After leaving Frank at his hotel, Athena returned to her apartment, where she found her mother waiting for her impatiently. Caroline didn't waste time getting to the point.
"All right, Athena, so what exactly happened with Frank?"
"Dr. Nix forbid me to evaluate candidates," Athena said. Her mother narrowed her eyes at this. "I was frustrated, so I decided to just monitor the candidates from afar. When Frank came up, I couldn't help myself. I moved up close, evaluated him, and he scored the highest I have ever experienced."
"He does seem like a remarkable boy," Caroline agreed.
"But Dr. Nix didn't give him much of a chance. He rejected him out of hand. I simply couldn't allow Frank to be cast aside like that," Athena said. "So I talked to him, gave him a pin, and told him to follow us on the sly."
Caroline sighed. "Well, given what you've told me and what I've observed myself, I supposed I can't blame you. But this does make things awkward with Dr. Nix. I'll have to find a way to convince him that your little rebellion isn't going to be a regular thing."
"It won't be, mummy," Athena assured her. "This only happened because he was so stubborn about allowing me to perform my job."
"I know, sweetheart," Caroline said. She reached over, gave Athena a hug and kissed her forehead. "And you did a fantastic job of finding Frank. I must admit, I didn't think you could do something quite so sneaky – at least, not this soon."
"Will Frank be able to stay?" Athena asked. She wanted him to stay very much. Having a human friend was one of the most novel experiences she'd ever had.
"Well, I'm still figuring that out," Caroline said. "There are a lot of practical problems having to do with his age, and not least, whether his father will even allow him to stay. We have to respect his wishes."
"But you want him to stay, don't you?" Athena persisted.
Caroline gave Athena an odd look. "You seem more invested in this candidate than usual."
Athena shrugged, not wanting her mother to know – yet – that her relationship with Frank was much different than her typical candidate, who was normally told she was a machine as part of her recruitment protocol. "He is the best candidate I have ever evaluated. He scored high in intelligence, optimism, confidence, work ethic, innovation and practicality. And mummy, he's a dreamer. He wants to make the world a better place."
Caroline chuckled. "Well, with a résumé like that, we can't afford not to have him here, can we?"
Athena smiled and shook her head. "No, we can't."
Frank spent the next morning exploring the hotel and walking around the area, generally amazed at everything, though his amazement was tempered by the knowledge that he could be sent home at any time. He'd received a message from Athena, who said she'd pick him up that afternoon at two o'clock, so he tried to see as much as he could in the possibly short time he had left.
He was excited by the possibility of staying, but a small part of his mind was also feeling very intimidated. The more of Tomorrowland he saw, the more he burned to stay, but he also wondered if he could really make it on his own as he'd portrayed himself to Caroline. Certainly he did most of the household chores at home. And he thought he was fairly bright. But back in his mind, he heard his father's doubts, particularly about his jetpack, which had been the first project he'd really invested himself into – and it ultimately didn't work. At least, not without some robots fixing it. And it certainly didn't help that Nix seemed to echo the doubts as well.
He returned to his room to wait for Athena, who picked him up promptly at two. They walked over to Caroline's office, Frank excitedly telling her everything he'd seen. Even though it had to be old hat to her, he was grateful that she at least seemed interested in his excitement over everything.
He all too soon found himself in Caroline's office, both excited and very nervous about what she was going to tell him. To his relief, she didn't keep him in suspense.
"Frank, I sent off a letter to your father regarding staying here," Caroline said. "I've decided that you may stay here on a trial basis, to see how it works out, assuming he agrees."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd hoped to hear this, but it had seemed like such an impossible dream that he half-expected to be sent home immediately, perhaps even with a kick in the seat. Some scenario like Nix towering over him, proclaiming him a fraud with no business being within miles of Tomorrowland.
But that didn't happen. He glanced over at Athena, who gave him a big smile. "Thank you. Really, thank you so much," he said.
"Well, don't thank me yet," Caroline said. "This is still somewhat unprecedented. We've had children come to live with us, but none of them have been less than 14 years old, and even then, it was in cases where they were orphans or didn't have a stable family. I must tell you that I'm still not certain if this is the right decision, but there is no doubt you're an exceptional young man, and this would be a place you could thrive."
"I know I could," Frank said fervently. "I'll do anything to stay here. I promise I'll work hard, do whatever you want."
Caroline smiled. "I know you'll work hard, that's not the issue. It's about your happiness. Frank, I know it seems like the most important thing in the world are machines and your projects, but there is more to life than that. Family and friends and just plain living are important."
"I know," he said. "I know it seems like I don't care about leaving my father behind, but it's just – difficult there. My father is a good man. He's not abusive or anything like that. I know that he loves me. He just doesn't understand me and his entire life revolves around the farm. I can't live the life that he wants me to live."
"You need to understand that I simply will not forcibly break up a family. If he doesn't want you to go, you'll have to stay there until you turn eighteen, at which time you can come here. So it's not the end of the world if he says no, though I'm sure it'll feel like that." She smiled. "The offer to come here will always be open for you."
He nodded. "I understand."
"Okay, so practically speaking, I think we'll need to visit your father in person to figure this out," she said. "I'm thinking a field trip with Athena and me to visit the farm."
"What? Really?" Frank asked. "So, go back to the World's Fair and take the bus?"
"Fortunately, no. We have more efficient ways of traveling, as you know. You already know that secret, so no sense not using it. There's a travel receiver outside of your town, which also happens to have a car we can use. And by the way, the letter I sent is being hand-delivered by a member of my staff, so your father will already have read it and hopefully have thought about our offer."
"Wow, okay, when are we leaving?" he asked.
"I put in the letter that we'd be arriving tomorrow," Caroline said. "That'll give him a chance to read and digest the letter. And Frank, I described this place as a special school for gifted children, located in England near Oxford. Which is somewhat the truth, since we do have a school you'll attend here, though the part about Oxford is not technically true. But it's plausible, and if your father did look up the location, he would find a school there that happens to be one of our shell companies."
Frank's eyes glazed over. "Uh, shell company?"
"Never mind," Caroline said, chuckling. "Unimportant detail. I included some convincing brochures in the letter describing the special school. I'll give you a copy to read tonight so you'll be up to speed. But bottom line, I would appreciate if you would not divulge any details about what you've seen here."
"Don't worry about that," he said, rolling his eyes. "I wouldn't even know how to describe this place, and he wouldn't believe me if I did."
Athena was very excited to visit Frank's farm. She hoped to see his workshop for herself and perhaps some of his other projects. She was a bit worried that he might not be able to return with them, but she was patient. If it wasn't now, she was confident Frank would ultimately make it back. She would see to that.
She was walking with Caroline to the Tomorrowland Hotel to pick up Frank, and memories of her exploration with him were running through her mind. She'd rarely had as much stimulation and greatly desired for it to continue at least a short time longer. But Frank still didn't realize that she was an animatronic, and she didn't want to reveal that yet. It was possible that he would want to continue their explorations, but there was no precedent for her recruits to have friendships with her, so it was risky to reveal her nature. And really, she thought, there's no great hurry. It can wait until we at least establish Frank's status and hopefully get him settled.
One problem was that her mum might say something that revealed her nature to Frank, though Caroline didn't normally go out of her way to say anything. Her mum seemed to enjoy treating Athena as her human daughter. Still, her mum was sensitive to using family titles in public among people who knew Athena was a machine.
"Caroline," Athena said. "Since we'll be in the field, I thought it might be a good idea to refer to me as your daughter, since that would present a more convincing and family-friendly appearance for the special school that Frank will be attending."
"That makes sense," Caroline said, nodding. "We'll have to let Frank know so that he doesn't think it strange."
"Oh, I let him know already," Athena said innocently, phrasing things very carefully so as not to lie. "I figured you would agree with my plan. Frank already knowing will save time when we leave. And he didn't think it was strange."
Caroline gave Athena an odd look. "Well, all right, though you should have run that by me first," she said. "As we've discussed, be careful with whom you talk to about that."
"Oh, I am," Athena assured her. "But Frank was a special case."
Caroline gave Athena another slightly suspicious look, but Athena gave her a big smile, which she knew would often charm humans into not continuing on lines of thought they might be having. Her mum was no exception to this rule as she smiled back, her stray thought forgotten, and they continued on to the hotel.
Frank seemed nervous and subdued when they picked up him up from his room, which she concluded was understandable. They headed down to a floor below the hotel with a special receiver area for V.I.P.s to come and go to Tomorrowland. They entered a large room, Frank looking around, but not nearly as curious as he normally was. The travel pod was at one side of the room and on the other was a control room and operator.
"I'll get us checked in," Caroline said, walking over to a woman in the control room.
"Come on, Frank," Athena said. "Let's get buckled in."
"That sounds like a much better plan than the first time," he said ruefully. "I didn't get into place in time and got slammed to the floor."
"So sorry about that," she said sympathetically. "Normally there would be a bit more preparation for your first transport."
They entered into the pod and took a seat, both grabbing protective headgear. "Hey, it got me here, so I'm not complaining. At least this one has these helmets at a height I can reach," he grumbled.
Caroline walked in and sat next to Athena. The countdown started and the universe did its odd shift. Athena noted that Frank was gripping his seat very tightly during this process and seemed relieved that he wasn't slammed to the floor again.
As they exited the pod, they found themselves in some sort of small room with concrete walls and floor. They walked out into a very industrial-looking complex with many machines.
"Hello," a man said. "You must be Caroline, Athena and Frank. If you could just sign the transport log."
He held out a portable T-Net wireless terminal, which Caroline signed. Frank looked wide eyed at the small device, and Athena heard him mumble "I have to get one of those," under his breath. The man handed Caroline a car key.
As they exited the building out a side door, he asked, "Where are we?"
"This is a shoe factory, which Tomorrowland uses as a base," Caroline said. "Unfortunately, there's no avoiding you seeing something, since we had to come out somewhere if we didn't want to go all the way back to Flushing Meadows. But as with much of what you've seen, I'd appreciate keeping this under your hat."
"I'd like to avoid being sent to a mental institution," he said with a grin. "So maybe I'll just not mention secret teleportation out of shoe factories."
"That would probably be wise," Caroline said, with a grin herself. "Well, let's see what car they gave us."
As they walked around a corner, they saw a shiny blue car waiting, which looked brand new. "Oooh! Sporty," Caroline said, smiling. "These new Mustangs just came out this year. In fact, they were announced back in April at the World's Fair, so hopefully that's a good omen. Apparently somebody in Tomorrowland liked them and ordered some for our transport zones."
"Nice," Frank said.
"Don't get me wrong, I love Tomorrowland's transportation," Caroline said. "It's extremely efficient. But it's fun to drive occasionally."
They all entered the car, Frank sitting next to Athena in the back seat. Caroline started the car and they headed down the highway.
Frank sat quietly on the ride to the farm, very nervous about the upcoming meeting getting closer by the second. He had no idea what he was going to say. How does a kid tell his father he didn't want to do what every generation of his family did?
The ride seemed like hours, but was probably only about a half-hour as they finally reached the dirt access road to the farm. Frank's heart was thumping in his chest, feeling like he was being driven to the gallows. He could only imagine his father's reaction to reading that letter, but undoubtedly he'd been furious and disappointed. Frank just had to hope that he'd calmed down in the meantime and thought things through. Pa had to know that he just wasn't meant to be a farmer. He had to know.
Caroline pulled up and parked, the sun very hot and beating down on everything, making the world seem even more oppressive on top of Frank's mood. They exited the car and a blast of hot wind hit Frank in the face, like the hot breath of some monster waiting outside the car. Caroline was smiling pleasantly, which made Frank feel a bit calmer. Athena seemed the most normal of all; she was looking all around the farm interestedly.
Sam Walker came out of the house with a bang, the screen door hitting its frame to give the royal announcement of his father exiting the house. He kicked up a cloud of dust in the hot, dry ground as he walked toward them dressed in his usual overalls. Frank looked carefully at his expression to gauge how his father felt about things, but he just looked grumpy. Since Pa was often grumpy, this didn't necessarily tell him anything.
"Hi, Pa!" Frank called with a wave, giving him a little extra enthusiasm, hoping it would help.
"Hello, son," his father replied in his usual businesslike voice. As they walked up, his father gave him a quick hug and ruffled his hair, which was also fairly typical. He turned to Caroline.
"I'm Sam Walker," he said gruffly.
"I'm Dr. Caroline Chaumers," she said, putting out her hand to shake, gentleman-style. "But please call me Caroline."
Sam looked at her hand, then shook it lightly, the tan of his large farmer's hand making a contrast with Caroline's fair English complexion and much smaller hand.
"This is my daughter, Athena," Caroline continued, gesturing at her.
"Hello, Mr. Walker. It's very nice to meet you," Athena said, putting on a very charming smile and manner. She held up her hand daintily. Frank almost expected a curtsey out of her.
Sam's face cracked a small smile as he gently touched Athena's hand and gave it a small shake. He turned to Caroline. "Doctor?" he said.
"Not an M.D.; I have a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Cognitive Cybernetic Robotics."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "You're British?"
Caroline smiled. "Yes, our accent is quite the giveaway. I'm originally from outside of Manchester, England. The landscape is quite similar to this, actually. My grandfather was a grain farmer. I had such fun visiting his farm as a child during the summer."
Sam perked up at this. "Grains, eh? Wheat?"
"Oh yes, wheat, barley, rye, maize, you name it. He actually came up with an innovative crop rotation and fertilizer pattern that improved the yield on the farm by 35%. He was written up in some worldwide trade journals."
Sam gave her a broad smile. "Interesting. Why don't you come inside and I'll make some coffee. You know, I might even have some tea. My wife used to have it occasionally, though it might be a little old now."
"Tea sounds heavenly. And I can work with a tea bag a bit past its prime. Children," Caroline continued to Frank and Athena, "why don't you go off for a bit? Frank, perhaps you could show Athena your workshop while Mr. Walker and I have a conversation."
"Okay," Frank said, as he and Athena stopped and Sam and Caroline kept walking. Frank was more than happy to let Caroline take over the heavy lifting of talking to his father.
"Call me Sam," Frank heard his father say, followed by asking about Caroline's Grandfather's farm. Frank couldn't help but be amused at Caroline. She was managing to charm his father more than anyone he'd ever seen. He was starting to see where Athena got it from.
"Where is your workshop?" Athena asked, looking around curiously.
"It's over in the barn," he said, gesturing toward a large, traditional-red building. Frank felt very self-conscious. "It's not much, especially compared to where you're from."
They walked over and he slid open the door with a loud squeak of rusty rails. He snapped a switch on the side and the room brightly lit with a number of lights mounted on the ceiling. The room was very hot, but fortunately a breeze blew through the door making it slightly more bearable.
"Excellent lighting," Athena said approvingly. "That's very important for a proper workshop."
He smiled, pleased. "Yeah! A factory went out of business and they said I could have some of their lights. It made a huge difference."
There was a large work table in the middle of the barn, surrounded by many old, dusty shelves, seemingly placed in an arrangement to try and squeeze out the most space. Various well-used tools were in a rack along one wall. Behind the work table were many piles of larger materials, looking scavenged over many years.
They walked over to his work table, where many tools lay next to several in-progress projects. "Um, it's a little messy," he said.
"Don't worry," she replied. "I assure you my mother is much worse than this. You should see her lab. Tools and pieces of machinery everywhere. Every so often she goes through and does a big clean-up, but she often complains that she doesn't do it enough, and she won't let anyone else do it."
"Could I see it?" Frank said excitedly. "I mean, do you think she would let me?"
"Of course. She loves to show off her lab, though you have to catch her at the right time. When she has her head down in a project, you're apt to be completely ignored."
"I know how that is," he said ruefully. "Pa gets very upset when I don't answer, but I'm not ignoring him – I just block everything out!"
Frank fell silent, as he walked over and picked up one of his older projects. He had many memories of this place, and suddenly felt very homesick. He could smell the scent of oil and sawdust and many other smells, giving his workshop the distinctive odor of home. He was very excited to live in Athena's world, but at the same time, comfort and familiarity were a powerful draw. He would miss his father, and he would miss his home.
He swallowed, trying not to get too worked up and be overly emotional in front of Athena, who was looking at him. She turned away and walked over to some shelves and quietly looked at some of his projects. He was grateful that she seemed to sense that he needed a few minutes to think and not talk.
He spied his secret peroxide still and smiled to himself, thinking he should probably take it apart so his father didn't accidentally blow up the barn wondering what it was. He didn't really need it, since he'd started working with the better fuels. But he still felt sentimental about it, having started him toward the jetpack.
Walking over, he pulled off one of the large sheets of metal he'd been using as a blast cage / camouflage, landing on the ground with a thud. He looked at the still, sighing with a small smile. He started removing parts from it.
"That looks like a distillery," Athena commented, behind him. "Was that to concentrate hydrogen peroxide?"
He looked back around, almost having forgotten she was there. "Yeah!" he said, surprised. "How did you know?"
Frank decided right there that Athena was officially the most unusual and amazing girl he'd ever met. No one else in Pittsfield ever showed any interest in his stuff, much less could identify any of it. Not to mention she might just be the prettiest girl he knew.
"I was curious about jetpacks," she said. "Last night, I reviewed some engineering literature on them. We have an excellent engineering library. I read that one type of jetpack uses H2O2, about how concentrators worked, and how H2O2 decomposes with a catalyst."
"You learned all that in one night? Between dinner and bedtime?" he asked, impressed.
She shrugged. "I'm often active late at night."
"Anyway, yeah, I started making peroxide-based rockets," he said, warming to his subject. "Then I read about experiments with jetpacks, and they just sounded so cool. I knew I had to try to make one. But I ended up needing a better fuel."
He patted his still affectionately. "It served me well, but I need to take it apart before Pa finds it. It wasn't exactly, um, approved."
She smiled secretively. "I would guess not, given the danger. But I like your blast cage."
"Not much gets by you, does it?" he laughed, charmed by her little mischievous smile. "Do you want to help me take it apart?"
"All right," she said.
They both started disassembling the apparatus, moving old, rusty parts onto shelves. Frank found himself immensely enjoying working side-by-side with Athena. Normally he did everything by himself and in fact he didn't trust most people, but she had a sure hand with tools and clearly knew what she was doing.
Afterward, he gave her a tour of his workshop, showing her various gadgets he'd built over the years. She was enthusiastic about each one, usually identifying something clever, making him feel appreciated for about the first time in his life.
"FRAANK!" his father suddenly yelled. "Come back to the house!"
Frank sighed. He'd been having great fun showing Athena his workshop. He wished it could have gone on longer, not only because she was a great audience, but he wanted to avoid what he knew was probably going to be a confrontation with his father.
"Well, we'd better head over," he said. Athena nodded.
"Frank," she said, gently touching his arm to stop him. "Whatever happens – your workshop is fantastic. You're going to do great things when you grow up. Even if it doesn't work out at the moment, I'll make certain you get to Tomorrowland in the end. You belong there."
"Thanks, that means a lot," he said. "Really. Even if I don't go right now, just seeing what's possible… well, it's kind of like seeing a kid flying overhead with a jetpack. It's inspiring."
They left the barn, the bright sunshine dazzling Frank's eyes. His stomach butterflies took full flight as they approached the house. As they walked through the door (the screen actually not banging this time because Athena had closed it gently), he couldn't help but feel there was no way things could go well. As they entered the kitchen, he saw his father and Caroline seated at the table, with Caroline wearing a solemn look. That look caused his butterflies to start bombing runs in his stomach, which didn't help Frank's outlook. At all.
"Sit down, boy," Sam said, stone-faced. Frank and Athena took chairs at the table.
Sam stood up and began pacing. "Now, let me say my piece," he started. "And don't interrupt."
"Okay, Pa," Frank said, managing to keep most of his nervousness out of his voice.
"First. Caroline, you're a good woman," he said to her. "You remind me a bit of my ma. She was like you. Always messing with gadgets and contraptions. So was my pa, matter of fact. I respect you. I know you're thinking to do right by my boy."
Sam paused, gathering his thoughts. "I'm a farmer. And I think a damn good one. Maybe that's not too fancy a life. But it's honest work and I feed a lot of people. It's a noble life. I didn't have the gift for gadgets my pa and ma had. But I saw Frank had it and I indulged it. Maybe his ma more than me. But I tried to let him be. This farm has been in the family for over 200 years. It almost went broke a decade ago. But we saved it by working hard. I put Frank to work as soon as he was able. We needed him. He never shirked his work. I knew his heart wasn't in it. But even so, he worked hard. I was so proud of him. He helped save this place."
Frank could see his father was tearing up, but Pa paused again and took a deep breath, pulling himself together.
"I'm not going to lie. I need the help with the farm. I dunno if I can do it without Frank. That's a fact. I also know that Frank can't wait to leave. That's been obvious for a long time. He has dreams of making gadgets. And maybe he can do it – and maybe he can't. I don't know. I'm just a farmer. What I do know is that he could be a great farmer. He'll inherit this land and he can have a great life here. If he leaves now, what kind of life will he have? No one can say. It's a crapshoot. Here's my opinion. I dunno if he has what it takes. His crazy rocket thing nearly killed him. He burned half an acre of crop with it and could've burned the whole damn farm. That's another fact."
Sam paused again. "Caroline, I know you think he's right for this school of yours. And a full scholarship's a big opportunity. I won't deny that. But you've known him a few days. I'm his pa. I've known him his whole life."
"Frank," Sam said and paused, seeming to gear himself up for the bottom line. Frank's tension ratcheted up.
"I know you have big plans to leave eventually. I can't stop you. I'd hoped you would learn to love farming like me. You can still have this life."
Sam's face went back to stone. "If you want to leave now, I won't stop you. But I'm going to be straight. I think you should stay. I've watched you with these contraptions your whole life. Some have been good. A lot have been bad. You don't give up. I give you credit for that. But maybe you should."
Frank grew angry at this. He finally had to speak up, also climbing to his feet and pacing, like his father. "They're not contraptions! And sure, not everything works out. But things don't always work out! How about those seeds you bought a couple of years ago? How much money did you lose on that?"
Sam looked quite angry at this.
"Pa," Frank said, trying to dial it down. "I'm not criticizing you. I remember how you explained the deal. It seemed like a good idea, but it didn't work out. My point is that it's not fair to judge me when I try things and they don't work out. Failure is a part of learning!"
"It's a fair point," Sam said grudgingly, also seeming to get himself under control. "But even so, sometimes people can't cut it. That hand we had a few years ago – Pete. Wanted to be a farmer, bad. Gave him a chance. He tried, too. But just couldn't hack it. Had no sense. Remember? I had to cut him."
"I'm not as dumb as Pete," Frank said coldly.
"Not saying you are. Just saying sometimes trying isn't enough. You're bright, Frank. No doubt about it. If you applied that brain to farming who knows what we could do. But are you smart enough for this school? Maybe you are. But maybe you're not."
"I am smart enough!" Frank said, but in his heart, the doubts sown for years were reaping their fruits now. His response felt pathetic and childish even to his own ears, almost confirming his father's opinion right there.
Sam shrugged. "I'm sure you think so now. But what about the farm? Does this place mean nothing to you? You'd just let it die chasing some fool dream?"
"Pa," Frank started. In his heart, guilt was now moving in next door to doubt. "You're a great farmer. I know you don't think I respect that, but I do. You've always done right for me. And you did right for ma. I know that. But – I can't stay here. That's a fact, too. Now or later, I have to find out if I can cut it as an engineer or scientist or whatever I do. Maybe I'll fail in the end. But I have to know for sure."
Sam's face closed down. "Well, sounds like you've made up your mind," he said coldly. Frank's heart sank.
"Pack up your stuff," Sam said. "There's an envelope by the door. I put some money in it for expenses. It's not much, but it doesn't sound like you need much from me." The bitterness on his face was tearing Frank up.
"I guess this is good-bye, then." With that, Sam walked out of the kitchen and through the front door, the screen door hitting with the usual bang. Somehow the finality of that familiar sound made it all the worse for Frank, feeling like a blade severing a tie. Sam's truck started up, moved out of the driveway and pulled away.
Author's Note: Reviews are appreciated!
The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K.
