DESPERATE  MEASURES

Part Five:

When Sid had removed the programming chip from the slot, all input had stopped.

At that moment, Maximus had been lying on the lounge near the bath house pool, a

towel and Brianna draped artfully across his wet body. So it was that the essence of

Maximus that was now merged into Sid's  program did not contain the scene wherein

the General had been informed of the deception of the lady. Sid, as himself, of course

knew it. But what had become a part of him now did not have the topple of Maximus'

feelings toward her, remaining at the level it had been in the bath house.

He had tried to stifle in himself his own awareness of his expanding feelings for Brianna,

but now that Maximus' feelings had been set free to roam his circuitry at will, he was

nearly overcome with a sudden, terrible yearning for her.

He had never felt anything like it. He had known lust, surely, and the pleasure one

found in controlling another. A rather vast array of women had found their way into

and out of his bed in the last several years. He was experienced in all the ways of sexual

interaction, even inventing a few clever new ones himself. But he had never made love. 

Now, however, he had the memory of Maximus and Brianna in the pool, the physical,
emotional, mental, sensual experience of it as though it had been his. It had, indeed,

become his.

Sitting there now on his bed, he replayed it over and over and all he knew was that he

must have it again. It was unlike anything he had ever imagined, unlike anything he

would have ever, before this moment, been able to appreciate.

Rising slowly, he walked to the door, slightly unsteady for his first few steps, then

gaining back his sureness of balance.  He strode purposefully back to his control room. 

There being no monitors where he had sent Maximus and Brianna, he had no way of

knowing what had befallen them since the warp. He did, however, know the exact

coordinates and as soon as certain arrangements had been made, would go there

himself. Rapidly, he made a series of calls, issuing orders for various items to be

brought to the second warp chamber.

His thinking process was still a bit jumbled.  Always he had thought a certain way.

Now there were roadblocks here and there and he kept barking the shin of his mind

on them, unused to their presence. Other pathways that had never existed or had been

closed, were suddenly there, suddenly open and he would start down one and turn back,

not knowing what to do, what to say.  He left sentences half-finished, repeated himself
too often, said thank you to some people and growled at others.

Not sure he should actually face Terry in this condition, he nonetheless decided he

needed to issue some instructions lest Emerald City fall into ruin while he was gone.

So he ventured out of his secret complex in search of the K & R agent only to find that

both he and Bud had taken the private jet to Europe.

Briefly he considered blowing up the plane...he had the technology readily at hand...

but then was horrified at himself.  That seemed to happen a lot now. He would think

a certain thing and then be amazed he had thought it. There was only one thing that

seemed perfectly clear, that had no hindrances to it whatsoever, and that was that he

must find Brianna as quickly as possible.

His staff was used to scrambling to fulfill his wishes as rapidly and completely as

possible and, so, it was not long before everything he wanted had been brought to

Maximus' room.  The General and Brianna had not known where they were going,

had taken nothing with them but the clothes on their backs. He stood, smiling, among

the things that would give him advantage. With much effort of will, he had managed

to close an inner door as he made his arrangements, but he could feel the fists pounding

on the far side and knew large dents were being made and the lock was starting to give

way. Nobility of character could, alas, prove most...inconvenient.  He had to hurry.

When the last supply officer, the last technician had left the chamber, he pulled the

remote control device from his pocket.  How very fine it was too control one's own

destiny.  No, you must accept destiny as it came to you, making the best of it. "Shut up!"

he said to himself and pushed the button.

For him, warping was nothing.  He enjoyed the colors the sounds of it and since this

sort of warp did not involve the more difficult technology of going into a movie but

only to a place and time, it was over quite rapidly.

Because his coordinates were so precise, he "arrived" on the beach quite near

Brianna's fire, his belongings sitting about him in the sand. He'd chosen this island

in the South Pacific for them because it had no native inhabitants (though the thought

of Maximus attempting to elude cannibals HAD crossed his mind) and picked a year

in the sufficiently remote past that there was no danger of a ship coming to their

rescue. They were on their own.

Only...now...he was here.

ON TO PART 6

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