Activated Pt. 21

My brother comes in looking dapper.

"Michael, I have 15 very high-end drones in the workshop we no longer need, I'll get you manuals and such, want to make a buck selling them on eBay?"

Big sister assigning another task, probably would have pushed back on it if Calliope wasn't here.

"Maybe get the guys to help you. You can probably get $200 plus each."

Calliope takes out the quiches, they smell pretty good. After they cool down we dig in and spend about the next hour eating and catching up. Michael is doing good over at GW. We bring him up to speed on things in North Carolina.

Breakfast done, we gather the 4 new sound dampers and head to the bedrooms. I didn't have to use my Ninja climbing skills for this task but it was unfortunately much more difficult. I didn't plan out the possibility of an upgrade, we had to pull out sensors and the old main units. Then wire in the new system. And I will need a few minutes to update the house to use it.

Blew through lunch and finished up around 2pm. I went down to the shelter and used the terminal in the security room to update the code while Mike and Becca went to see if there was any lunch left. I could see them on the kitchen monitor making sandwiches. Up through the wine cellar to join them in the kitchen. I noticed a few bottles of wine down there, I guess a wine cellar without wine is a waste.

"Hey there, the code is in, we need to test them after lunch."

Well, I guess this is why we test, they didn't turn on and I spent another few minutes looking for my error with Mike and Becca looking over my shoulder.

I was taught a little humility, I missed a lower case 'l' that was supposed to be a 1, Rebecca spotted it. Error corrected we went upstairs using the elevator to the master bedroom. It was my first time in the elevator, Rebecca got the tour on the last visit.

"Wow, this is something else."

"Well, if there is an emergency and you are in your bedroom, we needed a way to get down to the shelter where it is safe. We didn't do that in every room but there's one in the cat room too. Once you lock down there are biometric scans to make sure you are on the trusted list and don't have someone forcing you in." All rooms tested we headed downstairs.

Just before 3pm a car pulled into the garage and we met Tina and her daughter Cassy.

"Oh hello, I didn't know you were going to have to have people over."

"Hello Tina, these are my college friends. Sandy, the overachiever I talked about, her boyfriend Mike and Rebecca. They are up this week and came over to hang out, don't worry, we can watch Cassy. Why don't we get a snack and the fancy college kids can help you with your homework, then we can go for a swim. Wait till you see a trick we can do with the pool room."

Assured her daughter was going to be taken care of, Tina headed off to do a walk through and see which parts needed attention. We spent maybe 45 minutes tutoring Cassy on 6th grade math and science, all the while Calliope captured the moments with her charcoal and pad. Around 4pm we finished up tutoring and got changed for the pool. Calliope did whisper to Becca and I to make sure the suits were modest. I make a wave down the front of Becca and me, "There is only so much you can do with this."

We did think ahead, the suits that Becca and I brought were quite modest. Becca actually wore what looked like a dress with bike shorts. Mine was like one of the ones the Olympic swimmer's wear. I actually like what she has and I'm making a note to pick a similar one up.

Soon we were all in the shallow section of the pool, playing with newly bought pool toys. My trick with the solarium impressed Cassy and Tina when she checked in. Alas that is about it, I can play games with the tint but that is it. The sound system can play all sorts of music and sounds through speakers hidden all around the room.

Eventually we got out and unlike the workshop, we did think of putting a fridge out here for refreshments.

Cassy was all smiles when her mother dropped by to take her home. We all got hugs as they were leaving.

"So, every Monday you babysit Cassy and swim with her?"

"Well, sort of worked out that way."

"I guess we don't have to worry about you sleeping through Monday."

My brother jumps in, "I didn't tell them."

"It's fine, I do admit, having someone come by every few days was part of my plan to keep you all from worrying. How did the last upgrade go?"

"Noise canceling in place, we didn't plan to replace it so it turned out a little tougher. Is there anything else we can help with while we're here? Ikea stuff to assemble?"

"Nope, I think a quiet night with my friends will finish off this little visit."

We ordered delivery and settled in for a movie.

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Back to home on Tuesday we spent the whole day with the batteries and our notes. Rebecca knows that this is important but I don't think anyone really grasps the scope of it.

Wednesday morning we got ready after our run, the plan was to go in with Dad, maybe walk around the capital and Uber home. Rebecca doesn't seem nervous, I am a little on edge, if we get this right it will be life changing. Just another major life change I guess.

Dad got us signed in at the security desk, I'm glad to see that the security standards are still the same. Dad led us over to the elevator, both of us carrying boxes of notes and a couple of sample batteries.

"Girls this is Taylor Cross, she will be helping you out today." He paused, "Taylor, can you swing by after you finish up the girls?"

"Certainly sir." Dad heads down to his office. "So, what do we have here?"

"We have developed the formula for a rechargeable battery, it is vastly superior to current lithium ion batteries. The energy density is several orders of magnitude higher, and our tests seem to indicate cycle life is about 70% higher as well."

"This is something you developed independently?"

"Yes, Rebecca, an additional member of our team and myself. This represents months of research with a leap forward in progress when Rebecca joined the team." Yes there's a little exaggeration there.

"I see, and your goal is to patent and license this invention?"

"Miss Cross, this technology has a world impacting potential, one of the key things holding back some of the green technology is the ability to store energy, this does that very well. The rights to this technology need to be secured."

Miss Cross is starting to grasp the scope. "I get it. I have a question for you, we do have some experience with patent law but if it becomes necessary we may need to bring in a specialist to work on this."

"That sounds fine."

"Well this sounds very exciting, we'll get right on this. We have your contact information so we should be able to keep you in the loop."

"[What do you think?]"

"[Sandy, this is a little beyond my experience. I'm going to trust that you have this figured out.]"

We headed over to the Smithsonian via the Metro, we actually managed to take a picture of the sign saying an exhibit was coming soon, I sent that one over to Calliope 'insert masterpiece here'. We hit a couple of the other museums, you always have to go and see the airspace museum. We got a simple lunch from all the food carts and walked over to Congress. I should have planned it better, we might have been able to get a behind the scenes tour.

About 2:00 I received a text from Dad, "Swing by the office if possible, otherwise I can talk to you at home."

I guess we will just take the Uber there then home after. We made our way back and got fresh visitor passes. We found my father in his office glaring at some papers.

He looks up and his expression changes, "Hello Girls, how was sightseeing?"

"Good, saw the Capitol and Smithsonian. Do you have news?"

"Yes, Taylor ran it by a tech expert we have, they became animated it seems. Because of the holiday they won't get back to you till Monday but we'd like to move forward and they would like to offer that the costs be deferred against future licensing. Basically we expect that once you get this locked in you will be able to pay the firm back for its efforts."

"Any interest?"

He smiles at that. "I'm sure that is open to negotiations. They are also going to lock in using us as your legal counsel."

"I don't see that being an issue, I am quite fond of one of the senior partners."

"This is going to take a few months, we'll try not to impact school if we need you physically. Are you fine with us shopping it out a little?"

"We're going to trust the experts."

"Okay. And you know I will not be involved on the firm's side, conflict of interest. Taylor is very good, she'll take good care of you. I think she sees this as a path from junior to senior partner, don't tell her but she'd be right. This could be huge, going to make some stars. I just wanted to let you two know the latest."

"Thanks, we're probably going to head home and relax. We'll see you later."

"Thank you Mr. Card."

As we are driving back it started to really hit me.

"I'm going to take a nap before dinner, today tired me out."

"Ok, I might take a swim, that was kind of fun Monday."

"Make sure you mention that to Calliope, you would not believe the pushback I got when we added a pool to the plans."

I swing by the great room and see Mike studying, he is really going to give me a running for highest GPA this semester,

"My room, asap." I whisper as I walk by.

When he gets to my room he makes the mistake of asking questions, "How did it go at the lawyer?"

"No talk, undress." Why didn't he see this as a possibility? He should know me by now. "Faster, I don't have issues destroying clothes and buying the replacements." I'm naked in bed at this point, the noise canceler powered up.

I pull him and feel myself getting frantic, the possibilities for the batteries have put me in a frantic mood, poor Mike didn't see it coming. Not fast enough, I dive under the covers and take him in my mouth, a few seconds of expert attention and he's ready. I need to stop, every second now steals from when I get him in me and if I keep going I will have to wait for him to recover. I pull off him with an audible pop and swing around to get on top. I put him in me and I'm moving back and forth on top of him, I'd love to drag it out but I can't stop, I hit the climax and start to shake. As I come down from the high I am just lying on top of him, both of us catching our breath.

"Hey Sandy, doing fine?"

"Wow, thank you. And the lawyer went pretty well." I slide off and we look into each other's eyes.

"Never a dull moment with you for sure."

"I do like to keep you on your toes."

"I'm going to guess it went really well to get you so worked up."

"The lawyers are excited, I think they know how big this could be, the Abrams-Card battery."

"Oh, giving Rebecca top billing?"

"Alphabetical, I haven't actually said it out loud till now. I reserve the right to insist on a bow and arrow logo. Ooooooh, I can have Calliope design it."

We got dressed again for dinner. Dad never talks about work but tonight he did, I guess this project is the talk of the office suddenly. It will probably take a year but at least I know it will be handled right.

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Thanksgiving! One of my favorite holidays, and this year is shaping up to be the best yet, which I didn't think was possible after last year which was pretty good. After the morning run I actually got on my computer before going back into bed, I have been working on something just for today and it was time to enable it.

Today we're going to get a big 'surprise' out of my brother, I don't want to depend on being able to capture it on our cell phones. I have the house set up to track Calliope after she leaves her bedroom, it should capture in high def what happens. There's a small percent chance that he will give it to her this morning in the bedroom but I figured accidentally making a sex tape would be unforgivable so I'm going to take that chance. I figure I'll trim the video down to the actual event before I let her know that I was spying on her. 'oh look, the house's systems just happened to catch your magic moment, what are the chances?'

That complete I figured I would try to get another hour of sleep, quick breakfast and over to help setup lunch.

By 10:00 we had gotten changed and had enough of a snack for breakfast to last us to lunch, we loaded up the van and headed over. Tons of hugs when we got there and right to cooking. I suspected that the first lesson she got from Mom was delegating tasks in the kitchen. I was assigned the stuffing which is acceptable.

Good smells continued to fill the air as we got to 1pm when dinner would be served, another thing she learned from Mom, timing things out so we're not waiting for anything. We sat down and before eating we were going to go around the table saying what we are thankful for. Calliope was practically glowing as she told us how thankful she was for her family at the table. I looked over at my brother who arranged to go last and is looking kind of stressed, oh yeah, it is happening! As we moved around the table, we had a pretty good year. Rebecca had a touching one, if Jen was here she would have broken down, the rest of us had to fight off crying. Betsy and I got up and gave her a hug. My Michael listed a few things and finished saying he was happy that I came into his life, unseen he reached over to take my hand under the table, completely derailing what I was going to say for my turn.

Finally it came to my brother, "Ah, I'm thankful about getting into college and doing fine there. Thankful for all the new friends I made this last year, thankful my family is doing so well." he pauses a little, "I am so thankful Calliope came into my life." He stepped up from the table and took her hands to stand her up, as he went to kneel she made the connection and she was bouncing a little. "Calliope Athena Bard, I always want you in my life, would you do me the honor of being my wife." he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the ring box.

"Yes, yes, yes." Her voice seems to get higher in pitch with each yes, I think only the cats could hear her last yes. He put the ring on her finger, stood up, took her in his arms and gave her a big kiss. Most of us took pictures with our phones, I smiled, I'm going to review what the house recorded later. I use my phone to turn off recording, I don't want to accidentally record what is sure to happen when Calliope can get Michael alone.

Calliope, as the host, addressed the table, her voice was not steady like usual. "Thank you my family, why don't we dig in before the wonderful food we cooked gets cold." Dinner was excellent, and I kept catching Poppy looking at her hand. I found out it is Grandma's ring that Michael got from Mom the day he picked us up.

I took a picture of her holding out the ring and sent it to Jen. A few minutes later Alex texted me to tell me her bursting into tears was the highlight of their dinner.

Of course the question came up about when they would get married. Jen and Alex haven't set the date yet but it looks like summer after graduation, Michael didn't know but they seemed to want to wait till he has gotten through more of college. They could do it at any time, his college is covered by a trust Mom and Dad setup for all of us, not like he has to support Calliope. Not like she has to worry about some cute classmate stealing him away, I toured the campus when he was scouting schools, Calliope has them beat and she is the whole package.

I did my part cleaning up and walked down to the office in the workshop. There is a room that could act as an office in the house but Calliope doesn't seem interested in it, maybe Michael will one day use it, right now it is full of sparsely populated bookshelves. In the workshop there is a nice little area with a solid computer setup, drafting board and all the things for a home office. I usually go there to mess with the system when visiting.

I brought up the video file and lopped off everything before 1pm, if she snuck off to give Michael some attention I don't need to see that. I still can't get the time I caught them out of my head.

Next I isolate us all giving thanks at the table and make a nice video out of it. I send a copy of just the proposal to Jen, I can predict the reaction, and the full video goes up on the media server. I decided to give Alex a heads up.

"Seriously?"

"What can I say? Yes she is crying but she's also darn adorable too."

"Well, yes, there is that."

I walk back to the house, Dad and Michael are watching football, my Mike is sitting with them trying to feign interest. I find the ladies sitting around the cleaned dinner table.

"Hey there girls, are we letting the boys have a little football before dessert? We are having dessert right?"

"Yes, we have pies and ice cream. We were just talking a little bit while things settle"

"You know Bard and Card sound very similar, this could cause confusion."

"I will probably keep my name, just because there is almost no chance I won't be known as Euterpe long before we get married. I fully expect it to happen for the December showing."

"I don't think Michael will care one way or another." my Mom put in there.

"I have something to share after dessert I think you will enjoy, if that motivates us to get the pies out here sooner then so be it. Oh, and I made Jen cry today, heh."

'She's going to be emotional down with Alex's parents, probably not too tough to get her to cry."

"Alex texted me, the picture of the ring pushed her into blubbering."

We all had a laugh at that and if Jen was here she would laugh with us.

"Hey Mom, want to see if we can drag Dad away and I'll give you the tour."

"Sounds like a good idea, I will want him to review the NDA of course. Be right back."

Some mild confusion from the others at the table at that joke.

"Pie when we get back?"

"Yes, you big child."

Dad comes into the room with Mom, I see one look back over his shoulder at the TV. We head over to the workshop, this wasn't done for the housewarming and I don't think they saw it Smithsonian weekend.

"This is the main floor of the workshop, with all the stuff she is likely to dabble in. Kiln, lathe, woodworking stuff, of course an easel over there by the display where she can bring up pictures on the media server. There is a room set aside as a home office but she felt more comfortable setting it up over here by the big display. Becca and I have a workbench over there by the woodworking stuff for mad scientist stuff, well, unbalanced engineer stuff really. We just setup a 3D printer over there, like the one at the apartment, on Monday. And a recent addition, we had installed a fridge so the artist can have access to snacks, very important."

I lead them over to the elevator. "Up to the studio" Slowly, and quietly lifts us up into the studio. "So up here we have a nice studio for posing, the easel is on a platform that rotates to point at the display, take their picture digitally and then paint it so they don't have to keep a pose for an hour or so, that is new I guess, we set it up because she was painting the pictures we took on that vacation. This panel folds down to provide a bed if the artist is pulling an all-nighter, I'm not sure if Poppy knows about that, depends on where she is in the manual."

"Sandy, there's a manual?"

"Well, she sort of made a small mistake, she let me and the architect get creative. I haven't gotten any complaints."

"Back to the elevator, this is a good one."

We get in the elevator and I punch in the code. I put fingerprint scanners in the code buttons, can't be too safe. The elevator lowers to the first level and pauses but doesn't open, the security doors open and it lowers into the shelter.