2084: Slavery Resurgent

“Profit is sweet, even if it comes from deception.” - Sophocles

It had been a long day. Franklin was completely exhausted by the time the group boarded the last shuttle flight of the evening to Las Vegas. He fell asleep when the plane became airborne. George 99,689,794, who was seated in the aisle seat next to Franklin, unbuckled his seatbelt, stood, and made his way up the aisle to where Congressman Udall was sitting in a window seat. “May I join you?,” the automaton asked.

“Be my guest,” replied Congressman Udall, “please, sit down.”

George 99,689,794 sat down and gave the Congressman his camera back. “I did the best I could,” declared the automaton. “There was so little light in the cavern that I doubt whether any of the photographs I took there will turn out. Also, I took one of your Aide placing a file he stole from a desk inside his jacket.”

“He probably thought I needed it for the investigation of GLAD I have been conducting. Besides, the Director stole something that belonged to me. Turnabout is fair play, wouldn’t you say?”

“The stock answer would be “yes,” replied George 99,689,794. “However, some individuals might argue that two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“And those pathetic lily-livered liberals would be wrong – dead wrong,” declared Congressman Udall emphatically.

“One thing I do not understand,” remarked George 99,689,794 in order to change the subject. “How did you know in advance that you would need to bring along the equipment to perform a test for the presence of human remains?”

“My grandfather once told me a story about how he bought the water rights to a mountain spring for next to nothing. He put a packet of dye in the water and when it turned yellow he said it was due to the presence of alkali. The rancher who owned the water rights was completely taken in by the ‘scientific’ test. I’ve ben wanting to do something similar for years. I got a test tube from a chemistry set and a food coloring tablet from an Easter egg coloring kit and have been carrying them in a coat pocket for months, waiting for an opportunity to put them to good use. Did you see the scared look on the Sanitary Engineer’s face?,” laughed Congressman Udall. “Priceless!”

George 99,689,794 was beginning to doubt that Congressman Udall was the man of strong character and scrupulous integrity that he had previously assessed him to be. And Congressman Udall seemed to have forgotten procuring George 99,689,794 a presidential pardon. The automaton felt like a fool for having expected a politician to keep his word. Silent and stone faced, George 99,689,794 stood up and walked back to the seat next to Franklin.

Franklin suddenly awoke in a cold sweat having had a horrible dream in which cyborgs with pulse weapons were chasing him and a willowy damsel through a cavern on an off-world planet.

“Do not bother unbuckling your seatbelt. We should be landing in Las Vegas any minute now,” George 99,689,794 cautioned his boss.

“I am starving. I could eat a horse,” commented suddenly wide awake Franklin Pierce. “It must be long past dinner time.”

“It’s 7:15 PM,” said George 99,689,794, purloining a glance at the digital watch on the man sitting across the aisle from him’s wrist. “They don’t serve dinner on these short shuttle flights. I might be able to get you a bag of cashews from the galley.”

“Don’t bother,” directed Franklin, “we can stop by Woody’s and get a bucket of chicken wings on the way to the condominium. You seem to have gotten chummy with the Congressman. Did you remember to thank him for taking us with him on the tour? Maybe we should send him a pound of macadamia nuts or a bottle of wine to show our appreciation.”

“That’s not necessary,” commented George 99,689,794. “I did him a favor while we were at GLAD. From what little I learned, it appears to me that the Honorable Congressman Udall used the tour as a ruse to conduct a clandestine operation against a Top Secret government facility; the purpose of which escapes me. It’s so convoluted that a contortionist on steroids could not straighten it out.”

“Something like, ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive,’” quipped Franklin.

“Yeah, something like that, but more sinister,” agreed George 99,689,794.