Schaeffer Lodge

Swiss Alps near Zermatt, Switzerland

July 11th, 1980

The day after Waldo found out about General Fedorov's plan, he decided not to take his chances and headed back to Switzerland. His wife Antea later came home from her second job, which she took to help support the future child. She went to the master bedroom to find her husband sitting on the bed with his face buried in his hands, crying softly.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Did it not go well?"

"It's all lies, Antea." Waldo said. "Everything I've worked for is based on lies."

"I don't follow." Antea said.

"In 1974, I was employed, along with three others from East Germany and others from the Warsaw Pact countries, by the Soviet Union to work on a supercomputer project, known as Project Carthage, that General Deniska Fedorov said would be beneficial to both sides of the Cold War. Instead, he was using us to destroy NATO's computers so he could destroy the United States."

"You work for the Soviet Union?"

Waldo nodded. "And now we're stuck doing this job until Fedorov gets his way."

"You don't have to." She said. "You can stop this now, start a new life and raise our child."

"He'll kill us if he finds out." Waldo said

"Then we'll make sure he doesn't."

"What do you mean?"

"We're going to stop Fedorov and put an end to Carthage once and for all."

"How are we going to do that?" Waldo asked

"The same way that Fedorov plans on destroying the U.S." Antea said. "With our own supercomputer."

"What do you know about computers?" Waldo asked

"Mother taught me a lot."

"Then let us begin." Waldo said. "But first, we're going to need some help."

Back in East Germany, Noel and the Ackley brothers were already doing finishing touches on Carthage 01, their supercomputer. Suddenly, Noel got a telegraph from Switzerland and immediately responded to it.

"Well who is it?" Thomas Ackley asked.

"It's Mr. Schaeffer." Benjamin Noel said. "He said he wants us to go to Switzerland."

"But why?" Patrick Ackley asked

"All I know that it is a matter of dire importance." Benjamin said. "Now let's go."

The next day, the three scientists showed up to the Schaeffer Lodge and Waldo and Antea told them everything.

"Fedorov's using us as a weapon." Waldo said. "If he gets his way, hundreds of millions of people will die."

"That's terrible." Thomas said. "We have to do something."

"We've already thought of that." Antea said. "Using my knowledge on computing and Waldo's and yours knowledge on Carthage, we can build our own series of supercomputers to intercept Project Carthage and stop Fedorov's evil plot."

"Wait." Benjamin said. "You want us to start a computer war against the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union here in Switzerland."

"That's correct." Antea said. "My fellow scientists at NATO have already agreed to help finance and build their own supercomputers for our project: Project Scipio, like the general who led the Roman Army against the powerful nation of Carthage over 2000 years ago. Today history repeats itself."

Within the next few months, the five had hollowed out an empty space underneath the lodge; this served as their laboratory. For the first year everything went well. However, on April 6th, 1981, Antea had collapsed while working on one of the circuit boards. Waldo had noticed this while working on the scanner and ran up to her; she was immediately rushed to the hospital.

A few hours later, one of the doctors came into the waiting room and walked up to Waldo.

"Mr. Schaeffer?" The doctor asked

"Yes?" Waldo said. "Is my wife going to be okay?"

"Your wife is just fine. Your daughter is, too."

"My daughter?" Waldo said surprised. She had been in childbirth for the past few hours.

"Would you like to see her?" The doctor asked.

"Yes please."

He then walked into the room where his wife was. There he saw her lying in the bed holding a small bundle in her arms. Waldo looked closely and saw his infant daughter wrapped in a blanket.

"Would you like to hold her?" Antea asked.

"Yes." Waldo said picking the baby up from his wife's arms. "How are you feeling?"

"Just fine, thanks." She said. Waldo then looked back at his child.

"What shall her name be?" He asked.

"How about Aelita?" Antea said.

"Such a pretty name." The doctor said. "How did you come up with it?"

"It just came to me." Antea said.

She then turned to her husband and smiled; Waldo smiled back.

A few days later, the two came home and continued their work on Zama, the name they had given to the Scipio supercomputer in Switzerland. However, the two found it difficult to juggle their project and their newborn child. One day, Waldo proposed that they find someone else to help them out.

"But who can we trust to keep our secret? Nobody in Switzerland can even find out about this, especially with them being neutral territory." Antea said. "Not to mention where we're going to find someone who has the intellect to even comprehend our project."

"I know just the person." Waldo said.

A short time later, he headed to the post office in town and wrote a letter to a certain someone who he had been speaking to in secret for the past eight years asking him to come out to Switzerland for 'a small visit'. The person being none other than his little brother, Anthony Schaeffer.

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