The Unexpected
Copyright© 2025 by Technocracy
Chapter 27
Fiction Sex Story: Chapter 27 - "If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it; for it is hard to be sought out, and difficult." -- Heraclitus of Ephesus
Caution: This Fiction Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Consensual Heterosexual Fiction Science Fiction Violence
Frio County Courthouse, Pearsall, Tx
The county sheriff himself, and two deputies, made a discrete path, escorting Benny and Brian into the courthouse. The sheriff was being careful to use the law enforcement and court officer entrance, thus avoiding the gathering crowd to the front of the building and in the parking lot.
As he entered the courthouse, Benny looked askance at the crowd, growing and gathering along the opposing side of the building.
“What would be the reason for this level of public interest?”
“Two reasons, Doctor Harrison. I reckon that everybody in Frio, Medina, Ulvade, Zavala, and Nueces counties has heard ‘bout this by now. Sure don’t surprise me that ‘The Current’ newspaper has a reporter outside, along with ‘The Bull’ and some other radio stations. And I think I saw folks from two San Antonio stations. What we got here is a truck-load of politics. All three of the people that attacked you are recent parolees, where the Bexar County DA’s office argued against early release. Governor Perry may get his little rodeo canceled over this little dust-up.”
“How does an early release of inmates affect your governor?”
“Everyone says the man wants to run for president in 2012. He ain’t gonna get the RNC to support a nomination if his opponents say his parole board, people that he selected, are releasing violent criminals.”
“I would hope that your DA’s office is aware that we do not desire publicity. We do not need to be part of local political intrigue.”
“Now’s that is just right interestin’, Doctor Harrison. Seeing that you and Harry have been dabbling in our politics for several years; not that I’m complaining. Y’all saved me from a shitty job in the Medina County Sheriff’s department.”
Benny shrugged to the sheriff, acknowledging what should had been called out per his hypocrisy.
“Point taken, sheriff. So what will happen?”
“Yourself and Mister O’Mulriain need to see the court clerk, in ‘bout twenty minutes. Ya need to look and act like decent victims, so keep your arm in that sling. The judge will listen to the DA’s argument for severely binding over...”
Benny presented a confused expression to the county sheriff.
“ ... uh, sorta like an automatic indictment with no bail. If their defense guy gets all uppity about any pre-trial release, then the DA will put y’all on the stand and you tell ‘em how them boys tried to whup up on ya while you came to the valiant rescue of your lady ... So what’s with your lawyer? Why is she running interference for the DA?”
“I do not know her. My corporate legal counsel arranged representation from from a Dallas firm.”
The sherrif nodded to Benny, cautiously stating what he thought should be obvious.
“Well, the lady does seem smart and all that, and reckon that she’s probably a decent lawyer. But she’d better learn that there are some things that won’t fly down here ... Ya know, more flies with honey than vinegar; that sort of thing.”
“Understood sheriff. I will so advise my counsel ... and here she is.”
“Ms Lancaster. The sheriff says we need to see the court clerk in about fifteen minutes.”
“Of course. Did you know that the defendants will enter pleas in front of an Article III Judge?”
“Which means?”
“He is not a local magistrate. He was sent down on behest of the governor’s office.”
“I have been made aware of the politics, but what will this Article Three judge have that a local judge does not?”
“Standing. Authoritative ruling. He represents the full reach of a district court judge. Any appeal per the defendants being bound over would require a hearing in front of the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin. Texas is determined to incarcerate those three boys indefinitely ... Where is Mister O’Mulriain?”
“Parking the truck.”
“Does he have a Permanent Resident Card?”
Benny concealed his amusement as Brian walked up to the rear entrance and stood behind the lawyer.
“If your meaning is the ‘green’ card, yes. He keeps his passport and green card on his person.”
“Why does your operations manager have a Maine and Massachusetts concealed weapon permit?”
“He has collateral duties as part of my security team.”
“Interesting. What does...”
The woman was startled by the heavily-accented voice from behind.
“Aye, madame. You’re being paid to protect my boss. Too many non-relevant questions, lass.”
The sheriff gave a half-smirk to Brian as he ushered the group down the passageway.
“Ms Lancaster, we need to cut this short and get these two registered with the clerk.”
As they walked through a side security entrance, the lawyer addressed her expectations of the legal situation to Benny and Brian.
“The Frio County public defender is very political and sees this as a venue to make a statement and a name for himself. I will assume that he will force yours and/or Mister O’Mulriain’s testimony.”
Benny had no stomach for being shoved onto the stage of local politics.
“So let him make his statement. It is my understanding that, caeteris paribus, all three will remain in prison.”
The Dallas lawyer raised an eyebrow to Benny.
“Robert Northrup’s instructions to my firm were to prevent your participation in any political stunts. Hence, I will sit at the state’s table and provide any examination, or any further cross, for yourself or for Brian O’Mulriain.”
Benny sat in the witness chair, with an air of mild disrespect. His diction was smooth, his vocabulary was precise. His intense blue eyes unnerved the public defender.
Carmen Lancaster had not moved from her firmly erect posture, seated forward on the chair’s edge behind the tables for the state’s proprietorial counsel. Her voice was not shrill. Her interjections were a firm soprano that carried well in the courtroom.
“ ... objection, your honor. The question is not only misleading, but is designed to be unintelligible.”
The judge sighed, accepting that a simple hearing, that had seen him pulled off of one of the most perfect golf courses in Texas, had been turned into a stage for a political means.
“Sustained. Defendant’s counsel will please re-phrase or withdraw the question.”
The public defender leaned into Benny to make his question, in the form of a statement.
“So your corporate operations manager, who has been trained as a commando of sorts, chose to assault Jake Hermain based on your extreme actions?”
“Objection, your honor. One would think...”
The judge, uncharacteristically, interrupted Carmen Lancaster.
“Say no more, Ms Lancaster. Counsel, please, and this is a warning, sir. Please refrain from...”
“I understand, your honor, but I beg the court’s indulgence to...”
The judge interrupted the defender, as he had been interrupted.
“Just rephrase and continue.”
“Mister Harrision, what was the intent per Mister O’Mulriain’s interventions?”
“I cannot know what Brian O’Mulriain’s thoughts were, prior to, and during the period in which we were being assaulted.”
“I see ... So there were no subsequent discussions of this with Mister O’Mulriain?”
“No. A deputy instructed me not to talk to anyone until we were interviewed by the sheriff’s department.”
“And no discussions subsequent to...”
Benny suppressed a smile when his contracted lawyer, again, firmly voiced from the prosecutor’s table, to interrupt the defense counsel’s question.
“Objection, your honor! Irrelevant and quite immaterial. We fail to see any point in this line of questions.”
The judge, again, sighed. Judge Fernandez was still thinking of the beautiful fairway greens he was missing.
“Sustained. I shall, again, warn the defense counsel. This is an early hearing. The intent of this venue is arraignment. The charges have been read to the defendants. All three defendants have entered a plea. Thus, we shall discuss terms of bail, if any ... Please, counselor, save this for the trial. Furthermore, you risk an issue of exclusionary rulings that could affect the defense’s case. If so desired, you can schedule a subsequent evidentiary hearing.”
The judge paused to determine that both sides were reading off of the same sheet of music, then continued.
“As the pleas have been entered and charges read, I direct the state to proceed with arguments of bail.”
The public defender stood deflated. He knew that the press was in heavy attendance, meaning that he had lost an important opportunity to make political hay. The defense counsel also well knew that once the county prosecutor read the long criminal history of the three defendants, further arguments of bail would be mute and most likely derelict to his case.
Spoons Ranch, Frio County, Tx
It was not by chance that the Spoons family had invited the sheriff and the DA to the barbecue celebrating the return of Harry’s father. The successful insert of a coronary stent had been lifted the stress and malaise from the ranch.
The gathering had an ulterior agenda for a smaller sub-group. This was made obvious by the gathering of Benny, Harry, Jason, Brian, the Sheriff, and the DA, discretely held behind the far side of a corral, away from the gaggle of people surrounding the tables and the two barbecue pits.
Harry stroked the muzzle of a brown quarter horse as he listened to Brian and Jason address the sheriff. Benny and Brian stood next to Harry, admiring the fine-looking animal.
“ ... aye, constable. We know not only why, but where.”
The Sheriff, openly amused by Brian’s Old World ‘constable’ title, turned to the District Attorney.
“Bobby? Could a warrant be issued on that?”
“By a magistrate, perhaps. But an appeals court could deny evidence so gained.”
The sherrif completed the lawyer’s reasons.
“Yep, good ol ‘neutral and detached magistrate’ argument. So what ‘bout a district judge?”
“In a criminal district court? Dunno ... How comfortable are you with a judge questioning the origin of the source?”
The sheriff nodded his head towards Harry and Benny with his response.
“Harry, the ball is in your court. You want all of God’s creation to know what your boys have been up to?”
Harry deferred to Jason and Brian. Neither said anything as Brian offered a non-committal one-sided shrug of his unbruised shoulder. Harry then addressed his friend with a version of the regional reality.
“Benny? The locals, and rightly so, are gonna be a bit miffed about our security people running these James Bonds super-sleuth operations. Could affect the next election; and we had some big plans for that...”
Benny returned attention to his security man.
“Jason, assess the threat if we do nothing.”
“I talked to Henry. He agrees. For now, the risk is minimal.”
Harry exchanged looks of determination with Benny. Benny addressed his decision to the sheriff.
“Sheriff, my people will continue providing information about the Gomez ranch until you think you can develop a case where you can show that your people ‘found’ this information in a legally-admissible manner. We need yourself and the counselor to stay in office, and Harry is determined to form competent school boards not subject to corruption; so we should remain mute on revealing sources.”
“Understood, doc. Does that mean Jason will remain in the area?”
“I would prefer it, but that would have to be cleared with my security chief. But Brian cannot remain, as he is our operations manager.”
The county DA, with concern, questioned Benny.
“Doctor Harrison, it is important that yourself and Mister O’Mulriain be available for the trial.”
“We will be there. When and where for the precursor deposition?”
“Examinations for discovery and other pre-trial motions will immediately follow upon the case appearing in the court docket. Most likely in the Frio County courthouse”
“Any estimate for that?”
“Ten to thirty days.”
“Harry, hear of any pressing issues in Needham?”
“None, other than comments about Lizzy being mean to the govie employees.”
“It will be excellent experience for Lizzy.”
Harry gave Benny a side-long glance with his reply.
“Yeah, at least until we have to bail her outa the slammer.”
Benny shrugged at Harry’s, hopefully, sense of hyperbole.
“Then we remain here until the deposition and trial are complete.”
Harry smiled at his friend, then patted the flank of the horse.
“Yeah? So y’all gonna be around a while ... Wanna learn to ride?”
Harry, Marne, and Benny sat on horses, which stood on a small ridge, to overlook thousands of acres of range land, spiced with random distributions of brush and small trees. Benny had watched Harry’s sister navigate the path to the ridge with minimal input to her horse. Her sway in the saddle was smooth and synchronized with her horse.
“You appear to be an adept horse rider, Marne. I suppose you have been riding throughout your life?”
Marne had long given Benny allowance for his formal language, accepting it as sincere. She no longer considering his manner of speech unusually stilted.
“Dad and Harry always put me on a horse with ‘em when I was a baby. So I sorta took to riding naturally. It takes a while for a rookie to get the rhythm and balance. A lot comes from the horse. If the horse don’t trust ya, you’re never gonna be comfortable.”
The silence that followed was easy and relaxed. Benny was beginning to understand why Harry got claustrophobic, at times, back east. This part of Texas was wide open. Kilometers of empty or sparsely-used land lay before them. The silence was interrupted by the creak of saddle leather as Harry leaned over to point something out to his sister. Benny looked to the area that Harry was pointing, seeing nothing of note.
“That’s him, Harry. Dad was tracking him off and on ‘bout four or five months ago. Ya know what I’m thinking? Dad let him go.”
“Yep. Dad respects old geezers and survivors.”
A sudden motion, from over a hundred meters distance, gave Benny awareness of the subject of conversation. A large mule deer sprinted, then disappeared into the brush. There was another revelation. Benny realized that some humans still retained their ‘predator eyes’. Benny was uncertain if it was a good thing that he did not have the same instinctual vision for tracking prey that Harry and his family demonstrated.
Marne turned to her brother to posit a question; she had had a sense of certainty since childhood that her brother would always be able to answer her most serious questions.
“Harry, why do people do things like that, even when they knew that them boys were really bad oats?”
“As Benny says, tribalism. Each tribe has and looks for a specific signature, something that brings their support, even if the consequences are bad. It’s just the way we are, ethics be damned.”
“They knew that those three men were really bad, yet they released them? Just because it’s a, uhh, ‘signature’ cause?”
“Yep. That’s about it, Little Bit. We’re like that too, just like everyone else.”
Marne could not accept that the ‘liberals’, whatever that meant, had effected the release of three dangerous criminals just because it was their cause d’etre. She wanted to understand. Marne had many friends that considered themselves ‘liberal’, and she was certain that none of her peer group would have such an ethical lapse. She posited the same issue to Benny.
“Benny, so why do ya think that parole board released those three men that attacked ya?”
Benny leaned back in his saddle, thinking that the girl was too early in life to get wrapped up in the wasted mental gymnastics of assigning a rationale to human actions. But he made his best effort.
“Like Harry said, tribalism. In any case, the system’s hopes and desires for any meaningfully positive post-incarceration behaviors were irrational given a history of poor institutional reformative efforts combined with the punitive nature of America’s prison systems.”
“Still makes no sense. Them people on the parole can’t be that stupid. They had to know.”
Benny paused, emiting an unheard sigh. Futher positing that his earlier, younger self had never held expectations for humanity to be either humane or rational. He guessed that the experiential/experimental segment of his life had passed him by, while he was focused on school and business. But he did attempt a rational explanation for the irrational.
“Simple amathia. Which is caused by several factors such as herd mentality, cognitive dissonance, and perhaps the need for a sense of ideological purity. As Harry said, the condition is effective for all of us. Some of us keep our tribalism at bay; most do not.”
Harry smile broadly at his friend. The smile changed to a lop-sided smirk as he mocked Benny.
“Well, well, well. Looky here. Who’s doin’ the sociology these days? The man that has always claimed it all to be pseudo-science ... speaking of sociology and psychology, did Doris show you the latest message from back east?”
“She said something about Lizzy getting increasingly aggressive with the government’s people. I had warned Doris.”
“Yep. That ya did. Doris saw it as easy money. So what ya gonna do if your girl punches out one of them idiots?”
“I will do nothing, other than watch the incident, as recorded by the surveillance systems, and have Mister Kim critique her technique.”
Harry rocked in his saddle with laughter, while gently slapping his sister’s shoulder.
“And that, Little Bit, is as close to humor as my man gets. Y’all want some PB and J?”
Marne nodded an affirmative to her brother as Harry pulled sandwiches out of his saddle bags, briefly wondering why a brilliant young woman with a PhD in computer science would be hitting government employees.
Pushing aside his morning coffee, Harry shoved his laptop to the front of Benny.
“Did ya read this stuff, Benny? See this Arab-world briefing from Henry and Robert?”
“I did. I remain unconvinced, other than the labor unions in Egypt, that there is an organized and unifying effort within the Arab world. In any case, you have maintained that the economics of northern Africa have minimal affect on southwest Asia. Do you now believe otherwise?”
“Dunno ... but you’re right. Other than the secondary effects to crude price and the downstream energy derivatives. Otherwise, I got no economic interest in whatever is brewing in the Arab world. Why ya think Henry thinks this is important to us?”
“Uncertain. Perhaps this is the the strategic machinations of a military mind?”
“Yeah? If you’re done with eatin, let’s go and talk at Jason. Get ourselves another military opinion.”
Jason Thorns, was a bit perturbed at the interruption, but he knew who put the chow on his dinner table. Jason had seen Harry and Benny sitting on the veranda of the main ranch house, having an animated discussion. When the two SIG principals rose to walk in his direction, Jason knew he was about to drawn into, yet another, existential swamp. He, begrudgingly, climbed down the ladder to address their question.
“ ... and to be clear, sir, no. I do not see this resulting in any significant cultural change.”
“Then what is it that we are seeing unfold within the Arab world?”
“Simple-minded materialism, Doctor Harrison. The youth of North Africa, and parts of southwest Asia, also want their iphones and ipads and other such western ‘party’ trappings. They are using the political dissension of the older generations to support their quest for a more open society and an access to a level of consumerism as found in the western world.”
“And what of the journalists, and the U.S. state department analysts? They have described it as an ‘Arab Spring’.”
“Like what happened in eastern Europe? No such animal, doc. This will not happen. It is a momentary consumerist populism. It may swell over during the next fifteen or twenty months, but the Islamic fundamentalists that control these governments will eventually crush attempts and resist any significant societal change. Think about Tienanmen Square. The only thing that those Chinese protests and all of the violent uprisings against the PLA did was to move the moderates to the extreme, and to enable the CCP to identify and jail those that supported the student uprisings. It will be the same scenario for those Arab kids.”
Benny nodded in agreement with Jason as he voiced his dismissal of Robert’s concerns per the latest intel and security report.
“I will concur with Jason’s analysis. I recommend that we change nothing, and keep with our ride up. No diversions from equities and real estate. You said we have three to seven years of market upside coming, Harry. But you and Doris are the economists. So tell me if I am incorrect.”
“Okay. We’ll sit this one out and watch it from the sidelines. But we should talk to Doris ‘bout having Lydia Givens run a watch on this ... Uh, Jason, what were ya doin’ up there?”
“Updating the sensor array per Doctor Paucho’s firmware updates ... Doc Harrison? You ever think about setting up a business to sell your surveil and sensor boxes at a system level? There is nothing similar within the commercial market that includes both sensor fusion and image processing along with real-time analytics and reporting. This is state department and DOJ-level stuff; probably does not exist outside of the stuff coming out of CIA and NSA labs.”
Benny flashed a momentary look of surprise towards Jason’s proclamation per the supposed unique specifications and performance of his and Lizzy’s designs.
“No company makes similar systems? That is interesting, not to mention surprising ... Harry, perhaps we should have Doris look into the available margins and required infrastructure for such an enterprise. But we would have to find another tech and an electrical engineer that Lizzy could tolerate.”
Harry nodded, acknowledging Benny’s thoughts of starting a new business.
“We could do it as an indy spin-off, assuming Doris and Lydia could provide a decent business plan that would satisfy the Google finance dweebs...”
Harry stepped back, his body language indicating that he was further re-thinking his initial favor of such an enterprise, continuing with his opinion.
“But ... I dunno, Benny ... this stuff is totally outa our game plan ... So tell me Jason. What would the customer be for this stuff? I would think that the market for security systems is pretty much saturated. And do we really want to start up a production line to make this stuff? And we couldn’t cheaply make this stuff in China because of all that ITARs mess.”
“Uncertain. Jason, what say you? What other companies make security systems? What is the customer?”
“Doc Spoons, you are probably correct about the regulatory issues. Someone would have to do the market research, but as a first guess, we can assume that the customer for this level of performance would be high-risk state and local government facilities that do not have access to CIA tech. Outside of the government, I would guess industrial plants that must comply with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, and perhaps the private sites of wealthy individuals. Currently, I only know of two big system-level suppliers - Honeywell and Tyco, but they are all low to medium tech solutions that are intended to up-sell their centralized monitoring services.”
Harry nodded with interest towards Jason.
“How ‘bout you and my lovely wife get together this evening after supper and discuss this?”
Jason shrugged towards Harry, then nodded an affirmative, then castigating himself, thinking he should have kept his ideas to himself.
The evening breeze was unusually dry for the inland coastal plains of south Texas; it made the post-supper gathering on the veranda a pleasant experience. Marne listened to her older brother and Benny’s exchange, wondering how such intellects had been attained. Marne’s intent was to determine Benson Harrison’s mode for discovery. She wanted to know the source of the ‘genius’ behind his creations.
“ ... but that is all undergraduate stuff, Benny. What led you and Harry to your discoveries that y’all wrote in your PhD papers? Was it the MIT education? Is that where you learned and understood enough stuff to make your discoveries?”
Benny knew her question was earnest, thus avoiding any tone of condemnation. Benny did not want her concepts of ‘advanced education’ to go unchallenged.
“Education, at least per the formats found in America, does not require true understanding. American undergraduate education is only an indoctrination of scholarly principles. Rote learning, if you will.”
“What do you mean by ‘indoctrination’ and rote?”
“You have taken Algebra. Tell me what the quadratic equation used for, what it means.”
Marne’s initial thought was that it was self-evident. But she stumbled.
“Uh ... ya know, use it to get the ‘x’ for an equation in quadratic form. It’s used for ... I dunno, solving for the ‘x’...”
Benny smiled gently at Harry’s sister, noting that the surrounding conversations had stopped to listen in on their exchange. Benny slowly swilled his beer, ignoring Harry’s expectant smirk.
“What does the equation tell you about distinct roots? About the shape of its graph? What if we have an imaginary component to the solution? Think about the domain of complex conjugates per the graph of all possible solutions. Can we tell if we have satisfied the equation by the process of solving for ‘x’ using the linear quadratic form? From the rote knowledge of factoring and solving for ‘x’, what can be said about the distribution of possible non-linear solutions? Understanding math, and memorizing rote technique and equations are in opposition. I see this, almost daily, among my engineer and scientist peers.”
“Scientists that do not understand math? I can’t see that being a regular thing.”
“It is. I read medical research papers, when looking at alternate methods of treatment and searching for potential specialists to treat your father. Many scientists learn a rote method without understanding the basis; the meanings per the method’s applications. There are many scientists that re-discover the obvious mathematical methods, treating it is a new discovery.”
“But science papers are read by many other scientists. Why doesn’t someone say it’s bogus?”
“Peer review has no guaranteed resultant. I will give you two simple examples. I read a paper where a cardiologist wrote a research paper about a new mathematical model to incrementally evaluate blood flow for specific sections of arteries. What he had re-discovered was calculus; that is, the newton-rapshon method. I read another research paper where a biologist talked about a new method to measure rat mobility after an injection of an experimental drug. This guy also re-invented calculus; the locally integrable function.”
Benny paused to see that he had the undivided attentions of all peoples that had gathered on the veranda.
“These scientists all learned calculus by rote methodology. They did not understand the basis of the methodology, nor could they make the leap to understanding its possible usage.”
Marne shook her head at the revelation that the scientific world was just as foolish as any other profession.
“In any event, it is frequently hubris, but not always, to get excited about something you invented that you didn’t know existed before.”
“So all of these people were too stupid to see that they didn’t invent anything new?”
“Not stupidity, Marne. Ignorance and hubris.”
“Hubris?”
“Their hubris was publishing papers without doing the directed research of the existing science. Isaac Newton extended the ancient aphorism, saying ‘if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ You cannot stand on the shoulders of giants unless you understand what those that came before have done.”
“But you and Harry ... your research papers are new stuff, new discoveries.”
“Nothing we said or did or developed was truly an original contribution to the art of economics, nor to any applied science discipline. Our mathematical models were derivational exercises. Some of our methods date back to the 16th century. All we did was perform a series of experiments, then assembling a series of mathematical models, simulated various exogenous influences, until we found something that appeared to yield a reasonable answer. Or, more correctly, something that could be considered valid for most instances of a well-defined problem space.”
“They why ain’t everyone and their horse doing this?”
Benny smiled at Marne’s obvious question.
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