CH12

It is still the same day: (Mid June 1999)

Kate was digesting what Jack had told her. FBI seemed the more powerful law enforcement agency to try and apply for a job with. What if the person she was after wasn't in New York City, New York State or never lived here in the first place?

"The other person that was given two of these units. Was he or she in New York also?" Kate had a question. The answer might help her decide.

"It was decided that all four units would be given to someone in New York City. There is no requirement for that person of any of the four to stay in the city or even the state." Jack answered her question.

If she put this thing on and it never came off, she would be joining Castle in stopping the other two people who had them. If she was FBI that could only help them. Kate made her decision.

Kate lifted her left foot and placed it in Castle's lap. "Take off my shoe and sock and put it on just above my ankle." Kate told Castle, who laid the unit down on the arm of the love seat and did as he was told.

Rick picked the unit back up. "Ready? Once you do this you can't undo it unless you decide to amputate your foot just above the device." Rick warned her.

"Just put it on Castle." Kate watched him do just that, and… NOTHING HAPPENS! "I don't feel any different, and nothing is happening."

"It takes one solar hour for the unit to attach itself to your system. There is an internal power source however it is small and does not last long without being recharged. Your body provides the capability for the unit, as you put it, to recharge. Typically this is done while you are sleeping so you don't notice anything." Jack explained.

"During the next hour your ankle area will start to feel like pins are being poked into you. Sort of like what you would feel when your leg went to sleep and it was waking up. It isn't painful, just that you will notice." Rick told Kate, since he has already gone through this part.

"What does it do?" Kate asked.

"Each unit is different, however each unit has some similarities. They can each make themselves look like anything they or the owner wants it to, so you can't just spot it. Also each unit is not capable of finding another unit.

You will notice that there are 5 gems. One is the personality of the unit itself and each one is different. It also allows for, in this case, Jack to communicate with your unit 24 hours a day in real time over any distance.

Another gem is for information storage. The unit can photo copy any document, any conversation that is within your hearing range, or over any communication system such as a phone and hold that information in storage.

The other three each vary for each unit; yours will do something that mine cannot. What the other two units are capable of doing are unknown. Once your unit is attached it will activate and you will get to see and talk to it for the first time. It is up to you to name it." Castle told Kate.

"What can yours do?" Kate was curious, and if they were going to work together to save their planet Kate thought she had a right to know. Besides she lo... Even now Kate just couldn't get those three words to come out even if she did feel them.

"Let's wait until your unit is operational and then we can share." Castle offered, getting Kate to nod her head.

"Why Jack?" Kate asked a question and then reached for her ankle since it suddenly started feeling funny.

"YES, why Jack?" Jack wanted an answer too.

Rick looked between Kate and his watch that was Jack. Rick sighed heavily. "Fine. After I was told what was at stake and the task was given to lowly me. ...I mean I didn't understand why me? There had to be someone far more qualified than me for this.

It sounded like an impossible task or another David verses Goliath event with the fate of our race at stake. Just at the time it reminded me of a child's story.

Jack climbs the bean stalk and takes on a giant to get his hands on the golden goose. By chopping down the bean stalk he manages to kill the big bad giant. It made me think of Jack as being a giant slayer." Rick shrugged his shoulders. Maybe it was a stupid idea, but it was what he was thinking at the time. "So I named him Jack."

"And the clothes?" Kate hadn't seen anything like them that she could think of.

Jack showed himself and straightened his vest. "That was part me. Richard asked me if I could make myself look like Sherlock Holmes, however after I looked up who that person was I hated the clothes he was wearing. They were terrible." Jack made a face of disgust. "This is my updated for the time version of what he would be wearing. … What do you think?" Jack raised his arms and spun in place.

"Very handsome." Kate was smiling, noticing that Jack was easy to talk to even if he was a mini image floating above Castle's watch, which she had to admit was weird. She watched as Jack formally bowed and then disappeared.

For the next hour of waiting Kate felt her ankle tingling like hundreds of tiny little pin pricks, and then they stopped just as suddenly as it had started. "My leg doesn't hurt anymore, not that it actually hurt much." Kate told Castle.

"Call him or her to come forth so you can talk." Rick said to her.

"And how do I do that pray tell?" Kate had never done something like this before.

"Give the unit a name and call it." Castle responded.

Name, give a computer attached to her ankle a name. Someone she had just attached her future to until she died of old age. Kate was shaking her head. She had to be nuts and somehow this was all Castle's fault!

Castle. Just looking at him had her feeling things about him. "Jill I need to speak to you." Kate called out.

Instantly Kate is rewarded with an image that springs from the device. It was a woman who appeared to be naked. She was mostly blue with large areas of black, starting on the back of each hand and up her arm to just short of her shoulder.

Her breasts were bigger than her own. While the cleavage area was blue, the rest, including her nipples, was black. Some form of design traveled down from her breasts and culminated in her "private' area and continued down her legs to reach a solid black area on the top of each foot.

Her hair was so black it looked blue and her eyes positively glowed a solid blue.

"Katherine Houghton Beckett, I am a S.T.A.R.S. unit 1121. A 5th generation AI unit. My task is to assist you in any way you request." Jill told Kate.

"Why are you naked?" Kate asked.

"I am not naked. I'm covered in tattoos in all the strategic locations, thank you very much." It had Kate smiling. Jill was feisty.

"I'm told you have 5 gems and what two of them can do, what do the other three do?" Kate inquired.

"I am connected to you, see for yourself. Simply think of a request and you will find out what I can do." Jill countered.

Okay, if she wanted to play... So Kate closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Suddenly there was a new connection and she could see what each of the gems did.

It was a cloaking device. It was not true invisibility in the strictest sense. It was more a chameleon system that mimicked what Kate was in front of. There were some limitations. It was hard to duplicate an open flame, water and smoke. (think Predator movies). However it only functions for a maximum of one hour per every 24 hours due to power requirements.

I can cure even major physical damage from a simple scratch to even re-growing a severed limb. Remove diseases and poisons for myself or anyone I touch. At a maximum of 6 times total every 24 hour period due to power requirements. Also scan each person in close proximity to determine what if any damage has taken place and fix whatever is wrong.

The device can be used to lock or unlock any door. Override any computer firewall and enter necessary passwords or passcodes. Scan any item to determine its physical or electrical construction. Cut cables or weld those same cables. Send out ghost sounds for distraction. Scan a body or mechanical device to determine its condition. Everything except something natural, like wood or water. Though it can be used to determine if something is in the water and what that substance is.

"WOW!" Kate had never known such things were possible. Then she noticed that Castle was smiling at her. "Did I just say all that out loud?" Kate was embarrassed even if it was Castle and Jack. She really needed to work on her concentration.

"Okay you know what I can do, what can you do?" Kate asked.

That had Rick smiling wide.

Transport from one place on Earth to any other location on Earth in the blink of an eye. Myself and anything up to 260 pounds including another person, at a maximum of 6 times a day due to power requirements.

Enter any computer no matter the distance so long as it is connected to either a Wi-fi or hard connect. Monitor any communication and block any such communication that is within range. Clone cell phones and download all information on them for use later. Make phone calls using the planets existing satellite network and prevent being scanned for my location.

Create illusions. Alter terrain to make it look and feel like something else. A flowing river of lava can be made to look like a waving plane of tall grass for example. Create a programmed illusion that is triggered by a specific event such as a door opening or someone saying the magic word. Render Richard completely invisible for a maximum amount of time of 20 minutes. Create shadow combat forces that don't really exist but can be seen like looking at a ghost. Give a sleeping person a nightmare that his own mind creates that is the worst thing he can imagine possible. Throw my voice. Make Richard look like someone else. Just not be him or sound like him. Only a maximum number of items of 6 per a complete 24 hour period, due to power requirements.

"Anyplace? … Like we didn't really have to fly to St. Lucia that day you could have taken us and our luggage in an instant?" Kate thought it sounded like fantasy.

"Hawaii, Paris, Hong Kong." Rick was grinning, they could take vacations anywhere in an instant and not worry about using hours to fly there.

It had Kate smiling, this was going to be amazing. "How long do your illusions last?" Kate was curious.

"Depends on what I'm trying to do. Some last hours while some are permanent. Basically the more complex the illusion, except for the programmed ones which can lay inactive for years, others can last for only a few hours to forever." Rick knew what each was capable of even if he hadn't used all of them yet.

"So you could put an illusion on all our windows making it impossible for any sniper to see in properly." Kate could see countless uses for his ability.

This got Rick to open his eyes wide and then promptly kissed Kate getting Kate to kiss him back since she couldn't help it. Kate wanted to kiss Castle constantly as it was. "You're brilliant Kate, no wonder I love you." Rick kissed Kate again.

At first Kate's eyes were wide open however having Castle kissing her again got them to slowly close as Kate kissed him back. "He loves me! Richard Freaking Castle loves me!" Kate was playing over and over again in her head. It meant that when Castle broke from the kiss Kate with her hand already behind his head, Kate used it to pull him back down to her for another scorching kiss that left both of them breathless.

Note to self – Kiss Castle every chance I get even if it's just a quick chaste kiss just to gain the feel of his lips on mine.

"Lunch and then go look to see how the contractor is doing?" Rick asked. The contractor had started a month ago and it was going to be a long six month schedule, including all the outside contractors Castle had brought in to handle the specialist items.

"Deal!" Kate wanted to go see the place again too. So Kate got to work on lunch so they could leave.

What they found however shook Kate's confidence that the contractor would finish anytime this century let alone in 5 months. It looked worse than it did when they had selected it.

The contractor had seen the look on Kate's face before, however he was glad that these two were only going to show up monthly. He had owners that showed up daily which drove him insane.

"Don't let what you see get to you. A lot of what you see is just trash that will be long gone by the time we are done. Right now we are still on schedule. As you can see the doors that were already hanging are gone and the solid dense wood doors that you asked for are on order along with all the hardware that will make them practically impossible to take down without explosives being used, they are all being made as we speak.

The floors still look like crap because if we sanded them I would have to keep everyone out during that time and cost us time. Then the stain and coating would take another two days with still more days to dry, costing us still more time. Plus I would have to cover all the floors to protect them after we finished.

Having said that, the tile floors in the kitchen and bathrooms have already been started. The chimney sweep is going to be here next week and after that is done we can start work on the two fireplaces. Before that however we will erect an extensive network of scaffolding so we can sand the ceiling to prep it for stain.

Come back next month and you should be able to get a glimpse of the final look. Trust me, we are on schedule and this place is going to look great. Oh and your security guys will be here next week to route all the cables while we have the walls open." Their contractor tells them what is coming.

The patio area was their next stop and saw that the landscape contractor had already leveled the place and would start digging for the footings of the deck area soon.

There was going to be a gazebo off to one side down near the kitchen so you could come out of the kitchen, out through the doors, step down the spiral staircase and step into the gazebo that was covered and would have netting on all sides including the door opening to keep the bugs out. This space was going to be the outdoor dining room that could just barely seat 6.

Stepping from the gazebo up the side of the building there was going to be a large rectangular pond that would have steps leading from the gazebo to the far side. It would have a pump to keep the water moving and have a thin grouping of low tier of planting beds on the outside of the pond with trees being planted just beyond.

Next came a large round deck using colored composite boards that had a pergola over it that had retractable sails to give cover from the sun if so desired. On the outside area was going to be a privacy wall that was not solid and was going to have 2 dimensional metal old school sailing ships built into it. Around the edge of the deck was going to be the built-in seating complete with padded seat and back along with throw pillows. Just close enough that you could sit and still reach the fire pit to roast marshmallows.

The fire pit in the center was going to be a metal old world sailing ship, complete with three masts and metal mesh sails along with a forearm sitting on a stand. What Kate didn't know yet was that Rick had arranged for the 5 foot long ship to be able to spin slowly at the press of a remote button, or in this case Jack since he could hack the controls. It would even have a crow's nest on the center mast with a metal mesh pirate flag hanging from it.

Outside of the privacy wall there was going to be a continuation of the trees and a planter between the seating and the privacy wall.

Next up was going to be grass with an automatic sprinkler system as well as ground level area for plants all the way around the curve of the living room and master bedroom that was inside. In addition there was going to be a round table with a glass top that could seat 4 with an umbrella that could be retracted. The glass top allowed the sun to shine through and keep the grass healthy.

All of the planters had an automatic drip system to keep the plants watered. Plus the entire place had all these little lights that allowed you to use any portion of it at night.

They hadn't yet decided if there should be anything in the pond except water plants. Castle wanted koi and Kate wasn't yet convinced. "It's going to be cold enough in winter that the pond might freeze over Castle, even with running water. It'll kill them." Kate had argued.

"We could heat it?" Rick perked up at his idea.

"And where are we going to hide the equipment it will take to keep your pond heated?" Kate quickly countered. The pond and fire pit had been his idea, even though Kate knew nothing about the pirate ship that was going to be the fire pit. Everything else had been Kate's. Though it had been the landscape designer's idea over what products to use, the colors and the lights.

They were still debating one of Castle's ideas even though the landscaper had said it would be easy to install. A misting system built into the pergola over the fire pit. "It gets hot during summer in New York City Kate." Castle had pleaded his case.

Kate knew she was going to cave since being outside and still cool during a hot dry New York summer did sound like a good idea. Kate just had a problem about the use of fans to spread the mist with. She was afraid the fans would be large and detract from the look of the place.

At the moment Rick had a call into the guy who was going to make the pirate ship. He wanted to know if he could make a small pond for the ship to sit in and fill the pot with blue crystal chips. The chips being blue would make it look like the ship was sitting in a pool of water. The designer had said he would think about it and get back with him.

Then Rick had asked the landscape designer about a space for a BBQ grill. It was decided it would go on one end of the seating bench and planter area close to the pond. He would leave space for Rick to place his own grill since Rick knew just what he wanted.

"I should start dinner if we are going to eat." Kate said and stepped into the kitchen after they made it home. Rick followed and wrapped his arms around Kate from behind. "I do happen to be hungry but I'm not interested in food."

"Oh really Castle, well unless you've suddenly become a cannibal I'm not food so you can't eat me." Kate countered, but she didn't move. Kate liked being in his arms, she felt loved and safe.

Rick spun Kate in place and she could see want in his eyes. "I think I've already proven countless times that I can in fact eat you, and I have no intention of stopping now." Rick kissed her. One hand cupped her face while the other worked at lifting her top up from the hem.

It took a moment for Kate to start kissing Rick back. The second she could feel his hand under her shirt and up against his skin, Kate broke from the kiss and worked at tugging his shirt out of his pants.

Rick soon had Kate's top and bra off and had her sitting on the kitchen counter. He devoured Kate's breasts while feeling her hand running through his hair, scratching his scalp. Rick switched back to kissing her. "Bed, …now Castle."