M.a.i.n.e. Frame PC II
AKA
Mother II
by Sam Lakes
Copyright © 2006 All Rights Reserved
Chapter Two
Aaron watched as Colt effortlessly jumped his bike over the snake his back wheel landing a mere inch from the snake giving the snake a sudden awakening. Five seconds later he was airborne. As he sailed over the chasm Aaron heard him yell ‘Yahoo!’ then made a perfect landing on the other side. Aaron had never seen anybody ride like that he thought to himself as he pushed off to join Colt.
“Awesome, fucking awesome! I nearly pissed myself when I saw that damn snake! I knew I couldn’t change my path, I was goin’ too fast and I didn’t want to hurt him so I did a bunny over him! I bet he got the fuckin’ b’jesus scared out of him!” Colt said in total exhilaration.
“I… I just freaked out when I saw the snake. You could have been killed! And I would have been my fault, but you didn’t!” exclaimed Aaron.
Colt reached over and took his hand and squeezed it gently then said quietly “No way. No possible way. If it hadn’t been for you, maybe. But just remember, I kissed your cheek for luck.” Then he made a goofy face and said, “See, no brain damage…Duh, right?” and laughed.
Aaron laughed too. He knew he was beginning to really like Colt.
“Well, come on dude! Lead the way!” Colt said cheerfully.
After an hour they finally got to a dirt road. Colt pulled off his T-shirt and wiped the sweat from his brow. Aaron saw the newish scares on his back. He’d seen scars from bullets before and asked, “Are those scars from gun shots?” Then he remembered the report and felt like kicking himself for asking.
“Yes.”
“Oh. The truck’s just around the corner” he said.
“Don’t do that!”
“What?”
“Get upset with yourself for asking me questions. Look, I ask questions all the time usually. That’s how I learn things. And sometimes the questions I ask are really stupid. I’ve never known a person who could ride a bike as well as you do. And to be honest, I thought you were just trying to pick me up and maybe you were. I don’t care really what your reason was for following me. And I doubt that you would tell me the truth right now in any case. The fact is I’ve enjoyed this ride today more than any other time ever! It’s been a fantastic day for me and part of that is because of you. So, if you have questions to ask, ask them. If you have comments to make, make them and I’ll do the same to you. If I don’t want to answer a question or you say something that I don’t like I’ll let you know. Okay?”
Aaron nodded his agreement.
“I got shot in the back because I got in the way. I got in the way because I saw my Dad get shot in the shoulder and I didn’t want to see him get killed so I shielded him. What can I say, I really love my Dad!” Colt said smiling and he started on down the road.
Aaron looked at Colt. He wanted to tell Colt that he was being paid to watch him and find out as much data about him as possible, especially information on a special laptop computer.
Maney and others thought that Colt had the laptop, but he knew if Colt did have it Maney would at the least kill his friend Arbor and then probably Colt too. He hated this whole situation now because he was really beginning to fall in love with this kid. Colt had charisma and he seemed to exude a caring feeling towards people and things. For example, a lot of bikers would have just run over the snake, which would have killed it or wounded it seriously. Colt jumped over it at the expense of risking his own life.
Colt put their bikes into the back of the truck. Aaron looked at him in a funny sort of way.
“What?”
Aaron threw him the keys. “You drive. I’m exhausted.”
“Drive, me?” he questioned.
“Sure! Haven’t you ever driven before?”
“No.”
“Well, shit boy! It’s time you learned” and he got in on the passenger’s side and Colt got into the driver’s seat.
“You really want to risk this?” Colt asked nervously “Really, I have never driven a car before or a truck. What pedals do I use?”
Aaron laughed then explained what each pedal did and how to shift the gears. For the first fifteen minutes it was a hilarious ride with gears clashing and grinding, but then Colt finally got the hang of it.
“Hungry?” Aaron asked.
“Starved!” said Colt “My treat! You pick the place.”
They stopped at a Roadside café and the two sat in a booth that gave them a good view of the truck.
“Ever heard of Moab in Utah?” Aaron asked.
“Oh, duh!” Colt answered sarcastically “Yes. Have you ever been there?”
“Yeah, I’ve been there a lot of times. Nearly every June and July I go. I’d love to take you there. You’d really love it I know. Especially, Slick Rock!”
“I would forever be in your debt if you were to show me the ropes there. God that would really be fantastic! Tell me about Slick Rock” Colt enthusiastically demanded.
“The first time I went there was when I was fifteen and as I said I’ve been there every year since. Each time I go it’s a whole new experience. When they say riding Slick Rock is like no other experience in mountain biking they aren’t kidding. It’s really kick ass! With the type of surface, sandstone, you do best with slick tires which have no tread left on them.”
“Really? No, tread! Why?” asked Colt.
“Because of the gritty nature of the sandstone. It gives you great traction! You’ll be riding up steep slopes you’d think you could never get up. What you have to remember is that your bike can do more than you think it ever could. The first time I got ready to descend I froze! It looked like it was a near vertical drop, but my macho brother challenged me and like a fool I went for it and he followed then he hesitated half way down and fell off his bike and if he hadn’t been wearing long jeans and gloves he’d been really bad off. As it was his forearms were fucked!”
“Whoa!” Colt made a wincing expression.
“Oh, he survived. I made him go right back up and do it again. He’s a pretty cool guy. At least he was until he got on drugs. I think you would have liked him back then, but he’s a real asshole now especially when he’s strung out. He’s totally different.”
Colt could sense Aaron’s depression and upset about his brother.
“Do you do drugs?” he asked.
“No. My step-dad tried to get me on Prozac, but I left home. I don’t drink or do drugs. I’m your a typical health nut” Aaron smiled.
“That’s good. I’m glad you don’t. Especially, the psych drugs! I did an in-depth paper on psych drugs, they almost all have serious side effects which the suckologists and drug lords, I mean psychologists and the pharmaceutical companies, hide or play down just so they can continue to make their billions. It matters little to them that they’ve destroyed millions of lives.”
They talked a little longer, Colt paid and they left. Aaron drove Colt back to his hotel.
“Thanks for a great day” Colt said, “I shall treasure it. I mean it. It’s my new hobby. I collect special days with special people. You are a special person and you made it a very special day for me.” Colt leaned toward Aaron and kissed him gently on the lips.
After they broke the kiss Aaron smiled and he knew that Colt was totally sincere.
“Your welcome and it’s been a special day for me too” he said. He knew he was falling for this boy.
Aaron had to see Maney. He had to tell him if he wanted to do anything to hurt Colt he was quitting and he didn’t care what the consequences were!
Colt was half way to his room before he realized he hadn’t asked Aaron if he wanted to ride again tomorrow. As he walked into his and Arb’s room he decided he’d just have to ride over to his apartment the next morning.
Aaron parked the truck in Larry’s drive and took the bike out of the back. As Aaron was leaving the front door open and Aaron heard “Hey bro! Wait up!”
Aaron turned “What do you want?”
“Nice bike, bro, cute boy. Maybe you could introduce us.”
“Look, Jerry, he’s definitely not your type. He’s smart and he’s not into perversion. So just keep away from him and me.”
“Ooh, Aaron likes them young” he said snidely “And I suppose you’ve told him about you and Dan. Talk about perversion!”
“It happened once and I left home. Doing this for Maney is the last favor you’ll get from me. I’m leaving this town, everyone, and everything in it. And you can tell Maney if he’s planning on doing anything to this kid then I’m out and I don’t care what he does to you or me and I’ll tell the kid. You know there was once a time when I would have done anything for you, but you’re no longer the same person.” Aaron got on the bike and rode off.
“Bitch!” said Jerry as he walked back in his lover’s house. Larry would be home soon and he wanted to make sure dinner was ready.
****
Colt arrived at Aaron’s apartment and knocked on the door and waited there was no reply. He knocked again, no reply. He turned his bike around and went back down the stairs somewhat disappointed, and then he heard “Jesus, do you always get up so early!”
Colt rushed back up the stairs.
“I forgot to ask you last night what you were doing today. I thought maybe we could do something.”
“Well, I love to go biking again with you, but I’ve got to go to Lake Tahoe today to deliver some documents for my boss” Aaron said observing the instant disappointment on his face. “Hey! I didn’t say I didn’t want to spend the day with you!”
“Huh?” he said with a quizzical look on his face.
“Have you ever been skiing?” Aaron asked.
“No. Why?”
“Well, because today you are! The skiing at Tahoe right now is great and my work there will only take half and hour or less and we’ll have the rest of the day for skiing. I’ve got a permanent ski pass which so happens extends to anybody who goes with me. I guarantee another special day” Aaron said and leaned over and gave Colt a gentle kiss on his lips, then held his chin with his hand looking directly into his deep blue eyes saying “Because you are a very special guy.”
“So, Dr. Colt Smith,” Aaron smiled “Are you ready to Rock and Snow, kid!”
“Yeah, but I’m hardly dressed for it!”
“Don’t worry,” Aaron pulled out a platinum charge card, “It’s on my boss. He called me last night I told him about our biking day and he said that he’d seen you on TV and heard about you and your brother in the news and he won’t mind if I invite you to go with me. So, are you game?”
“Absofuckinglylutely! When do we leave?”
“Two hours the company driver will pick us up and we fly by company jet to Tahoe. I was just getting in the shower when you knocked.” Aaron smiled.
“What would you have done if I hadn’t come over?”
“I would have called you at your hotel” Aaron smiled “Now if you will excuse me I will continue my shower. Help yourself to any thing in the refrigerator.”
“Have you had breakfast?” asked Colt.
“No. Are you volunteering to make breakfast?”
“Sure. I make great omelets!”
“Be my guest” Aaron said as he entered the bathroom.
****
By late afternoon Aaron and Colt had been on the slopes for five hours. Colt began as a complete novice and after five hours of dogged determinism he was able to ski.
They had both enjoyed each other’s company. It was not a romance they were building it was a friendship, a friendship that Colt would always remember. Colt looked at the distant mountains waiting for Aaron to join him
.
“It’s beautiful up here,” Aaron said.
“Yup. I’m just soaking it all in. I used to think computers were everything. I’ve worked thousands and thousands of hours learning them, building them, programming them. It was my life and at times it was fun. I know more about computers than probably most. I once had the most powerful computer in the world. It was a totally awesome computer as computers go.” Colt continued to look at the mountains. He didn’t look at Aaron because he could feel the tears building up.
“Yeah and?” said Aaron.
“And … and just before I got shot, like a day or two, I realized that because of this computer, my guardian, Keith who was more like my father than just a guardian, was killed. My friend, Alan had his brains blown out, Arbor was nearly killed and sustained multiple injuries, a man on the plane was killed, two other people who had kidnapped me and what they thought was the computer were blown to bits.” The tears were flowing down his face.
Aaron made no comment. Aaron just listened.
“I can’t recall much from the day I got shot except Horace told me Kevin was dead and I programmed ‘Mother’, that was what we called the computer, at that point to shut down all systems in ten minutes. I knew they’d be in the helicopter trying to escape with ‘Mother’. I knew they would be killed. I’ve tried to justify it by saying that it was them who killed Keith and Alan and tried to kill Arbor and Kevin. But, it is just that a justification. I was responsible for killing those people. I, for vengeance, killed them.”
“I was messed up by Horace pretty bad, cracked ribs, broken arm and shot in the back and the butt. I was in a coma for nine weeks or so. Dad told me the computer crashed and burned with Belkirk, Mallory and Horace. Arb told me I was a National Hero. I even got to meet the President and lots of famous people and got to go on National TV. I was happy that the computer was destroyed, but I was a little disappointed too. I could do a lot of good with it.”
“When I saw my father get shot and when I felt the bullets pierce my flesh and I thought I was dying. I realized how much I had taken life for granted and especially people. All people are basically good. I don’t know why some of us do bad things, but I believe we’re all basically good.”
“Yesterday and today, have … have been so good. So much fun. I love you, Aaron, not romantically yet, but I dearly love you as a friend.” Colt turned his head and looked him in the face. “Because you seem to care.” Aaron’s eyes darted away and he felt a reaction from Aaron to what he said.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing. I’m very touched by what you said.”
“But?”
“But? But what, Colt! What do you want me to say? Do you want me to honest? Is that it? Okay. I’m being paid to be with you; to get into your confidence and to show you a good time. To sleep with you if I have to! Do whatever I have to do and find out about the computer!”
Aaron burst into tears then took off down the slopes.
Colt quickly thought back to their original meeting Aaron had been following, but somehow he didn’t care. He knew that Aaron really did like him. “You can’t pay someone too really like another,” he thought to himself as he pushed off after him.
Aaron was far more skilled than Colt. If he was going to catch up with Aaron he’d have to take the Pro-trail as he’d called it earlier. He knew there was a twenty foot jump coming up and at the bottom of the jump the trails met again. He had no idea of how to jump properly.
Aaron saw Colt do the jump. His landing wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t good enough. Aaron saw him fall and roll down the hill rapidly until he meet up with a tree. Aaron raced over to him.
“Colt! Colt!” Aaron said as Aaron came to a stop by Colt’s body which was face down in the snow. Carefully Aaron rolled him over. Colt opened his eyes.
“Aaron. Not to good a landing, huh? Think you could show me how to do it better?” Colt smiled.
Aaron hugged him and resumed his previous bout of crying.
“Aaron, it doesn’t matter to me that someone paid you to show me a good time or to watch and babysit me. It doesn’t matter a fuck! Because you can’t pay a person to really care and you really care and that’s what friends are. Friends are people who really care about each other no matter what.”
“Colt what do I do? Maney isn’t a nice guy. He’s a crook. I think they think you still have the computer.”
“Why are you working for him?”
“My deadbeat brother was into him for several hundred thousand and so I’m working for him. You were to be the last job.”
“Well, you’ve done your job. The computer was destroyed. It’s gone and so are all its plans and my doctorate thesis. It’s a good thing the Board of Regents got pressured to give me my Ph.D. or I wouldn’t be Dr. Colt Smith. Come on now cheer up! Let’s go home and you can surprise me tomorrow with a new adventure.”
“I love you Colt.”
“I know.” They kissed.
Larry and Jerry continued to photograph and record their conversations from a distance. “Maney is going to be pissed. Now the kid knows he’s watching,” complained Larry.
“He should have let me befriend the little pecker. I wonder if he’s cut or uncut” said Jerry.
“Don’t you ever think about anything else?” remarked Larry.
“Yeah. Like I could really use a joint right now.”
****
“Jimmy, I just got a call from one of my guys. The youngest has made friends with a soon to be ex-employee of mine, Aaron Mason. Aaron has been working off his fagot brother’s debt. The boy said the computer was destroyed, but Aaron told him he’s working for me. He’s bound to say something to the other two and if they really do have the computer then they’ll probably go to ground.”
“Might have known you’d fuck it up. Keep the two in Tahoe. I think the kid really knows. Does he really like Aaron?” asked Jimmy.
“He said he loved him.”
“Good. Well, we have some leverage to use on him. If he doesn’t tell us where it is we kill your ex-employee!” he laughed sardonically.
“Okay. My guy Larry is the type that loves to get blood out of the stone. Don’t worry we’ll get the computer.” Maney hung up and called Larry back and then called Aaron.
****
“I just spoke with Maney. He wants us to stay here the night. He says he needs the jet.”
Aaron looked worried.
“I have the feeling we should leave right now. Let’s rent a car and head to LA. You catch a plane to wherever you can be safe and I’ll return to Vegas. I think you’re in more danger than me. Don’t ask why, I just get the feeling you need to be far from here,” Colt told Aaron.
It was too late. Larry appeared at the door. He walked up to Aaron and stood right behind him. “Aaron, Maney wants you and your friend to be my guest for the night.”
Colt felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Larry was the bad guy in his dream.
“Hey, kid, just in case you think of doing something real smart just realize I’ve got a forty-five in your boyfriend’s back and I’m itching to pull the trigger. And Aaron, if you even bat an eyelid the wrong way the boy will be the second dead body and you know I am capable of doing it.”