Jo-el

Chapter 24 PROBLEMS

I made coffee, admiring the work that Consuelo had done. The kitchen was neat and clean, the house smelt fresh and no doubt my bed sheets were crisp. Lovely lady, I thought.

I turned on the TV but after only five minutes I was bored with the repetitiveness of the commentary so switched it off and called Sally to join me. I had something else on my mind.

“You said there’s nineteen base stations or main-frame computers, I always thought that was an odd number. How many were there?”

“Thirty-five.”

“What happened?”

“Tectonic plate movement, mostly. The stations were placed where we believed they would last the longest. We knew some would be destroyed, eventually. The Eurasian plate has caused major problems, through northern China and along the coast of Japan. Those plates are sliding towards each other, one under the other, causes massive earthquakes. We lost all the stations in that area, Japan and Taiwan are now mostly outside of the network.”

“Are you saying I can’t go there?”

“You can, but I wouldn’t be able to help or protect you. I can bounce you there, but then you’ll be on your own. You’ll be able to fly but they’ll be no access to data through the network.

“Can I bounce out of there?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe, that doesn’t sound very reassuring.”

“Probably should avoid the area,” she said, indifferently, but I sensed there was more to it. She was staring at the ceiling, as if in deep thought.

“I thought the San Andreas fault was the worst place for earthquakes and that’s just off the coast here,” I queried.

“True, but the two plates are sliding past each other, so our stations are still intact.”

“So, what else happened?”

“War, or the ramifications of war, specifically testing the atomic and hydrogen bombs. That took out two stations.”

“So am I safe?”

“I’ll do the best I can,” she smiled. I felt my palms sweating, but what could I do? I guess the world’s greatest sushi was off my bucket list.

“Just so you are aware, there’s no coverage in the middle section of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and very little in the Indian Ocean.”

“How many stations are there on Cirion.” Worth a comparison.

“More than sixteen thousand.”

“And I’ve only got nineteen?”

“There’s three billion people on Cirion, the network here is yours alone. Their ratio is one station for almost two hundred thousand people, you’re way ahead.”

I guess. Three billion people on Cirion, that appeared low….

“There’s a problem, Jo-el?” Sally interrupted my train of thought.

I turned to look at her, waiting for the bad news, she was always easy on the eye to look at. How could such a beautiful woman have a problem?

“What?”

“The FBI have confiscated the anoraks from the kids you rescued on the mountain. They want to test them for fingerprints, you know, where you held them.”

Fingerprints. Damn, I’d missed that. “Are there any?”

“Maybe. They might have smudged, but I won’t know till they test them.”

“Can’t you wipe them away?”

“No. I can destroy the anoraks; you know set them alight or just slice them to bits. That may be a little suspicious.”

Bloody right. “Where are they,” I said. “Right now?”

“They’re in plastic bags in the back of a car heading for the LA field office.”

“So what else can we do?”

“Once they are at the field office, you could bounce in there and steal them or just wipe them clean.”

I looked at her with dubiety, this was moving into the espionage arena. “I’m not James Bond.”

“You look like him, a bit,” she grinned.

“Very funny.”

“I know my prints are on file with the TSA, will they come up?”

“Probably. That’s part of Homeland Security. The FBI and HS cooperate all the time.”

“But there might not be any prints.”

“Bit of a risk. If they find any, I could delete the computer file.”

“Sounds promising. How would you do that?”

“Hack their system, pretty easy really.”

“You can hack the FBI computer system?”

“Of course.” I just watch over the shoulder of whoever for the password, piece of cake.”

“Won’t they know who logged in and deleted the file.”

She thought about that for a moment. “And you care?”

“That person will get their ass kicked, probably lose their job.”

“Oh dear!” Very cynical.

“You’re not nice, sometimes.” Her mouth formed a wicked grin.

“Well, whatever, we can’t let them find my prints. So keep me informed and we’ll make a decision based on circumstances at the time. What can we do about fingerprints in the future?”

“I could burn your prints off,” that grin again.

“No thanks. Gloves, I don’t leave the house without them, not as Jo-el. Remind me.”

“You figured that out all yourself.” The woman was in a devilish mood. “There’s another problem. You won’t like this.”

“Now what?”

“Turn the TV on, CNN,” she said.

I did what she asked and a solemn looking male news-broadcaster was speaking. A sixteen-year-old girl, in Buffalo, New York had jumped into the water near Niagara Falls clutching a picture of me. She had been washed over the falls and drowned. Her body had been picked up down river. They showed a picture of her face, so innocent, so young. It was horrible. I bent my head down and covered my face with my hands and began to sob. I’d caused the death of a child.

After a while I looked up and screamed at Sally. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me sooner; I could have saved her? How did they know she had a picture of me, it would have floated away?”

“Someone saw it before she jumped. Anyway, think about it, if you saved her, how many more would there be? Every stupid young girl with a crush would be throwing themselves into rivers and off bridges and God knows what else just so they could be in your arms for two minutes. You wouldn’t be able to save them all. It’s sad but hopefully her death will send a message that you’re not going to rescue them.”

She was right, but I hated it. “You knew, didn’t you?”

She nodded.

“Fuck! I thought I made the decisions?”

“You do, but….” She tailed off. “I’m sorry, but you have to understand a lot of people are going to die.”

“That’s seventy years from now, that girl would be in her eighties. Tell me if there are any more kids with the same idea, alright!” I was mad.

“Okay.”

I went to the kitchen for more coffee and to be honest to get away from Sally. That was the first time I felt like that. When I returned to the family room, Sally was gone. Though I knew she was around, just not in holographic form. I turned the TV back on and watched CNN. The Chinese government had called the American ambassador for explanation about the man with wings. What made them think he was American? I’d tried to have a vanilla accent. Indiscernible to any area. Damn, I needed Sally again.

“Sally, when I’m Jo-el, where do you think my accent is from?”

She appeared in her chair, “Nowhere definitive. Sort of a cross between a European brought up in the US or vice versa.”

“Did the FBI ask those kids about the accent?”

“Sure, they said that you didn’t say much and that the wind on the mountain made it impossible to figure out where you were from. Gabby thought you were English maybe with American parents.”

“So basically they have no idea. Good.”

I went back to watching CNN, but as before they just went around and around, getting nowhere. I turned it off.

“Why do the Chinese think I’m American?” I asked, Sally.

“Process of elimination. They think that America is the only country who could make a man with wings.”

“They think I was manufactured? That’s funny.”

“If you listen long enough you’ll here every crazy explanation you could think up.”

I guess that was to be expected. “What about the Europeans?”

“The French think you’re French,” she laughed. “You spoke French.”

“I spoke Chinese.”

“Actually, Shanghainese.”

“Whatever! But they think I’m American.”

“Just the government, the people you rescued have no idea.”

We’re not getting anywhere like this. What else is the FBI doing?

“The National Security Advisor has asked the CIA and the FBI to put a joint task force together and find out who you are?”

“Have they met yet?”

“No, they’re still arguing who should chair the task force and who should be on it.”

“That’s a surprise. Let me know when they meet. Can I eavesdrop?”

“Sure, we can watch.”

I was quiet for a while pondering the events that I’d set in motion and trying to figure out my next action. No more rescues, no point, I couldn’t rescue everyone in difficulty. I had to think of the big picture. I had to somehow convince the major world powers that a global catastrophe was imminent and they had to allocate the money for space travel. I made a mental note to ask Sally about the new planets but I just didn’t want to muddle my brain with any more stuff right now. The whole thing was completely unsettling. I was living it, but it seemed so crazy, that even in my situation and knowing what I did, it just didn’t fit with the real world. How on earth was I going to persuade the right people to take me seriously? It was all a bit mind-numbing. Another dramatic event was required that would assist the various governments, to win them over with actions that would solve some major problem in the world and save them money. Then I’d have an argument to fund at least some research into the storm and the spaceships. There was time, that was for sure, that was a good thing. So, I began considering ideas that would benefit the USA. Might as well start with the top dog.

An hour passed with me lost in thought. Sally appeared suddenly in her usual place, a new outfit. Dark red, business-like dress, knee length, sensible black shoes. She’d reworked her hair; it was dark brown pinned close to her head, the epitome of elegance. She wore a thin, gold neckless, her cleavage was almost hidden. I wanted to work for her, to be her slave. She had retrieved one of the disc monitors and had placed it in the air by the TV.

“The FBI will arrive at their office in LA in about thirty minutes. The anoraks will be taken immediately to the lab. The agent in charge received a call from Langley, top priority, ahead of everything else. The senior fingerprint technician is the other side of the building at a meeting, he’s being called out of the meeting by the deputy director in LA right now and will be in the lab when the anoraks arrive. There will be a security guy with the anoraks, but he’ll leave once he hands the anoraks over to the technician. Here’s my plan.” Wow! Business-like to a T. “Once he’s alone in the lab I’ll knock the tech guy out and bounce you in. You will need to hide the tech guy, there’s a walk-in cupboard on the back wall, that will work fine, see.” Sally motioned toward the monitor, which showed the empty lab and I saw the door at the rear. “When the security guy arrives say a few polite words, he will then leave you. He knows who you are and understands what’s happening, shouldn’t be a problem. He’ll wait outside the lab door. As soon as the security guy has left, wipe down the anoraks, you probably know where you touched them. Once you’re done move the tech in the cupboard back into the lab, I’ll bounce you out and bring the real tech guy out of the faint. He’ll wonder what happened to himself but go to work on the anoraks. He won’t say anything about the fainting, might affect his position. He won’t find any fingerprints. What do you think.”

James Bond stuff. My heart beat quickened but it seemed like a good plan. Whatever happened Sally could bounce me out. “So I go in looking just like the tech guy?”

“Yes, of course.”

I was nervous but I couldn’t find fault with her plan. “Let’s do it.”

Sally put the tech guy on the monitor, he was walking toward the lab. He was portly but not too much, his hair was thinning, his face almost round, his cheeks were red and his nose looked like a pin cushion, maybe drank a little too much alcohol. Silly man. He sported a goatee, which was mostly grey. I stood up and changed my appearance to look exactly like him. Weird.

I watched the monitor, it now switched to the FBI car approaching the building. After a few minutes the car turned into the parking lot and crossed through security.

The senior technician reached the lab. He began preparing a space on a large table for the anoraks. The split screen showed a security guy, now carrying the plastic bags holding the anoraks toward the lab. Time for action. I looked at Sally and nodded. Suddenly the tech guy looked weak and fell to his knees as if he was having a heart attack. Beautiful Sally, couldn’t have him just faint and whack his head on the table. Once he was on his knees he collapsed onto the floor. Queue for me to go into action. My heartbeat jumped another notch, but I felt eager. I bounced into the lab and picked up the technician. The anti-gravity system made him light as a feather. I carried him over to the cupboard, placed him inside and shut the door. Then I waited, on my heads-up I could see the security guard carrying the anoraks down the corridor toward the lab. Eat your heart out James Bond. I was at the table when the door opened and he came in.

“Hey, Gordon.”

I nodded, indicating where I wanted the anoraks. He placed them on the table.

“Big deal this, eh!”

“I guess,” I said and he gave me an odd look. Damn, was the accent off, did I say the wrong thing? I didn’t know. I felt hot under my collar. He paused a split second as if he was going to say something else, then turned and headed for the door.

Phew! As soon as the door was closed I pulled out the anoraks and began wiping each one carefully on the front where I’d held the kids. It took no more than two minutes. I laid the garments on the table neatly and I went back to the cupboard and carried the tech guy to the floor by the table.

Then it all went wrong. Just as I was placing him in the spot where I wanted him, the door to the lab opened. I froze. A stern woman in a grey business suit entered, saw me and stopped dead about two feet inside the door. Her face was utter bewilderment. Even though she probably couldn’t see Gordon’s face properly lying on the floor there were enough similarities for her brain to blow a fuse. I watched her complexion change from white to crimson in seconds. For a long moment we stared at each other, neither knowing what to do or say.

“Sally! Help.”

As my thoughts called Sally for help the woman screamed, throwing her hands up above her head, for what reason I had no idea, maybe she was surrendering. I heard the shuffle of feet in the corridor. Shit! The security man.

“Go to the cupboard, shut the door, I’ll get you out.” Sally’s voice was calm and clear.

I raced for the cupboard, ran inside and yanked the door shut from the inside, my heart now beating like an F1 engine on the starting grid. In the next second I was back in my family room, panting.

“Fuck!”

Sally was grinning.

“You think that was funny?”

“You got the job done, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but what are they going to think, now?”

“Does it matter?”

“Put it on the monitor.” My breathing was calming down, but my heart was still racing.

We both watched the monitor. Gordon was sitting up, gaining his composure. The woman had her right hand around his back, while kneeling on the floor. The security guy was looking in the cupboard, no doubt mystified. After a minute or so, more people entered the lab, but no one seemed to have a clue what to do.

“Did you know that woman was there?” I fumed at Sally.

“She was talking to the security guard.”

“That’s not what I asked. Who is she anyway?”

“Debra Barron, she’s another tech.”

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

“You were nearly done; I didn’t know she would come in.”

“What should we do about her?” I was relaxing.

“I could terminate her.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“She saw a doppelganger, great reason for a heart attack.”

“Jesus, Sally. Enough. Killing people is not the solution to every problem.”

“A million people die every week, what’s another one person?”

“You’re not showing a lot of compassion here, Sally. I thought we were supposed to be saving the people of earth?” She was motionless in the armchair, then suddenly disappeared. I was startled and nearly fell over. Temperamental computer, I’d have to get used to that.