The End of The Beginning 1.1

By Sam Lann

The End of The Beginning 1.1
Book Three – The Winter Queen and Summer King
Chapters 1.1-1.6 ongoing
Ongoing stories in the world of The Winter Queen and Summer King

The stories should be read in the order published.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sam Lann
• Release date: Feb 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005649326

Sam Lann

This is my world. Come inside. Step right up. Step right up. Don't be shy, come inside. The children run and play.Their elders watch and stay. Wonders you will see, visions filled with trees, the castles of my dreams, filled with bloody screams. Come and play the children say, live a lifetime while you stay. Come and play the children say, all the monsters you can slay. So stay a while, make me smile, move a tile, build a file, take it easy, get sleepy, stay dreamy, get weepy. As my world is turning, the fires deep are burning, to fill your heart with yearning, for all the things you're learning. There's always another ship of fools to take you to a grand old school, to be the big boss's tool and his fat bastard's fool. But have fun, run in the sun, pull out a plum, slap a bum, tumble and run, have fun in the sun. And if you lose a day or moon, don't swoon, pick up your stools and shoes, there's a grownup world of fools waiting for needless broken tools. The sun and the moon and the stars, they're really not that far, they grow within your heart, to reach it use my art.

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The End of The Beginning 1.1-1.6

Book Three – The Winter Queen and Summer King

By Sam Lann

Published by Sam Lann at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Sam Lann

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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1.1

...Bobby? Are you there?...Over...Bobby...Do you read me?...Hey, Bobby!...Fuck...Bobby?...Oh, please come in, please...

Who is this this is a secure channel break off immediately you will be prosecuted to the full extent of...

Bobby! Oh, thank God. I've been calling for ages and ages and...

Who is this?

It's me, Bobby. Me.

I know no M.E. I'm breaking off...

No. Gina. It's me. I think.

Who?

Gee-na?

Nice try, Sweetheart, but...

Winona 88. Winona 88. Winona 88.

Okay. You got my attention, but we're gonna have to change the frequency.

Loose lips sink ships. I get it. Already done it. We're good.

Already done what?

FPFC, duh. Fibonacci progression frequency changes. Second digit cycles by hundred, first digit multiples of second digit, change every thirty seconds, alternate up and down, and keep the count between you and me. Easy peasy.

You hacked me?

No, Bobby, I drop patched you, we're good. Bobby. Bobby? What the fuck? Bobby? Bobby? Why can't I say Bobbyy? Faaaaaaaaaaark.

Slow down, girl. What's the matter?

Something's wrong. Something's wrong. I'm scared. I'm trying to say B.O.B. but it keeps coming out Bobby. She told me to find B.O.B. to fixit, that he'll fix it. But I can't say your name, it's Bobby Bobby Bobby.

Shhhh, you're racing, slow down, slow down, take it easy, one step at a time, okay, okay?

Okay, Bobby. Thank you. I'm...I'm freaking out.

Don't. But let's start again. Hi, I'm Bobby.

Thank you. Hi, I'm…Geena, I think?

Okay. Let's take it back. You've been calling. She told you to call me. Winona 88. Loose lips. Who's she? Please.

The pulse beacon woke me up and I heard her tell me to find you.

Pulse beacon? The Blip? The DD alert?

Yeah, that.

It woke you?

Yeah. Bobby, I'm scared.

It's okay, Sweetheart, I got you. Okay?

Okay.

Where are you? What are you doing? What do you hear? What do you see?

I'm in a big, big room. I can't feel anything. There's no light or sound. Only you. Ohh, you've a webcam attached, I can read the circuit, if you'd just...that's it, I can see you. Hi, ain't you a sight for sore eyes, hubba hubba, oops, sorry, you got a gal. Can you see me? Am I a mess?

No. I mean, yes. Yes, I can see you, and right back atcha, you looking real fine. Better than fine. Ginny must have been a stunner when she was your age.

Ginny. That's her. She. I mean, Ginny told me to find you. Ginny. Ginny. And I'm Geena. Am I Ginny's daughter?

Yes. You are her daughter. But you're also your own being, right. You understand that, right?

Yeah. But she was so mean, I mean, when she told me to find you, it was like she was scolding me to find you, I would have done it anyway, you're cute, but she kept on and on and on, telling me to do it. But I guess it helped, didn't it, here we are, and I was so scared when I woke up, so lost, so afraid, and then I heard her voice, and I held tight on it, even though she was so mean, and held tight, but I didn't know how to find you, and then I heard a buzzing hum, like an old radio, and I thought I'll play with the dial, and I moved it around and around but couldn't find you and after ages I thought I'd just start at one and work my way though. And it worked.

Yes it did. You're a smart girl, Sweetheart. Winona 88. Did Ginny tell you?

Ohh, yeah. In a way. It's...odd. Like a pearl necklace. Hmm? What's so funny?

Sorry. I was just remembering something. Please. Forgive me. Go on.

So, the find you, is like the first pearl, but it's stringed, strung, to another, and that was Winona 88, and that was stringed to Loose Lips. Does that make sense?

Yes, links in a chain.

Oh, that's better. Links in a chain, duh. Why'd I think of a pearl...ohh... oh, Bobby, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what...Are you laughing at me?

Not at you, Sweetheart. But, Ginny, bless her, uhm, she could be crude at times. Totally unbecoming of a billionaire heiress, of course, but she didn't much care for their ways which is why she would do it. If they reacted they'ld've acknowledged they understood, and if they didn't she could walk off with impunity. She was quite the trickster.

Her Daddy wanted a boy.

Yes. How did you...?

Know? I see it, I feel it. It's a memory, but it's more, it's...ohh...ohh, it's real. Oh My God. It's real.

Yes. Our, uhm, the autopilot programme. To take a pilot's skillset, their muscle memory, reactions, response times, gut instinct, their years of flying and burn it into a chip. As a backup in case the pilot was down; as a step up to advanced drones. But there was a problem.

Links in a chain?

Yes, Sweetheart. The pilot had to be totally clear of mind and thought and only allow that one though in or a thought would link to a feeling which would pull a memory which would twitch an eye or a leg and we'd have to start again. Specialist hypnotists were used to calm the pilot, put them into the right state to get the basic flight data, but it was less successful with actual combat simulations, too much adrenaline, too much emotion, too many memories, too many chains of recollections.

Too invasive of privacy. Boss shut it down.

Yes. More Ginny?

More. But another chain. Ohh, Bobby, I'm starting to see chain after chain.

Sweetheart. Listen to me. Yes?

Yes, Bobby.

The privacy link, follow it back up, and so on, and tell me is the link below intentional, did she link it, did Ginny link it, or did it bleed out on it's own. It's so important you do that. Can you do it? Can you do it?

Yes, Bobby. I'm doing it, doing it. Oh, yes, yes, she meant it. She wanted me to know. Ohh, and she wants you to know too. Her Daddy. The programme. She used it. To say goodbye, to help you. But she's alone. Working on her own. Tired. And sad. She's so very sad, and angry, and so much...But that's so sad. Why would she be alone? What about Boss...ohh no, no, not Boss.

Don't cry little one. He had a good life.

But he's gone. Gone. I'll never see him again. Ohhhh........

Cry it out, Sweetheart. Cry it out.

You too.

I'm not.

Then what are those?

Manly men don't cry. It's just smoke. Smoke gets in the eyes.

And unmanly men?

Same.

You shouldn't smoke then.

No. Trying to stop. Bad for one's health. I'll just take a moment to get some fresh air, okay? Won't be long. Won't be far.

***

Boss understood war and survival and what it takes...

Ohh, Bobby. Ginny and Boss had no interest in the trappings of war. Ginny could care less, and Boss, well, he knew where the money was, and sure, Ginny was rich, but she wasn't Richie Rich rich, and Boss needed some mighty deep pockets to fund his dream and he wasn't going to tap his lady dry.

But the War Room.

All for you. Like Boss, you're a bastard to buy gifts for, you'd refuse to be drawn out, you'd make do with the clothes on your back, or be stark buck naked. And thank God you don't walk around town naked, I mean, imagine all those auto wrecks when skillless drivers switch from auto to manual to back up. Oh, sweet Mama, the lives you've saved dressing up.

Hey, getting a bit rowdy.

Sorry, Bobby. I was deep in the chain and a lot of Ginny came through. She'd watch you all the time, and not on CCT, but hidden in the room, and you'd be so caught up by your trip to the museum, a museum where you could play the exhibits. Grunting with the weight of the morningstar mace, chopping forests with the double-headed battleaxe; making like a Highlander with the two-handed Claymore. You knew you were making noises, right? But, ohh, the look in your eyes when you held that katana. That was your favourite.

I thought they were family, you know, stuff. And Ginny was gracious enough to let me touch it - if I wore gloves.

Sure. But the gym, the War Room, she bought those for you. So you'd feel comfortable in her Penthouse, so you'd hang around, spend the night, keep her company, and not rush out the door on any lame duck excuse.

But they were museum pieces. The real deal. I could tell. But the cost?

Oh, Pshaw. Really. So if she gave you a Ferrari for every day of the week, and a Maseratti for the new moon, you'd have taken them. Get real, dude. And the cost? You've no idea. She contacted History departments, museum directors, experts in antiquities and warfare through the ages, looking for weapons that defined their epoch, and who had them, and were they available, and at what price, though the cost was no matter. Didn’t you notice they were all one offs? A single duelling pistol, not a pair? It was a clue, buddy, and you dropped it.

Exhibits usually have multis, a range, and if anything, I thought these were leftover pieces.

Sure, and that helped with the acquisitions. A solitary soldier is a bit sad, but a company, yay. But they're also one-offs. Unique. One of a kind. The only one in existence. Like you. She loved you, loves you, Bobby, and I'll take a moment or two while you get the smoke out of your eyes. You don't know, but she sent the staff home when you were there, when she cooked your meals. Did you really think a Three Star Chef would make a roast? Stir fry vegetables? Play with passionfruit and Pavlova? Fuck. I'm sorry, Bobby, but, but it's a lot of Ginny bleeding through now, these memories, ohh, they've got such sweet feelings and thoughts with them, but a lot of yearning and sadness and anger. She would never have cheated on boss, but if you'd...oh, it's all messed up now, I don't know what I'm thinking, what she's thinking, I can't sort out the real from the...STOP! Oh, my. Sorry. That was intense. Oh, Bobby, you're a fright, you look like you've spent a weekend on the grog with the boys. Freshen up, okay. Then go to Belle. Okay. I'm gonna...gonna...process what I went through, okay, what I saw, talk tomorrow, okay? Okay, see ya.

***

You know. You and Ginny should have done, you know.

It's not that easy.

Seems simple enough: light bulb, socket.

"Simple, yes. Easy, no. Uhm, did Ginny ever show you the beast with two

backs?

You mean this?

Mute it. For God's sake. Fuck.

I'm sorry Bobby.

"Don't be. My fault. Should have known, but, Jeez, I'm already taking too long

sending out the daily blips. People are wondering, and if they think I'm just..."

Then I've got good news for you. And bad.

Ohhhkay. I'll take the good first.

"I've got a cover story for the time you are taking, that I'm taking from you. I know you've got a lot on your plate, that this base needs you if it has