Scene 6 Morgendorffer kitchen, Thursday evening.The Morgendorffers are seated at the table, opening white styrofoam compartmented takeout trays.
Jake: Hey, barbecue!
QUINN: Ewww! It's greasy! And look at all the fat!
DARIA: Tasty, though. This coleslaw is pretty good. Not drowned in dressing.
Helen: Marianne's church was doing these for a fundraiser today. I think she signed up half the firm for them. I couldn't very well say no.
DARIA: I like it. Potato salad needs more pickle. It's a nice change from lasagna.
QUINN: You'll be sorry someday. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. The way you eat, I'm amazed you aren't obese already.
DARIA: I know the world's easiest way to burn fat. For me, anyway. (Quinn and Helen look at Daria with interest. Daria takes a bite of potato salad.)
QUINN: (gets tired of waiting) How?
DARIA: dee doo.
QUINN: Daria! How do you burn fat?
DARIA: Oh. Well, the brain burns fat more readily than muscle tissue, so I just use my brain till I run low on fat. I write stories, or plot world domination, or work on my hydrogen fusion rocket motor plans.
JAKE: A fusion rocket motor! Really?
DARIA: Sure. All those other physicists are going at it the hard way, trying to build a fusion reactor power plant first. That's stupid, because it requires complete containment of a thermonuclear explosion, hundreds of times a second, for years. They've been working on it for thirty years, and it'll be another thirty before they get a practical working power generator. A rocket motor only requires partial containment, so it'll be orders of magnitude easier. It's the obvious intermediate step. I could probably get it to produce all the power it needs to generate its own containment fields, and still have it ready to go fifteen years ahead of the Tokamak boys.
QUINN: All those other physicists? Last time I checked, you were a sophomore in high school.
DARIA: I don't have a degree, but I can read and I can think.
HELEN: Daria, are you pulling our legs here?
DARIA: Not at all. The motor's reaction chamber will be made up mostly of electromagnetic coils, to generate the magnetic fields for the partial containment of the plasma. That's a given. The hydrogen fusion reaction generates a powerful electromagnetic pulse, which will induce electrical current in the coils, which will produce more magnetic fields. The problem is to configure the coils so that the pulse from one fusion explosion will create, or contribute to, the correct configuration of magnetic fields to contain the next explosion. It breaks down into two components, one of which would require a lot of time on a serious supercomputer, and the other, the visualization component, which I'd have to do mostly in my head.
HELEN: (thought v.o.) Note to self- phone Rita before you forget all of this, and brag her into the ground.
QUINN: Mo-OOOMM! Daria's giving me a headache!
HELEN: Eat your fat, Quinn dear, and get your brain in gear.
Scene 7 Int. Daria's room, later Thursday night. Daria is working at her computer. Quinn comes to the door.
QUINN: Oooohhh! I hate you! You made Mom make me eat fat!
DARIA: I didn't make anyone do anything. And fat is an essential nutrient, necessary for proper brain function and neural health.
QUINN: My brain functions just fine, thank you.
DARIA: Oh? So how are the plans for the faster-than-light drive coming along? You know, fat is also necessary for proper breast development. (Quinn looks down) Made ya look.
QUINN: Oooh! Well, brain, how's your story coming along? Finished yet?
DARIA: I'd been planning to read it Monday, but the more I write, the farther away the end gets.
QUINN: Well, pick a stopping place, and read that much Monday, and the rest later.
DARIA: I was thinking right after Harmony recovers Melody's pistol would be a good place to break, but that's still a big chunk. I don't think my voice would hold out that long. Would you like to read part of it?
QUINN: You mean, at the coffeehouse? In front of an audience?
DARIA: Yeah. It'll be good practice for those supermodel awards ceremonies they'll probably want you to emcee. We can divide it up so I read the part about Harmony being the most gorgeous girl etcetera, and how she oozes innocent sexuality, so you can be at the table with the FC to feed on their envy.
QUINN: (stares off into space for a moment) Let me get back to you on that. (exits)
Daria smirks and returns to her computer. Pan/zoom to CU of monitor screen.
The security guard in the outer station was beaming as Melody and Harmony approached. "Melody! Do these old eyes deceive me?"
Melody smiled as she and Harmony slipped their ID cards into the stainless steel trough under the two-inch-thick sheet of lexan. "They sure do, George. Melody died at the stadium."
George's grin acquired a puzzled tinge as he pondered Melody's reply, then dropped away entirely as he read the info from her card. It looked like (and was) an ordinary gold MasterCard, but it was more. It held considerable information about Melody (or Donna Pettibone, her current identity) and several authentication codes. It could even be used to send and receive short messages through the worldwide data network that handled credit card transactions. George punched a few keys, requesting verification from HQ's central computer. Fred, at the next security checkpoint, having noticed George's expression, was watching with alert interest.
"It looks like you guys have been taking it easy lately. Very few cars." Melody observed as she rose from the wheelchair and parked it inside a rectangle painted on the floor off to the right of the checkpoint.
Some of George's cheerful look returned as he saw Melody walking normally. "Yeah, there are so few to teach the newbies how to get down here. Maybe you can help with that, Donna."
"Maybe a little. I'm showing Harmony here- she's Melody's sister, by the way-" She winked at George, who winked back. "And maybe I can take a few more if I check out an Agency sedan, but I'm not a hundred percent yet."
"Well, you're looking great, Donna. Nice to meet you, Harmony. Go on through."
Melody and Harmony retrieved their MasterCards and stepped to the door beside George's checkpoint. It was mostly a large Lexan window from a height of thirty-two inches up, matching George's and Fred's cubicles, and all the wall segments between them, so that they could watch out for, and watch, each other. Melody put her right hand into the open-topped stainless steel box mounted on the door where a doorknob would usually be, and punched in the five-digit combination she'd memorized a few days ago. This combination was changed every two weeks, while the next one was only changed once a month. At the buzz, Melody pushed open the door and entered the short section of corridor leading to the second security checkpoint. Behind her, Harmony took her turn at the combination box, watched by George and Fred.
Melody slid an American Express card under the lexan pane to Fred, who scanned it and returned it, along with a clip-on badge from a big rack behind him, and then did the same for Harmony. "Fred, this is Harmony. I'll need a wheelchair."
As Melody punched in the combination for the next door, Fred went into the room next door to his checkpoint. A few seconds later, he pushed a wheelchair into a small airlock-like room with lexan doors at either end. Melody waited till he closed the inner door before opening the outer door and removing the wheelchair. She waved at him, and he smiled and waved back.
Harmony was through the second door now, and she steadied the wheelchair as Melody sat in it. As they started forward, Melody said "Watch your badge here. Don't let your hair or clothing cover it, and don't let it flip over. This next fifty feet is Splatter Alley. If the red lights and buzzer come on, stop where you are and get your badge right. You'll have four seconds."
Harmony eyed the sensors and little hatches in the walls and ceiling uneasily. "Northwest HQ doesn't have this particular feature. They have the sensors and the hidden robot guns in the corridors, but as long as you don't move, you're safe, and someone will come get you."
"That's how it is here, after you get beyond that next door, but I guess you know that, right?"
"No, actually, I've only seen the office area, the gym and the break room so far."
"Those are on the upper level. We're on level two now."
They stopped at the door and Melody punched in the combination. "From here on, it's not necessary for everyone to punch in every combination." Passing through the door, they were in another stretch of hallway, but with doors on both sides. "Left, custodial. Right, mens' room." Twenty feet ahead, not exactly across from each other, were two more doors. "Left, comm center and crypto, right, computer rooms. Two mainframes, two supercomputers, lots of smaller stuff, plus a computer lab/workshop." Melody stood up and keyed in the combination for the comm center door. Pushing it open, she walked in.
"Push the wheelchair in- can't leave it unattended in the hall." Melody held the door open for Harmony and the chair, then let it close. There was a four-position console just to the right of the door, situated so that those seated at the console faced the door and the walkway past them to the rest of the area. "This is where you'll sit when you have comm center duty. There'll be three Agents per shift on days, two on swings and mids, unless conditions require more. The patch panels, testing and monitoring gear just beyond is telecomm control, the communications and data nerve center of HQ. The telecomm techs are controllers, operators, troubleshooters and repairmen. They can do your job at the console, although they lack your Agent's knowledge, and you'll be expected to learn to do certain parts of theirs. And on swing and mid shifts, the four of you mostly play hearts or pinochle."
Melody waved at the area behind the twin facing rows of patch panels and racks of test equipment, at an area partially filled with equipment cabinets. "Back there are switchers, servers, nodes, uplinks, muxes, and a lot of such stuff that mostly doesn't bother anyone. And that door in the back wall goes to the crypto room. Those guys mostly keep to themselves, but every once in a while one of them will pop out and ask you to pass a reset message to someone. If you go in there, they'll shoot you, then chop you up with fire axes, then incinerate what's left of you with thermite charges."
Harmony smiled wryly. Melody was joking, but not much. The crypto guys would only shoot her. The fire axes and thermite charges were to destroy the crypto gear in the event of an enemy overrunning HQ. The guns were to keep the enemy out until it was done. Then either the guns or the cyanide capsules would take care of the crypto guys. At a signal from Melody they spoke briefly to the Agents on duty and slipped back out into the hall.
"What are all those handle things with two suction cups that are hanging on the walls in there?" Harmony asked Melody.
"Just what they look like. Did you notice that these floor tiles are unusually large?"
"Yeah, but I didn't think anything about it." Each tile was about two feet square.
"There's a four foot high crawlspace underneath the floor that all the wires and cables and waveguides are run in. You can access it by lifting any of these floor panels that something isn't sitting on with one of those suction handles." They were coming to the next doors. Melody pointed to the one on her right. "That's the situation room. It's used when a lot of people are working one or two major situations. Some people go in there just to use a workstation in peace, but you have to be prepared to clear out quickly if something comes up." Melody pointed to the door on the left about fifteen feet farther on. "This is Ops, where we monitor and sometimes work the small and medium sized everyday situations. There are always Agents in here."
She pointed farther down the hall. "We won't be going any farther today. On the left side, there are the ladies' room, a couple of conference rooms and the library. On the right side is a break room, two elevators and a stairwell. You don't yet have clearance for what's beyond that." They were now at the door to Ops, and Melody motioned to Harmony to operate the pushbutton combination lock.
Harmony thought for a second and then put her hand into the box and pushed the unseen buttons. A click and buzz sounded and she pushed the door open. Ops looked like a combination of NASA Mission Control in Houston and the War Room at Cheyenne Mountain, with overtones of the CNN Newsroom and the trading floor at the NYSE. Its dimensions were about sixty by forty feet, with a three-tiered pit taking up most of the floor space. Set in the walls at waist height were forty-two inch monitor screens, all around the room. Above them was a row of seven by ten foot screens, except in the center of each long wall, where a single fourteen by twenty foot screen stretched from floor to ceiling. A narrow walkway ran along the walls with steps descending to the next level at several points.
The next level was four feet lower. Work stations and consoles ringed it, facing outward, the tops of the equipment just below the level of the walkway above, and inset beneath it. A walkway ran behind the consoles, then the next lower level, then the lowest, floor level. Most of the work stations were similar, with a nineteen or twenty-one inch monitor screen flanked on the right by two fourteen inch screens, one above the other, the bottom one being monochrome in most cases. Some stations had a single large screen without the small ones, some had two large screens. There were various types of consoles interspersed with the work stations, their purposes not always apparent. About two-thirds of the work stations were dark, as well as more than three-quarters of the big screens on the walls.
Melody looked around. There were twelve Agents in the room, and they all seemed occupied at the moment. She descended the steps to the next level and sat at the first work station, which was active but not in use. Harmony parked the wheelchair to the left of the door and came to stand behind her. Melody moused around a bit, then typed in a query. She turned to her right and pointed down and behind her. "Station forty-seven down there is where they're tracking Loong Wang. Since there's no one there at the moment, I'll just call his information up here." Her fingers began to dance across the keyboard, interspersed with use of the mouse. A medium resolution picture appeared on the small color monitor. It was a shot of a cheap-looking hotel room, dimly lit. Loong Wang, in slacks and undershirt, barefoot, sat in an armchair watching TV. Takeout Chinese food and a bottle of Tsing Tao beer were on a coffee table in front of him. The camera angle did not show the TV screen, but Loong Wang did not seem to be enjoying the program, or his life, at the moment.
Melody had several documents open on the large monitor, and was reading from a summary. "Seldom leaves the hotel, or even his room, no visitors except delivery boys, seldom calls out, no incoming calls at all, no internet use. He's still waiting to be contacted."
"That's a long time, isn't it? Wouldn't they have contacted him by now if they were going to?"
"Not unless he had info or something else they needed quickly, or they were pretty sure he got clean away without being tagged. Whoever he's waiting for either know or assume we're watching him. The longer they wait, the more likely we are to find better uses for our surveillance team. They probably have no one at all watching him now, but sooner or later they'll send in a team and have him do something calculated to expose our watchers to their watchers. And the smaller and/or less sophisticated their organization is, the more likely they are to compensate by waiting longer. Time is on their side in this phase of the game."
"And the home court advantage is on our side?"
"That and sophistication, particularly technological. No one's seen our latest generation of bugs and tracers yet. The smallest look like lint and crud that you'd ordinarily pick up during a day's activity, and our guys don't have to get close to him to deploy them. Their guys won't know what to watch for, or how far away."
"So, how much longer would you guess?"
"A lot depends on how devious the opposition thinks they are, but Loong's most serious injury from the stadium is that bullet wound in his left shoulder. Assuming he heals at the same rate I do, he'll be ready for action in another two or three weeks. He can travel now, but I consider that a window of higher probability. In fact, I should note that in his files. Why don't you get on the next work station and log in as on a familiarization visit with me, then check your in box and stuff? I'll be about ten minutes here."
for the next few minutes, the two Agents worked quietly at their adjacent work stations, then Harmony stood up. "I'm going to familiarize myself with the ladies' room."
"Keep your badge clear." Replied Melody. "and remember, anything you write on the wall goes in your psych profile."
"Awww. I was gonna put 'Want to get real kinky? Call Sunspider." She traded smirks with Melody and exited. A few minutes later she emerged from the Ladies'room to find Melody struggling to get the wheelchair out the Ops door. Harmony pulled the chair out as Melody held the door, and they left HQ.
Pan/zoom out from monitor screen to MS of Daria saving her work, shutting down her computer, stretching.