Witch of the federation.., p.72
Witch Of The Federation IV (Federal Histories Book 4), page 72
She closed the door gently and walked quickly to the pod center, passed through the outer area where the team’s pods stood silent and dark, and stopped in front of the door leading to her own private chamber.
“We’ll see you in,” Lars told her before she could say anything, “and we’ll wait out here.”
“Fine, but you’ll face the door.”
“I’ll make sure the room’s clear and I’ll wait outside until Tilly tells me you’re in the pod. Then I’ll come and make sure you’re locked down safe.”
“And you’ll wait outside?”
“Outside the room,” he assured her, “with Tilly. There are monitors out there.”
Stephanie wanted to tell him that it wasn’t the monsters under the bed she was afraid of but the ones that might get into her head when she was in the pod. It was a stupid fear, she knew. The pods at One R&D were the most secure in the universe.
It was merely unfortunate that she knew no system was perfect.
She waited for Lars to give her the all-clear and leave before she stripped down. At first, she thought it was odd that he kept the door open but then realized that Tilly stood in clear view of the door while she climbed into the pod.
Lars watched the other guard who watched her and her surroundings. It made her feel a little uneasy to realize that Lars didn’t trust her care to someone new, even though that person had passed Elizabeth’s rigorous checks. She didn’t know whether to be grateful or angry.
It was as though he offered her all the security in the world, then reminded her that traitors came unexpectedly and in all shapes. She pushed the thought aside and gave Tilly a smile of thanks as she pulled the lid down over herself.
In spite of Lars’s precautions and Tilly’s newness, she felt the tension leach away. She had missed the sheer ordinariness of sliding into the pod, something she’d had before the Telorans had started their attack.
She’d followed this routine every day as she’d pursued her research or strived for a better understanding of how magic worked. The pod was like One R&D, a home away from home.
Not knowing what BURT wanted, she didn’t select anything special for her avatar to wear and chose to remain in jeans and a t-shirt when she ordered the AI to take her to her meeting.
To her surprise, she didn’t end up in a conference room or in the Meligornian Master’s mountaintop retreat. Instead, she found herself in a laboratory.
“What the hell?” She wandered through it and inspected the equipment set up on the tables and the dedicated computers for each group. “What are you up to, BURT?” She looked around, suddenly impatient. “For that matter, where are you, BURT?”
As if her words were a spell, a portly businessman shimmered into view, his suit a dark navy-blue topped by a yellow bowtie.
“Stephanie!” he called. “Sorry I’m a little late. The Navy was running the same test Todd designed for his team-building exercise, and I had to attend and make sure it ran smoothly.”
She was about to ask why when she remembered that he was still in charge of running the Virtual World, and that included the Navy test simulations.
“How did it go?” she asked. “I didn’t know Todd had designed a test.”
BURT gave her a surprised look followed by a wry smile. “I don’t suppose you would, dear. It happened while you were dealing with the Teloran dissidents who tried to remove Lars.”
Stephanie’s face darkened when she remembered the incident and what it had led to. “Are you allowed to tell me what it was about?”
He smiled. “I’m not even allowed to exist,” he told her, “so telling you about Todd’s pirate ship design won’t change anything.”
“He took them through a pirate ship? As a team-builder?” She was incredulous.
His smile grew wider. “He said he needed something to get them working as a unit and that he took the idea from Vishlog’s induction into your team.”
She put a hand on her hip and inclined her head. “Oh, he did, did he? And how did that work out for him?”
BURT gave her a look that said he didn’t know whether to apologize or elaborate. She was glad when he chose the latter.
“Very well, in fact,” he replied. “His team now works as a single unit. It’s the only way he survived taking the dreadnought in the battle for Dreth.”
“That was him? I’ll wring his neck.” Although she and Todd had spent time together on The King’s Warrior, neither of them had said much about the roles they’d played in the battle that had passed.
The AI chuckled. “I wouldn’t do that. He’s worked exceptionally hard to reach the point he has in his career. I believe to interfere with that would be to jeopardize your relationship, and you care for him too much for that.”
“How would you know how much I care for him?” Stephanie challenged, and he sobered.
“It’s obvious to anyone who sees you. Why else do you think the Telorans have persisted in targeting him so often?”
“So it is all my fault,” she murmured, and her face paled.
BURT’s face creased with concern, and he hurried across the lab to her.
“My dear Stephanie, your Todd’s career choices are not your fault, and nor is the fact that he is so endangered. He chose this life and has become a force to be reckoned with. Even without your…ah…influence, he would have still drawn their attention.”
“Hmmmph. I’ll give you this, BURT, you’re very convincing,” she told him.
He looked worried. “Are you telling me you’re not convinced?”
“Actually, no. I’m curious. What were the results when the Navy ran Todd’s test?”
His smile returned. “Before they are told about the Hooligan’s load-out, none of the participating teams pass—and these are quite experienced Marine teams.”
“And after?”
“Once the load-out is shared, about two percent accomplish the mission.”
“Is that all?” Stephanie tried to imagine Todd devising something so difficult it gave experienced teams that much trouble.
BURT smirked. “Oh, yes, but once the team has seen the discussions held with the Federal Navy, the survival rate increases to forty-six percent.”
“That…that’s very good,” she agreed, then she smiled. “I’m glad his team is doing so well.”
“Yes, well, by all odds, they should not be,” he informed her. “The Navy gave him a group of misfits to manage and he welded them into a single unit. They have said that he is stuck with them.”
She smiled and gave a happy sigh. “That sounds like Todd. It’s good to know he’s doing so well. Wait. Did you say ‘Hooligans?’”
“Yes, it is the name the Navy has allowed the team to adopt.” BURT paused. “If I may say so, it seems most apt.”
Stephanie could only imagine it was, but she was also aware that he had called her there for a reason. She gestured to the room around them.
“And this?” she asked.
He looked smug. “We have had a breakthrough,” he informed her. “Two, in fact.”
She studied the lab around her. “Do you mean…it worked?”
“If by ‘it’ you mean your theories on reducing harmful radiation using magic, then yes.”
Her face lit up with delight. It was an emotion that quickly faded as she remembered Marcus Rimmer’s reaction to their last meeting. “Oh, but the scientist…”
Somehow, BURT managed to look even smugger.
“Read this.” He handed her an email and gave her time her go through it.
“He humbly requests to be part of the project?” she exclaimed and her brow furrowed. “And he calls himself prideful, egotistical, arrogant, and stubborn.”
“Not to mention a bastard,” he pointed out, “and he really does want to work on the project.”
Stephanie recalled how disbelieving Rimmer had been when she’d pitched her ideas and found she wasn’t mad at him. By all measures, she should be and probably had every right to be, but she knew she’d run the impossible by him—and he’d still bothered to build her an experiment.
She could only imagine his reaction when he’d discovered it had worked.
“He didn’t have to run the experiments,” she admitted.
“But he did,” BURT confirmed.
“And he did it even when he didn’t believe it would work,” she pointed out.
“And he tried to disprove the results when they came in,” he revealed and slid her the subsequent tests and results Marcus had run to prove the initial results couldn’t be duplicated.
“Then he ate humble pie and not only let me know it worked but is asking to work on it himself,” Stephanie mused. “I think we can take the risk on him.”
“I think we can, also,” he concurred. “He seems an unlikely candidate, but he does have the integrity this kind of project needs—and that is a quality that is very hard to find in his field.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yes. I know of any number of his colleagues who would have boasted about the results and ‘their’ find the second they were sure. This man hasn’t said a word.”
“And he said in his email that he would abide by his NDA even though the project could change the future of the world. You don’t think he might actually care for the planet, do you?”
“Above his own career and advancement?” BURT looked thoughtful. “Why, yes, I think I do. I also believe his personal assistant is of similar integrity.”
Stephanie frowned. “What makes you think that?”
“Because our Marcus works ridiculously long hours and often falls asleep at his desk, and she hasn’t breathed a word of what she’s seen of your project.”
“What?”
“See?” BURT told her and lit up a screen showing the security footage of the PA waking Marcus after she’d saved all his data and shut the computer down.
“I see,” she admitted. “We’ll need to put her under an NDA as well.”
“I’ll arrange it,” he agreed. “He will need to have someone he trusts to assist him.”
“And she seems to fit the bill,” she finished for him.
“Yes,” he concurred.
“All right, we’ll take him on,” she agreed. “At least one damned thing can go right once in a while.”
BURT smiled. “Yes,” he agreed. “We’ll need to give him enough funds to set up a separate lab. I believe he has…ties.”
Stephanie couldn’t hide her surprise. “He does?”
“And if he doesn’t, his assistant certainly does. We’ll need to have them work in situ,” he confirmed.
“That won’t really change much, will it?” she asked. “We’d have to get him to keep most of his stuff in the Virtual World where you can protect it, anyway.”
“Agreed, but he’ll need a team to run and a suite of pods for them, and then there will be some experiments that simply won’t run in the Virtual World.”
“We’ll cross those bridges when we get to them,” Stephanie told him shortly. “For now, let’s provide the pods for the life of the project, have our technicians wire them to secure a gap between them and the university’s systems, and then approve a budget of five hundred thousand for other expenses.”
She paused. “Do you think it will be enough?”
BURT’s avatar went still as he ran the calculations. It took him a fraction longer than it should have as he spread the activity over several servers to prevent a local spike, but he was satisfied with the answer.
“Yes,” he told her. “It will do for a start, and we can authorize additional amounts as we need to. A Virtual World site will maximize my ability to prevent external interference and allow you to interface directly with the results without his knowledge, although I would advise presenting any additional data and suggestions as separate files.”
Stephanie wrinkled her nose. “Well, duh, BURT.”
He mimicked her expression and grinned, completely unrepentant for having told her how to do her job.
“I am your boss,” he reminded her, and she rolled her eyes.
How she might have responded to that he never found out because Elizabeth materialized in the middle of the lab.
“Nice setup,” she noted, looking around, and focused on Stephanie. “Mission update.”
“We have a mission?” BURT asked and both women rolled their eyes.
“Try to keep up, BURT,” Ms E told him. “It’s time to retrieve the product.”
“Product?”
“For your hideout. Honestly, we discussed this.”
“I have had a fair amount on my plate,” he informed her stiffly. “You’ll have to forgive me if I have overlooked your need to create a bruhaha in order to establish your dominance in the criminal world.”
“As if you weren’t right there when we uncovered the reason why we have to do that.” The woman sniffed. “Besides, we need to confirm that the product is good.”
“And deal with the criminals,” Stephanie added with hints of glee in her tone.
“Yes,” Elizabeth agreed, “and then we force everyone to kneel—” She shrugged. “Or I can simply shoot them in the knees and they can kneel while crying with the pain. Either way will do.”
She caught her eye and the girl nodded. “I can deal with that.”
E smiled before her face turned serious. “I have one little problem, though.”
“And?” Stephanie asked. “I can simply magic it’s ass into non-existence if you like.”
The woman grimaced. “While I wouldn’t usually have a problem with that approach,” she began, “I’m kinda fond of my boyfriend.”
She let her voice fade at Stephanie’s catcall and BURT’s raised brows. Finally, she cleared her throat, and the Witch tried to control her laughter.
“He’s decided he needs to take an interest in my affairs and wants to be part of the operation.”
“Did he say why?” BURT sounded mystified and Stephanie tried to muffle a giggle.
She made an inelegant snort instead. Elizabeth glared at her. “Yes.”
“And?” he pressed, impatient at having to draw the information from her in small pieces.
Stephanie cleared her throat and forced her face to remain straight. Elizabeth eyed her warily but gave in to BURT’s request.
“He said he wants to help me solve the problems that are keeping me from giving him the time to date me.”
That was too much for Stephanie. The girl doubled over in gales of laughter while E stared at her in consternation. BURT was equally as puzzled.
“I do not understand what is so funny” he stated and looked from one woman to the other. “Relationships are very important. It is good to see you have found a man who cares enough to pursue one even when you make it difficult.”
Stephanie collapsed to her knees, now laughing too hard to stand.
Elizabeth glared at her. “Your turn is coming, girl.”
She flapped a hand at her. “I…I’m sorry…”
I don’t’ think she sounds sorry, BURT thought. She sounds like she’s laughing so hard she is crying.
Apparently, the other woman thought so too. “Well, whatever you are,” she snapped, “I need your help.”
That sobered her. The girl wiped a few stray tears from her eyes and stood.
“What do you need, E?”
“If we can’t keep him behind the scenes and out of the fight—and frankly, I don’t think we can—”
“I concur,” BURT interrupted. “I have seen his service record. He will not stay off the battlefield.”
“Well, fuck me,” Elizabeth exclaimed. “And you haven’t forwarded me a copy because?”
“Because I thought if you were truly interested, you would have sourced one yourself and I didn’t want to appear to be interfering?” he ventured.
“Well, goddammit! Start with the fucking interfering,” she told him, “and send me those records right bloody now.”
“Have you associated with Australians, again?” he asked, “because that syntax—”
“Is not limited to that small and backward country,” Elizabeth all but snarled. “Our British cousins use it, too.”
“Oh.” BURT looked enlightened. “So you’ve been associating with the British?”
“That, BURT, is not currently your concern,” she told him.
“I am your employer,” he reminded her, and she groaned.
“Right. Fine, then. Yes, I have been associating with bloody Brits.”
“Are you sure?” he asked as though doubting her veracity.
“Yes, I am bloody sure, BURT. The buggers swear like bloody troopers. Now, what else do you want to know?”
Stephanie gave it a moment’s thought and asked, “What is it, exactly, you want me to do if he gets into the fight?”
“I’d say keep his stupid ass alive, but you’d do that anyway, so I guess what I need you to do is to stop him from being recognized.”
“And make sure he’s not linked to the combat zone,” BURT said thoughtfully. “It’s a tall order. I will see what solutions I can come up with.”
“And I can do the same magic thing I did when I hid my identity the first time I went to Meligorn.”
“Or when you switched places with Frog the first time you went aboard the Ebon Knight,” BURT reminded her.
“That too,” Stephanie acknowledged, then frowned. “Actually, Elizabeth, if we’re involving the team, do we need them to not be recognized as belonging to One R&D too?”
“Damn, I should have thought of that—and, yes, we do.”
“I would suggest using stronger measures than mere illusion,” BURT interjected. “If you lose your concentration in the battle…”
Stephanie frowned. “Understood. I suppose I could change his physique a little.”
“As long as you change it back,” Elizabeth told her hastily.
She giggled. “Whatever you say, E.”
“Hmmph. I happen to like him exactly the way he is, thank you,” the woman huffed and her cheeks reddened.
BURT thought it was interesting to see her like this, and Stephanie looked very much like she was having too much fun at her mentor’s expense.
“I’ll do my best to put him back the way he was when we’re done,” she managed and promptly collapsed in a fit of giggles.
