Chapter 14

“Those are the main points that Maribel and I discussed, Kevin, and here are your copies of my replies to the questions that her committee sent you over the past year or so,” I said.

“Maribel said that for the next year or two, she will have future questions routed to you, and will expect me to reply through you. That will change once I have a Twixt System in place. Maribel and I did this first set of responses to her questions this way, so we could work out any problems between the two of us.”

“Give me a few minutes to go through these replies, Doug, and make sure I understand the current situation.”

While Kevin was reading and thinking about my replies, I called up the list of topics on my computer that Cindy had given me to discuss with Kevin.

“These responses are clear to me, Doug. However, I do have one question. Once you have your Twixt System operational, will Maribel continue to send her questions and requests to me, or will she send them directly to you?”

“I don’t know, Kevin. It seems as if she would send them directly to me. Do you have any reason for her to send them through you?”

“No way, Doug! The sooner I quit being your middleman, the happier I will be. I do have to admit, though, being the middleman is far more interesting than most of my Guild activities; but the extra work this requires is more effort than I want to expend. It’s impacting some of my other Guild activities more than I like.

“However, once she starts routing everything to you directly, I would like for you to pay me a visit occasionally and keep me informed. I know most of what will be happening will not be official Guild business, but I am curious about your efforts as her Ambassador. Your interaction with the D-Hoppers that travel to Earth will be part of my business, too. The Guild may be able to support you better if I am kept informed of everything that’s going on.”

“No problem, Kevin. I have enjoyed our chats. Your perspective and the knowledge you’ve shared with me has been very helpful, not to mention your contacts. The way I see it, I will need to interface with the other Guilds. You will be especially helpful in that. Their Guild members may want to travel to Earth and that means our Guild’s D-Hoppers will be providing transportation for them and the products they want to sell and buy. Our D-Hoppers’ compliance with my Ambassadorial policies will help to simplify my duties on Earth. Once a trader checks-in with the Embassy and goes through my briefing, I doubt they will create problems for my staff.

“I expect that we will have a problem with a few rogue D-Hoppers and traders, but the police officers manning the Trade Check Point should be able to handle them. If we apprehend someone violating our policies, my authority as Ambassador will allow me to prosecute any Multiverse citizen that violates the Multiverse’s laws governing trade activities. Sereine Tatting and I discussed these things while we were in quarantine a couple of weeks ago, and have made plans for handling those eventualities.”

“I don’t recall hearing about you being in quarantine, Doug. What happened?”

“We were looking for a new place for staging our arrival from Earth, and our departure to Earth. We found what appeared to be an abandoned storage shelter. When we opened it, we found the body of a D-Hopper inside, and we immediately resealed the shelter. Since we didn’t know his cause of death, we decided it would be best to report to a decontamination station. We took the shelter with us, and spent a week in quarantine while they determined his cause of death and found that we hadn’t picked up any form of contagion. All in all, it wasn’t an experience I look forward to repeating, but Sereine and I were able to discuss many topics, and do a lot of planning while we were together.

“The main thing I wanted to discuss with you, Kevin, is the information that I will need to provide to our Guild members, and to the members of other Guilds, regarding travel to Earth and staying there to trade. I know we have talked about that in the past, but I am to the point where I need to start putting together a briefing paper for distribution to the Guilds, and to start putting together a presentation that will be given to any first time visitors that come to Earth. Once I have a first draft of these documents, will you be able to review them for me?”

“Sure, Doug, I would be happy to do that. I am certain that several of the local Guild Masters would be willing to help me with the review effort. If we do this the right way, you should be able to develop some good will with the other Guilds. If they have some input to your policies, and understand why the policies exist; I am certain they will be quite willing to back you, if you need to enforce the policies when a violation does occur.

“I seem to recall you mentioning that you were going to have Sereine find a couple of penal planets in Earth’s universe that you can use if it becomes necessary for you to sentence someone to a penal world. How is that effort going, and have you given any consideration to temporarily disabling or permanently burning out the D-Hop ability of a D-Hopper that violates your policies?”

“Sereine told me that she thinks that she may have found two planets, but is still evaluating them. I haven’t given incapacitating a D-Hopper a lot of thought. I’ll have to discuss it with Sereine. I did find a doctor who will be returning with me this trip, to set up a medical facility at the Embassy. I would expect that the police manning the Trade Check Point would administer the medication necessary for temporarily neutralizing a Hopper’s D-Hop ability. I expect that the Embassy will need to make arrangements, if it becomes necessary to permanently burn out a person’s D-Hop ability. I suppose we could have our doctor take care of that necessity, should the need arise. Will you need me to contact you to inform the Guild that it was necessary to burn out someone’s D-Hop ability?”

“No, Doug. That will not be necessary. When you forward your report of the trial and your judgment to the Multiverse Government, they will automatically notify the courts, and the Guilds. Since I seem to be your primary interface with our Guild’s Headquarters, word of your actions will be made known to me; although advance notice might be nice, so I will know what to expect.”

“While I’m thinking of it, would you happen to have documents similar to what I will need to develop for the Guilds, from another Provisional World that I could use as a model or outline for my documents?”

“Yes, I do. Give me a few minutes and I’ll do a search, to see what would be best for you.”

While Kevin was on his computer searching the Guild’s records, I made a note to create an action item to have Misty obtain the medication necessary for inhibiting, and burning out, the D-Hop ability. Kevin was still busy, so I reviewed my list of topics. I only had six minor items left to discuss with Kevin.

Kevin handed me a data chip containing documents he thought would be helpful, and we finished discussing the items I had for him. Before I left, we talked about the wedding that was only three days away. Kevin and his wife were looking forward to attending. I hadn’t met Kevin’s wife, but from the hologram of her he had on his desk, she was not an exceptionally attractive woman. My opinion of course was based on my sense of beauty. Kevin probably thought she was gorgeous.

After returning to the Trinity and eating an early lunch, I commed my parents’ home to see if my ladies planned to join me in Cinnity before the wedding and to find out the latest on what I needed to do for the wedding between now and then.

“Afternoon, Doug. How is everything going?”

“That’s what I am calling to find out, Dad. The last I heard, Mom and my ladies were off to a dress fitting. Have they filled you in since then?”

“Doug, you should know women don’t keep men informed of such things unless they need us to do something. So, No, they haven’t kept me informed. But I have overheard a few things. I think they are planning to head to Cinnity sometime tomorrow to take care of the final arrangements, there. I think that’s one of the main things they plan to do tomorrow.

“Don’t tell anyone I reminded you, but they are going to be very upset with you if you haven’t had a final fitting for the suit you plan to wear at the wedding. I recommend that you do it this afternoon, even if you have to cancel something else. Having to listen to five irritated women grumbling about disorganized men is not pleasant! I would prefer to not listen to it. I can recall my forgetting that little detail, and having to listen to your mother and her mother grousing at me while I had a final fitting. It wasn’t pleasant and I suspect five women would be even worse, and your mother will probably grouse at me about you not remembering that little detail.”

“Thanks, Dad. I had forgotten that, so I will do it as soon as we finish talking. Have you taken care of your own fitting check?”

“Oh, yes. I did that yesterday while your mother was out with your ladies. I forgot it for your sister’s wedding, so there is no way that I would forget that little detail for your wedding. Like I said, I don’t need to listen to your mother berating me for being a stupid man.”

When I finished talking with Dad, I headed to the Trinity’s Formal Fashion Center to have a final fitting. I didn’t think it was actually necessary, but the tailor insisted that the fall of the pants leg was all wrong for the shoes I planned to wear. He adjusted the hem, but I couldn’t see anything different once he finished. Hopefully, my ladies will approve of the alteration. If not, I will let him talk with them.

With that out of the way, I reviewed my mental list of what I needed to do before the ceremony. I had the rings and certificates permitting me to marry my two slaves, and all the other details that I could think of were complete. I even remembered to prepare an envelope with a gratuity for the minister. I put it, the certificates, and the rings in the left coat pocket of my suit; so I wouldn’t forget them on the day of the wedding. I might be allowed to survive if I forgot the gratuity, but God help me if I forgot the certificates and rings.

As far as I could tell, I was ready. I decided to warn Tom Hauser that Mom and ladies would be here tomorrow for a final check on the arrangements for the wedding and reception. It had been a while since I talked with him, so I decided to pay him a visit in his office instead of comming him.

“Good afternoon, Tom. I thought I would stop by and give you a heads up. I expect Mom and ladies will be in town tomorrow to check on the status of the wedding and reception arrangements. Hopefully everything is proceeding on schedule with no problems?”

“Yes, I have an appointment with them, Doug, and we are doing fine in that area. I talked with Jim Mahler this morning. The arrangements for all of the meeting rooms, flowers, decorations, food, music, and everything else are complete, and there are no foreseeable problems anticipated.

“What about hotel rooms, Tom, do you have enough reserved for the guests we anticipate?”

“Yes, we are good to go in that area, also. In the event some unexpected guests arrive, we have several additional rooms reserved. I have also made arrangements for any overflow of guests to be put up at one of the other local hotels. As far as I can tell, everything has been addressed and is on schedule.”

“That’s good to hear. Outside of the wedding, how are things going. Any further fallout from my encounter with Miss Shell?”

“No, after that bit with Tandra Nipar, I haven’t heard anything. However, I’m surprised that we haven’t heard from Miss Nipar since the time for the wedding is so close.”

“I suppose that Kendrick is responsible for that, Tom. After the run-in with Miss Shell, Kendrick issued a press release stating that I would be returning to Earth without marrying and that I had not set a date or made plans for getting married. All of that was true, as of the time he issued the press release. He also said he didn’t expect me to be married until sometime next year. I believe it was two days later that we met with you to make the wedding arrangements.”

“Yes, if we had not made the arrangement under a different name, someone on my staff would have mentioned your name in regard to the reservation, and the press would be sure to have found out. So far, Jim and I are the only ones who know who the reservation is actually for. So to go back to one of my previous questions, do you want the media informed of the wedding and reception?”

“I don’t want my wedding to become a public spectacle, Tom. I also want to keep my relationship with the journalists friendly, so I suppose we will have to let some of them attend. I can see three or four of the journalists that have been friendly toward me being given a private invitation for them and one cameraman. They need to be reserved in how they approach my other guests, my ladies, and me. I will have Kendrick get back to you with the reporters’ names and the limitations they must adhere to if they accept. I don’t think Tandra Nipar was aware that I did not want my engagement publicized, but she did do a very good job on the story she released. I suppose we should invite her. I’ll talk it over with Kendrick and since he knows the media better than I do. I will go with what he recommends.”

“All right, Doug. If you and Kendrick decide to invite the media, have him give me the details. I will handle the arrangements with the media representatives you want invited. I should let them know by tomorrow at the latest. That should give them an adequate amount of time to prepare. I will emphasize that the wedding is not to be revealed to anyone other than their editor. I will be sure to emphasize that if word gets out, the media outlet releasing the news will not be invited to future press conferences.”

“Sounds good to me, Tom. I think I will go find Kendrick, and discuss this with him.”

One of the nice things about having a bodyguard with me is that if I want to find someone, I ask my bodyguard where that person is. They put out a broadcast comm call and in just a few moments someone lets my bodyguard know where the person is. Oscar was with me today and in just a minute he let me know that Kendrick was in the restaurant eating a late lunch, so I joined him for a cup of coffee.

“How’s your day going, Kendrick?”

“Fine until you showed up, Doug. I can see that look in your face that means you have a job for me. Shelia was expecting me to take her shopping. Is this one of those drawn out tasks that will have me disappointing her?”

“Nah, nothing like that, Kendrick. This is just a simple matter that shouldn’t take you more than fifteen minutes to complete.”

“Okay, that means it will probably take at least thirty minutes, so what do you need me to do?”

“I was in Tom’s office and he reminded me that I hadn’t gotten back to him on whether we were going to invite the media. We talked about it briefly and I sort of decided that it might be a good idea to issue private invitations to four or five media representative who have been supportive and cameramen. What do you think about that idea?”

“Are you thinking of rewarding a few media representative for cooperating with us in order to encourage the others to improve their relations with us?”

“Now, Kendrick, do I look like the devious type of person that would do something like that?”

“Yes, you do, Doug, and it’s a good idea. I guess we devious scoundrels need to get busy and decide on who to invite.”

“Well, I was upset with Tamar Nipar for letting word of my engagement become public knowledge. But she did not know I wanted my engagement to be a secret, and she did handle that Eva Shell business very well. So I’m thinking of her as one of our invitees. I haven’t had enough to do with the media to pick others who are deserving candidates. Why don’t you pick three or four more and give Tom their names within the next hour. He said he would handle the rest, if we get the names to him by tomorrow and let him know of any limitations we wish to place on them. My only limitations are they treat knowledge of the event, place, and time as privileged information that’s not to be revealed to others and to be reserved toward my guests. If necessary, they can mention the nature of the event to their editor, but not the place and time.”

“All right, Doug. I think I will get Shelia to help me with this. She has been helpful with many of the things I’ve been doing for you, and she may have a media representative in mind that’s deserving of an invitation. Besides, with her involved, I shouldn’t get in trouble if it takes longer than you think it should.”

With that out of the way, I decided to look up my Earth guests and see how they were making out. I had asked Sereine, Sandy, Tammy, Mac, and his wife to try and keep them and the new people involved and entertained while my ladies and I were busy with the wedding details and other matters. I checked with Oscar and learned my visitors were scattered all over the hotel and city doing a variety of things. It sounded like they were enjoying themselves, so I decided to not interrupt them.

I suspected that Sandy, Carla, Fitz, and Andy would be doing something together. I knew that Sandy and Fitz were planning on marrying. Since we had arrived in the Multiverse, Carla and Andy were so close that you couldn’t slip a piece of paper between them. At least that’s what Kenneth told me and both Carla and Andy blushed when he let me know about how close they were. I expect the two of them will also be getting married fairly soon. It’s not that I am that observant, it’s that everyone but Sandy, Fitz, Carla, and Andy has been telling me that there was a double wedding on Earth in their near future.

When I asked, Oscar let me know that Harold and Samson were upstairs in their rooms, so I went looking for them.

“Afternoon, Doug, is there something that we can do for you?”

“Yes, several things actually.

“To start with, have you coordinated your security plans and efforts with those of the hotel and are you happy with the arrangements?”

Samson said, “Yes we have and everything looks good to us.”

“What about my guests’ security people? Have you contacted them and worked things out to their satisfaction also?

“Yes, we did that before we left Slave World. We integrated our efforts with the hotel’s people, and the plan is for your guests’ security people to integrate their efforts with ours after they arrive.”

“Okay. I just finished talking with Kendrick and we will be inviting four or five media representatives to cover the wedding. Is that going to affect your plans?”

Harold and Samson had a brief whispered conversation and then Samson said, “It might, depending on the specific people you invite. Doug, we have worked media events before and certain media representatives have given us problems in the past. We know we have to put up with whomever you invite, so we will just have to be more alert if you invite someone who is on our list of problem people.”

“I see. Kendrick is going to contact Tom in the next few minutes. Comm Kendrick now and review who he is planning to invite. If one of his invitees is on your problem list and you have serious problems with that person, tell Kendrick that I want that person omitted from the guest list. In fact, when you get back to Slave World, I want the two of you to give your problem list to Kendrick and discuss why you recommend those people be banned from my media events. Your job is difficult enough without Kendrick and me making it worse.”

Samson picked up the comm unit to call Kendrick, so Harold and I continued the conversation.

“Thanks, Doug,” Harold said. “We appreciate the consideration.”

“The next thing is that when I was at Sergei’s office yesterday, he asked about the threats against my life. Have we received any further threats?”

“No, sir, none since we last talked with you about the threats.”

“In talking with Sergei, he made it clear to me that I am what he called a predictable person, and that was a weakness in my security. He said I always go to the same places when I arrive in the Multiverse. If someone wanted to get to me, all they would have to do is watch these places. When they spot me at one of the places, then the person out to get me could alert several teams and they could be waiting for me at the other places.”

“Yes, sir, we are aware of that and intended to speak with you about your travel plans once we can figure out a way for you to meet with the people you need to see, without following that type of pattern. About the only way we can think of to protect you, is to have those people come to you instead of you going to them.”

“Okay, let’s talk about that later. Sergei also suggested that I set up a hiding place in case I am attacked. If I survive the initial assault, he thinks I should hop myself and anyone I can take with me to that place and hide there until the two of you think I can return safely.”

Samson said, “That’s a good suggestion, Doug. I think we should make it part of our security protocol. What do you think, Harold?”

“I like it, but I think we need to expand on it a bit. There are many factors that we need to consider: Length of Stay, Where to Stay, Support, Lodging, Meals, Contacts, Communication with Us, and others. Putting you somewhere with no support or backup is not acceptable to me.”

“Okay, guys. Put a basic plan together. On my next trip, we will sit down and go over these items. For now, is there anything you or any of my people need?”

“No, we’re fine for the moment, Doug. Samson and I are serving as a Central Control point, so we sit here in our rooms and keep tabs on everyone. If they need help, we dispatch someone. If we need something, we’ll let you or room service know.”

The next day my ladies and Mom showed up at the hotel. My room was their first stop, and the hello I received from my ladies was close to overwhelming. The only thing that stopped us from continuing it in the bedroom was the presence of Mom. I could tell from the lust in their eyes that they were willing, but it just seemed like the wrong thing for us to do. I could see Mom laughing to herself about my predicament. I almost decided to say the hell with it and take my ladies to bed; but, I didn’t do it. I think I would have found it too embarrassing to go to bed with my ladies with Mom in the next room.

I don’t know who was surprised the most that I had the fit of my suit checked by the hotel tailor; Mom or my ladies. They all believed that I needed a keeper to make sure I did everything that was necessary. I will have to privately thank Dad again for the reminder, when I get a chance. When I told them the tailor altered the hem of my pants, I was told to go put the suit and shoes on so they could verify that it fit properly. The tailor was lucky for they did not have a problem with his alteration. Of course as I said, I didn’t see any difference, so they may not have seen a difference either. After changing back into my regular clothes, I commed Tom’s office to make sure he was available, and I went with the ladies to his office. After exchanging greetings, Mom took control of the conversation.

“Good morning, Mr. Hauser. Doug’s ladies and I would like to go over the arrangements for the wedding to make sure everything will be ready.”

“Mrs. Smith, Jim Mahler is coordinating the event, and I spoke with yesterday morning. At that time all of the arrangements were completed or would be by the morning of the wedding. Is there a particular aspect of the plans that you wish to discuss?”

“No, I just wanted to check on each item. Would it be possible for me to speak with Mr. Mahler?”

Tom picked up his comm unit and commed Jim. After explaining what Mom wanted, he handed the comm unit to her. While she spoke to Jim we listened in on her side of conversation. A few minutes later she returned the comm unit to Tom and said, “Well, it sounds like everything is being taken care of and will be ready for the wedding.”

After thanking Tom for his time and effort, we returned to my room. Since I hadn’t seen my ladies for three days, I asked them what they had been doing for so long. For the next hour I received a detailed description of what was involved in preparing for a wedding. It was a far more detailed explanation than I was expecting or interested in hearing; but I had to appear interested, or they might think I wasn’t interested.

Don’t take it the wrong way, for I was interested, but not in that finely detailed of a description. For example, based on the detailed description of their dresses, I personally couldn’t see what difference it would make if their veils were cream or white. Both would be nice. However, I was smart enough to just listen. As a result, I didn’t get the ‘Look’ from Mom or from my ladies. See, despite what women say, we men can be trained.

Mom and my ladies had a few things to do later in the day, so I hopped them back to Willibald. Since I had Mom and Dad together, I took the opportunity to talk business with them. I quickly briefed them on what had been happening on Earth, and my future plans for trading on Earth. They informed me of what they had done regarding our trading venture while I had been gone. They also told me that they had more storage containers for me. We should be able to take all of the containers with us on our return trip. If nothing else, we could hop all of the containers to our new First Stop planet. If we couldn’t take everything with us on this trip, we could leave them there and take them with us when we returned from our next trip. We learned our lesson about overextending ourselves on our last trip.

We were in one of the busier stores in Cinnity’s downtown area when I noticed Sue covering her ears with her hands.

“Something wrong, Sue?”

“Not really. It’s just loud in here and it’s starting to give me a headache.”

I knew that the shot that Bill and Sue had received when they first came to Vora should still be effective. Perhaps the volume of so many people talking was more than the shot could deal with. It occurred to me that the reception would be even noisier and an extremely high volume of high frequency noise might cause trouble for all of my guests.

That afternoon I called Misty and she referred me to a doctor that specialized in hearing problems. I explained the problem Earth people had with high frequency tones. I was surprised to learn that many people in the Multiverse had similar problems when they were in large gatherings of people. The doctor told me to bring all of my people into his clinic the first thing tomorrow and he would fit everyone with a hearing volume control.

When I told him I had never heard of one, he explained that it worked similar to a comm unit’s volume control. One of its characteristics was to determine the distance to a noise source. There was an upper limit on the total noise allowed to reach the listener’s eardrum. When the noise level reached that maximum level, the hearing volume control attenuated distant noises and permitted nearby noises to pass with little or no reduction in volume. If the noise level was still too high, the nearby noise sources were attenuated, also. From now on, I would bring any newbies I brought to the Multiverse to this doctor for a volume control, instead of getting them a shot.

Over breakfast the next morning, we talked about our plans for the day. The ladies had appointments at the spa and beauty salon, after my guests’ doctor appointment. They needed to have their hair done, facials, manicures, pedicures, ash baths, and other things to prepare for the wedding tomorrow. This afternoon we would have the wedding rehearsal followed by dinner in the Trinity’s dining room.

After breakfast, I took all of my Earth guests to the doctor’s office to be fitted with hearing volume controls. I had been thinking of buying some extra hearing volume controls, but learned they had to be tuned to the user’s brain waves.

When we got back to the Trinity, all the ladies headed for the spa leaving us men by ourselves. Kendrick said, “A couple of days ago, I decided we men should spend some time getting ready also, so I made reservations for all of us at the spa. We need to be there in thirty minutes.”

After looking at the other guys, I said, “That’s a good idea, Kendrick. What treatments did you arrange for us?”

“Just the usual, Doug. We will all get haircuts, an ash bath, a massage, and a manicure.”

The other guys were nodding their heads or shrugging their shoulders in agreement, so I said, “Well, I suppose we need to head for the spa.”

By the end of our spa treatment, I was convinced that I had to add a spa to the Embassy design. My people, wives, and I deserve to be pampered a bit. It would probably by a favorite stop for any official guests we had at the Embassy who stayed with us overnight.

The wedding rehearsal started on time. We met in the meeting room where we would be married tomorrow, and the first thing that Churchman Roberts wanted was for us to satisfy his curiosity.