Jack grimaced as he listened to the tenth complaint phone call in a row about power outages. Glancing over to where Jo sat, he saw she was listening to something very similar.
"Okay, Mr Fredrickson," Jack said, finally managing to get a word in, "We'll look into it."
Hanging up he sighed, waiting for Jo to finish her conversation.
"Call Henry?" Jo asked the moment she'd hung up.
"Please," Jack clasped his hands together. He headed over to their small chalkboard they had and cleaned it. He updated it to read, '0 days since something weird has happened.' They'd never made it to 4 days never mind a full week.
Jo appeared at his side and handed him the phone, "Henry."
"Henry," Jack said the instant he took the phone, "We've had calls that there are a lot of power surges and outages around town. Tell me it's not you."
There was a pause before the other man replied, "Not from anything I have going on just now."
Jack sighed, "Damn. That means GD is more than likely to be the culprit. I might need your expertise while I check this out."
"We'll meet you there," Henry said before hanging up.
Frowning slightly, Jack mused, "We?"
x
Henry hung up the phone turning to where Rip and Gideon were scanning over some of his inventions. The AI was impressive but also very opinionated.
Henry loved her.
"Problem?" Rip asked.
Henry nodded, "I think your shard may be causing some power problems in town. I'm heading to Global Dynamics. Feel like coming along?"
Rip smiled interested, "I assume I have the credentials."
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Henry tried to look offended but didn't quite manage to get of his smile, "Your ID badge is in the wallet I gave you."
Gideon frowned, "I assume I will be turned off."
Rip bit his lip at her tart inquiry as Henry turned to her.
"Actually no," he smiled, "GD is used to people field testing their experiments. Although we might want to avoid Fargo, he is our current AI expert."
Gideon smiled sweetly making Henry chuckle at how Rip rolled his eyes. Grabbing his coat Henry led them out to the truck. Rip climbed inside and Gideon appeared to sit between them.
Starting to drive, Henry smiled as he saw Gideon study their surroundings.
"Dr Deacon," she asked, "I am intrigued by the town. You stated that it was created for those with genius intelligence?"
Henry nodded, "Back in the fifties Albert Einstein and President Truman founded the town as a haven for the smartest people in the country. To give them a place to create and learn. It wasn't much at first but soon the town grew."
"It is a shame we do not have a place like this within our own universe," Gideon noted thoughtfully, "It would have been a good place to relocate the children after we removed the Time Masters."
Rip shrugged before musing, "It would be an interesting place to have grown up," sadness filled his voice, "Or to raise a child."
Gideon shook her head so Henry wouldn't ask Rip anything, she didn't say anything further simply watching the scenery fly by. Reaching GD, Henry was pleased by the soft impressed noise Rip made when he drove through the shield surrounding it.
"Hologrammatic shielding," Rip noted, "Impressive."
Henry nodded, "There are a lot of top-secret projects within this building, we need good security."
"Of course," Rip nodded, a small smirk on his face.
Henry frowned, "What?"
"I believe Captain Hunter has already worked out several ways to infiltrate this building," Gideon noted amused.
Glancing at the other man, Henry frowned at the slight shrug, "Just try to refrain from doing anything that will get you thrown in federal prison. Or do you know how to escape from that too?"
Innocence covered Rip's face as they climbed out the truck and started to the front door. Henry pulled out his security badge and motioned Rip to show his. The guard studied it for a second before turning to Gideon.
"She isn't real," Henry said before explaining Gideon was an 'experiment' Rip was working on.
Looking extremely impressed the guard motioned them inside and Henry lead them to the rotunda. Turning he found Gideon glaring at him.
"I'm not real?" she demanded sharply.
"He didn't mean it like that, Gideon," Rip soothed, "It was a simple way to get past the guard without going into the technical specifications." Giving a sniff she turned to look around and Rip shrugged, "She may forgive you sometime soon."
Henry moved to stand in front of Gideon, "I am extremely sorry I called you not real, Gideon. I never intended to insult you."
Gideon smiled and nodded graciously before turning to Rip, "You should be taking notes."
Before Rip could retort a call came making them turn to see Jack jogging over to them.
x
Jack Carter had the look of a man who knew he was about to step into an insane asylum, a look Rip often saw on his own face when dealing with the Legends.
"I called Alison," Jack said as he reached them, "She should be meeting us soon." He looked at Gideon and asked, "Who is this?"
"I am Gideon," she replied, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Sheriff."
Jack moved to shake her hand stunned when it went through hers, "What?"
Henry laughed, "Sorry, Jack. Gideon is an AI, very advanced. Rip is testing an interface."
Rip turned showing the disc attached to his temple, "Henry agreed to help me with the experiment."
"What do you want, Carter?" a bored voice came from behind them.
Rip turned with the other two men to see a tall man with a sneer of superiority on his face walking with an elegant woman whose air of authority marked her as the boss.
"Nathan," she scolded the man at her side before turning to them, "Carter, Henry and," she paused at Rip, "Dr Hunter I presume."
Rip nodded and took her offered hand, "Yes," he said before adding, "And this is Gideon, my AI companion."
"Dr Alison Blake," she introduced herself to both of them, "Gideon, you are incredible."
Gideon smiled back, "Thank you, Dr Blake."
"Please don't," Rip muttered, "Her ego is big enough as it is."
At Gideon's sharp look he stared innocently at her.
"Dr Nathan Stark," the final man introduced himself, "I've read your papers on Artificial Intelligence."
A cough made them all turn to the Sheriff, who was standing waiting to explain why everyone has been called.
"Carter," Alison turned to the Sheriff, "What do you need?"
Jack turned his attention from looking annoyed at the new man to Alison, "We're getting reports all over town of power outages. I checked with Henry and it's not him."
"That's some police work there, Carter," Stark stated.
Irritation covered Jack's face, but he continued, "We've gone over the other options in town and it's not connected to any of them. So, here I am."
Alison held up her hand to stop Stark from retorting, "We will check the list of projects to see if there is anything that could be causing the outages."
"What about my favourite place, Section 5?" Jack demanded.
"That's classified, Carter," Stark stated, "As you know."
"And as you know," Jack retorted, "It's usually the cause of all the problems."
Alison sighed in annoyance, "Section 5 projects will be included in my check. Why don't we head to my office?"
Gideon was fascinated by Global Dynamics. Not the humans, who were arguing as humans usually did while her Captain was sitting watching, taking in the dynamics and relationships between the people in the room.
The interface her Captain was wearing which allowed her to be seen by the people in this world, had the excellent side-effect of allowing Gideon to interact with the computer systems of this world.
And the Global Dynamics computers were fascinating. None were as advanced as she was of course, but for the period they were in, advanced enough.
She hadn't informed her Captain of her new abilities just yet; he might insist she not pry too much into the information she should not be privy to. Considering all the things he'd had her hack in the past though, he had no way to complain but she felt it best to keep this information to herself for the moment.
Accessing all the files for the people in the room, Gideon was impressed by Dr Blake. Smart and independent, she was raising her son alone who himself was different. Dr Deacon, Gideon already liked but seeing his file she was very impressed, and in another life, he would have been taken as a Time Master. Sheriff Carter was not as conventionally smart as the others, but he had his own kind of intelligence and his file showed how many times he had saved the town.
Finally, was Dr Stark, who Gideon didn't like at all. Yes, he was smart but in this room that wasn't unusual, but he believed himself smarter than everyone else. Gideon had seen that arrogance before in Thawne, in Druce and so many others.
He was the type of person who could so easily fall into supervillainy if the right, or wrong, type of dominoes fell. It looked however that the people in the room with him kept him on the right side, if only just.
Scanning the systems, Gideon checked for the power issues to help the Sheriff. Going through all the projects, she was impressed by some of the things the scientists were studying although others were laughable but that was humans, eternally optimistic.
Continuing her way through the systems, Gideon turned to Rip.
"I need to speak to you privately," Gideon said to him softly.
Confused Rip touched the interface and turned it off before he moved to the other side of the office away from the others.
"What is it?" he asked softly so he wasn't overheard.
"I have checked the projects within Global Dynamics, and nothing could cause the power outages Sheriff Carter is investigating," Gideon told him.
Rip frowned, "How…"
"The interface Dr Deacon created allows me to access the computers," Gideon smiled at him, "Quite interesting."
Rolling his eyes, Rip noted, "But I'm guessing that is not what you wanted to tell me."
"Astute as always, Captain," Gideon replied before telling him, "The shard is in a laboratory in the area known as Section Five. It appears safe at the moment but accessing it may be difficult."
"Wonderful," Rip sighed.
x
Rip was surprised and extremely interested that Gideon could use the interface to access the computers, but it would likely be helpful to reach the shard. Henry motioned him to follow on as he and the Sheriff headed out the office.
"Well?" Rip asked Henry falling into step with the other two men.
"They'll let us know," Henry replied, as Jack let out an annoyed sigh.
They reached the exit and started to the cars. Glancing at Gideon, Rip shrugged, "It's nothing in here that's causing the power outages."
Henry and Jack both stalled turning to Rip.
"How do you know that?" Jack demanded.
"Gideon," Rip explained, "She had a quick check of the systems."
Henry's eyebrows rose in surprise, "The interface?"
"A small side-effect we didn't expect," Rip noted.
Jack chuckled, "Let's not tell Alison or Stark about that but at least I won't be wasting my time waiting for them." He rested a hand on the top of his jeep, frowning in thought, "Okay, so there has to be a reason why the power in the town in going crazy."
"Well, it has to be someone in town," Henry noted, "But if it's not a GD experiment, then it could be either an unsanctioned one or, even worse, a school project."
Rip stared at them, "You're kidding?"
Both men shook their heads, Jack adding, "I thought the same when I first came here but the kids are just as smart as the parents. Which means they can be just as much trouble."
"Okay," Henry said, "Let's get back into town and make a plan."
Jack nodded, "I'll meet you both there."
As the other man left, Henry and Rip climbed back into Henry's truck. Rip reactivated the interface allowing Gideon to be seen by Henry once more.
"So," Henry said as he began to drive, "Did you find anything else interesting while you wandered through the GD systems, Gideon?"
Innocence covered her face, "Why, Dr Deacon I am shocked you think I would look at things I am not authorised to access," she told him.
A mischievous smile touched her lips making Henry laugh.