“What do you mean I can’t get that scan?” Professor Ian asked.

“Professor, we didn’t think we needed to upgrade the school scanners since all Diamond Lake schools got School Unit upgrades three years ago. They’re School Units, that means that they already have impressive scanners,” Lieutenant Commander Peters explained.

“That may be, but I need sub-atomic level scans on this. I can’t get them because the School Unit doesn’t scan down that far. Now get out to that school and upgrade that system immediately. Be extra careful, though. It is a School Unit, and the kids are there. The system cannot go down for even a second, and every child must always be within the range of at least one active scanner at all times.”

“Understood, Professor. Will you be making the first contact, or should I?”

“You focus on getting what you need, and then get out to that school as fast as possible. Remember, it’s a School Unit. There are hundreds of sensors that will need to be upgraded with secondary backup systems included. Focus on where the Wishee currently is, and then where they are going to be. Don’t stop there, though. I want every sensor in that school upgraded that could ever possibly scan that child. Don’t forget the School Transport either. I lost data this morning when the Wishee was transported to school. I don’t want to lose her again when she goes home. Just be careful. School is in session. Disrupt the normal functions of that school as little as possible. Understood?”

“Yes, Professor,” Lieutenant Commander Peters said as he left the room.

“Lab,” Professor Ian commanded. “Get me the Superintendent of Diamond Lake Schools and the Principal of Diamond Lake Early Learning Center. I want a conference Com-Link with both of them together. Send with the Com-Link requests, Government IDs, and Clearance Levels.”

>>Diamond Lake Early Learning Center School Unit is routing me directly to the Principal. School System Offices are directing me to the Superintendent’s Secretary.<<

“Lab, Patch in the Superintendent when you get them.”

“Hello,” Mrs. Oster said, accepting the Com-Link. “How may I help you?”

“Mrs. Oster, I am Professor Ian, Executive Director of the Wishing Stone Society. This is going to be a three-way Com-Link with the Superintendent of Diamond Lake Schools. Are you able to hold until they Link-In?”

“Certainly,” Mrs. Oster said. “Is this regarding Milly Soffin?”

“Yes and No. I would prefer to wait until the Superintendent Com-Links in, so I only have to say this stuff once.”

“I understand,” Mrs. Oster said as she moved over to the conference table in her office.

About a minute later, the Superintendent appeared, “Superintendent Gould, how may I help you?”

The Superintendent looked around at who was in the Com-Link, “Hello, Principal Oster.”

“Thank you, both of you, for meeting with me. Superintendent Gould, I am Professor Ian, Executive Director of the Wishing Stone Society. I want your permission to upgrade the School Unit at Diamond Lake Early Learning Center and at least one of your School Transports,” Professor Ian stated.

“We have a fairly new School Unit Professor, only three years old. It is working fine, and we have had no problems with it. Why are you requesting it be upgraded,” Mrs. Oster asked?

“I have been scanning the Wishee, but I need a more detailed scan that your system can’t handle.”

“I think you have made a mistake Professor Ian,” Superintendent Gould stated. “The Wishee goes to Diamond Lake Elementary, and this is the Principal for our Early Learning Center.”

“Actually,” Mrs. Oster corrected. “The Wishee does attend my school. She is in one of our Early Learner 2 classrooms.”

The Superintendent looked confused as he looked back and forth between the two other people in the Com-Link.

“I am sure you are aware by now, Superintendent Gould, that the wish changed the gender and age of the Wishee,” Professor Ian said. “As of the middle of last night, the age of the Wishee was 4-years, 6-months old. School Unit, what is the age of Milly Soffin?”

>>Melissa Louise Soffin is 4-years, 6-months old.<<

“Good, she still is that age,” Professor Ian said.

“Professor,” Mrs. Oster asked? “You said you have been scanning a child in my school. What gives you the right to tap into our systems and use them to scan one of my students illegally?”

“Principal Oster,” Superintendent said. “I think you should activate your Com-Link identification tool. It will show you three symbols above the Professor’s Com-Link image. The first one symbolizes that this is a secure and encrypted communication. The second one is a military symbol and rank. It has been a while since I was in the military, but there are only about five people in the military with a higher rank if I recall correctly. The third symbol, however, is the one that is important here. The Professor is only asking out of courtesy. I suspect he already has a team in route to your school to initiate the upgrade. That third symbol is the Government Rank and the indicator of authority. The up arrow on it indicates that he is in control here, not us.”

Professor Ian looked straight at Principal Oster, “I am sorry I did not inform you that I was accessing your system and gathering this data. Here at the W.S. society, we try to stay in the background and unseen as much as possible. Your School Unit recognized my authority to do the scan I was asking it to do, and it determined that it could do what I was asking without any compromise to regular duties. I was not collecting any data on any children in your school.”

“What do you mean,” Mrs. Oster interrupted. “You are scanning and collecting data on Milly. She is a student at my school.”

Superintendent Gould responded before Professor Ian could, “Principal Oster, a month ago when I found out we had a Wishee in our Schools, I researched those laws. I sent a summary of my findings to the Elementary School Principal. I’m sorry I didn’t send one to you. I didn’t know the Wishee was now young enough to be in your school. Here, let me send it now. You can read through it after this Com-Link. Basically, the Wishing Stone Society can do almost anything as long as they don’t ask the Wishee what they wished for. The Professor wants to upgrade our School Unit. There is nothing in the law that prevents him from doing that or accessing the School Unit to observe a Wishee. I suspect, though, he is not observing the Wishee, or at least not as you or I would observe a child. If that is all they wanted to do, they wouldn’t need to upgrade our systems. School Units are designed to keep an eye on children and have a high level of medical and intellectual scanners. So, Professor, what are you doing that requires an upgrade to our system?”

“I’m asking your system to scan anything and everything with the Wish Particle in it. Those scans coming directly to me are at a cellular or molecular level or smaller. At the moment, in your school, the Wish Particles are only seen in one child and the memory banks of your School Unit. I believe if you look into it, you will also find the Wishee’s doctor is also doing scans collecting data on things at the cellular level and above,” Professor Ian paused for a moment before continuing. “Principal Oster, I will point out to you that many have access to your School Unit, scanning children in your school without asking you permission first. Doctors do it all the time. I’m the father of two kids. I go to a check-up for one of my kids without my child because they are in school. The doctor accesses the School Unit and does the physical. It’s a lovely system: the kid doesn’t miss any school. The kid doesn’t even know that they just had a doctor visit, so no anxiety. As the doctor explained to me, the School Unit has security protocols to only allow scans of children by authorized personnel who have a legal right to the information. The only way I could access your system and do the scans I have done is to have the legal right to do them.”

“What is this Wish Particle,” Superintendent Gould asked? “It’s in the memory banks of the School Unit?”

“Fifty years ago, we first discovered the Wish Particle. It is the substance that does the magic. Until yesterday, we never got a clear scan of this particle. Ever since the Wishee’s House Unit picked it up during a medical scan by her doctor, we have been tracking it. That is what we are observing. Your School Unit can see the substance, but I need to do some sub-atomic scans. Your system was just never designed to do something like that.”

“Not even the most expensive School Units could do something like that,” Superintendent Gould said.

“Typically, only the best Hospital Units and Research Facility Units can do that level of scanning,” Professor Ian said. “We will be replacing every scanner in your school that ever has a chance of scanning the Wishee. Every classroom, hallway, office, and outside scanners. I don’t believe I have to upgrade your School Unit, just the scanners. We will also upgrade the scanners on the School Transport that brings the Wishee to school and back home each day. We lost scanning ability when the Wishee was transported to school this morning. Don’t want that drop-off, even for short periods.”

“Actually,” Principal Oster said. “The child was transported to school today by the child’s mother.”

“Thank you for that information. I will arrange for the family’s transports to get system upgrades.”

“Professor Ian,” Superintendent Gould asked. “I assume you want this done immediately. How much of a disruption to the school will this be?”

“You were correct earlier when you assumed I had a crew in route to your school. I have given them explicit directions to disrupt the regular routines of the school as little as possible. I have also explained that the school Unit cannot go down for even a second, and every child in the school must always be within the range of an active scanner at all times,” Professor Ian explained. “Now that all being said, I know anyone out of the norm in a school building is a distraction to children. I apologize upfront for that. This really is important and critical to be done as soon as possible.”

“Thank You, Professor Ian, for understanding the needs of a school,” Superintendent Gould said. “I will send over Allen, our Director of School Unit maintenance, to help with the process.”

“Thank You,” Professor Ian responded. “It will be appreciated. Lieutenant Commander Jose Peters is in charge of the crew that will be arriving. He has instructions to start with the room that the Wishee is in and where they will be next. He will most likely have a big enough team to have some of his crew replacing scanners in empty rooms, like when kids are at music, physical education, art, and recess. If you could allow access to a schedule so they can see where to be when it would be appreciated.”

“School,” Principal Oster commanded. “Create a schedule for identification of all parts of the school where and when there will be no children.”

Principal Oster looked at the other two Com-Link participants before continuing, “Attach a map of the locations of all School Unit sensors, with information on replacement access points.”

“School,” Superintendent Gould directed. “When Lieutenant Commander Jose Peters’ team shows up. Give them full access to replace your sensors. Please make sure they are never replacing both the primary and secondary sensors for an area at the same time. If their actions in any way limit your ability to perform your duties, inform them, Allen, Principal Oster, and me immediately.”

“Am I about to have a swarm of men in military uniforms and military vehicles show up at my school?”

“Yes,” Professor Ian responded.

“I have 543 children six and under in this school that will flip by seeing just one person in a military uniform and will be all excited to tell their parents that the military was at school today. We need to find a way to make this part of their day instead of something strange. Otherwise, we will have the parents all in panic mode. What if . . .,” Mrs. Oster paused for a moment thinking, “What if we had a few of the military men go around visiting each classroom for a quick question and answer time and set up some military vehicle tours.”

Professor Ian smiled. “My youngest is 12. He would love something like that. It is a great cover story too, and public relations. Excuse me for a moment. Lab, has Jose left yet?”

>>He is at the warehouse loading supplies.<<

“Lab, Com-Link Jose into this conference.”

“Lieutenant Commander Jose Peters,” Jose declared as he accepted the Com-Link. Looking around at the group, he said, “Sir?”

“Lieutenant Commander,” Professor Ian said. “I am altering your Mission a little. It has been pointed out that no matter what we do, we will disrupt the school and community. We will need a cover story and a distraction. Principal Oster has suggested tours of the military vehicles for the kids and some personnel going into each room to answer questions. Makeup 5 teams of a male and a female soldier. Have them report to the Principal for a classroom assignment. Supply them with 560 of those Little Kid military hats we have for base visitors. Every kid in the school gets a hat, even if they are absent today.”

“Understood.”

“Bring a variety of military vehicles and leave two personnel on each vehicle to help with tours of the equipment.”

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Commander Peters replied.

“I want every kid in that school going home full of excitement for Military Visit Day at school. This is an Early Learning Center, so you are dealing with little kids. Make sure you select your personnel carefully. They can be more dangerous than anything the troops have ever encountered.”

Mrs. Oster chuckled while nodding her head up and down.

“Is there a field big enough for us to land a Planetary Explorer Vehicle on,” Lieutenant Commander Peters asked?

“We have a Starball field,” replied Mrs. Oster. “Is that big enough?”

“That would be perfect for a Z-37 Mam. Can we occupy it for the day?”

“Oh,” Principal Oster said with a huge smile. “They will be talking about this day for years. Usually, we just get the Fire and Police departments to visit. Although our students are always impressed by them, they still comment on their older siblings’ special school activities or field trips. This time, the Littles get the talk of the town event. The field is all yours. The school transports pull up behind the school. As long as it is empty by 4 pm, you can use that location for the military vehicle tours. You will also find a loading dock at the back of the school where you can unload all those sensors you will be installing. One last thing though it is Green Day at our school today. If some of those vehicles and uniforms could be Green, it would be easier to pass off that this was all planned ahead of time.”

“Thank You, Mam. I think we can arrange the Green Day alignment. Not all divisions on this base have green uniforms or vehicles, but enough do to make it a good Green Day showing. ETA is about 30 minutes. Anything else?”

The Superintendent, Principal, and Professor Ian all looked at each other shaking their heads no.

“That should cover it, Jose,” Professor Ian said.

Lieutenant Commander Peters saluted and logged off.

“Thank You, Professor Ian,” Principal Oster said. “Sounds like I have a lot to do before they show up. Unless there is anything else, I will leave and get to work on that.”

“I think we have covered everything. If you have any questions, please Com-Link me,” Professor Ian said.

“Good Luck, both of you,” Superintendent Gould said and left the conference Com-Link.

Professor Ian nodded to the Principal and vanished.

Taking a deep breath, Principal Oster directed, “School, in 30 minutes, we are having a Military Visit Day. Set up a classroom visitation schedule for five groups to visit all the classrooms, allow 30-minutes visitations with 10-minute gaps between them. Make sure Miss Kepper’s classroom is in the first rotation. Then, set up a schedule for classrooms to visit the military vehicles that will be coming. Allow 45 minutes to an hour for each classroom. I want those visits over by 3 pm. Specials, Lunch, Nap Time, and Recess have priority in the schedule, try not to interrupt them, and if you have to, do it with the older kids, not the younger ones.”

Taking another deep breath, “School, ping all teachers and adult personnel in the school that are not classroom aides, letting them know I will be making an extremely important announcement over Staff Personal Displays in 1 minute that will need their full attention.”

Mrs. Oster looked at the created schedules for classroom visits and vehicle visits, “School, update the scanner replacement schedule of empty classrooms to go with the new Military Visit Day schedules.”

Taking another deep breath, “School, send this to all the personnel I identified earlier. - - Good Morning. I am sorry for the short notice. We have a special opportunity, and I couldn’t resist taking advantage of it. To go along with Green Day, we are having a Military Visit Day! I am sending you altered schedules for today that will include times that military personnel will be visiting classrooms and when each classroom will have a chance to visit the military equipment. The Starball field is off-limits today. There will be a Z-37 Planetary Explorer Vehicle parked on it. The rest of the military vehicles will be parked in the School Transport parking lot. Make sure all the students are with your class during the visits. This takes priority over things like Speech, OT, and other Special Services. The kids will remember this for years. Let’s make it a big day for them. On a side note, the military personnel has a secondary task here. They will be replacing all of the School Unit’s scanners. This should not impact any School Unit's abilities. The School Unit will ensure that either the Primary or Secondary Scanners in your classrooms or offices are always online. They will attempt to do that work as much as possible when the kids are not in your classroom. Questions and Concerns, please direct to the School Secretary. Problems, direct to me. Thank You, everyone, and again, sorry for the last-minute change.”

After a moment of silence, >>Com-Announcement ended<<

“School, Com-Link Superintendent Gould.”

“Principal Oster, already have a problem,” Superintendent Gould asked?

“Not exactly,” Principal Oster said with a smile. “If they want to upgrade the scanners on the School Transport that brings Milly to and from school, they will need access to it. More importantly, though, you and the Transport Department will have to decide which transports will have to get upgraded. She may always be on the same route, but it is not always the same vehicle.”

“Oh,” Superintendent Gould scrunched his mouth together and moved it to one side. After a moment, “Good point. They have been having trouble with some of the Transport Vehicles.”

“I will also need a location to send the military personnel for doing that part of the job. Will it be the Transport Barn or some other location? My building’s parking spaces are going to be a little busy with military vehicles. I can probably park one School Transport at a time in our main parking lot if needed.”

“Thanks, Karen,” Superintendent Gould said. “I’ll talk with the head of Transportation and get back to you.”

As soon as the Superintendent vanished, Principal Oster said, “School, Personal Com-Link me into Miss Kepper.”

“Principal Oster,” Miss Kepper said. “When you pull a surprise event, you really pull a whopper.”

“Sorry about that. The military was coming to replace all the scanners in the school because of Milly. I just took advantage of their presence.”

Miss Kepper looked over at her new student, “Milly huh, she is a sweet little thing, but it is strange that she knows everything like she has been here all term. The classroom aides and I are struggling to learn her as fast as possible. At least the other kids have taken a new student in without question.”

“That is good,” Principal Oster said. “Since they are doing all of this because of Milly, your classroom will be the first to get the sensors replaced, and that will happen with the kids in the room. To help distract the kids, I have the Military Team Classroom Visit for your room happening at the same time.”

“Okay, that explains why my classroom events didn’t appear to line up with the others in my pod.”

“Sorry about that. It’s not going to be an easy day for anyone. Keep Milly out of the spotlight please. I don’t want any of the military personnel to know she is the Wishee.”

“That should be easy. She blends in with the other kids. She is just another bubbly 4-year-old girl obsessed over princesses.”

Principal Oster smiled, “Well, I’ll let you get back to your class. I have a few things to do before the invasion.”