Disclaimer: Don't own Automan. (Boy do I wish I did, though! ) Don't own Tron, either. (Any "Tron"-like elements are a part of my very overactive imagination. ) For rest of my disclaimer see chapter one.
Ch. 10--Meeting Of the Minds
The laser array hummed, issuing a line of coherent light. It flashed at an exact range, precisely decoding the structure of Walter's body.
Right after Walter was reintegrated back into his world, he quickly yet carefully took the cloth bag from across his neck and left shoulder and cautiously placed it on the nearest table he could find. He ran to Terri's position overjoyed. She stood and backed away from the computer as he came nearer. He wrapped her in a hug briefly picking her up and swinging her around before putting her down. "We did it, Terri! Auto's O.K.! We did it!"
Caught up in his exaltation, she found herself beaming with joy as well.
He backed away a short distance from her with his hands still gently resting on her shoulders. Even though he had a slightly embarrassed look on his face at his recent display of emotions, he was still beaming from ear to ear despite his embarrassment. "Thank you! If it hadn't been for your help in combating this virus, I'd have lost Automan forever. Not something I care to contemplate. Thank you!" He pulled her into a brief hug before quickly letting go. "Can I use your computer? I need to program an anti-virus routine into Automan's program. I won't allow whoever did this to Auto to infect him again."
"Sure." She moved out of the way so he could access her computer.
Wally sat at Terri's computer and quickly brought up Automan's programming code on the screen. His fingers flew over the keyboard as he quickly created a complex anti-virus subroutine to protect Auto from any more viral attacks. He rapidly finished and exited Auto's program saving the changes he'd made. 'Let's see Tilson try to get past that,' thought Wally proudly.
Wally turned to Terri. "I once mentioned to Automan about how you had helped me create his program while we were still in college. He said he wanted to meet you." He quietly chuckled before continuing, "I believe his exact words were: 'I must meet her.' I'd like to call him up and formally introduce you two, but I have to request something of you first. Something you may not agree with."
"Okay," replied Terri uncertainly. "What's this request you have?"
"You can't tell your brother, Chico, about who or what Automan really is."
"But, why, Wally?"
"Chico knows Auto as 'Federal Agent Mann.' I don't think the Renegades would look too kindly on the fact that they were lead for a brief time by a hologram instead of a federal agent, so, please, Terri, don't tell Chico. Just refer to Automan as Agent Mann around him. Please."
"O.K.," agreed Terri reluctantly. She hated having to keep things from her brother. "I won't tell Chico."
"Thank you," said Wally with relief. He turned back to the computer and typed 'Automan'. The phrase 'Enter access code:' appeared underneath. He typed 'crimefighter'. The phrase 'Access being verified. Please wait . . ." appeared underneath. A few seconds later, the words 'Access verified.' appeared underneath and a sudden rumbling could be heard and felt as if an earthquake were happening in the lab. The lights around them flashed and dimmed.
A ball of light burst forth from the monitor. Cursor hovered for a second in front of Wally, beeped, and went to an open area behind Terri and Wally performing a quick spiral before going towards Terri.
"Hi, Cursor," greeted Wally.
Terri backed towards Wally unsure what Cursor's intentions were. "Wally? What is Cursor doing?"
"Being a bit too friendly," admonished Wally with disapproval in his voice. Wally's gaze was fixed on the area Cursor had created the spiral knowing Automan would soon appear there.
Seconds later, a tall, shimmering silhouette of a man formed in the area. After Automan fully materialized, he turned penetrating blue eyes to Walter and Terri.
Terri stared speechless at the shimmering man standing in her lab. A dazzling white aura radiated from him. He had to be six foot four--if not taller! Startling enough, his head and face looked "human," but the rest of his body was a whole other story. He seemed to be clad in the most amazing, shining blue grid-like armor through which a galaxy of stars as bright as lasers shone. 'So this is Automan,' she thought with fascination and unease.
Then, she heard his beautifully modulated baritone voice as he said, "Hello, Walter." Automan paused for a second before grinning and adding, "Long time no see."
"Hi, Auto," greeted Wally in return. He grinned back at Auto and replied, "Yeah." He paused before stating, "Auto, there's someone I want to introduce you to. Someone I know you've been wanting to meet." He gestured towards Terri and said, "Auto, this is Teresa Fuentes." He turned to Terri and said, "Terri, this is Automan."
"Hello, Miss Fuentes," greeted Automan warmly. He stepped closer to Terri with his sparkling hand outstretched. Terri backed further towards Wally unsure what would happen to her if she shook Automan's hand. Automan stopped lowering his hand with a confused and disappointed frown.
Wally instantly noticed Terri's uneasiness and hesitation and Auto's confusion and disappointment and quickly stepped up behind Terri gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, Terri," reassured Wally. "Auto won't hurt you. He just wants to shake your hand." Over her shoulder, Wally gave Auto a pleading look that silently begged Auto not to shock her like he usually does Jack. He saw Auto's barely perceptible nod. Wally every so gently urged Terri towards Auto. "It's okay," he reassured her a second time at seeing her hesitate a second time before letting go of Terri's shoulders.
Terri cautiously came close enough to Automan to shake hands with him and tentatively extended her hand saying, "Hello, Automan."
Automan gently took her hand in his and lightly kissed the back of her hand before releasing her hand. "It is very nice to finally meet you, Miss Fuentes."
"It's nice to meet you, too, Automan," said Terri a little uneasily.
"Walter's told me how you helped him create my program while in college." Auto gave Walter a slightly amused grin before turning back to Terri. "In fact according to Walter, if it weren't for you, I might not exist."
Terri looked to Wally surprised that he had given her such credit for helping to create Automan. Wally gave her a self-conscious grin in reply.
Terri turned back to Automan studying his appearance. A look of sudden confusion came over her face and she turned to Wally. "How could my brother have"--she quickly turned back to Automan and apologized, "Sorry." before turning back to Wally--"have thought he was a federal agent?"
"Auto can sometimes wear disguises," explained Wally simply.
"Disguises?" asked Terri even more confused.
"Yeah." Wally turned to Automan. "Show her, Auto."
Automan nodded and commanded, "Cursor." Cursor instantly rezzed up a white shirt, black tie, black pants, and black business jacket over Auto's body. After the clothing materialized, Auto turned to Terri gauging her reaction. Within moments, "Federal Agent Mann" stood in front of them.
Terri's eyes were wide--not with fear but with awe and fascination. She could sense her fear of Automan melting away as it was slowly replaced with fascination. She tentatively took a couple of steps closer to Automan. She didn't want to startle him or somehow scare him into disappearing--not that she really believed she would startle or scare him into disappearing, but curiosity had the better of her. She wanted to know how his clothing felt. She tentatively reached out her hand towards his suit. Realizing what she was doing, she quickly withdrew her hand and looked up into his mesmerizing blue eyes asking, "May I?"
Auto nodded and said, "Go ahead." He had already guessed as to what she wanted to do. He stood still so as not to startle her.
Terri again reached out her hand towards Automan's suit. She lightly ran her fingers along the left lapel of Automan's suit. It felt real! She looked up into Automan's face. "Unbelievable! I-it feels real," she said with awe. "But, how?"
Automan smiled sensing that her fear of him was dissolving. He explained, "I can alter the electromagnetic field of my body."
"Alter the electromagnetic field of your body?" asked Terri confused. She found herself warming to him quickly.
"Yes, make my body feel 'real'."
"Oh," said Terri finally understanding.
"I also understand you were instrumental in helping Walter combat the virus that had infected my program," said Auto. "Thank you," he said with a grateful smile.
Terri blushed in response before saying, "You're welcome. When I realized how much you meant to Wally, I had to help."
Automan turned to Walter with a confused and slightly expectant look. "Walter, how did you get into my world?"
"I think I can answer that," replied Terri instead.
Auto turned to her curiously.
"Using the lasers I have in the lab here"--said Terri pointing to the two intact lasers--"I was able to digitize Wally and sent him into his computer to help combat the virus from inside the computer."
"How were you able to identify the virus, safely extract it from my system, and contain it?" asked Auto still confused.
"I think I can answer that as well," replied Terri. She went to the table with the cloth bag Wally had brought with him into the digital world sitting on it and took out the scanner, the energy rods, and the virus container placing them on a table near Automan so he could look at them more closely. She held up the scanner first. "I had an idea of what the virus looked like based on the description Wally said of how the virus interacted with your program and programmed this portable scanner to help him identify the virus." She replaced the scanner and held up the energy rods. "Using these energy rods I scavenged from the dismantled laser,"--she pointed to the one dismantled laser--"he was able to safely extract the virus from your system without the virus reattaching to you or attaching to him." She placed the energy rods back on the table and finally held up the virus container. "With a suggestion from Wally, I was able to create this container to safely contain the virus." She replaced the virus container back on the table.
Automan looked at Terri with renewed admiration. "Well, then, your help really was invaluable in combating the virus." He gave her a sincere, indebted smile before again saying, "Thank you."
Terri again blushed, her face turning a bright pink. "I'm just glad I was able to help."
Wally smiled at the exchange between Terri and Automan before approaching both their positions. Although their encounter had gotten off to a shaky start, he was glad Terri was finally getting over her fear of Auto. He almost regretted having to cut their pleasant meeting short but decided to save Terri from any more awkwardness. He cleared his throat to get their attention. Both Auto and Terri turned to him. "Hate to cut this introduction short, but we really need to get started backtracking the code of that virus."
Auto nodded.
"O.K., Wally," replied Terri. She picked up the virus container from the table near Automan and brought it back with her to the computer quickly hooking up the device to the computer. She downloaded the virus into a confined memory and brought the coding for the virus up on the screen. When she turned back to Wally and Automan, she saw that they had come closer to her position and were standing on either side of her seat studying the virus code on the screen.
Wally examined the coding on the screen. Something about the way the virus was programmed seemed somehow familiar to him. He couldn't quite figure out why at first the coding seemed recognizable. When he thought back to the recent tampering done to the LAPD computer remembering the coding telling the computer to ignore any malfunctions from the console and report it as working fine, it hit him. The structure and syntax of the commands were very, very similar. It was the same "programmer's signature" as the commands for the LAPD computer.
Automan was also studying the code on the screen. The coding seemed familiar to him as well. After studying the programming for a second, he realized why the set of instructions seemed so recognizable. The commands also included codes for the computer not to divulge the source of the extra programming. The same kind of commands were given to the municipal computers when they had been sabotaged a year ago.
Wally and Automan turned towards each other having reached the same conclusion. "Tilson," they said simultaneously.
Wally turned to Terri. "Terri, where's your phone?"
"There." Terri pointed to a corner where a touch-tone phone hung on the wall wondering what exactly Wally had in mind.
Wally went to the phone and quickly dialed the LAPD main number. After a few seconds, he said into the receiver, "Hi. This is Officer Nebicher. I need to be transferred to the forensics lab." A short pause. "Thank you." After a few seconds passed, Wally said into the phone, "Hi. Brian? It's Walter Nebicher."
"Hi, Wally. What can I help you with?"
"Did you ever get the results back from those fragments of the exploded computer console I sent down a couple of days ago?"
"Yeah, just got them in a few minutes ago. Besides, obviously your fingerprints, there was another set of fingerprints on them. We're running a check on them right now."
"Great, Brian. Could you run them against the name Ronald L. Tilson? I have a hunch you'll come up with a perfect match. Could you get back to me with the results?"
"Sure. Where can I reach you?"
"Thanks." Wally quickly turned to Terri putting his hand over the receiver and quietly asked her, "What's the number for your lab here?"
"555-1236," replied Terri just as softly.
Wally silently nodded his thanks to her before saying into the receiver, "You can reach me at: 555-1236. Thanks, Brian." He hung up the phone and walked back to his original position in front of the computer monitor again studying the coding on the screen. He saw Automan again studying the code on the screen as well. Their conviction that Tilson was behind the tampering of the LAPD computer and infecting Automan grew with each minute.
Ten minutes later, the phone in the lab rang. Terri answered it saying, "Nextgen Laser Labs. Dr. Fuentes speaking." After a brief pause, she turned to where Wally and Automan were studying the computer screen saying, "It's for you, Wally."
Wally went towards her and took the phone from her outstretched hand. He said into the receiver, "Nebicher here."
"Wally, it's Brian. I got those results you wanted. You were right. The prints did belong to a Ronald Tilson."
"Thanks, Brian. That solves a lot of questions." Wally hung up the phone turning to Terri and Auto with a victorious smile. "That was the forensics lab at the LAPD. They just got back the lab results on the fragments I sent to the lab for fingerprint analysis. Tilson's fingerprints were on the fragments. He's behind the tampering with the LAPD computer. I'm fairly certain that's how he was able to gain access to your program as well, Auto."
"O.K. You know who's behind it, but how are you going to stop him?" asked Terri. After having met and gotten to know Automan, Terri didn't want to see this Tilson person harm either Wally or Automan.
"Good question," said Wally with some frustration. He had an inkling of any idea but needed to flesh out his idea first.
Terri interrupted Wally's ruminations saying, "Wally, if you don't mind, I'd like to go home. It's been a most remarkable day."
Wally nodded to her.
Terri turned to Automan. "It was nice to meet you, Automan."
"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Fuentes," replied Auto. "Since you two are leaving, I'll take my leave as well." Automan nodded his farewell to both Walter and Terri before disappearing.
"He really is amazing," said Terri with awe in her voice.
"Yeah," said Wally nodding. He motioned for her to lead the way out of the lab back to the parking lot. While they were walking, Wally kept contemplating how to lure Tilson out into the open.
A/N: Sorry for the long delay. Had a bit of a technical prob--as in the disk didn't want to read! Hope you've enjoyed the story so far. And keep those reviews coming :)