Chapter 33

Susan insistently pushed the bell. A video camera scanned the lone woman, and a speaker beside the door said, "Hello, may I help you?"

Susan thought fast, they had to have an urgent reason to get her in. She yelled like a distraught mother, and said, "You have my baby. I want her back now."

"You are mistaken ma'am. Please leave."

"Police, police, they have kidnapped my baby. Police, police, save my baby. Pol..."

The door was opened, and a large man pulled Susan into the house. Another man tried to slam the door. Instead, he was thrown back against the wall. The door closed, and locked with invisible hands.

Susan flung out her hand, and hit her assailant's throat. He let go, and grasped his throat in pain, with both hands. I saw the goon behind the door convulse, when his own windpipe was crushed by Carl's kick.

I ran downstairs, and said behind me, "Susan, he is not to live. Either kill him, or leave the house, for us to do it.

I found the thick door, and I knew that I would never be able to break it down. A speaker and a button beside the door, gave me hope.

Pushing the button I said, "Mister Juarez, come quickly, there is a grease fire in the kitchen."

The door was flung open, and Juarez had a gun in his hand sensing something amiss.

The edge of my hand came down, and broke his wrist. He screamed in pain as the gun fell to the floor. He did not see me, and wondered frantically how this had happened. My foot caught him in the face, and he was propelled backwards, and onto his back. I stepped into the room, to see the naked girl held by the shackles alone. Her feet, were well off the floor, and her torn dress below her.

I dragged the moaning man to another set of shackles, and secured him the same way. The girl was in hysterics before, but when she saw her attacker flung and lifted into position, she screamed and screamed.

"It's ok, sweetie. This man will never hurt you, and I won't either." I heard shooting upstairs, and needed to move quickly. After removing her manacles, I knew she would run, no matter what I said. A foot manacle went around her wrist. "I am sorry sweetie, but you have to stay here for a few minutes, or you might get hurt. I will be back soon." I left running up the stairs. I knew that I would be back later, to have a long talk with Mister Juarez.

Gunmen were shooting at ghosts. I could sense Carl down the aisle, and then I saw a decorative sword slice through a neck. The corpse's blood splattered neighbours, retreated from the blade. I punched one goon in the kidney, and slashed another across the throat. When they fell to the floor, I moved them into position, and then brought my heel down on their throats, with much satisfaction. Bullets were flying everywhere, and I was worried the children would get shot.

One of the Columbians was thrown from a room, with a gun in his hand. His head struck the wall, and slumped to the floor beside a headless goon. The panicked cries of the girls could be heard.

More men raced up the steps behind me, and the first was greeted with the heel of my foot, as I drove his nose into his skull. He fell back into the arms of two more. I fell down the stairs too. The lone survivor of the goons had run into me as he fled for his life. As he slid beside him, I brought my elbow down and crushed his throat.

I slid down more, and felt some of the slugs strike my shield. Getting to the bottom, I rammed the shooter into the wall, and heard his breath leave him as his head struck the plaster. The last goon looked back and forth, trying to find something to shoot at. Two of my fingers jabbed out, and he cried out, as his eyes were turned to small holes. Taking his gun, I shot him in the head. Time was running out, and the police would soon be here.

I used the gun again and again. Money brought justice here, and I wanted to make sure that the verdict was correct. Tuska was the only one conscious. He held a gun to the head of one of the girls.

"I will kill her. Get away from me. I will kill her. I am warning you." Tuska screamed. The girl was so frightened that she had shit herself. I had no doubt that he would do as he said.

"Where are you Carl?"

"Between Tuska and the large window."

"I am going to turn visible, and he will probably try to shoot me. Get him then."

Not waiting I turned around to give him a target, he couldn't resist by turning visible. I was pushed forward by the slug. As I fell, I turned and saw Tuska's arm and gun, fly from his body. The sword came up, and I had an idea.

"Wait a minute, Carl."

The sword lowered, and I looked for something to bind his wounds. The cord from the blinds was yanked down, and tightly bound the pulsating arm.

"Why did you want me to stop? It was getting to be fun."

Let's get their money. It will put a dent in the Columbian's operation, and someone will make another try, to take Tuska's place.

I picked up the girl, and she struck me with her fists, trying to get away. Reading her mind, I found her name to be Michelle. Stop Michelle! I am not going to hurt you, and neither is anyone else. I am going to take you to a nice lady, and the other girls." She continued to strike my shield. Her mind did not even process my words.

"Susan, where are you?"

"In the first room, with two of the girls."

"I have another."

I went into the room, and found her without a shield, comforting the terrified girls. They became even more frightened, as they saw the other girl floating into the room. My invisibility dropped, and I put the girl in her care.

"There is one more, downstairs. The police will be here soon. Carl and I are going to get some info from any that are still able to give it. When we are done, I will get the last girl in the basement."

"Get the girl now. I want to see that they are all safe."

"Ok." I went down the hall and found Carl dragging one living Columbian into the room with Tuska. My steps quickened, as I found the basement room again. I was visible as I went into the room. The little girl cringed from me. "Hello, it's me again. I would like to take you upstairs to be with your friends, and meet a nice lady."

Her mind was still in turmoil, so I unlocked the manacle, and picked her up. I talked to her gently, as we went upstairs. I called out ahead of me, so that the other girls would not be startled.

"This brave little girl's name is Moesha." I said as I put her down, and wrapped a sheet around her small form. "Moesha, I have to go and find some thing out." I heard sirens approaching.

"Carl, I am going out the front door and convince the police to stay away, for a while. If you hear shots, don't get worried."

I moved the bodies away from the door, turned invisible, and picked up a gun from the dead goon, from behind the door. I was able to get about four doors down the street, before I shot three times into the frozen lawn. The cop cars immediately turned and stopped. The doors opened, and the police stood behind them, looking for somebody to shoot at.

Sighting carefully, I shot a tire, and dropped the gun, because it was the only thing that could be seen. Two attack bushes, beside some steps, and behind me, were mortally wounded. The bushes luckily were unable to return much fire. I raced back to the house, and locked the door behind me.

"I'm back. I'm just going to have a chat downstairs." I called out to everybody.

Juarez was unconscious, and thus it was easier to get his Swiss, Bahamian, American, Columbian, and other bank accounts and their passwords. I found another password to manipulate all the accounts electronically. Lastly, I found the place of the proposed deal this afternoon.

Upstairs, Carl had got all he needed as well, including the hiding place of the rest of the stash, and as a bonus, the combination to the two safes in this house. The police were still hiding, and using a megaphone to negotiate our surrender.

"Susan, what are we going to do with the children? They definitely do not belong to their parents', after what they did. The Children's Aid will take them, but they don't have a good record, with the children under their care."

"I was thinking the same thing. Kimberly, thinks that her mother's current boyfriend, will rape her soon. Clarice thinks that her brother will do the same."

"If you are thinking of adopting, consider what the rest of our family is like. There are young boys to be awakened, and they would probably not understand any restrictions we put on them. They may get raped while under my care, and I will not have that under any conditions."

"I think that we leave the boys to their naps, and teach the girls how to say no."

"If you wish them as daughters that is fine." If you only want to protect them, till they can stand up for themselves, then that is fine too."

Susan took a child off her lap, and got up to kiss me hard. "Thank you darling. They have suffered enough, and I want to help as best I can. I don't think these are any different, than the others we rescued in Kentucky."

"Well let's leave with the girls."

"But how? The police are outside, and they will see the girls."

"Look into my mind."

"Oh! That's how."

Carl rifled the safe, and went to a much better hidden one. He was quite happy at what he found. I rifled the bank accounts from a computer, and sent all of the money to the Bahamian bank, under one of Tuska's aliases.

Carlton came by undetected. Kimberly was taken to another room, she held tight to Susan, and the shield was activated around both. They were carried into the ship, unseen by the girls, or Kimberly herself. Carl did the same with his booty. Susan made the trip three more times, with none of the girls seeing the other disappear.

I was the only one left. The phone rang, and I knew it was the police. I would love to make a statement, but I did not want to warn Tuska's or the Columbians' men.

I dragged Juarez upstairs, with the other living men, and proceeded to start a fire. Even the flames, would be too quick for this type of people. Flames caressed the outside of the building, through the windows that I broke, till the entire house was engulfed. I shot into the lawn, when the police rushed the house. I didn't want any survivors. The flames licked the shield, and had no effect on me.

Ten minutes later, I was pulled aboard, and watched the house collapse upon itself. Incineration was a good way to get rid of garbage, some time.

The warehouse in New Jersey was full of goods. It was run as a legitimate business, and a safe meeting place, on occasions such as this. The Columbians were there first. A dozen lookouts were stationed at their posts inside the large building, while three men waited with their product.

We all watched the feed from the remotes on the large monitor. The girls were starting to relax, because they were watching TV. Three cars approached, and passwords had been given. A large door was opened, and the cars drove in. Eight men got out and five formed their own perimeter.

Carl and I had our weapons, and the goon's guns. The only two functional battle suits would get us into position easier. We quietly exited, as the monitor changed to a view of a tropical island.

Carl blasted an opening, as the anti-gravs brought us down. We immediately went after the money and drugs. The dealers shot at the muzzle flashes. We methodically shot everyone we could find. Some had fled, but their bosses would not think kindly, when they found that they had not died to protect their property.

Carl and I just walked through the aisles, homing in on the petrified thoughts that the doomed men cast for us. With nobody alive, we took the drugs and money, to the music of approaching sirens. A short time later, we descended to the rest of the cache, and found it unguarded. Carl used his disintegrator on the drug. The exterminating business had its good points.

We went home, without selling the gold, but eight hundred and ninety million dollars would soon be added to our war chest, along with thirty seven million in cash. It was a good thing that the Canadian government would not get a cut.

The girls were each put into the command chair, and the ship's doc sedated them. Carl looked at the two girls, he had rescued. The concern in his eyes was discernable, without being able to read minds. Carl seemed to be stricken with the same malady that attacked Susan and me.

When we got back to the base, everybody was crowding around the gangway. I carried the small form of Moesha. Susan had Kimberly, and Carl had both Clarice and the last girl Michelle, in his big arms.

Nova took Moesha, while Secric took Kimberly. Carl would not let anyone touch his girls. I didn't begrudge him the right, for not too long ago, I had gone off the deep end, while killing Dogfaces.

The base autodoc corrected many faults, in the girls' bodies, from juvenile diabetes to herpes, luckily both in the early stages. The other sicknesses worried me, even more.

"Mom, you must have seen what happened. I couldn't have let those animals have the girls."

"Yes, I know that. What would you like?"

"Humans can be wounded in the mind. I think each of the girls were hurt by being sold to Tuska, then by their close call to being raped, and last of all, seeing all the killing in the house, with them present. Is there a way besides love that will heal them? They will be in pain for a very long time, and it hurts me, to know what they will go through."

"I am able to substitute other memories. As they get older, I can carefully put the old memories back, or leave them with only happy thoughts."

"I don't know Mom. I want that to happen, but also think it is wrong. I think, I should have a talk with the rest first. It is not all my decision."

Later, I asked Carl, as he sat besides the sleeping girls, "Mom said that she can remove all the bad memories, and substitute happy ones in the girls. After they have grown, they can be slowly introduced or not. What do you think we should do?"

"I know they will hurt. Their old lives are dead. Perhaps here, with love, they can grow. I think Mom should save their old memories, and give them better ones now. I don't know about after."

Susan thought for quite a while, and then asked Mom her own questions. "I think we should make them happy, now. I can't see them ever going back to their parents."

I was back to my ethical dilemma. The children were not mine, and they had a right to their own lives, no matter how bad they were. I was stealing that, just as the men were going to steal their virtue. The pain would come to the girls, if I did nothing. Their lives would never be the way they should. With loving parents and friends that loved them, there was hope. I hung my head to ponder this problem, for I knew that the future hung on my decision. Would the next time we took in stragglers, allow us to substitute memories? And what if they didn't want to join our group? Would we just give them good memories, and tell that they always wanted into the group?

"Mom, I think the best thing to do, is give them some good memories, and tone down the bad. I think that within three months we should start to give them back most of their memories, and just moderate the real bad ones."

"I will do as you ask. Your people have such linear lives, that this may be right for them. The Tandra go in and out of stasis, and their lives are far from linear. I will follow each of the girls' lives, and warn you of any problems."

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you."

The next morning the girls were still sedated. Susan thought it would be a better idea to have them awake in the house. Mom had done her best, and substituted the minimum necessary.

My whole family, were transported to the house, now that the transporter was working again. The girls were put into a large bed, to wake up naturally, later.

The TV told of a gang war in New York that took the lives of thirty three men. No mention was made of the girls. I doubt if their parents would file a missing person report anyway, and if they waited, then they would not be able to, for fear of incriminating themselves.

I got the large cast-iron grill out, and started making a mountain of flap jacks. Carl ate like he had two hollow legs. The girls were even more hollow. Out from the bedroom came one, then the other three girls. They had no clothes on, like the rest of us. I only wore an apron, to protect the vital equipment.

Michelle and Clarice came to Carl and pulled his head down for a kiss, and said together, "Good morning, Daddy," then they giggled.

We did not know what to think. Then Moesha climbed upon Susan's lap kissed her and said, "Good morning, Mommy. What's to eat, I'm hungry? Kimberly was on her other side, and climbed up and gave her own kiss. "I am hungry too, oh, and good morning too, Mommy." I was the only one to laugh because she thought of her stomach first.

The girls on Susan's lap turned to me got down and ran to me. "Good morning, Daddy. We missed you."

It was my turn to stumble. "Good morning, ladies. Did all of you sleep well?" They nodded their heads, and ran back to their 'Mother' to be fed. Roger got off his chair and ran up to show that he was mine to. "I already said good morning to you, but I can do it again, as I kissed his forehead. Don't worry; I still love you just as much as before."

The grill was used for a long time. I thought I was feeding the entire 17^th Calvary. Susan and I sat alone, as I ate my breakfast, and drank my now warm coffee. The girls went and played with the rest, as if they had done the same thing, since they were born.

"I didn't expect that greeting at all, but I think Mom must have had to pick somebody to watch out for them, and answer their questions. I wonder what they will think when they see the others play with sex?"

"I think Mom thought of that too. Don't worry."

"Ok," I said, and actually meant it.

Carl stood in the doorway dressed in his shorts. He had not been able to embrace nudism as easy as Susan and me. He avidly watched all the kids, especially 'his'. He had just been thinking of the same thing, and knew if anybody was in pain, or even uncomfortable, then the others would stop. This was much different than how he grew up.

Carl, Blue, Susan, Nova, and I, went up to the destroyer. We just wore the command or regular suits. Blue had been working a long time, trying to get the combat suits back on-line. Four of the suits had lost their AIs', and I was sad at their loss. Even if they were machines, they gave their lives to follow me.

The large stasis chamber was now empty. Mom had done her analysis, and disposed of the bodies. We found three Dogfaces in the back of the medical section, in personal stasis chambers. They could be wounded, sick, critical replacements, criminals or a host of other things. I didn't know yet, and I found I had just enough strength-of-will to resist killing them as they lay.

Mom was still working on the ship AI. She did find that the ship had gone to what we call Epsilon Eridani, and picked up some wild game. The crew had hunted to fill the larder, for the next leg of their patrol.

I looked at the corridor walls, and saw so much damage, that I wondered if it was even practical to repair. The hull might have to be completely stripped, and the structural members repaired or replaced. The computer was lucky, and had just escaped our kinetic weapons.

I looked at the wreck, as I would Mom's hull, and found some similarities. Her length was almost one hundred and ninety metres and massed out at over seven hundred thousand tonnes. I remember Carlton telling me that this was only a light destroyer, in any case.