Q stood as his plane landed on his private airstrip "We Are Here Susan" he said as he turned to face the door "We Are At My Estate."

"hmmm?" said Susan waking up "Oh yes" she got up and walked out the open door and around to the luggage compartment to retrieve her bags but was stopped short by a gloved hand oh her shoulder "Mistress Susan it is My function to serve you and that includes carrying the bags"

"Ok then Galli, you get the bags" Susan smiled and turned to behold the Estate of Mister Alexander Quantum

They walked up the path through the Gardens and Susan looked around at the Grand beds of roses and the groves of oak trees, everywhere she looked there were beautiful and rare plants and flowers lit in the fading twilight, although in some places they showed neglect, apparently someone had not been doing there job

The House was Huge with three stories in the Victorian style and large double door leading inside to a elegantly furnished foyer with paintings on the walls and a large, carpeted double-staircase, a tallish man wearing a crisp butler's uniform approached, his white hair carefully brushed and slicked so that not a hair was out of place and his shoes well polished,

He was followed by two men, both wearing the white uniform of valets and one holding a velvet dressing gown

The butler stoped and bowed low to Q "Master Q"

"Hello Dawson" he said as he stepped forward and held out his arms to his sides

Dawson, the butler snapped his fingers and the valets quickly walked forward and began to unbutton Q's coat as Q listened to Dawson's report

"The new construction in the east wing is coming along nicely it should be finished in less than a month" said Dawson as one valet pulled of Q's coat and slung it over his shoulder

"Good Good And The Delivery?" said Q as his hat was taken off his head by the other

"Has not arrived yet, when it does I will have it taken to The Workshop" said the butler "and we have found a new gardener"

"Excellent Perhaps Now We Can Get The Garden Fixed Up" said Q as the dressing gown was slid onto him and tied up at the front, the valets then bowed and hurried off "And Young Michael?"

"He has been moved to a valet position"

"This Is Miss Susan Anderson And Her Servant Galli They Will Be Staying With Us For A While" he turned to Susan "Go With Dawson Please I Have Some Things To Take Care Off" He Turned To Face Dawson again "I Will Be In My Office"

"very good sir, Mister Jefferson is waiting for you" said Dawson as Q walked off up the staircase

Dawson turned to Susan "follow me please miss" he turned and walked up the other flight of stairs

Susan walked with the butler through the halls of the house for a while before she spoke "Errrrrr Where are we going?"

"To one of the guest quarters Miss Anderson" said the butler

"Oh ok" she tried to think of something to say "ahhhhhh who's Jefferson?"

"He is the Master's Business...............I suppose you would say Manager he takes care of all the Masters Assets, After All Master Q cannot really Go into the Office every day, people would see him"

Susan looked puzzled "But what about you and those two guys who changes Q's coat?"

Dawson Chuckled for a moment before he caught himself "Only I, the valets and Mister Jefferson ever see the master without his hat and coat and he trusts us, none of the other servants ever see The Master's Face or are allowed on the third floor"

"Hey how many rooms are there anyway?" asked Susan

"Four hundred and seventy two in the main house, about a hundred in the various cabins and other buildings on the estate

They approached a teenage girl wearing the uniform of a maid and leaning against a wall seemingly exhausted, as they approached Dawson frowned and said "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be Cleaning?"

The maid jumped and stood straight "I-I-I-I .......... I'm sorry sir"

"Be about your tasks" said Dawson he smiled and said as she hurried off "Looks like Young Michael is up to his old tricks again"

"Old Tricks?" said Susan

"Yes he used to be the gardener after his Grandfather retired, you saw how the gardens were a little starved for attention in places, he had a habit of wearing out the maids" he started walking again Susan following "he was made a Valet at the maids insistence"

"But if he always wore them out why didn't they get him fired" said Susan, puzzled

Dawson said with a funny sound in his voice "They liked the way he wore them out"

"Liked the way he? ................OHHHHHHHH I see" her eyes widened in realisation and she blushed (Why am I blushing?only a week ago that was my profession) she thought as she followed the butler through the halls of the mansion

Q walked up the flight of stairs to the third floor quickly so as to minimise the chance of being seen and arrived at the top of the stairs at a large door with a hand-print reader next to it which he ignored completely. He instead walked to the door and placed his hand in the centre on a carving of a gold Lion which read his electrical signature and the door opened to reveal a long corridor that ran the entire length of the floor

He walked along for a few minutes and opened a door that looked exactly like all the others to enter a room

Q's study was large but sparsely furnished with a desk near the door and a few chairs facing the desk, a screen dominated one wall along with a table obviously used for reports as there were a number of large booklets and cards on it, all the other walls were covered with floor to ceiling filing cabinets which from the looks of then saw little use. Q entered, sat at the desk and spoke to the man standing with his back to the door "Hello Thomas"

Thomas Jefferson turned to face his employer and friend, he was average height with long brown hair and brown eyes, he wore a suit that identified him as President of Quantum Corp on a crest on the breast of the jacket "Q Hi didn't hear you come in" he said smiling "So how did your visit go?"

"It Went Better Than Anticipated" said Q "I Came Back With Something I Did Not Expect To Find"

Thomas smirked "Yes I noticed through the window" he chuckled "Did she follow you home?"

Q frowned and said "Enough Jokes, Lets Get To Business"

Jefferson shrugged and sat down then opened his briefcase on the desk "Ok then, Well in old business the manufacture of the orbital platform components if going to schedule although we still need permission to launch after they are finished, the deal with the Japanese government is still on, they still want the full allotment of control chips they ordered and they are willing to wait a few weeks for delivery" he handed two folders of papers to Q who put them down on the desk without looking at them

"When are you gonna start to read my reports?" he muttered but continued "In new business we recently opened up shop in England which will mean we now have robotics branches in England, Japan and the US unfortunately we will not be ready to open a computer parts branch until September of this year, also we had three shipment cancellations in Australia in the last twelve weeks from the same small company. I think that they may be in trouble and be unable to pay for parts for there production lines"

Q cut in "See If They Are Willing To Sell" he said "Assure Them That There Will Be No Lay-offs Because Of The Take Over And That The Management Will Be Able To Do Their Jobs With A Minimum Of Interference"

"Sure boss" said Jefferson as he placed three more folders into Q's hands which he put down and ignored "lets see........ oh yes We made a profit of 37% more than last year thanks to the new methods we implemented in our factories...........I tell you Q you have to stop putting another slice of your thoratic technology into the production lines every year your making the R&D guys look bad"

"I Will Try To Hold Myself Back In Future" said Q "I Am Just Worried About What Will Happen To The Company If I Do, What If We Go Broke? What Will Happen To The People Who Work In My Factories?"

"you can still use the Units"

"I Will Not, They May Be More Efficient But That Will Take Jobs Away From People Who Need Them, That Will Not Happen" said Q with a very final tone of voice

"Ok then I was just saying that..........." he saw the look on Q's face, to someone not used to Q's metal face his emotions would not be obvious but to Jefferson who had known Q for over five years it was obvious Q was annoyed by something "Errrrrrrrrr that's the end of my report" he got up and closed his briefcase "I'll stay tonight and set off in the morning"

Q was staring into space "Hmmmmmmm Oh Yes That Is Fine"

Jefferson left shaking his head

Susan stood in the centre of the room with her mouth hanging open "This is a guest room?." she looked around at the large tapestries on the walls and the curtained four poster bed beneath the large window

Dawson walked over to a door in one wall "Yes Master Q has guests so rarely that he wishes to make them as comfortable as possible." he opened the door "through here is your bathroom" Susan looked through at the huge tub big enough for four people and the marble floors "I hope you will find them satisfactory" he closed the door and walked over to a glass sliding door set into one wall "and here is your balcony, There are no furnishings out here but if you tell me what you want I will endeavour to provide them"

Susan looked at the butler strangely "Does Q do this for all his guests?"

Dawson turned to face Susan "No Miss Anderson, I have been instructed that I am to gainsay you nothing, The Master says that you may be staying a while and he wants you to be as at home as possible" he pointed to a closet set into one wall "your servant will find hangers and drawers in there for your clothes if you require anything else inquire of one of the maids or the house boys" he placed a large remote control in her hand "this controls the Television, the radio, they will slide out of the floor, and the door, the lights are voice activated" he walked to the door and turned to face Susan "if you can spare you servant for a short while?, I wish to show him the lower floor, he will need to know where the supply rooms, the Laundry and the Kitchens are"

"yeah sure, Galli go with him" said Susan "I'll pack the clothes away"

Galli put the cases down near the closet "Mistress, Please leave the cases as they are I will unpack when I return"

Susan sighed "OK then Galli I'll just watch some TV then"

"Yes Mistress" he turned to follow Dawson

Susan lay down on the bed and pushed a button on the remote, a Wide-Screen television slid out of the floor and turned on Susan smiled, oblivious to the black clad figure attached to the outside wall looking in the window

Blade of Shadow clung to the wall and gazed in the window "Hmmmmmmmm I think I have found a weakness" he whispered to himself in the darkness "But perhaps I need some assistance" he crawled along the wall pausing in front of a window showing a room with a young man holding a young woman against the wall and doing something they both were apparently enjoying, the uniforms of a maid and a valet were crumpled up on the floor "So that is young Michael" he kept crawling until he came to a window showing a young man wearing the clothes of a house-boy dusting a mirror

he slipped open the window and flicked a hand out, there was a flash of silver and the youth fell to the floor with a sigh, a thin throwing blade sticking out of the back of his head "what luck, I know just the boy to take the job of the House boy who ran away" he slung the body over his shoulder and picked up the duster "how naughty of you to run away" he leapt out into the night with a laugh that caused Michael to miss a stroke