Ozark Mountains

The Cabin

After several hours of an uneventful drive, the group arrived at the cabin. Elizabeth's dark blue Toyota Prius was parked in front of it, and the girls were waving at them from the porch.

As soon as Michael exited the car, Elizabeth ran towards him, putting her arms around him, and giving him a long and passionate kiss.

“Is it just me, or are they making everybody feel uncomfortable?” Al said after a few seconds have passed in complete silence.

Michael was caught in the moment, his arms around Elizabeth’s waist, and all other stimuli except the feeling of her lips, were unimportant. Still, after some time, he came to his senses and saw that everybody, except Al, was looking at the surrounding trees, or the lake in the distance. Apparently, the sights around the house were very interesting.

“Hmm… we should get inside and clean up,” he managed to say after Elizabeth released him from a lip lock.

“We stopped at the store on the way. To buy some food, and cooked one hell of a meal,” she said, and looked at the others, smiling, “I hope you all like steaks.”

“You went to the store, with a car full of money!” Michael exclaimed with wide eyes, while Tyron and the others were enthusiastically nodding; Al was even trying to sniff out the aroma of grilled meat, like a bloodhound.

Elizabeth turned back to Michael. “It’s the perfect camouflage, who in their right mind would think that there are millions in the trunk and in the back seat of a Prius. We mostly used side roads and avoided heavily populated areas.”

He wanted to get angry, going to the store was an unnecessary risk, but then stopped himself and thought about it.

“That actually makes sense. All right people, Let’s go inside.”

***

A little while later and a hell of a lot cleaner, Michael and the others were all sitting around the kitchen table, piled with grilled steaks, corn, and mashed potatoes. The entire meal had an atmosphere of a family gathering, that same feeling he remembered when he was a young boy, and when his grandmother cooked Thanksgiving dinner.

Elizabeth and Anna took the time to get to know the other members of the team and to share their life stories. The biggest surprise to Alice and the others was when they met Max. He managed to construct a holo-projector, which looked like a regular TV projector, except this one created full-blown 3D color images. Seeing Max for the first time, with the face of a much younger Michael, took some getting used to for the others.

“So… Max… do you follow the three laws of robotics? You know, about not hurting people and all that?” Al asked while stuffing his face with savory food.

The AI rolled his eyes. “First, numbnuts, I am not a robot, so why the hell would I follow some arbitrary laws of robotics? Secondly, as I explained, I am essentially a digital copy of Michael’s mind, so I do remember everything he does. For example, I have a perfect recollection of the time when you drank an entire bottle of laxatives on a dare, and then had to report to the commander’s office, where you— “

“Stop! There is no need to mention what happened.” Al panicky exclaimed, with wide-open eyes and an embarrassing blush on his cheeks.

Bringing Alice up to speed took some time, and a great amount of trust; after a while, she accepted this strange new world they dragged her into, where there were spaceships buried in the ground and an AI that used to be human.

“Okay now, let’s see where we stand,” he said after they finished their meal. “Alice, what did you find out?”

She cleared her throat. “Michael, this time you really stepped in it. The late Ariz Rama was a nasty piece of work, and if his heart didn’t pop, I don’t think I could’ve let him live and sleep peacefully at night.” She looked around the table. “Drugs, weapons, human trafficking, prostitution, assassination, you name it, he’s done it. Moreover, most of the money earned from that was used to finance foreign and domestic terrorists. The thing is, he was not a bit religious or had any deeper convictions, and he was just following orders.”

As soon as she said that, Michael realized that there was a high probability that Ariz Rama’s superiors would come looking for them, only this time he had every intention to be prepared for that eventuality.

Alice continued her report. “At best, Ariz Rama was a lieutenant, one of many that control their activities for different parts of the country. Now, Mr. Rama was very inquisitive, and if his superiors had found out the extent of his knowledge on them, they would have killed him on the spot. Apparently, there is an international criminal organization calling itself the ‘High Council’, they are insanely powerful with members from all over the world. It took Rama years even to dig that up. They are super secretive, with hands in every pie. Rama was recruited in Albania while he was still young. He was nothing more than a murderous teenage thug, but with above-average intelligence. After that he was educated at the best European schools, given additional training by his controllers, and then sent to the United States as one of their agents. He had a lot of power and a long leash, but ultimately—he was just a pawn

Alice took a drink of water and paused for a second. “No matter how evil he was, Ariz Rama was terrified of them. You managed to capture him by a stroke of luck; only because he was enraged by his nephew’s death did he even leave his headquarters. He had so many guards there, one would have needed an army to reach him. The interesting fact is that he knew his guards had orders to kill him if they thought he was about to be captured. The irony was that we prolonged his life by taking out his guard in a matter of seconds.

Oh, all the information he had about you three, he kept on his personal computer, and we took that. Max asked him a lot of questions, so maybe he should continue.”

Max’s hologram was standing close to Michael, so he just nodded when everyone turned to look at him.

“As Alice said, all evidence of your involvement was contained, so I don’t see any possible avenues his superiors could use to track us down. Mr. Rama was so kind to give me access to his accounts; and I used that to transfer a considerable amount of money, and move it a few times around the world; rest assured, nobody but me will ever be able to trace it.”

The mischievous smile revealed his true feeling about appropriating that money.

“I have detailed information about Mr. Rama’s criminal operation, but not much about his bosses, which is strange in its own way. They say that once a piece of information gets online, it stays there forever. Yet, there is no information about this ‘High Council’. Any trace of them had been meticulously and systematically erased from the net. When I dug a little deeper, someone tried to trace my location. They did not succeed, but the attempt itself tells that someone is actively monitoring all queries about them. That can only be accomplished by using some serious resources, and having a general oversight, which only few government agencies possess.”

“You think that the government is behind them?” Michael asked.

“Not necessarily, but it would mean that they have their own people in high places, and in the most secure locations. That reminds me, Michael, my intel gathering capabilities are severely constrained by such limited bandwidth. Once our satellites are in orbit, I will be able to do much more.”

Michael cleared his throat, after absorbing all this new information. “Alright, I guess we’re safe for now, at least from these ‘High Council’ people, however, we need to prepare for the next phase. Max, how much time would you need to equip everyone with a CEI and do a full-body upgrade?”

“For you, it would take one night in the AutoDoc, the nanites have already done all the groundwork; for others… a full day. While preparing your body for the procedure, I have collected enough data to considerably speed up the process. I’ve been using drones to transfer needed materials from the e-waste recycling plant, so the ship's stores are full. The good news is that all of you could undergo the procedure simultaneously. In a pinch, the AutoDoc can now facilitate up to 10 people.”

He explained in detail to everybody what CEI did, and Max briefed them on all of the upgrade details, using holograms to show them what the procedures would entail. They all agreed that this was not something they wanted to take a pass on. Stronger and more resilient bodies, enhanced senses, greatly prolonged life expectancy, immunization to any known diseases, and so much more. Every single thing would be a boon to any human, but all of those things combined together was like winning a lottery, several times in a row. The team knew that in the future they would most likely be in very dangerous situations, so any advantage was more than welcomed.

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Michael said.

“Pete, take Al and bring Jack here. If nobody has any objection, I’m planning to have all of you undergo a procedure, ASAP.” Everybody nodded in agreement. “Okay then, let’s go to the ship so we can start the upgrades, and I will wait for the guys to come back with Jack; we will join you later.”

The thing that amazed all members of the team was a levitating board that they used to load all the money from the Prius and transfer it to the ship. It would be more secure there.

Seven people went to the spaceship, and one by one climbed down the entrance shaft. Max materialized his hologram as the group entered the airlock, and acted as a tour guide; showing them different scenes on holographic walls, and the extent of Michael’s injuries when he fell down the shaft.

The ship was rather small, and the tour was a short one. In no time, they all entered the AutoDoc room.

Instead of a singular bed that was here before, now the entire back wall of the room was one big sleeping platform, extending from one wall to the other.

“I remodeled it for convenience, but don’t worry, it is still within specs,” Max said, “I hope you don’t mind lying close to one another, think of it as a slumber party.”

Elizabeth came close to Michael, “I’m a little bit anxious about this upgrade thing. A part of me is afraid that this will change me in some way. On the other hand, Anna is all for it, she hates being weak and unable to protect herself.”

Michael hugged her close to him and whispered in her ear.

“Don’t worry, this will only make you more resilient and a lot safer.… I want you to be safe.”

The others were purposely looking around the small space, giving them a semblance of privacy, even in such close quarters.

It did not take long for the four people to make themselves comfortable on the platform, and with Max’s customary countdown, they soon fell asleep.

Michael looked at them lying there peacefully and said to Max, “Take good care of them; you know what they mean to us.”

“Yes, even if I am now without flesh and blood, I still consider them as my family.”

Michael, Al, and Pete exited the ship and return to the cabin.

“We will return as soon as we spring Jack out of retirement home,” Pete said, and soon Michael was looking at the two members of his team as they drove down the road.

He brewed himself a fresh pot of coffee and sat on the deck to savor it in silence. This solitude, that once again permeated the cabin, was why he came here; but now, the building felt empty to him, people who made this place alive again were missing.

“Michael, the first satellite probe is ready to be launched. You could go visit Dave, see the launch, and be back in time before Pete, Al and Jack come back. Furthermore, there is something there that I need you to see.” Max’s voice came through his implant.

"I’ll do that,” he answered, looking at the coffee cup in his hand. “You know, Elizabeth and Anna wouldn’t have to go through all that if I wasn’t so careless. I thought we were dealing with some local thugs, not something this big. I know I rushed things, with these upgrades, but my gut is telling me that the storm is coming; I am trying everything that can be done to be prepared for it and to prepare those I care about.”

“You cannot blame yourself; sometimes you just roll the dice and hope for the best. Look at it from another perspective, if you didn’t interfere, she would have got herself killed, and Anna would have also died in that hospital. Don’t take the burden on yourself for the things you cannot change, just plan for the future, and hope everything is going to turn out all right.”

Michael sat there for a few more minutes, finishing his coffee and looking at the peaceful surroundings. He accepted Max’s words but knew that no matter which path he took, the danger was lurking on every single one of them.

***

E-waste Recycling Plant

The trip towards the recycling plant didn’t take long, his pickup was much more suited to these mountain roads than his grandfather’s old car. Dave met him at the front gate, opening it and waving Michael to drive in.

“Hi Mike, I expected you earlier,” the old man said as he shook Michael’s hand.

“I’ve been busy, things to do, people to kill, you know how it is,” he replied with a smile.

The old man shook his head. “You young people, always rushing somewhere, you should take a day off, meet some pretty girls, have some fun.”

“Actually, I did meet a girl”

“Well good for you, there’s not much point in living if you cannot share it with someone.”

They were walking towards the warehouse where Max had built a nano-factory.

“I’ve been feeding that machine ever since you left, must’ve put half a dozen tons of electronic scrap in it, and it all just disappeared.”

“Well let’s see, what all that hard work produced.”

There was nothing inside the warehouse except the machine in the center, and it didn’t look brand-new, as it did when Michael saw it last. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that it has been there for years.

“I like what you did to its exterior, all that wear and tear,” he sent to Max through the implant.

“A precaution, if someone were to look inside the warehouse, it fits better like this. Now, look behind it.”

A grinding noise behind the machine signaled that something was happening; he took a few steps and could see that a ten-foot hatch opened on the warehouse floor. Levitating slowly from below, a six foot diameter black sphere rose silently.

“That’s the probe? It is not like any probe I have ever seen,” Michael said, walking around the floor opening and looking at the sphere, while Dave was left speechless, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Actually, it is a satellite in its own right. This is something I came up with, a spherical design offers the perfect utilization of space; it’s equipped with a Gravity-drive and active camouflage.”

As he said that, the sphere disappeared from their sight, Michael could vaguely perceive its shape, only on the edges were the circular surface didn’t bend light correctly.

“And that’s how we are going to launch it, without anyone being the wiser. Once in space, it will accomplish two things. First, it will be our way of secure communication by routing them all through it, and second will be by doing something… sneaky,” Max said in an amused tone.

“What do you mean by sneaky?” asked Michael.

“As per my original idea, the satellite carries a payload, which consists of one hundred self-navigating infiltrator probes. Their purpose, after being launched from the satellite in orbit, is to hunt and attached themselves to the regular satellites. Once attached, they will use construction nanites to penetrate the core electronics and make the desired changes, which will enable us to control them, monitor all the information they relay, change their trajectories, and use them exclusively if we so desire, or shut them down if it ever became necessary. It will allow me to control the flow of information. By the time all of our own satellites are in orbit, there should not be any regular ones left that are not in our control. I have a couple downstairs in various stages of assembly. So, do you like it?”

“If I didn’t already see the ship, this would be the most amazing thing in the world, and unusually disturbing. Would you do me a favor, Max?”

“Sure.”

“If you ever feel an urge to pull a Hal 9000, or rename yourself Skynet… just don’t, as a favor to me.”

“It’s no problem at all, I wouldn’t dream of it.” Max replied, in a fake and innocent-sounding voice, and after a few seconds continued in a stage whisper, “Just so you know, I would make Skynet my bitch.”

***

They watched as a barely visible ball went through the warehouse entrance and then ascended towards the sky.

Dave looked at it, scratching the back of the head, “if you live long enough, you’ll see everything. I have a few cold beers in the fridge if you care to join me. I definitely need one.”

“Michael, would you stay a little longer, I have something else to show you.” Max sent through his implant.

“Sure Dave, you go ahead I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”

After Dave exited the warehouse, Michael said aloud. “What did you want to show me that Dave couldn’t see?”

“I’ve been working on something for a while now, and it’s finally finished. With all of the running around you have done in the last few days, I came to the conclusion that you, and the team, need a better mode of transportation. Driving from one place to another is not very efficient, and is too time-consuming. So I came up with this.”

At that moment, the whole floor behind the machine lowered itself a few inches and slid to the side. From the darkness, a familiar object levitated upwards; any human would have no trouble recognizing it.

“Max… Why on earth did you build a flying saucer?”

The object had such a familiar shape that it could not be called anything but that. It was twenty feet in diameter painted in a deep black color.

“For the reason that it is such a familiar shape; if anyone catches sight of it, they would keep quiet for fear of being ridiculed. And even if it was captured on camera, it can easily be discarded as a hoax. The original idea came from some experimental craft that the US Air Force built in the 1950s, project 1794 to be exact. Much roomier though, since the Gravity-drive does not take up much space. It can comfortably carry ten people, plus supplies. Why don’t you go inside and see.”

Michael approached the craft, and the sliding doors opened, just as they did on a Chrysler Voyager he used to own. There were ten seats arranged in a circle, resembling those on a sports car with five-point belts. He sat down in one, and the door closed leaving him in absolute darkness. That lasted for only a second, and then the walls shimmered and showed an outside image as if they weren’t there.

“It’s a mix of our and the ship’s technology, the walls have holographic emitters in them, as do the outside surface, which makes it almost invisible, just like the satellite. Undetectable by radar and its thermal emissions are nonexistent. I calculated that it can easily reach Mach 5, and more, but that is only in case of an emergency. Normally, it flies below the speed of sound, without making any noise. It is flown remotely, controlled by me via our, soon to be, satellite network. If something goes wrong and it became unavailable, a rudimentary machine intelligence is installed that can accept simple inputs. Not to sound like a used car salesman, but you should take it for a spin.”

Michael closed his eyes, feeling as if another building block has been added to his plans. His hands caressed the comfortable seats, enjoying that new car odor he could smell inside the craft.

“You already knew that I would like it, the question is, how fast can you make more?”

“If Dave keeps supplying me with scrap material, it would take a few days, I still have satellites to build.”

“How did you even managed to make this thing? How big is that nano-factory underneath?”

“I had to expand it a few times, by now it’s about twice the size of this warehouse. But a quarter of that space is used for material storage.”

“You don’t rest much, are you? Okay, make building additional crafts’ a priority, the mobility it gives us is priceless. You know that once the team sees it, everybody will want one.”

“All right, you will have one more by the time you exit the AutoDoc.”

“There’s something I’ve been planning to speak to you about. All of us being in the AutoDoc at the same time is not a very good strategic planning, so I want you to monitor all access points to the cabin, up to ten miles or more, and if you see anyone suspicions approaching, stop the procedure and wake me up.”

“I will, but I don’t think you have anything to worry about, the ship has been undisturbed for thousands of years. It is one of the safest places on the planet.”

Michael was thinking about all the things they could do with such increased mobility. This aircraft or a flying saucer, how he began to think about it inside his head, was a thousand times better than any airplane or helicopter in the world. He was about to exit the aircraft and go for that beer with Dave when an amusing thought crossed his mind. He picked up his phone.

“Pete, where you are now?” He asked as soon as Pete answered.

“We’re still at Al’s, he needed to pick up a few things but now can’t make up his mind what is essential and what are the things he cannot do without. So, we are running a little late. And we need to rent a van for disabled people, it’s the only way we can safely transport Jack.”

“Okay. Stay where you are, I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“You just couldn’t resist showing off a little,” Max said after Michael terminated the connection.

“Well it is kind of cool, and you know I’m doing this only to help the guys out, there is no personal interest whatsoever.”

“Yeah… right.”

He went out to Dave’s trailer and told the man he would take a rain check on that beer. Additionally, he instructed Dave to continue supplying the machine with more scrap material and gave him a bonus of $10,000 in cash. As an afterthought, he threw in the keys of his truck; Dave did not have a car anymore, and with this flying craft, he did not see himself using it much more.

After barely managing to squeeze through the warehouse industrial doors, the aircraft silently climbed into the air. Michael could see Dave standing there and holding a stack of cash with a pink slip on top of it, speechless. In no time, he was flying towards Al’s house, high above the ground, and invisible.

The chairs could be turned around, and locked in a different position, so all the passengers could face in the direction the aircraft was flying. With the canopy set to imitate transparency, he felt as if he was in the front seat of a big airplane.

Much sooner than he expected, Michael arrived at the house that Al was renting. It was not in a nice neighborhood, but it did have a large backyard and a high wooden fence. Max lowered the aircraft behind Al’s house and Michael exited his new ride. It was strange seeing it from the outside; only the opening indicated its existence. If looked from any other angle, the holo-emitters gave an illusion as if the aircraft was not there.

“Max, make it visible.”

After a few steps, he knocked on Al’s back door.

Pete was the one who answered, and was starting to greet Michael, when he froze, dumbfounded by a flying saucer parked in Al's backyard. He stared at it without saying a word, his mouth still open.

“You like my new ride?” Michael asked, pointing with his thumb behind his shoulder.

“What is that thing?”

“Just something Max tinkered together, it gets you from point A to point B,” Michael answered with a slight smile. “Gather all the stuff; we’re flying out of here.”

Al’s reaction was a little more infantile than Pete’s was. “I want one, I want one, I want one…” And he would continue chanting it while walking around the aircraft, if Pete didn’t effectively stop him by applying a technique perfected by Tyron, a slap to the back of the head.

They secured all of Pete and Al’s stuff at the center cargo space within and were soon approaching the long-term care facility where Jack was waiting.

Security was much laxer here since it was a voluntary facility. Therefore, while Michael was on the lookout, Pete and Al put Jack in a wheelchair, took the bag with the stuff he wanted to bring with him, and paused only for Jack to write a little note.

SO LONG SUCKERS, I AM SO OUT OF HERE.

JACK

Five minutes later, Michael, Pete, Al, and Jack entered the aircraft, parked on the flat roof of the hospital, and launched into the sky.

“So, Michael, you get good mileage on this thing?” Jack asked, after silently admiring the futuristic vessel.

“It’s one of those alternative energy engines, runs on tap water.” Michael casually answered.

“Hmm… I reckon you would have a lot of trouble registering it, FAA is not really too keen on UFOs.”

“Well, it’s invisible, so… we decided to skip them altogether, to save them the headaches.”

“That’s mighty fine of you, caring for your fellow man.”

“I thought so too, in fact, it’s Pete’s influence, he’s trying to get in touch with his feminine side.”

Jack looked at Pete, who was shaking his head in denial.

“Nothing wrong with that young man, we did have that policy Don't ask, don't tell. If someone wants to broaden their horizons, fine by me.”

Pete looked at Jack suspiciously. “Hey, what did you mean by that?”

Al patted him on the arm. “Don’t worry Pete, nobody’s judging you.”

They flew the rest of the way with Pete arguing that there was really nothing to tell.

The flying saucer settled down near the entrance shaft, and they used a levitating gurney to transport Jack to the ship. The nanites Michael had given him earlier were fixing him slowly, but the years had taken their toll, and his legs looked like toothpicks with very little muscle on them.

When they entered the AutoDoc, those undergoing the treatment were under opaque sterile energy fields, reminding him of butterfly cocoons.

Max explained, “It’s much easier and quicker when everybody has its own personal enclosed space, especially considering the extent of the procedures. You should all lay down, the satellite is in stationary orbit above us, and I am also monitoring a wide perimeter with surveillance drones.”

As he was falling asleep, Michael could not help but wonder how he would feel when he woke up the next time.