“Like, a stasis beam? Doctor Horrible style?”
“Exactly,” I affectionately slap him on the knee, “I woke up in a cargo hold. Some kind of automated freighter traveling between star systems. It was actually pretty cool. There was this awesome drone we had to fight. Plus, they used some kind of hyper-advanced crystalline structure for their hull.”
He sighs, “You would geek out about metallurgy.”
I shrug, “Yep. Anyway, when we were all set to take control, pirates attacked.”
“Attacked by pirates is good,” he says with a smile.
“Turns out, it was the best thing possible. I didn’t want to bring a freighter full of alien goods back to Earth. When the pirates were close enough, I boarded their ship and commandeered it. One of them was a Th’un, which meant the language on the ship was something Epic could decipher. We jumped a few times to find our bearings but once Epic figured out where we were it was easy peasy.”
He smiles and pats my hand, “I’m glad you’re home, Amelia. Just promise me you’ll take it—”
“Master Carlos, sir.” Milton interrupts over the intercom. “There is a priority distress signal from a ship in the Black Sea. They are being attacked by some kind of sea monster.”
Carlos lets out a big sigh before standing. “Duty calls.”
“We’ll catch up when you get back,” I tell him.
He opens the door to the rec room balcony and steps outside, holding his hand up in the air for a second. Just as I start to wonder what he’s doing… his spear smacks into his waiting palm. He grabs it and slams the haft down on the deck. With a flash of light and a crack of thunder, gone are his civilian clothes, replaced by his Protector armor.
“Dang that’s cool,” I mutter. He turns and gives me a wink before hurling the spear up into the sky, only to follow it a half second later. Is his armor always on him? Hidden with some kind of illusion? Or is it waiting in a dimensional pocket, like Q-space, for him to call it?
“He’s dang impressive when he does that, isn’t he?”
I jump in surprise as Kate speaks from right behind me. “Holy crud, Kate! Are you trying to kill me?” I say with a hand over my chest to calm my beating heart.
“Sorry, Amelia. Old habits die hard,” she says with a sad smile by way of apology.
My eyes narrow when I spot the bag she’s carrying and the clothes she’s wearing… Is she leaving?
“Where are you off to and how long are you going to be gone? There’s a lot we need to do and a short amount of time—” I stop talking when I notice the sad look in her eyes and the way her effervescent smile turns to a little frown.
“No one told you yet? I thought for sure Luke would’ve mentioned it…”
“Mentioned what? I fell asleep about ten minutes after we got home last night. Luke was kind enough to make me breakfast before he left for a meeting with the Governor. He offered to cancel but I made him go. He’s got responsibilities and he can’t just throw them out because I was away for a week—”
She cocks an eyebrow at me. “Amelia, you were gone for almost two years. I know it only seems like a week to you, but bear that in mind when dealing with him. He’s been through a lot. Okay?”
I nod, “Right. Right. I keep forgetting that. But anyway, why are you leaving?”
She sighs, “Amelia, I retired. I don’t do this anymore. I was only in California because Luke needed my teleportation skills.”
I look at her for a second until I realize she’s not wearing a prosthetic… “Oh. Because of your arm, got it.”
With a grin, she reaches out and fluffs my hair, “Yes, Amelia, because of my missing arm. Thank you for being so delicate.”
“You know what I mean. Sorry. I’m the one who found you. Believe me, I was devastated when—” Oh God Amelia. Shut up. The hurt flashing across her face tells me I stepped in it. I should have quit while I was ahead. “I’m sorry, Kate. You know me, science brain but no people skills.”
Dropping to a knee she takes my hand in hers, “It’s okay Amelia. I’m glad you’re home and I really do want to catch up. Maybe dinner tomorrow or something?” she asks with a raised eyebrow. I look down her jawline to the necklace dangling around her neck. The gem I gave her to shut off her powers.
“Yeah, dinner tomorrow. Sounds great. See you then,” I say absently as my mind leaps into action. Kate pats my knee and vanishes in a pop of rushing air. Her powers are so cool. Well, at least the teleporting ones.
“Epic, you there?” I ask. I don’t really need to. He’s attached to my nervous system at the moment and I can feel him. It’s actually kind of nice.
For you, Amelia? Always.
“Maybe it’s time for you to fill me in on what’s been going on around here. I feel like everyone’s keeping stuff from me… ‘for my own good’ if you know what I mean?”
I do not. As no one can keep anything from me.
I swear I didn’t program him to be sarcastic. “Nu-huh, how about you just skip to the part where you tell me what’s going on.”
Since we have returned, I have compiled a list of changes and prioritized them by level, using what I think you would find the most important, as my organization algorithm.
While he tells me this, I wheel over to the lift and key in my express elevator code. A few seconds later, the door slides open with a proper “swoosh.”
One: Carlos and Monica are no longer together. They parted ways a few months after the invasion ended. Apparently, our dear Carlos is not a teenager anymore. He and Monica decided they were not for each other.
“Okay, yeah, he’s definitely not the same Carlos. I mean, he’s still my Carlos, but… what else?” The lift doors shut. My stomach does a flip-flop from the drop as I descend a hundred feet as fast as the lift can go without the passengers going weightless.
Two: Kate retired from superheroing to start a fashion company for superheroes. She designs costumes for many of the current crop of heroes. She’s based out of Paris and is quite popular.
The doors open into my apartment. I can’t really spare a look though, as I roll through toward my lab. My mind is focused like a laser. I know what I need to do.
“Okay Epic. Here’s what we're going to do. First—spin up the lab. It’s time to play Doctor Frankenstein.” I give him my best evil laugh.
Yes, master.
125
Incoming Call: Luke Lancaster <3
“Amelia, it’s Luke. I’m running late but I want you to stay out of your lab until I get there, okay. There’s something I need to tell you.”
I don’t answer him. Mostly because I can’t think straight through the rage bubbling up in my veins.
“Amelia? Please tell me you aren’t in your lab?”
It’s cleaned out. My computers, research, tools, even my frigging mini fridge, all gone. I sit impotently clenching my fists before I finally spit out a sentence.
“Luke. Where. Is. My. Lab?”
He heaves a big sigh. “Honey—”
“Don’t ‘honey’ me. Where is it? I had safeguards against this sort of thing. Unless the next words out of your mouth are “we moved it to protect it,” we’re going to have a problem.”
I can hear the traffic on the other side of the call; he’s on his way back and, from the sound of things, he’s flooring it.
“Listen, things got complicated after you left. When we got back here the international situation teetered on the brink. Amelia, countries were going to go to war over the alien tech.”
War? Over technology?
“Luke, why in the hell would they do that? There’s plenty to go around.” And there was. Three ships, a bunch of the drones, plus whatever they brought back from Luxilla.
“I know you see things that way, and I love that about you, but that wasn’t how the world's governments saw things. We don’t live in a happy place. There are terrorists, insane dictators, and good old-fashioned megalomaniacs. All in charge of some of the most powerful countries in the
world. Alone, they didn’t stand a chance, but they banded together and demanded the technology from the Th’un.”
I try to control my breathing. I know it’s important to stay calm. While Luke talks, I bring up my protocols, only to find them overridden. Only Epic or I could do that, so what the hell?
“I still don’t know what this has to do with me?” I ask.
“I’m getting there. When it was all said and done the UN came to an agreement. All alien tech was to be confiscated and buried. Guarded by a multinational effort and kept quarantined until such time as they could figure out how not to go to war over it.”
“Are you saying,” I spit out through clenched teeth, “that the government raided my lab and took everything?”
He doesn’t answer right away. There’s a moment of silence and I can tell he’s trying to think of something to say that won’t upset me further. Normally I appreciate that but right now I feel so… betrayed.
“Yes. It was the linchpin. You clearly developed tech from the aliens, and they didn’t want anyone else getting it.”
“We will talk about this when you get home.” I hang up the call. I can’t even right now.
All my work. All my work on the alien armor, the mass driver, everything, gone. I can barely breathe through the anger. I spin around again looking at the mess of exposed cables and outlines on the floor where my computers used to be. I had my beautiful lab set up in an octagon so I could go around in a circle and work on my projects. Now, it’s just an empty room with good lighting.
An empty room? Oh, God! I wheel over to the wall on the far side and press my hand against the compartment. Four doors raise up, showcasing empty compartments. They took my armor.
I worked hard to keep that armor out of the hands of people who would abuse it, and then my team just hands it over? I slam my fists against the armrests. Anger clouds my vision as I try to keep breathing without hyperventilating.
“Epic, they took my armor!”
I am sorry Amelia, I see that. Perhaps we could petition them to retrieve it from wherever they sent it?
His attempt at comfort falls flat. I wheel around the room in a panic, running my hands through my hair, massaging my scalp as I go, trying to figure out what to do. The tightness around my chest makes me feel like I’m about to have a heart attack.
“Okay, Amelia, get it together. Focus!” I say out loud. Mostly to hear my own voice and reign in my overactive nerves. “They have my armor. Let’s assume for the moment they don’t realize what they have,” I say to Epic.
That seems unlikely.
“I know. But what can we do? Wage war against the government? It’s not like they have… Epic, are the backups safe?”
I am speaking with Milton now about what happened. The server buried beneath the facility is intact. No data or physical breaches. We do have all the tech, just not the physical hardware we had on hand. Nor do we have any of your animetal—which presents us with other problems.
“Dang if it doesn’t.” The armor isn’t indestructible. I was hoping to replenish what I’ve lost when we got back, but now… Maybe I can talk to the handsome Major over at the Pentagon? Surely, they would make an exception for me? Right? I saved the President’s life after all.
“Epic, put a call to Major Nelson, please.”
Calling.
While I wait for him to go through the switchboards, I start putting the lab back together in my mind. I need a tablet though, and since they took every computer I had in here, I wheel back into my room and find my old one. Which makes me wonder what kind of advances they’ve had while I’ve been away?
Epic finally gets through to the Major.
“Ms. Lockheart? I just heard the news. I have to say we’re all thrilled you’re back!”
I bite my lip to stifle my anger. “Thank you. I wish I was as thrilled. Major, I understand there were some political problems while I was away. While I appreciate that, I would like all my property returned to me… immediately if not sooner.” I can’t keep the icy tone out of my voice. I’m not sure I want to. I can’t let on, though, that they took non-alien armor. If they knew for a second what they have, I’d never see it again.
“Let me say how sorry I am that it has come to this. If it were up to me—”
“Major, it is up to you. Find whoever took it and give it back. It’s that simple.”
“Ms. Lockheart, it really isn’t. The decision was made way above my pay grade. In fact, the farthest above it. If you know what I mean.”
Dang it, I do. He also doesn’t look happy about it. More like he’d rather be doing anything else than talking to me. “Can you at least tell me who to call to start the paperwork, so I can have my things back?” I ask him.
He sighs audibly. “Unfortunately, there isn’t anyone. Everything alien was confiscated and all of it hauled to an undisclosed location. No one but the people in charge knows where it is. That was the only way we could avoid a war for this stuff.”
“Major, this stuff was my stuff. Mine. I owned it. I brought down the drones, I captured the battleships. I didn’t see the UN out there fighting and bleeding. I didn’t see the UN in the Th’un star system when I set off the—” Between the anger and the surprise of having my lab stolen, I’d almost forgotten what I did.
Almost
“Never mind. I’ll find it myself.” Whatever he was about to say, I cut it off when I hang up the phone. My heart pounds and my head instantly runs hot. What did I do? What I had to. I push that away, trying not to think about it. At least, not until I can have Kate around to help me process it.
The sniffles still come out as I hold back my emotions. It will be easier later.
Uh huh.
Using the tablet, I link to the building’s security systems and see what else has changed. First things first, I update all my protocols to keep them from being overridden again and then I go to work on making a list of things I need to rebuild my lab.
“Epic, scan the Internet, find me the most pertinent news feeds for the last year and a half, condense them and play them back for me while I work. I hate the world news, so just focus on the information around the Th’un and criminal activity I might find interesting.” Another idea hits me while I’m speaking, “Can we trace our armor using the built-in tracking?”
On it. For what it is worth, I am sorry about your lab. As for the armor, I can attempt communications with it via Artemis. However, right now it is not in a location I can reach.
“Not as sorry as whoever took it is going to be. Damn government. Turn your back on them for a second and they start thinking they know what’s best. How the hell did they override my protocols anyway? An Arrow should have leveled the building before my lab work got out the door? Did they hack it?”
No. While I do not condone his decision, I was not here to make it. Milton granted them access.
A cold chill runs up my spine. Milton? I didn’t create him. I didn’t even have a hand in him. He’s Epic’s project and I respected that. Plus, the possibilities of an AI designed by an AI? It seemed like a really good idea at the time.
“Milton? Milton overrode the security protocols you and I designed? How is that possible?” My mind races with ideas on how he could’ve done this… and why?
“Mum,” Milton’s voice breaks in over the speakers, his upper-crust British accent feels more annoying now than it has in the past. I always thought it was cool; now I just want to recreate the American Revolution and kick his butt out. “There were many factors involved in the decision. I didn’t make it lightly, or unilaterally.”
I take a breath… a couple of breaths… and try to calm down. “I’m listening.”
“Several Federal agencies came with warrants, Mum. While I did deny them access at first, they became insistent.”
By insistent, Milton means they had a judge issue arrest warrants for all the employees of the Spire.
Ooh, so they played dirty then. When I left, we employed about fifty peop
le, I can see now that it is up to a hundred and eight.
“I called a meeting with the Protectors, and everyone came to the same conclusion. As long as we could maintain your data, the computers themselves were just hardware. The only thing of real value was the animetal and your older armor. I’m very sorry, Mum, but I thought you would want the work to continue. The Protectors save lives and that always seemed more important to you than tech. Was I wrong?”
Dangit. I want to throw my tablet across the room and scream. But no. He isn’t wrong.
I sigh. “No Milton, you did good. You wiped everything before they came in, right?”
“Like a miscreant bully in the playground, Mum. I even set off the labs internal EMP and had Luke go in and remove the ZPFMs to a safer location.”
I nod.
He really had no choice, Amelia. I am not sure we would not have done the same.
I can feel a stress headache forming behind my eyes. I put the tablet down for a moment and rub my temples. Okay. Okay, we can recover from this. It isn’t what I wanted or how I wanted to do things, but I can do this.
It just means… dangit. I like my new armor.
“I guess I don’t every time get what I want.”
Do any of us?
126
Of course, they have “Welcome Home Amelia” strung across the rec room. I glance up at Luke, who tricked me up here, and scowl. I was in the middle of rebuilding my lab when he came in and coerced me with the promise of pizza and Star Trek.
“I can see the wheels turning. Before you call me a liar, look,” he says pointing at the far wall. Star Trek is indeed playing on the big screen TV. I guess they came out with a movie while I was away. Dangit. Now I just want to go watch it. I could smell the pizza when we walked in, so I guess I can’t call him a liar and make him do penance.
“Fine. You’re not a liar. Just a tricksy hobbit.” I give him the side eye as he wheels me over to the buffet. Everyone is here, which is nice. Not just the team but the building staff as well.
I sit through an endless parade of “welcome backs” along with a little chit-chat with the people I do know. The building’s staff have these sleek black uniforms with gold cuffs and a pin that shows what department they work for. Security staff are wearing their awesome red shirts that are lined with my special tungsten weave for protection. Luke tells me it was all designed by Kate… Kate who is suspiciously absent.
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