“And that appearance just bought me a new environmental chamber,” Jane added
“Which puts you still about a hundred years and one or two global disasters away from completing your basement laboratory which would then reproduce all the work we’ve already done,” Mai-lin said dryly. “Inspiring.”
“So you’re not quitting your day job then?” Jane asked. After the ICCF was shut down, Mai-lin had taken a teaching position back at UCSF.
“It’s tempting,” she replied. “My students are complete idiots. Most of them constantly ask me questions that are clearly answered in their books. It’s as if they expect me to give them a different answer.” She sighed. “How is Ashton doing?”
“He’s doing well,” she responded. “After he graduated from college, he started a small advanced computing firm called Quantum Force. He works the oddest hours though, I...” Jane turned around suddenly. In the corner of her eye she could have sworn she saw a familiar shape: the Asian giant.
“What’s wrong?” Mai-lin asked, perplexed.
“I thought I saw my stalker,” she replied. And then there he was, turning the corner 100 yards down the street. She wasn’t going to let him keep circling her like a vulture. She started walking straight towards him. He immediately turned around and started walking away. She broke into a run. He wasn’t getting away this time.
“Hold on,” Mai-lin called after her, but Jane ignored her. She might be a one hundred pound fifty year-old, but that wouldn’t stop her from beating the answers out of Ming the giant, as she had named him.
But Ming the giant was also apparently Ming the world class sprinter. He turned a few corners and then disappeared completely into the network of streets and alleys.
A few minutes later, Mai-lin walked up to her bent-over form. “Did you beat the crap out of him?” she asked.
In between labored breaths, Jane managed to say, “Too fast. But I think he’s scared now.”
Ten minutes later, Jane was resting much more comfortably on a sofa in the quiet corner of the coffee shop. “There’s something you should see,” Mai-lin said. She took out her mobi and flicked some files over to Jane. Jane pulled out her mobi and opened up the transferred files. Her eyes widened. “Where did you get this?” she asked.
“I have a cousin who works in the IT department for Homeland Security,” Mai-lin explained. “This caught her eye, so she sent it to me.”
Jane studied the memo on her screen. It was a list of archived data and the server addresses that they were stored on. Her eyes focused on the words “Visor research data.” She had assumed that all their data had been erased, but here was proof that it was still out there and within her reach. If they could recover the data, she could get her research back and possibly find funding to start a new lab at a private university.
“Can your cousin get the data for us?” she asked hopefully.
“No,” Mai-lin said. “But she said a skilled hacker with some powerful equipment might be able to break into these servers. Ashton came to mind. Why don’t we give him a call?”
************
“I’m so glad you finally have a chance to see my office,” Ashton said excitedly. His office was an old warehouse with concrete floors and about three dozen computers stacked on top of each other. Jane stepped gingerly over the rainbow of cables that snaked along the ground. It reminded her of his old bedroom, complete with discarded packets of ramen noodles.
“How many people work here?” she asked.
“Oh, its just me, Mom,” Ashton said. “My partners are in Mumbai and Shanghai, and we’re starting a fab in Mexico. That’s where the real interesting stuff happens.”
“What happens in Mexico?” Jane asked politely.
“That’s where we’re assembling our first quantum computers,” Ashton said. “They’re not anything to brag about now, but they have the potential to one day be orders of magnitude more powerful than current computing technologies.” He settled down into a folding metal chair surrounded by an array of monitors that almost encircled the chair. Jane and Mai-lin squeezed in behind him. “Of course, quantum computing is fundamentally different, so the software that runs on those machines will be fundamentally different as well. That’s where my genius comes in.”
When his fingers touched the keys, the entire room lit up as all the monitors came to life. “Okay, let’s see what we got,” he said. “The server address you gave me...” His fingers flew over the keyboard like beetles skittering across the ground. “It’s got some pretty good defenses, our tax dollars at work, but I should be able to crunch through them. Let me just bring up some extra computing power.”
“So, are you sure about doing this?” Jane said. “I don’t want to ask you to do anything illegal.”
“It’s only illegal if you get caught, Mom,” Ashton said. “Plus, this is just some backup data server. It doesn’t host any vital national secrets or anything. No offense Mom. They guard the important stuff much better.”
“And...we’re in,” Ashton said surprisingly quickly. “Let’s see. Hans Gerner, John Hansten, Benjamin Holt...and Jane Ingram. Here we go.”
“It’s empty,” Mai-lin remarked. Jane felt all her hopes crash like a stock market on corrupted servers.
“No, it’s not just empty,” Ashton said. “Empty folders still have traces of data in it. This has been deliberately wiped. Someone got here before us. I can still see the bot that transmitted the data and then reset every single bit to ensure that the data couldn’t be recovered.”
“Can you find out who did it?” Jane asked hopefully.
“Trying.... No, there’s no trace. In fact. Crap. The bot is still active. It’s tracing us!” Ashton banged on his keyboard in frustration. “I’m locked out.” He jumped from his chair. “Quick. Turn everything off. Everything!” Ashton scurried across the floor yanking power cables left and right until everything that hummed, whirred or glowed had ceased.
Jane ran over to the lights and shut them off, dunking them into complete darkness. “Great, now no one can see our faces,” Mai-lin said wryly.
“I’m just trying to help,” Jane retorted. “Do you think we’re safe now?”
Still wired, Ashton replied, “Should be. Plus, that wasn’t the government tracing us. They aren’t that good. It was the hacker who got to the data before us. He was probably just playing a harmless joke. I don’t think he got our identities.” He didn’t sound too convinced, but there was nothing else they could do.
On the way back home, Jane’s mobi chirped. She had a message. It read:
“Hello Dr. Ingram. Nice try. If you would like your data back, come to the Hollister airport at 7:30 tomorrow morning.” It was signed “a friend.”
************
The Hollister airfield was simply a network of asphalt roads and runways. There was no control tower and no terminal, just a cluster of portable buildings and trailers. The airfield looked to be deserted. It was surrounded by a chain link fence, but the gate was wide open.
Jane stepped onto the asphalt runway and shivered. She was not a morning person, and this was a cold morning. Mai-lin was better prepared and wore a heavy windbreaker. She also had a black overnight bag.
“What’s the bag for?” she asked Mai-lin.
“Why do you think we’re meeting at an airport?” Mai-lin responded. “I like to be prepared.” Jane glanced down at the mismatched outfit she had thrown together while half asleep and wondered if she should have come better prepared. “Don’t worry,” continued Mai-lin as she moved her bag aside to reveal a kid-sized pink Hello Kitty backpack. “I packed you a small bag as well.”
“I don’t think that bag is big enough for me,” Jane remarked. “I have large shoulders.”
“Nonsense,” Mai-lin said. “I lengthened the straps myself. It’s my favorite bag: practical and easy to recognize.”
They were interrupted by an overly cheerful greeting. “G’day mates! Ya ready for a fun ride?” The speaker was a sl
ender, young, attractive woman with short blond hair and a heavy Australian accent. She wore an old-fashioned leather flight jacket and large aviator shades like she was some fighter pilot from the 80’s.
“We were told that we would get the rest of the data,” Mai-lin said directly.
“The name’s Chris, Chris Barstow,” the Aussie said, ignoring Mai-lin’s statement. “We got a ten minute window to get off the ground, so we better hurry.” Chris moved to grab Mai-lin’s bag.
“Hold on there,” Jane said, putting her hand on Chris’s shoulder. “Who said we’re going with you?”
“You want the data right?” Chris asked. “The boss has the data, so I’m taking you to see the boss. It’ll just take about four hours. And no, I can’t tell you where. You’ll just have ta trust me.”
Jane looked over at Mai-lin who shrugged. “Clearly I was expecting this,” she said gesturing at her luggage.
Jane sighed. “Let’s go,” she said.
************
Chris led them to a sleek new private jet, a Gulfstream 9000. An older gentleman dressed in a dark suit led them up the stairs and then showed them to their seats. The inside of the Gulfstream was luxuriously appointed and large enough to seat eight passengers comfortably. The seats were arranged to face each other across a table. They sat down across from each other with Jane facing towards the rear of the plane.
“Well, our mysterious benefactor sure has some style,” Jane commented.
“Well, he has money at least, and many consider that to be nearly the same thing,” said Mai-lin dryly.
“Good morning ladies. I’d highly recommend that you face forward and buckle your seatbelts for take-off,” the gentleman said. He reminded Jane of Batman’s butler, Alfred.
“I’m fine here,” Jane replied, putting on her seatbelt.
“As you wish, Ma’am.” Jane detected a slight smirk in his words.
As the plane taxied towards the runway, “Alfred” disappeared, leaving them by themselves. “I can’t believe we just got on a plane without even knowing where it’s going,” Jane said.
“Well, I figure a small plane like this can’t go too far,” Mai-lin answered.
Just as she spoke, the twin turbojets roared to life, drowning out the rest of her words. Jane immediately regretted not changing to a forward-facing seat. She was thrust forward and had to push back with her legs to keep herself from being hung by her seatbelt. But then the plane lifted off the ground, and Jane lost her grip, getting a nice punch in her gut from the seatbelt. She grabbed onto a handle above the window on her left and managed to bring circulation back to her legs, but it still felt like they were flying straight up into the sky, and for her, that was butt first.
Jane breathed a sigh of relief as the plane started to level off. Then they banked hard to the right, which was her left, causing her to reaffirm her grip on the handle. She had a sudden flashback to her skydiving trip in Thailand twenty-five years ago. She was still holding onto the handle when the well-dressed gentleman who had suggested that she switch seats came back to check on them.
“How are you doing ladies?” he asked. “Smooth take-off?”
Jane could feel the sarcasm dripping from his lips. He knew very well how she was doing. But she refused to let him see her discomfort. “I’m doing fine, thank you,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Would you like anything to drink?” he asked.
“No thank you,” Jane replied. Mai-lin just shook her head. She was busy staring out of the window and had missed Jane’s struggle with her own seat.
“What are you looking at?” Jane asked after “Alfred” had left.
“We’re heading out towards the Pacific Ocean,” Mai-lin remarked. “There’s no way we can reach Asia in four hours. Even Hawaii’s a stretch. I don’t think we’re going that fast.”
“Well, there’s not much else out there, and believe me, we’re going pretty fast,” Jane said. “I’d be happy with Hawaii. I haven’t been there in ages!”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but we won’t be hitting the beaches on this trip.” Chris walked into the passenger area and sat down next to Mai-lin. “Beautiful view eh? I love flying the Gulfstream. It’s the fastest private passenger jet out there. We’re doing just under Mach 1 right now!”
“Wait, if you’re here, then who’s flying the plane?” asked Jane.
“Oh, Al’s got the controls,” assured Chris.
“Is Al that charming gentleman in the dark suit?” asked Jane.
“Oh no,” laughed Chris. “That’s Bill. He’s the flight attendant, and he has about as much charm as a drunk rhino, but he sure looks the part, don’t he? He’s just here to make sure you fasten your seat belts and get enough to drink. Al’s the autopilot system, totally state of the art! Actually, I could have just let Al handle the take-off and landing as well, but he’s really no fun, hardly pushes the limits of the plane at all. Can you imagine?”
Jane put her hand to her stomach. She still felt a bit queasy from being yanked hard into the sky. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I can.”
“So if we’re not going to Hawaii,” interjected Mai-lin, “Then where is it that we are going exactly?”
“Excellent question, with a most excellent answer,” said Chris excitedly. “We are going to the Great Garbage Patch.”
“Where?” asked Mai-lin.
“Wait, but there’s nothing at the Great Garbage Patch,” said Jane, confused.
“On the contrary, there’s quite a lot of stuff at the Great Garbage Patch,” responded Chris. “That’s why it’s called the Great Garbage Patch.”
“Wait, someone fill me in here,” said Mai-lin.
Chris gestured towards Jane as if to say, “After you.”
Jane sighed. “The main North Pacific Ocean current is called the North Pacfic Gyre. It flows in a circle going down the California coast, down and across to Australia, up to Japan, and then back across to California. Transport ships that bring goods from China and Japan travel along the edge of the Gyre to take advantage of the currents. However, the Gryre also acts as a giant, slow-moving vortex, pulling any debris along its path in towards its calm and motionless center. Decades of dropped containers and illegal trash dumping has created a vast field of debris twice the size of Texas in the center of the North Pacific Gyre. People call this the Great Garbage Patch.”
“Exactly,” said Chris.
“So we’re going to a giant island of trash in the middle of the Pacific?” asked Mai-lin.
“Well, no,” said Jane. “The Great Garbage Patch isn’t solid, like an island. The debris is scattered across the area, sparse enough that you can’t really see more than several pieces at once. In fact, most of the debris is semi-degraded plastic that floats beneath the water’s surface, so you can’t really see the garbage via satellite or plane. And it’s certainly not anything we can land on.”
“Actually, all that semi-degraded plastic is the reason we’re here,” said Chris.
“What does trash have to do with anything?” Mai-lin asked.
“Around the turn of the century, people started noticing that the Garbage Patch was forming,” explained Chris. “Scientists postulated that since all the plastic garbage was below the surface of the water, it wouldn’t biodegrade like normal trash. Instead, it would photo degrade, turning into smaller and smaller pellets of polymer plastic. Eventually the plastic would become small enough to become ingested by the aquatic life, introducing plastic into the food chain and possibly having devastating effects on the Pacific ecosystem. Basically the rich folk were afraid their sushi would taste like vinyl.”
Jane nodded silently as if she was slowly remembering all of this information. “The ECC project,” she said.
“Yes,” confirmed Chris. “In 2008, a man named Richard Owen formed the Environmental Cleanup Coalition to deal with this problem. They proposed sending a fleet of ships out to the Garbage Patch to harvest all that plastic and recycle it. Of course it too
k twenty years, but slowly but surely, they accumulated a fleet and set up a recycling center on what is now called Gyre Island. And that is where we’re going.”
Before they could ask any more questions, they were interrupted by an alarm emanating from the cockpit. “Woops. Looks like I have some flying to do,” Chris said and hurried back to the front of the plane.
Soon afterwards, Bill came out. “We’re about to hit some weather. You better buckle your seatbelts now,” he said. This time, Jane moved to face forward and made sure she was well buckled-in.
************
A couple hours later, Jane was shaken awake by an insistent hand on her shoulder. “What is it?” she muttered, half-asleep still.
“We’re about to land,” Mai-lin said, staring out of the window.
Jane leaned over to look out the window. “On what?” she asked. But her question was quickly answered as the plane tipped to the right, giving them a view of the ocean and Gyre Island.
The island itself looked like something a five year-old made out of Lego blocks. Only this creation was the size of several football fields. The island appeared to be made out of different colored squares, all lashed together to form a giant floating dock. There was a cluster of nondescript buildings on one side of the island, but the majority of the island was covered by a vast array of solar panels. Jane didn’t see anything that resembled an airfield though.
“Over there.” Mai-lin pointed to a gray blob half a mile from Gyre Island. As they came closer, the blob solidified into the unmistakable shape of an aircraft carrier.
“We’re landing on that?” asked Jane. Suddenly the giant aircraft carrier looked much much smaller.
The carrier disappeared from view as the Gulfstream lined up for landing. Jane gripped onto the handhold tightly as they started to descend rapidly. Chris clearly wasn’t using the autopilot for this landing. As the wheels bumped onto the runway, Jane suddenly remembered something. Planes landing on aircraft carriers needed to use hooks that grabbed onto steel cables that ran across the flight deck to help slow them down. If they missed the hook they could go careening off the front of the carrier and into the ocean.
Jane felt a mixture of surprise and intense relief when she was suddenly thrust forward against her seat belt. The plane must have caught the line, using the large braking spools to slow them down quickly. Before she could collect herself, Chris came bounding into the cabin. “Awesome,” she cried. “I never get tired of landing on an aircraft carrier. The only thing more exciting is doing a touch and go. I was thinking of not deploying the hook so that we could just barely graze the runway and then take off again, but apparently the boss is eager to meet you.”