Book 3: 3rd World Products, Inc (25 page)

I grinned. “Well, I did suggest a smaller flitter than the school bus-sized thing they were making at first. Something for local, personal use."

"But you weren't on the design team?"

I shrugged. “Nope. There was no design
team
. Just one person."

In true shock, she asked, “They entrusted the design of a mass-production vehicle to just
one
person? Are they
insane?
"

"Nope. Same engine and control systems as the big ones on a smaller frame. No problem. You're worried about safety, right? Don't. Want to meet the pilot?"

Returning her gaze to the flitter, Breen said, “There's nobody aboard. I thought you were the pilot."

"Nope, not really. Stephie likes to do the driving."

"Who's Stephie? Your girlfriend?"

"Not exactly. Want to meet her?"

"Of course I'd like to meet her. I'd like to meet anyone who can tell me..."

"Steph,” I said, “Now's the time to drop in."

"Here I am,” Steph's Kathleen Turner voice came from behind us.

Breen spun and shrieked at the same time.

"Sorry,” said Steph. “Ed and I forget that other people aren't used to..."

"Where the
hell
did you come from?!” Breen almost yelled. “How did you get in here?
Joey!
"

The office door opened and Joey poked his head into the room. His jaw dropped when he saw Steph. Breen edged around behind me and said, “
Security! Now!
"

"Hold it!” I said. “Wait, dammit! I called her and she came. Steph, disappear from here and reappear on the flitter, please. I'll call you back in a minute."

Steph let her image begin dispersing from the bottom. In short order only her eyes and her smile remained, then they dispersed, as well.

Oh, lordy, she's seen ‘Alice in Wonderland',
I thought.
Oh, well. Good trick.

As the frenzied questions began from both Joey and Breen, I raised my hands in a placating gesture and said, “Just take it easy, okay? She uses fields to make images. Look at the flitter, people."

Steph waved and smiled at us from her seat by the console, then she disappeared again and reappeared standing in the middle of the deck, still waving and smiling.

I let Breen and Joey assimilate what they were seeing for a moment, then asked, “Can she come back in here now? You guys won't panic?"

Joey stumbled halfway into the room and pointed out the window as he asked, “What ... What's that thing outside?"

"My flitter.” With a glance at Breen, I said, “Okay, Steph. Come on back inside."

Steph smilingly reappeared precisely where she'd been standing before. She extended a hand to Breen and said, “Hello. I'm Stephanie Montgomery."

Breen seemed frozen for a couple of moments, but I saw her pupils widen considerably as she gazed at Steph. Breen rather hesitantly reached to take Steph's hand and said, “Dr. Breen."

Joey muttered, “Oh, God, Oh, God, Oh, God...” as he backed out of the room and ran to his desk, where he picked up the phone and punched a button.

As I headed for the door, I asked, “Steph, block his call?"

"Done. His phone is inoperative."

I hurried out there and stood in front of Joey's desk as I said, “Take it easy, Joey..."

He dropped the phone and shrieked and started to try to dodge past me, first to one side of the desk, then the other. Rather than grabbing at him, I zapped him once with my stunner to calm him. He woozily leaned on the desk, then let himself settle into his chair.

I rolled Joey into Breen's office and closed the door, then said, “Enough hysterics from everybody, okay?"

Breen cautiously approached, asking, “What did you do to Joey?"

"Stunned him a little to settle him down, ma'am. Give him twenty minutes and he'll be his usual snooty self. By the way, the stunner uses a field, too."

"Are you sure he's all right? How does it work?"

"Classified. If you aren't working for 3rd World, you don't need to know. Same goes for all the other field stuff. I can show and tell some, but I can't tell you how they work. Joey will be fine."

"
Classified..?
I have a ‘Q’ clearance ... Oh, hell,
that's
where I've seen your name! You're on the E-list for nuclear disasters in Florida. Which group are you with?"

"The Citrus county group. I know about your security clearance, Dr. Breen. Doesn't matter. It's for something else entirely. Now, how about that flitter ride?"

Joey was rousing himself a bit. Before Breen could answer, he shouted, “No! Dr. Breen, don't go with them!"

I turned to him and asked, “And why the hell not, Joey? My visit wasn't any kind of secret, was it? We'll be seen leaving together. Everybody'll know who she left with. Besides, we're on the same nuke emergency list. It's like we're already old buddies, right Dr. Breen?"

She favored me with a faint smile and said, “Well, I wouldn't go quite that far, but you're right; we're both on that list.” Turning to Joey, she said, “Joey, there's no problem here. Go back to work. I'll see you later."

"But..."

With a voice laced with steel, she said, “Just
go back to work
, Joey. I'll be fine."

Joey hesitated, but he acquiesced. When he tried to rise, his knees didn't work well and he flumped back into the chair. I told him to sit tight and rolled him back to his desk, then checked his phone.

"It's working again,” I said, hanging up the receiver. “No hard feelings?"

Joey just looked at me resentfully until I turned to return to Breen's office. Breen was rather blatantly examining Steph's field image.

I said, “Steph designs and makes her own clothes. Saves me a bundle."

That prompted Breen to reach for Steph's lapel and finger it.

"It feels like real cloth,” she said in a wondering tone.

With a grin, I said, “I told you she was a lot better with fields. Ready to fly?"

"I, uh ... You'll bring me back here?"

"Yeah, we'll bring you back here. This isn't a kidnapping, Dr. Breen. In fact, my orders are specifically not to kidnap you.” With another grin, I asked Steph to play back that portion of my conversation with Linda.

Linda's disembodied voice said, “Try to summon up a bit more enthusiasm, will you? We want you to bring her aboard by any means short of kidnapping her."

I shrugged. “See? No kidnapping allowed."

"See what?” asked Breen. “Where did that voice come from?"

Steph said, “My field can be used to replicate sounds, Dr. Breen."

After a long look at Steph, Breen actually smiled slightly as she asked me, “What was that part about lacking enthusiasm?"

"Um,” I said, “Well. My boss made me think that approaching you might be difficult. I don't like difficult. Guess it showed a little."

"I see. If you know my security clearance, you probably know more than that about me. What in particular made you think I'd be—as you called it—difficult?"

"The overall picture. How many people making as much as you don't own something other than a twenty-year old Jeep? How many people don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend listed in the security logs? Even my boss has a boyfriend, and she can be a real dragon sometimes."

"I see,” she said again.

There was a knock at the door. I looked at Steph and shook my head. She disappeared quickly as the door opened and the hallway guard stuck his head in.

"Sorry to intrude, Dr. Breen, but your secretary..."

Breen shook her head and waved a hand as if in dismissal as she glanced out the window to see Steph sitting near the flitter console. She said, “Joey is just having a bad morning, Frank. He'll get over it."

"Uh, he said there was another woman..."

Looking around, Breen asked, “In a green outfit? Like the woman on the flitter?"

Frank looked outside and saw Steph. She waved and smiled at him.

"Uh..."

"Would you like to come in and look around, Frank?"

"Uh, I guess not. Sorry for the interruption, Dr. Breen."

"You're doing your job, Frank. How's Joey?"

"Kind of hysterical, I think, but otherwise okay. I guess."

Breen nodded. “Have Gladys give him a pill, then tell him to get back to work. He still has some of Friday's results to finish posting."

With a nod and a “Yes'm,” Frank retreated, closing the door behind him.

"Everybody hold your positions,” I said. “That kind of bluff only works every time in the movies."

Sure enough, Frank reopened the door a few seconds later and said, “Sorry to interrupt again,” as he quickly scanned the room. Seeing nothing unusual, he finished, “What if Joey isn't up to coming back to work? Should we send him home?"

"No,” said Breen, striding toward the door. “You can send him down to personnel to see about another job and tell them to have someone else up here when I get back, and if you open my door again without knocking, you'd better go with him."

Her tone and words seemed to startle Frank slightly. He pulled the door shut.

"Tough lady,” I said. “I like that."

Breen looked at me rather askance and said, “Uh, huh. Right.
'Everybody hold your positions'
. If I bet that your girlfriends have all been doormats, what would I win?"

"Not a damned thing, ma'am. Get to know Steph. Meet my girlfriend. See if you believe that about me later."

With a dismissing grimace, she said, “Women are different around other women."

"Not the ones I hang out with. You ready to go?"

She opened a desk drawer and grabbed a dark blue handbag, then took a dark blue jacket off a hanger in the closet and draped it over her arm. “Now I am,” she said.

"Steph,” I said, “We're on our way down. See you at the front doors."

Because I used my implant, Breen couldn't hear Steph's, “Okay, Ed,” and she glanced curiously at me when I got underway apparently without confirmation.

Joey was nowhere in sight as we walked to the elevators. Neither was Frank, the guard; another guard had taken his place by the elevator doors. We signed out at the desk and I handed in my visitor pass, then we pushed through the turnstile and headed for the revolving door.

Breen said, “Just so you know, at this very moment we're being photographed and half a dozen people are checking you out in great detail."

"You don't have to go if you're nervous about it. I'm allowed to fail now and then in my less critical missions."

"I'm a mission?"

"You know you are, but you also need to know that I don't have to give a damn whether you join 3rd World or not. That's someone else's worry. All I have to do is tweak your interest in field research and buy you lunch if we're out that long.” I grinned at her and added, “And those things I can do, so no sweat."

Negotiating the revolving door prevented conversation for a few moments, but as soon as we were both on the sidewalk, she said, “Then your
mission
wants a convincing show and a good steak."

Steph descended to the edge of the sidewalk and said, “Hello, again."

She stood in the center of the deck, feet about shoulder width apart and hands clasped behind her back. Breen seemed unable to take her eyes off Steph's image for a moment. I helped her step up to the flitter's deck and showed her to the seat to the left of the pilot's seat as Steph took the seat to the right.

Breen seemed puzzled, so I asked, “What?"

"I thought she was the pilot, but you're sitting in front of the console. Where are the controls?"

"Steph has full control of the flitter. That egg on the console is the manual system."

"What about seat belts?"

"Don't need ‘em. Ready when you are, Steph."

"Roger, wilco, and all that,” said Stephanie. “Destination?"

"Up, up, and away. Since we're trying to impress her a little, why not head for Carrington at your best speed?"

Breen sat straight and stared at me. “Wait! Just wait a minute! Carrington?
North Dakota!?
I thought we were only going to be out for an hour or so!"

"We can be there and back in less than an hour. No problem."

Her look of shock didn't go away. “You're serious?"

"Yup. Launch when ready, Steph."

Steph made the flitter leap like a damned gazelle. We were a couple of miles up and climbing fast when Breen squeaked, “This can't be happening!"

I said, “Sure, it can. Watch this,” and reached into the cooler for a Dr Pepper.

Breen's eyes bugged as I pulled the bottle out of seemingly empty space and twisted the top off. When I offered it to her, she simply stared at me, so I took a sip and set the bottle on the deck to pull the gold coin out of my pocket.

"Steph, here's your doubloon back. Sorry I didn't finish cleaning it."

"No problem,” she said, taking the coin with a smile. “I'll take care of it."

Breen's eyes followed the coin as I passed it to Steph and remained fixed on it as Steph's cleansing field seemed to make the crud on the coin disappear from one side. She then flipped the coin over and repeated the process, then handed the gleaming coin back to me. I held it in front of Breen for a moment, then dropped it in her lap. Her eyes followed it and locked onto it.

I said, “Dr. Breen, Stephanie found a few of those coins recently. She uses her field to clean them. The cooler you couldn't see is shielded with a field, and fields are what are making us zip across the sky. They're also what is holding you in your seat and keeping you from feeling mashed and bashed from acceleration and inertial forces. You said that you wanted a convincing show, as I recall. Are you being convinced?"

Still goggling somewhat, Breen managed a small, “Yes,” as her eyes whipped back and forth from a smiling Stephanie to a smiling me. “Yes,” she repeated.

"You can let go of your seat, ma'am. I really have some reservations about reaching into your lap for that coin. Would you hand it to me, please?"

Breen didn't move immediately, and when she did, it was with the utmost hesitation to let go of her seat. Her trembling hand found its way to her lap, and after two tries her fingers managed to get a grip on the coin. She stared into my face as she shakily handed the coin to me.