“But you found a spaceship!”
“I guess I should have erased those files.”
“Well, duh! Can’t that DI thing, ADI, give them to you again if you need them?”
“I’m sure it can. Now, what am I going to do with you?”
“You’re going to give me a ride in it!”
“Not so fast. Now your Uncle Blake knows, but nobody else, and we need to keep it that way.”
“Don’t worry, Daddy, I can keep a secret.”
“You can? But you can’t let others keep one!”
“Not if I can help it,” Catie replied with a smirk.
“Get yourself back to bed, we’ll talk about this some more in the morning.”
“How do you expect me to sleep?”
“You’d better figure it out, young lady!” Marc snapped.
As Catie slinked off to her room, Marc sat down at the computer. “Why was I blessed with such a clever child? Well, I guess better late than never,” he thought as he erased the folder with the message files from Metra. Since he had an electronic drive, he didn’t have to worry about remnants hanging around.
Marc put the earwig in his ear and activated the comm, “ADI, watch what I type,” he whispered, then he typed, “can you tell me if there is any surveillance on this condo. Can anyone hear what we are saying here?”
“There are no electronic devices within the condo that could be used to listen to you, other than your phones and computers, and they are not being used by anyone other than the intended users.”
“What about external listening devices?” he typed
“One moment … There is a laser pointed at your window from the condo across to the northwest of this one. Based on the angle they have about seventy percent signal clarity.”
“Oh great,” Marc groaned.
◆ ◆ ◆
“What did the kid say?” the one man asked. There were two of them sitting in an apartment across from Marc’s.
“Something about a spaceship. Who knows what that was about?” the second man said. “Who knows what kids will say. Maybe she was playing a video game on his computer.”
“Should we go in and see if that’s it or if there’s something else interesting on his computer?”
“No, sounds like he erased it anyway. Besides, we’re on passive surveillance only. Just note it in the log.”
◆ ◆ ◆
The next morning, Marc woke up early and got ready. At 8:00, he called Blake to let him know that he and Catie were coming over and wanted to go out and do some diving. He poured himself a cup of coffee and waited for Catie to wake up. After her late-night sojourn and excitement, he suspected she would be late. At 9:00, he heard the shower turn on, surprised that she was actually up that early. It was only ten minutes before Catie came out.
“That was fast,” Marc said. He held his fingers to his lips, indicating she should be quiet. “Are you ready to go diving today?” He nodded his head, indicating she should say yes.
Catie looked confused but smiled. “Yes. Can I get my certificate first?”
“Sure, we’ll stop by the dive shop, and they’ll print it up for you.”
Catie mouthed to Marc, “what about the spaceship?”
Marc pointed at his ear, then at the window. “Somebody is listening,” he mouthed.
Catie looked even more confused.
“A spy,” Marc mouthed. “How are you doing with your le Carré book?” he asked.
“Oh, a spy,” Catie mouthed back. “I’ve just finished it,” she said. “Where’s my twenty dollars?” Catie held out her hand until Marc put a twenty into it.
“My little capitalist,” Marc thought. “Never passes up a chance to make a deal. Of course, that’s our deal, twenty for every book on the reading list,” he said. “I’m thinking about adding War and Peace and the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
“Sure,” Catie said. “But you should pay double for big books like that.” She gave him a big grin.
Marc held up his hand with his index finger and thumb a millimeter apart to indicate to Catie how thin the ice was that she was skating on.
“Are you ready? We’ll grab breakfast and eat on the boat.”
“Sure, let’s go,” Catie replied.
When they got in the elevator, Marc leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Not one word until we are on the boat. Got it?”
Catie nodded her head. “Where are we going to dive today?”
“I’ve been wanting to try a spot off Molokini. It’s a bit of a sail, but it’s never too crowded.”
“Cool.”
They stopped by a coffee shop and picked up a half dozen egg burritos and coffee, then headed for the Mea Huli. Blake was waiting for them at the dive platform. They handed him their breakfast and climbed aboard.
Catie turned to her father, “Now can ...” Marc put his fingers to her lips to cut her off.
Marc looked up in his HUD and clicked on the icon he’d added last night. It told ADI to check for surveillance.
ADI accessed the camera feed from the surveillance drone on top of the Mea Huli, “It appears that a van followed you here. They are pointing a directional microphone in your direction.”
“Thank you,” Marc whispered. “Why don’t we cast off; Catie get the bowline, I’ll grab the stern lines.”
Blake ran up to the bridge and got the Mea Huli moving. Catie tossed the bowline up on the deck and waited for the boat’s swimming platform to come even with her. Then she hopped aboard. She entered the lounge and gave her father a what’s up signal.
Marc blinked on the surveillance icon again.
“The van is driving off,” ADI reported. “I no longer detect any surveillance.”
“Okay, young lady,” Marc said to his daughter. “Why don’t you get our burritos warmed up and meet me on the bridge. Then we’ll talk.”
Marc climbed up to the bridge. He waved at Blake while he opened the safe and pulled out the bag from the Sakira.
“What’s up?” Blake asked.
Marc held up his index finger, indicating Blake should wait a minute, then he sat down with a sigh.
Catie came up to the bridge carrying a tray with the burritos and coffee. When she set them on the table, Marc looked up at her and shook his head.
“Catie knows about the Sakira,” he said.
“What! You told her?”
“No, she hacked into my computer and found the communication files.”
“You still had them on your computer?” Blake scolded.
“That’s what I said,” Catie squeaked.
“Young lady, when you’re in a hole, it is best to stop digging,” Marc scolded. He tried to suppress his laugh but didn’t do a very good job.
“Sorry.”
“So now what?” Blake said as he cranked the Mea Huli up to ten knots. He wanted to get out of the channel so he could put her on autopilot.
“We also got some surveillance on us,” Marc said. “Put this in your ear,” Marc handed Catie one of the earwigs from the bag.
“Which ear?”
“Doesn’t matter. Pick the one you leave your earbud in when you want to pay attention to something besides your music.”
Catie put the earwig in her left ear. “It tickles,” Catie giggled, as the earwig seated itself into place.
“Okay, press it for three seconds to turn it on.”
“ADI, say hi to my daughter, Catie.”
“Hello, Cer Catie,” ADI said.
Catie jumped a little. “Oh, hi. What’s this Cer business?”
“It is the title used when referring to a person, your language uses Mister, Miss, and many other terms. The language of my developers uses Cer for all genders; I’ve decided to use it for simplicity. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes, it is,” Marc said. “ADI is the ship computer. Now back to the earwig. If you press on it for three seconds, it switches on or off. You should leave it on,” Marc explained. “If you want to wash your
ear out, you press on it for eight seconds, and it’ll come out. It’s waterproof, so you can mostly leave it in.”
“Cool. How does ADI hear us?”
“She hears through the earwig. It picks up the vibrations in your bones, so it hears whatever you’re saying.”
“How does she see things?”
“There is a drone up on the antenna tower. It can see as well as relay ADI’s communication to us.”
“Cool.”
Marc handed her one of the wraparound glasses. “These glasses act like a heads-up display and ADI can show images or video, and you can query using your eyes to run the menu. They also have cameras so you can see around yourself; ADI can use the cameras too. She sees whatever you see. There are cameras in the bows pointing backward so you can see behind you if you don’t cover up the ends of the bows.”
“I read about these in one of my science fiction books,” Catie said. “They call them specs.”
Marc gave Catie a frown.
“Hey, I can read books that aren’t on your list,” Catie defended herself.
“Of course, you can.”
“What are those phone looking things?”
“They’re comm computers. They’re what the earwigs normally communicate with; they keep you in contact with ADI, and she can route communication with Blake or me. She can also route cellphone calls to your comm.”
“Then, we can replace our cellphones?” Catie asked.
“Maybe,” Marc said. “ADI, can you replace our phones with one of these comm computers?”
“Yes, I can,” ADI said. “They have far more computational capability than your current phones.”
“Can she duplicate the UI, so I have access to all my apps and my contacts?” Catie said.
“ADI.”
“Yes, Captain. The comm can be made to cover all the functions of your phone.”
“Then please clone each of our phones,” Marc said, taking one for himself and handing a third to Blake. “Do you need us to do anything with our phones?”
“Each of you needs to turn on your comm. Press anywhere on the screen for ten seconds.”
They each turned their comms on.
“I have cloned your phones’ UI. The comms are now associated with your phone numbers. You will need to move the data over yourself or accept a Bluetooth input control on each phone, and then I can do it.”
Marc unlocked his phone and opened the settings. “Here you go.”
Blake and Catie looked a bit perplexed but did the same thing.
“Your new phones are ready. You’ll need to reset your passcodes if you wish. They will respond to your DNA and wake up when you press the screen.”
“Great,” Catie said. Then her face fell. “It doesn’t fit in my case.”
“We’ll have a custom one made for each of us,” Marc said. “Why don’t you play with your specs for now. ADI, please answer any questions Catie asks.”
“Yes, Captain. I will comply except for restricted questions.”
“That’s fine.”
Marc waved his hands at Catie, telling her to scoot. She gave him a frown, but picked up her stuff and headed down to the main lounge.
“I love her,” Marc said.
“I know, but sometimes you want to beat her.”
“Yeah, sometimes,” he laughed.
“Hey, she can be helpful. Look how she figured out about swapping out our phones. Now we have three great minds figuring this out.”
“I know, but she’s growing up too fast. Whatever happened to the innocence of childhood?”
“That kind of went out with the internet and phones,” Blake quipped. “Don’t worry, she’s still your little girl.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, look at how she was disappointed about her phone case. She still has her priorities straight.”
“Yes, she does. You should have seen how she conned me out of another twenty dollars back at the condo.”
Marc smiled as he remembered Catie demanding twenty dollars for finishing the le Carré book she wasn’t even reading. He tried to ignore her but realized she would keep insisting until he paid and with the surveillance, he really couldn’t get around it. “Damn, and what is this surveillance about?”
“You think it’s the Navy?”
“Has to be, or the FBI at their request. I guess they’re trying to protect their new secret or make sure I don’t have some undisclosed partners. But Catie blurted out about me finding a spaceship when I caught her. I’m worried that they picked that up.”
“They’ll probably think it’s some kind of computer game,” Blake suggested.
“I hope so. But we’re going to have to be more careful now. I think we need someone else to help with the boat. We’ll need to do our planning here, so we need someone we can trust to drive the boat. It has to be someone who won’t mind being out of the loop, but that we could bring in if we need to.”
“I know just the guy,” Blake said.
“Who?”
“A buddy from the VA. I see him there once in a while when I get treatments on my face. He’s cool, and driving a boat has to beat the heck out of tending bar.”
“A bartender?”
“An ex-Marine. Decorated twice.”
“Okay, bring him in. Money is going to be tight until the Navy settles up, but we can swing another salary. At least if Catie doesn’t bleed us dry.”
“There is that,” Blake laughed. “We’re out of the channel, so I can put the autopilot on.”
“Good, I’ll go get Catie. See what she thinks of my plan.”
Marc walked down the stairs to the lounge. Catie was sitting on the sofa with the glasses on; specs, Marc reminded himself. “Hey,” he called out.
“Daddy, these are so cool,” Catie squealed. “I can type on them almost as fast as my phone. And the images are three-D; you can like watch a movie on them, and the sound is better with them than just the ear thingy.”
“I’ll have to start practicing.”
“And when are we getting to ride in one of the jets?”
“You and your Uncle Blake. The first thing he went to was the jets; you’re like two kids in a toy store.”
“Yes, and you’re supposed to play with the toys. How else do you learn how they work? We need to practice,” Catie said indignantly.
Marc laughed. “Sure, come on back upstairs, we’re going to have a planning meeting.”
Catie followed her father up to the bridge. The three of them sat on the sofas behind the bridge. Blake took the one opposite Catie and Marc.
“Let me tell you what I’m thinking,” Marc started. “The Paraxeans, the builders of the spaceship, think we Earthlings are going to destroy ourselves before we can expand out of our own solar system.”
“What?” Catie squeaked.
“Well, it’s not like there’s any record of successful cooperation amongst the various nations except military alliances. We only seem to be united by wars or the fear of wars. So, with all our advanced weapons, it’s not hard to imagine we won’t just blow ourselves up while we’re fighting over resources or whatnot.”
“I know, but we’ll figure it out,” Catie replied with dismay.
“One would hope, but we might have the answer. If we can reduce the competition for resources, things might be able to advance toward a working, cooperative model. So, my plan is to slowly introduce the technologies we have access to and guide Earth toward that future. I want to keep control of the technology so I can try and level the playing field. We can do things such as setting up industries in poorer countries to help equalize the income disparity.”
“That’s cool,” Catie said.
“The problem is going to be that the wealthy countries are not going to like it, much less the wealthy people who are in control of all the industries that will undergo radical change or become obsolete.”
“Yeah, the rich boys won’t like you cutting into their action,” Blake said. “They’re likely to
try and steal it from you.”
“Yes, and with the surveillance we’re under, I’m worried they’re going to get help from the government,” Marc said.
“Why would the government help them?” Catie asked.
“Well, people in power have rich friends, and they tend to try and help each other, especially those who are elected,” Marc said. “Those elected officials need money to finance their campaigns, so when they get elected, they owe a lot to the people who donated millions to their campaigns. Those people expect them to return the favor via guiding the government in ways that help them out.”
“That’s not fair,” Catie exclaimed.
“Fair doesn’t generally have anything to do with life,” Marc replied.
Catie crossed her arms and pouted.
“ADI and I did an economic and technology survey and have identified two promising products we should start with. A new battery and a new fuel cell that between them will dramatically lower transportation costs while reducing carbon emissions,” Marc said. “The fuel cell would operate at one hundred C, instead of the several hundred that current ones operate at. The battery has three to five times the power density and doesn’t wear out like lithium batteries do.”
“Wow, that is so cool. You won’t have to charge your phone and computer so often,” Catie said.
“That’s right. And although you can analyze what they’re made of, it looks impossible to reverse engineer how they are made. ADI says even she can’t do it based on the information someone would have available and the current technology on Earth,” Marc explained. “The problem is, how do we keep them from stealing our manufacturing secrets.”
“You have to totally lock down the manufacturing facilities,” Blake said. “And how are you going to build machines to manufacture stuff without other people knowing how to make the machines?”
“We’ll have machines to make the molds for the batteries and fuel cell elements. Based on what ADI tells me the secret is how the materials are combined and applying a specific electric field during manufacturing. That will be in the programming that we control, so nobody will have access to that. It’s how to stop someone from coming in and stealing the machines that has me worried.”
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