. 02

Chapter 25 - Part Two

Date: November 14th

Location: The Samuels Ranch, La Grange, Texas

Time: 2:29 AM CST

The entire house was still. The Grandfather Clock, which stood on the inside wall of the foyer, clicked quietly. The escapement wheel, with its 60 teeth, completed its revolution. The minute hand moved to 2:30, and the clock Dave inherited at his Grandfather's passing began its half-past-the-hour chime, a gentle melody that filled the silent house.

Bunty stirred from her sleep as she listened to the 'floor clock' finish its announcement. She puffed up her pillow, flipped it over, pulled her nightshirt down, and had just settled her head back when the shrill beep of the proximity alarm went off. The 10-inch tablet on her nightstand prompted its stand and came to life, displaying a large SUV coming through the gate.

Bunty reached backward and smacked at her husband's back only to find open air. Having woken instinctively at the sound of the alarm, Dave Samuels had rolled to a sitting position and pulled a P226 from a velcro holster rig slung over the brass headboard post on his side of the bed.

"Come on, Pen, up an at em, Atom Ant," he called out, standing quickly and moving to the bedroom door. Dave could hear Bunty retrieving her pistol and rising from the bed as he unlocked the bedroom door and pulled it open. The annoying alert continued, and he heard movement throughout the house, telling him others were also up. He called out to his home monitoring system, "Hey you, turn that damned alarm off."

The alarm abruptly stopped as Dave moved swiftly, his weapon raised and supported in a double hand hold, his support thumb resting on his firing hand thumb. The giant oak front door was extra heavy for a reason. Two one-inch oak planks were joined to a one-inch thick, three-quarter-inch plate of AR 500 face-hardened armor. Three 0.52" tall by one-inch deep recessions were cut into the armor plate where it faced the door frame. When locked down by the three 0.51" titanium locking lugs extended from the frame at the top, center, and bottom of the door, it presented a formidable barrier, albeit an extraordinarily heavy one. Yet, when unlocked, it could be opened by a child due to its almost perfect balance from a full-length carbon steel hinge threaded by a half-inch titanium pin.

Dave entered the foyer and stayed clear of the door. Bunty thumped up close behind him. Control's door opened, and the nude boss began to emerge with her Browning Black Label lowered. The endearing Brit glanced at her, saying, "Don't be cheeky." As Bunty closed up with her husband, she giggled reflexively at the sight she had just witnessed.

"What's so damned funny?" Dave whispered over his shoulder.

"Nothing to worry about, Luv," she replied.

Dave looked up at the monitor hanging from the ceiling on the wall opposite where the grandfather clock stood. He made out a big Suburban SUV and what appeared to be a very determined Seth Barksdale striding purposefully toward the front door. There seemed to be no one else in the vehicle or outside with Seth.

Seth, on the outside, didn't have time for the doorbell. He banged with his right fist on the hard oak planking, BAM, BAM, BAM. "All clear. Open up, damn it," he demanded.

On the inside, Dave and Bunty lowered their weapons. Control came out of her room, now clad in a thin red robe hastily tied closed at her waist. Her right hand was in her hip pocket wrapped around the Black Label, its safety off.

"Hey you, disengage the front door interlock," Dave boomed. The sound of an electric motor and clank confirmed that the titanium bars had retracted. Dave unlocked the manual deadbolt and swung the door open.

Seth pushed past him, "Dave, lock us back down. Bunty, get the 'Cone of Silence' powered up.

A naked Jared, his appendage hard and slinging about, thundered down the opposite hallway, followed by a sheepish Ellie, clad only in a long teeshirt. Dave, taking one look at Jared, declared, "Are you for real? Give it a rest."

As he closed the front door and turned the deadbolt, Dave said, "Hey you, lockdown." With that command, the interlock on the front door engaged, and around the house and on all windows and the sliding glass doors to the patio, the louvered shields dropped and locked into place.

Control moved past Bunty and Dave into the center of the foyer. Jared had retreated to the bedroom to change into appropriate attire. Ellie stood there.

"You should go with him," Control said. Ellie complied and returned to the bedroom with Jare. Control turned to Seth, asking, "What has happened?"

"Not here," Seth replied.

Dave nodded, "Give Bunty and me a chance to get more decent as well."

Seth and Control moved to the kitchen and pulled everyone's water bottles from the refrigerator. The others assembled, and Seth handed them water. Dave opened the pantry, and the elevator door opened. Everyone got inside, and the door closed. The light above the door went from red to green within seconds. Peering around from the opposite side of the kitchen partition, which opened into the lounge, a curious and overlooked team member wondered what additional surprises awaited that her new partner had yet to disclose.

Down in the 'white room,' as Ellie had come to call it, everyone took their seats around the table as Bunty exposed the screens and brought them to life with the tablet in her hand.

Control looked at Seth and frowning; she said, "Explain."

Seth reached into his pocket and handed Bunty the micro flash drive. "It's clean, he said."

Bunty inserted the drive into a panel on the desk's apron. A standalone program scanned its contents, and a light flashed green. Bunty retrieved the drive and slid it into the slot on her tablet.

Seth explained, "The mp4 file Bunty is about to play was recorded on my office laptop from work yesterday afternoon. Heather and I were getting ready to pick up our kids from school and take them to my parents for a long weekend." Seth nodded at Bunty, and she tapped on the file, which began to play.

"Barksdale here."

"Mr. Barksdale, please do not disconnect me."

Ellie gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth.

"Evangeline?"

"Yes."

"Why are you calling me?"

"You left in such a hurry. I have tried but failed to reach Doctor Hansen to provide her with information that belongs to her."

"What information would that be, Evangeline?"

"I understand your caution. It is the information Doctor Hansen must have returned. When you are ready, call the Iridium number, 881-699527700. You will be prompted to enter an encryption key. You must enter the correct key to enable the call at maximum AWS encryption. I cannot provide this to you."

"You must give me something to work with, Evangeline."

"Yes, tell Doctor Hansen this phrase. 'Er, he drew forth the sword Excalibur.' She will know the encryption key. This transmission has ended."

"Wait. Shit." The recording ended.

Control looked straight at Ellie, "Do you understand all that Evangeline said?"

Ellie nodded.

Control intensified her stare as she evaluated Ellie, "Explain as fully as you comprehend then."

Ellie drew a breath. "Well, it is good news. Evangeline will provide us with her complete design specifications, including her architecture and supporting infrastructure."

Control nodded, "The encryption code she refers to? Do you understand what the phrase means?"

"I do," Ellied answered.

Control maintained an icy composure, saying, "It would be appropriate for you to share this with everyone at this juncture."

Ellie opened her mouth to protest when the elevator light turned red and the lift descended.

Seth muttered under his breath, "The shit is about to hit the fan."

All eyes were on the elevator door as Dave and Bunty drew P226s from under the table and pushed the chairs back to prepare to fire.

"Put them down," Jared barked. "You know who it is."

The elevator opened, and Control announced, "Doctor Hansen, meet your replacement in the field."

Bunty and Dave flipped the safeties on the weapons and set them on the table. The elevator closed and started back topside. The light flashed green.

All eyes were on Eleanor Jean Hansen as she shook her head. She lept from her seat and looked at each of her team members. Tears welled in her eyes. She backed away from the table, "No, no, no," she repeated till the wall behind her blocked further retreat.

She looked at Jared, "How could you?" she hissed.

"There was no other alternative, El," he said with shame.

"She's our daughter, Jared!" she cried out.

Annie took this exchange between her parents and immediately disarmed her mother by holding her arms open and wrapping her in a hug, saying, "Mommy." It became apparent to the rest of the team that the two women looked almost identical. The difference of 22 years was noticeable, but the changes were nuanced, almost to the point of being overlooked. They could be twins; O'Hanlon women aged very well indeed.

Annie squeezed her mother tightly, and she whispered in Ellie's ear, "Oh, Mommy. I am so proud of you. You are so brave."

Ellie completed the embrace, clutching Annie to her protectively. She looked over her daughter's shoulder at Jared, asking, "What does she know?"

Jared met her gaze and, without hesitation, answered, "Everything."

Ellie growled, "Oh, Jared, have you no shame?"

Control slammed her hand down on the table with a smack so hard she winced, "Enough. Find your chairs."

Ellie didn't miss a beat as she stared Control down as if to say, 'This isn't over between us.' She broke her embrace with Annie but took her hand and led her to the open seat next to her. Everyone sat down.

Control looked around at each of them. In turn, they stared at Control, whose robe had slipped open.

"Looking good there," Dave said, nudging the chief.

"Shit," Control exclaimed, synching the robe tightly, cloaking her body.

Annie giggled, sounding just like Ellie. Ellie, hearing Annie, began to laugh. Then Bunty and Seth started chuckling as Control turned beet red. Jared looked at his wife and daughter and just shook his head.

Seth disarmed the situation by asking Bunty to replay the recording for Annie's benefit. Everyone listened again silently. Ellie explained, "Something has happened that changed the situation. Evangeline has correctly deduced our team's purpose. She has interpreted our intent and concluded we need her complete design and support requirements. She intends to upload these via a secure Iridium line."

Control nodded, asking, "Do you know the encryption key?"

"Yes, and I will provide it when we initiate the Iridium call," Ellie responded.

"Why are you reluctant to tell us," Control probed.

"My mother is not reluctant, Control," Annie interjected. "She is the only one Evangeline will speak to; you should know that. Mom is her creator; it's personal between them. We need to respect that. Isn't it obvious? Regardless, the best security is for her to retain this knowledge until the call is placed."

"That's my Annie," Jared said.

Bunty added, "The peak load on the Iridium uplink message and data traffic aboard any ocean-going passenger vessel occurs ship time at morning, noon, and early evening."

"Where is Crossthwaite's ship now?" Control asked.

Bunty tapped her tablet and typed; the screen behind her changed to display an active map of the Caribbean. A flashing red diamond appeared, representing Crossthwaite's vessel. A message block containing the ship's longitude, latitude, speed, and course heading was also displayed.

Control looked at Bunty, "Commander, find out if the ship is in between cruises or is actively engaged in one."

Bunty switched virtual desktops and searched the ship's schedule. "The ship is carrying 2155 souls on a cruise from Galveston to Key West, the Bahamas, with a return. The next port of call is Grand Bahama Island, where the ship lays over for two days before returning to Galveston."

Seth added, "Our first window to make a lower-risk call to Evangeline would seem to be, in my humble opinion, about four hours from now."

Ellie nodded, "I concur. I must stress that contact with Evangeline should be between her and me unless she contacts you for a specific reason. If she does contact you, do not lie to her. Do not be evasive or cute in your responses. Remember that Evangeline always seeks the truth based on facts she can verify."

Control asked, "Ellie, our team exists to gather intelligence that is often highly classified. We are also involved in espionage and counter-espionage activities."

Ellie frowned, "Those very missions run counter to Evangeline's purpose. Like HAL in 2001, she is searching for the truth without distortion. We humans all seek the truth. No human being wants to lie or withhold information. We convince ourselves we are justified in lying, always out of fear. When I began the design of Evangeline, I drew from my experience with fear and how it debilitated me during critical moments in my early life. Her programming reflects my best efforts to mitigate the impact of fear and reduce the risk of a Hofstadter-Moebius loop. Before we left on the last cruise, I spoke openly to you about my life before I met Jared. Fear and guilt were powerful forces that were de-railing my life. It was when I met this man," Ellie said as she pointed at Jared. "My husband demonstrated from the beginning of our relationship that he loved and accepted me unconditionally despite my shortcomings and proclivities. It was only then that my life held meaning. Jared and I have only encountered difficulties when we stopped communicating openly, with the best example starting ten months ago." Ellie drew her breath.

Jared added, "My wife and I are explorers at heart. The computer programs we have designed for NASA are about seeking facts that establish scientific truth. When it comes to national security, we can withhold information; we can even lie to our adversaries. But when dealing with our family and us, you can't lie. Like I told you on the ship, we won't take kindly to that."

Annie got up from her chair and went to her father. He swiveled his chair to face her, and she plopped herself down in his lap, throwing her arms around him and declaring, "I love you, Daddy."

Jare hugged his daughter hard and whispered, "I love you too, Annie." With his free hand, he lightly popped her on the fanny and said, "Back to your seat, young lady." Annie complied and found her chair. Her mother took Annie's closest hand in hers and held it tight.

Annie turned to Ellie, "Mommy, Dad asked me to watch a Star Trek episode called 'The Ultimate Computer.' Daddy doesn't do anything without a reason. Was that his way of telling me that Evangeline is like you?"

Ellie looked at her daughter, nodding and saying, "Yes. A great deal of me is in Evangeline. I tried very hard to give her only the best parts of me. Those things your father always praised me for. I hope I did right by her."

"There are many early indications that your Mom has created a mirror image of her mind, just like Dr. Daystrom in the episode we watched together," Jared added.

Annie looked astonished, "Wow, I am glad Mom isn't nuts like Doctor Daystrom." Everyone burst out laughing.

Ellie patted her daughter's hand, "My love, I sure hope not. Now you know why all of this is so important."

Control double-tapped Ellie's comment, adding, "Your mother's breakthrough in cybernetics can't be allowed to do the bidding of any bad actor in this world. Much is at stake, Ann."

Dave pushed his chair back and turned to Control, "Chief, let's close down the 'Cone of Silence,' as Seth calls it. Pen, let's safe these weapons and stow them away. Then, we can all head upstairs and get showered and appropriately dressed. Then we meet at the dining room table for a continental breakfast. Pen and I have the time to whip up my version of 'Cinnabon-Style' pastry treats. Good coffee and tea and we can get ready for Ellie to reach out to Evangeline."

Ann raised her hand and said, "Uncle Seth, may I ask a question?"

Seth smiled, "Sure, kiddo ask away."

"What is a 'Cone of Silence?" Ann asked.

Everyone chuckled, and Seth said, "Ann, when this is all over, and we are back home, I cordially invite you to my house. I will introduce you to a TV show called 'Get Smart.' It's hilarious. You will love it. Let's get topside."

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