It
was I who broke the news to Frank and the Princess Marianne. We were in the car she had hired and
they were about 30 minutes shy of arriving at the Maidstone Castle. At that point all the news had was the
Monsignor’s name and that Italian Flight Control reported that the plane had
suddenly dived at full speed into the ground without any word of there being a
problem from the robotic pilot. A
crash like that was considered extremely rare. In fact, with the removal of human
pilots the number of crashes was now measured in crashes per decade instead of
crashes per year. You were more
likely to be hit by a meteorite than die in a plane crash.
The
Princess was visibly shook by the news that their comrade in arms was dead. Her only comment was, “He was
murdered. I don’t have any proof,
but he was murdered.” Several tears
came down her cheek as she quietly looked out the window of the car. Humans often think about mortality at
times like this I am told. Living
is considered an amazing phenomenon by humans. Even atheists see life as almost a
miracle. How life started on this
planet is still unknown, but once established it has been handed down generation
by generation, species by species.
Frank,
like usual, looked grim at the bad news, but he did not let any tears roll down
his cheek. It was not that he did
not care for the Monsignor. I think
he respected that man very much.
They disagreed greatly in their world view, but the Monsignor was
authentic and took life as a serious venture. Frank admired men and women like
that. So many with the advent of
plenty, thanks to robotic economics, simply lived their lives in idleness and
drowned in the details of the superficial.
As Frank liked to say, “Small people talk about people.” More people read gossip magazines or
watch programming like “Scandalicious” rather than read the Wall Street
Journal. There was probably a
bottle with the Monsignor’s name that Frank would someday empty while thinking
about him. If other things were not
more pressing he would probably excuse himself from the Princess in order to
indulge in his drinking ceremony to honor the memory of Monsignor Pietro.
“You
are probably right, my dear. And we
best watch our backs as well. Your
husbands are still at large. After
I know you are safe Jack and I will have to get back on the trail of your
husband.”
“I
don’t consider him my husband anymore.
I wish all four of them were in that jet instead of the
Monsignor.”
“A
worthy wish to wish upon a star, but your husbands would not be dumb enough to
be in one spot, I would think,” Frank said in all
seriousness.
“Do
me a favor and don’t mention I am married to that monster,” the Princess said
with a cold stare and with an angry voice.
“Don’t
blame you. Any idea where he might
be?”
“None,
but my mind is shot. If you asked
me which planet London was on, I would get it wrong.”
“That
makes two of us,” Frank said in a whisper.
After that they were quiet for the rest of the ride. When they got to the gate of the estate
they found four British soldiers and a couple of MI5 or MI6 men in black
raincoats. They took one look at
the Princess and let us in. Every
hundred feet or so there were two guards on the road. Each had an automatic guided missile gun
on their shoulder. At the castle
entrance there must have been an additional dozen soldiers equally as well armed
as the others. Once inside we were
met by several more MI whatever men.
One was wearing a tweed coat and he came over and introduced himself as
Mr. Thomaston.
“Your
Royal Highness and Mr. Huntington, I’m with MI5. My name is Alfred Thomaston. We have made a through physical and
electronic search of the castle and found only a couple service robots and a
half dozen human domestics. We have
allowed them to stay and attend to your needs. We found the security office for the
castle and have manned it with our people and we will be maintaining about 120
security people about the outside of the castle.”
The
Princess managed a weak smile and thanked Mr. Thomaston for everything that had
been done. After that we walked
into the main entrance of the castle and the Princess went over to a phone and
rang up the kitchen. She ordered a
dinner for two in about an hour and then asked which guest room would be
available for one guest. After
listening to the answer she said, “Thank you” and hung up the
phone.
“I’ll
show you your room later, Frank, but right now I don’t want to be alone. Let’s go to my room and freshen up. I could use a damn long hot shower and a
stiff drink,” the Princess said with a tone of fatigue in her voice. I followed them up the stairs and once
in her suite I took a position by the door. Her suite must have been at least four
rooms. We were in what looked like
a sitting room.
The
Princess went over to one door and said, “This is my guest bathroom. Well, it was for my husband’s use after
we’d made love. You’ll find towels
and whatever men need to make themselves presentable. If you don’t mind I will go take my
shower.”
“What
about that drink? I could use one,
too,” Frank said.
“You’ll
find a complete bar in your bathroom.”
I
think Frank took the hint that she wanted some private time and headed to the
bathroom she had assigned him to.
She opened another door and disappeared. Frank found the liquor cabinet. The half full bottle of
Glenfiddich
Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve whiskey caught his eye. 1955 – the stuff was older than his
grandfather. A nice two finger shot
of that would cost more than he made in a year. He filled the crystal water glass by the
sink far beyond two fingers and sat on the toilet. He was too tired to walk over to the
other side of the bathroom which had a large wall of clothes and several sitting
chairs.
Frank
told me later he thought about how crazy his life had become. He said if it was made into a movie it
would look like some cheesy spy film from the 20th Century. The only difference is that real people
had died. No fake blood. No dramatic deaths. Not much drama dying by being encased in
a tomb of foam. The closest to
something dramatic was the way the one Lutts died. He wished he could arrange for the other
four Luttses to go the same way.
Except for the original Lutts; he would like to see him die slowly. He would like him to know he had failed
and that men lesser than his mighty intellect had won this battle for
freedom. He mused that with
religion coming so close to extinction that the backlash would be a resurgence
in religion world-wide. After
refilling his drink he knew that the movie was not over. The evil villain was still at large and
still capable of defeating the heroes.
Finally
Frank walked with another glass worth a small fortune to the shower. It was probably the best shower he had
ever had. The only complaint he had
was that he had tried to take his half full glass of Glenfiddich in the shower
with him. It soon was hopelessly
watered down by all the moving shower heads. He had only seen a computerized shower
like this when he had stayed in a ritzy hotel in Tokyo where even the toilets
make taking a shit a sensuous experience.
He finally put the glass down on the floor and enjoyed the computerized
showers response to his bent over ass.
He told me, “Who needs foreplay when you have a shower like
that.”
I
am sure the temptation to let the shower pleasure him crossed his mind, but he
was too tired and after only ten minutes shut down “this water park of
porn.”
After
he shut off the water then the computer controlled hot air jets did about 90
percent of the drying in only a minute.
That too felt fantastic.
After that he grabbed a towel and finished drying his hair and then
wrapped it around his waist. This
fine living could be habit forming.
He picked up his glass and emptied it on the floor and walked back to the
Glenfiddich. Considering how many
times that bastard Lutts had tried to drug or kill him he didn’t care if he
finished the bottle. Full glass in
hand he walked out into the beautiful sitting room of the Princess and headed
over to the door she had disappeared behind. I quietly followed him, as is my role as
silent videographer.
The
room he had entered was her sleeping room.
It was like some movie set for a silent starlet who needed to be loved by
some Valentino. There were white
roses everywhere and the room smelled like the Garden of Eden. On one side was a small marble table
where the dinner the Princess had ordered was waiting. The plates covered with silver and gold
covers. A bottle of wine sat
chilled already decamped so the wine could breath. Frank went over and sat at the table and
helped himself to the coffee. Frank
looked at me and said, “Jack, I hope this is not decaf, I need something to keep
me awake during the meal.” I came
over and scanned the coffee and said, “It is fully caffeinated, sir. Just don’t drink too much wine and you
should be fine.”
A
door to the right of the bed opened and the Princess came out with a towel
around her head and nothing else. I
could tell by Frank’s pulse he immediately responded to her beauty. She walked over to a set of double doors
and opened them up. It revealed a
large walk-in closet. She grabbed a
gold robe and put it on. After she
had tied the black velvet belt she came over to the table and sat across from
Frank.
“God
that felt good. How was your
shower?” she asked.
“Almost
better than sex,” Frank said with a small grin.
“Yes,
they are quite overwhelming. I had
never experienced such advanced computerized showers until I married Terrance.
I hate to say it, but I think the
showers here in the castle are better lovers than my husband,” and with that she
gave out a small laugh.
“I
hope my love making efforts with you have been better than taking a shower,”
Frank said after taking another sip of coffee.
“You
hold your own, dear. Let’s
eat. I’m not particularly hungry,
but I know if I don’t eat I will wake up in the middle of the night
famished.”
She
uncovered the plate and revealed a lovely small grouse stuffed with
truffles. To the side was some
La
Bonnotte potatoes and some New England Cranberry Chutney. In a silver basket lined in a silk
napkin were a dozen Roquefort and Almond sourdough rolls from Harrods.
Frank
uncovered his and then looked at me and said, “Jack check this out – both plates
and everything else, please.”
The
Princess looked a little shocked, but did not protest. She knew that the long arm of her
husband could reach everywhere. It
took less than a minute for me to check it all out. It was all perfectly wholesome. With that unpleasant task out of the way
both Frank and the Princess seemed to relax. Their conversation was sparse. I have seen this before in Frank. When life has been too dramatic it
needed to be balanced with quietude.
Humans can take only so much excitement.
Probably
the most surprising subject that was only comprised of a few quiet words is that
the Princess asked Frank to pour them each a glass of wine. Once the glasses were full, she simply
said, “To the Monsignor.” They then
both quietly took a sip of wine and looked down on their plates. Frank did only a little bit better on
his plate then the Princess. A
Foodie would have licked the plate at having such a perfectly prepared
meal. However, as the Princess had
stated, she was just consuming fuel so she could sleep through the night. After another five minutes of silence
and maybe an occasional bite of food, the Princess got up and took Frank’s
hand. Silently they walked over to
the bed and pushed a button which caused the lights to slowly start fading. She took off the towel on her head and
her lovely hair fell to her shoulders.
She untied the black belt and let the robe fall to the ground. She then crawled under the covers. Frank walked over to the other side and
took off his towel and crawled in as well.
The bed sheets were silky and warm.
He turned to face her and saw she was already asleep. He spent several minutes looking at her
sleeping face. As he told me later,
“It was perfect. In such an
imperfect world she had a perfect face.
Beauty and peace all captured in a human face.” Frank slowly closed his eyes for a
moment and then would open them to look at her face again. Life felt so simple and magical when
looking at her face. He later told me, “I wondered what it would be like to
spend a lifetime with that face?”
This went on for several minutes until he joined her in the land of
nod.
About
an hour later someone opened the door to the room. They did not enter, but must have just
stood just outside the room. About
two minutes later the door slowly closed.
From where I was standing I could not see who it was. Most likely it was a servant pondering
if they should come clear the table.
Considering that could wake up their mistress they rightly decided to
wait until another time. If it was
a robot, they would have figured that out in three seconds and left. Humans can be so
slow.
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