Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 23

Just then the statue turned and looked to the south.

The Admiral exclaimed, "It moves! What the hell is it doing?"

Mark said, "If he moved, that means there's either a plane or a ship that is within our EEZ. He's just warning them right now!"

The Captain then said, "Is that what set off my scanners when we were first approaching Atlantis?"

"Well, it wouldn't have been this statue, but probably one or two of the others."

"What would've happened if I hadn't turned around?"

"If you didn't change course, it would've scrambled our fighters and locked on to you at 125 miles, up until you hit the 50 mile barrier, then you wouldn't be here."

"You can't have something like that! Who is manning it?"

Mark laughed, "Nobody mans them! Just like the Kraken, they're autonomous!"

The Admiral looked a bit concerned, as Jared asked, "Are we expected to walk from here?"

"We don't have to, but if you want a good tour of the city, this is the best way to do it. It's only 2.5 kilometres to the city centre," as they started walking out of the gateway building and across the first expanse of water.

The Lieutenant asked, "Is this road made of gold?"

"Yeah, it wasn't originally, thousands of years ago it was just a stone road. When we rebuilt the island, we covered the bridges and made the roads solid. This morning, someone joked about following the yellow brick road, so I turned it into gold and everyone liked it, so we kept it... this is the only path that's gold."

"You changed an entire road into gold... as a joke?" the Lieutenant said in amazement.

Just then everyone noticed Jared, who was a very rotund individual and probably had never been out from behind his desk, was absolutely soaked in sweat and wheezing against the railing and they had barely made it out of the gateway structure yet. The weather was about 24C, which was seasonal for that time of year, but it was quite humid.

Mark asked with concern, "Are you going to be OK?"

Jared wheezed, "There is no way I'm going to be able to walk that far in this heat!"

The Admiral asked, "My apologies for my assistant, but would you have a wheelchair or a scooter he can borrow?"

Mark shook his head, "No, there's nothing like that here, if you can't get there with transit, you walk! It's part of how our people stay fit. Despite what you see on TV, we don't have moving sidewalks everywhere and stuff that makes us lazy. We don't sit in our houses watching TV, playing video games, sitting in front of computers, and driving everywhere. Our houses are basically sleeping quarters, we do have television, but it's mainly for news, sports and weather."

Captain Litta asked, "So what if you want to play video games or use a computer?"

Mark answered, "Then you go to a bar, an arcade or a library, although many have home offices and they would likely have a computer in there."

The Captain looked astonished, "So you have to go to a library to check your email?"

"Of course not! Emails come through the wrist console that all citizens have," Mark said as he tapped his wrist and the display turned on, "It's also a type of computer, just not one you sit down to write an essay at or anything, you could I suppose, but I wouldn't."

Jared wheezed loudly and they all looked at him as he seemed to be on the verge of collapse, clinging to the railing as he was looking down the long straight path over the half kilometre of water. He didn't look well at all, so Mark said, "Tell you what, why don't we get back in the lift and go directly to the city centre, then I can give you a tour if you want or you can just explore the island like everyone else is?"

They walked the dozen or so steps back out to the gate building and Mark ordered a lift from his wrist device. A few seconds later a lift descended that said, 'PHOENIX' and they got in, once the doors closed Mark tapped the icons to take them to the city centre.

"Might I might suggest going to medical first and getting checked out?"

The wheezing assistant agreed, so Mark tapped the icons and redirected the lift to Cleito's Temple. That was one advantage the private lifts had over the public lifts... you could redirect them while you were in transit.

A minute later, the lift was landing on top of the temple. They exited and pressed the button for the hover elevator. The door opened up and they descended down into the temple, where all the lights were on and Mark was surprised to see a technician was behind the central desk.

Cleo, the medical technician from the Embassy, said, "I saw you landing on the roof, do you need some help?"

Taryn said, "Cleo! This man is having problems coping with the climate here. Can you give him a tune up?"

"Sure thing!" Cleo said, as she opened the door to Room 1 from behind the desk, "Please go into that room, remove your clothes and hang them on the wall, then remove any jewelry and place them on the table by the clothing synth, then lie in the medibed... I'll be in shortly."

Everyone could see the medical cross on her shoulder, so they didn't question her orders.

A minute later, Jared's name appeared on the wall beside the door and Cleo went into the room. A couple of minutes after that, the wall displayed a time in green below the name. She then stepped out of the room and saw where everyone was looking and smiled, "I love this place, it's just like the embassy, but bigger!"

According to the time, he would be getting out at 17:20, which was just under two hours from now.

Mark turned to the men, "Well, it looks like we have a couple of hours. Since you will be spending the night, why don't we get you some rooms in the palace?"

Taryn said she was going to stay and talk with Cleo for a bit and would catch up later.

As they exited the temple, Mark pointed out the amphitheatre, the Senate Chamber and Communal Meal Pavilion then, as he pointed at the Temple of Poseidon, he said, "If you are interested in learning about Atlantis, that place probably has all the answers you are looking for, or you could also talk to an Oracle there."

They walked to the palace and went to the concierge at the front desk off to the right of the courtyard entrance. Mark didn't know her name, but recognized the girl working the desk as one of the administrators from the Embassy. She introduced herself as Ally and quickly got them booked in to 4 rooms on level 4.

The Americans were amazed that they didn't get any keys or anything, just a business card with the room number printed on the back, but Mark just assured them the doors will only open for them, then explained that the doors weren't even really doors, just force fields.

Mark led them to the elevators behind the concierge desk and the elevator automatically rose to level 4. Since they were the only people on level 4, their rooms were all near the elevator. They were amazed when the doors just disappeared when the correct person touched their hand to the blue dot, then the door wouldn't close until the person touched either the inside or outside dot.

The rooms were decent sized with a king-size bed, two night tables with lamps, a dresser, a desk and a washroom with a shower. Mark showed them how the privacy feature of the windows worked, then how the clothing synth worked, in case they wanted to wear something other than what they were currently wearing, then finally how to reset the bed. After showing them all that, he saw a pamphlet on the dresser that also explained all the room features.

Seeing the surprised looks on their faces, Mark asked, "Will this do?"

The Admiral answered, "This will do fine, thank you for your hospitality."

Mark then said, "Sorry about the tour! I'll be around in case you still want one, or you can just explore on your own. If you need to contact me, just ask Ally at the front desk, as he left the men on the walkway outside their rooms and went down to the ground level.

"Cricket, you're going to keep an eye on them right?"

"Of course! I have a drone assigned to each of them."

Mark stopped and talked to Ally and told her to contact him if the guests inquired. He then walked back outside toward Cleito's Temple and found Cleo and Taryn in the office.

It's a good thing the doors in Atlantis were just force fields, they don't make any sound when they open and close, although businesses were just open all the time and functioned like the force field on a shuttle, you can walk through it, but it prevents weather and wind from passing. Then when the business is closed, the force field turns solid, however medical is open all the time.

Taryn was naked and sitting in one of the chairs, while Cleo was also naked and on her knees licking Taryn's pussy. Taryn saw Mark enter and put her finger to her lips and then mouthed the words 'fuck her'.

Watching a fox getting her pussy licked by another fox had Mark's cock hard, as it sprang free when he undid his pants. Mark quietly moved behind Cleo, with Taryn moaning louder to mask any sounds. Not wanting to risk her feet touching him, he squat down with his feet spread wide, Cleo's tail was raised with her arousal, so Mark lined his cock up with her unsuspecting slit. Her pussy was glistening with wetness, so Mark hoped it would be enough lubrication to enter her.

In one swift move, he thrust deep into the fox, her pussy was indeed very wet and Mark slipped in easily. Cleo groaned as she got impaled and then looked over her shoulder to see who was fucking her.

When she saw Mark, she smiled and began pushing back against him as she returned to eating Taryn's pussy.

They fucked like that for a few minutes and then switched it up. Cleo sat in the chair and Taryn turned her ass towards Mark, her pussy was very wet and Mark happily slipped his cock inside it. Her pussy was still very tight!

Taryn was simultaneously fingering Cleo's pussy and her ass, using an copious amount of pussy juice as lube for her ass. Slowly Taryn worked up until she could slide her fist into Cleo's ass, which made Cleo gasp for air. Then, with an evil grin, Taryn slid her other fist into Cleo's pussy. Then started pushing both in and out, moving Cleo's chair back and forth with just the grip of her ass and pussy keeping her from rolling away.

That sight, added to Taryn's tight pussy, soon brought Mark to the point of no return, as he started pumping his cum deep into the fox, who wiggled her ass to make sure she got every drop.

Cleo was also orgasming and squeezing Taryn's hands inside her, preventing her from pulling her hands out until after the orgasm subsided.

Taryn slowly withdrew her fists from her friend who immediately helped her off the floor, then pushed her back onto the desk, lifted her legs and began to lick the cum dripping out of her pussy.

After they had recovered, they got dressed before anyone else came in. They weren't sure if the men would come back to get Jared or not, but there was now less than half an hour left on the timer.

Now that he had a chance to look at the facility, there was 10 rooms on each wall, with the walk-in entrances on the corners. The technician station was large round desk in the middle with four exits offset from the entrances. It looked like there was a second level, so when Mark asked about it, Cleo said that it had a staff kitchen and four rooms on the one side. The other sides appeared to be storage, training or meeting rooms.

Mark looked at Cleo and asked, "So have you had a chance to go out exploring the island yet?"

Just then the Americans walked in to collect their colleague, who still had a few minutes to go.

Mark asked, "Hi guys, did you have a chance to do much looking around yet?"

Admiral Caldwell looked upset, "Yes, and I need to talk to you about the Oracle."

Mark said, "Oookkaaayyy, there's not a lot that I can do about her, but we can talk. Now or later?"

"Later is fine!"

Mark turned back to Cleo, "So have you gone out exploring yet?"

Cleo said, "I've explored one location on each side of the mountains. The views from the transit stations have been handy. I've been able to do lots of sightseeing without having to travel all over the place."

Mark was curious, as this was something he wasn't aware of, "The views?"

Cricket then said, "Someone mentioned that while they were sightseeing and it was a good idea! I actually have 3 drones floating above each transit station, one is right above the station giving you a ground level view, then there's one at 50 metres giving you a wider view, then there's another one at one kilometre which gives you a view of the entire area. That view doesn't pan, it just looks straight down."

Cleo tapped her wrist device and pulled up a map of Atlantis, then clicked on a location and there was a VIEW icon. She touched it and you could see a view from just above the transit station at that location, the view was slowly panning around the entire area and showed you what direction the view was in the top corner, she tapped the icon again and the view zoomed out to get a wider view of the area, it was still slowly panning around the area. Then she tapped the icon again and it gave a high overhead view of the entire area.

Mark was impressed, that was a feature they needed to make sure everyone knew about, as it would sure cut down on a lot of transit time. Sure it wouldn't be as good as visiting the place in person, but you could get a good sense of the area before wasting the time to travel to it.

Mark then looked at Taryn, who was staring in awe at the view Cleo was showing of the area she liked, "Taryn there's no use being up on the embassy as it's being decommissioned. Have you picked out a room at the palace yet?"

"No, I haven't, there was a handful of us that stayed at the embassy, as we didn't want to leave it unmanned. I think the plan was go check out the island today, move everything tomorrow and then deconstruct it."

The Admiral then interjected, "You're just going to deconstruct the embassy? You just built it!"

"Yes, if we no longer need or use something, it will be deconstructed and removed from existence." Mark said, not wanting to tell them that it was going to be turned into a security station and not actually destroyed.

Cleo then said, "I'm taking first shift tomorrow so I can go exploring in the afternoon. Taryn, would you like to explore with me?"

Taryn wouldn't commit, but said she'd think about it.

Just then the computer on the desk beeped and room #1 was blinking on the display indicating the last minute for a patient. So Cleo got ready and went into the room with about 5 seconds to go.

After a couple of minutes, the Admiral was asking, "What's taking them so long?"

Mark explained, "Depending on how much repair had to be done, it can be a bit disorienting when you are released. For example, I used to wear glasses, when the medibed released me, I was completely blind for a couple of minutes. All she is doing is talking him through what's been done and helping him recover."

At that moment, Cleo stepped out of the room and said, "Jared is good to go, he's just getting dressed."

A minute later Jared walked out, he must've lost close to 50 pounds. He still looked to be about 250 lbs, but he looked a lot better than before. Everyone just stared at him as he started feeling a bit self-conscious as was holding up his pants.

Jared laughed as he said, "What? I know I need to buy some new clothes, these ones don't fit me anymore."

Cleo laughed, "Come here!" as she directed him back into the room to show him how to use a clothing synth.

Cleo came out and a couple of minutes later, Jared stepped out of the room wearing some golf pants and a golf shirt.

The Admiral said with almost a huff, "What do we owe for the treatment and the clothes?"

Mark was a bit perturbed by the Admiral's sharp attitude as he replied, "Nothing! The Federation provides free medical, clothing and food for all!"

As the mention of food, Jared's eyes went wide, "You provide free food to all?"

Mark explained, "Yes! This is why most houses don't have kitchens... we eat as a community. The menus are pretty basic, but it's paid for by donations. If you want a fancier meal or to dine privately, there's usually lots of restaurants you can go to. We just don't have any restaurants setup in Atlantis yet... maybe tomorrow?"

Mark said, "You're probably hungry right now. Most people usually are when they get out of the medibed. Let's go get something to eat, while there's still lots of food."

Jared said, "I'm starving! What is for supper tonight?"

Mark said, "I have no idea, but we're not going to know by staying here."

The Americans turned and left the building as Mark asked, "Would you two lovely ladies accompany me to supper?"

The girls hooked their arms in his as they left the temple. The sun was already down behind the mountains, so it made for a very scenic walk back to the pavilion.

The sign at the entrance to the pavilion indicated that the meal was spaghetti and garlic toast. It also said the meals were by donation, meal times were 6 to 9 and 17 to 20 and who to contact if you wanted to volunteer to work a meal.

As they were entering the queue line, Mark spotted the girls who were just sitting down to eat. There wasn't really a line up since there wasn't many people on the island, so everyone dished up their plates, grabbed a couple pieces of garlic toast each and sat down with the rest of the group.

Mark did all the introductions and everyone dug into their meals. It's tough to go wrong with spaghetti as a meal!

The girls described their trip around the island and said there was lots of beautiful places to see. Annabelle said she found a couple of potential places for her parent's new ranch. Mark mentioned the views and Annabelle said that wouldn't have helped too much as the places she was looking at were quite a ways away from any transit stations. The breakfast club also showed up for supper and got to tell everyone where they had gone sightseeing, they checked out the Port and went to a few seaside spots since none of them had ever actually been to an ocean before.

Mark up with what they had managed to accomplish that day. They had some name suggestions for the new business, but they said they would talk about it tomorrow.

The Americans were content to just eat quietly and listen to everything that was being said.

Once everyone had finished eating and had exited the meal pavilion, Admiral Caldwell asked to speak to Mark in private. Mark told everyone he was going to talk to the Admiral and then he would catch up with them.

Admiral Caldwell started off, "I need to talk to you about the Oracle, she has to go!"

Mark laughed, "Sorry, but that is never gonna happen. Why do you not like her?"

"She knows things that could jeopardize security in the world. I asked her the location of every submarine in the world and she showed me! Then I asked where every nuclear weapon was in the world and she showed me! That kind of information cannot be public knowledge, you should not have access to it!"

"So just because we have information you don't have, we shouldn't have it? Is that what you are saying? Because we have a LOT of information you don't have, and the only reason we have it, is because Earth technology is so primitive."

Mark then thought about saying, 'Security on this planet isn't really anything you need to worry about anymore,' but instead opted to say, "If it makes you feel better, if a nobody walks in off the street and asked those same questions, they would not get the same results as you did. She asked me if she should answer those questions for you, if I hadn't told her to let you ask world military questions, you wouldn't have got those answers either."