Chapter 3

Even as fast as the construction drones worked I would still be waiting another two weeks before the first freightliner would be ready for a test flight and even then a drone would be making that flight. There were a lot of detailed parts the construction drones had to make before fitting them together into a spaceship. Jawa had done me a huge favor in that he had harvested enough raw materials for me to build my first ship and stored them in the Spatial Distortion Chamber (SDC) he built for me. I only had to supply a few raw materials that he hadn't been able to come by and I was able to purchase most of them for relatively little cost.

Once the ship design was complete I worked with my team of AIs to develop a background story for my Island as well as a 'culture' to satisfy the anthropology and history buffs who would doubtless wish to learn about it. My AIs sifted through all of Earth's mythological stories and beliefs and suggested that I further develop my civilization using the story of Atlantis as a base from which to work from. Instead of the pretending that the enormous ship was a regular island, we'd say that it had been hidden from the other races of earth until such a time as we chose to reveal our presence.

The more I thought about using Atlantis as a cover story, the more I liked the idea — but there were a few rather large gaping holes. The first and foremost problem with the whole thing was that I was alone. A single person doesn't makeup an entire race. A single individual doesn't make a nation. While the drone construction teams were staying busy I was going to need to do a lot of recruiting.

If we made phenomenal progress on all fronts with very little in the way of delays or material shortages the earliest 'Atlantis' could appear would be about four months. Between now and then I would need to be out and about quite a bit and none of my clothing fit anymore. Vargas was able to fit me with some good clothes but I didn't want the replicator units tied up on such a trivial task right now so I kept it down to a single pair of clothes.

I left my place just after breakfast and arrived at the nearest mall in the morning just as the place was opening up. I bought quite an assortment of clothes that would fit my new build as well as a few pairs of shoes and pretty much whatever else caught my eye.

While I was out and about a couple of really weird sensations began to occur. I started to hear voices in my head and remembered what Vargas had said about my potential for telepathy and other capabilities.

Being an avid sci-fi fan I've read my share of ESP stories and I also had studied quite a bit of material the AIs had provided me with regarding the known forms of telepathy that had been catalogued thus far. I immediately tried to imagine a shield surrounding my mind with a few portals I could open and 'aim' at will. Next I imagined a tendril of thought snaking out of the portal and 'plugging' into the mind of the attractive red head sitting in the food court. To be honest, it all came quite easily to me and it worked the first time as well. I was 'hearing' her surface thoughts and my attempts at retrieving information at will also achieved positive results.

Her name was Helen Timmons. She was twenty-seven and extremely depressed about something. Probing deeper I discovered that she had recently learned her last boyfriend had AIDS and had passed the deadly disease to her. I quickly sent her contact information onto Vargas so he could record it all for me. Then I began to scan other people.

I had started with attractive looking individuals, but except for Helen most of them were pretty happy with their lives. That led me to believe I was going about things the wrong way. I changed my strategy and began to scan elderly people who were using wheelchairs, canes, and walkers — this began to yield more potential candidates since some of these people had outlived their spouses and had no grandchildren or relatives to speak of. I also sent contact information for these individuals onto Vargas where he added their information into a database of potential recruits.

I'd kind of grown accustomed to this mental scanning thing and was starting to do multiple people at once when I suddenly came to a halt! There was a young girl that caught my attention. She looked to be about fifteen. I started to scan her in earnest.

Her name was Twila and she was a fourteen year old runaway. Looking at the world she'd been thrown into from an early age was just heartbreaking. Her mom was a crack whore and each new 'man of the house' had seen fit to rape the budding beauty that Twila was becoming. She'd been beaten and sexually assaulted by both men and women and had come to accept violence with sex as the norm. Her mother had her turning tricks when she reached puberty at the young age of eleven but that hadn't been what had scared her away. Twila didn't run away until one of her mom's regulars had come at her with a nasty looking knife and threatened to "cut off the little cunt's tits". Instead of trying to protect her daughter Twila's mom had offered to sell Twila to the man for two thousand dollars and had told him that after he paid her the money he could "do whatever the hell he liked with the little tramp!"

Somehow, through all of the terrible times she'd been through, Twila had believed her mother cared about her and maybe even loved her. Now broken hearted and destitute she was hooking to make her way in the world.

The mall I was at had one of my bank's branches inside. I went and withdrew two thousand dollars in cash. I made my way back to the young Twila and sat down nearby where she was sitting. I pretended to be staring after all of the young teenage flesh on display at the mall, occasionally licking my lips after a particularly delicious looking morsel walked by. My bags and the new clothes I was wearing spoke of wealth and before long Twila was standing near me trying to catch me eye.

"I know what you want mister," she said in her best sultry voice.

"Oh?"

"Yup, you want pussy."

"I do? And how do you know this?" I asked.

"I've been watching you while you stare at every pretty young thing that swings her ass your way," Twila said.

"So I've been looking. That's not a crime is it?" I asked purposely letting a trace of suspicion seep into my voice.

"Listen little lady, if you're working with the cops and you proposition me — that's entrapment and it won't stick in court!" I said in an angry whisper.

"I'm no cop mister!"

"Then why do you care if I sit here and perv out for a while? What's it to you?" I challenged.

"I'm interested because I've got what you want. It's a case of supply and demand," the little tart told me.

"I suppose you're the seller and I'm the buyer then?" I said with a smirk.

"For the right price yes," she said as she looked at my crotch and ran her tongue over her lips.

I looked around as if nervous that we might be overheard.

"What's the right price girly?" I asked.

"Thirty for a blow job and a hundred for a straight fuck," she replied.

"How long?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I like to come more than once. If I'm paying for a fuck I want to know how long I've got your hot little body to fuck!" I exclaimed in a loud whisper.

Thinking she might make more money off me than she first thought she replied, "One hundred for an hour or three fifty for the entire night."

"I'll tell you what — I get you for a week, that's seven by twenty-four, and I'll give you two thousand; but for that money I can fuck all of your holes as many times as I want."

"Two thousand dollars?" she said with disbelief.

I looked around as if making sure no one was looking or listening and then showed her the wad of one hundred dollar bills I'd just withdrawn from the bank. My mental thread was still attached to her and I could see the struggle in her mind. She been used by a lot of men so much so that she was accustomed to that for the most part, but to be committed for seven days could be pretty terrible — especially if the guy turned out to be a real psycho nut job! Still, she'd been trying to push her wares for a few days here at the mall and only had five blow jobs to show for it. She'd made a hundred and fifty dollars in three days and this guy was offering her two thousand for seven days. "The math was in the guy's favor that's for sure!" she told herself deciding to pull the trick.

"You got yourself a deal mister — but I want the money up front!" she told me.

"Nothing doing. Two grand works out to about three hundred a day. I'll give you that much when you get in my truck and another three hundred each day you stay with me until the week is up," I counter offered.

"That's twenty-one hundred then," she stated.

"Yeah, I guess it is," I replied smiling.

Now that she knew there was cash to be had it was like I had a leash attached to her. I walked out to my truck and stowed my purchases behind the driver's seat.

"You want to eat lunch here at the mall or go to a restaurant little darling?" I asked.

"You're buying?" she asked somewhat guardedly.

"That's the plan," I assured her.

"I'd like a real restaurant if you don't mind then," she replied before climbing through the door I was holding open and sliding over to the passenger side giving me a flash of her panties on the way.

"You have any clothes or other things you need to bring with for a week's stay besides that?" I asked pointing to her backpack which she'd left between us.

"Nope."

"Alright then how about lobster? Do you like seafood?"

Finally a little real excitement!

"Yes. I love seafood and especially lobster!"

One thing I'll say for the hardened little woman — she had kept herself clean and neat which is damn difficult when you're on the run and sleeping on benches. She smelled nice and her clothes weren't worn out yet either. I peaked into her mind again and learned she'd been on the run for about two weeks now.

When we got to the restaurant no one even looked twice at us. She worked her way through the food with gusto and seemed to really be enjoying herself. I thought about all of the things I'd learned about her and wondered if she could ever really trust people again. Well I had a while, at least twelve weeks, that I could spend finding out — if she'd put up with me for that long that is.

During our meal she told me that her name was Tammy.

"Is there any movie playing that you might want to see Tammy?" I asked as I pulled up in front of the theater.

She looked at me for a moment before replying, "Are you for real? I figured you'd already have fucked me at least four of five times by now."

"Yes Tammy, I'm for real. I've got you for a week right?"

"Well yeah."

"So, do you want to see a movie?" I asked again.

She picked a sci-fi film. I bought two tickets and then we stood in line at the concession stand. When it was our turn I said "I'd like a medium popcorn and a large coke. What about you Tammy?"

"What can I get? Whatever you want. It looks like they've got quite a few nice things here."

"I'll have the same thing he just ordered," she told the attendant.

I paid the money and we found our way to the right cinema. Tammy seemed to really enjoy the movie. There were parts where she seemed completely enthralled by it. I thought it was pretty cool, but now that I'd had my introduction to a real alien and had been given my own stash of alien technology — well let's just say I thought the reality was quite a bit cooler!

When we were back in the truck I could sense that Tammy thought that fucking would soon be inevitable. She looked in the back and asked "So what's in the bags?"

"Just clothes. I looked in my closet and realized I needed some new stuff."

"Oh."

"What about you? If that backpack is all you've got maybe you could use some new stuff to."

"Don't want to spend money on it right now," she said almost curtly.

"Wrong answer girly!" I said with a laugh. "The correct answer would be that you don't want to spend any of your money right now."

"You're saying you'd buy me some clothes and it wouldn't count against the other money?"

"Yes Doll that's what I'm saying. I can't let you dress like Paris Hilton — but I'd be happy to buy you some nice clothes and maybe a carry-all to put them in if you'd like that."

She turned to me and smiled before saying "I'd like."

At the next intersection I turned towards the other mall the town had to offer. I figured if she'd been hooking for several days at the mall we'd met at she'd be less likely to run into any of her johns at this one.

I started by taking her to a luggage store and bought her a very nice set of luggage like the airline stewardesses use. The main bag was on wheels and was a carry-on size. There was also a smaller bag that attached to the handle of the larger bag and a matching duffle bag. I bought a very nice leather set that cost about three hundred dollars which seemed to surprise her.

"Now Tammy if you don't mind a suggestion or two from an old geezer like me," I quipped.

"You're not an old geezer by any stretch," she shot back with a slight grin of her own.

"Well then I'd suggest that in addition to tops and bottoms you also get at least one good coat and a few sweaters. It gets damn cold here sometimes. Pick out some clothes for everyday wear and then get an outfit or two that are really nice. Something you would wear on a fancy date."

"Listen Bill, that's going to be pretty expensive. Are you sure you're okay with all of this?"

"I'm good little darling. Now let's get shopping. It's the holiday season so we've got a couple of hours left before these shops will start to close up."

Periodically I'd run the purchases to the truck and then lock them up before jogging back to whatever store she was currently looking at. Once she realized that the cost didn't really matter to me Tammy seemed to get into the spirit of things and before she probably realized it she had purchased far more clothing than her new luggage would hold.

When she finally had enough of the clothing shopping and we were walking past a music store so I asked her if she would like to get a few new CDs we could listen to on the way to my place.

"How far is your place?" she asked.

"My place is a little over an hour away from here. This is the nearest town with any real shopping to speak of and I've got some time on my hands right now," I replied while guiding her into the music store. I really didn't care what she picked up and had learned that I enjoyed a lot of different styles of music.

She picked out four CDs while I bought her a nice player and some good headphones. Tammy almost freaked a little when she saw the number of bags that were shoved into the cab.

"Oh my! I didn't realize I'd gone so far overboard! Why didn't you stop me!" she asked.

"I saw most of what you bought. I figured you needed it."

"But there's no place for us to sit in your truck!" she exclaimed.

"Sure there is. It'll just take a few minutes to stow everything in the back and then I have a tarp that we can tie down to keep it all inside."

About ten minutes later everything was neatly stowed and we were on our way.

"Aren't you going to play one of your CD's Tammy?" I asked as we were riding to my place.

"You really don't mind? Are you sure you'll like my kind of music?"

"Well it's going to be pretty hard to tell if it stays in the case," I commented.

She looked at the four CDs and then pulled the plastic off of one, opened the jewel case and slipped it in the CD player. In the music store I was looking at CD players while Tammy was picking out what music she wanted so I was a bit surprised when I heard country music come on. I'm not sure why, but somehow I thought we'd be listening to Little Kim or some other T & A queen of the music world.

The songs weren't bad and I could understand the words. For that matter the singer had a good voice. Still, some things don't change much. They used to tell a joke about country music — What happens when you play a country western song backwards? You get your dog back, you get your kids back, and you get your wife back; by the fourth song I knew that at least that part of country music still seemed in tact.