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Chapter 3: Visitors


"Uncle Dwayne!" Jeffy ran full tilt towards the Lieutenant who crouched down and then scooped him up into his arms.

"Hey, sport," Dwayne chuckled, "Good to see you."

Darlene smiled as she walked over to the two, "So, they finally gave you some time off."

"More like ordered me to take it," Dwayne admitted, setting Jeffy back on the ground, "Let me grab your bags..." He picked up the suitcases and stepped over to the car. Tossing the luggage into the trunk, Dwayne circled around and opened the door, "In ya go, kid." Jeffy immediately hopped into the car, making himself comfortable in the back seat.

"A new convertible?" Darlene raised an eyebrow, "I'm impressed."

"Don't be," Dwayne laughed, "It's rented. Luckily, the military's fitting my bills for a while." He waved his hand to indicated that she should get in, "Ladies first."

Settling herself in the passenger seat, Darlene watched her brother walk around the front of the car and climb into the driver's side, "I guess you don't have much call for a car of your own, do you?"

"Nope," Dwayne turned the ignition key and pulled out from the front of the airport, "I spend most of my time on the ship."

"Can we see Rusty?" Jeffy called from the back seat, "I wanna go visit him..."

"I'll have to ask Doc Slate first," Dwayne told him, "But I don't think she'll mind."

"Yay! Can we go now?"

Dwayne glanced at the boy in the back seat, "We'll get you two settled in at the hotel first. THEN I'll give the Doc a call."

"'Doc Slate?'" leaning her right arm on the top of the door, Darlene considered her brother, "Who's she?"

Knowing the familiar look she was giving him, Dwayne quickly answered, "Hey, don't get any ideas. She's Rusty's creator. Nice lady; works for Quark Industries. And no... We're not involved."

"Really..." his sister's voice held a note of skepticism for his last statement, "I can't wait to meet her."


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Dwayne pulled his car into the parking lot for Quark Tower. They had stopped at the hotel first to check in and drop of the luggage. Jeffy had been so excited about the prospect of seeing his robotic friend again, Dwayne had surrendered and called Dr. Slate.

Flashing his I.D. at the security guard was enough to get them in. It didn't hurt that he'd been there plenty of times before, "So what do you think? Pretty impressive, huh?"

"This place is huge!" Darlene said, "I know it's a tower, but..."

"Rusty!" Jeffy ran ahead of the two adults. Rusty waved his hands, happy to see his friend.

Watching the two, Dr. Slate stood smiling in the doorway of her lab with her arms folded, "Hello, Lieutenant. I take it this is your nephew..."

"Sure is," Dwayne told her, hands in his pockets, "This is my sister, Darlene. Darlene, this is Dr. Erica Slate."

"Please call me Erica," Dr. Slate shook hands with the other woman, "Why don't you two come inside and sit down."

Rusty tugged on the doctor's lab coat, "Can me and Jeffy go play catch?"

"Weeelll..." Erica began cautiously, "If his mother says its all right..."

Both boys turned their pleading eyes to Darlene who couldn't help but laugh, "Okay, okay."

"Yay!!" the two children ran down the hall, disappearing around the corner.

"Kids..." shaking her head as she sat down, Darlene smiled, "It doesn't take much to make them happy."

"How long are you staying in New Tronic city?" Dr. Slate asked conversationally.

"Only a couple of days," Darlene told her, "Jeffrey, my husband, is going to be off on leave soon, so we can't stay too long."

"He's in the military?" Erica perched on the edge of her desk.

"Navy," she smiled at the other woman, "We don't get to see too much of him during the year... Not that I see Dwayne any more frequently."

Dwayne stretched his legs out in front of him as he got comfortable in his chair, "I take it that's a not-so subtle hint that I need to visit more often."

Poking his head into the room, Rusty sought out Dwayne, "Lieutenant Dwayne, can you come play with us? We need one more person for our game!"

Shrugging, he stood and walked out of the room, "Sure thing, kid. Where's the ball?"

Dr. Slate watched him go, "He's very good about Rusty."

"Dwayne's great with kids," Darlene commented, "He'd make a great father... If he ever has kids, of course."

"It must be difficult not seeing your brother and husband very often," Dr. Slate murmured, changing the subject.

Darlene shrugged, "You don't really get used to it, but it gets easier to deal with as time goes on. Dad was in the Navy too, so we learned to live with it as kids."

"Oh... I see..."

"Dwayne always wanted to go into the services. We were all very proud of Dad, and he wanted to be just like him," she smiled at the fond memory, "I'll never forget the look on Dad's face when Dwayne decided to join the Army, though. He thought his only son should REALLY follow in his footsteps and be a Navy man. But not Dwayne," she shook her head and laughed, "Oh, no, he wanted to be a pilot, and come hell or high water, he was going to do it."

"Lt. Hunter is a rather... remarkable man..." Dr. Slate agreed.

"Yeah... He scared the hell out of me and our parents more than a few times, though," Darlene declared, "He almost got killed a couple of times during test flights. Every time we'd get a phone call from the Army, Mom was sure it meant the worst... His superiors always said that if he wasn't as good as he is, he'd be dead. He even usually managed to save the plane he was flying too..."

"It sounds like he really enjoyed being a pilot."

Darlene frowned, her eyes cast on the floor, "He did... He enjoyed it more than anything else... That's why I've never figured out why he took that job as a mechanic. I know it's rather prestigious, but..." She looked Dr. Slate in the eyes, "It's just not like him to give up on something so important to him..."

A bit surprised by the other woman's confession, Erica fumbled for something to say, "Well... Uh... I'm sure he hasn't completely given up... He still flies sometimes..."

"I know... But it's not like it used to be, and it doesn't seem to bother him... But... Anyway... How about you?" Darlene leaned forward in her seat, "It must be fascinating to work in a place like this."

"It has it's perks, I suppose," Erica consented, "But then again, there's my boss..."

"That bad, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it..." The two women shared a small laugh. "It's not too terrible," Dr. Slate confessed, "They mostly let me work on what I like and don't bother me too much... It's just that Dr. Donovan can be rather..."

"Obnoxious?" Darlene offered.

"That's one way of putting it..."

"I understand. I've had bosses like that before," Darlene told her, "They tend to meddle in absolutely everything... and screw things up in the process, am I right?"

"Precisely," Erica sighed, "Not much that I can do about it, of course..."

"OOOOWWW!" a bellow of pain echoed down the corridor, bringing the two women to the doorway. Dr. Donovan was sprawled out on the floor, groaning, with Rusty, Dwayne, and Jeffy standing over him. Jenny had obviously leapt to the safety of a wall fixture.

"Oh, I'm real sorry, Dr. Donovan," Rusty apologized as he attempted to help the human up, "I didn't mean to hit you with the ball..."

Donovan sputtered with rage as he batted the robot's hand away, "You... You... What are you trying to do?! I could've been killed!"

"Wouldn't THAT have been a tragedy," Dwayne drawled, "Imagine the headlines... Head of major corporation cut down in the prime of life... by a softball."

Jenny snickered and immediately earned a severe look from Donovan who then turned to glower at Dwayne, "Why are you always hanging around here, anyway? Don't you have a CAR to fix or something?" By this time Jenny had climbed back on to his shoulder and added her own contemptuous glare.

"Not at the moment, no," the Lieutenant smiled a bit too brightly, "Looks like I've got some free time..."

"Lovely..." brushing imagined dust from his coat, Donovan pointedly turned his back on Dwayne, "Dr. Slate... might I have a word with you about your... creation.?"

"Hey, it was an accident," Dwayne cut in, "Rusty said he was sorry. There's no reason to bother the Doc."

Donovan didn't even turn around as he responded, "I don't believe I was talking to you..."

"It's all right, Lieutenant," Dr. Slate stepped forward, "I should probably handle this..." Her demeanor indicated that this would not be the best time for outside interference.

Suddenly, Donovan noticed Darlene standing next to Dr. Slate, "Oh... Hello... Do I... know you?"

"No... I really doubt it," she said cautiously.

Straightening himself, Donovan smiled broadly. Erica couldn't help but think that the effect was rather like a blowfish puffing itself up to look impressive. "Well, then allow me to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Axel Donovan, CEO of Quark Industries and accomplished scientist. Uh... Who might you be?"

"Uh... I'm Darlene Baele..." she replied, gingerly shaking his hand.

"You must be new here!" Donovan didn't seem to be inclined to let her hand out of his grasp, "Perhaps we should do lunch. I like to get to know my new employees."

Dwayne looked positively horrified. //The grease ball is hitting on my sister!// "She doesn't work here," he said, emphasizing each word.

"Oh... Ah, we should probably be going anyway," Darlene said quickly, forcibly retrieving her hand, "It was really nice to meet you, Erica... Come on, Jeffy." Gently taking her son's arm, she gave Dwayne a stern look.

"Ah... right... yeah..." Dwayne mumbled, "We'd better go..."

Rusty waved enthusiastically at the departing humans, "Come back soon, okay?"

Winking at the robot, Dwayne grinned, "Count on it."


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"Dr. Donovan doesn't have kids, does he?" Darlene took a sip of coffee from her cup as she sat down.

"That obvious, huh?" lounging in the hotel's comfortable chair, Dwayne glanced at his nephew who was sound asleep on one of the beds.

His sister nodded, "The guy's a jerk."

The Lieutenant laughed quietly, "He sure is. The monkey's the only friend he's got, and even she doesn't like him all the time. I still can't believe he asked you to lunch..."

"Erica was awfully nice, though," she commented, "I'm glad I got to meet her. She... seems to think rather highly of you..."

Taken by surprise, Dwayne stuttered, "Huh? Oh... Well, I, uh..." A faint pink color washed across his features.

"I don't believe it..." Darlene grinned triumphantly, "I never thought I'd see Dwayne Hunter blushing over a girl!"

He scowled at her, "I'm not blushing! We're just friends. That's ALL."

"Sure you are..." she smiled over the rim of her coffee cup, "Methinks you doth protest too much."

"Butchering Shakespeare to further your own evil agenda?" he said in an attempt to divert her attention.

"Oh, no you don't," wagging a warning finger at him, Darlene refused to be distracted, "This isn't about me. Its about you having found someone you like enough to make such a fuss over. You've never made such a big deal about denying having a relationship with a woman before."

"But we don't have one!" he protested.

"Not yet anyway."

Dwayne crossed his arms over his chest, "She's not interested in me. Besides, I'm hardly her type anyway..."

His sister raised an eyebrow, "Oh, really? And just what is her type, do you think?"

"She works with a bunch of geniuses, Darlene," he responded with a shrug, "What would she see in someone like me?"

"You mean aside from you being a decorated officer in the military and being able to fly a jet-fighter? Gee... Let me think..."

"Come on... That's not going to impress someone like her," Dwayne insisted.

"The uniform."

"Huh?" he said, confused.

Darlene gave him a sly smile, "Women love a man in uniform."


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