Last Items of Business

And so, later, after tears fall and farewells are made, Betty and the others stand within the TARDIS......

"OK, now, guys, is there anything else we want to do before we leave this universe?" Betty finally says, after recovering from that tearful farewell.

Ragan looks like she'd shed a few tears as well, even though, technically, she wasn't really leaving friends and family behind forever in this trip. Then again....in a way she was, considering that she wouldn't be going back to her home universe either (since that way had been lost when she'd been pulled into Addventure).

The others then see that the Doctor has something to say.

"Actually, my dear, there is one or two last items of business," he says after giving Betty a reassuring pat on the arm.

He then looks over at Inquirer and smiles.

"Now that we've accomplished our primary objective I believe that we all could use a....shall we say.....a break from the routine," the Doctor continues, "Do happen to know that at Inquirer, amongst others, who would like to go on what is termed a shopping spree. That and I do remember 'somebody' reminding me that I still owe them a date."

Inquirer has a bit of a flush of color at that last one and then smiles along with the other and the Doctor.

"Okay, that's fine," Ragan finally says, "And I guess that we're going to use Stacy's account that she gave us and that is going to do very fine and well for funding all that. Now, what I'd like to know is just why we can't leave it for Kathy to have when we are done with it? I mean, it would make a rather nice parting gift, right?"

"Well, there is the fact that nobody really just knows where that money came from," Inquirer answers, "I have a few moral twinges about using it.....but when I did a little web surfing from your college's library, Betty, I didn't find any mention in any of the major news websites of any large amounts of money disappearing from any charitable organizations or...shall we say....white knight organizations. I may not be able to dance through the computer systems as I would if I had proper equipment, at least I'm technically competent enough to do that much for....forgive me for saying it....using relative antiques of computers! If the money is from a private citizen's account, then he'll only be inconvenienced for a bit, since bank accounts are Federally insured. But with the rather large amount of the"

Betty and the others blink, not having thought about just where Stacy's rather large bank account may have come from. That and the sudden realization of just how.....frustrating it must have been for the AI to not have been able to just access the radio antennas remotely and save so many headaches they'd had......

Some get a creepy feeling in their guts when Inquirer goes on, drawing upon her rather unusual experiences of what she had been before becoming a mechanical maiden.

"Now, while I'm probably being just a bit paranoid here it leaves me to believe that there are possibly one of two explanations ," Inquirer continues, looking a little grim. "The brighter one is that Scott spun this money out of thin air, and nobody will miss it when we use it. The other is that it comes from an organization of people like a crime organization or mayhaps some dark government agency..... I hope for the former but since we're talking about that mad Author, Scott Chen I suggest we do a LOT of jumping about when we make withdraws from ATMs! Be healthier, I think."

Oh, but she did have to get me worrying about that, Betty thinks to herself.

"And we can't use my resources easily," the Doctor says, thinking aloud, "I saw examples of the American currency in use here, from what Betty showed me. My cache of American currency is from my universe and only has a passing resemblance to the species found here. And while we could perhaps used the cache of gold we found in this TARDIS....it would take time and much effort to not attract attention getting it converted in sufficient quantity for what Inquirer has in mind."

Besides a few items of clothing, the AI also had on her list some rather esoteric pieces of electronic and electrical equipment that weren't available within the TARDIS (amazingly enough) that Inquirer said that would give her "rig" back on Terra Prime a bit of "omph" that it otherwise wouldn't have.

......

How a bit of late twentieth century electronics could do that for such advanced equipment like Inquirer's equipment wasn't clear to some. However, after Inquirer gave a rather involved explanation Betty and Ragan decided to ask again later (maybe after they'd learned a bit more about this ultra advanced computer science).

Later, after a bit of needed rest (they'd been doing a LOT of universal hopping, remember), the party then goes out and make a LOT of withdrawals from a LOT of different ATMs....worldwide. When they'd withdrawn the maximum amount form one ATM, they'd go to another and another in another state in the USA....or even another country (the Doctor drew a bit of attention back in England.....but they got out without any major incidents).

After converting the newer style currency to older brands (since the newer style wasn't going to be in use yet where/when they'd eventually planned on going).

Which is a good thing, since one Bernard Abbott (character copyrighted by Universal Studios from "Sneakers") of the NSA (National Security Agency) was rather ticked off at the disappearance some of his secret funds. Oh, it wasn't a big percentage, but the fact that something like $371,000 up and disappeared was intolerable! Somebody had stolen form HIM!

Finally, his agents deliver pictures of who seemed to be responsible, and nearly drops them in shock!

He hadn't been this surprised since he'd learned of an associate of his, Reynolds (character copyrighted to Touchstone Pictures in "Enemy of the State") , had been responsible for the death of Senator Phil Hammersly.

"That.....settles that," Abbot says finally.

The agents then look at their boss oddly when he takes out a lighter and burns the photographs......

"Forget this ever happened," he then says to those around him. "You don't....want to know."

1. Abbot sighed and looked back a few years in his mind, back to that fiasco in California over the "Item" back in 1992.....

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