in for a while?"
Stephanie and Elkor appeared; Elkor on top of the console as usual and Steph standing beside him in a jacket-skirt outfit composed of attractive shades of deep green.
Ignoring the reactions of the others aboard the flitter, I rose to take Steph's hand and kissed her knuckles as I said, "Well done, milady. Excellent
work." To Elkor, I said, "You three have performed what certain people may regard as almost a divine miracle. In any case, it was one hell of an example to the countries that support terrorism. They now know that they stand to lose serious amounts of landscape if they grab the wrong people. Damned fine job, everybody."
Elkor said, "Thank you, Ed," and Steph grinned as she took a small bow and chose a seat beside Barbara.
As I returned to my own seat, I saw everyone aboard staring at Steph, Elkor, or both, and made introductions.
"Our visitors are Stephanie," I gestured at her, "And Elkor," I gestured at him. "They helped Sue with the mountain."
Pointing quickly at each of the human passengers in turn, I said their names and ended facing Sue.
"What now, milady? Is there anything left to do here?"
Shaking her head, she said, "No. We can leave for Germany any time you wish."
Glancing around, I said, "Sounds good. These people could probably use some TLC. Flitter, take us to the helipad at the Landstuhl hospital, please. Standard flight parameters."
"Yes, sir."
Because the flight was more than a few hundred miles, the flitter launched us forward at maximum speed. Although we were moving at more than thirty-eight hundred miles per hour, our altitude made it hard to determine more than the fact that we were moving pretty fast.
Barbara touched my shoulder to get my attention and very quietly said, "Uh... she brought her cat..?"
Elkor said, "No, Lieutenant Klass. I am not Stephanie's cat. This is simply my preferred form."
Her open-mouthed stare at him continued, but she nodded as if she understood, then her gaze turned to Steph, who chuckled and said, "That's quite true. He's not my cat."
Calling up a field screen, I tapped Linda's icon and waited a few moments until she answered. Her face appeared and although she was obviously happy, she seemed somewhat shocked. Her eyes went from Sue to Steph, then to me.
"Well, ma'am?" I asked, "How was it?"
"Ah... the data is still coming in, but I was watching over a satellite link and a local camera feed we tapped. My God, people. Even though I knew you could do it, actually seeing it happen was... well, astonishing, to say the least."
"You saw what they left at the bottom?"
Her expression became a bright, happy grin.
"We sure did! That was an excellent touch!"
Something pulled her eyes to one side for a moment and she nodded, then faced us again and sighed.
"They say it's lonely at the top, but if that were true I'd have a few uninterrupted minutes to chat with you. We'll catch up after things quiet down. Steph. Elkor. Sue. Ed. That was fantastic! Wonderful! Thank you for all you've done today. Is there anything I need to know before I go?"
"Nothing else," I said. "Nobody will find any radiation or toxins at the site. We're all fine and on the way to Germany. You might want to tell Danvers that and remind her not to get all carried away with hardware and procedures."
Linda laughed. "Yeah, she called me right after you hung up on her. I told her to accept whatever you and Sue told her about the situation as gospel." Glancing off to the side again, she said, "Incoming bureaucrats. Gotta go now. Bye!"
She hit her 'off' icon without waiting for a reply. I let the screen vanish and turned to Steph.
"Gee, lady, you're as lovely as ever."
Smiling, she said, "Thank you."
"Did you have fun blowing up that rockpile?"
Her left eyebrow went up and she said simply, "Yes."
Turning to Elkor, I asked, "How about you? Was it fun?"
He canted his cat face slightly and replied, "It was somewhat entertaining, although rather a waste of energy."
"That's how it is with most all things that are fun to do."
Looking at Sue, I asked, "And you, milady? Did steam-cleaning that mountain away do anything for you?"
Sue gave me a wry look and said, "I'm with Elkor; it was a somewhat entertaining waste of energy."
Elkor asked, "May I ask why this example of retaliation was apparently meant to protect only 3rd World personnel?"
"Well, it wasn't really. It may seem that way, but here's how it works with primitives, Elkor; first you get their attention, their respect, and even their fear, then you tell them how it's going to be. There's no damned point at all in trying to reason with drunks, druggies, or political and religious nuts. You have to make them believe that you thoroughly outweigh whatever the hell is motivating them. If today's mountain message got through to the countries that are sponsoring terrorism, we should know fairly quickly. They'll be looking to get clean, which means a lot of terrorists will be looking for new training facilities and places to roost between jobs."
Carl said, "Uhm, excuse me, but won't that just put them on the run? Isn't it hard enough to find them and arrest them?"
"It's a lot harder to spot them when they're hiding quietly. The minute they move, the risk of exposure and recognition increases exponentially with every public appearance for any reason, even if it's just to go from a building to a car. Watchers are just about everywhere these days, and if a country faces a choice of losing big chunks of real estate or dumping terrorists, I think they'll vote against the terrorists."
"Not all of them," said Carl, "Not at first, anyway. It could take a long time to convince them that they'll get caught."
"Then maybe next time we'll zap some farmland. Or fill in a seaport or plug some oil wells. Or something else that'll make a big dent in their world and their wallets. We don't have to kill people, either. A few dozen sponsoring nations could suddenly find themselves destitute, and that would mean more to the leaders than losing any number of their soldiers or civilians."
Turning to Sue, I asked, "Could you -- that's 'could' you -- manufacture enough counterfeit currency -- electronic and cash -- to bankrupt a nation?"
Without the slightest hesitation, she noddingly said, "Yes."
"Now, under what circumstances would you do that?"
"By currently existing laws, none."
"What if the laws change to allow it?"
Looking at me rather archly, she said, "What's legal isn't always necessarily morally correct."
"Suppose I came up with the right reasons. How long would it take to confuse and bankrupt the economy of, say, Syria?"
"A week or so should do it."
"A week?!" exclaimed Frank. "That's all?"
Sue nodded. "Possibly less."
I asked, "Are various Middle-Eastern nations currently engaged in counterfeiting large volumes of US dollars?"
"Yes. Four of them."
"Then I submit that fair's fair."
"Not for the people who'd starve."
Sighing, I shrugged at Barbara. "See? She has an answer for everything. It's a wonder I ever get to have any fun." Glancing at her wrist, I added, "Are you ever gonna give Alanah's watch back to her?"
She blinked at me and glanced at her wrist, then looked at me again and asked, "How did you know..?" as she slipped the watch off and handed it to Alanah.
"Just did."
Alanah laughed softly and thanked her as they traded watches. I noticed Barbara's tiny diamond-stud earrings and the gold ring on her right ring finger, then looked at the other people we'd rescued. Two men wore gold rings. All of them wore watches. I wondered aloud why their guards hadn't taken the watches and jewelry.
Shaking her head, Alanah said, "No idea, Ed. We were taken from our car and herded into other vehicles, then put aboard a plane and brought here. Until we reached the bunker, we were all kept together, then we were put in separate cells. They took our purses and the mens' wallets, but not our jewelry."
"That seems more than a little odd to me."
Nodding, she said, "And to me."
Barbara said, "I heard one man tell the others that anyone who so much as touched us without orders would be killed."
"Just you and Alanah, or the guys, too?"
"All of us, I think. I only
caught the gist of it; I only had the quick-orientation language course when I arrived last year."
Hm. Had someone known what might happen? Or had the whole kidnapping incident been a setup to make an excuse for a demonstration? People had been killed during the snatch; I couldn't see the Linda of today sanctioning something like that, but maybe others had put a setup together?
The matter of watches and jewelry not having been taken wouldn't escape the notice of the people who'd debrief our passengers. I decided to leave the mystery to them.
"Oh, well," I said as I stood up. "Somebody else can figure it out. I'm going to make a field potty. Anybody interested?"
"A field potty?" asked Frank.
"Yup. Stand by one. Flitter, please make a pair of field potties for our guests."
The computer said, "Yes, sir," and two wide gray columns appeared at the rear of the flitter.
Taking a roll of toilet paper and some hand-wipe towelettes from the console and walking to one of the columns, I said, "You just step into the column and do your thing. There's a field-generated commode inside. No need to flush; that happens when you step out of the potty."
With that, I set the toilet paper and all but one of the towelettes down and walked through the wall of the column. A few moments later I stepped out to find Barbara missing from the group. It figured she'd be first to try something new. After wiping my hands, I tossed the wrapper and towel over the side to flash and vanish.
Carl came over to tentatively push a hand into the column and marvel that he lost sight of the hand instantly. He then just as tentatively eased himself inside the column.
I headed back to my seat and stood sipping coffee as I considered the idea of a setup again. Steph gave me a studious look, then said through my implant, "You think something's odd about the kidnapping."
It was a statement, not a question, and I knew she'd shared it with Sue and Elkor. I looked at her as I nodded and silently mouthed, "Yup."
"We do, too. We're looking into it."
Nodding again, I said quietly, "Good."
Barbara came out of the potty and Alanah went in. Carl came out of his and swapped comments about the experience with Barbara as Frank went in. Funny. I'd have figured excitable Steve to be the first one to need the john.
3rd World Products, Inc., Book 5 Page 9