CHAPTER 36

Nemo very seldom felt stupid. He'd been a powerful man for a very long time, both in intellect and in physical stature. Captain of a ship which was one of a kind, ex-prince, brought up in royalty and expected to be treated as such.

Of course Nemo still had his unique ship and his royal background, but he limped along with his cane, feeling somewhat crippled, but felt even more inept when he didn't immediately understand what Melissa was talking about. "An EMP," she explained. "An electromagnetic pulse. Everyone in the fortress will be unharmed, although all electronics will crash and burn. Including the main command center, where the instructions and commands are being broadcasted to all of the victims. Including pretty much anything with any sort of charge."

"And I assume you know how to construct one such of these devices?" Nemo asked.

"Yes," Melissa said. "But I'll need some materials…copper wiring, some metal sheets, and these," she said as she pulled out three tubes.

"What is its power source?" Nemo asked.

"Well of course it would be…wait, no, you don't have that available. Hm. Well, I supposes we could modify it to run off of electricity." Mina quickly drew a diagram, and Nemo's inventive mind kicked in, even overriding his doubt that the woman could possibly retain technological information in that pretty little brain of hers. The technology was surprisingly simple, perhaps would even be made available within a few generation's time.

"I don't know what plan you are going to make," Melissa said, deftly slicing copper sheets into wires. "So I'll leave it open. It will be easier to plug it in, but you can manually—"

"Reformat the interior to obtain a battery-like charge."

"Yes, quite right. The resulting explosion—"

"Is diffused to shoot off of both ends rather than destroying the entire tubing."

"I know you are a genius, Nemo," Melissa said. "You are perhaps the most intelligent person I've ever met. Please stop comparing cock sizes with me. You simply do not have the technological knowledge that I do."

Nemo didn't immediately catch what she meant. She had said it so casually that he at first thought she was referring to chickens, but realized with a start that she was literally referring to anatomy.

"I will not have such language around me," he said.

"Well, you will not have to tolerate it much longer," she said, and Nemo caught a glimpse of the Mina of 1899 in that statement. "You seem to understand what you're doing," she continued. "If I could get a few high-powered super magnets, then I could reprogram the belts to get to Skinner."

Glad to see her go, Nemo went to a spare room to get a pair of magnets.

"They'll do," she said, and leaned over the belts. "If you have any questions—"

Nemo snorted derisively.

"I didn't think so either," she continued. "But if by some bizarre fluke you don't immediately understand something, then both of these belts will be programmed to my apartment. Now, since you seem to understand how to construct the device, I must be leaving."

There was no official goodbye, and Nemo wasn't certain that he would have welcomed one. One moment she was there, then there was a crack as the air filled the vacuum she had left behind. The blanket, cast aside before she had disappeared, fell to the ground.

There was work to be done.