Kinetics

by Andrew Peed

  "What else did you find out?" I really wanted to know if I was his daughter or not and it felt like he was stringing me along.

  "Joseph Madison had two children, Grace Madison and Isabel Madison. We have already worked up your DNA, and compared it to his. You are his daughter."

  I felt a tear in my eye, but I pushed it back, "Where is Isabel?"

  "I haven't been able to locate her. I did find this." he held up the folder, "this is Joseph's last will and testament."

  I took it from him, and opened it. I skimmed over most of it until I saw my name.

  And to my daughter, Grace Madison, in order to repay her for having abandoned her at such a young age, I leave her every one of my worldly possessions, and any and all funds that may remain that she may use it to have a better life . I know that it cannot begin to repair the damage that I may have caused in her life, but I would hope that she could find it in her heart to forgive me and her mother for our actions. We only wished for her to have a life free of ridicule and shame. The only thing that I wish of her is that she should locate her sister, and try to create a meaningful relationship with her. We would like both of you to know that we love you and will always be with you.

  Tears had weld up in my eyes now, to know a piece of my past, that I had family, was a great feeling. Ryder had moved beside me and put his arm around my shoulder.

  "I looked up some history, if you want to know."

  "Umm... sure." I wasn’t really sure what he meant by history.

  "Joseph owned a huge technology company called AdvaGen Technologies, several factories across the world, the whole nine yards. He had this observatory constructed as a hobby for his wife. When his company was denied a government contract due to a technicality, he had to put it all up for sale. The observatory first and then the company." he looked at the ground.

  "Aurora purchased the company and all of your father's brilliant designs.”

  "So you are telling me that the technology that they use was created by my father?" I could feel my face turning red from anger.

  "Things like vehicles. Yes."

  "What about the devices that they used to give us these abilities?” I set my hands ablaze.

  "I don't know." He shrugged and gave me a little space.

  "What about the other girl? The one that I saw back at the school. Isn't she technically the real me now?" I changed the subject.

  "She is the real Grace Ward according to the government, but you are the real Grace Madison. By making you go by Ward, Joseph was doing you a big favor. When it came to your abduction, Aurora replaced Grace Ward."

  "I want to go to the house, see if I can figure anything else out."

  "Sure. We may have to break in."

  "It's my house; I think that we will get away with it."

  I turned back to the main computer, the configuration was finished, and all of the telescopes but two were working. All of the monitors were showing a panoramic, very up-close view of the moon. It was beautiful.

  "It's wonderful."

  "I think that I just found my new favorite place." I grinned.

  Chapter 19: PCD-003

  Given that we got home so late I was surprised that I was up out of bed bright and early. I was eager to check out my father's old house. I was primed and ready to learn as much about my past as I could.

  I was sure that it was foolish to assume that I would be able to find something that the police overlooked, but I was optimistic for the first time since as far back as I can remember.

  I had to wait around for a few hours while Ryder finished his assignments that Sam had given him.

  He picked me up in the mid afternoon.

  "How are you feeling today?" I climbed into the passenger seat of the car and buckled my seat belt.

  "Better, I guess. I still feel like there is a huge gap up here.” I pointed to my head.

  He smiled and nodded towards the road, "Are you ready to go?"

  "Never been this ready for anything before." I grinned.

  There was only one road leading out of town and Sam was waiting at the entrance. He leaned on the side of his truck with a heavy look in his eyes. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach, the first thing that came to my mind was him not letting us go to the house.

  “What’s this about?” I shifted in my seat.

  “He knows what we are doing. This must be about the meeting he attended this morning.”

  Ryder pulled the car over and put it into park, "What's up boss?"

  Sam walked over and knelt down by the driver's window, "Two things before you guys head out.” He looked both directions before continuing in a lower voice, “I want you to be careful. This man was a technological genius and we don't know what he could have left behind. And secondly when you get back we need to do a crash course in combat training for Grace, we have a mission. No one else knows who she is yet. Best to keep that under wraps I think." He sighed and glanced back at the town.

  Ryder nodded.

  “I don’t think that things are as secure as they once were here.” Sam added before taking a step back from the car and allowing us to leave.

  "What kind of mission do you think that he is sending us on?" We were on the main road.

  "There has been talk about the facility you escaped from; they think that there is information there we can use." It wasn't long until we pulled off the main road and onto the old dirt road that led to the lake house.

  A mile down the road we passed through a damaged gate that had once blocked the driveway. The lot was massive, a house, garage, boat house, and a separate cabin rested next to a dock that was partially submerged in the lake. Everything looked weather beaten, but perfectly intact.

  Ryder parked the car in front of the main entrance, a huge door that was two stories high.

  We sat in quiet for a moment and then I opened my door after I decided that waiting would accomplish nothing. Ryder joined me on the other side of the car. He didn't say anything even though I could see on his face the urge to say something.

  "How hard do you think it is going to be to get in?"

  "Worst case scenario we break a window and then we have someone replace it..." he inspected the windows either side of the door.

  "I'd like to avoid that if at all possible." I walked right up to the front door and placed my hand on the wood. There were no handles or knobs. There weren’t even any visible hinges holding the massive doors in the frame. I wondered how one would open the door at any normal point in time. I reached out and pushed on the door, it didn't budge.

  "Over here." Ryder was standing at the left hand side of the door.

  There was an electrical panel on the wall. He opened the panel's door, and inside there was a small computer screen, a key pad, and a ring that could fit a person’s hand.

  Ryder reached out to put his hand into the ring.

  "Wait." I held out my hand to stop him.

  "What," he jumped back.

  "I don’t think that it is going to work for you.”

  "You scared the crap out of me." He pumped his fist a few times taking a deep breath and a few steps back clearing the way for me.

  Please insert hand flashed across the screen.

  I stood in front of the box and took a deep breath. I reached out to put my hand in the ring. I stopped; I had no idea what was going to happen. I clenched my fist, gritted my teeth, held my breath, and put my hand into the ring.

  The ring closed around my wrist snuggly. It resembled a mechanical iris.

  "What's happening?"

  "Nothing yet... It’s just getting a little snug.” I tried to pull my hand out, but it wouldn't move. The harder that I tried to pull, the tighter the ring got around my hand.

  I started to panic.

  "Talk to me Grace." He was also beginning to panic.

  "It won't let go!" I was now pulling with my other hand.

  Beginning DNA scan... flashed on the small screen.

  I heard a humming coming f
rom inside the wall and then it felt like electricity shooting trough my hand.

  I yelled out in surprise.

  Ryder grabbed my wrist, and gently tried to pull it out of the wall.

  "No, no. Stop, stop." I pulled his hand off mine.

  "But, Grace…" He tried again to pull my hand free.

  "There is a count down on the screen, only two more seconds." I pointed to the small screen.

  He let go of my wrist.

  The countdown finished, and the pain stopped. The pressure released and I pulled out my hand squeezing it repeatedly, and shaking off the pain.

  "Are you alright?" He took my hand to inspect for injury.

  "I'm fine." I pushed him off focusing on the information flashing across the screen.

  "Grace Madison, Access allowed. Is guest welcome?" the computer spoke aloud. The question also displayed on the small screen.

  "Yes." I shrugged to Ryder.

  "What type of access should guest be allowed?"

  "Um..."

  "I'm sorry, your options are A) Minimal access, this allows for access to only the entrance area, and escorted areas of the house. B) Medium access, this allows for access to all areas, except those that have been deemed private. And C) Maximum access, this allows for access to the entire complex at all times."

  "Maximum access."

  ”Very well, please submit guest for a DNA scan whenever convenient. There is a DNA scanner located in lab number one. Thank you." The computer screen flickered off.

  The doors started to click loudly, and they slid into the walls on either side of the doorway.

  There was a man dressed in a butler's uniform on the other side of the door. He smiled from ear, to ear, "Ms. Grace Madison I had almost given up hope that you would return. Mr. Madison did tell me to never lose hope."

  "Who are you?" Ryder and I walked into the dimly lit room from out of the sun.

  "Where are my manners? Mr. Madison did program me better than that,"

  "Programmed?" I interrupted him.

  "Yes, I am PCD-003. I am here to serve. Anything that you need ma'am, you have only to ask." he happily bowed as we entered.

  "What are you?"

  "I am an android constructed by your father to assist him and your mother in daily duties. They were always so busy. They didn't have time for simple things such as cooking and cleaning." He sounded very human for claiming that he was an android.

  "003? Are there more of you?" Ryder asked.

  "Yes sir, there are four of us. There is a mechanic, he is two. Four is a doctor, here to help.”

  "And the first?" Ryder was walking around looking at the paintings on the walls of the entrance hallway.

  "Yes, Mr. Madison constructed a prototype that I have never seen. I don’t know what happened to him. Only your father knew about his details.”

  "Do you know what he was constructed for?" I paced around the room checking for dust. There was none.

  "I do not know ma'am"

  "Could we get a tour of the house?" I asked.

  "Of course." He held out his arm. I walked in the direction that he was pointing, "The kitchen and the dining room are through here." There was a long table in the center of the room with a crystal chandelier over the center.

  We walked to the right wing of the house, "There are twelve bedrooms on this side of the house, all with their own bathrooms."

  "Why are there so many?"

  "Your father would often have project managers here for long periods of time to collaborate on projects. He did not like to use phone or video conferences. He would always say there was no way to do any actual work with those things. He did most of his work here."

  After showing us the first bedroom, we walked over to the left wing of the house, "this is where your father worked, there are two workshops. In one he worked on personal projects and the other is for the projects that were work related. I'll take you to his office."

  Ryder's phone rang, "I'll catch up." he put his phone to his ear and wondered off in the opposite direction.

  The Android and I walked deeper into the left wing of the house. I stopped him, "Hold on before we go any farther. My father had to have called you something other than PCD-003."

  "Yes ma'am he always would call me Alrick."

  "Did you like that name?"

  "Yes ma'am."

  "Alright that's what I'll call you. And you can stop calling me ma'am. Call me Grace."

  "Thank you, I loved the name that your father gave me. Shall we continue?" He smiled again holding out his hand directing me.

  "Sure." We went into the office. The lights came on when we walked through the door. There were several monitors mounted to the back wall surrounding one computer station with bay windows on both sides.

  "It will be nice to see someone back in here working. It has been a long two years. You will be continuing your father's work? Won't you?"

  "You keep saying things like you love, or it will be nice aren't those emotions that androids wouldn't be able the feel?" as the words came out I felt like an ass, "Don't get me wrong it's cool. I'm just trying to understand all of this."

  "All of us PCD's started out the same, but given a different set of tasks and knowledge pertaining to those tasks. What he also gave us is an ability to learn and to develop emotions."

  "Unbelievable, well I don't know if I will be continuing his work. Only time will tell."

  He hung his head and his shoulders drooped in disappointment. I couldn't believe the realism in the actions.

  Ryder came into the room, "Grace we have to head out. Things are moving faster than Sam thought that they would." he had a sense of urgency about him.

  "What is the mission?" I wanted to stay at the house and speak with Alrick and meet the other PCD’s.

  "Sam will explain when we get back."

  "I'll be waiting; the rest will love to meet you. We will be standing by."

  "It was nice to meet you. Maybe when I get some time, we can talk about my parents, and you can tell me what kind of people they were." I nodded.

  He returned the nod, "I will look forward to it.”

  Chapter 20: Cram Session

  The sun fell behind the mountains as we drove back towards Eastcroft. Ryder drove straight to the hanger at the edge of town. He parked next to Sam’s truck.

  "Let's get inside, they're waiting for us." He seemed very worried.

  We got out of the car and joined Sam and the others where they patiently waited. They were standing in a group talking quietly. When Sam noticed that we had arrived he met us halfway.

  "Good, now we can get started." He was impatient and somewhat agitated.

  "Wait a second here; you are the one that dropped this on us last minute." I became quickly irritated with his tone.

  He stopped with his back to us and took a breath, "Look, I'm sorry but we have a very small window of opportunity that we have never had before, and we cannot let that window shut on us."

  "I got it and I want to help, but calm down. Been through a lot in the past month." We all gathered around a table at the back of the hanger.

  "All of this is equipment that we put together for you." He picked up a handgun, ejected the clip slid it back in and primed the chamber.

  "What is all of this?"

  He picked up a smart phone, "This is your Last Line issued phone, but it's so much more than that. You will have one hundred percent uptime and a constant connection to the ATN. If you spot anyone not in the network please snap a photo for your debriefing. These are headsets already set up for each phone." He held up one of the headsets, when in the ear it was almost invisible.

  We all picked up our phones.

  "Why are you giving us guns?" Ronnie picked up one of the pistols from the table.

  "You don't have to take them, but you have the option." Sam handed the pistol he held out to me.

  I took it.

  "I think I'll stick with my electricity." He put the gun he’d picked up back
down onto the table.

  "The watch has a holographic imager, it can overlay maps, and other things onto your surroundings." he picked up a small box, "this has an antigravity generator. It can only do short bursts, but it will allow you to land gently when you jump out of the plane."

  "Jump out of a plane?" Kenny protested taking a few steps back holding his hands up.

  "The plan." we all followed him over to a table with a black glass top, "I have to thank Rachel for the Intel, and it has been verified." He pressed a button on the table. A perfect image of the facility that we escaped from appeared hovering over the table, rotating slowly.

  "Has it already been rebuilt?" I asked looking for my cell where I had spent so much time.

  "It has and as far as the public is concerned, they begin producing power tomorrow. Here is the part that we are interested in; their communication network goes back online tomorrow morning with the power. Which means they haven't backed up their computer system since the incident."

  Rachel nodded.

  "Wasn't everything destroyed?" Ronnie circled the table taking in every detail.

  "The local computer core is far underground." Sam zoomed into a room that was underground; the walls vanished showing a computer the size of an SUV.

  "Why is the information so important?" I asked.

  "There are hundreds of petabytes of information, that could lead us God knows where. We could help more like us."

  “We might be able to get some insight on what they had planned for you.” Ryder commented.

  “Exactly right.” Sam said.

  "What does it matter if we do it now or after the back up?"

  "When they back up the computer, any and all data that is not in use for particular projects will be removed, and only available on the main database. To this day we do not know the location of the main database."

  "So what's the plan then?" I asked.

  "We will fly over the complex in the early morning before the sun is up. The five of you will jump from the plane, and land near the complex, and then you will get inside. Once inside you will make your way to the local central computer database." He held up one of four thumb drives. "Once there, the system uses custom encoded keys, these thumb drives are wirelessly tethered to your phone so that when they are plugged in I can hack the system remotely to allow access."