Work The Problem Ch. 04

The Secretary's voice was soothing. "Gentlemen, I appreciate your willingness to drop everything and come out here on such short notice. And with such vague wording on my part."

There was a third new voice now, speaking English with a heavier accent than the others. "Vague is putting it mildly. There was something in there about 'one of the biggest discoveries in all of history'. I trust you did not exaggerate."

Holly could hear the amusement in the Secretary's voice. "I think you'll agree in a moment, Deng. You see, my friends, I am almost certain that you have received briefs from each of your respective governments about this facility and the massive changes that have been occurring here lately."

"Perhaps," said the first deep voice.

"Oh, come on Yuri," said the second. "Let's put all our cards on the table. Play according to Hoyle, yes?"

"I agree, Bertie," said the third newcomer. "I'll start. The PRC first saw by satellite the construction of the new building about two months ago. We originally thought it was a simple upgrade of an existing storage facility. But we are fairly certain there is now a nuclear reactor on-site. And there are also what appear to be out-buildings full of capacitor banks. Tell us, what is going on here which requires that amount of power?"

The Secretary cleared her throat. "Holly, Ned? Can you join us, please?"

Ned gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze as they left the office and walked into the main room.

Holly was used to the reactions of 'ape-men' upon seeing her for the first time. And this trio was no different. They all stared at Holly with varying degrees of shock. There was a big, almost shaggy-looking man with dark hair, a thin man dressed in a very sharp-looking suit, and a third man with olive complexion and narrow eyes.

The sharp-dressed man was the first to break the silence. "Bloody hell, Kate. You weren't kidding."

Kate gave him a smug smile. "Introductions are in order. Holly Arnbock, this is Yuri Vassili Sergeyevich. He's from a country called Russia. This is Bertrand Hopewell, from Great Britan. And last but not least is Deng Jianhong from the People's Republic of China. Gentlemen, may I introduce you to Holly Arnbock."

Yuri was the first to move. He lumbered forward and extended a hand. "Is pleasure to meet you, Ms. Arnbock."

Her paw almost vanished in the man's big mitt-like hand as she gave what she hoped was a pleasant smile. "Thanks."

In the meantime, the Secretary of State was busy handing out folders to each of the delegates. "This is a summary of what's happened so far, to the best of our knowledge. We're telling you this as a courtesy, so you can notify your respective governments before the announcement."

"Announcement?" asked Deng.

"Yep, in about..." Kate checked her watch. "A little over four hours. The President's coming here to give an address to the nation. You might want to let your people know that they should tune in as well."

__________________________________________________________

Ned watched the President bounce his way out of the limo. The man's salt-and-pepper hair gleamed in the lights that had been set up and pointed at the podium. There was the usual throng of reporters arranged in folding chairs in front of that podium, and he was surprised to see that the chairs were mostly filled. This Presidential address had only been publicly announced a few hours ago. He could see them casting curious glances at the tall step-stool that had been placed alongside the podium.

Holly was behind him and out of view of the reporters. After some discussion, she'd decided to go with wearing a tailor-made pair of jeans and a pale red blouse. It didn't look too formal, and Holly had said she wanted something to make her look as 'normal' as possible.

He felt Holly's small frame press against his back in a gentle hug. "I just hope I don't freak out," she said. "I keep thinking about how many millions of people will be looking at me."

He reached behind himself and scratched between her ears. Holly all but melted against him at the act. "Don't worry, babe. Just picture them all naked."

Holly laughed. "That doesn't help. Then I'll just want to jump them all." A furry paw reached down and groped at his crotch. "Especially if they're anywhere near as well-endowed as you are, big guy."

Ned felt his face flush with embarrassment as one of the nearby technicians gave a little snort of suppressed laughter.

The President nodded pleasantly at the assembled group. "Thanks for coming on such short notice, folks. The reason we're way out here instead of in DC will be clear in a bit. I won't be taking questions during the address, but we will have a Q&A session afterwards." He turned to look at the technician that had just laughed. "How are we doing?"

The man straightened up. "Good, sir. We're all set. I'll cue you." He held up a finger with four fingers extended. Then there were three.

Then two.

One...

The President smiled into the cameras, and Ned felt himself smile automatically in return. The man definitely had a presence. "My fellow Americans," said the President. Then he paused for dramatic effect. "I'm going to change the standard format for reasons that will soon become obvious. Let me start again. My fellow humans. It is with awe and wonder that I come before you today. And what I have to announce is very simple, but profound. Seven months ago, we received absolute proof of the existence of alternate dimensions. And in those dimensions are beings just like us, with reasoning and the same innate curiosity that drives our own species. One of those beings was brought to our world completely by accident. And in the months between then and now our main goal has been to not only understand what has happened but to bring her home. So now, may I introduce to you all the very first brave traveler between our dimensions...Ms. Holly Arnbock."

Holly gave Ned's junk one final squeeze, and then she moved around him to walk out into the glare of the television lights. Ned could hear the collective intake of breath from the reporters, and knew that the same reaction was happening in various places all over the world.

But the lagomorph took the sounds of surprise in stride as she hopped up onto the step-stool next to the President. Now she was at the same eye-level as him, and she stared out into the crowd with her big blue eyes. A pleasant smile was plastered on her face, but Ned could see the little jitter in one of her big feet that meant she was still nervous as hell.

The President was as smooth as ever. "We'll be handing out briefs to you all regarding the specifics of what has happened. And, just to keep us honest, we also have present witnesses from several different nations." He nodded over to the other side, where stood the three delegates that Holly had met earlier. "Within a few days, we will have more delegates arriving, and we also expect to have finished the machinery that will allow us to connect back to Ms. Arnbock's dimension. Then we will be able to open up true communication between our two worlds."

There was another pause, again for dramatic effect. "We have one plea to everyone during this process, and that is...be patient. This is the first time that anything like this has been ever attempted, by either her people our ours. Mistakes will be made. But with good will and honesty on both sides, I believe that we can ultimately bring our two peoples together and forge an alliance that will stand the test of time.

"I thank you all. It is a truly humbling moment in my life to be the vessel that brings the human race such important news. Good night, and may God bless us all."

The president relaxed against the podium. "Now, does anyone have any questions?"

There was a moment of stunned silence, quickly followed by a forest of upraised hands and a chorus of shouting.

__________________________________________________________

Holly lay back on one end of the sofa and let Ned massage her feet. "Whoof. I'm so glad that's over. I thought I'd never get away from those reporters."

They had finally been allowed to retire to their shared quarters. It was a lot nicer set-up than they'd had in Dengar labs, and a lot bigger than Ned had expected.

"You did great," he said. "You looked really calm, although I did think your foot was going to vibrate off at one point."

Holly growled a little. "Honestly, it was the big picture questions that threw me the most. How should I know how my people are going to react to you all? I'm an accountant, for cryin' out loud."

Ned smiled. "They're reporters. It's their job to ask stupid questions so that nobody else has to."

Holly laughed. "Our people have the same problem."

"So, one big thing down, one more to go," said Ned.

She stretched out her other foot and twiddled her toes. "That's the real big one, isn't it? I just hope my people don't freak out too much."

"Well, that's why you're going through first." Ned switched his attention to her other foot.

Holly gave a little murr of pleasure as his thumbs dug into her arch. "Oh, yeah. That's the spot. You don't think that will be dangerous, do you?"

He gave her a puzzled look. "Why would it be? I mean, we'll send robots through first just to make sure the portal itself won't be harmful. And you'll be going home, so we monkey-boys will be the odd ones for once." He paused. "Do you think your people will be cool with us?"

In response Holly planted her currently un-occupied foot in his groin and massaged it with her nimble toes. Ned gave a little groan and felt his cock shift as he responded to her kneading. She gave him an evil grin. "They will, once I tell them how good your people are in bed."

Ned whimpered as her toes gripped his still-clothed cock and squeezed it. "That's right, you slut," she whispered. "Get it hard for me."

Her ears tucked down behind her head and she began breathing faster. Before he could blink she lunged for his crotch. Ned was speechless as she quickly unlaced his belt and opened his fly. Her paw dove in and fished out his by-now-rigid member. There was no licking or other foreplay as she took him into her mouth with one gulp.

The sensation of his cock being suddenly surrounded by wet and warmth made Ned's breath seize in his throat. He finally let out a gasp as Holly began to move her head. Ned had just enough presence of mind to reach down and stroke along Holly's ears, then down her back. She still had her clothes on, but the jeans she wore had a cutout for her tail. He took the opportunity to get in a good fondle of that downy-soft appendage, and he felt Holly's whole body shudder.

In response she shoved her pink snub nose right down into his pubic hairs. Ned gasped again as he felt her throat grip and massage his member.

She pulled herself off of his cock and gasped as well, then gave him a triumphant grin. "You liked that?"

With one hand he scooped her up and brought her into his lap. Her jeans-clad crotch ground against his wet erection as they stared into each other's eyes. "You know I did," he said. "Now get undressed."

In contrast to his aggressive words, once he'd shucked Holly's clothes off he took his time. After she'd impaled herself on him, he gripped her hips to hold her still. Then, while staring into her deep eyes, he ever-so-slowly pulled her up and then with equally agonizing slowness pulled her back onto his prick until his was hilted inside her.

Holly shuddered. "Oh, you teasing bitch," she whispered in delight, her eyes never leaving his. Ned grinned and kept up the slow-and-steady pumping. All the while he was ignoring the instinctual urge to begin pounding her like a jackhammer. Finally he couldn't resist it any more, and began to speed up.

She tucked her head down under his chin and gripped his shoulders to hold on as he thrust with ever-quickening speed. Somewhere in the middle she gave a little squeaking cry and shook against him. Ned was close himself, and began to buck up with abandon as her inner muscles milked at his cock. He felt himself pulse deep inside her as stars danced in his eyes.

As his breathing slowed, he heard Holly whisper. "You'll be there when I go through, right?"

He stroked her fuzzy head. "I'll be right by your side the whole time, Holly. No matter what."

__________________________________________________________

Sergeant Forrester knew that his orders were to show all possible courtesy to their foreign guests. But he was also told to keep them from poking *too* deeply into the guts of the portal equipment. Which in turn meant he had to act as an escort if any of them were in what was being referred to as 'Main Operations'. At least the Russian was a pleasant-enough guy.

The two men stood in front of what looked like an MRI made for Godzilla. The cavernous warehouse-sized room was filled with all of the machine's support equipment, and there was a definite chill in the air from all of the liquid nitrogen used to cool the huge cables leading into the massive torus at the center of the space.

Arnold was leading a veritable army of technicians as they roamed all over the machine, checked gauges, and read out the corresponding values to each other. Arnold himself had a checklist about three yards long and appeared to be only about half-way down it.

"Is quite impressive!" said Yuri in his deep voice. "But you say the portal is only going to be two meters?"

The sergeant nodded. "The eggheads say that's as big as they can get it right now. As we get better at it, who knows? At least it'll be big enough for most people to get through."

"Da," said the Russian, and slapped his paunch. "Is good incentive to go on diet!" He laughed, then looked down in puzzlement. "Appears to be dog in here."

Cal looked down at a familiar blocky shape that panted next to Yuri's leg. "Oh, that's Daisy. She has to say hello to anyone new."

"Dog is not dangerous, I assume?" asked Yuri. As if in response, Daisy flopped on her side then rolled on her back and gave the delegate a look that clearly said Why aren't you petting my tummy?

Cal smiled as the Russian reached down and gave Daisy a friendly scratching. "No, she's more like our unoffical mascot." He looked up again at the machine. "One more day," he mused. "And then everything changes."

Yuri straightened back up and gave a grave nod. "Da, everything."

__________________________________________________________

Robert Hadley heard what sounded like a crack of thunder. He looked up in puzzlement and saw a few dark clouds in the sky, but nothing else. The weather forecast hadn't mentioned thunderstorms. The storms had been getting more prevalent in the last few months. The farmer was a little superstitious about such things, especially since one of his neighbors had gone missing during just such an unexpected storm.

His long ears twitched as he heard another, softer crack. Now he was sure that it was coming from inside his barn. Robert padded towards the structure, but some sixth sense made him stop at the door. Something was off, but at first he couldn't say what it was. Then looked down at his arm reaching for the door, and realized that the fur on that arm was standing up. He quietly backed up and saw his fur subside.

Robert looked up at the barn. The big, two-story structure had several windows above the main door. He'd parked a tractor nearby which should act as a handy platform to take a peek through those windows.

He hopped up easily onto the tractor cab's roof, and once up there he kept himself low and out of the line of sight of the windows. Robert couldn't say why he was being so suspicious, but somewhere in the back of his mind he was thinking of his missing neighbor.

Robert shuffled forward and then, ever so slowly, edged himself upward so that he could see down into the barn. Among the various storage bins and equipment was a large black 'hole' with glowing edges. He could see little bits of litter flutter around the strange phenomenon, as if the air was disturbed by its very presence. As he watched, the hole's glowing edges pulsed and the thing grew wider.

Something emerged from the hole. It was a metal box on a sinuous, tentacle-like arm. One face of the box had a large black lens, and Robert realized this was a camera of some sort. The camera spun with surprising speed on its supporting limb, and the lagomorph found himself staring right into that black lens. Almost on instinct, he did a backwards vault off of the cab that would have done credit to any human gymnast. There was a smashing of glass from above and behind him as his big feet hit the ground; that 'camera' must have fired something through the window.

He crouched for a brief moment, his heart hammering in his ribs. Then he turned and ran for his house as fast as he could. Hopefully his phone still worked, and hopefully he could remember the number for the local militia leader. As he ran, he could hear more smashing and crackling behind him as whatever-it-was did more damage to his barn.

__________________________________________________________

Ned was still dealing with the notion of being famous. His whole part in Holly's adventure had been published along with the other details, and he'd had to shut off his phone to avoid the deluge of reporters trying to get an 'exclusive'. Both he and Holly had been all but imprisoned on the base; any stepping out of the gate would result in a big throng of reporters yelling questions and trying to surround them.

There was a small group of reporters nearby, but at the moment they had more important things to cover than him or even Holly. The cavernous room of Main Operations was filled with people, and all eyes were on John Dengar and Arnold Hunter. The two men stood at the main control panel. John was the one mainly operating it, while Arnold kept up a running commentary for the benefit of everyone else.

Around the big torus of the portal itself was arranged Lt. Jenkins' Ranger platoon. The sight of the soldiers was a little disconcerting, but Ned's disquiet was mollified by the fact that they weren't armed. That had been the decree from the President himself. The first people through the portal couldn't be carrying so much as a butter knife. Right in front of the torus was a little six-wheeled robot with multiple cameras and a long cable that trailed back towards the main control panel.

Ned and Holly were just in front of the line of soldiers and right behind the robot. He took a deep breath to try to relax himself, and felt Holly's foot tapping the floor next to him.

Arnold's voice sounded throughout Main Operations. "Okay, we've got a good charge on the capacitor banks. Those will give us the burst of power we need to initiate the portal. Once it's up, our on-site power plant will be able to provide enough energy to sustain it. Thirty seconds to initiation."

"Everything is green," said John. He looked back at the group nearest the main panel. "We're all set, Mr. President."

The President nodded. "Go for it."

"Twenty seconds," said Arnold.

Holly's foot started to really go into overdrive.

John's voice was calm. "Ten seconds...superconducting cables are nominal...five, four, three, two, one, initiation."

Ned expected some sort of huge noise or flash. But it was almost anticlimactic. In the middle of the metal torus appeared the tiniest spark of pale blue light. In an eye-blink it had expanded to a ring of blue the size of a basketball, then more slowly it began to expand further. In the middle of that glowing ring was what looked like a field of long grass that waved gently under the light of a bright sun. The view through the portal wavered and shifted as if seen through water. Within a few more seconds the glowing ring was just a big bigger than man-sized.