When I grow up by Karen Blayne

Oh by the way red tape first.

Be warned these short stories contain mature content or naughty bits and as such may corrupt you if you’re under 12, 16, 18, 21 or 25 depending where you live thus they are not suitable for you so put them back on the shelf and let them age for a year or two.

They were sort of scribbled for fun. They were first posted on asstr.org. If you’ve paid money for this book just be aware the author has not received any payment. In fact no one has permission to charge money for this book and copyright is retained by the author. All copies must be of the complete document. ©2014 Asstr.org accepts donations if you’re feeling rich or even if you’re not.

Luv Karen

Kayla sat talking to her Great Aunt Phyllis, or rather listening to her words of wisdom. “But I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. A Chief Executive Office perhaps then I can tell people what to do.” “Take your time my dear don’t do anything hastily and these days even CEOs have so many restrictions on them, best choose something you’ll be happy doing. At your age the hormones rage and its difficult to make good decisions. Now how about applying to a university?” “I’m not sure my parents think it will be a good idea. Dad’s already been asked when am I going to start work by some of his mates.” “Well at least send of some applications for a summer job then you can make your mind up what to do next after gaining a bit of experience.”

The following day Austin rang, “I’ve got a job at the sawmill. There’s an apartment for rent over the gas station so you can leave school and we can get married now.” “I want to finish the term and do my exams.” “Exams are a stupid waste of time. Let’s just get on with life.” It ended up with him giving her an ultimatum and Kayla still saying no.

The last exam was over now all she had to do was wait for the results, her mother suggested she call that nice boy Austin and invite him over. That was the last thing she wanted to do, crawl back to Austin. The phone rang, could she recognise a computer at ten feet? What an odd question “Yes.” “Right, I’m not allowed to offer you a summer job but I’ll leave you my number and let me know if HR haven’t been in touch by the end of the week.” Next morning a brown envelope arrived Priority Mail, she opened it and found a letter of offer for a summer job inside with a starting date of the following day. Well it got her away from home and pointed questions about why they hadn’t seen much of Austin recently.

She felt herself blushing when she met her new boss but passed it off by saying with her fair skin she blushed very easily, rather than admit it had been too long since she’d spent an hour or two alone with Austin. There was another student on her first day there as well. She’d managed to get a place reading English but wasn’t terribly sure what would happen afterwards. Her boss took them on a short tour of the floor ending up with the networking and computer section. “Think you two could look sweet and demur for me?” He asked. They nodded agreement. “Zachary, I’d like to introduce my two summer students Kayla and Amber. Kayla’s hobby is Judo and Amber’s is Jujutsu. Now girls Zachary is putting in a new network connection for us, perhaps you could pop back and have a chat with him, shall we say Friday afternoon to see how its progressing?” The rest of the technical section roared with laughter at the suggestion that the two girls might be having a chat with Zachary. Kayla and Amber just looked terribly sweet and demure and fluttered their eye lashes at Zachary saying they looked forward to it. Amber even went so far as to murmur perhaps she could demonstrate some of her moves to him.

Afterwards her new boss treated them to breakfast at the small café across the road from the office. “I can’t believe you just threatened that poor boy just to get a network connection.” “It’s been on his to do list for a month now and without it at least one of you will have difficulty logging on to email.” “Kayla I want you to take the Fluke meter and measure the current of every piece of equipment in the lab and note down which its socket is. Then I’d like you to get a list of socket numbers on each circuit and see if you can rebalance them to distribute the load more equally.” “Amber can you pop down to shipping for me and see if they have received two of my orders?” “How come I get the complicated job?” “Well you answered the technical questions correctly so you’re in the technical position.” “What can I recognise a computer at ten feet?” “That’s right.” “Mine wasn’t like that I got asked all sorts of questions and I could see he was making it up as we went along.” “Your position was different. I wanted a student who had good grades in maths and physics, Kayla was the only one. It’s up to me how many I interview but I have to ask at least one question but I didn’t even know I was interviewing you until ten minutes before you arrived. My boss had budgeted for a second student but then got called away for a meeting. He’d invited two students in for interviews so it was a comparative interview and I had to have some questions you could answer and some you couldn’t just in case the other person was outstanding.” “But I got called that afternoon.” “He came in twenty minutes after you left so I left your name with admin saying I didn’t want the second so sign you up quickly.” “Why have you got two students?” “It turned out my boss hadn’t spoken to the person he’d intended Amber to work with and they expressed the feeling that they didn’t want a student, so no else one wanted Amber.” Kayla put her arm round Amber and told her not to cry. “Why wouldn’t someone want a student? We’re cheap.” “Well yes but normally we think in terms of it takes six months for someone to find their way round the office so there’s a fair bit of hand holding to run a student.” “Oh well what duties do you have for us?” “One very important one.” He handed Amber a bag of breadcrumbs and she looked into it in amazement. “Come along.” He led the way down to the river bank where there was a duck with a string of ducklings. “Hey they’re great.” Blurted out Kayla, “So that’s what the breadcrumbs are for.” muttered Amber. “So one of your duties is to make sure the ducklings are fed each day.”

On the way back they stopped in the admin area “Hi, meet my two summer students Kayla and Amber, if you’re busy you may borrow them.” When they got back to the Kayla blurted out, “So we’re rent-a-student now?” “It helps if you keep in well with admin so yes you’re at their command.” Kayla scurried off to the lab and started to measure the equipment with the Fluke meter.

“This morning one of the senior managers is giving a rah rah speech so pop along and make up the numbers and tomorrow one of the other departments is giving a presentation on their services.” “So pop along and make up the numbers.” Amber finished off for him. “Bloody rent-a-student that’s all we are.”

“You know that guy who was chatting you up at the rah rah whatever.” “Trying to you mean?” “Well I noticed he’s got a nice silver car with one of those pretty blue and white badges on the front.” “It’s probably his dad’s.” “So encourage him, that way you’ll meet his dad.” Amber screwed her nose up “Maybe.”

On Monday morning Amber, who had been partying over the weekend so much so she was tired out, fell asleep at her desk. Kayla heard her boss come into the office and glanced at Amber gently snoring. “She’s asleep.” She said in surprise, “Let’s go down for breakfast quietly without her then.” They tiptoed quietly down to the café and had just started on their bacon and egg when Amber strolled in. “I wondered where you’d gone.” Picking up a bit of her boss’s toast and nibbling it as she waited for the waitress to arrive to take her order. “I was just about to mention to Kayla a wonderful opportunity to broaden your education.” Amber gave him a hard stare. “Let me guess HR or someone is giving a presentation about retirement planning or some such and you want a few warm bodies there to make look as if someone is interested.” “Well there is that aspect to it as well of course, it’s in the main conference room at ten o’clock, I’d go myself but I have a subsequent engagement.” “Don’t you mean previous engagement?” asked Amber who was always trying to correct his English grammar. “No he means he didn’t have anything planned until this cropped up.” “Now be nice students and just think of the money you’re getting for sitting there listening to all this wonderful information.” He looked at their mutinous expressions, “Alright pretend to be nice students. As long as you play rent-a-crowd with a smile plastered on your face and attend, I’ll buy you breakfast tomorrow.” “Sounds really interesting.” Perked up Kayla. “Sounds like bribery to me, still I’m open to bribes.”

“Well you must admit it was different.” “I think we ought to practise it to reinforce what we’ve learnt.” Kayla looked at her boss “Do you think we should practise what the morning’s course was about to reinforce it?” “Well yes I suppose you should.” Amber exchanged glances with Kayla, “You should always obey a directive from your supervisor.” Amber stepped behind him and goosed him. Kayla ran her fingers over the front of his slacks. “What’s going on? What was the course on anyway early retirement?” “No it was harassment in the work place.” “Amber took notes, we’ve got five pages of different things to practise on you.” “If you’re busy we can always go and practise on that nice boy in the networking bit.” “Why are you holding your head in your hands?”

“Silver car has invited me out at the weekend to a shooting range.” “So what did you say?” “We’d go.” “We as in you and me?” “I need a chaperon, I haven’t decided if he’s nice yet.” “Well OK I suppose.” “This stuff for admin is so totally boring.” “Well it’s ten thirty aren’t we suppose to.” “My God you’re right.” They left the admin section saying they had a task to do for Chad, picked up the bag of bread crumbs and walked down to feed the ducklings. Chad drifted into admin but couldn’t see them so quietly wandered back to the office. That afternoon he queried them “I thought you were helping admin this morning.” “Well we were but it got boring after nearly three hours of stuffing envelopes so we went and fed the ducklings.” “Didn’t admin say anything?” “Oh no we just told them we had something to do for you.” “Well you told us it was one of our duties on the first day.” “He’s holding his head in his hands again.” “No he’s not he’s trying not to laugh.” “That’s all right then.”

Kayla was feeling, well whatever it was she wasn’t going to call Austin no matter how thick he was. Who was available who wouldn’t gossip about her, then it came to her of course. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips only to be put away from him. “Not in the office.” “OK I’ll come round to your place tonight and cook you a meal, what’s the address?” “It’s not a good idea.” “If you want to be secretive about it I can always get it from admin.” Yes and admin were the biggest gossips around. He pulled out a scrap of paper seeing he had no choice and wrote down his address.

“Hey this is much nicer than my lodgings, how about giving me the tour starting with the bedroom?” Afterwards she fed him. “So can I move in or do I swap tales on your performance with admin?” “That sounds like blackmail.” She curled up on his lap and kissed him on the lips. “Surely not, I’m only a sweet innocent little girl.” she batted her eyelids at him. “OK but we travel on separate buses to avoid talk.”

“Girl, I’ll have a coffee with cream.” Amber looked round but couldn’t see any other females other than Kayla. “Carl they’re my guests not waitresses.” “Well they can’t be here to shoot so what good are they but to make the coffee.” “I bet they could out shoot you and I haven’t even seen them shoot.” “Oh yeah!” “My BMW against your pickup truck.” “And whoever loses resigns from the club.” Amber looked shocked, this was macho with a vengeance. An older white haired man stepped forward. “So shall we formalise this, a full ISSF rapid fire pistol course and say a third of a free pistol course?” He turned to Kayla, “I would be honoured if you allowed me to lend you my pistols.” “Well at least it didn’t get to with one arm behind my back.” she smiled back then turned to Carl, “Would you like to shoot the rapid fire first whilst this gentleman explains what I have to do?” Carl strode quickly to the indoor range and had them set it up for the ISSF course. “What have I done?” Amber blinked at him, “I’ve lost my BMW and embarrassed your friend, oh god what will you think of me?” “Does the BMW matter that much?” “No not really I only put it up because I know how much Carl thinks of his pick up truck. No the BMW is nothing, I can buy another one, this year’s model has a number of improvements.” Amber felt like hitting him over the head but then felt he was probably so stupid he wouldn’t feel a thing. A series of fairly rapid loud bangs came from the pistol range. “So what does Kayla have to do?” “Sixty rounds rapid fire, and twenty free pistol but shot within forty minutes. The rapid fire starts off at five rounds in eight seconds, followed by six then four.” Amber was all set to dump him then and there but reflected she needed a ride back. In the corner the white haired gentleman was showing Kayla his pistols and when they’d finished a second gentleman approached and asked her what sort of ammunition she wanted to use. “We have half a dozen different types, these are the supersonic ones that Carl favours.” Kayla pointed to a box of ammo “Those will do.” “You’ll need two boxes.” She nodded and pulled out her purse. Amber’s escort pulled out a pair of ear defenders of his bag and passed them to Kayla. “You’ll need these.” She tried them on then nodded and was led outside to the outdoor range.

Amber stood behind with the other spectators well back so as not to disturb the shooting. “Those targets look very far away and terribly small.” She whispered to Keith. “Hush.” There was a small crack then Kayla was reloading her borrowed .22 pistol as the pistol owner looked through the telescope. He took the pistol from her and made some small adjustments before handing it back. She fired a second shot, then reloaded. He nodded and after another three shots and he seemed satisfied and gave the signal to start the twenty shot course. Amber took Keith’s hand and led him away. “It’s not what you might call a spectator sport is it?” They sat and Amber sensing that Keith was more than a bit anxious asked him about himself to distract him. She let her hand rest gently on his thigh then slid it towards his inner thigh where he was more sensitive. She glanced at his crotch, well part of him seemed distracted anyway. She snuggled up and kissed him on the cheek. “If we sat in the back seat of your car it would be out of the wind.”

Amber looked through the glass window into the range. Carl had come out with a smug grin, “Four bulls eyes on the last four second target. Beat that if you can.” The white haired gentleman was stood by Amber’s side. “Does she stand any chance?” “Oh I think so, she’s using lower powered bullets than Carl did that don’t break the sound barrier so they’re more consistent. Braking the sound barrier gives a nice crack but it tends to give a wider spread.”

They followed Carl to the outdoor range. The detail changed and Carl used his semi-automatic pistol with the louder bang each time. Kayla left and went off to the indoor range for the rapid fire course. “Why doesn’t Carl have to reload after each shot?” “He’s using a pistol with a magazine rather than the single shot pistol that Kayla was using.” Amber shrugged her shoulders and asked him questions about his car instead guiding him back to the window that overlooked the indoor range where they could see Kayla having her magazine changed after five shots. “Carl didn’t change his magazine after five shots?” The white haired gentleman who had formalised the competition spoke up. “She’s loading just five rounds per magazine rather than ten which is all she needs and will keep the pistol centre of gravity closer to the same point and she’s relaxed. Carl was a bit het up when he started shooting. It’s a strange gun though so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

She could see Kayla take aim and fire then after five practise shots she changed the target to the competition one. Amber lived through every single shot. Then Kayla signalled to the white hair shooter to join her and he stepped into the range. There was some discussion then he took a screwdriver to the pistol’s sights before handing it back and exiting the range. “So?” Amber asked on tender hooks. “Nothing to worry about the bullets were grouped a bit off centre that’s all. It’s a strange gun and it can take a week or two to get the sights spot on.” “Has she hit any bull’s eyes yet?” “No not yet.” Amber took herself off to sit with Keith who was regretting his rash bet. “How’s she doing?” “No bull’s eyes yet.” Carl had returned from the out door range and was sat in the corner smirking. Eventually Kayla came out of the range. “So any bull’s eyes?” “I think I hit a couple but wait until the judges have given the official score.” Wanting to unwind after returning the pistol she walked across to the coffee bar and brought a coffee then admired a new Anchutz 2013/690 rifle that was lying in its protective gun case. “Want to try it out?” She smiled at him “Well yes, but its adjusted to you isn’t it?” “I know what my settings are so don’t worry. I’ll stand in the background though just in case someone wants to walk off with it.” He passed her a shooting jacket “My son’s but it should be about the right size.” Outside Kayla pulled her hooded jacket on over the shooting jacket and together they adjusted the stock length, cheek piece took a walk outside to the fifty metre range again where it was drizzling.

Inside the targets where brought to the club’s secretary to score. At first glance it appeared that Carl had managed to do fairly well as although his shots were a wider group than Kayla’s they were spread more evenly around the bull’s eye. Kayla’s fifty metre free pistol target appeared to be missing one shot. The secretary took his time and on closer examination together with the note from the range officer he was established that Carl had only managed to hit the target four times in one five shot four second rapid fire sequence. On the fifty metre free pistol the backing paper was examined and it was determined that one shot was cross fire. The next firing point had landed one on Carl’s target so that didn’t count. “What’s a backing paper?” Amber asked Keith “It’s a second sheet of paper that is placed about a foot behind the target that way if a cross shot happens then the bullet holes don’t line up.” “Oh.” On Kayla’s target with the missing shot the secretary very carefully inserted a gauge to see if all the holes were a tight fit. One wasn’t and on examining the backing paper with the gauge he declared that she’d managed to shoot two bullets through the same hole.

Kayla arranged the small table holding the box of ammunition by her right side and the telescope on its tall stand on the other. Standing she wrapped herself round the rifle and gently squeezed the trigger. She glanced through the telescope at her side then put her hand out to pick up the next round and reload. She fired a second round. Four positions down the range was a group of half a dozen muscular young men being guided what appeared to be a sergeant in plain clothes. “Now watch me carefully, feet apart the regulation 18 inches, back straight, hold the rifle tightly, look through the sights and look at the foresight. At this distance the target will be blurred so get an equal amount of grey around the black dot in the centre then pull the trigger. These are small bore rifles so don’t worry about the noise or kickback. Remember all you have to do is get a score of sixty to pass this mandatory part of the course and you have one week to get it done.” “Interesting approach” she thought to herself but ignored them until she heard “Back straight, grip tightly, that girl up there is doing it all wrong especially the way she curls herself round the rifle so ignore her.” Even then she said not a word.

“Roberts collect the girl’s target for her and bring it back to me so we can see just how badly she’s done.” “There’s no need I can collect my own target.” “I’m trying to teach these guys the correct way to do things so if you please.” Kayla shrugged “OK”. The half dozen were clustered together. Their coach had scored sixty eight and was well pleased with himself. The others had scored around the low thirties. “Never mind lads we’ll soon have most of you up to sixty. Roberts where are those targets?” Roberts had been slow walking back and he reluctantly handed Kayla’s target over. “I made it ninety three?” he hazarded. The sergeant looked confused. “It can’t possibly be right.” and took the target to count up the score himself. “It’s a little less than I usually score but then it’s the first time I’ve used this rifle.” Contributed Kayla. “You wouldn’t care to let us in on your secret?” Asked one of the muscular young men. Kayla wrinkled her nose. “Who has the lowest score?” “Marvin.” A rather red faced lad was pushed forward. “Well I am an accredited three position coach so we’ll start with this young man.” She turned to their coach, “If that is acceptable, and I assume that it doesn’t matter which rifle is used to reach the score of sixty?” Their coach nodded his consent. She glanced back to the owner of the Anchutz and he nodded his consent.

“Right now I’m a target shooter coach so we are talking target shooting now not combat shooting which is very different. Just to make sure I have your full attention I’ll thrown in an incentive, if all of you score sixty or more you get a hug and a kiss from me. If all of you match my score of ninety three then the six of you get a blow job. If all of you score ninety five or more then you may have a gang bang with me in the centre.” “Different.” She turned to the rifle’s owner. “May I borrow your shooting jacket and glove?” He nodded and passed them across.

“Right now the important thing in target shooting is to minimise any movement. So first we use a shooting jacket to support you. The next thing is we want the body relaxed. If you all hold out your arm in front of you you’ll notice it moves up and down or trembles very slightly. You’re using a pair of muscles in tension to do that. Now drop it by your side. This time its relaxed so no movement. Your legs should be spread a comfortable distance which will vary from shooter to shooter. You want the rifle over your centre of gravity so wrap your body round it, that means having a curved relaxed back. You’re young so when you look down the sights your eye will first focus on the foresight and then the target. So for you both will be in focus. Later as you age you’ll need to concentrate on just the foresight. Ammunition you want something that doesn’t break the sound barrier and is consistent so the brand I’m using here works well.” “But don’t snipers use special high powered rounds?” “Well yes a .5 inch round is deflected less by wind etc over a distance of two miles but you’re only shooting fifty metres with a .22 round which is quite different. You can ignore the wind effect at this distance given the score you need. Now I’ll adjust the rifle to you.” She first had him slip the special shooting glove on his left hand to support the barrel. She lengthened the butt, raised the cheek piece, adjusted the pistol grip, and adjusted the height of the stock until it fitted the shooter like a glove. “Now be careful of the trigger it’s set to about 100 gms which is quite heavy by target shooter standards but no where near the three pounds that the military likes so squeeze it very gently.”

She positioned the shooter so he had minimum movement to load and glance down the telescope. “Right when you’re ready we’ll fire five rounds and see how they group.” The group was silent as the first shot was fired, then the second followed by the third, fourth and finally the fifth. One of the group slipped away to purchase more ammunition of the same type. “I think you should continue to ten.” Another five shots were fired to make up the ten shots. “So how did I do?” Kayla was looking through the scope. “Not bad I make it seventy one. We could have adjusted the sights but you’re not used to holding the rifle up so the faster we shot the less tremble.” “You mean I made sixty?” Kayla turned to the coach and looked questioningly at him. “Well its ten shots witnessed by myself so I’ll have to score it properly but otherwise there no reason why it shouldn’t count.” Quickly the others all took their turn and all managed to score more than the magic sixty.

“You look disgustingly throughly kissed.” Amber greeted Kayla as she entered the club room. “Well I met these guys you know.” Kayla shrugged. “You never mentioned you knew how to shoot.” “You never asked.” “It wasn’t listed on your CV as a hobby.” “No I was after a job, and guns are polarising, I didn’t mention it in case it turned someone off.” “But how did you get started?” “My grandfather shoots prone, so he took me along and when my average crept up above his he went quiet so I sort of turned to pistol and three position. There was always someone willing to teach me.” “I’ve noticed it’s a sort of male dominated thing. Still I’d better get back to Keith, they haven’t declared the final score yet and he’s a bit despondent.”

The colonel looked up as his coach entered the club house despondently following his happy band. “So how did they get on then?” “Oh they all passed.” “Well that’s good then.” “I guess so but it was the young girl who got their scores up using some fancy plastic and aluminium rifle.” “Sounds like we need to buy a couple of fancy rifles then, is she qualified to coach?” “Well she said she had her certificate.”

“After scoring all the cards I’m pleased to announce that Miss Reid has won by a margin of twenty points.” “God I should have insisted on three position.” Carl exclaimed and moved in a threatening manner towards Kayla and Keith. “Careful that’s our princess you’re talking about.” Interjected Marvin, “And since she just out shot our coach standing I don’t really think you’d have stood much chance.” The other five muscular young men stepped up besides him. Carl turned on his heel and left. Kayla slid over to the white haired pistol owner. “You weren’t very nice to that poor man.” “What can I say, Carl has a habit of arriving twenty minutes before we close to shoot the team’s match card. He’s forgotten to come twice. Once he’d been shooting but left the match card until last and was just on the point of leaving when someone reminded him about it. So he quickly shot it off and didn’t bother with the scope which would have been fine but his backsight was loose. He offered to resign, I recognised you from when you shot with your grandfather, it was just too tempting.” “But won’t he just join again?” The club secretary joined them. “Well he could apply again but he’d have to go through the probationary period and his membership application would need to go to the full committee for a unanimous decision. I think when its presented to him in the right light we won’t have a problem. Which reminds me I must send him a letter expressing regret he felt he must resign but accepting his verbal resignation. Always best to get these things in writing. Now with your permission I’d like to introduce Colonel Lee to you.”

“Miss Reid, I’m Colonel Lee and I’d just like to thank you for getting my little band through their standing course. I must say it will help them in the future taking instructions from a female, and its one of the problems we have these days.” Kayla looked questioningly at him. “We get a variety of different cultures these days some of which can be a little inflexible about accepting females in authority. You wouldn’t like to do me a favour would you and train a half dozen or so every four months? We’d pay you $1,000 for the day.” “That much?” “Well it normally takes a squad a week to reach that required standard and we cost them out a $500 a day each so the budget does rather well out of it. You don’t happen to have your coaching certificate for pistol as well do you?” “I don’t have the right sort of rifle or pistol available or anywhere to keep them.” “Oh no problem, I’ll be getting a left handed and a pair of right handed of those fancy rifles and I dare say we can arrange a couple of pistols as well. I’ll give you the armoury’s phone number and they’ll arrange to have them here at the range anytime you’d like them.” “I’m not even a member.” He turned “Charles, Henry can we have an informal committee meeting to make Miss Reid here a member? I’m proposing her.” “Sure.” “Why not?” “There you see all done now which pistols were you after. Did I understand you were shooting fifty metres with a pistol?” “Well yes but it is a rather special one, oh well I suppose whilst I’m around you’re hired yourself a coach.” “Splendid my dear absolutely splendid.”

“You’re the young lady that brought Keith to his senses at last.” Kayla looked up from her computer in the office. “I’m Keith’s mother and here are the keys to a rather large truck that he won at the weekend. If you’d just sign here and here?” She held out a set of papers that covered a year’s insurance and a transfer of ownership. Kayla read through them and looked up. “But couldn’t he just sell it?” “The gamble seems to have brought him to his senses. He met a young lady called Amber? She sounds almost sensible, if you know where I can find her I’d like to invite her out to the cottage this weekend. It’s on a lake and we have a couple of boats floating round. No no I think the best solution would be if you accept the truck, I’m sure having a young lady drive it will upset Carl quite as much as losing it and Carl’s mother is as delighted as I am in the change its brought to Carl, admitting a female could do as well or better than he could.” She touched Amber on the shoulder. “You’re going swimming this weekend.” “I am?” “Meet Keith’s mother, and she’ll tell you all about it. Shall we go down for coffee?”

The phone rang, could she pop in to the office? She talked to her boss and got permission to go over there that afternoon provided she made the hours up. The office turned out to be a lawyer’s office, Great Aunt Phyllis had left her a little something in her will but it would take a year or so to get probate and no they weren’t sure of the exact amount at the moment. “I’d better tell my dad.” “If you like but when we discussed it your Great Aunt thought you might like to go to university.” “It’s too late this year though and I’m not sure that dad would agree.” “Part of the estate is a limited company that installs solar panels on schools. It has a certain amount of cash available and whilst we need probate to get at most funds the company could employ you and pay you to go to University. If we took our time with the probate you’d be twenty one and your parents needn’t even be involved.” “Sounds devious to me, let’s do it.” A phone call was made and an appointment was made for Kayla to meet Ms Hernandez in finance at the local University.

“Hi mom I’ve got a job with a company that generates electricity with solar panels.” “Well if its what you want to do I suppose its all right. Where will you live?” Kayla crossed her fingers “The company provides accommodation for its trainees.”

Kayla and Ms Hernandez waited in the corridor outside Dr. Nelson’s office “Whilst you’ve had fifteen refusals so far for funding I’m certain one of the other two applications we haven’t heard from so far will come through.” You could tell from the tone that Dr. Nelson didn’t really hold up much hope but had to say the words. A dejected student came through the open door. Kayla eyed his butt as he walked down the corridor. “Dr. Nelson, one of our financial partners, the one who put the solar panels on the roof, is taking a more active interest in us and is interested in funding some research and on sending a trainee on an undergraduate course so I thought you might be able to help.” She smiled at Kayla, “I’ll leave you in his capable hands. Let me know how you get on.” before returning to her office. Dr. Nelson blinked for a moment. Finance never got involved in matters like this. “Well term starts next week and normally we send out offers two months in advance. Still have you got your grades with you? Which course were you interested in?” “I think at this stage whichever course is available.” “And the research side?” “Well how much does the young man who just left need?” “He’s after funding for a PhD so at least three years if not five at say $20,000 a year plus living money.” Kayla smiled “Well its within budget.” “Don’t you want to know what the subject is?” “Not especially he’s got a nice butt.” Dr. Nelson closed his eyes and recalled the recent master’s student that had just got funding with the blue eyes and short skirt, well he could live with it he supposed, just as long as Eric didn’t put in a formal complaint about a sexist remark. “You’ll probably find Eric in the coffee bar down the corridor, send him my compliments and mention I’d like him to show you round.” He beamed up at her, if she hadn’t come in with Ms Hernandez he wouldn’t have believed this teenager could give approval for $100,000 research money. He might even be able to afford a new spectrum analyser, certainly Eric would need one for his work.

Kayla found him in the coffee bar as suggested staring gloomily into his coffee. “Hi I’m Kayla, I’m thinking of taking an undergrad course here next week. Dr. Nelson sends his compliments and requests you show me around.” Eric looked taken back. He didn’t do the smile and greet thing, not only that but Dr. Nelson himself had remarked how blunt and tactless he could be. “Are you quite sure you wouldn’t prefer one of the accredited student guides to show you round?” Kayla blatantly fluttered her eye lashes at him and looked hurt. “Anyone would think you don’t look forward to spending time with me?” “Dash it all that’s not what I meant. I just meant they have their patter all worked out.” “Well let’s see what you can do without a preplanned patter shall we?” “This is the coffee bar.” “Oh my I’m impressed.” “No you’re not.” “Well then pretend I’m your fairy godmother who’s come to take you out to lunch at the most expensive restaurant in town after you’ve shown me round.” “Yea right. Well I’ve nothing better to do so let’s do the guided tour.” He led her round the campus and eventually they were stood outside the entrance to the engineering building. “Well then that’s just about it. Anything else you’d like?” Kayla leaned into him and kissed him on the lips. “Well before I take you to lunch how about escorting me to the new condos across the road?” “They’re a bit expensive for student accommodation.” “Let’s go and see anyway.” She led the way across the street daringly crossing without first walking down to the traffic lights. Eric scurried to keep up. Inside they stepped into the sales office. “Have you a penthouse available?” Asked Kayla. The sales person smiled, “Want to have a look across the city do you? Well why not, its quiet today.” She picked up the keys and led the way to the elevator. Entering into the spirit of things she gave them the sales patter as they entered the penthouse model show apartment. “I suppose if I wanted it furnished and move into tomorrow that wouldn’t be a problem?” The sales person paused in her patter. “You’re serious?” Kayla pulled out her phone and dialled. “Mr. Scott I’d like to buy an apartment, could you talk to the lady?” She passed the phone over. “Which room would you like?” she asked Eric who was stood there blinking. “I hope you don’t mind the furniture but it means we can move in quickly.” Shaken Eric pointed to the one next to the master bedroom. “Now perhaps we’d better go back and see that nice Dr. Nelson.”

Kayla stopped off at the washroom whilst Eric carried on and entered Dr. Nelson’s office. “Who is she? She mentioned I should pretend she’s my fairy godmother but that can’t be right.” Dr. Nelson looked up from his email. “Well her company has just deposited $40,000 for your project with a promise of more to follow next year so I’d say she wasn’t far off.” “I bet she doesn’t even know what the project is about so why should she do it?” Dr. Nelson found he just couldn’t bring himself to explain that Kayla thought he had a nice butt, “Perhaps she was impressed by your tour?” Just then Kayla entered the office closing the door behind her. “So you found him then?” “Just as you said sitting in the coffee bar.” “Finance have just emailed that $40,000 has been transferred for Eric’s project.” “Was that all right or should I have spoken to you both first? I thought $20,000 for Eric’s first year and $20,000 to buy a new electric kettle or whatever for the lab. I mean he’ll be quicker with the right equipment, and that means cheaper overall doesn’t it?” Kayla asked. She turned to Eric “You don’t have a problem with accepting the money do you?” Eric shrugged “I confess I’m mercenary I’ll take anyone’s money.” “Oh good.” She looked at Dr. Nelson “And the other matter?” “Which is of course totally unrelated, yes you start on Monday, I’ll be your personal tutor if needed and Eric will be roped in as well. Hopefully someone will drop out in the first couple of weeks or not turn up then we can fit you in more easily in the labs but one way or other we’ll squeeze you in.” “So just how much are you worth?” “I’d like to keep a low profile so shall we simply say the company I work for has sufficient revenue to keep you going for the next five years.”

Well she had her apartment but thought it might look a little better if there was another girl living there, a mixed apartment as it were. At the end of her first lecture she looked round and spotted a Chinese girl trying to look inconspicuous as every one drifted off for coffee. “Coffee?” Kayla invited her. “No I’m..” Kayla was certain she was one of the Chinese students who studied where scholarships were available, needed to count every penny and weren’t permitted to work off campus. “Coffee as in I want to proposition you and its easier to talk over coffee. I have an apartment with a spare room which I’m willing to trade for someone running the vacuum cleaner around occasionally and doing the cooking, food provided.” “But my friend Mei?” “I’ve only got one room.” “We could share?” “Come and see if you like it. We might be able to fit Mei in sometime in the future.”

Li stepping out of the bathroom gave a small cry when she came face to face with Eric. “It’s OK Li, Eric’s just my gigolo although he doesn’t know it yet.” Eric looked surprised, Li commented looking at his jeans, “Well he seems to like the idea.” “What did you say?” asked Eric ominously. “You have a roof over your head but have you thought about food and you may have forgotten how many glass beakers you need for your lab?” “Well yes, I was going to have talk with you about that.” “Well why not step into my bedroom. We can discuss the matter at length and keep my hormones happy at the same time.” “Does that mean Mei can move into your room?” asked Li. “Yes, no, yes?” stammered Eric as Kayla pulled him down onto the bed. Mei moved in that evening.

Li asked if she might invite one or two friends to share their evening meal. “Yeah sure just introduce them to the finger scanner on the front door save ringing the bell each time.” “Li I always thought Chinese food was more rice and so forth?” “Normally it is but for many of the students who eat here it’s the only time they get meat in the week. Its so expensive.” “We have a table in the kitchen and I’m sure you can arrange something at lunch time as well.” Kayla found herself accepted by the Chinese students and they had a way of placing themselves between her and anyone they thought might be a threat such as a drunken student.

Her lawyer ensured that probate was eventually granted just as she graduated. Well what to do next? She had her degree but really didn’t fancy working for someone else still she was of age now so she popped into to see the lawyer who had been looking after her inheritance. A little over nine hundred million dollars? She put a fifth into bonds, a third into her company, and the rest into shares. She left the apartment as it was so Eric could continue his studies and a pair of new Chinese students moved in to replace Li and Mei.

She’d been thinking ever since she’d seen the Canada geese flying in formation overhead slipstreaming each other that if only planes did the same the world would be a greener place. She read in the newspaper one of the big aircraft manufacturers was rebalancing the level of human capital, so she decided to visit the city and see if her idea would be practical. She’d heard that aircraft engineers often took jobs road sweeping etc knowing that the economy would pick up and there would be jobs in the aircraft manufacturers once more in the future.

She walked into a coffee bar downtown and asked the girl behind the counter where was the best place to find an aeronautical engineer if she wanted to hire one. “Alan its quiet, come and talk to the lady.” Alan stepped out from behind the counter “What can I do for you?” They sat down at one of the tables and she told him of her idea of a flock of small passenger planes. “It costs about $100 million to get a prototype built and approved do you have that sort of money?” She gave him the name of her private company and gulping told yes that sort of money was available. He wrote down an address for her and told her to be there at seven pm. He’d get the gang in to talk to her. “Could we make it six and arrange for a Chinese takeout if I pay?”

Kayla explained the basis of her idea and waited for a reaction. The first was a female engineer who asked bluntly “How much are you paying?” “I’d thought 5% less than your old rate of pay plus 10% as shares. I’m putting in $300 million so you’d get share of the profits if any.” “How large are you thinking they would be?” “Well one stewardess can handle fifty passengers so I thought fifty passengers. That number would allow direct flights from smaller cities to smaller cities.” “If we built a cargo version first that would be quicker as the requirements aren’t so strict.” “No windows would mean it was lighter.” “It needs sensors to tuck in behind another aircraft. Do we need a pilot, copilot etc?” “So a drone then?” “If it was light enough we could launch it from a linear motor.” “And land the same way.” “Save a lot of weight, you’d only need a large enough pair of engines to fly it not to take off. Be quieter inside the cabin as well.” “But if you had to land somewhere without a launcher how would you get it back?” “If it was empty a couple of attachment points for two rockets to give it just enough extra boost to get it airborne.” “We could go composite?” “Do we have the expertise?” “If we set up shop on the air base there are some other companies there who are building small composite aircraft.” Kayla looked puzzled “The air force is repositioning itself so they are in the process of closing down one of the bases that took long range bombers so it has a very long runway that a number of smaller companies are using to test new designs etc. We can probably tap into their expertise from time to time.”

“So do you think we can do it?” she asked. “Why not, Robinson helicopters was set up from scratch after all. I think its definitely doable, the big hangers cost a million or so each I heard on the grapevine, that would take three months to go through with the legal stuff another six months to put it all together so say a year and we should be flying.” “You mean we can’t start for three months?” “No we can start tomorrow, sub-contract some office space in another hanger, get the CAD programs going.” “We should keep to one basic design for everything and use low maintenance off the shelf components as much as we can.” “Do we have a business plan?” Kayla looked blank, “Well we’ll need to smear the design costs over a number of drones and we can get a better price for the engines if its for a number of drones.” “Thirty?” “Well that gives us a number to aim at.” “We’ll need access to a super computer for the airflow simulations.” “Oh and someone to do the documentation.”

Kayla thought the internal size was dictated by how much room fifty standard airline seats plus a toilet and galley took up but apparently if they made them slightly wider and longer that was just the perfect size for cargo pallets and since the idea was to have one basic design that’s what they ended up with. Any idea of Kayla as CEO telling people what to do just didn’t seem to fit in with the way things evolved so she sat back and watched her idea of a flight of aircraft gently grow. Still she had a shopping list, one aircraft hanger and one super computer. The first stop was the air base where she spoke to a charming officer who showed her round the empty aircraft hanger. Next door was a three story building screened from the runway by earth beams which when she asked what it was was told “That’s the old officer training building, quarters, offices, mess hall and lecture rooms. Would you like to look over it?” Well it was functional at least and the offices were larger than she’d expected. “If you’re interested I’m authorised to consider offers.” Well a million dollars to buy that much office space wasn’t bad, and it would be somewhere to live, “Two million for the hanger and the old officer training building?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him and he looked flustered, sometimes she enjoyed being a girl. She scribbled out the offer on a sheet of paper, together with a cheque for 10%. “I’ll put it through though it might take a day or two to come through. I can always rent them to you if you’d like access more quickly.” She smiled at him and crossed her fingers. At the back of her mind was the word documentation, Amber, she wondered if Amber was available. A quick email and Amber appeared in person. “Hi girl, you have a real job for me?” “Yes but I wasn’t sure if you’d be available.” “Put it this way this is the first job interview I’d had, apparently there are more English graduates than jobs. So I accept.” “I haven’t even told you what the job is yet.” “I still accept.” “I’ll introduce you to the gang then all you have to do is gather up the scraps of paper then document the project.” “Wow just like the old days.”

Next she dropped by the local college “Do you have such a thing as a super computer?” “No but I’m sure we’d like one.” The receptionist said before guiding her into the president’s office for with the downturn every possibility of funding needed to be followed up. Kayla handed the sheet of paper across the desk. “My company needs access during the day to one of these to run some simulations. If we brought you one could you look after it and it would be available for use when we didn’t need it.” “And of course it would be tax deductable, I’ll just get hold of someone from our computer lab.” He picked up the phone and within five minutes they were joined by the head of computing. “Well these new Tesla processors really pack in the power and yes we’d like one but we haven’t the room in the server room, and upgrading the conditioned power supplies would practically double the cost.” The president thought it might be better to discuss things over lunch, and led the way to the senior common room. “I think this must be quite the nicest food in town.” Kayla remarked as she sampled her lunch. “Ah but not for much longer, its prepared by the haut cuisine and catering course and with the cut backs and the lease expiring this is our last term of such luxury. We’re having to cut the course next year.” Kayla thought back to her management lectures and the importance of networking. Lunchtime was ideal for discussing problems. “Could I have a chat to your chef?” “Trying to hire him away from us are you?” “Well I do have staff to feed in fact why don’t I drive you all out to my new offices and you can look them over and see if the computer would fit there, you never know and these days you may not need to be physically at the computer to look after it.”

After inspecting the officer training building the computer expert pronounced “It’s good enough but do you have the right sort of power?” “I’d thought about a fuel cell?” He looked at her with respect “That would work nicely.” The chef looked the mess hall over. “How many would we be cooking for?” “About twenty.” “So five or six tables, if it was fifty we could run the course here. It looks as if you have spare lecture rooms and accommodation for a few students.” Well if they were going to tap into the expertise around it might not be a bad idea. “Done.” The chef turned to the college president “Now if we were to get the design and construction students to work to design and put up a partition wall and wall off a quarter of the mess hall we could make a rather a good formal restaurant.”

Strangely enough the project went very smoothly, the other companies employees were delighted to have their lunch supplied for free, especially such high quality. In fact one or two significant others joined them for meal served at the end of the day and it produced a fair amount of goodwill. It also produced Dawn who overheard their conversation about seats. Dawn was a designer who one of the other companies had brought in to design the seats for the pilot and copilots. “Well if I had a clean sheet of paper I’d go for a range of seat sizes.” When queried she walked over to one of the white boards and talked about how the normal airline seats were designed based the measurements of the average military soldier and these were often larger than the average civilian. “I’ve often thought that if you knew your passengers then you’d want some with longer leg length, some slighter wider width for overweight passengers, some lower seats and shorter front to back for shorter people. It’s just a matter of coming up with the normal / average plane load then having the right seats to fit.” “Well we could displace the isle slightly to one side, it could work. Could you spare us the time to design it all for us?” Dawn was delighted and in two weeks she’d drawn up a seating plan together with the specially designed reclining seats that only reclined slightly.

He sailed importantly through the conference room door with an assistant trailing behind him and looked round. “I thought I was meeting with the CEO not his assistant.” Kayla smiled at him and invited them to sit down. She addressed the girl “I’m looking for an experienced executive assistant and you wouldn’t have to wear high heels all day.” The look on his face was priceless. “Harry I did try to warn you.” “All right point taken. Now then we are the biggest selling passenger airline seat manufacturers and I’ve heard on the grape vine you’ve placed an order for a thousand seats. With our new seats we’ve managed to reduce the thickness of the seat so you can get thirty one rows in where every one else can only get in thirty. That’s 3% added straight to your bottom line.” He sat back and smiled. “Unfortunately our planes only have a dozen rows of seats so it wouldn’t help at all.” “But you’ve ordered a thousand seats? That’s a maximum of only a hundred and eight passengers no one builds long distance planes that small these days. You need the economy of scale.” “Well ours are only fifty seats per plane. Anyway its nice to have met you. If you’re interested in a job just let me know.” Confused and mystified the salesman left muttering “But it just doesn’t make sense. I must be missing something.”

Tina, Kayla’s new executive assistant, managed to take some of the day to day burden off Kayla’s shoulders and having worked in sales soon had ideas about getting to know their passengers and how they would fit in the seating plan. “Since we are flying to smaller airports and they don’t have the sophisticated security equipment would it make sense to only fly people we know?” The weekly Friday morning breakfast meeting in the mess hall that discussed issues as well as gossip grew silent then a voice contributed “You mean set up a Co-op to sell the flights and we provide service to the co-op. That way we could restrict who is allowed to join and hence fly.”

They all crossed their fingers, the first drone was attached to the linear motor then launched into the air. It flew a wide loop then came back to land on the landing track just as planned. There was a collective sigh of relief. Now all they had to do was complete the second drone which would be the lead of the flock. So the same as the first but with much larger fuel tanks.

The rules for cargo drones seemed much simpler and with three units with fuel as cargo to be able to lead the flock of four drones filled with a dummy cargo they launched them across the Atlantic ocean. For the return flight they filled the drones with chargeable freight. Three months later they were regularly flying a flock of fifty cargo carrying drones long distances. The courier companies liked being able to ship a smaller amount directly from one city to another without having to consolidate then break up the load as they did with hubs. As the demand grew so linear motors and landing tracks were delivered and set up which opened up new locations to fly to and from.

At the hanger they worked out small improvements to build the composites faster, and on the runway they had two passenger versions built, one a conventional fifty seater and the other a more luxurious executive jet but even the conventional one class aircraft was rather more comfortable with its slightly wider seats and more leg room than normal. Getting the unconventional passenger planes accepted first by one authority and then another seemed to present major problems. They didn’t say no as such but in the way of civil servants who wish to avoid being seen to take a risk they delayed.

They were stood round watching a test drone land when Kayla was approached by a group of military. “Your aircraft doesn’t show up very well on our radar.” Came the comment. “I think we’ll need to add radar reflectors into it at some point. It’s made of composites so doesn’t really stand out much to radar.” “I’ve noticed its very quiet as well.” “It has much smaller engines than normal and we tried to keep the noise down so it would be more acceptable on city airfields.” “So what’s its range?” “I think sufficient is the term. We have them flying well into Europe.”

Later another group of military dropped by. “How much load could they carry? And how what is the cruising speed?” They were shown the insides of the passenger version and told “Unfortunately it doesn’t have all its passenger carrying certificates yet.” “When can it be ready to fly a troop of twenty special forces with electric motorcycles to Europe? We have a very urgent need as they’re here on training but needed for a special operation over there. I’ll provide the requisition which will cover you for military use.” An hour later Kayla, as the lightest, was in the stewardess seat. They launched the executive version first whilst they’d stripped out thirty seats and loaded pallets of electric motorcycles and rucksacks behind the seats secured by a large cargo net. She checked every one’s seat belt, Lieutenant Dunn looked rather cute, then signalled they were set then they were suddenly thrown high into the sky. “It isn’t very loud is it?” She thought about it “Well it only has two small engines and they aren’t very noisy.” “Oh we aren’t complaining, compared to Air Force cargo planes with seats down the sides or helicopters this is great. Besides with the low radar profile, noise level and much higher speed than a helicopter no one will be waiting for us when we arrive.” Soon they were tucked in behind the executive passenger drone, an hour later they’d taken up their position in the flock and were flying across the pond. Kayla dimmed the cabin lights and the troops tried to grab some sleep. The flock split up over Ireland with a much smaller flock heading towards central Europe. Finally it was just themselves quietly flying to the hill side road where they planned to land. Hopefully there would be no traffic. They landed pointing up the hill and the motorcycles were quickly and silently deployed. The plan was two helicopters would come and collect them when the mission was completed.

Kayla tossed out the empty pallets and turned the plane round so it was pointing downhill ready to takeoff when she had an urgent message “Can you carry four wounded soldiers?” “What about the helicopters?” “They’re at least an hour away and are much slower so they’d take too long.” “Well I can try.” She sat down and keyed in the rough body weights, the air temperature, pressure and weight of fuel left. It wouldn’t be possible to take off even with the rocket assist. Desperately she keyed in the weight of the remaining seats, it might just make the difference, she reduced the heating and that just tipped the balance. She spoke to control and between them they decided to program the plane for minimum fuel consumption to give maximum range. The four men were carried in from the silent motorbikes. “Right can you strip off the body armour and the weapons which will need to be left behind then get them into sleeping bags on the floor, I’ll need one as well. Can two of you help me dump the seats?” She averted her gaze as the wounds on the soldiers became more apparent. They all looked very much as if they’d been in the wars so she bent down and gave each a kiss better on the lips which seemed to distract them from their pain. She confessed to herself that she rather enjoyed the last one, Lieutenant Dunn tasted as good as he’d looked earlier although he wasn’t looking quite so healthy this time. They secured the sleeping bags with the cargo net so the wounded men wouldn’t be too bashed about as they flew. Another silent electric motorbike arrived. “I’m coming with you.” “Sorry we’re full.” “But I’m Captain Windsor’s personal bodyguard.” “So the only way to take you would be to leave someone else behind which wounded man gets left?” The other soldiers looked round at this and escorted the bodyguard out. Kayla tossed out her overnight bag to save weight then touched the start button and the aircraft lumbered along for a yard or two before the rockets kicked in and they picked up speed. Kayla snuggled down in her warm down sleeping bag and tried not to mind too much as the temperature inside the plane dropped. Outside the drone tucked itself in the slip stream of another unit and together they dashed towards the nearest specialist hospital. Air traffic control diverting other aircraft to enable them to travel the shortest distance. Even so the fuel ran out and they glided the last mile but made it onto the special landing track where forty five minutes after take off a group of ambulances rolled up to the door. “They aren’t on stretchers?” “Sorry we weren’t expecting to be used as an air ambulance.” “Backboards.” Came the call, and Kayla slipped out of the plane and sat down with her head between her knees feeling faint. After the ambulances roared off a medic came over to her and asked if she needed anything. “A lift to a hotel perhaps so I can have a bath?” Behind her the ground crew were already loading the drone with cargo and readying it for takeoff.

The four star hotel was bliss. She rinsed out her knickers out in the sink then collapsed on the big double bed. The next morning she took a taxi to the hospital and enquired after Captain Windsor and Lieutenant Dunn at reception. “If you’d like to step this way Miss.” Two large military gentlemen stood either side of her and escorted her into an office. She pulled out her mobile and was about to call the office when it was taken from her. Ten long minutes passed before an officer entered the room. “What makes you think either gentlemen are here?” He asked bluntly. “I flew four wounded men in yesterday including Captain Windsor and Lieutenant Dunn.” The officer looked down at his notes “Can you describe how the stretchers were secured in the plane?” Kayla looked at him exasperatedly “Sleeping bags tied down with a cargo net.” He looked up and smiled “Sorry about that but we get all sorts of journalists trying to dig information out these days and we’d like to keep this quiet if we can. Would you like to see them?” Kayla smiled. “Yes please I felt a bit bad yesterday about not knowing any first aid. All I could do was get them here as quickly as possible.” “You did exactly the right thing, scoop and run is our favourite approach and we got them within the golden hour. Anyway follow me down to the ward. I dare say the sight of a petty visitor will raised their spirits.”

They walked down a corridor past three armed guards and into a small ward where the four soldiers were tucked up in bed. She went and spoke to each in turn and after apologising for the haphazard way they’d been brought back asked them how they felt. “Glad you got us back.” Was the general reply. She left feeling much more comfortable that they would recover since they looked in much better shape than they had last time she’d seen them.

Back at the air base things were going smoothly. Her drones were working well for cargo but there seemed to be some delay in getting approval for passengers. She decided to fly to London and see if she could see what the issues and concerns were first hand.

At passport control at Heathrow she was surprised to find herself escorted by two security personnel into a nearby office. “If you’d just like to wait here for a few moments your escort will be here shortly.” Escort? “I’d much prefer to just catch the train.” “I’m sorry my instructions are you are to wait here.” “Have I been arrested?” “Certainly not miss, merely invited to wait. Unless you were thinking of leaving of course.” She sat twiddling her thumbs. Her luggage arrived in the office shortly afterwards then a cheerful West Indian youth arrived. “Got my passenger then?” He asked and checked at her passport. “Looks like the right one, follow me love and we’ll be on our way.” He led the way to a waiting Range Rover that had seen better days that was parked in a no waiting lane outside the terminal with a policeman standing guard over it. “Ta Alf.” The West Indian called to the policeman who gave him a wave and off they set off. “Who are you and were are you taking me?” “What they didn’t tell you? Captain Windsor’s Gran wants to say thank you for looking after Harry. I’m just the driver, mind you M15 the guys who found you don’t even tell each other what they’re doing. Strange lot they are but you’re with me now so don’t you worry about a fing.” The traffic grew worse and he swerved onto the reserved hard shoulder. “Have a look in the glove compartment and see if there’s a blue lamp there.” Kayla dug in and pulled it out. “That’s it set it on the dashboard and switch it on, we haven’t got all day.”

Later as they came off the motorway a pair of police motorcycles joined them in front and eased the traffic to the side. Kayla thought she recognised a few sights as they drove through London but she wasn’t sure. Eventually her driver pulled up and a footman in livery stepped forward to open the door for her. “This way Madam, now don’t try to shake hands and when you leave don’t turn your back on her.” Moments later she was brought into an office where an elderly lady was sat behind a desk, a pair of elderly corgis raised their heads as the door opened.. “Miss Kayla Reid Madam.” “Thank you so much for coming. We just wanted to thank you for looking after my grandson. The young these days always want to prove themselves and they look terribly splendid in their uniforms. Now if I was sixty years younger Lieutenant Dunn in his dress uniform would be perfect for waltzing the night away.” “I know exactly what you mean, except I’d take him to a desert island for a week.” “From what my grandson was saying your little planes get launched into the air then fly across the Atlantic. It all seems terribly modern.” “I got the idea from watching a flock of geese they slipstream each other so it saves fuel but gives you the flexibility of smaller planes.” “Still we don’t have a lot of time now why are you visiting?” “Well after a year of carrying cargo I’m trying to get permission for my little planes to carry passengers to and from the UK but there seems to be some delay.” “Margaret we’re flying to Paris next week we’ll take one of Miss Reid’s planes. There that’s dealt with. Have you been to Cornwall at this time of the year? No Margret will arrange it, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the house party there, always lots to do. Now if you’ll excuse us we have some other appointments to see.”

Bewildered Kayla stepped backwards and found herself through the door once more. A secretary stepped forward to greet her. “Can you arrange a suitable plane? I suggest one set up for an executive business flight.” Kayla thought for a moment, well if she could get the permissions they had one they were putting together with swivel seats etc. “Just let Cameron know the date I’ll give you his email address and phone number.” “Now have you a ball gown and evening gowns with you? Cornwall can be rather formal in the evenings.” Kayla confessed “Not that formal but I’m sure I can pick something up in London.” “Let’s go shopping then.” They took taxis to save looking for parking places. Kayla was very impressed with the boutiques and soon they found half a dozen evening gowns but the ball gown she decided would be made to measure. It was arranged that the dress would be delivered to the country house in Cornwall accompanied by someone to make the final adjustments. Well it was the quiet season after all.

The house party in Cornwall was a unique experience. They found a gentle mare for her to ride out on each day with a groom to accompany her. The plumbing was explained to her and when she mentioned she thought it rather primitive was reminded the house was rather old, and Carlton House was only just having running water laid on inside. The rest of the house party seemed to consist of honourables and debutantes together with attendant parents and so forth. Melissa took special care of her and often when they went out riding in the morning they would stop at a pub for a Cornish pasty and a glass of cider. It was Melissa who arranged each afternoon for her to practice her dance steps before the ball.

Still all good things must come to an end and with regrets she returned to the air base to see how things were progressing. Amazingly enough the approvals had come through for the passenger drones. So did they sell their drones or run their own airline? They discussed it back and forth. Most airlines used special software to price seats to maximise profits but on the other hand their costs were lower and they could fly direct from smaller cities to smaller cities so there wasn’t any direct competition. They didn’t need to have a flock of passenger drones they could fly in formation with the cargo drones so they set up a web site and offered their first flights. What they hadn’t expected was corporate fliers were happy to be able to fly direct and avoid the security queues at the larger airports and were quite happy to pay a premium to have the drone fly from one city to another on a certain day so then it became a matter of filling up the seats in the back. Tina had set up a web site that allowed someone to charter a flight then sell the seats at the back to offset the cost. The companies loved it, they guaranteed the cost of the flight which gave them much of the flexibility of running their own executive jet but at a much lower cost. Kayla’s company was profitable, very profitable in fact to the satisfaction of both herself and her aeronautical engineers.

The Colonel looked at the orders in front of him and sent for Lieutenant Dunn. He thought he might just frame these, he was quite certain he’d never come across an order direct from the commander-in-chief before. “Ah Dunn, the commander-in-chief’s complements. You’re being sent across the pond for a month to report to a K. Reid. Here are your orders and an envelope to take with you. Good luck.” The lieutenant smartly saluted and left the office wondering who would be travelling with him. Civilian clothes, civilian flight, and no weapons, he felt naked without them. Still he finally found his way to the address mentioned in his orders and rang the doorbell. The girl looked familiar. “Yes?” He handed her the envelope he’d been carrying and waited whilst she skimmed the letter. He is at your command for a month rather than a week. She looked up at him and smiled “You’d better come in.” He hesitated for a moment there was something about that smile that looked dangerous.

“According to this letter you’re mine to command for the next month.” “Yes ma’am. I’m afraid I’m unarmed at present for this assignment.” He saluted her. “Are there any limits?” He looked puzzled then relaxed, “Other than damaging government property I don’t think so.” She looked puzzled once more so he gave her an example. “If I get sunburn then I’m allowed sick leave but I also get put on a charge for damaging government property.” “You’d best follow me through to the patio then.” She indicated a sun bed. “Get undressed and lie down on your front please.” He hesitated, “That was an order.” she reminded him picking up the sun screen bottle. “Now I’ve better make sure you’re well protected hadn’t I?” She took her time massaging the sun screen in to ensure he was well protected. “Turn over.” She started at his toes and worked up, then when she reached mid thigh she continued with his chest and arms.

Finally she poured sun screen oil on to the palm of her hand and took his stiffening rod in her fingers. Lubricated and stiff, and hers to command. She lowered herself on top of him, this was the life, CEO and she could tell him what to do. Lieutenant Dunn to obey her every whim for a month. Perhaps in a month she’d ring Eric up for a longer term relationship but for the moment there was something about a soldier.