by Ralph Rotten
“But…” She never got to finish her protest as he flipped the last switch. With the Burke brothers closing fast on his right side, Jack had no desire to debate the topic.
Pedal to the floor, he felt the surge of speed at the same instant he saw the highway patrol parked by the side of the road. At this velocity there was no slowing down in time. With the Burkes hovering in his blind spot, his analytical mind knew that the only option was to push on and hope that the patrolman went after the trailing vehicle. Glancing up at the overhead sign that appeared out of the darkness, he knew that the next exit was less than a quarter mile ahead.
“I can help, you know.” Alexis chimed in, her voice sing-songy. “Otherwise the Burkes will pass you, leaving you to deal with law enforcement.”
“What the hell can you do?” He should have known better than to ask.
Responding with a laugh, Alexis seemed to be enjoying herself. “Plenty. The Dodge Charger has a built-in network connection, and the Burke brothers never bothered to secure the connection.”
His mind running at a hundred miles an hour, Jack suddenly realized she was right. It was unlikely that the brothers even had an inkling how to use their onboard connection, let alone how to lock it down with something besides the default factory password.
“Fine, shut ‘em down, Lo-Jack their asses!” It galled him to have to make the request of the AI.
“Say please.” Sweetness dripping from her voice, Alexis intended to milk it for everything she could get.
Shaking his head, Jack imagined himself in jail, surrounded by thugs like the Burke brothers. Grimacing, he finally relented.
“Fine! Please shut them down.” Switching off his lights in a single motion, he cut to the right as he exited the freeway abruptly. Glancing back he could see the Charger silhouetted by flashing blue and red lights. With their electronically controlled engine disabled by the AI, they would be easy prey for the highway patrolman who pursued. Pleased to have escaped the ordeal, the inventor’s smile quickly faded as he heard a creaking sound from the trunk.
“What the…?” He was just about to protest that it had been nowhere near six minutes when he felt his wheels leave the ground. Feeling panic, he was sure he had simply made the off-ramp at too high a speed. Sloping down gently, the exit plunged some twenty feet to the surface streets below. Expecting the speeding vehicle to settle back to the ground, Jack was amazed as he soared on through the air at more than a hundred miles an hour. What concerned him most was the fact that his altitude had not depreciated in the least. Feeling the engine roar as the drive wheels spun without resistance, it finally occurred to him to let off of the gas pedal.
“This is a problem.” Alexis’ voice was calm as she seemed to be evaluating the situation.
“Ya think?” Watching the buildings pass beneath them, Jack was unsure how fast he was even going; airborne the speedometer was useless.
“Jackie…” She started out.
“Stop calling me that!” Frustrated, he had completely forgotten about the Burke brothers who were likely being handcuffed somewhere behind him.
“That is your name.” Her voice was firm.
“No, that was my name when I was seven. Now that I wear big-boy pants my name is Jack, just Jack.”
“Correction, your name is Jack E. Sparks.” Giving a happy inflection to her electronic voice, Alexis truly seemed amused by his predicament. “I am merely referring to you by your first name and middle initial; Jack E.”
“How about if I called you Allie, or Al? How’d you like that, eh?” Trying to use anger to mask his nervousness, he realized he had no idea how fast he was going, or how much reactant remained.
“I believe I would like that. It is at least preferable to the names you usually call me. You are a very hurtful man, Jackie Sparks.” Admonishing him, she quickly switched gears. “However, we…or more specifically you, have a serious problem.”
Remembering that she was only speaking to him via remote link, he realized that she had no skin in the game. Jackie was truly on his own.
“Alright, what problem?” Scowling, he hated to admit helplessness to anyone, especially a synthetic entity.
“In thirty-two seconds you will need to disengage the micromic field projection system.” She spoke the words as if there were no obvious penalty to the action.
“Like hell!” Jack roared. “I’m like twenty feet off the ground. I’ll fall like a stack of bricks if I do that.”
“Twenty-four feet.” She corrected him. “However, in forty seconds you will be over the Buono’s Pizza Emporium when the reactant is exhausted. Hence your need to disengage the drive in twenty-five seconds, while you are directly over Willow street, otherwise you will crash through the rooftop of the pizzeria and possibly cause injury or death to the occupants of that structure.”
“You gotta be shitting me.” Glancing down, it looked like a frightening drop to the young inventor.
“I cannot shit you since I have no bowels, as you have pointed out many times. I recommend you use this time to recline your seat all the way back for maximum impact protection.” Lecturing him, Alexis did her best to conceal her glee at the situation he was in. While she may have been synthetic, there had never been any love lost between the two of them. “Ten seconds.”
“Dammit!” Shaking his head, he hated to admit she was right, or even that she was a she. “Damn your digital circuits!”
Dropping the seat back until it laid down, he was suddenly glad he had chosen to replace the factory seats. In truth he had really only done so to allow him to get horizontal with his dates.
“Disable the drive now!” She called out.
Giving a gulp, Jack could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he used a hand to simultaneously flip all six switches. As if someone had cut a rope, he felt the bottom drop out of his world.
“Shiiiiiiiiiittt!” It was the last thing out of his mouth as he plunged towards the streets below.
It was almost two hours later that Jack limped the Mustang back into the garage. With two flat tires, four blown shocks, broken motor mounts, and a bent frame, the classic Mustang looked as if it had been dropped from the second floor. It had been sheer luck that the transmission still functioned at all, having struck the ground hard enough to leave a groove in the asphalt. Feeling the lowest he had felt since his parent’s death, Jack was crushed by the idea that he had ruined the car he had inherited from his father. He had long ago sworn to safeguard the vintage automobile for as long as he could obtain parts. Realizing that the car would never be right again, it was as if he had lost his parents all over again.
Initially he was surprised to see his brother there waiting for him. But once he realized that Alexis had likely alerted him hours ago it only made sense. She was loyal to her creator; of this he had no doubt.
Adding insult to injury, Jack was unable to open the trunk due to the deformity of the frame and body. Having to resort to using a crowbar, he only ruined the candy-apple red finish even further. As he laid a hand on his crippled car, Jack felt true pain.
Beside him, Jamie was focused entirely on the device he had installed only hours earlier. Using a metal scribe he prodded the blue material that seemed to be leaking from one of the access covers. Making a grunt, he stood upright to face his older sibling.
“What the hell’d you do to ‘er?” Jamie’s voice was gruff. Gone was the Oxford Professor, now replaced by Jersey Jimbo. Surly in his mannerisms, Jamie jabbed his brother with a finger. “I toldja we was gonna test her tomorrow morning. Now you gone and broke it!”
Jack’s mouth dropped open as he started to object. Having spent a lifetime around his younger brother’s various personas, he knew better than to aggravate Jimbo the Jersey truck driver. Of all of his brother’s avatars, this was the one he feared the most. More than once the angry blue-collar personality had punched him for getting out of line.
“You didn’t say NOT to use it.” Shrugging, he pointed out the loophole.
Instantly angry, Jamie drew up dangerously close. Aggressive in his demeanor, Jersey Jimbo invaded his brother’s personal space as if challenging him. “You’se gonna get smart with me? Is that what I’m hearin’ from you? I’ll kick yer college-boy ass around the block if’n you give me any lip. Capice? You feelin’ me?”
Backing up slightly, Jack hated it when Jamie was in this avatar. While he understood that it was merely his brother’s unique way of expressing himself, it had been difficult spending his life with someone who changed personality constantly. You simply never knew who you would be talking to next.
“Alright, college-boy, pull it outta there so I can examine it in the fluoroscope.”
“Examine it? Throw the damned thing away.” Knowing even as he said it that his words were nonsense, Jackie still felt bitter over his car. A sharp look from Jimbo and he knew it would be unwise to argue any further. Grabbing a ratcheting socket driver, he began unfastening the motor mounts that held the device.
No sooner had he freed the micromic field projection device from its moorings than his brother plucked it out of the twisted trunk. Scuttling away, Jamie was already deep in conversation with Alexis. No doubt the two had been studying the issue since long before Jack had arrived home. Having had complete telemetry access to the device, Jamie’s synthetic assistant would have had great insight into what went wrong with the experiment.
Taking one more look at the Mustang, Jack could only shake his head sadly. He had long ago spent his emotional energy, and now found himself tired and wasted. Closing the trunk delicately, as if it mattered now, he shuffled away towards his bedroom.
A New Paradigm
After a night of fitful sleep, Jack finally wound up rising at his usual six AM. Not that he enjoyed getting up that early; he was simply conditioned to it. The only alternative would have been to lay in bed, wide awake, as schematics flashed through his mind. With three devices under development on his work bench, it was as if he were being pulled by the irresistible force of a singularity. It had been this way for nearly a decade, ever since his parent’s fatal accident; the hole in his life plugged with his fascination for discovery.
While he may have been far from his brother’s incomprehensible genius, Jack was more than capable as an inventor. With dozens of patents under his belt, he was more than just a skilled fabricator. Though it was true that the bulk of their revenues came from devices envisioned by Jamie and manufactured by Jack, his own creations had significant merit.
Pausing with a cup of coffee in hand, Jack examined the digital blueprints that filled the oversized monitor on his desk. Glancing down he noticed as something scrambed across the keyboard. Stooping to examine the creature, he could tell that it was one of the Gen III drones. No bigger than a cockroach, the autonomous device sported three pairs of oscillating legs and a compact solar cell. Though it was clunky compared to the Gen IV model portrayed on his screen, the IIIs were still quite capable. Powerful enough to transmit video and audio with all the range of wireless a router, the Gen-III models still used most of their power on locomotion.
Giving a grimace, Jack turned to the long table beside his work bench. As he eyed the machine that looked suspiciously like a hair dryer, there was a deep sense of regret over the device. Purely his own creation, the EMP cannon had been a relative failure. While it was true that the device could indeed emit an electromagnetic pulse capable of shutting down a car, it lacked any real range. Limited to an effective range of 7.12 meters, the intended target had to be relatively close. Beyond that distance the signal simply became electronic noise akin to a radar jammer. Jack had spent almost a year chasing his tail on the device, unable to increase the striking distance a single millimeter. As if his failure were not enough, his brother’s behavior towards the device told him that Jamie likely knew exactly how to fix it. No doubt his younger sibling considered the device too dangerous to hand over to the military, and had chosen to remain silent on how to remedy the invention. Hence, Jack’s proudest invention, the EMP cannon, could only shut down cars within about 21 feet of the device. In practice he had never been able to use it on anyone but the worst of tailgaters.
Scooping up a remote, Jack activated a high definition projector that lit the far wall with his current designs. While he had a perfectly capable touchscreen monitor on his desk, somehow the inventor felt confined looking at such complex diagrams on a mere 30 inch screen. It helped him see the solution when the screen was eight foot across.
The next step in his routine was music. Activating the slim tube on his desk created a wealth of sound as Billie Holliday belted out her lyrics. Although he normally preferred something slightly more modern, it was just too early in the morning. Besides, Billie’s style held a special place in his heart; as a child his mother had sang her songs as lullabies whenever he was upset. Since then, the sound of the legendary blues singer had always set him at ease.
Looking down at the slim tube on his desktop he could feel a pang of regret over another of his inventions. The Sonic Cannon had originally been intended as a way to communicate between vehicles by using a focused beam to resonate audio off of car windows. Really it was an ingenious device; other vehicles heard nothing but a nearly inaudible whine, but for the target vehicle it was as if the sound were coming from within their own vehicle. Jack had found great amusement in the device as he used a variety of audio clips to punish bad drivers.
But in the end the Sonic Cannon had been a commercial failure. Not one single manufacturer had been interested in the device. Aside from using it to scare the occasional driver, Jack had taken to using the invention to bounce its compressed signal off the panel walls in his workshop. While the sound was top quality, it bothered him that his invention had been reduced to little more than a pair of desktop speakers.
Turning to the far workbench something seemed out of place; there was a blank spot where a digital printer should have been chattering away on PC boards for the next generation of drones. Seeing an empty spot where the cart would have been parked, Jack immediately began to notice that other things were missing as well; tools, orthoscope, meters… It was as if someone had raided his fabrication station. One word came to his lips.
“Jamie!” Shuffling across the linoleum floor in his bunny slippers, Jack was irritated at his brother for taking his tools. It was contrary to the way they ran their shop; Jamie was the idea guy, and Jack brought those dreams to reality. Jamie was theoretical, Jack was fabrication. This was how they had always found their greatest success, a pattern that had yielded over a hundred successful co-patents.
“Hey!” An angry tone to his voice, Jack admonished his brother for disturbing the work he had left in progress. “You can’t be taking the fabber while I have it running a job. I needed those boards done by Monday so I can test the Gen fours.”
Sitting silently, Jamie’s expression was odd. While most people would not have detected anything out of the norm, Jack noticed right away; his brother wore a genuine smile. It was something he had not seen in years.
“Goooood morning, Jackie!” His voice exploding in volume, Jackie sounded like a master of ceremonies as he greeted his brother.
Pausing in the doorway, Jack sighed deeply as he realized what avatar his brother was impersonating this morning. Although Professor James irked him, and Jersey Jimbo outright intimidated him, it was Jimmy the game show host that most annoyed him. Buoyant and loud, the character seemed to leap out of him. Still, Jack knew that each of his brother’s personalities represented a different emotion within him, and Game Show Jimmy was his expression of discovery.
“Let’s give a big round of applause for our next contestant; Jackie Sparks from West Carson, California.” Still grinning feverishly, Jamie threw an arm around his brother’s shoulders. “So Jackie, are you feeling lucky today?”
Shrugging off Jamie’s arm, Jack was annoyed. It was just too damned early in the morning for Game Show Jimmy. Stepping away to a safe distance, he grumbled
audibly.
A grin spread across Jamie’s face as he made an odd flourish with one hand.
“Don’t worry; it won’t fall if you bump it.” Still grinning like a madman, Jamie never moved from his spot; that silly smile plastered across his face.
“It won’t…?” Jack was still puzzling over his brother’s cryptic statement when he turned and ran directly into the fabber cart. Stunned, he realized right away something was wrong. Normally the 5-wire 3D printer only came up to his waist, but today he ran into it with his face. Bumping his nose on the side of the cart, he felt it bounce away from him easily enough.
“What the…” Irritated at first, Jack’s look turned to wonderment as he began to see more and more objects floating just a few feet off the floor. Turning to take in the whole room, he nearly dropped his coffee when he realized that his brother had levitated dozens of objects on the far side of the workshop. Each hovering silently, they looked like a swirling galaxy of trash as the air pressure from the nearby vent pushed them around in lazy circles. His jaw dropping open slowly, Jack realized he had been gaping at the assortment of equipment for a full two minutes before Jamie broke the silence.
“We have discovered something wonderful.” Clearly pleased with himself, the younger sibling held out his hands gesturing to the cloud of levitated equipment before them.
“We? I was just the crash dummy.” Jack finally turned to his brother.
“Indeed WE have. Johnny, tell our contestant what he has helped to discover!” Turning to scoop up a small piece of flimsy material, Jamie held up the object. “Remember this?”
“Yeah, that’s the micron filter that I told you was gonna be too thin, but you insisted on using anyhow.” Jack shrugged, remembering the argument that had ensued during the fabrication phase of the project.
“You are absolutely right!” His voice booming as he switched to his announcer voice, Jamie even pretended to hold a microphone as he detailed the revelation. “Not only is this the micron filter, but as an added bonus it was also tooooo thin. Give that man a Kewpie doll!”