Chapter 92 Ginos is said to have gotten better
Luke parked the car and started carrying things in. Teheen sauntered over to the sofa, sat down and carried on playing. Luke was fine with it, that way he could fill the fridge, throw the leftovers in the trash, clean up the place and put the laundry in the washing machine. He didn't realize how sloppy Liz and co could be.
It took him about an hour, he went into the kitchen to make coffee when Liz came in, carrying Big Box.
"Luke, this was dropped off at the company for you."
She walked past Teheen and placed it on the table. Luke looked at her questioningly.
"I don't know what's in it. And you got mail from your ex."
He sighed and walked over to the table. He took a plasma knife out of his pocket and opened the box. Liz stared at the knife.
"That's not a knife from here."
"Yep. A plasma-coated knife. Illegal in 12 sectors of space."
"Uh-huh..."
He opened the letter from Kia.
" Aha... " He folded the letter again, put it aside and looked into the box.
"Aha? What does she want from you? "
" Money, what else. " Teheen suddenly stood next to him, reached for the letter and studied it.
Liz looked at her.
Teheen raised an eyebrow.
"You weren't even in the solar system at the time, why does she want your money from back then?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know what made her so greedy for money. "
He pulled a packet of action figure out of the box.
"Oh the Spekter action figure, Leo has one of those too. "
He turned the pack over.
" Hhmm, that's only a fraction of what I took off."
Teen waved the letter under his nose.
" This is more important. "
" I have to agree with her. "
Luke sighed. He tapped something into his bracelet and zapped away. He stood in the hallway of a lawyer's office and stepped inside. It looked expensive. All designer look. The receptionist looked at him, confused.
"Hello, where is she?"
"Eh, what please?"
" I see." He walked past her. Entered the office. Where Kia had just been fucked by a star lawyer. They stared at him.
"You do realize you stole my whole salary, what's in your letter? I had it audited by the finance department, banking activities and all. "
" What are you doing here? And how do you even know that?"
She dressed hastily.
" Hm, then you must not have been looking at your cell phone. Say
The lawyer quickly pulled himself together and got dressed.
"You can't just come in here. )
Luke waved him off.
"Hogwash, I wanted to ask my ex-wife what this is all about."
"My client is entitled to half of her assets because they didn't sign a prenuptial agreement."
Luke laughed. They both looked at him with irritation.
He pulled out his cell phone and clicked through the archives.
" Ah, here. "
He called up the document they had both signed back then about the house and which led to the marriage. Turned it over to the lawyer.
"When you and I tied the knot back then, we both ticked the box. That we would manage our own finances and that there would be no claims in the event of a separation."
The lawyer came closer and looked at the document.
"This could be a forgery."
"The original is in the company archives, a copy is in the government archives."
"That can't be valid!" came from Kia.
Luke put his cell phone away.
"Kia, you didn't even read it back then. Just nodded when the guy asked you if you were okay with it. I had it checked. "
" From who?"
" By the Group's legal department. Now that we've got that behind us. Kia, do you want me to ask my lawyer if it's okay, since you took part in such a scheme. You helped yourself to my bank account, seized my property, destroyed it?"
She looked at him, snorting.
"Huh? I didn't get an answer Kia. "
Security officers came in.
" Mister, you are trespassing, please leave the building. "
" I was on my way out anyway. " He turned to the door, looked at Kia.
" That reminds me," he hurried towards her, that he was very close to her.
" That new hairstyle suits you, matches your eyes."
He walked to the back, she stared at him, the blush rising to her face and she sat down on a chair and whimpered.
Luke was led out, in front of the building was Bettina with a company car, she looked at him unsurprised.
"Get in."
Luke sat in the back seat and she drove off.
"You want to tell me what you were doing in there?"
He grinned and lit a cigarette.
"Just using your husband's dirty tactics, that's all."
She groaned.
"Luke ..."
" Oh, I torpedoed her accusation because, as usual, she forgot that she and I had a prenup back then."
Bettina looked in the rearview mirror.
"That's right, because I hammered it into your head Luke. To do something like that."
"Yup."
" And what are you going to do if they charge you with trespassing? "
" Well, then I'll publish photos of a star lawyer getting it on with a client."
She looked at him skeptically.
She drove him home, where he got out and came in. Teheen was sitting at the table, tapping her finger on the table in annoyance.
"Where have you been? "
"At the lawyer's."
He went to the coffee machine and filled himself a cup.
" This thing doesn't work anymore ..."
" It's out of power."
She raised an eyebrow. Luke sipped his coffee, went to the sofa, sat down and picked up the handheld. Pressed a few buttons, turned it over, opened a compartment and took out a battery.
"You had to plug it into the circuit to charge it."
She grumbled.
Luke rummaged in his pocket and pulled out an energy crystal, examined it, pulled out a small toolbox and scrap metal, and placed the crystal in a small fixture. Teen came closer.
"So what are you doing now?"
" Well, I'm solving your electrical problem."
He put his contraption into the handheld, closed the compartment and activated the device. It lit up.
"So, now you should have power, but after a month it should be empty and you'll have to put in a new energy crystal. Or put it on the charging station."
"Expensive or cheap?"
"I put in a cheap one."
"I see, and since when can you do that?"
He grinned.
" I learned when I serviced my first spaceship. "
" Ned said it was a piece of junk. "
He held the handheld out to her.
" I liked it. "
His cell phone buzzed and he picked it up.
" Present."
" Luke, I just got off the phone with the legal department, they got a letter that a star lawyer has filed a trespassing suit," came from Alex.
" Oh him. If I send you a photo of this lawyer doing it with my ex. Can they use it?"
"For what? You'd better tell me what you wanted."
"Well, I wanted to know why she was doing all this shit. Then I told them there was a prenup. Well, I went in, ignored the secretary and then to the office."
He heard a sigh on the other side.
"What else? "
"Yes. She wanted the money I earned while I was working for Moon and Co."
"I'll tell the department to turn that down."
" Thank you."
" Did you get the box from Liz?"
" Yes." He stood up and went to the box.
" Good, it was Mei's fault."
Luke took out a key ring, a comic book, a game disk and a game disk. Teheen grabbed the disk and put it in the handheld.
"Are the handhelds also ..."
Another sigh.
"Yeah. One of ours was supposed to come out a couple years ago. It always depended on the battery."
" Hhmm yes, I've noticed. "
He heard another sigh.
"The competition in the market is huge, Luke."
Luke looked at Teheen, who was fiddling with the handheld with fascination. She turned him around to face her.
"What do the abbreviations mean?"
Luke walked over to her.
" This stands for High Command, this for Counterintelligence, this for Assassination and Infiltration, and these are the weapon types. "
She looked at him, turned Handheld back to her and continued playing.
"Uh, Luke ... "
" huh?"
" Do you have company?"
"Just an alien shirking the family wedding. "
" And then you shove a video game console in his hand."
Luke walked over to his cup and sipped it.
"Sure. I went shopping, bought one of those things. I was wondering. Where in the system can I activate license plates?"
"License plate? Yes. Good question. I'll ask Ai if she can do that for you. Have you bought another sports car?"
"Well, an off-road vehicle. Sports car, my spaceship on the moon is enough for me."
"Ah Earl told me about it. It's the Benz of ships. Whatever that means. It looked like an alien spaceship to me..."
"Well, there are more expensive ones. "
" Hhmm, seems to have really done him in. Gotta go, meeting."
He hung up on Luke, pocketed the cell phone, searched further in the box, found another handheld in there. He pulled it out.
"Oha limited edition."
He activated it. Looked at the account that was on it, they had named it Secter correctly with its logo. Looked at the games that were installed, downloaded games from his childhood. Teheen watched him.
"Aren't you playing the ones about you? "
" Why would I?"
" There's supposed to be a multiplayer part." She pointed to an option.
Luke sighed, clicked on the game she pointed to, created a character he called RedEmporer. It was basically a 3D hack and slay game with a zoom function when shooting.
"Hmm, I need to do a few missions first to unlock it."
"Go on then," she clicked. Luke sighed, started the game, skipped entire cutscenes, did the introduction. Contrary to what he had thought, Specter was the final boss in the game and he, as the player, was a soldier of the Corporation. He looked at Teheen.
"Did you make a corporation?"
" Yes. Since I have no idea about most things, I just called it Bitch Industries. "
Luke grinned, clicked on Corporate Search and found the corporation that only had one member. Clicked on Join. Teheen looked at him.
"Accept."
She did.
" Oh, someone new."
"It's me."
She studied the opening windows.
"Why is there so much new now? "
" You're the head of the corporation, you can wage wars and so on and so forth. "
He clicked through the controls and let his character slaughter his way through the levels.
" Aha..." she clicked on something.
" You can attack other groups and earn money ..."
Luke looked at her.
" Click on any one and give up a mission."
She did and Luke got a message box, he confirmed and was taken to the pvp area. He clicked his gear together, Teen watched him.
"Why don't you read through the stuff?"
" There's good stuff as rewards for gear and events."
He started up and was in PvP combat.
He quickly clicked through the buttons, Teheen stared mesmerized at his screen, his character just appeared with a message riddled with holes and Luke took it all, clicked submit group and Teheen looked at his screen.
"That's more than comes out in the missions."
"Pvp that is."
"And what am I supposed to spend the money on? I've seen many with costumes."
"It's your decision, but you can also pump it into the group. Think of it as a small economic cycle. You can sell the things you produce and so on..."
" Oh." She went deeper again and fell silent. Luke sipped his coffee, looked at her.
From all his years of experience with her, Teheen was quiet when she was busy with something that relieved her boredom.
He played the missions up to a point, until the system said the group needed to get stronger. Went into the PvP area and started hunting corporations that had no alliances. Until the system said that he had reached the daily limit for group size.
He put the handheld aside, stood up and got himself another coffee. Liz came in, wiping off her sweat. She looked over at Teheen, who was still engrossed in his work.
"Luke, I have a question. Aren't you going to ask it?"
He sipped his coffee.
"I did, car dealership and supermarket."
" No. I mean restaurant and attractions and stuff. I mean, even with Kia, you've never taken her out."
He sipped his coffee.
"Hhmm. That's right, Teheen. What do you want to eat?"
She rolled her eyes.
"What do you call this ... Oh yeah, pizza. The one with the yellow stuff and the meat."
" See..."
Liz looked at him warningly.
Luke sighed, took the tablet for the holoprojectors and called up restaurants in the area with menus and pictures of dishes.
"Take your pick."
Teheen looked up, examining the pictures.
" Can't you cook something like you did at the palace?"
Luke sipped his coffee, Liz looked at him.
"What? They didn't give me anything, it was called self-catering. The palace canteen was worse than what the army gave back then and she ate at my place when she wanted to avoid the palace rations."
"Luke, you take her out and eat yourself."
He grinned and sipped. Teheen looked at him, "I'll take the seventh picture from the bottom left then."
Luke looked around, Lasange and the only restaurant was Ginos.
"Well then ... Come on." He drained his coffee.
" Luke you need to dress up, it's still a classy place. "
He groaned, went to wash up and change, when he came back Teheen was standing there in human form in a summer dress, eyeing him skeptically.
"If I'd known I'd have to change so often, I'd have insisted on pizza. "
"Well, that's the way it is. " He went to the garage and got into the Toyota. Teheen got in. He started it up and drove off, it got dark, he accelerated and after a short drive he stopped in front of an elegant building, there were expensive cars in the parking lot. He got out and waited until Teheen had got out.
"This is supposed to be posh? I ..."
" There are more expensive ones, with very rude staff and ass kissers. Like you're used to. The last time I was in one of those, the owner gave me some."
"I see, why did I get the feeling it wasn't good ..."
He grinned and went to the door.
It was really elegantly furnished, even modern. To his surprise, the Italian woman from back then was standing at reception. At least that's what he thought. She was clicking around on a tablet. Luke stopped in front of the desk. She looked up, looked at him for a moment.
"Would you like some?"
" Table for two."
She looked at the tablet, clicked on it.
" There's only one table left at the edge. "
"We'll take that one."
She raised an eyebrow.
" Then please follow me. "
He followed Teheen walking beside him. What Luke noticed was that Gina now had a big butt. They were led to a small table away from the large luxury tables. There were maybe four of them. People looked at them with amusement.
Luke looked around.
"Can I smoke here?"
" Yes, they're in the smoking area."
He sat down, lit a cigarette and looked at the menu. Teheen sat down.
"The waiter will be here soon. " He said and left.
Tehee stroked the table with her finger.
"I should have insisted on the pizza, this is the slave table."
"No, that's it. I'm dating my wife and I didn't book a table four months in advance. Then we sit at a bigger one. While we celebrities sit at even bigger tables and if there are any more, then at the VIP table."
"I see, then why are we here?"
Luke looked up.
"Hhmm, I think Liz wants to have sex with her husband."
"As if that would bother me..."
Luke grinned. The waiter came, it was Eddie, he had at least 44 pounds more on his ribs.
"What can I get you?" he said.
"One lasange the house way, one canederli for dessert, two ice creams."
"What to drink?"
" House wine."
Eddie clicked everything into a tablet and stomped off. Teheen leaned back.
"You know, this is the first time you've dragged me to a restaurant. Where people don't know me."
He took a drag on the fag.
" Well, the food temple, after the massage."
Teen sighed.
"Yeah. And it gave me diarrhea."
Eddie came in with glasses, water and bread and put everything on the table.
"The kitchen said this will take a while."
Teheen grabbed a loaf of bread, chewed on it and looked around.
"It's pretty crowded in here, is there a reason for that?"
"Just a wedding party."
Teheen groaned and chewed on the bread. Eddie shrugged and left. Luke pulled his cell phone out of his pocket as it buzzed.
"I'm at dinner and it may take a while..."
"But I wanted to visit you," came from his mother.
"Well, yes, since your sister wants to have a little quality time with George. I'm at the table, with company."
"Well, Liz said today that she saw an alien babe at your place. She was hanging out on your couch. And she said you were too normal with her."
He took a drag on his cigarette.
"That's right, she's visiting. "
He looked to Teheen, who had pulled out her handheld and was playing. She looked at him.
"Nothing going on. "
"Luke?" came from the cell phone.
"I'm still here, yeah. So why did you want to come see me? "
" Well, um... I wanted to ask if your father could store his instruments in your basement."
" All right. But did you tell him who my roommates are?"
" Yes. He already got music stuff from Nad because he wanted to know what the music was like there. "
" Well, then check with your sister when you can come over."
" Okay, have fun."
She hung up. They had to wait half an hour for the food and wine to arrive. Luke had expected more, Teheen looked at him disapprovingly.
"You were right, it's a posh restaurant, even the food is bad," came from her. They had hardly eaten anything, which was a very bad sign.
Luke sighed.
"Fine, then. I'll take you to the family restaurant. At least it's good there, just not as fancy."
"Hopefully..."
Luke stood up and Teheen followed him. They both went to the reception. Gina looked at them both.
"Yes?"
" I'll pay."
" As you wish."
She tapped something on the tablet and handed it to him. The bad meal had cost him almost 2000 points. He'd paid maybe 70 for the pizzas on Teheen's last visit. He typed and paid. A voice rang out from the back of the restaurant.
"What the fuck, what asshole orders and doesn't even finish? "
Luke turned and headed for the door, Teheen following him. Outside, Teheen dashed to the car and he was almost inside when he was grabbed by the shoulder.
"Hey, what the hell was going on in there?" Luke looked at the speaker. It was Gino himself, who was getting on in years.
"I was expecting more."
"Do you know how much work that is? Huh?"
He took a drag on his cigarette and took Gino's hand off his shoulder.
"That's right, all 1a ratings on the net, I wanted to show my wife some good food. Hence the different choices. "
"You're banned from the house! "
He waves me off and walks to the car door.
" If they feel better, it won't change anything. When was the last time you tasted your food? "
Gino looked at him angrily, he pulled out his tablet, tapping on things. Luke's cell phone buzzed, he looked at it.
"Well, I won't be seeing you again then, Gino. "
He got in and drove out of the parking lot. Teen fished for his cell phone, looked at it.
"
"Luke?!" came from Alex.
"I think it's for you..." she handed it to him.
Luke sighed, taking the phone as he scooted to the side.
" Yes?"
"The system tells me you're banned."
Luke sighed.
" Yeah. The food there was bad. Gino was mad because I didn't praise his food."
" Is that all? "
"Well, I just wanted to eat."
" I heard it's getting better..."
" Yes in ripping off customers... I'm going over to Jussuf's now."
" They have too Luke. They're on vacation."
He hung his head.
"Great... you wouldn't happen to know a place that serves good food?"
"Well, the Western Restaurant over in Honolulu is pretty good, I've been there a few times with Babsi."
"Good, try it, thanks."
He hung up and stepped on the gas. Teheen looked at him from the side.
"Change of plans?"
"Yeah, let me surprise you." She rolled her eyes. After a short drive, they stopped in front of a Western-style restaurant. Teen looked at it in amazement and then at Luke.
"This?"
" Yes." He took her hand and pulled her inside. It was busy, it looked like a saloon, the employees were dressed like the employees of the time. He pulled her to a free table and sat down. A young waiter came quickly.
"Howdy, what'll it be? "
" Since this is our first time here, what can we recommend?"
" Well, our burgers are good, then the steaks and the ribs. "
" Yes, then I'll have a steak for my companion and the ribs for me ".
" All right, and what are we drinking?"
" Beer."
" All right."
He was gone. Teen looked around again.
The beer came quickly, and shortly afterwards the steak for Teheen, which was very large. She stared at it, and at the sides. Looked at Luke.
"Enjoy."
She grumbled, tasted it and seemed to really enjoy it. Luke sipped his beer, then came the ribs, which he ate, but only a quarter of them, because she ate the rest. He then leaned back and sipped his beer.
"That was really good."
"Yes. And so you don't complain later that you've put on weight." He stood up, grabbed her hand and pulled her to the dance floor.
" I can't ..."
Luke grinned.
" Just watch my steps."
He showed her the steps and she copied them. Then they danced a round, much to the amusement of the guests, as Luke and Teheen were the only ones dressed smartly. They took a break, had a drink and continued dancing until the place closed. Luke got into a car and Teheen sat down on the seat, exhausted.
"I'm out of my mind."
He started the car and drove home, when he parked the car in the garage he saw that she had fallen asleep. So he had to drag her into the bedroom, take off her shoes and lay her on the bed. She hugged him and pressed herself tightly against him. Luke sighed.
"The real reason you're here ... " He stroked her head. He gave up, lay down and fell asleep, waking up when someone called out to him.