melo_annechen | Three of Five, Chapter 45 (Reply)

Chapter Forty-five

Sela stopped the professor from opening the door. "Wait, sir - let Arsène get her under control."

"What happened?"

"Somebody from another Tinasky class decided to get snarky with her, and she fed them their teeth."

"I would have liked to have seen that.” Sela opened the door, and ushered the professor into the suite. Charlotte was kneeling on the floor, breathing heavily, still trying to calm down. Arsène faced her in what looked like some sort of martial arts ready stance.

"This one does not look well. What touched off the confrontation?" Madblood whispered.

"The Mark I units involved won't tell me, and Arsène is blocking me." Sela said. Her voice attracted Charlotte's attention.

"It was an insult. I have dealt with it. Drop it." Charlotte’s growl startled Lupin with its threatening timbre.

"Charlotte, there may be repercussions…" Arsène warned.

"Fine - I'll be in the shower." Charlotte gained her feet in a single fluid motion and stalked off to her room before Madblood could react.

Arsène waited until her door was firmly shut before speaking. "I was not present for the altercation, so what I have is hearsay. One of the TK's from the west coast apparently has spotted Sela as an SBI, or just noticed Charlotte was in two places at once. The man said he had no idea why the professor had built his doxy-bot on Charlotte’s pattern, and supposed the reason was because she was both spineless and incapable of intimacy." To Madblood’s reaction, Arsène held up his hand - "You won't find him here. He’s at the hospital, and the only reason Charlotte was not arrested is there was not a single witness to the incident."

"No witnesses at all?" Sela's smirk said she did not believe it.

"The person in question apparently has made the rounds of the entire group and managed to tick them all off. By the time I got there, the Mark I security team had cleared the area, and directed us to the service corridors." Arsène shook his head. “They took her shoes, and have shipped them home. There was one camera in that section of the corridor, which has developed a ‘problem’ that interferes with recordings sporadically. My only task was to get her back to the room through the service corridors without being seen by too many people.”

Lupin nodded, his thought process already discerning another problem. “Sela has been widely recognized as a silicate-based intelligence?”

She nodded - “It was expected sir. Actually, it took longer for the rumors to spread than the projections we ran at the lab, but we had not factored the added distraction of the news of your, ah, relationship.”

"Then there is another problem - we can no longer follow the security plan for the Eta Alpha Lambda Alumni reception tonight. If I attend alone, there is the chance that Ines will follow, and the ruse will be damaged. If I attend escorting Sela, there is a greater chance the brothers will decide you are a demonstration piece, which is not an acceptable option."

"Thank you sir, I would be hard put to defend the proprietary information in that position." Sela replied.

"If I were to release the information, publication would be better, and less damaging to you. No, I will tender my regrets, of course."

"You will do no such thing," Charlotte said from the door of her room. "This is one of the few things you have looked forward to that is mostly a social event." She tugged the belt of her robe a little tighter, "You have neglected another option. I will go with you as your back-up."

“Charlotte, are you sure?” Lupin asked, making sure he kept his eyes on her face.

She frowned slightly, and said, “It’s not often you are able to mingle with your peers, and you need to be able to network. I’ll be ready to go at the appointed time.” She turned and reentered her room.

“I’d better see what’s up,” Sela said, and she entered Charlotte’s room. As she shut the door behind her she asked, “Why are you acting so weird when you aren’t in public? You weren’t like this at home.”

“Because I have to keep reminding myself that this is temporary,” Charlotte said as she rummaged in her suitcase. “He is wasting an opportunity here, and it’s my fault, because I did not properly extrapolate all the possible dangers.”

“None of us saw that coming, you shouldn’t blame yourself. Now, why should it be temporary?” Sela asked as she crossed to the closet.

“No, he can do better.”

Sela sorted through the closet for a suitable outfit, “I don’t understand; he can do better than what?”

“He is brilliant, handsome, a distinguished leader in his field who can be most charming when he puts his mind to it. He is saved from perfection by his being officious, cantankerous and extremely rude when the whim takes him.” Charlotte took the items Sela offered, dressing without paying attention to what Sela had selected.

“Ah, and if he could do better, why hasn’t he?”

The turtleneck she was donning muffled Charlotte’s voice. “I do not know, elephant’s child - perhaps he has better things to do, maybe he has other plans, or he hasn’t wanted to settle to one…”

“Charlotte, stop - what is really bothering you, and why can’t you tell him?”

“The same reason I will ask you not to speak of this to anyone-” Charlotte sighed as she sat at the desk, “I don’t want to embarrass him. It’s bad enough that he is trading down, but to have a student actually mooncalf over him, no. I’ll finish out my internship next month, and he doesn’t have to know anything about it.”

>>>>

“Oh, crud - what in Hades is Dr Ng doing here?” Charlotte said as they entered the lounge that evening.

“One of my former students, but I’m not exactly on his Christmas card list. I take it you have a history with him?”

“Ah, right,” she breathed and her shoulders came down a fraction - “Not as ‘Charlotte’, except for a single instance - an unforeseen circumstance…”

Lupin got the gist immediately. “You never said ‘Charlotte’ was your birth name. Were you X or Y at the time?” He teased her lightly as he guided her through the crowd towards the bar.

“Erm, have you run across the name Dan Gilbert before?”

Lupin nodded to a colleague as they passed - “Hm; aeronautics, last employed at Lockheed before being abducted by aliens?”

“Is that the best they could do?” Charlotte lost the last of her tension. “Officially, he took an early retirement package during the downsizing. By that time, I’d figured out the field wasn’t for me, and dropped the identity. If Dr. Ng remembers ‘me’ at all, it would be as Dan’s cousin. Dan was his teaching assistant for a semester before moving on.”

“That is better than my history with him. He was a late bloomer as far as his madness goes. I expected more of him than his other instructors did, and he may have resented that at the time. I have not had contact with him in years.”

“Are you willing to renew the acquaintance as equals or should we avoid him?” Lupin read Charlotte’s raised eyebrow as a challenge.

Lupin growled with a smile, “I don’t hide from confrontations.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever accused you of that, professor,” Dr. Ng commented as he approached them. “However, I didn’t think you would be so crass as to bring a date to a fraternal gathering.”

“Ah, Dr. Ng, may I introduce my research assistant, Charlotte Bowman? Dr. Bowman, this is a former student of mine, James Ng.”

“Of course, Dr. Ng,” Charlotte inclined her head, ignoring the doctor’s glare. “Your recent paper on the viability of the retooled Daedalus propulsion system was an interesting diversion. I am glad to see Greenpeace has not made good on their threat to bury you under the protestors you brought out of the woodwork.”

“While Dr. Bowman may not have ever pledged, she is a fellow traveler, as it were. I suspect if she had stayed at any one university long enough,” here Lupin paused to give Charlotte a stern look, “she would have been inducted years ago.”

“Ah, I see - an unstable educational background. Due to your lack of published works, I suppose.” Dr. Ng sneered.

Charlotte tightened her arm around the professor’s shoulders as he tensed, and cheerfully commented “That, and the occasional invitation to become a guest of the county.” She chuckled as she tapped the side of her nose. “I’ll get the wine while you two decide to play nice.” Charlotte left the two engineers glaring at each other.

Madblood spoke first - “In the interest of brotherhood, I can be civil for the evening.”

“As can I - although having been ordered to do so by a woman who could wax the floor with both of us is also a factor,” Dr Ng replied.

“Odd, she rarely displays anything but a mild temperament, but there seem to be a great number of people at the symposium who have ‘not seen’ the sharp edge of her temper. I wouldn’t have credited her escalating a verbal sparring match into a physical confrontation” Madblood glanced over his shoulder towards a conversation area. “Shall we?”

Dr. Ng chuckled as he followed to the seating group. “As one of those ‘not present’ for the incident - I found it enlightening. She was ignoring the taunts, or deflecting them very well, until her tormentor changed targets. He alleged the reason you created a bed partner in her image was you were unimaginative - which was the last thing he said before your young lady’s heel connected with the skunk’s jaw.”

“Really?” Madblood turned in time to see Charlotte twist the hand of one of the younger brothers until he was in a kneeling position. She seemed to be calmly lecturing the young man, and when she straightened, the bartender quickly gave her the bottle and three glasses, refusing payment. "What did he do?" Lupin asked as Charlotte brought the wine over and sat next to him on the divan.

"Nothing of importance, now that he has been corrected,” She poured for the gentlemen before either could offer, and settled back with her glass.

"Charlotte -"

She slid her arm around his shoulders. "There’s no need to have both of us brought up on assault charges. Let's just say he needed a paradigm adjustment."

Dr Ng raised an eyebrow. "Now you have me curious."

Charlotte sighed, "Very well, but you behave." she said to the professor.

"I reserve the right to trash his credit rating."

"Hm, all right - he intimated I was available to the highest bidder." She tightened her arm around Lupin's shoulders as he started to get up. "No, I told you I took care of it."

"Breaking his finger was not enough for insulting you like that." Lupin growled.

"I didn't break his finger, just hyper extended it while I informed him you were talented enough you didn't need to buy me, and that not even the Gates boys had enough to lure me away." Charlotte murmured.

Lupin looked at Charlotte as if seeing her for the first time. “I don’t deserve you.”

“I know, but you’re lucky you’re cute.” Charlotte smiled.

Ng chuckled. “I envy the two of you. The only reason I come to the symposium anymore is to scope out the competition.”

Lupin settled against Charlotte’s shoulder. She snuggled in and commented “Never too late, as long as you don’t stop looking. All it takes is finding someone with a compatible game set.”

Ng shook his head “Try compatible DVD collections.”

Charlotte thought a moment - “You’re Hammer Films and United Artists with assorted art house horror, right?”

“How did you -” Ng started, and then snapped his fingers. “Wait, we have met before - you’re Gilbert’s cousin, right? He’s one of the few who would remember the Hammer Studios connection.” Ng nodded. “Not that many women in our field who follow those categories… you have an idea.”

Charlotte‘s gaze had turned inward. “Perhaps… would you be willing to merge your collection with one heavy in Harryhausen, Toho and Universal Studios films?”

“Possibly.”

“And your current assistant is Timothy Estes, if I remember correctly…” Charlotte had retrieved her phone and was dialing as she grinned. “Timmy! You’re taking your boss to the dance on Thursday. Don’t argue with me - ah, put her on. Cassie, you need to bring your boss to the dance. Yes, it’s a set-up, but you’re not complaining are you?” Charlotte chuckled. “Okay, see you there.” She closed the phone and put it away before noticing the two men staring at her with some trepidation. “What?”

“Did you just set Jim up on a blind date?” Lupin asked.

“Not as blind as you think. Lavinia Coley is a chemical engineer with a love of stop motion photography and classic horror films. “

“Vinnie’s here? I don’t know - I never know what to say to her.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Honestly, I just told you what to talk about. Do you dance?”

Dr. Ng, who had apparently seen a glimmer of hope, deflated, “No.”

Charlotte shook her head - “Remember - it’s never too late. Tell her you’d ask her to dance if you knew how, and be prepared to learn. Effort counts for a lot.”

“Never knew you for a shadkhin, Charlotte.” Lupin said.

“Na, Bubele, people talk to me, I just listen and remember.” She kissed him on the forehead.

Jim Ng sporfled into his glass. “Sorry, but you sounded so much like your cousin just then. How is Dan? I haven’t heard anything from him in the past few years.”

“Neither has the family, but in his case, no media coverage is good news. I‘m sure he‘s okay, I‘ll let him know you asked about him.”

>>>>

“That went rather well,” Lupin commented as they circulated the gathering later.

Charlotte made a non-committal murmur, scanning the crowd for potential problems. She cocked her head to the side, catching the last bits of a conversation.

“… As if the cantankerous old bastard could do better. No, he and Plays Well deserve each other, since nobody else will take them,” Dr Gaston Caesar the younger commented to his audience.

Charlotte spun and had pulled her arm back to haymaker the back of Caesar Minor’s head. “CHARLOTTE! CEASE AND DESIST!” Lupin hissed as he stepped in front of her. The young man smirked over his shoulder and walked off as Lupin put his hands on her shoulders to encourage Charlotte to put her arms at rest. “I know what he said – he was baiting me. It is not worth the incarceration time to pummel him. He is beneath me, and you.”

“Besides,” Sela said over the earwigs, “it is much more satisfying to have his holdings liquidated and donated to…”

Charlotte’s glare changed from glacial to the heart of a Bunsen burner as she finally focused on the professor, “ooh - the Red Cross International Disaster Relief fund?”

The professor matched her feral grin. “Just so, my dear, and rather appropriate considering how he loves to make hurricanes. Please arrange things with Lovelace, Sela.”

“With pleasure, Father; the transactions should be completed by the time he gets to where he thought was his home,” Sela responded. “You two might as well stay there within sight of the others while we take care of this.”

“I don’t think we have to interact with the others, unless you want to network some more,” Charlotte said scanning the room.

“Ah, not really, but if we position ourselves to be visible, and available for conversation, but not in the main traffic pattern...” Madblood mused.

Charlotte scanned the room, and put her arm around the professor’s shoulders, guiding him towards the windows, “So, being in the second conversational grouping from the north wall will provide what we need, and a view of the city as well.”

“Very good, and there isn’t an obvious place for someone eavesdrop nearby.” They claimed the seat angled towards the best view, and Lupin settled into Charlotte’s shoulder. “With your social and organizational skills, it’s a wonder you haven’t taken over the world yet.”

Charlotte gave a soft laugh, “I never wanted to take over the world. I figured out a long time ago it was more trouble than it was worth.” She switched on her personal force field after adjusting the bubble to include the professor.

Lupin turned his head and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, really - having the world at your feet would be troublesome to you?”

Charlotte smiled and gestured out the window of the lounge, “See the city lights?”

“Yes.”

“Now, imagine each of those lights is a person in the city.”

“This isn’t one of those tedious ‘think of the common man’ lectures is it?” Lupin asked, crossly.

He lost his irritation at feeling Charlotte’s chuckle through his back. “Not in the traditional sense,” she replied. “Now, thinking about all those lights, realize that if you are a ruthless technocrat, all but about ten percent of them wish you were dead. Roughly, half of those lights are organizing to bring about your downfall. In order to stay the world leader, you will have to spend far too much time away from your research to crush the rebellion.”

“Hm… and if you are a benevolent overlord?” Lupin asked as he gazed out the window, letting his hand rest on her knee.

“Oh, that’s the one nobody thinks through. Even in the most utopian of societies, up to ten percent of the population is sure they could do a better job than you could, and are plotting to take your place. Thirty percent of the population could not care less, and the remaining sixty percent will be whinghing to you about their problems, which are mostly their own fault. Yet because you are In Charge, the stupid gits will expect you to take care of them because you aren’t abusing them.”

“You’ve thought about this a bit, I take it?” Lupin chuckled.

“I could have steady work from the government contracts alone. However, I have discovered I really do not care for the common person, and would rather they just leave me alone to my research. Do you have any idea how many meddlers are in government service?”

Lupin shuddered, “I know, I know,” he relaxed back into Charlotte’s shoulder and commented, “I am glad you disliked them enough to seek other employment.”

Charlotte’s head dipped until her lips were even with his ear. “If you are not careful, I might take you seriously.”

He patted her knee, “As you wish.”