Chapter 103

Arlene stuck her head in the door of the living room where Jeff, Selina and Diana were talking. "Time for school, Little Sister," Arlene said, not bothering to try to curb her enthusiasm. "We're gonna have a ball."

Selina, despite wanting to attend Doctor Boswell's school, had certain reservations, but mostly just those of a new student in a new system. Diana, noticing the look on Selina's face and guessing the source, stood as Selina did and hugged the girl. "I know that you, understandably, are a little ill at ease right now, but I guarantee you'll enjoy this day so much you won't want to leave school this afternoon. Remember though, Helen is just as smart as you are, and she's had years of experience to go with her intelligence. We all love you. Just go and have a good time. We'll see you at lunch."

Selina smiled at her, bowed ever so slightly and said, "Thank you, my Queen," then turned to give Jeff a hug.

After Diana was certain Selina was out of earshot, the Queen, a question on her face, turned to her husband.

"Search me," he responded, but before she could say anything he continued with, "Suddenly, I'm being called Prime. I kinda enjoyed her calling you Queen, though." Tipping Diana's face up to his, he kissed her hard for a moment, his tongue teasing her lips until they parted for him.

When his mouth left hers, she slumped against him. "Don't start anything we can't finish. The lawyers will be here this morning and I don't need to look fresh fucked when they arrive." But she moderated her comment with, "Although I would love for you to screw my brains out if we had the time. And while I'm thinking about it, what brought on all that special attention yesterday? Not that I'm complaining," she giggled. "There was a time there that I thought I would surely die when I couldn't stop coming, and ... you wouldn't let me pass out, would you? I was going to talk to you afterward, but I was so exhausted I couldn't seem to stay awake later while you were making love to my sisters. I barely managed enough energy afterward to crawl into your arms. The next thing I knew was when Laura shook me awake this morning and handed me a glass of orange juice. They already had breakfast ready when I got to the kitchen. What did you do to me?"

Jeff chuckled as he hugged her. "I made love to my Queen — that's all."

After staring at him for a moment, "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too, My Queen." Then after hugging her, "I think I'll go over to the ski lodge and check with the Major. He was supposed to come in with the first weapon emplacement this morning."

Diana frowned. "Aren't those weapons going to stand out like a sore thumb? Every plane or helicopter that comes over will see them, won't they? Not to say anything about visitors."

Jeff was shaking his head. "Conventional weapons would be obvious, but the General said he was going to use the latest equipment. Some of this is off-world technology. None of it is truly large. He assures me that after the installations are complete, no one will be able to see anything. They are even using my new radar where appropriate, and it can't be jammed. From what Lieutenant Mayfield tells me he has gleaned from the Major, the General has gone for overkill on defensive weapons. At least I will know that my women are safe."

Diana let out a chuckle. "Don't kid yourself my darling husband. All that 'overkill' is for you, the Prime who commands the General's starship. We're only part of the peripherals and will be guarded from harm because it would piss off the Prime to have one of his women hurt."

"Di..."

Kissing him on his cheek, "Go talk to your Major, My Love. I have a house to run."

Arlene held the classroom door for Selina. Her laptop slung over her shoulder again, the six-year-old walked in to be greeted by everyone. Selina's eyes scanned their faces — wondering. She had chatted with the girls as she assisted with breakfast, then laughed and helped out with cleanup, but there was something ... Everyone seemed to be busy already, though, either booting up desktop computers at the other end of the room, or starting their laptops as the girls sat in comfortable chairs.

Doctor Boswell motioned to a seat. As Selina sat and started to take her laptop out of its case, her eyes focused on the small table in front of her.

Doctor Boswell walked over, and speaking deadpan as she motioned to the wide-lined paper on the small table in front of Selina, said, "I thought we would start off with a little test to see how well you are doing with your cursive writing."

Selina stared at the first grade paper for a second, then her mind kicked into gear. This wasn't a manufactured first grade ruled writing pad. The lines, though neat, were made with a printer and on plain paper. Why would she start me ... Joke. They're teasing me and I almost succumbed. She wiped the startled expression off her face after a split second, then affecting a look of intense concentration, the tip of her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth, she picked up a pencil and began to laboriously write her name in large, shaky letters.

There was a moment of total silence, then the girls all roared out their laughter, as did Selina. Doctor Boswell, also laughing, grabbed the writing paper and tossed it in the trash can, then hugged Selina. "Welcome to our school. Now, your school. And oh, yes, we thought you might like a laptop like everyone else has. A little birdie told me that you might like one with a bigger screen, and it will certainly come in handy with the programs we use here," she said as she handed Selina a still-boxed, new laptop computer.

"Sorry about the tease," Arlene said as she too hugged Selina. "I just had to. I talked Helen into it. And that look on your face was priceless. But we love you, and as smart as you are, that may well be the only time we get one on you. You really should have seen your face, though."

Doctor Boswell and Melissa put two stacks of program boxes beside Selina's chair. "We thought you might want to load your own programs on your new laptop so you can set them up just the way you like. The wider screen is almost a necessity on our CAD program, and for detailed work, you'll need the even bigger, multiple, higher resolution screens of your desktop over there," she finished, pointing to a new desktop, multi-screen computer system at the other end of the room.

Helen, with tears in her eyes, hugged Selina again, "You don't have to hide your light any more, Selina. You're part of us now."

I expected to be welcomed, but I... Selina hugged her back, then tried to focus on the box containing her new laptop, her thoughts awhirl.

"We charged you a spare battery," Ann said as she put a laptop battery on Selina's table.

"Thank you. That was thoughtful of you," Selina responded as she extracted the laptop from its packaging.

Selina had seldom been censured when she asked for something, mostly because her parents were rich, but also to some extent, just to keep her out of their hair. Her original laptop had been bought with a six-year-old in mind, though: small, lightweight, but light on technical as well. If Selina had insisted on a laptop with a wide, high resolution screen, more robust video and larger hard disk, the request would have fallen outside the child persona she had worked so hard to maintain. If she had bought the laptop herself, it would have been harder to hide it than her books, and if seen by her parents, it would have caused them to wonder — something she didn't want to happen.

"You have no idea how much this means..." Selina started as she put her new laptop on the table.

"I suspect we do, although for different reasons," Arlene said. "Most of us had to wait for expensive things while we were growing up, and even then, we could seldom afford the best until Daddy sold his invention."

Helen put a thick binder on the table. "This is the printed out version of the digital manual that comes with the CAD program. I'm sure it will only take a few minutes for you to read, then you might want to have a copy of our data files we have saved while learning and using the program. The program is capable of doing most anything a CAD program can do, but reading 'how to' in the manual, and learning practical applications of that knowledge are obviously not the same thing."

After snapping the charged battery into the laptop, Selina paused to look up at Doctor Boswell, realizing that there was more behind the words she had spoken. "Yes," Helen said, recognizing that Selina had realized there was more. "One of our CAD projects is almost completed. Next comes the practical application of our computer work. We each inspected your idea of the screws in our husband's shoes..."

"It was not my idea. I read about it on the net. I merely told Jef... , uh, our Prime about it."

"He will not object to your calling him by his first name," Helen quietly injected.

"Our Queen explained to me about a Prime, but it seems disrespectful for someone my age to refer to him in that manner."

Boswell smiled, then went on, "As I mentioned, we have almost completed our current project on the CAD program, so this afternoon, we should receive the trailer frame and the last of the items we purchased in order to complete the practical application of our work."

Selina pushed the On button on her new laptop, and sat back to let the computer do its thing, her mind focused on Doctor Boswell.

"Our local Sheriff is part of our family. He's family for two reasons. He's an Alpha, and our husband who is a Prime, says the Sheriff is family. One day, what I have just said will have more meaning to you than it does this morning. Anyway, Sheriff Tate and his family fell in love with the taste of our coffee. A lot of that taste comes from the excellent water we have up here. We're building him a trailer that will contain a large stainless steel water drum and the pump and other equipment so that the Tate's will have our water for cooking and drinking."

Helen waited for a moment, then continued, "And yes, we could have simply bought him a water trailer. There are many for sale by various companies. A lot of our schoolwork is similar to that of any other school, but when we can, I like to apply the knowledge we have acquired. One aspect of that is the building of the water trailer, another is a duplicate set of books for Carla's farm and ranch. Recently, we have completed a set of plans for Martha's expansion/new restaurant, and those plans were approved by her and have been sent to the architect. They will become reality in the spring. We have other projects going — practical applications to knowledge we have learned in our school. Interested?" she finished with a grin.

Selina was hooked.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

The ASAC had received a call from the agent in Hanes' ICU room. "He's restless and his eyes have opened a couple of times. The nurse thinks there's a good chance Hanes will wake up for real in a few minutes."

"I'm in the parking deck right now. I'll be there in five," Grigsby said, then snapping his phone closed, he hurried through the deck.

A few minutes later, "He's awake, his kidneys are producing urine, and his liver functions are better," Bobby, the day shift nurse said as Grigsby met her just before she entered Hanes' room. "He's terribly weak, but he mimicked writing, so I'm bringing him one of our small whiteboards," she said.

Grigsby touched her arm. "How is he ... mentally," he whispered.

"He's only been awake a few minutes, so I don't have much to go on, but..."

"Gut feeling?" the ASAC encouraged.

"We'll see," she said, but a smile twitched the corners of her mouth.

The agent in the room started to leave as they entered, but Grigsby waved him back to his seat. Hanes' glanced at them, but his eyes locked onto the white board, recognition obvious.

Bobby pressed the button to raise the head of his bed a little. Putting the marker in Hanes' right hand, she held the board in the proper position for him as it rested against his stomach. He glared at his right hand accusingly when it didn't seem to do what he wanted. Bobby touched his arm and in a soothing voice said, "That's normal. You've been unconscious. You're doing fine. Things will improve quickly. Just take your time."

Hanes' obvious tension ebbed a little with her words. Finally, painstakingly, he managed to scrawl in barely legible block letters, "GIRL?"

Grigsby stepped closer to the bed. "I'm the ASAC in the Atlanta office. I assume you're referring to the girl in the motel room. She was unhurt. She's fine. Just a little shaken up."

Hanes tried to write something else, but his hand didn't seem to be able to hold the marker any longer. His eyes closed and he didn't respond any more. The ventilator continued its regular rhythm and Hanes' chest rose and fell. Grigsby, upset that Hanes had gone back to sleep, or whatever, shot a questioning look at the nurse, but instead of a look of concern on her face, there was a smile.

Bobby picked up the marker lying beside Hanes' hand, her eyes automatically sweeping her readouts once more, then she motioned to the door. Near the door she put the marker and white board in a niche obviously made for that purpose. Outside the room a moment later, she smiled at Grigsby. "A few minutes ago, you wanted me to guess. I shouldn't do this, and again, the doctors..."

" ... will never know from me. I'm not foolish enough to burn my sources," he grinned at her.

Bobby giggled a little, her beauty burning through the professional persona for an instant as she recognized the tease, "I think his mind is fine."

"He had trouble holding the marker."

"He's been in a deep coma," then her smile widening, "It's not like in the movies when the hero suddenly wakes up and everything is fine. In real life, you seldom just snap back and are fully functional. His motor control is better than some I've seen, considering how terribly sick he was yesterday. What you just saw was excellent. I can't wait to tell Sandra. She'll call me as soon as she gets up, and I'll have some good news for her. And before you ask, the answer is no. We don't usually get this involved in a patient's recovery. If you do and the patient doesn't make it (this is an intensive care unit, so some of them don't), well ... it hurts. Sandra and I both have attended funerals for people who have hung on long enough for us to get to know them and their family. We probably will again, but most of the time we try to just do our jobs and go home. I tried working in our neonatal ICU, but seeing a tiny baby die was more than I could stand. I guess every job has its ups and downs. You just saw an up side to this one."