The Rescuing

  While getting a checkup from Doctor Orion, Lady reminded me in her own minimalist way that she was anxious to see our children and her neice. So I contacted our usual sitter, Stephanie, to find out where they were.

  So after finding that out, I filled in Lady, Ruby and Sandy; promising Lady that we would all go see our family in the holo-suites once Doctor Orion is done with Lady's and Ruby's complete checkups.

  Then while Orion was giving the women their exams with Sandy present, Atilla and I left the room and waited just outside the door to give them some privacy.

  While we waited for the women, I contacted Volodja and Wolfram to fill them in, saying, "Volodja, Wolfram, I hope you haven't gone to too much trouble getting a conference room set up. Lady really misses our family and wants to see them right away and Ruby is still insistent that she stay by Lady's and my side. So if you have no objections then there will be another change in venue.

  Stephanie informed me that Atika opened a 'beach party' holo-program to the entire beach. So she took the twins there to play in the sand, or in Caprice's case to throw sand at everybody and giggle hysterically about it. So once thw checkups are done we will be headed to the holo-suites. Wolfram tends to say people need to relax so they will open up. So perhaps this will make Ruby more comfortsblw...that is unless the old goat's relaxation advice was just s way to get me to stop yelling at idiots who deserve nore than just a tongue-lashing."

As my group headed to the holographic beach, Ruby said, "So people really do go to beaches to relax?"

I replied with, "The first time I heard that I didn't believe it either. However apparently in the 20th century beaches weren't dangerous and people could visit them to relax whenever they wanted. Thanks to the safety of holographic programming, the residents here have been lnown to recreate that fun as well as other types in our holo-suites.

Perhaps you would like to tell us now why you took Belle Starr and where she is. That way we will be able to spend a little time on the beach after we have discussed what it will take for you to release her or at least to give us her location so that we can go rescue her."

Ruby responded with, "of course I would be happy to tell you what I can...."

Just then Ruby grabbed her head then after just a second looked around, slightly confused, before saying, "Sorry Commander. What were we talking about?"

I said, "You don't remember? Are you alright?"

Ruby replied with, "I think so. My head ached and I felt dizzy for a few seconds, but I feel fine now. However I really don't remember what we were talking about besides beaches."

I said gruffly, "You were going to tell us why you abducted Belle and where she is bwing held."

Ruby responded with, "What? I don't understand. Why would I abduct her? I thought we were friends and allies."

I replied with, "I'm not really sure about the whys either which is why I wanted to discuss it. However it looks like thw discussiin will have to wait until you are feeling better."

As I finished saying that we arrived at the golo-suite. Upon entering, Lady quickly spotted Stephenie who was smiling while watching our twins playing with Atika, Kellina, Micfi and Chiph. Of course as predicted Caprice was indeed throwing sand and giggling as she said, "glibber showder!"

As we joined them Caprice held her hands out for me. So I picked her up and she opened her little hand over my armored head spilling sand over it and once again giggling and saying, "Glibber showder Dada!"

As the others chuckled I simply said, "Glitter shower indeed. Glad to see you having fun."

Caprice giggled and then snuggled into my chest for a hug. As I hugged her she saw Lady and held a little hand out to her and said, "MAMA!"

So of course Lady smiled and I handed our daughter to her for some mother/daughter time. Then I knelt by Cosmin and patted his head as I said, "So how about you Cosmin? Ready to say Mommy or Daddy yet?"

Without taking his attention off the sandpile that he was making, Cosmin replied with one word. "No!"

I chuckled and said, "well atleast your honest."

Then while spending time with everyone, I contacted Wolfram and Volo via EGO and filled them in on Ruby's dizzy spell and memory-lapse.Then I asked Wolfram and Volo over that private EGO channel, "So I guess the main question for s how do we go about helping a Synth fill in sudden memory lapses; which I am guessing would be caused by the All-Father to prevent her from revealing his plans or secrets too early."

"I agree with you," replied Volodja. "Ruby is a sensible being, it is indeed an ethical matter and thus we need her approval. We aren't in open confrontation with All-Father and she is our guest so we must follow the rules of hospitality. She is also an envoy and thus she has diplomatic immunity. But everything I said also means that if Ruby needs any kind of medical, psychological or technical help, we can provide it. Especially when she asks for that help. Or at least accepts our offer to provide it. By the way - if it happens to be a technological issue, as Atticus assumed, then I already have a suggestion about the fix. What we need, is a tin foil hat."

I mentally replied with, "A tin-daking-foil hat?! What good would that do? Tin doesn't protect from such strong signals...Dak you meant that figuratively didn't you?Obviously you have something in mind so go ahead with it. I never have any idea where Lena is, nor do I know where Whitney is. However we do have other tech and scientist specialists around here. For instance I understand that Chris Robet has been in Haile's lab helping her upgrade some of her equipment lately. Stephanie informs me that Pyoter is also in Haele's lab. So perhaps you can start there. Once you have them working on whatever you have planned then feel free to rejoin us here in the holo-beach.

After all you are the one who brought up hospitality. Since Ruby requests staying with Lady and myself and they both want to enjoy the beach, I suppose that is where we will be for awhile. Now as it will obviously take awhile for them to make whatever you have in mind, perhaps you can have Lena or one of our other tech specialists add a form of program shielding to the holo-suite so that Ruby is at least protected from anymore of the All-Father's interference while she is in the holo-suite. That way she is protected from further memory-tamperings while your device or whatever is being built. Also feel free to suggest to your Aunt Agatha that she could come hang out on the beach awhile longer. After all I am guessing you could use a slight break from her...and I promise I won't hurt her with the twins present, since she doesn't pose a threat to them. I can't promise I won't yell at her if she gets too inferiating though."

After my mental conversation with Wolfram and Volo, I started to help Cosmin make his sand pile. As I was doing so Dinara asked if she and Amber could come out and enjoy the beach as well. Naturally lady and I both gave them permission. So they popped in wearing swimsuits and ran off to spend some time together. As the newly reunited young couple were running off to spend some time together, Attila and the other teens and their EGOs retreived their beach ball and wnet back to playing with it in the shallows of the ocean. Caprice hugged Lady then pointed to the ground and said, "Down Mama. Play gliber again!"


As Lady knelt down and put Caprice in the sand she gently said, "Sand not glitter."


Caprice shrugged her little shoulders then stuck her toungue out at Lady and giggled as she crawled over to me and Cosmin. Then she threw sand at us saying, "San glibber showder!"


As she burst into giggles again, Caprice then proceeded to help her brother with whatever he was trying to make with his sand pile. So as we watched the little ones all play and Kara came over and sat her son down to play with them, while her daughter and Lexy chased after each other, I stood back up and helped Lady back up. Once standing, Lady reached up and rtemoved my helmet to reveal my masked face. Then after setting my helm on a nearby picnic table, Lady gave me a wonderful kiss which I very happily recipricated.

While the children played, lady kissed me and I held her to me for a little longer. Then she excused herself and Ruby so they could get into more appropriate beach attire. Lady also suggested I get more comfortable to which I replied with, "I am comfortable the way I'm dressed."

Lady raised an eyebrow and gave me her patented smile as she said, "Sand in armor comfortable?"

I said, "alright I'll remove the armor. I'll even stow my side-arm, but keeping my boot-knife."

As Lady and Ruby left Lady said sweetly, "deal. One knife, no gun."

After the women left I excused myself temporarily. After stepping out of the holo-suite, I went to the closest security station. Then I removed my weapons, gear and armor. After stowing and securing them in a secure locker, I readjusted my jumpsuit mask and gloves. Then i resecured my boot-knife to my leg.

Once that was done I returned to the holo-suite, not at all surprised that I returned before the women.

  Once that was done I returned to the holo-suite, not at all surprised that I returned before the women. So I returned to the children and my niece Kara to talk to her and just hang out on the beach even though all who know me, know I would rather be in a battle simulation or somewhere else that kept my adrenaline pumping and kept me busy.

  However as I was thinking that something else happened that got me moving. One of the Base crew started yelling that somebody was drowning. Looking around quickly, I mentally said to Dinara (through our EGO link), "Where are the lifeguards?!"

  She responded with, "This program was originally made for a small number of people so only 4 holo-lifeguards are on duty!"

  As I spurred into action and started running toward the beach, I mentally responded to her with, "Access the program and active MORE lifeguards!"

  While she was doing that and I was running quickly towards the water, I heard my Grid Kakusi in my head saying, "Well fleshling it looks like you get to play hero and be lifeguard! Lucky for you! Back into action! Too bad your outfit is wrong!"

  As I was running toward the water, I mentally snapped, "Who cares?! Besides no time to change!"

  As I neared the water he responded with, "The Compu-sister is not the only one that can access the holo program so let me fix it."


  Just then a trident appeared in my hand and gold-plated armor appeared over my jumpsuit to which I responded with, "Kakusi damn it! That's Aquaman NOT a lifeguard!"

  Kakusi chuckled in his crackling electricity way, then as my feet hit the water, he made another quick outfit change. I was now wearing red shorts and a red jacket over my blue jumpsuit and had a lifeguard rescue buoy in my hands. I quickly removed the jacket, then dove into the water. Before long I had swam out to the victim and began the process of bringing them back to shore. As I was doing so, Attila saw the commotion and notified Medical. So as we were getting back on shore, Medic Jameson and a small med team came in to check on the person and deemed that he appeared fine but she still insisted he go back to Medical with her for an actual checkup just to be sure. So with her insistence they headed to Medical.

  As they did, Lexy and Marla brought my (holographic) lifeguard jacket back to me. So I shook the sand off it and put it back on as Lady and Ruby came back in. As they approached us they both raised a brow and I said, "No big deal just had an accident that Kakusi felt required an outfit adjustment."

  Lady smiled as she adjusted my jacket collar and replied with, "Red, perfect."

"That protective shield is a good thing per se," said Volodja. "But we could try to add an additional program which allows us to screen All-Father's signals by their frequencies, sequences, patterns and other parameters to enable us identify and neutralize those which might be the cause of those aforementioned memory lapses. Different types of signals have different features even if those differences are slight."

"You mean that there might be several signals?" specified Chris. "Like signals to test the communication chain?"

"Sounds logical," said Haele. "Using the working communication system only for one purpose would be one sided and that leads us to the conclusion that blocking all signals at once might be too radical. Blocking only certain signals is a rational solution."

"So we agree that acting first and doing the research later is out of the question," told Volodja. "First we set up the smart shield and use the information we gather to improve the whole thing and then we can build the personal shield for Ruby."

"Yes!" shouted Chris who saw a new opportunity to test his inventive skills. "I'll start right away! As soon as I find Brody to help me out with programming!"

"One more thing before you go," warned Volodja. "We must build a device which isn't too big, too heavy and is designed with taste. I can't imagine Ruby walking a round wearing something which looks like a diving helmet. Actually I can but I'd rather bridle my imagination. Take it as an additional challenge."