by D A Buckley
Rotating red lights instantly began to spin at all security checkpoints. Uniformed armed guards appeared from offices all over the building and ran to exit points. All personnel traffic in and out of the building was instantly stopped.
The phone on Mr. Sato’s desk beeped several beeps. “Sato here. What has happened?”
“Sir, this is Suki. We have a breach in the core files. I’m on my way to the mainframe room now. There are no external means of breaking through my security programs. Someone in the building has breached the system. However, my Shiba program was activated. I am confident that we are secure. Please do not allow anyone to leave the building without being searched.”
Mr. Sato pressed the speed dial button to speak to the head of his security. “Akira-san. Initiate one-hundred percent lockdown. No one leaves the building without being thoroughly searched or by my personal authorization.”
Sato turned back toward Jared. “My apology, Dr. Strange. A rather sensitive matter has come up. We will have to reschedule our meeting for another time.”
“Of course, I understand. What should I do, Mr. Sato? My daughter is with me today and she has an appointment with her therapist in about an hour. I’m paying through my teeth for this therapist and I…”
“I understand completely. Please take your daughter to the security detail at the elevator. By the time you reach them, I will have instructed them to escort you and your daughter out of the building. I must say, though, your logistics proposal is very interesting to me. I hope that we can reschedule again very soon.”
“I am certain that we can work together profitably. My company would be very fortunate to partner with Watanabe.”
“Thank you. I must be going. Again, I apologize.”
“Perfectly understandable. I’ll collect my daughter and make my way out.”
“Hi, big daddy,” Jackie said while swinging her feet alternately over the edge of the chair at Ms. Gentry’s desk. “Did I do something I wasn’t supposed to?” she asked with a knowing smile.
“I certainly hope so, you micro-terrorist. But there wasn’t supposed to be an alarm. What did you do?” Jared asked nervously.
“Wasn’t me, big daddy. My guess is Ramos got an education on Japanese security systems. I did see the propulsion files transfer out but then everything just shut down. Let’s hope for the best and blow this joint, pops.”
“Dr. Strange, Mr. Sato asked me to escort you and Jackie to the security checkpoint at the elevators.” “Will you both please come with me?” Ms. Gentry asked as she appeared from around the corner.
“Is there a fire?” Jackie squealed while pretending to be frightened. “I’m afraid, daddy. Is there a fire?”
“There is nothing to worry about, dear,” Ms. Gentry reassured her. “These oriental companies love two things, technology, and drama. I swear I’ll never understand it.” Just then the alarms stopped but the red lights continued to spin. “You see, dear. Some sane person has silenced the alarm. Let’s get you two to the elevators.”
“I suppose it’s a good thing you were with Mr. Sato when all this went crazy, Doctor. If not you would be in a very long line of upset people waiting to get searched in order to leave the building. It could take hours.”
“Any idea who breached your security?”
“Not to worry. Suki, our system security manager is very good at her job. She’s the best in the world - to hear her talk. She is good though. I am certain that she will get to the bottom of this very quickly. Here we are.”
“Mr. Randall.” Ms. Gentry addressed a rather fit but wiry-looking middle-aged man in a security jacket. “This is Dr. Strange and his daughter Jackie. They are cleared by Mr. Sato to be escorted out of the building as quickly as possible. Could you manage that, please?”
“Yes, ma’am. I received the authorization text just a moment ago. Doctor, if you will both stay close to me, please. Let’s step around back here to the service elevators and I’ll get you to the garage. I recall you arriving in that Aston Martin on Level Two. That’s a beaut of a car. I envy you.”
“My daddy steals cars for a living,” Jackie said as she flashed her evil grin.
“Dear God.” Jared rolled his eyes. “Her therapist is bleeding me dry and this is what I get. Do you have enough children, Mr…”
“Please, call me Larry. I have all I can handle at home, I assure you, Doctor.”
“It would really be no problem. You could have her for free.” Jared glared downward at the still-grinning Jackie. “She’s housebroken and everything. Mostly.”
With a ding, the elevator doors opened and Larry held his hand out to direct them in. Jared entered first and then Jackie. While stepping into the elevator the metal threshold caught on the USB drive and dislodged it from Jackie’s right shoe heel. Larry looked down and entered the car in order to retrieve the drive.
“What do we have here?” he said as he bent over. As he straightened himself up he reached for the radio on his belt as the doors closed behind him. Seeing this, Jackie instinctively leaned over and bit him on the leg just above his right kneecap. Larry cried out in pain while attempting to dislodge Jackie from his leg. Jared leaned forward and pressed the button for Garage Level Two and quickly retrieved a taser from inside Larry’s waistband. Larry, however, was a third-degree black belt in Hop Kido and disarmed Jared rather easily. But the distraction allowed Jackie to then bite Larry on the left leg. Jared then grabbed the taser and forced it against Larry’s throat and shocked him unconscious. Unfortunately, Jackie’s teeth were still clamped unto Larry’s leg, and with a bit of a scream, Jackie’s head jerked violently backward and she fell to the floor of the elevator…twitching rather spasmodically.
“O dear, God,” Jared cried out. He quickly found Larry’s handcuffs and hurriedly shackled Larry’s right wrist to the back rail inside the elevator. As soon as the doors opened Jared removed one of Larry’s shoes and placed it in the door track. This prevented the elevator doors from closing, keeping him stranded in the garage until such time as he regained consciousness. Placing the still twitching Jackie in the front passenger seat of the Aston Martin he belted her in and checked quickly for a pulse. He then drove to the exit and headed for I-5 South to Disneyland.
*****
“Don’t worry, Doc,” Ramos said rather seriously, “these systems are all cloned and I’ll have them up and running in about twenty minutes. I’m almost certain that I have the Propulsion Systems files on the external hard drive here. I’ll need another hour or so to run diagnostics on the server. I gotta tell you, though, Doc,” Ramos said leaning back in his chair while pointing at his computer monitor. “Whoever they have as their Security Manager, if they could do this, then I finally have some competition out there.”
“Whomever they have, I’m sure that it’s very exciting for you to discover another freak of nature such as yourself, Ramos. I’m happy for you. Truly I am. But I need to know what we have as fast as you can get that information to me. Could you focus on that for the time being?”
Dr. Mathis seemed uncharacteristically unsettled to Ramos. This caused Ramos to feel unsettled himself. “Sure, Doc. Look, don’t worry. We’re isolated here. Whatever happened just now, there is no connection to any operation beyond us and there is nothing in our system to identify who we are. We are still as stealthy as a ghost.”
“Fine. I need those files. Soonest. And in the future, I don’t care who is out there, I don’t want anyone ever again looking up our digital skirt. Is that clear, Ramos?”
“Ok, Doc. Don’t worry. Look, the system is coming back online now.” Ramos’ fingers flew across the keyboard typing endless command scripts. “Let me link up with J-Squared…Crap! That’s not good…”
“Great. What now, Mr. Guzman?”
Ramos let out a slow breath of air. “Well, J2 seems to be unconscious and the Aston’s GPS says that they are stationary in the parking lot of Disneyland.” Perplexed, Ramos wrinkled his brow and rubbed his temples with his h
ands. “Why Disneyland?”
“Why not?” Dr. Mathis asked with a voice of utter exasperation. “Disneyland, Knot’s Berry Farm, the San Diego Zoo. Why not anywhere but where they’re supposed to be?”
“Doc, you’re coming a little unglued here. This isn’t like you. Are you okay?”
“No, Mr. Guzman, I’m not okay. Why in the hell is our multi-billion dollar project going autonomous on us? Where were they and what happened during our little blackout? And what in the hell is at Disneyland? Do I inform the Vice President? What would I tell him? That our multi-billion dollar experiment wants a little Mickey Mouse time?”
“Okay, Doc. Let’s do this. Let me get to the mainframe and do the diagnostic. You go to your office and give yourself an hour or so to just think things over with a cup of coffee. You always do better with a little caffeine. When I’m done, we’ll put our heads together and come up with a plan. We’re a good team, Doc. We’ve always been able to work through tough problems together. We’ll be alright.”
“Great plan,” Dr. Mathis practically yelled. “My whole career is careening out of control and what I need is a cup of coffee. Actually, on second thought, a cup of coffee sounds really good right now. Now, where did I put those suicide pills?” Dr. Mathis turned and walked toward her office mumbling. “Maybe some cookie dough and an aromatherapy candle would help. I know…I could go for a massage. I could really use a foot rub right about now.” And she slammed her office door shut and closed the window blinds.
She waited until, peaking through her window shade, she saw Ramos in the mainframe room on the security camera. Then she picked up the blue phone.
“Hello, Katherine. What’s the skinny on J-Squared?”
“Mr. Vice President, I’m afraid that we lost contact with them for about an hour. We don’t know what happened but we are now back in full contact. They are, however, now at Disneyland. So, we know that at least one of them is injured. Our systems here were compromised briefly by an unexpected counterattack from Watanabe. Ramos believes that he has the full primary target file but won’t know with certainty for at least another hour.”
“I bet you threw your coming unglued routine at Ramos, didn’t you? You scared the hell out of me the first time I saw that one. How’d he take it?”
“You know me too well, Mr. Vice President. It always motivates him to work harder. I think he has some sort of mommy complex concerning me. But honestly, from a technological standpoint, we are at our limit with Mr. Guzman.”
“Is that a problem?”
“It’s time for the big gun, sir. Let’s bring Suki home.”
“Your call, Katherine.”
*****
Jared carried Jackie, like an exhausted child, to the Disneyland Hotel. TRIAD maintained a safe room there that was only to be used when an operative was injured. Opening the door to the room automatically alerted a medical team to come to the room. Once inside, Jared laid Jackie on the divan. He retrieved an ammonia capsule from the medical kit in the room, broke the capsule, and waived it under Jackie’s nose.
“What on earth is that smell?” Jackie gagged. “Are you torturing me or something?”
“You were, um, tased, quite by accident,” Jared muttered.
“You tased me? Did you tase me? You imbecile!”
“Well, how was I supposed to know that you were going to go all mad-dog on that security guard? You have to give me some kind of a warning.”
“A warning? You want a warning the next time I’m saving your bacon?”
“Perhaps a hand signal or something.”
“You’re a piece of work, you know that. You are a real…” Jackie stopped talking as if suddenly frozen. She didn’t blink her eyes. She lay motionless for several minutes and then called out, “Jared!”
“Yes, I’m here. What the hell happened. You conked out there for a few minutes. Are you all right?”
“Hold out your hand, Jared.”
Jared complied out of sheer guiltiness. Jackie moved her hand over Jared’s. “Do you see that, Jared? They’re still lying to us…or at least withholding information.”
“What are you talking about…Oh, I see. Yes, I do…see. Cause of death was a fractured C3 vertebra when I failed to catch you. I’m so sorry, Hu.”
“Not your fault, Ken. The linebacker clipped you so hard when your head hit the metal sprinkler the impact caused a large hematoma at the back of your brain. I always knew you had a lobotomy.” Jackie grinned.
“Very funny, short-round,” Jared said. “Lobotomies are at the front of a person’s brain not the back. How are we still alive if we both died that night?”
“Are we truly alive?” Jackie asked.
Knock-knock-knock at the door.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Hello, Dr. Mateus,” Joe answered the speakerphone on his desk.
“Joe, can you please take some time from your busy schedule to update my team on your progress? I would especially appreciate an emphasis on the propulsion systems. However, my colleague Dr. Filipovik is more interested in the integration of the Chinese ovarian gel packs, sorry, the OGP’s.”
“Okay, sure, Marco. But this will have to be quick. I want to be at the receiving dock when the new superconductors arrive. Also, have you any news concerning the circuit board that our black-ops friends have offered us?”
“I spoke with the American Vice President yesterday, Joe,” Marco answered. “He has informed me that our agents have possession of the board but have not had sufficient time to complete a thorough examination of its capabilities. My understanding is that J-Squared is advancing faster than planned and that our dear friend Katherine is scrambling to keep things in her department under control. She is going to transfer her top technician to you via Lunar Shuttle sometime soon.”
“Fantastic. I could use Ramos’ technical abilities here. Send the board with him. What you need to know is this. Project Luna-TICC. God, I hate that acronym,” Joe complained. “Project Luna-TICC is slightly ahead of schedule, though I often tell my team here that we are slightly behind schedule to keep them from developing cognitive atrophy. When you come for your semi-annual inspection please yell at me a lot. It inspires them through their sense of empathy for the boss…you know…me, to work harder. In fact, you should let it leak that you are considering replacing me if the momentum doesn’t pick up.”
“The propulsion systems simulations are off the charts - better than we expected by about fifteen percent. That could save us about six thousand years in transit. It all depends on the materials recycling facility on the Ark. We need J-Squared to be able to remain active the entire journey so that they can interpret diagnostics in flight and prepare for and make repairs before they are needed. This can never be an automated process. As for the Gel Packs, officially re-designated OGPs, how can we ever really know? How do we simulate four thousand years? So many things can go wrong. I can tell you that the design is robust and that all testing has given very positive results. They are now completed and the actual OGPs are in stasis units awaiting installation in the Ark in about six months when main autonomous power is transferred to the ship.”
Joe’s phone indicated that Dr. Filipovic was dialing in as a conference call. Joe pressed the “Join” button.
“This is Dr. Filipovik, Joe. I’m calling to assure you that the testing protocols are the most advanced we can think of. I believe that our hard work will preserve human life for the entire transit. However, any delay would be catastrophic. There seems to be a limit to the gel that does not exceed approximately four thousand years. Any deviations of any amount of time from the flight path or in finding a host planet at Terminus would be…well as I said…catastrophic.”
“Your ears must have been burning. We were just talking about you. We do understand. And like I said, it appears that the improvements will move several thousand years in our favor. I must emphasize that much depends on that circuit board analysis. We won’t even make it out of our own solar system if the info
rmation on that board is what we fear it is.”
“OK, Joe,” Marco answered. “That is indeed good news. As soon as we have the circuit board analysis we will forward it to you immediately. By the way, your son Angelo has been installed to assume management of atmospheric obscuration operations at the FAA. He assures us that the levels of toxicity are within acceptable parameters. He is working with several UFO organizations to continue to redirect the public into seeing this as a UFO cover-up rather than as obscuring shuttle traffic to the moon. It’s amazing what a little CIA money can accomplish. More importantly, we should be able to keep 87 Sylvia from civilian observation for at least another six to eight years. The public, those who are actually looking, continue to look for Nibiru or flying saucers, but not 87 Sylvia. The Ark will be five years into its long journey before the world knows that it has less than a year remaining. That really was a beautiful idea on your part and now your son Angelo is carrying on your legacy.”