Approx

Approx. 1,749 words

We were dancing at midnight, when he/she began to….

At Midnight

W. E. Lopez

The day Gary came into my life was nothing less than amazing. While browsing at a local discount computer outlet, she simply walked up to me and began discussing the merits of a particular operating system on a new laptop I was admiring; and she was no slouch when it came to understanding the mysteries of central processing units, platforms, and peripherals.

“You sound as though you’ve spent many years working in my area of expertise, Miss…?”

“Venidera,” she said with a flash of white the makers of Pepsodent would admire. “Margarita Venidera, though my friends call me Gary.” She pronounced it Gah-ree.

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Miss Venidera, or may I call you Gary?”

“Please do,” she said.

Gary was very compact, not more than five-foot-one. Her diminutive stature only accentuated the rest of her proportions. Her hair was blacker than a cave at midnight, and cut quite short; I think women call it a pixie cut. Her complexion was slightly darker than polished English-oak, while her hazel eyes sparkled like a rippling brook, dancing in the sun light. Prominently displayed in the middle of her low-cut blouse was an attractive pendant of diamonds and sapphires.

“Peter Darway,” I said, extending my hand.

“May I call you Pete?” she asked.

“I insist,” I told her. “How is it that you are so knowledgeable about computers? I’ll be the first to admit the ‘dumb-broad stereotype’ is more fiction than fact, still, the architecture of cybernetic chips is not something the average lady is thoroughly conversant with.”

“I’m studying the specs of the newest D-6000 chip now. Who would ever have believed, just fifteen years ago, that we’d have a CPU with a clock speed of six gigahertz? Oh… forgive me,” she blushed. “There I go talking shop again.” She favored me with a smile that simply melted me.

“You really understand the D-6000?” I asked.

“I guess about as well as anyone who was not involved in the design and creation process.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll love the new Series 7000 chips due to be released late next year.”

“How would you know about that?” she asked, then slapped her palm against her forehead. “Darway, no wonder! It flew right over my head when you mentioned it. You’re the man who created the multi-dimensional chip! Here I’ve been talking about how much I know about a CPU, and you’re the fellow who builds them! So what’s new in the 7000 series, if it’s not a trade secret?”

“Have dinner with me tonight and I’ll let you pry out all my secrets,” I pleaded, expecting her to turn me down flat. A woman this stunning must surely have her pick of admirers; they were probably standing in a line six blocks long.

After a brief moment she said, “I’d love that.”

Four months later we were married. Gary never looked more beautiful in a low-cut gown of white chiffon, her ever present pendant attractively displayed. Gary was fond of low-cut fashions and I was to learn that she was never without that particular piece of jewelry, even on our bridal night. Three years have passed and I still don’t know how I could have been so lucky.

* * *

It happened at a dinner and dance sponsored by the Defense Department to garner support and funding for the new tri-nomial chip I was developing.

My Gary looked stunning in a royal-blue satin dress extending all the way to the floor. The front was cut incredibly low, which only showcased the pendant hanging in her cleavage, although I doubt the men even noticed the jewelry. When the dinner and speech making had concluded, a band was brought in and the music started. Although I had the traditional first dance with Gary, more than a dozen visiting congressmen and military big wigs soon claimed a dance with her. As Gary danced, I spent time answering silly questions from government officials, trying not to show my impatience with their foolishness.

Several hours later, Gary was once more in my arms as we navigated the dance floor. We were dancing at midnight, when suddenly she began to stiffen in my arms, her gaze fixed on the French-doors leading to the patio. I followed her line of vision and saw four bad characters entering the room, each with an Uzi sub-machinegun held in front of him!

Gary practically threw me to the floor behind the buffet table and said loudly in my ear, “Stay here and keep down!” She spoke with such force and authority that I had no intention of moving even an inch, especially with four armed men in the room.

Then the firing began. My experience with firearms has been limited to what I’ve seen in the movies or on television; I had no idea they would be so noisy! People began hitting the floor, involuntarily, while blood spurted from wounded and dying bodies.

I guess I’m a prize-winning coward; I kept my head down, risking only occasional glances at the mayhem taking place. Suddenly, there was Gary, darting around the room like an avenging angel. Her movements were incredibly fast, actually super-human. One moment an assassin would be bringing his weapon to bear on her and, in the blink of an eye, she would dance aside, suddenly appearing beside or behind him. In her hand I saw the sparkle of diamonds and sapphires on her pendant. She pushed the pendant into contact with the bad guy’s skull and he would suddenly fall to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Two were down, lifeless on the floor, but the remaining two both trained their guns on her at the same instant and it seemed as though she had no where to hide. Suddenly, she made a leap into the air accompanied by a double-forward flip, like you see in those martial arts movies. She sailed over one villain while pushing the pendant into contact with his skull and he collapsed.

Gary landed in a crouch and went to the floor; spinning while lashing out with her right leg and succeeding in knocking the legs out from under the lone assassin remaining. As he went down, she recovered and gave him the final coup de gras with her pendant. Score: bad-mannered guests zero, Gary four.

Then Gary was at my side, jerking me roughly to my feet. I barely heard her shouting “…out of here,” as she dragged me through the kitchen and out a rear entrance of the banquet hall.

Emerging in the chill night air, I made a move to put my arm around my love to keep her warm. She pushed me away and made another of those flying leaps toward the bushes while shots rang and bullets split the air where I had been standing a micro-second before. Another bad guy was waiting in the bushes, backing up the assassins inside, but Gary finished him off also.

Nearby, a dark green minivan was parked with the engine still running. Gary grabbed me and forced me ahead of her as she slid behind the wheel. She pulled the shift lever into drive and made the tires smoke as we pulled away.

Speeding along the asphalt, the headlights picked out the uniformed bodies of three security guards sprawled next to the drive. “Well, that explains how they were able to surprise us,” Gary said. I glanced at her and it was only then I noticed her floor length dress had been split to the hip while she was cavorting with the bad guys. Her thigh had been grazed with a bullet and was smeared with blood, but it was not any blood I had ever seen—it was milky-white.

Shocked, I asked in a terrified voice, “Who are you? What are you?”

“I’m your wife, Peter. I’m also Margarita Venidera, a CTA for the government.”

“Where does an accountant learn to fight like that? And that’s not real blood on your thigh, so I repeat my question; what are you?”

“Not CPA, Peter, Cee-Tee-A, Corps of Temporal Agents. You remember the movie Terminator? Well those five assassins back there were sent from the future to eradicate you. They are incredibly fast and heavily armored. Nothing you have, short of heavy artillery, could destroy them.

“The were supposed to destroy you before you could develop the Series 9000 cyborg chip, part semi-conductor and part living organism, capable of repairing itself and growing in intelligence and ability. We knew something like this was going to happen and I was sent here to keep you safe.”

Incredulous, I asked, “You mean you’re a robot from the future? I don’t believe this! I’ve been married to a construct for the past three years? Was that part of your assignment also?”

“Of course it was, Peter. We didn’t know exactly when the assault would take place, and there may be others, so I had to be near you as much as possible. The only way to achieve that was to send a female agent to be your wife.”

Needless to say, I was stunned, shocked and hurt. “I loved you, trusted you, and worried about you as though you were a flesh and blood human being….”

She took the on-ramp to the Reagan Memorial Bridge. “It began as an assignment for me, dear, but my CPU has the capacity to learn, to feel love and loyalty too. I am happy to be your wife and want to continue as such; if you don’t trust me, then, here.” She thrust the pendant into my hand. “When you press the large jewel in the center, it will emit a high frequency electro-magnetic pulse, which is laser amplified. It’s very low range, in spite of the amplification, but when in contact with any cybernetic circuitry, it will instantly melt it.”

I turned it over and over, but I couldn’t learn anything from it in the dim light of the street lamps flashing past. This was the instrument that could destroy her utterly. Part of me wanted to press it against that raven-black hair for the way I had been tricked and humiliated. Another part of me wanted to go on, living, laughing, and loving this wonderful creation. I lowered the window on my side and flung the pendant into the river a hundred feet below.

“Of course I trust you, Gary. I’ll just have to be extra careful never to piss you off.”

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