Chapter 69 Being a mechanic's apprentice for Sarge

Luke had started on a new picture, the shots were giving him no peace. He had painstakingly worked out all the details of Sarge's uniform, the eyes and the subtle hints on his face, which was dark and he wanted to color it anyway. He had struck the pose when Sarge got out of the helicopter. Everything but the face was finished, the eyes, he had started and finished, they stared at you. 

 He had spent two days on it and was glad that the course was over. Saksia had spent the last few days with her family. Her dad had finally settled in and her mom had finally recovered from not having to be in the posh anymore. So they went to see something on the island. Luke rode his scooter home after training, parked it and went to the door. 

"Young man!"

He turned around, a woman around 40 in a severe dress was standing in front of him.

"Is your mother or father here?"

"My mother is in a meeting and my father is screaming his head off to get attention."

She looked at him uncomprehendingly. She held an old-fashioned plastic notepad in her hand.

"Can you give your mom this flyer, please?"

Luke took the flyer and was surprised. It was a petition against Liz, or rather homeowners, and four people had signed it. He looked at the names. All people he didn't know. 

"And what are they trying to achieve?"

"That the owner takes care of the eyesore!" 

" I see..." Luke was about to throw the note away when a heavy army jeep skidded to a halt in front of Liz's house. Danny jumped out.

"This can't be true, Liz is really leaving these A1 tires lying around like this?" He ran to inspect the tires. Sarge got out. They were both wearing their BDUs.

"Oh, she said she had to change the tires so she could race Phil."

Danny looked up. 

Sarge lit a cigarette and looked over at the house.

"Let's check the back first."

 Danny put the tires against the wall.

"Man man man ..."

Sarge looked at Luke.

" Oh Luke, you got some garbage bags?" 

Luke nodded.

" Can you lend me some, I'll give you some back."

" Okay."

He went inside, took out a roll and brought it to Sarge. He took it and took the flyer from Luke's hand, turned it over and looked at it. Then he held it up to the cigarette butt and let it burn. The woman stamped apathetically.

"What are they doing?"

" Disposing of garbage, them?"

" I'm collecting signatures to get rid of this eyesore!" she pointed at the house. 

"Then they'll go to their own little house."

" Tell me, where's the lock for that thing?" 

"It's controlled by Id, Danny, I told you." 

"Aha, the same thing as Mei's."

Sarge turned to him.

"You got your stuff with her already?"

" Yeah man, three boxes, that's it. "

 " And your machine?"

" Yeah. Wanted to leave it with you, you know, like I used to at the Unity Stall... and!" Danny walked along the garage entrance.

" There's plenty of room here."

"You're the owner?"

" After the paperwork of the last few days, yes, co-owner and now hop!" 

She glared at him.

"How are you treating me!" she began to speak up.

" Your house is blighting this neighborhood!!!" 

Sarge blew in her face and she coughed. 

" Go away!"

" I'm not one of your tin soldiers !!!!!. My husband is LT !!!!!!"

Luke sensed that Sarge had imagined this visit differently. 

Sarge glared at them.

"Shit shit shit!" Danny rushed over.

" George, it's not worth it. Lady, you better go."

" I can stand where I want!!! I have to see this filth every day!!!" Danny hugged Sarge.

"Kid, get over there, get the boss, he's already annoyed enough with the office jerks." 

He looked at Sarge, saw the look on his face. 

He ran as fast as he could, slammed into the wall, picked himself up and dashed around the corner into the Terrasa. Alex sipped a beer.

"Grandpa, some old lady from the neighborhood association, she's been bickering around here, and Sarge is about to rip her head off."

"Association?" Tear her head off?" 

"Grandpa, I watched the video... actually boring... well, but I know that Sarge works for Sonder Einheit." 

"It's no secret, he says so, but people don't understand." Alex stood up, walked to the front door, opened it, Luke followed him. Danny was really struggling to push Sarge away.

Alex sipped his beer and slumped down.

"George," Sarge looked from the woman to Alex, going quiet.

Danny breathed a sigh of relief and looked to George.

"Man, good thing I told you not to bring that gun."

" Good idea." Sarge looked at Jeep.

"George, please don't do that. "

" Aye sir."

" What about them? What do they want here? "

" I'm collecting signatures" Alex took the clipboard and looked at it." 

" I'm against it" He put the can on Luke's head and tore the plastic board effortlessly. Then he took the can back.

"Luke, a bag."

He tore one off and opened it. Alex dropped the board inside.

" If I see you at any of the front doors on this street, you'll end up in a cell."

" I don't take orders here!"

" Tell your husband to radio in tomorrow at 7 a.m. for a call. If you don't tell him, the military police will come and bring him to me. Did you understand that? " 

She took a swing.

George grabbed her by the neck and pulled her up. She struggled, her face contorted with pain.

Alex looked at her.

"Let me be clearer, I own the houses on this street. That house there," he pointed to Liz's house, " I gave it to my daughter.

"I gave it to my daughter, who once managed to find someone to help her clean it up. "

A haggard lieutenant came running up, you could tell he was suffering from his wife.

" Oh Edna... I told you to cut the crap." He saluted Alex.

" Help me out Theo, don't be a wimp!"

" Edna just shut the fuck up! " He looked at Alex, " I'll take any punishment. "

Alex continued to look at her.

" I should never have married you, no guts in my pants! "

" Edna, shut up! Don't you know what a mess you've made of things!" 

" All I see is a wanker!!!" she shouted, as Sarge tightened his grip.

"Do they want a divorce?" Alex looked at Theo. 

" She's been refusing to sign for years.... Sir..."

" Ah, nice to sit in the nest you've made. I see. Housewife?" 

Theo nodded.

"

 Danny, please call the admin office."

"Aye aye," then he dialed the number.

"Hello, this is Krueger, yes, I'm calling on behalf of the boss, I'll connect."

He handed him the cell phone. Alex took it.

"Ei Mahlzeit, tell me, a divorce petition for ..." he glanced at Theo's signs. 

"Hopkins ..." He listened. "Yes... yes. Paragraph 67 d yes... yes... thank you." He hung up and handed the phone back to Danny. He looked at Edna.

" So your divorce is final. You're about to be escorted by police officers to collect your belongings and taken off the premises."

She spat out, not meeting Alex's eyes.

The MP's car pulled up and two women got out. They came closer.

"Sir, who do you want us to take? "

Danny came closer. 

"Betrayal, where are you going with Mei?" he asked quietly. 

She looked at him and stuck her tongue out. 

" She's going to the cell."

The other looked at Alex, she spat on the floor.

"Aye, sir, double attack, sir?"

Edna tried to spit again, Sarge squeezed this time and she cried out. 

The woman looked at Sarge.

"George, take it easy. Put her down, okay?" She put the handcuffs on Edna. George let her go. 

"Thank you," she smiled and reached for Edna. 

" You're under arrest, the charge is assault on the commanding officer of this base. "

The other one who had handcuffed Edna looked at George. 

"Can I still come by in my car? "

George rubbed the back of his head and nodded.

"Then we'll help you clean up. " 

The other looked at them. 

"We? Why me?" 

" You wrecked my car, that's why." They took her and drove off. Theo stood there a little helpless. Alex looked at him. 

"Well, Hopkins, I'd say throw away your ex-wife's stuff.

" Can I still stay, sir? Don't I have to go to a barracks?"

" No. You know my daughter Liz."

Hopkins nodded.

" She used to hang out by the pool, smoke, drink beer and talk to the woman in the house. I'm going to say goodbye." 

He left. Alex looked after him and went to the house. Pressed the door handle and nothing moved. 

Luke had followed him.

"Look ... open up ...

"

The door clicked, Alex went in, Luke followed him out of curiosity. He had expected everything to be filthy. But it was shockingly clean, just no furniture. Luke could see all the way to the pool, he saw Sarge squatting there picking something up.

Luke whistled in admiration.

"Holoprojectors, they don't have them on the market anymore." Alex stood and waited.

Then a holo image built up in front of him, of a woman. "

" Wait, isn't that the one from the pirate station?"

She looked at Alex shyly.

" Do you know that Liz will be here? "

She nodded, turned and pointed at George.

" Why didn't she say anything?" asked Luke. The hole looked at Luke and opened his mouth, lips moving.

" Those are just projectors, not speakers. "

The projection nodded.

Alex continued to look at her.

"And you don't mind? "

She nodded.

"Alright."

She looked at Alex, a tighter pop-up with headlights appearing in front of him.

"Don't tell me you used that as a test?" 

She smiled innocently.

"Fine, I'll have some installed in the house, what else?"

A blueprint for a wristwatch appeared in front of him.

"There you go," she ran up to him and gave him a hug. 

Somehow Luke had the feeling that the projection liked it. Luke saw Danny chatting with George. 

The holo detached from Alex stopped in Luke's direction and pop-up windows appeared in front of her.

"Ey... "

She scurried over to Alex and pointed to photos of the model.

"Pretty model for what is that?"

"Actually, a gift for Sarge... um... I took nine out of ten. Had a bit of a shopping spree..."

Alex grinned. "That's your money."

Luke pondered.

" Can I give you eight of them, grandpa?" 

"Me? What am I supposed to do with it?"

" I don't know, raffle or something."

Alex looked at Ai.

" Is there even a demand for them?"

Ai called up the last market forecast and the current value.

"Okay. I'll take these. I'll put one in the foyer of the council building in a display case."

Ai nodded.

"Grandfather, why don't you wonder about that," he pointed at Ai.

She looked at him grimly.

"I always have it on my cell phone anyway, Luke. Ever since ..." 

She flashed numbers.

Luke was dumbfounded, so long. 

"I'll ask Sarge if he needs anything," he walked to the patio door and opened it. "

" I know, and then she really freaked me out. " he heard Danny say.

"I just couldn't say no, George.... And Ethan, I swear" Danny blew out a cloud and tossed a can into a trash bag.

"He asked her." 

Sarge smoked himself and tossed a can into a bag. 

"But tell me, you never really told us why you decided to do this."

Sarge looked at him and rubbed the back of his head.

"I can't watch this anymore, Danny."

"Yeah, but what about love and stuff." 

He took a drag on the cigarette and thought.

"Since the first day I saw her carefree smile."

Danny looked at Sarge.

" Hhmmm, you do realize there's an Ai hanging around the house? " 

"Yeah, she told me, she said she won the spotlights in Vegas and it wasn't until she had everything set up that she realized there were no speakers. "

" Speaking of Vegas, do you remember the girl you pulled off at the race and then grabbed the winning bike after you chased her?"

"Yeah. Kept her helmet on the whole time." 

" She sicced two with cat masks on Ethaen and me to distract us."

"Why would you think of that now?"

Danny scratched his nose. "Oh, habit." 

Luke decided to get presents quickly now, he ran into the house, took the package out of the cupboard and printed out the photo of Sarge with Liz in his arms. 

And ran back. Alex was still standing in the living room of Liz's house, whispering with Ai. Luke came out onto the patio, which was tidy, the pool was clean and Sarge was working on the pump with tools.

"Um Sarge? "

He looked up, Danny was sitting on a lawn chair lounging around.

"I forgot to give you something for your birthday," he held the box out to him. Sarge stood up, wiped his hands on his pants and took the present, lifted the lid and looked inside.

"Thanks, Luke," he wagged his head.

"Hey Danny."

He looked up at him.

" Hmm? "

Sarge lifted the EXO out of its packaging. 

"Not bad."

"I've installed the motors, but I'm not quite ready with the remote control yet."

Danny came closer and examined the EXO.

"What did you build it from?"

" According to the blueprints, they're on the net. "

" They're on the net?" 

" Uh, Aunt Liz got them for me."

" I was wondering." 

Danny pulled out his cell phone and clicked through the programs, the EXO jerked and twitched.

Danny looked at the EXO. " I need to test something " He grabbed the EXO and went inside.

"Hey!" George went after him, Luke followed. Danny put the EXO down in front of Alex and the Ai.

"He built it according to the blueprints."

" Thought it was a finished figure..."

Danny grinned.

" Yes, it was. But not the motors and electronics. "

The Ai squatted in front of the Exo, tapped it with his finger and the Exo moved on its own. It took a few awkward steps, you could hear it squeak, rattle, then she adjusted the motors herself until the movements became more fluid, after 4 minutes the Exo stood still. Ai looked at Luke.

"There are only batteries in there..." 

Alex looked at the Exo, picked it up and handed it to Sarge. 

"We don't want to break it. Luke you said you had 8 boxes left. "

" It's just this detail model..."

The Ai continued to look at the EXO. 

" Can you make me a movable one like that, that can stay in normal color."

"I got the last parts from the electronics store. They said they won't have them for a while. Because some factory is on strike." 

Sarge looked at them.

"Luke's starting his internship soon."

Danny looked at Sarge.

"Really? Where?"

"1st EXO Division with the greenhorns. Okay, after basic training."

Danny grinned. 

Luke looked at them both.

"Is that good or bad? "

"Ninety-eight percent failed, but they're in your age group. Didn't you wonder why there were so few big exos? "

" Thought too expensive..."

" Well, too few pilots and the computers don't control anything against you," Danny said to Ai. " Shoot everything down cold and stubbornly carry out the mission. "

Luke looked at Alex. 

" I'll build one when I'm free, I have the list um ... "

The Ai popped open a window.

"I'll get you the parts, Luke."

Luke nodded, then remembered the picture and what Sarge had said on the patio.

" Sarge, I got something else for you, remember that videotape I found?"

" Yes. What was on it?"

" Mostly boring stuff, war, haven't seen the end yet. " The Ai cocked her head to the side and looked at Luke, her eyes widening.

"Offline mode," Luke said.

Luke reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo paper printout he'd put in an envelope and handed it to Sarge. He hesitated.

"Take it, Sarge."

He took the envelope and pulled out the picture.

Danny looked over his shoulder. 

"Who's that?" he asked. 

Sarge remained silent. Luke couldn't tell what he was thinking now. 

Alex took the picture and looked at it, barely able to stifle a laugh.

Danny looked at him. 

Alex looked at Ai who handed him the picture, she made an emotional expression.

"Compare the picture." Ai put her fingers to her chin. Seconds later the picture appeared, sharper now, next to it was the picture of Sarge with Liz next to him in class.

"Shit... " He looked at him. "Did you know that? "

He rubbed the back of his head.

" How did you know? We've been driving non-stop. "

"You've been traveling nonstop, George, Ethan and I have been hitting pubs, and you've been ..." 

He thought. Ai stared at Luke.

" What? What did I do?" 

She called up his picture.

" Hey, I'm not done with the ..." 

Sarge looked at the picture.

"Leave it like that Luke, it's perfect. Danny, like I said, I don't want to see Liz broken anymore. " He pointed at the photo.

" Maybe it got burned into my brain somewhere and became active again later. " 

Danny nodded. "You met the woman of your life when she pissed you off, not bad."

" Danny, when Mei gets back the day after tomorrow, you should put a cat mask on her."

He looked at Sarge. " No ... Can't be ..."

Alex cleared his throat." I have to go, I'll check in on my cell, the watch needs a few days to be built at the factory. "

The Ai nodded. 

He patted Danny and Sarge on the shoulder and left.

Sarge looked at the Ai.

"Danny and I are about to head down to the basement and garage, could you see where the furniture would fit best? 

She looked at him and pointed at herself. 

Danny grinned. 

"We had an old sofa for five years that we got out of a bunker." 

"Well, you must have told her about furniture once."

She thought about it and nodded.

"Good, then you can settle in, but we need a sturdy bed."

She nodded vigorously.

"Luke, who's the video from now? "

"All I know is that his name is Mike, and where I am now, in the picture. He's with the MP."

"Mike..." Sarge thought about it. 

"The Mike ... "

"Huh? Which one?" 

"The one who ratted out the corrupt one."

" Ah him, poor bastard, didn't deserve to be shot by him."

" Ah what happened to the corrupt one?" 

The Ai drew a line around his neck.

"Ah..."

"So Luke, lend a hand, clean up a bit here."

Luke wasn't thrilled because as it turned out, he got to haul boxes and was ordered around by Danny and Sarge. 

Even when the two Mp chicks came with their van, no he wasn't allowed to go, he had to help. The two had fun teasing and teasing him and gave him a hickey after Sarge mentioned Luke had a girlfriend. 

Only when Sarge had finished with the car was Luke allowed to go home and take a shower, he was just covered in oil. As he dozed in his seat the next morning, he was nudged.

"What about Hopkins?" asked Leo.

"What about her? He's gone."

" My father says he saw Hopkins put her things in the dump."

"His divorce is through." Luke moved his shoulder and groaned.

"Argh. Sarge's a sadist..."

Leo looked at him questioningly.

"I had to help him clean up."

He was hugged from behind and squeezed. Then he felt his shirt collar being pulled."

"Luke..." 

" Yes?" he looked at her and Saksia looked at him with a furrowed brow.

"Why do you have hickeys there?"

Sarge came in with a mug of coffee and a cigarette.

" It's Sarge's fault!" 

Sarge looked at him, took a drag on the fag.

"Yeah?"

Saskia looked at Sarge, he came closer, looked at the stains, grinned, walked forward.

Luke put his head down on the table.

"Sarge, at least explain to her ..."

Sarge turned around the desk, sat on the edge. 

" My mechanic's apprentice," he pointed at Luke. " Got a tip. Yesterday. "

She continued to stare at Sarge. Sarge snapped a photo and sent it off.

"Who did it go to?"

" I promised them both I'd take a picture of your face. "

He pocketed his cell phone.

" Why my face?"

" They wanted to see your face, Saskia. "

She pressed herself against Luke, still staring grimly at Sarge. 

Sarge contemplated the answer. Scratched the back of his head and put the cell phone away.

"Let's do this, then."

"Wait, Sarge, I haven't gotten my answer yet."

"It's fun teasing the boy."

" Uh-huh ... " 

"More?"

Sarge pondered.

"They both went swimming with Luke."

She looked at him with a twinkle.

"That's right, I saw the picture. I think he's three in that one and April had to babysit and was overwhelmed."

"Sarge ... My aunts always gave me to a friend. Feeding, washing, changing, diapering." 

"And sleeping, there was a photo like that," he clapped his hands.

"Back to class."

"Eh Sarge, there's only four of us ..."

Luke looked around, Leo had disappeared.

"Well then, I'd say. You want to study for the exam, I'm here if you have any questions." Sarge sat down at his table. 

Luke looked at Saskia, who gave him a long look.

"You said we should focus on the exam." 

She snuggled up to him.

They studied for the rest of the day. Asked Sarge countless questions when they didn't understand something and had it explained to them. The next few days were similar. 

Luke had started running and doing basic exercises in the mornings and evenings, he wanted to prepare for Saskia and the internship.