AWACS - An American With A Chinese System
Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum
Chapter 24
I officially checked out of the hotel, returning my room key. A short walk back to my rented accommodation, and I got in the blue car, and went to the local rental office returning it also. I stepped out, and around the building, away from prying eyes.
I checked my stats, to verify I had enough to do what I wanted:
To pass the day as if a year was more than just a clock after upgrading it to level two. I spent 50,000 points to pause time for an hour. I tested my flight skill, it worked just fine. I launched into the air, with my guidance skill telling me my car was 22 miles away. 7x got me there in under 15 minutes.
I set down right next to the car. The time stop skill kept me from interacting with the world, so I couldn’t open it up and check it out. I summoned a cookie from a bag at the rental house, to test that summoning still worked in the frozen world. I hadn’t expected that. I flew up to the window of my room, and looked in, and couldn’t see anything, as the shades were drawn.
I returned to the red car, and tried to summon it to the next parking space. It didn’t move. I wasn’t sure if it was a weight limit, or an ownership issue. I summoned my room key, and headed into the casino. It was odd everyone was frozen, but fortunate that someone was going in as I had stopped time. I had to squeeze thru the pretty girl’s legs to get in. That was the only way in. Honest.
Once inside, I used my flight skill to move above everyone’s head, and zoom up to the floor with my room. The hallway was clear, so I released the hold on time, suddenly stunned by the rush of sound. I hadn’t realized how quiet the frozen world was until the sound came back.
I swiped the key card, and the door beeped. I pushed it open, unable to freeze time again until tomorrow I activated the forget me skill, but it was empty. I dropped the skill, and got the refund. Then I double checked that I hadn’t left anything again, and prepared my little prank.
I got down to the lobby to check out of the hotel, finding a pleasant man ready to assist.
“Mr Roberts, I hope you enjoyed your stay with us?”
“Yes very much, I’m very sorry about the trouble I caused.”
“The casino manager would like to have a word.”
“Certainly,” I replied, as I turned the key card in.
The guest staff stepped to the side as an older lady asked me to follow her. We went thru an unmarked door, and up an elevator. I was ushered into an expensive office, with a great window view of the hills and trees.
The man behind the desk stood, “Mr Koby Roberts. Thank you for coming up.”
“Happy to do so, this has been the nicest casino I’ve ever stayed at.”
“Glad to hear. I have some tax forms for you that were not provided before you stepped away.”
“Yes, thank you. I was wondering where those went.”
“Despite the trouble that followed you, you are welcome back anytime. We will even let you play roulette again, if you promise not to win,” he said with a big grandfatherly smile.
“I can’t promise, but I can say that the last time I played, I lost, and lost big.”
“Good to know you don’t always win, as you only played twice with us.”
“I am very sorry about the trouble I caused you and the casino. I had been trying to keep a low profile while I was here.”
“Yes, your lawyer explained that you were hiding out due to a death threat. We normally request a waiver for use of name and likeness for all our big winners.”
“Oh, I’m happy to sign that, if you can just keep to my initials.”
“That would be fine,” he said, and pulled the paperwork from off the top of his desk.
It was identical to the previous waiver, except the casino name was different. I signed and selected initials only, handing it back to him.
My dislike counter had not gone up, and my mosquito points had not risen either. This guy was pretty nice, I’d have to try to come back again sometime.
“We were very careful to not reveal any information about your win to the FBI when they were here. We’ve dealt with them before, and they were as arrogant as always.”
“Well, then, let me offer another thank you. I’ll definitely be back to lose some money sometime in the future.”
He gave me a big smile again, “Thank you very much. I’m sure you have very many important things to do, so I’ll let Shelly walk you out.”
I turned to find a young woman standing behind me. She didn’t like me, but not enough to actually increase my mosquito points. She led me back out another unmarked door into another section of the casino floor, this one much closer to the entrance. I thanked her, but she didn’t reply, so I headed out the door to the parking lot.
I still had the keys, so I unlocked the vehicle, and checked it to be sure nothing of mine was left behind. I got in, and with my navigation active, I headed back to Portland.
There were no helpful cops this time, or urgent notices of impending death. I dropped off the vehicle, and paid the gas bill. I walked across the street to a restaurant and had a small bite to eat, it was after five after all.
I didn’t have much time but I wasn’t far from the office building. The countdown clock said I had two minutes left. I walked behind the building, following my navigation to avoid cameras, and my forget me skill working again.
I turned on my frictionless skill, and shot into the sky at 11x for 3 seconds. That put me at 2km high. I canceled the skill and instantly began falling. I shot back down at the same speed, canceling the skill and my momentum ten feet above the building. With my strength jacked up, doubled ten times, I dropped the rest of the way. It was like stepping off a twig, hardly noticeable. My skill had kept me out of the sight of Aida, who was already on the roof, waiting.
I turned off the forget me skills, and the frictionless skill, and walked around the big rooftop heat exchanger, “Hi Aida!” I shouted, pleased at her startled jump.
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