The Name's Oliver - Ben Oliver. Ch. 159: Duty vs Ethics, Pt. II

[sunshine_2406]

Sorry to hear about that ice is the worst. I hope you feel better soon and shall wait patiently for your return

[RainBeau]

Oh no Schip! I am so sorry to hear of your injury. Please, focus on your recovery and don't worry about us.

[ladybug53]

Oh no ! So sorry to hear of your injury . I wish you a speedy recovery . We shall wait for Ben's return patiently . Rest well !

[Magpie2012]

WE demand you type 

No seriously though : Schip take all the time you need to heal... We will all still be here waiting to hear the news that you're better!! No story (no matter how good a Schip story it is) is worth putting the author through physical pain... Mental and emotional now is another story as I'm sure you've found out lol

Get better soon Schip!! We will all miss you!

[Louise56]

I'm so sorry to hear that Schip. Don't worry about updating now and focus on getting better. I hope you feel better soon. We will all wait for updates, it doesn't matter how long, we all love you.

[ladyaya]

Get better soon Schipp, we can wait for more updates, especially since an episode just finished^^

[Audren]

I'm sorry, but I won't be able to post updates for a while.  I fell on the ice and broke my right wrist in two places.  I don't know how long it will be and I'm sorry to leave you hanging like this. I'll continue the story as soon as I'm able.  Thanks for your patience.

[Edited for capital letters - Ausette]

Breaking wrists are never fun, especially when you do it on ice. Please take all the time you need to recover. We are already experts on suspense after reading your stories. We can wait a little longer. 

[Beezy]

I'm so sorry about that! I hope you feel better soon.

[RaiaDraconis]

Oh my, that must be painful. Wishing you all the best for a full recovery!

[Gwendy]

Oh, no, that's terrible! D: You poor thing. Don't worry about us, just work on getting better. Broken in two places, I can't even imagine . . . 

[cndneh]

Hope you heal fast!!

[SassySimmer]

Hope you get better soon!

[yruvian]

Get better soon, Schipperke

[Blayzen]

{{{{HUGS}}}} Please take care of yourself and rest that wrist! As Audren said, we can all handle the suspense of waiting for an update...we're all pros at it when it comes to your stories 

[Schipperke]

Beauty and the Thief, Part I

Diary Entry

I was struggling to stay awake as De Luca said, "As you may be aware, the Miss Sim Universe Beauty Pageant is underway."

Beauty Pageant?  I seemed to remember hearing something about that - in Twinbrook, wasn't it?



"Yes, the semi-finals have just wrapped up in Twinbrook," De Luca told me.  "And tomorrow the finals will be starting in Monte Vista, at the Saltypaws Historic Hotel.*"

Beauty Pageant coming to Monte Vista?  Gorgeous girls?  Suddenly I didn't feel sleepy at all.



De Luca said dryly, "Stop drooling, Oliver, and shut your mouth.  Now listen.  The five finalists will begin arriving this afternoon.  You are going to emcee the program and act as Monte Vista's liaison to the pageant."

Better and better!  Oliver, my lad, fortune is smiling on you!



"Yes, well, don't get the idea that this is just entertainment laid on for your enjoyment," De Luca said.  "Listen.  The town of Twinbrook arranged various entertainments for the contestants, including a tour of the military base there.  The Twinbrook commander - don't you dare repeat this, Oliver - he's a doddering old fool who manages to delude himself that he's attractive to beautiful young women.  He conducted the tour personally.  No doubt he was bragging and trying to impress them by letting them see confidential materials.  After the tour it was discovered that top-secret plans were missing.  It had to be one of the five girls, but of course the old fool was too busy ogling their legs and other attributes to notice which one stole the plans."



I asked what the plans were.

"Plans for a new energy source," De Luca told me.  "A very powerful energy source.  If this energy development proves to be as powerful as expected, it could make all other sources of energy obsolete."

Ok.  But why would anyone want to steal something that sounded so positive?



"An energy source as powerful as this can be a great boon to Simkind," said De Luca, "when it's used in the right way.  But used in the wrong way, in the wrong hands, it could potentially be used to power extremely deadly weapons."  She saw my dawning understanding and nodded, "Yes.  The fear is that the plans may be on their way to Llamastan.  The girl who stole the plans is likely working for ESCARGOT, who no doubt are expecting to be paid very generously for the plans.  Those plans must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Llamastanians.  You need to find out which girl has the plans and recover them before the end of the pageant.  Do whatever it takes to catch her.  Believe me, they'll throw the book at her for this traitorous stunt.  Whoever the thief is, she'll be modelling an orange jumpsuit in prison for the rest of her life. 

"One other thing - the plans are in the form of a microdot.  Meaning they won't be easy to find.  Of course, on the positive side, something that small is very easy to lose, so whoever has the plans will be taking steps to make sure she doesn't accidentally lose the microdot, so that may help you."



It sounded to me like it was a lucky thing I had been chosen to be the emcee for the pageant.

"Lucky?" De Luca said, a smile playing around her lips, "You could call it that.  Yes, it certainly was a lucky coincidence that the fellow who was supposed to emcee received an unexpected telegram from a relative in Egypt requiring him to drop everything and hurry off to Egypt on a matter of great urgency."  She added thoughtfully, "And by the time he travels to Egypt, tracks down his relative, and learns that the relative never sent the telegram, it will unfortunately be too late for him to get back in time for the pageant." 



The smile faded and her expression became deadly serious.  "I'm sorry, Oliver.  I know you're tired and you need a break.  If I could have found someone else for this mission, I would have.  But there is nobody else capable of it.  You proved in Lucky Palms that you're the man for the job, I'm afraid.  At least you'll have time for a couple hours of sleep before the girls start arriving.  Any questions?"

I told her I had no questions and that I would do my best to catch the thief.  I saluted my commanding officer and took my leave of her.



As soon as I was out of the building and away from De Luca's line of sight, I broke into a run.  Girls!  Beauty queens!!!  And me with official instructions to get close to them!  Who needed sleep?!



Diary Entry Ends

 *Many thanks to Saltypaws for creating the the venue for the Beauty Pageant!  I think when you see it, you'll agree that it's just perfect.

Dear friends, this chapter and the next two were written before I broke my wrist.  I've been feeling bad about keeping everyone waiting after all the work the Top-Hush, Button-Lip Team did to get the contestants ready for the beauty contest, so I decided to post this chapter now and the next two at weekly intervals.  Hopefully by then I'll be able to do the next update, but if not at least you'll have been able to see some of the work done by the talented team members.  And when you see the fruits of their labours, I know you'll agree with me that the results have definitely been worth it!  Next chapter you'll get to start meeting the lovely contestants, assuming that our Ben doesn't expire of excitement before then.