Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 08:05:37 -0400 From: Ron Subject: TEEP - Chapter 05 Wolfwalker's work herein referred to as TEEP is fully protected under The United States Copyright Laws © 17 USC §§ 101, 102(a), 302(a). All Rights Reserved. Placing or posting this story on any website, or distribution of this work in any way (parts or whole) without the explicit consent of the author Wolfwalker is strictly prohibited. Any and all copyright infringements will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This story TEEP may contain scenes of a graphical nature which may not be legal in your area. If you are under 18 years of age, or material of this nature is illegal in your present location, please leave now. 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Chapter 05 Aaron stretched as he started to wake up, feeling the pull of his muscles as he stretched he grimaced, they sure hurt this morning, it would be several days before his body had replaced the cannibalized tissue and until then he would be sore and achy. Sending his mind out searching, he caught the hum of a brain happily at work, opening his eyes he glanced around the room not seeing anyone he cast his gaze up and saw the glow of monitors reflecting in the ceiling and smiled Chris must have set them up before going to bed last night, and since there was only one mind around they must have taken turns keeping watch. Pulling his P.A.D.D. from under the pillow where he slid it last night he used it to run a check on each of the bio-tubes. Slightly surprised to see how aggressive Joe's brother and boyfriend had been and how thorough also, he examined each of the deep scan results and made notations on what treatments should be next and in what order, he also included an explanation on the reasoning for the order remembering that they were third year students and had yet to learn this as their final year which would be as interns would not start until fall, these three months were the time they had to sell themselves to one of the better known teaching hospitals so they could take their school learning and apply it to real life. Making sure he noted his pleasure at how well each had done in their self assigned tasks, he uploaded it to the mainframe so when they ran reports they would see it, well he hoped they would as he did not know if they had learned enough to know to check charts before doing rounds, each school being slightly different in when they introduced their students to the more mundane day to day survival tricks, with a large portion of them skipping this class telling the students the hospital they did residency at would teach them. He thought it was bull back then and was still bull today. Finished signing off on the treatment Aaron decided a shower and then food was in order so setting his P.A.D.D. down and leaning against the wall of the station desk with the large note scrolling across the screen to `Check patients charts before rounds' and ported back to his house. Walking through the doors from the balcony towards his room he smiled as a certain part of his anatomy lead the way, this morning he would have to fall back on the old standby and take care of the problem himself while in the shower. Slapping the panel to turn on the shower, Aaron waited a few moments until the steam started to billow in the stall before opening the door and walking into the steamy warm water, sighing in pleasure as the hot needles of water hit his body from all angles he held up his arms giving his whole body the chance to be massaged by the surround shower. Eyes closed Aaron stood there for a good half hour before his hand found its way down to his hard cock that was enjoying the water massage as well as his sore muscles and slowly stroked it getting faster as his mind went back to the previous morning and how all four of them enjoyed heir morning wake up call, that did it as he started to shoot his load into the water, shivering in orgasm though it was defiantly much better with someone else, he thought. Placing his hand on the control panel, he turned off the water and hit the sensor that would start the warm dry air blowing through the stall, drying him quickly as he ran a comb through his damp hair to help control it. Once out of the shower he went over to the sink and brushed his teeth before one final run through with his comb. Stomach growling he went to the kitchen and grabbed a pop tart before making his way to the stairs leading to his office. Sitting down with a pop tart in his mouth Aaron logged in and started to go through his emails, there were several hundred this morning, sighing, he created a filter that would send all emails responding to the job openings to a newly created folder and was shocked when there were only twenty five left, so opening the first in line, he started to read the update from the CEO of Altare Technologies that he had scheduled a press release for one pm today, where he would announce the new breakthrough of the isolinear chip including pricing structures along with the newly designed motherboards and terra hertz chips, he went on to explain that they were ready to ship as soon as Monday as it would give the world the weekend to get used to the idea, he was also asking if he could give a heads up to all three software firms that produced operating system along with a test system. Aaron thought about it for a moment before firing off a reply agreeing to the heads up warning and hesitated as he thought about giving out test systems, but then after thinking about it for a bit, he went ahead and agreed since the chips would be available in several days anyways to anyone that wanted to buy them, after all it was not like the competition would be able to reverse engineer the chips, they just did not have the technology available to them to be able to do so. Except for the last email, they were all routine and easily taken care of, the last, though, was a request for a leave of absence from the CFO of Derma Tech one of the biotechnology companies that produces cutting edge medical equipment, it was how he planned to introduce the world to his new hospital, the request was because the CFO'S wife and two sons had been hit by a drunk driver and the two boys were in critical condition and it was touch and go. The note was more of a letting him know what was going on type, versus asking his permission as the CEO of course granted the request and in the email wondered how he wanted to handle temporarily filling the position. This one left him in a conundrum, after all, he was about to reveal to the world the most advanced hospital ever imagined in a month's time, and if something happened to those boys, the CFO would harbor resentment and maybe become a possible problem, and rightly so if he admitted it as he did have the technology to heal the boys right now. Looking at the headers on the email, he sighed; maybe it was too late, after all this email was sent late last night. The biggest problem was he was not a trained pilot, oh sure he knew how the new planes worked and all mechanically, but that had nothing to do with actually having the skill to fly the damn things. If they pushed it they could be in San Francisco in eighteen hours, the Alteran Prince after all had a four station med bay that could handle the boys easily. "Chris, are you awake?" Aaron sent as he stood up and went to the nook over by the steps and started to get dressed, the call he was about to make required him to be dressed. "Yes, I just ported over to the hospital with Carl for breakfast; I have to tell you they are tickled pink with the atta boys you gave them in the patient care notes. Oh, I should let you know I offered them a place with us including alteration, I think they are going to go for it." Chris responded with excitement spilling throughout the mental conversation. "There has been a development; port directly into my office." Aaron broke the mental connections as he tucked his shirt into his pants and buckled the belt as Chris appeared in the middle of the room. Eyes bugging out taking in Aaron getting dressed in his power suit he ported to his bedroom and grabbed his dress blacks and ported back in by the steps, out of range of the video pickup and started to get dressed, all total he was in and back in under sixty seconds. "Wait a minute, I will fill you in as we go along, but for the most part I think you will get everything you need to know out of the conversation," Aaron told him as he connected to the net and dialed up Derma Tech's direct line as he sat down, ninety seconds later, the screen came to life showing an empty office though he could hear voices from outside the door. Remotely turning the speakers up to their highest setting, Aaron cleared his throat "Bob...Bob Miller." Hearing the voices go quiet, Aaron returned the volume to normal when an older balding man ran into the room. Blanching at seeing his boss on the wall monitor, "Mr. Stranton Sir," Bob fidgeted seeing the ultimate boss on the screen. Not about to beat around the bush or go through the normal pleasantries, Aaron barked out "How are the Stevens boy's doing? I just a moment ago opened your email." He at least offered that in a softer tone. Confused, Bob stuttered for a moment until he received a glare to hurry it up "They are still in post op and last I heard they are still listed as extremely critical. The drunk driver did a number on the van, both boys are lucky to be alive, only the fact they were in their car seats saved them." He rambled as sweat dripped down the side of his face. Glancing off camera Aaron scrolled through the personal files before looking back "is Frank at the hospital or in the building trying to get you to agree to his request?" Shaking his head violently in the negative, Bob hurried to reassure him, "Oh no sir, he is at the hospital; I approved the request by phone last night when he called me to let me know what had happened," wondering if he was about to be fired for doing the right thing. Nodding his head, Aaron waved for Chris to come over, "Good I would hate to have to fire your ass for refusing to do the right thing in this situation. What you don't know is that in a month's time, the most advanced hospital in the world will be unveiled, a hospital that could easily correct the boys' injuries. Lucky for us, the Alteran Prince has a fully functioning med bay right now and will be in port in eighteen hours." "Prometheus..." Bob whispered in awe and without realizing it he whispered out, "the inter company rumors are true then." Aaron was disturbed to hear that, but decided to handle it later, as evidently there was a leak somewhere a leak that needed to be plugged. "Your orders are simple really, go to the hospital in person, take Frank aside and let him know that help is on the way, once Captain Banks..." Aaron pointed to Chris who was standing at attention in his formal black uniform at his side, "is forty minutes out, he will contact your cell phone to make final arrangements to have the boys airlifted to the Prince to the medical facilities on board, one of my residents will be there to initiate treatment. The only thing those doctors need to do is keep the boys and their brains alive until we get there." "Right away Mr. Stranton, I will make arrangements to have to choppers standing by to move the boys and their parents to the Alteran Prince, as soon as Captain Banks contacts me." Bob nodded as he ran to his desk, grabbed his phone and keys and ran out of the door without saying goodbye. Blinking, Aaron closed the connection before glancing at Chris "Do you think the sight of me terrorized him that much, I mean damn, he could have said goodbye or something." He laughed trying to dispel some of the tension. "Alrighty let's go, conscript me a doc for the this rescue mission, oh and once you are under way, call you other half and tell him I am sending a file to him and for him to start the interviews, and to expect to receive another each day until further notice, this shit is starting to snowball and take a life of its own." Aaron told him before porting directly to the trauma pod. Looking around, he smiled at seeing the two third years dressed in hospital blue jumpsuits, they must have found them in a locker somewhere. He had to admit they did look hot in the dark blue with the caduceus emblazoned on the backs of the jumpsuit. Clearing his throat to let them know he was here, he tasted their surface thoughts, they were excited to be given this opportunity and wanted nothing more than to join the staff and were looking forward to the alteration, in fact they planned to ask for Gordon to undergo the procedure today with Carl to follow as soon as Gordon was out, they after all, still had six days until their parents flew back with Joe so they would not be missed. Smiling, Aaron noticed they were programming the first of several procedures he had listed on the boys' charts, nodding his approval he decided to hijack the conversation as their eyes widened as they looked behind him, feeling around with his senses he noticed Chris had entered the room "Ok guys, sorry for lifting your surface thoughts but you were practically screaming your desire, so I will just say you're hired." Giving them a moment to hug each other in excitement, Aaron got serious and down to the business at hand, "I need to know which of you feels they are the better able to operate the equipment right now?" holding up his hand his serious look stopped their celebrating, "we have an emergency that will require one of you to travel with Chris on the Alteran Prince, to Los Angeles for a medical emergency, two young boys ages five and three were critically injured by a drunk driver, their father is one of my many execs in one of my companies. So one of you needs to go along and start their treatment and depending on how bad they are either finish treatment yourself or if I need to, I can port in and assist if needed, hopefully any assisting can be done through video conference." Looking over his shoulder, "Chris you can drop the Prince's illusions, it will be a week earlier than we planned, but you are going to throw up enough red flags as it is by your speed alone." shrugging his shoulders Aaron turned back, "You are authorized for full emergency power for this trip." Aaron felt Chris's surprise even though he could not see his face. "Ok guys time is something these kids just don't have. So who is going and who is staying?" Gordon pushed Carl forward "Carl is, he is better than I am with intubation, he's had more practice than I have." Gordon sent his lover a don't argue with me glare, before Carl nodded his head in acceptance. Chris stepped forward and grabbed Carl's arm and ported them to the bridge of the Prince without wasting any time with goodbyes, he had a ship to set sail and it would take at least ten maybe fifteen minutes to traverse the tunnel before they could surface and engage the thrusters. Grinning at Gordon's expression, Aaron clapped him on the shoulder, "don't worry the next time you see him you will be crawling out of a bio-tube in time to kiss him before he goes under." "Huh..." Gordon mumbled dumbly before being interrupted by Aaron asking him how far along they had gotten in programming the next round of procedures. "We just finished up when you ported in," before it hit him of what Aaron meant, sputtering, "but that will leave you alone while everyone is gone and there are patients that need to be..." Aaron placed a finger on Gordon's lips, causing him to stop and look at him, "Gordon the emergency is over, I think you noticed the whole pod can be run by one console." He pointed over to the main desk, "But what you don't know is that I can run any of these pods from my house, plus you are forgetting about my ability to port around in under a second, once the city starts to fill up with people, procedure's will be different, but for now, I can handle it." Knowing he was the boss, Gordon finally nodded his head in agreement and followed him into the next room and stopped next to the desk where Aaron stood waiting with a grin on his face. "Before you strip down, give me the contact information for both of your advisors, so I can get you registered as residents for your forth year to the main hospital." Laughing, Aaron smirked "just think about how all those hospitals that did not want to touch either of you are going to kick themselves when they find out you were accepted by the most advanced hospital in the world, we go live in a month's time and you are about to become the envy of every fourth year in the world." Laughing and thinking about how the old farts were about to get theirs, Gordon pulled the P.A.D.D. over from the top of the desk and inputted the information in it before starting to strip out of his clothes. Folding his clothes neatly and placing them on the end of the station console Gordon blushed before slowly turning around, stamping down harshly on the urge to cover his crotch with his hands. Aaron had walked over to one of the empty bio-tubes and started to prepare the cart, he pulled over the cart with the equipment he would need to start the alterations next to the empty bio-tube. Feeling Gordon walk up behind him, he smiled reassuringly while looking back over his shoulder, "Ready?" getting a nod of the head in return, Aaron pointed to the bio-tube "well hop on in and we will get started, after all, it is not often a total stranger who happens to be your boss gets to play with your ass." It was a good thing he was not looking at Gordon when he said that or he would not have been able to hold back his laughter, the mirrored expression in the dead monitor screen was priceless. Seeing Aaron smirking as he faced him, Gordon realized he was being teased. Handing Gordon the bottle of sterilizing gel and gauze, Aaron grabbed the bottle of lubricant "use this in place of iodine, on your right temple, over the heart and right elbow, six inches above and below the bend," pulling the hose out of the niche it was stored in, he then lubed up the end and showed it to Gordon as he placed his hand between Gordon's legs pushing to either side so he would spread them further apart, "no easy way to do this, part A here..." waving the end of the hose so Gordon could see it, "goes into part B." Aaron told him as he pushed Gordon's ass cheeks apart and slid the hose home gently. Seeing Gordon bug out his eyes as he realized where the hose was going, Aaron went into teacher mode, "The hose is to process and remove solid waste so it does not foul the regen fluid," picking up the IV cuff, he showed Gordon how it was opened and then placed it around his right elbow, locking it in place. Before picking up the vital signs sensor, "this goes right over the heart and monitors you vitals and usually the most you feel as it inserts the wires to stay in place is the sensation of something running along your skin. That's because there is also a topical anesthetic in the gel on the bottom of the sensor." Placing it on Gordon's chest he activated it before picking up the last one, "last one before intubation. Besides monitoring brain activity, it also acts as a soma unit sending the patient into a coma allowing the intubation to proceed and no time to pass for the one undergoing the procedure." Aaron placed it and activated it too, before sneaking in, "Night Gordon," As he hit the switch to send him to dream land." Quickly intubating him, Aaron connected the ventilator and sealed the nose mask over his face before cycling the bio-tube so it would seal and flush the chamber with regen liquid. Glancing over to the bio-tube to be sure it was full, Aaron tapped the activation sequence that would start the alteration process and tied it to the Autodoc once the system had fully started. Returning to the trauma pod, he sat down behind the station and glanced at the range of displays before signing back into the terminal to check his emails, after all he had almost two hundred to classify for Joe, before he could send it to him, and the sheer amount of foreign responders was staggering, somehow word had gotten around that he was hiring. Two hours later, Aaron finished reading through all the cover letters and had taken a quick peek at some of the resume's and typed out a quick outline of leading questions for Joe, asking him to set up interviews with pilots first, then security experts, thinking about the eighteen hour trip the Prince had embarked on, he would have ported the Prince closer, but he was leaving that as an ace in the hole so to speak. Looking at the clock, he had an hour before he had to contact Davies and Associates which reminded him he needed to send an email to Roger, letting him know he would not be there in person due to the emergencies that had arisen, so as to prepare him to gather everyone, he needed to be present in the video conference room. Well, that took all of two minutes Aaron thought as he glanced at the monitors, paying attention to Kenny's for a moment he noticed he would be ready to be released around lunch time, maybe after the press release, he thought, he needed to be sure there was no other distractions when he released him, it helped that they found David and he was on the mend, or at least he hoped so, dealing with frightened kids was not always pleasant, as they did not always react the way you expected them to. Standing up, Aaron stretched, before remembering the contact numbers at Berkley, well, dealing with bureaucrats would be a fine way to waste some time. Making his way over to the next pod, he picked up the P.A.D.D. with the information and ported back to his office, he needed to be somewhere less revealing for this. Glancing at the his chair in the center of the room, he stopped and wondered if this Dr. Myers even had video capability, shrugging, too late now he thought, as he sat down and activated his terminal slaving the trauma pods central desk into his system and activated the plasma screens in split stream mode so at a glance he could see the status of the boys. Connecting to the net, he dialed the number written down as Carl's adviser first, as he waited for it to connect, he quickly brought up the standard contract acceptance letter and filled in all the pertinent information, thus making his accepting of the two young men into his hospital official, as far as Berkley was concerned. Hearing the clicking give way to the phone ringing, he looked up just as the connection was established. "Myers" came the voice over the speaker. Smiling, he hoped this went well "Dr. Myers, this is Aaron Stranton, form Altare Trauma center; I am calling to confirm with you two placements from your medical program." "Could you hold a moment Dr. Stranton, while I pull up the student records in the computer so I can get this done properly...these are the first ones this year and I am a little rusty plus they changed the damn forms on us." Myers rambled as the sound of keys being tapped could be heard. "Ok, I am ready now, which of my students was lucky enough to be the first to be placed this year?" "That would be Carl Mandelin, one of your universities double doctorates, I believe." Aaron smiled at the shocked sounds coming from the other end. "Really...that is wonderful, I have been getting some pretty negative feedback from some of the other major trauma centers, and they felt we should not allow openly gay applicants to flaunt their sexuality so openly." Myers sounded pleased and surprised. "There loss then," Aaron shook his head at people's stupidity, "I found in their interview both of them to be quite pleasant and eager to learn, almost like a kid walking into a sweet shop for the first time, and seeing wall to wall sugar. And the way they both jumped into the action when we had a minor crisis of six critical cases come in at the same time, spoke volumes." Myers laughed as he started filling out the computerized forms, "I take it Carl's life partner Gordon Christinson is the other lucky applicant? Good for them, I will do his paperwork too, since Davidson is a right bastard and would screw it up more than likely. Can you email me their seventy nine eighties?" "You know Gordon was in my office more than his own advisers, of course he always was with Carl...now that one is a good catch for your trauma center, a shame really, that he did not want to go into research I have had head hunters after that boy for the past three years, trying to get him away from our program and into their firms." Myers rambled before remembering "Oh my email is myersac at Berkley dot edu." Tapping the address into the email, Aaron sent the attachments, "There on their way as we speak." He was actually amused at the ramblings of the professor on the other end of the phone, plus, he was learning a lot listening to the muttering on the other end, seems that most of the couples professors did not like the fact that they were openly gay, preferring to repeatedly inform them they had to stay in the closet, or not be accepted by any institution that was worth anything. "Let's see here, I just now received the seventy nine eighties and am printing them off for their files." Myers rambled happily as the sounds of paper being shuffled around could be heard "my, this is a very generous offer and ten hour shifts with three hours doing studies? This is interesting..." Myers' voice trailed off briefly." Reading between the lines even though you accepted both lads into your program, you seem to find something in their education lacking, if one knows how to read these forms and what they do not say." Aaron waited for a moment and when the pause started to get a bit longer than appropriate, "While their basic training is superb, the problem arises with the new technologies they will have to master, we have diagnostic tools at our disposal that are just now ready to be released on the market, and we all know how paper pushers only look at the bottom line and let's not even mention insurance companies." Aaron tried to not so much confuse the issue, as to bury it in reasons that were sound but not totally pointing to the right direction. "Add into that, our trauma center deals with genetic and organ failure, along with victims of abuse, they both have to widen their horizons." "I see..." Myers broke in, "it is one thing to learn these things in a controlled environment, but another with facing it on your own...are you planning on turning my boys into Geneticists and Psychologists besides?" "Not any more than they need, to properly do their jobs in the type of trauma center we have set up, they both will need a good grounding to handle the emergency cases that come through the doors and stabilize them before handing them off to the specialists and Carl at least, recognizes his limits as one of the boys he worked on was tortured, and he noted in the chart that once the boy was released from the induced coma, that he would need psychological help from the moment he woke up, he noted that the boy's last waking memories would be on the torture he endured and upon waking, he might not be able to distinguish that he was now in a safe environment." Aaron hedged as he was trying to stay within the guidelines of not telling him much. "Good head on that one's shoulders; Carl will go far once given the chance and I thank you for giving both of these boys a chance to make their mark on the world." Myers told him sincerely before clearing his throat, "Well the paperwork is done on our end and it is official both boys are now your students and upon release, in one year's time, are eligible to sit the state boards. Now we only have one little matter to handle before we are done." Aaron hesitated, wondering what the hell it could be, "And that would be?" sounding confused, he looked at the clock he had ten minutes before he had to contact the lawyers for his meeting. "Yes, when can I get my hands on some of this advanced equipment you glossed over, it has to be pretty intense, if you got both of the boys working three hours a day for two months mastering it?" Myers sounded excited. "I have to get you into the space age; you so need video conferencing, I bet you are grinning and rubbing your hands together in anticipation." Aaron laughed at the mental picture. Myers laughed deeply before ending with a chuckle, "So when can I see it? Do you need me to take a picture to send to you, I can always pose in my evil overlord persona," he dissolved in laughter once more. Shaking his head, Aaron decided he liked this man, "Well one of my vessels will be arriving in Los Angeles tonight, to take on board two critically injured toddlers who probably will not survive if we don't intervene first...they are the sons of one of my employees and they were hit by a drunk driver. Last reports I received from the locals were not encouraging, only giving the boys a ten percent chance to live." Sighing audibly Aaron continued, "We were not planning on going public with the technological breakthroughs until next month, once all our support pieces are in place, like pilots." He muttered the last. Anyway, be at Los Angeles General and find the Stevens boys' room in PICU, Frank is their father, and you can hitch a ride with them when they bring the boys out to the Alteran Prince and our mobile med bay, and you will get to see something that will blow your mind." Aaron sent a quick thought to let Chris know of the change in plans, he would be on board to port the Prince back to the Island if needed, and to let Carl know he would be there as his adviser was coming on board along with the parents. It would be the perfect way to prepare the world for the new advances that were about to hit the news. "I am very eager to meet with you, Dr. Stranton, and will take the afternoon off so I am on hand, maybe I can nudge that percent upwards a point or two or at least keep them alive till you get here." Myers sounded excited, "may I ask why you did not chose to fly in, surely that would have been faster?" Sighing, Aaron was starting to dial the connection for the video conference that would be taking place in a few minutes, "that would be because our support structure is not in place yet, we are currently hiring pilots, these fancy planes sitting unused in the hanger are worthless without the crazy people to fly them." Letting him know just how he felt about air travel, at least on board a ship one could swim if something happened, but then he would always port out he grinned. "Until tonight then Dr. Stranton," Myers' laughter was what was heard as he ended the conversation. Pressing connect, Aaron looked up into the screen and noticed seven people around the table after quick count, "Good morning, unfortunately a rescue operation last night is keeping me here on the island while I monitor the recovery of the six boys that were tortured almost to death for being gay." He started out strong, watching carefully for any signs of anything but outrage "before we get into new business, let's get an update on the projects currently underway." Roger cleared his voice before standing and cracking a joke, "You're Honor... Sorry about that." He laughed along with everyone else. Tension broken, he started over, "Ok now that that's out of the way, Let's start with property...Brenda is busy in court this morning so she passed along the information of how far she is in the purchases." Glancing down at his notes, "She has finalized all the corporate and business property you asked her to acquire, from her notes, it would seem that once the title searches clear by next Thursday, that the following Monday they will be yours. Also she thinks she has leads on the type of housing you are looking for around the colleges and universities on your list; she will have a better idea on how to proceed next week after talking with you about the possible houses." Aaron tapped a few notes into his terminal and smiled at hearing Roger tell him, "I am impressed with your idea of head hunting future execs while they are in college still, if it works I might have to consider it myself." "It works for sports teams all the time, I see no reason it can't be a valuable recruitment tool for my business empire," Aaron shrugged. "You are going to have to be very careful of the Feds; they would love to come down on you with the RICO act." The young man that did not seem to be bothered by the horror of torturing gay youth spoke up, as Aaron noticed Roger frown at him. Waving it off, "Less than two percent of my holdings are in the United States, and those that are will not fall under the RICO act," Aaron glared at the young man. Roger looked at Billings a moment longer before, "on our end, acquisitions of the firms you sent me are proceeding without problem and by the end of the month, most shall have gone through change of ownership under the radar, so we are on schedule with the exception of two things. The research into the security firms you asked about and the computer tech company." Aaron kept staring at the man who spoke out of turn; something about him was not sitting right "What is wrong with the security firms?" Roger motioned towards Billings, who stood up after being frowned at when he started to speak without standing, "the problem is that on paper they look like good solid investments, but in practice, they have had more run ins with the authorities than all the big firms put together, plus, two of them have a high turnover problem." "How many of their employees are honest and reliable the type that keeps their mouth shut, after all they will be doing the jobs that would be considered embassy security, providing security to diplomats?" Aaron was curious if the firms had that bad of a reputation with the cops he would just steal the best from them, after all, he was pretty much planning on his own firm anyway. Shaking his head, Billings looked towards his boss "maybe a couple of them, most are rejects form the other reputable firms." Aaron wanted this to be over, something was wrong and he wanted to talk to Roger in private, Roger was safe, as he had placed protections himself after meeting him for the first time, this person though, he set off warning bells, "and the computer firm?" Scott stood up without prompting, and looked into the pickup above the plasma screen, "the problem with them is that it is a paper shell, most of the people on their books do not exist, while the work they have produced is as advertised and they have met every expectation of their clients, no one has seen any person other than the CEO. So even though on paper they are a million dollar a month cooperation, I cannot find any paper trails to the people that are listed, I am afraid to dig any deeper in case it brings them under scrutiny from the Feds, nothing they are doing is illegal, but it is mystery." Aaron noticed how attentive the loud mouth was as if he was memorizing the information, and the look of curiosity was way to evident, "Roger, a word in private if you would, time is short for me today, so I need to wrap this up early." Roger was nervous, as the rest of his partners filed out the door silently; once the door closed he looked into the pickup "you noticed Billings too," sighing, he sat down and almost fell out of his chair when Aaron ported in. Holding his finger to his lips in the universal sign to be quiet, Aaron pulled his scanner from his pocket and started waving it around the room. Assured the room was not bugged, he sat on the corner of the table, "What do you know about Billings, his home life and social life as well?" Not as shocked as he should be as Roger was not a stupid man and the clues were there if you dug deeply "On the surface he is exactly what he appears to be an up and coming gay hot shot lawyer, though we always put down his not settling down and bringing his lover or lovers to any of our functions as him going through the slut phase, but now I am not sure, while he seems comfortable with signs of same sex affection he has never been seen showing the same to anyone else, and before he was hired, I had him followed and he went to all the right places and bars, even taking boy toys home for the night, though I never asked the investigator to make sure he was actually doing the deed so to speak." Horrified at the possible breach in their security, Roger whispered, "you think he is a plant don't you?" Aaron did not bother to answer as he gazed out the door as if he could see through the solid steel core door. He did turn around when Roger told him, "you know the Feds were very upset when they broke down the record vault door in our old building, by accident of course, and found it empty. We had already moved all our files to this new building and when you called, we were in the midst of packing the rest of the office for shipping, by the time the Feds thought to check with us, we had emptied the office and I was the only one still there. They were very vocal and threatening, but in the end, had to accept on face value this move was almost over by the time the shooting occurred." Standing up and moving closer to the door, "Billings and Steve are the only ones that are not full partners and I called them that night to tell them to meet us at the new building the next morning, they had no clue we were moving. Steve is another new hire and has not been involved in any of the work we are doing for you yet, so he was not here for this meeting...what other tricks can you do? Can you find out if they are trustworthy or not?" Aaron nodded his head and moved to the door that led to the bathroom and ordered in a clipped voice, "Call Billings in and we will find out what he knows and how trustworthy he really is." Waiting until Aaron was safely behind the door and with it mostly closed, Roger hurried form the room to gather Billings, and as he walked outside the conference room, he noticed they were all milling about in the open area outside the conference room, pulling his lover and partner aside Roger whispered quietly in Stephan's ear before motioning for Billings to come back into the room with him. Closing the door behind him, he motioned for Billings to take the seat near the bathroom door, and sat down across from him. Before he had a chance to say anything, Billings's eyes rolled up and he slumped down. Aaron had struck as soon as he heard the door close, sending a mental probe out he quickly knocked the jerk out, before walking out of the bathroom. Placing a hand on the man's head for misdirection, Aaron closed his eyes and searched Billings mind. Not liking what he found he implanted a directive for the man to leave for lunch and while at the restaurant, to suffer a seizure that would cause him to lose a year's worth of memories, as much as he wanted to kill the fucker for his betrayal, this was safer. "He is a plant, he was supposed to get everything he could on the Thompson case, the shooting was arranged so he could get access to the vault room and copy the files, he has been spying the whole time he has worked for you, he is going to have arranged amnesia at lunch today, and the good thing is, he has not had a chance to turn over everything he has collected yet." Aaron said, as he opened the man's jacket and running his finger along one seam, found the opening and pulled out the tiny jump drive and threw it on the table. Sealing the seam back up "I think that is safer in your hands, don't you agree?" Moving back towards the bathroom, so he would be out of sight when he woke the sneak up, "Oh and by the way, he was a religious nut and defiantly not gay." Aaron closed the door to the bathroom and sent the command to wake the man, who jumped up in his chair and apologized for his behavior and left the room like nothing happened, walking out of the bathroom just as Roger's partner walked in with a very good looking young man Aaron extended his hand to the cute kid, having tasted the young man's mind and finding him trustworthy, "Hello there." Shaking his hand, Aaron did a quick read on Steve and nodded with a smile, "Well I have taken enough of your time today." Roger stood up, "Let me see you out, Stephan, Steve, I will be right back." Roger told them as he escorted Aaron out of the door and around, luckily no one was in the area and he quickly ducked into his office with Aaron. "He is safe and gay," Aaron looked at his watch and winced, "I have got to get out of here so we will have to reschedule this meeting for another day, just be near a TV around one for a press conference, announcing a breakthrough in computer chips." Aaron then ported back to the trauma pod back on his island and sighed as he moved to the refrigerator where Chris placed the rest of the high calorie donuts, he was going to have to down a dozen at this rate before the day was over. Another forty thousand and some calories later Aaron had checked the status of all his patients both emergency and being altered and sat down to watch the press conference, he had read the email informing him that Bill Gates had personally tested the system and would be standing with them at the press conference. Aaron watched in amusement the live feed from the security cameras in the building, after all, all his business's were hooked up into the same network with the master computer here on the island where it would be safe from prying eyes and governments. Not sure what to make of the news conference, he would have to wait until the evening news to see how the press handled it. Turning off the news feed he glanced back at the monitor showing green across the board for Kenny, well, no sense in putting it off any longer he thought, it was time to wake the kid up. Taking control of the system, Aaron drained the regen fluid out of the bio-tube and initiated the drying cycle, blasts of warn dry air filled the bio-tube causing Kenny's hair to swirl in the mini vortex inside the tube, once the cycle finished and the boy was reasonably dry, Aaron uncovered a switch and turning the key to the left and pushing it in, waited until the lid unsealed with a hiss and slid back out of the way. Deflating and removing the tube from the boys lungs Aaron waited a moment to be sure Kenny would not suffer any spasms and then when he was sure he was not going to be the one in a thousand that have their trachea close up from the sterile tube irritating the trachea he changed the soma setting so Kenny would wake up and removed the monitors and IV cuff. Stepping back so he was not hovering above Kenny when he woke up, Aaron waited for him to open his eyes. Kenny slowly stretched and his hands bumped the side of a strange warm object, opening his eyes he started to freak, he was in some type of tube. Hearing a voice reassure him, he sat up and turned towards the voice and saw the young guy he asked to blow, a little bit ago, though glancing around the room, he was not sure of how long ago it was." "Your safe Kenny, and your brother is safe too, we rescued him the same night we found you, and he is across the room from you." Aaron gently broke the news to him, he had felt the kid start to freak out and started influencing as much as he could the kid's emotions. Blinking, Kenny quickly climbed out of the tube and hopped to the floor, "David...David is here, I need to see him." Running across the room to the bio-tubes across from him, he glanced into the sides of the tubes moving onto the next one quickly until he spotted his brother, placing his hand on the transparent case, he whispered "David...what did they do to you?" Tears falling freely down his face. Glancing back at the guy that for some reason he felt safe with and was standing off to one side not close enough to grab him, "What happened to him? Why is he in this tube? What is this stuff he is floating in? When can I touch him? I need to touch to make sure he's real..." "Whoa, slow down there Kenny, give me a chance to answer before you work yourself into a tizzy," Aaron held up his hands stopping the flow of questions he was not given a chance to answer."We found your brother and rescued him a couple of hours after you approached me that night outside the Chinese place. To make a long story short, I am a telepath so I scanned your mind when you propositioned me and found out what had happened to you and then along with the Captain of one of my ships, we went and rescued your brother and these others were there so we brought them back to be healed also." "Yes, I know you think I am lying and no, I am not a freak" Aaron answered Kenny's wordless comments, "Your brother is in what is called a bio-tube, it allows us to heal the damage that was done to him, as he was almost dead by the time we got to him." "I won't tell you all that was wrong with him to keep you from having nightmares," Aaron once again answered Kenny's unspoken question, and finally sighed when the boy accepted that he was telling the truth about being a telepath. "The liquid he is submerged in is called Regen fluid and it is helping his body regenerate at a rapid rate, while filtering out poisons and other body wastes, it fuels the healing process, and finally your last question about when you can touch him should be re-asked to be when is he going to be let out, well, he will be in there another four days at least, while we re-grow his spleen and a few other organs," Aaron told him gently, after moving around him and glancing through the progress reports. "I didn't know you could re-grow organs and such, at least they never said anything about it in school and they were always talking about organ transplants." Kenny whispered, patting the top of the tube with his hand, before realizing that he was naked like his brother. Looking down, he noticed that something was wrong with his favorite toy, "hey what the hell happened to my dick, it got all funny looking," Kenny twisted his head real fast to see Aaron with a funny expression on his face. Chuckling softly, Aaron pointed into the tube at Kenny's brother, "you mean like his, remember where you woke up, you spent two days in the bio-tube being healed yourself, and when you get around to playing with it again, I think you will really be glad that what the doctors cut off when you were born is now back." "Why was I in that healing thing for two days, I wasn't anything but hungry and dirty...right?" Kenny asked a little fearful at hearing the truth. "Well, not really, you had two diseases that you got from having sex, but we took care of them pretty quickly." Aaron told him gently, as he listened in to the thoughts running around in Kenny's head; he was trying to find out how he got the STD'S in the first place. Only seeing memories of young guys and one trucker that did nothing but watch Kenny jack off Aaron determined there was no way to track down the young teens, they would have to eventually get into the system on their own and get help, hopefully before the syphilis damaged their brain. Changing the subject, Aaron laughed when Kenny's stomach growled loudly in the quiet room, "I was going to ask if you were hungry, but I think your stomach already answered for you." Leaning forward he whispered, "it must be telepathic." Smiling when Kenny dissolved into giggles and picking up the thought that he was silly, Aaron started to walk out the door "Well if you come with me, we can fill that stomach and get you some clothes, that is unless you like running around naked," he laughed, "though with the bunch living here now, you would stand out in clothes as they would never put another piece of clothing on again given a choice, bunch of nudists all of them." Kenny looked torn, on one hand, he was hungry, on the other he did not want to leave his brother, hesitating not sure what to do as now that he found his brother, he did not want to lose him again. Aaron sensing the turmoil in the youngster, "come on, after eating, I will bring you right back...promise." Smiling, Kenny ran to catch up and together they walked down the hall past dark rooms that looked like the one his brother was in, finally walking out of the building, Kenny looked back and noticed there were no doors, "where are the doors, don't you have to worry about the cold or the rain getting in..."he trailed off as they walked far enough out away from the building that he could see they were in a huge empty city park, looking up, he noticed the buildings seem to go up to the sky. "I will explain later I promise; move closer so I can teleport both of us to you and your brother's new home." Aaron held out his hand so that Kenny would have to make the first move and touch him. After Kenny placed his hand on his arm he ported them to the apartment where he had just dropped all of the boys stuff. Looking around at the piles of sheet wrapped bundles in the living room, Aaron giggled, "well it looks like you and your brother are going to have to unpack all your stuff." Kenny, who had started to untie the bundles was surprised when he found all his and his brothers belongings "How..." he moved to the next bundle and practically ripped it open and saw more of the stuff that was in his room before facing Aaron, "All this stuff was in our house, how did you get it here?" Sitting down on the couch Aaron enjoyed the shock on Kenny's face finding all his and his brothers stuff in the apartment after seeing the serious expression on the youngsters face, he registered what was asked, "Well Chris and I, that would be the Captain of the Alteran Prince one of my cruise ships went and had a little talk with your father the night I found you. It was the quickest way to find out where he had sent your brother, so we could rescue him. We got to your house a little bit before your old father got home, and using our gifts we packed up everything we could find that looked like it belonged to you and your brother, and brought it here, the same way I brought you here, by teleporting it. After that, we waited until your old father got home and he told us what we wanted to know and..." "He's dead isn't he?" Kenny had no tears for his father, just a hateful expression, "good I hope he died hurting." Aaron was not shocked in the slightest, their father had hurt them, and had been hurting them for years, so he needed to help them deal with it so they did not grow up to hurt others, "I am afraid your father is dead... he died of a heart attack." He did not sound all that convincing in the end, as Kenny stared at him. "So what happens to us now, are we going to go to some orphanage or foster homes?" Kenny screwed up his face trying to hold back the fright. Waving his hand around the room, Aaron stood up, "I think you missed the part where I said this was your new home now...and no, you are not going to go into some orphanage or have foster parents that really don't want you around except for the money they will make by keeping you." Slowly moving and watching Kenny for signs of panic, Aaron gently hugged him close allowing the young boy to cry. Sobbing, Kenny cried for all the pain and hurt he had gone through and all the pain his big brother had gone through, protecting him. Rubbing his back gently, Aaron stayed that way until Kenny was all cried out. "You must think I am a big baby," Kenny mumbled into Aaron's abdomen, sniffing as he pulled away slightly, just enough to look up. "Not really," Aaron told him as he let the truth of his words show in his face, "All it means is that you were hurting so much on the inside you needed to let it out, those that make fun of people for doing that are bullies and they grow up to be hurtful people." Seeing the small smile Aaron hugged him once more," any time you need a hug, I or anyone else will give one to you no questions asked. Seeing Kenny was more in control, Aaron let him go, "How about pizza for supper, well a frozen one, at least to start with, as there is not much food in here yet, we usually let new people shop for themselves and I think Chris mentioned something about putting a pizza in the refrigerator." Or he hoped he did if not he would block the door and port one in from his place. Getting a smile and a nod, Aaron started for the kitchen with Kenny following him like a puppy. Being first to the refrigerator, he opened the door and was greeted by emptiness, thinking carefully he ported a pizza out of his freezer and picked it up off the shelf where it had landed. Pulling the box out of the refrigerator Aaron held it up, "Hope you like pepperoni and sausage," as he went over to the oven on the wall and set the temperature and pulled the pizza out of the box and placed it on the rack in the oven. Setting the timer, he went to the cupboard and opened the doors and pointed out where the plates, bowls and glasses were, "you can get more later, we just keep enough in the apartments to get people settled in for a day or two, everything else we order in or go shopping for it. After Chris gets back, he can take you shopping with your brother for anything else you guys need after your brother gets out of the med bay. Chris lives across the hall with his lover Joe; you'll meet him next week when he gets back." Grinning at the start of information overload that Kenny was fast approaching, or at least that was what his expression was saying to Aaron, "why don't I show you the rest of the place? Tomorrow I can help you sort through things and at least help you put them in your rooms." Kenny nodded his head as if he was dreaming, listening to the young guy explain to him fantastic things, things that were hard to believe, yet he was seeing it with his own eyes. Walking back he followed the guy as he started showing him the kitchen and then into the dining room and the living room. "The front door fronts onto a balcony and the polite thing to do is port to the balcony and if the door is left open, it is ok to walk in and yell out that you are here to visit or whatever or if you do not want company just slide the glass door shut, so they have to knock, there is also a panel next to the door so you can record a message if someone is not home when you go to visit." Aaron explained as he opened the door next to the hall leading back "I think the bathroom is self explanatory don't you" he giggled as he continued on down the hall. "I put you and your brother in the same building as Chris and Joe for this reason," Aaron waved his hand at the huge window fronting into the ocean, at the back of the room. "We're under water..." Kenny whispered in awe as things started to make sense, like the no doors at the hospital, you don't need doors if you are under water inside a building. "You guys have four bedrooms in here, two on each side of the window." Aaron told him, his words falling on deaf ears, as Kenny had plastered himself to the window in awe, his reflection showing his amazement as he watched the fish swimming past the window. Kenny did not know how long he stood looking out the window but the smell of hot pizza made him tear his eyes away from the window and towards the steaming tray being carried into the room. Looking down, he hoped he had not done anything to make the guy mad at him, this was the neatest place he had ever seen, his friend Jimmy would be so jealous he thought, just like he was when he got told about Jimmy's trip to sea world in Florida and he described the tunnels under water they got to walk through. Aaron who had been keeping a mental ear out while Kenny was absorbed in looking out the window heard the thought and realized he never introduced himself. Sitting the tray down on the coffee table, he took a paper plate and placed two big slices on the plate and handed it to Kenny, along with a glass of water. "Kenny, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Aaron Stranton...just call me Aaron, ok?" Pushing the plate over across the table, Aaron noticed Kenny still looking at the floor as he sat down on the couch. "Eat up before it gets cold..." when he did not move, Aaron told him gently "look at me Kenny, look at me so you can see I am not mad at you." Kenny looked up suddenly shocked by Aaron's words, he giggled when Aaron tapped the side of his head "Telepath, remember?" "Ask Chris about the first time he walked into his common room and got caught gazing out the window, I left him alone till the next morning, and I found he had not moved." Aaron chuckled while Kenny giggled and picked up a slice of pizza and bit into it. As Kenny picked up his second piece after inhaling the first, Aaron placed two more slices on his plate, causing Kenny's eye to bug out, he was saddened when he heard the thought of how they were never allowed to have seconds or eat their fill while eating with their father. Biting into his third piece, Aaron pointed to the last piece, "I'm full so if you want it, go ahead, or if you want, put in the refrigerator for later." Full himself, Kenny hesitated before pulling the slice to his plate, he would take it to his room to eat later, and he had been trained too well by his father to not hide food in his room if he was able to get extra. Waving his hand around the room, Aaron started to repeat his tour from earlier, "Ok, behind me and next to the hallway is the washer and dryer, and on each side of the window are two bedrooms as this apartment has four. Each are the same, so you can pick any one you want." Standing up, Aaron walked around the couch and went to the first door on the right of the window and opened "each bedroom closest to the window of course has a smaller window looking out into the ocean, and each bedroom has its own bathroom so you don't have that problem." Aaron glanced over his shoulder to see Kenny had followed him into the room and was poking around the desk "Tomorrow, I will show you how to log into the computer net and how to create an account. Which reminds me, when we searched your old place, we found two hundred thousand dollars hidden, so I placed it in a bank account, half in your name and half in your brother's and once a month you will get an allowance from the interest, since you can't touch the rest until you are eighteen, between that and what you earn for doing well in school, you will be able to buy most of whatever you want, to make this place your home." Kenny looked confused as he stared at Aaron, he heard the words, but he did not know what they really meant. "If you want to buy a DVD or music or even a dog, you will have your own money to do it." Aaron stayed simple, and thought he'd better add, "Since you are too young to know what you want to do for the rest of your life, your job is going to school so the better you do in school, the bigger your allowance." Waving it off, "We will go over it tomorrow or again in a couple of days when your brother gets released as we will have to go over it again then, so think up any questions you want answered, and I will try to make sure you understand the answers..ok?" Seeing Kenny nod his head happily, Aaron walked back to the door, "Now do you want to check out the three other rooms, or do you want to pick this one?' Kenny ran past him in a flash, running across the common room and opening the other door and glancing in real quick, looking out the window to see if the view was any different before running to the room next to it and seeing no window but the room the same as the one with the window, "I want that one he pointed to the first room, if it is alright." He smiled hesitantly until he saw Aaron nod with a smile and he bounced happily. `So let's get your bundles to your room; at least we can pile your brother's behind the couch until he can pick a room." Aaron started to say, but it was too late, as Kenny's bare butt flashed by doing warp speed as he ran back down the hall. Laughing as he entered the living room he caught Kenny pulling several bundles together into a pile, those must be his, he thought, which would make sense since he tried to keep the bundles together. Kenny searched through the bundles, looking for those from his room, he had noticed that the bundles were tied up with their bed sheets, pulling six of them together, he started to drag the lightest one back down the hall to his room. His room, he thought, as he smiled, he liked the sound of that, his father had always made sure they knew they were staying in his house and his rooms. Glancing at the pile, Aaron smiled at the happy thoughts coming from Kenny and flicking his hand, he reached out with his mind and a little bit of kinesis the pile of bundles obediently rose and followed behind him as he walked down the hall back to Kenny's room. Kenny, after dropping the wrapped bundle next to the bed, started to run back out of the room and skidded to a stop seeing Aaron walk in the room with the rest of the bundles floating behind him. Eyes wide with shock, he briefly wondered what else he could do before blurting out "Are you guys some type of space men or something? No one I know of can do the things you do." Laughing as the bundles dropped to the ground, Aaron leaned against the door frame, "nope, no aliens here, just people that have extra special gifts." "O...K" Kenny said in a drawn out manor as he looked closely at Aaron, before moving to the side so he could see Aaron from the side. Seeing the expression on Aaron's face, he giggled as he fell down on top of one of the bundles, "What? I was looking for horns or antenna or something." Falling over the bundle and rolling between it and the bed, as Aaron reached for him laughing, "hey I had to check you know," before dissolving in screams of laughter as Aaron tickled him. Afraid he was going to make Kenny pee, he stopped and stood up, ignoring the tiny erection and the blush on Kenny's face, when he noticed it. "Come on, let me show you the closet and the bathroom, you have to go through the closet to get to the bathroom." Red faced Kenny stood there hoping his woody would go away, he was afraid that Aaron would be like his father and beat him now that he saw it. Sighing, Aaron thought for a moment he hoped that bastard would burn in hell, "hey you're a guy, when guys get excited, sometimes it gets hard, you have no control over what when or how it happens, until you are much older than it will seem like it grew a brain of its own or is always hard." Aaron pulled him into a hug and gently lifted his chin as he said the last. As Kenny threw his arms around him hugging for dear life, Aaron whispered in his ear, "I am not that bastard that was your father, if this did not happen, I would get worried that there was something wrong with you. Remember, I told you it was your best toy, the way I know that is mine is my best toy too." He almost got slammed in the face as Kenny whipped his shocked face up to look at him. After a moment he started to smile. Standing back up, Aaron moved back to the closet holding Kenny tight to his side "now this is your closet, hanging stuff goes up top and all the shelves are for things that would normally be kept in your dresser drawers. And this..." Aaron touched the metal plate near the door frame lighting up the bathroom "is your shower and over there is the sink and toilet along with a urinal, just like at the mall." He laughed at the last. Looking at the urinal with need, Kenny hopped up and down for a second before walking slowly over to it, he had all of a sudden needed to pee, glancing shyly over his shoulder as he let loose he was surprised at not seeing anyone there, Aaron had given him his privacy, he was so cool. Washing his hands, he stopped in the doorway to the closet as he noticed the four small bundles now on the floor of his closet. Smiling he untied all of them and looked through and finding some shorts and a t-shirt, he put them on before proudly walking out into HIS room. Looking around and not seeing Aaron, he heard noise coming from outside his room and walking out into the common room he saw Aaron placing the last of several bundles next to the wall between the two doors across from his room. Smiling, he walked out of his room and over to the couch and stood waiting for Aaron to notice him. Knowing that Kenny was behind him, Aaron smiled as he caught the youngster's thoughts, "Well we have several options here. I have to port, which stands for teleport, over to the Alteran Prince, I sent it, and one of my Doctors to go after another of my employees' kids, and they were in a bad accident and are in really bad shape, without using our medical facilities, they will not make it. So I have to leave for a short time tonight, and I don't want to leave you all by yourself, so that means you can come with me, or I can have Chris port back and stay with you while I am gone. If you decide to come with me, you still will have about an hour to be with your brother and then after I get back, we can put a bed in the trauma pod for you to sleep in or I will bring you back here and you can spend your first night in your own room." Thinking about it for a moment, Aaron added, "well there is one other option tonight for sleeping arrangements, I do have one spare room you could use to sleep in; in case you don't want to be by yourself your first night here." Kenny thought about it for a moment, then, thinking he was not sure he was ready to spend the night alone yet, especially since he did not have to anymore, "I'll go with you and then maybe I can spend the night at your house." The last was mumbled as he once again looked at the carpet, so he did not see Aaron walk over and pull him in tight. The first he knew of it was when he felt the warm comforting embrace around his shoulders as another warm body was suddenly there. "Then that is what we will do," Aaron told him as he steered the two of them down the hall and towards the front porch, where they could leave. A/N If you wish to get an advanced copy in either PDF or word format please email me and ask to be placed on the list, also please note from time to time I embed pictures in the word document J RadioRancher makes his debut of joining Scott on my editing team with this chapter