Pod Life: LSMB
Morning After
// All AI use strictly prohibited
Some awful smell invading Erich's sinuses wakes him up. A headache masks the pain the rest of his body is registering. It's far too bright in the room to open his eyes in this state.
Someone is sitting on the bed next to him. The woman asks him for the number. He tries to turn his head towards her, but doesn't have the strength.
“What's the code to get in, so I get in to get you something for your headache?”
Erich groans.
The woman says nicely, “If you'll give me the code to your container I can get your medicine kit like you asked.”
Erich can't seem to move. He doesn't remember asking anyone to get in his pod. The voice is Marina. The light coming through his eyelids hurts. “What happened?,” he wonders.
He can hear his pod asking for his access code. He slowly gives Marina a five digit sequence. As she starts getting up he says, “six.”
“Huh?”
“The sixth digit is six.”
“Thank you,” she says as she slides off the bed.
He tries to turn towards her and finds he's tied to the four corners of the bed. He passes out again.
Erich comes to. This time there's a man talking. “Mr. Haertner, can you hear me?” Erich groans.
“Mr. Haertner, I'm from university security, I'm here to help you.”
“Here, Mr. Haertner, let me untie you.”
Erich feels someone start to yank on whatever's holding his hand in place. He's not sure which hand, he's not even sure he's face up. It takes a long time and so much shaking to untie the rope. Every shake brings searing pain to his head and makes his stomach consider impersonating a wave pool.
Finally free, his hand drops to the bed. One of Erich's feet gets jostled, he drops out in misery again.
“Mr. Haertner, Mr. Haertner, are you there?”
Erich moans.
“Mr. Haertner, I'm untying your other hand too.”
A hand is jostled, then dropped down onto the bed. It's a painful, noxious experience.
Erich hears banging and a woman's voice.
“Mr. Haertner, I'm from university security, I'm here to help you.”
“Gnaaah”
“Let's get you sitting, then I'll get some water and something for your pain.”
As the man helps Erich up his stomach turns into an artificial anti-gravitational unit and ejects it's contents with vigor.
Gloved hands direct Erich's face a different direction and their owner says, “OK, let's hold off on the water for now.”
Erich sits on the edge of the bed slumped forward.
The man paces. Erich isn't sure he stays awake.
The pacing stops, “Um, let's get you to the armchair, so you can sit on your own.”
Erich gets lifted by the armpits from behind until he's in a standing position. The man duck walks Erich over to the room's padded armchair and helps him sit.
“OK, now that we've got you there, what's the code so I can turn her over to the police.”
Erich sits still as the room tries to keep a hula hoop on its hips. He moans, “Can't help.”
The mans says, “Just let me in and I'll take care of it.”
Erich shakes his head once, regrets it and remains still a moment.
The mans pleads, “Just let me in and I'll take care of it for you.”
Erich mumbles, “I can't.”
“Mr. Haertner, it's OK, I'm from university security, I'll get her to the police for you.”
Erich mumbles, “I can't. She's in the mensch trap. Someone from corporate has to trigger an override and give me a secure code before I can open the door from the outside.”
The man sighs, “The problem is they're not responding right now. Maybe someone fell asleep. You can't open it at all?”
“No”
“Can you give her a code, so she can open it from the inside?”
Erich bows his head away from the light, “No, that would require she have a physical key that is currently outside the pod.”
The man says, “Ah OK,” and pauses a moment before continuing, “I'll call for a blow torch.”
Erich mutters, “It's reinforced, you'll cook her before you can cut a hole.”
The man splutters, “Ah, hm, well, um, hnnOK, she's contained and will have to wait. Let's get you outside for some fresh air. You need to start moving to get over whatever she drugged you with.”
The man lifts Erich to a standing position and leads him out into the hallway.
They slowly pass several rooms then Erich asks for a moment to lean against the wall.
The elevator dings and a woman in a crisp pantsuit heads down the hall towards them. She sees Erich hungover and somewhat green leaning against the wall and turns her nose up at him.
As she's passing Erich says, “Yes.”
She strikes the man hard in the chest, pushing him up against the wall while her other hand shoves a cloth under his nose. The first blow knocked the air out of him, so he takes a deep whiff off of her cloth and crumples unconscious to the ground.
She puts some handcuffs on him, then carefully peels his gloves off him and places them in a plastic bag.
Erich says, “Thanks, he's definitely Russian, but was pretending to be corporate.”
She responds, “He is corp, but I kept him well firewalled.”
The elevator dings again ejecting two guys in suits and unfriendly facial expressions. They walk toward the three jumbled up in the hall. She hands over the baggy of gloves, telling them get it in a contamination container.
She grabs the Russian's unconscious body and drags him back towards Erich's suite.
Once in the room she disrobes the Russian's upper body and shackles him to a chair.
She pulls an IV pack out of her bag and hooks it into him, then uses a stick on hook to hang it on the wall above his head.
“That'll keep him out for a few hours so he can't cause any trouble.”
She pulls his pants down over his knees saying, “Gotta leave the shoes until bomb squad can check for booby traps.”
Members of her team come in and start searching the area with a variety of electronic detectors, flashlights of different light spectrums and many, many cotton swabs.
Two members are stationed to watch the Russian after handcuffing his other arm away from the first one and duct taping his upper body to the chair. His chest is going to get a serious wax job when they untape him. Many of the search and detection devices are used on him and samples are taken.
Erich squeaks to Deb, “You got here quick.”
She motions for silence and leads him out to the hall, then into a room a couple doors down.
She guides him to the couch where he lays down and scrunches into a ball. The fetal position hurts less than everything else he's done since being set free.
Deb says, “Oh, I've been here in town just in case. I was at dinner because you were with Craig. How could I know that's when you'd get yourself kidnapped to your own room?”
“Ha, ha, ow, ow.”
Erich laughs. And cries.
Erich moans, “Ugh, laughing hurts, like 'I just got a root canal into my brain' hurts.
She gives him a few moments.
Impatient for answers, Deb asks, “So, what happened?”
Slowly Erich answers, “I don't know. I was in the bar with Craig and Marina, then I came to with something obnoxious being shoved up my nose and I was tied to my bed.”
Erich changes the topic, “Um, am I sufficiently clothed? Haven't been able to think clear enough to check.”
Deb shrugs one shoulder, “Don't know where your pants are, but you have underwear on under your shirt.”
Deb pulls a hotel robe out of the closet for Erich, “Where did you have dinner?”
He doesn't look up. She lays it over him.
“Hotel bar.”
“Who is Marina?”
Erich answers, “A woman Craig introduced me to yesterday morning. She went on the hike with us.”
Deb cocks her head, “She's the person in the mensch trap?”
Erich nods, “Yes. I think.”
Deb follows up, “What's the last things you remember from before coming to in your room?”
Erich takes a breath, “We ordered dinner and a second round of beers. I went to pee. When I got back the beers were there and Craig and Marina were talking. I sat down and joined the conversation.”
Deb asks if he drank the beer.
Erich responds, “While we were talking I had some beer, but mostly water. When the food came I was drinking beer with dinner.”
“So you ate?”
“Some at least I think. Not sure, but I think so. Then I woke up in pain.”
Deb asks, “Know anyone else who was at the bar?”
“There was a newish waitress named Wilma and Patricia was on duty last night.”
Deb contemplates a moment, “OK, we need to talk to Craig first. You OK to walk?”
Erich groans, “Somewhat.”
Erich stands rather shakily. she helps him put the robe on.
Deb takes Erich's arm to steady him and leads him out the door. They turn towards the elevator.
The elevator dings and Craig steps out.
Erich asks Deb to give him a second with Craig. Deb steps back and gives Erich a few paces. He uses the wall to advance shakily towards Craig.
Craig approaches Erich and yells, “You bastard! How dare you try that!”
Erich winces at volume.
“Hurts?,” Craig shakes a fist at Erich, “Good, you deserve it! Is this how you charge your social batteries?”
Erich is confused, “What?”
Craig yells, “In pain because you fucked up and drugged yourself instead? You fucking bastard!”
Erich protests, “I didn't drug anyone.”
“Bullshit!”
Erich cries a little, “She drugged me.”
Craig “Classic redirect. Blame the victim. Whatever. I'm not going to let you get away wi”
Craig is cutoff as Deb closes the gap, shoves him against a wall and puts a forearm against his throat. He starts to struggle until he feels her knee politely letting his crotch know it needn't remain polite.
Deb stares in Craig's face, “You were at the bar last night?”
Craig replies carefully, “Yeah, we were having dinner when numbnuts here roofied himself. I made comments about him being a lightweight, then Marina and I got him to his room. I acted like he was just drunk and tried to get her out before she realized what he'd tried.”
Stunned, Erich asks, “You helped her load me in my room? I'm up to my armpit in spies and now I'm not certain you weren't in on the whole thing. Did you help her tie me to my bed?”
Craig “Whaaa? No! You were just “
“QUIET! Both of you!”
Craig's eyes dilate at the volume and authority in her voice right in his face.
Simultaneously Erich moans and slides to the ground, curling into a ball.
Deb quietly, calmly, authoritatively says to Craig, “My team will be questioning you. It is of utmost importance you tell them what you saw and heard. Not what you think happened, but the actual actions and events you witnessed. Your truth and accuracy are critical to determining what happened.”
Craig shakes his head, “He tried to roofie her, now he accuses me and then you want me to answer questions? I want a lawyer.”
Deb gives Craig a cold, wan smile, “Cool, you can ask the cops for a lawyer when they get involved, in the meantime you are going to be as truthful and forthcoming to my people as you can.”
Craig protests, “Doesn't sound like that's in my best interest.”
Deb's this smile turns up wryly, “I assure you, not cooperating as well as you can is in your worst interest.”
Deb jabs her watch and says “Two interrogators.”
A moment later the door of her hotel suite opens. A man and a woman exit, both in dark blue suits.
Deb cants her head at Craig, “He's a witness for last night, maybe a participant. Find out what he knows, I need a timeline.”
Deb releases Craig and the woman grabs his arm pinning it painfully behind him.
The man says, “Hello, nice to meet you. She won the bet, so I'm stuck being good henchman. It's like being good cop except we're all expendable.”
Craig whimpers as he is moved to the elevator.
Deb turns to Erich, “Well, that went shitty.”
Testing, Testing
// All AI use strictly prohibited
Deb gets Erich back to her suite.
A woman looks in from the other room of the suite, Deb nods.
Deb guides Erich towards a bathroom.
“Have you eaten or drunk anything since you woke up?”
“No, the Russian tried to give me some pills, but I managed to avoid them by puking on his shoes.”
“Glad you're putting those self-defense classes to good use.”
The woman emerges with a cart that has a couple boxes on top.
Deb tells Erich “This is agent Martinez, she's going to administer your rape kit.”
Rape kit? What? I don't need that.
Deb “While it doesn't look like you were sexually assaulted, you were roofied and woke up tied to your bed in your underwear. We are absolutely processing you with a rape kit. You are covered in evidence.”
“You can't without my permission, I've seen that on TV shows and I don't give my permission.”
“The police can't. I can.”
“Whaaa? How?”
“Your contract lets me.”
“No, there's nothing about a rape kit in the contract.”
“In case of security emergency, who is in charge?”
“You are, but “
“Correct,” she pauses for effect, “I am.”
She continues, “You were drugged and compromised. Someone got into your pod. When shit went wrong the first person to show up was a Russian mobster I had specifically assigned to a different city this week. Rape kits gather evidence even if there was no sexual assault.”
Deb turns Erich's face to look at her, “Look, we are balls deep in a security crisis here and I don't have any balls. What I do have is the authority to do what I need in order to regain the situation, keep you safe and assess if there's been compromise to any of your projects.”
She points at the bathroom door, “Now, get in there and give her access to any part of your body or clothing she asks for and do whatever she says. Without complaint!”
Erich gives Deb a sad look and asks, “Can we get a guy?”
Deb shakes her head, “In over 90% of rape cases the victim is a woman, so we mostly have female tech specialists for administering the rape kits. The nearest man qualified for our rape kits is three hours out at best, which is too late.”
“Our rape kits?”
“We use a much more extensive kit than the police. No more questions! Evidence is spoiling. Get in there!”
Agent Martinez takes Erich into bathroom. When she re-emerges to get the cart Deb loudly whispers “Handcuff him and use the cattle prod if you need.”
Agent Martinez winks at Deb now certain that Erich will fully cooperate.
Martinez emerges later with the cart and says he can cleanup now.
Deb “Any significant injuries? Does he need treatment?”
Martinez, “Nah, a few small bruises, but nothing significant. He does have some rope burns and it looks like he was dragged some as he also has carpet burns. We'll see what the substance screens tell us, but no geiger activity.”
Deb relaxes a little, “Thanks!”
Deb steps into the bathroom where a now totally naked Erich is curled up on a chair.
Deb reaches out, “Let's get you in the tub.”
Erich stares at her, “No woman's seen me naked since I got married, now two of you.”
“Poor woman, your wife.”
“No woman other than her!”
Deb laughs, “OK, I was wondering about the kids.”
Erich glowers.
Deb says, “Look, if it comes up, I'll tell her I didn't look because I really really do not want to know about that Betty Boop tattoo.”
Erich gives her a look that could Boop her head off.
Deb grabs him and gets him to the walk-in tub for one. She gets him seated on the bench, closes the tub door, then starts filling it with warm water. She adds some unscented soap. Once the water gets over his calves some jets kick on, swirling the water and massaging his muscles.
“OK, I'm going to step out now. If you need something pull this emergency alert cord, it'll notify us. We'll have fresh clothes for you by the time you're done.”
Deb walks out leaving Erich to wonder what the hell is going on.
Erich falls asleep. It's a home care tub and there isn't enough horizontal space for him to fall over and drown. The backrest works and the fresh towel for a pillow is sufficiently soft. He is a little cramped, but not enough to keep him awake.
Erich wakes to Deb gently shaking him and saying it's time to deal with some problems. She hits the release that opens the drain plug and tells him a male nurse will be in to help him dry and get dressed.
Deb leaves and a guy in scrubs walks in. He's not corporate. He picks up a fluffy, full-sized towel and hands it to Erich. “Hi, I'm Anthony, you get to do as much of this as you feel up to, but I will help in whatever way you need.”
“Cool, get me two whiskey sours.”
Anthony sighs, “Let me add a constraint, I will help in whatever medicinal or physical therapy way you need.”
“Medicinal? OK, make it the entire bottle of whiskey.”
Anthony smirks, “If it's medicinal I can only administer it anally. Would you like me to just shove the bottle up your ass or would you prefer a bag with a drip and a tube into your rectal cavity?”
Erich gasps, “Oh god, you're related to her aren't you?”
Anthony laughs, “We met in a mandatory philosophy class. The prof is still in therapy.”
Erich laughs, but as little as he can manage. He feels like Tokyo after Godzilla went on a bender.
With assistance from the nurse he gets his clothes on. In the right order, he thinks. There was no cape, so he's pretty sure the underwear goes on the inside.
They walk out of the bathroom.
Deb complements him and ask him to spin for her.
He flips her off and tells her to spin on that.
The room wobbles a bit, so he again seeks refuge on the couch.
She hands him a couple tablets for the pain and a small glass of water.
He gets that down without physical rejection.
She grabs another glass and tells him it's electrolytes. “Drink this. Slowly.”
Deb asks, “Do you know what she's after? Who she's working for?”
Erich shakes his head, “She told us she's a astrophysicist.”
Deb “Us?”
Erich “Me and Craig.”
Deb “Craig, who might be in on it?”
Erich “I was pissed about Craig thinking I would roofie someone, but, no, he's not in on it or at least didn't know what it was. Craig wouldn't help someone do that to me or anyone else. Well, maybe the bastards that ended up killing his spouse, but even then only in order to dunk them head first into a full portable toilet.”
Deb “We'll see what comes out of the interrogation.”
Erich “They won't hurt him will they?”
Deb “Nah, plus we don't need to.”
“As to what she's after,” Erich shrugs, “I presume my work. I've been working on a rocket fuel paper that would save 3% of weight by volume. I've also been working on a new big boom.”
Deb nods.
Erich says, “There's also the documentation project.”
Deb pretends to not know about the documentation project and the faked results they've been letting Russian spies find.
Deb tells Erich to go pee.
She hands him a second electrolyte drink when he comes out of the bathroom. “We need to rehydrate you and flush out whatever she drugged you with.”
After he drinks half of it, she says, “Now, let's go see how the team is doing with clearing your room.”
They leave her suite and walk back down the hallway to Erich's suite.
Marina Has a Decision
// All AI use strictly prohibited
The agents posted outside Erich's suite say the suite has been cleared. They caution that the pod hasn't been cleared as Marina's still locked in the mensch trap.
As they enter they can see the Russian is gone. Deb sends the last two of her people out as well.
Deb goes over to the pod and introduces herself as head of security.
Marina pleads for the pod to be opened to let her out.
Deb says they can't do that.
Deb tells Marina that if she cooperates she can build some trust and they can coordinate getting her out.
Marina asks quietly, “How?”
“What are you after? Who are you working for?” asks Deb.
Marina says hurriedly, “I can't say.”
Adamantly Deb counters, “We need to know who we're dealing with to let you out.”
Marina whines, “I can't say.”
Deb says, “We can protect you.”
Marina inhales, “Not worried about me.”
“Your sister?” asks Erich.
Marina doesn't answer, but they can hear her crying.
Deb says softly, “Talk to us, so we can figure out how to help you.”
Marina sobs, “I can't, not safe to talk.”
“Actually, it is.” responds Deb.
Marina says, “No! They can hear.”
Deb counters, “They can't. The room turned into a Faraday cage when you set off the security alarms. The box you're in is also a Faraday cage. We can talk only because there are microphones and speakers hard wired to let sound through, but no radio waves.”
Marina says, “Your staff isn't safe.”
Deb responds, “My staff is gone.”
“Huh?”
Deb says, “I sent everyone away.”
Marina says, “But, you're not in charge, there's a “
Erich exclaims, “She's in charge. That guy was a mole and will be answering questions later.”
Erich continues, “Look, the room is clear, if Deb says we can talk without being observed or overheard, then we can.”
Marina whines, “No, no, can't trust you.”
Deb sighs and turns to Erich, “Let's step outside.”
Marina sobs, “Don't go! Please let me out!”
Quick Information
// All AI use strictly prohibited
After a few minutes typing on her phone Deb announces, “Well, it looks like her sister hasn't been kidnapped. Her phone is reporting she's on the college campus and video confirms it's her.”
“According to her normal patterns she leaves this class and goes for lunch, then gets boba on her way back for her next class. She doesn't always go to the same place for lunch.”
“Her normal patterns?” asks Erich.
“Yeah, we bought her location data for the last six months. She has been following this pattern since the semester started. More data is rolling in.”
Erich follows up, “I thought they wouldn't sell actual data, just general access to make anonymous queries.”
Deb shakes her head, “Nah, you could always get full data if you'd pay enough.”
She continues, “Since the tech bros and their crypto scams collapsed the dollar the data hoarders are now in the gig economy. We get what we want quickly and cheaply or we buy from someone else. There's way more supply of stalker data than demand.”
Erich protests, “But the Canadian government can't do that type of thing.”
Deb laughs, “Yeah, but we're corp. We also have daughter companies in the US, which are unlimited, just like every other company in the US.”
She looks at her phone, “Anyway, looking at the data we have so far, hmmm.”
She looks at Erich, “If they're going to grab her it will be on the way back from lunch. She'll have an empty bladder, so no mess in the van and she'll be sluggish from post lunch food coma.”
She frowns, “If they're going to kill her they'll do it on her way to lunch. Get it over and leave a mess for whoever has to retrieve the body. Gig assassins don't want to give another team the opportunity to score the hit and get the payday.”
Once Upon A Seattle Knoll
// All AI use strictly prohibited
Annette leaves class, going out the building and across the street to the grassy hill.
Today is cloudy with white skies and muted shadows. Normal and perfect for Seattle.
She hurries as her stomach rumbles. Gyros today if there isn't much of a line as they have the fastest service. A vegetarian wrap would be awesome, but they're always slow. If there's a line at the gyros place and also at its sister hamburger joint she'll go two more doors to the rice bowl place.
That freaky guy this morning spooked her and she forgot her midmorning snack of vegetables and hummus. Now she's hungry and needs a restroom.
She climbs the hill and the crows are active in the trees above her, cawing to each other.
She hopes they're saying nice things about her as she does sometimes give them leftover pita bread or even unshelled peanuts.
As she comes eye level to the top of the hill she can see two guys standing at one tree embracing.
She crests the hill to the sidewalk and can see another pair having a picnic under a different tree.
Love everywhere and she's holed up with her sister in a low quality apartment. At least they each have their own room, so if she does meet someone there are options.
She notices both couples are now on the ground getting active. Synchronized passion? Hmm, no, not active with each other, just suddenly busy. She nearly trips while looking sideways up the hill.
Suddenly two skateboarders are tearing down the sidewalk at her. The first nearly hits her as she goes by Annette. Annette turns to avoid being hit and sees the woman slam into a guy who had been coming up the sidewalk behind Annette.
The woman grabs the guys briefcase as she knocks him to the ground. She swings a backpack down off her back and stuffs the briefcase in it. Then she gently places the backpack on the ground and connects a d-ring to the guy's belt as he's trying to get back up.
Where did the d-ring come from and why is the guy now floating off?
Skater chick pushes a button and the guy flying off falls the 20 feet to the ground and a drone crashes into him.
Annette turns to run and finds her way blocked by skater dude who has his skateboard up on the left side of his body. In the bodily collision she notes he's marvelously muscled. His skateboard is unfolding, like if you'd folded a piece of paper up and were now unfolding it.
Out of the corner of her eye she can see the two guys throwing things to the ground and grabbing a big duffel bag.
Skater chick comes up behind Annette and using a rope with d-rings on either side straps Annette to skater dude. Skater chick then turns and her skateboard starts de-origamiing as well. Annette tries to undo a d-ring. The guy's hot, but kidnapping really, really invalidates all those thoughts.
The two unfolding skateboards now look like sides of a large box and start connecting together. Skater dude puts a helmet on Annette's head and tells her to keep her mouth open. He picks her up and puts her feet on top of his feet. The skateboard box somehow built a floor and he's standing on it.
She hears noises above and looks up into the cloudy sky. Drones start appearing from above carrying large rectangles of metal. The metal is sliding down over the outer sides of the skateboard box.
Something hits the box and causes it to ring like a loud bell. The concussion shakes the three of them.
Another set of drones appears from above. There's another concussive hit. The new drones have cables that connect to the box and Annette feels it lift into the air, then start swaying. She thinks it's going back downhill towards the street.
She hears more things hitting the box, but less concussive now. The box jumps and spins as she hears branches breaking.
She doesn't need to pee anymore and two pairs of shoes are getting soaked.
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