Activated Pt. 21

"I was worried you created a willy-wonka elevator and we'd be flying over the city right now."

"Don't be silly, this is restricted airspace, too close to DC. Here's the shelter. Originally it was going to be just a safe room but this is much better. A master bedroom, 3 smaller ones, one for the cats if it comes down to that. Laundry room, exercise room, kitchen, pantry. The air is filtered and can be set to recirculate, UV lights kill germs down here when nobody is here. We have a tap into the well from here and a heat pump system, generators to run it too. Anything happens, you can live quite comfortably down here."

Mom mumbles, "Now I understand the joke about the NDA."

"Isn't this a bit much Sandy?"

"Dad, I was thinking about home invasion when I designed it, a famous artist living all alone sort of thing. Yes, this is a setup that can sit out zombies attacking or war but this is the sort of thing you want to get right the first time, not be thinking about what you missed as the hordes of mutants are breaking down the doors."

I lead them to the security room. The monitors are displaying the yard and some of the public areas of the house, one monitor is tracking the drones as they orbit the house. "Here is the brains of the house. I have a smaller system upstairs, it helps but is mostly a decoy, this is where the action is at. It watches anyone approaching the house using the drones orbiting, there are 6 of them now and they trade out to charge, we had a lot more but Becca and I built better replacements."

"The new batteries?" Dad asks with a tilt of his head.

"Yes, this was a project I was working on for some time but with Rebecca working with me we had a breakthrough. The two of us work well together, she is amazing."

"Let's show you the upstairs of the house." I went up to one of the pads on the wall. "I put in an interactive map and the other day I had Michael install the light strings, it should work but I forgot to test it. This will lead us to the master bedroom entrance." It worked and we found the elevator without issues. "This mini elevator is super quiet and runs on an uninterruptible power supply, a battery that kicks in if the power is cut so it will always allow you to escape down here.

We make our way up, the elevator isn't huge, maybe 4-5 people can fit in here. We come out inside the closet of the main bedroom, I checked to make sure before I picked this exit that they made the bed. "Down the hall here we have the 4 lesser rooms including the cat room which also has an entry to the shelter. We have a few more ways into the shelter downstairs, there are biometric protections, not just knowing where the doors are."

"Last stop is the pool."

We make our way downstairs and back to the pool that sits at the back of the house.

"I know, it looks a lot like ours, and on behalf of high school Sandy I want to thank you for it. I do have one big trick we put into this one." I raise my voice, "Parnassus, night swim." I bundled a few commands into one.

As it happened the other day the solarium darkened to a star-filled night sky and the sound system surrounded us with the noises of a tropical island. The pool illuminated from below.

"There is limited voice control in the house, I'm working on that."

Mom and Dad are impressed.

"Parnassus, reset pool area. Let's see if the pie is ready.

It was, apple and a raspberry apple, plus a few different types of ice cream.I sat next to Mike, "So how was the game?"

"I like football, I just don't follow it. It was fun to sit with the guys I guess.

After dinner I called everyone in the main room before they resumed watching football.

"Parnassus, play Thanks112824 on the living room TV."

I turned around to watch Calliope's face which started as one of surprise to pure bliss. As it replayed the proposal she was crying and giving an uncomfortably strong hug to my brother. As it ended she turned and gave him a kiss.

"I wasn't going to top Jen's but I wanted to capture it as best I could."

She came over and gave me a kiss on the cheek and a hug too.

"It's on the main media server, I'm looking forward to seeing it committed to canvas."

I got another hug out of that, I'm quite enjoying this.

The guys went back to football, we went back to the table and talked, I stopped by the freezer for another bowl of ice cream, caramel swirl. It was a very good Thanksgiving, we topped last year.

Calliope PoV

I'm engaged. Michael isn't my boyfriend anymore, he's my fiancé. This ran through my head all this weekend and I had a goofy grin the whole time. Maybe the only time I didn't act like that was on Friday when I went to the studio and looked for the right frame to paint. I couldn't decide. After staring for too long, I decided to let my artist-brain decide. I looped the part where he was proposing, after a fresh cry of joy, I picked up the brushes and checked out.

"Calliope, you were focused for one hour and 34 minutes. Michael Card is in the living room. Lockdown is deactivated."

I take a look, there are some similar elements of the painting of Jen's proposal, clearly my artist-brain likes those parts. There is a glow around us and of course just taking it in you feel the warmth of love between them, between Michael and me.

I carefully bring it down to the place on the first floor where I am storing the finished ones. Grab a juicebox from the fridge. Darn you Sandy, you got me hooked on these things. At least it is pure juice with no sugar added.

I get to the living room and plop on the couch next to Michael.

"How did the painting go?"

"Good, I'm going to rest for a bit then go for a swim, want to join me?"

"Gee, twist my arm."

We watched some football, his arm around me while I recovered my strength. I don't think I ever mentioned it but I watched a lot of football as a teen with Dad, I've secretly followed the Patriots for years. One of these days we might go to a game and he'll be a little surprised at who comes out to watch, I'll save that for another day.

Maybe 20 minutes later we head back to the pool.

"Oh, want me to run up for suits?"

"Why bother?" I pulled my practical 'I'm painting today' dress over my head. As I was making my way into the shallow end I called out "Parnassus, lock down the house for now, no entry unless authorized by Michael or myself. Also night swim." The tint came up, and the soothing sounds surrounded us. Michael was dressed a little more complicated but he shortly joined me in the pool. I didn't get any laps done that swim and I was very fine with that.

+-+-+

Sunday morning I went with Michael over to his parent's house. We were going to drive the kids to the airport in the van.

I got a hug from Mrs. Card and a lecture to call her Lily, still working on that. Our engagement didn't make any difference, every time I saw her she gave me a warm hug. I was part of this amazing family long before my path to daughter-in-law. Darn it, can't keep crying, keep it together.

Michael talked to his mom about moving over, it seems they caught on weeks ago. He is planning on finishing out this semester in the dorms, and going to see how his schedule looks for next semester.

We dropped off my wonderful friends at the airport, it's only going to be a few weeks but I miss them already. Before she headed out I got a chance to talk to Sandy, she agreed she would run any major changes in the house by me. Apparently there are a few code optimization tasks she has set for herself which she is going to work on, you fight the battles that you can win.

+-+-+

Monday I relaxed but stayed conscious. Made a call to Heidi. I figured I would share the news and see how my surprise picture was received.

"Calliope! It is so good to hear from you, how are you doing?"

"Pretty good. The major bit of news is that my boyfriend Michael is now my fiancé Michael."

"Wow, I saw him taking care of you at the showing, that one is a keeper."

"He proposed to me about a year after we met. I had made friends with his sister Sandy and she brought me home for Thanksgiving. He's a wonderful man, studying to be a lawyer over at George Washington."

"Taking after his father." I remember that they have been social friends with the Cards for years.

"I also wanted to check if the package arrived."

"Was quite a mystery till we opened it, we hung it in the hallway outside the kids rooms, was the only way to settle the argument on who's room would get it. My husband wanted to take it to Washington but I shot that down. He settled on a framed copy of the picture, thank you for the digital ones, they are all amazing."

"I'm so glad you liked it, it caught my eye and I had to paint it for you."

"Are you going to have a showing next month?"

"Yes, again the 28th, it is a Saturday. I'm still deciding whether or not I'm going to go, this one is going to be a madhouse. I'm told that the tickets are getting snapped up by some bigwigs already. If you and the senator want to go, that shouldn't be an issue."

"I will let you know, I think the plan was to stay down south here but you never know."

"Just keep me in the loop, I have a little influence with the gallery." We both giggle at that.

"I have to get going, congratulations I am so happy for you and Michael."

Yep, going to have to invite them to the wedding, heh.

The rest of the day I just relaxed with my K-dramas on Netflix until 3pm. One of the highlights of my week is when Tina brings over Cassy.

We have established a schedule, the first hour at least is homework and healthy snacks, then a swim. As much as the regular Mondays are a hit it seems the college kids were great with her, an extra special visit. Their tutoring resulted in her acing a number of tests last week. She insisted I let them know, I am going to video call them before they leave.

We cover the homework and swim, lots of fun. We dried off as Tina was finishing up. I brought them over to the TV in the living room. In a few minutes I saw my old apartment, granted I didn't stay there too long but it does look like the current residents are customizing it a bit more than I did.

"Hey there Rebecca are the others around?"

"I think Sandy and Jennifer are in their rooms studying, I will get them."

She comes back with the other girls. "Hey Cali, let's see it." I hold up my hand to the camera. "Well we have Nenya and Nilya, can Narya be far behind?"

I see Sandy look at Jen in shock. "You know the names of the three rings of the elves??"

"I'm not as big a geek as you but I read books."

Oh this could go on for some time, "Girls, someone has something to say."

"Hi, I just wanted to let you know I got a 100 on both my math and science tests last week thanks to you, Betsy and Michael."

"Thank you Cassy, we are glad we could help, we should be back around Christmas if you have anything else we can help with. We had fun hanging out with you." They clearly hit it off well. We finished off the call so they could get back to studying.

"Cass, can you head out to the car and get buckled in, I need to talk to Miss Bard for a minute."

She skips off to the garage.

"I know I said it before but thank you so much for this. Mondays are the highlight of her week and I think the tutoring is really helping. Last week all I could hear about was your wonderful friends, that they are so smart."

"I'm glad she had fun, I think I can honestly say that the college kids really enjoyed Monday also. I got really lucky, I have some really amazing friends."

"Oh, and congratulations?"

"I forgot to mention that, yes, my boyfriend Michael proposed at Thanksgiving. He's still going to school but will probably see him around here a bit more. That's okay?"

"Fine by me, I just clean up the messes. I'll see you Wednesday."

Sandy PoV

"Good afternoon Miss Card, do you have a moment?"

"Just got out of class, I can talk."

"We have a few documents for you to review and sign along with your partners. It is just putting on paper what we discussed. We sent it to the email you provided."

"I'll take a look at it when I get home."

"Thank you. We look forward to working on this."

I disconnected and text Dad, "Is it a conflict of interest to talk with you about when I got from Taylor about the patent application."

"Well, debatable. The concern you would have is that I would be put between the firm and my daughter. I did look at the documents but had no hand in crafting them, it is a fair deal. It gets us through the process and pushes into the future any legal fees in exchange for using us for any future licensing discussions, which will potentially be exceptionally lucrative. It locks you in for the later action. If you later want to go to another firm it gets complicated."

"Speaking as a partner, it won't come to that, this has such a huge upside you will get the best treatment possible."

"And speaking as Dad?"

"Dad thinks it is a good deal, our firm is expensive but we'll deliver."

"Thanks Dad, I'm going to gather the girls when I get home."

I retrieve the bike from the garage and head over to the engineering building to pick up Becca. I pull up and she is talking to a few people outside the engineering building, her helmet in hand, backpack on one shoulder.

She sees me and starts to walk to my bike, everyone waving. A few months ago she was punching holes in walls and now the only time I don't see her with a smile on her face is when she is concentrating on something. I feel really good about that.

"I think we need a treat today, any ideas?"

"Ice cream."

"I like the way you think, Rebecca. Let's hit the store on the way home."

We overbought, we are girls in our early 20s that don't have to worry about our weight, we came home with 6 flavors, three toppings, three tubes of whipped cream and a package of sugar cones. I figure we do a cursory glance at the contract, mostly trusting that Dad wouldn't let them mess with us. Then celebrate with cold sugary goodness.

We get home and pack away the ice cream, we have maybe 30 minutes before Jen gets home. I pull out my phone.

"Hey, is this campus tech support?"

"Hi Sandy, what are you up to tonight?"

"What time do you get off work?"

"Uh, 8pm."

"By 8 Jen, Becca and I will all be sugar high, almost anything can happen. Want to swing by?"

"Alex going to be there too?"

"Yes, but no way he can handle us all by himself."

I can almost hear him thinking about this.

"I'll take a ride over."

I know, we just got back from Virginia last night but I think he'd enjoy this little party too.

"Hey Becca, I invited Mike over after he finishes work, want to touch base with George?"

"No."

"No? Something wrong?"

"I'm not sure, I have a bad feeling about dating him."

"Oh no. Been there."

"I talked to the Rabbi because it was on my mind but we couldn't figure it out. Any chance I can convince you to help me scout a shule locally?"

"[I believe I have told you I'm with you when you need me. Count me in.]"

"[You are wonderful Sandra Penelope; how lucky I am to be your friend.]"

"[Right back at you Rebecca Adriel.]"

Rebecca has a bad feeling about George, it could be anything but I'm now looking at him as a potential enemy. That pie he made was not good enough to save him if he hurts Becca.

Jen and Alex get home a few minutes later.

"Get a little dinner so you feel like a responsible adult, we picked up ice cream for after. Also, I've got the contract from the lawyers displayed on my computer, we're going to need to sign it."

"I'm still not sure why you are linking me in on this, I didn't do anything with the battery project."

"Jen, you provided support, you are a silent partner. Your job tonight is to eat ice cream with us."

"Well, I'm good at that job."

There really is no downside to adding her in, this technology fell into our lap, it only makes sense to share this with Jen.

We checked over the paperwork, printed it out, signed it and scanned it back in for me to email back. Now we sit back and wait, probably a few months before anything of note happens, we need to be made aware of. It is time for a party.

We broke out the ice cream and by the time Mike showed up to join in the fun we were as close to drunk this crew seems to get, a sugar high complete with giggling. I really enjoyed myself, this was just a fun evening about nothing at all.