Near Future 1: Awakening (10 page)

"I don't know," said Joe. "I don't think I would do any better than you. Maybe someday somebody will show her what she's really like, and then maybe she'll get beyond herself. Then I would really like to get to know her."

Zeke gave his friend a big grin. "Yeah, listen to us. Like either of us have much of a say so in this."

"But," Joe went on with a big smile of his own, "What's this about a new girl? You didn't really deny that, did you?"

"Just someone that I met at the hospital where we took Caitlyn for therapy. She's nothing like Caitlyn, but I think really, really smart. And, she is coming to this school. Starting midterm, but you wait and see, she'll knock it out and kill the curves in all her classes. Luckily for you and me, I don't think she's taking any computer classes. She's into that crazy astrophysics stuff that neither of us have a clue about."

Joe looked at him and then quipped, "I see why Caitlyn said what she did. You do like this girl. This could get interesting."

"It's not like we're dating or something. But I do think she's someone special," Zeke told his friend. Then he followed up, "Seriously, I would appreciate it if you and the guys would try to help make her feel welcome. Starting a new school is never easy, and starting in the middle of the school year has to be pretty tough. Plus, she's coming here straight from the hospital, and she's just got off of her crutches, so I don't know how well she'll be able to get around."

"Don't worry," Joe told him. "We will try to be helpful whenever we can. Maybe I can carry her books for her?" He paused, enjoying the look of irritation from his friend. "Yeah, too bad all textbooks are electronic now. But I've got to say, I can't wait to meet her."

"Next week. And you'll see what I'm talking about. You're going to be sorry that I met her first."

"Yeah, that's the story of my life. You always do seem to be one step ahead of me. Maybe that does mean it'll work out for me and Caitlyn, you never know."

#

Jon Rupert, not that he used his real name very often, had been working undercover in the Organization as a resource for Space Tech for nearly two years. He had naively believed in the principles of the original founders of the group, one of whom was his uncle. But when they began to stage terrorist attacks, he had become disillusioned. His uncle kept talking about their sponsors, almost as if they were gods. He told everyone that they had just begun. Their sponsors were lining up help with money and weapons. He said they would someday help them replace Space Tech as the power in space, and then they would use that position to control the earth with an iron fist!

Going home to visit his mother, Jon asked her a lot of questions about his father. His father had been killed a few years earlier, and his uncle had always told him it was Space Tech's fault. When he pressed her, he found out that wasn't really true. The two brothers had gone out drinking, and had gotten into a bar fight. The fight had started with a crewman from a Space Tech ship, but it turned into an all out riot. Jon's father had been stabbed with a knife during the fight, and rather than staying to help, his uncle had run off and left him to die. She bitterly blamed his brother for his death. Jon had realized then that everything he had been told by his uncle had to be reconsidered, and he left very deep in thought.

And then the Organization had attacked the family of Doctor Randolph, resulting in the death of his wife and his daughter Julie being injured so severely that she was in a deep coma. Jon had secretly watched the VR of the violin concert solo Julie had played just before the attack, and he fell in love with her and her music. He alone knew it was his uncle that had ordered the attack, led the men there, and he was sure it was his uncle that had fired the fatal missile. He always had to carry the biggest gun, so he knew it was him. He secretly vowed to find a way to stop his uncle and the rest of them.

The first step on the path to recovery of his soul had begun when he was assigned to a team sent to infiltrate the hospital to check on the status of Doctor Randolph's daughter. He asked to get on the team, playing the part of the anxious young recruit who had wanted to do more for the Organization. His uncle bought it all hook, line, and sinker. Once on the team he used his considerable skills to set the others up to get caught in a raid by Space Tech and the local authorities. He sent them an anonymous tip, but he fudged the VR signature to look like it came from one of the other team members.

Jon used the time when no one knew where he was to send a VR message to Doctor Sam Randolph's brother Ted, the medical doctor, and arrange to meet him at the hospital. He then used his abilities to make his way through all the security to reach the hospital room where Julie was kept, and that was where the doctor found him, tears running down his face as he looked at her. The security team had been ready to grab him, but it was obvious to Ted that he meant no harm, so the doctor called the team off.

"I am so sorry for what they have done," Jon told him. "I am willing to do what it takes to bring them down, and especially my uncle, who is the one that is responsible for this." He pointed at Julie who was lying without moving in the hospital room, head wrapped in bandages and lots of equipment hooked up to her. "Her music was that of an innocent who cared deeply for the world and those in her circle of family and friends. And he has taken her away from her family and from the world."

"I am willing to become a deep mole within the Organization, working however long it takes to get you what you need to take them down. I have considerable skills," he went on to say, pointing to his surroundings. "With all of your most excellent security, I was able to get this far. I expect it will take a long time to get you what you need, but I'm your man if you will have me."

That was when he had started to work for Space Tech, and he slowly helped them chip away at the Organization, always managing to make it look as if it was someone else that was the leak or it was some other point of failure. To make it more believable, a couple of times he even made himself look like the hero by saving someone at the last minute who would have been caught otherwise.

It had been hard, too. On one occasion he and one of the men he had set up were called in to see his uncle. He was more than a little nervous about that, but he couldn't see how they could have caught on to him. His uncle was standing there waving around the pistol he loved to carry with him. "I've called you two here because I wanted to show you what we do to traitors." Raising his pistol, his uncle shot the man in the head while he was standing beside Jon. Jon had almost freaked out, but his uncle then turned to him, "Jon, they told me you were the one who helped us catch this man. Thanks for being such a big help to the Organization."
 

The incident had reinforced to Jon that he had to be extremely careful in everything he did, instead of what his uncle had intended it to do. That, and it made him hate the man even more.

All of this had enabled Jon to earn the reputation as the troubleshooter for the Organization. This resulted in two things that were very good for Jon. It eliminated him from being assigned to a terrorist team, something he could never have done if he had been asked to do it. And it let him get himself deeper into the inner circle of the Organization, where he was able to learn more and more about what they were planning.

Jon had just received some information that he considered a serious problem. He had learned that the Organization had planned an attack on the Space Academy, and they were sending a research team in to verify everything was in place for the attack. He had barely caught the information in time to get assigned to the group. They were going in as part of the construction work in the area. The main area of construction was at the observatory for the telescope being built at the school, and the only resource they had there was an outside crew that had been loaned to them by their sponsors. He had no idea what they were doing there, but they were the ones setting up the attack. His group was going in for observation only, taking advantage of a subcontract job at the library that required completing the installation of fiber optic cable. Jon was going as the one in charge of the connections in the server room.

Jon's plan was to try to warn the school in time to prevent the attack from being successful. He already had picked out the fall guy for his team, the one he would make look like was the leak. It was a man he really didn't like, so he didn't mind setting him up. From his position in the server room, he would be able to send the warnings and give the messages the right amount of bread crumbs leading to the other man. It would take a subtle approach. It couldn't be too obvious, or they might see through it.

CHAPTER SIX

New Beginnings

Local universities begin the spring term midweek and all the local schools say attendance is up this year, especially in the technical fields. The local test admission scores average was up a quarter of a percentage point, surprising many who expected it to remain unchanged, but one official warned it was a statistical anomaly which would likely reverse after this term. Off the record the official, who requested to remain anonymous, said that a single score had been received that was the highest he had ever seen, and that one score had moved the average. He could not give any clue as to who was the genius that recorded the new high as all test scores are maintained in the strictest confidence, and only reported in aggregate to the statistical group. The official did indicate the score was verified by the testing agency.

#

On the next Monday, Zeke and Emily met Miranda at the hospital to take her to school. They were going a couple of days before classes started to help Miranda get settled in. Once again, Miranda had to be wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair. This time, however, Doctor Ted accompanied them to the door. Looking directly at Miranda, he gave her his sternest look. "I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to keep the monitoring device with you. And that you must call me if anything, anything happens."

"Yes, Dad. I suppose you'll want to know about my first date and everything," Miranda said with a laugh. "Seriously, I will call if anything happens."

As usual, Zeke was the chauffeur, and he picked them up at the door. As they started the drive toward the school, Zeke gave them a big smile. "Well, I've got bad news for you two. The guy that was the RA for your floor heard that you were coming and dropped out of school, so guess who is the new RA?" He proudly put on a baseball cap with the letters "RA" printed on it.

Emily laughed, "That's ok, I know how to handle you after so many years of practice. And I'm sure you'll figure it out pretty quickly that with the two of us as roomies, I'll be on Miranda's side, too."

Zeke grinned. "Yes, but you also need to remember that I am responsible for PT for our group. Physical Training but we all call it Pain and Torture. So keep that in mind, If necessary I can require extra work in PT." He laughed at Emily's grimace. PT was not one of her favorite pastimes at the school. Then he got serious. "But more importantly, I will get to watch out for you, Miranda, and help you transition into your PT. Don't worry, Miranda, you are excused until Doctor Ted releases you, so you have some time."

Then Emily turned to Miranda with a serious look and said, "I need to warn you, Miranda. Caitlyn is also attending our school. Her father has a lot of money, and he's paying for her tuition since we don't have any athletic scholarships. At least she will be in the athletic dorm and not in our dorm. Their version of PT really is torture and once every few weeks they will get to lead the whole school in PT. Luckily they just had their slot. What do you want to bet that Caitlyn gets it when it's their turn and tries to take it out on you."

Miranda gave a sigh. "Yes, I figured Caitlyn would be here, but I hope she stays away from me. And I guess I will just have to be ready when she gets the slot."

Zeke gave Miranda one of his patented looks. "Fat chance of you avoiding her and Em's right about the PT. I tried to tell Caitlyn that I'm not interested in her, but she didn't listen. And with you rooming with Em and staying in the same dorm as me, it probably will only make it worse."

Miranda sighed and figured she would have to try to avoid the girl as much as possible. She decided to change the subject. "So, guys, what classes are you taking?" Miranda knew that with her testing out of all her basics, she probably wouldn't have any classes with Emily, and she wasn't planning on taking any computer classes.

Of course, Miranda was right. Emily was taking basic courses and she said as much. "Most of them should be easy but I'm really worried about my math class. Everyone says the teacher is very hard and the book is horrible."

Miranda assured her, "I'm pretty good at math. I'm sure that I will be able to help. What else are roomies for?"
 

Zeke was taking advanced computer courses. "Just a couple of computer classes and the new class they started teaching this year on AI design. Geek 300!" he said, really not wanting to come across as one, but he had realized a long time ago that you might as well embrace it.
 

Emily pointed a finger at her brother and said, "The boy is quite the genius with his computers. He is the reason we are both here. That, and the fact that our father is a retired colonel from the Air Force, and he pretty well gets everything he wants. He worked out a deal for us both to come here since Zeke was so highly sought after. We are like you in that we will be considered reserve officers, and will not be required to complete a term of service for our attendance. And Zeke is far enough ahead, he will have enough credit to graduate at the end of this term if he wants to." She gave her brother a strange look. He knew where she was going with that. They would have to wait and see, wouldn't they?

Zeke tried to play down his ability and asked Miranda, "And what exactly are you taking for your classes?"

Miranda had hoped to stay quiet about her classes, but she should have known that they would be asking. "I am taking an advanced math, astrophysics, an astronomy class, and a special projects class. I am a little worried about the special projects class, because I will have to team up with someone else in the class. I guess by this time, the two of you have figured out that I am a little shy about meeting new people."