Near Future 1: Awakening (8 page)

Ted ended the VR conference before Sam could offer any more objections. He understood why he would want to become so protective of her, but they had no choice. They couldn't very well put her in a protective bubble. No one would want to live that way, and if he knew his patient, if they tried to do that, she would burst out of the bubble.

#

The next morning Doctor Ted went to Miranda's room to talk with her. As usual, she had VR screens flying around all over the place. Even though they had a high-end VR interface in this section of the hospital, he was still surprised to see what she could do with it.

Clearing his throat to get her attention, Doctor Ted told her, "I have good news and even better news. Based on your progress to this point, if you are willing to wear a monitoring device to ensure your nanites remain stable, you will be able to leave the hospital." Seeing that he now had her full attention, he went on, "Have you thought about what you want to do next? Are you ready to try going to school at one of the nearby universities?"

"Yes, I would really like to go, just not sure about the how of it. What have you found out?"
 

Miranda's skepticism was obvious in her voice. Doctor Ted could tell she really didn't know how smart she was compared to others. She needed to understand better, so he decided he needed to explain it just a little.

"Miranda, you have been offered an opportunity based on your test score, which is the highest score that I have ever seen on that particular exam. However, I can't stress enough that you really need to keep everything low key, because your treatment is still experimental and you don't need a lot of people looking at you.

"This is for your own safety," he told her, looking her in the eyes. "However, the deal is, you have been granted a full scholarship to the new program that everyone is calling the 'Space Academy.' It is at one of the best schools in the country. As I am sure you know, that is the program sponsored by Space Tech. It was created by Doctor Sam Randolph himself, because he wanted to help other students the age of his daughter. And although it is at a military school, because of your disability, and due to you being a highly sought after student, unlike many of the students there, you will not be required to serve a term of military service to complete your degree. You would instead be qualified as an officer in the reserve forces. The only catch is that you will have to start in the middle of the school year, which might put you at somewhat of a disadvantage."

Miranda exclaimed joyfully, her enthusiasm overflowing. "Yes! That was by far my first preference. I just didn't think I had any chance to go there. Do you think that I will be able to go immediately into advanced classes? Of course, I know that it is a military school and I would have been willing to do what was required if I had been able to go there." She was speaking rather rapidly in her excitement. This was what she had dreamed of but she had not expected that it could happen.

"You know," she went on, "They have a very good astrophysics and space technology program. And their flight simulator is the best in the world, in the opinion of many pilots, both terrestrial and astronautical.

"I have been thinking about a problem in astrophysics that I think I can figure out if I have a little help." She tried to explain it, something about quantum energy relationships, some kind of subspace fabric, dark matter and dark energy. Doctor Ted didn't have a clue what she was talking about. It must have shown on his face, because she eventually stopped and looked at him.

However, he only said, "Sounds like you know just what you want to do, and I believe it's by far the best choice for you. Plus, it keeps you close to me, and that will help me be able to keep a close watch on your nanites."

"Ok, I will make it happen. As a member of the school's Board of Directors, I have quite a bit of pull. Classes start the middle of next week, and that should give us enough time to take care of everything. I will make arrangements for you to have a handicapped accessible room in the nearby dorm. Until then, we will have you stay here at the hospital, and that will let me monitor things more closely for a few more days. I will plan to visit you weekly to keep up with your progress, because it is so close. Plus, I will only be a VR call or message away."

Doctor Ted rose and pointed to her pad. "I need you to make up a list of everything you think you will need and send it to me. Don't cut corners as I suspect you will. Also go ahead and take a look at the classes offered this term. I suspect when I get you officially admitted with your test results, they will immediately agree that you have completed the requirements for all the basic courses. That means you should be able to take the classes that you are interested in taking. I believe that they have a special projects class that would give you the opportunity to develop further the ideas you were talking about earlier."

The doctor started toward the door. "I will be back as soon as I have everything taken care of."

Miranda easily worked out the list of classes she wanted. She had already determined what she wanted to take when she first looked at the school. She just hadn't thought that it could happen. She was rather nervous about it all. Since she had no memory, everything was new. She guessed that everything was going to be new for a while, so she would have to tough it out. Luckily, she had Doctor Ted and Andrea to look after her. She knew that despite her special circumstances, they were both going way beyond the call of duty, and probably no other doctor and his staff would have done that for her.

#

It didn't take Doctor Ted long to finalize all the details to get Miranda set up at school. He had already done most of the work, and was only waiting to get confirmation from Miranda. Based on everything he had seen when reviewing her VR history, he had strongly suspected she would want to do this, the plan they had worked out for her that had the best chance of protecting her.

Doctor Ted checked his VR, and Miranda had already sent him her list of things she thought she would need. It was about what he had expected to see. He and Andrea had gathered most of the things on the list, and they had a few things he knew she would leave off, either because of the cost or because she wouldn't think of them. He had already had a lot of time to think about it. He didn't spare any expense in making sure that she had the best equipment available, especially her compu-pad and VR equipment. He also made a VR call and was pleased that when he explained what he needed, he got an immediate "Yes!" response. He worked on a few other tasks related to his "other" job while waiting for the ones he had called to arrive.

It really wasn't very long until he got a VR message.
"Be there in a minute."
Gathering everything into a bag, he met them at the entrance to Miranda's hospital wing, and stopping at her door, he motioned and whispered quietly, "Wait here for a couple of minutes. I will open the door when I am ready. I have left this as a surprise for her."

Entering the room, Doctor Ted was not surprised to see Miranda deeply involved in more of her research. He continued to be amazed at what she could do.

"Everything is taken care of," he said as he handed her the bag that he had gathered for her, and watched as she dumped everything out excitedly. Within the bag he had a number of things, including a HUD and a high-end compu-pad with a portable VR interface that could be worn on the wrist or around the neck. Everything she saw was way beyond what she expected, and she was extremely grateful. There were also a number of things that Andrea had added, and he wisely didn't discuss any of them.

"Thank you," she breathed. "This is all much more than you should have done. I see Andrea's touch here too. Thank you both very much."

Doctor Ted looked at her with a big smile. He told her, "And I have one more little surprise for you." He walked to the door, opening it with a flair. Miranda was surprised to see that she had two visitors, Zeke and Emily.

Emily was the first to speak. She was a little apprehensive of the response, but she forged ahead. "I am so sorry about our first meeting. Caitlyn is not really even one of my friends, and yet you probably think I'm like her. If we can just start over, I think we could become good friends. And guess what, you are going to be attending the same school that Zeke and I currently attend." She paused a moment and then she went for the biggest risk yet. "If you will give me another chance, I would like to be your roommate at school. What do you think?"

Miranda always knew that everything that happened was Caitlyn's fault, and she knew it would be a big help to her to have a roommate that she knew. She immediately responded, "Yes, that would be great! I was worried about who would be my roommate. Really worried," she said, pointing to her head. "Not everyone would be understanding of my situation, and I am nervous about meeting new people, especially with my memory problems. It is like everything I do is new, and it is pretty tough sometimes."

Emily rushed over and gave her a hug. "Then that's settled." Emily was pleased that went so well, so she went on, "And I can tell you anything you want to know about the school, so that you will have nothing to worry about there. It's going to be awesome! It's really a great school, and there is always something happening."

Zeke finally decided it was time for him to at least get a word in. Otherwise, his sister would never give him a chance. "Well, I'm here to chauffeur and to buy the coffee!" He added, "Although it is something that I am glad to be able to do, and of course, if there is anything else I can do to help, please just ask. Doctor Ted has told us of your circumstances, and I think it is great that you are going to be able to start at the beginning of the upcoming term."

Doctor Ted quickly explained, "Zeke and Emily came to me a few days ago and offered to help in any way that they could." He turned toward Emily, giving her a big smile. "When I told them this morning about you starting to their school, Emily insisted that she and Zeke absolutely had to take you shopping for clothes. Something about you not having anything to wear that she would want to be caught dead in."

"Well it's been two years since she's seen them. All the styles have changed completely," Emily said defensively. "And you weren't supposed to tell her that!"

"It's ok," Miranda replied. "I don't care that much myself about styles, but I really don't have that much here and I need to get everything from the basics to an overcoat. All I have are the clothes the hospital rep, Andrea, brought me, and I definitely need more clothes. I really appreciate your help and you can make sure that I am in style!"

"No biggie, it will be a lot of fun for me. Zeke, maybe not so much, but he's a pretty good older brother and puts up with my girlie stuff. So it's settled." Emily turned to the doctor expectantly.

"Excellent!" He handed Miranda a pass to leave the hospital for a few hours, and waved them out the door. Of course, as hospitals still required, Miranda had to ride out of the hospital in a wheelchair. Emily pushed the wheelchair, and chatted enthusiastically with her while Zeke went to get their vehicle. As Miranda waited for him to return, she looked up at the sky, which she knew she hadn't seen in two years, and she couldn't help but have tears in her eyes.

CHAPTER FIVE

Conflicts

The war on the Organization has continued on many fronts. Earth based agencies have struck against a number of the terrorist camps. And now our internal Space Tech security department, our unofficial intelligence group, has made a breakthrough in determining a pattern to the Organization pirating. The information that has been determined is that based on our analysis, the next mining vessel sent out will be the next one attacked.
- Internal Space Tech Memo.

#

Doctor Sam Randolph was conflicted. He wanted to spend time on the project with his brother Ted that was showing amazing results. Someday in the near future he would have his daughter back, but right now he had to wait a little longer. Their plan was a good one, so he needed to be patient while the plan worked, instead of rushing in like he wanted to do. As he gazed out his viewscreen at the vastness filled with those amazing points of light, he was thrilled to be out in space, somewhere he loved to be as he considered the enormity of everything out there waiting to be explored. He still hoped to be able to help explore that vastness someday, and not just near the earth like they were constrained to do right now. That was the real reason he had formed Space Tech with the help of his brother all those years ago. The call of the stars had always been strong for him. The desire to go there and see new things was one of his first aspirations.

 
Enough woolgathering. Someday he would be able to dream again about exploring. Right now, he had other things to worry about. He was beginning to make headway on the second plan, which was, to state it simply, to wipe out the Organization! He had made that vow two years ago, and had worked hard at accomplishing it, but until now, progress had been slow. He had committed himself to do whatever it took to get it done, knowing some of it would take time.

The details about his projects were such a secret that almost no one else knew about them. In fact, only he and his brother knew most of those details, and the others involved with various tasks were kept compartmentalized. And even his brother didn't know all his plans.

Space Tech was building a defensive fleet, and with it he planned to remove the Organization from space. The Organization that had plagued them and cost him so much. The fleet would contain ships that could fire missiles, and also had railguns that could fire mass particles at the pirate ships. The missiles would be the stand-off attack weapons, and the railguns would be the in close, finish them off weapons.

The first of the ships was ready and was underway on its maiden voyage. So far everything looked good. He was ready to finally be able to strike back at the pirates, something he had desperately wanted to do for the past two years. He knew that it was only his brother, and the search to cure his daughter that had kept him sane during that time. He sometimes dreamed of finding the head of the Organization, and slowly tearing him apart limb from limb.