A Brave New Planet - Directed by, Gall Stone, Produced by, Dinky Doodle

My attempt to lead a simple life

The monster was closing in. Jessica now was running as fast as she could. Briars and brambles tore at her clothes. Vines surrounded her, blocking her path through the forest.

A mist was closing around and dusk would soon be upon her.

Ahead she saw light and what seemed to be the opening to another path. She began to race toward it. She was gasping. Most of what she had been wearing was in taters. Her dress shredded around her hips and her top bare. As she got to the open path, a load voice called out. The words were like those of some guardian, it gave her some hope that this would be over soon. It was not to be.

She heard the director yell, "Cut, we need to do this over people, it is just not working. Jess, snap out of it, you need to act and not keep hiding. First call at 7:00 am Monday."

It was easy for him, she thought. This, on the other-hand, had been the worst week of her life. She had been so close to me. I had come over last weekend. She had a wonderful dinner then he had taken her home. Before long, she had most of her clothes off and they were hugging, kissing and rolling around the living room. That began her nightmare.

Larry, opened the door and walked in. "Well, well, well. First you steal my next movie, now you try to get my girl too. What next, lover boy?"

If looks could kill, the look on Jessica's face said it all. She turned red, sputtered something and tried to get up while covering her naked body.

Thad just looked at her, then Larry. "Nope, Larry", he exclaimed, she's all yours! "The two of you deserve each other. As far as stealing your next movie, talk to the studio, that is if you ever get sober enough not to slur." Thad got dressed and walked out.

That was Friday night, earlier, both had been presented great contracts for the upcoming movie. Thad was to be the male lead and Jessica, because of her amorous sessions with the producers, had the female lead. She had dumped Larry several months before. He was a lush and had come to work drunk too many times. The studio had not renewed his contract and two TV series never called him back to audition. News travels fast in this business.

She had met me on the set but considered me nothing more than fresh meat. The studio exec's had been looking for a new face, a sober face, and one who could act, not just read queue cards all day. Jessica saw in me a solution to her new problem.

Reality begins to set in.

Thad was leaving Jessica's apartment and heading for his rented car. No one knew him here and he had tried very hard to keep it that way. The last several years had been hard on him; both physically and emotionally. He had hurt a lot of people. The role he was forced to play had ended the way his handlers had hoped. The price he had to pay was quite high though, it had cost him the woman he had come to love.

He recalled what had taken place. Kat was a widow(A few times, I guess) and twice his age, he had been ordered to get close to her, anyway possible. At first it was a pleasant enough assignment.

He bought her a drink in a fashionable club in New York. He came back there the next two Fridays. One time he nodded in recognition to her but did not bother her. The next time he did not see her. As he cleared his tab, the waitress, tapped his arm and with a warm smile, mentioned that some woman had asked about him.

It was late, the waitress was very cute and he asked her out for some food. He waited for her to finish her shift, get changed and walked her out. She was young and this was no hooker he thought. Just a girl trying to do a job and get by in a hard city. "College", he asked. "Yep", said the girl, "I want to be an actress when I finish."

That was a story of a lot of young girls in New York. They turned the corner and entered a car park. The attendant took his ticket, gave it to a young man after he stamped it and took the Fifty Dollars. Oh well, Thad thought, business. He turned to the girl and asked, "Where too?" He looked at her, "I mean I can take you home after we eat or back to your car. I just wanted to know where would be better for you?"

"Oh, she said. This is unusual for me, but for some strange reason I think I trust you. You won't hurt me, will you?"

"No little one, I am just tired and hungry, and lately have not enjoyed the company of anyone as pretty as you. So, no, I would never hurt you, and I wish I might be able to help you."

She began to cry now. The car roared to a stop. The shiny Red Corvette was behind them. Thad handed the boy a tip, then directed the girl to the opening door. She had her hands to her mouth as she uttered those famous words. "Oh MY God, OHMYG ... dd" She seemed in a daze as they roared off.

"My name is Thad, what's yours?"

"Emily", she whispered, looking at the leather and chrome surrounding her. "It seems brand new, but it's not, is it?"

"No", he said. "It's a 1961 427 SOHC. Special order and should go over 200 MPH. Never got that high though. Now, we are getting some food, and you, young lady, are going to tell me why you were crying."

She looked at him, dried her eyes and said, "I am such a fool" I got evicted today, have like $26 left and the manager where I work now said he might have to let me go unless I might want to do some 'extra work'. My Mom warned me what would happen, but I knew better. Now I'm a failure. Thad, I don't want to do that 'extra work'. Can you help me get to a bus station and I'll call home to see if they will take me back and wire me enough money to get home?"

Thad shook his head. "Em, how old are you, really?" He looked at her as they drove, her soft hair blowing in the wind and was reminded of the girl he had left behind in tears. They did not look alike but he had decided that he would not let her suffer either.

"I'm 17, this was my first night and I was supposed to go home with Bob, the manager after work. Thad, I just couldn't. I'm not a whore but I just had no where else to go. When you asked me to have a meal, it was an easy decision for me. Even if I had to have sex with you, I thought it was better than going with that bastard. If you want to dump me someplace I understand, but please don't hurt me anymore, I have nothing left to give but my body." She looked down and began to cry again.

"Em, Em, I would never try to hurt you. You remind me of someone who I did hurt however. You, little one, are my redemption from that. In-fact I want to help you. I have only two question for you now. Can I trust you to do only as I ask, and what kind of food would you like? Everything else will be taken care of."

She looked at me with tears running down her cheeks. "Yes", she said, and "Anything, anything at all."

For the first time I touched her. I wiped a falling tear from her face and asked. "I have to travel quite often, would you be willing to look after all my things here? A long-term job, if you would. You could go to school, use the cars and have a place to live. Everything would be paid for and I would place money in your account every month in addition to the other. You would not be a servant, slave or used for sex, rather my trusted assistant. If things work out you may have to travel with me but never do anything illegal."

She nodded her head, took my arm in her hands and rested her head on my side. Tears now were coming from my eyes. When I looked at her, I saw my past, and my future, I was not going to screw things up again. We skipped going out as I drove to my home here.

Damn, where was she 6 years ago. I had to ask her what Kat had wanted to know though. I wondered if Em would or could understand that much of the things I did were because of my Masters, not because I was a bad man. I would try to explain. Tomorrow maybe.

Harder than it should be.

When we finally got to my house, I got Em to bed, her bed, and made some calls. The Agency worked 7/24/365 and was used to strange requests. This one required a call back and was not recorded. "OK buddy, you are going to owe us one, spill it.

I told them about Bob, what he tried to put Emily through and tried to have her past mistakes cleared up. That's one thing about the Agency, nothing was impossible.

It was a bit late Saturday morning, past 11:00am and Em had figured her way to the kitchen. "Where are we", she asked as she rubbed her eyes?" She was still wearing the t-shirt and boxer shorts I had put on her when we arrived last night. "What happened?"

"You jumped all over me, tore off your clothes and mine and told me to ravish you and make you a woman. I was sort of tired after your 10th orgasm so went to sleep" My new houseguest turned several shades of red. Her little hands again covered her mouth and she looked down at her night attire.

I handed her a cell phone and motioned for her to sit down at the table. "This is yours now, indicating the house. Call your old home and talk to your parents. Tell them that you quit trying to be an actress and now have a real job as an executive assistant for a global import/export company. That you are moving to a corporate home and may have to travel a bit. That they are sending you to school for some classes here and you will busy for some time. That your life has changed and you will be sending them some money from your signing bonus. To call you on this cell number or e-mail at an address you will send them as soon as you get settled."

She looked at me like a deer into headlights. "Now, Em, breakfast as soon as your done with that call."

Pancakes, eggs, three kinds of sausage, cheese, rolls, honey, ham, bacon, O'Brian potatoes, fruit, melon and four kinds of juices were waiting for her when she returned. I loved breakfast. She looked at them and started to cry again. This girl cried more than a cook peeling onions. "Em, I'm sorry, we also have milk, cereal, muffins, bagel, jam, preserves, butter and crème cheese too, I had forgotten."

She looked at me. I slept alone, didn't I? I did not really do those things, did I?"

I gently took her hand. "No my new assistant, I was trying to make a joke. At least I don't think you did those things, I was tired too." I laughed.

"Em, you are precious. You have nothing to worry about. In-fact you were snoring so loudly that you almost woke up the neighbors.(We did not have any). Let me show you around after you eat then we have to go to a few places."

Her eyes just stared when I began the tour, the place was not huge but the landscaped grounds, a pool, hot tub, sauna, exercise room and a suite of rooms just for her brought her again to tears. "Why are you doing this to me, why are you showing me all this? I cant afford any of this."

"Em, I told you before, you are working for me now. Last night you promised to do everything I asked. That I could trust you. Was that all a lie?"

For about the fifth time already, she began to cry. "Jeez Em, get with it, I need you, we have a ton of things to do, and if I need someone else, I have a lot more clubs to go to if I'm to find anyone as cute as you are."

She smiled and began to giggle. "Am I really cute?"

This girl had some self-esteem issues. "Yes you are, and if I was not such a great and wonderful person, I would lock you up and ravish your body. MMM, that gives me some ideas maybe." She hit me arm, wiped away her tears and said, "we have things to do, AHH, where are my clothes?"

Rules were meant to be broken.

We took a more sedate car. It was a BMW 7 Series and Em just looked around the garage at all the covered things. "I'll show you where all the keys are and access codes when we get back, Em," I said.

Our first stop was a little house outside of the city. We walked up to the old lady inside. "We would like some fresh food." A door opened and we walked in. I took Em's hand, mouthed, 'don't worry', and as the scanner recognized my hand, eye, voice and a sensor chip in my nose cavity we entered another room.

"Is she the one?" the man asked. "Yep, I had to trade the old one in on a cuter model."

He handed me a package. "You know we're breaking about a thousand rules?" "Top Secret, Majestic", I said, and left with a smile. "Now my dear let's go shopping." As we got back near the car, I bent down and removed a small object from the front and then from the rear bumper. "I think you made a good impression, someone wanted to see you again. If they try that more, tell them you're already taken." I handed her the package.

As we drove to a nearby shopping mall I said to open it. Inside was her new life. Passport, birth papers, licenses from several states, bank accounts and several no. 10 envelopes. "The one bank account is for you to write a check and mail it to your Mom and Dad. The note tells you what to say. A deposit, money from your job will be made each month. The one envelope has several credit and debit cards, memorize the security codes for them. The other envelope has cash for you to use, you'll get one each week, use it to buy whatever we need. There are no bills that need to be paid so enjoy yourself."

Em looked at the amounts in the accounts, and the envelopes. "You are now Emily Parker, my sister. You start college in September and represent the company when I am unavailable. It will take some time to get you the clearances you will need, but for now, the place we went to earlier will treat you as my assistant and, as I said, it seems someone there is taken by you, so remind them you're taken."

He handed her another envelope, "Here, use this for shopping today, get whatever you need." Inside was $10,000. She began crying again. Remember, you are now Emily Parker. Oh, your past is no longer anything to worry about, you owe nothing, and the little miscue at the club has been taken care of. Bob, it seemed was not a very nice person and preyed on young girls like you. Let's just say, that will no longer happen."

When we got back from shopping, that magic thing that all girls seem to naturally know how to do, it then was a quick walk-thru the codes and access procedures when we got back to the house.

"Where do I go to work?" She asked?

"Here", I said. I pointed to the phone than handed her a new Air weight laptop. "Your mobile office."

Dinner Milady" I told here to pick out any outfit she wanted from the 3,000 or so it looked like she bought; and we would eat appropriately. She looked at me, gracefully curtsied and told me she was ready as she was. We went to the garage, I took a set of keys and tossed them to her. She looked at the keys, looked at me and I pointed to the no 6 stall. "Each key has a number, that number is where the car is at."

She looked at me as we went to no 6, and I started to remove the cover. Her eyes opened wide as she saw the car. She tried to say something but could not. "Seafood I think Em, as I got into the passenger side of the silver 1957, 300 Mercedes Gull Wing." If you take this to school Em, you better not bring any of the boys that will follow you back here."