The Duane Lee Chapman Memorial Bar and Grill, Sheffield Station; "Sniffer" Martinez, proprietor

[carlabrams]

Max started walking to back to his office. He reached into his pocket and turned on the jamming device he always carried with him.

"Do you have to turn that thing on? I always find that high buzzing noise annoying."

"Esther, at some point it ALWAYS is about the money. Publicly, George doesn't have a family. You know that as well as I do. One of the key things about being an intelligence operative is that I end up learing stuff that other people wish I didn't. That's like I know certain things about YOUR past that you can trust me to keep secret, but do exist."

Carson looked at DeVirgo with blood in her eye. "I don't know what you're talking about," she denied vehemently, while the look on her face said she was lying.

Max grinned. "Don't worry, it's safe. And so am I, so you can take your hand off that blaster. There are too many backups in case something ... untoward should happen to me. How do you think I still maintain good relations with the cannibals, for God's sake?"

He closed his eyes, thinking back.

The unlikely couple came to his office door. "Suffice it to say, Esther, that George Graves impregnated a young lady who was betrothed to the son of a member of Parliament. Said woman gave birth to a daughter about 8 months after the marriage, and one of the reasons George was kicked out of the BAF was because the MP could tell that his new grandaughter didn't look like anyone in their family, but DID look remarkably like the dashing young pilot from Bretonia."

"George was reinstated during the troubles, and that's when he ... well, got his balls shot off, quite literally, and that's why he publicly doesn't have kids. That's also how he won his knighthood, too, in case you were wondering. In the meantime, his 'daughter' ended up marrying someone she shouldn't have, and with entirely too much questionable history - but that's what her legal grandfather had arranged, damn him. And of course, after the air car crash, young Carly is genetically now George's only living heir. Her 'brother' is her half-brother, and is only looking for her to put her in a mental institution and have her declared unfit, because then HE stands to inherit the MacArthur family fortune."

Esther looked at DeVirgo like he had three heads. "You expect me to believe this bit of soap opera trash?"

Max opened the door to his office. "Amazing how video writers can never quite create anything quite as tangled as what real life can bring us, isn't it?"

---

Sentient Machine Alliance