It's July 15th, 2022, and Sarah Walker has finally scored her dream job—working with dolphins at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Socially awkward and academically driven, Sarah's never found love—but when she meets a tech genius whose inventions have the chance to make her research a reality, she finds herself falling for him. Together, their work could change the world … that is, unless someone else gets hold of it first.

Disclaimer: We don't own Chuck…

Chapter 8: The Droid They're Looking For

When Sarah walked onto the dive platform—after saying hello to Gertrude and Lou, who were busy preparing buckets of vitamin-stuffed fish for the dolphins—her eyes went directly to Eden. She'd known Casey would call her if anything went wrong during the night. Still, looking at the healthy baby swimming next to her mother gave Sarah considerable peace of mind.

Casey himself was sitting on a folding chair that he'd pulled up next to the edge of the tank, his eyes bleary and a cup of coffee clutched in his hand. "Morning, Walker," he said, giving her a curt nod. "Sleep well?"

Sarah figured this was a dig at Casey's restless night—but she refused to fall for it. After all, he was the one who'd insisted she go home. "As well as can be expected, given everything going on here," she said, repressing a shudder at the thought of that bizarre dream. She still felt a sense of regret that Echo hadn't been able to give Chuck her message—which was absurd, given that it had just been a silly dream. Still, the dolphin's sense of urgency had felt so real. "How about you?"

"I've had worse." He grimaced, pressing a hand into the small of his back. "You'll be pleased to know that Eden got through the night just fine—and Echo isn't having any problems. In fact, she seemed pretty pleased that I was here all night long. She kept whistling to try and wake me up. Seemed to think it was an amusing trick to play on the dumb human."

Sarah could picture that all too clearly. She turned away, crossing the platform to check on Finn—an action that had the side benefit of hiding her face. "Sorry about that. How's the proud papa doing?"

"He seems all right. A little out of sorts, but that's to be expected. Lou gave him some extra fish this morning, to cheer him up."

That brought a smile to Sarah's face. She stood at the edge of the platform, peering into the water. Finn was all the way across the tank, swimming back and forth in front of the viewing window a floor below as if trying to see if any visitors had shown up yet. She hesitated to put too much weight on her interpretation of his behavior, but it sure looked to her as if he was bored and missing the interaction that came from spending time with the other half of his pod.

"When do you think we'll be able to take out the divider?" she asked Casey, who'd stood up and was tilting his coffee cup back, draining it to the dregs.

"Give it another twenty-four hours, and I'll feel comfortable enough—as long as that nerd of yours doesn't show back up and drop another bomb into the water." He leveled her with a gimlet eye.

What had Echo said in Sarah's dream—that the noise the speaker made had been the sound of a bull dolphin attacking a calf? Whatever it was, she'd be sure to steer Chuck as far clear of a repeat performance as she could. "I'm sure that won't be a problem," she said, her voice stiff.

Casey eyed the black trash can in the corner by the door, then cocked his arm and let the empty coffee cup fly. It arced through the air and landed in the middle of the can—a perfect two-pointer. "All right, then. I'm going to check on Monte"—a sea lion who'd been struggling with a minor infection—"and then go home and try to catch some Zs. Keep me in the loop—if you have any concerns at all, I want to know about them."

"Of course," Sarah said, feeling a sense of relief as Casey grabbed his rolled-up sleeping bag from the floor and walked toward the prep room, stepping through the door and shutting it behind him.

She checked her watch. It was 8:45—just fifteen minutes until Ellie was scheduled to arrive. She'd told Milton just to wave the doctor through—Sarah would meet her at the door to the prep room—so there was nothing to do now but spend some quality time with the dolphins.

Since Finn was still submerged, waiting for the Aquarium's patrons to show up, Sarah walked back over to Echo's side of the tank. She sat down cross-legged at the edge, as she often did, and waited.

Sure enough, Echo appeared, streaking beneath the water and popping up next to the dive platform, Eden right by her side. Sarah felt a smile spread across her face. "How're you doing, little one? And you too, mama? Did you ladies have a good night?"

Echo whistled, and as usual, Sarah wished she could understand what the dolphin was trying to tell her. "I'll take that as a yes. By the way … I had the weirdest dream about you last night, Echo. It kind of freaked me out, if you want to know the truth. It felt … important. But anyway … Do you remember that nice doctor, Ms. Ellie? She was here a couple days ago, and yesterday too … her brother was the one who fell in the water. She's coming back to see you today. Won't that be nice?"

Echo tilted her head, as if considering Sarah's words. She whistled again—and then the door to the prep room opened and Lou stepped through, with Ellie right behind her.

"Sorry to show up unannounced," the neurologist said, looking apologetic. "Lou was walking out the door just as I got here, and was kind enough to let me in."

"It's no problem at all." Sarah got to her feet, brushing off her hands on her shorts. "I'm happy to see you. I—um—are you ready to meet Eden?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Ellie walked over to where Sarah stood, with such a bounce in her step, it almost looked like she was skipping. She glanced down at the tank—and her hand came up to cover her mouth. She gazed in awe—then dropped her hand to her side, a huge smile spreading across her face. "Oh. Oh wow. Oh my God, Sarah. That is just the cutest thing I've ever seen. Hello, Eden. Welcome to the world."

"She's amazing, isn't she?" Sarah said, feeling an absurd sense of pride. After all, Echo had given birth to Eden, with a little help from Finn to get the gestation process started; Sarah had had nothing to do with it. Still, she couldn't help but feel invested in the gorgeous little creature who bobbed next to her mother, eyeing Sarah and Ellie with shy curiosity.

"Oh, yeah. When Chuck sees this, he's just gonna…" Ellie shook her head, as if at a loss for words. "When he was little, he had a thing for baby animals. Puppies, kittens, even mice. He'd kill me if he knew I was telling you this, but every year for Christmas, our parents would give him one of those calendars—you know, kittens in baskets, puppies snuggled up with bunny rabbits, that kind of thing. If he'd seen a baby dolphin back then, well …" She shrugged. "You wouldn't have had to knock him into the water. He would've jumped in."

Sarah pictured a small version of Chuck, his curly, dark head bent over a tiny kitten that he cradled in his arms. "Well, he'll get his chance later today," she said, trying not to reveal the excitement and nervousness she felt at the thought of seeing Chuck again. "I invited him to come this morning, but he said he had other plans…" She let her voice trail off, shamelessly fishing for information about where Chuck might be. It was kind of pathetic, but maybe Ellie could tell her something that would make her feel better.

But Ellie just shrugged. "I'm not sure what he's up to. He was awake when I got up—in fact, it's possible he was up all night. He had a huge cup of coffee in front of him and his hair was standing on edge like Einstein's. I asked him why he couldn't come with me, and he was weird about it … wouldn't give me a straight answer."

Sarah's face fell. If Chuck was going to meet some girl, didn't it make sense that he would want to talk about it with his sister? After all, they had seemed pretty close…

Seeing her distress, Ellie put a hand on Sarah's arm. "Whatever you're thinking—and I can tell it's something bad, given the look on your face—don't. He just gets like that sometimes, especially when he's really focused on something. And let me tell you … he's pretty damn focused on this."

That did make Sarah feel marginally better. "Well, he did tell me he was going to meet us here for lunch today—so whatever it is, I guess he'll be done with it by then. I know he was working on a new redesign of the speaker … maybe it has something to do with that?"

"Possibly," Ellie said. "With Chuck and technology, you can never tell. Anyway, I'm here—and I know I might not be as cute to look at as my little brother, but I do have a wealth of neurological knowledge at my fingertips. Why don't we get started?"

Sarah felt her face reddening. "Oh—that's not it at all. I don't—I mean, it's not because—I never said I thought Chuck was cute," she managed at last.

Ellie gave her a pitying look. "You didn't have to. Okay—let's talk MRI, shall we?"

Discussing magnetic resonance imaging was infinitely preferable to continuing to go down this dead-end road. "Absolutely," Sarah said. "Why don't we sit down?" She gestured toward the folding chair Casey had vacated.

There was a second chair leaning against the wall; Ellie brought it over and unfolded it, settling into the seat. "I have to say," she told Sarah, her gaze drifting back to Echo and Eden, "this is a far better venue for a meeting than a hospital conference room. So … I've been thinking about it, and I think our best bet is to rent an MRI trailer and bring it here, to the Aquarium. That way we can customize it, make sure we're the only ones who have access to it, and reduce stress on the dolphins since they won't have to travel such a long distance. I'm assuming we'll have to start working with Finn first, right?"

Sarah sat down next to Ellie, sipping her lukewarm coffee. "Yes, absolutely. I don't want to separate Echo and Eden, not to mention that kind of physical and psychological stress is the last thing either of them needs right now."

"That's what I figured. So, you saw Chuck's table design—is there anything that red-flagged for you there?"

"Not really. He had the smart idea of creating a curved bed that could go over the existing table—or even replacing the table itself with the curved bed. That way, it could support an adult dolphin's weight and allow for the location of their pectoral and dorsal fins. I think that would work more effectively than a lot of designs I've seen."

Ellie nodded. "Based on my reading, there's approximately a meter of distance between the center of a dolphin's brain and their dorsal fin, so you'd need to make sure you have a really strong magnet, with a large enough bore. Also, since dolphins are so sensitive to vibrations, we'd have to accommodate for that too—if you've ever been inside an MRI machine, you know how loud it can get."

"I haven't," Sarah said, "but I know that's an issue. Dolphins take in most of their sounds through the conductivity of their lower jaw bone and then redirect the sound waves to their inner ear—I'm not sure how you'd accommodate for that, given that they'll be lying on their stomachs."

"Right. Well, I've talked to Chuck and there's a way around that. He'll have to build some kind of anti-vibration liner into the bed the dolphin's lying on. He's already been looking into materials," Ellie said, rolling her eyes. "And as you saw in Chuck's design, he created a customized coil design for signal reception to accommodate the dolphin's blowhole. It basically looks like a bowl with a hole in it, so it'll fit over the dolphin's melon—that's what you call the rounded part of their forehead, right?—and they'll still be able to breathe."

"I saw that on his specs." Sarah leaned forward, biting her lip. "The thing I forgot to mention to him is, dolphins are really sensitive to all sounds—not just vibrations. People tend to think about them hearing sounds that travel through the water, but they can hear sounds in the air just as well as people do—maybe even better. There's research that shows they can hear nearly a full order of magnitude above our range. I'm worried that ambient noise in the MRI trailer might stress them out. Do you have any recommendations about how we can protect them from that?"

Ellie folded her arms across her chest, tilting her head in thought. "Well," she said slowly, "if we custom-design the magnet … which, like I said, we might need to do anyhow to accommodate the larger bed … then we'd have more room. We could use that space to build in some kind of sound-dampening barrier—Chuck could figure out how to make that work, I'm sure. I know he's already talked about building in some kind of misting system to keep them cool, without compromising the magnet's integrity."

Sitting back in her chair, Sarah let out a breath of relief. "That's good. I just—I hate the thought of them being uncomfortable just to gratify our curiosity. It's not like they can grant us permission to change their entire environment…"

"Well," Ellie said, giving her a small smile, "if this works, maybe one day soon … that will all change."

The two of them talked for another couple of hours, discussing ethical concerns, the training Finn would require to participate in the research, staffing, funding, the duration of Ellie's vacation … with a few personal details thrown in for good measure. By the time 12 PM rolled around, Sarah was starving—and eager to share their ideas with Chuck.

There was just one problem: He hadn't shown up yet.

Noon went by … then 12:15 … then 12:30. Lou came out to feed Echo; Gertrude did the lunchtime show for the public with Finn; and still no Chuck. With every passing minute, Sarah started to feel increasingly nervous—and despondent. What if he'd only told her he'd meet her just to be polite? What if she'd offended him so badly that he didn't even bother? What if …

"Hey," Ellie said, interrupting Sarah mid-thought. "You're freaking out, huh?"

Sarah gave her a self-conscious glance from beneath her lashes. "Does it show?"

"Oh, yeah. What's got you so frazzled?"

"Um … well …" Sarah glanced over at Eden, who was hanging back, her head above water, watching her mom gobble down twice her normal allotment of fish. "I'm worried that Chuck's mad at me," she blurted. "And that's why he's not here yet."

Ellie's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry—what?"

"Last night … when I called him on the phone … he said he couldn't meet me this morning—that he had other plans—and I kinda got … upset." Sarah flinched, embarrassed. "I hung up on him, Ellie—while he was still talking. And now he's not here … and I …" She wound down, dropping her head. When she found the courage to glance up again, Ellie was frowning, looking exasperated.

"Between you and my brother—I swear to God, it'll be a miracle if the two of you ever spit out what's on your minds. You're both so worried about offending each other and doing the wrong thing, it's like being inside a dysfunctional echo chamber. This is getting ridiculous. I'm calling Chuck right now." She yanked her phone out of her pocket and dialed. Beyonce's Run the World (Girls)— an appropriate choice for Ellie's ringtone, Sarah decided—blared somewhere close by, sounding as if it was right on the other side of the prep room door.

"Chuck?" Ellie said, disconnecting the call as the door swung open, revealing Lou, with Chuck right behind her. Sarah had to suppress the twinge of jealousy she felt when the trainer glanced up at him, mid-conversation, and Chuck returned her grin. "Where in the hell have you been?"

"Hang on a second, Ellie," Chuck said, sounding a little out of breath. "Just let me finish wrangling this stuff onto the platform and I'll explain."

Sarah took a closer look. Behind Chuck was a guy with short brown hair and dark eyes, helping Chuck haul a massive rolling ATA flight case with a stack of equipment precariously balanced on top. Chuck had one hand on the pile of stuff, doing his best not to let it slide off. Sarah couldn't blame him—from what she could tell, it looked expensive.

"Who—" Ellie began, but Chuck beat her to it.

"Sarah, I am so, so sorry we're late," he said, once he had the equipment safely in place. "Everyone … this is Laszlo Mahnovski, the head of Apple's robotics R&D department. Laszlo's who I had to meet this morning … and the reason I couldn't be here first thing. Laszlo, this is Sarah Walker, the scientist I've been telling you about, and Ellie Bartowski, my sister."

In shock, Sarah stepped forward to shake Laszlo's hand. "Thank you so much for coming. I—I can't believe you're here. I don't really know what to say."

His handshake was firm but brief—completely professional. "It's my pleasure," he said with a grin. "Chuck and I go way back. He's a great guy. I'd do anything for him. Luckily, what he asked me to help him with was right up my alley. Now where's that baby dolphin I've heard so much about?"

Attracted by the commotion, Echo, who'd always been highly social, had swum over to the dive platform and was looking up at the crowd. Eden hung back a bit, hiding behind her mother. The moment Laszlo got close to the edge and said hello, Eden ducked beneath the surface, clearly overwhelmed.

Laszlo straightened back up, looking transported. "I've never seen anything like that in my life," he said. "Dr. Walker, thank you so much for this opportunity. How many people get to meet a dolphin that's less than a day old? I'm truly honored."

"You're welcome," Sarah said, darting a glance at all of his equipment. "And I have a feeling that the honor's going to be mostly mine … what in the world did you guys bring with you?"

He shrugged. "Chuck wants it to be a surprise, so I really shouldn't—"

"Hey, man." Chuck walked up next to Laszlo, dropping a hand on his shoulder. "You're not telling Sarah our secrets, are you? Because you swore you wouldn't say a word. Plus, it's my turn to meet baby Eden. Stop hogging all my dolphin time."

Laszlo mimed zipping his lips. "I keep my promises, Bartowski. I was just telling Dr. Walker that you'd sworn me to secrecy. And here … the baby dolphin's all yours. If you can find her, that is. She's kinda shy—and I can't imagine you fancy another dip in the tank to seek her out personally."

Chuck sighed. "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

Looking gleeful, Laszlo shook his head. "Not a chance." He stepped back to talk to Lou and Ellie, leaving Sarah and Chuck on their own.

They stood in silence for a moment, looking at each other. Then they spoke at the same time.

"Sarah, I really am sorry—"

"Chuck, you didn't have to do this—"

Both of them ground to a halt, and Chuck gestured at Sarah, his lips curving upward. "You go first."

"I was just going to say that you didn't have to do this—bring the head of Apple's robotics department down here to meet me. I mean, it's amazing that you did. I'm … stunned. But I—it's just a little—I wasn't expecting anything like this."

Chuck looked embarrassed. "Ah, don't make such a big deal out of it, Sarah. Laszlo's just … Laszlo. We're old friends from way back. I mean, yeah, when you put it like that—'the head of Apple's robotics department'—it sounds pretty fancy. But Laszlo's my buddy. And trust me … he wanted to help. You heard him—he said it was his pleasure."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at him. "You're full of surprises, Chuck Bartowski."

"Well, I had to do something to make up for being late. Although I wouldn't have been late if it wasn't for Laszlo, so it's sort of a Mobius strip of responsibility, if you think about it …"

She snorted. "I've never met anyone who used the term 'Mobius strip' in a conversation before."

His face fell. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No," she said softly, her eyes on his. "It's not. It's … perfect."

He lit up. She had no other way to describe it—it was like someone had turned on a light behind his eyes. "Well, then I'm glad I said it. Now can I please meet Ms. Eden? The suspense is killing me."

"Oh! Of course. But it's like Laszlo said—she's really shy, not used to people yet, so don't expect…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down into the tank. Eden was bobbing right at the edge of the platform, in front of Echo, gazing straight up at Chuck. Sarah hesitated to anthropomorphize the dolphins, but there was no way around it: Eden looked … enraptured.

"Wow," he said reverently, kneeling down. "Aren't you incredible? I'm Chuck, Eden. I think we might be spending a lot of time together—maybe even becoming BFFs."

The little dolphin stared at him—and then dipped beneath the surface of the water. Chuck swiveled to look at Sarah, still on his knees. "That was so cool. She was looking right at me, did you see?"

"I did," Sarah said—just as Eden popped back up again. When Chuck didn't immediately respond, she slapped the surface with her pectoral fin to get his attention, showering him with water.

He blinked the droplets from his face, turning back to focus on Eden. "Did you just … splash me?" he said, his tone hovering somewhere between teasing and wonder.

In response, she hit the water again—and then paused, staring at him, as if waiting for him to take his turn.

"Oh my God," Chuck said, his voice just above a whisper. "She's playing with me, isn't she? Does she want me to splash her back?"

"I think so." Sarah sounded equally overwhelmed. "She hasn't interacted with any of us yet, Chuck—let alone done something like this. Go ahead … give it a try."

Carefully, Chuck reached down, cupped his hand, and sent a spray of water in Eden's direction. The little dolphin's mouth opened wide in what looked like a smile.

"Holy shit, Bartowski," Laszlo said from behind them. "You're a goddamn dolphin whisperer. I wonder why she ignored me?"

As Chuck opened his mouth to respond, Echo brought her own pectoral fin down on the water, soaking Laszlo from head to toe. Then both dolphins dove and streaked across the tank, disappearing from view.

Lou giggled. "Like mother, like daughter, huh?"

Laszlo just sputtered, and Chuck got to his feet, trying desperately to keep a straight face. "Don't worry, buddy," he said. "I've got a change of clothes in the car. And even better, now I've got some ammo on you. Make fun of me all you want. But you just got pwned by a freakin' dolphin."

OoOoOoOoO

Chuck couldn't help gloating about the way Echo had drenched Laszlo. The guy had given Chuck such a hard time on the way over, asking him how it was possible that he was so uncoordinated, he'd fallen into the dolphins' tank. When he'd muttered that he'd had a little help, Laszlo had laughed even louder. "Still smooth with the ladies, I see," he'd said, clapping Chuck on the back so hard, Chuck had nearly swerved off the road.

Even though Laszlo spent his days working in IT, he'd been in the Navy before he'd been honorably discharged and gone to work at Apple. With his toned build and the weekend rugby marathons he played with other veterans, he didn't look anything like a stereotypical IT geek—and he knew it. He had a huge heart … but he also loved giving Chuck shit for his ineptitude with women.

Chuck hadn't said a word about his feelings for Sarah. He hadn't had to. The moment he'd explained to Laszlo what he wanted—and how quickly—his friend had started chuckling. "It's for a girl, isn't it," he'd said without a hint of a question in his voice.

"A woman," Chuck had said with what little dignity he could muster. "She's a woman, not a girl. And yes, it would make her really happy if I could pull this together—but her research is fascinating, Laszlo, really. If you could just meet the dolphins—"

"Oh, her research, huh." He made it sound like a dirty word. "Always happy to help a dude out with his commitment to research, Bartowski. I'll see you first thing in the morning."

So here he was, and Chuck was grateful—but he'd definitely been paying the price … right up until the moment that Echo had seen fit to drench Laszlo from head to toe. Now the guy was giving Chuck a seriously dirty look, as if Chuck had made it happen—but sometimes even nerds had their day.

"Okay," he said, trying to call the meeting to order as Lou handed Laszlo a towel. "Want to see the rest of what we brought?"

"I don't know," Laszlo grumbled into the cloth. "I might get electrocuted."

Chuck ignored him, looking instead at Sarah, who nodded enthusiastically. "But Chuck," she said as he set the rack that would hold the server blades at the rear of the dive platform, "can we talk about what just happened with Eden? It was incredible. I've never seen anything like that. I just … it was amazing."

Chuck blushed, and Laszlo, who was standing behind Sarah, Lou, and Ellie, gave him a wicked grin. "Amazing," he mouthed.

Ignoring him was becoming more challenging by the moment. "Um … I guess so. I just—I didn't do anything special. I just talked to her. It was all Eden, really."

"Sarah's right," Lou said. "It was amazing. Chuck—you've never worked with dolphins before?"

He shook his head. "Only on the IT end of things. All I did right now was say hello, I swear."

"You and baby animals." Ellie looked like she was trying to suppress a laugh. "You still have your mojo, I see."

"Baby animals?" Laszlo sounded vastly entertained.

"Never mind." All he needed was for Laszlo to hear about the puppy calendars Chuck had had as a child. The seam of humor he could mine from that would be endless. "So, you'll recognize this stuff," he said, hastily beginning to unpack. "It's everything I had yesterday, plus some additional cameras—see?"

Sarah examined the new cameras, looking impressed. "Chuck," she said, "how much did these cost? And why did you need more?"

"Don't worry about that." He scrubbed a hand across his jaw. "Maybe I can get a tax write-off or something. As for why I needed them … I wanted to get accurate, 3D measurements of the dolphins' movements and behavior in real time."

"Okay," Sarah said dubiously. "And what's all the rest of it?"

"Oh—we brought a server rack and waterproof access points so we could facilitate hard-line communication with Morgan. I'd rather not risk anything to wireless transmission, plus the access points will enable us to set up a secure, standalone mesh network rather than tapping into the Aquarium's system."

"Of course you did. What else would you bring?" Lou's eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"Don't mind Chuck." Laszlo gave her a careless grin. "Sometimes he forgets that normal people don't speak geekinese."

Chuck glared at him. "Look who's talking! Anyway, we're planning on donating all of this to the cause—it can stay here, if that's okay with you. It'll allow us to catalog and remotely monitor what's going on with the dolphins … I can install an app on everyone's phone if you want."

"Sure, it can stay," Sarah said. "And I'll talk to Dr. Beckman about getting you that tax write-off. This is so incredibly generous, Chuck … I don't even know what to say …"

"Don't say anything. At least not yet." He knelt down, opening the flight case. "I'm actually a little nervous to show this to you … I hope you like it …"

He undid the flight case's buckles and opened the lid. Inside was what he'd worked on all night—what he and Laszlo had collaborated on for hours before driving to the Aquarium. It was what had made them late—but he really, really hoped it would be worth it.

A shocked hush fell over the assemblage. Then Sarah said, "Chuck … is that … did you make … what have you done?"

"It's a baby dolphin," he explained. "Well, not an actual baby dolphin—obviously. It's mechanical … a housing for the speaker, hydrophone, and some other knick-knacks, so hopefully the other dolphins will identify with it and not find it upsetting. I call it the 'Intersect'—because it'll hopefully be the intersection between humans, animals, and machines."

"Can I … can I touch it?" Sarah sounded awed.

"Of course."

She knelt next to him, gazing at the construct of the baby dolphin, nested in a perfect cutout of rigid foam. The remote control was tucked next to it, firmly secured in its own cutout.

Gently, Sarah reached out and ran her index finger over the 'skin' of the mechanical dolphin. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh my God. It feels so real. How did you do this?"

"I had help." He nodded at Laszlo. "Do you like it?"

Her face was bright with happiness—but then it clouded over. "Of course I do. It looks amazing—and I can't begin to imagine what it can do. But Chuck—if I thought the cameras cost a lot of money, this has to be … well, I have no idea what it has to be, except for a lot. My grants won't cover this, and I know the Aquarium can't underwrite it. If you were hoping to be reimbursed for your expenses…"

He shook his head, eager to reassure her. "No, Sarah—you've got the wrong idea. I'm not looking to be reimbursed. I did this because … because I wanted to. Really. I mean, that tax write-off would be great, but otherwise—please don't worry about it. I haven't had this much fun in a long time."

Laszlo—damn him—started laughing again. "You'll have to forgive Chuck, Dr. Walker. He doesn't get out much."

"Knock it off, Laszlo. Sarah, I mean it. And honestly—I'm more excited about what this little dolphin can do, coupled with what I was able to accomplish with the upgrade I finally finished making to Morgan's AI. I've been working on it for years. I uploaded it last night and tested it out a little bit. I think it could be a real game-changer for your project."

Both Lou and Sarah looked stunned. Ellie, on the other hand, looked the way she always did when Chuck prioritized working obsessively on something over sleep—somewhere between irritated and proud.

"I don't think we should try the Intersect out today," Chuck said. "I mean, you and Lou are the experts, but after what happened yesterday, I think it's too soon to put anything in the tank that might cause any of the dolphins stress—even Finn. That's why Laszlo and I were late. He's a robotics genius. After we doublechecked everything and 'skinned' the mechanical dolphin's exoskeleton—not to mention the hundreds of servos, gears, and other stuff that's packed inside—I wanted Laszlo's help on tweaking everything so that the Intersect moves through the water as realistically as possible. I mean, it won't do us much good if this little thing looks great but swims like a motorized log."

Lou and Sarah both nodded—albeit reluctantly. "Much as I'd love to see this in action," Sarah said, straightening, "I think some peace and quiet for Mom, baby and Dad would be wise. But how do you know it works, then?"

"Here." Chuck grabbed his laptop, logged in, and opened a video file. "Laszlo and I shot this clip this morning, at the beach. I guess you could call it the Intersect's maiden voyage. Take a look."

He took a step back so they could see, feeling even more apprehensive than before. What if Sarah hated it?

On the screen, Chuck—wearing board shorts and a T-shirt—walked the dolphin automaton out past the breakers and bent to place it in the water. The tripod-mounted camera panned to show Laszlo standing on the beach, a remote control in his hand. He waved at the camera—then switched the robotic dolphin on.

"Holy crap," Lou breathed as the automaton began to swim through the water. "That's unbelievable … it looks so real. If I didn't know it was a robot, I'd swear it was an actual dolphin. Isn't it fantastic, Dr. Walker—Sarah?"

Sarah's eyes were wider than Chuck had ever seen them. Spots of color burned high on her cheeks. "It really is," she said as the video switched to a split screen. One POV showed Chuck making his way back to shore; the other showed the dolphin's POV, via the dual high-resolution cameras he'd installed behind its eyes.

Over the sound of the waves, they could hear Chuck tell Laszlo to execute the 'automated playtime' subroutine. The dolphin reacted instantly, splashing the water with its pectoral fins, leaping out of the water, diving deep and then resurfacing.

"That's just a rudimentary demonstration of what the automaton can do," Chuck said, feeling as if he needed to apologize for its performance. "In this setting, here, we'll be able to utilize the full mesh network that, of course, we didn't have in place on the beach. The controller is just a failsafe. I've actually designed the automaton so that Morgan will eventually be its 'pilot'—his AI will be able to control the device's thousands of micro-inflections in real time. Before I give the AI full control, though, I want to get the results of the MRI and EEG testing and upload them into Morgan's system. That'll give Morgan a better sense of how dolphins really think and interact with each other. I think it'll be much more effective."

He came to a halt, looking at each of their faces. Sarah and Lou still seemed flabbergasted; Laszlo was his usual insouciant self; his sister seemed pleased but unsurprised. No one said a word.

"Um," he said, forging onward, "so … like I was telling you … what I'm really excited about is Morgan's upgrade. I think now, Morgan should be able to correlate a lot of the key sounds from yesterday, as well as from some of Sarah's previous recordings. If everything goes as it should, it'll be able to translate some of the dolphins' identifying sounds for certain individuals and objects—like, their names for each other and maybe even their toys … things like that."

"Really?" Sarah grabbed his sleeve, cheeks flushed with excitement. "When can we try it out?"

Her enthusiasm was infectious; he couldn't help but smile. "In a little while. Just let me and Laszlo finish putting everything together." He handed her the remote control. "In the meantime, do you want to mess around with this?"

Sarah, Lou, and Ellie spent the next thirty minutes experimenting with the mechanical dolphin's micro-inflections as he and Laszlo hooked up and networked the server blades. Once they'd finished connecting everything, Chuck placed the hydrophone back in Finn's half of the tank and set up an open-air omni-directional microphone. When that was done, he set a small portable speaker and his laptop on a collapsible rolling cart they'd brought with them and maneuvered it closer to the edge of the platform.

It was do-or-die time. "Okay," he said, turning to Sarah. "Can you please come here and call for Finn?"

Looking as anxious as Chuck felt, Sarah knelt down and slapped the water with an open hand. Moments later, the male dolphin turned from the viewing window, where he was investigating the visitors, and arrowed toward them. He popped his head up next to Sarah and gave a high-pitched chirp.

Oh, God. The moment of truth. Behind his back, where no one could see, Chuck crossed his fingers.

A voice emerged from the speaker setup on the rolling cart. "Sarah," it said, in the tones Chuck had assigned for Finn. "Sarah … Sarah … Friend."

Sarah's mouth dropped open. "Chuck, did he just—"

"Hold on one second." Chuck's heart was beating so hard, he could feel it in his teeth. "Lou, could you switch places with Sarah—and bring that bucket of fish over here while you're at it?"

"Sure." Lou grabbed the bucket and knelt down next to Sarah. "Here, buddy," she said, tossing a fish to Finn.

The dolphin opened his mouth wide to swallow it—and then whistled again. This one was slightly different—lower-pitched. "Lou," the speaker translated. "Lou … Lou … fish … Finn."

Lou stared at him, frozen—but Sarah shot to her feet, her face streaming with tears. She launched herself at Chuck, throwing her arms around him and hugging him so tightly he could barely breathe. "Thank you," she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you … thank you … thank you…"

Chuck wanted to tell her she was welcome—but he couldn't speak around the enormous lump in his throat. Sarah fit perfectly in his arms, her breath was warm on his cheek, and he didn't ever want to let her go.

A/N: This chapter was so much fun to write—a peek-a-boo splashfest between baby Eden and Chuck; a dolphin-shaped Intersect; and Chuck and Sarah's first hug … what could be better? Maybe Chuck and Sarah's "date" will finally happen—if Laszlo can keep his mouth shut long enough to quit giving Chuck a hard time. Stay tuned to find out!

As always, thanks for reading—and please keep your reviews, follows, and favorites coming our way! They really do make this all worthwhile.