Carson Evolved Ch. 10

Carson was intrigued by the woman's bizarre behavior, but pulled his device out and said, "Hey, sweetheart. Sorry I missed your call." He twisted slightly, putting his foot up on the bench and turning so that his body was halfway facing hers. Quietly, he asked, "What's going on? Who are you?"

"My name is Alyssa, Mr. Jayne. It's Alyssa Grimaldi, now, but it used to be Clemonte."

A chill went down his neck and his guard immediately came up. "From the similarity, I'd say you're related to Aria. Cousins? Sister?" he guessed.

"She's my younger sister."

"Okay," he replied. "What can I do for you? What's with all the intrigue?"

She hesitated for a moment, long enough that Carson wondered if she'd been scared away from whatever she'd come here to do. Then she said, "I need to talk to you somewhere private, somewhere we can't be seen together. I think Aria's got a plan to do something crazy, and it involves you." Before he could speak, he heard a ping as an incoming message to his communicator arrived.

"Those are the coordinates for a cabin outside of town. Meet me there at 7 this evening, alone. My husband thinks I'm having dinner with friends, so we won't have much time, but there are some things you need to know about my dear sister."

Without waiting for his confirmation, she stood and hurried off, leaving a bewildered Carson sitting on a park bench alone, wondering what had just happened and whether or not he was going to meet this crazy person tonight. His curiosity was piqued, and in light of the bizarre nature of Aria's intrusion into his life, he found himself intrigued enough to meet with her sister. He had no intention of wandering blindly into a trap, though. Before heading inside, he sent a quick message to Edwards, requesting that he meet Carson in his office this afternoon.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur, as Carson buried himself in work to distract his thoughts from the strange events of the afternoon. It was such a struggle that he finally decided to leave early for the day. Just as he was gathering his things, his Omnix informed him of the arrival of a sizable data packet. At a glance, Carson smiled to himself and thought, Well done, Xavier. Well done indeed.

As Edwards drove towards the LD, Carson spent some time reviewing the information Xavier had acquired. He stared out at the passing scenery, turning things over in his mind the same way he always did when confronted with a difficult problem. He examined the angles, made and discarded a few different plans, and generally immersed himself in finding a workable solution to the problem before him.

Stepping from the car, Carson instructed Edwards to head towards the meeting location to scout out any signs of trouble before heading inside to greet his Pride. As he walked through the door, Carson couldn't help but feel a sense of peace. His wives and lovers worked as a well-oiled machine, and it made his life so easy most of the time that he usually felt guilty about not contributing more. Then, he'd inevitably upset the carefully crafted rhythm of the house by swerving out of his lane and have to be gently reminded that there were certain things that were not his responsibility. The underlying theme, apparently, that Carson's help/harm ratio was something less than one when he tried to do too much.

With his early arrival, he'd beaten most of the Lionesses home. Mara's work in commercial real estate development had begun to consume evenings a little more than Carson was happy about. For example, he knew that she wouldn't be home until late because she was hosting a soirée to entertain prospective tenants for a new high-rise office development. Or, as she jokingly referred to it, 'on a scouting mission.' Carson had offered to attend, but Mara had convinced him that his presence was unnecessary. She did inform him that her agency would be holding its annual banquet next month, and she had a few prospects in mind that she wanted him to meet. The glint in her eye told him what kind of prospects they were.

Quinn was home, though. She was switching over from nights to days at the hospital, and she'd been given a few days off to switch her schedule. Of all the Lionesses, she was the one that Carson saw the least. Among the various members of his clan, she was also towards the independent end of the spectrum, which contributed to him feeling somewhat estranged from her. Seeking to reconnect, he chose to approach her first; he was genuinely happy to see her around the house. She was talking with Elsa and Helena and had her back to him. When he wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to kiss her cheek, there was a moment when her body stiffened before she relaxed and angled her cheek up for his kiss. Carson was curious about her response; she seemed less than enthusiastic about seeing him.

He made eye contact with Helena. Is there something I should know about with Quinn? he sent.

She frowned and looked uncomfortable. I have some suspicions, but nothing for sure, she replied.

What should I do? he asked.

Nothing for now. I want to talk to her first.

Carson looked at Helena with a small frown on his face, but he resolved to trust her to handle things until she needed his input. She seemed to manage the women in his life successfully, and he had confidence that she'd figure out what was going on here too.

He moved on and checked in with the other ladies. As had become the usual, Sam was working with her father, trying to find a treatment or cure for the Eisenfaust virus. Her aunt Cara was home, though, and looking ravishing as well. She and her soon-to-be-ex-husband were still working their way through the intricacies of their divorce; it was amicable, but the mandated waiting period and various other legal requirements made it a more tedious affair than Carson thought necessary. He found it a little disturbing that marrying someone could be done in a day, but separating from them was a time-consuming affair; that seemed to be reverse-logic to Carson's mind, but no one was asking his opinion.

After playing with his sons and daughters briefly, Carson finally came to Tilda. The only Lioness currently pregnant, she was nearing the finish line. Her large frame, though, allowed her to carry their unborn son with much less disruption to her astounding figure than the other women had experienced. At 8 months pregnant, Tilda showed more like 5 months for the other women. Between that and the fact that her already-jumbo bosom had swollen to truly mammoth proportions as her pregnancy progressed, she sparked more than a little envy among the other women.

After kissing her lips, Carson bent down and kissed her belly, saying "Hey Pepin. How's my little man doing today?" In response, his son gave a strong kick, much to his mother's chagrin.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you have some kangaroo in your lineage," groused Tilda. "Your son has quite a kick for such a tiny package."

That seemingly innocuous comment reminded Carson that he'd been meaning to have some research done into his family tree. His memories of his parents remained strong, but the truth was that he just didn't know that much about his heritage. As far as he knew, the family tree had shrunk over time to the single branch that had produced himself. He wondered, though, if there had been some other branches that diverged, if one travelled far enough back through the years. He was curious as to whether he had some distant, unknown relations still out there in the world.

Carson apologized for the discomfort caused by his son's activities in Tilda's womb, and attempted to mollify her by rubbing her belly. Tilda relaxed in his arms, enjoying his ministrations. Her head reclined against his shoulder, and she quietly said, "Carson?"

"Yes?"

"I need you to come with me to the bunkhouse for a few minutes. There's someone you should meet, and I don't know if it's a good idea for the other Lionesses to know about her."

Intrigued, Carson accompanied Tilda to the bunkhouse where the security staff were housed. As they glided silently along in one of the electric utility carts used at the estate for transporting everything from groceries to grass seed, Tilda filled him in on the woman he was about to meet.

"Her name is Addison Parks, but she goes by the name 'Starfyre' online. She's the hacker we used to breach NeoGenesys's systems."

"Okay," said Carson, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He figured there was more to this meeting, since Tilda had to this point made a concerted effort to insulate Carson from suspicion regarding the anti-Eisenfaust initiatives. "Why am I meeting her now?" he asked.

Tilda sighed in exasperation. "Because, she got greedy. She got greedy and made a mistake that's thrown a wrench into our plans for Eisenfaust. She didn't just hack the system, Carson. She read some of what she stole and connected the dots to figure out what they're doing. Without considering the possible consequences to us, she sent a blackmail demand to Helga Lund for 50 billion credits, threatening to release the report if they didn't meet her demand."

"What!" he exclaimed. "Aaaauugh," he groaned in disgust and frustration. "So Helga, and by extension Clemonte and van Heuval, know that we are onto them?"

"They know someone is onto them," cautioned Tilda. "There's no connection between us and Addison, as far as they know."

"There must be something else, then," said Carson. "Otherwise, she wouldn't be here."

Tilda nodded. "Unfortunately, Eisenfaust attempted to eliminate the threat by tracing her location electronically. She'd taken precautions against such a thing, but they sent a hit squad after her. She managed to escape with her data, but a lot of her equipment was destroyed. Now, she's scared and alone."

Just as she finished speaking, they arrived at the bunkhouse. Tilda led Carson to one of the rooms and knocked softly. "Addison? It's Tilda. Can I come in? There's someone I want you to meet."

When the door opened, Carson was struck by two thoughts. First, she was so young. Somehow, he'd always imagined hackers being older than, well, this. Second, she seemed to be at least part-Elf. She was almost as tall as him, slender, with a modest bust. She wore purple contact lenses, which was a little disconcerting at first. Her eyes were heavily made up with liner and purple eye shadow; it was a striking combination against the porcelain skin that was broken only by a light sprinkle of freckles across her upper cheeks and nose. She wore her hair in messy pixie cut, though her bangs hung down over her eye on one side. The natural white-blond color of her hair was shot through with swaths of plum purple coloring. Completing the ensemble was a series of small golden hoops piercing the outer edges of both ears; neither ear had pointed tips, as far as Carson could tell.

"You must be Addison," Carson said, holding out his hand. "I'm Carson Jayne."

Though she was clearly on edge, Addison graciously shook his hand and said, "Mr. Jayne." Then she stood back and gestured for them to enter.

Over the course of the next few minutes, Addison recounted her adventures with Eisenfaust from the time she'd hacked the NeoGenesys network to the present. Carson listened attentively, taking mental notes of areas where he needed more information.

"Well," he said when she finally finished. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that. Obviously, it would have been better for all parties if you hadn't threatened our enemies."

Addison looked chagrinned, but she was still defensive. "I couldn't help it! Fu...dge berries knew they'd look evil (muahahaha) and I figured they'd pay up quick." Carson and Tilda both chuckled at the slip of a woman attempting to make a deep, evil, belly-laugh; she had a soft, girly voice that didn't quite make the grade. Addison either didn't notice or didn't care that they laughed, and Carson wondered if she was even aware that she'd made the sound herself, because she kept right on talking. "Double-dippin' for more money. And it was a shi...cra...big number of credits."

"Addison..." Carson began.

"Starfyre," she interrupted.

"What?"

"Call me Starfyre," she said. "She's the ice-cold bi...ttersweet one who's always in control. She gets stuff done. Addison is too worried about what people think of her and being a freakin' good girl. Starfyre doesn't give a fu...dgey goodness."

Carson looked at Tilda incredulously, trying to figure out if Addison—Starfyre—was for real. He couldn't decide if she was actually averse to swearing, causing her to change swear words mid-speech to something innocuous, or if she was simply fidgety and nervous and trying to be polite. It was kind of charming, in a way, but it would take some getting used to.

"Alright, Starfyre. Call me Carson. Now, what do you need from me?"

Starfyre looked at Tilda for guidance, suddenly at a loss for words.

Tilda spoke up. "I think Starfyre is someone we can use moving forward, but she doesn't have a place to go. She had a lot of money tied up in her equipment, which is now destroyed, and there's a very good chance that someone's going to come snooping around looking for her before long. I don't think it's a very good idea for her to go home, but she doesn't have any other place to go."

Nodding, Carson could see her point. "So, what do we do?"

"I was thinking she could stay here."

Turning to look at Starfyre, Carson asked, "Would you excuse us for a second?"

"Sure. I'll, uh, go get a candy bar or somethin'."

Once she'd closed the door, Carson turned to Tilda. "Is she for real? I mean, the way she talks—it makes me think she's on something."

Tilda had suspected the same thing, but hadn't wanted to bring the issue up before now. "I think she might be shooting Plod."

"Plod?"

"It's a synthetic drug that messes with the brain's perception of time. A lot of gamers use it because it slows down reality. The theory is, our brains gather tons of information, way more than we have capacity for in our conscious thoughts. So there's a kind of sub-routine in our heads that sifts information and prioritizes it to determine what's important enough to act on. Plod makes it seem like that stream of information is running slower, so you can process more stuff."

Concerned, he asked, "Is this something that could make her a danger to the Pride?"

"No. The main side effect is what we just saw. Over time, users begin to lose a little control over the interface between their brains and the outside world because their sense of timing is skewed."

"What do you want from me?"

Tilda sat down on the little bed. "She's alone in the world. Her parents didn't understand her, and she hasn't been in contact with them for years."

"Years? She can't be more than 20," he said.

Tilda nodded. "She left home at 16 and never looked back." She paused. "Carson, she got into this because of what we asked her to do. She made a mistake, but I can't let the price of that mistake be her life. I think we can use her as part of our team moving forward. Maybe the project can use her down the road, too, but for now, I was hoping that you might be willing to let her stay here at the LD. She can stay down here in the bunkhouse, but I'd like to get her some more equipment and get her up and running again. She found a little bit of information before, but she has the skills and connections to devastate Eisenfaust, if she has the chance."

Carson couldn't refute what Tilda was saying. The possibility of stepping up the cyberattacks on Eisenfaust, and, especially, rooting out the various connections and resources they had, made Addison Parks—her alter-ego, Starfyre, at least—a very valuable commodity. And, like Tilda, Carson felt some sense of responsibility for the predicament that she was in.

"Let's go get her and see what she thinks of that plan," he said, reaching for the door. As the door opened, though, Starfyre stumbled into the room.

"Were you listening at the door?" he asked.

Looking slightly ashamed, Starfyre nodded.

"In the future," he said, "When we ask you to leave the room, we mean that you are not privy to the discussions taking place inside. Is that clear?"

When she nodded, he asked, "So, what do you think about Tilda's plan?"

The young woman looked at him and smiled. "Addison is happy that she gets to stay here. It's lots better than being alone in her house." Her countenance changed, and her eyes took on a malevolent gleam. "Starfyre is going to scorch the earth and laugh while those fu...dge packers burn."

A chill went down Carson's spine, and he momentarily wondered if he was taking too big a risk allowing her to stay here. But he trusted Tilda's judgement, so he refrained from other comment.

"Tilda, you and Edwards work with Starfyre to find a location where she can do her work, and assemble whatever equipment she needs. If we're going to do it, let's do it right." Turning to Starfyre, he said, "I'm assuming that you're going to want to build your own rig?" She nodded in agreement. To Tilda he said, "Make sure everything's top of the line." He winked at Starfyre and said, "I want to watch them burn, too," which drew an evil smile in response.

Finally, he said, "This is our home, Starfyre. You're a guest here; keep that in mind. My family is here, and I will not look favorably on anyone who threatens their safety. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," she replied. As he turned to go, she said, "Carson?"

"Hm?" he said, turning back.

Before he could respond, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek before stepping back, slightly embarrassed at what she'd done. "Thank you for this. I won't let you down."

He gave her a little smile. "I'm counting on it."

Arriving back at the house with Tilda in tow, Carson realized he had just enough time to change clothes and explain to Helena about the upcoming meeting with Aria's sister before he needed to leave. He found that Thurston had returned while he was meeting with Addison/Starfyre. Watching as the man lovingly played with Aubrey, the infant girl Helena had conceived with Carson, he was struck by how different that Thurston was from himself. He couldn't imagine, if the roles were reversed, lovingly accepting the kind of relationship that his wife now had with another man. Thurston seemed content, though, and Carson spent less and less energy on the issue these days.

Helena, can I see you in the study for a few minutes? Bring Thurston, too. he sent.

Coming.

As he waited for his matriarch and beta to arrive, Carson pondered how much to tell them. He realized before long that he'd already made up his mind to inform them fully. He needed their advice and connections if he was going to move forward with a more formal campaign against his antagonists.

"What did you need, dear?" asked Helena as she arrived with Thurston on her heels.

"Please, have a seat. I want to go over a couple of things with you two so that you're in the loop. I need your advice, and I'm going to have to ask for your discretion as well."

"You have it, Carson, whatever you need," promised Thurston. Helena nodded in agreement.

As briefly as he could without leaving anything out, Carson outlined the various projects he was currently juggling—the attacks against Eisenfaust, including the arrival of Addison/Starfyre, his plan to seduce Gianna van Heuval, and possibly her daughter Isana, and the bizarre turn in his relationship with Aria Clemonte.

"You've set some quite ambitious tasks for yourself my boy," observed Thurston. "Any one of these alone would be a challenge."