AWACS - An American With A Chinese System
Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum
Chapter 27
The explanation to Pete was frequently paused by demonstrations. He made me write out the exact wording Scribe had used to translate each skill. He especially wanted to know his karmic score. He was pretty balanced, around fifty thousand of each.
When I finally got to the flight here, he paused, and then asked what my current plan was.
“I don’t have one. I’d be tempted to go live on some deserted island, except I like people too much, and the internet.”
“Space X has great satellite internet now,” he added.
“I’ve teamed up with Aida, she’s going to set up a company for me to use as a front for my prospecting ability, so long term, money is not an issue. Short term, I can win at roulette once a day, so I’ve got cash. People wanted me dead enough to send a killer after me, so there’s a reason to hide out on a deserted island.”
“Yeah, tough choice. I know a guy who knows a guy in the russian mob, sounds like they might know where Red Moro came from, and knowing if they are going to send somebody else is important.”
“I’ll get an alert if somebody actually plans to kill me.”
“Won’t do you much good if the guy spends a week following you around before he gets the kill order, you won’t have much time to run.”
“See, this is why we are friends. By the way, how do you know Aida?”
“She hired me to do dark web research for her. A mutual friend referred her to me.”
“So everything is still good for you? Your hobbies are making you money, and the storage company is keeping you warm and well fed?”
“You know I still consider you half owner of this place.”
I waved the idea off, “I just gave you the seed money after your accident, everything else is all your work. I’m happy enough to get free storage.”
“Well Momma is going to want to see you since you are here, but I don’t think we should tell her what’s going on.”
“That means not giving her a peach,” I said.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“You know I love her, and she’s helped when no one else could.”
“Yeah,” he said again.
“But she needs to stop hitting on me.”
“Yeah, can’t help you there. She thinks it’s hilarious.”
“She’s four hundred pounds and seventy years old. It wasn’t funny when she was three hundred and fifty years old.”
“She lost weight.”
“How much?” I asked curious.
“She did a surgery, and she’s down to one ninety.”
“That’s incredible. When did that happen?”
He shrugged, “Couple years ago. She’s got a new guy, and he frowns on her flirting, so she doesn’t do it as much anymore.”
“Ok, if that’s true, then I think I can handle seeing her again.”
“Good, cause I texted her, and she’ll be here for lunch.”
I groaned, surprises like this are so Pete. Still, seeing Adelle again would be nice. I owed her a lot. Thee was a reason I called her Mama.
“She’s bringing Taylor too.”
“That’s her new guy?”
“Yeah, he’s our age.”
I groaned again. Adelle might be skinnier, but she was still Adelle.
I looked at the time, “So let’s get me a storage unit, and I’ll show you some magic.”
He agreed, and we headed out to one edge of the storage units where he had a large empty unit. I summoned all my storage chest, and showed him the carved and inlaid wooden box made of myrtlewood.
“So I’m going to have you keep this box, if you need to send me something, or have me send you something, I’ll just summon it, and return it. I can do the same with these chests, and anything else I own.”
“And if anything living is in one of them, it won’t summon,” he added.
“Right.
“Is there a size limit?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I tried moving a car, but it was a rental, so I technically didn’t own it.”
“There’s plenty of room in the barn right now, let’s go see if you can summon your fifth wheel.”
It was good to see my old home. The 2003 Mackenzie Lakota was 32 feet long, and was pretty comfortable. I stood off to the side of an empty space, and summoned the RV to its new spot. It moved effortlessly.
“So that worked,” Pete said.
“It did, living on a deserted island just got much more comfortable.”
“I can buy you some shipping containers, they can make a pretty good platform.”
“What do you mean?”
“Bulldoze a flat spot, put the shipping containers down as a foundation, and drop the RV on top. Gets you up out of the jungle, on a flat surface, and keeps you from sinking into the dirt or sand.”
“I guess I’d need a bulldozer too.”
He pointed back over my shoulder, “I’ve got that one.”
I looked, “What do you have a bulldozer for?”
“Was stored, then the guy said I could have it, cause it wasn’t worth the storage, and he didn’t have the money to move it.”
“Does it work?”
He shrugged, “Maybe. If you summon it from the air, and drop it on something, it’ll flatten the ground just fine.”
I laughed, I’d missed Pete and his crazy ideas.
“You know if you used your hole skill you could drill down to magma and create a volcano. Make your own island.”
“I thought about that, but how would I know if I was going to hit a gas pocket, or a subterranean water pocket instead?”
“Use your mineral deposit skill, just look for one thing, like natural gas, or water, and it will tell you where those are, so you can miss them.”
“I haven’t tried that yet.”
“Come back to the house, I have a collection of maps from National Geographic. We can try the skill on one of those.”
I followed him back, and he dug into a filing cabinet. He pulled out several maps, “Here, this one is Point Nemo.”
“What’s Point Nemo?” I asked, looking at what appeared to be an ocean floor map.
“It’s the spot in the pacific where you can get farther from other people than anywhere else on the planet.”
I gave him a blank look.
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