by Saless
Chapter 58
"Wha…what happened?!" Sarah exclaimed, looking about her at the wrecked remains of her apartment.
"Someone really did a number on the place! Careful, they might still be here." Erica said, picking up a piece of wood from the bookshelf. She kept Sarah behind her while she checked the kitchen, bathroom, and finally Sarah's bedroom. The living room was the only room that was trashed, though things were knocked about a bit in her bedroom.
"I guess hiding our stuff was a good idea." Sarah said. She plopped onto her bed and sat there looking at the mess. Some clothes were thrown around, but that was about the worst of it.
"Are you okay Sarah?" Erica asked. She sat next to Sarah on the bed and put her arm around her.
Sarah nodded weakly, "Yeah, I guess so. But why did someone do this?! Was it because of what happened to those hills, or what?"
Erica frowned and said, "I don't think this had anything to do with the damage our training did. If someone was looking for explosives or something they wouldn't confine their search to the living room. The whole apartment would look like that. If I didn't know you, I would think this was personal."
"John!" Sarah said in shock. "It must have been him!"
"Why not Kyle or the other guy?" Erica asked.
"I don't think Bob would bother going after me. Kyle would, but he's in jail for stealing from the store and attacking me. Tiffany said he couldn't get the money for bail. John just got vandalism or something. He could have done this." Sarah said. She began shaking and muttered, "He knows where I live!"
"Shhh! It's alright!" Erica crooned, pulling Sarah closer and holding her tight. "We'll take care of him if he comes again. In fact, I bet Vash would be willing to play guard cat!" she said with a wicked grin.
Just then there was a noise in the living room. Sarah cringed, but Erica held her a moment longer and then went to investigate, the board back in her hands. She was gone only a moment before she called back, "It's okay, it's just Jill!"
Sarah came out and peeked around the corner cautiously and found Jill and Erica surveying the damage to the living room. "Jill?" she said, her gaze darting about as if to find some threat lurking in the mess.
"Sarah!" Jill exclaimed, rushing over to hug her. "Are you okay, I was reaching out to see if you were home and felt your fear."
"I'm okay. I think John did this, though." Sarah replied, hugging Jill back gratefully.
"That creep!" Jill growled, startling Sarah. "Sorry, but he's a real slime ball!"
Erica nodded, "Yeah, he is. But he's bitten off more than he can chew here! I was thinking maybe you could convince Vash to guard Sarah's apartment in case he comes back."
Vash chose that moment to become visible where he was riding on Jill's shoulder. I would be glad to! If he comes here again, do you wish him to leave alive and sane? he asked Sarah with a vicious mental grin.
Jill looked startled by his response, but Sarah was even more so. "No! Don't kill him or drive him insane!" she exclaimed.
*Sigh* This is one thing I liked about humans in my previous master's world, they knew how to deal with their enemies! Vash grumbled.
"I think I'm inclined to agree with you, Vash." Erica replied.
Vash nearly fell off of Jill's shoulder when Erica replied to his thoughts like that, and Jill looked about ready to take a fall herself. "How did you hear that?!" she said.
Erica grinned and pointed at Sarah. "She relayed it to me."
Jill's incredulous stare switched to Sarah. "I think it's that bond you talked about before." Sarah explained.
"Oh, I guess a spiritual bond can get around the defenses of a Null." Jill said, a bit stunned at this revelation.
Ah, a soul bond! That explains it. The mere fact it exists is proof that it is neither magical or psionic, so it is no surprise that this ability has manifested. Vash said.
"So what do we do now?" Sarah asked, looking around at the mess.
"We help you clean up of course!" Jill replied. "I'll tell Mike to get over here and we'll have things cleaned up in no time."
Mike arrived shortly thereafter and they started bagging up smaller debris. "There's no way I can afford to replace all this stuff." Sarah said sadly when they got down to the furniture. Even the TV was smashed; cleaning up the glass from it had been one of their first jobs.
"Hey, I just had an idea! We can replace everything for free, and dispose of the old stuff at the same time!" Erica said excitedly.
"How?" Jill asked.
"The empty world! It's just like this world, though a couple of years behind. The only difference is there's nothing alive there. We can go to a furniture store and cart out whatever we want! While we're at it we can do some other shopping, too." Erica explained.
"Other shopping?" Mike said worriedly.
Erica nodded, "Sure, Sarah still needs more clothes and stuff. And maybe we'll find some other stuff we like while we're there."
"I…guess that could work." Jill said hesitantly.
"It's not like we're stealing, there's nobody there to steal from. What do you say Sarah?" Erica said.
Sarah nodded, "Okay, let's do it! But first, we should get something to eat." Jill helped Sarah whip up a quick meal while Mike and Erica sorted out the few things from the living room that were salvageable and moved them aside. After cleaning up Sarah opened the portal. "Where should we dump my old stuff?"
"We could dump it in the front of the shop where we stored our stuff. That way if someone comes along they'll think there's nothing there of interest." Jill suggested.
Erica rolled her eyes, "Jill, there's nobody here to steal our stuff! That's totally unnecessary."
Jill shrugged, "I know, but it would make me feel better about it. And that area's empty anyway."
Erica sighed and nodded, "Sure, why not?" Sarah reopened the portal from within the store and Mike went through to pick up the first pieces. "Hey, Sarah, can you use your portals to move this stuff like you did the treasure in the tomb?" Erica asked.
Sarah frowned thoughtfully, "I don't know. I've never tried to link two portals in different worlds before. I'll try." With that she opened a portal in the ceiling off to one side of the store and then looked through the portal Mike had gone through and opened another under the remains of the entertainment center. With a crash the whole pile fell through the portals.
Mike came back through the portal empty handed. "I guess you don't need my help after all." he said ruefully.
"Sure we will!" Jill replied with a smile. "We can't use the same trick to move the new stuff or it would get broken. We'll need you to push it through the portal."
Before long all the broken furniture was piled up in the empty storefront and they headed out to find a furniture store. They came to a clothing store first, so they went in and started looking around. Sarah wasn't the only one to get some new clothes, though she got the most by far.
"Okay Mike, time to earn your keep." Jill said, holding out her bags to him. They'd found bags at the registers to carry everything in. He grumbled, but when Sarah opened a portal to his apartment he was grinning as he stepped through and deposited his and Jill's bags.
"Where do you want yours?" Mike asked when he got back, holding his hands out for Sarah and Erica's bags.
"Just put mine with my luggage and Sarah's on her bed. If there are any clothes on the bed just toss them on the floor, we'll have to go through them all to make sure they weren't damaged, and then wash them anyway." Erica suggested. Mike looked to Sarah, who nodded, and stepped through the portal she opened to her bedroom.
When he returned they continued looking for a furniture store. After four more stops at clothing and shoe stores they finally came across a furniture store. What they had was much nicer than the used stuff Sarah had before and she ended up replacing all the furniture in her apartment, even what wasn't destroyed. Mike and Jill followed suit and replaced most of their own furniture. Vash was very pleased with the couch and love seat Jill picked out and claimed the love seat for his own. He graciously agreed to let Jill use it once in a while.
The hardest part of the whole trip, besides actually moving the furniture, was finding the right stuff in the storage area of the store once they'd picked what they wanted. Most of it that was out for display had seen some use before the planet died, and it was also covered in a layer of dust. They were all exhausted by the time they got all their new acquisitions home and didn't even finish taking out the old furniture before calling it a night.
To Be Continued…
Comments
This is
Cavrider----Just another " Grunt."-----very confusing . Here we have four very smart people . They are on/in a world just like theirs,and no one has thought to look inside a bank ? Also I'm araid for poor little Darah . Erica has just decided to play dress up !
Cavrider----Just another " Grunt."
There's no guarantee that
There's no guarantee that the money there is usable in their world. Also, they didn't need money at all, they were able to get what they needed without it! ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Banks ...
... tend to keep their cash in safes and other well-secured places. (OK, Sarah might be able to open a portal into the bank safe ...)
If they want money, an old-fashioned shop with a simple cash drawer might be a better place to look for it. But, as Saless pointed out, they don't really need it, they don't know if they can use it anyway, and even if it looks the same as on their own world, what about serial numbers? They probably don't want to cause investigations for counterfeit money.
--- Martin
Police?
And none of them thought to call the police, to report the break-in and vandalism?
Mir
Well, they do have reason to
Well, they do have reason to be leery of the authorities right now...
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Could Sarah
Port the trasher with help from Vash? Or can she 'GIRL' them without touching, or seeing them?
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
By "trasher" I assume you
By "trasher" I assume you mean the person who trashed her apartment? That's not an entirely bad idea, but Vash's range is rather limited. Jill on the other hand... ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
But first...
They need to make sure that they have the right person. Vash and Jill can first read his mind (with the side effect of getting the names of any accomplices,) then they can decide on a suitable punishment. I vote we let Erica and Vash choose. [evil grin]
You evil man you!
I like the way you think! ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Well it was Sarah's
flat......Maybe she might like to slap the culprit!!!
kirri
slap the guy that broke in
slap the guy that broke in and send him off to a world where women have zero/zip/zilch/noda/nil rights >:)
What I wanna know
What world is this? I've read a lot of sci-fi but it doesn't ring any bells.
They know they can survive
Not every world they visit
Not every world they visit is from a specific book. This is just a random 'dead world' sort of story, nothing specific. I do that every now and then, just to confuse you! ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
brat
brat
Moi?!
*sticks tongue out at Ray* ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
A blessing in disguise
Now, they have all new goodies. Still, I have to wonder if the TV from the empty world will work with the new digital signals we are using now.
They need to think about other goodies in the dead world. Maybe they can get better doors, bulletproof glass for the windows, better locks (piss of Tiffany... hee hee,) and the like.
Somehow, I don't think they need to look for any more weapons.
On the other hand, a pump action 16 Ga shotgun is a good way to convince a burglar to do as he's told.
On the third hand, a quick ka-girl and a port to Gor is even more convincing.
I wonder if Erica would like a .50 cal rifle for long distance precision work. Of course, I think Sarah has enough control over her fireballs to knock out the bad guy in a hostage situation.
There have got to be more goodies in the empty world to choose from.
A car? Hard to get licensed, but they could always buy a really cheap wreck and replace it with the same year and model from the dead world. I wonder if Sarah can port away the old VIN label and port a new one in its place.
If I had that power, I would probably get a nice airplane or boat. Maybe set up a stockpile of jet skis, canoes, dirt bikes, quadrunners, and other toys in the dead world, and port them to wherever I happen to be vacationing.
Reading your comment just
Reading your comment just gave me an idea...Ebay! ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Ebay
That could be interesting. I hope Erica (lawyer to be) comes up with a way to keep from attracting too much attention.
I'm sure it can be done. A couple out of state businesses would be a good start. Then, they can use standard money laundering schemes.
Maybe they can win the [insert shadow company here] sweepstakes.
Or, they could watch the lotto drawing, then take a dragon ride between time to pick up a ticket.
Or, they can just pawn the stuff.
Better yet, do the ebay thing, set up a will, and have them come into a nice inheritance. One of them can inherit the company (Alas, poor Uncle Jim, I knew him well,) and hire the rest with generous profit sharing provisions. I recommend that Erica inherit the company, since she'll be better equipped to take care of things.
Maybe not money
Well, cash may or may not be usable... but I'm sure there's a Jewelry store or two around this other world where they could get items that could easily be turned into cash. Of course, they'd have to find someone to fence the stuff to... and they'd never get market value... but its not like they have to worry about it being reported stolen. Cross dimension running of goods could yield products that they could sell in a store or patent locally, etc. They'd just have to find out what is rare in one place that is abundant in others.
Let's all remember
They got Al Capone on TAX evasion...I'd like to see them explain all the loot to the IRS!! :D
Tax Evasion
That's why they would have to be very scrupulous in their payment of taxes.
They knew that Al Capone was guilty of other stuff, so tax evasion was all they could get him on. I'm sure he was guilty of it, too.
In the case of our intrepid heroes, they only need to tell the IRS how much, not where they got it. The feds can think that you're doing something shady all they want, but you're still innocent until proven guilty in America -- even with the IRS.
Well... maybe not always with the IRS.
It helps that they aren't actually doing anything illegal -- at least, not within the jurisdiction of the US or any other world government. :-)
But the real goal is to not raise suspicion. If they weren't worried about that, they could just hock their stuff on the open market, pay their taxes, and go on about their business. They could each write 'adventurer' on their tax forms.
It'd Be Interesting....
-- though not in a good way -- if our adventurers found their way into a worldline that does have interdimensional policing: something like the time police in Fredric Brown's "Of Time and Eustace Weaver". (Or one of E.E. Nalley's characters, for that matter, though it'd be a spoiler to identify him further.) Burglary, after all, is a crime in just about every jurisdiction, to paraphrase Brown's officer.
Eric
In this case I think they
In this case I think they could get away with calling it salvage! ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
With Her Soul Link...
...to Sarah now in operation, Erica decides that Sarah needs a lot more girl clothes. Admittedly, there's practicality there: if Sarah's going to remain at her job for any length of time, she'll need some changes of clothes, now that they've decided to put Venus or changing back on the figurative back burner. But it certainly suggests that Erica has seen something in Sarah's mind that suggests that Sarah's not going to have any problem with that, even in the relatively long term.
I don't see why John (assuming it WAS him) would come back now that he's taken out his frustration, unless he's either planning a physical assault or he thinks that Sarah is a candidate for a Mafia-style "pay up or more accidents will happen" extortion threat. Sarah's friends would probably be receptive to a preemptive strike, but it doesn't sound as though Sarah's so inclined. Would they frame him by luring him back somehow? It could probably be done without recourse to the supernatural -- at least I hope so. I REALLY don't want to see Jill develop powers over other people's minds; it makes everything too easy.
Eric
Mind powers
I wouldn't mind seeing the culprits suddenly get an irresistible compulsion to confess all of their crimes to the police. Of course, that could cause some complications because Sarah and company never reported the burglary.
I imagine any halfway decent
I imagine any halfway decent lawyer could get them off when there's no evidence besides the confession. Especially if the compulsion only lasts until they've confessed and they recant their story. If they had committed other crimes and confessed to them, though... ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Miranda Rights..
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. If you should decide to give up these rights...