“Yes ma’am. Everything is voice controlled.” He explained, “Your father left a password for you and your sister that will unlock the computer main frame. It will make you the primary user.”
“What is the password?” I asked sitting down in front of the screen.
“I don’t know. Your father told me that you would know the password when you returned.”
“You have got to be kidding me.” I said leaning back in the chair.
“I’m sorry. Your father said that you and your sister were the only ones to have access to the database.” He turned to walk away but stopped and looked at me, “Alice asked me to have you go and visit her in her lab. She would like to take a few more scans.” He walked away in silence before I could say anything.
I rotated in the chair mindlessly and sighed. I had no clue what the password could have been. I looked around the room trying to think of anything from my past but I couldn’t remember anything from before I was about ten years old. What I had learned so far about my father helped none when trying to figure out a password.
Nothing came to mind.
I stood, picked up my phone, checked it one more time, and put it in my pocket. I left the room. The door closed behind me and the bolts locked into the wall. The house was built like a fortress. I wondered if my father was paranoid.
I roamed the halls trying to decide where I should go and getting an idea for the layout of the massive house. I wanted to find Ryder but I had no idea where to start looking. I had nothing that I could offer at this point to The Last Line besides setting things on fire.
I found my way into the kitchen where the android named Chuck was standing with the fridge door open staring inside.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I entered the room.
He jumped and slammed the door shut. He stumbled backward, stammering but had no words.
“Whoa big guy calm down.” I said holding out my hands. It surprised me to see a robot jump like a startled child.
“I’m sorry ma’am.” He said looking down.
“I wish you would all stop calling me Ma’am.” I said rubbing my head. “I was just wondering why you were looking in the fridge.” I smiled.
“I like to look at food. I wish that I could eat it, but it’s a no go.” He shrugged.
I shook my head, “So, what do you party animals do for fun around here?” I put my hands in my pockets and rolled on the balls of my heels.
“I haven’t been able to completely grasp the concept of fun, but what I do in my spare time gives me a feeling of completion.” Chuck said emulating my behavior, putting his hands in his pockets then rolling the same way that I had.
“Well what is it you do to arrive at this feeling of completion?” I asked feeling as though I were being examined by an ape at the zoo.
“I work on your father’s vast collection of vehicles.” He said, a smile spread across his face, and he ceased the emulation.
“How many does he have?” I asked noting his excitement.
“Well he only has about thirty here, but in other garages around the country the numbers could be in the thousands. I haven’t seen them all and I am afraid that in your father’s absence, the vehicles are sure to have fallen into disrepair.” He explained, “Would you like to see?” he asked holding his hand out towards the way that I had come.
“Sure, why not?” I walked off in that direction.
I followed behind Chuck as we walked towards the front of the house but as we passed the front door he didn’t stop. We walked down the hall towards the left wing of the house where the labs and office was located. We came to the end of the hall where it appeared that the hall stopped at a dead-end. Chuck reached out and placed his hand on a seemingly random spot on the wall.
“What are you doing?” I asked but before he said anything, a blue laser scanned his hand. The wall morphed into a clear liquid and waved at his touch.
“It’s perfectly safe. Your father had a great many inventions that he was not able to get out of this house. On a daily basis he would come up with something new. He would not only design the contraptions, but he wouldn’t stop until he found a way to make whatever he envisioned work flawlessly.” Chuck explained walking through the clear liquid.
I hesitated for a second but gritted my teeth and pushed through. It was like walking through a warm breeze. It felt good making me smile.
“This gateway uses nano robotic technology and a chemical to create not only the illusion of a door, but the physical sensation that it is actually there.” Chuck explained as he turned to continue down the hallway. The floor fell at a slight decline into an underground thru-way.
We exited the thru-way into a garage that was lined like a packed parking lot with all different types of vehicles that I had never seen before. The wall behind us closed, solidifying into concrete and stone. I turned and rubbed my hand on the wall feeling the contours under my palm.
“Wonderful isn’t it?” Chuck asked.
“My father built this himself?” I asked, “He didn’t have someone else do the work?”
“Oh no, your father was only happy when he had his hands dirty. He would design as he built, and build as he designed, making adjustments, and corrections on the spot.” He seemed sad.
“Where did all of these cars come from?” I asked turning from the wall.
“Your father and I worked together to build them. I tried to build one after he left, but without him here to give me design ideas, all that I can do is make exact copies of the ones that we had already built.
“Why are there so many different kinds?” I asked walking up to a four door sedan and pulling on the door handle. It was locked.
Chuck waved his hand and the doors unlocked.
“That’s a cool trick.” I said opening the door. I slid into the driver’s seat.
“I have a bluetooth transmitter in my head.” He said pointing to the base of his skull.
“Back to my question.” I said.
“Your father was trying to do away with the world’s dependence on Fossil fuels. He designed a new power cell that these vehicles use. The fuel in the cell, some element that he discovered, can power these vehicles for one hundred thousand miles.” He said.
“Holy crap, that’s a lot. What is the element?” I asked pulling the hood release.
“I don’t know, he assembled the power cells elsewhere. We just built the cars. We spent a great deal of time down here working.” Chuck explained pointing to a cylindrical device where the engine would normally be.
“How does it work?” I asked.
“You would have to ask your father. He is the mastermind.” He explained.
“This is amazing.” I said, “But why aren’t there any of these on the road? This could solve so many of the ‘oil shortage’ problems. I mean you could power more than just cars, what about space travel?” I said excited with the possibilities.
“The Aurora Corporation.” He said slamming the hood shut and walking away. The acquisition my father’s company was obviously a sour spot for him.
“What happened?” I asked following him.
“When they took over your father’s company they shut down all projects and pulled everything off of the market. It was some kind of punishment to your father’s memory. After six months, they rebranded tried and true money makers and rereleased them.” He explained.
Chapter 27: Possibility
I went around the outside of the house still wishing to become more familiar with the grounds. There was a beautiful forest pathway and fountain. There was a court yard but I didn’t go out to it because I didn’t want to get lost. I left Chuck with the cars. He seemed a bit wound up about the mention of my father. It was hard to imagine that I would ever be able to handle robots with emotions.