Iron Rain Pt. 07

"We are, "I replied fluently in Japanese and the relief on her face was clearly evident.

"Thank you Shaw-san I am Sora Kobayashi and I am here to take you to the Numenor." She explained.

"What exactly is the Numenor," I asked and she smiled wickedly.

"That dear Nicholas-san is a surprise but the helicopter is fueled and ready," she said pointing where we could safely park our car.

"Helicopter," I exclaimed which was picked up by the others. "Park over there dad we are traveling in style."

We were parked and walking over to a quieter part of the docks where the large helicopter stood waiting. The props began to spin slowly and we were ushered aboard and once we were safely belted in and the pilot was ready we left the ground with a slight stomach lurching motion. We turned and headed straight out for open sea. We watched the dock slip into the distance and the coastline joined it as we made excellent speed for our destination. I was thinking that maybe we were heading out to meet a cruise ship and was only half wrong. It was a ship but not of the commercial variety it was a yacht and though it looked tiny at first sight it grew and grew until I realized this helicopter could easily land one of the two helipads atop the monster. We did a flyby and along one side in silvery script on the dark gray exterior were written 'Numenor'. The ship was all lines and elegance from the side and looked fast even at anchor. From the top it had a rounded almost organic form and I could only guess on how much some company spent having it built.

"So what's the significance of the name," I asked Sora.

"It is the name of the company that built it," she replied.

"I thought as much, so what are we doing here?"

"You are among select few the company has invited on the maiden voyage of this fine vessel."

"How many guests," I asked.

"I don't have an exact amount but around two hundred."

It was times like this I missed having the contact lenses and we had left the tablet with our car parked at the dock. The skilled pilot landed us with barely a bump and we were soon walking down the ladder from the helipad to be greeted by the captain himself. He was a handsome man in his late forties of what appeared to be Greek decent and he shook each of our hands as we approached. As he and I clasped hands there came a flash in my head of our captain wearing a toga and half naked slave girls feeding him as he lounged comfortably. Me and my imagination... though I could think of two girls who could feed me grapes all night long.

"You must be Nikolas," he said giving my hand an extra squeeze and I nodded as I returned the handshake. "You have a firm grip for an American."

"Yeah it's from a life of combat and sword play," I told him thinking of the many hours in the dojo.

"Perhaps you'd honor me in a match some day," he said eyes glittering with challenge and again the flash in my head and this time the captain was in the garb of a Roman Legionnaire and covered in blood from head to toe.

"Hmm a samurai versus a centurion that would be interesting," I said good naturedly but the look of shock on his face was so unbecoming my harmless joke.

He recovered and let go my hand and I followed my family as Sora led us to our cabins. We were two decks down and near the center of the ship. She opened the first cabin and we stepped into what could have been the penthouse at a five star hotel. It had a living room, a master bath and a huge bedroom.

"I guess Kat and I can each take a sofa," I started to say and Sora just smiled and crooked her finger to the next cabin down and it was as nice as the first. "This is for us?" I asked meaning Kat and me and Sora nodded. "Excellent."

"Sweet," Kat said launching herself onto the bed and let out a low moan as she landed on its luxurious covers.

"I will be staying aboard in case you want a full tour of the Numenor," Sora asked before opening the closets which were fully stocked with clothing both casual and black tie.

"I was about to say I have nothing to wear for anything real nice but these oh my god," Kat purred checking out the designer dresses.

"If you need anything dial 3 and I will be here in a flash," and then she was gone.

The doors to the cabin had barely shut before they were opened again and three men in ships livery appeared and dropped off food and drink on the living room table. Two of them left immediately but the third tipped his hat and sat down and began eating.

"Nice spread huh," William Bell said with a grin.

"You," I cried out pointing before launching myself at him.

We hugged and Kat just stood and stared clueless as to how I knew the cabin boy.

"Kat this is William one of my best friends who has a shit load of explaining to do."

"Kat, she's hotter than you told me Nick. Okay I have tons to explain but first a tour of the Numenor and as we walk we can talk."

He donned his cap and we left the cabin and headed further down the hall away from mom and dad's cabin. I knew they were going to be busy for an hour at least testing out the bed and room service so we had time to kill. We started at the top of the ship and worked our way down deck by deck until we reached the engine room and the power plant that looked remarkably like the generator hooked up to the crystal growth chamber back at the house. I looked at the Will and he just smiled.

"What better way to advertise our product than have it hooked up to a cutting edge super yacht," he said with a flourish of his arms.

"So... explain," I said deadly serious now. "What the fuck in going on Will, my seizures, the coma spill it."

"Hardware/Software glitch," he began. "The AIM program somehow migrated into the optical interface for the contacts and when it detected a foreign program, your mind, it went into defense mode."

"So when Moira showed up and told me my mind was being rewritten..."

"She made it, I wasn't sure that would work or not." He admitted.

"What would have happened if the process had been completed?"

"You would have had the opportunity to relive your entire life all over again from a blank slate."

"I take it you corrected the problem," Kat spoke up at this point in the conversation.

"Yeah, we taught it human minds were simply another system and not to initiate any hostile action until a threat was detected."

"Now that is cleared up what the fuck was in the energy drink," I said walking towards him and he held up his hands in surrender and I stopped before I was in striking distance but barely.

"It was ninety eight percent energy drink that is on the market and two percent gene therapy," he said wincing.

"What kind of gene therapy Will? What did you do to me? I haven't slept in months I have to meditate to keep from going bat shit."

"You never get tired, never get sick, can fuck for hours and hours," he said smiling and Kat despite herself smiled. "You dog you! I knew you were banging her!"

"Don't change the subject what was in that drink?" I said glancing over at Kat and narrowing my eyes but she just licked her lips and smiled.

"How about I show you," Will said reaching over for a small plastic box about nine inches long, four inches wide and three deep.

He opened the box and extracted a wicked looking scalpel and extended his hand.

"Give me your hand Nick, I promise it won't hurt."

Sheepishly I offered him my hand and he cut a small incision on my thumb and barely had the scalpel passed through the skin that it closed up. Then he handed me the scalpel and I cut a little deeper and there was a single drop of blood but when I licked the wound it had already closed.

"Tell me this isn't your handiwork," I asked him.

"I wish; no it was one of Terry and Jerome's pleasant accidents. They were checking the extent that BORG could infiltrate non-network systems. They sliced a government satellite and perused the systems being maintained at a research facility. Once in the facility they found a secure system not physically attached to the mainframe and successfully examined it and found some interesting information."

"Let me guess some sort of super soldier serum?" I asked but he shook his head.

"No, it's a life extension program with some interesting side effects. Key members of the government have already been given the treatment with great success. So they managed to use the robotic indexing system and procured what remained of the sample, downloaded the rest of the drive and wiped it once the sample was safely shipped to a secure location. Jesse wanted the data and schematics located in the facility, Terry wanted the project shut down and was the one who initiated the wipe and I was the one who decided you were the perfect man for the serum. By the way I received this in the mail yesterday it was addressed to me but the note inside said it was for you."

He walked over to a box sitting on one of the engines and handed it to me. I began to open it and Will shook his head and we continued on with our tour.

"Tonight is a black tie gathering of the corporate elite and you Nick get to pitch our new computer system and power plant," Will said smiling.

"How the hell am I supposed to demonstrate our product without...?" I began to rant and he just waved me off.

"Everything should be in your cabin by now and oh by the way," he said reaching into his pocket and tossing me a small box. "There's your replacement."

I looked down and it was a contact lens box and when I looked at it I knew I made 'that' face and William patted me on the back.

"Trust me Nick I would never do anything to hurt you or your family. Besides check out the Las Vegas article on the new tablet on your bed. Consider it an act of faith on my part and a long deserved reprieve for your mom and Kat here."

He never said another word as we made our way back up to the cabin and he simply kept walking as Kat and I opened our cabin door and stepped inside.

"What did he mean an act of faith?" Kat asked.

"I don't know," I said as I set down Jesse's box and grabbed the tablet from off the bed.

I fired up the computer and found the file marked Las Vegas on the desktop and opened it. It was a video file about a brutal murder of a prostitute that they were calling it gang violence. It wasn't until they showed the victim that Kat and I gasped because the resemblance to Petra Shaw was uncanny and we both knew what had happened. This poor woman had been used as bait and the Iron Rain had bitten and hard. An innocent woman had been brutally murdered so that Petra and Kat could breathe easy for a very long time.

"We never mention this," I said.

"Ever," Kat agreed.

The file was deleted but we both knew that we would remember this for a very long time to come. I touched my right side and now had my answer. It hadn't been the Dragon Ki I had called on that had healed me but this government developed gene therapy that Will had spiked the energy drinks with. Is that why my DNA had been altered? What was the extent of its effects? I needed to get in touch with Jesse and see those files.

Kat walked over to the cardboard box on the couch and smiled.

"Yes you can open it," I told her glad for a distraction.

I plopped down on the carpet next to her and using her nails opened the box with feline precision. She opened the flaps and pulled out the packing material and lifted out the heavy metallic pyramid inside. It wasn't a traditional pyramid because the base had only three corners. It was a beautiful thing created of some queer non-reflective black metal which I was guessing the product of industrial espionage on BORG's part. Jesse loved a puzzle and no more so than putting things together that normally would never have been considered. When Kat held the pyramid to the light you could see its surface was covered with a design of row after row of interlocking triangles starting at the 'capstone' and moving down from there. I opened the box with the contacts and slipped them into my eyes and found I missed their presence more that I was willing to admit. I squinted and the surface of the pyramid yielded another clue. Each of the small triangles had a number in each corner. This was some sort of cyber-puzzle box but hell if I knew what to make of it.

"What do you see?" Kat asked and I smiled and had her put the pyramid down and drug her off to the bathroom.

I took out the contacts and cleaned them with the well stocked medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I offered her one lens then the other then I guided her in their use.

"Holy shit," she exclaimed and I knew she was hooked.

"You like them," I asked and she nodded vigorously. "Good they're yours."

"Oh no Nick I can't accept a gift like this," she said reaching to take them out.

"Please, they might save your life someday and that would let me sleep a whole lot easier."

"Since you put it that way I accept."

"There's one catch, you tell no one ever not even mom."

"Okay, if that's what you want Nick I trust you," she said snuggling up against me.

"Now let me show you how to call up Surfer and then you can create your own avatar."

"Sweet, so what do I do?"

"To wake up that avatar you say 'to me my herald', it's out of the comic," I said almost blushing. "And he should appear in the center of your line of sight."

"To me my herald," Kat said and frowned. "How long does it take?"

"He should just appear instantly," I said. "He is programmed to respond to that."

'Milord?' I heard the solemn voice behind me and when I turned there he hovered in all his gleaming glory.

"Surfer? Um Kat?" I said and she turned and smiled.

"Oh there he is," she said and then did a double take. "You can see him too?"

"Yeah, but the contacts aren't in my eyes how can I see him?"

'Milord is there a problem?'

"How can I still see you when I no longer have the contact lenses?" I asked my avatar.

He stretched out his hand and a silvery white light bathed me and he smiled.

'Lord Nicholas you still possess the power cosmic it has just been altered is all.'

"Power Cosmic," Kat asked.

"That's what I called the optical interface, in other words the contact lenses."

"What does he mean altered," she asked looking him over. "He's kind of cute."

'Milady the lenses as you call them have been assimilated into Lord Nick's organic mainframe.'

"Come again," I said feeling sick to my stomach.

'To keep you from shutting down the Lady Moira activated the lenses secondary bonding process.'

"Secondary bonding, what's the primary bonding?" Kat asked.

'The primary bonding happened Lady Kat when the lenses were put on for the first time and they bonded directly onto your cornea and are now a part of your eye.'

Kat became unglued and began clawing at her eyes when I grabbed and held her to keep her from hurting herself. The Surfer observed all of this and simply shook his head.

'Lady Kat I am sorry you were not properly briefed on the nature of the power cosmic. Shall I try and remove them there is only a 25 percent chance of permanent damage to your vision?'

"Fuck No!" she hollered and I placed my hand over her mouth to quiet her.

"Kat relax please just shut them off and just forget they are there okay," I suggested.

"Forget? How the hell am I supposed to forget I have them on," she asked.

"Can you feel them," I asked knowing I never could.

"Well no," she said calming a bit.

"How about we run through what they can do and you might like them," I suggested.

"Okay," she said so quietly I almost missed it.

A half hour later she was surfing the net and shopping online and out was the fear and in was the cool factor I had experienced. I cracked open the champagne and poured two glasses and tried to relax.

'Milord, I have identified the device on the table,' Surfer said out of the blue.

"Um Surfer I didn't ask you to identify that device why did you do that?"

'I am programmed if I remain idle for too long to seek some mundane task to occupy myself.'

"Okay what is the device on the table? Some sort of puzzle box?"

'As you like to say Sir Yes and No,' he said smiling.

"Please explain Surfer," my curiosity roused to the fullest.

'The object is a tetrahedron or a four sided pyramid. Unlike the traditional pyramid having a square base and four triangular sides this has only the four triangular sides.'

"I can see that, do you think it has any bearing on its function?"

'Unknown, Lord Jesse's mind is a very complex thing and being my creator I can only take the facts at hand into my calculations.'

"Fair enough please continue," I said knowing exactly what Surfer meant; Jesse's I.Q. was off the charts and though he was scary smart he often found simple social interactions difficult at best to perform.

'The surface of the device is a combination lock of sorts and the pyramid fits only one known configuration and energy signature, a holographic storage device.'

"Are you saying Jesse built a Holocron," I asked in disbelief.

'For a lack of a better term... yes Milord.' Surfer said after the briefest of pauses as he accessed the term.

I knew that Jesse loved all things science fiction from Doctor Who to Star Wars and in this case it was a reference to an interactive library of the creator's life experience. The interface was a hologram of the person who had crafted the device to teach those who followed behind the wisdom and skills that they had collected in their lives. Why would Jesse make something like this and what information did it contain?

"Can you decipher the combination," I asked and he immediately shook his head.

'The time required to attempt every combination borders on longer than human civilization has been in existence.'

"Whoa that long eh? Any suggestions," I asked defeated.

'I am thinking that a more human touch is required Sir you know Lord Jesse well, perhaps there is a series of numbers that he might have used that you are aware of.'

"Jesse liked puzzles but he also liked illusions the kind stage magicians use," I said thinking out loud.

'So you think some sort of misdirection is involved Sir?'

"Exactly, the numbers are an illusion the key to opening the pyramid is something else and in plain sight," I said smiling now. "Surfer you are brilliant."

'Sir is too kind,' he said smiling.

I began to wonder how it came into Will's possession if it were meant to me and how long he had time to examine it. Why had Will spiked my drink? Was I lab rat or something else? There were a lot of unanswered questions and I would get them in time. But first to take a closer look at the tetrahedron as Surfer called it. But before I could examine the pyramid there came a knock at the door.

"Coming," I said rising to my feet and Kat turned to face the door.

I opened the door and Sora Kobayashi stood there and informed us we had a little over an hour to get ready for the 'event' and then she turned and headed to the next cabin where I heard her knock on that door as well.

"Well we better get ready," I said and Kat was standing and smiling began to undress as she moved towards the bathroom and our mutual shower. I picked up her clothes and piled them in a corner and quickly joined her.

I stepped into the falling water and let out a soft moan as the hot water caressed my skin.

"If you think that feels good," Kat said dropping to her knees and began making love to my cock.

I let out a louder deeper moan and the sex starved woman began to allow more and more of my hard flesh down her throat. I mean sex starved because it had been more than one day since we had fucked. I loved the feel of her tongue as it swirled over the head of my cock now and her fist stroking and squeezing the shaft. We both knew he were limited on time so she stood without a word and turned around and bent over offering me her pussy for pounding. As I slid deep into her tight pussy I eased two fingers into her ass and pleasured both holes as we made love. We moved slowly savoring every thrust of my hips because with mom and dad next door we didn't know how long until the next time we would have alone.