Message-ID: <44971asstr$1067073004@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Original-Message-ID: <20031025022009.25419.qmail@web20504.mail.yahoo.com> From: Lazlo Zalezac X-ASSTR-Original-Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 19:20:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {ASSM} John Carter III 07 (mf mmf ffm ff mm sci-fi) Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 05:10:04 -0400 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation X-Story-Submission: X-Moderator-ID: dennyw, RuiJorge __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com <1st attachment, "Crossroad07.txt" begin> DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes without the consent of the author. John Carter By Lazlo Zalezak Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezak, 2003 Part 3: Robes of Acumen Chapter 7 The mountains of North Carolina are much older than the Rocky Mountains. The lines of the mountains are gentler and more rounded. They are more peaceful than the Rocky Mountains, which tend to invoke greater awe. It was here that John chose to build the Druid College. Five thousand acres of land had been purchased and a road cut a third of the way into it. The building sites had been cleared of trees. The parking lot had already been poured. The architect, Melvin Harrison, took them to the first building site by the parking lot. He pointed to the area. "This will be the administration building. It will be four stories high. The first story will provide public services, such as admissions and testing. The business areas will be on the top three floors. Initially, only the second floor will be occupied. The top two floors will be available for expansion, as per your request." John asked, "All floors will be completely finished, correct?" "Yes. All walls and fixtures shall be included." Ed looked at the site. "It's a rather large building area." Melvin replied, "Yes it is. I felt that increasing the overall area of the building would help give a spacious calming feel to the building. The waiting areas, testing areas, and admissions areas are large and spacious. With the incorporation of carpet and plants throughout the building it will also be quiet." The architect led them to the site just to the left of the administration building site. He paused, "This building will be the faculty quarters. Like the other building, it will be four stories. The building is huge because of the number of faculty members you wanted to support and the amount of space for each apartment you requested." The architect led their party to the other side of the administration site. He pointed to the site, stating, "This building will be the maintenance facility. This will be a three-story building. The bottom level will be a garage for repair of college vehicles and a loading dock. The second level will be a set of repair rooms and machine shops. The third level will incorporate office spaces. There will be freight elevators at both ends." John nodded, "There is space over there for an extension if necessary?" Melvin answered, "Yes." The architect took them to a building site behind the administration. He smiled, "This is the first year dorm. Three stories of rooms set up for four occupants. A large public area in the center of the first floor for recreation, a similar study area on the second floor, and a dining room on the third floor." Melvin pointed to building sites off to the sides, "the other dorms are off to the other sides. They have individual private rooms. The dorm sites form a semi-circle around the library." Melvin walked to the next site. "This is the library and will be built in the shape of a circle. It stands in the center of the great circle formed by all the other buildings. There will be second floor walkways from all of the other buildings to it." He pointed to the sites on the other side. "Those will be the science buildings to the right and those to the left with be the liberal arts." John nodded, "I like the layout. You've allowed for the expansion outwards from the circle. So when will it be done?" Melvin looked a little nervous as he answered, "Well, if we start now, we can finish it all in four years. That will require a very large work crew." Ed asked, "Can you finish five of the buildings in the next year?" "Perhaps, it would be tight." John stated, "I would like to see the administration building, faculty apartments, first year dorm, library, and a liberal art building completed first." Melvin replied, "That's kind of spread out all over the place, but I don't see why not. We should be able to get five buildings a year done." John looked at Ed for his impressions. Ed stated, "Depends on the crew. Shouldn't be too difficult to find a couple of good crews." John nodded, "Okay, let's do it." John walked off with Ed while the architect talked to the rest of his party. John stated, "We should be able to open in two years. I guess it will be time for us to start our faculty search." Ed stated, "We'll need someone to do the ground work for us." John nodded, "Maybe we can get another guy in the house." Ed walked along beside John. He didn't say anything for several minutes. Finally, he blurted out, "I'd like to start trying to get another husband." "Robert?" "Yes." John nodded, "Good choice. All the wives like him. Have you talked to them yet?" "No, I wanted to talk to you first." "Why?" "Well, I don't know how well you like him." John thought about it for a minute. He wasn't sure how much he liked Robert. They had very little interaction. He did respect him a lot. "I don't know. Is he interested?" Ed nodded, "I don't know. I guess we should start dating him." John laughed, "So who is going to ask him out first?" Ed walked along with John until they reached the rental car. Ed went over to the passenger side, "I guess it should be me." John got into the car and started the engine as Ed got in the car. Ed fastened his seat belt as John pulled out of the parking lot. They had an hour drive to the nearest airport. As John turned right onto the highway, he stated, "Maybe we ought to invite him over to dinner with all of us." "Not a bad idea. His sister is still waiting to have her night with you and she doesn't have a loved one to bring for the wives. Maybe we should suggest that he come over that night." John drove for a bit. He stated, "Not good. I want to keep the two things separate." Ed thought about it. "You're right. Let's just invite him over for dinner." "Okay." The rest of the drive was made in silence, as the men were lost in their own thoughts. Ed was wondering about the chances of getting Robert into the family. John was thinking about the college. He considered how to find the person to search for the faculty. Of course, much of the faculty would come from the Druids who had advanced degrees. John returned the rental car at the airport. He and Ed walked over to the private jet terminal where they were greeted by the flight crew. Ed got on the jet to return home. He would set up a dinner for Robert to be held on the night that John returned home. John watched the jet take off and disappear into the clouds. He went inside the terminal to wait for a jet to arrive to take him to the capitol. He was told that he would be in the air in an hour. In the mean time, he watched the television in the waiting room while drinking a soft drink. It was a quiet news day. The plane landed at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. It was his first time in the nations capitol and he had no clue how difficult it was to maneuver through the traffic there. Deciding not to risk getting lost, John grabbed a cab to take him to FBI headquarters. The traffic in the downtown area of Washington was horrible and he was glad that he hadn't rented a car. The cab driver pulled up to FBI headquarters and let him out. John wasn't aware of why he had been summoned to Washington, but he wasn't concerned. He walked through the doors. There was a line of people at the security gate, but the line moved rather quickly. John stepped up to the security gate. He handed the guard his walking stick and then passed through. The guard wasn't going to give back his walking stick until John showed his FBI badge. At the elevator, John looked at the directory trying to locate Mike Holden's office. He didn't see it there. He went to the information booth and asked for directions to Mike's office. The woman looked at him, taking in his strange attire, and made a quick call. A security guard came to take John to Mike Holden's office. John had a feeling that he was being treated as a suspected villain rather an as an agent. He smiled as they headed up to Mike's office. John entered the front office of Mike Holden. A woman was seated at the desk; her nameplate stated she was C. Berard. She was a nice looking woman, probably in her early sixties. Her gray hair suggested that she was a woman comfortable with her age. She looked up at John, "What can I do for you?" He smiled as he recognized her voice. "Hello. I'm John Carter." She smiled, "Oh, Dr. Carter. Mr. Holden has been waiting for you to arrive." "Please call me John. I think you are the only person in the world that calls me Dr. Carter." "Yes, sir," she laughed at his pained expression and then corrected herself, "yes, John." "Before I see him, may I ask what the C stands for?" "Claudia," she replied. Despite his strange attire, she liked this man. "It is so nice to finally meet you, Ms. Berard." "Well, let me take you into his office." She stood up and walked over to a door. Knocking on it, she opened the door and announced, "Dr. Carter is here to see you." John entered the office as Mike came out from behind the desk. Mike extended his hand. John accepted the hand returning the strong handshake. "John, please take a seat." John sat down asking, "So what am I doing here?" "Claudia, can you please ask Deputy Director Olim to come here?" "Yes, sir." Claudia left the room shutting the door behind her. Mike turned his attention to John. "I have a few minutes to prepare you for this meeting. I'm retiring in a month and Deputy Director Olim is taking over my position. I wanted a chance to introduce the two of you so that you can continue the work relationship that you have with the FBI." John replied, "Congratulations. I hope that you come out to Arizona and visit us. We have a house with many spare rooms, as you well remember. My husband and wives would be happy to see you." "I will, don't worry about that." There was a knock on the door and Claudia entered, "Deputy Director Olim is here." Mike made a waving motion and she ushered in a tall man. John rose and faced him, examining his features. He could read the displeasure on his face as the man examined him. John extended a hand, "Hello. I'm John Carter." The incredulous look on the man's face suggested that he didn't quite believe him. He took the hand with a strong grasp and shook it. He asked, "Is that your normal attire and hairstyle, Special Agent Carter?" "Yes." Mike Holden pointed to a chair, "Samuel, have a seat." John returned to his chair and sat down. Samuel was a little slower in complying with Mike's request. John smiled at the other man's discomfort. Samuel asked, "May I know why you've requested me here? I must assume that it has something to do with Special Agent Carter's presence here." Mike looked at Samuel for a moment. He knew his replacement was a little more rigorous in enforcing dress codes among the agents that reported to him. "Samuel, I wanted to give you a little background on John before I retired. This young man is John Carter. I take it that his name does not invoke any recollections of who he might be?" "None. I do remember that a serial killer was picked up because of some information that originated from him." Mike laughed, "Which serial killer? The amputation murderer, the serious bandit, or the temp agency killer? He caught them all." Samuel looked at John as he remembered who John was. He asked, "You caught them all?" John answered, "Well, I had a lot of help." Mike continued, "Maybe you heard of the smuggling ring that he brought down a couple of years ago. Two of his more famous cases are the white slavery ring and operation Druid's revenge that brought down the mob." Samuel stared at John. He sat back in the chair and asked, "Anything else in your resume?" "Not really." Mike burst out laughing, "Let's see, you've saved the lives of nearly five hundred people in Austin. There was the California quake where you saved just about that many in a single day. I'm sure there are more people that you've helped that I don't even know about." John nodded, "really. I didn't know I had saved that many people. However, I thought he meant my resume with the FBI and not in general." "Oh, yes. And some of them were very important people." John corrected him, "Everyone is important, it is just a difference of what person he or she is important to." Samuel asked, "Anything else?" Mike nodded, "He's better know to the public as the man who invented the Fusion Battery." "You are that John Carter?" "Yes. I am. Of course, I was much younger then." Mike changed the topic a little, "John is not a regular agent. He's a volunteer and is not on the payroll. When he learns about something that needs to be handled, he'll step in and do his thing. When he's done, he turns the case over to a senior agent." Samuel replied, "That's highly unusual. What authority is that relationship based upon?" "Mine and mine alone." Samuel nodded as he said, "You are suggesting that I maintain that relationship." Mike answered, "Yes, I am." John interrupted the discussion. He stated, "there are some things that you might want to know before you agree to that." "What?" John reached into his robe and pulled out the medallions. He showed them to Mike and to Samuel. "As you can see, there are three medallions now. I now serve all the Gods and Goddesses. All of the Druids that possess one of these medallions now recognize me as the Grand Druid." Mike's eyebrows rose when he saw the third medallion. He asked, "Three?" Samuel snorted, "What's the medallions got to do with anything?" John dropped the medallions so that they were flat against his chest. John answered, "The medallions were given to me by the Gods and Goddesses that I serve. I know that it sounds a little incredulous, but I suggest that you examine it for a second." Samuel leaned forward and lifted the medallion. He turned it over reading the inscriptions on both sides. He shrugged, "So." John stated, "Now try to remove it from around my neck." Samuel gasped as the medallion slid out of his grasp. It was again flat against John's chest. When he tried to pick it up, he was unable. It was as though it was glued to the chest. "I can't get it." "If you try to examine it without removing it, you can grasp it. The moment you attempt to remove it, it will fall out of your hand." Samuel picked up the medallion to examine it. He was curious if some sort of mechanism made it act oddly. He didn't announce his intention to remove it, but the moment he thought about taking it off, the medallion slipped out of his fingers. He looked up stating, "that is wild." "Even I can't remove it. It is solid gold, but doesn't register on metal detectors." Samuel sat back and examined John for a minute trying to decide what he thought of the man. He asked, "So, you are the Grand Druid." "Yes, I am." Mike was curious why John had brought it up. He asked, "So why did you bring that up?" "Ah," smiled John. He turned his chair to face both men a little more directly. He answered, "That makes me, in the minds of some people, the leader of a cult. Now, this could be problematic to the FBI. In particular, I have no doubt that requests shall arise in which I am to be investigated. This will be particularly true when I start the Druid College in North Carolina in two years." Samuel sat back and shut his eyes. That would be a major problem, but one that could be worked out. Of course, much of that would depend on John agreeing to certain rules. John saw the thought process flash across Samuel's mind. He added, "Oh, it gets even worse. Many of the Druids, particularly those that serve the God, have very responsible positions in the government. In fact, my husband is as treasury agent. Other Druids are CIA agents, Air Marshals, and Postal Inspectors. We have two Forest Rangers and a number in other law enforcement agencies. Most are rather informal arrangements between them and the agency." "Your husband?" Mike answered, "Yes, he has a husband and two wives." John corrected him, "We have three wives and are looking for a third husband." "Oh, who is she?" John stated, "I don't know if you remember Ling. She's left the staff and joined the family." Samuel asked, "Mike, you knew about this group marriage thing?" Mike smiled, "Yes, I was a guest at the wedding. So was the governor of Utah, the deputy director of the DOE, a Senator, several secret service agents, and two offices of the FBI." "Jesus!" John was quiet for a moment and then stated, "I would understand if you didn't want to continue the existing relationship. However, I would like to have some sort of authorization to participate in specific investigations as a consultant. I will also make an offer that I hope you can't refuse. I will personally authorize you with the power to make searches of the Druid properties at any time you desire while I am an agent of the FBI. You will not need a search warrant to gain access to any records, location, or individual." "Are you telling me that you are waving your rights?" John corrected him, "Not my personal rights, but the rights of the Druid Organization." Samuel was suspicious as he asked, "Why would you do that?" John stated, "If the Druid Organization operates in a glass house, then there will be no questions of illegality. People may not like the basic principles on which it operates, but those principles are legal. I would rather have an FBI agent looking over my shoulder every minute than having an angry public throwing stones at me." Samuel stated, "Okay, tell me about this Druid thing? Aren't Druids a bunch of kooks that worship Stonehenge?" John looked sad, "There are a lot of people that call themselves Druids, but few have actually encountered the Gods or Goddesses. So, yes, there are bunches of kooks out there that call themselves Druids. The original sites where human and divine being could meet were destroyed by the church about eight hundred years ago. The people of the area tried to keep the traditions, but without the intervention of the Gods and Goddesses, the traditions became stale. Today, there are about three hundred true Druids around the world." John continued, "Druids are not priests or shaman. They are advisors to people in power. All of our Druids have advanced degrees. Almost ninety percent have doctorates in the sciences. We do not take sides in political arguments. However, we work to protect the weak from the strong and will place ourselves in danger if necessary." John looked over at Samuel to see his reaction. Samuel stated, "I can't see continuing with the your current status of Special Agent. Perhaps as consultant, but even that will not be acceptable in the long run." John pulled his badge from his pocket. He held it out for Samuel to take. He had turned in Rover's badge to Ann when Rover had left him. "So be it." Mike interrupted, "Gentlemen, please." John turned to Mike. "The first principle is that if it harm none, then do it. The only time I can harm anyone is if they are strong and it is to protect the weak from them. If Deputy Director Olim believes that my continuation in the current relationship will harm his career or the reputation of FBI, then for me to continue would be wrong. It is that simple." Mike stated, "I don't want it to end with any hurt feelings." John laughed, "My feelings are not hurt. I am pleased that he has chosen to tell me his concerns. I have chosen my actions fully aware of those concerns. I can render assistance to the weak and advice to leaders in other ways. The Fusion Foundation still provides me with the ability to contribute to society. With my wealth, I can make a telephone call and reach the president." Samuel looked at John with a puzzled expression. He stated, "Why would you even want to work with the FBI?" "Because there is no other way to bring down a white slavery ring or the mob without the support of the FBI." John leaned forward with a very serious expression. The intensity of his look shook Samuel. John added, "Such evil must be eradicated. No one can stand by and watch children be sold into sexual slavery. No one can stand by while criminal organizations prey upon the weaknesses of common people." The intensity and motives behind his desire lead Samuel to reconsider his decision. Samuel stated, "Keep the badge for now. I will talk with Mike." John returned his badge to his pocket. He looked at Mike and at Samuel before deciding that the interview was finished. He stood, "Gentlemen, I believe that the Washington Office of the Emergency Relief Agency is holding a small party tonight in my honor. I'm not sure who is attending, but I would like to extend an invitation to both of you." Mike smiled, "We have both been invited already. I wouldn't call it a small party by any stretch of the imagination. However, there is one more thing that I have to do before you leave." John asked, "What?" Mike opened a small box and removed a medal from it. He held it up, "John, I am proud to present to you the FBI Medal of Valor in recognition for your sacrifice in the destruction of the white slavery ring." John looked at it in awe. "I don't deserve that kind of recognition." Mike stated, "You were dead for four minutes. You do deserve this medal." Samuel hadn't realized that John had achieved that honor. He asked, "Isn't this supposed to be done in public?" Mike answered, "He doesn't like public recognition. He doesn't even like private recognition." John took the medal and stared at it. He stated, "I'm proud to accept this medal. Thank you." Mike laughed, "Now get out here. You've got a party to get ready for." John left the office. After the door shut behind him, Mike turned to Samuel and stated, "I wonder how he's going to react tonight when he receives the Congressional Medal of Valor from the President?" Samuel looked at Mike, "You don't mean he's getting that too?" "Yes." <1st attachment end> ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ Notice: This post has been modified from its original format. 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