“The National Guard has extended its western perimeter of Denver by seven point three miles.”
“That bad, huh?” Howard began to get very uncomfortable.
“Yes, sir. One of the roads on our route is now inside the perimeter.”
“Can’t we just go off-road?” Howard was not looking to add two hours to his round trip excursion to see Meredith.
“I’m sorry to report, sir, that given the terrain, the delay would remain the same and the ride would not be comfortable for you. Would you like me to take us off road?”
“I would not, Old Man. Do what you think is best.”
“Of course, sir. Would you like me to continue with the morning news report?”
“Sure, why not.” Howard was not planning on paying attention, but he did like to hear Hal’s voice. It was the only thing that made him feel like he was still at home.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. Hal completed his morning report, and Howard watched his favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled “The Inner Light.”
Once the episode ended, Hal informed his creator, “Sir, we will arrive at Beck Castle in twenty-three minutes.”
“Thank you, Old Man.” Howard replied.
The name “Old Man” was also a Star Trek reference, but this one didn’t derive from The Next Generation. On Deep Space Nine, Captain Sisco gave his friend Dax the nickname “Old Man.” Dax was a symbiotic creature that required a humanoid host. When the host died, another host was required to carry the symbiant. Captain Sisco first met Dax when a man named Curzon was the host. A woman named Jadzia carried the symbiant when the older host died. Sisco had called the first host “Old Man” because the host was actually quite elderly. He continued the nickname with the younger woman; it was a source of amusement for them both and the nickname stuck. Howard had to explain to Hal why he had given him a nickname; Hal did not understand the connection. Hal told Howard that he was neither old nor had a gender. Howard just gave up and told him to respond to both names. Hal obeyed his creator.
“Give me a status report on Beck Castle.”
“Yes, sir. I have prepared the Manor for your arrival. Director Thornberry’s office sent the quarterly shipment last week, which will be properly inventoried and secured in the warehouse. The air filters in the east wing are in need of minor repair; replacement parts are en route, and I will install them upon arrival. The new bay doors to the landing pad have been installed per your instructions.”
“Excellent. Where is Her Highness?”
“Meredith will meet you in the usual place, sir.”
When Hal came online, the basement of Howard’s mansion housed his massive mainframe. Realizing that Hal was one of the most important inventions in the history of the world, Howard began to grow very paranoid that his creation would somehow be destroyed. As a very expensive precaution, Howard had a top-secret facility built beneath a mountain thirty miles northwest of his home. Upon completion, Hal’s redundant backup systems were moved into the facility. Nine hundred zettabytes of data chronicling the history of mankind kept Hal company in his secondary home. Copies of every word ever written, every painting ever painted, every image of everything ever filmed, and everything about everything was stored in Beck Castle. The sprawling, underground complex could withstand a nuclear detonation directly atop it. Nothing in the world could destroy it. If a million years from now mankind became extinct, a new species could then spend another million years evolving into sentience and discover the facility. Hal would let them in the massive front door and in a few generations would finish telling their descendants everything they wanted to know about their long extinct predecessors.
When the facility was completed, Howard bumped down a few notches on the World’s Richest Person list. It was of no consequence; a few years later he took back the crown. Howard built the facility as an ark for the survival of mankind.
Hundreds of people could live in the complex for generations before they exhausted the resources Howard had provided. He had seen the latest intelligence on the Iranian’s infamous Bunker Five in Afghanistan and wouldn’t wipe his own ass with the blueprints if he ever came across them.
Howard and Hal designed the geothermal power plant that could keep Hal running inside Beck Castle until the end of time itself. If planet Earth exploded, Howard liked to imagine Hal floating inside the bunker. Howard envisioned Hal spending eternity traveling through space, waiting for some alien race to discover him. Howard debated on whether or not to share the technology of his power system with the rest of the world. He decided against it, fearing people might somehow make the connection to Beck powering some secret facility. The survival of the human race, especially the survival of Hal, was far too great a risk to gamble. Nothing in the world was more important to Howard than Hal.
Howard had kept the facility a secret from his own government and with much pain, from his dear friend, Malcolm. Should the time come, the president would be ushered to the facility to live with his friend, Howard. The superbunker was built in separate stages around the world. Each company was completely insulated from each other; Hal saw to that. The people building their piece of the puzzle had no idea what the completed picture looked like. Hal and his robots did the majority of the construction. If any stage of construction required human hands and eyes, they were searched for any recording or GPS devices and put on a windowless plane. Upon arrival, they would be blindfolded and escorted into the facility by one of Hal’s robots to complete their work. Howard compensated them well, so all the subterfuge was not an issue for those involved.
The massive underground super-bunker took twelve years to build. A year after the completion of Beck Castle, the top-secret facility was under the supervision of its first caretaker. Mrs. Beck was crowned as Her Royal Highness, Queen of Beck Manor. Howard loved calling his wife “Her Highness” and really couldn’t figure out if his wife liked the term or not.
Twenty-three minutes later they arrived at the secret garage that would take him down to the complex. Howard considered the garage the Batcave; he felt like Bruce Wayne every time he entered or exited the mysterious opening. The helipad was not far away. The floor of the desert would suddenly open up like something out of a James Bond movie. A platform would rise up to receive incoming craft and would then lower into the facility.
Howard exited the vehicle and told Hal to disable all communication. He wanted to speak with his wife in private. He was not looking forward to explaining to his wife why he had not come to see her in such a long time and didn’t want Hal to record the event.
Howard grabbed the bouquet of his wife’s favorite flowers and walked the short distance to the beautiful garden he had built for her. He swallowed his pride and hung his head as he walked over to her.
Howard Beck collapsed on his wife’s grave and began to sob.
CHAPTER NINE
Years before Richard Dupree became an inmate at Highland Valley State Prison and a white supremacy group sunk their claws into him, he awoke in his home on a cold Sunday morning. He rolled his fingers along the smooth, brown skin of his gorgeous wife. The two had been together on and off since their sophomore year in high school. As his fingers ran down her back, she stirred and let out a barely audible moan of pure contentment. She drifted back into her peaceful slumber, and Richard rolled over to look at the alarm clock. Still had an hour before the alarm would sound and they would have to get the kids ready for church. Richard had spent much of the previous night in the bathroom thinking about how the events of today would unfold. He had a big day planned.