Al B. Harper Chapter 12: the scenes we needed to know about.
“Al B. Harper is my lover!”
Kinki the Conqueress’ words echoed in the silence that followed them. The imposing woman stood in the middle of the room facing the assorted Legionnaires and guests. Her legs apart, one hand on her hip the other gripping her omni-transistor ray, the zipper of her body-hugging catsuit zipped way down to her navel. Her blond tresses caught a breeze from somewhere and danced with it. It was a real Hollywood moment.
Thinking back later, Al B. wished it would have lasted longer.
It was Yuki Shiro who broke the silence. “He’s your WHAT?”
Kinki turned to look at Yuki, gave a slight look of indignation, and turned back to Al B. “You may tell your servants to arrange my lodging,” she said. With an air of superiority she waved away Yuki and the others in the room.
At this point, a strange rasping sound was heard and all eyes turned to focus on Miss Framlicker whose face was becoming a very bright pink. It looked and sounded as if she was choking on something. Luckily Amy Ashton was standing next to her, and more than willing to give a hefty thump or two on her back to assist in dislodging whatever was ailing the EEE Manager.
Al B. cleared his throat. “Err, you see…” he began, only to be cut off by the sudden shriek of the LL emergency alarm.
The green-hued holographic form of Hallie glowed into the room. “All Legionnaires to assemble in the assembly room,” she ordered without any sense of irony, then flared out.
“Al B. Harper, as my lover, I will take you into my confidence.”
Al B. sighed. He had managed to diffuse the situation with the other Legionnaires, although Yuki had stormed off before he could explain things to her, and Muffy had to be taken away with a cold-compress for a lie down. Even Amy had treated him with something akin to disdain. Kinki’s constant referencing to him as her lover was not helping the situation. “Kinki,” he started, “the thing is…” the words fell away as he turned around to see her standing naked in front of him.
“Wang’s selective breeding program does seem to have paid off” was the first coherent thought to make its way back into his head and bring him back to reality.
“Al B. Harper,” Kinki began, spreading her athletic legs slightly apart, and running her hands down the sides of her naked body. “I order you to help me find My Spot!”
There was a shattering of glass as Al B. dropped the two drinks he was holding.
Kinki looked at the boy, then at Al. Then she put her hand on her lower stomach.
“This really isn’t helping the situation any.” Al B. said to no one in particular. “I’m sure there are enough complications without this one you know.”
Al B. remained in the room long after everyone else had left. “This…can’t have happened,” he said to himself. “There’s no logic.” He checked the complex computer system again, and again the answer he received was no problem, no error. He yelled, and threw the multi-million dollar machinery on the floor in anger.
“D…Dad?” came the timid voice of Cody Harper from the doorway. Al B. turned to face his probable future-son, and Cody was shocked by the look of hopelessness in his father’s face. “Dad, there was nothing you could have done to save Naari,” the boy said. “Why don’t you come back to the Mansion with me now? Kinki is asking for you.”
Al B. shook his head. “There has to be a logical explanation for what happened here. A logical reason for why I failed Visionary…why I…failed…Hallie.” He choked as he said Hallie’s name. Unsaid guilt over his past relationship with Helen McAllister, his failure to save her, and her connection with Hallie welled up inside him.
Cody entered the room, placing one hand on the wall he walked around towards his father, but his focus was on his hand, as if he was reading something from the wall through it.
Al B. looked up and watched his son. After a while he spoke. “I’m not Kinki’s lover you know,” he said. “Well, not in the conventional sense of the word."
“Yuki thinks you are, and bonking like rabbits in her bed to boot!” Cody said, not looking away from the wall.
“Yuki, of all people, needs to learn to be less judgmental.” Al B. said. After a pause he continued, “Kinki has a mole on her inner thigh, it’s actually a complex code sequence that reveals a mathematical diagram to the mansion schematics. Only, it’s a future version of the mansion. There are rooms on it we don’t have, and secret passages we do have, but don’t yet know about. She said her father, Wang, had told her there was an item of great power hidden away in the mansion in our timeline and secreted the code on her to assist in her finding it”
“And…you’re helping her?”
“Correct. Jay – Hatman – didn’t want me to tell anyone, says there is enough on all our plates at the moment, and, well, we really don’t know all the current residents of the mansion as well as we should do…”
Cody looked around to face his father. “There are echoes of an ancient language in this room,” he said suddenly. “A foul language, yet, multi-coloured, if that makes sense. Full of hate and curses. It’s difficult to pick up more, but I can tell – it is definitely directed at Visionary.”
Al B. marvelled at his son, and this use of his powers. “We’d better go and tell the others then.” He stood up, placed his hand on Cody’s shoulder, and they left the room - empty now, save for its darkness and its ghosts.
Al B. Harper
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