3rd World Products, Book 17 (31 page)

Tanya said, “She could call them from a place without US extradition and say she’d release the plans to the media.”

Snorting a chuckle, Marie said, “Right. They’d send a hit team.”

I said, “Very likely, if only to scare her into keeping quiet.”

Susan put her fork down and said firmly, “The government doesn’t really do things like that. That’s just in movies.”

Toni gave her a disbelieving look and said, “The hell they don’t. Look what happened to Bin Laden.”

“He was a terrorist. I’m not.”

Marie said, “The hell you aren’t. You could put the energy companies out of business. To the government, that’s a lot worse than any number of homicidal Muslims.”

I said, “And that makes me wonder something. With this level of importance, why was it so easy to get Toni out of jail? Why didn’t the NIA have her?”

Toni said, “Because I don’t know anything. I didn’t know where Susan went and I didn’t know she’d invented anything.”

Marie said, “Not even close to good enough. You should have disappeared for interrogation.” Turning to me, Marie asked, “Find any bugs? Trackers?”

“Yup. Two on her. Disabled since we left the cop shop.”

“Excellent. I won’t ask how.”

“Tell you anyway. Field probes found and zapped ‘em.”

Toni and Susan had been listening to the quick exchange, their heads turning back and forth as if watching a tennis match.

Susan hurriedly reached to put a hand on mine and hissed, “
Bugs?! What
bugs? Where?”

“In her phone and her MP3 player.”

“But they’re off? You’re sure?
Absolutely
sure?”

“Yup.”

Toni had her phone out. She slipped the back cover off, pried the battery out, and muttered, “Oh, my God.”

Turning the phone over let a small disk drop out and dangle from a wire. She plucked it loose and set it on the table, then fished her MP3 player out of her shirt pocket.

After examining it for a moment, she said, “I don’t know how to get this goddamned thing open.”

Marie chuckled, “You can bet they did.”

Tanya said, “If Ed says it’s off, it’s off. We can do something about it later. The question is, what do we do now?”

As the ladies looked at me, I shrugged. “Finish dinner, then go for a flitter ride. Bugs don’t work on a flitter anyway.”

Toni set the player on the table and said, “I’ll leave this here.”

“No need. I can take care of it in the air.”

She brightened and grinned. “Yeah! Throw it at the flitter’s field! Watch it go boom!”

I shrugged. “Suit yourself. I was just gonna take the bug out.”

“Oh. Well, then. Okay.”

I chuckled, “You sound so disappointed, ma’am. You could always throw something else and watch it go boom, y’know.”

She gave me a droll expression, said, “Gee, thanks,” and began putting her phone back together.

Susan looked first at Toni, then at me, and asked, “How did you know there were bugs? And how did you disable them? And what’s she talking about; throwing her player at the flitter’s field?”

Toni grinned and said, “You have to try it, Susan! Throw a coin or something off the flitter. It…” She looked at me and asked, “What
does
it do to things?”

I forked up food and said, “It turns them to plasma.” To Susan, I said, “The more mass, the better the show.”

“It disintegrates them?”

“Guess so. Always seemed that way to me.”

My answer was unsatisfactory, I guess. She sat back and eyed me for a moment before continuing to eat.

Marie snickered, “I think she was expecting something more.”

“Oh, well. I just made sure it wouldn’t zap living things. Wouldn’t want someone like Bugglebeast to find it the hard way.”

As Marie chuckled, “No, we wouldn’t,” Toni asked, “Who?”

“The neighbor’s cat. He visits some mornings.”

Looking at Susan, I asked, “How would you like to meet an AI?”

Susan almost choked on her drink. “You mean an
Amaran
artificial intelligence?! Not some computer junkie’s toy?”

I nodded. “Yup. A
real
AI.”

Her face lit up. “
YES! Yes,
I’d
love
to!”

“Okay. Set your cup down and stand by.” Linking to Athena, I asked, “Can you spare a minute, Miz Real-Live-Amaran-AI?”

She chuckled, “Of course,” and theta waves flooded the table as Athena appeared on Susan’s left.

Susan’s sudden realization of a new presence at the table made her startle hard and slowly turn her head, almost as if she might be afraid to look. Her deep, slow breath came out as, “
Oh-my-Gawwwd!
”

“Athena,” I said, “This is Dr. Susan Figler. I think you’ve met everybody else at some point.”

“Yes, I have, and it’s good to see you all again.” Holding a hand toward Susan, she said, “Hello, Dr. Figler. It’s nice to meet you.”

Susan happily bubbled, “Oh, my God, it’s just
wonderful
to meet
you!
Call me Susan!
Please!
”

“Thank you, Susan. Ed said you’ve invented a field device. That’s quite an accomplishment. Would you care to tell me about it?”

“Uh…” Susan rather hesitantly looked at me.

I said, “Yeah, go ahead. She already knows all about field stuff and the feds are gonna confiscate your gadget anyway. I just figured that if you can impress Athena, we could prob’ly get you a job at a place where you can mess with fields legally.”

Her face fell open. “You mean at 3rd World Products?”

“Or maybe the factory station.”

Susan blinked, stared, and then blurted, “
Oh, dear God! You mean I might get to go into space?!
”

“Seems likely. The station’s inside an asteroid.”

Turning to Athena, she excitedly asked, “Is that
true?!
I could actually go into
space?!
”

Athena smilingly replied, “Yes, it is. Even if you weren’t employed there, you could visit the station.”

Tears rolled down Susan’s face. I handed her a few paper napkins and she blotted and blew, then apologized and excused herself to go to the bathroom.

A dozen feet from the table, she hurried back and implored Athena, “Oh, please,
please
don’t leave until I get back?”

Athena smiled. “I’ll be here, Susan.”

Nibbling her lower lip and apparently at a loss for words, Susan managed a terse nod, then quick-stepped off to the bathroom.

Toni got up and said, “I’d better go with her. She looks pretty shaken up.”

I watched Toni’s deliciously long stride as she followed Susan, then turned to Athena and said, “You saw her math and the patent app. What do you think of it all?”

Athena met my gaze and said, “Her math was flawed, but most early efforts are. Her device is rudimentary, but it would work. With additional training, she could very possibly meet or exceed field technician employment requirements.”

“Kewl. Those jobs are all handled by Amarans, aren’t they?”

“Yes. No Earthies have been trained as field technicians.”

Tanya archly asked, “And why not?”

“Two reasons in particular; it would violate the technology treaty and no Earthies have shown sufficient aptitude.”

When Tanya looked at me, she rather irritatedly asked, “Is she saying we’re stupid?”

“No. They don’t teach that stuff down here.”

“Why the hell not?!”

“Think, ma’am. If they allowed it to be taught, there’d be more Susans running around inventing field gadgets.”

She frumped, “I’m not sure that would actually be a bad thing.”

“Think about it some more. A switchover like that would have to be very gradual to lessen economic impact, and the fossil fuel industries won’t go down without a nasty fight.”

Looking at Athena, I said, “But I think we might be seeing more Susans soon anyway. Some people only need vague ideas to put their brains in high gear. Not too many, but a few.”

Athena grinned. “Adaequatio rei et intellectus?”

Nodding, I agreed, “Yup. As always.”

Tanya glanced between us and asked, “What the hell does ‘adequatio-whatever-intellectus’ mean?”

I said, “The intellect must be adequate to the thing.”

Looking at Athena, she groused, “Then why didn’t you just say that? Some of us haven’t bothered to learn dead languages.” Looking at me, she asked, “And for that matter, why did you?”

“It was helpful in Europe. Sometimes what little I can remember of it is still helpful. The medical and legal systems use a lot of Latin.”

Chapter Twenty-two

When Susan and Toni returned a few minutes later, Susan looked fairly composed. I noted her motions were a tad jerky and her hands were trembling as she reached for her drink.

“Susan,” I said, reaching across the table, “Give me your hand for a minute.”

She hesitantly put her hand in mine and said, “Uh… okay. Why?”

I fed her a light dose of theta waves and judged her reaction by her eyes and the lessening tremors in her fingers. After a moment, I asked, “Are you feeling better now? Maybe a little more relaxed?”

Taking a breath and softly sighing it out, she murmured, “Mmmm. Yes. Yes, actually. What did you just do?”

Releasing her hand, I grinningly replied, “I just helped you relax a bit so you could get your head together and talk to Athena without sounding like a teenager meeting a rock star.”

Her gaze narrowed slightly, then she glanced around the table and gave a little moue-shrug. “I guess I was pretty excited, but I’ve always wanted to meet someone like Athena. And the idea of going to space… I… well… I just don’t know how to say it.” She turned to Athena and said, “Thank you
so
much for being here.”

“You’re very welcome, Susan.”

Turning to Marie, I asked, “Want to go to Carrington tonight instead of Monday? Susan would be safe from the feds there and she could get started tomorrow on whatever needs done.”

Marie shrugged. “Sure. No problem.”

Susan asked, “What about my apartment? My cat?”

I said, “My friend Angie will tell the fuzz to back off. Put down enough food and water for a few days and lock up. Leave a key with someone who can drop by and…”

Toni raised a hand. “Me. I’m close enough to take care of Bernard and watch the apartment.”

Susan asked, “How long will I be gone?”

I looked to Athena for that answer. She said, “Interviews and testing should take about a week. Once we’ve determined your level of understanding, remedial courses might…”

Recoiling slightly, Susan asked, “Remedial?”

I said, “Yup. Your math was flawed, ma’am.”

“My math? When…
How
did you see my math?”

Putting up a small screen, I showed her the forms on file at the Patent Office and said, “I did some snooping. Not important, since they won’t give you a patent anyway. What’s important is getting you someplace safe until Angie can…”

“Angie again! Who’s Angie?”

Marie chuckled, “She’s someone who can make the NIA back off.”

I said, “She’s Air Force colonel Angela Horn, head of 3rd World’s security offices. Now stop interrupting us and pick things up as you go. We need to make sure Bernard’s okay, get what you’ll need for a week or so, get you to Carrington, and…”

Looking very alarmed, Susan blurted, “Why wouldn’t Bernard be okay?! Why would they do anything… He’s just a
cat
, damn it!”

“Exactly. He’s a cat. If they locked down your apartment, Bernard might be put in a shelter or they might take him to a shelter if they don’t find you soon.”

Athena said, “Ed, you took your cats to Carrington. I don’t see why Susan can’t do the same.”

Susan brightened instantly and yelped, “Oh, yes, please! I’d love to have Bernard with me there!”

Sending probes to Susan’s apartment, I found a young black and white cat sitting in the kitchen window, watching some birds sitting on the walkway rail in front of the window. He glanced around, then rather warily looked straight at the probe.

I let the probe dissipate and said, “Good ‘nuff, then. Let’s go get Bernard and get you packed.”

Athena said, “I’ll get back to what I was doing. Susan, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodbye, all.”

With that, she vanished. Susan and Marie startled a bit, but Toni and Tanya had more experience with AIs. At the table behind us, a man dropped a fork on his plate and sat staring at the spot where Athena had been.

When I stood up, so did everybody else. I dropped a few bucks on the table and we trooped out of the restaurant fairly quickly. Galatea met us just outside the door and we got underway.

Susan’s second-floor apartment was in a fairly typical older complex. It was ‘U’-shaped, with parking on both sides and at the rear. I had Galatea park by the upper walkway railing above the courtyard and extend her hull field to the front of the apartment.

Forming a translucent gray ramp to Susan’s door, I walked down the ramp first to show Susan and Marie it was solid. Toni and Tanya had followed me immediately. Marie came next, then Susan put a tentative foot on the ramp. She pulled her other foot up, hopped up and down twice, and paled visibly when she looked at the ground.

After finding and disabling two bugs and a camera in the apartment, I chuckled, “Poor little Bernard’s waiting, ma’am. Time’s a-wastin’. You’re kind of holding up the show, there.”

She shot me a glower and took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and exhaled. After another deep breath, she opened her eyes, stared straight ahead, and almost ran across the ramp to join us.

Her pulse was pounding, her eyes were a bit large, and her hands shook as she looked back and down and said in a tense voice, “I’m not really very good with heights.”

Toni snickered, “We hadn’t noticed,” which earned her a sharp look from Susan.

I said, “Hey, you got past it. Good ‘nuff.”

Keys rattled in Susan’s hand as she unlocked the door. Bernard sat on the floor a couple of feet from the door. When he saw us, he seemed about to retreat, so I theta-waved him gently. Susan scooped him up and spent a few moments introducing him to us.