Chapter 36
We finished our ride, cleaned up, and ate lunch. I was ravenous. Later, I went out back into the garden area. I started loosening up, and was soon going into my Kata. I had been at it for about twenty minutes, when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye.
Courtney came fully into view, watching me. I was soon positioned in a way to smile at her, acknowledging her presence as I went on with my practice. After about another ten minutes I came to a stop.
"You're very good. How long have you been practicing martial arts?" she asked.
"Close to ten years now," I replied.
We walked together a bit as I cooled down from the workout I had given myself. The garden was lovely. The colors and smells of the plants and flowers were pleasing to my senses. We talked a bit, and I asked about her life, and growing up in England. I said I wondered how it differed from my own childhood.
I learned that she did a lot of the things kids did in my own hometown. Even halfway around the world, things were pretty much the same. It was nice to know, really. Reassuring, in a way. I told her about my life on the farm, and about my parents, who were gone now.
She was so easy to talk to, and I didn't want our time in the gardens to end. Almost as soon as I thought it, Evelyn came out and joined us.
"There you two are. Tom, I am going to steal Courtney for a while if you don't mind. We have things to do, and John wants to talk to you. He is in the study," she said.
Shortly I was with John, and he had his home computer fired up.
"I have been rereading the information you have downloaded for me. I find myself in a quandary. While you have amassed an amazing amount of information on this 'council' in your own country, we only have that one name to start with in mine.
"I considered trying to do as you have done, but I am sure I would trip any number of alarms. I am not the computer programmer that you are, or a "hacker"... that is the term, I believe?" he asked.
I nodded. "Unless you know what you're doing, trying to get into a government computer is a good way to land in prison," I finished with a grin.
"Yes. While I disapprove on general principal a person breaking into computers, what you have shown me is more than enough to let me ask you this. Do you think you can do your thing on the undersecretary that was named as contact?" he asked me in a serious voice.
I told him I thought I could do it, and would make sure I did it in such a way as not to get him involved, if I got caught. He nodded and waited expectantly.
"What?" I asked him.
He looked a little chagrined.
"Well... I was hoping to see you, I don't know, disappear or something," he said, waving a hand around.
I chuckled. I teleported upstairs, to my room and back.
"Something like that?" I asked still chuckling.
"Lord! It is something to know intellectually, that you can do these things, but to see the reality is amazing!" he exclaimed explosively.
It took me a little time, but I found our target's 'safe room', that contained his computer. I had 'back timed' and then I teleported back to London. I went to the Ministries building. I went 'between' and followed our man.
I am still not sure how my own body is affected when I do my time traveling. Do I age at a normal rate? I have noticed that while I am in the 'between', I don't seem to get hungry or tired. When I come out of it though, sometimes I'm hit with severe hunger, as if I hadn't eaten all day.
Two meals and one nap later, I had the information I wanted from his computer. I downloaded his files and programs. I left him a present and myself with access to his computer. What I had not expected happened when I followed him into his 'safe room'. He kept looking around, as if he sensed me. No one had done that before. Was it possible for someone to be able to sense my presence?
I returned to the present, then teleported back to my room at lord Avery-Smythe's house. I opened the door, and made my way down to the study. John was still there.
"Did you forget something?" he asked me.
"No. Finished the assignment you gave me," I told him.
"But, it has been only fifteen or twenty minutes!" he said with a stunned expression.
"Ah, but I have this trick of going back in time. Believe me, I spent a lot of time following him, and compiling information on him. I have a list of names that he talked to on the phone or met for meetings. I know two who are with the 'council' in some form," I said, enjoying the expression on his face.
I pulled the CD out of the NTZ where I had parked it, and I did my thing with John's computer. First, I had him disconnect it from his DSL. I didn't want anything going out, while I was doing this. The files I wanted were encrypted, of course. I tried the code key I had gotten from Roger Miller, but it did not work.
"Blast. I had hoped to be reading the information by now. Is there anything you can do?" he asked.
"Yes. Now we crack this baby," I said.
I installed my cracking program, set up the buffers, and let my program go to work.
"Now, we wait. Before you ask, yes, I could have cracked this in the past, if I had bothered to think about. It took my program two days to crack the files I showed you," I said, sitting back in the chair.
"So this will take two days then?" he asked in a disappointed voice.
"Not necessarily. It depends on how good this encryption is. It could take five minutes, five hours, or five days," I told him.
He nodded. We left the room and the computer, and went out to admire his gardens. They were extensive, and had everything that could be grown in England, growing. He also had a section for herbs.
John asked if I could entertain myself, as he had a call to make. Evelyn was out, and that left me at loose ends. I looked for Courtney, but she had gone riding again. Well, I could use this time to my advantage.
I teleported through the NTZ to my home. I got several documents, and placed them into a small briefcase. I teleported through the NTZ, to a specific place in a building that had the type of lawyer I wanted. Then I 'time dived' to eighteen months ago.
Two hours later, I shook hands with the lawyer who specialized in 'trust' law. I went back to my own time and home, and dropped off the briefcase. I took my new ID, and teleported to the apartment I had rented in that name and 'time dived'.
I received notification of the trust that an anonymous 'benefactor' had set up for me, under my new name. I did all the astonishments and questions that seemed appropriate. I was informed that I had access to one point five million dollars immediately, and would receive one thousand dollars a week, for the next twenty years. I had them issue a cashier's check for the large lump sum, on the spot. As a trust company, it was simple for them to do.
I went to a bank, and opened an account under my new name, Benjamin Porter. I deposited the cashier's check. The taxes on it had already been paid using the social security number that I had as Benjamin Porter.
I caught a scheduled flight, and flew to Alaska. It was just as well, as I needed to establish NTZ access points there, also. I had decided on land in an area of Alaska, close to the border with Canada's Yukon Territory.
First, I bought land. I had decided against buying an existing place. I wanted to build, for my own piece of mind. I contacted a company that could handle all my needs. They could handle putting in a dirt road to my location from the closest service road. They could handle the foundation, and build the log home I chose. The outbuildings I wanted would be no problem. They could connect to my on site water source... in other words, they could do everything needed to get me a home. They even had the name of a company in California that sold wind generators for electrical power. It was a company called Bergey Windpower. My local building company had two people authorized by Bergey Windpower to set up and hook in all the electrical service, and still leave me with my warranty intact.
I didn't pay for everything all at once. I paid out in one hundred thousand dollar increments until the job was completed. I started the process in May. By July the road was in, the foundation and basement had been poured, and the walls and roof and mechanicals were in.
After the diesel generator arrived, they hooked in the power. I was not connected to any power from the local power company. They wanted too much money to survey and run a power line. I had also discovered that their service was interrupted an average of several times a year, for various reasons. Sometimes, for days.
I had the 15KW diesel generator installed as my backup power source. I made sure there was at least one month's supply of fuel on hand at all times. By September, all the signs of construction were gone. I had also paid for it, and paid all local taxes, and other bribes.
Benjamin Porter was the proud owner of a log lodge/home made of heavy timber, designed to withstand the severe winters and to shrug off tons of snow with no problem. Everything was electrical. No gas at all. I had all the electricity I wanted, so I had no qualms with ordering the best.
I had purchased one thousand acres of land to build on. I had planned to make this a safe harbor, and as free from the need of outside help as possible. I had planned for a huge vegetable garden, and had hired someone to come in and plant it for me.
I had the house built with a southern view. I was close to a lake that I could view through my living room window. Off in the distance, was Canada. Mountains soared and were snow capped. The house itself was protected from most of the winds, and had several huge trees to protect and shade the house during part of the day.
I had a large cabin built for the hands I hired, as well as a generator shed, which was very sturdy. I wanted to be sure there were people here twenty four/seven, in case anything happened that had to be handled immediately. Plus, I wanted people to work the land, and harvest the garden. When I was there, I usually let them go, with pay, as I wanted my privacy. Contact with the outside world was via radio and satellite phone, only.
I decided that I was going to have a couple of emergency ways out if I needed them, with vehicles. I wanted to learn to fly a helicopter, and I bought a small snow cat. This meant I was going to have to have a shelter made large enough to house the helicopter, a small tractor, and the snow cat, all together. Of course I could teleport also.
After the house was completed, I had a finishing company come in and finish the interior for me. I then had it furnished. This was all done well before the first snows of the year. It was well built, snug, and I was happy with it.
I hired a decorator to come in and furnish it, and get everything placed where I wanted it to be in the house. She ordered everything, and I mean everything; from cabinets, to my bed. I was very pleased with the job she did.
After all this was done, I made sure that I left emergency money with the small crew I had left on my property. I drove the eighteen miles back into town, and parked my car in long term storage. I made mention that I was going to catch a ride in a private flight back to the lower 48.
I returned back to the 'now', and then teleported back to the Avery-Smythe house. Total elapsed time I was gone from their point of view? A little over two hours. Not bad for all the 'time diving' teleporting I had been doing, and other real life time ventures I'd had to do.
I was walking the garden when John came out. "Tom! There you are! The computer has broken the code. We have access!" John said excitedly.
I chuckled to myself, as I followed him in. It was always the same way, I had discovered. Sticklers for the law were the most excited when they were successful at breaking it.
Edited by TeNderLoin