I believe I was genuinely surprised ...although maybe a small part of me went 'Aha!' when it turned out to be the gawky nerd I'd 'Kanyed' at the Piracy Conference.

Jared Kaltmarsh was apparently Valleywag's new 'it kid'. The darling of all the angel investors and 'the next Zuck' according to all the cool kids in tech bubble land.

For the officially anointed Golden Child, he was quite sweet and unassuming. And for a math whiz, he seemed pretty clueless about money.

“I can't believe how much you bid for an evening with me. Pardon me for asking, but what on earth is the draw?” I had to ask, because my jaw dropped at how fierce the bidding was for an evening with the notoriously antisocial Katherine Keller.

He just shrugged. “I dunno. Since the first time I saw you in 'Cut & Paste' ...there was just something about you.”

Of course. The DePalma film - Katherine's film debut - where she played the aloof model stalked by the serial killer who mummified his victims in papier mache. Katherine was pretty much playing herself. This kid picked up the signs... much as I did when I met her.

“That was just a movie” I reminded him. “And even then, things did not go well for the killer once he crossed paths with me.” I chided him good naturedly.

“Oh. I know.” he smiled. “It's just.... after seeing that.... after seeing you in that.... I just thought how much I'd like to get to talk with you for just a half an hour”

“Well, better than that McDuck.... I'm yours for the whole evening. And I owe you and your pals a weekend at sea.” I smiled. “So, what exactly are your intentions?”

He blushed and shrugged. “I dunno. I don't really care about the boat thing. And I don't really have many....” He paused and glanced at me. “OK. Any friends”

I thought to myself, 'I can see why he responds to Katherine.' And I shot him a warm, if sad, smile.

“I was thinking I'd just like to spend some time with you one on one... no gawkers or paparazzi or anything.”

“I'm all for that” I smiled. “But if you've figured out how to do that, please share it with me. I think it would be easier to lose my shadow.”

He returned my smile with a shy one of his own. “Trade you. You're off the hook for the whole boat thing, and I get to hang with you for an evening.”

“Works for me, but I leave for a PR thing through Asia soon, so we'll have to work around that. What's good for you?”

He looked at me and then cast his eyes down towards his Vans. “What's the rest of your night look like?”

“Seriously? The day's mostly shot.... not that I'm pulling a Cinderella midnight thing... but even then, you're really not getting your money's worth. Do you know how much per hour that comes to?”

He snorted and I felt stupid for even asking. This was the guy whose winning bid was Pi. Of course he knew. And obviously, he didn't really care.

“I won't take up too much of your time. I just have some things I'd really, really like to show you.... and I think if we could spend some time together, we could get to know each other.” He was blushing and drilling holes through the floor with his downcast gaze.

I'm learning to trust my instincts. Everything he said could ….would... sound really really creepy coming from someone else. Actually nearly anyone else. But not this kid. I think I knew what he was hinting at and was intrigued to find out if I was right.

“I can't believe I'm saying this...” as I said that his eyes rose hopefully to look at my face. Actually, I think he stared at my chin. “...and we've only just met... but there's something....”

I could see the reluctant optimism slowly dawning on his face.

“....sure” I smiled and quickly put up a finger. “But please... let me get back to my hotel and get out of this dress.”

He beamed at me. “Sure! I can drop you by your hotel.”

“It's OK. We have a car...” I started to say and saw his smile collapse. “...but I'm with other people and they should keep the limo.” I smiled and put up a finger again. “Let me find them and fill them in, then we can leave. Where would you like to...”

“I'll be waiting out front when you're ready” he grinned and dashed off.

I tracked down Dale and told him what was up. He raised an eyebrow.

“So golden boy has a thing for Katherine?” he smirked.

“I think something about her ...resonated... with him” I grinned.

“I'm sure it did” he smiled warmly. “I have no doubt you can acquit yourself perfectly and give him the full blown Katherine experience.”

I nodded.

“And I'm dying to hear all about him... and how your date went!” He grinned wickedly.

“It's NOT a da....” I protested as my mind processed the facts “....oh.” I blurted meekly and blushed.

Jared was waiting at the circle by the lobby, as promised.

“Wow!” I muttered. “Some car! What is this? A Lotus or Ferrari or....” as I buckled in and he gunned it, pressing me into my seat as we quickly whirred up to highway speed.

He grinned at me. “What planet are you from? It's a Tesla roadster! OK, if this was Abilene Kansas I could see you mistaking this for a Lotus, but....”

“OK!” I protested, holding my hands up and laughing. “That's why I do what I do and DON'T write for car and driver. I like cars, but I'm not obsessed with them! It was an honest mistake!” I grinned.

He backed down. “Yeah. And thinking it was a Lotus.... you did pretty well....”

“If you say 'for a girl' I'll grab the wheel and drive us into a pool!” I taunted.

He laughed loudly and ….maybe for the first time since we met.... un-selfconsciously.

“Oh. God.... if you'd been driving a Tesla instead of your Porsche...” He howled, then went white. “I don't know what would have happened if the chlorinated pool water shorted the battery pack...”

I was determined to keep it light. “Well, then I'm NOT buying one until pool immersion is part of their testing procedure.”

He glanced at me and grinned, and I smiled back. This quirky kid was beginning to grow on me.

We swooped into the circle in front of my hotel. “I can just dash in and change …. or would you like to come up and...”

He nodded. “I'm good here. How long....”

“Ten minutes?” I grinned “I learned something about quick changes that week with SNL!”

He smiled back at me and nodded.

“Are you sure you'll be OK hanging out in front of the hotel? They don't like people to....”

He shot me a look.

“Duh!” I smiled “I'm sure they never ask Tesla owners to 'move along'”

He grinned back. This kid was shy and grounded, but he also knew he was 'the golden child' and no one was going to mess with him tonight.

I stormed into our suite, startling Dennis and Mikey, who were watching Cecil B Demented on the projection TV, and shouted “….gotta change.... got a date...” and whisked into my bedroom.

I deftly touched up my makeup, spritzed on some scent and did my quick change. By the time I stepped back out in my black jeans, black flats, and maroon longsleeve boatneck top, carrying my black casual purse and quilted bomber jacket, I noticed the movie had been paused and they were both staring at my bedroom door, waiting for it to open. I had not intended this, but instantly I was loving the dumbstruck look on their faces. I made no attempt to hide my wicked grin as I realized their shock.

“Explain later. He's double-parked. Gotta run. Ta!” I beamed, flashing them a brief finger wave and spinning out the door. 'GOD, that was fun!' I thought as I made my way back to the lobby. The looks on their faces... I couldn't keep from giggling as I thought about what must be going through their minds.... Oh well, they'll get the boring truth tomorrow, but tonight, let their imaginations run wild!' I tittered to myself.

Jared was patiently waiting in the drive outside the lobby. He smiled when he saw me then glanced at his dash.

“Eight minutes fifty eight seconds. You weren't kidding!” he grinned.

“If I had taken the stairs it would have been under six.” I grinned. ...Nerds and their numbers....

We tore out of the hotel driveway and onto the freeway headed south.

“I never thought to ask. ...Sir... just what are your intentions for this evening?” I smiled.

He glanced at me while silently weaving through traffic, “I just wanted to show off.”

I continued to stare at him while he drove, patient that he eventually would realize that was an insufficient answer.

It took a while, but he got the message. “I thought I'd show you why people think I'm worth 3.9 Billion” he grinned.

***

We pulled off the freeway and wound our way through state highways and local streets until we pulled into an amazingly nondescript office park. It reminded me of the place where I did the looping for 'Birds. 'The glamour of Hollywood is really a bland office park. So is the tech glitz of silicon valley' I chuckled to myself.

The office park seemed nondescript, but the security was formidable and like something out of a sci-fi movie... maybe Terminator2 or Sneakers or the Manhattan Project... what can I say, I watched a lot of movies as a kid while I was home hiding from bullies.

Jared led me into a large, seemingly empty room and motioned to some lockers against a wall.

“Find one that fits” he said distractedly while booting up a whole bunch of computers.

I shot him a skeptical glance but he was paying no attention, so I wandered over to the lockers and checked them out. There were bunches of coveralls... kind of like the 'bunnysuits' in those old Intel commercials, only these were powder blue and stretchy and covered with orange and dark green dots. It took some digging, but I finally found one that fit my.... I mean Katherine's... oh hell, our freakishly long frame... the only things I had to remove were my flats. The bunnysuit fit over my tight jeans and top ok. I tucked my hair into the hood and felt like a kid in a snowsuit.

“All suited up boss” I grinned. “Now just what am I supposed to....”

Jared waved to silence me. He was engrossed in his terminals. Finally, his attention turned to me. He looked me up and down and nodded. Then he motioned to a part of the room that was painted neon green with grids on the wall, it was lit by floods so bright nothing even cast a shadow. As I walked over I noticed some ….appliances... I had not seen from a distance. They were all green on green and easy to overlook.

He motioned me over to one circular one that looked like a mini-trampolene about 3 feet across and 18 inches off the floor. As I stepped into the railed circle, I got the strangest sensation through my bootied bare feet. It felt like sand, but there was no traction. It was kind of like water ….or ice. Kind of hard to explain since I'd never encountered anything like it and lack the words to describe it.

Jared either sensed my disorientation or it was routine and he lapsed into his boilerplate.

“It's a membrane of nanospheres. Kind of like millions of tiny mouse balls or track balls.... sensing your location and movement in three dimensions. Yes, they can even measure the impact of your footsteps. ...The umbilical connects... here" he muttered to himself as he twistlocked a rope of cables into a connector on the suit. "And would you pop those on please?” he requested as he motioned to a black object on the green rail.

They fit like ski goggles but I couldn't see a thing. I just stood there while he dashed back to his keyboards. Then I heard him say “hang on” somewhere from the center of my skull. OK. These things had some kind of bone-conductance audio.... interesting, Suddenly the darkness burst into light and a scene of a field. Without thinking I glanced around, my eyes darting left and right to survey my surroundings.

“Yes!” I heard Jared exclaim. “Initially we just factored head motion, but when we finally thought to add women testers, they used their eyes more than their neck, so we added eye-tracking to the feedback loop!” he crowed. I wasn't sure whether he was talking to me or to himself. I decided it didn't matter. I was busy exploring my surroundings. The level of realism was amazing. Yes, on some level I could still tell it was synthetic, but it was the most believable synthetic I'd ever encountered.

“Wow. This is amazing!” I exclaimed. “YOU made this?”

He seemed just a bit shy. “Yeah. I wrote the engine. But we have a whole team making it into amazing things.” The pride and humility in his voice were palpable.

“Watch out! Behind you!” He shouted. I reflexively jerked my head around to see an army of horsemen cresting the ridge, “Run!” Jared shouted. No need to tell a rabbit to run, old reflexes overwhelmed me and I RAN!

“yes, Yes! YES!!!: I could hear Jared shouting as if he was having some sort of sex. But I really wasn't paying much attention to him. Old, deeply ingrained instincts took over and I ran for my life.

“Over there, to your left!” Jared shouted. I saw a grove of trees and darted to them. My breathing was shallow and my heart was racing. I had totally forgotten for the moment that this was just some weird simulation in his computer. I was lost in the moment, flying completely on instinct.

“On your back. The quiver! REACH!” he screamed. I threw my arms behind me and was startled to find a longbow lashed to to my back and quiver full of arrows. I immediately grabbed the bow and threaded an arrow into it drawing back and panting heavily. I could feel the arrow in my fingers through the gloves. How was he doing this? I felt the tension in my wrists as I drew back the bow.

“Steady... steady... NOW!” I heard him scream in my head as I released the arrow just as the head of the armada crested the ridge and it caught him through his armor right into his right eyehole.

“OW!” Jared screamed. “EXCELLENT!”

The throng stormed by, not yet aware that their leader had been felled. I quickly made my escape until I was back in the field behind the confused, leaderless throng.

“YES!” I heard Jared exclaim exultantly, and suddenly the countryside went dark and I reflexively took off the goggles to stare at him, grinning like an idiot, sweating, sitting behind his workstations.

“....So.... what do you think?” he inquired with a mix of trepidation and pride.

I had to stop and collect myself for a moment.

“It was.... I forgot where I was.... I totally lost myself in it..... for a time....”

“Yeah.” He beamed. “It happens. …..ain't it cool?”

I had to grin at his unrestrained enthusiasm. “Yep. Pretty cool.” I grinned. “So what's the final ...product... a game?”

He shook his head vigorously. “That's just what we started with. But then we began thinking bigger. The model lends itself to so much more.” He looked me in the eye, and to his surprise I returned his gaze. “This is a game changer and the money knows that. Look....” he motioned me over and I gingerly stepped off the 'ice plate' which suddenly had traction and felt like sandy pavement since I assume Jared disabled the rolling microsensors.

I walked over to his console and he hit a few keys. Suddenly I saw the field on the big monitor, and a wireframe walking around.

“Is that me?”

He nodded distractedly, furiously keying away. The wireframe changed to an animated skeleton. Creepy, but really believable.

“Sorry, just the default” he said. “Your movements and responses were mapped and logged, so we just need to choose the overlay for playback....”

I started to ask him what the hell he just said, but I quickly saw the skeleton transform into a male soldier straight out of a videogame – or The Sims, which Mikey and I used to play on my PS3.

“Sorry.” Jared muttered. “That's just so wrong... it's the standard template. I didn't mean to turn you into a guy...” he blushed.

I tried to hide my own blush and laugh it off. “None taken... still that's...pretty realistic....”

He shook his head. “Nah. The movements all wrong. The gait and body language. Seriously weird on a guy template....” I wasn't sure whether he was talking to me or to himself, but he was staring at his monitor and keyboard, so I didn't even attempt to hide my deep blush.

“....HERE... we go!” he exclaimed as he pounded a few more keys and punctuated it with a stab of the enter key and suddenly I was looking at myself... well, at Katherine actually a few years younger.... maybe around the time of 'Cut & Paste', in a kind of Lara Croft one piece skintight thing....

“Is that a wetsuit?”

He shook his head. “No. It's a....”

“Sure looks like shiny silver rubber.... unitard or something...”

“Um. It's just a basic rendered skin.... so we can track the skeletal joint and muscle movements....”

“....Riiiight...”

He knew I wasn't buying it, but he ignored me.

“How did you do that so fast?”

“What?”

“Go from skeleton to GI Joe to ME in a few keystrokes?”

“Um... they're stored rendering overlays.”

“Wait. So you had ….a template of ME created so you could....”

“NOT JUST YOU!” he shouted. A bit defensively, I think. His hands flew over the keyboard and suddenly “I” turned into a N'aavi from Avatar.

“Does James Cameron know about this?” I teased. He seemed a bit defensive, and waved his hands dismissively.

“No. No. This is all just proof of concept. Yeah, we would love to do an Avatar themed project, but this is just for the pitch, to let him see how good it looks so he'll sign on and let us use it.”

“So why was I in there?”

He turned to smile at me. “Same reason. If you actually saw what we could do with your likeness, it was more likely you'd agree to let us license you.”

“License me?”

“Yeah. As a videogame character. Like pro athletes license their likeness for sports games.”

I just looked at him, slightly confused.

“I figured we'd get an actor, or maybe an athlete or stunt person to put on the suit and act out sequences from the game and map you over it”

I nodded. I think I was beginning to understand what he was saying.

“But that little scene on the capture pad?.... I really don't think an actor, athlete or stuntperson could have done what you just did. ….Check this out.” Then he got a glint in his eye “I almost forgot.... don't freak!”

He started the playback and I was watching the N'aavi from avatar walk through the field, I could almost feel the grass beneath my feet. When she turned and saw the advancing horde, I startled. I felt my chest tighten and my heart race as my legs pumped while the character raced for the treeline. I felt it ALL... the pounding of my heart in my chest, the ache in my calves from running full out... reaching for the quiver, the arrow in my hand, the tension of the bow. I felt it ALL as I watched the playback.

“How did you DO that?” I gasped.

Jared smiled. “Haptics. The suit's loaded with sensors for recording, but the piezo elements are also capable of playback.” He was grinning from ear to ear with pride. He had good reason.

I smiled. “OK. I see why you're the golden child. But I can't exactly see this showing up under every kid's Christmas tree.”

He waved off my objection. “Nah. It's scalable. It can be as immersive or as conventionally mundane as you want...or can afford. But if you DO spring for more immersion, everything's expandable, so your old games are suddenly new more immersive games.”

“Clever.” I shook my head. “Yeah. I think they're right about you. You're the new new thing.”

“And that's just for the gaming end. This will be huge for social.”

“Oh, God. Haptic Second Life!” I laughed.

“Yeah. Big time. But the real jackpot is....” He caught himself and bit his lip.

I just looked at him and he stared back like a cat with a canary. Finally he caved.

“Let's just say a lot of powerful people with deep pockets think this could help folks.... be all that they can be....” he looked equally remorseful and delighted at his oblique boast and possible violation of the official secrets act.

“Hmmm.... it's not much of a rewrite from Call of Duty to....” I eyed him. He just grinned and nodded.

“3.9 Billion is just the public number” he whispered. “TIP of the iceberg... and it's opened a lot of doors.” he grinned. “Wanna see something really cool?” He motioned for me to get out of the bunny suit and began powering off his immersive gaming rig.

When I had shed the coveralls and was walking back toward him, he eyed the item folded over my arm and nodded.

“Is that thing warm?” he asked, pointing to my bomber jacket.

“Not for skiing, but it keeps the chill out. Why?”

“How do you feel about flying? Are you afraid of heights?”

I shook my head. “I probably have more air miles than you have shares in your own company” I grinned.

“Maybe” he smiled. “But I wasn't thinking of anything as boring as a plane....”

I just raised an eyebrow. I was not sure where this was going.

“Planes are too fast and goal oriented” he grinned.

OK, Silicon Valley Kazillionaire plus eccentric nerd times too may braincells and the reckless exuberance of youth equals what Jared shyly showed me after a short drive to a small hangar on the edge of a quiet airfield.

“Um. I'm supposed to make you sign an NDA ….that's a non..”

“..I'm familiar with them” I chuckled. “You know, you don't have to show me anything, that way I won't have to sign..”

“Aw, screw it.” he grinned as he flashed his keycard and slid the door open. “What are they gonna do, kill me?”

When I saw the thing. I thought 'they just might'.

It looked like a U.F.O. A really ugly, ungainly U.F.O.

But after Jared explained it to me, I realized it looked more like a blimp and a quadcopter had a really, really ugly baby. A gazebo sized baby.

It was an H.A.V. - A 'Hybrid Aerial Vehicle' - part neutral buoyancy ...airship... like a dirigible, and part agile, speedy, maneuverable quadcopter. Designed under a super hush-hush contract from DARPA.

“Is this what made you the wunderkind of Silicon Valley?” I asked naively.

He smiled and shook his head. “Hell no! It's that interactive gaming engine that will push the game industry ahead 30 years. ….actually.... that brought me to the attention of ….certain people in the defense industry who saw potential for wargame simulations.... and led to relationships that ….led to... this!” He beamed proudly at his 'baby'.

“Sorry. Help me out here...” I was perplexed. “You're a game guy. A software guy.”

He nodded.

“So what does that have to do with ….this?” I was befuddled. He was merely amused.

“Nothing.”

I furrowed my brow and he crinkled his eyes in delight watching me flail, trying to work out the connection.

“It has as much to do with my 'success story' as Elon Musk's Paypal involvement had to do with Tesla Motors or Space-X ….or the hyperloop!” he smiled. “Just using the riches from one to fund other passions.... only unlike Elon, I got DARPA to fund this!” he beamed.

“What exactly is it?” I was still pretty confused.

“It's versatile” he beamed. “It's neutral to negative buoyancy, so it can carry troops or supplies nearly anywhere. It can operate as an autonomous drone, hovering for long periods at great heights for battlefield surveillance.... it can carry more troops than an Apache and can move extremely fast... so it's really hard to shoot down... and the whole thing's ….let's just say.... 'cloaked' so it's pretty much invisible to radar, any kind of reflectometry... even visible light.... I mean the 'naked eye'”

He turned to me, grinning wickedly. And when he said the words, I knew we were both thinking of John Hurt in 'Contact'...

“Wanna take a ride?”

“Are you allowed to do this?” I asked in a conspiratorial whisper as we buzzed the Golden Gate bridge and looped back south. The thing was eerily quiet. Just a slight whir of the four electric motors as we hurtled into the night. I had no conception of speed, if not for landmarks on the gruond passing so quickly.

“First. I designed it.” He proclaimed, puffing up his chest and poking his finger at his ribcage. “THEY.... just paid for it....” He deflated just a little. “....Anyway... it's all but invisible to radar and the naked eye... they won't even know it's gone.... HELL...” he laughed. “They don't even know it's finished!”

I was getting the impression he was now trying to convince himself more that me.

“As long as we won't get arrested for treason or anything and salted away in a cell in Area 51...” I kidded.

“NO! ….Nah..... not likely.... probably not..... I don't think they'd....”

His confidence was quickly evaporating. I needed to change the subject.

“So where exactly are we going?” I inquired.

“Oh. I figured.... just around.....” he faltered. He really wanted to show off, but he hadn't thought things through.

“What exactly is the range on this thing?” I asked, the notion already forming in my mind.

“...That's classified...” he smirked. “...but you wouldn't believe.... Still very early test phase. They don't even believe that this thing will actually fly. Stupid, conservative... I knew it but they won't be convinced until they...”

“WAIT! This thing has never FLOWN before???” I was stunned and horrified.

“Of COURSE it's flown..... ..... just not......”

“...Officially?” I grinned

“Stupid bureaucrats.... their money's good, but the rest of their ways are just nuts..... I knew this would work. I worked it out in my head. Once I can see it.... I can make it.... and it always works....”

“Like Tesla” I nodded.

“Huh?”

“Nikola Tesla. He did the sims in his head.... worked it all out there. And only once it was worked out, did he build it. And it worked. Everything worked. The first time.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Pretty much. But try convincing others ….”

“JUST like Tesla.” I smiled sadly. I now was certain why Katherine resonated with this quirky genius.

Jared nodded. I'm not sure he got the connection.... and I'm pretty sure he didn't get my inference.... but I was pretty much certain.

“So. ….Range.” I reminded.

“Oh. Yeah. Nothing official..... but between you and me?...... pretty damned sick!” His pride was impossible to ignore. “Not …..limitless..... but....” He shook his head. “Stupid brass have no clue what we're giving them.” He muttered. ….I think to himself.

“So you can get to Monterey?” I inquired.

“No problemo” he grinned in the worst Schwarzenegger impression I ever heard.

We were out over the shiny blackness of the sea with the lights of the coastline flickering near the horizon. Nothing horrible had happened and I was beginning to feel comfortable sitting beside Jared watching for the occasional glint of light off a wave. This was nice.... it was cozy. And it suddenly seemed awfully familiar.

“You watch a lot of movies don't you?” I asked Jared gently.

He nodded.

“Me too.” I nodded. “I can't help thinking about Howard Hughes and Katherine Hepburn joyriding in his plane.... in The Aviator”

He smiled. “I knew you got me.”

“Yeah, well I also remember a spectacular crash....”

“Different scene” he smiled. “This is the joyride scene. But I'm not letting you fly.”

“Smart move.”

“No need. It flies itself.” And he leaned back in his seat, put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.”

“HEY! That's NOT funny!” I yelled. I don't want to get to Monterey in a body bag!”

He laughed loud and hard. “Relax. Autonomous is its default mode. It flies itself better than most pilots.”

“Still. Humor me? I feel a lot safer with you at the stick. After all, you built it.”

His ego suitably stroked, he puffed up a bit, shook himself in his seat, and sat back in pilot position.

Maybe it was because I was so relaxed or that the darn thing was deceptively fast, but the next thing I knew Jared nudged me and pointed out the lights of Monterey.

“You ever just ...buzz people?” I grinned. “....hover over a drive in, swoop over a softball game?.... just.... you know... mess with people?”

He smirked. “Tempting.... but that sort of thing never ends well... there are already enough urban legends and ruined careers. I can resist the urge to add another.”

“Can I ask you a huge favor?” I tried to give him plaintive doe eyes. “My place is just over there. Can you drop me home?”

“Is there somewhere remote, secluded and discreet?”

I stared down at the coastline and made out landmarks... finally pointing.

“There! That large black patch way back from the lights of that big house?”

“What is that. A field?”

“Um. Actually... it's my yard.”

I asked Jared if he wanted to come in for coffee or something. He mentioned that he didn't do caffeine but did ask if he could use a restroom. I thought to myself 'seems the Pentagon forgot one thing on that gizmo' and we walked toward the house.

There was a flurry of activity as we approached the back door and I saw the silhouette of Katherine's housekeeper quickly joined by a much larger silhouette.

“Marta!” I smiled and waved. “And ….Evan?” the dark outline of the security guard nodded. “Lovely night. So clear and calm. We just ...dropped in...” I really couldn't explain, so I didn't even try. It was back far enough in the field that they couldn't see anything, and the thing really was stealth... even up close it just looked like matte blackness. They probably figured we had a helicopter, but may have been curious why they didn't hear or see anything.

“Ms Keller. We thought you were in San Francisco with Doctor Coughlin.”

“I was.” I smiled. I was going to try to make up a plausible explanation, then I realized Katherine wouldn't feel the need to explain anything, so I just looked at the two of them for a 'Keller long' time while Jared stood at my side, almost as still as I was.

“...well...” Marta finally broke the awkward silence. “....would you like something to... it's late and the kitchen's closed, but I'm sure I could whip up something for you and....” I knew she was waiting for a name, which is why I was suddenly determined not to give her one.

“Um....” I looked at the ground and shuffled my feet nervously “...my date...”

Marta and Evan just stared at me.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him by the arm like a teenager. “C'mon!” I grinned and dragged him into the house. I quickly escorted him upstairs to Katherine's ….my.... bedroom while Marta and Evan just stared from down the hall. I was really enjoying this.

I gave him the quick tour, including the 'office' with all the magazine covers, old pin up posters, the Dalai Lama photo and other 'Kellerabilia' . He seemed suitably intimidated. Then I showed him to Katherine's opulent bathroom and reminded him to wash when he finished. He shot me a puzzled look until he realized it had been a joke, and smiled politely.

“You're welcome to stay.” I smiled, motioning with my arm that there was more than plenty of room. Then I realized that it looked like I was motioning around my bedroom. “....I mean... we have plenty of guest rooms, so feel free to....”

He rescued me from the awkward moment by cracking the sweetest, shyest smile and crooked his head towards the back yard.

“Thanks. But I really should be going. I really should be back before....”

“Mom and Dad realize you went joyriding in the jeep?” I leered.

He blushed and shrugged. “Yeah....so I really ought to be....”

“OK. Well.... thanks for an unforgettable night.”

He blushed again.

“Thanks for all the money you pledged for Haven House”

He shrugged dismissively “...It's a write-off...”

“AND for the cool time you showed me...”

“It's an investment. I was serious about licensing your likeness.” he shrugged trying a little too hard to seem nonchalant.

“Well, I'm definitely interested. Of course I'll have to run everything through my business partners, and we can't even begin until the Asia tour's through, but I look forward to finally getting together and working with you... however long it takes.”

He smiled. “Me too.”

“OK.” I smiled. “Have a safe trip home. Fly safe.” and without thinking I gave him a peck on the cheek. I don't know which of us was more surprised. He just got a silly grin and walked toward the dark silhouette of his ride. As he was nearly out of sight walking toward his shadowy craft on a pitch black night, he shouted over his shoulder “This was so worth it!” I smiled and watched the shadowy thing take to the air, startled at how nearly soundless it was and how you could really only see it by the dark silhouette that blocked the stars. It was an outline of 'negative space'. Very cool. And kind of creepy.

I walked back inside happy and content, and.... I'm sorely tempted to use the word 'giddy'. I made my way back to 'my' room and went to the drawers to get dressed for bed. As I put my phone on the bedside charger, I giggled and texted Dennis.

“Date going REALLY well. Won't be home. Talk 2mrw. <3, Me”

I grinned from ear to ear as I pulled up the covers and snuggled into my own sweet bed.