Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8

by Jacqueline Druga

  “The chip? Not much. I read some of that program. All of these chips are sterilized before implantation. My biggest concern lies in the receptor you made me put in it.”

  “All of them have a receptor, Danny. They have to or how else are we gonna program it once it’s implanted.”

  Danny’s hands stopped working. “You’re serious about that. I thought you were kidding.”

  “No, not at all. I guess I wouldn’t have believed it myself, had I not read it. For the longest time, I was hooking up the microchips to the circuit board to reprogram them, and well, it can be done that way. I have this problem, though I do real well at reading manuals and such, I hate to.”

  “Who doesn’t?”

  “No one, I guess. But all the ‘read me’ files on the program, I merely skimmed through.”

  “I’m the same way.” Danny took a second to rub his eyes. “So what happened? You saw it by accident?”

  “Yep. Boy, was I surprised. So as soon as we replant Harold, the SUT we grabbed last year, I’ll bring him down here and reprogram him.”

  “Or bring the program to him.”

  “How’s that?” Henry asked.

  “Laptop.”

  “We don’t have any.”

  “You have a city a half hour from here. I’m positive if we made a run out there we could find one. Between you and me, we’ll get it fixed up. Are you going to run it through the internal speaker system?”

  “Yes,” Henry answered. “Nearest I can figure is that the speaker, a single earphone, will run the data sequence thought the ear. It works the same way as hooking it up to the circuit board, only it’s done audibly instead of directly. You know, unscrambling the current program then running the new one.”

  “Without harming the base program needed to make the chip function?” Danny questioned.

  “From my tests, no, it won’t harm it.”

  “Interesting and ... cover please.”

  Henry moved his hands about, bringing the cover to the chip, allowing Danny to secure it. “Looks good ... again.”

  “It will work this time. I’m almost positive. If not, we’ll start over again. But we rest first. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  “Henry, answer me this. Can the base program that makes the chip function be transmitted audibly too?”

  “We’re not doing it that way, Danny. We install the base program, implant the chip in Dean, and then install the optical enhancement.”

  “That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking you, can the base program be audibly installed?”

  “Yes ... it’s not secure on the left.”

  “I’m getting there.” Danny made an adjustment.

  “Why are you asking?”

  “I have an idea. Let me run it past you.”

  “Shoot.”

  “OK, what makes a SUT, a SUT?”

  “The microchip.”

  “Not exactly, it goes a little further than that. Think about it.”

  Henry took a moment to contemplate. “The lobotomy?”

  “That and what else? What is the most important thing that makes it function the way it does, merely kill because ...”

  “Because it’s programmed to kill.” Henry nodded. “So, where are you going with this?”

  “How are you planning to make this Harold SUT normal?”

  “Implant him with the chip and run a new program, which I have about three new ones I created. How they’ll work, I don’t know.”

  “So in order to make a SUT less deadly, you change the program, right?”

  “Right.” Henry kept thinking how basic this was, so he wondered why Danny was recanting it.

  “Now, you mentioned a few hours ago that Frank would love to get these things in here and reprogram them for us.”

  “Yes, which is easy to do once we get them. Boy, I’ll tell you, Danny, we were going by the misleading information that we had. We thought we would have to remove the chip and reprogram it. I am so grateful Robbie found the program or I’d still be looking at number sequences.”

  “So how do we get the SUTs to reprogram?”

  “That’s the tricky part. They’re tough to get. Knock them out, wound them, I suppose.”

  “Or disable them?” Danny asked, lifting his head.

  “That’s usually what happens when you wound them, Danny,” Henry stated, thinking perhaps he should let Danny get some sleep.

  “I’m not talking physically, Henry. I’m talking ... mentally.” Danny raised his eyebrows. “If you can create an optical enhancement program, you can create a descrambling program. A program that when played audibly can take out not only the program they use to function but the base program as well.”

  Henry knew exactly what Danny meant. “Causing them to drop or stop, then all we’d have to do is redo the program.”

  “Exactly. Think about how many we can eliminate that way?”

  “Any in their army that has a microchip but ... problem.” Henry stood upright when he saw Danny had finished. “Anything that will cause the descrambling will have to be played audibly and loudly. And if it’s that loud, we take a chance of it screwing up any data we have elsewhere here in Beginnings. That is, if the SUTs are close.”

  “What about in the field?” Carefully Danny lifted the microchip and carried it to the board.

  “It would work, but what kind of equipment would our men have to carry in order to transmit the signal loud enough?” Henry raised his eyebrows.

  “You’re killing me, Henry.”

  “I’m being realistic. It’s a good idea, a really good idea. It would really help if we disabled them then captured them. It definitely would be easier on our men we send out.”

  “What if we armed our men with something on an individual basis?” Danny began hooking up the chip for the test.

  “Like a pocket tape player?”

  “Possibly. Is there anything else? I mean, what else could descramble that program if not all the data in the chip.”

  Henry shrugged in thought. “Demagnification.”

  “A blast.”

  “A vibration.”

  “A shock ...”

  At that same instant, both of them looked at each other with the same thought, and they spoke it at the same time. “A stun gun.”

  “Good idea, but—” Henry quickly shook his head. “Outer body contact will not do it.”

  “But inner ear will.”

  A bright smile hit Henry. “It would have to be strong and direct.”

  “Easy enough,” Danny spoke like it was a piece of cake, “a matter of taking one thing from another to create it.”

  “It could cause the inner ear to rupture.”

  “So they’re deaf in one ear, big deal.”

  Henry chuckled. “I like this idea. We can arm our men with a new line of defense out there. They’d have to use the sneak-attack approach.”

  “Only for a second, then the SUT is down.”

  Henry nodded. “Robbie Slagel would die for that opportunity.”

  “We should give it to him.”

  “You mean make a prototype?” Henry asked.

  “Oh sure, we can do that. In fact, if this test is successful, I don’t see why we can’t start on that later.”

  “But you have this tracking system to work on.”

  Danny fluttered his lips. “This thing will be easy. We need a shell and insides. Hell. I’ll bet you guys have all we need right here in Beginnings.”

  “I know we do.”

  “It won’t take long. Between you and me, we’ll have it done and in Robbie’s hands quickly. I can work on more than one thing at a time, except walking and chewing gum. I never grasped that.”

  “We should run the program test on this.” Henry took a step back then brought the magnifying glass closer to the chip that lay on the circuit board. “Good job, Danny.”

  “Yeah, we did well.”

  Jason’s single word, along with the cup of coffee he set down
in front of Danny, brought their attention from that chip. “Amazing.”

  Henry looked at him. “What is?”

  “You two.” Jason shook his head. “It’s also a scary thought. If you two actually set your minds to working together, think about what your two minds could build for this community. The Wright Brothers could very easily look like Abbott and Costello. And ... I’m leaving now.” He moved to the steps, papers in hand. “I wish I had sunglasses, because I know my eyes will hurt when I leave this basement.”

  “Wait,” Henry called out to him. “My answer.”

  “Oh.” Jason looked back. “Yes, I can do it. I’ve been reviewing Dean’s notes. Seems the laser program does all the work for you. I, as a doctor, only need to guide it. If we play our cards right, the risk should be minimal to Dean and his healing should barely be noticed. I just have to work on the program for the surgery. You know, pinpointing exactly where to go in, and doing it with very little exposure of the brain.”

  With a clench of his fist, Henry smiled excitedly. “Thank you, Jason. Will I see you tonight?”

  Jason grumbled a ‘yes’ and walked up the stairs.

  “Work on that ...” Henry shut up when he heard the door above him shut, “... program.” Henry shrugged. “Ready to run our test, Danny?”

  “I’m ready to sleep, Henry. Can we just sleep?”

  “Can you sleep after the test? I promise you can sleep then but not for too long.”

  “All right.” Danny walked to the computer. “I swear you are one driven man.”

  “I don’t want to stop until we know it will and can be done.”

  “Dean’s sight is important yes, but there’s something else to it, isn’t there?” Danny watched Henry shrug instead of responding. “There is. What is it? You don’t seem like the glory-guy, wanting recognition from everyone.” Danny opened his mouth, then smiled. “But you’d die for recognition from one person, wouldn’t you?”

  Henry raised his head. “I need her recognition.”

  “You’re driving yourself like this for Ellen?” Danny was shocked.

  “Danny, Dean’s sight is so important, yes. The whole community needs him to have it. Dean needs have it himself. But if I could use this as an opportunity to make a change in my life I will. If I can help Ellen’s friend see again, the maybe, just maybe, she won’t hate me anymore.”

  “Holy shit,” Danny exclaimed as he began to run the test program. “You must really love this woman.”

  “I do. I love her very much.”

  “Oh yeah?” Danny clicked on the last key. “Then why did you turn to someone else?”

  Henry wanted to say something in his defense, anything ,as Danny looked at him for an answer. But Henry couldn’t give a defense because he had none. He just gave Danny that ‘I don’t know’ look, then tried to move on to more hopeful thoughts as the test program began to run.

  <><><><>

  It could have been one of the best Sunday family dinners at Joe’s house. It had the makings, at least in Ellen’s mind. Dean wasn’t sulking. He got over the fact that Brian had no hair. Alexandra wasn’t screaming every ten minutes. Billy wasn’t complaining about being bored. Nick slept. And Henry wasn’t there. Not to mention, the finger food Andrea had set out as appetizers—something Joe never did. Yes, to Ellen it could have been a great Sunday. Could have been, if it wasn’t for Frank.

  “El.”

  “Frank, leave me alone.” She tried to block him out as he followed her from the dining room table to the living room and all around. “The noise level in here is annoying enough without you adding to it.”

  “I don’t want you mad at me.”

  “I am.” Ellen grabbed for a piece of bread and then dipped it and brought it to her mouth.

  “Get over it.” Frank took the bread from her hand and ate it.

  “Frank!”

  “El. We had a great evening last night.”

  “Yet you killed it by yelling at me on the street. Dean ... Dean.” Ellen looked at Dean who was occupied playing some sort of string game with Katie. “Tell Frank to leave me alone.”

  “Leave her alone, Frank.”

  Frank fake shuddered. “Now I’m scared. El ...” He followed her back to the table.

  “Frank, leave me alone.”

  “Why don’t we put aside what happened at the end of last night and go to what happened during.” He stepped closer to her. “No one is home at my house.”

  Ellen gasped at him. “I can’t believe you are making that insinuation.”

  “Oh please,” Frank said loudly, “you act all offended, yet, who was the one throwing themselves at me last night?”

  “I did not.”

  “You did too! You stood in my living room half naked.”

  Silence, complete silence, took over the house.

  Ellen cringed and twitched her head to Dean. “Frank.”

  “You think Dean doesn’t know how you lose control around me?” Frank yelled over to him, “Dean, you know how she is around me?”

  Dean lifted his head, hands still tied up. “Unfortunately.”

  “See, El,” Frank told her, “you threw yourself at me.”

  “Asshole.” She stormed from him.

  “Half naked in my living room. Feeling me up at the field.”

  “Frank!”

  “Not to mention that little doll you made of me. Lord knows what you do with that.”

  “Oh my God.” Ellen dropped the dipped bread and moved from him.

  “Where are you going?” Frank followed her to the door.

  “Away from you.” She opened it. “I’ll be back.”

  “El, come on, I’m only teasing you. I’m trying to get you to be nice to me.”

  “Guess what, Frank, you blew it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I felt really badly for arguing with you last night.”

  “Right.”

  “I did.” Ellen lifted her head high. “And ... and ... I was going to ...” She grabbed his tee shirt and yanked him down to her level whispering in his ear. When she was done saying what she wanted to say, she let him go. “So there!” She stormed out.

  “Hey!” Frank laughed when the door slammed. He waved his hand at the door and spun around to see Katie and Dean on the couch. With his finger in a hush-hush manner to Katie, Frank sneaked up to the couch, grabbed the string Katie twirled gently around Dean’s hands in a game and pulled it hard and fast, causing the immediate and harsh joining of Dean’s hands. Silently he laughed and moved away.

  Dean let out only a squeak of a scream so as not to scare Katie. “Easy, Katie, it’s only a game,” he spoke to the bewildered child while hiding his wince of pain. “Boy, you’re strong for a little girl.”

  <><><><>

  Ellen heard The ‘Silly’ song played slowly, picked on the guitar when she stopped into Joe’s backyard. “Hey,” she called out to Robbie, who sat on a chair just off the back steps. “What are you doing?”

  “Hiding.”

  “From who?” Ellen sat down across from him.

  “Andrea the June-Cleaver wannabe.”

  Ellen laughed at him. “She isn’t that bad.”

  “Oh yeah she is, especially with me. She acts like I’m Denny. You know, she told me to comb my hair.” He shook his head at Ellen’s laughing. “No, El. It’s not funny. I always wear my hair tossed like this and sticking up. It makes me look ...”

  “Sexy.”

  Robbie grinned. “Thanks.”

  “I’ve never hid that fact from you. So ...” Ellen brought her hands to her legs. “Can I hide with you?”

  “Depends. Who are you hiding from?”

  “Your goofball brother. We’re fighting.”

  “Well don’t fight too much with him please. He tends to drink heavily when you do that. In wartimes like this, you never know when there will be a sneak attack. I’m not Frank. No one is and the last thing we need is him drunk if that happens.”

  E
llen waved him off. “Frank doesn’t get drunk.”

  “Yeah he does, El.” Robbie looked up from his guitar. “You know that.”

  “Drunk?” Ellen shook her head. “Not Frank. He was drinking for a while, but he never got drunk.”

  “Where were you?” Robbie asked with sarcasm. “Maybe not in the falling down, slobbering sense, but he consumed enough to knock his senses off. I know.”

  “So do I. He had a hard time. Why are we arguing? You’re annoyed at me.”

  “I’m annoyed at Andrea. Sorry.” Robbie stopped playing. “El, can I ask you something?” His chin rested on the curve of the guitar.

  “Sure.”

  “Is Frank having a drink right now?”

  “He’s nursing one. He had cut back for a while and now he’s back to drinking one a day, if that, Robbie.” Ellen reached out to him. “I know we talked about this before but he’s good now.”

  “El, my brother has gone from drinking to help him get through the rough times, to drinking because he has to.”

  Ellen turned silent. “Robbie, a month ago I would have agreed with you, but we all brought it to his attention, and Frank made the turn around.”

  “El, Frank isn’t better at drinking. He’s just better at hiding it.”

  “Did he even try?” Ellen asked, with a hint of anger.

  “Oh he tried. In fact, he’s still trying. He has that one in public that he makes out to seem like his social drink then he fights not to have the others. I watch him. When he’s at home, he doesn’t have the big facade of the Social Hall to hide behind. That’s when he has his problems.”

  “You haven’t said anything.”

  “Nope, because I know he’s trying to quit, a lot more than we see. He’ll ask for help one day. Unfortunately that’s what I’m worried about. Unfortunately it may just take something big to force him into it.”

  “That scares you.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I keep watching him. I don’t like leaving him alone. I don’t like you two fighting. It throws him over the edge. He needs you.”

  “I know he does.”

  “I think you’re the key to helping him, one, because he loves you, and two, because you are the closest one to him.”