Code 47 to BREV Force Cracko

Chapter 41

Chapter 41

At the same time, Brian, Evie and Brad were battling with Controller and Cracko, Martin and Vivian were dealing with Controller on their level.

During the weeks since Donatez's visit and their assignment to the I.A.S. Martin and Rosie had tried everything to find out how Controller had been able to invade their data bank, and their protected I.A.S. account, but so far, they failed to find the answer.

Martin and Vivian had immediately gathered the needed data for their research and Dr. Schmidt had expressed his pleasure at their, "jumping right in." He said he needed to clear up some loose ends at the Science Institute, and would be coming to IslandFalls in about a month. Martin probed Schmidt as to the reason the I.A.S. wanted plant biologists to solve a computer virus problem?

Dr. Schmidt explained, "The I.A.S. had tried everything known to eliminate Controller, but nothing worked. They discovered that, much like human viruses that had become immune to treatment with antibiotics, somehow Controller had developed immunity to all the anti-virus programming. The computer experts, governments and scientists of the world, had never encountered anything like Controller.

Eventually, a young computer analyst came up with an answer. He believed that Controller had somehow become sentient, which seemed to render it immune to the anti-virus software. The young man's answer was to send a biological virus into the system to destroy Controller's immunity."

Dr. Schmidt concluded, "That was where I came in. The I.A.S. approached me and requested that I suggest the best scientists for the job. I told them I believed your work with plant biotics could possibly be used to develop the anti-viral agent they needed. If the theory is correct, and Controller is indeed a sentient being, then the viral agent should render Controller harmless. Their idea seems to be that first we deal with it as a human virus and then they will deal with it as a computer virus."

Martin didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if what Schmidt was proposing was even possible. Based on the information he'd obtained from the stranger in the parking lot, about how Controller was created, his gut feeling told him, Schmidt and the I.A.S. were all wrong.

Martin was going over his notes, when Vivian walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. He knew Vivian well enough to know she certainly wasn't coming over to just examine what he was doing. He suspected that she wasn't dealing well with the twin's and Brian's involvement with Controller. Her touch told him a great deal. He stopped what he was doing, and as he turned to face her, he saw a look in her eyes that she tried to cover up. "This pregnancy really has me on edge," she admitted forcing a smile.

Martin took her in his arms and stroked her face with one hand, while he held her tightly with the other. "Yes, the pregnancy! I definitely agree! After all, your children putting themselves in harm's way, has nothing to do with that look, right?" He teased her and then immediately tried to calm her fears, "Viv, come on. Today is only a practice run, so, stop being so jittery."

Vivian smiled, "Oh Martin, how are we going to continually deal with this?"

He tried to think of an appropriate answer when the phone rang. Not wanting anything to upset her more, he immediately reached to engage the connection. It was Brian.

Martin listened and then said to Vivian, "I want you to hear this, too." He networked the call and they both listened as Brian explained what happened at the mall. He touched on the fact that their test run had turned into an actual encounter, but Brian emphasized that they were all safe. Grateful tears ran down Vivian's face. Brian concluded the call by telling them he would fill in all the details, that night."

"Are you going to cry all day, young lady?" Martin asked, as he disconnected from the call.

"I'm all right now," she laughed. "I'll get back to work. The sooner we find the viral agent and end Controller's reign of terror, the sooner our children, and everyone else, will be safe!" Vivian turned back to her station, and then realized there was something else bothering her.

"But Martin, I just can't shake this feeling that there have been too many coincidences recently. Out of millions of scientists, we are the one's selected to develop this agent, and then Controller just happened to invade our data base, and now, our children just happen to be the ones trying to neutralize Controller?"

He pondered her points, then removed his glasses, rubbed his eyes and replied, "I wish I had an answer. We have so many questions. So many things have happened that I can't explain. Maybe if we posed the question to Rosie she could run thousands of scenarios and come up with a hypothesis. But until then, all I'm sure of is that Controller broke into our files, and emptied our data base. I don't know how, and I don't know why." He paused as if looking for something positive to tell her, "The rest may all just, as you say, be a coincidence. But, I do know one thing for sure Viv, you and I, together, will somehow find the answers. For now, just to be extra cautious, we have to remember that we can't trust any of our computer records, only our manual ones."

Martin realized the day was more than his pregnant wife needed to deal with and decided, "You know what, my lady, we can work on this tomorrow. Let's go home and be with our children."