RESTORATION (a science fiction novel) (RESTORATION (the science fiction trilogy))

by Utley, Todd

  “Sure, you want me to come over there? Or you come over to our house?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, my parents are a little grumpy tonight. It might be better if I came over there. I don’t want to invite myself over but I would be afraid to ask my parents if you could stay over tonight.”

  “All right, I’ll call you back in a few,” said Bobby.

  “Okay, bye.”

  Bobby already knew that his Dad wanted Toby to come over as soon as possible so that they could get out in the car and talk. They needed to exchange a lot of information but they still had to be very careful with the phones. Especially when Toby returned from the compound. It would just be too easy for someone to tamper with Toby’s phone while he was sleeping or even swap it out all together.

  Security software that John had installed on Toby’s phone was only good if it was still the same phone. Bobby ran downstairs only to find that his Dad was still upstairs showering, it seemed strange to Bobby that his Dad was running late, that was not normal for Dodge. Dodge had taken longer than usual getting up and showering this morning. When we woke up he was shocked at everything he had learned yesterday at the farm. More details had been discovered about Cyrus’s plan, including intel verifying that Cyrus had some powerful people in Washington already in his pocket. He had several congressmen, senators, and a few lobbyist working with him. They were surprised at just how far it had gone. There were even people in his organization that had influenced the stock values for ESS and several of their competitors. Dodge felt somewhat diminished in his accomplishments at ESS because of this discovery. He had worked so hard to build this system and believed he was protecting something he had built. Now he finds out that he had some help along the way from Cyrus.

  Cyrus didn’t directly help either him or John and it was still their hard work and genius that made the Restoration process possible but Cyrus had very much wanted this technology to succeed. So while they were doing their research and development to make the hardware and software come together Cyrus was busy manipulating the markets through his connections in Washington and within several large funds.

  ESS had landed several huge multimillion dollar government grants edging out their competitors. Now they knew that Cyrus pulled strings and blackmailed people and did every underhanded thing he could to push those grant approvals through. Without Cyrus this whole thing might have never come together. This was very upsetting to him and John. He talked to John first thing when he woke up, John was pissed, he was ready to move on the compound today, he really wanted to see Cyrus either dead or in custody. They both realized now that even when they did take down the compound there would still be so many loose ends out there in high and powerful places, and their work would not be complete for quite some time.

  They agreed that it still had to be done, they would take it down and then give all of their Intel to people that they believed they could trust. Hopefully these high-ranking individuals were really the good guys they believed them to be and hopefully they would do the right thing, go after the corrupt officials, root them out and bring them to justice.

  Dodge finished getting ready, and did his best to put on a happy face, after all, once he left the upstairs bathroom he would once again enjoy being observed continuously. He went downstairs to find Bobby at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal while reading the box.

  “So what cha eatin sport?” He said, as he plopped down and grabbed the box from Bobby.

  “Hey!” I was reading that, and since when do you eat super Captain crunch anyway?”

  “Well Son, I feel like being a kid today, so Captain crunch it is.” He poured himself a nice big bowl, and handed the box back to Bobby. “Well at least you’re reading something printed on a solid object for a change.”

  “Yeah, but did you see that new box of cereal we had last week, it has a screen on it like the digipaper, it’s called tasty bytes and bits.”

  “No kiddin? You telling me it has a power source and everything?” “Yeah, it’s got a solar panel on the box so you just leave it in the light for a minute and then you can use the screen to read fun facts about computers and the history of how they were developed. It even has sound and it will read it to you if you’re too lazy to read it yourself.”

  “Wow that’s actually kind of cool” Dodge said, technology had certainly changed a lot in his time, the boxes just had cheap plastic toys in them when he was a kid.

  “Hey Dad, can Toby come over today and maybe stay all night?”

  “Sure Son, I don’t see why not, but double check with your Mother, she might have something planned that I forgot about.”

  “Okay” he jumped up to go find his Mother. Dodge knew Linsey would say yes because that was pretty much an agreed standing yes. They needed Toby there every chance they could get without seeming over eager.

  A few minutes later Bobby came back downstairs.

  “I asked Mom and she said it was fine, we don’t have any plans so I’ll call Toby, what time can he come over?” Dodge was reading the digipaper now and just answered out from behind it.

  “Oh just whenever, see if they can drop him off and if not we’ll go get him I guess.”

  Dodge was doing his best to act a little annoyed with it all just to seem like a normal parent that believed his kid’s friends were coming over too often.

  “Thanks Dad” Bobby ran back upstairs as he called Toby. He told Toby what his Dad had said.

  “Okay, I’ll have my parents bring me over in about an hour.” As soon as they ended the call Toby hopped up off his bed and went downstairs.

  “Hey guys, I’ve been invited over to the Kerrington’s again so I’ll be able to snoop around more, any orders from Cyrus or Glitch about what I should be looking for?” Todd seemed impressed by his desire to do a good job.

  “Well, I did speak with Glitch this morning when I picked up your phone. He wants you to snoop around a bit in Dodge’s files if you get the opportunity and specifically look for anything to do with John Calhoun, Dodge’s friend. He seemed suspicious that John might be up to something.”

  Of course Toby knew that they were up to plenty and if Todd only knew what was coming he would be in an all out panic. But for now Toby had to keep it to himself.

  “Okay” Toby replied, “I’ll see what I can dig up.” Cheyenne got up and started putting on her shoes.

  “Where do you think you’re goin?” Asked Todd.

  “Well I thought I should take him over there, after all I am his mother and I need to meet Bobby’s mother, you can’t expect his parents to believe that we’re Toby’s parents if we don’t act like parents.”

  Toby liked to sit there and watch the two of them spar, if he didn’t know better he would swear they were really married. Cheyenne had ole Todd on the ropes pretty good with that argument.

  “Well what cha gonna drive smarty pants? I have the key to the van.” Cheyenne whipped out a key fob and started dangling it in Todd’s face and laughing.

  “I gotta car, I gotta car,” she chanted as she did a little dance.

  “And it’s out front,” she said, as she continued to tease Todd with the key.

  “What! When did this happen?”

  “It arrived this morning and the driver had a note for me. It said that I was doing a good job as a wife and mother and that I needed transportation to complete the part.” Todd went to the window and looked out in the drive.

  “Man, I can’t believe they got you nicer wheels than mine, unbelievable!”

  They all went out to take a look. It was no BMW, but it was a respectable clean used Cadillac convertible, not bad. Todd felt diminished by the whole thing, after all he had been working for Cyrus twice as long as Cheyenne and all he had was an old van to drive.

  “Oh well” he thought, at least he would have his freedom someday and then he would have big money and he could get a brand new car and a brand new life.

  “So, see Todd, I’m anxious to drive this thing and I need t
o meet Linsey, you know, to show that I’m a good concerned parent. A mother needs to know whom her teenage son is spending all of his time with.”

  “All right, jeeze, take him over there, I can’t blame you for wanting to drive it.”

  “When I get back we’ll go out and you can drive it” Cheyenne said.

  “All right, that sounds like fun” Todd said.

  “See ya squirt” Todd said as he rubbed Toby’s head on the way back up the steps. Toby wanted to deck him for that but the neighbors were watching so he just acted stupid.

  “Awe gee, thanks Dad, Love you Dad, can I have a hug?” Todd laughed but didn’t even turn around.

  “Go with your Mother and behave young man, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Okay Dad, thanks, I’ll be good!”

  Toby knew that calling him Dad probably cut right through Todd like a knife so whenever Todd gave him a hard time he would call him Dad for fun. Toby grabbed his overnight bag and hopped into the caddy. Cheyenne was already behind the wheel fiddling with the radio trying to figure out all the fancy functions. She pushed the top down button and it retracted neatly into the trunk with the lid closing smoothly behind it.

  “Wow, pretty cool, I like it.” He could tell Cheyenne was really enjoying the opportunity to drive a car again. As they pulled away he wanted to tell Cheyenne everything about the night before but he feared this new car might be wired for sound and it would be best if they waited until he knew for sure it was safe. As they drove along they enjoyed the sound system and the sunshine, it was perfect convertible weather.

  Toby told her that Alice wanted to see her and that she should go to the compound for a visit.

  “Oh, yeah, Romeo, so how’s that going?” Toby still worried about being monitored just shrugged his shoulders. We’re taking it slow, you know we both have our jobs to do and it’s not like we can be alone at the compound anyway, it’s probably best that we just remain friends.”

  Cheyenne could sense that he was holding back and caught onto the idea that Toby was being careful about what he said in the car.

  “All right, I’ll probably go over there tomorrow with Todd and I’ll drop in on her to cheer her up a bit. She’s stuck inside all the time so she’s probably a little depressed.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea” Toby said, and then he began fiddling with the radio.

  Just before they arrived at the Kerrington’s Toby said “I’ll do my best to get info on John Calhoun for Cyrus. If you see Cyrus or Glitch, tell them they can count on me I’m their man, I’ll get them what they need. So what are you going to say to Linsey?

  “Oh you know, the usual Mom stuff, like, oh look at the boys together, they’re such good friends!”

  Toby rolled his eyes and stuck his finger in his mouth like he was gagging himself so he could puke.

  “Oh jeeze, stop you’re making me sick,” he said.

  “Well I don’t know, I guess I’ll just let the conversation lead and I’ll do my best and I won’t stay too long okay?”

  “Yeah that sounds pretty good,” said Toby.

  When they arrived, Bobby was outside shooting some basketball in back by the garage. He didn’t recognize the car so he started walking towards the front to see who it was. Toby jumped out then Bobby recognized him and motioned him back to the basketball goal. Cheyenne walked back by the basketball goal and asked if Bobby’s mother was home.

  “Oh sure, I’ll go get her for you.” Bobby ran inside.

  “Mo-om,” he hollered just inside the kitchen door. “Mrs. Lansing is here to see you.” Linsey hollered back.

  “Who?”

  “Toby’s Mom, you know, Mrs. Lansing?”

  “Oh right, I’ll be right down, show her in.”

  “Okay,” he said, as he ran back out.

  Toby had Cheyenne attempting to shoot some free throws.

  “Hey Mrs. Lansing, my Mom said to come on in there to the kitchen, she’ll be right down.” Toby had wanted to tell her in the car that the Kerrington’s knew everything that was going on but he couldn’t take the risk of the car being wired. He was trying to think of something, ah yes, he would fake an injury and ask for Cheyenne to come into the bathroom with him to take a look.

  The bathrooms were safe zones, no cameras and no sound because it was actually their security system that Cyrus was using to monitor them. He had to fake it even for Bobby, he would just tell him later. When he made his next shot he grabbed his eye.

  “Oh man, shoot, I got something in my eye.” Bobby came over.

  “Let me see. No I don’t see anything in there.”

  “Crap, it really hurts, I’d better go inside and look at it in the bathroom mirror, maybe wash it out, I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “All right.” Bobby kept shooting around while Toby went inside with his hand over his eye.

  Just inside the kitchen Cheyenne and Linsey were having a nice chat at the kitchen table.

  “What is it Toby?” Cheyenne asked.

  “Oh, I just got something in my eye and it’s really bothering me. Can you come in here and take a look?” Cheyenne followed him into the bathroom just off the hall behind the kitchen. He pulled her inside and closed the door most of the way.

  He took his hand down and said, “I don’t have much time so here it is. I didn’t want to talk in the car cause it might be wired. The Kerrington’s know everything, they know the house is wired, they know they’re being watched, they’re going to help us take out Cyrus and free us all. I’m really trusting you here so you have to go with me on this. Me and Alice did some crazy stuff at the compound last night. We sabotaged Cyrus’s clones of Dodge and if anyone finds out we’re dead. Dodge and John have a plan to bring the whole thing down. Their entire families are in on it, if you tell we’re all dead! I can trust you right? Are you in?”

  Cheyenne’s mouth was hanging open, she didn’t know what to say.

  “Well?” Toby insisted, “What’s it going to be? You gonna throw this entire family under the bus along with me and your best friend Alice?”

  “No, no! Of course not! I’m in, I’m just in shock.”

  “All right, well I know for sure that Linsey’s car is safe to talk in. If you can get in her car you will be okay to talk but leave your phone in your car. Pretend you need to get something out of your car and then dump the phone in the seat. Don’t take any other objects with you that have been given to you by Glitch or anyone else at the compound, oh crap, you don’t have your phone in here do you?”

  “No, I left it in my purse on the table out there.”

  “Oh, phew, good, thank God, in fact before you say too much, have Linsey to scan you, your purse might be bugged, you can’t be too careful. Tell her that you’re in and that I told you that it was safe to talk to her, she will tell you everything else that you need to know. All right, let’s go, we’ve been in here too long.”

  They both walked back out into the kitchen.

  “Oh, good” Linsey said, “Looks like the eye is okay.”

  “Yes it’s fine, I just got some dirt in it. Thanks Mom, I’m going back out with Bobby.” He ran out the back door. “Yes! Mission accomplished.”

  While the ladies continued to talk, Cheyenne was plotting and listening trying to find a good place to inject the idea of going for a ride together.

  “Hey,” Linsey said, “Did you see that O’Hare’s in the mall is going out of business, they’re having a 50% off sale today and tomorrow only, we should go.”

  “I would love to, let’s go, it’ll be so much fun. I’ve been so busy working and taking Toby to all of his activities, between that and house work, I haven’t had any me time. It would be great to go do something like that and you’re the first person I’ve really connected with since moving here from Michigan.”

  “All right, let’s go” Linsey said.

  “I’ll call Dodge and let him know the boys and Sarah are here, he should be heading home from work in the next hour, the kids sho
uld be fine.” They both got up and headed out to the back, and Linsey offered to drive.

  “I’ll just move my car up out of the way” said Cheyenne. She hopped in and slipped her phone out of her purse and under her onto the seat, she pulled the car forward and got out. Linsey stuck her head out the van window.

  “Hey boys, Cheyenne and I are going to a sale at the mall. Bobby, your father will be here soon don’t go anywhere, your sister is inside, if you need anything call my sky.”

  “Okay, bye.” The boys were both having a good time shooting hoops and only paused long enough for a quick wave. Toby knew that this was the perfect opportunity for Cheyenne to connect with Linsey and he hoped that she would take advantage of it. The moment they left the driveway they began chatting about the sale. Cheyenne opened her purse and wrote a little note on a receipt she had and handed it to Linsey. It read, “Keep talking and scan me for bugs?” Linsey continued to drive and talk as she reached into the center console and pulled out the little scanner John had given them to check their cars. She turned it on and handed it to Cheyenne. Cheyenne began moving it all around herself and her purse and the general area.

  “You’re clean,” Linsey said, it would’ve gone off right away if you had anything on you, it’s very sensitive. So how much do you know?”

  “Well not too much, I just know that you know, Toby just told me as much as he could in the bathroom back there, he didn’t really have anything in his eye.”

  “So he was talking to you in there about this?”

  “Yes, he told me all about you guys trying to take out Cyrus. I want out of this thing too. If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll do it. I don’t want to die and I have that same charge in my brain that Toby has. He told me about Dodge’s clone and how they’re loading him up to get information out of him.

  “Tell your friends not to worry Cheyenne, our team hacked the LifeTech database. There’s a program running that reloads the same lifefile every night onto the LifeTech server. This file is an old one, back before Dodge knew what was going on entirely with the cloning program. It’s old enough that it will be useless to Cyrus. The clones he’s creating and torturing, don’t really have the answers he’s after.”