CHAPTER XI
Bobby Sanderson waved off his dinner guests and made his way to the hotel lobby from the restaurant. He had invited the department heads for dinner and subtly extracted their feelings for the way ahead for their budget hungry operation. They all sensed good times ahead, PETROFORCE their latest commercialised venture was proving itself and they were bursting at the seams to tell how well their next product was doing in testing....something for tomorrow.
When he saw Mike again he'd would probably disappoint him with news of how he felt the goose was going to turn out more golden eggs, but only after being fed some more golden feed first. At least the share price for their oil field experiment was exploding to the upside, they could afford to sell a stake and keep control and still be ahead.
The express elevator arrived and he entered tapping the touchscreen panel to select his penthouse suite. As the elevator climbed his thoughts turned to Dr Matthews and her interesting find. The green dust embedded in the old solar panel truly had strange properties, her theory was it was alien, apparently even a professor she knew agreed. The implication was made the dust may relate to the only known resident extraterrestrial, the superheroine, the super powered blond in red in blue, and that it could be debilitating to her.
What interested Bobby most was that the dust was alien, unique, and most importantly his. The ClearOrbit Act was quite clear, targets were selected for removal from orbit, either for safe return or incineration in the atmosphere, stated items were to be returned to the government, bounties paid, and whatever remained was the property of the remover, for salvage and for recycling.
If the dust was later found to have unique and useful properties perhaps the dust could be synthesised and produced in mass quantities.Bobby's imagination ran riot with ideas but now with a day of business, travelling, and politics over the dinner table he found himself preparing for bed. Checking his mobile phone one last time Bobby climbed into his bed and settled into sleep quickly.
His eyes began to flutter, his occasionally twitching but slowly his sleep deepened until he was totally gone to the world.
"Booooobby" said a voice.
"Ugh....." groaned Bobby, barely aware of his surroundings.
"Oh Bobby" repeated the voice from the darkness.
"Wha...who.....who's there" Bobby barely managed.
"Can't you tell......" repeated the voice.
"Kim....is that .....it can't be .......you.......you're in jail...." Bobby stammered.
"Yes......it's me....my brother" hissed Kimberly
"No, you......you're inside......" Bobby whimpered.
"How is business , Bobby......" Teased Kimberly
"What.....it's .......fine......why......" Bobby struggled, trying to make sense of events.
"Are you sure, brother......things have looked .....shaky" Kimberly continued.
"Sure , setbacks ....but......." Bobby said feebly.
"You and I both, brother.....have you missed me... " Kimberly asked, her tone a twisted form of sincerity.
"What you did....those women...I don't miss you....you're ill Kimberly ...I'll pay for your defence but .... You need help..... Plead insanity..." Implored Bobby to the voice in the dark.
"You don't miss me...but you miss your luck, don't you, brother?" Probed Kimberly.
"I'll get it back.... Things are already coming back ...." Protested Bobby.
"Are they, brother.....haven't you noticed....since I've been here....things have not been so great...." Kimberly said from the darkness.
"If it's true I'll live in poverty and you will be dead...." Bobby answered, his mind becoming more and more focused.
"Perhaps.....but what if .......I promised never to kill again, brother...." Kimberly said seductively.
"You're a killer Kimberly....every prey you caught, you killed...." Retorted Bobby.
"What if, brother....what if! There is ONE who can suffer.....and never! Ever! Die!"
"What...?" Bobby struggled to answer.
The silence was deafening and Bobby drifted away again into his blissful sleep.