Chapter V in an ongoing
saga
After being reprimanded by the security officer, Jon wandered back to his room. Jon locked
the door and turned on the tv, Jon pulls his Beretta out from under his socks, and starts to dissemble
and clean it. The tv is showing an English news broadcast.
"And in other news, the Kloptmen diamond has been stolen from the London National
Museum. Amazingly, the robbery happened in broad daylight, while the exhibit was closed for the
lunch hour. Authorities are looking into the case, but believe that the thieves are long gone, since
the jewelers in London would know the diamond."
Jon spends a half hour on his Beretta, and then replaces it under his socks. Jon looks around
his cabin, trying to find something to occupy his time. The bag of electronics catches his eye.
~~Well, might as well try to build something.~~
Jon takes apart the tv, examining the various parts. He then dissembles the remote and adds
some tv pieces to the remote parts. He presses the on button and it shoots out a beam of
concentrated infrared rays. For just a moment, what seems to be a portal to another world opens.
It is very unstable, flaring violently. Then the remote's batteries run out of energy, and the portal
closes.
~~`Oly... I just opened a trans-dimensional portal~~
Jon's psionic energies are fluctuating. They were when that portal opened. Jon's could almost
feel the remote twisting and convoluting spacetime. Jon tries something. He reaches out with his
psionic aura, trying to touch the trans-dimensional barriers. Jon 'touches' them with the tips of his
aura, and just slightly 'tears' a portal. A 'doorway' opens in his cabin. Through it, a busy city street
is visible. Several people stop, and stare into. What they see is a young British man, sitting on the
floor of a bedroom, surrounded by electronic pieces. The young man seems enveloped in a
psychedelic haze. Jon becomes exhausted, and collapses. The portal closes, leaving several
bewildered commuters in New York.
A steward enters Jon's room, and sees Jon collapsed on the floor, surrounded by electronic
parts.
"Sir? Are you alright?"
The stewards questions wake Jon.
~~Oh. I'm okay. I just fell asleep.~~
"Well, dinner is served, sir. Would you like to eat?"
~~No, I'm fine. Just bring me a small selection.~~
"Yes, sir."
The steward leaves, and Jon looks over his mess. The remote with tv parts is strewn almost all
across the room. Jon toys around with the conglomeration, keeping everything connected, but
trying to compact it down. He succeeds, and places the electronics into a slightly large remote
control case.
~~But `ow am I gonna power it?~~
Jon spies the plug for the tv, and installs it on the remote. Jon plugs the device into the wall
socket, and activates it. Instantly, the lights darken, and a portal opens. It is not a unstable as the
first one, but not stable enough to enter. Several commuters stop infront of the portal. One
reaches out, and gets a vicious electrical shock. The light bulb in the lamp explodes, and then the
entire ship goes dark. The portal flares, and then closes. Jon's psionic aura fills his room with
psychedelic light, allowing him to see the remote smoking.
~~Shoot!~~ Jon says, and then smothers the remote under a pillow.
Jon unplugs the unit, and shoves all the parts into his bag, just as there is a knock at the door.
Jon shoves the bag under his bed, and tosses the pillow up onto his bed.
~~Come in!~~
A steward enters.
"Are you okay, sir? The fuses blew, and the power went out."
~~Yeah. I was watching tv when the lights went out, and I sat `ere, `oping one of you would
come along.~~
"Well, the power should be back on shortly. Here is a flashlight, there are emergency lights up
on deck, if you want to leave your room."
~~Okay. Thanks!~~
The steward leaves, and Jon flips on the flashlight.
~~Well, I can go wander some more.~~
Jon wanders up to the decks, and walks the boat, watching the pool-goers, the bar-goers, and
the gym-goers. Jon wanders into the dinning room, and sits down at a table. He leans back,
watching the crowd, and hears a voice.
"Miss. We can't meet here. It isn't secured."
"Your idea of secured is a locked room with guards at all the corners. This is safe enough, no
one cares if you're a drug cartel, or that I'm the one that stole the Kloptmen diamond. As long as
we look normal, no one cares. Now, what will you give me for the diamond."
'That's the mysterious woman!' Jon thinks 'She is the one that stole the diamond! I gotta tell
secruity!'
Jon leaves hurrily, tipping off the drug cartel.
"Hey, that guy was listening to us." the cartel says.
"What make you think that?" the woman asks.
"He just took off in a hurry." the cartel answers.
"Well, what did he look like?" the woman inquires.
"He had on a black leather jacket, and a black turtle-neck." the cartel describes Jon.
"That Starsmore guy! He bumped into me on the upper decks. I can get one of my men to
find his room number, and then we can 'show' him the boat's paint job."
"Heh heh heh, yeah." the cartel laughs. "Get your guys on it. Now, I'll give you 2.5 million for
the rock."
"We said 3 million on the phone."
"The price dropped cause of the risk."
"Bull. You'll give me three for it, or I walk."
"Fine, three. I'll meet you in your room tonight at midnight. I'll have the cash."
"Good. My men will have shown Jon the paint job by then."
"Fine"
And the two part, shaking hands to agree. The woman walks over to a pair of men in black
near the bar. She speaks quietly to them for a moment, then they leave. The cartel speaks with his
men, and they leave, along with the cartel. The woman sits back down at the table, and orders a
meal.
Jon, on the otherhand, has made haste for the security officers office.
"What do *you* want?" the security officer asks.
~~Did you `ear about the diamond robbery? The Kloptmen Diamond? I know who `as it!! A
woman on the ship! She's gonna sell it to a drug cartel!!~~
"Yeah, right. And aliens are gonna kidnap all of us, right after the raise the Titanic to take us to
Atlantis. I'll look right in on it." the security officer laughs.
~~No, really, they are. I think she's gonna give him the diamond, then either both of them, or
just the drug cartel are gonna leave the ship. You gotta stop `em!!~~
"Yeah, yeah. Why don' you stop `em? I'll come along to get all the credit. Just call me."
~~Pillock. I will stop `em!~~
Jon rushes out of that end of the ship, back towards his room. He passes a stairwell, and the
woman's thugs come up it. They walk down to the security office.
"Where can we get a guest list?" the first thug asks.
"Our mother is staying in one of the rooms, but didn't tell us which." the second asks.
"Sorry, that information isn't divugled to the guests. Security reasons." the security officer
asnwers.
"Well, that's too bad." the second one says as he pulls out a beretta, with a silencer.
"We're just going to have to kill you and take the information." the first one follows.
"Uh, wait, I think I can tell you....ahhhh!!"
The security officer never finishes his sentence. The second thug shot him clean between the
eyes. As the security officer drops to the ground, the thugs start rifling through the files.
"Here it is. Deck 3, section 7, room 203. Lets go." the first one tells the second one.
"Miss said that we should what till lights out to off this shmuck." the second replies.
"Fine. It can wait." the first says, and then they leave the office, leaving the officer bleeding
blood and brains from the hole in his head. (
geocities.com/timessquare)