The cold winds of summer, p.5
The Cold Winds of Summer, page 5
“In other words, Todd assaulted you after you passed out,” stated Chrissy.
“Yes. I think so. I can’t remember.”
The Doctor thought, then asked, “Did Todd ask you anything about Mary Bell?”
“I don’t remember. After Todd started to unbutton my blouse, things went fuzzy.”
“Jane. Because of your immoral actions with Todd, I am putting you on paid suspension until further notice and stay away from Todd. On your way out, tell Kate to come in.”
Kate sat in front of Chrissy’s desk, helped herself to some tea and cookies, looked at the Doctor, and said, “I guess you heard about what happened in the jungle with Todd and me.”
“You want to tell me why you decided to play around while on duty?”
Kate hung her head and said, “I was walking my patrol when Todd came up to me and began to talk. When we came near the jungle, I caught the fragrance of the ocean; Todd asked me if we could take a break together. We sat down under a tree and talked about Mary Bell. The next thing I remember is coming too, lying on some soft moss with my clothes missing.” Kate’s face turned red as she screamed, “So help me if I find Todd; I am going to kill him for what he did to me!”
“I will have to suspend you with pay until I find out what is going on.”
“You’re blaming me when it was Todd who assaulted me?”
“Kate, can you stand up for a minute?”
Kate rose to her feet; Chrissy did a medical scan of her and stated, “You’re good. Todd didn’t rape you.”
“Then why did Todd take off my clothes when we were in the jungle?”
“Put on a Johnnie coat and wait for me on the exam table; I want to do a micro scan on you.”
Kayli nervously walked in, sat down, helped herself to a cup of tea, and stared at the Doctor. Chrissy passed Kayli the plate of cookies and stated, “I was going to ask you some questions about your encounter with Todd, but I think I already know what you two did.”
“You do?” asked Kayli in surprise, “Who snitched on me?”
“No one. I think this happened: Todd came to your house one afternoon and began talking to you about Mary Bell. You caught the fragrance of the ocean, and the next thing you remember is waking up in the buff, and Todd was nowhere to be found.”
“Yeah, but how did you know?”
“The same thing happened to Jane and Kate. I want to do a micro scan on you three.”
Kate lay on her back on the exam table with a white sheet covering her and moaned, “Hey, Dr., can you hurry up? I’m freezing to death.”
Chrissy slowly waved a two-foot-long, by three inches wide silver bar over Kate, then gave her a warm blanket and said, “Don’t go anywhere just yet. I want to check on the results.”
“What does she think I am going to do? Run around the Institute naked?” grumbled Kate.
Chrissy returned eleven minutes later with a video tablet, showed Kate a fine, 6-inch scar across the top left side of her stomach, and inquired, “When did this happen?”
“I’ve never been operated on, Doc.”
“This scar is two weeks old. Somebody on this planetoid operated on you recently, and it wasn’t me.”
“I don’t have the slightest idea how that got there.”
“You also have a slight infection. Take these and come back in a week.”
Chrissy did a micro scan on the other two Sprites and found the same scar across their abdomen with a slight infection. The Doctor called the three Sprites into her office, sat them down, and reported, “Jane, Kayli, and Kate, all three of you have been operated on in the past several weeks. Plus, there is still a trace of the drug Amore in your system.”
“What is that?” questioned Jana?”
“It is a powerful drug that arouses you sexually and emotionally, giving the man the freedom to do whatever he wants without the person knowing it, and it smells like the ocean. I am taking you three off suspension and putting you on sick leave until your infection clears up and the drug Amore is completely out of your system.”
Doc. Chrissy marched into Thor’s office and asked, “Lacy is Thor available?”
“Yeah, go right on in.”
Thor studied the Doctor’s demeanor as she entered his office and asked, “What’s going on with you?”
“Someone at the Institute is preying on the female Sprite and is operating on them, and I want to know who?” bellowed Chrissy.
“Do you have any leads as to who is doing it?”
“Yeah, one, Todd.”
“Why would Todd do a thing like that?”
“I don’t know, but I want to find out.”
Chapter 5
THE COLD PLANET OF DICAPL
When Todd returned from visiting his sick grandmother, he sought out Mary Bell to see if she wanted to get together with him. She suggested, “Sure, why don’t you come by this evening, and don’t forget to bring some more of that wine cooler of yours.”
Just before Todd arrived, Chrissy hid in a closet, and Tippy instructed, “Mary Bell, when Todd gets here, let things flow and don’t worry, I won’t let him do anything to you.”
Tippy stood in the corner of the living room, made herself invisible, when Todd rang the doorbell. Mary Bell opened the door with a smile and said, “Come in. I’ll put on some music while you open the wine cooler.”
Mary Bell sipped her wine cooler and talked to Todd for an hour. When Mary Bell wasn’t looking, Todd took out a small, flowered spray bottle and sprayed the back of the Sprite’s head. Mary Bell became woozy and fell back on the couch. Todd rolled her on the floor, lifted her top and inched down her slacks, took out a laser scalpel, and cut Mary Bell’s stomach before Tippy could show herself; she grabbed Todd and hollered, “I got him, Chrissy!”
Dr. Chrissy flew out of the closet and up to Mary Bell on the floor to take care of her wound. When she saw part of a three-inch silver disk sticking out of the incision, she ordered, “Tippy, get Todd ready for a shot.”
Todd stared at the six-inch long needle in Chrissy’s hand and hollered, “Get away from me with that harpoon you call a needle!” Tippy forcefully bent Todd over as Chrissy yanked down his pants and undershorts to his feet and shoved the needle in his derriere as far as it could go, with Todd screaming in pain. Tippy let the Sprite go; he pulled his pants up, glared at the Doctor, took a step, and fell flat on his face. With Todd out cold, Chrissy stated, “Tippy. Scrub up. I need you to assist me; I want to find out what that thing is inside Mary Bell.”
A short time later, Chrissy pulled out a three-inch in diameter silver disk, handed it to Tippy to clean, and then closed the Sprite’s incision. Tippy put Mary Bell in her bed, called her mother, Jenny Bell, to look after her, then brought Todd to the Institute to be charged with practicing medicine without a license and several counts of rape.
Thor picked up the report about Mary Bell, read it, examined the disk, called Lacy, and said, “Get me King Mex. I want to speak to him about his new Ambassador, Wilfred.”
Lacy announced over the intercom, “King Mex on video line 3, Sir.”
Thor flipped up the video phone panel and said, “King, I need to speak to you about Ambassador Wilfred Zachariah Scott. He’s using his Ambassadorship to assault my chief of Sprite security, Mary Bell. It seems there was a disk hidden inside her abdomen.”
“Ambassador Wilfred told me the opposite, that my daughter Miss Bell has been playing the harlot, and she was the one who assaulted Wilfred.”
“King, you know I will not tolerate any type of loose action from my staff. All Wilfred is doing is covering himself. My guess is Wilfred put that Disk in Mary Bell when he forced himself on her in Willow City.”
“Do you know what is on the disk?”
“It has to be something important, or else he would not have smuggled it here that way.”
“How do you know Wilfred put the disk inside Mary Bell and not someone else?”
“Wilfred was a physician’s assistant some years back. But he was caught sexually assaulting some of the female patients when they were sedated. Plus, Wilfred was the only one who had the opportunity and the means. Plus, he was working for Mrs. Big at the time.”
“I’ll check into it.”
“King. Mary Bell has been kicked around enough in her life. She needs the love only her father can give her right now.”
“Your point is Thor?”
“Your daughter, Mary Bell, has lost the use of her wings because of all the emotional stress in her life.”
“I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and bring her to my kingdom for a week or two.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know what is on the disk when I find out. Thor out.” Thor touched the intercom and said, “Lacy, contact Stacy and have her go to Mary Bell’s place and help her pack. She is going to spend a couple of weeks in Mex’s palace.”
“The king finally believes you about Wilfred.”
“No, not yet, but he will when he sees for himself.”
“Either way, Sir, Wilfred’s days are numbered, and Mary Bell gets treated like a princess.”
“I have to go to Avalon Prime, where it is warmer, and retrieve Steven Muncy. So, inform Sam that he is in charge until I get back. And have Miss Puckett and T.T. give me an update on her research on how soon it will start getting warmer; I am getting tired of this cold weather.”
With his energy pistol strapped to his side, Thor was transported off the Retrieval Pad, to the front of Steven Muncy’s fifty-room white marble mansion, with its manicured hedges lining the driveway. Thor remarked as he approached the house, “Who turned the heat off? Avalon Prime is colder than the planetoid.”
At the front door, two six-foot-six muscular guards met Thor, and one stated forcefully, “The Boss does not want to see anyone today.”
“Step aside, boys, before you get hurt.”
One guard went to grab Thor; he ducked and landed an uppercut to his face sending him flying backward. Thor spun around, sprang to his feet, and landed three roundhouse kicks to the other guard’s face knocking him out. The first guard jumped up but was met with Thor’s fist to his jaw, sending him sprawling on the ground out cold.
Thor spotted a bronze statue holding a four-foot rod in its hand, snapped it off, and entered the house. Two men rushed Thor from two sides. Thor hit one on the chest with the rod and spun around and slammed the rod into the side of the other guard. Then threw the rod down, walked across the marble floor to an elaborate pool with a bar, and said to the two women clad in skimpy bathing suits. “Ladies, it’s time for you to leave.”
Steven Muncy shouted from his pool, “You can’t barge in my home and throw your weight around! Get out of here before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing on private property!”
“Mr. Muncy, I am the Galaxy Sentinel, and I have kept a watch on you for the past month and have decided that no jail can hold you. So, I am going to retrieve you, lock you away from society so you will not prey on the innocent again.”
“You can’t do that to me. I know my rights.”
“Correction, I can. Because you have been seen selling drugs to miners and dealing in stolen goods, your basement is an illegal casino. Shall I go on?”
“Prove it! You have to have positive proof of those things.”
“Two months ago, you received a stolen painting and sold it to a woman for over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That lady works for me. Last week you held a party at your place, but it was a cover-up for your casino. The agent I sent to your little shindig has a video recording of the whole thing.”
“Okay, you caught me, but you can’t retrieve me when I am in the water because it will short out your retrieval button. So, go bother someone else, Sentinel.”
Thor touched his computer watch and asked, “Rock, are you in position on the beach?”
“Open the portal when you are ready, Sir.”
Thor smiled and said, “Steven Muncy, your life as you know it is about to end because you have been deemed unfit for society. Therefore, you are going to be retrieved and removed from society.” Thor pushed the button on his remote, opening a portal at the bottom of the pool. Mr. Muncy screamed as he was sucked down through the portal and deposited on Smile Lake beach. Rock contacted Thor and said, “Got him, Sir. Rock out.”
Thor touched his computer watch, contacted the police chief, and said, “Send some men to 24 Bay Bridge lane; there are some men that need your attention. I’ll be here until you arrive.”
When Thor left the mansion, a tall, stately, black shadow of a man with a glowing white outline watched Thor from a distance before disappearing. Thor contacted his wife Cherry on his computer watch and said, “I’ll be home a little late. I want to find out why the planet Dicapl’s climate is so cold this time of year.”
“Can you talk to Cherish when you get back?”
“Sure; what is your clone doing now?”
“She insists on wearing that beige, skintight jumpsuit of hers.”
“It’s not all that bad, Cherry.”
“Not all that Bad!” shouted Cherry, “Everyone can see her you know what!”
“Are you concerned that the staff is gonna think it’s you and not Cherish because she is your clone?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Then tell her to wrap something around her waist. Big squeeze to you, Cherry, and I’ll see you when I get back. Thor out.”
Thor borrowed a jacket from Mr. Muncy’s closet and walked to Harry and Bitsy’s place. Then paused outside their 15-room stone home with a circular driveway and manicured lawn, walked up to the door, and knocked. Bitsy opened the door and said an energetic, “Hi, Thor, what brings you here at this time of the evening?”
“Is Harry around?”
“He’s on the back deck. Oh, I just bought 5 pounds of Coconut-Hazelnut coffee. Give me a minute, and I’ll put on a pot.”
Thor walked out on the back deck; Harry stared at Thor and exclaimed, “Where in God’s name did you get that hideous coat from?”
“I borrowed it from Mr. Muncy, who is now living at the Institute.”
“How did you manage to do that?”
“He was in his pool daring me to come in after him, so I opened a portal under him and flushed him to Smile Lake, where Rock was waiting.”
“Way to go, Thor! Oh, hey, sit and tell me why you are here.”
“How many systems are suffering from this cold climate?”
“Three so far. Why.”
“What I think is happening is someone has devised a way to turn a planet into an ice cube without tampering with the sun. Those arrows had to have an inert chemical inside them that is injected into the body when a person is shot. That inert material mixed with the person’s body fluid created particles that rapidly multiplied in the body, then burst open the corps’ skin and drifted up into the sky. Once it reaches the upper atmosphere, the extreme cold speeds up the particle growth blocking out the heat from the sun.” Thor answered his phone and said, “Yes, Miss Puckett.”
“You were right, Sir; the substance starts off as a fine particle that drifts up in the cold thin stratosphere, where it multiplies extremely fast to block out the infrared heat of the sun. The more of this stuff is up there floating around, the colder it gets.”
“Find a way to get rid of that stuff Miss Puckett. Thor out.”
Thor hung up and stated, “I was right. That fungus we found on the inside of the crystalline coffins is what’s cooling off the planets. Harry, have you had anybody demand ransom money, or they’ll freeze the planet?”
“Nope, not yet.”
They should be making their demand soon. Oh, I almost forgot. On my way here, I overheard Wilfred talking to someone about a silver disk that contained valuable information about the Institute.”
“My question is. Why is Todd mixed up in all of it? He’s been an upstanding citizen until now. Oh, by the way, how is Mary Bell doing? I hear she has taken quite a beating emotionally.”
“She lost the use of her wings because of the emotional stress she is under.”
“What’s keeping her from coming apart at the seams, is the Lord?”
“You remember Sprite Jay?”
“Oh yeah, the Geek.”
“He’s been her knight in shining armor in all this.”
Bitsy hollered from the front door, “Hon, a package just arrived, but there is no return address on it.”
Thor jerked his head up and shouted, “Don’t open it!” raced through the house, snatched the parcel out of Bitsy’s hands, charged to the porch, threw it as hard as he could, and warned, “Duck!” seconds later the house was shaken by a tremendous explosion.
Harry held his wife in his arms, gazed at the gaping hole in his backyard, and quipped, “That’s the perfect spot to build the in-ground swimming pool.”
“We could have been killed! So, stop horsing around!” growled Bitsy
“You guys can always stay at the Institute until this is over.”
“Give us a minute to pack,” stated Bitsy.
Thor contacted Rock and said, “I need you at my position to escort the First General and his wife to the Institute.”
Chapter 6
MOONBEAM
