The Krakow Klub (17 page)

He was suddenly startled by the ringing of
his cell phone. It didn’t
actually
ring
but played a medley of Scottish pipes and drums. It
was Julia.

He would have to be very careful in revealing
his identity to Julia. She already knew his name and knew that he
owned the
island,
but she had no idea that he
was part Mylean. She knew about the alien craft that had been
sighted but would never have guessed that John
was
the earthling associated
with it. Never, not in a million
years. She hadn’t been overly concerned about the reports as she
had always believed that other life existed in the universe. The
news had indicated that the craft was just passing through the
Earth’s solar system and posed no
threat,
and
that had quite satisfied her curiosity.

John formulated a plan in which he would
invite Julia to Scott Key and then slowly, very slowly, introduce
her to his real life. First, maybe she would meet Mister T and
would probably be rather shocked by the very lifelike robot.

Next, maybe he would have Mister T serve them
an elegant meal in the villa where he could gradually begin to tell
her about his contacts with Mylea and how Maxx had controlled his
life.

If all went as planned, he would show her his
spacecraft and maybe even take her for a ride.

“
Hi,
Julia. Thanks for
calling back so soon. I’m down here on the
island,
and I
thought
that it would
be nice if you could come out for a few days. The place is most
comfortable,
and I’ve even upgraded a few
things already.

“You could stay in the guest house
or
the villa. Just take your pick. My personal
assistant will be on hand to act as chaperone. I have arrangements
with a helicopter pilot in Key West who could bring you
out,
or I could charter a boat.

“I’ve also invited a couple of other guests
to join us. You’ll find them to be most agreeable companions for a
few days in the sun. Jim Slater will be coming down from
Washington. He’s like a son to
me,
and I’m
planning to offer him a partnership in a business venture that I’m
going to start.

“The other guest is a young lady that I’m
hiring to manage my affairs in London. I’m planning to play cupid
for the two of them. They were once a couple when they were at
Oxford together. Maybe you could help me out; I’m no expert in such
matters.”

He had hardly paused for breath until now. He
suddenly was filled
with anxiety. Had he been
too pushy? Had he been presumptuous? What would she say?

There was a long, silent pause.

“John Scott! What a wicked invitation! I
hardly know
you,
and you’ve already asked me
to spend the weekend with you. What should an innocent maiden do?
You have scandalized me!”

Another pause.

Then, she laughed impishly. “Tell me more.
Key West
is totally overrun
with tourists at
the
moment,
and I could use a respite.”

“I didn’t mean to come across as pushy. I’m
just so excited about the island that I can hardly wait to have
some guests over. I’d love for you to be the first.”

Julia’s amused laugh surprised him. “I think
that I can manage to work you into my busy schedule. Maybe I could
get there a little
early,
and we could plot
together. I haven’t played matchmaker in years. And, I think that
it would be great fun to come over by boat. I am not overly fond of
helicopters; in fact, I detest the things.”

“That makes me the
happiest
man in the world! I’ll have a car pick you up at
your place and take you to the marina tomorrow at ten AM. You’ll be
here in time for lunch and we can go from there.”

“John, I already checked you out for a
criminal record so I think I’ll be at least relatively safe. I’ve
dealt with men who got out of line in the past, so I think that I
could handle you if the need arose. By the way, I’m licensed to
carry a
gun,
and I’m a crack shot.” She
laughed again. “You should see me with an automatic weapon that’s
almost as big as I am.”

“I’ll keep that in mind and try to prevent
you from turning my place into a practice range. The one thing that
I will promise you is that you will have a lovely time. I’ll be
waiting for you at the dock.”

He ended the call and spoke aloud, “You won’t
regret this. Or, at least I hope and pray that you
won’t.”

He went back into the villa and gave Mister T
instructions for the arrival of his guest along with ideas for a
romantic dinner for two. He specified the wines, champagne, and
liquors
that he wanted to be served
throughout
the evening. John wanted everything to be perfect and even
requested special flowers and music. By now, he was as excited as a
high school boy getting ready for prom night.

Mister T committed the orders
to his memory bank. Then he analyzed John’s behavior.
Humans
were of constant interest to him since they based most of their
actions on emotions. He thought, “Humans and Myleans might look
alike,
but that’s where the resemblance
ends.”

He shook his head and spoke aloud, “Humans
are, indeed, a strange and unpredictable species. Most
interesting.”

Somewhere, from very, very far away in outer
space, Maxx responded with a loud, “Amen!”

John went to bed rather early that night but
hardly slept a wink. He had not one but two brandies before he
retired to his suite, but they didn’t seem to help. Sleep eluded
him until almost dawn. His last thoughts before drifting off were
of his German ancestors who were well known to consume copious
quantities of alcohol without being visibly affected. For that, he
was most thankful. Over the years, he could usually out drink
everyone at a party and still wake up refreshed and ready for
action. He had experienced a couple of serious hangovers in his
early
years,
but those were evenings that he
preferred to forget.

The next morning, John did suffer a bit from
his overindulgence the evening before. Then, he remembered his
first trip to the interstellar transporter when he had consumed
more than a little alcohol. He wasn’t happy with himself and had
asked Mister T if he had something that might prevent a hangover.
The faithful robot had left and returned with a supply of tiny
colorful capsules. He took the prescribed number
and—Voila!—
he felt like a new man the next day. Surely,
these little babies could cure a hangover too. He called Mister T
and humbly asked for the medicine.

Maxx, somewhere in space, was, as usual,
monitoring John’s every action. He had already noted that his brain
was functioning at a rather low level this morning. Right then and
there, he decided that human hangovers probably deserved a bit of
study, perhaps coming in handy at some time in the future.

Mister T brought the capsules and John downed
them quickly. Within minutes, he began to feel much better, and
soon he was again in top form.

“Mister T, I never thought of it before, but
did Myleans drink much? They seemed to be such a serious lot that I
rather doubt it. Somehow, I just can’t see them doing any
heavy-duty partying.”

Mister T just shrugged his shoulders in
confusion. He had no definition in his databank for heavy-duty
partying.

By 10:00 AM, the villa was in readiness for
its very first guest. At 11:45,
John
and
Mister T waited at the dock for the boat that would bring Julia to
Scott Key. The boat arrived on
time,
and John
stepped forward to assist her to the dock.

After helping Julia onto the dock, John waved
to the captain
that it was
okay
to leave. John then introduced Julia to Mister
T.

She stared quizzically at the humanoid robot.
“John, you didn’t tell me that you had a brother, much less a twin
brother. I have a feeling that you’ve been keeping more than a few
secrets from me.”

“Mister T and I are not physical
brothers,
but we are brothers in spirit. I’m going to
unload all my secrets this
weekend,
and I can
only hope that you can understand my hesitancy to be upfront from
the time that we met. My past is just highly unusual instead of
highly unacceptable.”

Julia nodded
slightly,
and they walked up the
palm-shaded
pathway to
the villa. Her eyes roamed over tropical plants and then over the
villa itself.

“I saw a picture of the island while it was
for sale. I must say that I was quite curious about its history and
of who might buy it. I assume that you’ll include all that in the
unveiling of your private self.”

They entered the
house,
and John gave her a quick tour then escorted her to the guest
cottage where she had chosen to stay. It was a smaller version of
the villa that had been designed by the original architect and
furnished impeccably. Julia placed her small travel bag in the
bedroom and returned to John’s side in the living area.

“I’ve had Mister T arrange for us to eat
outdoors on the veranda of the main house. He’s prepared quite a
feast of your favorite foods, so I hope that you won’t be
disappointed.”

Soon, they were seated on the sunny veranda
surrounded by bougainvillea and brightly colored hibiscus. The
white wrought iron table
had been set
for two,
and Mister T had raised a large umbrella to protect them from the
midday sun. Soft music emanated from concealed speakers.

They took their
seats,
and Mister T appeared immediately with two Bloody Mary cocktails
that were perfectly chilled. Tiny droplets of condensation slid
gently down the sides of the glasses in the humid atmosphere of the
Keys.

Next, a meal of lobster salad served with
champagne, and finally a light dessert.

Mister T cleared the table, returned with a
tablet computer, and then disappeared discreetly back into the
villa.

“Julia, I’ve prepared for this by making a
visual presentation for you that should help you better understand
what I’m going to tell you. I’ve told you about my childhood and my
early
days,
but that’s where I stopped.”

He spoke slowly and carefully about the
events leading up to his visit to Mylea. Maxxine had created a
montage of photographs to support his confessions. Finally, he told
of his visit to Mylea, of the colossal computer Maxx, of Jim Slater
and Mitch,
and
Mister T.

Julia sat in total silence. She didn’t
interrupt or ask a single question. The afternoon wore on and soon
shadows were lengthening. Mister T, ever alert, noted the angle of
the sun and immediately came out and adjusted the umbrella to shade
them better.

By the end of his story, John was totally
exhausted, both mentally and emotionally. He had no idea how Julia
would deal with his confession. Her face was impassive and gave no
indication of her inner feelings.

“Julia, I’ve given you chapter one of my
life story
. There’s more to tell. If this is
too much for you, I can have a helicopter pick you up and return
you to Key West.”

Julia patted his wrist. “I’ve already told
you that I hate riding in helicopters. Noisy beasts. You’ve told a
pretty far-fetched
tale,
but I’d rather listen
to more of it than head back to Key West.”

John let out an audible sigh of relief. “The
spaceship that
was recently discovered
in our
solar system was from the planet Mylea.” He touched the computer
screen and an image of the interstellar transporter appeared. “I
can assure you that what I’ve told you is the absolute truth. To
make things easier for you, I’ve arranged for Mister T to be
available to you so that you can interview him in private. His
story is quite
fascinating,
and so is he. He
is a robot. He
was created
in the image of
Tanaka. Apparently, Tanaka and I probably looked like twins due to
our common genetic profiles. Hence, Maxx created Mister T to look
just like me. I think that it was a Maxx
joke,
but
it has worked
out perfectly.”

Julia rose and slowly walked to his side of
the table. “This isn’t what I expected to hear. I thought that
maybe you came from a long line of respected Georgia moonshiners,
or maybe you even had something of a dark past yourself.

“Now, you tell me fantastic tales of space,
black holes, and endangered
planets
. I’ve
never questioned the belief that there were other civilizations out
there
somewhere,
but I never thought that I’d
be drawn into some interplanetary drama myself. To be honest, I do
have many reservations, but it’s hard for me to believe that you
would, or could,
fabricate
such an incredible
story.

“I’ll take you up on your offer of an
interview with this robot of yours, but right now, I think I need
to head over to the guest house for a little private time. I need
to digest all this,
and
by the way, I’d like
to take that tablet with me and review those photos that you’ve
been showing me.”

John shut the computer down and handed it to
Julia. “There are additional images stored in the computer, and
you’re welcome to look at all of them. I can only give you my
sincerest thanks for listening so calmly. I’ll have Mister T meet
you at the guest house in an hour if that’s acceptable to you.”

She nodded absently, picked up the tablet,
and then walked away down the pathway to the guesthouse.