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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."
*********************************************************
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."
**************************************************************
"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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