Jack Of All Trades (Erotica)

“Y-yes sir.”

“Meet us at his door.” The line went dead.

The Major nodded to her team and they rushed across the road and up the street, the Altarians at their heels. They descended the stairs and rushed into the open basement door until they were all inside.

The team stood before a small, elegantly dressed older woman with dark skin. She was wearing a sad smile on her face. She opened her arms and pulled Cha’Risa into a hug and the big woman began to cry. An equally dark skinned man with short grey hair stepped into the room after locking the door they’d entered. He pulled Nann into a hug as well. Maxim and Leo looked lost and the older man shook their hands once he released Nann.

“I know you don’t have much time so speak with Ray’s construct and we’ll get you on your way. You have some murderers to expose,” the man growled.

“Ray’s construct?” Nann asked.

“Hello Nann.”

The woman spun and shrieked as she saw Ray looking at her from the display mounted on the wall.

“Ray?” the Major asked.

“Sorry Major, this is just a poor imitation of me. I’ve been uploading copies of my memories and personality matrix at intervals for years and incorporated that into a rather clever AI algorithm I wrote. It was triggered to be activated upon my death. It isn’t sentient but it’s as close as I could get and as current a copy of me as I could make. It knows all my tricks for hacking and cyber espionage. I assume you are looking for my data cache?”

“Yes!”

“You won’t have time to get it from this location. You’re going to have company in about three minutes. Point your comm at the screen. I’ll give you the alternate location. Then you have to go!”NôvelDrama.Org content rights.

The Major pointed her comm at the display and it beeped as it received the coordinates.

“Go! You have less than three minutes. Dad, send them downstairs.” Ray’s simulation barked then disappeared.

“Right! Follow me!” the old man said and rushed out of the room towards the back of the house. The team followed and he led them into a small office against the back wall. He pushed the throw rug aside and lifted a trap door. There was a metal spiral staircase descending below the floor. Gee and Bal immediately rushed forward and dashed down the stairs with mini flashlights in their hands. The team followed with the Major going last.

“We will get them sir,” she said.

“I know. Make them pay,” he said seriously. She nodded and rushed down the stairs.

As she descended she heard a rumbling and looked up to see a large metal plate moving into place over the staircase. At the base of the stairs was a long tunnel leading east. Gee and Bal had already set off. The moment she arrived the others ran down the tunnel. There was a steel door at the end and Gee and Bal had it open. A wide tunnel ran north and south.

“North for 1 kilometer then we exit. Let’s go!” the Major said glancing at her comm. Ray’s simulation left her instructions as well as the address for the next data cache location. Tokyo? Shit.

They made it to the staircase leading up and found themselves in a maintenance shed. Nann cracked the door and peered out as a police cruiser raced by down the alley. “Geezus, we’ve stirred up a rat’s nest.”

“The old van in garage #24 across the lane belongs to Ray. The lock combo is 38-24-36,” the Major read out.

Nann snorted. “Aren’t those your measurements, Major?”

The large warrior blushed and scowled at Nann who just laughed. She looked outside again. “Clear.”

She moved across the lane and undid the lock. Once the large garage door was open the rest of the group hustled across and climbed into the back doors of the van. There were two benches along the walls with handholds, obviously designed for a commando team. Nann rushed up and took the driver’s seat while the Major settled into the passenger’s seat.

“Hello again!” Ray’s voice popped out of the dash and Nann jumped with a little squeak. The Major smirked at her while Nann’s face burned.

“The windows of this van project and image of an elderly Hispanic couple so just drive sedately and you shouldn’t have any trouble. If you do have trouble the van is armored and supercharged. The red button on the dash under the flip plate should only be used as a last resort.”

“Paranoid much?” Nann said.

“You’re saying this now?” Ray’s voice asked.

Nann looked at the Major with a disturbed expression. It was too much like Ray, it was making her forget he was dead.

They got underway and followed Ray’s advice, keeping their speed down and driving timidly. They made it out of the neighborhood and on towards the extraction point.

Ray’s voice cut back in. “How do you plan to get to the next location?”

“Gate,” the Major said.

“I’m reading that all Gates are in lockdown.” Ray said.

“We have our own,” Nann offered.

“Really? That’s great! How close to it are we?” Ray asked.

“Three kilometers, why?” the Major asked.

“It’s time to hit the red button. Like now!” Ray yelled and Nann flipped the cover and pounded the button. There was a huge flash outside the van and vehicles all around them including the two police cruisers racing up behind them, lost their lift fields in the massive EMP burst. Nann slammed the accelerator down and the van shot forward, destroying the illusion of its elderly driver.

She poured on the speed, careening through the city streets, bumping other vehicles to add chaos to the road behind them. Twice she had to make radical course changes to avoid the police blockades.

“Nann, take the next right then a hard left into the first alley. Get to the end and the alley across the main road has our Gate.” Cha’Risa called out.

She swung them to the right and barely dodged and oncoming police cruiser which spun in place and took up pursuit down the alley Nann shot them into.

“OK, time for me to take over. Get into the back and strap in, fast!” Ray called out. Nann and the Major exchanged a quick look then unbuckled and jumped between the seats to buckle themselves in with the others. They grabbed the hand holds as a metal panel slammed down between the driver’s compartment and the back throwing them all into darkness.

The van accelerated towards the roadway ahead when a police cruiser skidded to a halt at the far end, blocking their exit.

There was a loud pop in the back of the van and suddenly everyone was encased in impact gel. The van’s nose dipped to grind against the pavement when the back cabin exploded upwards in a ballistic arc over the cruiser, over the road, and into the alley beyond. The compartment crashed down with a mighty boom and tumbled end over end until it just… disappeared. A brick wall suddenly snapped into place where they’d tumbled only moments before.

The badly dented metal compartment finally came to rest on a field of sand and rocks. It was night where they’d emerged and the closest man made light source was a very dry three day walk to the east.

The two Tik moved to the wreckage and using their powerful tentacles they carefully peeled back the metal walls. The moment the external pressure was removed the gel began to fracture and dissolve.

Maxim and Leo burst free gasping for breath. While the gel was porous enough to breathe in it did trigger claustrophobic reactions.

They looked around in shock until their eyes adjusted to the moonlight.

Major Ash and Nann broke free next and assisted the Altarians who both seemed dazed. Once they were freed they found a flat space on the ground and laid down. The Tik scanned them for injury but found them to be just badly shaken and disoriented.

“Where are we?” Maxim asked.

“Australian outback,” one of the Tik offered.

“Our next destination is in Tokyo but the instructions say we can’t arrive before 9PM,” the Major sighed.

“Major Ash, we will need time to recharge as the Gate we had to rapidly alter consumed a large quantity of our energy. We can reach sufficient charge by 8PM local time.”

“OK… but there isn’t exactly anyplace close by to plug in,” she gestured around them.

“There is plenty of sunlight. We will shut down into maintenance mode and deploy our collectors. This is why it will take until 8PM,” it replied. She nodded and walked over to the bent open van compartment.

“Maxim! Leo! Help me flip this beast upside down. This will be our shelter from the sun today.”

The two Tik also lent a tentacle or two and the makeshift cave came into being. It wasn’t huge but they would be sheltered from the sun. They could take turns sleeping on the ground three at a time while the others sat in the open ends keeping watch under an awning made from the roof’s sheet metal, torn and bent into shape by the Tik.

“Major.” Gee called out weakly.

The large woman knelt down beside the Altarian.

“I would like to request that the next time such a means of travel is decided upon, we get thrown from the vehicle first.” Gee said with a wobbling voice.

“Seconded.” Bal croaked.

The Major grinned down at the dizzy agents. “If ever we find ourselves in that situation again I will personally leap from the back door with you both in my arms.”

Gee patted her knee and slumped to the ground waiting for the world to stop spinning.

Cha’Risa stood up and joined Nann at the side of their shelter.

“Now for our next trick all we need to do is endure a day in the outback with no water,” the tall red head said quietly. She shared a look with the Major.

It was going to be a long day.