by Alec Peche
“Hello ladies,” he said as Ariana steered the boat against his dock. They quickly secured the boat and ran inside to get out of the rain. It was a little heavier than when he'd been fishing.
“What's for dessert? I'm starved,” Hermione asked.
“We aren't starting with dessert so how will that curb your hunger?” Damian asked.
“I figure I'll have to eat a nutritious dinner before I'm allowed dessert. That's like practice and dessert is the real game.”
“Nice simile, Hermione. It's key lime pie.”
“Yum! Can you show me the finished hologram now?”
“Sure.” Damian walked over to the computer on his laboratory bench and hit a few keys, then he had Hermione call him on his cell in video mode and look at her screen.
“O-M-G! It's me at a younger age. Make me nod yes.”
Damian did just that.
“As much as I would hate having my parents in class, you really need to teach that to my high school class. It's so cool! What can you use it for in the real world?”
“Good question. People actually store data in holograms, and it's used a lot in the medical field to visualize organs, and Salvador Dali used it in creating art. There are some more abstract uses, but you'd have to know a lot more engineering concepts to understand.”
“So can I ask my teacher if you can come to demonstrate this technology?”
“Sure, but the real question is which teacher?”
Hermione thought for a while about the subjects she was learning and said, “I think my physics class is the best choice. We're all a bunch of nerds and it would be nice to have a cool skill compared to the rest of the student body.”
Damian laughed and said, “Let me know if you're successful talking your teacher into a demonstration. If he wants, I could meet him outside of class and go over what I would say and do.”
“That's really thoughtful, Damian,” Ariana said.
“I imagine every teacher has had a student ask their teacher if their parent can come to demonstrate something. Probably sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't depending on the subject and the parent. I think I could bring enough equipment for say six teams of students to divide up and make their own holograms which would be a practical lesson for the students.”
“Damian, you are scary smart,” Hermione said. “I honestly can't think of a moment since I've lived with you guys where I wanted to call you stupid in my head.”
Damian was touched by the kid's off-hand comment and had to give her a hug. It was about the biggest compliment any adult could expect from a teenager. He looked over Hermione's head to Ariana and saw her blinking tears away. He motioned her to join the hug, but she shook her head, knowing the kid would move on to a different subject in a matter of seconds.
While he finished cooking dinner, Damian questioned Hermione in depth about her classes, in part thinking about his teen summer employment program and what he could have kids do. He'd never worked with that age group or anything close to it, and he wondered how he was going to find a balancing act between productivity, learning, and inspiration.
“So tomorrow is your first soccer game, right?” Damian asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you ready for it?”
“I think so. I really need it. I can so predict where my teammates are aiming the ball that I block probably ninety-five percent of the kicks. I'm wondering what's going to happen when I'm faced with players I know nothing about. I'm hoping I don't let down the team.”
“Remember that to some degree all of your teammates feel the same way. They know how each of you dribbles and exactly how much ball control each of you has.”
“Yeah, but I'm the only player on the varsity team that has never played before trying out for the team.”
Damian thought for a moment and said, “Your school uses a soccer ball machine, doesn't it? How do you do against its artificial intelligence? Are you as good at blocking those balls?”
“I'd say my percentage there drops to about eighty percent. It's a matter of whether I can get in place to block the ball. I head for the right place, but I'm not always tall enough or fast enough to block the ball.”
“Who's your back-up?” Ariana asked.
“Back-up?” Hermione asked.
“If you were to get injured in a game, the game isn't over, your coach would have to turn to someone else to play goalkeeper.”
“I hadn't thought about that, but he seems not to be training anyone else. Maybe he'll elevate the goalkeeper from the JV team.”
“I'm sure he has a plan, but the fact that he doesn't have anyone else practicing suggests he has supreme confidence in you.”
“Okay.”
“We'll both be there to support you tomorrow,” Damian said.
“I don't know whether that's good or bad. I hate for you guys to watch an epic fail on my part.”
“You won't have an epic fail, Hermione. You have an instinct for the soccer ball and good hand and eye coordination. I daresay that after this season, college recruiters will be eyeing you for scholarships as you'd be a multi-sport athlete. You play for the school in multiple sports, but they only have to give you one free scholarship,” Ariana said.
“Now you've really upped the pressure on me. I'll be a disappointment if I don't get that kind of attention.”
“Look I wasn't an athlete growing up, and I did just fine in college and you will too. We can afford your college tuition even if you decide never to play a sport again,” Damian said.
“Is dinner almost ready? I'm starving. I might have to have dessert first.”
“Nice try kiddo, but we're going to be mean parents and make you eat your vegetables first,” Ariana said with a smile.
Damian handed her plates and silverware to lay out on his breakfast counter since he didn't have a dining table. Soon they were all eating and Damian and Ariana discussed the plan for Pete's restaurant inside Damian's warehouse.
“Do you think he'll have it up and running by the time I'm working there in the summer?”
“No. Pete has to get permits, hire a contractor and designer, pass inspections, and hire staff. I don't see it opening for a year from now,” Ariana guessed, and Damian nodded.
“Okay, next summer. How long do you think this call is going to take?” Hermione asked.
Another abrupt change of subject for the teenager, Damian thought. He was a little less used to her frequent change of topics than Ariana.
“I'm guessing under sixty seconds. I'm expecting Spinnaker to call me and we'll only see each other on screen. I'll ask to see your parents first. He may demand that he see you first. If that happens, I will turn my head to the side and invite you over, but instead of you moving, I'll be turning on the hologram and moving you into the screen view.”
“How can you have me walk into the screen?”
“I debated how I was going to do that and decided, I would have your hologram behind a screen, and I'll ask Ariana to move the screen revealing you. If he doesn't bring your parents immediately into his screen, we'll end the call. If he bring your parents into the screen and it's not really them, then we'll end the call. If you think it might be them, then let's have a question planned to verify their knowledge. What question should we ask?”
Hermione thought for a while and then said, “Ask them what I was going to name my dog if we ever got one. I nagged my parents for years about getting a dog, but I think they were worried that it might complicate our run into the safe room if we worried about a dog too.”
“What's the answer to that question?” Ariana asked.
“Toto, I loved the Wizard of Oz because at times, I felt that we as a family were always looking for the Emerald City. I was Dorothy, and I had a dog named Toto.”
“Okay,” Damian said thinking about Hermione's constantly unsettled life with her parents always on the run.
They moved on to dessert and then went down to Damian's lab to do a few dry-runs of the call.
The rain had trailed off, and so Ariana planned to head home after the call since Hermione had her first soccer game tomorrow. After Miguel barked at Hermione's hologram, they moved him upstairs as it wouldn't pay to have him barking during the call. Then they were ready to go.
Chapter 19
They were all seated in their places and Hermione's hologram was floating on air. Damian had decided just to use a large piece of cardboard to block the view of the hologram. Ariana who couldn't be seen, would slide it sideways at the right time. Hermione was seated off to the side where she could see what was on Damian 's screen but not be in view of the camera.
The phone rang and Damian connected the call, and they exchanged pleasantries while each brought the video side of the call to their screens.
When Damian could see Spinnaker on the other end, he waved and said, “I see you, but I don't see Hannah's parents or indeed anyone else with you there in the room. Where are her parents?”
“Likewise I don't see Hannah on your side. You show me Hannah, and I show you her parents.”
Damian didn't want to roll over too quickly for this jerk so he said, “No, you show the parents first. I know what they look like, so once I verify their identity, I'll show you Her..annah.”
Damian could kick himself for almost giving away her current name. If whoever wanted Hannah Sherwood knew she was going by the name Hermione Knowles, she'd be a lot easier to find.
“Look Ryan, I won't introduce her parents until you show me Hannah.”
Good, Damian thought, Spinnaker seemed to miss his near screw-up on Hermione's name.
Damian nodded to Ariana, who moved the cardboard screen to reveal the hologram of Hannah Sherwood, almost two years younger than her current age.
“Okay, here's Hannah, now show me her parents or I cut the call right now as I never believed you had contact with her parents.”
Damian watched as a man and woman came into view. He didn't believe they were Hannah's parents, just two people made up to look like them.”
“I don't think you're the real parents. What was Hannah going to name a dog that you might one day buy for her?”
The couple looked blankly at Damian. He listened for Hermione to render an opinion on the image and he heard her say softly, “Those are not my real parents. They don't have the answer to an easy question, and they don't have the right mannerisms. Mom has a habit of twirling her hair while she talks and this woman isn't doing that.”
“Hannah says you're not her real parents. Goodbye,” Damian said cutting the connection.
The screen went blank and there was silence in the room for a few moments, then Hermione said sadly, “I wanted them to be my parents, but they weren't. It was just like you said Damian.”
“I'm not always right kiddo,” Damian said putting his arm around her shoulder. “They didn't seem desperately thrilled to be re-acquainted with you. That was my analysis of the couple's behavior. If I'd been searching for you for over a year, I'd have a look of desperation and excitement that it might really be you.”
“Yeah, but then I wasn't real either,” Hermione said with a grin. “Do you think they were holograms too?”
“No, they were trying to look like a couple by holding hands,” Damian said turning on Hermione's hologram. “If I tried to put my hand on you, this is what it would look like,” Damian said demonstrating, and his hand touched her shoulder, but then when he looked at Hermione it moved and ended up inside her skull.
“Whoops!” Hermione laughed. “You just accidentally touched my brain.”
“Ouch,” Ariana said. “That looks like your brains should start leaking out.”
The three of them smiled at each other, glad for a reduction in the tension.
“So what are your next steps,” Ariana asked.
“I'm going to let Spinnaker's supervisors know what he is up to in his free time. He seems open to bribery or extortion which is not a good position to be in if you work for Homeland Security. That will get him out of the equation.”
“Are you going to find out who was behind him? Who was extorting or bribing him to do what he did?”
“Frankly, I don't know how,” Damian said.
“Could you look at where his phone is right now and might that tell you something? Did he make any calls recently to set up this video call?” Hermione suggested.
Damian looked at her and smiled, “We're going to make a detective out of you yet. Perhaps you'd rather spend your summer with Retired Detective Natalie Severino, than at my business,” Damian said clacking away at the computer keys to get answers to Hermione's questions.
Ariana had been watching the weather since the call ended to make sure it was still relatively safe to head back home in the dark. They didn't want to be caught by heavy rain or dense fog at night. The crossing looked safe at the moment and she wanted to get going as Hermione had had
an emotional night and tomorrow was her debut as a soccer goalkeeper.
“We need to head home while the weather is decent. There's light rain and light fog, and it's not expected to get any more intense in the next thirty minutes. Damian, why don't you find the answers to Detective Hermione's questions and give us a call once we make it home. I'll run upstairs and grab Miguel.”
As Ariana went up the stairs she heard Damian ask, “Are you really okay, kiddo? You're not crushed by the fact they weren't your parents, right?”
“No, you'd prepared me that it wouldn't likely be so, there wasn't as big a letdown as you might expect,” Hermione said and then added after a pause, “You and Ariana have been everything I could have wished for in substitute parents, and so it's not like if those had been my real parents that they would have saved me from the Wicked Witch of the West and a serial killer for foster parents.”
Damian had to laugh at what he and Ariana were compared to and said, “Well kiddo, we are at least better than that.”
Shortly thereafter, he watched Ariana and Hermione push off from his dock and point the boat towards Belvedere. He pulled the dock in and locked up his watercraft garage for the night and went back to the computer to see if he could find the answers to Hermione's questions.
Once he had the answers to Hermione's questions, it was merely a matter of time waiting for Ariana to call once she made it home.
His phone rang, and he asked, “Was it a boring ride back across the Bay?”
“For the most part yes. We missed having to cross the path of the ferries returning to San Francisco. A few fishermen out but certainly no pleasure boats. What did you find on Spinnaker's calls? I have my phone on speaker so Detective Hermione can hear your answer,” Ariana said, and Damian could hear the relaxed amusement in her voice.
“Spinnaker conducted the call from a yacht moored at Pier 39 in San Francisco. I'll go visit the location tomorrow to see who owns the boat. I should be able to get close enough on my boat to read the call numbers of that boat. As to who he called to set up the meeting – he used a burner phone, so I can't trace the owner, only that the call pinged off a cell tower in San Francisco. I think the boat ownership will tell us a lot.”
“Can you go over tonight in case the yacht moves?” Hermione asked.
“I could and perhaps that's another good idea Detective Hermione. Let me get my speedster out and go see what I can find out about the boat, now.”
“Sorry Damian, it's going to be a long night,” Ariana said.
“Yeah, I'll probably be close to eleven getting home, but I would kick myself if the boat moved by the time I got there tomorrow, so it is what it is.”
“Call or text us. We want to know you're safe.”
“Of course I'll be safe, but I'll take a few tools just to make sure, I stay safe.”
“Damian, can you tell which mooring contained the boat? I remember seeing a lot of boats there,” Hermione asked.
“I can, and I'm going to take my cell phone number detector in case Spinnaker is still on the boat, though I don't know why he would be. The l
ast I checked he was still on the boat, but I would think he would head home to his family.”
They ended the call and Damian changed into all black clothing, and grabbed a few of his favorite tools. Ten minutes later, he had his dock back out, and he was getting into his two-seater speedster to head across the bay to the pier. He guessed, given the time of night, that it would be a thirty-five-minute journey in light rain. He'd checked the forecast before he got on the boat and knew the bay would remain calm for the length of time he expected to be on the water.
After an uneventful ride, he had slowed and was heading into the area where the yacht was parked. There were ferries docked for the night that during the day would cruise to Alcatraz prison full of tourists interested in visiting the rock. He slowed some more spotting lights on the yacht in question. He had his camera ready and took multiple shots with a long-range lens. He heard a big splash on the side of the boat, but no activity from any other boats parked at the marina. This side of the marina accommodated bigger boats and commercials ferries and a Neptune Society boat which were less likely to have activity on them at night. He was satisfied that he'd collected everything he could about the boat, and so it was time to turn around and head out. There were men on top of the boat watching out for it, which made Damian wonder who they were expecting an attack from. Then he noticed that a launch was lowered into the water and two men were getting into it. Perhaps they'd seen him taking pictures. It was time to go.
Damian went over the set harbor speed limit as he thought the boat might be chasing him. He passed a bunch of sea lions napping on the K-docks and set their floating platforms rolling. His boat was small, but the motor wasn't, and so its wake would shake up the sea lions' platform. He shortly heard them barking their unhappiness as his boat's wake wave hit their platform. Damian hoped his wave would dump a bunch of the sea lions into the harbor which would make it difficult for the other boat to navigate. You didn't want to hit one at any time as they were big enough to put a hole in a boat the size of his chasers. Sure enough, when he looked back, the sea lions were blocking the boat. The two passengers were trying to shoo them away, but they had no food to move the 450-pound creatures out of their way. Meanwhile, Damian disappeared into the darkness. He was grateful for the fog as it encompassed him as he passed Alcatraz on the way home to his much smaller island.