-(To SVC) I thought you were going to ride herd on committee components.
-(SVC) Yes, well, I was having trouble…
-Oh, can it. What do I need you for if I have to do everything myself? (SRB), you need a munitions advisor. If we really end up having to do this it’s highly likely that we’ll need a little firepower, don’t you think?
-(SRB) Oh, right, I have a feeler out to (DP); I forgot to mention.
-Really, (DP)? He’s too by the book, too paint by numbers. The Americans will smell his stink a mile away. You should go with (JR). All that gaming experience makes him a better choice. Don’t you agree, (SVC)?
-(SVC) Hmm. I actually think either could be fine choices, but you might also consider (AH). She led the Tactical Laser Project and developed the first miniaturized post-COIL lasers.
-Now that’s what I need you for. You’re not afraid to challenge me. (SRB), drop (DP) and think about the other two. Hell, why not both? And get it done sooner than later. (SVC), any new info on the missing soldier, what was his name? Dave something?
-(SVC) David Concannon. We’ve gone through every one of our Bright Hand assets on the west coast, and nothing to report. He has not shown up at his home in Nevada, so he has pulled quite a convincing vanishing act at this point.
-Huh. I’d like to meet this guy. How confident are we in the Bright Hand intel?
-(SVC) I suppose nothing is fool-proof. I’ll keep digging.
-Yeah, you better sharpen up your shovel. (SRB), what are you waiting for? Get to it! Speaking of which, let’s get someone to rounding up some dinner, stat.
****
E rnie and I eventually made our way back to our trailer, this time to find the whole group lounging around the living area. Cheri had vacated the couch, which was now occupied by Mr. Harutyunyan and Ms. Houng, slowly sipping steaming coffee. Cheri and Tarni sat at the kitchen table, Tarni watching as Cheri awkwardly attempted to eat cereal with her left hand.
“Lucas! We were just getting ready to send a search party out for you. You have to quit disappearing like that, or at least leave a note,” said Cheri, waving her spoon in my direction. “And did you find a new friend? Wait, a minute… Ernie, is that you? What did they do to you? You’re the size of a house!”
I couldn’t tell what Ernie’s facial expression meant, but from the sound of his voice, he seemed suddenly nervous. He looked at the ground and shuffled his feet as he replied, “Hi, um, hi, Chi. Yeah, it’s me… it’s been a long time, right? How are you doing? How is your arm… wait, that was a weird thing to ask, sorry about that… Lucas told me the story about Pakistan, and… um, anyway, yeah, they’ve been doing some crazy testing on me, they were doing the testing on mice, and it worked great so they needed a human subject, and you know me… anyway, hi everyone, I’m Ernie. Ernie Mesa. Well, my real name is Ernesto Mesa, but back in school the kids used to call me Ernie Table. Sometimes the people around here call me Mongo.”
Mr. Harutyunyan stood and approached, and Ernie’s eyes took on the shape of saucers again. “Whoa, I’m big, but look at this guy, he’s huuuge!” cried Ernie, forgetting his nerves.
“Oh, I don’t know. I am taller, but I think we are the same size, yes?” said Mr. Harutyunyan, reaching out to shake Ernie’s hand. It took him a second to realize what was happening, but then held up his right hand to show he was injured. Mr. Harutyunyan smiled and held out his left hand instead, and Ernie shook it vigorously. Their hands were so gigantic that It looked to me like they were both wearing catcher’s mitts. When they noticed his injury, Tarni, Cheri, and Ms. Houng all swung into action, working up a splint and sling for Ernie in a minute flat.
“Well, look at him, he’s a cutie, isn’t he? Where’d ya run inta this fella, then?” asked Tarni, when they were done attending to Ernie and everyone was seated around the table. Ernie’s face turned red, which my dad told me means that he was maybe embarrassed or shy, although he was smiling, which was a bit confusing to me. I told them the story about running around the cavern, then the confrontation at the dining hall, about Ernie getting a broken hand from socking me, and how we got to know one another while walking around the cavern.
“Yeah, it was my fault. Lucas is really cool, though, man. And we’re both kind of… well, we’re both a little different, right? But Lucas, he’s super smart, and I’m… well, I’m just me.”
“Oh, don’t sell yourself short. I saw your potential back when we were training you guys in the states,” said Cheri, as she reached out and mussed his bush of black hair. He turned red and looked down again, still smiling.
“Yeah, you seem different in a good way,” added Tarni.
“Man, I told everyone they were wrong about you guys, but they never listen to me. They kind of treat me like I’m… like I’m a pet or something. There really are a ton of people who aren’t too happy that you guys are here, though. They’ve been talking about, like, confronting you guys, or maybe Mr. Kane, or both. I think they’re serious, too.”
Just then, someone belting out an extremely out-of-tune song was making a commotion at the trailer door. A moment later, Benji burst into the room, singing, “Oh, I would walk five hundred miles, and a I would walk five hundred more… Oi, look at you lot. Aint’cha never seen a pissed Aussie before, eh?”
“Oh, my boy, it looks like Benji found some ‘coldies’, and is in love, eh?” whispered Mr. Harutyunyan as he rose to help Benji to a seat. “Okay, Benji, you sit here. You smell like a brewery, my friend.”
Benji roared with laughter and said, “Yeah, ol’ Les, she had a secret stash, the good stuff. She’s a ripper, she is! What a beauty! Hey, who’s this big fella, then? Mard, is he your long-lost son?” Then he unleashed another blast of guffaws, followed by a long, smelly burp.
“Benji, you need to go to bed, sleep it off,” Ms. Houng grunted as she helped Mr. Harutyunyan guide Benji down the hall. They deposited him in the first bedroom to the left, and within moments came the sound of him flopping down on the bed, still singing.
“Well, that was interesting. I think Benji is under Dr. Lazenbee’s spell,” said Cheri, and we all nodded and giggled in agreement.
“This is all entertaining, but we have to be in Brazil in two days, so we need to make like the bees, sonny boy.”
Make like the bees… make what? Honey? I think she just means we need to get moving, and she’s right…
I raised my hand and said, “Okay, um, time is going by and I need to get ready. I still need to go see Ms. Perez, and I’m kind of surprised that Mr. Kane hasn’t already either come by or sent someone to get us. I need to see Dr. Bhat and Tom and Barry too, and Ava says we probably need to think about what Ernie said. Maybe it’s time to leave and go back to the nation’s cavern, at least for the rest of you. And I need some kind of plan. It wouldn’t make sense to just go there and try to figure it out as I went along.”
The tone in the room instantly turned serious. “Sorry, my boy. First, we go to see Dr. Bhat, yes? The upgraded EMP unit is there in her lab. Then we go see Tom and Barry, yes, Minnie?”
Ms. Houng nodded. “That is where I work on the new flechette gun for your arm. They might have something else for you, too.”
“And then, we’ll go to see Zoey and little Jimmie, eh?” added Tarni, her blue eyes shining brightly. “I reckon it’s time for me to annoy my brother, anyway.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere. I…”
Ava was cut off by an insistent pounding at the door. After a moment, the door swung open and Mr. Kane swept into the room along with his bodyguards in their black paramilitary attire. Through his pasted on, patented Hollywood smile, he said, “Hello, all, sorry to burst in like this, but we must discuss ASAP. Please follow me to my office, friends. Sorry, ah, Ernie, is it? You must wait here. Come along, time is short. I need you to tell me about the mission ahead of you.”
10
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
CONVERSATION WITH SVC
121351 20:05
; -I’m getting more and more concerned about this Brazil thing. How old is he, fifteen? People have been trying to get that country under control for a hundred-fifty years, and they expect the kid to go in there and turn things around in three days? Tell me what in this situation makes sense.
-…
-You’re right, none of it makes sense. The kid will get killed, and then our only option will be to try to extract the dad. I don’t enjoy having only one option, do you?
-Well…
-Of course not. That was a test question, and you passed but just barely. We have to get aggressive in making the way at least a little easier for him. I know what some of the other LFP will say: ‘It’s a test of his system, we need to see the limits of the tech,’ blah blah blah. But they’ll be singing the blues when that tech is ruined, right? Is Oakes already in place?
-Yes, he’s in Brasilia.
-It took a lot of time and effort to make him an undercover asset, not to mention money. Maybe it’s time to get more out of him than just communications and intel. Let’s see if he can use some American resources to pull the right dissidents into Brasilia, then bribe the prison staff, at least make it easier for the kid to get in. It shouldn’t take too much. They all hate the president anyway, right?
-That appears to be the situation on the ground. I’ll get our people on it right away.
-All these shenanigans are having the unexpected effect of making my stomach upset. Maybe a little snack would help, though. Can you get someone to round something up?
****
W e left Tarni behind to watch over Benji, and the rest of us trudged up the stone steps and down the concrete hall to Mr. Kane’s expansive office. Benji was too ‘out of it’, as Cheri put it, to come with us, and needed to ‘sleep it off’, although I wasn’t sure what ‘it’ was.
After everyone was seated, Mr. Kane asked his bodyguards to wait in the hall. They exited quickly, and I described the mission; as I did his smile slowly faded and the rest of the group sat silently. I’m not sure what their expressions meant, but they did not look happy.
When I finished, Mr. Kane leaned forward with his elbows on the table, his hands folded and index fingers steepled in front of his lips. After a few moments of silence, he cleared his throat and said, “Well, this is ridiculous. You must refuse. It’s a suicide mission.”
His smile had disappeared totally, which gave me a weird feeling. “I… I don’t want to do it either, but I can’t refuse. This is the only way I can get my dad back, and that… that’s more important. I’ve been talking to Ava, and she has some good ideas. We’ll all talk about it and make a plan, and I’ll do it. I have to.”
Mr. Kane rose and paced around the table, his hands behind his back. “Look, suppose… what the Americans want is for the Brazilian president to be overthrown, and to replace him with the opposition leader, whom they believe will be more amenable. We have assets in Brazil, and I can send more. Perhaps we can get it done so you don’t have to. Or, at the very least, we can assist you. I don’t like this at all, friends. Lucas is a technological marvel, but he is not some kind of wizard.”
The table erupted with chatter at that. I didn’t listen, though… I had a strange feeling that I was trying to put into words, and it was difficult. I don’t know exactly what to say, but I have to say something…
“Hey, guys. Hey. HEY.” There was a sudden crack! and the group fell silent. I hadn’t realized that I was gripping the chair arm tightly, and it snapped in half. I held a piece up and said, “Sorry, Mr. Kane.”
His smile finally returned as he said, “Think nothing of it, Lucas. You are under a great deal of stress, and we’re not making it any easier.”
“Yeah, umm… I can use all the help I can get, but… there’s something I… there’s something about these missions… my Dad, he risked everything to save me. He didn’t have to. He could have said I was a lost cause and no one would have blamed him, because up to that point he would have been right. He brought together people and technologies in a way no one had ever done, or even thought of doing, just to save me. These missions… I have to do them. They’re my responsibility. He saved me, and I have to save him. And if I don’t make it, he’ll know I did the best I could, just like he did. I’m not perfect. I’m a scared kid, if you want to know the truth. I’m kind of weird and I see things a little different from other people. Maybe that’s why I have to do this. I don’t know if any of this makes any sense, but it’s up to me, so it’s not logical to waste time talking about how to get it done without me.”
Ms. Houng, who was sitting next to me, reached out to put her hand on my shoulder, but at the last second realized that it would make me uncomfortable, so she just patted me twice instead. Mr. Harutyunyan was blinking, his eyes wet and his voice a little shaky as he said, “He is right. That is our boy, our Lucas.”
Cheri didn’t seem concerned about making me uncomfortable as she reached out and held my hand. “Don’t worry, Lucas. We’ll do it, somehow. We’ll figure it out, and we’ll get your dad back.”
Mr. Kane sat back in his chair, smiling once again. “Whether or not we agree, I’m quite sure we can all say we understand your feelings. If the matter is settled, there is probably some tech that you need to take care of, yes?”
“Yeah, we were just leaving to see Dr. Bhat when you came to our trailer.”
“Very well. I’ll have a cart ready for you at the bottom of the steps. Let’s meet again this evening and see what else we need to do. Thank you, all.”
We made our way down the hall and a cart was waiting as promised. Yet another burly bald-headed man in black paramilitary attire was at the wheel, and Cheri said, “Hey, Bernie, how’s it going?”
“Oi, Chi, it’s been a long time, eh? ‘ang on a minute, what happened here?” he said, pointing at her missing arm.
“Aww, it’s a long story. I’ll give you the deets another time. We’re headed for Dr. Bhat’s, old buddy.”
“Well, sorry about it, anyway. Hey, you remember the time…”
“Yeah, I remember, but my friends don’t need to hear about it, do they?”
They made eye contact and then both started giggling. “Aww, Chi, you’re the best, I reckon. Everyone in? Here we go.”
Is there anyone she doesn’t know? And not just know, it’s like she has… a history with everyone… weird… maybe that’s her superpower…
We made our way through the center of the cavern and over to the northwest corner to Dr. Bhat’s trailers. As we approached, I caught the scent of what I had learned was curry and incense. Mr. Harutyunyan had texted to Avi that we were on our way, so the tall, slender young man was waiting outside for us, his long hair up in his usual bun on top of his head, covered by a bit of fabric. “Hello, friends. Dr. Bhat is waiting for you inside.” Looking up with an expression on his face I couldn’t identify, he said, “Hi, Mardig. Will you be working today?”
“Hi, Avi. I may be back later in the day, but now we need to get the EMP we have been working on. Avi has been helping me make the improvements. He is smart; we enjoy working together, yes?”
Now beaming, Avi said, “Oh, yes. It’s a real pleasure. Come in, please. Dr. Bhat, they are here,” he called.
The tiny, middle-aged woman appeared in the doorway, her long, graying hair pulled back behind her head as usual. Like all of her engineers and staff, she wore white scrubs instead of the usual gray, and she appeared to have discarded any trace of her intimidating nature around us, or more likely, around Mr. Harutyunyan. The red dot on her forehead was in place as well, and she smiled warmly, which I had never seen her do.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Come in, we’ll go first into my sitting room. Where is Dr. Walker?”
Mr. Harutyunyan explained about Benji’s current condition, and she snorted. “Lazenbee? Oh, please. You will need to send him to see me when he ‘recovers’. He needs help.”
We entered and turned to the left, into the darkened room with colorful pillow
s set out in a circle on the brightly carpeted floor. By now, we knew to sit on the pillows without being told. We sat quietly for a moment, and Dr. Bhat said, “Lucas, are you out of your mind? Don’t answer that, just allow me to vent for a moment, and then we’ll move on. Mard has told me of this… this ‘mission’ the Americans have foisted on you. Please, all of you, close your eyes and clear your minds. All but you, Lucas. You look at me.”
I did as she asked, and she stared into my eyes for what felt like a long time. I became intensely uncomfortable, but I didn’t look away because it seemed important to her. Eventually my focus went to the red dot on her forehead, and I assume it was an optical illusion, but it seemed to glow and move right in front of my eyes. It wasn’t scary, although you might think it would be. Instead, I had a vision of a great, invisible machine, its gears turning, and things falling into place. Finally, the dot seemed to shimmer back into its original position, and she leaned back. “I sense that there is an immensely powerful presence in there with you. I don’t know how this is possible, but do you have someone else in there with you, Lucas?”
How did she know that? What am I supposed to say? “Well… um, yes, but…”
“You need not say any more. If you were by yourself, I would give you little chance, but with the power I sensed, together with your abilities, there is little you cannot accomplish. I need not know who or how, I can see it is. You still need a plan and every bit of help all of us can give you, but it is possible, I can see that now. All right, everyone, you can open your eyes. Mard, please take us to your work.”
Mr. Harutyunyan led us into the adjacent room, a row of workstations against the back wall. We went to the last workstation on the opposite side of the room, and Mr. Harutyunyan opened a metal case on the carpeted tabletop to reveal a curved series of tiny wires and circuitry. It looked like the unit we had placed in my left hand before, except it was a bit larger. “As I tell you before, she has more power now. We found some flaws in the circuitry and could get a much more efficient result. Shall we put it in?”
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