Cloud to Cloud

Episode 33: To Build an Ethereal Firewall

As Evan returned from his dinner mission, Linc's voice filled his mind once again.

"I hope you saved your work in the Cloud."

"What?" Though Evan recognized by now he was talking to himself.

Linc's tone urged him to quicken his pace as he neared Hannah's storefront.

He mounted the stairs to the second-floor and called into the apartment. "Hey! I got an odd message from Linc. What have you done now?"

Evan halted in the door to the main office space.

Still clutching the bag of tacos, he scanned the strange symbols on the walls, monitors, and people in the room.

Fred looked up from his screen. "Oh! Tacos! Yes, we've worked up an appetite."

Hannah turned from the markings she had been adding to the walls "Oh! Evan! Don't move!"

The young woman skipped across the room. She halted toe-to-toe with Evan and slapped a Post-it to his chest.

"What the-" Evan balked at the woman.

Hannah lingered a moment more with her hand on Evan's chest, closed her eyes a moment before inviting Evan into the sacred space with a sweeping gesture. "Okay. Safe. You may enter."

"It worked. We locked him out." Fred clapped his hands.

"I, I mean we..." Fred offered a wink and a nod to Hannah, "...we built a security system."

Hannah lifted the bag from Evan's grasp. "I'll go get some plates. You guys have some catching up to do."

Evan's confusion allowed him to release the bag from his grip as he turned his attention on his uncle.

"What is all this?" Evan wandered toward the note-covered walls.

"Don't touch," Fred called out as Evan's hand raised to the nearest square of paper.

"It should keep others from tripping across data in the Cloud." Fred continued. "A sort of firewall. Well, I guess, an Earth, Air, Water, Firewall." Fred snickered at his own joke.

"What has this chick got you on?" Evan scowled at his uncle.

"We're on a whole new level." Fred beckoned for Evan to be seated. "We have to be open to new levels of understanding. And, you need to do your part, now."

Evan slumped into the chair. "Yeah? What part is that? Seek out crop circles and henges?"

Fred's mouth opened, then closed again as he considered his nephew's words.

Linc's face appeared in a window on the monitor. "The task at hand first, Fred."

"Of course." Fred leveled his gaze with Evan. "Find the jerks that nuked my house. Find out everything about them. Past, present..."

"And future," Linc interjected with a smile.

Fred agreed. "That too. We could use some help from you guys." Linc shrugged.

Evan narrowed his gaze as he looked from his friend to his uncle.

"But you need to get on frequency," Linc admonished his friend. "You have a lot of catching up to do. You shouldn't be this far behind. Those meds messed you up."

Hannah reappeared with plates, a small bottle of wine, and a trio of stemmed glasses on a tray.

"It's not champagne, but I thought we deserved something to celebrate this latest discovery. It's been some time since I've had cause to use the good glassware." She checked the glasses for remaining dust.

She set the glasses on the table and removed the screw cap from the bottle of wine.

"I'm thinking a reiki session might help clear Evan's chakras so he can expand his capabilities." Hannah continued as she filled the glasses and passed them to Evan and Fred.

She glanced into the monitor at Coach and Linc. "I would offer a glass to you guys, but, well." She shrugged. "Maybe an offering table?"

The sentiment garnered a smile from all but Evan who continued to hold the glass at arm's length. "This is insane."

Evan dumped the glass back in one gulp.

"Cheers." Hannah shrugged.