The Gift: Chapter 8 Monday night

I.

"Fen, Daddy?" Kim's tired, worried mind tried to function. "It sounds familiar, but..."

"How about Vivien Porter and the stolen A.I.?"

"Of course I do. Now I remember, he was the man who tried to steal Dr. Porter's invention."

Dean and Barbara looked at the Possibles curiously.

James twisted his coffee cup. "You wouldn't have heard of him." He answered his friends unspoken question, "It was an in house scandal at the space center."

"Dad, I thought you said that Fen was clueless when it came to robotics?" Kim's eye's widened, "Besides, what did Ron ever do to him to deserve this? All Ron did that mission was save me and dream about Zita."

"What does Zita have to do with this?" Barbara asked in confusion.

"Oh, nothing, Mrs. Stoppable, Ron was crushing on her when that mission happened is all."

"OK, " Dean said, "that tells us when the mission occurred, but what does it have to do with Ron?"

James cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him. "Kim, when I said 'clueless' I was being guilty of exaggeration. Dr. Fen was a good organizer and a very good manager. What he lacked was even a spark of originality or inspiration. If someone else came up with the idea and basic design, Fen could fabricate it and get it into production. He just couldn't invent it."

Kim looked enlightened, "I did wonder how he got to be head of robotics if he was clueless, but I guess you don't have to be inventive to be a good manager."

"True, Kimmie cub, but what I'm getting at is this; did you ever wonder why Dr. Fen risked all he had accomplished to steal Vivian's design?"

"Not really, I just assumed he was another evil crook, just a small scale one if I thought about it at all." Kim puzzled.

"I found out why." James hands clenched on his cup, "It really made it hard to fire him but we didn't have any choice."

Dean and Barbara were following the revelations of ivory tower scandals with fascination.

"So this Fen stole another scientist's idea and got fired for it. I thought only evil businessmen did that, not you high brows." Dean gently teased his friend.

James flushed in embarrassment and irritation, "I realize that I and my colleagues sometimes walk around in another world, Dean, but we're human, all right?"

The Stoppables grinned, Kim gave her father a semi supportive smile.

Still flushed, James began again, "Anyway, during the in house investigation I found out why he did it. It was the money."

"What money?" Kim asked in confusion.

James drew a deep breath, "People, not everyone is into scientific research for the pure joy and fun of it. There are a lot of prizes and awards out there. For a workable Artificial Intelligence, the awards are very, very lucrative."

Dean's eyes lit up. "Like Lindbergh?"

"Right." Noticing his daughter's confusion, James explained. "You've read about Lindbergh, Lucky Lindy, flying the Atlantic haven't you Kimmie?"

"Of course I have, Daddy," Kim snorted indignantly, "I don't sleep in class like Ron." A bright blush stained her cheeks, "Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Stoppable, I didn't..."

"It's all right, Kim." Barbara smiled, "Did you think I didn't know my son?"

A small smile lit James' eyes before he rescued her. "Anyway, Kim, I'm not saying that Lindbergh didn't fly the Atlantic for the adventure, the challenge, or the glory, what I am saying is that it didn't hurt that there was a very hefty cash award for the first pilot to solo the Atlantic ocean."

"Two or three hundred thousand, wasn't it?" Dean questioned.

"Around that, plus other gratuities and endorsements. In any case, a very substantial amount for those days. But what I'm getting at is why Fen became a thief. He had a reason. What he probably considered a very good reason. Her name is Felicia Fen."

"His wife." Barbara stated firmly.

"His daughter." James corrected. "Fen and his wife got a pretty nasty divorce about a year before the incident. Fen felt about Felicia like I do about you, Kimmi cub, and to have her taken away almost destroyed him. On top of that, he was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer about four months before the theft. Fen wasn't rich, neither was his ex-wife. He wanted to make sure that his Felicia had everything a girl needed after he was gone."

"How did you find out about all of this." Dean asked.

"Part of it came out during the investigation we held after Fen left. We wanted to find out if he had stolen any other devices or ideas. Nothing, a clean slate, only that one time and it destroyed him."James sipped his coffee, "But I later talked to a colleague, one of Fen's few friends. Dr. Ashton told me that Fen showed up at his house one night, half drunk, and told him the whole story. He said all Fen could do was worry and cry about his daughter. It was the last time Dr. Ashton ever saw Fen. He died about a month later. Ashton told me all this after Fen's death."

Kim finally broke the uncomfortable silence, "OK, Daddy, I kind of understand why Dr. Fen stole the device, but that doesn't tell me why you think he did this to Ron, or how he was able to."

"We don't know that he did, Kim, all we have right now is circumstantial and supposition. Dr. Fen owned the house on Cherry Tree Lane. He had the necessary knowledge and ability to construct and program the robots. Rather than say Fen did it, I would say he was the number one suspect."

"But, why..." Barbara questioned.

"Motive. We don't have any idea. Kim is right, If revenge were the motive, she or Dr. Porter or I would seem more logical. Also, there's timing. Why did the attack happen now? If it was Fen, how did he cause it to happen six months after he died? We don't have the foggiest idea."

"But, Dad...that's...that's"

"Chief Steffer is going to tell Wade everything I've told you, Kim, everything we've learned. But I don't think motive is something even Wade can discover by hacking."

"So," Dean sighed heavily, "three steps forward, two steps back."

"Essentially."

Anne Possible finally spoke, "Then all we have is patience."

"And prayer." Barbara added.

II.

Kim suddenly jerked to her feet. "Wade, you said Wade, Daddy."

The four adults looked puzzled. "Of course, Kimmie, I told you we're giving him all the info we can."

"No, Daddy, not the investigation, Ron."

Mrs. Dr. P's eyes quirked in amusement. "Kimmie, I think Ron has enough injuries without Wade trying to 'hack' him."

"Mom, you don't understand, Wade can scan Ron with the Kimmunicator. He might be able to give you the data you need."

Mrs. Possible looked skeptical, but both Dean and James sat bolt upright. "You mean like Dr. McBain in Space Passage?" Dean beat James to the punch. "That was so cool."

James grinned at his friend, "I didn't know you were into that genre, Dean."

"When I was a kid, I dreamed of being Capt. Dirk," Dean grinned back, "chasing all over the universe, fighting the bad guys, exploring new worlds. Of course, the hot babes in mini skirts and boots didn't hurt either."

"Too true, buddy, that Mubarek, man would I have loved to communicate...with...her..."

James finally realized that he and Dean were the targets of three identical frosty glares. He and Dean wilted. "Yes, well, uh, Anne, is that even possible?"

Anne's eyes told James this little incident would not be forgotten, but she answered his question. "Not with current technology. You saw how many monitors and machines we had Ron hooked up to."

Kim turned to her mother hopefully, "Mom, I've seen Wade use the Kimmunicator that way before. He's scanned Ron and I quite a few times and he's always been right."

Mrs. Dr. Possible looked both hopeful and angry. "If Wade's device can do that, why hasn't he offered it to the medical community? Do you realize how many lives a portable device like that could save?"

"I don't know, Mom, but maybe Wade can tell us." Kim pulled her Kimmunicator out but before she could punch Wade's call, the familiar tone went off. Beep Beep a Beep.

"Kim!" Wade's agitated image almost shouted, "Why haven't you called? I can't get anything off the hospital net, and the Chief doesn't know anything. Why haven't you told me what's happening with Ron? He hasn't... "

"No, Wade," Kim soothed, "Ron's not dead, and I guess he's as well as can be expected. But I was about to call you to see if the Kimmunicator could scan him for my mom."

"No, Kim, it can't." Kim looked stricken, her mother resigned. "If what the chief has told me is correct, in order to scan Ron the Kimmunicator would have to get too close. What ever is happening with Ron would suck the energy from the batteries, and that would be mega energy. I don't know if Dr. Possible wants to chance that or not. But," Wade's smile was smug, "I modified a communicator I was working on for Ron into a Diagnosticator. It has enough power, since it doesn't have to have a screen or some of the other functions, to stay at least twenty feet back. If you'll let your mother see, Kim, the Diagnosticator should be coming on line right about,now."

The screen split into two sections. On the top was a picture of Ron, the bottom contained three graphs. Anne Possible expertly read the device as Wade's voice said, "Will this help, Dr. Possible?"

Anne looked at her daughter before answering. "Wade, what is the accuracy of this data?"

"96 to 98 per cent, Dr."

"Why haven't you patented this?"

"I have Dr. Possible, but when I tried to get it licensed, for some reason the FDA has thrown up all kinds of road blocks. It'll be another five to eight years before it's generally available."

Anne looked as angry as Kim had ever seen her, but she took a deep breath to calm down. "All right, Wade, when this is over I would like to run some private tests, with your permission, and we'll see about how long it takes. In the meantime, I think that glow around Ron is getting weaker. Can you change the angle just a little so I can see if he's still floating."

"Done, Dr."

"It looks like he has come down, he's barely above the sheets now, he was three inches up. I wonder if the effect is wearing off."

"No idea, Dr. but if you'll keep close to Kim, I can feed you the data constantly."

Anne suddenly looked tired, "People, it's almost midnight, and it's been a long day. I suggest we all make one more trip up to Ron, and then we go get some sleep." The others at the table suddenly felt the hours hammer them. Only Kim's youth let her object, "Mom, I'm staying."

"No, Kim, you are not. Check and see if your friends are still here, and let's go."

Wanting to argue, one look at her mother's determined eyes halted her. "All right."

As they stood, a shout came from the Kimmunicator, "Dr. Possible, look!"

Holding the device so they could all see, Kim asked, "Wade, what happened? Did you lose the video?"

"No, somebody shut off the hall lights, give me a minute and I can give you infra red, but...wait." The picture reappeared as the lights came back on. "Now that was strange, have there been any black outs in Middleton lately?"

Anne answered absently, "The hospital has it's own power supply, Wade. Can you give me a close up, it looks like there's something on Ron's chest."

The lens switched rapidly to telephoto and a close up of Ron's blue glowing chest filled the screen. "That...that looks like a sword." Barbara whispered.

"How did it get there? Who brought it?" Kim wondered. As the five watched the screen, Wade's voice sank to a whisper.

"Dr. Possible, I think somethings happening." The image shrank to show Ron's entire body. "Look at the glow, it seems to be concentrating."

The blue flash blinded them for a moment before Kim could shout, "Wade, I thought you weren't getting close."

"I...I...I didn't, Kim. The last picture my slow mo shows is a blue tendril reaching for the Diagnnosticator."

"Wade, I hope you are not saying what I think you're saying." Mrs. Dr. P. whispered.

The shaken tech shook his head. "Sorry, Mrs. Possible, but I think what ever is in there just drained my device."

Without another word, the five ran for the stairs.