Diane removed the cube from the printer and examined it using a loupe. “The edges are little rough, but I guess we can polish those.”
“It’s beautiful,” Wes said, “Can I have a smaller one for a necklace?”
Diane rolled her eyes. “I’ll get right on that.”
“When are you going to let us see the composite sensor?” Everett pleaded.
Diane replied, “Once it is patented, you’ll be the first to take a peek.”
Diane packaged the prism in bubble wrap and sealed it in a large cardboard box. Kelly was asleep in Wes’ arms.
“Wow,” Diane said, “She really likes you.”
Wes looked at Everett expectantly. “I have a way with babies.”
“We’ll babysit for you anytime,” Everett said pointedly.
Wes added, “But just know, that I already think I should just take her home and steal her away. You wouldn’t miss her, would you?”
She smiled and gently took the baby from him. “With every breath.”
On the following Monday, as Ridley watched, Diane unwrapped one of the cubes and placed it gently onto a work-bench. Kelly was wide awake. She wandered to Ridley’s desk to steal from a bag of Goldfish crackers.
Ridley examined the device with great interest. It seemed to have been formed by insects, channels of clear crystal divided by an icy white honey with streaks of copper and silver. “How’re Wes and Everett?”
“Wes preened over Kelly the entire time. I have to admit that I missed seeing them.”
“Any trouble with the printer?”
“No. But these are prototypes. I might have to change the design ten times yet.”
Kelly munched on the crackers. She seemed equally intrigued with the shiny object and reached her hand up to touch it. Diane took her hand and gently said, “No, sweetie.”
“What’d you tell them?” Ridley asked.
“Only enough to pique their curiosity.”
“Any progress on the sensors?”
“Seriously? I spent the entire week finishing these,” Diane said as she grounded the workbench.
She removed two bottles of sulfuric acid from the work bench and stowed them in a cabinet. “This space isn’t working. And I don’t want to work on the sensors in the Cerenovo lab. Everett will immediately understand what I’m doing.”
Kelly’s face was covered with orange-colored powdered from the crackers. Diane sighed. “Maybe we should wait and do this in a clean room?”
Ridley hesitantly scooped the girl up. “I’ll get her cleaned up.”
“Are you sure?”
“Go ahead and run the diagnostics.”
Diane picked up one of the prisms, hooked up thermocouples, and ran power and data cables. She carefully centered a camera over the device, threw the image to the wall-screen, and adjusted the camera until the prismatic assembly was clearly defined. As she did, Ridley took a wet-nap and scrubbed the orange powder from Kelly’s face and hands. When he was done, the girl spun in circles, creating a dizzy shadow on the wall.
“Wait,” Ridley said, “Have you degaussed all of the storage media? I don’t want any trace of the botnet on this.”
“This isn’t a storage device. We’re just measuring voltage and light transmission.”
She sat at his work station. Diane almost closed a window filled with newly-written code but caught herself. “Did you save this yet?”
He looked at her in shame. “I keep forgetting…”
Diane saved the file. “What about back-ups?”
“I’ll do it at the end of the day,” he replied.
Diane turned on the device. The prism began to glow. Color swirled within; its opalescence reminded Ridley of soap. Swirling patterns danced within glass. Kelly was enchanted and reached her hand out to touch it. Diane scooped the child up and cradled her on her lap.
The diagnostic software ran quickly. All benchmarks passed.
“Huh. I’m surprised,” he said.
“Did you really doubt me?”
“Yes. We printed your first optical processor five times before we got it right.”
“Everett is a good operator, but I’m better,” Diane said with a smile, “Unfortunately, we’ve got nothing more than a fancy light show unless I can get one of those sensors to work.”
Diane motioned to a workbench at the back of the office where a line of button-like sensors waited. “I’m almost afraid to try any of them. There are flaws from dust and bacteria. They could burn out the relays.”
He waved his hand. “If one fails, take it out and put the next in. It’ll help you narrow down which is the best.”
“No… It will just tell me that my manufacturing process was flawed.”
“They either work or they don’t,” he argued stubbornly.
“This isn’t the right way to do science.”
“Did you check for flaws under the scope first?”
“I’m not dumb.”
“Is there a way to run diagnostics on the sensors?”
Diane seemed flustered. “I’ve done everything I can.”
Ridley rarely expressed his anger, but his voice simmered like a pot ready to boil. “We can drag our feet. Let the clock continue to tick away as the botnet does whatever the hell it’s doing. Or, we can finish this work and try to stop it before it does something worse. Your choice.”
Diane knew that it was senseless to argue. She carefully used a pipette to lift the first sensor onto its cradle in the prism. She then locked it into place with a dab of glue before attaching a line leading to a voltmeter. She added a small temperature probe to its surface. Diane then aimed a microscopic camera at the sensor. “If it shows any signs of overheating, shut it down immediately. Maybe we can catch any problems before it melts the relays.”
Ridley powered the device on. The camera’s feed displayed. “It looks like the botnet,” he said as the screen filled with flashing white light that faded to red.
“Turn it off,” Diane yelled.
The entire screen glowed red. The relays had begun melting. “Turn it off,” she yelled again.
Ridley finally cut the power.
Not only had the relay burned, but the prism itself had cracked from the heat.
“I told you to turn it off,” she said.
“I didn’t think…”
She stuttered in anger. “Weren’t you paying attention to anything I told you? It had a flaw. It overheated. You needed to cut the power as soon as it began glowing red.”
Ridley was perplexed. “That fast?”
“That fast. There’s a lot of energy concentrated onto a single point.”
“Can we just move to the next sensor?”
“At this rate, I’ll be back at Cerenovo before the day’s out.”
She plucked the prism from the table, ripped off the cables, and tossed it into an empty metal trashcan. The clang danced around the room. “We need a sterile laboratory. Any flaws in the sensors are amplified in an optical chip. The one you printed two year’s ago at Cerenovo had nowhere near this level of complexity. We’re basically focusing a thousand little lasers onto a single point. Flaws of any sort are exaggerated.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I’ll program a high-temperature cutoff for the next one.”
Over the course of the week, they tested different types of sensors one by one. One was flawed. The software still failed to cut the power fast enough. The relay melted and the prism cracked, leaving four. None of the sensors did what she expected. Their optical properties were inferior.
“What now?” he said dispiritedly.
“I’m at a standstill.”
“And you absolutely refuse to work at Cerenovo?”
“It’s a bad idea,” she said.
Ridley could not disagree. “Maybe Sven will come through.”
“And until then?”
“We do what we can.”
“I’m at a standstill.”
“I realize that.”
&nb
sp; Diane sat on the floor of the office next to Kelly, who continued arranging blocks into obscure patterns that only the child could understand. Diane grabbed a stuffed lion and made roaring sounds, but the girl took little notice. Kelly preferred her own games, which were hidden and demanded solitude. Diane’s face grew long as she continued to ignore her mother.
Ridley typed away at his keyboard. “Try a laser pointer. She likes shiny things.”
“She’s not a cat.”
Diane fed Kelly her lunch. The child took a nap. Diane looked over Ridley’s shoulder as he worked. “I don’t know how you understand all of that. “
Ridley did not make eye contact. “You’re interrupting my flow.”
“Any news on the lab?”
“Not since yesterday.”
“Have they run the power into the building yet?”
“Sven won’t give a firm answer.”
“So, should I just twiddle my thumbs and wait? I can’t just sit here.”
Ridley continued typing; he would not look away from his code. “Make some more sensors,” he muttered.
“And destroy more prisms?”
“If that’s what it takes. You can always call Wes and Everett. Everett can print more prisms for you.”
“Maybe I can scrub your code?”
“My code doesn’t need to be scrubbed.”
“Okay, boss. What do you want me to do?”
Ridley finally looked up from his work. “Why don’t you take a vacation? Go visit your Romeo in Phoenix.”
“Weldon is a cad,” she admitted, “One visit was enough.”
Ridley was surprised by her honesty. “I figured as much. But I’m serious about the vacation. When was the last time you had one?”
Diane paused.
“Take Kelly to Disneyland. I hear the lines are short.”
“I thought the park was closed?”
“I don’t know how,” he said, “but Disney never closed during the Collapse. They opened their aid stations to the community.”
She exhaled and then sat in her chair. “Kelly’s too young. She won’t know what she’s seeing.”
“Oh, she’ll know.”
“Dad took us to the park in Florida,” she said, “We waited in line for hours. It was August… This upstate girl got sunburned so badly that I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt in the heat. By the end of the trip, Dad had maxed out his credit cards. We had to do without lunch on the drive home to Rochester. That trip… It was miserable but I remember it so clearly. I rode my first roller-coaster. I had lobster for the first time, of all things. I loved EPCOT.”
Ridley pushed away from his desk. He leaned forward and said, “Kelly will enjoy the trip.”
“I don’t know. It feels like nothing gets through to her. Dr. Ortiz said that I shouldn’t expect miracles.”
“It can’t hurt to try.”
“I think it’ll just be more of the same.”
Ridley finally turned to face Diane. “Kelly understands more than you give her credit for. She’s still your little girl. Don’t give up on her so fast.”
Kelly had arranged her toys in a perfect row. The stuffed animals were turned upside down, their faces hidden.
“How did Disney stay open through the Collapse?” Diane wondered aloud.
“I have no idea.”
“Maybe that’s where the botnet came from,” she said flippantly, “They thawed out Walt’s head and now he’s calling the shots to take over the world.”
“I seriously doubt it.”
A golden taxi, supposedly driven by an animatronic prince, took Diane and Kelly from the station to the hotel, which was within walking distance of the front gate to the Magic Kingdom. Diane led Kelly onto the balcony. Cinderella’s Castle glistened in the distance. Kelly was more interested in the pattern of shadows falling onto the concrete floor. Diane placed her on the warm floor to play as she changed into a pair of shorts, t-shirt, and comfortable tennis shoes.
The young attendant at the entrance to the park could have been no older than fifteen. “Have a nice day,” he said.
Even though it was off-season, Diane expected the park to be more crowded. The few costumed performers on Main Street mobbed Kelly, ecstatic to see a child. In each shop, actors pretended to work at various jobs from mid-century America even though automation delivered perfect sundaes and root-beer floats. Animatronic animals added to the scene, indoors and out. On the street, hovering bots continued to sell cotton candy and frozen treats.
The warm California air enveloped her and, for just a moment, Diane relished the Disney fantasy of Main Street, U.S.A. The vision of small town America, firmly entrenched somewhere in the twentieth century but tickled by the twenty-first, was quaint. She wondered if any of it had ever been accurate.
Diane held Kelly tightly as they rode in a fiberglass Dumbo in fast circles. The swirling lights and sounds frightened the girl. “Momma…”
Diane looked at her daughter in astonishment.
“Momma… Off. Off.”
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” she said, rubbing Kelly’s back.
“Off. Off. Off,” Kelly repeated.
“This is supposed to be fun.”
“Off. Off.”
The child’s words shocked Diane. Had Kelly simply chosen not to speak before?
By the time the ride stopped, Kelly was in tears. Diane scooped her up, got off the ride, and sat on a bench with her. “I’m sorry, baby.”
Kelly said nothing as a performer tried to cheer her up with a balloon.
Diane texted Ridley. Her first words on Dumbo. ‘Momma’ and ‘Off’.
She waited for a reply. Kelly seemed unfazed, now studying the balloon tied to her wrist as if it were about to carry her into the sky. Diane looked at the time; the day had passed quickly.
The sun swept below the Pacific Ocean. Kelly lay asleep on the bed as Diane walked onto the balcony. In the distance, the drones did their evening light show coupled with lasers and fireworks, which far surpassed those of The Green Dial. It had been a long day. Diane sipped a cola and checked her email. Ridley had sent nothing. Her sister had gotten a new job and forwarded photos of a cake she had decorated. Diane sent a photo of Kelly with her balloon.
The baby began crying, woken by a dream. Diane rushed to the bed and lay down next to her. “Shhh… now. Momma’s here. Momma’s here.”
Kelly quieted.
Diane changed her diaper. “How’s my girl?” she cooed, “Are you my baby? Are you Momma’s baby?”
A light flickered from the wall-screen. The drones outside continued to dazzle. “Momma.”
Diane pulled Kelly to her. “Yes. I’m your Momma. And you’re my sweet angel.”
The wall-screen went black. Kelly babbled softly in the warm glow of a day well spent.
Diane and Kelly returned to their Bainbridge Island cottage late the next afternoon. She put Kelly onto the floor to play, kicked off her shoes, and looked at the suitcases with the hope that somehow they would unpack themselves. Ridley had not yet returned her text. She wondered if he had played video games all day. She watched a documentary on disappearing coral reefs.
“Momma.”
Kelly had lined up colored blocks into five rows. There was a single red block, three green blocks, five blue blocks, seven purple blocks, and eleven yellow blocks.
At first Diane did not recognize what Kelly had done.
Prime numbers.
Almost as if she had been caught with a secret, Kelly immediately swept the blocks aside.
Diane paused. Was it a coincidence. If not, where had the girl learned it? She searched for Juan Ortiz’ number and dialed.
He sounded groggy as he answered, “Diane?”
“Sorry to call you at home. Something happened tonight. I was hoping Kelly could meet your son.”
Chapter Seven
At his mother’s old desk, Ridley spent ten-minutes searching for the federal penitentiary. Where had Fiona been locked away? He d
ebated calling Samuel, but knew that would raise too many questions. He finally found a news article that indicated where she would spend ten years. He called the number, his hand trembling. He had never called a prison before. He had not spoken to Fiona since the trial. He lost his nerve at the last minute. “I need to send an email to my old boss, Fiona Rogers. She is an inmate there. What’s the best way to get a file to her?”
The guard laughed. “No email for Fiona. She’s banned from using computers.”
Ridley was surprised at the guard’s tone; she had spoken as if she knew Fiona personally. “None at all,” Ridley replied, “No wall screens. No smartphone?”
“Nothing. We’re under strict orders. It was part of her sentence. I can give you a physical mailing address, if you want.”
Ridley tried to imagine a world with no digital contacts, but the thought brought him back to the dark days of the botnet attack. He shuddered at the idea of sending letters on paper or calling someone every time he needed to send a quick message, even though he had existed for months with only those tools.
“Okay. I guess I’ll have to print it and mail it to her. Thank you.”
As Ridley hacked into the prison’s security cameras, he wondered what the penalty might be if he were caught. He found a video file date-stamped at the same time that he had been chatting with Beta. Rather than pretending to be a sexbot, Fiona had been securely locked away in her cell eating slop from a metal tray.
“Maybe she paid someone,” he whispered to himself, “Or programmed an AI.”
Ridley made a video-call from his desktop computer.
Fang Chen answered. “What’s up? Long-time-no-see buttercup.”
“It has been a long time. Hasn’t it?”
She wore a unicorn’s horn in her hair and rainbow glitter eyeshadow. Her blue lipstick was painted into a perpetual kiss. “What? Did you fall of the planet? I stopped by Cerenovo and they said you were eaten by rats.”
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