Tag Archives: Daniel

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 10

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Vaughn shrugged. “It’s not like the Russians know it’s us. That’s the whole point of using the fake suit, right? Plus, even if they did, it’s not like the Russians are exactly friendly to the Turk… um… Turkmens? Turkmeni? Last I heard, the Russians weren’t saying anything nice about them at all. They’re not going to be sharing information. So no biggie.”

Amy shook her head. “Maybe, but you’ve got to think bigger. This isn’t just espionage. This is politics. If we had something their rulers wanted, I could easily see them telling us that they’ll tell the world that we were there.”

Cassie let out a breath. “Exactly. That’s exactly the sort of thing I’m worried about.” Continue reading Go Time: Part 10 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 8

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Who was the second glow? Russian Victory Jr.? Victoryboy?

The way I remembered it, all Russian superheroes were state sponsored. The ones that weren’t state sponsored were officially criminals no matter what their motivation.

A third glow appeared behind the two I’d already noticed, reminding me of something. Russian Victory was part of a group of three soldiers in powered armor. My grandfather had mentioned it was connected to Russian folklore somehow.

For the life of me I couldn’t remember the name of the group though. Continue reading Go Time: Part 8 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 7

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“What’s Izzy supposed to do with the Ferris wheel?”

Vaughn shrugged. “Maybe take a picture on it? I don’t know. It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records. She should do something funny with it. Maybe pretend she’s going to throw it, or stand in front of it with her armor saying ‘All your base are belong to us?'”

“Better yet,” Jaclyn said, “how about you let Izzy know that everything works and that she can bug out of there before someone starts firing missiles at her.” Continue reading Go Time: Part 7 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 4

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I left not long after that, finding another student waiting in the hallway outside her door. It was a guy I’d seen, but didn’t recognize–one of the freshmen.

“If you’re here for Ms. Hemming, I just finished.”

He muttered, “Thanks,” and then his eyes widened, recognizing me.

I smiled and started walking toward the labs. I probably could have introduced myself, but I didn’t want to make awkward conversation that amounted to “You’ve heard of my grandfather, and of me to some degree. Nice to meet you.”

Vaughn probably would have stayed and talked a little. He was good at that kind of thing. Continue reading Go Time: Part 4 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 2

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Daniel grunted something unintelligible, but didn’t wake up.

I imagined an air horn, an old one that varied in pitch, ranging from a normal tone to a ragged, scratchy one to a painful screech.

Then, thinking back to our fight against Evil Beatnik, I started imagining a chorus of air horns, all of them slightly out of tune, endlessly repeating the only part of Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” that I could remember—the refrain.

Daniel raised his head. “That’s got to be against the Geneva Conventions. What time is it?”

We both turned toward the alarm clock. It was 5:48am. Continue reading Go Time: Part 2 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 1

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I woke up with my head on the lab table. Wood wasn’t the most comfortable pillow. I pushed myself up, trying to remember what I’d been doing.

The satbot lay on the table. I’d finished it, tested it, and it worked. Then I’d tested the other bots’ ability to connect to it. Haley and I had tried it out in Denver, and it had managed to connect. The phonebot had managed to successfully impersonate a house’s landline, and the mobile connection bot had been tested in every way possible outside of Turkmenistan.

I checked the time on my cell phone. It was 3:42am.
Continue reading Go Time: Part 1 →

Arc 7.6: Remote Control

Remote Control: Part 4

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Izzy’s forehead wrinkled. “Why do you think that?”

“I’m not sure, but I think she may have talked to the invaders in their native language. Anyway, I know that somewhere in there Amy used magic to transform a little in their direction. Something like that. That whole battle’s a little blurry at this point.”

“I think you’re right,” Daniel said, glancing over at Izzy and then back to me. “Judging from the way she made that shield and that she can fly, her magic is pretty flexible. It’s worth a question. Who do we talk to if it doesn’t work?” Continue reading Remote Control: Part 4 →

Arc 7.6: Remote Control

Remote Control: Part 3

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I tested the satellite bot for a while, and then I started to think about the next generation of roachbot. I’d started out creating armor with the nanotech I’d designed, but I ought to be using it to construct roachbots. If I did it right, I’d only have to perfect a design, and then I’d be able to create hundreds if not thousands of them trivially.

Better yet, it would probably make for a faster design process since I’d be able to do the work within a CAD program instead of physically constructing every version. Continue reading Remote Control: Part 3 →

Arc 7.4: Burning

Burning: Part 6

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Any idea who we’d tell? I continued running, wondering if anyone was noticing the conversation.

It wasn’t as if we were cheating.

Still, there were telepaths out there who could listen in on conversations like this. Even if people agreed with the idea, one unknown listener was one too many.

I felt agreement from Daniel at that unarticulated thought. Then he answered my question.

Continue reading Burning: Part 6 →

Arc 7.4: Burning

Burning: Part 5

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The laughter faded, leaving me with a strong sense of Daniel’s presence plus a hint of both amusement and tiredness.

I was with him on all of the above.

That’s a better way to go than going over and taking over a country. It’s nice to fantasize about, but at core when someone does that, they’re assuming that they know better than all the people that live in that country. Plus, it’s a sovereignty thing. Countries have rights, or at least they ought to.

I looked around to find him. Daniel was faster than I was, but his range couldn’t cover the entire track from what I remembered.

I checked in front of me, seeing other runners, but not him.

Behind, Daniel said, and I turned my head all the way around, seeing Daniel on the curve half a lap behind me.

My range is improving.

Continue reading Burning: Part 5 →