by Ethan Stand
Zen looked over at her father, who nodded. Sighing deeply, she reached into her backpack and took out a book-sized storage drive. She said, “Here, it’s sixteen terabytes and been un-booby-trapped. I’ve had to compress most of the files to fit them on there, but the decompression software is included.”
Phil raised his eyebrows at her preparation and said, “Will you remove it from wherever you have it stored externally?”
Zen didn’t bother looking at her dad; she just shook her head and said, “Nope. No deal. Well, at least not yet. There are smart ways to move forward and stupid ways. I want to see what your plans are first.”
Phil looked to Ed who said, “I agree with Zen. I don’t think you’d kill us, but if you thought it was necessary you’d still order it done no matter how much you hated to.”
Phil actually looked relieved at the response but said, “Maybe. I’d like to think I’d refuse to do that, but this is too big to make a mistake with.”
He looked down at his watch and said, “It’s now just after two. We need to work out a sample package of data and some notes we can give to those who attend. It has to be comprehensive enough to communicate the main facts without revealing everything. Ted and I will start on that while you talk with the folks and get packed. Miriam, Zen needs a wardrobe suitable for a minimum of three or four days at the UN.”
Again Zen reached into her bag and then handed over a storage device, this time it was only a data stick. She said, “256 gigabytes, for you and Ted. It has several presentations and a hundred-page document outlining my thesis. It refers to the data, but that data isn’t included in its entirety, only samples. It has no booby-traps.”
Phil took the drive, saying, “When did you do this?”
“I pulled it together yesterday. The document is a summary of my notes which I tidied up. It’d be useful to have my parents check it, but I think it covers what you want.”
“Thank you. Don’t forget. We’ll be taking the PM’s plane, and we leave at midnight. “
-End of Episode 1-
