Chapter 27

The next week was pretty interesting, to say the least.

Since she had been publicly seen with Jennifer, Eve had to fly home on the golf jet, instead of how she’d got out there. With the awards ceremony, and making donations, they didn’t get to leave the airport until ten that night.

With the eastern edge of the Everglades literally less than a quarter mile away, Beth had an easy time dealing with the bodies, transforming them into alligator chow. Then she remained in the vicinity, continuing to watch, just in case there was an issue. Having a plane go down in the Everglades could have been seen as a tragic accident, after all. It’s not like that didn’t happen from time to time.

However, when nothing happened during the first hour of their flight home, Beth left off escort duty and continued home at a better speed. Eve remained on full alert, but the caution proved unnecessary. They made it home safely.

The reunion that night had a bit of a frantic pace to it. I’d been very afraid that something would happen to Jennifer and our child. Eve set me straight before I went off and became a complete emotional wreck.

“Cal, I’m the one who’s taking the psychology classes. This isn’t exactly how they would like us to discuss this, but ... if you weren’t at least slightly fucked up mentally, THEN I’d be worried. The minor detail that you’re not completely fucked up is at least a minor miracle. Our time while we’re at Stanford should be the time that you have to get your head on straight, and come to terms with your grief. You never did get the memorial garden put in at Kansas, and we didn’t put one here because we considered this to be temporary.”

“I think we can put some flowers in one of the inside garden areas. There are skylights over it for natural light to get in. Would one of you make arrangements to have ... well, a blank slab of granite brought in?”

Beth said, “It’ll be on the list of supplies for tomorrow. It should be here and in place by this afternoon, when you’re done with engineering.”

“Thank you. You’re probably ... no, I’ll say you’re definitely right, Eve. Losing not just my family, but my entire world, everything I knew ... I had no time to come to grips with it before I left, you know. I don’t know how long everyone else knew, but I had about six hours. I knew that things in Dad’s lab had been frantic, but they wouldn’t tell me why. I figured he was under some kind of contract with a deadline for making the first FTL test launch. He was, just not the way I envisioned.”

I looked over at Eve. “You’re right. The weeks that have been ... routine... have been good for me. Even in December, I wouldn’t have trusted that what you had planned would have worked, because I loved you, but I didn’t really and truly trust your safety to anyone but me. Not in here,” I said, motioning to my heart. “Or up here.” I pointed to my head.

Beth tersely smiled. “It’s not like you’ve really had the time to just sit back on the beach with a fruity drink that has a little umbrella sticking out of it, and watch the tide roll in and out for days on end, because you have nothing else to do but relax.”

I chuckled. “I don’t really think I could do that, anyway. Oh, for an afternoon, sure. But you’re the one who has the comic books that also have life lessons in them. The four of us have the greatest power on the planet. We have the greatest responsibilities because of that. The other five of you, you three as well, and plus, I’m finding, the other girls as well, also have great power, and thus, great responsibility. You all love me, give me hope for our future, and you all hold the keys to my heart.”

Marcia and Dora said at the same time, “DAMMIT!”

I looked at each of them with shock, while the other four started giggling.

“Sorry, mi amor. Marcia and I were both relaying your words to Hannah and Helen. They’re both upset that they’re not here tonight to take part in what will surely become one of the greatest sexual orgies we’ve attempted so far.”

“Oh,” was all I could say, before I was buried under a pile of female flesh.

“Now that you’re awake, could you give me a telepathic lift to the bathroom?”

“It’s telekinetic, but sure.”

I lifted Margie up, carrying her to the bathroom, then set her down onto the toilet.

“Thank you. You know, that comment you made before we molested your poor little body all night was probably the sweetest thing any of us have ever heard, from anyone, in our whole lives.”

“I wonder if the Indian girls know how much I’ve fallen for them as well?”

“We all know. Since you’ve been having ... no, you know what? That’s not right, not any more. You’re not having sex with them, you’re making love with them, just like you do with us.” She finished, then stood up and walked back into the bedroom with me, to get a robe on before breakfast. Everyone else was starting to stir, but there was the faint sound of sobbing coming from the bed, as well.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Master, we fear we are broken!”

Margie and I went over to that side of the bed as quickly as we could, where Kareena, Shinkai, Mahi, and Mina were all intertwined. Of course, none of them had any clothes on, so four nude brown girls in contrast to the white sheets was rather erotic. But they were truly distraught.

After looking at the scene for a few seconds, Margie laughed. “Girls, you’re not broken. Stuck, yes. Beth, are you awake yet?”

“I think so, but I’m having trouble seeing out of my right eye.”

Dora said, “Sorry, I’ll get my boob out of it.”

“Ah, much better. We end up with a bit too much debauchery last night, and not enough cleaning before sleep?” Beth asked.

Margie nodded. “Looks that way. At least the shower is big enough. But the way they’re stuck together, you’re going to have to lift all four of them at the same time.”

Beth stood up on the bed, her six-foot tall frame nearly hitting the ceiling. She brought her hand up in salute. “Yes, Ma’am! Telekinetic movers, at your service!”

Working together, we got the four girls into the shower, so I could pee on them, to release them from bondage. Then the four of us taking classes quickly showered and dressed, as we had no time for breakfast; we’d slept too long.

Mike caught up with me at lunch, to let me know what plans he’d started. I told him what I’d like to accomplish on Saturday. I think I took him by surprise.

“That’s ... audacious, I’ll give you that.”

“Of course it is. It’s also high risk, relatively speaking. But it’s also very high reward, if it works.”

He nodded. “I’ll do what I can to work it into the overall plan. It’s ... devious, all right.”

I shrugged. “I’ve got all this influence and power. Time to use some of it.”

There wasn’t much else out of the ordinary until Thursday afternoon, when our world travelers returned. They had a large number of presents for everyone. I thought it was funny that one of the things that was stored in the cabin was an enormous supply of alcoholic beverages, ranging from fine wines and rare champagnes, to aged whiskeys. It seemed that someone hadn’t been very observant of the Muslim proscription upon alcohol when he was overseas.

Leonard had driven back up and collected his wife. We ended up sending a truck to follow him home, as Beverly had indulged herself a little, and there just wasn’t enough room in their car for everything she’d brought home. That included two kittens that she’d picked up in a barn in Kentucky.

After they left, directly from the airport, we gathered at the CEDEM offices, in a secure conference room that I didn’t know we had. After making sure that I’d given both women appropriate kisses, it was time for business.

“Welcome home. How was the trip?” I asked.

“At least you had your priorities straight and gave us more kisses first before asking that question,” Hannah said. “First off, Uncle Robert says ‘thanks for the gift.’ Before you ask, what we brought home wasn’t nearly all of the assorted alcohol we found. It’s barely a third. The rest, we split up. Half to Robert, and the other half to Eyrthorpe, for when we go home there. Also as a way of saying thank you, the Rothschild bank has set up an account. They’re going to smelt the gold that was in the basement of the ‘apartment’ in France. Biggest apartment I’ve ever seen. As far as size is concerned, it was basically half a city block.”

Helen nodded. “Me, too. So, ten more tons of Nazi gold gets smelted into bars, then deposited into our special account with the Rothschild bank. That money is going to be used to help track down, if possible, the original owners or their families of the artwork that was in London, Kent, and Newmarket. Victor has already contacted the Israeli government, to work with them, on this. Both Robert and Victor were shocked at what he had there, so much so that Victor called King Fahd about it. In today’s market, easily four or five billion worth of paintings, statuary, and historical artifacts of Judaism. They’re going to catalog all of it, and then whatever we can’t find owners for, will be distributed to the Holocaust museums that we’ll be building. Including the one that will be built in downtown Riyadh.”

That made both Mike and Chuck sit up straight in their chairs.

“That’s ... incredible ... that the King of Saudi Arabia would do that for, well, Jews.”

Hannah smiled. “He’s not doing it for our people. He’s doing it for world peace. A ... reminder, if you will ... of what was lost. There are still warehouses full of clothing, luggage, shoes, and other personal items taken from the prisoners. The goal is to have museums open in Riyadh, Berlin, London, Moscow, Washington, and Jerusalem by the end of next year.”

Marcia nodded. “We’re not doing it for the money, in case I have to state that rather obvious fact, but based upon what the studio says, we should also have ‘Schindler’s Ark’ in the theaters by next fall. It’s going to sound tacky, but what we’re planning on doing is tying the movie in with the opening of those museums.” Before anyone could object, she quickly added, “It’s also going to be quite publicly announced well in advance that all studio proceeds – not net, but gross – from ticket sales will be going to support the museums, with none of the usual Hollywood backroom accounting going on, and we’re going to be public about how much a ticket should cost, which will probably be about three fifty for adults. That way the theaters can’t jack up the price of admission to make extra money, and people will know what sixty-five percent of their money is going for.”

I frowned. “I’m rather surprised the studio and actors will allow the film to be made such that it doesn’t even attempt to make a profit for them.”

Marcia grinned. “What was it you said, Mike, about me being known in Hollywood? So is Uncle Leonard, and more importantly, Aunt Beverly. NOT an issue, since we’re privately funding the production, the distribution, and the advertising. I may have also mentioned the Cal Lewis card as well. You know Ronald Reagan still has his Screen Actors Guild card.”

Mike just shook his head. “Good grief, Charlie Brown. Okay, what else? I haven’t heard about providing security at five other places yet.”

“You won’t, either. I’ve got a buyer lined up for the horse farm in Kentucky already, and I’m working with Uncle Robert’s estate agent to sell him the house in London. I’m going to keep Newmarket and Kent. They’ll be nice vacation homes. The property in France is on a fifty year lease, and I’m just going to sub-lease it out, actually to CEDEM if that’s okay, for a European base of operations.”

Margie nodded. “That sounds reasonable, we were going to need a location over there anyway, with the German operations.”

Helen chuckled. “That man had ... strange, from our perspective, tastes. Keeping his personality in mind, probably not so strange. Either way, we didn’t keep any of the whips, leather outfits, or the really kinky stuff. I don’t know how bad it is that between the eight of us, we actually knew what all of those things are used for. Either way, with the issues that we’ve had here anyway, keeping all of those toys around to enhance domination just seemed like a really bad idea.”

While he had been quiet and sitting off to one side, Sayel did speak up then. “Certain of those items have a dual purpose, Mistress Helen. Using them as actual instruments of ‘persuasion’ works, for one not particularly into those fetishes.”

Hannah pulled out a dollar and handed it to Helen.

With a smile, Helen said, “I said we didn’t keep it. It’s being boxed up into a shipping container, and is going to be delivered to Hutchinson. You can coordinate with William and Yagyu on who gets what and where.”

Sayel had one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen on him. “Thank you, Mistress. I’m sure that it will all be ... put to good use.”

“Please tell me that we don’t own a castle somewhere, complete with tall towers, and a dungeon underneath,” I said.

Margie smiled. “Okay, I won’t tell you.” She laughed, then continued in accent, “Vell, at least ve don’t own one just yet, Herr Doktor Fronkenstien.”

I sat upright. “We don’t? Perhaps you should rectify that error, Frau Blücher!”

The girls whinnying like horses, then laughing, pretty much ended that meeting.

Friday was spent putting the finishing touches on preparations for Saturday, and making sure that our guests that would be flying in tonight for the meeting tomorrow would be comfortable and well rested. I actually hoped that tomorrow would go better than I was prepared for it to go.

We were all waiting at Moffett Field when the tower announced that an Aerolíneas Argentinas SA 747 was requesting landing instructions. Based upon what we’d found out, they’d flown from Buenos Aires to Mexico City yesterday, so they’d have less than a four hour flight today. Thirteen hours all at once and then expecting yourself to be sharp was a bit much, even in a 747.

The plane came in for a landing on runway 32R. Once it was down, a ‘follow-me’ brought it up to the apron outside of Blimp Hangar One, just down from our leased 747. The other reason they’d had to stop in Mexico City became clear when I scanned the inside of the plane. Normally, with very few passengers and almost no cargo, the 747 actually could have made it non-stop, presuming there were no adverse winds. Bauman had split the difference between paranoia and reason. There were fifty heavily armed soldiers in the plane, along with a rather large nuclear device.

The ground crew pushed the ladder up to the plane, then left, leaving three young girls standing at the base of the stairs and a squad of Marines in their dress blues. A soldier opened the door, then took up a position at the top of the stairs. He blinked, then said something to someone inside. Upon hearing the reply, he handed his rifle back into the plane, then simply took up a position of attention at the door. He saluted as someone in a formal military uniform stepped off the plane, then held the salute as a man about thirty years old came out, followed by three women.

When the military man reached the bottom of the stairs, the Marines went to the position of attention, while the girls all nodded at him. The three grinned when the brown skinned man with blond hair stepped onto the pad.

“No doubt you are slightly confused as to having an honor guard and three young ladies as your welcoming party,” Holly said.

“It was thought that perhaps the three of us would be more ... appropriate ... to meet you,” Carrie said.

The man’s eyes opened wide when the girls held out their hands with the rings on them.

“Welcome to Moffett Field, cousin,” Cally said. All three girls made their rings flash, then they lowered their hands to their side. “Please, follow us. We assure you, you are perfectly safe.” They walked towards the door.

After a moment, the five Argentinians followed them. The military man saluted the Marines, who acknowledged it, returning to parade rest once he was past them.

I was waiting just inside the door, and greeted the military man first. “Hello, I’m Cal Lewis.”

“Comandante Mayor Sorvino, Gendarmería Nacional Argentina!”

“A pleasure to meet you, and if I may use the equivalent military rank, Colonel Sorvino. Allow me to introduce you to the Vice-President of the United States, Jeanne Kirkpatrick.”

We’d set things up in a formal reception line. Jeanne Kirkpatrick was next to me, then Andrei Gromyko, Ambassador Xu from China, Mister Dhawan acting on behalf of both India and Pakistan, Yitzhak Shamir, Prince Nayef, a last second addition of the Princess of Wales, Prince Akihito, and last in line was Cardinal Bernardin Gantin.

Jeanne passed Sorvino off to Gromyko while I held my hand out. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person. I’m California Lewis. Please, just call me Cal.”

He smiled, as he looked down the line of people waiting. “I am Cristian Calvin Bauman. If we are to be friends, and I suspect we must, I go by Cris. A moment, por favor. Maria, please change places with Evelin.”

“Of course, a simple code. Your Maria has the red hair and so can wear the green dress, with Evelin being blonde, the yellow dress for caution, while of course, Salvadora, with her long black hair, wears the red dress signaling danger.”

His eyes narrowing slightly, he smiled. “But of course. I would be a fool to blindly enter into your lair without some way of removing myself.”

I laughed. “Don’t worry, Cris. Neither the fifty some-odd soldiers on your plane, nor the nuclear device in the cargo hold, will be needed today. Now, have you met the Vice-President of the United States previously?”

His eyes widened, at everything I’d said. He looked positively stunned.

“Cris, this is the Vice-President of the United States, Jeane Kirkpatrick,” I basically repeated.

That broke him from his shock. Letting go of my hand, he moved to her, smiling. “A positive pleasure to meet you, Madam Vice-President. It is my understanding that you supported Argentina during our most recent issue with the British.”

“Personally, I did, but of course, I had to follow what our government wanted. This is Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.”

While Cris was moving down the line, I greeted Salvadora, Evelyn, and finally Maria. The three of them were gorgeous, of course. Each of them was wearing assorted jewelry, with a dozen shivalingam scattered between the three of them. One thing I’d noticed was that Cris did not have the vestigial organ. Neither did any of his ladies.

Once Maria was through the reception line, and it broke up, I walked over to Cris.

“Simply as a suggestion, you might send Colonel Sorvino out to the plane and have your men come on in and get something to eat and drink. We’ve set up facilities in the hangar for them to rest. I told you that everyone you brought with you could leave with you.”

He nodded.

“So you did.” He called the Colonel over, giving him instructions, and then rejoined me. “This is ... not quite the reception I was expecting to receive, to be perfectly honest.”

Gromyko laughed. “If it had been last week, I would have done all I could to make certain you received a reception befitting your status. But ... that was last week. The world has found itself changing drastically.”

Ambassador Xu nodded. “Indeed. Even my government has recognized that while we are the Central Kingdom, others exist and must be given their own due accord. With there not actually being a United Nations any longer ... and with us still working upon the replacement for it ... I’m simply going to tell everyone here that, effective at midnight tonight, the People’s Republic of China officially recognizes the government of the Republic of China. Even we can learn, painful though it has been.”

Cardinal Gantin said, “End the Fighting. Destroy the bad drugs. Live in peace. Three simple precepts, but ones difficult to follow, given human history.”

Mister Dhawan smiled, then said, “There is, of course, the fourth precept that the Messenger from Above did not mention. Survive the return of Shiva.”

There was a little bit of noise as the troops from the plane entered the hangar. Several of Dora’s cousins were present, to show them where to store their gear, and to take their drink orders from the menu we had for them. The Colonel started to come back over to our group, but Cris simply waved him away.

“Very impressive, Cal. I truly will say, without hesitation, that yesterday, I did not foresee this kind of meeting,” he said.

“Everyone, we have some long tables set up in a square, so that we can all see and hear each other. Please, let’s go have a seat. I did, after all, invite all of you here for a meal. I know I told Cris an old fashioned cook-out on the phone. Unlike the last time we ate here, when we simply cooked an entire cow and two hogs over open fires, between both groups, we’re only feeding about a hundred. We have prime aged Kansas beef, which should have a different taste from the beef lomo you are used to having in Argentina. In addition, we have fresh prawns, crab, cod, sea bass, and salmon, all of which were caught yesterday by fishermen of Adak, and flown here overnight. I brought three of the top chefs from Fisherman’s Wharf, along with a dozen assistants and professional restaurant gear here to prepare the meals for everyone.”

I paused, then smiled. “Of course, for those of my guests who have specific dietary restrictions due to their religions, the chefs are already aware of that, and will keep your food apart and prepared ... well, kosher and halal, basically, since that’s acceptable to both of you, and of course, no beef for Mister Dhawan.”

Nayef shook his head. “I told you before that due to the exigencies of state, I may forgo the restrictions. But ... no rattlesnake.”

Jennifer and I laughed.

“Definitely not. I think I’ve caught, what, five so far since we’ve lived here? I kill them, then we skin them and freeze them. Dora’s cousins, the ones serving drinks to your men, plan on having a cookout for their families this upcoming summer. I’m hoping to have a full dozen for them by then.”

Princess Diana blinked, saying, “You catch rattlesnakes? I’ve seen movies of men doing that with long poles and boots, because it’s so dangerous.”

“Who needs those? I just wait until the snake strikes, then move faster than it can, catching it behind the head.”

Nayef chuckled. “Yes, I know.”

Bauman looked at me through slitted eyes now. “Is there an allegory in that story?”

“Other than that I have very fast reflexes, why, no. See for yourself. There will be no danger to anyone. Sayel, one dagger, please.”

From across the table, where he’d been lurking near Abdullah, Sayel pulled and threw a dagger over the heads of Foreign Minister Gromyko and Prince Nayef. I simply brought my hand up in front of my face, catching the dagger between two fingers, about six inches in front of my nose. “Very fast reflexes, Your Highness.”

At that time, the servers came along with the soups or salads for everyone. “Even though we have a variety of faiths here today, I would like Cardinal Gantin to lead us in a prayer, before we eat, if none of you mind?”

He stood. “Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us all here together today. We are of a variety of faiths, a variety of peoples, from all over this great planet Earth of ours. One thing we do all have in common is our humanity. Guide us in our discussions later, that we may reach the best conclusion for all of mankind. We thank you for this food, to feed and nourish our bodies, as you have given us words of wisdom to feed and nourish our souls. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.”

He crossed himself, as did all four Argentinians, Jennifer, and Dora.

The soup was ... utterly delicious. Andrei Gromyko said, “I do not think I have eaten anything better at the finest state dinners I’ve attended.”

Carrie was a few chairs over from me. “I’ll pass that on to my Aunt. The chef is using our recipe for the seafood soup. He’s already learned some things from me about how to properly cook fish our way, I’m certain this will please him as well.”

Prince Akihito smiled as well. “I am quite fortunate that our family cook is not here. He would commit seppuku after eating this, and realizing that his seafood recipe that has been handed down for over six hundred years is not the best in the world.”

That made Carrie laugh. “Your Highness, this recipe is more than three thousand years old. Just because there are only a few hundred of us left in the world, we remember. And what we don’t, the Sacred Souls do.”

For the first time, one of Bauman’s women said something. “Then it is true,” Evelin said. “You are able to speak to the souls of those who are dead, like the Messenger.”

Holly giggled, sounding younger than fourteen. “Well, sure. Not much point in being one of the Guardians of the Planet, chosen by Gaia, Mother Nature, or whatever you want to think, if we can’t.”

“But ... how?” It was obvious that Evelin was bothered by this, a lot. It was also obvious that Bauman was as well.

Helen spoke up then. “You’re trying to figure out how these three little girls can do something with only a single shivalingam on them, when the three of you can’t do anything like that even while each of you are wearing four of them, and while Cris has five of them secreted in his clothing. It’s quite simple, actually. They don’t need them. They were born that way.”

Bauman’s jaw dropped. “But I thought...”

I shook my head. “Let’s wait until after we’ve had the main course, shall we? Unless you’re in a huge hurry to fly back to Argentina tonight, and make final preparations for the invasion of the armies of the ... well, most of the rest of the world, in fulfilling the ‘destroy the drugs’ crap that the Messenger has dished out ... then how about just relax?”

Cris blinked, then looked at his girls. They shrugged, which was funny seeing someone else’s girls do it at the same time. He nodded.

“Very well. I believe you mentioned some prime aged beef?”

I smiled in return, picking up my tea glass and hoisting it, like giving him a toast. He picked his glass up, returning the gesture.

When the main course was finished and the servers had taken our plates away, before bringing us desserts, Cris said, “I am ... very angry right now.” The look on his face belied his words. “I have, for my entire life, thought that Argentine beef was the best on the entire planet. I have eaten grain fed, grass fed, and even Wagyu cattle that was raised in Argentina. Now, I find that American Kansas beef is better!”

Prince Akihito smiled, saying, “Wagyu cattle not raised the Kobe way are still not as good as Kobe beef itself. Although between the texture of the beef, as well as the way this was prepared, this was better than the royal chef’s Kobe beef.”

“Don’t look at me, I’m still stunned at the taste of the seafood,” Mister Dhawan said. “From the smell, the beef was no doubt delicious, but ... not for me.”

“We have temporary restroom facilities over here, if anyone would care to freshen up before desert. There will be a variety of coffees, including some that those people who prefer mud instead of a drink can have, as well as light wines, designed to go with the variety of chocolates and candied fruits we have,” I announced.

We’d rented half a dozen of the latest upscale portable bathrooms that were even nicer than the ones we had in Kansas. While my guests were taking the time to relieve themselves, Mike came up behind me.

“We’ve still got the NEST team on standby. What do you want to do with them?”

“Feed them and send them home. Unless you think otherwise.”

“Worst case, he’ll leave. The bomb was in case you turned out to be ... well, like him.”

I chuckled. “He has no idea how much like him I can be.”

“That’s for damn sure. Good luck with the rest of the play.”

“Of course. Like I said before, high risk, but high reward.”

Fifteen minutes later, we were all seated comfortably around the tables again.

Bauman said, “I must say, if this was to be my last meal, I don’t think it could have been a finer one. But I do not believe that is to be the case. Although I’m quite sure that I will not particularly like where things will end up going during our after lunch conversation.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Apropos of ... quite a bit, actually ... what are your thoughts regarding the order of people that greeted you today?” I asked.

He nodded to Salvadora, who stood up to speak. “It was quite obvious that not only were you the host, but politically, you are of higher rank and stature than everyone else present. You are not just a Prince, but you personally are a King. The three largest world powers next, followed by a curiosity, as I expected there to be someone from both countries, not someone representing both nations. Of course, Israel and Saudi Arabia, due to your connections with both. That also covers Jews and Muslims. The Princess of Wales ... honestly, other than the Rothschild family living in England, I’m not sure. Prince Akihito, because of what you experienced in Hawaii, and of course, the Catholic Church, with Cardinal Gantin, due to his experience with the Messenger.”