AATiPDC Chpt 4

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==Chapter 4 - An American Tanker in Prince Davion's Court==
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New Avalon Institute of Science
February 8th, 3028
9:00 AM
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General Hodges completes his discharge paperwork and is discharged from the NAIS College of Biology and Medicine. As he exits the front door, he's greeted by a good-looking blond of medium height. Before Hodges thinks to respond, the woman says, "General Hodges, I presume?"
"Right the first time. You must be Kym Sorenson; your reputation precedes you, madam. Quintus Allard told me that you'd be picking me up this morning. I must say, that job you did for the First Prince on Solaris VII back in 3026 was quite a piece of work…"
"Quite. I have been briefed on your knowledge base; it's quite extensive. Now, let's be off."
Sorenson nods to the team in the escort vehicles, then she and General Hodges board the Countess' own ground car. Given the size of the NAIS campus, it takes approximately 15 minutes to reach General Hodges' house.
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The three vehicles drive up and park out in front; Sorensen directs the members of her team to take up positions on the perimeter around the house. General Hodges pauses momentarily to salute the colors on the flagpole out front, then escorts Sorensen inside. Next to the front door on the right hand side is an ancient artillery piece with a bronze barrel; on the left is a pyramidal stack of cannon balls.
"This is quite a place you have here, sir."
"Yes, it is; it's a 14-room two story Colonial with a wrap-around deck and an attached garage in the back yard. Before NAIS permanently changed my station, this is where I hung my hat between duty assignments. My wife and I raised our children here…" Just then, General Hodges again realizes the gravity of his personal situation; his shoulders slump and it is only by a conscious act of will that he gathers himself and continues.
"I beg your pardon, General. I can't even begin to understand what you must be thinking and feeling right now…"
"That's quite alright. Now that we're here, let me give you the nickel tour. That artillery piece you saw is an original Model 1857 12-pdr Napoleon which saw service at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War; the cannon balls are also Civil War-vintage, having been recovered from places like Pittsburg Landing, Fredericksburg, Shiloh and Stones River."
In the living room, Hodges stops in front of the fireplace and points out the various items on display on the mantelpiece In the center, there is a display rack with a single-shot carbine, a long barreled revolver and a cavalry saber in a battered scabbard Next to the rack on either side are displayed two very-large revolvers; off to the side, there is a standing display case with a selection of Civil War shoulder arms Sorensen examines the weapons and says "General, these weapons are unfamiliar to me. Could you tell me their background?"
"Certainly, the carbine is a Springfield trap-door, chambered for the .45-70 blackpowder cartridge. The revolver is a Colt single-action Army, chambered in .45-LC. What makes these guns and the saber historically-significant is that they were carried by members of the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 25th, 1876. Those two guns next to the rack are older than that, as they are original Walker Colt dragoon revolvers. These particular specimens were carried by a member of Captain Samuel Walker's Company 'C', and are so marked on the barrel; as for the long guns, they are examples of weapons used by the Union and the Confederacy in the Civil War."
"You've got quite a collection, sir."
"What you see is only a small part of what I have; the rest is in the magazine under the garage."
"Garage? I take it that you have a number of vehicles?"
"Yes, I do. If you'll please follow me, I'd be delighted to show you."
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Hodges and Sorenson exit the living room out through the kitchen and enter the garage through a side door. A light switch is flipped for better illumination, and what Sorenson sees are a number of cars whose bodywork and paint shine as if they had just come off the dealership floor; Hodges shows a great deal of pride as he describes each of the vehicles in detail.
"Countess, I have always had an interest in classic American cars; what are see here are examples of some of the most historically-significant cars from different eras of automobile history. For example, I have a 1977 Pontiac ‘Firebird’ Trans-Am with the W72 performance package, a 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo ‘Super Sport’ with a 454 Hemi titanium-block engine, twin variable-pitch turbochargers, intercooler, supercharger, upgraded suspension, bucket seats, six-point safety harnesses and full roll cage, a 1969 Dodge Charger with a 440 Magnum ‘6-pack engine’ and full roll cage, a 1968 Ford Mustang GT fastback with a 428 Cobra Jet V8 engine and performance package, a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette with a 427 L89 big-block V8, a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 with a competition-model engine, a 1957 Ford Thunderbird with a 312 engine, Holley 4-barrel carburetor and McCulloch/Paxton centrifugal supercharger, a 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88, a 1935 Duesenberg SJ LaGrande Dual-Cowl Phaeton and, last but not least, a custom-built Orange County chopper; of this collection, my pride and joy is the 1935 Duesenberg SJ.”
“General Hodges, I don’t profess to know much about automobiles; from the look of your collection, it seems like they came out of a museum…”
“Countess, you wouldn’t be far wrong on that issue. IN other matters, Might I ask what time the First Prince and his party are coming over?”
“Minister Allard thought you might ask that, so he wanted me to tell you that His Highness and selected embers of his staff will be here at 3:00 PM; the First Prince is nothing if not punctual.”
“Excellent. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable in the living room while I start getting dinner ready? While you’re waiting, I’ll put a movie on, one that I think you’ll find rather appropriate (given your background as an intelligence agent).”
“Oh, what movie might that be?”
“Have you ever heard of a character named James Bond?”
“I don’t believe so, General…”
“Well, Bond is the central character in a film series which began in 1963 with Dr. No and was still going as of 2019, before NAIS pulled me into this reality. The series deals with the adventures of a fictional British secret service agent who fights against organizations like SMERSH, SPECTRE and various criminal and industrial overlords with dreams of world domination. The movie I am going to show you is titled ‘Goldfinger’; it came out in 1964 and I regard it as the best entry in the entire film series.”
General Hodges invites the countess to take a seat on the living room couch opposite the 85” flat screen TV on the wall. A moment or two passes as he slots a CD into the player and leaves the room to begin work on dinner. While Hodges is away, the movie’s opening sequence begins to play; ending with Shirley Bassey’s superb performance of the main theme…
Goldfinger…
He’s the man, the man with a Midas Touch
A spider’s touch
Such a cold finger
Beckons you to enter his web of sin
But don’t go in…..
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