.1.

 

Tyler and Matt were relaxing in the Tyler's parent’s attic which had that afternoon been conquered as Tyler's room. Tyler's parents hadn't wanted him to move upstairs into the attic or its other use, a guest room / work out room. Well, work out room / storage. To be quite honest, it was just storage room which stored the exercise equipment and twin bed they used for guests.

 

But when Mr. and Mrs. Prescott came home on particularly drab and sullen Saturday afternoon they found Tyler's room or his old room filled with a majority of the boxes that had previously taken up the space in the attic. The remaining boxes were in the hall and one or two was in Tyler's sister Lizzy's room much to Lizzy's protests.

 

Upon finding their Christmas decorations, old college textbooks, and old luggage in their oldest son’s room, Mrs. Prescott had than given Mr. Prescott a look. A look which Martin Prescott dreaded because it had only one message, one which he dreaded having to hear and fulfill.

 

'Go talk to your son.' was the message that Angela Prescott's eyes bored into Martin's skull. With the message tacked onto Martin's forehead, Angela turned and went into Lizzy's room to console her and give her the new doll they had picked up for her at the mall.

 

It wasn't that Angela didn't participate with Martin in disciplining their son. But this bombshell had left two craters and Martin was best suited for dealing with their teenage son. In three months, Tyler would be there twenty something son but Martin didn't want to think about that. He remembered what he was thinking about when he was Tyler's age, most of it was about Angela, and while he held a fair amount of interest in his son’s life, he didn't want to pry nor did he particularly want to know. Oh to be back in college, thought Martin, his memories of school, a younger Angela and less responsibility warming his mind.

 

An ahem from Lizzy's room brought him back to the here and now and he grudgingly proceeded up the winding steps to the attic.

 

As he reached the top of the stairs Martin heard video game noises with the occasional insult or terse comment being slung back and forth between best friends. Martin was jealous of Tyler, not that Martin didn't have friends, but that Tyler had friends at all. Martin hadn't been as lucky.

 

Tyler's friend Matt was doing something on the computer, Martin would find out what later that evening when he reviewed the network logs. Martin wasn't inquisitive about his son's social life. Tyler's network life on the other hand was completely fair game. Especially when Martin had built the thing and the increased amount of trouble and danger a kid of Tyler's age could get into had kept Martin up for hours when he was first born.

 

'Imagine the amount of trouble we could get into if we were his age.' mused Martin's subconscious.

 

'We wouldn't get into much.' thought Martin.

 

'Oh yeah, why not?' Martin's subconscious sounded crushed.

 

'Because there'd be someone like me out there, ready to stop someone like me from doing the things you and I are thinking.' Martin answered.

 

A bit of silence and than 'Alright, I'll grant you that but we'd still have some fun.' his subconscious pleaded.

 

'That's certainly true.' Martin said and than looked up.

 

Both Tyler and Matt were looking at him. He had been standing at the foot of the steps for a couple of minutes now and hadn't said a word. This wasn't that unusual for Martin and his family recognized and accepted this. But his teenage son wasn't feeling particularly generous today, the day of his victory of the attic, with his friend around and so barked.

 

'Can we help you?'

 

This got a snicker from Matt which produced a grin from Tyler. Before Tyler could load his next witty comment for his father, Martin had sat down beside him.

 

'So I see you moved your things up here.' Martin said much to his regret. Martin was a smart man. He just didn't always say smart things.

 

'Uh yeah.' Tyler responded blankly. Martin had hoped he would have added 'Is that a problem?' or some other qualifier but to no avail. Martin sighed and heaved on with his prepared speech.

 

'And why exactly did you do move your things up here?' Martin said pinching the bridge of his nose. He realized it was the typical things parents do when their child has done something that would cause a nose pinching reaction but didn't care because he enjoyed the sensation. And besides it gave his hands something to do.

 

'I needed my space.' Tyler murmured 'I'm almost 21 Dad and I'm in college. Since I can't get my own place this will have to do.'

 

Martin opened his mouth but stopped. He rolled Tyler's words over in his head. They percolated through Martin's mind, hitting at his own memories of that age and what it felt like to be on the cusp of adulthood but just not quite there. He sagged. He remembered the years all to well. Not because they were particularly graphic but because they were particularly dull. Every night the same, yet in Martin's mind every night different. He smiled at the ridiculous nature of that thought.

 

Martin got up because he had made up his mind. He started toward the stairs and than turned. Matt had returned to doing whatever he had been doing on the computer but Tyler was still looking at him, the defiance of a teenager burning in his eyes and cutting off his chin.

 

'Alright.' said Martin. This caught Tyler off guard. If he had been walking, he would have stumbled. If he had been standing he would have doubled over. As it was, he was sitting and his eyes flickered with the motion of his thoughts being jarred and than quickly rearranging themselves for the next battle to come.

 

'Good because I wasn't going to move this stuff back downstairs anyway.' Tyler said with an air of pride.

 

Martin stepped forward and leaned in close to his son who lost some of his courage and shrank back. The message was clear. If Martin had said so, he would have done so. But Martin didn't and simply left it at 'No this is fine. You need your space, I can see that. But you're going to help me move some of those boxes down to the garage tomorrow. You know your mother can't stand having things blocking her hallways.'

 

Tyler grumbled what Martin took as a yes and than went down the stairs.

 

At the foot of the steps, Angela was waiting for him.

 

'So is he coming down or do we have a new pack of squirrels in our attic?' was her first question.

 

'It's not that bad. Look, Tyler just wants some space. I can understand where he's coming from at this age. The attic, whether it is or isn't, is cool and independent to him. It's well insulated and perfectly safe. He's going to help me move the boxes to some other places tomorrow.'

 

Angela gave Martin a look of 'Alright, we'll do it this way for now' before starting down the stairs to the first floor.

 

Following her, Martin added 'Hey, he's even higher up now. It's not like he can sneak out of the house anymore.'

 

Angela stopped and turned to him.

 

'Sneak out of the house? Martin, our son hasn't done that in years. He comes and goes as he pleases which is normally between the hours of 1 and 2 AM.'

 

Martin shrugged. 'I would have liked to have the attic as my room when I was his age.'

 

'I know you would have.' Angela said cupping his face in her hands and smiled. She gave him a peck on the nose and than headed down the stairs.

 

.2.

 

'So that was your father?' Matt said as Martin left.

 

'No, it was some other man, who likes to come up here and give me shit. He also sleeps with my mother when my father's out of town.' Tyler responded sarcastically.

 

'Har har jackass.' Matt said hitting a couple of keys and than leaning back. 'So is it true he really invented the DHD protocols?'

 

'Yeah.' Tyler responded, more interested in his game than in what Martin was saying.

 

'And the Praxis chips?' Martin asked again.

 

'That too.' Tyler checked off for Matt. He knew where this was going.

 

‘Man that must be pretty sweat. I bet you have all kinds of cool stuff. Why is he still making you use this piece of crap?' Matt said kicking the computer he was sitting at.

 

'Better than that ghetto piece of shit you have at your house.' Tyler responded.

 

'Yeah, well that's because my Dad probably bought it out of the back of truck in a trailer park. What's your excuse?' Matt jeered.

 

'No excuse. We don't have as many neat things as you might think. It's not that great having the inventor of this and the inventor that as your father.'

 

'Oh the whole living up to your father's image deal right. Yeah I can see that.' Matt said twirling around in the computer chair.

 

'No it's not really that. Not many people know me as Martin Prescott's son.' Tyler said as he killed the fifth level boss and tossed the controller on the ground.

 

'Well what's the big deal? Better than a father who adds numbers all day.' Matt responded about his father.

 

'Augh. Here, let me paint you a picture.' Tyler began. 'Where do you get your porn?'

 

'Man, I don't need porn, I get plenty of action, you know what I'm saying.' Matt said with a nonconvincing eye brow gesture.

 

'Yeah right, whatever, sure you do their stud. Seriously, where do you get your porn?' Tyler insisted.

 

Matt wavered. Finally he responded 'Where every other red blooded guy in this world gets his. From the Internet.'

 

'Right.' Tyler said and turned back to his game.

 

Matt sat there a couple seconds trying to figure out whether a picture had been drawn for him and if in that picture there had been a clue as to the answer he had asked for but came up with nothing.

 

'So...' Matt dragged on.

 

Tyler's head dropped. 'So.' Tyler continued, starting to make hand gestures as he let himself fall backwards on the futon. ‘As you said my father invented the DHD protocol.'

 

'Yeah' said Matt.

 

'And when you're father has invented DHD which is pretty much how you get to the internet which than gets you to...' Tyler trailed.

 

'Oh....' Matt finished, his brain finally understanding the work of art being laid in front of him, if a piece of paper with some crayon markings could be called a work of art.

 

'Yeah.' said Tyler throwing a pillow in the air.

 

'That sucks.' said Matt. Tyler just gestured a 'no kidding' with his face.

 

Matt looked back at the computer.

 

'Uh.'

 

'What?' asked Tyler catching the pillow in its downward spiral.

 

'We might have a problem.' Matt began looking at the status bar on the screen.

 

.3.

 

Martin sat on the deck, the cool night air gently brushing his hair. Or was that Angela, sitting beside him, running her hands through his hair. Either one was good, although the later was better. He let his head sag back a little watching the glistening night sky, the sound of the dishwasher inside the house making a low, dull hum as accompanying background music. He smiled, fingering his PAD with his thumb while bringing his drink to his lips.

 

The sky looked beautiful tonight but than it looked beautiful every night to Martin. The thousand or so satellites on this side of the planet alone left a remarkable twinkle in the night sky which Martin was particularly proud of since he had put many of them in the sky. Well, many of the newer ones anyway. There were a lot of older junk still hanging around up there, banging into his nice shiny, sleek, new babies from a bygone era. And than there was the stuff that he was told by one employer he wasn't suppose to know about but to make proper calculations to miss when calculating vectors and the same stuff he was told to build and maintain to avoid the hitting the civilian junk Martin's first employer was putting in the stratosphere. His second employer really didn't have a company or much of a name but Martin didn't care about that as long as each signed his checks.

 

There had been protests when the first hundred or so had gone into the sky but that had been before Martin's time. Those had been large, clunky monstrosities which had given off more light than radio frequencies and he really couldn't blame the protesters for being angry with them. They had deluded the sky with unnecessary light and that's where Martin came in.

 

Not that Martin's specialty was satellites to be sure. Martin just liked fixing problems, an enjoyment he was very good at by both reputation and bank account. This wasn't to say that Martin had a big ego but rather a normal brainiac sized ego which befitted any noble scientist of his caliber.

 

When Martin first learned of the project to use satellites as a means of collecting and directing power he had scoffed at the idea but that was of course at the same time when he knew so little of satellites in generally. As far as Martin knew, satellites sent data between each other and than back to earth and perhaps also into space to God knew who but they used energy to do that, that didn't produce energy and at his first initial glance it would take a tremendous amount of energy to make any in the first place.

 

And than one day Martin was sitting his office working on a few data routing algorithms when the lights had flickered. Martin, too deep in thought didn't notice this or the subsequent brown outs and quick loss of light. Than the lights went out for five minutes which got Martin's attention because he could no longer squint and make out what was on the page. Without looking up he used his pencil (Martin liked pencils even if they were rare and expensive) to hit the lamp on his desk.

 

Nothing.

 

Another two flicks of the pencil with similar results had finally proven to Martin that indeed the lights were out.

 

'Bugger.' murmured Martin in his best attempt to sound British.

 

He got up from his desk and flicked the switch near the door. This also produced the same result or rather did not produce anything at all. Martin frowned or at least he thought he did if someone was there to see him frown which even if they were they wouldn't have been able to anyway. Yup, Martin thought, definitely in a British kick tonight.

 

Than the lights came back on which was a huge relief to Martin who was just about to go out to the hallway and have a look around. Not that he would have been able to do much but it's what people did when the unusual was happening. He hated that. The unusual and not being able to do things. Mostly the second though because the first generally led to some startling interesting things in his field.

 

Settling back down at his desk, he tried to return to his work but a nagging thought began buzzing in the back of his mind. Martin stopped looking at the diagrams, dropped his pencil on the desk, and leaned back in his comfortable swivel chair. Martin had learned once ago when that part of his brain began thinking of something it was usually best to forget whatever he was working on at the moment and focus on that particular item for two very good reasons. One, because he knew himself and he wouldn't be putting his best food or brain forward when it came to either. And secondly, the ideas, problems, and mysteries that back of his brain usually picked up on where normally far more interesting than anything he had been working on at the time, even if that was something the back part of his brain had started in the first place.

 

Satellites as power generators. No, that still sounded too stupid. He swiveled in his chair while picking at the right arm. It had become terribly frayed over the years and maintenance had offered to replace his chair but Martin was a creature of sometimes sickening habit and had refused on more than one occasion. On more than one occasion, Martin had had to save his precious chairs from the waiting maw of the garbage truck by mere seconds. It was a feud that would not soon end or at least until Martin got called away on a long business trip again.

 

Martin shook his head. Long trips. That was the main problem. Energy traveling long distances took too much energy and capital to get there. The common solution was to generate and save energy at particular places and than redistribute that energy over the network. But as Martin had noticed this evening, this design had inherent flaws and that was those central locations.

 

And satellites weren't the solution to that problem. No that problem was entirely too complex for even Martin to grapple with at the moment. But getting that energy from one point to another point was an entirely different problem. It wasn't that different from the problem that was still sitting on his desk which had been sitting there for at least two deadlines now. Routing. It all had to do with routing. Getting the energy from one point whether that be where it started or not to another point along the grid.

 

Sure this was nothing new. Engineers had been trying to design new routing methods for years with a little advance here and there but nothing to really speak of. But Martin had put in a new variable which most had not consider.

 

'Satellites.' Martin said aloud.

 

Not giant batteries in the sky no that would be ridiculous. But relay stations. How different was energy from data? Martin didn't know but now that he was interested it wouldn't be long before he found out. Turning to his comm, he buzzed his agent. The cursor popped up on the comm's screen. Most people went in for the human agent's, or the fancy animation agent's but Martin liked something simple and direct, and found the cursor of the 90's was exactly what he needed. 

 

Martin got up and started pacing around the room. 'Dig up all information you can on satellites, power generators and stations, power networks, and current statistics on energy production. Follow all side references to at least three degrees of separation. Also, bring me..' but before he would finish the sentence the power went out again. This time with a deafening finality to which implied to Martin it wasn't going to be coming on again in five minutes.

 

'Goddamnit, I'm trying to do some work around here.' yelled Martin out the door.

 

'We all are Martin, relax.' said Sid from down the hall who was lighting a cigarette. Martin could barely see Sid in the long, now dark hallway except for the glowing ember which Martin assumed was about where Sid's thigh was or on inhale, his mouth. He cautiously glided over to the light speck in the hallway. He heard voices from down the hall as others started to leave their offices in search of information on the blackout.

 

'You shouldn't be smoking in here.' Martin preached 'You shouldn't be smoking at all Sid.'

 

'Yeah, yeah.' muttered Sid, blowing smoke from his nose. 'Not like their going to catch me or anything.'

 

'There are smoke alarms for a reason Sid.'

 

'Which don't have power right now Martin.'

 

'Smoke alarms use their own battery Sid. They don't loose power.' responded Martin trying to pinch his nose but instead poked himself in the eye. 'Damnit' he cursed.

 

'What's with you?'

 

'Poked myself in the eye.' Martin answered.

 

'Heh, that wasn't too smart.' Sid said taking another drag.

 

'Neither is smoking down here which by the way you're still doing.' Martin said rubbing his eye. Well he assumed it was his eye. Everything was so black down here on 3U level.

 

'I think they have bigger problems tonight than one man smoking, don't you?' replied Sid, waving his cigarette at the darkness which was everywhere.

 

Martin nodded which was lost on Sid but took the silence from Martin as agreement.

 

After a few minutes Martin said 'What about the backup generators. This place has to have backup generators. I mean shit, half the stuff we do down here needs power twenty four seven.'

 

'Sure, sure.' Sid said letting his cigarette fall to the floor. The speck of light was erased by Sid's shoe on the concrete floor. A few seconds later another spark emerged, illuminating Sid's face.

 

'Well, why are we in the dark than?' Martin said a little testily.

 

'Do you know how much power it takes to run this place Martin?' Sid asked.

 

Martin opened his mouth, tried to do some quick calculation in his head and than stopped. Finally he said 'No.' with some regret.

 

'Well, let's just say it uses a lot. A real lot. Like you said we've got a lot of things down here that are constantly drawing power. More things than you'd think and more power than you figure.

 

You know that ten minutes of light we had after the first blackout?'

 

'Yeah, what about it?'

 

'That, was our back up generators.' answered Sid blowing a cloud of smoke in Martin's direction.

 

Martin's brow foroughed but said nothing for a few minutes. A few minutes later a couple of men in suits, holding flash lights and guns ran by but paid neither Martin nor Sid or Sid's cigarette any mind.

 

'How many floors down are we?' Martin asked.

 

'Seven I think but you really can't tell with that elevator.' Sid responded.

 

'And there’s no way up besides the elevator right?' Martin asked the question he already knew the answer to.

 

'Yup.' Sid said with a small chuckle.

 

'Those guys probably wouldn't let us up the shaft anyway would they.'

 

'Don't imagine they would, not with what's probably happened to their systems.' Sid answered again.

 

A few minutes passed 'Give me a cigarette Sid.'

 

'You don't smoke.' said Sid, handing him the cigarette from the crumbled pack.

 

'I know.' grumbled Martin, who squinted trying to look at the cigarette in the dark but failed. He twirled it in his fingers but it was smaller than a pencil and far less firm in Martin's hand. It bent on the second twirl around his finger, a trick he had perfected in many a boring class room. He gave the cigarette back to Sid.

 

'Well, let me run this idea by you.' said Martin sitting down in the hallway.

 

.4.

 

Martin smiled at the memory of Sid. He told Angela about the incident.

 

'You mean the blackout of 2012?' said Angela 'Man I remember that. I was stuck on the expressway for three hours before people started giving up and leaving their cars right there. It was crazy. This woman beside me in a Mercedes S series just slammed the door and marched off. Don't even think she locked the thing but than no one was going to be able to steal it unless they put monster truck tires on it I guess.

 

I ended up doing the same after another hour. It was getting late and dark and it was only my 2003 Prius, damn thing was doing what it did best, not work. So, I got out and walked to the nearest exit which by nearest was six miles away. Not that there wasn't a long line of people moving in that direction. By that the time the national guard had been deployed so we were directed around but the problem was no unit knew exactly where we were suppose to be going. We'd walk a couple hundred feet, get told to turn or keep going by the next squad of soldiers, only to be turned back by the next checkpoint. It was crazy.'

 

'Yeah.' said Martin nodding, he wasn't really listening, and he had heard the story before but added the appropriate question. 'So where did you end up?'

 

After a couple of hours we ended up taking over a hotel. Not sure who paid but I certainly didn't. I think I slept in a chair that night. I think it was a Comfort or Western or something like that. Didn't have a blanket. Just propped myself against a wall and slept with one eye open. We were lucky to be indoors because if you were outdoors...' Angela shivered.

 

'The next day, a few of us banded together who were going in the same direction. I ended up staying with my grandparents in Western Falls for the next couple of days before the lights came back on.

 

We cooked out those nights. That's what I enjoyed most about those four days, if I enjoyed anything at all. It was cooking out under those stars. We had a lot to eat because my grandparents sure did stock away a lot of food in their freezer and we had to eat it. I think by the third day I was sick of hot dogs.'

 

'I don't think I've seen you eat a hot dog since we've been together.' remarked Martin.

 

'No, I really don't like them anymore. The taste isn't the same and it brings back memories from that night which I really want to keep clean.' Angela said looking up at the sky. Martin wasn't sure what she meant by that but didn't press the issue.

 

'We made the best of it. Played a lot of board games, mostly monopoly. Did a couple puzzles.'

 

'How many pieces?' Martin asked interested. He was an avid puzzle solver and have solved hundreds since they'd been married. He had an entire room in the basement setup just so he could go down every once in awhile and work on them. Even had a few glued together and mounted on the wall but that was mostly for show. The real picture, was in Martin's mind.

 

'Around 750 pieces.' answered Angela still staring at the sky. Martin was about to scoff but luckily caught himself. 750 pieces! That was a warm-up puzzle.

 

Angela seemed to come out of her dream. 'So you were stuck down there with Sid for how long?'

 

'Six days. They had guards go around a double check everyone’s identity in the building until they realized it wasn't just affecting us. Even than I heard that some of the brass was still skittish. But we made the best of it as well. We didn't do board games or puzzles but we manage to pass the time.

 

They gave us access to the mess storage two levels below us which we raided. I've never seen so much packaged food. It would bend your mind seeing the stacks up stacks of food. Just the aisles and aisles of powdered this and preserved that. All of it disgusting but nourishing just the same. Sid and I stocked up on a lot of chocolate, some granola stuff (yeah I was surprised too but Sid insisted), some powdered milk, and a few other cans of vegetables.

 

We hunkered down in Sid's office for the first couple of days, sleeping mostly, playing word games out loud when we were awake to pass the time. They wouldn't let us walk around much. Strictly from our rooms to the storage area or the latrines near the elevators and back again.'

 

'On the third day we got power back' Martin said and paused for Angela's response.

 

'You had power on the third day? But only a few installations around the whole the country had power. I mean even the White House didn't have power till the very last day.' Angela quoted.

 

'That was mostly for show I think. The President was at another facility, similar to ours but somewhere on the other side of the country.' Martin explained.

 

Angela hesitated but finally asked the question she probably already knew the answer to. 'So why did it take you six days to get out?'

 

Martin sucked in a deep breath. 'Well, at first it was another round of security checks. It took half of the first day to get machines back online, they were still working out some of the kinks in the power system so we had to restart two or three times. Had to show my badge, get fingerprinted and photo'd three times before they got it right. Sid had to get scanned twice.'

 

'Why did you get scanned three times? asked Angela a worried look on her brow.

 

'No, no it wasn't like they were suspicious of me or anything of that sort. That was the number of times we lost power again and since I was at the head of the list I was normally in the first batch to get processed before it went down again.'

 

'But our last name begins with a P, how could you have been in the first couple of groups?' Angela insisted.

 

Well at the time, my last name didn't begin with P, thought Martin but left that out of his answer 'It didn't have to do with alphabetical order or which level you were on. It had to do with which level of project you were working on. Without going into detail, let's just say I was pretty high.' Martin answered with a wry smile.

 

Angela kicked at his chair and than leaned in close to him. 'What you won't even tell dear old me.' breathed Angela by his ear 'Not even when I kiss your neck like this' which she preceded to do. Martin squirmed but didn't break his silence.

 

'Sorry Hun, but it's for the best. You really don't want to know about it. Well now you probably do but trust me, it's not as big a deal as your mind is creating it to be and even less of a deal if I have to explain it.'

 

Angela pouted. Martin knew this reaction and slid his chair over to hers and kissed her gentle on the lips.

 

'Besides,' He said in a low voice as well 'You don't want me to interrogate you now do you.'

 

Angela gave him a seductively smile and than poke him in the ribs before running in the door with Martin right behind her.

 

.5.

 

On the second day, insane with boredom, Martin told Sid his idea.

 

'And so you see, wherever power is generated and that's the bit I don't really care about since there are a number of ways to do it but only a couple ways of transporting it. And that's where the interesting part comes in.

 

The biggest obstacle to any sort of power distribution system is distance and operation right. And what method of communication can reach almost any point on the planet?'

 

'I guess you're going to start talking about satellites now.' replied Sid who wasn't that interested in satellites or Martin's idea. He was more interested in matter redistribution which Martin thought was complete bunk. Sid had had his eye on a trio of grad students working on a technology that was similar if not more advanced then what he was working on. His thoughts were currently consumed with the results of their recent experiments and how he was going to go about contacting them.

 

'Well not if you're not going to listen.' said Martin which was unusual since when he started talking about something that interested him, he normally didn't stop even if the person had left the room for a drink or a chocolate bar. The thought of a chocolate bar caused Sid to casually reach to the pile on his desk and began opening the wrapper.

 

'Damn wrappers are made out of Teflon.' growled Sid as he tried to pry the wrapper away from the chocolate treat within.

 

'Actually it's just a polycarbon Sid. Here, give it to me. See it's not about tearing it open anywhere, it's about finding the right spot and slicing it through the middle. It's the government Sid. Amazingly simple and unerringly stupid in all and everything.' said Martin giving the opened candy bar back to Sid.

 

'Can I quote you on that?' Sid said with a smile. He waved the candy bar around the room. 'Seems some of the stuff we're doing around here isn't so stupid or simple.' As if to underscore his point another group of guards ran by the door. Martin opened his mouth to almost assuredly defend his remark if not amend it with a caveat but Sid waved him off. 'Just finish telling me your idea for god sake.' Sid nudged, the chalky chocolate flavor in his mouth sedating him for another hour of Martin's grand ideas. But it wasn't like he was going anywhere or had anything to do anyway. Well he did have plenty to do, it was just most of it involved energy.

 

Martin paced for a few minutes and than restarted. 'Now don't get me wrong, I could be completely off on this. This is just an idea I had before the lights went out which coincidentally seems to sign the check for the funding I'd need for it.' Martin said with a wink to Sid. Like funding had ever been a problem with the two of them. 'Yes, satellites. Not only can they reach everywhere here on each but they can also reach everywhere beyond.' said Martin with a smile. Sid stopped chewing the chocolate dirt in his mouth.

 

'Are you talking about relaying energy into space?' Sid asked although he knew that was exactly what Martin was talking about. 'What's the point in that? Obviously,' Sid waved his chocolate bar around the room again 'we have plenty of energy problems right here on Earth! Am I right!' Sid yelled the last sentence out the door but no response came except for some laughter from down the hall.

 

'Like I said Sid, that's just half the problem. We will have enough power. We do have enough power. It's the matter of harnessing it and directing it that has had us over a barrel for so many years.' Sid chewed on this for a few minutes and than conceded the point. 'So, the solution than becomes how do we get the satellites to direct energy.' said Martin and stopped.

 

After a few minutes Sid yelled 'Well..' flailing the wrapper around which was all that was left of the candy bar.

 

'Well what? Fuck, I only had this idea maybe two days ago. I didn't have a chance to get any data on satellites, power or anything before we lost it. Tell me what do you know about satellites or power grids?' Martin yelled.

 

'Absolutely jack shit.' said Sid.

 

'Yeah me too.' replied Martin pacing over to Sid and wagging his finger in front of him 'But I intend to find out, when and hopefully not if, we get power back.'

 

Sid rolled his eyes.

 

After that conversation Martin and Sid didn't talk for another day. They weren't really mad at each other, they had just really used up all the talking to each other they had allotted. They weren't really social people at that point and even talking to like minded people caused them fits of confusion.

 

On the fourth day Martin walked back into Sid's room, picked up a candy bar, and that sat on the floor. He took a piece of chalk that was lying on the ground as well and began drawing a tic tac toe board. Sid rolled over from the nap he was taking, stood up and stretched, and that sat back down to play the game.

 

'So I was thinking,' began Sid taking the piece of chalk from Martin. He made an X in the center square and than handed it back to Martin.

 

'Yeah.' said Martin concentrating on the chalk more than what Martin was saying. He made an O in the bottom left hand corner, hesitated and than handed the chalk back to Sid.

 

'Your power idea.' Sid said looking at the board.

 

'What, you know something about satellites or power grids or both?' Martin asked through his hands that were knotted underneath his mouth. His eyes had moved from the board to Sid, one interest replaced by the other.

 

'No, I still no shit but I'm going to need some of that energy for something I'm working on.' answered Sid, making an X beside Martin's O.

 

'Care to tell me about it?' Martin asked again, unraveling his hands and accepting the chalk from Sid.

 

'Sure.' said Sid.

 

.6.

 

Sid had worked at the building, it didn't have a official name although there were a dozen or so nicknames which Martin never bothered to remember, for another nine months before leaving to help fund a group of students produce their transportation system. Martin remember the day when Sid had called him up and asked if he wanted any more chocolate bars. Martin had said no but thanks for calling even though it was an odd offer to make. Sid laughed and told Martin to look out on his lawn.

 

On his lawn was a one pallet of chocolate bar boxes stacked to about chest height.

 

Martin walked around the stack, touching it occasionally to make sure it was real and that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him because in his line of work they often did. He looked at the grass to see if there were any track marks but found nothing but the unmowed lawn of his townhouse. He went back in doors and looked at the security footage.

 

There was his lawn and than two seconds later, there was the pallet of chocolate just sitting on his grass, in literarily a puff of air. Martin replayed the video several times, trying to figure out the riddle of the magic trick Sid had pulled on him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash on the screen for the real time monitors and saw a piece of paper float to the ground.

 

Quickly, he ran out the door and caught the paper before it hit the ground. Just as quickly, he jumped back, pushing the paper away from him, as if it was red hot. It wasn't but Martin had been involved in more accidents than he cared to recall to not be cautious. After the fact anyway.

 

Taking out his utility tool from his pocket, he opened the forceps and gingerly picked up the note. On it he read:

 

'Relax Martin, it's not dangerous.

 

Just a thank you gift from your old pal Sid.

 

We've figured out a way to transport items over great distances. I guess you'd call it teleportation but from the way these three kids talk, it's not like that at all. I'm still going through their notes so I can't give you a better explanation than that. Let's just say it's not the magic you think it is or I thought it was.

 

On another note, it does require a lot of power to do it, so if you happen to come up with a solution to your energy satellite problem I'd love to hear about it.

 

If you want to come by and take a look at the setup you're more than welcome to. We're moving into new offices soon and from there who knows. I really think this is going to take off.

 

Enjoy the chocolate.

~Sid'

 

Martin finished reading the letter and than looked at the crate of chocolate. He kicked it. Solid enough. He opened one of the boxes on top and took a random candy bar from the box. True to form, Sid had sent him the same chocolate bars they had lived on those six long days during the black out.

 

Martin hopped up on the side of the crate and sat eating the candy bar while rereading Sid's note. After full digesting both the bar and the note, he leaned back and looked up to the heavens.

 

He was a lot farther on his research of satellites and energy distribution. He was actually quite surprised by the depth and breadth of information on energy and it's applications. He had designed a few prototypes from initial research and found it worthwhile to continue working on. He didn't have the funding or the solution yet but that was only a matter of time.

 

Martin laid down the top of the pallet and looked up at the sky and smiled.

 

'Are you alright?' a woman's voice asked.

 

Startled, Martin looked up into the face of the person he would spend the rest of his life with although neither of them knew that yet.

 

'Huh, oh yeah I'm fine. Thanks.' said Martin scratching the back of his head trying not to look directly into the radiance of her smile. He was worried he might go blind or something equally as foolish.

 

'Have a bit of a sweet tooth do we?' said the woman looking at the stacks of candy bars.

 

'Not really. It's a gift from a colleague. I don't really like this kind of chocolate anyway.' His stomach rumbled it's agreement. 'Would you like one or ten?' Martin offered, trying to maintain a smile.

 

'Well I've been told not to accept candy from strangers and you seem to be a stranger and that seems to be a whole lot of candy.' the woman answered although there was a hint in her eyes that Martin was too dazzled to see or understand.

 

'Oh, okay than.' Martin said kicking his feat against the boxes. He hadn't acted this childish in years. What was wrong with him. He looked up at the girl. Was he missing something? She was giving him a look that suggested she wanted him to say something or ask her something but what. Think Martin, think.

 

'I am thinking, hold your horses.' said his subconscious.

 

'Than think harder. Come on we can do better than this.'

 

'It's probably something pretty obvious.' his subconscious hinted since it had already figured out the answer but wasn't about to tell Martin, at least not directly.

 

'It normally is, isn't it.' In his mind, Martin was pinching his nose and scratching his chin in deep thought.

 

'She might like a piece of candy.' the back part of his brain offered.

 

'I already asked her that. She said she can't take candy from strangers.'

 

'And why are you strangers?' Like leading a crab to the sea thought his subconscious.

 

'Because we just met.' Martin said matter of factly.

 

'You're hopeless you know that.'

 

'Just tell her your name!' screamed his libido.

 

'Oh right.' said Martin and than 'My name's Martin' shooting his hand out at her as if from a pistol.

 

'He's kind of cute.' thought Angela's subconscious.

 

'Sure did take him a long time to tell you me his name.' she thought to herself.

 

'Martin's a hard name to remember.'

 

'No it's not.'

 

'Well it's taking you quite awhile to respond, now isn't it?' her subconscious finished smugly.

 

'Oh dammnit.' Angela kicked herself 'Angela.' She said taking his hand.

 

'So, would you like a candy bar than, Angela, now that we're not strangers any more?' Martin offered again with a smile.

 

'I'd love one.' said Angela joining him on the stack of candy.

 

.7.

 

Martin was on a plane although his mind was still at home.

 

On the plane, well it was a jet really, were three other men whose names Martin had forgotten before they had even told them to him. Martin assumed there was a pilot and co-pilot in the front but these days it was just as likely to be automated. Martin wasn't sure which he felt safer with. Probably the latter he told him. It was a very nice jet, quite the luxury item. Martin didn't notice things like the leather seats or the fine finish the oak bar at the rear of the cabin but they were there. Martin swiveled in his chair for a bit than returned to looking out the window. It was going to be a long flight.

 

In his home, Angela was unpacking her things. He assumed this of course and could confirm in it in a couple of seconds if he bothered to log into his H.O.U.S.E. but Martin didn't bother. He trusted Angela and more so he didn't want to be that kind of boyfriend despite the many impulses racing through his brain to be just that. It's not that he was worried about Angela. He was truly and deeply in love with her, that was beyond doubt. It was just.

 

While it might not look like it from it's appearance, Martin was a very orderly person. In his own mind maybe but still quite organized and was very reluctant to let anyone, even Angela, be creative with his home. Things where in certain places because Martin wanted them in certain places. Why was that empty can of tomato soup in that corner? Well Martin had been tinkering with the harmonics of his house and at the time the soup can had been the only item Martin could find in his house that would resonate a sound when he passed on. He'd tried the tomato soup. That hadn't worked but the can did and that was what was important.

 

And Martin, 8,000 feet in the air, was thinking, that Angela had long since thrown that perfectly good can into a dark black bag which was probably sitting out on the curb by now. And while the test had been completed, the results analyzed and Martin had long since moved on to other projects, it was still comforting to see that can in the corner when he came home. A sort of trophy to Martin's innovation. Sure, he had plenty of actual awards on the walls and bookcases but this one was special because it actually meant something to him.

 

'Let it go.' his subconscious told him. 'It's just a can for fucksake. You're getting regular sex now. Do you know how long it's been since you've had regular sex? I'll tell you how long. Never! And don't you think it's about time we started having regular sex. I mean it is a good deal bit better than those movies you watch on the computer.'

 

'I do no such thing.' Martin protested.

 

'Oh don't give me that. Look who you're talking to you twit. I mean, don't get me wrong, I understand why you watch them and I don't disagree with you, not in the least. But I think we can both agree, the time for things like that has passed and it's on to new and sexier things. Right?'

 

'Yeah, I guess.' Martin said reluctantly.

 

'You guess? There's no guessing about it you bastard. Gods, why I even bother sometimes I'll never know.' his subconscious muttered stomping off to some back corner of Martin's brain.

 

Martin twirled around a bit more in his chair.

 

'She's probably putting up pictures of flowers.' Martin muttered.

 

She wasn't.

 

'Heck, she's probably planted a whole garden by now.' Martin said rubbing his nose.

 

She hadn't done that either but it wouldn't have hurt.

 

'I wonder if the walls will be the same when I get home.' Martin thought.

 

They better not be. Martin's walls were not white to begin with. They weren't any color or at least any color and self respecting fashion conscious human being would want on their walls. To say Martin's wall color was indeed a color would have been giving it too much credit and would have given to much faith the poor color to make it actually think that maybe one day it would be in a crayon box.

 

What Angela had done was just short of remarkable at least to anyone other than Martin. In one single task, which he taken her all day to complete, Angela had forever and remarkable changed Martin's home.

 

She had cleaned it. The tomato cans, the empty boxes, the open bags of snacks, the inches of grime on everything. She couldn't even begin to think of one place she would spotlight over the other, they all were equally as bad. She knew frat boys who were cleaner than Martin. Well, cleaner in their own way. Their clean was dirty. Martin's was neglect. And a girl could work with that. The other she could as well but this, hopefully, would be easier. Maybe a regulated diet of sex would get him to come around. No, that would hurt her more than it hurt him. Well, both of them, equally as much she thought with a sly grin. She'd think of something.

 

She sagged into the couch in the room. Tomorrow she'd move some furniture around and finally move some of her stuff in. She wasn't about to let one of her belongings set foot in this house before she had a chance to go over it with a mop, a broom and some sulfuric acid.

 

She looked out the window in much the same way Martin was looking out his cabin window. They weren't staring at the same thing but they were certainly thinking it. A chill ran down both their spins which broke their hypnosis. Angela got up and got back to work while Martin twirled around in his seat some more.

 

The captain or computer turned the fasten seat belt sign on. Martin stopped his seat and took the last drop from his iced tea before the stewardess took it from him. She walked over to the other men who made some obscene comments before giving her their trash. Martin shook his head. He wasn't a night in shining armor but he wasn't a jackass either.

 

'Yeah but you'd still get with that.' said his libido.

 

'Shuttup. I love Angela.' Martin snapped at his crotch.

 

'Who said anything about love?' remarked his libido with which Martin could only assume was a sneer.

 

'I'm going to punch you if you don't shut up.'

 

'Oh yeah, that would be real smart. Punch yourself in the balls. Man's a genius.' his libido said sarcastically.

 

Martin raised his fist and than stopped. 'Your right.' his libido continued it's smug grin. 'But I won't be using my fist for anything else either on this trip. And it's a long trip.'

 

'You wouldn't. I mean come on, you need it just to think. Clear your head or whatever' his libido pleaded, any sort of confidence gone.

 

'Not as much as you think I do.' Martin said, with the upper hand, in all senses of the phrase, clearly his. He took out a piece of gum and started chewing it as the plane descended, the chewing and engines too loud for him to hear the offers, threats and complaints by his poor libido.

 

.8.

 

'Welcome to Tokyo. I am Shinji, your travel guide, if there is anything your MPAD can not translate or interrupt for you, I will gladly offer my services.' said Shinji, their guide, as the got off the plane.

 

Which was odd to Martin because they had all understood him through their MPAD's translations not through any translation on the part of the guide. He wondered if the other three men noticed that. From the conversation they were having with each other her doubted it. He wondered if they were going to the same conference he was going to but doubted that very much as well. They didn't look like the engineer or scientific type. Although more and more technical and successful businessmen had been showing up at these conventions to get the first hint of any new emerging technology. Not that it did them much good these days because whichever technology was being displayed had probably been patented well before the presenter had even be told his was going to go to the convention.

 

Martin slung his one bag over his shoulder and followed their guide towards the terminal. The other three men were still talking to each other but didn't seem to notice that their guide had already started guiding them away from the plane. Martin tapped his guide on the shoulder.

 

'Excuse me, shouldn't we wait for them?' asked Martin through his MPAD. He had meant to pick up Japanese for years but had never much time or luck to actually learn it. Plus with MPAD's there wasn't much incentive to do so.

 

Shinji responded again through the MPAD 'They aren't with our group. Please follow me sir.' and turned back to their route.

 

'If it's only me, it's not much of a group.' muttered Martin following behind him. Over his shoulder he heard one of the men say something about copious amounts of alcohol and women was in store for that night’s festivity which was received by riotous laughter from his two colleagues. Despite his pledge to Angela and the threat to his libido, Martin wasn't sure he liked the group he was in.

 

Martin soon learned he was indeed part of a group as his tour guide directed them two four other stops along the way to the baggage claim. They met Tom Fields, from Indiana, Sergey Minkz from Prague, Antonio Belucci from Milan and Mark Perez from Mexico City, each getting off of a similar plane as Martin's. On their second stop, Martin recognized Mark and fell in step with him as Shinji ushered them onwards to their next stop or the baggage claim hoped Martin.

 

'They brought you in for this too. I didn't know you were doing this type of work down near you.' Martin said as a hello.

 

'All of Mexico needs energy, maybe even more than the U.S.' replied Mark. They exchanged glances and gave a chuckle. It wasn't unrealistic but the United States would consume more than it's neighbor to the south simply because it could. 'Seriously though, I'm not just representing the Mexican government here. All the other centers in Mexico and South America are interested in this and if it pans out we'll be in for some interesting times my friend.'

 

Martin ran his hand through his hair but said nothing. Pressure usually didn't get to him but what Mark had just told him did. A manager here or a government official there barking at you for updates and results was one thing. But with the rest of the academic community waiting on your idea. That was something entirely different. He was pretty sure he'd get similar responses from the other three men they were with and everyone else at the conference once they arrived.

 

Martin felt ill.

 

This was more than he signed on for. Sure, he was the lead on the project but this seemed so daunting. They’d only had a little under a year to even scratch the surface let alone bring any meaningful data to the table. Martin involuntarily grabbed for his bag on his shoulder. The reassurance that both it and the hard work of his team were there eased him stomach a bit. He kept his hand on the bag till they reached the baggage claim. There, Shinji gave each of the men a key to their locker and told them he would meet them outside at the bus which was at Stop 43B.

 

Martin walked over to baggage claim and opened his locker. Normally he would gotten the key once he had gone through immigration and verified his identity but he was part of an academic package which had been prescreened on the tarmac. Opening the locker, compressed air wished at near Martin's feet. His one piece of luggage was sitting there with the remaining compressed air milling around it.

 

Tokyo International was one of the first airports to complete overhaul their baggage claim. Instead of passengers going to turn styles and waiting ten or twenty minutes for their luggage (Tokyo was still one of the fastest airports in the world beforehand) their luggage was offloaded into a hub which than used the RFID tags to disperse the luggage through underground chutes to a bank of lockers in the terminal, similar to a bank teller sending money to a waiting car. Luggage was their promptly when the passenger got to the locker and since only he or she could access the locker, there was little fear of theft.

 

Martin picked up his bag and headed towards the door. Before he had gone three feet, a security guard grabbed him by the shoulder and started yelling at him.

 

Martin's MPAD told him 'You idiot! What do you think you're doing.' the guard was gesturing at the locker Martin had just left. Martin didn't see the problem.

 

'What?' he said, a typical blank tourist stare of his face.

 

'You left the door to the locker open you dolt.' yelled the guard and the MPAD. The guard slammed the door to the locker shut to emphasize his point.

 

'Um okay. Sorry about that. Thanks.' Martin said hoping a convincing apologetic look was appearing on his face. He still wasn't sure what he had done wrong but they were drawing a crowd. He could see Shinji running towards them out of the corner of his mind.

 

The guard huffed, said something which the MPAD didn't translate, and stormed off. Martin was scratching his head, still trying to figure out what he had done, when Shinji caught up to him, panting with the effort of someone who didn't run much.

 

'You're very luck, Martin-san' came the voice from his MPAD.

 

'Uh, yeah I got that. Why am I lucky Shinji.' Martin asked.

 

'Leaving the door to a locker in the Airport baggage claim is a class 5 misdemeanor. Kids have been coming in and throwing trash, bottles and other junk into them. Normally it's just an inconvience to travelers but if it's something worse, like a firecracker or larger, it could bring down the entire luggage system.

 

That was the Sergeant in charge of luggage delivery, Matsumoto Takayama. He's under a lot of stress and doesn't take kindly to foreigners mucking around with his system. I'm surprised you got off so lightly. He had two tourists thrown in the Airport jail for an entire day just last week.'

 

'Seems a bit hostile for someone who deals with travelers all day don't you think?' Martin asked Shinji but found he was already walking back towards the van. Martin shrugged and followed him. Over his shoulder, Martin looked back to see Takayama screaming at a family who were trying to get their stroller out of the locker. Clearly, Martin thought, Takayama has anger issues.

 

At the van, Shinji took his bag and shoved it in the back with the others who were already waiting inside. Martin got in and squeezed beside Sergey who gave him a travel weary smile. The started off down the labyrinth of roads and bridges to interconnecting the airport to the rest of Tokyo.

 

'I'm looking forward to your presentation tomorrow Dr.Prescott.' Sergey began trying to hold onto a strap between him and Martin. Three inches of leather was all that kept Martin from having a very heavy Sergey lying on top of him but of course Martin didn't know this.

 

'Oh really. That's good.' said Martin absently. This was his first trip to Tokyo and he wanted to make the most of it. Well there had been that other trip but that had been under more trying circumstances and they really hadn't let him see Tokyo or any part of Japan. As this was a more friendly trip, Martin's eyes swallowed in all that was Tokyo while trying to be polite but dismissive to Sergey.

 

And there was much to swallow. The neon lights of a million billboards rammed down Martin's throat as they crossed over into the heart of downtown Tokyo. It was similar to other cities Martin had been to, New York, London, Moscow, and others. Yet so different. The buildings seemed the same yet different. As tall but thinner. The streets seemed, if this could be true, more winding, yet narrow and straight. People seemed happy yet purposeful, everyone with a look of determination in their eye, even the children which Martin found a tad disconcerting. But mostly he was struck by the elegant beauty of the city and only wished he could show Angela what he was experiencing.

 

For now, his MPAD would have to which he was feverishly using to take pictures of this, short video clips of that, and record sound bits when they were stopped at a light. His MPAD had no problem finding network connectivity here and was instaneously uploading each and every picture, video, and moment from Martin's trip as he recorded them. He made a mental note to go through it tonight, than though better of it, and made a note on his MPAD.

 

Sergey had been talking beside Martin for a while, asking the occasional unanswered question now and than, pointing out something he too found interesting which Martin quickly photographed, and being amazed himself. Martin tried to field the questions Sergey was asking as best he could but not only was he being more technical than Martin wanted to get on this ride but he was asking questions which were on a completely different line than what Martin was here to talk about. The questions mostly had to do with Sid's transportation company which Martin had had little to do with after he had gotten a tour from Sid of their new office.

 

To his relief and regret, they arrived at the hotel Martin was to be staying at. Luckily, Sergey was not but Tom and Mark were and they all managed to tumble out of the van without breaking too many legs. Shinji helped unpack their luggage, gave them their itineraries and other documents and told them he'd be by around 9 to pick them up for tomorrows events. The three thanked him and than walked inside.

 

.9.

 

The Tokyo Grande Hotel wasn't so much a hotel, so much as a paradise garden surrounded by a hotel. The three walked jaw dropped to the check in desk, managing to only bump into two other guests along the way, both of them by Mark which was surprising since Mark was pretty tall and thick.

 

'How many I help you.' chirped the woman behind the front desk. This was not translated through the MPAD Martin noticed.

 

'Yes, we each have room’s here.' said Mark for the trio.

 

'Certainly sir, are you with a party?' the woman, whose name was Ren on her name tag, chirped again, much too loud for Martin's taste. Jet lag was catching up to him, in a fast and dizzying way.

 

'No.' said Mark. While the convention they were going to was quite big it was anything official so as far as Ren knew, these three were simply tourists and that was how the organizers wanted to keep it. They had their reasons, Martin knew. Stupid reasons to Martin but maybe that was just to Martin and they really did have a point. In any case, Martin was not unaccustomed to a little cloak and dagger especially when he was on foreign trips.

 

They each gave their names to Ren, who entered them into the computer, verified that they each did indeed have reservations and updated their MPADs with their room RFID Keys.  They thanked her and walked over to the elevator on the far side of the hotel.

 

As they passed the hotel restaurant, Tom asked 'Meet down here for dinner tonight? My treat.'

 

'Sure, sounds good.' said Mark 'Although you might have to call me just in case. I have a feeling I'm going to hit the mattress hard in the next twenty minutes' he finished with a smile.

 

'Yeah, that sounds about what I'll be doing too Mark.' joined Martin. 'I might just take my dinner in my room at some point while going over my notes but give me a call and I might change my mind.'

 

Tom looked a little cresenfallen but quickly nodded his agreement and stopped in front of the elevator. It detected their presence, and an elevator began silently falling to the ground. Tom had hoped to pick Martin's brain before the meeting tomorrow.

 

'What floor are you on?' Mark asked looking at his MPAD.

 

'Seven.' said Tom.

 

'Me too.' said Mark said with a nod.

 

'Seems I'm on 12.' Martin said without looking up. The two raised their eyebrows but than remembered where Martin was coming from and shrugged.

 

'Must be nice.' Mark said over his shoulder as they waited for the elevator.

 

Martin wasn't sure if that was directed at him but he responded anyway 'What's nice?'

 

'Working for them.' Mark said with a look over his shoulder. They all knew who Martin's employers were, or at least two of them assumed they knew who they were, only the third knew for certain.

 

'I suppose.' said Martin cautiously, than remember a story he had been told for this type of situation 'But it's not all accolades and high hotel suites.' He began.

 

'Hotel suites? I've got a damn twin.' said Tom under his breath but Mark shushed him with his wrist.

 

Martin continued. 'Once I had to give some testimony to a committee in London. Real silly, secret stuff it was. I was to be briefed when I arrived, given two hours to prepare my statement, give my statement and answer any question, and than whisked back as if I was never in the country, let alone in front of five of the most powerful people in Britain.'

 

They got on the elevator and Martin continued his story. 'So the day comes and I get on the plane and fly straight there. And I don't just mean one of the planes we just got off of. I mean one of the sub-orbital planes that can reach any part of the world in two hours. And at the time that was a big deal since only a couple countries knew they existed.

 

I was of course worried out of my mind. It's one thing giving a presentation. ' he said patting his bag. Both men in front of him nodded their agreement. They had been there. 'But it's something completely different when you don't even know what it's going to be about. I was wracking my brain trying to prepare some notes for whichever topic they were going to quiz me on. Have you ever been on a sub-orbital plane before?' Martin asked the two men. They both shook their heads.

 

'It's a bit of a rush but it plays havoc with your stomach. The pilot told me from that from the get go but I didn't believe him. You'd think with my knowledge of physics I'd have appreciated his warning but I figured someone, somewhere would have accounted for that kind of strain on a human body. And I'm sure it was. And I'm also sure some cost cutter saw it as an unnecessary expense at the time and took it out. I hear now it's standard but back than, god did that hurt. I think I was puking for the ten minutes when we landed.' The other two men nodded with a chuckle. They had all been apart of projects than had been "adjusted" to meet budget constraints despite perfectly reasonable reasons to keep the expense.

 

'So there I am, with my lunch, my breakfast, and probably my lunch from last Thursday on the ground.' Martin said with a smile. He didn't know he was this good of a story teller. It probably had helped they he had been coached at this part and that most of the story wasn't true. 'I'm whisked away in a nondescript car to some underground base and given a room to rest for a little while. I'm told, the materials I'll need to review will be on their way shortly. I say thanks and than collapse on the cot much the way I'm planning to do when we get to our rooms.' He ad libbed. Both men involuntarily looked up at the numbers on the wall. They were fast approaching their floor. Martin took this opportunity to look at his watch. If he didn't get to sleep soon he wouldn't have much time to call Angela, prepare for tomorrow and meet these guys for dinner.

 

'So I'm laying there and waiting. And than waiting and waiting some more. I've gotten over my inertia and I'm getting kind of antsy to look at these files. I've got my laptop all setup, we didn't have MPADs at the point, and the suspense is killing me. At this point I've got to know what's in these files.' From the looks on Mark and Tom's faces, they really wanted to know what was in those files as well. Martin usually didn't open up like this and they weren't about to stop him.

 

'I wait some more, getting a little angry, and opened the door to see what's going on. A soldier halts me and says I have to stay in the room. I say fine but where is the guy with the documents I'm suppose to be looking at. He tells me of course he doesn't know about any guy or any documents but he's sure I'll be looked after shortly. Nice enough guy but not an ounce of information on him.

 

I'm going a little stir crazy at the time because my stomach feels like hell, the room is some six by six bland office, and my anxiety over the files and the appearance is hurting almost as much as my stomach. I wait another hour until finally one of the men who had escorted me to the room comes through the door with the most sheepish look I've ever seen. He tells me that both he and his superiors want to offer their deepest apologies but the files I was suppose to review are not ready at this time. The members of the committee I was suppose to brief had already been disbanded and I was to be taken back to sub-orbital plane for my return home.

 

I was a bit pissed off I'll tell you that. But more than anything, I dreaded getting back on the plane. I pleaded with the man to let me take a regular commercial flight but he was under strict orders to get me on that plane. Masochist. Bet he didn't know what it was like.' Martin ended bitterly.

 

'So, what happened?' Mark asked, both he and Tom leaning towards Martin who upon realizing this leaned back.

 

'Oh, well I went home. It's not so bad the second time or maybe I just didn't have anything to throw up the second time. Who knows.' Martin said.

 

'But what about the committee and the files.' Tom pleaded. After listening to that long, rather contrived story, he had better get something interesting out of it.

 

'Oh, well there's more after that.' Martin said innocently, rearranging his coat. Both men let out a sigh of relief and than waited for Martin to continue. Martin looked up at their eager faces. 'It's your floor.' He said

 

Both men's faces dropped. They looked up. They hadn't noticed they hadn't been moving for a few minutes now and indeed the light for number seven was indeed beaming. They looked back at Martin, their faces the epitome of disappointment, movement not likely to come to their feet for another few seconds.

 

Martin threw them a bone 'Don't worry. I'll tell you the rest of the story at dinner.' He said. A second sigh of relief came with a bolt of energy to their bodies which got them moving towards the door.

 

'Thanks Martin. See you tonight.' Mark called going in one direction down the long hall.

 

'Yeah, I'll call you around eight.' said Tom who made a strong mental note to remember as he walked down the opposite direction of Mark. If he forgot, it was almost certain that Mark wouldn't at this point.

 

'Sounds good. See you later tonight.' Martin waved with a smile. The doors slid shut and Martin heaved a sigh of relief.

 

'Great.' He thought 'Now I have to make up another part to that stupid story.'

 

.10.

 

The door unlatched and Martin walked into his suite. To any other person the suite would have been magnificent. Mahogany wood adorned every piece of furniture. A Grande piano was in the living room beside a bar which Martin was sure would rival most actual bars. Hitting a few buttons on the wall, produced the huge TV cleverly hidden in one of the walls, a retractable sunroof above the bed which Martin guess was programmable, and dial tone to phone system which seemed to be networked throughout the entire suite. But that all meant little to Martin who had seen it all before, if not here, but in hundreds of other cities.

 

No, what truly made the hotel suite amazing for Martin was the balcony and the view. Many other hotels he had stayed at had this feature as well but this was special to Martin. Sure, the company had paid for his room upgrade, they really didn't care, but Martin had to ask for it. He wanted a high room with a balcony to look over the city. From up here, he thought, this, this was where you get a true feeling for the city. In every balcony in the world they had been different and this one was no exception. For a few minutes he stood their, drinking in the sounds of people yelling, screaming, of cars, honking and beeping.  And the lights at the tops of buildings beeping their cold, distant language to anyone in the sky who would listen with the flicker of rooms going from bright to dark and back again below them. And finally the smells although those were difficult to truly appreciate up here. Most of the interesting ones Martin had to guess were closer down to pavement. Ah well, couldn't have everything he thought. Besides, smell was overrated he thought.

 

Gazing at the city he saw one room filled with people dancing and singing. It seemed filled to the brim and Martin absently worried that someone might get pushed out the window he was looking in through. Three blocks away from them a woman burst through her door crying quickly followed by a man who appeared to be apologizing profusely. Martin reminded himself to call Angela before he crashed. He turned and started inside, stopped and look eastwards. He heard the distinct sirens of emergency. He saw red and blue lights twinkling about four miles away. Than he felt a rush of tangled air as a helicopter flying low zoomed past overhead. Martin smiled, fixing his hair and unbuttoning his shirt. This was a city alive he thought. He had to get out and spend some time in it.

 

He pressed the phone button again and recited the numbers to Angela, no wait, his house to the system. The voice said thank you and than dialed the number. Angela's voice picked up after two rings. 

 

'Yeah?' She said rather groggily.

 

'Hey it's me.' Martin answered 'I didn't wake you up did I, it's not too late there is it?' Martin looked at his MPAD. It should only be nine thirty over there.

 

'No, I was just taking a nap. You know Martin you have one dirty apartment.' Angela said clearing some of the sleep from her voice. Martin's heart sank. She had been cleaning.

 

'I hope you haven't cleaned too much. Don't want you doing it all on your own. Don't want to feel like one of those slacker boyfriends you read about.' Martin said with a nervous chuckle. Please don't touch the tomato can, that's all I ask, Martin thought.

 

'Oh I've cleaned plenty and it's better you weren't here or else you'd probably stop me half the time from getting rid of some this junk you have laying around here. I mean really ' Martin held his breath ' do you need five pieces of rope going between the two rooms in the attic?' Martin exhaled a sigh of relief. That experiment had been finished years ago. She was right. He was messy.

 

'And what is with all the soup cans all over the place. I mean, is it some weird hobby you haven't told me about?' She asked, nailing Martin's stomach with an image he didn't want to imagine but did anyway. I clean living room. Augh, it disgusted him. But he loved her and he loved the straight forward way she had of telling him things that needed to be done. Of course this was typical of most women like Angela but Martin hadn't dated enough or at all to know this.

 

'Uhh, thank you?' Martin said. He really wanted to go to sleep now.

 

'Yeah don't mention it. I've got big plans for this place. You probably won't recognize it when you get home.' She chuckled. It sounded like she was opening a bottle of water over the phone. Damn, that was good reception Martin thought.

 

'Great.' Martin muttered walking to the bedroom and throwing his unbuttoned shirt onto a waiting chair.

 

'Oh don't be such a stick in the mud Martin. Trust me, you'll love it when you see it.' Angela purred. Martin stopped. He hadn't meant for her to hear that. He said a lot of things under his breath, that was his way. Damn good reception, Martin said only this time to himself and his subconscious.

 

'I'm sure you're right.' Martin said laying down on the bed.

 

'How was your flight?' Angela asked over a sip of water.

 

'Nothing too exciting. Couple of business men where with me but that's about it. Mark is down here.' Martin said pinching his nose trying to make the curtains of sleep up for just a few more minutes.

 

'Really, how is he and Donna. You know we should really have them over once we've gotten settled in.' Martin nodded, than realized Angela couldn't see him and voiced his agreement. It had sounded as if Angela was in the room with him. Really good reception.

 

'Well I'm sure you're tired.' Angela said

 

'You have no idea. I have to meet Mark and this other guy Tom for dinner in a few hours.'

 

'Don't go. Stay in bed. You'll thank me later.' Angela said, his ever watching nurse.

 

'No I promised them I'd finish telling them the story I started in the elevator.' Martin said getting up and continued to undress.

 

'You tell stories?' Angela said, a quizzical twang in her voice.

 

'I've told you plenty of stories.' Martin scoffed, sticking his head into the walk in closet. There were three suits pressed and waiting for him. He assumed they were his size.

 

'Sure you've told me plenty of stories, plenty of times. But you really don't talk much to other people unless you have to Martin.'

 

'Well maybe it's something I'm working on.' Martin said taking off his socks 'You keep telling me I need to be more social.'

 

'I don't tell you that. It's not like it's something I think you need Martin.' Angela said a little defensive 'I just think you'd find other people have more to offer you if you just talked to them more.'

 

'I doubt it.' mumbled Martin and than stopped. He cringed waiting for Angela to continue the point but it didn't come. Well, maybe not the best reception ever.

 

'I'm going to use the bathroom now.' Martin said louder.

 

'Lovely, thanks for sharing that with me Martin. Really what a girl likes to hear.' Angela said with a laugh.

 

'Just saying.' Martin trailed off. 'I love you.'

 

'I love you too Martin. Have a good trip. Knock them dead tomorrow. Call me tomorrow when you get a chance.' Angela said all hugs and kisses.

 

'Sure will Hun. Wish I was with you right now.'

 

'I know. Goodnight.' Angela said.

 

'Goodnight.' Martin replied and than heard the click of Angela ending the call.

 

Twenty minutes later, Martin stumbled out of the bathroom having fallen asleep on the toilet.

 

.11.

 

Mark was actually the first to call. He apologized to Martin profusely, who had waited for seven rings before becoming aggravated and answering it.

 

'I'm sorry if I woke you mate. Don't worry about it. I can give an excuse to Tom if you want.' You could tell Mark was trying to apologize although not very hard. Martin covered his head with a pillow for a few seconds before responding.

 

'No, I should probably get up anyway. Thank you for reminding me Mark.' Martin lied. Martin rolled his feet over to the side of his bed and sat up.

 

'No problem buddy. See you downstairs in half an hour?' Mark said, his happiness raining down from the speaker in the ceiling.

 

'Yeah, sure. That sounds good.' Martin answered and hung up. He was going to add, if I'm not there, don't bother coming to look for me but figured that wouldn't work so just let it go.

 

Martin touched the button to the skylight and found that it was still dark out so it had to be just late enough for dinner to still be served. Martin actually preferred this time of night since it was usually the time he got the most work done. He knew that it fit perfectly with the geek stereotype but didn't care since he didn't care about stereotypes and it was true. Martin got a lot of work done late at night. Hell, he had gotten this presentation done at two thirty in the morning.

 

Walking into the bathroom, he started the shower and than looked at himself in the mirror. After a minute of waiting for Martin to enter the shower, the shower turned itself off. Martin sighed, turned it back on, and waited a second for it to heat up again and than got in.

 

Across from the spigot of the shower and Martin was a display screen sealed within the wall. Martin had seen these crop of lately and paused to call up the day’s news. Finding that trivial and boring, he instead brought up his presentation notes for the next day.

 

'Introduce yourself, make sure you don't look down at your cards too much, try too look people in the eye and thank people for coming.' Martin told himself from the notes displayed on the screen. Martin's anxiety was getting to him so bad that he had to review even the simplistic parts of giving a formal scientific presentation.

 

Scrolling on, Martin recommitted several pages of figures to his memory which he thought he had forgotten but were still there, somewhere, in his mind, lurking around, and the dread keeping them at arm's distance. Pinching his nose, Martin turned both the display and the shower off and went to get dressed.

 

Before leaving for the restaurant, Martin took one last look out the window. He opened the doors to the balcony to let some fresh air in. He started walking towards the door but stopped when he heard the sweeping noise of the patio doors closing behind him. Martin's brow foroughed. This was the kind of thing that got on his nerves. When technology took to much liberate with Martin's life. If he wanted something someway, he shouldn't have to worry about some algorithm contradicting him ten seconds later.

 

Martin paced around the room looking for some buttons or interface to control the door but came up empty. Since he was becoming late to meet Tom and Mark he settled on a crude but effective solution. Jamming a book and than a chair in front of the door kept it from closing, despite the mechanisms constant protest to do so. As one final thought, Martin turned the air conditioning off so hopefully the thermostat computer would stop trying to close the door to get the temperature just right for Martin's eventual return.

 

In the elevator, Martin tried to think of things to tell the two that would make sense with what he had told them so far. Angela was right, he wasn't a good story teller but that didn't mean he didn't have an imagination. If he didn't, he wouldn't have gotten very far in his current profession.

 

He rolled a few ideas in his mind while gliding down the floors. 'A committee on defense networks? No, they'd never call me in for that. Some secret message they'd managed to get off of the net and needed his help decoding? Possibly, but he really wasn’t a code breaking sort and it would be just his luck that it was Tom's since he didn't know exactly what Tom did. Something to do with what you work on perhaps? Wow, that doesn't narrow it down at all now does. Good plan smart guy.'

 

The elevator slowed to a stop and let Martin out at the hotel lobby. He lumbered over to the restaurant they had passed earlier and before going in looked at the menu near the door. It seemed to be a French cuisine restaurant with a Japanese twist which sounded interesting but from the looks of the place didn't bode well for someplace Martin would feel comfortable in.

 

Shrugging since he didn't have much of a choice in the matter, he walked into the restaurant. The maitre'd greeted and was about to ask Martin if had reservations when Mark came pounding over in true Western style. Giving Martin a big hug which Martin hoped was just to intimidate the maitre'd and anyone else who was watching, Mark took Martin by the shoulder and led him to their table which coincidentally was in the back corner of the restaurant. Of course this had nothing to do with the fact that both Tom and Mark had each four sakes in them and we're motioning to the waitress for, Martin guessed, more for him to catch up with.

 

Martin sat down followed by Mark and started looking at the menu which was already sitting on his plate. Before he could get past the appetizers Tom was pulling the menu from his hands. Martin looked up into the grinning maw of Tom Fields and an impressive maw it was.

 

'Don't worry there Martin, it's all been taken care. Just sit back and relax man, you're in for a treat.' Tom said, the smile never leaving his face.

 

'Have you been here before Tom?' Martin asked with a hint of anger in his voice. He didn't like it when others chose things for him. And he didn't like how Tom was choosing the first meal he was going to be having in Japan. Angela ordered for him all the time, that was fine but Tom on the other hand. Well Tom wasn't about to be coming back to Martin's hotel room afterwards so why the fuck should Martin have to let Tom order for him.

 

'Once or twice.' Tom answered sipping his Sempora. Martin relaxed. If he had said this was his first time, Martin would have beaten him with the menu if he still had it in his hands. Maybe Tom knew that and that's why he had disarmed him. Martin cursed and looked at the fork next to his plate. Naw, Tom wasn't worth it. Unless had ordered something stupid. Like a hamburger. It would be just like Tom, even though Martin didn't know Tom but he knew the type, to travel half way across the planet, stay at one of the hotels in the world, and eat in one of the top five restaurants in all of Tokyo (Martin had looked it up before he had come down for dinner) and than order hamburgers for everyone. That was a stupid thing Tom could have done. Than maybe the fork was a viable option.

 

'I ordered a couple Kobe steaks, some noodle dishes, a couple vegetable dishes, and a shit ton of sushi.' Tom said with a jackass grin. Martin heaved a sigh. Within that laundry list of food, Martin was reasonably sure he could muster his own dish which would be his first meal in Tokyo.

 

The three tapped their beers together and took a long pull. Martin's ended about six seconds before Mark's and followed thirteen seconds later by Tom.

 

'Nother round!' Tom called over his shoulder since his Sempora was done and assumed everyone else's was too.

 

'No thanks.' said Martin 'Big day and all tomorrow. Can't get too plastered tonight.' He joked. It was a reasonable excuse and Martin was glad he had it. He didn't care for heavy drinking and only rarely had a beer or a glass of wine. By the looks of Tom and Mark, they were not going to make this a light night.

 

'Oh yeah.' said Mark as if the news had just dawned on him 'Nervous at all?'

 

'A bit.' Martin answered, sipping his drink. God, he hated this stuff.

 

'Any tidbits your willing to drop for us. Maybe a sneak preview?' Tom said, his eyes showing the greed of knowledge and information which was just as tempting and deadly these days than plain old greed. Mark looked a little less anxious but the glint in his eye was there as well.

 

Thinking faster than he normally did Martin said 'Maybe later but I figured you would want to hear the end of my story.' He said with a grin.

 

Tom's face dropped for a second than returned to the drunk smile that he would have on his face for the rest of the evening. As much as he wanted to know about what Martin was going to tell everyone tomorrow before everyone else knew, he knew he couldn't avoid the conclusion to the story which was just the way Martin had planned it.

 

'Sure do. And look, here's the food just in time. Nothing I like better than hearing a good story is hearing a good story while eating some good food.' Tom laughed, the hostess giving him a vicious glare, while several men scampered around their table depositing various bowls and dishes near each of them.

 

Mark and Tom looked at Martin, waiting for him to start the story. Martin looked at the food and than up at Tom and than back down at the food. What the fuck was in front of him? Mark, sensing that Martin wasn't about to start the story, took his fork and jammed it into what Martin assumed was a steak. Or maybe it was fish. Seemed too tender to be meat. Martin looked around at the food and than gave up and said what was on his mind.

 

'What the fuck did you order Tom?' Martin said with some bitterness in his mouth. Tom had done the exact opposite of stupid or perhaps he had been stupid but just a form of which Martin was unaware of. Instead of ordering something that Martin could have eaten at ten thousand million places in the States, Tom had instead ordered things which Martin couldn't find in America if he had to import all the ingredients himself and pay a chef to cook for him.

 

'Where's your sense of adventure Martin?' Tom said picking up a few dishes and pushing them in Martin's direction. 'Look, this one is tuna. You like tuna don't you? Sure it isn't covered in mayonnaise but it's still very good. This one over here, this is red snapper. Oh, and you have to try this Kobe beef. It's out of this fucking world man. They feed the cows beer, did you know that?'

 

'Everyone knows that and everyone knows that's not true.' said Mark, eating his own filet of Kobe beef. Mark had gathered a bowl of udon noodles, some tuna sashimi, a bowl of rice, and of course his steak in front of him and was busily eating away.

 

Martin picked at the tuna for a few minutes than took a small bite and tried it.

 

'That's the best thing I've ever eaten.' Martin mouthed and it was.

 

'Damn right it is.' Mark yelled and was hushed by some of the other guests 'Try the fucking steak man, you won't believe how tender it is.' Despite all his glowing reviews of the food, Mark was not eating anything but was content to drink his beer and yell.

 

'Holy fuck, that's just not right.' Martin said, letting the piece of steak roll around on his tongue and finally swallowing it. Martin didn't know food could taste this good. He finally understood why all his friends spent so much time talking about fooding instead of actually eating it. He finally understood why they took so much precious time when they could be doing better things, to travel over an hour to eat. His eyes moved and found Mark's. Mark gave him a 'Eh, you get over it after the first couple of pieces' look and went back to sucking down some noodles from a bowl.

 

'So anyway, now that you know what the fuck I ordered, how's about you tell us your story Martin.' Tom motioned with his drink.

 

'Oh right, yeah sure.' Martin said, putting another piece of beef in his mouth. Oh God was that good. Tearing himself away, he began the story he had come up with in the elevator which was going to be a let down but might get a laugh since these two had been drinking.

 

'So I'm back in the states right. Pissed beyond belief. Of course this was after, when I had time to be able to be pissed off. When I got back and had thrown up again I was immediately take to my boss’s office. Both his boss and his boss’s boss were there. Obviously whatever I was suppose to have viewed and analyzed in London was pretty important and all three of them wanted to know what it was, I just as much as than.

 

Of course, I didn't have a damn clue what the Brits were going to show me and I told them so. I've never seen those three men so much as blink at the thought of destroying entire cities if it will help achieve one of their goals. But I tell you now, I saw looks of absolute befuddlement on each of their faces when I told them I had taken their low orbital plane to and back from London and returned with absolutely nothing.

 

My boss thanked me and told me to go home and get some rest and they'd contact me later while the other two men stepped into the back of the office, looks of rage and questions clearly on their faces. Someone was going to get their asses handed to them and I was glad it wasn't me. I wanted to know why I had gone there at all but from the look of my bosses face and the reactions of his bosses, they had as much of a clue as I did.

 

Two months go by and I get called back in to the office. They told me things have been sorted out, agreements have been made and the incident that had happened last time would not repeat itself, and I was bound once again for the cloudy lands of England. I asked, could I at least know what I was suppose to be doing their so I could prepare. Again, they said no, everything I would need to see and use would be provided for me when I arrived. Reluctantly, I agreed and three hours later I was back on that damn plane.'

 

Martin stopped to catch his breath and eat a bit more of his now cooler food. 'What's that?' Martin asked pointing at a lump with orange mush on the top of it.

 

'Swordfish roll with sea urchin roe.' said Tom which got a twisted face from Martin. As if to prove that it was indeed safe and enjoyable to eat, Tom popped one of the rolls into his mouth and made mmhh sounds to amusement of Tom and Martin.

 

Cautiously, Martin picked up his own roll. Martin was a terribly adventurous eater, he saw dining out as a foolish waste of time and spent little time preparing his own meals. Angela had begun to diversify Martin's eating habits and had introduced vegetables back into Martin's vocabulary after being missing for some twenty years but there was still much work to be done. Slowly, Martin took a bite.

 

'Not bad.' he said after swallowing it 'Not too good either but not bad. What are those other ones?'

 

'More of the same. Various sushi rolls. Try them. Best way you'll find out.' Tom said with a grin.

 

Munching on a roll of cucumber, rice, and yellow fin, Martin continued his story.

 

'Now, all that nervousness and fear that I had from the last trip. Gone. Well not completely gone but gone enough that I wasn't worried about the meeting. I mean, sure I still didn't know what I was going there to see and do but someone else had fucked up and it hadn't been me so the bar wasn't that high anymore.'

 

'But now that they've gone through the expense of sending you again, wouldn't the pressure be higher? I mean, I know if I was in your situation, I'd probably be shitting my pants on the plane ride.' Mark interrupted, his mouth filled with food.

 

'In hindsight, yeah I guess I should have been more scared.' said Martin. Shit, didn't think about that. 'But at the time, it didn't enter cross my mind.

 

So I do the plane ride, throw up routine again which is not something you want to miss and I was being treated to a double shot of it. We land and the whole thing is done over again. The car, the base, the room, everything. I'm in there, a little more adjusted this time waiting for this information. And what do you think happens?' Martin asked. Maybe they might give him a better story than the one he had planned.

 

'You actually got the damn information?' Tom said, getting a little tired of Martin's story, but kept a grin on his face to let Martin know he appreciated the effort.

 

'Nope. Exact opposite. Or really, exact same thing happened. Waited in the damn room for a couple of hours, banged on the door a couple of times but nothing. Finally, the same officer came into the room, apologized profusely, told me the data they had wasn't ready yet again and to offer his deepest regrets to my superiors. He even gave me a letter to give to my boss when I got home. You could tell from the way the sweat and maybe a few tears were rolling down his face that this was not the happiest day of his life.'

 

'You've gotta be shitting me. They fucked you over again?' Mark said who was more interested in the story now than Tom was.

 

'Seemed that way at the time. So I get back on the plane, rush back to work, give the letter to my boss and get back into my usual routine.'

 

'And what kind of routine is that?' asked Tom, his ears perking up. Maybe this meal wasn't going to be a bust after all. But Martin just gave him a raised eyebrow, meaning 'we both know I can't talk about that and even if I could, I wouldn't do it here.'

 

 

Martin continued 'So several months go by and nothing happens. I'm a little annoyed at the inconvience without explanation but after awhile, you just forget it and move on with your life. After five months my boss calls me in. He has the look of someone whose going to regret giving an order but knows he has to anyway.

 

Sure enough, I'm scheduled to go back, this time with assurances from men so high up the food chain, that if someone fucks up again, heads will roll. I'm to leave in the next couple of hours to do the thing I was suppose to do two times so far.

 

I, say no.'

 

This got there attention. 'You said no? What do you mean you said no? To your boss?' Tom sputtered.

 

'After all the rest of it, you were just going to say no?' Mark chimed in.

 

'I know it looks that way from your point of view.' Both men nodded their heads to show that that was indeed their point of view. 'But you have to look at it from my perspective at the time. I've already done this two times and nothing has come of it. If it was my fault, and the reason we had to keep repeating the trip was because of something I wasn't doing right, I'd be all onboard to get things taken care of.

 

But it wasn't my fault, and there was no real indication that things weren't going to go the same way they did the last time. And I had just gotten deeply involved in another project' shake of the head to Tom 'that I was really more interested in than anything this London trip could have offered me. So I said no.'

 

Both men sat there, quite while Martin finished his dinner.

 

'So what did your boss say?' asked Mark after awhile.

 

Martin grinned. 'He told me to get out of his office and on that tarmac two seconds from yesterday.' The other two men chuckled. They knew that kind of order too. 'So we do the whole song and dance again. I fly over the pond, get sick and sit in the nondescript room. And you know what came of it?'

 

'What?' both men asked, on the edges of there seats, so anxious for some detail that Martin would let slip.

 

'Nothing. Same goddamn officer again. Told you I should have stayed at home.' Martin said sipping his drink which had slowly grown on him.

 

Both men sat their silent again when Martin had hoped for laughter. Finally Tom asked 'What was the point of that story Martin?'

 

Ah this is where the punch line is Martin thought with a smile on his face 'Oh, Well Mark said it must be nice working for them.' Both men nodded recalling their conversation at the foot of the elevator. 'I was just telling you, it isn't all suites and backrubs.'

 

The two were silent once more than Mark said 'I didn't get a backrub.' with a pout but noticeable laugh coming to the surface. Soon the entire table burst into laughter, aided by the drinks they had all consumed.

 

.12.

 

'Gentleman.' Martin began 'I'd like to thank you for coming today and hope you find this to be worthy of your time and effort. We stand on the cusp, gentleman and ladies. The cusp of the next revolution for mankind.' Martin swore and threw the notes on the bed and began marching around the room.

 

'Revolution. What was so revolutionary about it. I'm just getting one thing from point A to point B, that's all. Nothing revolutionary about that. Men have been doing the for their entire goddamn existence. Sure my thing, energy, is certainly the key to success for many other revolutionary things but that doesn't mean my thing inherits their revolutionary spirit. Does it?' Martin thought to himself. 'No it doesn't. It's more, what is it?' Calling up a thesaurus, Martin looked through synonyms for revolution but came up empty. He than looked up related words and found a much more pleasing list.

 

'Evolution. That sounds better. Yes, this really is more of an evolution than a revolution. The next step in power transfer. Certainly not about to throw the old system in the toilet just because of one lousy change in network. No, it was an evolution, that was sure.' His boss had wanted him to use the word revolution for the effect but Martin felt they'd be happy with evolution just as much. I mean, really it's only missing one letter, how much of a difference is it going to make.

 

Martin flopped down on his bed beside his notes. He was tired. He had drank more than he had intended last night and hadn't gotten the extra sleep he was looking for either. He rolled over. Tapping a button on the bedside table, he heard a distinctive beep and than he said 'Coffee please.' Another distinctive beep and he heard the sounds of machinery at work in his kitchen.

 

Martin lay there for a few more seconds. He closed his eyes and thought about the presentation. Was he ready? The comforting answer of Yes came to him. Was he nervous? Definitely but he guessed that was a good thing. Didn't want to be too cocky going into this thing he thought. He figured he'd get some hard questions from Heinrick and Schwatzmin but there was always than one fellow in the back who would ask that one question that would completely throw you off your game. Something related to but not quite defined by your presentation. That was what he had to be on his toes about. That son of a bitch. That was why he was preparing.

 

Another beep which let him know his coffee was ready and waiting for him. He stumbled into the kitchen and looked around the place, looking in the usual places for a cup filled with warm brown liquid. He couldn't find it. Thinking about it a bit, he went back into the bedroom. Looking at his bedside table, right near where the button he had pressed to order the coffee, was a steaming mug of what he hoped was hazelnut coffee.

 

'That's convenient.' he thought. Taking the cup, he walked out to the balcony. He took a sip. 'Convenient and good.' He thought. It was hazelnut, his favorite. He wondered how the hotel would have known which kind of coffee he enjoyed the most but than figured they had just done a few quick searches on his meta information. Somewhere, some company had long ago gathered that information on Martin. Martin shrugged. Sure, he felt a little pang of insecurity but really, when you had a mug of good hazelnut coffee in your hand without having to raise an eyebrow or word, you really couldn't argue.

 

He watched the streets thirteen floors below. Men, women and children seemed to be rushing around, everyone with a distinct purpose and place to go. Martin loved seeing that. He loved the sheer determination of people. The urge to get down there with the rest of him nearly had him walking out the door.

 

He looked at his watch. Three hours till the conference. No reason why he couldn't sneak out for a little stroll around. He'd be back in plenty of time to be picked up by Shinji and even if he wasn't, it's not like they would have a very hard time tracking him down. Not with his brown hair, heavy set stomach, long legs, and MPAD going off every few seconds.

 

Taking one last, delicious sip from his coffee, he took his jacket from a chair and walked to the elevator. Martin hoped he wouldn't run into Tom or Mark going down. It's not that he was avoiding them but that he wanted to spend some personal time just walking around and absorbing the Japanese culture and that was a lot more difficult to do with two foreigners barking at how different this country was.

 

Crossing the hotel's grand floor, the elegant carpet and lushes plants were quickly captured by Martin's camera. Martin looked over at the restaurant to see if either Mark or Tom were camping out there but was relieved to find neither of them were. Putting a sudden bit of speed into his step, Martin was out the revolving door and into the bustling stream of Tokyo life.

 

Martin couldn't decide which direction to go first. Each held sites and sounds so foreign to him that he couldn't compare the two and come up with a decision. Tossing a coin, Martin ended up going east. As he walked, Martin tried to take subtle pictures of the Tokyo surroundings. Trying to capture the people without letting them know they were being digitized in Martin's MPAD. Those were the interesting picture Martin thought. Not the posed and perfect ones. Sure, those had sentimental value but they didn't have any soul to them. No story behind them other than the obvious one at the surface. Martin wasn't some avante garde photography but he knew what he liked taking pictures of and Tokyo was giving Martin plenty of images to choose from.

 

Swinging his MPAD around, the view screen became black. Martin figured he was too zoomed in but upon pressing the button he found that it wouldn't retract anymore. He looked up.

 

'Hello Martin' said Felix, who was standing in front of Martin's camera. If Martin had been a sore thumb in the crowd, Felix was it's ingrown toe nail cousin. A couple of inches taller than Martin, Felix wore a dark suit with darker glasses. He had a small scar on the left side of his face which Martin couldn't help but look at every time he met Felix which since he was Martin's boss was fairly regular.

 

'Hi Felix. What are you doing here?' Martin asked although he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

 

'Oh, the boys back home just wanted me to come out and make sure you were getting along alright. How's the suite Martin?' Felix responded, moving both himself and Martin in the direction of a coffee house at the corner of the street. Martin noticed two other men, dressed in similar suits as Felix, move with them. What a show off Martin thought. Like Martin didn't know what kind of man Felix was, that he had to bring a couple of suits with him to underscore his importance.

 

Taking a table by the door, Felix offered Martin a chair, and than sat down himself. Martin looked around trying to massage the definition of coffee bar that was in his mind into the new, more modern, coffee bar he was sitting in. Yes, it looked like the waiters and waitresses were brewing and serving coffee. That looked right. But it was the neon lights, the display screens imbedded in the center of each table, and the complete lack of coziness that Martin found so jarring. He shrugged. When in Tokyo, he thought.

 

He turned back to Felix who was looking just over Martin's shoulder. Or maybe he was, Martin could never be quite sure with those damn glasses. 'So they really thought it was necessary for you to come all the way out here, just to check on me? Martin asked.

 

Felix laughed, which was a much more terrifying thing in other circumstances 'Oh get over yourself Martin.' I could say the same about you, Martin thought with a scowl 'No, I have other business to attend to uptown later this evening. It didn't have to be done right now, I'll admit, but, when you can kill two birds with one stone well, you know how they like to save money.'

 

'They save money?' Martin said with a look of befuddlement on his face. It was a common joke around the office when expenditures were discussed.

 

Felix laughed again. 'I know what you mean. Some days I wonder just where all this money is coming from but than I think better of it and decide to just do my job.' Felix added with a stern look in Martin's direction. Whether Felix agreed with the joke or not, he was still Martin's boss and still had the responsibility of making sure Martin knew the responsibility of his job.

 

'Alright, so now that you've seen how I'm doing, anything else you need to tell me?' Martin asked. Their waiter was standing beside them for their order but Martin didn't have much intention of staying there that long to give one. Felix of course had other plans.

 

'Two coffee's please.' Felix said to the waiter in Japanese without the use of his MPAD for translation. Martin raised any eyebrow, he didn't know Felix knew Japanese.

 

'There's a lot you don't know about me Martin.' Felix said without looking at Martin but obviously picking up on Martin's eyebrow. Martin lowered it again. 'Is this speech ready Martin?' Felix asked although Martin knew that wasn't why he had come to talk to Martin.

 

'I've changed using the word revolutionary to evolutionary.' Martin said with a bit of bite.

 

'Bought time too.' Felix said which surprised Martin. He didn't think Felix had even read his speech. 'Using satellites for energy relay stations is not something terribly new, it's more what's coming next. And with any luck, it will be what's next in the next couple of years.' Felix added with a knowing glint in his eye. Martin shifted in his chair. He didn't know Felix was so knowledgeable about his project but than Felix had just told him there was a lot he didn't know about the man. Martin had just figured that was for show again.

 

'If you want' Felix began, passing a thumb drive across the table to Martin 'You can also tell them we have an operational satellite already in space as we speak.' He looked at Martin's facing expecting surprise but found slight amusement instead. So this was why Felix had come all this way, to tell him that they had gotten one of his team’s satellites into space without breaking it. Martin admitted, they couldn't just send them information over the net, not with all the hooks out there. But it wasn't something he wasn't expecting.

 

'So Simon and Fareed managed to get it in the air on time.' Martin said, taking the thumb drive from Felix. He'd look at it later. He might incorporate it into his speech but would probably save it for the question and answer part of the seminar.

 

'Yeah, with a little encouragement. They've begun working on designs for automated manufacturing. Well Simon and the rest of the team are. Fareed is still doing some adjustments and gather the data from the one we've got in the air.'

 

'There's no air in space, Felix' Martin said.

 

'Well, it's not technically in space, now is it?' Felix said with a knowing grin. Bastard really had been keeping tabs on his project. Martin wasn't sure whether he was happy or frighten to realize that fact.

 

'So are you actually using it?' Martin asked. He crossed his fingers under the table.

 

'No Martin. We thought we'd leave a seven billion, state of the art, energy transmitting satellite just floating around in stratosphere so some other piece of debris can come along and smash into it. That would be a great way to test your object avoidance algorithms wouldn't it? Of course, we're using it. It's powering the east wing of the facility as we speak.' Felix said with a satisfied grin. Scientists. Always thinking you were out to shelve their whiz bang inventions. Sometimes you weren't even sure it was worth all the budget meetings, the logistic nightmares, the cajoling of investors, Felix thought shaking his head. He looked at Martin's face and saw that, maybe it was worth it.

 

'It's actually powering the east wing? No backups or subsystems providing assistance?' Martin murmured

 

'No, completely cut off from any other part of the grid. It's completely self sustaining. Of course we moved a few projects out of the east wing before we tried this little experiment of yours. Wouldn't want them to go down in flames if yours did as well, now would we?' Felix reported.

 

'Good thinking.' Martin said almost wordlessly. His mind was obviously racing through the implications Felix thought. Felix smiled, maybe it was worth it after all, to see that look of amazement on another man's eyes. Felix shrugged and sipped his coffee that had been placed silent in front of him.

 

'Well, I won't keep you Martin. I'm sure there's much more of the city you want to see before going over to the convention. Just remember to be back at the hotel in ' Felix looked down at his watch ' One hour. Doesn't give you much time to explore I'll admit but you might want to check out the Achihabor section. You might enjoy that.'

 

'This seemed to break Martin from his thoughts. He looked at his MPAD and confirmed that Felix was right, he only had one hour before he had to be back at the hotel. He got up.

 

'Thanks for the information Felix. It was just the boost I needed before going into this thing.' Martin said for the first time, glad to be talking to his boss.

 

'I thought as much. Good luck Martin. Bring it home.' Felix said with a nod and went back to his coffee.

 

Martin started for the door and than turned back Felix. 'Felix?' Felix looked up 'Would it be alright if I stayed here one extra day?'

 

Felix put his coffee down 'Do you have the leave?' he asked although they both knew that he did but Martin consulted his MPAD anyway.

 

'I've got six months of leave left.' He recited from the screen. Really? Six months? Had he really been working for that long to accrue six months of leave. He really needed a longer vacation.

 

'Well than, I'm sure Simon and Fareed can get by without you for just one extra day. But things are going to get pretty busy after this Martin.' Felix said into his coffee.

 

'So? That's never been a problem before?'

 

'No it hasn't Martin. But now, with certain other factors in your life, I just want to remind you which priority comes first in your life. It's not a choice Martin.'

 

'How did you know that...' Martin trailed off. It was a stupid question even though he wished he had an answer. He hadn't thought about how he would balance time with Angela and the amount of time he'd have to spend on this project. Great, back to anxiety city.

 

Felix picked up on the change in Martin's mood 'Don't worry Martin, we can help you adjust.'

 

'Are you married Felix?' Martin asked since he'd never cared to wonder before.

 

Felix fidgeted for a few seconds, a look of slight discomfort behind those dark glasses. 'No.' He said finally.

 

'Were you?' Martin pressed.

 

'You're going to be late Martin.' Felix responded, brushing away the question. 'Don't worry about the extra day, I'll get Nicole to let everyone know back home. You might want to run it by Angela though.' Felix finished and turned back to his coffee.

 

Martin was about to open his mouth to say thank you, ask how he knew about Angela and what Felix knew about juggling home and work life in the air but looked at his MPAD again and hurried out the door.

 

.13.

 

On his way back to the hotel, Martin was pushed with traffic down a side street which he had not come from. Looking at his MPAD, he figured out where he was and adjusted his route back to the hotel. Looking up he saw a sign for a massage parlor.

 

'Oh man, we have got to go there.' His libido said, immediately coming to attention 'You love massages and I love the happy endings.'

 

'I don't have the time right now and I don't need a happy ending.'

 

'You might not, but I certainly do. You can't even imagine the kinds of things the girls here can do to your body. Things you've only seen or read about. We have to come back.'

 

'Maybe.' said Martin taking a picture of the sign and making a note of it on his MPAD.

 

'No maybe about it. Even your subconscious agrees with me.'

 

'Eh, I don't care.' said the back part of his mind which was more interested in all the peripheral images it had collected that day.

 

'Whatever, you'll thank me later. Look, it's unanimous, we're going.' his libido said and tried to gain control of Martin's legs.

 

'Sorry, that's a bit more control than you think you have.' Martin said and than shut them both down. He wasn't sure whether he'd come back or not, but this wasn't an argument he wanted to have going on his head at the moment.

 

Martin arrived at the hotel, just as Tom and Mark were exiting the revolving door. They greeted each other and than looked for Shinji who hadn't arrived yet.

 

'How are you feeling?' Martin asked the other two. They had each drank at least double what Martin had and he was guessing Tom and drank triple that.

 

'Eh, not too bad. A bit rough this morning but nothing I'm not used to I guess.' Mark said with a grin. All Tom could do was shake his head which from his expression caused him a good deal of pain.

 

'Here.' Martin said, taking some pills from one of the inner pockets of his jacket. 'These should help a bit I'm told.'

 

Tom took them gratefully and than stood their miserably, no longer interested in prying any information out of Martin.

 

'Where have you been?' Mark asked.

 

'Oh I took a little walk around. Just wanted to clear my head you know.' Martin said, leaving out certain parts of his morning exercise.

 

'Sounds like a good idea.' Mark agreed, as Shinji pulled up in front of them. Shinji was out of the van in seconds, bustling them inside while apologizing for being late. Inside, were the men from the previous day as well as one or two Martin hadn't met but knew from reputation.

 

'You made it all the way out here Alan?' Martin called to one of the men in the back.

 

'Wouldn't miss it for the world.' Alan responded with a grin. Alan and Martin had worked together in London. The story he had told Tom and Mark had been a complete lie but that didn't mean Martin hadn't gone to London on business.

 

Martin sat down next to a woman he looked oddly familiar but whose name Martin couldn't place.

 

'Have you changed your hair color?' Martin asked the woman as a way of introducing himself.

 

'I don't believe I have. Why do you ask?' the woman said, turning to Martin.

 

'Oh, you just look like someone I used to work with, that's all. Hi, I'm Martin.' Martin said offering his hand. He wasn't completely without manners.

 

'Of course I know who you are, Dr.Prescott. My name's Linda.' the woman responded, taking Martin's hand 'You must be thinking of my boss, Dr.Jenkins. She couldn't making it because of a death in the family but sent me in her place to take notes.'

 

'Maria Jenkins. Wow, haven't seen her in awhile. How is she doing?' Martin asked. He wasn't sure why he felt so comfortable talking to Linda. He was normally quite nervous around women.

 

'Maybe it had something to do with Angela, dumb dumb.' his subconscious murmured and than went back to it's photos. Probably right, Martin agreed.

 

'Oh she's doing well. Her cousin passed away and so she had to travel back to Dublin for the wake.' Linda answered.

 

'Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.' Martin pressed a few buttons on his MPAD to remind himself to send Maria a note. 'What have you two been working on in Scotland?' Martin asked. Maria's field was the interconnection between man and technology and always found it fascinating talking to her since it was something that Martin was completely lost with.

 

'Well, we've managed to reduce voice analyzation down to twenty percent and now eighty percent of it is voice interpretation. Much the same way we talk, we don't look at every word individually and get a meaning but rather we take a whole and interpret it to mean what the author intended. Dr.Jenkins has done some truly astounding work when it comes to getting a computer to truly understand what you and I mean when we talk.'

 

'I'm glad to hear it. Maria always seemed to be gifted in that area.' Martin said and than looked out towards the front of the van. They were coming to a building which didn't appear to have an entrance. Before Martin had a chance to become worried about this, the car dipped and they were shooting down a tunnel beneath the building Martin had just been looking at. The lights lining the walls blurred past as Martin tried to think how deep they were going and soon gave up.

 

'And what have you been working on?' asked Linda.

 

'Can't give away the surprise just yet now can we Linda?' Martin said with a cheeky smile. She smiled back at him.

 

The car slowed and came to a stop in front of an underground reception area. The dozen or so members got out of the van and made their way to doors, while Shinji pulled Martin aside.

 

'You'll be going in the back.' Shinji said in English. Was it Shinji English or MPAD English? Martin wasn't sure. He'd gotten so used to hearing Shinji's voice and had never bothered to figure out which he was using.

 

'Thank you.' Martin replied following Shinji towards a side door. Insider were stairs that went up as far as Martin could see. 'We're not going to climb all of those are we?' Martin asked.

 

'No, only twelve.' Shinji said starting up the stairs. Martin sagged. He was not prepared for stairs. Adjusting his bag on his shoulder, Martin followed Shinji up the stairs, two at a time.

 

As he reached the plateau between the sixth and seventh floors, Martin saw a blur, and than Shinji's fist was ramming itself deep into Martin's stomach. Martin slumped against the wall, his hands instinctively covering his stomach, spikes of pain lancing through every part of his body. He had been in a fight once and that had been with his brother and it had not ended well for Martin. This looked like it wouldn't well either.

 

'Give me the thumb drive.' Shinji said in perfect English, motioning with his hand while the other was still knotted in a fist.

 

Knowing the reaction but asking anyway, Martin said 'What thumb drive?' As expected, Shinji's fist flew into Martin's stomach again. 'Mother fucker.' Martin gasped in between desperate gulps for air.

 

'Give me the thumb drive and this will all be over.' Shinji soothed, although Martin could see his fist hovering beside him waiting to strike.

 

'Fuck, here.' Martin said reaching into his pocket. Martin pulled the thumb drive from his pocket with the two fingers that could still muster the strength to grip.

 

Shinji snatched it from his hands, shoved it in his pocket, and than punched Martin in the bread basket for one last added effect than starting jumping down the stairs two at a time. Martin to his credit leaned against the wall a few more seconds before slumping to the ground.

 

'Ow.' He murmured when his butt hit the cement. He heard the sound of the heavy door down below slamming home, marking Shinji's escape into the busy streets of Tokyo. Whatever, Martin thought. He wasn't crying but he was upset. Martin knew his work came with a certain amount of danger and risk but he had never had it pounded into to him. He coughed and noticed some blood on his hand. 'Great.' he thought.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Martin got to his feat. He steadied himself on the wall, trying to get his bearings. What should he do? That thumb drive was important but how important was it? If Felix had come all the way out here to give it to him, it must be fairly important. But who would want to steal it? There weren't many other organizations capable of working with that kind of information. Or were there? Martin really didn't know.

 

Whatever the answers to those questions were, Martin knew he wasn't about to answer them himself. Martin dialed Felix's number into his MPAD which after several seconds or rerouting around the world, gave him Felix's voice.

 

'Didn't expect to talk to you this soon Martin.' Felix said, good humor in his voice.

 

Martin coughed, which made Felix shift the phone on his ear Martin could hear 'We have a problem Felix.' Martin croaked before another cough.

 

'Martin what's happened? Tell it to me very slowly, so I know exactly what the situation is. No detail left out, do you understand that Martin?' Felix ordered, any hint of happiness gone from his voice, total and definitive control replacing it.

 

'Yeah, I got it Felix.' Martin murmured. 'Shinji punched me in the stomach and stole the thumb drive you gave me this afternoon.'

 

'Whose Shinji?' Felix asked. Martin could hear him writing on a piece of paper which seemed odd since this conversation was undoubtedly being logged by both Martin's and Felix's MPADs. But Martin knew Felix was an old hat and probably was more comfortable with pad and pencil.

 

'Our guide.' Martin answered 'He met me at the airplane, collected a few other people and than dropped us off at the hotel. He picked us up this morning in a van with some other people. The group went through the main door but Shinji pulled me aside to go up the side stairs, I assumed since I was going to present that I had to go somewhere else.'

 

'Where did he attack you Martin?' Felix asked briskly.

 

Martin looked down and than up. He couldn't make out which floor he was on. He slowly walked up the stairs to the next landing which had a sign that said seven. 'In between the sixth and seventh floor Felix.' Martin said, a little out of breath.

 

'How many times did he hit you Martin?' Felix pressed.

 

'Uh two or three I think. Right in the fucking stomach too.' Martin swore. It would have occurred to Martin in at any other time not to swear to his boss but considering it was his boss who had put him in this position, Martin imagined Felix would give him a little bit of leigh way when it came to his responses.

 

'Good man. Don't give it up without a fight.' Felix said, a little life coming back to his voice 'Alright Martin this is what I want you to do. I'm waiting for a meeting right now but I'll cancel that and come down to where you are in a few minutes. I should be there in fifteen or twenty minutes. Now, I want you to go upstairs. They should have a room waiting for you to relax in before you are to give your speech. I want you to use that room to relax in Martin. And I want you to wait there for me.

 

If for some reason, they ask you to present before I get there, I want you to stall them Martin. Give them whatever excuse will work. Hell, just don't get up. But don't tell them you've just been mugged by a competitor. We don't need that mess with this one.'

 

'You really think it was a competitor?' Martin asked, starting to climb the stairs.

 

'We've had a feeling. Don't worry about that right now Martin. I'll be there soon and we'll explain everything. Stay strong, you're days not over yet.' Felix said getting ready to hang up and Martin hoped head over.

 

'Felix.' Martin murmured.

 

'Yeah?' Felix said with the fluctuation of someone whose running down a hall.

 

'I'm sorry.' Martin said quietly.

 

.14.

 

Martin was laying on the couch in the office the conference staff had provided him. They had given him a few odd looks when he reached the twelfth floor, breathless and looking even more ragged than he had been five floors prior. Martin murmured something about needing exercise and trying to get it where ever he could. The too organizers exchanged glances and than ushered Martin into the office.

 

One offered him water, which he accepted gratefully. Luckily they had already broken the seals of the bottles or else Martin feared he wouldn't have been able to open them.

 

'Maybe I do need to get some more exercise.' Martin thought.

 

'Your damn right you do.' His inner athlete yelled at him. 'And eating a few more vegetables wouldn't kill you either.'

 

'It might.' said Martin's laziness

 

'Shut up you. Bad enough the man's got a job that has him sitting down all day. He also has you, killing any kind of motivation I send his way. Maybe if I got him out running once in awhile, something like this wouldn't have happened.' The athlete in Martin barked.

 

'Oh sure. Martin's rock hard abs would have deflected that man's fist. I don't doubt it.' Martin's slacker said with a voice that sounded like someone eating a bag of potato chips and than rubbing their hand down their shirt.

 

Martin's athlete didn't respond but instead went back to plotting up ways to get around Martin's laziness and insert some healthy exercise into his routine.

 

Martin groaned. He thought of calling Angela and was about to when Felix crashed through the door followed by the two men Martin had seen earlier that day. Felix got straight down to business.

 

'Have they asked you to present yet?' Felix questioned, his voice showing the barest hint of exhaustion. Martin's inner athlete would have been proud.

 

'Once. I told them I needed some time. They took one look at me and agreed. Guess getting punched in the stomach has it's benefits right. You're excuses work.' Martin said with half hearted smile.

 

'Yeah, but do they know you were punched?' Martin shook his head 'Good, let's keep it that way. Jim, get the door. Matt, contact HQ and appraise them of the situation. Let them know Condition Five has happened.' Felix said to the two men standing behind him.

 

Immediately, the one Felix referred to as Jim stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. He than planted himself squarely in front of the door and Martin had little doubt by the size of Jim's girth that they'd be bother again until Felix felt like they needed to be bothered. The other man, Matt, was talking into his MPAD, although Martin couldn't hear what he was saying. Condition Five? What did that mean?

 

'You expected this to happen?' Martin guessed.

 

Felix was pacing a bit. He let out a breath and than turned to Martin. 'Not so much as expected but more like planned for. We saw the possibility of something along these lines occuring although we didn't know what form it would take. Hell, we didn't know they would have been able to get to you so closely. We figured they would have had to steal the thumb drive from your room while you were away or asleep. That's why I gave it to you only a couple of hours before your speech.'

 

'Whose they?' asked Martin sitting up.

 

'Don't worry about who they are Martin. Let me worry about who they are. And let them worry about who I am.' Felix said with a menacing grin. Martin took some small comfort in knowing his employer had some very long and deadly arms. Felix stuck his hand into his jacket and than handed Martin another thumb drive that looked exactly like the one that had just been beaten out of him. Martin was hesitant to accept it after his last experience with taking thumb drives from Felix but after a few seconds he took it from Felix.

 

'So is this another copy?' asked Martin.

 

'No, that's the original. The thumb drive that our friend Shinji made off with doesn't have anything of value on it. Like I said, we planned for this.' Felix answered.

 

Martin wasn't sure where it came from. Maybe it was just the rage of being assaulted or being treated like a pawn but he lashed out at Felix 'You fucking planned for this shit to happen? On some fucking spreadsheat, with my name beside it? Martin, check. Get beaten up, check.' Martin would have laughed at that if he wasn't so angry.

 

'Martin calm down. It's not like that. Yes we misled you about the risk involved but we didn't want to alarm you and we thought it was best to let the competitor to make the first move before escalating things.'

 

'Escalating things. Right, he escalated them right into my stomach.' Martin murmured.

 

'Don't worry about that right now. You have a speech in a little while you know.'

 

'And what was the point of giving me that fucking thumb drive, if it didn't have any information on it? Did you not think I was going to look at it?' Martin yelled, getting up. He started pacing around the room with Felix.

 

'It seemed unlikely. After I gave it to you, you were going to come straight here and I doubted you would spend much time actually looking at what was on the drive.' Felix answered, now standing still watching Martin prowl around the office.

 

'Than, my answer to you again, if you weren't sure I was going to be attacked and say I wasn't, why did you give me this stupid thumb drive.' Martin said, holding the new thumb drive up.

 

'Because I thought it would boost your confidence Martin.' Felix said redoing the button on his jacket. 'It's all true, what I told you. The satellite, the work, the energy. It's all working back home. The details weren't important but the motivation for you was. You're about to make a very big speech in there Martin. And I don't need my number one scientist shitting his pants just before something like that.'

 

Martin paced a bit more than slowed. As he thought about it, he knew Felix was right, that when Felix had told him about the progress the others had made, that he had felt his confidence swell, that the speech wasn't that big of a deal anymore. He was glad to know that at least that was still true.

 

'Look Martin. Take a few minutes, clean yourself up, look at the data if you want, and than go give your speech. It would be letting them win if you didn't.' Felix closed. Martin nodded. He knew he had to go out there now.

 

But, he wasn't afraid anymore. Sure, he still felt the anxiety, but that was merely an annoying tick in the back of his head. For now, he was on top of the world.

 

.15.

 

Martin stood at the podium, sweat gathering in the soles of his feat. His feat always sweated more when he was in front of people. He didn't know why but than there it was. He grasped the thumb drive, the real thumb drive, in his pocket. It calmed his nerves every time he held it. Martin wasn't a superstitious man but at the moment he would grab on to any limb that was thrown out to him.

 

Martin had tried to call Angela after Felix had left the room but the even organizers had rushed in almost as soon as the man Felix had placed at the door, Jim was his name Martin recalled although he probably didn't want to, had opened it for common use. They had brought in a stylist to help fix Martin's image and gave him a new suit to change into. Martin wasn't sure whether this came from Felix or the event but it didn’t matter. Shoving one arm into his pants leg, he tried to dial Angela's, his, number, than realized he was putting his pants on over his head and gave up. Dropping the MPAD to the floor, Martin thrashed around a bit, trying to get his new trousers off of his head. After a few falls, some light gymnastics Martin didn't know he had in him, and some help from one of the aides who took pity on him, Martin was already to present.

 

Which was exactly where the aide started pushing him once he got his last arm through the jacket sleeve. Martin desperately reached and snagged his MPAD before he was pushed feat first out the door. Martin looked at his MPAD for a few seconds, wondering if he had the time to call Angela. Even if he did, once he called her he knew she would say he was nuts that he should be preparing for his speech and to get off the phone with her. Martin sighed, missing Angela and the reassurance her voice would have given him, stopped the MPAD's dialing screen and pulled up his speech notes while he and the other two aides bustled to Martin could only guess was a stage.

 

'Hey dumb dumb.' his confidence whispered to him 'Stop reliving the past. You're on.' Martin's confidence had never been gentle with him which was one of the reasons he lacked one. But Martin couldn't think about the lack of confidence, the abundance of intelligence or all the other faculties of his brain at the moment. He had to use of all them to complete one simple task. Talking.

 

'Good evening ladies and gentlemen.' He began. He squinted trying to make out the words on the prompter some fifteen feet away from him. It wasn't a large auditorium, more of a lecture hall really. There were about a hundred or so seats, almost all of them filled with a few people standing who Martin assumed were staff. It was a pretty barren stage, with a thin podium and a large display screen behind him. Martin felt very alone up there.

 

'You're suppose to continue after that line.' murmured his confidence. It was enjoying the show and was probably sitting back in a chair, eating popcorn.

 

'I stand here before you with an idea that will revolutionize..' Martin stopped. People shifted in their chairs not sure whether Martin was doing this for effect or just fear. Martin remembered the change. It hadn't made it into the prompter. Damn. Remember what they told you before coming here. Roll with the punches. Don't let it faze you. Just take the hit and keep moving. 'You know,' Martin began again. The audience adjusted into a comfortable position. This might be awhile. 'I was told to use the word revolution but it's really not that. My idea, is more of an evolution of the energy network we have today. I have no found the source for unlimited energy. That exists but I have not figured it out yet. Maybe I will someday or maybe you may. But that would be a revolution. And that is not what I have done.'

 

'No ladies and gentleman, ' he felt like he was selling them something and perhaps he was ' what I have done is taken a simple idea. of getting energy from point A, to point B, and move it to the stars.' Martin said pointing his finger upwards. A few faces in the crowd moved upwards involuntarily, so fixed where they on Martin's movements. 'Satellites. It occurred to me during the last great power outage of 2012. We have an abundance of satellites my friends but most of them use energy. They do not return it.

 

And that can not be tolerated because of two reasons. One, the most obvious, is that we are in an energy emergency. Our need, yes our need not want anymore, for energy is so great, that we can not be generous with that energy we do produce anymore. Secondly, satellites offer a means of sending that energy from one point of the globe or even one point in space to anywhere we desire.

 

And that's the real key. Not more energy, for my idea certainly does not do that. My idea is more efficient energy. As you can see from the slides behind me ' graphs and charts began appearing behind Martin although he didn't look behind him to see if they were indeed the right graphs and charts. Just have to go on faith with that he thought. 'our current system does not use energy well. It uses energy to maintain itself. It uses energy to fix itself. And most ridiculous of all, it does not provide energy to everyone who needs it.

 

The system involves three parts.' Martin began hoping the pictures behind him were changing now to a collage of various power generators. 'Whether it's natural gas, electric, hydro, wind, solar, or something completely knew, our system can accept that energy and direct it. Using a transmitter seen here, 'Martin turned to the screen and was greet with the pleasing image of the energy transmitter his team had designed 'connected to whichever power source is in question, will convert and transmit the gathered energy to one of hundreds, perhaps thousands of satellites in space.' The image changed to show a sleek satellite with a line of yellow to represent energy beaming up from the surface of the Earth.

 

'From these satellites, energy will be redirect to points of need. I can understand from the murmuring of the crowd, the thought for the need of retrofitting older systems and I will not deny there is a need for that. But I present to you this.' Martin held up a small box. 'This is a receiver unit. It costs, fifteen cents to make. It will plug into any electric or gas powered device and fool the device into thinking that it's power source is there and feeding it energy. If it's a car, it will fit into your gas tank and generate power. If it's a TV, it will fit on the side and plug directly into your television. And so on.'

 

Murmurs from the crowd. Yes, this was the part Martin was most worried about. One because he knew how hard it would be for people to believe what he was saying. Sure they could understand the part about transmitting energy over thousands of miles using satellites. That was easy in this circle. But creating a device that could mimic the power source of other devices. That was extraordinary. And Martin couldn't disagree, it was even incredible to him as well since he had not designed it. Another team, Felix hadn't said which, had come up with the device and after testing for three months Martin couldn't argue with the device. It did exactly what it was advertised to do. He really needed to meet the men who designed it.

 

Martin waved at the crowd, motioning them to settle down. 'Please, if you'll bear with me for just a few more minutes I will answer all your questions. In addition we will be passing out samples of the devices as well as documentation at the end.' This caused a bit more murmuring, most companies never gave away documentation about a new invention like this, but most settled down.

 

'As I was saying, and from there units are powered. But as you all know, it's not that simple. A method to transmit energy from various sources into space is a very difficult problem to overcome. We have begun one prototype to do so but I welcome more. We have not built the definitive answer to this part of the design.

 

The satellites, however, are my pride and joy.' Martin beamed a little 'After one year of development, we have successfully launched an energy transmitting satellite into space.' This caused more noticeable talking amongst the crowd. A few hushed them down so that Martin could continue. Martin could see Mark in the crowd, his mouth ajar. He also made out Tom who looked like he was quietly talking into his MPAD while also leaning it towards the podium as if to capture Martin's speech.

 

'It's true and it only happened a few days ago. I wasn't even there to see it unfortunately. I was on my way here and while I wish I had been, I'm glad I am here today to tell you these things because my friends we have a monumental task ahead of us. This is not an answer. This is a design. A design to help improve the way we use energy. Myself and the company I work for can not do it alone. We need the help of you, the nations or companies you represent, to help build the transmitters, the satellites and the receivers. To help usher in this new age of efficient and reliable energy consumption. Thank you.' Martin finished and stepped back.

 

For a few minutes there was silence. A few sounds of keys being hit on MPADs but otherwise the hall was completely silent. Than cheers and clapping rained down on Martin's relieved soul. Martin spent the next two hours answering questions, justifying his position and reiterating points he had made during his speech.

 

After the last question had been answered, Martin left the stage. A few who had stayed around, came up to shake his hand and congratulate him, Mark being one of them.

 

'One hell of a speech there Martin.' said Mark, grasping Martin's tender hand. He had been meeting too many new people today to keep it all straight and it was beginning to wear on him.

 

'Thanks, I appreciate it Mark. Where's Tom?' Martin asked.

 

'He said something about having to check in with his office. He grabbed some of the literature you guys are handing out and than ran out of the room. A bit rude I'd say but that's to be expected. He does work for Xenodyne Corp which I think you guys are in direct competition with, right?' Mark said. Martin looked back at him blankly. Martin had no idea who were his company’s competitors and he didn't really care. Well, he did care about the ones who hired travel guides to punch him in the stomach and make off with his companies property but that had been a new development. Maybe he should look into it some more, Martin thought.

 

'What are you a detective?' said Martin's sarcasm. 'Going to solve the riddle of who beat you up in the stairwell?'

 

'Maybe.' thought Martin 'I've solved more difficult problems than that.'

 

'Oh sure, the other problems have been difficult, I won't deny you that.' His inner voice said to him 'But this isn't like those problems. This is real world, nuts and bolts kinds of problems. You aren't to used to those types of problems now are you?'

 

'Maybe I am.' Martin thought although he knew he wasn't.

 

'Why do you lie to me, to yourself like that.' Martin's head yelled back at him 'Look, here's proof. What was Shinji wearing today? Huh? No clue right? How about what he looked liked? Don't remember that either. Any other clues in your arsenal of detection we don't know about.'

 

'Alright, I get your point, now shut up. I'm trying to be polite here.' His head nodded to itself without Martin's blessing.

 

'Are you alright Martin?' Mark asked.

 

'Yeah, I think so. Just some indigestion from earlier. You were saying something?'

 

'Oh, I just wanted to know what you were doing tonight. A few of the guys were planning on hitting a couple of local clubs in the area. I know, it's not our scene but why not right?' Mark said.

 

'I don’t know Mark. Clubs really aren't my thing anymore. Heh, they were really not my thing to begin with.' Martin laughed to himself.

 

'I know, not my bag either, but it couldn't hurt to go out and see the Tokyo nightlife? Not many chances we'll get to see it again now will we?' Mark said, pointing at the manual in his hand. It was the documentation from Martin's company that had been passed out to all the guests. Martin knew what Mark was referring to. It was going to be some busy time ahead and it wasn't that unreasonable to have one last hurrah before that all began.

 

'Maybe.' said Martin 'I have to call Angela at some point and I'm pretty exhausted from this thing plus we still have the dinner to go to.'

 

'Well, here's what we'll do. I'll meet up with you after the dinner thing tonight and if you feel like going that's great, if not, no harm, no foul right.' Mark said. That's what Martin liked about Mark. He didn't put pressure on Martin to do things he didn't want to do. Mark was one of the most relaxed scientist Martin had ever known and probably would ever know.

 

'Thanks for understanding Mark.' said Martin, genuinely grateful. 'I'll see you later tonight.'

 

'Sounds good. Great speech again Martin.' Mark nodded to Martin and than walked out of the room. Martin shook hands with a few more colleagues and than headed back to the office he had used before the event.

 

Changing back into his old clothes Martin heaved a sigh of relief. It was finally over. All that weight was gone from his shoulders. Sure, the weight of actually doing what he had said for people to do was now on his shoulders but that he could deal with. That he could deal with from behind his desk. That was pressure that didn't require you to make a speech to a hundred of your colleagues in a foreign country.

 

As he walked out the door, Martin looked down the hall towards the exit to the stairwell. A part of him wanted him to continue walking to the elevator, to take it down to the car that was waiting for him, and get back to his hotel. But another side to him, the side that was still angry about being attacked wouldn't allow it. It took control of Martin's feet and forced him to go towards the stairwell.

 

Martin stopped at the door. Beads of fear were starting to form on his forehead. His hand was shaking and he could feel his body bristle with electricity of being back here.

 

'Trust me.' His confidence said. 'You need to do this.'

 

'Why?' moaned Martin. 'Why the fuck do I have to go back down those stairs.'

 

'Because you have to show them.'

 

'Show them what? What the hell do I have to show them. I think I showed them just about everything I have to show.' Martin screamed at himself.

 

'You have to show them Martin, that you aren't afraid.'

 

'But I am afraid goddamnit. I don't want to be in the situation again.' Martin was crying on the inside.

 

'Suck it up. I'm not going to coddle you and I'm not going to lie to you. It will happen again. And you have to be ready for that. So get going down those stairs.' and with that his confidence kicked him through the door.

 

Martin looked down the stairs. 'Fuck.' He thought.

 

And than panic took over. He started jumping down the stairs. Two, three, four at a time. Soon he was on the tenth floor without even knowing it. He was about to jump down five stairs when his confidence stopped him.

 

'What are you trying to do, kill yourself?' it said.

 

'No, I just want to get the fuck out of here.'

 

'Too bad. You're not going to gain anything if you try to run from it. Now, take these stairs one by one and don't rush. Hell, the exercise will do you good anyway.' his confidence instructed.

 

Slowly, Martin put one foot in front of the other. Soon he was down the first flight of steps. Than the next. Images of pain and confusion crowded his mind. When he reach the landing between the sixth and seventh floor, he stopped.

 

'Look at it.' his confidence said 'It's just a place. It's not anything special. This could happen anywhere, at anytime. Don't block off parts of the world because you are afraid of them. Be ready for what can happen and you will be able to travel wherever you want.'

 

Martin looked at the concrete for a few more seconds. After another minute his pulse slowed and he brought his nerves back under control. His breathing returned to normal and he started walking down the stairs. At the foot of the stairwell, he let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure which test of fire had burned him more today but he was definitely changed.

 

'Thank you.' he said to himself.

 

'Ah fuck you, it's my job.' his confidence said again, once again grumpy which was it's default state it seemed.

 

Martin smiled slightly and walked to the waiting car.

 

.16.

 

Martin watched as Tokyo whizzed past his car door window. He was surprised at how fast they were going compared to the number of people on the road. He'd heard this about Tokyo but really couldn't believe it. America's transit system was so congested Martin could barely imagine anything other than what he knew. He sighed. He was really starting to like this country despite the unpleasantness from earlier. He consoled himself with the fact that it really didn't matter which country the conference had been in the other company would have managed to get an agent in there as well and they would have attacked him just the same. They might not have been as brief about it either. Martin shuddered at the thought. It hadn't seemed brief.

 

Relaxing into the soft cushion the of the sedan he looked up through the sunroof at the walls of glass beside him. From this vantage point, Martin thought, I could be anywhere in the world. In any city, in any country. The same tall, glass buildings standing guard on long narrow roads. Martin was surprised he found a slight bit of comfort in that. Perhaps, he thought, it reminds me of what we can do.

 

The car pulled into an underground garage at Martin's hotel and coasted to a stop right next to the elevator. Martin was all to grateful to be using one of them now. He had had enough climbing up stairs for awhile, thank you very much. Inside the elevator was a bellhop who smiled and nodded at Martin. Martin returned the smile although it quavered a bit. Thoughts of panic raced through his head. What if this was another agent of the competitor? What if they were furious with not getting the real thumb drive and had sent this man to finish Martin off? What if they were going to kidnap him and bring him to some underground lair and than torture him for months. Martin wasn't sure he could last months much less minutes.

 

'Oh get over yourself Martin.' his confidence said. 'It's just the bellhop. He wouldn't harm a fly.'

 

Almost as if cue, the bellman's arm shot out and slammed against the wall of the elevator. Martin's own body had reflexively pushed itself against the wall opposite elevator wall and was tensing for action. Almost as quickly, the bellhops hand moved away from the wall and underneath the man's nose where he began inspecting his hand. The bellhop’s eyes looked up and saw Martin's paralyzed form flattened against the wall, some slight twitching come from his ankle which Martin was relieved to know that the bellhop did not take as Martin's best attempt at a roundhouse. Smiling, the bellhop showed Martin his white gloved hand.

 

On it, smashed to bits, was a fly.

 

'Alright, so maybe who can harm a fly.' his confidence said with a bit of hesitance 'but he's still not going to harm you. Get on with your life Martin. Stop worrying about it every damn place we go. If you do, we'll never go anywhere.'

 

'I suppose you're right.' Martin thought pealing himself off the elevator wall as it dinged to let them know they were at his floor.

 

Martin nodded at the bellhop as he exited, still giving him a bit of clearance as he ducked out the door. The door slid shut behind Martin who was trying to figure out exactly where he was. He looked at the wall which told him that he was indeed on the twelfth floor and that he should be getting to his room. Unfortunately, the elevator that had deposited him had not been the elevator he had taken before and the long hallways were a bit distracting.

 

Martin noticed a protrusion on the wall and walked over to inspect it since he was always curious to look at and tinker with new things. A sign in several languages beside it said 'Please enter room number for directions to room.' Obviously Martin had not been the first dislocated guest in the hotel. He keyed in his room number and after a few seconds a small map animation was being played on the screen, directing him around corners and down hallways to his final destination. Once the little map movie was finished, Martin noticed a small slip of paper being spewed from below the device. On it was a small map of the route to his room.

 

'That's convenient.' He thought 'Kind of a waste of paper though.' He added, seeing the overflowing basket of used up direction slips.

 

Thanks to the directions, Martin was able to make it to the room without making a single mistake which Martin believed had to be a first. Entering his room, Martin noted a small light blinking which Martin guessed either meant he had e-mail, voicemail or some other form of communication that was not yet invented but this hotel had already made provisions for. He docked his MPAD with his laptop and checked his e-mail. While he did have new e-mails, the light didn't stop blinking. Martin ignored it for a few minutes as he looked through the dozen or so e-mails that he had received since this morning. He made a mental note to write back to Simon and Fareed, to congratulated them on their success and than remember the thumb drive.

 

Felix had been right, as he usual was, that Martin had not had a chance to look at it while he was at the convention. Martin had thought about incorporating it into his presentation while he was waiting in the wings of the stage but than, since he himself hadn't actually seen what was on the drive, decided against it. For all he knew it could have been another dummy drive that Felix had given him to reassure him. Hell, it could even been loaded with tons of porn from Simon and Fareed as a sort of prank. They were known for playing jokes around the office but Martin doubted that either of them would have taken the risk of giving a thumb drive of porn to Felix who would than hand it to Martin to present to all their colleagues. It might have been funny but they weren't stupid.

 

Martin grabbed for the thumb drive in his pocket, the red, blinking light exploding in his peripheral vision. Red probably meant it was important, Martin thought but the thumb drive was just as important and so decided to ignore it a bit longer. Inserting the thumb drive into his laptop, a Kerberos security box popped up on his screen. First, Martin entered in his twenty two digit security ID number, than his own personal password, than his random password for the day and finally the serial number his laptop which thankfully was written on the bottom of said laptop.

 

The laptop churned for a few moments, verifying, checking, and than double checking to make sure that Martin was indeed Martin. It asked for his thumb print which Martin dutifully gave the machine. It took this bit of information, chewed on it for a little while, seemed to accept it as true for the moment although it might get back to you later, it wasn't sure yet, and than presented Martin at last, with the data he had been trying to access for the past five minutes. The light blinked to remind Martin that in that time he probably could have listened to his message but Martin was too committed now.

 

Martin read the design notes from both Simon and Fareed who seemed to be happy with the success although Fareed seemed to think that there needed to be some more work done on the algorithms for load balancing the energy between satellites. Since there was only one in the air or in existence, Simon had argued, there wasn't much load for them to balance and that it wasn't a priority issue. Not as high a priority as taking a well deserved rest, which Martin agreed with although he was intrigued by what Fareed said. It was true, he thought, couldn't let just one satellite do all the work. But how to devise a method to divide that work between X number of computers and than you had a interesting problem on your hands. Martin made a mental note of it and moved on to the other files.

 

There was a amateur movie made by either Simon or Fareed or perhaps someone else they had tasked to record the lift off of the rocket with it's payload. Martin sat quietly, watching the thin rocket propel itself higher and higher until the camera's lenses could no longer track it's movements. Martin's mind checked off certain key events as they happened in the video. There went the forward ignition systems, was worried about those. No residual heat destruction from what Martin could see from the video. Over all a very good liftoff. He was glad they had included that footage. Martin was extremely proud of his group at this moment and not wanting to be a free loading manager, he dove right into the diagnostic data that had been recorded before the thumb drive had to be sent with Felix to Martin in Japan.

 

For the next hour, Martin stared as his screen, muttered a few times to himself doing calculations in his head, writing the results down on the screen. Pretty soon Martin had several pages of notes and items to talk to Simon and Fareed about. Martin put off answering the message light for a few more minutes to compose an e-mail to the pair. He could have dictated the e-mail but Martin preferred typing even though it was becoming less and less used.

 

'Simon and Fareed.' Martin began writing 'No I don't like Simon more than you Fareed so please shut up about that. With that out of the way, I'd like congratulate you both on a job well done. I'd like you to pass along my thanks to the rest of the group and tell them I appreciate the work each and every one of them has put into this project and I'll thank them personally when I get home. I'm glad you sent the video with the data, it added a nice personal touch to something I only wish I could have been there for.

 

On to more pressing matters though. Simon, you mentioned odd readings in the fluctuation subsystem unit. I've looked over the numbers and think I can reconcile those anomalies. Please find attached my calculations. Fareed, I agree that load balancing will becoming an issue in the coming months but at the moment Simon is right, it is a minute problem. However, it's better to start working on a problem before it becomes one so start charging to the research and development number and have a better idea of the idea by the time I get back from my tip.

 

Please also find attached, a list of notes from the other data that was gathered thus far. Please pay particular attention to notes sixteen, eighteen, thirty six, and seventy one. Especially seventy one. I don't have the tools or data with me at the moment to go into anymore detail about them now but I think they should be looked at immediately.

 

The convention went well. A positive response and very good feedback I thought. I got several names from companies willing to start work on both receivers and transmitters which we will need to discuss with Felix when I get back. Also, I think we may be able to get some of the energy conversion work done for us from a company my friend Mark works for.

 

I've decided to extend my trip here for one more day so I should be back on Friday unless something else comes up. Again, congratulations on the successful launch and I look forward to upcoming work. - Martin' Martin finished writing and sent the e-mail. He leaned back, closed his eyes and rubbed the arch of his nose. The red light blinked through the veil of his eyelids and Martin grumbled to himself.

 

'Alright, alright. Play the damn voicemail.' He said and the room complied.

 

'Three new messages are in your mailbox.' the voice said throughout the room as Martin wandered into his bedroom 'First message.'

 

'Martin, this is Angela.' came her voice with the strain of anxiety in it. 'Are you alright? I got a call from your office today, telling me that you had been attacked. They told me you were alright but I'd really like to hear your voice Martin. I'm really worried about you. Are you alright? What did they want. Please call me back when you get this. I love you.' She finished. Martin heard a sniff before the phone was hung up.

 

'Fuck me, I should have called her.' Martin said running his hands through his hair. And he had waited god only knew how many hours since Felix or one of his lackeys had called her. She must be a nervous wreck at this point.

 

'Next message.' the voice said and began playing the message. 'Hey Martin, it's Mark...' but Martin cut it off.

 

'Stop playing messages. Dial home.' Martin said. Marks voice faded and than the sounds of his call being connected to his home filled the room. Martin sat on the edge of the bed, a bit of nervousness entering his stomach. Or maybe it was self-loathing for having put Angela through so much worry. Martin wasn't sure because he had never been in a position where someone had truly cared about him like Angela did. Sure his parents had at one point, but they had died ten years before Martin had met Angela and his heart had calloused since than. Working long hours with few friends had been leading Martin down a dark path before he met Angela. He thanked God and Angela every day for helping him avert that outcome.

 

When Angela answered the phone Martin was getting a choked up and so had difficulty saying hello to Angela which worried her more which caused the infinite loop to grow stronger. Finally Angela broke it with 'Martin are you alright?' the sound of joyful tears helping to heal Martin's throat.

 

'Yeah, yeah, I'm fine Angela. A bit shaken up but not too bad.' Martin said, trying to shake off some of the emotion that was keeping him from talking.

 

'What happened to you Martin?' Angela asked and than added 'Only if you want to talk about it.'

 

Martin smiled. 'No it's fine. It's not as bad as it sounds. I was walking up a staircase behind my tour guide when he turned around and punched me in the stomach a few times. Turns out he had been hired by another company to get some information on what I've been working on. It was over before I even really knew what was happening. Well I knew the punches were happening. Yeah, definitely knew that at the second.' Martin laughed awkwardly. Angela didn't join him. He tried another joke 'Should have known something wasn't right. I mean staircases and me? That should have sent off alarm bells right there.' Martin tried to laugh again but Angela's crying stopped him.

 

'Angela, it's alright, I'm fine.' Martin tried to soothe which was quite difficult being several thousand miles from the person of your affection.

 

'I know Martin, I'm just so worried about you. I love you so much and I don't want anyone to hurt you. When they hurt you, it feels like they're hurting me, if that makes any sense.' Angela sniffed. Martin imagined she was trying to dry her eyes.

 

'I know honey, I love you to. I wish I was with you right now so that you could see that I'm fine and that everything will be alright.' Martin massaged. He was worried about telling her his decision to stay an extra day. Martin wasn't too bright when it came to women but even he knew it wouldn't go over well.

 

'I know. Thank you for calling me. At least you'll be home soon.' Angela said and sounded genuinely better.

 

'Actually, I need to talk to you about that.' Martin squirmed. He scratched his back although Angela couldn't see his hesitation although she could definitely hear it.

 

'You're not coming back on Thursday?' She asked, a bit of anger starting to form in her voice.

 

'Uhh, no. I want to spend another day here. You'd really like it. It's very interesting and colorful. And I really want to explore the city since I haven't had much time to do so with the business trip and all. I hope it's alright.' Martin pleaded a little. Angela didn't say anything for a few moments.

 

'One would think you would want to leave that country after everything that's happen to you Martin.' Angela said, scorn lining the edges of her voice.

 

'Oh good job there Romeo. Way to piss her off. Really class A Casanova moves you've got.' his libido said miserably. Time to get ready for several months of no sex it thought to itself which Martin overheard.

 

A flash of inspiration hit Martin. 'Hang on one second.' Martin shouted as he ran back in the living room. Angela harrumphed in response. Quickly Martin picked up his camera and took several pictures of himself. Martin than quickly uploaded them to his computer and sent them to Angela's, his he corrected himself, house. He ran back into the bedroom although the phone call could have taken place in the living room.

 

'Look at the pictures I just sent you.' Martin said leaning his head upwards in the direction of the speakers in the ceiling.

 

'Why? So I can see great pictures of wonderful Tokyo which is so much better than your life back here. You know I've put a lot of work into our house and it's a real rotten thing to do to a girl to keep her waiting.' Angela said stubbornly.

 

'Just look at the pictures Angela. Please, for me.' Martin pleaded with the speaker. He heard a grumble from Angela's side of the conversation and than the sound of her moving to their computer. Martin's house was filled with computers and she probably didn't have to move very far to get to a working one but Martin guessed she was going to her computer since it was probably the only one she felt comfortable with.

 

Angela was feeling depressed. Her emotions had been on a rollercoaster ride this past few hours. First, she had been happy with the success of cleaning and redesigning Martin's house to meet her womanly needs. She thought she had done a good nay a great job with what she had to work with. I mean, the man didn't even have any curtains and not a single couch cushion, Angela thought to herself. Why didn't men get that? At any rate, Martin's house had both now and it was looking great if Angela was to judge.

 

Than she had received the call. It had been from a androgynous secretary whose name Angela couldn't remember which probably would have suited the secretary fine. She hadn't been very helpful.

 

'Martin's been attacked. He's not hurt I'm told, just a little roughed up.' The woman had said after Angela had said hello.

 

'Wait, what?' Angela said, a bit floored by the statement.

 

'Martin Prescott.' the secretary said slowly. 'Your his girlfriend right?'

 

'Yes.' Angela said nervously. Oh God, this was how soldiers told widows their husbands had just died.

 

'Martin has been in a little incident. Nothing to worry about, his boss just wanted to let you know that he was alright. He told me to tell you that Martin would call you when he had a chance but that he was very busy today. Martin that is.' the woman said and was about to hang up when Angela stopped her.

 

'How can I reach him?' She said, fear gripping her voice.

 

'I'm sorry, I don't have that information.' the woman said.

 

Bullshit, Angela thought, anger taking control. Of course she has that information, she's a secretary for god sakes, what other information are they given. But she took another tone when addressing her knew friend 'Listen, Doris.'

 

'Alice.' said the woman. Alice that was it thought Angela in her recollection.

 

'Right, Alice, my mistake. Please could you find out for me how I could reach Martin. I really would like to talk to him.'

 

'He'll call you Miss.' Alice said.

 

'I know that but Martin can be, well, forgetful. I'm sure you've experienced it yourself.' Angela said with a chuckle. Silence from Alice meant that Martin had pulled his usually routine with her. 'So, if you could just give me a little hint as to where I can reach him, I'd really appreciate it.' finished Angela with as much sweetness as she could muster for Alice.

 

Alice considered it for a few seconds. It's not like the information was privileged or anything. Felix had told her to let Angela know that Martin had been in danger. Seemed only reasonable for her to tell Angela where she could reach Martin. Seemed like a reasonable request. Fine she convinced herself. 'He's staying at the Tokyo Grande Hotel.' Alice said.

 

'Thank you Alice.' Angela breathed a sigh of relief but Alice had already hung up.

 

And now, now Martin was telling her, he wasn't coming home as planned. She really wondered what she liked about him anyway. Long business trips, silly experiments, and staying up all night long. What kind of person had she fell in love with anyway? Angst on her mind, Angela pushed a few buttons on her computer to bring up the pictures Martin had just sent over.

 

The first, was of course Martin, a goofy grin on his face, giving her the thumbs up sign. Angela inspected the photo for a few minutes. Yes, it was Martin and he didn't look anymore disheveled than he usually did. Maybe his hair was a bit more ruffled than normally but that was hard to gauge from the angle.

 

There was Martin, wearing a suit that Angela didn't believe he owned. Martin's five o'clock shadow was coming in and his glasses were slipping down his thin nose. Behind him, looked like a room that probably cost more per night than their mortgage did. Angela wanted to stay angry at Martin for a few more moments, we all need to feel angry once in awhile even at the ones we love, but found that demon slipping away as the visual reassurance on her screen told her that Martin was indeed, alright.

 

The next three photos were the identical to each other except each had Martin saying a different word which Angela could make out as the words 'I', than 'love' and finally as Angela was wiping a tear from her eye, 'you'.

 

'Oh right. That's why.' Her love for Martin told her.

 

In a quite voice because she had tears of happiness running down her cheeks, Angela said 'Alright Martin. That's fine.'

 

She heard a sigh of relief from Martin on the other end of the call and than what sounded like him falling the bed. Angela and Martin spent the next two hours talking on the phone and laughing.

 

.17.

 

Martin was uncomfortable again. This time for an entirely different reason than earlier times during the day but the unease was on he had experienced many times before and though he swore he would never set another foot in one of these places again, here he was, with Mark, in a bar. No, it wasn't a bar, Martin thought. Sure there was a bar, actually several bars on different levels, but that wasn't the primary focus. This was a club. A loud, dancing club and Martin couldn't have been more out of his element if he was a giraffe in the middle of a basketball game.

 

Martin liked going to bars. He didn't mind going out with colleagues and getting the occasional drink and having a discussion. Those were normally well spent times. Unless they went out with Spencer. God, that man was such a bore. And he didn't know it either. He thought he was on the same level as Martin, Simon, Fareed and the others but he was really a clerk to their mastery. Martin didn't like thinking of himself as special but there it was. You couldn't avoid it because whenever the man opened his mouth, words that hurt Martin and the others came out and you almost felt sorry for the guy. If it wasn't for his attitude and how much his statements were grating on your nerves since you knew them to be wrong. Falsehoods are the long nails on a chalk board to Martin and his ilk.

 

But that was college bar and this most certainly wasn't. Martin wasn't exactly sure what this was. Sure, he knew it was a dance club, he wasn't Spencer. But there was so much other stuff in here that just didn't it in with the definition Martin had of a dance club. Maybe it was all the people sitting down. That seemed odd to Martin. He had been dragged to one dance club in his college days with some female friends of his who insisted he would have a great time and possibly meet a nice girl. Since Martin was infatuated with one of the girls who was dragging him to the club he wanted to point out that this had already happened and the whole trip was pointless but just like his affections, Martin kept this statement to himself. And the club they had taken him to was insane. People moving, people standing, and of course people dancing, and than more people waiting in lines for all sorts of things. But no one was really sitting.

 

Martin shrugged. He wasn't about to dance anyway so it suited him fine. In fact, considering how well the last time he had been to a club had gone, he thought the owners had made a rather astute decision in providing so many places for men like Martin to sit. That was funny too. Almost all the occupied seats were occupied by men, while all the women were over in the other room doing what Martin thought was the point of the club, dancing and getting drunk.

 

Martin sat next to Mark who seemed a bit more comfortable in this element than Martin but who obviously was not the veteran of the pair. Mark was wearing a loose shirt with a light sports coat which Martin couldn't help but laugh at when Mark had stopped by his room after the conference dinner. Mark had grinned and kept his chuckle to himself when he saw what Martin was wearing which was the same suit he'd worn the entire day. After some convincing, Mark had gotten Martin to loose the tie and jacket, roll up his sleeves to just under his biceps, and open two buttons at the top of Martin's shirt.

 

'A couple of players, you two are. Look out ladies, here they come. Mothers mind your daughters, Mark and Martin are on the town.' Martin's libido had joked to anyone in Martin's mind who would listen. It was quite comical.

 

Martin looked around the "seating area" of the club for some sort of entertainment. Most of the men were just sitting around with dark glasses on, staring at who knows what but with the utmost interest since their necks never moved. Martin's eyes flicked up to a video screen that was hanging upside down above Martin. It was repeating a loop of some bright colors, some silly animation of two girls and a guy dancing and than a live version of the what looked like the same two girls and guy doing the same dancing. Martin's brain cringed.

 

'At least at sports bars there are games to watch. I mean, we might not know what's going on or care who wins but at least there's a point.' Martin's conscious brain said to him. 'This, this just isn't even interesting. And don't get me started on whether it's fun, which it's not. Why did you let Mark drag us to this stupid place?'

 

'I'll ask him that.' Martin said to his brain which had much more control over Martin than the other urges. 'Hey, Mark, why the fuck are we here?'

 

Mark laughed. 'Relax Martin and have a good time. Look at all the women over there. They're are going to love us over here.' Mark said with a confident smile than Martin in all his life had never been able to master.

 

'Oh my God.' Martin's libido said shocked 'I was joking before but this guy actually thinks all that's true. Wow, what I wouldn't give to be inside his head. Oh the times he must have with that kind of confidence.'

 

'Shut up.' Martin thought and than to Mark 'Listen Mark, I appreciate the effort but two things I find wrong with your plan here. One, I'm seeing someone. Seeing someone as in, they're living in my home right now.'

 

'Oh really Martin?!' Mark said, genuinely surprised. Martin was about to get angry with this but than conceded the point that this was unexpected news from Martin. The speech earlier, that Mark had expected. This, this was something entirely different. 'Congratulations. How long have you two been dating?'

 

'Nine months in a few weeks.' Martin said with a bashful smile. He scratched the back of his arm, looking around the place again.

 

'Wow, you two must be serious. Well I'm glad for you two.' Mark said, tipping his beer in Martin's direction which Martin nodded back at. Than Mark went back to bobbing his head in rhythm with the music.

 

Alright, alright, on to point two, thought Martin. 'And secondly Mark.' stress Martin hoping to remind Mark why the two of them had begun the previous discussion in the first place. 'They are over there. And we, we are way over here. Not that I care mind you, I have a girlfriend.' Martin added, just in case anyone was listening. If word ever got back to Angela, perhaps she would be glad to hear that he had stressed that she was indeed his girlfriend.

 

'Yeah you mentioned that.' Mark began getting up 'But when you're right, you're right Martin. Those women are way over there and as you pointed out we are way over here. Clearly, a problem that needs fixing and I think I'm the man to do it. Be back in a few minutes hopefully.' Mark said with a wink in Martin's direction and started heading off.

 

'Wait, why am I still here?' Martin yelled after Mark, unsure why he was still sitting.

 

Spinning around only long enough to see Martin briefly, Mark yelled back 'I might need you later. You know, be my wingman and stuff.' Mark continued on into the throng of gyrating women.

 

Wingman. Martin rolled the word around in his mind. Wingman. He had never been anyone's wingman before. Even he conceded, he wouldn't have been a very good wingman which was surprising since it didn't seem to take much to be a good wingman, just a few good lines and backbone to take a long night of verbal abuse. It wasn't Martin's talent to sculpt delicate sentences to whisper into women's ears to peal her away from their best friend who they had promised that they wouldn't get separated. Martin's backbone was pretty strong, years of academic abuse had built up his skin to take a thrashing or two. Martin had never been at the business end of a scorned woman's good mind but he felt he could handle it.

 

Mark's wingman. Martin rather liked the title. Whether it was true or not wasn't important. Mark had needed a guy to help him out tonight and he had chosen Martin. He had had the entire room of men at the conference to choose from and instead had chosen Martin, when Martin would have put down good money on the chances for Tom or maybe Sergey. Since Martin was inclined to make that bet, he was oblivious to the fact that Mark choosing him was really more of an insult than a favor. But Martin didn't know that and wore his new title of wingman with pride.

 

Martin was enjoying his new title and some of the animations on one of the monitors above when a figure sat down in Mark's chair. Martin's eye's peered over in the direction of the dancers and saw that Mark was still there although it seemed he had created a vacuum around himself and the other dancers. Martin's eyes and than head turned to the person who had just sat down beside Martin.

 

Shinji's face stared back at him. To Martin's credit he didn't yell, he didn't break out and run or any other reaction one would think would be Martin's first choice to do when he saw his attacker. Maybe it was the strength of being called a wingman or that he had braved the ghouls of the stairwell but Martin wasn't as scared as he'd figured he'd be. Of course Martin's expression gave up any chance that he was playing it cool and Shinji's sudden appearance did indeed upset him.

 

For a few seconds the two men stared each other, Shinji's face expressionless, Martin's a rolling gambit of horror, despair, anxiety, and pain. The rest of the room look at whatever it was they had been looking at all night.

 

Finally, Martin broke the silence 'Uh, Hi Shinji.' Martin opened. He caught himself from saying 'Nice to see you, you back stabbing piece of shit.'

 

'I would like to offer my apologies, Martin-san. It was not my intention to harm you this morning.' Shinji responded, his eyes never leaving Martin's.

 

'Could have fooled me.' Martin muttered. Shinji cracked a barely imperceptible smile.

 

'Be that as may, my employers hired me to retrieve the thumb drive from you and I was a bit over zealous in my methods of obtaining it from you. They have told me to apologize to both you and your employer.' Shinji explained.

 

'Thanks, I'll pass that along.' Martin said out the corner of his mouth. He risked looking over his shoulder to see if Mark or maybe a SWAT team was on it's way to help him out. To his dismay neither was running his way. He turned back to Shinji.

 

'As we both know,' Shinji continued 'The thumb drive I took from you earlier did not hold the information my employer was looking for. This, of course, upset them greatly. It has also upset me since I too pride myself on my work and I'm sure you can understand that Dr.Prescott.'

 

'Yeah I guess I can. But when I disagree with another colleague I don't punch him in the stomach. I might want to, but I don't.' thoughts of Spencer drifted through Martin's mind but only for a few seconds.

 

'Ah, but that is merely the method. We have to very different occupations Dr.Prescott. While I may use my fists to hurt a man, isn't it as lethal when you use your words to defeat another man's idea Martin-san?' Shinji asked with a look of honest empathy.

 

'I suppose.' Martin conceded. He had never consider the other party in an intellectual debate. Perhaps he should start, Martin noted to himself. If just so he didn't have something in common with Shinji.

 

'Good, I'm glad we understand each other. Now, may I have the thumb drive?'

 

Martin blinked at Shinji for a few moments. Than he exploded 'Are you fucking serious?' A few of the other patrons turned their heads in Martin's direction which if he had been looking would have told Martin he was being rude. Shinji tried to calm Martin down.

 

'Please Martin-san, you're making a scene.' Shinji soothed, looking around the room, a noticeable strain in his voice, different than the usual calm composure Shinji usually displayed.

 

Martin dropped back into his chair unable to process this information. The man that had punched him in the stomach in the stairwell for the stupid thumb drive, had come back to politely ask for it. In all his years, this was the most surreal experience Martin had ever been a party to.

 

Martin's feet took over which is important because while they are very good at getting Martin up and going, they are not very good at knowing where they are going. Martin didn't know where he was going either but he was happy with the blurring of neon lights and the receding image of Shinji who was now standing up and following him.

 

Martin burst through the first door he came to and breathed deep the cold night air. At least for a moment he thought it was the cold night air. Instead it was the slightly fragrant air of the bathroom.

 

The female bathroom.

 

Luckily for Martin there wasn't a woman in it at the time and he thanked his lucky stars for that. That was the last kind of embarrassment he needed tonight he chuckled to himself. The sound of the door opening again and than being locked, reminded him that his choice in exits had not been very good luck after all.

 

Shinji's expression had not changed but there was something about the way he moved that suggested to Martin that terms Shinji had expressed at the table were no longer there. It seemed from his stance, that Martin was in for another round of Shinji's signature persuasion.

 

Martin backed up to the wall in between two brightly colored windows. He looked at both but they seemed tightly secured and Martin didn't think he'd have enough time to experiment opening them before Shinji pounced on him. To the left of him was a row of toilets which didn't provide much in the way of cover. To the right was mirrors which reflected Martin's terrified face back at him. Martin pushed himself back to the wall, tripped over a small couch, and fell into the seat.

 

'Fuck me.' Martin thought.

 

'I really wish you hadn't made this choice Martin-san.' said Shinji. Martin guessed he was trying to justify his actions but who knew with a man like this. 'We could have been two reasonable men, completing a transaction. But now, it will be a lot more unpleasant.' Shinji threatened, approaching Martin as he pulled on a pair of black gloves from his pocket.

 

Martin cringed, trying to prepare himself for the first blow. He hoped Shinji would hit him in the stomach again. He was at least used to that. I'm wishing someone would punch me in the stomach, Martin thought to himself. Oh yeah, this is a great trip.

 

Martin heard a slight pop and than his world entered a deafening quietness. The glass from both windows spewed forward, showering Shinji in shards of multicolored light, who immediately tossed his arms up above his head and kneel down on the ground. Two black shapes moved past Martin in the direction of Shinji coming from the now open windows. One of them grabbed Shinji and slammed him against the wall, shattering mirror.

 

'Oh, that's seven years bad luck for you there, Shinji.' Martin joked to himself. He was way past sane at this point and was happily living his life in a hysterical daze.

 

One man pinned Shinji to the wall, who was now limp, while the other came to Martin's side. Martin could see the man's mouth opening and closing but he couldn't hear them over the ringing in his ears. The man looked like Jim, one of Felix's agents from earlier. Martin gave him a thumbs up signal. Jim nodded, slapped him on the back, and than walked over to the bathroom door. Jim unlocked it, opened the door and than stepped aside as Felix walked in. Behind Felix, Martin could see two more of Felix's men keeping a large crowd of people from flooding into the bathroom.

 

Felix knelt by Martin and gentle touched his head. Martin could see Felix mouth the words 'Are you alright?' and Martin gave him the same response that he had given to Jim. Felix nodded, gave Martin a more reassuring shake on the shoulder than Jim had and than turned his attention to Shinji.

 

Martin couldn't hear the interrogation but he could imagine it's dialog. At first, it seemed Shinji and Felix were old friends. Martin even thought he saw Shinji smile when Felix spoke to him, although Felix did not return the gesture. After a few minutes, Shinji started to laugh as if Felix had told an inside joke from deep within their past. But from Felix's expression, there hadn't been a joke. That was a mistake Shinji, Martin thought.

 

In three brutal blows, Felix had Shinji sagging into the arms of both agents, spitting up blood on the floor. Martin winced at the sight of raw brutality being displayed in front of him. He now knew what being beaten up really meant and his personal definition of it had not nearly been close. To Martin's amazement, after several globs of sweat or blood had rolled out of Shinji's face, the man actually turned back up to Felix, a look of defiance in his face. Felix quickly beat that defiance from those poor eyes.

 

Sitting there, numb from the terror, the explosion and what was happening in front of him, Martin had mixed feelings about what was happening to Shinji. On the one hand, Martin judged internally, this was righteous. This was the villain being brought to justice. This was an eye for an eye. You fuck with one of my guys, I'm going to fuck with all of yours guys’ retribution. For a moment, Martin fancied himself a mobster with Felix dealing with unwanted problems. Martin looked down at his trembling hands and knew that this wasn't true.

 

Of course, on the other, Shinji was having the crap kicked out of him and even though Martin thought he deserved it, after two more swings of Felix's devastating fists, Martin wasn't sure anyone deserved that. Sure, Shinji had tried to take information from Martin but it was only data. Just words stringed together to form ideas. Sure, some valued them as good ideas but they weren't worth being hurt over.

 

Apparently, Felix and Shinji disagreed. Martin shook his head, a couple specks of glass falling out of his hair. Martin looked at his shoulder, a few glints catching his gaze. He blew them away, adding to the litter on the ground. Martin followed them to the ground, than realized if just shaking his head had produced glass, than running his hands through his hair would probably get rid of God knew what. With a sudden sense of urgency, Martin ran his hands through his small mop of hair, dislodging bits of glass, plaster and other debris. Soon he was more of a mess than he had intended. Brushing off his shoulders, Martin tried to clean himself off. One of the agents, Jim, noticed Martin's futile attempts, let one hand go of Shinji since there wasn't much protest from him anymore, and handed Martin a handkerchief from his breast pocket. Martin nodded at the man, thanking him, who than turned back to holding the sack of bones.

 

Martin wiped at his face with the white cloth, dirtying it almost instantly. Sagging, Martin swiveled his eyes back upwards to Felix whose calm expression barely concealed the lethal ferocity of his anger bubbling underneath. Martin didn't know Felix well and he certainly did not know this side of Felix at all. Martin was touched by the odd sense of protection Felix was showing more Martin. A brutal form of protection to be sure but still Martin had never felt that Felix was his backup. Felix had been his timecard, his roadblock and often the focus of his anger but never as his guardian. Martin thought he'd have to thank Felix for this afterwards and probably buy him a drink and have a long talk. He doubted Felix would open up but it was worth the effort for the man who was saving him.

 

But this was getting to be too much. Martin could barely recognize Shinji anymore and Felix did not look like he was slowing down anytime soon. No, as much as he loathed Shinji, Martin couldn't let this continue. Bracing himself against the window, Martin pushed himself upwards, cutting himself on a random shard of glass although he didn't notice it. Jim and Matt looked at him, seeing if he needed help but Martin shook his head. Felix was still fixed on Shinji and Shinji wasn't fixed on anything at this point.

 

Martin put a hand on Felix's shoulder. Felix reared his fist back, stopped to look at Martin's expression and than let it drop to the his side. Martin patted Felix on the shoulder and Felix stepped aside as if that had been a secret handshake from Martin. Martin now stood over the crumbled mass of his would be attacker. New emotions swirled in Martin but the overriding one was pity. Shaking his head, Martin moved unsteadily to the door, Felix quickly following behind him. Before he caught up with Martin, Felix made a slight jerk of his at the windows and both Jim and Matt exited back from where they had came except now with the unconscious Shinji.

 

'I'm sorry you had to witness that in there.' Felix said to Martin in a low voice, putting his arm on his shoulder to let him know to slow down before he reached earshot of the crowd outside. 'Don't worry, something like this won't happen again, I promise you Martin.' But they both knew that was a hollow promise. Shinji was just the first and certainly wouldn't be the last. Martin, Felix and the Company had entered into a new arena which may have been familiar to Felix and his colleagues (Martin couldn't guess who they were) but to Martin it was some surreal video game come to life.

 

Martin shrugged his shoulders. 'It's alright Felix. I'm just glad you were hear to help me.'

 

Felix returned the shrug. 'Well we figured once he realized the data he had stolen from you wasn't what he or his employers was after, he'd probably be back to pay you a visit. So I had Jim and Matt tail you since I left you earlier today. They picked up Shinji tailing you when you came to this club and contacted me. And the rest, well..' Felix looked back at the ruined bathroom. Martin nodded, he knew the rest of the story.

 

'Felix?' Martin asked.

 

'Yeah Martin?' Felix said cleaning his glasses with a similar handkerchief to the one Jim had given Martin earlier.

 

'I don't think I want to stay here another day.' decided Martin, looking off at nothing in particular.

                       

 

Felix laughed and clasped him on the shoulder. 'Yeah, that decision, my boy, has already been made for you. We have a plane waiting for you at the airport to take you back home. I have a car outside which will take you right there.'

 

'Are you coming back with me?' Martin asked looking down at Felix who was putting his glasses back on.

 

'No, I'm afraid not. Still have some business to take care of while I'm here. Remember, I didn't get to go to that meeting you interrupted me from this morning?' Felix said with a smile.

 

'Oh right. Sorry about that. I'll try not to get beaten up anymore.' Martin apologized, quite dazed.

 

Felix grabbed his wrist as Martin started walking towards the door 'Don't try Martin. Don't. We have too much riding on you right now. Not just the project but a lot of other things. Please for your sake and the sake of many others, please be careful with yourself.' Felix warned and than released Martin's hand. Martin looked at Felix for a few more moments, their eyes never moving. Than Martin nodded, thanked Felix again, and headed for the door.

 

At the door, people were pressing into the four or five agents guarding the door. Mark was doing his best to trample over the one currently in front of him and was having the best luck out of everyone. Martin waved and switched directions to go talk to Mark who settled down the relief of the tired guard.

 

'What the fuck happened in there?' Mark asked as soon as Martin got within earshot. Martin shrugged in response. 'Oh come on. You can't mean to tell me a simple shrug is going to explain that deafening explosion, this row of bodyguards blocking the door and the sound of a man being beaten to death in there?' Mark's eyes darted around Martin's face, trying to find explanation but Martin was too dulled from the night’s events to be anything helpful.

 

Martin sidled up beside Mark and put a hand on his shoulder. 'When are you going home Mark?' Martin asked.

 

'Tomorrow morning around 11am I think. Why? Martin what happened in there?' Mark answered with more questions.

 

'Want to go home a bit sooner? I've got a plane waiting and I'm not in any real shape to talk about it. Maybe somewhere over the pacific I will be but not right now. So, if you want an explanation, you can hitch a ride. You interested?' Martin offered. Mark stood their shocked and simply nodded his agreement. Martin cast a look over his shoulder at Felix who nodded and than turned back to talking to the club manager. Martin probably wouldn't have cared if Felix had said no. Martin needed a friend at the moment and Mark was the closest thing he had to it.

 

As they exited the club and got into the waiting car, Martin asked Mark sarcastically 'So, did you have a good night clubbing?'

 

Mark looked at Martin for a few moments, trying to recollect his own thoughts of the night’s events before answering. 'Oh yeah, I wasn't having much luck. Was about come back to the table before everything hit the fan.'

 

'Shocking.' Martin teased and than turned his eyes out the window.

 

.18.

 

The car stopped at their hotel briefly, their luggage having already been prepared and waiting for them. Soon they were on their way back the airport and Martin could feel the city of Tokyo slipping from his fingers as they drove on. He had wanted to explore this city. To see it's sights, to explore it's corners and to eat it's food. That hadn't happened and that out of everything was what angered Martin the most. Perhaps he'd bring Angela back here for a vacation when they had time. She would like it here, he thought.

 

She wouldn't like that he had been in another incident but that was a discussion or argument for later. He sat back. He was going to see Angela on Thursday after all. He smiled at that. He looked forward to seeing her smile, smelling her hair and holding her close to him.

 

'And the sex.' His libido said to him. 'Looking forward to that aren't we?' Martin didn't respond to that.

 

'Aren't we forgetting something?' his subconscious piped in. 'A gift perhaps for your dear Angela? Certainly you wouldn't dream of leaving this exotic and beautiful country without getting her something as a souvenir?'

 

'Oh fuck me.' Martin said out loud.

 

'What?' said Mark and the driver in unison.

 

'Idiot.' scoffed his subconscious, it's job done, decided it get back to it's primary role of mocking Martin.

 

Martin pushed up to the front of the car and pleaded 'Hey, I need to find a souvenir for my girlfriend. I know you're suppose to take us to the airport but could you please stop quickly so I can pick her up something?'

 

The driver gave Martin a dubious look. Was this a test? Was Felix using this scrawny man to test his dedication to his orders? He had only been on the job for two weeks so it could very well be a test. He brought the car to a halt at a red light and than turned a looked at Martin. Sizing Martin up, the man decided he didn't look like the type of person you'd choose to help you test someone like himself. But maybe that was what Felix wanted him to think? Oh that clever devil. I bet he had chosen Martin specifically so that he'd let his guard down. Yeah, that was it.

 

'Hello? I said, do you know where any good gift shops are around here? I need to get something for my girlfriend before we leave.'

 

'There are plenty of gift shops in the airport, sir.' said the driver. Hah, get your way around that one, little man, he thought. It didn't take much to be a driver these days.

 

'I'm sure,' said Martin 'but that's not very authentic. I want to get her something from a local business, not some multinational chain of trinkets.' who was starting to get angry. He had seen several possible stores pass by before they had stopped and now he was waiting for this idiot to let him go to one of them.

 

The driver was about to say that most of the local shops had the same if not maybe crappier products than anything he'd find at the airport but than seeing the light was about to change decided to just end the conversation. 'I'm sorry sir but I am under strict orders to take you directly to the airport. Now, please sit back down, we are almost be there.' the driver said and turned back to the road.

 

An odd sense of determination and anger came over Martin. Maybe it had been all the violence he had been exposed to that night. Maybe it was the anxiety and energy he had kept pent up inside him since the club. Whatever it was, he wasn't about to waste his time dealing with this stupid driver. 'Fuck off.' he said to the driver, opened the door as the light was turning green and got out of the car. Martin heard muffled yells from the driver but didn't much care. He headed in the direction of the last shop he thought looked like a place he could buy Angela a present. Mark was out the door a few seconds later and caught up with Martin after a light sprint.

 

'Geez Martin, what's your problem? The guy's just trying to do his job.' Mark asked as he fell into step beside Martin. Martin shrugged and headed into the store. Mark rolled his eyes and than headed in after him. The driver for his part, had managed to get the car to the side of the road before being mowed down by the hundreds of other cars waiting behind him. This had better be a fucking test little man or I'm going to tear you a new one, he thought.

 

Inside the store, Martin poked and prodded at various objects hanging, sitting or rolling on the sales floor. The store was packed with merchandise and yet the aisles were clear of anything that might trip you up. Shelves reached all the way to the top ceiling and if they didn't they had boxes stacked on top of them till they did. Martin looked at the shelves, seeing something’s he knew, other things which were completely knew to him and still other things Martin would never have imagined could be created.

 

He wasn't sure what he wanted to get Angela but he did know what he didn't want to get her. He didn't want to get her any sort of new gizmo, that would be more of a present for himself. If he happened to see something that interested him, well he wasn't above buying himself a gift. But the purpose of this spree was to get Angela something and Martin didn't know what that was but he thought he would know it when he saw it.

 

Martin sniffed around the store till he came to the counter in the back. An energetic young woman wearing ridiculous clothes from Martin's point of view chirped something which his MPAD translated for him.

 

'Good evening sir, how may I help you?' His MPAD said in a female voice.

 

'Hi.' said Martin 'I'm looking for a gift for my girlfriend. I'm on a business trip and I'd like to bring her back something from Japan. Do you have any recommendations?'

 

'Oooh, aren't you sweet.' the girl squealed in a high pitched voice that made Martin's ears hurt. 'Well what is she interested in? Do you think she would like some anime? Maybe some new DVDs or cards? Perhaps a new robodog?'

 

'Uhh, no.' Martin answered 'That's not really what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something..' Martin searched for the word '..traditional?' He stabbed. He looked at the girl who seemed to be deep in thought. Than her face brighten, clearly an item appearing in her minds eye and she jumped over the counter.

 

'Follow me.' she hollered over her shoulder and led Martin down a few aisles before stopping in front of a large display of stuffed animals. 'These are Personal Pets.' She said to Martin with a look that expected Martin to know what she meant by that statement.

 

'Uhh, okay, yes, this is traditional I guess. What makes them so personal?' Martin asked and than found out as the stuffed dog he had picked up moved in his hands. The girl giggled behind him. The doll in front of him wiggled in his hands and had an expression on his face that Martin was sure had melted the hearts of thousands of young girls. But what amazed Martin the most was that it felt so real. That's it's expression were so lifelike that Martin stopped holding it like a toy and started holding it like a dog. He even felt warm breath on his hand.

 

'Amazing.' murmured Martin, the shop girl behind him smiling a never ending smile.

 

'Hey Martin.' Mark yelled from the front of the store. Martin looked up and saw Mark trying to hold back the driver in the doorway of the store. Guess it was time to go, Martin thought. He nodded to the woman, who took the small dog from Martin and headed towards the counter.

 

Martin followed her and as he scanned the many shelves his eyes stopped on what he had been looking for all a long. It was a simple stand with a origami crane hanging from the center of it. You could find them almost anywhere in Japan but this meant Japan to Martin and knew he had to have it. Martin picked up a boxed crane, stopped for a second, poked at the displayed crane which thankful did not come to life in front of Martin and than continued on to the cashier.

 

Martin paid and walked out of the store, the woman yelling something after him which his MPAD didn't pick up. The driver was standing outside of the car beside Mark who seemed a bit annoyed himself. Martin gave each of them a 'I don't care, just get in the car' stare which got both men to fold.

 

Once they were driving again, Martin relaxed into the chair.

 

'So are you going to tell me about what happened in the club?' Mark asked, looking out the window himself.

 

'I told you once we got over the pacific.' Martin murmured, pinching his nose.

 

'Yeah well, seeing as without your little excursion we would probably have had been over it by now I figure it's time you tell me.' Mark said although with a gentle tone.

 

Martin sighed and than sat up 'Fine, I guess. I'll tell you what I know and what I can tell you but I can't promise it will answer any of your questions' Mark raised his hands, nodding and indicating he understood. Martin took a deep breath and than began to recount the events from the evening. In the front, the driver was congratulating himself on passing the test Felix had given him.

 

Aboard the private plane, Martin fell into one of the soft, cushioned seats by the window. Martin managed to keep his eyes open while they taxied out onto the runway. He managed to hear the pilot’s brief remarks before take off but he really didn't understand it. He saw Mark across from him, situating himself in another large chair the same look of sleep on his face that Martin imagined was on his own.

 

As they crested two thousand feet, Martin fell into a deep dream. Martin was fond of his dreams. Many of his more imaginative ideas had come from his dreams and he liked to explore his subconscious since in this realm the two were on equal footing. Martin had had visions of Angela in his dreams when they had first started dating as well. Martin had figured those were from attraction but later, as they and his relationship with Angela persisted, Martin realized that they were telling him that he truly loved her. It had taken him a few more nights to realize that but he eventually came around.

 

But what Martin enjoyed most about his dreams was his ability to do things that he, Martin, would never be able to do in real life. And not just be confident and strong, stand up to people like Shinji and stare down men like Felix but actual super hero stuff. Martin had spent a good portion of his childhood memorizing comic books and frequently incorporated their powers into his own dreams to fulfill some role or play out some fantasy.

 

This dream was one of those. Martin stood on a barren landscape, dust being kicked up by the wind that was causing Martin's long dark grey silk belt to flap. Martin was now another foot taller, weighed several pounds heavier with muscle, and was covered from head to toe in tight black spandex with patches of blue and grey mixed in at random. A belt of various tools and weapons hung lazily from his hip, while a large broad sword silhouetted his back. It was a character he had slowly grown to use in most of his dreams. The characters powers had changed depending on the situation but the person remained the same.

 

Another figure appeared on the landscape, completely black except for a maniacal grin on his face. He, if it was a he, Martin wasn't sure from this far, seemed to jump around the landscape, popping up in new locations every five seconds. This didn't faze Martin. He wasn't Martin anymore. He was Martin's super hero although Martin hadn't permanently named him. Martin had tried several times over the years but each name had eventually fallen out of favor as he grew older and the Martin's needs changed. Tonight, Martin called himself revenge.

 

Revenge slowly moved his thick arm behind his shoulder and grasped the sword. The dark figure laughed in the distance, jumping to a new location just outside of view. Than it was back again but Revenge's arm didn't move. He tracked the shadow as it moved around the desert, appearing and disappearing with every blink of the eye. Sand pinched at his eyes but Revenge did not blink. How he wanted to cover his face from the storm of dust that was slowly covering his head but he wouldn't give the phantom the satisfaction.

 

Revenge noticed that he started to sink into the dune he was standing on. He didn't look down but her could feel his boots being slowly sucked under. This was obviously the doing of the shadow and it cackled in amusement into the wind. Still Revenge did not move but his eyes locked onto the dark figure as it moved closer to him. Clearly, it thought it had Revenge at it's mercy but it was going to realize very soon that that was not the case.

 

Mere feet away from Revenge, the Shadow raised one arm, if this creature could be distinguished enough to have arms, which narrowed into a long pike, with jagged edges running down the sides. It reared back, preparing to strike when Revenge unleashed his sword, a sudden explosion of dust blooming off his body, the sand surrounding his feat disappearing as Revenge lunged towards the demon. With a mighty crash, the sword bit through the wind and shadow, severing both in two. Revenge flexed his muscles, savoring the moment, as his sword stopped ringing.

 

But shadows are not so easily killed. It slowly separated from the sides of the blade, no worse from when it had started. Revenge did not look up for he knew an evil grin would be there waiting for him. He tensed and than jumped in the air, several feet higher than any normal man could. It was wonderful the things you could do when your dreams control physics.

 

Landing a dozen feet from where he had been, Revenge turned, dropped the sword on the ground, and than slammed his fist into the sand. A silent thump reverberated through the desert and than a wave started to form from the center Revenge had started. The dark creature laughed at this new threat and than charged at the wave, itself growing bigger till it outpaced the wave’s growth by nearly two to one. And the two met, the creature blazing a path through it as if the wave was just so much more wind.

 

'Fuck.' said Revenge. This normally didn't happen.

 

Grabbing his sword from the ground, Revenge let out a roar and jumped at the shadow giant which was now several stories high. The shadow beaconed him forward with an open maw and claws. Revenge swiped at the first tangible threat that came his way. He severed the hand or claw or whatever one could call it's extremities with a single swing but moments later the lost appendage and soaked itself back into the giant.

 

'Well this isn't good.' Revenge thought to himself. 'This is my dream.' He thought, striking out two more times at the unfazed adversary. 'I should be winning. Shouldn't I?'

 

The last questioned echoed in his head and Revenge was too worried to know the answer even though he knew in this world it always came. And with no exception, Martin's subconscious reared it's head to gloat.

 

'You can't win here.' It said, taking no form, but it's voice reverberating throughout the dunes. 'You can not win this battle for him.'

 

'I always win his battles.' yelled Revenge slamming his sword into the ground. Blue fire sparked from the hilt for a few seconds before Revenge gripped the hilt and swung it upwards in a long arc, a massive blade of fire following it.

 

The demon, a few feet away paused, even it a bit worried at this new attack. This was a powerful attack, it knew the signs of raw magic when it saw it. Could it survive taking the brunt of that blast. The demon wasn't sure. But the howls and whispers of it's brethren around it assured it that it could and with a menacing grin, the seemingly endless shadow dived forward into the blast. The specter collided into the wave of energy and the two exploding into a large shower of sparks and flames.

 

Revenge heaved a sigh of relief. 'Can't win the battle.' He scoffed. Winning battles was his job. That's what his only job was. And he was damn good at from the looks of things he thought, raising his chin in the direction of the dearly departed dark whatever, an arrogant smirk on his face.

 

Revenge turned with conviction and than came to a sudden halt in front of the dark figure. It had shrunk down to normal size or at least human size because who knew the true size of a shadow anyway. It seemed fairly pleased with itself and Revenge had to acknowledge that it probably had a right to feel a little cocky at the moment what with still being alive and all. Revenge would have felt the same way if roles had been reversed which they had been only a few seconds ago.

 

'Leave.' the subconscious bellowed. 'You can not win this fight. Martin must face this challenge himself. He can not hide behind false hopes and prayers. Figments of his imagination will not spare him the harsh reality of things that are and that will come. He needs to accept what has happened to him. You can not right this wrong for him. Martin has to acknowledge it and move on.'

 

Revenge look past the dark figure, over it's shoulder at the dark rolling hills of sand. Slowly, with the help of the breeze, the memory of Revenge was carried away leaving a cold and scrawny Martin alone on the dune. The dark figure too had been blown away, being replaced with Shinji although this was the Shinji before Felix had intervened. The upright Shinji.

 

Shinji stepped forward and punched Martin in the stomach. Martin fell to the ground, tears welling up in his eyes once more. Why did this have to keep happening to him? He didn't want any part of this. He was just a researcher, just a scientist. Why would anyone want to hurt him? He had never hurt anyone in his life. Well, maybe one of his inventions had but he hadn't hurt anyone directly. He certainly hadn't punched anyone in the stomach.

 

'You are thinking that these kinds of things are fair but unfortunately for those in this world, they are not.' Martin's subconscious said to him in a calmer voice.

 

'You mean this world or the real one?' Martin asked himself.

 

His subconscious heaved a sigh and replied 'The real one Martin. And in the real one you have to be ready for people like Shinji and people worse than Shinji.'

 

'You mean fight back against them? I'm not what you'd call very prepared for something like that.' Martin protested. He didn't think he'd ever thrown a punch in his life and he would have been perfectly content to never have as long as he lived.

 

'No ever is. And it's not about fighting although that is what it generally bogs down into.' his subconscious seemed to be getting sentimental 'No, it's not about being able to throw the first or last punch. It's not about being stronger or faster than the other guy, although that helps. It's about being able to defend yourself.'

 

'And how do I defend myself?' Martin asked getting a little annoyed at his subconscious’s empty axioms. He'd heard this all before which was probably where his subconscious had heard it as well.

 

His subconscious shrugged and was gone. That was the time Shinji decided it would be a good time to start hitting Martin again. The first punch stunned Martin and knocked in face first into the ground. Shinji was on him again, grabbing the back of Martin's shirt and hoisting him upwards. Than Martin felt a sharp pain in his chest which he assumed was Shinji working with his favorite area of the body. Sure enough, a second blow came to the same place with equally painful response.

 

Martin wriggled around in Shinji's grasp, his arms and feet flailing providing no help or defense from Shinji's fists. Than Shinji reared back and cuffed Martin on the side of the head, letting him go at the same time. Martin fell and tumbled down the long slope of the dune. Head over feat, Martin tumbled for a good three minutes creating an avalanche of sand behind him. Shinji stood at the top of the dune, watching Martin fall.

 

As Martin slowed to a stop face first at the bottom, a primal cord in his brain snapped. Or perhaps, connected for the first time. And for the first time in his life, Martin felt hostile. He hadn't unlocked a secret area of his brain which held the secrets to a far east kung fu doctrine, that would have been ridiculous even here in his dream. No, Martin had joined the circuit in his brain which allowed other men to fight, to die and to kill. It was a long gene that had been past down through the bloodlines since the beginning but had been slowly repressed over the ages. And now Martin had it.

 

He stood up with confidence reinforcing his backbone. Martin turned and looked up at Shinji who was still standing above him on the dune. Seeing his prey still had some life in him, Shinji jumped feet first and than skidded down the side of the hill of sand. As hear neared the bottom, be brought his arm back, preparing to strike as soon as Martin was close enough to hit. For a brief moment the wind died and the all that was moving in the wasteland was the two figures.

 

Before Shinji could react to the startling change in Martin's behavior, Martin charged forward his head tucked downwards. With more force than either of them had been expecting, Martin's shoulder slammed into Shinji's sternum. Shockwaves of pain and excitement shot up Martin's arm as he relived in his first moment of victory and than fell with Shinji. Martin wasn't sure how it happened but they had fallen in Martin's direction, Shinji's feat coming right out from underneath him as they had collided, leaving Shinji writhing on his back.

 

Martin raised himself on his elbows and than managed to get himself above Shinji. Looking down on Shinji, the man who in one day had attacked Martin not once but twice, who had soared to the top of Martin's most hated list, Martin felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. The avatar he had created earlier, that hadn't been revenge. This was revenge. It tasted bitter in his mouth and yet a sad joy was also there. Martin raised an arm to strike Shinji for everything he had done to Martin, to pay him back in the only way Martin knew how to at this moment.

 

His subconscious stopped him. 'You're not that kind of man.' It said in a quiet voice. And than everything was gone. The sand, the dunes, the wind and finally Shinji. Vanished from Martin's trembling fingers.

 

Martin snapped up, cold sweat on his face and neck inside the cabin of the plane. He feverishly looked around the plane trying to determine if this was indeed reality or his mind was still trying to teach him life lessons through his dreams. Spotting Mark on the opposite seat, fast asleep, helped calm Martin's nerves. He relaxed into the pillow behind his head.

 

Looking out the window Martin shivered with the memories of recent thoughts. But he wouldn't forget what he had learned during his dream. This trip had changed Martin into something he had been searching for all his life and while Martin didn't know how big a change that was, he knew he was not the same man. But thankfully, he also knew he was still the same man that loved Angela and with expecting eyes, Martin gazed off towards the horizon.

 

.19.

 

Felix stood in another man's office as if it was his own. The man whose office it did belong to hadn't arrived yet but Felix knew he would be a long shortly. Felix lit a cigar, caring little what society or the secretary outside thought. He was not in the mood tonight. Jim and Matt were outside waiting for Felix if he needed them although Felix didn't think he would. Hatori was an old friend or at least he had been until tonight.

 

Felix didn't need to beat the crap out of that guy at the club. Felix knew who he worked for before he even stepped through those bathroom doors. The face was even familiar but that wasn't surprising considering who he worked for. No, beating up Shinji had been for Felix. Maybe a little bit for Martin, Felix thought but than figured Martin was too much of an academic to take any true appreciation from the revenge Felix had extracted.

 

Felix took an ash tray from Hatori's desk and walked over to the tall window's overlooking the many smaller building below. It was funny, Felix thought, how people could decry the enjoyment of smoking, vilify it's very existence and than have an ash tray in their office. What else did you use an ash tray for? Well, Felix had hit a man in the head with one once but Felix doubted that was a common use. Felix briefly wondered if Hatori was the one he had hit with the ash tray but quickly tossed the idea. Hatori wouldn't have forgiven something like that and Felix would have known it.

 

Felix looked down at the evening bustle of Tokyo. This wasn't the meeting he had come to Japan to take care of but as things unfolded this turned out to be a worthwhile trip after all. The other meeting was frivolous, barely concerning him in the least, a simple pretext to have Felix on a plane and in Tokyo with Martin for the conference. He'd have to give a raise to whoever had thought that Hatori's group would make a grab for Martin. Both companies had always respected the others intellectual assets and had more or less stayed hands off. There had been that incident back in ninety nine but that was back when Felix was still a green horn manager and Hatori was still a low level enforcer. Things had been copasetic since the two had taken their respective offices and develop a mutually beneficial relationship.

 

Fifteen minutes had gone by since Felix had barged his way into Hatori's empty office. This didn't bode well, Felix thought. Hatori must be in some rushed meeting down somewhere in this building after word of the club incident had made it's way back here. Felix had hoped to stop this meeting with his own meeting between himself and Hatori but apparently things moved faster now in Tokyo. Or maybe he moved slower?

 

'No,' he though flexing his arms, 'I move just as fast. Hatori must have moved up a notch since I last talk to him. He might even be the one running the meeting for all I know. This is a nicer office than I remember him having. It's several floors higher than his last office come to think of it. Although floor height means nothing I guess but it's still there. Can't ignore it if it is something which it might not be.' Felix turned and since no Hatori had yet appeared he nodded to Matt to come in.

 

The tall communications agent opened the door and lumbered into the office. Beneath the hills, some might call them mountains, of bulging muscle that dotted the landscape of Matt's body lay the natural ear and mind of a top notch communications officer. Felix had found him several years ago on a contracting job he had been a part of. During a training exercise, Matt's team was left in the woods with barely enough electronic equipment to work a flash light, let alone any real modern communications. Felix had been part of the search and destroy team as an inspector. His team's job was to find Matt's team and eliminate the threat while Matt's team's objective was to either avoid or overpower the search and destroy team and make it to the fake headquarters some twenty miles back.

 

Matt's infiltration team did not have the man power to take on the search and destroy team so the strategy had been to assume that they would try to avoid detection and make a straight for the headquarters. The search and destroy squads were split up into small groups barely three to a group, smaller than Felix had recommend and he had said so in his report afterwards, and spread dangerously thin over almost the entire stretch of the course, another note in Felix's log. Slowly, they lost contact with some of the outlying units but figured this was to be assumed and they used that information to plot the infiltrations group progress.

 

And that's when things started to go strange for the search and destroy group. Units would wind up in entirely different quadrants than they were suppose to be searching. And the answer they gave for their wanderlust was the same. They were ordered there over their radios. At first there was belief that the infiltration group had taken a unit's comm gear and somehow managed to hijack the radio system and was passing false orders to varying groups, presumably to clear a path for Matt's team. This was most thought ridiculous, because all commands came from the command radios which were kept by commanders. The only radios Matt could have gotten his hands on where slave radios which did not broadcast on the command frequency. But, to play it safe, the order was given to block the radios of the teams that had been lost. To the search and destroy commanders dismay, this did not stop the problem.

 

Soon search groups were every where on the grounds and communications had completely broken down. So in disarray were the command communications that the headquarters had to send a man out looking for them to tell them that the headquarters had already been seized by the infiltration group. To add insult to injury, Matt's squad ambushed the command group as they tried to return to headquarters. Since the search and destroy forces had been split so thinly, there was only a small contingent of men left with officers and Matt's squad was now easily capable of taking care of them. Felix was impressed, as a bulky man in cameo ran up to him yelling at him to get down on the ground.

 

That man, had been Matt, who had orchestrated the communications nightmare for the infiltration team. Matt didn't explain how he had been able to bypass into the command frequencies and served his time with the army, keeping that secret to himself. Once Matt had gotten out of the army, Felix had swooped down on him in an instant, perhaps saving him from other organizations that were looking for a brilliant mind such as his with a less extensive benefits package. One of Felix's first questions had been what was the trick to overriding the communications gear. But Matt wouldn't tell him, even after several hours of Felix yelling at him.

 

Felix hired him on the spot. You didn't find men like this every day and when you did, you didn't leave him hanging.

 

'Connect up to headquarters and see if we have any new information on Hatori. I want to know if he's gotten a promotion recently.' Felix ordered and than turned back to the window. Matt nodded and sat down at a table near Felix. How Matt was going to get a connection out of this building, which had to be a tightly closed network if Felix had to guess, and than be able to connect to their own network which didn't let just anyone in, much less so when the point of origin was coming from where Felix was standing. But that was Matt's problem and it was why Felix had hired him. It hadn't been a problem in the past when they had been several miles from the nearest transmitter station and Felix doubted it would be a problem now. And if it was, well that had some important information with it as well, Felix thought.

 

Felix stubbed his cigar into the ash tray and prepared to light another one when he heard the door behind him open and the voice of his old friend say 'That's not an ash tray.'

 

Matt's eyes briefly looked up at Felix's whose own eyes twitched the signal for Matt to continue. It was still a good exercise Felix thought and who knows Hatori might not tell me his new job title after all. That said, Felix turned to his old friend.

 

'Oh yeah?' said Felix tapping a few flecks from his new cigar into the pseudo ash tray. 'If it's not an ash tray, than what is it? And I'd like to remind you that it does make a very good ash tray.'

 

'It's a symbol of recognition for fifteen years of hard work and dedication that have gotten me this new office, which you no doubt have your man there looking up for you. Please tell him to stop, it's very unlikely he'll be able to find out and I'll tell you anyway.' Hatori answered, walking towards Felix.

 

'Are you sure you're bosses just didn't give you an ash tray, engrave your name on the side of it' Felix saw the inscription now 'and pass it off as an award? It's something my boss would probably do. Heh, I've probably done it myself a few times come to think of it. Hey Jim' Felix called out to Jim, who opened the door to hear what was being asked of him 'Have I ever given you an ash tray and called it an award?' Jim nodded in acknowledgement and than closed the door.

 

'Me too.' said Matt from the table, raising an arm but not taking his focus away from whatever he was doing on his MPAD.

 

'I'll be damn. Well, than there yah go Hatori.' Felix said returning to Hatori who was now beside him, picking up the pseudo ash tray, award, or whatever it was. Felix had to quickly jut his hand below his cigar before a growing mound of ash fell onto the mahogany table.

 

'I don't care about the table, Felix.' Hatori said over his shoulder, cleaning the award with a handkerchief he produced from his breast pocket. 'This I do.'

 

'If you say so.' Felix said ambling over to one of the chairs in front of Hatori's large dark wooden desk. It was spotless except for a few pieces of paper and one picture frame. Martin doubted the picture frame was even Hatori's. It probably came with the desk. You didn't have much time for a romantic life or at least not a permanent one, Felix knew that himself. 'So, where have you been? I only come here every so often and I figured you would give me the courtesy of at least greeting me on time. What, manners take a back seat with your new job?'

 

Hatori raised an eyebrow with a 'You're shitting me right' look on his face. After a few moments he responded with 'I apologize for the delay but after tonight’s' Hatori paused to think of an appropriate word although one had surely been given to him in the meeting he had just come from 'debacle,' he added slowly, rolling the word around in his mouth a little before letting it escape to Felix. Felix wondered if that was the word that been decided on 'I think we both know that our time is going to be limited tonight.'

 

'And why is that?' Felix asked. But before Hatori could respond Matt tapped Felix on the shoulder. Felix put a hand up and Hatori nodded to let them talk. Matt whispered into Felix's ear that Hatori had just been made Regional Operations Director of Tokyo two weeks prior, a job title that was three steps above even Felix's. 'Damn.' Felix cursed. Hatori wasn't taking orders anymore, he was giving them. He'd have to approach this from a new direction since their past relationship had probably gone out the window the moment Hatori had gotten that promotion. Felix patted Matt on the back for a job well done and turned back to Hatori who was still trying to clean the award that Felix had dirtied. That was a mistake too, Felix grimaced, Hatori had a thing for keeping his things clean.

 

'As your colleague probably just told you, I no longer hold the position we previously operated under. This of course, changes the dynamic of our friendship.' Hatori began, putting down the award and leaning forward on his desk. He clasped his hands together on the pristine desk and waited for Felix's first sentence.

 

'Crap.' thought Felix. 'This is not how I had expected this meeting to go. I thought I'd come in here, slap Hatori around a little bit with some jokes, complain about the club incident, and than head down to the bar with Hatori for a few beers. I don't think there will be any beers tonight. Why did they have to promote him that high anyway?'

 

Instead Felix said 'So, how about those Mets?'

 

.20.

 

The car carrying Martin pulled up in front of Martin and Angela's house and deposited him with his bags on the curb. Once the driver was sure all of Martin's bags were out of his car, he nodded in Martin's direction and drove off. He had heard rumors about this man from another driver in Japan and didn't want to have an afternoon like that guys evening.

 

'At least it still looks like my house,' Martin thought, 'from the outside.'

 

'Yeah, but it's what's on the inside that's important, right?' said the part of him that resisted change. Martin couldn't argue with it on that point so he picked up his bags and walked up to his house.

 

Martin had intended on surprising Angela by knocking open the front door and yelling her name but she beat him to the punch. As Martin was climbing the steps, the door to his house swung open with a thud and Angela was sprinting out towards him with every intention of knocking him down if Martin was any judge of speed and force and his resistance to both those factors. With barely a second to drop the bags to his side, Martin caught Angela in his arms, as he, the bags and Angela on top of him fell to the ground. Luckily, Angela had pushed them in the direction of the lawn so while Martin landed hard, he was still able to hug Angela as she wrestled with him on the ground. Martin's bags on the other hand had fallen on the first steps Martin had been ascending and since they were wider than his steps, and toppled down. All except the bag with the gifts had come out of the tumble fine. The gifts from Japan were somewhere under his luggage now though.

 

But Martin didn't concern himself with this, since he had more passionate things to keep his mind busy with. Between kisses and hugs, Martin heard the occasional 'Why are you home so early?' question and the 'I've missed you so much or the 'I love you.' comments coming from Angela's mouth. After a few more seconds of kisses, Martin tried his best to answer her.

 

'Well, as it turns out, my employer thought it was best for me to come home early.' Martin said laying on the ground, a few leaves serving as a quick pillow.

 

Angela pushed herself up on her arms, her back going stiff and a worried and interrogative look coming on to her face. At the same time Martin couldn't help but be captured by her beauty as she perched there above him ready to swoop down with another question. But if could read from her body language that she wasn't in that mood any longer.

 

'You mean Felix?' Angela asked, starting off slow.

 

Martin cocked his head. Angela knew about Felix? Than he asked the same question.

 

'His secretary called me to let me know that you had been hurt. She didn't say his name to me of course, but I heard someone in the background say his name and figured I'd test it on you. Looks like I was right.' she answered, sticking out her tongue as surely Sherlock Holmes must have when he had foiled Moriarty once again.

 

Martin was about to warn Angela that she didn't want to know about names like Felix or what she might over hear on phones calls to his office but was cut off by Angela's next question. 'Why did he send you home early? I thought he okayed your trip extension?'

 

'Well he did but than he reconsidered the attack and thought it was best that I come home early. Plus our new timetables have just come out so I figured that must have played into it as well.' Martin tried but Angela was buying.

 

'Bullshit Prescott, he had already given you permission after you had been attacked, what could have changed his mind that would have made him send you home? Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry with him, quite relieved in fact, but I think there's something you're not telling me.' Angela jammed her hand into his ribs in mock interrogation.

 

Martin let out a little sigh. He knew he couldn't lie to Angela. Martin was a superb liar, it was required for his job. But when Angela asked by a question of him point blank, Martin had a lot of difficulty trying to come up with excuses to avoid telling her the truth. Martin had opted for the avoidance method of simply keeping Angela from having to ask questions about his job and that had worked reasonable well but wasn't about to work today, not with the amount of information Angela already knew. In the end, he confessed.

 

'Look, I don't want you getting upset but uh, I was kind of in another incident in Japan.' Martin admitted, running his hands through his hair, trying to not look Angela in the eye. He felt her hand on his face and he looked up into her dazzling eyes.

 

'Upset, why would you think I'd get upset? Oh Martin, don't tell me you got hurt again?' Angela said with a pained look over worry on her face that cut Martin's heart to ribbons. If there was anything he could do, Martin thought, it would be to avoid having to see that expression on Angela's face again.

 

'Well, yes and no. It's sort of a complicated story.' Martin began 'Can we go inside please?' Martin asked trying to get up but Angela sat squarely on his lap, clearly not about to let him up till he had answered all of her questions to her satisfaction. Martin sighed, laid back down and began to recap his story.

 

'Well Mark wanted me to come out with him to some club he wanted to go to pick up women. And no I didn't go there as well to pick up women, I swear.' Martin added hastily trying to avoid an argument with a worried look appearing on his brow. Angela cocked her head in a way that told Martin that the idea had never entered her head and that she was still waiting for him to finish his story.

 

Cautiously, Martin continued 'Okay, so anyway, we went to this club which as you know really isn't my thing. I don't know why I went. Maybe it was just to see some more of Tokyo I don't know. In any case, I was there sitting at a table while Mark was doing his best to attract single Japanese women to him in the middle of the dance floor.' Angela smiled at the thought of this.

 

'I was sitting there, thinking about leaving when my new friend decided to sit beside me.' Angela's eyes went wide.

 

'You don't mean...' Angela began bringing one of her hands to her mouth.

 

'Yeah, pretty much. So, I of course bolt. Instead of going out the door as I had planned, I naturally run right into the women's bathroom.' Angela cocked her head again but this time with the expression that said 'Your first reaction is to run into the women's bathroom?'

 

'Yeah, I know, not the slickest spy you ever dated. I'm not particularly proud of it myself. Anyway, the man, Shinji, did I tell you his name, follows me into the bathroom and there's no way out so I'm preparing myself for another round of interrogation.'

 

'But why would he come back for you? He already got the information he wanted from you didn't he?' Angela stopped him. With a shake of his head and a tight expression on his lips was all Martin could give her on what Shinji had been after and why he still didn't have it. Angela nodded for him to go on.

 

'The next thing I know, the windows in the bathroom are exploding.' Martin thrust out his arms for dramatic flare which got the intended gasp from Angela. 'Luckily I was close to the wall so I didn't get hit in the face with any of the glass although plenty of it landed in my hair.' Martin said. Angela bent over and brushed Martin's hair to see if he had missed any pieces. Satisfied that Martin had showered between than and now, Angela leaned back for Martin to continue. Martin had been having difficulty remembering his story with Angela's breasts hanging right above him.

 

'Shinji didn't make out as well as I did. Before he was able to recover a couple of men from the company I work for came in through the windows and restrained him. They did their bodyguard routine of checking around the building and making sure no one came near us but after a few minutes they let us leave.' Martin said, conviently avoiding the Shinji interrogation. Martin didn't want to relive that memory nor did he want to pass it on to Angela. 'From there, Mark and I went back to the hotel. I got a call from Felix,' Martin winced at saying his name out loud 'who told me he was sending me back home. I asked if Mark could tag along since he was a little surprised by the events in the club and wanted an explanation. An hour later we were in the air, coming home.' Martin finished and peered up at Angela to see if this would satisfy her.

 

'So, you brought Mark along with you on the plane, told him everything that happened to you before telling me?' Angela said with mock anger which Martin did not pick up on.

 

'Well, I would have called you but by the time we were in the plane it would have been four in the morning here and I didn't want to wake you and I was feeling very tired as it was so I slept for most of the plane ride home. I was going to call you when I woke up but when I did, we were descending towards the airport so I just figured I could wait till I actually got home. And I wanted to surprise you, not worry you.' Martin rambled in an incoherent stream of excuses, reasoning, and conditions.

 

Angela shook her head and than leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. 'I'm glad you're alright Martin.' she whispered 'I don't want to loose you. I love you.'

 

'I know.' Martin answered since he did 'I love you too.' They sat there for a few more minutes holding each other with the occasional kiss and sigh.

 

Finally, Angela got off of Martin's legs which had fallen asleep. Angela grasped Martin's wrists and helped him up and than walked over to Martin's luggage on the walkway. Hefting a luggage bag, she saw the shopping bag from the store Martin had visited before getting on the plane. 'Awww, Did you get me something?' Angela purred picking up the bag. Martin simply smiled back as he awkwardly walked around his yard trying to get the blood back into his legs.

 

'Oh I love Martin!' Angela squealed. Martin couldn't see Angela since at the moment he was walking in the direction of the street. He had intended on wrapping the gifts but like his story to Angela had said, he hadn't woken up till just before they had landed. Turning, Martin saw that Angela was not holding the Personal Pet he had gotten her but the origami swan he had actually bought for himself.

 

Martin was about to say so when his subconscious slapped him upside the head. Figuratively of course.

 

'What's the matter with you? She likes it. Just let her have it.' it told him.

 

'But I got that for myself. I was going to put it in my office.' Martin complained to himself.

 

'Oh cry me a river you.' his subconscious responded. 'Let me spell this out for you. She likes it, therefore it's hers. Trust me, you don't want to take it from her and than give her that god awful Personal Pet thing or whatever it is. And God help you if she doesn't like it to boot.'

 

'But..' Martin protested.

 

'But nothing. Listen to me. You live together now. Where do you think she's going to put that swan anyway?'

 

'Somewhere in the house I'd guess.' Martin answered and than realized his subconscious’s point. 'Yeah, I guess you're right.'

 

'There's no guessing about it.' it said to him and than vanished.

 

'I'm glad you like it.' Martin said, kicking the Personal Pet deeper into the bag.

 

Angela marveled at the crane for a few more moments before saying 'Oooh, come inside, I want to show you what I've done with the house.'

 

'I can't wait.' Martin thought although apparently it had also escaped his lips because Angela gave him a little less playful punch in his arm.

 

'I want you to keep an open mind about this Martin. Please, for me, just don't hate it because it's not what you had before, alright? I spent a lot of time on this and I'm very proud of the results.' Angela pleaded. Now was her turn to be nervous about the others reaction.

 

'I promise I'll give it a shot.' Martin conceded, giving up all hope that his forming living space would be anything like what he had left it and than followed her into his new old house.

 

As Martin walked through the door his shoes began making noise which he didn't recognize as something he normally heard when he was inside his house. Tearing his eyes away from the various colors and treatments that were now on his walls, Martin looked down at the floor.

 

'I have hard wood floors?' Martin said, which came as quiet a shock to him. He hadn't remembered having hard wood floors and he didn't think he was so messy that he would have created an entire new lining on the floor to hide these beautifully stained planks of wood.

 

'Well yes and no.' Angela said twisting her hands together behind her back, he legs crossed and her back arched hoping Martin would be happy. 'You did have a carpet that covered most of the first floor but in the living room and in the library you had these huge stains which I tried to get out for like three hours but I just couldn't. So I had to uh scrap your carpet.' Angela hesitated and than looked up to see if Martin was angry but he was still looking at the ground and was now crouched down, running his hands over the smoothly finished surface, a look of awe on his face.

 

Heartened by this Angela continued 'So I took up the carpet in those two rooms but it turned out that after I had done that, the carpet in the other rooms didn't look that good either and any carpet I looked at wouldn't match your old stuff so I thought well, that has too go as well.

 

What I didn't think about was how much carpet costs especially to cover the entirety of this floor. But as I sat here I looked at your floor and thought, this is some pretty good wood. So I made a few calls and got a contractor to come out here yesterday to refinish the floor. I think he did a great job, don't you?' Angela said with wide eyes.

 

Martin looked up, his trance on the floor broken by the end of Angela's story. 'Yeah it looks great. It'll take a little getting used to but I think I like it. I think you made the right choice, my old carpet was starting to get a little frayed at the edges.' Martin agreed. Angela raised an eyebrow that said your old carpet was a little more than frayed at the edges love but let it drop. She didn't want to loose any points on the house with Martin if she didn't have to.

 

Martin stood and took in the center hallway that led to the other rooms of his house and the stairway that empty there. He saw that the stairs had also been refinished to match the new floor which he thought made sense. The walls had been painted a light brown which he was okay with. A small table was now by the door which Martin didn't know he owned by guess it was probably something Angela had bought, borrowed or stolen. He dropped his keys on it and walked slowly further into his home. He noticed Angela had hung several photos of the two of them every few steps as you went up the stairs. On the opposite wall beside the stairwell, she had hung two art photos of what looked like black and white pictures of a park and one of a mountain range. Martin shrugged, looked good to him so far.

 

'So what do you think so far?' Angela said, with a worried look on her lips.

 

'I like the photos. Where did you get them?' Martin asked.

 

'The ones in the stairs case I just bought some old frames and went through some of the pictures you and I have taken these past couple of months. These two here,' Angela stepped back since she was beside them 'I got from a friend who was moving to Florida. I think they give a reason for the wall don't you?' Angela looked towards Martin. Martin simply nodded his agreement. The wall had a reason to begin with he thought, to hold up the floor above it and divide the house into manageable living spaces but he kept that to himself. He nodded to her to continue with the tour.

 

In the living room, a couch dominated the center of the room with Martin's old LCD TV hanging across from it over the fireplace. Martin didn't recognize it but he assumed it was his old couch but the color was different and it looked like it was in much better shape.

 

Angela confirmed this. 'I didn't have the money to go out and buy us a new couch but that is on my list for the future' she said giving him a quick glance which Martin missed 'I decided to get some nice cloth from the store and managed to do a decent job reupholstering your couch. What do you think?'

 

Martin tentatively sat down in his new old couch. It felt the same, he thought. The cloth underneath him shifted a little but otherwise stayed on. He shifted his weight a few times, trying different positions to see if would like it when he was sitting there and found the results pleased him. Martin gave the couch his final test by laying down fully on it and than turning his head to look up at the TV.

 

'TV's a bit high.' He said over his shoulder.

 

'I know.' answered Angela from behind him 'But it's the best I could do with your old TV. If we had a new flexible one I could be more creative with where I put it but those are just way too much money.' Martin nodded into a pillow which he'd never owned before and figured he'd just get used to it. Besides he didn't spend much time watching TV anyway.

 

With the kitchen, Angela had worked a miracle. First it was clean which even Martin had to admit was a pretty surprising. He had never had much time to spend in the kitchen and when he was there he usually try to spend as little time cooking and than cleaning up as he could.

 

'I'm pretty proud of this room. I, of course, cleaned you kitchen which was no small task and you'll thank me for that later.' Angela said with a devilish grin. 'I put new handles on all the cabinetry which I think gives it a little more class and lets you access all your dishware a little easier since now it's all in the cabinets or drawers like it should be.' Angela gave Martin a glare. Martin had never really bothered with putting dishes away. He figured, he was just going to use it again in a few hours so the dishwasher was as good as place as any to store said dishes. Martin practiced opening one of the cabinets at random which revealed his bowls, plates and on the top shelf several vases which he assumed were Angela's since no one had ever sent him flowers.

 

The counter tops had been cleared of any extraneous dishes, pizza boxes, and random cans Martin had forgotten to put away. All that was left was his microwave which had been tucked into a corner beside the refrigerator, some knives which were now stuck against the wall thanks to some new magnets, his toaster which was beside the stove and a new napkin wrack. The island in the center of the kitchen had been cleared and on it stood a vase of freshly cut flowers which was one of Angela's accents to the room.

 

 

'I think it looks good.' Martin said after a few moments. 'I don't spend much time in here though so I wasn't to close to this room anyway.'

 

'I know.' said Angela, pleased that Martin had accepted this room as well 'But I'd like to change that with you Martin. I think you'd like cooking, if someone showed you how to do it. There's actually a lot of science involved in cooking these days. I think you would be really interested in what you can do in here.'

 

Martin raised a doubtful eyebrow but let that pass.

 

'Of course we do need some new appliances. I mean how old is this toaster anyway?' Angela asked, pointing at Martin's dejected old toaster which he had had since college.

 

'What's wrong with it. It still toasts doesn't it? And what new appliances do we need anyway?' Martin said getting defensive.

 

'Well a good mixer for one. We'll talk about other things once you've tried cooking with what you have now. And the toaster does toast but it looks like it could burn the house down if we don't watch it carefully.' said Angela, giving the toaster a wary glare. Yeah that's right, I'm talking about you, she said to herself. You are so out of here when I can get a new toaster.

 

'But the walls have been conditioned to avoid electrically fires.' Martin protested, the toaster sticking it's tongue out at Angela. I'll be here a little longer, thank you very much it seemed to taunt her. Angela shrugged her shoulders and moved on to the next room.

 

The dining room, and Martin's library and study on the first floor, all passed Martin's inspection, although Angela wasn't sure if he was just saying he liked them or whether he meant that he liked to them. Each time she pressed the issue with Martin, he'd shrug and walked on to the next room.

 

Martin was about to walk up the stairs to second floor when Angela stopped him. 'I want to show you the basement first.' she said, dragging him back to the kitchen where the door to the basement was located.

 

'Why?' Martin said letting himself be dragged along. Martin had never really used his basement for anything. It was dark and smelled a bit funny and Martin didn't like working down there. He had tried two experiments in the basement but they had both failed and Martin had just assumed that it was cursed and closed the door on it for good.

 

'It's a surprise Martin. You'll like it I promise.' Angela said as they got to the door. She flicked a switch by the door which apparently turned on the lights to the basement. That was new, Martin thought. Martin didn't think there had ever been lights down there before.

 

As he made his way slowly down the cramped stair case, Martin could see that this was not the basement he had left behind so many years ago. The most noticeable change being that it no longer smelled like something had crawled here to die and probably had. It smelled a bit too fragrant actually but Angela assured him that that was just temporary while last remains of whatever had been down here had been pushed out.

 

At the bottom of the stairs Martin saw that Angela had created for him a little laboratory in his basement. A new workbench had been set up which ran the entire length of the far wall with his tools either hanging on the wall beside it or tucked away in drawers. Martin noticed that the basement had a lot more light which Angela said she had gotten some friends from the local University to help her install.

 

But what Martin was the most excited about, was all of his projects that he had feared lost when Angela had overhauled his house. Sure some of them weren't down here either but for the most part most of his long running experiments were still down here and in tact. He turned to Angela who had a knowing smile on her face.

 

'I know you Martin.' Angela answered him coming up close to him 'I know you like to play and tinker with things. I know a lot of this stuff has a lot of meaning to you and while I might not understand it, I do understand it means a lot to you and that's what's important to me. I tried my best to recreate the rest of your house down here in your basement and I hope you like the results.' Angela looked up at Martin, crossing her fingers behind her back.

 

Martin looked around the room for a few more moments and than turned to look down into Angela's deep blue eyes. 'I love it.' he said 'And I love you.' And with that Martin bent his head down to give Angela a passionate and thankful kiss.

 

After a few seconds Angela pushed him back 'Hold on there, killer. You still have to see the rest of the house.' She said, although she kissed him again once she had finished the sentence. Martin gave her his puppy dog eyes which almost worked but Angela had worked too hard on this house to not show it off. Pulling him up the stairs, Angela took Martin to the second floor.

 

'Now I know you like your bed but really it's not big enough for the two of us.' Angela began as they reached the top of the stairs. And sure enough Martin's single bed had been put into the second bedroom. Angela had done a lot to the second bedroom which Martin didn't particular care for but didn't care too much about either. Angela had bought new covers for his bed and had put up new curtains on the window. Angela's old TV from college was in the corner of the room with an old chest of drawers which Angela said she'd gotten from her parents. Angela had also painted the walls a light yellow which she said caught the sun nicely in the morning. Martin took her word for it. One painting from Angela's old apartment hung on the wall which Martin had to agree with Angela looked kind of lonely and needed a pair.

 

Martin didn't see why they needed a guest room since he had never had a guest besides Angela at his house since he had owned it. Sure, he'd meet up with Mark or some other friends but Martin had never invited them to his house. And as far as women were concerned well Angela was the first here too. But Martin was feeling happy from the revelation of his new lab in the basement and decided if Angela thought they needed it well than maybe they did.

 

Angela had also painted the guest bathroom in a similar shade of yellow which Angela insisted was the same shade as the one in the bedroom but Martin disagreed. New towels and holders were in the bathroom as well which Martin thought was silly since he didn't expect to have many people over but remembered he had already discussed this to himself only five minutes earlier.

 

And than, finally, it was time for the grand unveiling of Martin and Angela's bedroom. Martin held his breath as Angela led him into their bedroom.

 

'Please nothing frilly.' He thought to himself 'And nothing too ornate.' He added and than opened his eyes.

 

This was not Martin's old bedroom. First there was a rug which Martin recognized as coming from Angela's old apartment. The walls had been painted a light shade of blue which Martin was okay with. Angela's chest of drawers and her bed side tables were now in his room as well which framed their new bed well.

 

'New bed?' Martin thought. He looked at Angela who smiled back at him.

 

'I decided to treat us.' She said, coming up beside him 'It's my old frame from my apartment but I got a new mattress delivered yesterday. It's a queen since my frame couldn't handle a king. I think you'll like the extra space.'

 

'If it keeps you from rolling over on to my side than I'll be happy for the room.' Martin joked and Angela punched him in the shoulder in retaliation. Martin generally came to bed a lot later than Angela since he usually lost track of time while he was at work or when he working on something while at home. Angela would take over most of the bed since that was how she had slept before she had had Martin with her and old habits like that die hard. Slowly, they were getting used to each others sleeping patterns, and Angela hoped the new bed would make that transition a little easier.

 

Martin walked over to the windows that over looked the front of the house which had been framed by two long curtains that spanned all the way from the top of the window and came to an end in a small pool of fabric on the bottom of the floor. Martin had a serene look on his face as Angela joined him by the window.

 

'So what do you think?' She asked quietly. Martin could feel her tense against his body as she waited for his answer.

 

'I think I'm going to love living here.' He answered to the great relief of Angela. 'And I love you for all the hard work you've put into this room and all the others. I really appreciate your thought and care when doing this.' Martin said and meant it. This brought a happy tear to Angela's eye who than hug Martin deeply.

 

After a few moments Angela whispered in Martin's ear 'You know, we need to christen our new bedroom.'

 

'I was just about to say.' Martin whispered back, as he picked her up and carried her to the new bed.

 

'Finally!' Martin's libido yelled satisfied.  

 

.21.

 

Negotiations with Hatori were not going at all the way Felix had hoped. Mostly because they were having negotiations at all was what really bothered Felix. Normally, either Felix or Hatori would barge into the office of the other, lay his cards on the table as far as what had happened and than they would go out and get a beer. It was a very simple routine that Felix had grown accustom to over the years and he realized was kind of sorry to see it go. Felix looked across the desk at Hatori and Felix liked to think he could see some regret in his old friend's eyes at the loss of their tradition.

 

But that was yesterday and this was today and clearly Hatori had an axe to grind and he was grinding it on Felix's nerves at the moment.

 

'Why is one of my men in the hospital?' Hatori asked and than added 'And why, of all people, did you put him there as well. Not just your company but you specifically?'

 

'He attacked one of my men first Hatori.' Felix answered shifting in his chair. Hatori shrugged to say that that was meaningless, that that was just business as usual. Shinji wouldn't have put Martin in the hospital, they both knew that. Shinji might have roughed him up a bit until Martin had given over the thumb drive but he wouldn't have beaten him to the point that Felix had beaten Shinji. The questions remained on the table and Felix didn't have an explanation for them.

 

'And why did you need to go and blow out both of those windows at my club? What kind of theatrics were those?' Hatori asked.

 

'Your club? When did you get into the real estate business?' Felix said, avoiding questions until he had to answer them was his specialty.

 

Hatori waved one hand around his office to remind Felix that he had been given a promotion and an exasperated look on Hatori's face told him he shouldn't need to remind him of this and that his stalling tactics were obvious and boring. Who knew how much land Hatori's company owned. For that matter, who knew how much land Felix's company owned. Felix certainly didn't know the answer to either of those question and had a mind to ask Matt to look it up for him but figured that might be too much of an insult for Hatori to ignore.

 

'Well?' Hatori asked, waiting on Felix. Felix knew Hatori didn't care about the answer, it wasn't what Hatori was looking to gain from this meeting. No, Hatori wanted to make Felix feel small and was doing a good job of it. He wanted to show Felix that he was bigger than him now and Hatori could get Felix to do whatever he wanted since he was a much bigger fish in their very large pond. Felix didn't like feeling meaningless to people especially when he had been meaningful to those people just a little while before. And so, as a last act of defiance, he gave Hatori a meaningless answer.

 

'I did it to boost my guy’s spirits.' Felix answered. Maybe that was true. Felix wasn't sure exactly why he had continued hitting Shinji for so long. Maybe there was some paternal protection he had for Martin that made him angry enough to do what he did but Felix doubted that. If Felix had to guess, it was probably because it had been so long since he had actually gotten into a fight, a lopsided fight sure but still a fight, that he couldn't help take advantage of the situation. Oh well, that was done and now he would see what the fall out would be. Felix looked up to see if his first answer would appease Hatori. From Hatori's frown it didn't look like that key had fit.

 

'You wanted to boost your guy’s spirits?' Hatori repeated Felix's answer as if it was the most foul words that he had ever heard and that he had to try them himself just to be sure that they were indeed that bad and Felix had honestly given that as his reason.

 

'Yup.' Felix acknowledged. In for a penny, in for a pound Felix thought.

 

'This ' Hatori looked at a piece of paper on his desk 'Martin Prescott really means that much to you and your company?' Hatori asked, adding the company part to remind Felix that the implications from tonight did not just effect him alone.

 

Felix considered this. Sure Martin's idea was interesting and a lot of money had been put behind it since there was a lot of money to be made from capitalizing on the idea. But would his company really go to bat for Martin and his satellite idea if Hatori's company came down hard on them? Felix doubted it. As much protection as his company provided, Felix knew their first concern was their bottom line and if Martin's invention didn't outweigh the loss Hatori's organization could inflict, Felix's bosses would have little recollection of a scientist in their employ named Martin Prescott.

 

But Hatori didn't know that. Well maybe he did, Hatori's organization probably had the same policy with it's workers but Hatori couldn't be certain that Martin was expendable so Felix decided to play this lie for all it was worth.

 

'That's right Hatori. If you guys had actually come and talked to us instead of sending one of your men to accost and hurt our investment, we could have avoided all of this and probably formed a very profitable deal around it. I'm sure you had a man in on the conference today. You know the kind of money that is out there in this arena. Hell, it might be even more money than we think is there. And it could have been shared by the both of us. As it is?' Felix trailed. That's right, I can attack your bottom line as well, even if I can't back it up. And Felix's point wasn't without merit. This wouldn't have been the first collaboration the two companies would have worked on together for their mutual benefit. Someone must have really screwed the pooch on this one to leave Hatori's company out of it. Felix wondered who was going to loose their job over this one and hoped it wouldn't be him. Felix wondered if things went well here, he wouldn't have to worry about himself for awhile.

 

Hatori seemed to consider this. Moving up in their respective companies meant that you became much more concerned with the companies bottom line since now your position and income was directly effected by the fluctuations of that line. If Felix had to guess, loosing out on this deal would be like a category five earthquake for Hatori's new job. Felix smiled to himself.

 

Finally Hatori said 'I'll concede that our tactics were a bit overzealous in regards to the energy satellite network and you have my company’s apologies in that regard.' Felix nodded his head in acceptance 'But there still remains the issue of such a brazen attack on one our assets. I'm afraid it is not something I can easily brush aside.' Hatori left that hanging and Felix knew things were going to be alright. He had heard that line before. It was usually followed by several hours of loud negotiations but in the end, if Felix played his cards right he and Hatori would both be able to return to their masters and report a success.

 

Felix leaned back in his chair and cracked his knuckles in front of him. It was Felix's favorite part of a meeting, the negotiation. Maybe it was because it was the closest the thing would come to actually aggression and interest to Felix. 'So, where do you want to start?' Felix opened with.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw briefly a flash and than Jim fall to the floor. At first, Felix wasn't sure if Jim had even moved since the man was wearing all black in a darkly lit foyer and Jim was laying a little lopsided against the glass between the two rooms. But than Matt burst through the glass door, dived to the floor as a silent pop barely missed him and pushed a chair in front of the glass door. Outside, gravity overcame Jim's body and he started falling sideways which let Felix know all to well what was happening.

 

Turning back, Felix was relieved that Hatori wasn't holding a gun on him but knew it was only a few seconds till several other men would be. Felix's eyes darted around the room looking for some other way out besides the long jump to the concrete below but came up empty. Felix could feel Matt trying to pull him down below cover but Felix refused his pleas. Felix dared just a few seconds of looking at Hatori. They didn't say anything to each other but the message was clear. Hatori's company did not want a negotiation. They wanted it all.

 

Spinning on his heal, Felix grabbed Matt's shoulder and headed for the large window's overlooking the Tokyo skyline. Grabbing Hatori's award, Felix threw it full force into what he hoped were not reinforced windows. To his relief, the award or ash tray sailed right through the center of the window, bringing down the entire slate of glass a few moments after it. Three seconds later Felix and Matt were out the window with the ash tray, each of them plummeting to the ground beneath.

 

Unfortunealty for Hatori's award, it did not have a small parachute built into the lining of it's jacket like Felix and Matt did. At the time, Felix had thought it ridiculous and just a little bit too James Bondish to put something as needless as parachute into standard issue company clothes but at that moment, he was glad someone, somewhere had been smarter than himself. A couple of zips past his shoulder and ear, told Felix that bulletproof jackets were not mandatory and that he and Matt were still in grave danger.

 

To emphasize this, Matt let out a grunt as a random bullet connected with his body.

 

'Are you hit?' Felix called over his shoulder, which was a stupid question but whose really answer would be where was he hit.

 

'Yeah but just a graze in the shoulder.' Matt said between gritted teeth from behind him. Felix had been shot more than he cared to remember and did not want to relive that kind of pain. Tucking their arms down, Felix and Matt reduced their parachutes resistance and increased their speed of velocity downwards. After a few more seconds, Felix stopped hearing silent popping noises and breathed a sigh of relief.

 

On the ground there was probably half a dozen men waiting for them, Felix knew, but that was still a couple hundred feet below him. There was still plenty of time to avoid that and Felix was already chalking up this escape as a success. Indeed, Felix was already thinking about his next move in this new chess game that Hatori had started in his office. His company was at war, whether Felix or his company wanted to be or not. But that was okay.

 

Felix liked being at war.

 

.22.

 

Martin sat at a lunch table in the company cafeteria, idly doodling on his tablet, his forgotten lunch infuriated that Martin had not given it more attention. Martin crossed out a few random equations he had written for fun while pseudo eating his lunch. Martin leaned back in his chair tilting it back on it's metal legs coming dangerously close to falling over but saving himself just in time from a painful and embarrassing fall. Unconsciously balancing the chair at just the right angle, Martin looked out the window the window at the courtyard. The cafeteria was one of the only places in the entire complex that had window views. Even the executives had offices below ground but they were hardly in them to begin with or so Martin heard.

 

Scanning the ridgeline, Martin stopped on the artificial waterfall that had been built there two years after the black out. It was setup to provide backup power to the complex in case there was another massive electrical failure. Martin's bosses would not spare a pinch of earnings on a project if it meant trying something new and risky but they would sink the entire company’s portfolio into a pound of prevention to keep their other projects going. This kind of policy often put Martin in an awkward position of trying to invent something new and yet invent something profitable and it was not a challenge he cared to add to his current roster.

 

Martin shook his head. He shouldn't be focusing on waterfalls right now he had important work that needed his attention although at the moment it was the furthest from his mind. It was all busy work that Martin despised the most about working for this company. Writing up cost estimates, resources estimates, manpower estimates and the dozen or so other estimates Felix needed from him every week or every other week were truly tiresome. Martin had considered writing a random number generator that just spit out numbers that would be reasonable but Felix had warned him against that.

 

'What if it spits out a two for the number of people who can work on the project. Or a sixty for your entire budget? And you know they would hold you to it. Well, at least for awhile just to make you suffer and to do it right the next time.' Felix had told him.

 

Martin had to acknowledge those were some valid problems. Sure, Martin was confident he could limit the randomness to numbers that would be both acceptable to him and to the executives but he guessed it was better to be safe than sorry. But the problem of trying to control randomness had gotten stuck in his head that night and Martin had spent six hours hacking out some useless and some brilliant programs to generate his random estimates. Angela had not been happy with him that night.

 

And than there was the process improvement push by management to have Martin write down all the steps necessary to get something done. In principal, sure this was not a bad idea. If Martin planned enough ahead it was possible to avoid unnecessary work which Martin was always a fan of. And if say the unforeseen happened and Martin wasn't able to continue work on the project, well the next person would have a good stepping stone to start from.

 

But Martin rejected this, primarily because like any academic he guarded his work with almost irrational paranoia but also because it created a lot of extra work for Martin to do even the most simplest of tasks. Martin had wanted to add a neat feature to the ground control stations for the satellites that would allow an operator to not only interact with his satellite but to get information about the other satellites that were nearby so they could avoid unnecessary shifting of satellites. But than he had to write a process focus report on the idea. Than a process quality control report on the idea. And than a process to maintain the feature for later on. By that point Martin had forgotten why he was even interested in the idea and had completely given up on it and he still had five more reports to go through before being allowed to work on the idea that would have only taken him several hours to finish in the first place.

 

'Process improvement my ass.' Martin had thought and thought again to himself as he sat in the cafeteria 'Gives some no brain ivy league wank whose ridden their parents coat tails all the way into this companies corner office a reason to suck air and take home a paycheck although they probably don't even need it. Real world experience his father probably told him. Bah, real world waste of my time is what it is.' Martin grumbled. Martin did not come from a wealth family, was only moderately self made and he had gone to and Ivy league school.

 

Looking down at his tablet in frustration, Martin reread the problem he had come to the mess hall to work on. It was such a stupid problem too Martin thought to himself, idly playing with his potatoes which were getting the utmost satisfaction of being the first choice of Martin's hungry intentions. Like the operator needs to be able to save their settings when they leave the terminal. That wasn't interesting, that was mundane! Why was he, Martin working on the mundane? Martin shook his head and tossed his tablet on the table. His plate of potatoes was forlorn that Martin had not tried a single bite of it's rather bland and depressing offerings.

 

'Carefully with that thing, you'll break it.' Fareed said walking up to the table with Simon following behind. Martin raised him an eyebrow to ask Fareed why he thought Martin was in danger of breaking his tablet in the first place. 'Sorry.' apologized Fareed 'I'm still stuck in nineties technology. If you did something like that to an old laptop it wouldn't be your friend afterwards.' Fareed said with a smile. Fareed was sixty nine, the oldest of the group but still sharp as a tack at least when it came to propulsion systems. Simon was younger than Martin by three years but was a bright learner who often had Martin on the ropes trying to maintain his dominance on the project which was just the way Martin liked it. Martin grunted his understanding and than went back to looking out the window. Fareed and Simon were used to these kinds of manners or lack there of from Martin and just placed their trays on the table and sat down.

 

'What you working on?' asked Simon, peering down at Martin's unfazed tablet. Martin didn't respond so Simon read the first few lines of the change request ticket that was open on the screen. 'Customizable user options? What's the point of that right now? We barely have screens for them to access let alone change the color of.' Felix echoed Martin's frustrations.

 

'Why do they have you working on that?' Fareed asked tucking into his meat pie. Martin's lunch looked on at the other two that were receiving so much loving attention with envy.

 

'I don't know, we probably don't have anyone who has time to work on it. We only have a dozen people working on the project and if I remember my last labor estimate report correctly 'Martin put his hand to his forehead in a mock fortune teller impersonation which got a laugh from the other two. 'they have all been assigned to the system back end work or the receiver modifications which I suppose is a better use of their time than this.' Martin said bringing his hand down on the tablet who took the strike in stride.

 

'I heard, after the reception your speech got in Tokyo, that management has put in a big push to get us more people to work on our project. Might even get one or two to take that problem off your hands Martin.' Simon joked, waving his spoon at Martin who wasn't in the mood for it. More people Martin thought to himself. Great, that's just what I need. More reports and more estimates. Martin sank in his chair as if all the new hires were now sitting on his shoulders.

 

'It's because our project has all the money these days.' Fareed said which was true. As much as Martin complained about the companies management techniques and their choices in expenditures, enough of the powers that be had been able to grasp Martin's proposal long enough to understand the huge amount of earning potential behind it. That's not what Martin had pitched to them during his meeting with them but rather it was the pitch Felix had waved in front of their noses afterwards when Martin had left.

 

Simon shrugged 'Still means we can offload some of this garbage on some of the newer guys though.'

 

'You really think so?' Martin began, getting ready to go into a rant 'You really think adding more people to this project will really make it go faster. Never heard of Occam's Razor have we? Are they leaving that out of the curriculum in college now?' Martin spewed. Martin wasn't above taking a free shot at Simon's education not that there was an problem with it but turnabout was fair play.

 

'No, it just means more useless work. And the only problems I'll have time to actually work on are trivial crap like this.' Martin said tapping his tablets screen which caused it to change images and check his e-mail which told Martin he had four new messages asking him about status. Martin had to resist the urge to throw the tablet through the large glass wall that separated Martin from the outdoors. Controlling himself and figuring even the tablet couldn't withstand a hundred foot drop over the cliff Martin decided against it. Although maybe the tablet could? Martin made a mental note to find an old tablet and throw it off the cliff with Fareed and Simon sometime tonight when everyone else had gone home at a reasonable hour.

 

'Well, that's what you have me here for Martin.' Felix said from behind him.

 

'Oh yes, the great and powerful middle management god Felix. How great for you to finally make it back here from your extended stay in Tokyo. How was your little vacation anyway? Did your "business meeting" run long perhaps?' Martin fumed over his shoulder but the looks on Fareed's and Simon's faces and the fact that they had both stopped eating told him he had better turn around before going into another round of verbal spars.

 

'You look like shit Felix.' Martin murmured, shocked as Fareed and Simon as he took in Felix's beaten down appearance. Felix didn't look like he was hurt but the way he was holding himself told the three men that Felix had not enjoyed his Tokyo vacation.

 

'Yeah thanks Martin, I figured as much.' Felix said easing himself into a chair. The three other men could hear the sounds of bones grating against each other which Felix confirmed with a strained grimace on his face.

 

'Want me to get you anything sir?' Simon asked getting up from his chair, his food forgotten. Whether it was from genuine compassion or Simon's desire to rise in the company, Martin didn't know, but he was glad Simon had said something. At least one of them didn't lack social graces. Martin thought he would have asked. Sooner or later.

 

'Just a glass of orange juice and maybe a bagel with some cream cheese on it if they have any.' Felix half ordered over his shoulder as Simon ran off in an instant to track down Felix's food. 'That's a good kid.' Felix added as Simon left earshot. 'You could learn a thing or two from him Martin.' Martin just nodded his head in acknowledgement, still a little stunned.

 

Felix leaned back, a few cricks in his back making popping noises that sent screams down Fareed and Martin's spines. Maybe those were creaky joints from old age crying out but if the two men had to guess, Felix didn't have those pains before his trip to Tokyo.

 

'Are you alright Felix?' Martin asked and than followed it with 'When did you get back?'

 

'Just a couple of hours ago. We got taken directly here after our plane landed. It's been a very long day.' Felix answered pulling himself closer to the table so he could lean on it.

 

Fareed and Martin looked at each other, wanting to ask a dozen questions each of Felix but fearing that it was Felix and you weren't quite sure where the boundary was when it came to information about his business or himself. Martin took the first stab since he felt Felix and he had made a certain bond in Tokyo and maybe that might be enough for Felix to open up.

 

'So,' Martin began, fumbling for words. Felix gave him an 'are you kidding me' look from under his tilted head. 'Are you alright Felix?' Martin repeated since he didn't think he had gotten an answer the first time.

 

'Yeah I'm fine. This is nothing. Hurts a little more now that I'm a bit older but it's nothing I haven't gone through before. Now three years ago. That was some pain.' Felix responded, nodding his head in pain as he remembered those years. He grimaced a smile whose message Martin couldn't begin to fathom.

 

'What happened three years ago?' Fareed blurted out, unable to hold back his curiosity. This was the most open Felix had been in, well since either of them had even knew Felix. Now was the time to strike if they ever hoped to pierce the veil of Felix's life.

 

'Eh, some business in Venezuela. I don't want to get into it though.' Felix said with a wink that Martin and Fareed both took as a hint to leave it alone but to do a search for incidents in Venezuela three years ago as soon as they got a second. Sure, most of what Felix did wouldn't be in your ordinary search systems but than Martin and Fareed didn't just have any ordinary system to search from. Martin had to resist from tapping on his tablet a few times to conduct that very same search.

 

Simon returned with a tray holding Felix's cream cheese bagel and a large cup of orange juice. If Simon wasn't trying to kiss up to Felix he sure was doing a lousy job of showing it or not showing it, Martin noted. Martin wasn't a particularly competitive man and he really didn't care if others passed him in the office hierarchy as long as his budget was always approved and his oversight was limited.

 

Martin wasn't sure if he could handle having to give status reports to Simon but that was another thought for another day. He'd have to talk it over with Angela when he got home. He was pretty sure she would tell him that he needed to be more assertive and take more control of his future. She didn't push him up the corporate ladder but she definitely held it for him to rise up or, Martin feared, fall down. Maybe if Angela knew more about his job or maybe if she knew more about Felix's job, she wouldn't be so quick to remind Martin to get his recommendations in on time.

 

As Martin looked at Felix he chewing on a small bite of his bagel, he wondered if he really wanted Felix's job? No definitely not. Martin remembered Felix from Tokyo. Martin would never be that kind of person. Maybe, if a whole gambit of variables in his life were different, perhaps he could have been but in his current state Martin could not bring himself to fire someone let alone beat someone to within an inch of their life. Could he be something similar? Something with a window? That would be nice.

 

'Could you guys give us a second guys.' Felix asked to Fareed and Simon who quickly nodded, told Martin they would be down in the lab if they were looking for them, and than headed over to the elevator to take them several floors below. Martin watched them leave, looked down at his tablet, tapped it a few times, sending out the half finished status reports he had been working on before Felix had shown up out and saving his work to the central servers in the building. Than he looked up at Felix who was looking right back at him.

 

'Have a nice trip?' Martin tried to start with a joke but from the blank response on Felix's face, Martin knew that he wasn't amused. Martin squirmed in his chair.

 

Felix sighed 'Sit up Martin, everything's alright. Don't go getting all nervous on me again. I don't have many pep talks still in me least of all right now.' Martin did as he was told, his back protesting the sudden change in it's curve.

 

'Look.' Felix began, letting Martin focus his attention on him while finishing his orange juice before he continued 'As you can probably guess, things did not go all that well in Japan. I can't tell you the details of what happened but suffice it is to say, we now have some major competition on our hands. Competition that does not play fair or clean.

 

But this is okay. We don't have to play fair or clean either. And no, don't give me that look Martin. I know what you're thinking and you can save your hypocritical holier than thou attitude till I'm done. You and I both know the company we work for and we both know what it takes to get ahead in this environment. Shit, I mean I don't think I have to remind you how you came to work here do I?' Felix said with a glare that caused Martin to look at the ground as he shuffled his feat.

 

'But this okay. Like I've told you before, we have people who spend all day just thinking of contingency plans and fortunately this happens to be one of them.' Felix had been surprised by this when he had gotten back to headquarters. There, waiting on his desk before he was whisked off to a meeting of his own, was a file outlining the bullet points some guy in a room on sub floor fifteen had meticulously worked out for the outright attack by Hatori's company on Felix's. As he had walked to the meeting, Felix had realized it wasn't that surprising for this file to exist and as he took his seat in the conference room he realized it was even fairly foolish of him to think that he and Hatori could keep the peace between their two companies. Thank god for someone thinking for you Felix thought as he began his debriefing with his bosses.

 

'Things are going to get a little hectic around here for you Martin. I know we have a busy schedule coming up and I know you can handle it but I would like you to consider taking up residence here at the office. We have some nice apartments on sub floor three. I've stayed there a few times and it's not as bad as you think.' Felix said, knowing the reaction he was going to get from Martin.