Chapter 30

"That's more than I asked for, Mr Driscott."

"You had some young people that burned CDs and DVDs for me last time. I want you to have half of the extra $92,000 and the rest I want spent on various pieces of information and programs like you did before. Where I'm going there are no copyright laws. Think of it like I'm going to a desert isle and want to see just what civilisation was all about."

"An eclectic collection like that would cover a lot of material."

"That's why I'm contracting you. I brought a list that's quite long but still not long enough. There's no stipulation on how many you give me but I do what to see some value for my money. Some books have to be scanned but many are already on the net. Concentrate on industry but don't neglect other topics like art."

"I'll accept the job but I've never heard of anything even similar."

"A few months ago I said to assume that I was going to set up a new civilisation on another world. That has not changed. My island is large and I choose to start from scratch."

"Well, I can use the money and so can the students." He looked at Caiti and Camsa and said, "Are these part of your family."

"They are a very important part." I got a hug now from both of them.

When we left the university, Selna said, "Let's get packs like the students. We'll fit in better. I don't like carrying a purse for my gun."

We toured the university and pointed out how I wanted one like this. The family figured I just had to snap my fingers and it would appear. We got packs and the family was happy once again.

We took a bus across town and walked to a grocery store. After stocking up on a lot of food, I called a fleet of taxis to take us to our vehicles. Both turned out to be bugged and we stayed to deactivate them in front of those that had planted them. While one pair was watching us, one little girl minus her gun, purse and pack planted a coin under their car much like what had been done to Bakhtin.

We scanned the house when we got back but found nothing. Caiti was congratulated and I sent Christiane to wash her to make sure my girl was clean. In the mean time we looked into the trunk of the car we had targeted and what was currently behind it but we could not see further.

Hours later the situation had not changed. We figured the car was close to us and monitoring the house. Christiane and Caiti came out naked, the way we usually dressed. Both girls were flushed and looked tired.

Selna kissed Caiti and asked, "May I borrow your slave for a few moments, Caiti?"

Caiti looked at Christiane and said, "She's pretty worn out but she can give you a few and she should have another in her after she gets a chance to rest."

Christiane looked back and forth but said nothing. From the look on her face she was not averse to doing this at all. When the two left, so did the rest, followed by Caiti. The King of Mendab had to stay and tend to supper.

Camsa came back first. He looked bushed. I said, "Did our women abuse you again?"

"Yes, they did. I wish I was like you and able to last a long time."

"You probably shoot more often then me. I save it so I stay hard."

"I tried that but it's not easy. It's better than it was before but I need to learn more. It's fun learning, though." We both had smiles then.

I put the meal on the table and called out, "Come and get it before I throw it to the hogs."

Caiti came first and said, "We don't have hogs."

"We have some piggies that like eating pussy."

I got another big smile and she said, "That's different."

The girls looked tired and some had recently showered. Though they were bushed I still had my duties tonight.

The girls took care of the dishes while I checked the status of the car with the coin. Nothing had changed. We put a detail on this task. All they had to do was focus for a minute every half hour to see if anything changed.

Now was a chance for me to get a work out in the gym. It was hard to really stay in shape with the obligations I had. Making my family happy was only a small part of it. Later the girls might come down, but it was usually only Jonna and Lauren. Today I had Matra and Christiane.

I mentally asked, "Did you send the other two here?"

"They need to get a workout that's not in bed. I don't want them to get fat. Besides, it was not long ago that we had to fight for our lives and reflexes are important."

"Well, loosen up and we can spar."

Twenty minutes later Jonna and I put robes on so we could throw each other. I was only fair at this and not really a good teacher but the girls did improve. Lauren started to teach Christiane the rudiments and Matra a bit that was more advanced.

Later I was sore but a massage made it all go away. The favour had to be returned but it was fun. The girls and Camsa did not cut me any slack but they were already tired from before, along with their late afternoon workout.

It was later that Camsa ran to me and excitedly said, "The car's moving."

I reached out quickly and grabbed him and then threw him over my shoulders as we hurried to the library. Any room would do but this was the room of choice for this sort of surveillance.

Fislu was wearing a band and I picked up the other. It was not quite dark yet but I got an idea of where the car was. Ten minutes later it stopped to pick up some fast food but it soon continued on. When it stopped it was only for a few seconds before the car pulled into a garage and the door closed.

Fislu said, "Did you get the address?"

"Yes."

The car did not have the small jitters that it would with people in it so I went to get my duds on. So did the rest of the family. I said, "Just Jonna and Selna this time. We're going to plant another few coins so we get them all this time."

The portal opened and I crawled out with the night glasses. Enough light was coming in from the street through the cracks to illuminate the place. I put a coin on top of the ledge above the door.

An alarm went off and the car horn honked loud. Jonna was through the portal but Selna had touched the car. "Back through right away."

Selna dove back through with Jonna and me not far behind. The portal closed as the door opened. Two men raced into the garage. I could see two more staying back in the doorway. I was focussing with the coin I planted. They worked like professionals. The lights were turned on and the garage minutely checked. The car alarm was deactivated and they left. Too bad I could not get sound with the coin.

Selna was crying and I went to her and said, "It's ok. I didn't expect an alarm either. I could have touched it except I didn't want to leave fingerprints."

"I could have got us killed."

I looked up and saw Christiane with her mouth open in shock. She wanted to stay with us and now she had to. At least until we found a way of making her control permanent.

Tiffany read my mind and hugged Christiane but she was unresponsive. I said, "We have a few portals that we had not told you about. Don't worry about it. You were going to be told in any case. It just happened as a bit of a shock and a bit early. Tell me honestly how you feel?"

"I was surprised, Master."

"Are you still worrying?"

It took a few seconds and she said, "Only a bit, Master."

"This changes nothing. You belong to us still and always will. The only thing that may have changed is that you will have to learn more about our business and develop ways of protecting the family."

"I will do whatever you wish, Master."

"Then come and kiss your master." She ran to me and kissed me hard. She was still naked and I picked up the cheeks of her ass to support her. Her legs tried to go around me but I was wearing too much hardware.

I put her down and whispered, "There really is nothing to worry about. Our lives are just a bit more complicated than most."

"I'm not afraid now, Master, because I am holding you."

Twenty minutes later we tried again. This time we used the outside of the garage to go to. I stepped out of the gate with my own home as dark as I could make it behind me. I walked around the house as Jonna and Selna followed. I put coins in the ground near the foundations and where open spaces were inside. When I used the headband I knew that some locations were no good because of a furnace, a freezer or storage rack.

We retreated only to set up another portal. This one opened inside the house. The basement was dark with only a bit of light entering from the street. Once in, I listened and heard the sound from the television and some quiet voices. There was a suspended ceiling. I held up a coin until it touched and tried to reach beyond it with my mind. It worked much better with it in my hand and I had not noticed this before.

The talk was of sports and nothing about me or the garage. I went back into the portal and asked Lauren mentally, "Find some of the microphones and recording devices. I have a place to put them."

One mic went into a hole in the upper floor that admitted the hot air vent. This was in the kitchen and very near one man. Another went into the living room and near a phone. The recorders plugged into an extension cord and they were tucked in behind the freezer in the basement.

The coins were recovered except for four so we had video. Then we removed the ones planted around the house. We watched for a while by switching to one of the four coins but nothing was seen that was interesting. The activity had cooled us and I was not abused as much as usual.

The next morning I saw that the car had moved and was now parked near our farm. I knew because I initiated a portal and put my hand through with a camcorder. This was another farm. After a video search I figured that the barn gave a view of our property.

The farm may have been vacant or the owners asked to leave or been killed. The girls were concerned too. I was happy to see that Christiane had come to some terms about the level of technology her family used.

Jonna said, "What are we going to do today?"

"Go to the warehouse and take some measurements. I want to put something like an old fashioned clothes line up for the portal." She gave me a look and I had to describe the line that used two pulleys. She understood using a cord to hang clothes on to dry.

Tiffany and I got dressed. The rest still had work to do gathering data to bring to Bejek. In a moment I said, "Christiane, you better come too. If you stay here you are going to end up making everybody lose their concentration."

She gave me a bit smile and said, "Yes, Master."

The portal was opened after we looked for people in the building. We came out where we had time to get to the alarm to deactivate it. While looking at the job, I saw an easier way of doing this. We could simply raise a wooden bar with the chain hanging from it. This could be lowered later to remove it from the site.

The chain could be crushed even though it was strong. An expansion joint in the floor provided a solution to this problem.

We went back to the house and walked to the barn to gather a long ladder, a long two by four laying in the rafters, a lot of sash cord and some small pulleys.

It took a while to get everything set up. The cord with two knots in it allowed the two by four to come to chest height. When one cord was pulled, it pulled both of the others and the two by four went up to the trusses. The rope was then tied off. We did a dry run with the larger portal and tucked the chain into the floor after we dug out some of the fibre placed between the sections of flooring. There was still lots of slack but there was no need to use it all. Two of the silver boxes would be on the floor and I had to get a hammer and chisel to make holes to accept them. Usually we just had to drive around them. We tested out the system by getting a pickup from Woodland and driving it to the warehouse.

We drove to another pay phone and Christiane called a large real estate company to find if there were any vacant farms in the area to rent or lease. She went into a story about wanting to be close to the city but not have neighbours. Apparently a friend had said one was available but the address was lost. When a phone number was requested, Christiane said she would just call back in the afternoon.

Dad found some lift trucks for me at a place that rented them out. He bought them for me and they were delivered to the store the next day. The units came to me like the farm equipment and were dispersed to the warehouse or to Woodland.

Later in that day, we found that the farm had been rented but we continued to monitor the men the way they watched us. We learned that there were five men. Their plans were for the gold. One had a brother that had gone missing and was currently working in Woodland.

The areas around our receiving site in Woodland was cleaned. Our dump trucks came back and picked up crushed stone in London. For a few weeks we had a lot of trucks moving back and forth out of the warehouse. I even bought a used roller and spreader for asphalt. Some areas needed concrete for strength but this material was easier to use.

At the same time I got Turpen to provide some good but fake papers for my family. Over time I planned for them to get valid identification in Ontario. There was a chance we would need a way to travel abroad and this meant passports and other documents. I sent gold to pay for this and asked how much he could take if he wanted to sell the gold for me. Apparently he had already looked into this and could take it by the tonne. There was also a lot of mob money to launder and this served both parties. He got the gold but each wooden pallet had a coin hidden between two of the boards.

Woodland was growing quite rapidly. Part way down the coast we started a quarry and hauled stone to make buildings. This material was used to build portions of the infrastructure. This meant storm sewers, bridges and public buildings.

We were building apartment buildings and not individual homes. The waste management system I wanted, was the best available on Earth. A Scandinavian company found us as one of their better customers. We bought a large fibreglass tank that was connected to toilets on every floor of the building. The system was odour free and the toilet looked like what we used. It functioned with just eighty millilitres of soapy water to flush. Shit, vegetable scraps, and other organic refuse went in and humus came out. The pathogens in the Human digestive tract could not survive the time in this system.

The cost to a city on Earth to process this waste was enormous. A check of any large city could show how much of the taxes went to pay for this. Urine in our system was leached out and pumped into the fields. The urea in it was a good fertiliser. This made me think of my schooling and I was sure my teachers would be proud to know just how well I was putting my knowledge to work.

The people coming to the city were required to build more apartment buildings and I supplied the needed systems. Grey water was another commodity I used. It came from sinks and showers. This was settled in large tanks and pumped into the fields over six klicks away along with the urine.

The shipments from Joseph Turpen and Kapsirko Bakhtin arrived. I was not an expert on military hardware but I knew some of this equipment was worn out. Much of it was of the Vietnam war era but some was from WWII like my Lee-Enfields. A fifty calibre machine gun was still good even if it didn't shoot as fast or as accurately as the more modern weapons.

The Sûreté du Québec was hit with some charges and Christiane Roux was dropped from their books. Well, I guess their official books. The two suppliers and Gaston Tremblay were negotiating for a ship load of ammunition. So far they had found only a few tonnes but they were looking to acquire a shipload that might end up thirty thousand tonnes. This was going to cost me a lot of money. The AK rounds Turpen owned had already been delivered. We had lots for protection but a real war meant that a few measly tonnes was not enough.