WHAT DO YOU MEAN... NOW?

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Snowaters turned away for the now blank screen. "Warm up TINKERBELLE" she ordered, "If Jack says he'll meet me at Acme I better get started."

<Amazing. His ability. To travel. Instantly.>

"I know" the tiny woman replied, turning towards the shuttlebay hatch. "It would be nice to have that technology. Unfortunately it isn't compatible with our drives."

"Right." She stopped, holding her distended stomach until a wave of pain passed. "I think you better drive 'Lith, I'm to close to chance it." Minutes later she was settled into the modified acceleration couch, pulling the webbing across her. "What's the report on that probe series we sent down by Roswell?"

<Understood. Interesting findings. Transcribe to your. Terminal in flight.>

Snowaters nodded, bracing for the light deceleration and following re-entry forces. Being almost nine months pregnant had its disadvantages.

Rachelle Lockland had slipped out of the meeting, taking the elevator up to Crystal's office. Meeting Marie had been a pleasant shock, seeing as she currently inhabited one of Snowaters limited clones. It was like seeing double, one white haired, Marie, one black haired, Snowaters. Jack's reaction had been classic shock and disbelief even with Snowy's briefing. Now that they were getting re-acquainted it had given the human a chance to slip out.

Crystal, the pink Flamingoid, looked up as the elevator doors opened.

"Rachelle" she called, "What a delightful surprise. When did you get in?"

Rachelle smiled. "This morning with Jack. We've been in a meeting with Jacqueline and Snowaters. We've been getting up to speed on events... And meeting Marie."

Crystal nodded. "I thought that would be a shock. You should have seen Snowaters and Jaqui when they found out." She covered her beak as she giggled. "It has been rather eventful since that little friend of yours arrived."

"I imagine." Rachelle replied. "Look. Jack said I should see you. I need to borrow some money from the company and he told me to talk to you."

"Why of course honey" Crystal answered, becoming more businesslike. "I'm aware of your current position with the company" She suppressed a smile. "And with Jack. Just how much will you need?"

Dragging the folded printout and the contract from her purse Rachelle sat it on Crystal's desk. Pointing at a line she shivered, then looked into the flamingoid's deep eyes.

Eyes that grew wide in shock. "Honey. ACME doesn't have near this much in liquid assets." Picking up the printout she coughed in shock, reading each page carefully. Finally she sat the document down and looked Rachelle in eyes. "Honey, this is just a partial bill, it's no where near the final charge. Didn't you read this contract before you signed?"

"I didn't expect it to be so much" Rachelle answered, slowly sitting in a chair. "What can I do?"

"Well I'll get our lawyers on this" Crystal answered, digging through the contract. "But Snowaters has been doing this longer than any of us have been alive." She hesitated. "You better start thinking of making some sort of deal" she whispered. "This could end up costing half a trillion or more. And Rachelle, this is an Interstellar Contract, not a standard business one." She grimaced. "If you fail to pay...." her voice trailed off as she wondered if Snowaters would have a place for her, should she demand full payment.

"You gave her a bill for how much?" Jack asked, his eyes wide in shock.

"Seventy-three million, give or take a few hundred thousand" Snowaters answered. She laughed, "And that's only the partial bill."

Marie reached over, gently closing Jacks gaping jaw. "Polite in company father" she whispered.

"Where.... Where is she going to get that kind of money?" Jack asked, glancing at the closed door.

Snowaters stood, pressing her hands against her aching back as she stretched. "She's not, and your not going to give it too her either." She smiled, stepping closer to the two. "I haven't any intention of demanding a penny from her, but it's too good an opening to miss. Let her stew a week or two, then you two play with me." She giggled, "Lets see just how far she'll go to get out of this."

Marie gasped as some of Snowaters partial memories swam to the surface. "You wouldn't" she whispered.

“No, I wouldn't" Snowaters replied. "I'm not into slavery. I'm not going to try to take ACME or anything like that. Your friends. But.... Rachelle doesn't know that." She turned back to Jack. "Can you get a room set up with hidden cameras? Something along a dungeon scene with an operating table and.. well, something really neo-Gothic horror story style heavily slanted into the kinky side? This is going to be a classic. I really need a laugh after this job, if you two don't mind playing along that is. And if it works.." There was a glint in her eyes as she looked up into Jacks face. "We can get Jaqui to slip a copy to Dang. Ohhhh He'll go ballistic, to think even for a moment that I could possibly be a match for a Klingon, changed or not."

Mack Hilaris cursed himself as he slammed the door of his laboratory, how had he let himself slip up and touch Rikki? Sure with her new outfit she was rough to ignore and he'd been dreaming about Rachelle a lot lately, but he knew how unstable Rikki was. How unsure she was about herself. It had to have been the rush of events, everything going their way must have messed up his mind. He growled as he thought of the black clad woman. She acted like the hottest thing next to a supernova, but didn't really know what she wanted. It was frustrating to tip-toe around her emotions.

“No worry" he growled, gathering components, "It won't happen again." Rikki was a good partner, but... He thought as he adjusted one of the devices, thinking about how a minor adjustment could send her to a preprogrammed destination.... Partners could be replaced, and after they had ACME a partner as unstable as Rikki would be a liability. Besides he wanted Rachelle. If Rikki was alone with her too long, there might not be anything left for him. Setting aside that thought he started his calibration tests, carefully re-adjusting components that had remained in storage much too long. The image of Snowaters flickered through his mind, and the reports he hadn't shown his erstwhile partner. "Maybe Rikki ought to visit that rust bucket of hers... When we're done." he thought. After all, if a woman like that couldn't straighten out Rikki's critical mass she could sell her to the highest bidder for what she'd have done to Rachelle.

In the control room Rikki Goodyear was studying the data copy of Mack's tape. Something about how that tinywoman held herself screamed danger, but nothing obvious was evident. "I'm getting jumpy" she muttered to herself. "She's way too pregnant to be a danger and that ship of hers is a joke." She thought about the womans tastes and scowled, why was she constantly running into the sick ones she wondered. Squirming she brushed her clothing where Mack had touched her, shuddering from the memory. "If I didn't need him" she growled, then calmed. Once she'd taken care of Rachelle she would bid that dog goodbye, if she never saw him again it would be too soon.

Cutting the recording she selected a different channel, a live feed one of their agents had set up inside ACME long ago. She laughed "Jacqueline, you poor fool. As big as ACME is, there's always someone willing to sell out." Transferring the master feed to her monitor she started searching through the hundreds of cameras that had been hidden over the years. Sure enough, there was Rachelle riding the elevator. Rikki's face twisted into a feral mask as she studied the worried womans face. "You think you have problems now" she whispered, her hand sliding across a thick leather case, "You just wait until I get a-hold of you sweetie."

Three days later Jack Hilaris trudged up a grassy slope. Below him several robotic probes sniffed at the land, here and there tiny scars showed where they had dug something up. Reaching the top of the hill he spotted Snowaters sitting under a tree. Something bright reflected in her hand as she turned and waved to him.

"How did you find me here?" She asked, tossing him the sliver of foil.

"Easy. I asked Kalith" Jack answered. Catching the foil he glanced at it, then sat down. "What in the world are you up to here?" he asked.

"You know me, always nosing around" she answered. "'Lith and I caught a trio of 'Alien encounter' movies a couple of weeks ago. It seemed interesting, so 'Lith tracked down the projected crash site & well, here we are."

Jack studied the foil in his hand, it seemed strange somehow. With a nail he scratched the surface, watching amazed as the metal slowly healed itself. "Found something interesting huh?"

"Nothing I haven't seen before, here and there." Snowaters admitted. "But I've never met the race that makes that stuff." Looking down at the scurrying robots she shook her head. "Whoever did the cleanup here did a good job, but you can't find everything." She groaned, holding her stomach. "I'm beginning to think this pregnancy thing is overrated" she whispered. "I've been having cramps all morning."

"Cramps?" Jack asked, suddenly alert. "I think we better get you back before..."

There was the sound of liquid. Snowaters moaned slightly, leaning back against the tree. A dark spot began to grow on her dress. "Too late" she sighed. Looking up at Jack she smiled. "How are you at playing midwife?"