"You sure you'll be okay?" Dr. Anthony
Zacharias asked Lucas Amato as he changed out a stack of papers and magazines
in his briefcase, "I know James can do the math classes, but you sure you'll
be okay with Physics A?"
"Heyyy! Don't worry Tony!" Lucas
assured him, "They're the same students, right? I can handle them
in Physics as well as I do in Biology!"
"That's what I'm afraid of!"
"OW! I walked into that one!" Lucas
laughed, "I'm doing the heat and energy unit, right?
"Yes, I've ordered several tanks of liquid
nitrogen for the class."
"Really? That'll make it interesting!
Where are they?"
Dr. Zack grabbed a case off of his desk,
"I'll show you the locker. Follow me."
The two teachers went into the physics
lab. Dr. Zack went to the back of the classroom and opened a locker.
There were three tall cylinders that looked more like compressed gas cylinders
than Dewar flasks.
Lucas frowned, "Those aren't the kind I
used to see at college."
Dr. Zack began removing a strange looking
camera from the case, "Remember that shipment of biological specimens you
ordered for dissection last month?"
"How can I forget? Half the bottles
were smashed. I still wonder if the delivery person was late for
an appointment and just shoved the package out the back door without stopping!
Formaldehyde all over the place! It was awful!"
"I didn't want to take a chance with this
stuff, so I ordered that it be delivered using a new, high safety, high
impact version that uses a special insulating material instead of a vaccuum."
Dr. Zack began taking pictures of the cylinders,
"What's that?"
"A thermal imaging camera. The head
of research for the company developing that tank was an old classmate of
mine. When I told what happened to your delivery, he sent it along
and asked me to use it to record some thermal data for him as a favor.
See?" He pointed at several dark spots near the middle of the cylinders,
"Cold spots. The stuff's good, but not perfect."
"I've heard of cameras like that." Lucas
took the camera and looked at Dr. Zack through it. The man was turned
into a rainbow of colors, "Neat. The brigher it is, the warmer, right?"
he asked, noting the scale off to the side that mapped color to temperature.
"Right. My extremities are darker
colors or black, right?"
"Right." Lucas returned the camera to Dr.
Zack, who pointed it at Lucas to take a reference shot.
"HI guys!" Adrian poked his head
into the lab, then walked in, "What's up?"
"Dr. Zack's entrusting his physics class
to me while he's away, good buddy." Lucas explained.
"Is that safe?" Adrian asked intently.
"Verrry funnny!"
Dr. Zack's smile of amusement turned into
a frown as he noted the LCD display. He punched some buttons and
clicked a few shots in an attempt to recalibrate it.
"Oh? Another conference?" Adrian
asked.
"No. This time it's a family reunion
during my Granmama's 95th birthday." Dr. Zack scowled at the camera as
he shut it off. He pulled the floppy disk out of the camera and pocketed
it. "Tilman was kind enough to understand she wouldn't be in this
world long, so he let me go for the next five days. We've got relatives
coming in from Germany, and I've got to translate."
"Mmmm! Nice to have family." Adrian
remarked with a touch of sadness, "Where is it?"
"Caracas."
The bell rang.
"Uh oh! Better get to class!" Adrian
glanced at his watch as he turned toward the door.
"One more class, then that's it for today!"
Lucas said brightly as he followed Adrian out of the room, "Eating with
me again today, Adrian?"
"Wouldn't miss it!" Adrian tossed his reply
over his shoulder, "My treat!"
"Finally!"
"I would have sworn this thing was working
right!" Dr. Zack muttered as he put the camera back into its case, "I guess
it should have been packed better. Hope Jack doesn't get in trouble.
These things cost a fortune."
---------------------------
"Tony, are you SURE you'll be okay in
that hotel room?"
"I'm fine, Tia Teresa!" Dr. Zack took another
sweetroll from the tray his Aunt Teresa had shoved into his face, "I'm
not that far away! I don't walk as far as I would at work!"
"A High school teacher's salary is rotten!
You should never have quit that research job at that Earl place.
THAT paid good money, didn't it?"
"I make ends meet with my papers and wild
projects." he insisted, biting into the sweetroll. He rolled his
eyes and sighed, waving it, "Divine as always, Tia!" he kissed her cheek
and moved on through the crowded livingroom, hoping the subject wouldn't
come up again.
The Zacharias side of the family was a
small one, but the Banderas side, his mother's side, was just immense.
The place was wall to wall aunts, uncles, and cousins, most of whom had
to travel to be here. His sister's place looked like a garrison at
night, and he was loath to sleep on the floor or on a couch, for fear of
rolling over on top of a pre-teen relative.
Circling around the group of noisy alpha
males gathered around the television set watching a soccer game, he made
his way to the back patio where his granmama Carmen preferred to sit, hoping
for a chance to speak to her. His father was not up to travelling,
and so his mother had stayed to tend him. It was up to him to represent
his branch of the family, while his sister bravely hosted the event.
Hello Greta!> He greeted the eldest
Aunt of the Von Groven branch of the family.
Tony!> Greta beckoned, and Dr. Zack
bent down to kiss her cheek, Aunt Carmen is much too tired to translate
for the kids!> she waved at the wide-eyed group of youngsters sitting around
them.
A niece yielded her seat to Dr. Zack and
joined the crowd on the floor, Please do!> she said in passable German,
I'm having trouble following along.>
"Okay, I'll do my best." Dr. Zack said,
finishing off the roll as he sat down, "What's so facinating?"
"The genealogy of our family!" Granmama
Carmen said excitedly, "Greta's done such a good job! Look!"
Dr. Zack nodded, turning the pages of the
genealogical chart. It was not only a deep one, going back generations,
but was incredibly broad as well. It was even color coded to trace
the major branches. It was unusual for emigres like his ancestors
to continue to keep in touch with their European kin who had not elected
to make their fortunes in the New World, but the family members on both
sides of the Atlantic managed to keep in close touch.
"Yes!" The niece, Carmelita, enthused,
"Tia Greta's telling us about the crazies now!"
Dr. Zack laughed, Did you tell them
about Frederico and Gerard?> he asked Greta.
Of course! The news of their
craziness even made it back across the Atlantic!> Greta laughed.
She turned the page and pointed out the two unfortunate cousins who had
ended their lives in the luantic asylum as Dr. Zack translated.
He idly traced their framily tree back
and noted that the grandmother of both came from some family who had married
into the Banderas family, and whose lineage was coded in light green.
"Are there any pirates?" a cousin asked
excitedly.
"Or master criminals?" another added.
Greta laughed when Dr. Zack translated
the questions, Oh! no pirates or burglars! BUT->
"But WHAT?" they all chorused when Dr.
Zack paused dramatically in the translation, shrugging at their question.
We have a medical doctor!>
The kids groaned at the translation, "A
medical doctor?!?"
Ah! But not JUST a medical doctor!>
She said onimously, turning the pages, Here, this one.> she pointed
to someone on a page where most of the lines were of that light green color
he had noted. The name of the family was the Hofstrodens. Several
cousins from the Von Grovens had brought them into the family tree.
"Aren't you going to translate, Cousin
Tony?" one asked, tugging on his pants cuff.
"Ummm! Yes!" Dr. Zack said hastily,
momentarily stunned at the name Greta was pointing at.
It was quite the scandal! A good
and noble family, one of whose sons became->
"Became what? Became what?" they
asked excitedly as Dr. Zack stumbled over the translation, confused.
A medical doctor! Who did research!>
"Like Cousin Tony?"
Yes! But MUCH WORSE!>
"YEAHHH!" the loud shouts of the men around
the television indicated that a goal had just been scored, but the kids
ignored the racket.
"How much worse? How Much worse?"
they demanded excitedly.
He was a medical doctor at a concentration
camp during the reign of the NAZIS!> Greta said dramatically, Doing
inhumane and nasty experiments on the poor Jewish prisoners!>
"OHHHHH!" they all gasped.
One leaned forward and looked at the name
of the infamous one, "Josef Maximillian Von Richter." he read off, "What
happened to him?"
Nobody knows!> Greta shook her head,
I think the Israelis have given up looking for him.>
"I'd sure as hell would like to give
Mossad his address!" Dr. Zack thought as he translated. He
noted a bit of yellow off to a corner, representing a marriage between
a Hofstroden and an ancestor of the present day Von Grovens. Frowning,
he decided to trace it later.
It was a great tragedy too!> Greta
continued, The Von Richters were a proud famliy of officers descended
from a pikeman who had been knighted for great bravery and valor on the
field. The whole family was->
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??" A loud voice
rose up from among the general din.
"KICK THE DAMN BALL, STUPID!" Another shouted.
"WHAT'S HE LOOKING AT?" The first voice
whined loudly.
"DO NOT LOOK IN THE EYE? WHAT KIND
OF-"
"NOW THAT IS AN UGLY BALLOON!"***
Dr. Zack got up and made his way back into
the den just in time to see a panoramic shot on the TV of a red eye floating
over the soccer stadium, streamers floating from it. It DID look
like a rather ugly balloon, until darker reddish purple rings started to
appear and ripple from the iris. The sounds of the crowd in the stadium
died out as they obviously started looking at it.
"No! Don't look! DON'T LOOK!" a woman's
voice came from the set, her voice drowned out in feedback coming from
talking too loudly into the microphone in her panic.
Dr. Zack recognized the speaker immediately.
"Cybersix!"
he thought immediately, noting that one of the teams playing was from Meridiana.
Blue streaks of light were beginning to
shoot upwards and into the eye.
"What is THAT THING?" someone demanded,
but Dr. Zack took no notice as he realized that the-THING-was getting bigger
and bigger!
Suddenly, the camera jerked and twisted
crazily, apparently dropped by the cameraman. It must have fallen
on a table on its side, for the picture was twisted by 90 degrees.
Dr. Zack craned his head sideways to get a better look.
"Something's wrong in Meridiana!" "Hah!
That's not the half of it! Wierd stuff's been coming out of that
place!"
"They're not moving." Dr. Zack stated.
"What?" They turned their heads sideways
and looked at the picture, "Tony, you're right!" one said worriedly, "Nobody's
moving!"
"They all look like their minds have gone
poof!"
"Tony! You live in Merid-"
But Dr. Zack was already weaving through
the crowd of relatives that were gathering around the television set, heading
for the kitchen, "Where's the phone?" he demanded.
"On the wall." His sister, Sarita, pointed,
"What's wrong, Tony?" she asked worriedly, glancing at the stunned group
standing around the television set.
"Everything," he muttered, punching in
the number for the Merdiana High School main office,
----------------------
Dr. Zack sat in his library, looking at
his notes. He occasionally glanced up at the window, then at his
watch. He would then sigh and turn his attention back to his notes.
The gentle beeping of the security system
alerted him to his expected visitor, "House! Unlock library window!"
he commanded.
Cybersix pushed the panes aside and stepped
into the room, "Good evening, Dr. Zacharias."
"Good evening, Cybersix." He greeted her,
rising, "I'll get the tea."
When he returned with the tea set and kettle,
Cybersix had cleared the table and pulled her chair up to it. He
set the tray down and began to pour the fruit tea, "I was out of town,
visiting relatives, when that, that eye, attacked the stadium."
"It was not a good day." Cybersix agreed
soberly.
"What happened?"
"I think it was a Von Richter Chip.
It had the ability to absorb people's minds, growing as it did so.
It also could shoot laser beams. It was under Jose's control.
It took Data 7's mind while we were trying to stop Jose from robbing a
bank. It also took-" she paused, sighed, closed her eyes momentarily,
then continued, "I was almost overcome, but used a mirror to make it look
at itself, making it absorb its own mind. It then attacked the stadium-"
"I know." He said, "I recognized your voice."
She looked at him, startled.
"The game was being broadcast all over
South America." He pointed out, "Everyone knows now."
"They should have known when the Goblins
were loose!" she said angrily, "What is the national government doing?"
"Nothing, it seems." He said, "How did
you stop it?"
"I used liquid nitrogen to freeze it.
Some Fixed Ideas shot a rocket at me, but it hit the eye instead and shattered
it."
"Um hmm." he nodded, "Clever."
"Dumb luck!" she said angrily, "That was
too close! It almost took the entire city and beat me!"
"But you beat it." he said, admiration
in his voice.
"Too close." she repeated, closing her
eyes as if she was remembering something. She then opened them and
looked at him solemnly, "Dr. Zacharias, I must ask you to do something
for me, to make sure something like this doesn't get out of control if
I'm not so lucky next time."
"Of course, Cybersix. What is it?"
"Do you remember when you showed us how
you made rubies?"
"Yes."
"And do you remember what you said about
making diamonds the same way?"
"Yes. I said that the nanites would
be too dangerous to humans, because they were made of carbon also."
"And you said that those nanites would
kill people by turning them into diamonds, right?"
"Yes. They would."
"Could you make nanites like that?" she
asked him.
"Yes." He said, "But I wouldn't." he added
hastily.
"Can you make nanites that would only attack
sustenance based creatures like Von Richter's?"
Dr. Zack looked at her for a long moment,
realizing what she was asking, "It depends. I must know more about
how sustenance is used in such creatures before I can come up with a nanite
that could infect and kill them."
"Such as?" she pressed.
"I need to know how it fits into their
biological systems. That means me using my submolecular vision to
watch the process in one such creature." he said, adding, "That knowledge
may help me figure out how to make it."
