A tour of the engine room brought some familiarity. It looked very similar to the plant Mickey had operated at prototype in New York. The Henry M. Jackson was powered by a S8G reactor plant manufactured by General Electric. The two geared steam turbines drove a single shaft to provide 60,000 HP to the propeller.
Smitty showed him the ships library where all the technical manuals were maintained. It contained large volumes of reactor plant manuals, steam plant manuals, and auxiliary equipment manuals. He also gave him a qual card. Mickey was used to the qual card concept from prototype. Basically it had an entry for every item of knowledge and every system he needed to learn to become qualified to operate the plant and to qualify for various watch stations. As he gained the required knowledge, he would be checked out by a qualified person and they would sign off that section of his qual card. The idea was to get all sections signed off to achieve full qualification. The final step for him to qualify as a reactor operator would be a review board with the captain.
As they climbed down a ladder to the lower level of the engine room Smitty explained to him that his normal schedule would be four hours on watch, four hours of other types of work, and then four hours of sleep. Repeat as necessary, meaning forever.
Mickey spent the next several weeks feeling lost and overwhelmed. Gradually however, he learned the routine and assimilated in with the rest of the crew. It was an exciting time in his life.
Chapter 36
One year later. August, year 4.
The gang was gathered at Monica’s house to celebrate Gabe’s 26th birthday. Monica had recently made the leap from apartment life and purchased a house. She had moved in last month and was excited to show it off. Monica, Gabe, Jamie, Jillian, and Sally had become close over the past few years. They supported one another and often got together outside of work. They all valued the friendships that had developed.
Daniel was a good guy, but he wasn’t really part of the click. He and Jamie played racquetball once a week, but other than that, he stayed busy running the various companies owned by BioTech. He was still the sole interface between BioTech and the various companies that fed it technology.
Ed McCoskey was a story all of his own. For the most part he had stayed away from Jillian. Everyone supposed this was because he was afraid of Jamie. He had put the moves on Monica though. In the beginning she didn’t know anything about him and had been flattered by his compliments. Because of her limited experience with men, she didn’t understand what was happening. She liked being noticed and appreciated. She was surprised by the special feeling she got one day when he brought her flowers. Sally had warned her, but she dismissed the warning. It’s not that she was interested in a married man. She would not do that. She simply liked the attention.
Ed had played this one smart. He didn’t make his move at that time. He pulled back and laid low. He threw in a compliment at strategically planned intervals, but he never crossed the line or acted like a schmuck. Monica really wasn’t sure why Sally seemed so cautious of him.
Gabe had watched this dance take place from a distance. He was more and more attracted to her all the time. If only he could get a girl like her someday. She didn’t seem to notice.
Sally had arrived at Monica’s house early to help her get ready for the party. They had everything set up just perfect by the time Jamie and Jillian arrived. Gabe showed up 10 minutes later. Dan and Ed hadn’t been able to come, but nobody missed them. They all got the grand tour of her new house and then Monica asked Jamie if he would be willing to work the grill.
The burgers were delicious and they all enjoyed the meal on the patio. After they ate, they played games for the next few hours and just enjoyed each other’s company. Monica brought out a bottle of wine, and then another. Everyone was having a good time.
After awhile the wine had worked its magic and everyone was a bit loose. They decided it was time to give Gabe his birthday spankings. Of course Gabe resisted this idea and a free for all wrestling match ensued. Lots of laughing and wrangling. Eventually they managed to give him the 26 spankings he deserved.
Then one by one the girls each took a turn laying a big wet birthday kiss on him. Gabe was in heaven!
**********
Later that evening after everyone left, Monica finished cleaning up and then laid down on the couch to rest. She had been surprised by the spark when she kissed Gabe. She had never kissed a guy before and was not sure how it was supposed to feel. All she knew was that it gave her a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She wondered why she hadn’t noticed him in this way before. Was it just the wine or was there something there? She thought back over the time they had known each other. They had worked together practically every day for the last four years. It’s funny she never noticed him in the way she did this afternoon. She blushed as she thought about this.
She pushed these thoughts back in her mind and forced the more practical Monica to take over. These last few years had been such a blur. It was hard to believe two years had already gone by since Dr. Bowles had been murdered. Sally had taken over the company seamlessly. She was a good boss to work for and she had become a good friend as well. Under Sally’s guidance everyone had worked well together and they had a lot to show for their efforts. The tick was no longer a concept project. The prototype units were performing well and testing on their chimpanzee friends was delivering amazing results.
Monica had worked tirelessly to decode the signals they intercepted. She had continuously improved the efficiency of her program and reduced the number of lines of code from 950,000 down to only 700,000. She felt confident that she had reached the point of maximum efficiency and was planning to begin writing code to intercept audio signals next week. That seemed to be the next logical step in the progression.
She still didn’t know how Jamie developed the microchips that made all this possible. She was part of the project team and even she didn’t believe what they had accomplished. In a stroke of genius he had managed to overcome the difficulties and limitations revolving around battery life. He had developed a way for the tick to receive power from the host via the nerve connection harness. After all, nerve cell transmissions were comprised of electrical impulses. It was only logical these impulses could be captured and used to power the device. The tick still needed a battery to power it during its journey from its docking station to the tap site on the host and back, but this was a short duration of time and did not present a problem. During the time the connection was made it was able to charge its battery via the electrical nerve impulses. This allowed a fresh battery for the get-away phase when the tick returned to its docking station.
As she thought over the accomplishments of the past few years Monica drifted off to sleep. She slept the rest of the night right there on the sofa.
**********
Gabe was in heaven as he drove home from the party. Unlike Monica who was thinking about all aspects of their team, Gabe was only thinking of Monica. That kiss had been spectacular. He had dreamed about kissing her for years. He couldn’t help but wonder if it meant anything to her. He drove along absorbed in these sweet thoughts. He didn’t notice the white sedan that sat on Monica’s street as he drove away.
Jamie and Jillian also drove by the white sedan as they left Monica’s house. Like Gabe, they didn’t notice anything unusual. They chatted and talked about the party as they drove back to their apartment. Jamie teased Jilly about the kiss between her and Gabe. Jilly looked at him seductively and asked if he was jealous. If he was honest with himself, the answer was most definitely yes.
Sally was the last to leave. She had stayed to help clean up the mess. She gave Monica a hug as she was leaving and then walked out to her car on the driveway. Unlike the others, she did notice the white sedan parked on the street four doors down. She backed out of the driveway and headed down the street in the opposite di
rection. At the end of the street she took a left and drove around the block. As she approached Monica’s street again she turned out her headlights and came to a stop at the corner. She sat and watched the white sedan in the distance. After about 5 minutes the white sedan came to life, turned on its lights, and pulled away from the curb moving away from where Sally was sitting. She considered following it, but decided this would be pushing her luck. She wasn’t sure if she had been seen and didn’t want to do anything too risky. She turned on her lights and drove home.
Chapter 37
August, year 4.
Lucy and Ethel ran to meet her as she walked through the door. They made a great welcoming committee. Tails wagging, they were always excited to see her. Something wasn’t right though. Hadn’t she set the alarm when she left? Why wasn’t it set when she came home? She stopped to think about it for a minute and then scolded herself for being forgetful. She looked around the house just to be sure, but nothing seemed out of place. She dismissed the thought, let the dogs out and got her clothes ready for the next day.
After her nighttime ritual she got in bed and turned out the light. Lucy and Ethel were next to her in their usual spot. Sally lay on her side and thought about the day. It didn’t take long for her to drift off to sleep.
As she slept, a tick crawled along her skin toward her back.
**********
The alarm went off at 5:00 just like it did every day. Sally stumbled to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and then headed for the shower. The hot water felt good, spraying over her head and rolling down her back.
Getting out of the shower she quickly dried off. After using the blow dryer to clean the fog off the mirror she dried her hair and then continued to stand naked in front of the mirror to curl her hair and put on her makeup. She got a cup of coffee and then headed to the bedroom to get dressed.
**********
That night as she lay sleeping in her bed, the tick severed its tendrils and slowly crawled off her bed back to its docking station attached to the bottom of the mattress.
Chapter 38
August, year 4.
Sally arrived at work Monday morning at 8:00am, just like always. She went straight to the coffee pot, just like always. Then she went to check on their furry friends, just like always. The chimps screeched in excitement when she walked in and handed each of them a banana. This had become their morning ritual and they were always glad to see her. She visited each of the five cages in turn. She always stopped to talk to each chimp as if they were a real person. She had even named each of them.
After completing their morning ritual and paying each chimp a proper visit, she moved across the room to the monitoring station. Each of the chimps had a prototype tick installed and her team had been keeping a close eye on the data for each one. They had found minor differences in the performance of each. One model was better in certain aspects, but other models were better in different aspects. This was to be expected. The trick for the scientists was to find the right combination to get the most positive attributes out of a single model. They were in the trial and error phase now. Each week the prototypes received various adjustments and tweaks. Each week the scientists recorded and analyzed the data.
“That’s funny,” Sally said to herself as she turned some switches and adjusted some settings. The others were starting to arrive at the office. She went to the doorway of the lab and flagged down Gabe. “Hey Gabe, can you come in here a moment to take a look at this?”
Gabe entered the lab with a donut in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Sally said, “Take a look at Sylvester’s readings over the weekend. There is no data for Friday or Saturday. Then it mysteriously starts back up at 11:30 Sunday morning.”
Gabe was a bit embarrassed, “I came in to feed our friends over the weekend, but I didn’t check the monitoring station. Things have been working so flawlessly that it never even occurred to me to check.”
Usually Dan took care of the weekend responsibilities. Gabe had filled in for him because he was out of town this week. His navy SEAL buddies were staging a get-together at some secret place to rehash old memories. Dan had taken the week off to join them.
Sally walked over to Sylvester’s cage and opened the door. Sylvester came bounding out, put his arm around her neck, and she held him by putting one arm under his rear. Much like you would hold a child. She walked over to the mirror on the wall so she could get a look at his back. “Well, the tick is still in place. I can’t see anything wrong, but then again I’m looking over his shoulder into this mirror. Take a peek to see how it looks to you,” she said as she turned around toward Gabe.
Gabe picked up the large magnifying glass from the table and took a close look while Sally held Sylvester. “Everything looks alright to me,” he said finally.
Sally put Sylvester back into his cage and they returned to the monitoring station. “I’ll have Monica and Jamie take a look today to see if they can figure out what happened.”
They found the rest of the gang, minus Dan, in the commons area gathered around the coffee machine. They all appeared to be in various stages of waking up. McCoskey was sucking up to Monica. This had become more and more prevalent in recent weeks. Monica seemed to like the attention. Sally even imagined she saw Monica show some interest in return. Oh well, she had given the girl fair warning. Sally had also started to pick up on Gabe’s interest in Monica. She could tell he didn’t like the little dance going on between the two of them.
Sally interrupted the morning chatter, “Well, what’s the plan for the week gang?”
McCoskey said, “I still think we are ready for some human testing.”
The room fell quiet. McCoskey had made this suggestion several times over the past year. He seemed to be the only one who was in a hurry. Sally answered irritably, “We’ve already been over this several times Ed.”
He wasn’t deterred, “We all know the day will come when we have to make the move. Why not consider it now? What is it we’re waiting for?”
Sally considered carefully and asked, “What do you think Jillian?”
Jillian thought for a minute before answering and then said, “I can’t really think of any reason to hold up this next phase, but on the other hand, I’m not sure I’m comfortable putting out the green light just yet. I’d rather err on the side of being too cautious instead of even the remote possibility we aren’t being cautious enough.”
Gabe spoke next. “The mechanical systems all seem to be working fine, but given the problems over the weekend, I don’t think we’re ready yet.”
This brought quizzical looks from the rest of the gang. Jillian asked suspiciously, “What problems?”
Sally filled them in on the missing data for Friday and Saturday. Monica was concerned, “We’ve never had any problems like that before.”
“I know,” said Sally. “It’s a bit puzzling, but I haven’t had much time to look into it yet. I just discovered it about 10 minutes ago. Why don’t you and Jamie dig into it this morning to see what you come up with?”
That seemed to end the conversation about moving forward with human testing. Everyone headed off to start their day.
Chapter 39
August, year 4.
Dan was on his way in to work after a week of fun in the sun with his navy buddies. He had been a navy SEAL for the six years he served. Some of the friendships he had made with his fellow SEALs would last a lifetime. They had each saved each others lives many times over while on secret missions nobody else would ever know about. It had been a good vacation week!
Sally was waiting for him on the bench outside when he arrived. When he pulled his car into the parking lot, she walked over, got in his car and said, “Let’s go get some breakfast. I’m buying.”
It didn’t really sound like a request or an invitation. Dan understood it for the o
rder it was intended to be. He put the car in drive and headed out of the parking lot. “How was your vacation?” she asked as they drove.
“It was great!” he answered with a big smile. “I had the time of my life.”
“When are you going to break down and tell me some of your navy SEAL stories?” she asked with a smile on her face.
He was quick to reply, “There are none I can tell you. Every one of them falls in the category of 'if I told you, I’d have to kill you.'”
He said it with humor, but she knew that deep down this was a truthful enough answer. “Where was the reunion?” she asked.
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he said with a grin and she could tell that’s all she was going to get out of him. She let it drop and they drove the rest of the way to the Pancake Hut in silence.
They got a booth in the back of the restaurant and ordered pancakes with sausage. While they waited on their food Sally opened up the conversation, “I need to talk to you about Ed.”
“What’s he done now?” asked Dan in a resigning tone.
“On the surface he seems okay. He comes to work and does his job. And he does it well, I might add. He seems respectful enough most of the time. But he’s been doing some weird things.”
“What kind of weird things?” She had Dan’s interest now.
“Well, I had forgotten about this incident until recently. A few years ago, right around the time Dr. Bowles died; I was at that coffee shop across the street from the park. I saw Ed in the park that day. He was acting strange, even nervous. I noticed a man sitting on a bench eating his lunch. The man finished his sandwich, wadded up the paper, put it in the bag and then left the bag lying on the bench. After he left, Ed went over and took a piece of paper out of the bag before throwing the bag away. I’m sure this was some kind of information exchange, but I couldn’t make any sense out of it. With everything going on after the funeral, I just sort of put it out of my mind. After some recent events, it has entered my mind again.”