*** October 19, 2027 ***

The back corner of the conference room was where I liked to sit. From here I could watch the faces of the younger upstarts that had found a place at the executive table by hook or by crook. Their lack of understanding was perplexing, and their ideas were more focused around being politically correct than anything substantive the organization could value from. Such was the new paradigm of the Deimos Corporation; align yourself with the philosophy of the moment and you might just find yourself a rising star.

“I think we should hear from Grayson.”

I glanced to the end of the long table where Ted Parsons, CEO of Deimos, sat. The others at the table sneered. It had been a long time since anyone asked my opinion.

“I’m not certain you want my opinion.”

“Nonsense. You co-founded this company. Without you, no one would be sitting in this room.”

I was never the type of person to mince words. I leaned forward slightly. “Deimos has lost its way. We were founded on the ideal that we could serve the public and now all we’re doing is exploiting the information of our own customers and getting involved in steering public opinion. I believe we need to get back to the core of who we are.”

Miri Cortez, Vice President of Social Sustainability looked shocked as she turned to me. “Deimos has been given an opportunity to influence our society for the better, Mr. Nash. To turn our backs on the very public you want to serve… They need our help and guidance. We know what is best and we can make lasting and permanent societal changes. Isn’t that a goal we should strive to achieve?”

“Therein lies the problem Ms. Cortez. We assume we know what is best, when we don’t. We used to be a neutral company, providing information to the public that would best relate to their search information requests. Now we tailor what the public sees based upon social credit algorithms that determines who the person is at the other end of the Internet. We sell smart devices and instead of using them to make life easier for people, we mine people’s conversations to categorize them. I, for one, don’t need my bed to tell me how well I slept or to have Deimos suggest I need the latest prescription sleep aid and to contact my doctor for me.”

Miri Cortez gasped and turned several shades of red and purple, whereas Ramon Curry, Vice President of Development, choked a little on his water. After wiping his mouth, he spoke for the group.

“What you’re saying, Grayson, is that my entire department is non-relevant. The Internet today is full of misinformation and my team disseminates that information, selecting the good from the bad and presents the best information to our customers. They expect tailored responses to their queries. This is what adding value is all about, and if those responses align with Miri’s purposes, then all the better.”

“You mean you disseminate information based upon the highest bidder or what suits your desires the most.”

Ted Parsons stood up. “I think that will be all for this meeting. Miri, Ramon, and Berkar, please stay behind as I have something to discuss with you.”

I was always grateful to get out of those stuffy meetings. I was the first one out of the conference room and quickly made my way back to my office.

***

Ted Parsons poured himself a glass of water. “I think it’s clear, Grayson Nash needs to be removed from the executive leadership team. He doesn’t align with our corporate values.”

Miri was still angry. “He’s a relic! Just fire him so we can do what we do best without his dead weight hanging over us.”

“We can’t fire him as the shareholders would have a fit. No, we silently remove him from leadership and let him go back to coding in some obscure corner.”

Ramon reached for an apple turnover but pulled back at the last moment. “I don’t want his code anywhere near my team. It’s taken us years to decipher his cryptic programming.”

“We won’t utilize his code. We will only let him think he is still contributing. Now, on to other matters. What’s happening with the election of Matsuura Tashiaki?”

Berkar sighed. “His rival, Sasaki Nariakira, has taken the lead in the polls.”

Miri paced and stared out the window. “Do you know what will happen if Sasaki wins? It will set us back years in the region.”

Ramon finally grabbed the turnover and bit into it. “I have my team adjusting the search results algorithms as we speak.”

Ted frowned. “That’s not good enough. We’re being paid handsomely to make sure Matsuura wins the election and it aligns with our purposes. This is a win-win for us. I want a full smear and disinformation campaign run against Sasaki and you know what to do if the polls don’t change.”

“We’re on it.”

*** November 6, 2027 ***

Several weeks had passed since the executive meeting. I wasn’t losing any sleep over it. I didn’t care to be in the same room with those people anyways. Being a part of an organization like Deimos had its challenges. Growth of the company had been so explosive that there had been little time to establish consistent values and culture. I started Deimos in my basement with a pair of discarded servers from a local university. It had now grown into a trillion-dollar-a-year behemoth.

Being effectively demoted from the executive lead team wasn’t as bad as the fallout from staff around the world. The way the communications went out made me look like I was holding back the company. I had been labelled a dissenter and a disrupter. I received dozens of threats and hate communications every day. I brought up yet another one on my screen:

‘You insufferable and ungrateful throwback. Where most of society has moved beyond Neanderthal, clearly you suffer from genetic anomalies making your brain equitable to a slug. Did they dig you up in Siberia along with your pet woolly mammoth? How dare you say Deimos isn’t what it once was and that we can be better. We are changing the lives of billions and guiding them into a brilliant future whereas you would rather people still be waiting for lightning to strike so they can cook their carrots.

Just go already!’

These imbeciles had no idea that their communications weren’t anonymous. I wrote the core code that made all this work and could easily discover who sent the message. With a few strokes of my keyboard, I stood, stretched, and decided to go for a walk.

The Deimos campus was enormous. I walked past cafeterias where chefs cooked virtually any food you wanted, movie theaters, dry cleaners, medical offices, and fitness centers until I came to the main development team building. Everything on campus was carefully designed to keep staff working well beyond normal working hours. Like many technology companies that had come and gone over the years, to attract the best, we had to offer similar amenities.

I wandered through the open collaboration areas with funky pastel-colored bean bag chairs for lazy afternoon chats until I entered the main development team area. I looked around until I found a cubicle with a nameplate, Elizabeth Desir. Leaning over the low cubicle wall, I smiled and waved. Elizabeth’s eyes went wide.

“Good morning, Elizabeth.”

“Uhm… Mr. Nash. What brings you into the depths of the development team?”

“I saw some code you wrote the other day and I wanted to tell you how impressed I was by it. Voice pattern recognition, correct?”

“Uhm…”

I could tell she was a little frightened. She probably felt bad for sending me the Neanderthal message. A little healthy fear never hurt anyone.

“Yes… That’s what it is.”

“You’ve discovered a way to link voices back to their identities regardless of location?”

She smiled. Programmers always love to talk about their code. “It was a simple matter to make it all work. You already know that we do voice pattern recognition for multiple people in a home. I just figured if I could identify when someone was speaking in a friend’s car or a grocery store, we could gather more information about their needs and tailor our advertising to them. There are many legacy systems out there where we can’t link to identities as they have no cameras for positive facial recognition.”

“Intriguing concept. Are you testing it on your own voice? You must have many of our devices in your home and vehicle already.”

“I… I have mine all deactivated. I enjoy my privacy.”

“You enjoy your privacy?”

“That’s what I said, Mr. Nash.”

“Don’t you think everyone else also enjoys their privacy?”

“It’s completely up to them if they want our devices listening.”

“You mean the option settings that are so carefully buried in pages of information that people would find it difficult to turn off? I’m also certain you haven’t seen Jean-Marc’s latest code then. He can override anyone’s device settings and turn listening back on even making sure the setting displays it is still off. Also, Pierre Francios is coding a lip-reading algorithm for when people turn off their microphones.”

“No… I haven’t seen either of those.”

I turned to go, then turned back much to Elizabeth’s obvious frustration. “Did you hear the latest story on the news this morning?”

“No, Mr. Nash.”

“A young girl was chatting with one of our devices about her school report on wool manufacturing. Two days later, do you know what arrived on their doorstep?”

“I can’t image.”

“I guess our device misinterpreted the young girl and delivered a stuffed wooly mammoth.”

Elizabeth blanched.

I waved and smiled. “Have a great day, Elizabeth.”

***

Leaning back in my lounge chair situated on my balcony, I looked over the bustling valley below. I should have never purchased the house, but when I had more money than brains, I splurged on myself. Now I regret the opulence. My home was nearly eight thousand square feet of modern-day luxury with endless views in all directions. All this for just me and my dog.

My bulldog, Lucky, padded his way out to lay down next to me.

“I know how you feel, old timer. Your arthritis acting up again?”

Lucky barely lifted his head and offered a slight woof.

“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to see the vet. You think I should have left Deimos years ago? I know what you’re thinking and don’t give me that ‘I’ve heard this more than once’ look. It’s hard to give something up that you built from scratch and it pays for your over-priced dog biscuits. And don’t even mention Julie. We’ve had that conversation one too many times.”

I took a sip of wine and watched the autonomous vehicles driving back and forth on the roads. The world had changed, and I didn’t think it was for the better.

*** November 8, 2027 ***

“For Christ’s sake, Ramon, what is your team doing? Sasaki is still leading in the polls.”

“We have it under control, Ted. We modified audio content from his personal digital assistant and have leaked that to the press. This will cause a huge uproar and after this he won’t even be able to get a job as a dishwasher. We have more pressing matters. One of my developers, Elizabeth, suggested that Grayson has been snooping around.”

“You told me that Grayson could never see your search algorithm code.”

“He can’t see anything from our inner circle coders that maintain our key algorithms. He’s been digging around in our common code area.”

“I’m sure he is just bored. Why don’t you check with Berkar to see what Grayson’s been up to?”

“That’s a good idea.”

Ramon turned to leave but paused at the door as Ted gave him one final instruction. “About Sasaki… If he gets elected, he has threatened to shut us down by creating new citizen privacy laws.”

“He won’t get elected, Ted.”

Ramon pushed the door open and headed down the hall. He walked right past Berkar Ares’ assistant and straight into his office.

Berkar looked up from his computer screens. “You do realize I have a calendar and a door, Ramon?”

“Ted told me to come and see you. What can you share about what Grayson is doing these days? Where is he going when he leaves work, what television is he watching. I want all the details.”

“I can’t help you, Ramon.”

“Of course, you can. Just type in Grayson’s name and show me the data.”

“There’s not much to show. Like everyone, we track him with cameras, but he has no social media presence, he owns no smart devices, he gets his television with an antenna, and he doesn’t own one of our phones.”

“What do you mean he has no smart devices. Certainly, his car…”

“A 1955 corvette. There are no smart devices in it whatsoever.”

“This is absurd, Berkar! What ever happened to the new bill to put trackers in all vehicles?”

“Ahh… It failed in the Senate. People apparently didn’t want to be tracked. They feared their bad driving habits would increase their insurance rates. Older, legacy cars don’t have that tech in them.”

“What about all our lobbying efforts?”

“We spent millions lining congressional pockets on that bill, but this time our illustrious government leaders were more afraid of losing votes than money. I’m afraid you’re out of luck. You could get the information another way.”

“How?”

“Why don’t you ask him? It’s really easy… you walk to his office, knock on the door, much like the one behind you that’s made from wood and has a handle, and ask him face-to-face.”

“What about what he is doing on our network here?”

“Can’t help with that either. Grayson built our entire communications platform using proprietary protocols. My assumption is that he is using some form of encrypted private channel on our network.”

“We can’t activate his camera or microphone on his computer?”

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I agree with Grayson’s ideology, Ramon, but Grayson is smarter than all of us. You could always put a camera in his office, but unless it is off the network, Grayson will know about it. Just set up a meeting and ask him what he is doing.”

“The idea is to not let Grayson know we’re looking into what he is up to.”

“He’s not on the executive lead team anymore, demand he produce a summary of his activities every day. We continue to pay him a salary and yet he isn’t directed by anyone.”

“We can spy on anyone in the world except for the one person we want to know about. You don’t think it’s fishy we can’t see what he is doing? Can’t we surmise that he is up to something nefarious?”

“Unless the courts and laws have changed, I don’t think lack of evidence leads to a conviction. Of course, anything can be leaked to the public and they would hang him for it whether there is evidence or not.”

“I state this up front that I dislike Grayson and all that he stands for, but I enjoy my annual bonus too much to play the social media card. It would be easy to make our investors skittish when talking about one of the co-founders.”

“Then perhaps we should buy Grayson out and get him out of the picture gracefully.”

“Buy him out? He owns a quarter of the company’s shares and last I checked we didn’t have $50B lying around.”

“Then you’re out of luck, Ramon. Ignore him. Everyone else does.”

*** November 27, 2027 ***

The internal company hate mail hadn’t slowed much over the past few weeks, if anything it had increased. The executive leaders had gone quiet and I had spent much time contemplating leaving and starting up a new company. I could easily retire, buy a small country, and settle down. There were two things that held me back from making such a decision. First, I had no one to settle down with. At forty-seven, I was still eligible and could hold my own, but I wasn’t a social butterfly. I enjoyed my privacy and too many women would see my bank account before they saw the real me. In many ways I regretted being successful for this very reason. Second, the executive leadership; the self-proclaimed masters of the universe were up to something.

I pushed myself up from bed and sauntered into the living room. “Where are you, Lucky? Time for breakfast.”

Glancing around the room, Lucky was nowhere to be seen. “Time for your pain meds, Lucky.”

Still no response. I moved from room to room until I found him. He was curled up with foamy spittle coming from his mouth. I rushed over to him.

“Lucky?”

His body was cold and stiff. He was dead. My only companion had been fine, just some pain from arthritis. The vet prescribed a low dose painkiller for him and ever since, Lucky had been struggling. The vet said it would take time for him to adjust to the medication.

I sat there a while tenderly stroking Lucky’s fur before carefully lifting him up and wrapping him in a blanket. I placed him in the passenger seat and drove to the vet. I walked straight into the vet’s office, past the stunned faces of pet owners and put Lucky on the front counter in front of the frightened administrative assistant. I admit I wasn’t thinking clearly.

“He’s dead.”

The admin nodded slowly before rushing into the back. The vet came out quickly and asked if I could take Lucky into an operating room.

“What happened, Grayson?”

“I just found him this morning.”

“He was inside all day and night?”

“Yes...”

“You didn’t find him in the street or at the bottom of stairs?”

“No…”

“I’ll need to do an autopsy. I can arrange for cremation. Is that your wishes for Lucky?”

“Yes…”

“I know this is a shock, but these things happen sometimes, especially for a dog as old as Lucky. Go home. I’ll call you if I find out anything.”

“Thank you.”

I made my way back to the car and to the house. Leaning back on the couch, I picked up my phone and called Julie.

“Grayson? Is that you?”

“Yes… Lucky died.”

“Oh, Grayson. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do? Should I come over?”

“I… I thought you should know. You gave him to me ten years ago. No… No need to come over. Your husband wouldn’t appreciate it. He never was very fond of me.”

“You don’t have anyone? You haven’t met someone new yet? Is there anyone to be with you?”

“No… I’ve told you this before, but I’m sorry for everything that happened between us. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was me.”

“We’ve talked about this, Grayson. We both made mistakes. I need to go. The kids are calling me. Are you certain you don’t want me to come over?”

“I’m okay, Julie. Thanks.” There was a long pause, but I could hear the kids in the background arguing. “You need to go. Take care, Julie.”

“You too, Grayson.”

Lucky’s chew toy was sitting on the couch next to me. I leaned back and felt tears sliding down my cheek.

*** November 29, 2027 ***

“Grayson, this is Jeremy Swaitech, your vet.”

It had been several days since Lucky died and I had spent time away from the office doing the odd job around the house to keep myself occupied.

“I’m sorry I brought Lucky into your office that way. I wasn’t thinking very clearly.”

“It’s understandable. Pets are like family and I know you always took good care of Lucky. Listen, the reason I’m calling is that Lucky died from an overdose of Tramadol. Is there any possibility he got into the medicine and took too much?”

“No… no way. Hang on, I’ll get the bottle.” I moved into the kitchen and opened a cupboard. Pulling out the prescription bottle, I read it off to the vet. “Tramadol, sixty-day supply, once per day, 500mg. There’s at least fifty pills left in the bottle.”

“Can you re-read the dosage?”

“500mg.”

“That’s not right. I’m certain I wrote down 5mg.”

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t make these kinds of mistakes, Grayson. 5mg is the correct dose. A starting prescription is .5mg per pound and Lucky was forty pounds. 8mg would have been appropriate, but I wanted to start out low and selected 5mg. I see it here in my notes. You’re certain it reads 500mg?”

“Yes. Do you want me to bring it in?”

“Please don’t tell me I need a lawyer, Grayson. I know who you are and the finance backing you have. This wasn’t my fault. Someone must have fat-fingered the prescription.”

“Why would I…? Just tell me the truth.”

“500mg is nearly ten times more than I’ve prescribed for any animal. Lucky suffered kidney failure from the overdose. I’m sorry, Grayson.”

“Doc, I believe you wrote out 5mg. Let me bring in the bottle. All I want to know is how this could have happened.”

“Can you come in this evening?”

“I’ll be there.”

***

I reached out and shook Jeremy’s hand. He looked worried and in today’s world where everyone sued each other over the slightest thing, I was certain he was feeling vulnerable. I hated the entire legal scene. Jeremy didn’t appear to have done anything on purpose and accidents happened. He had been a good vet over the years for Lucky.

“Thanks for coming, Grayson. I’ve been wracking my brain as to how this might have happened. Do you have the bottle?”

“Right here.”

Jeremy held up the bottle and shook his head. “Exactly as you said. Look here. These are my hand-written notes. Yes, it is doctor handwriting, but you can clearly see 5mg Tramadol. I take the notes and hand them to my admin and she enters the order into the computer. As she enters the prescription and patient details, there are automatic checks to assure nothing gets put in that is outside of specifications. If I try to create the prescription for more than 50mg it generates an error and only an override can make the prescription 500mg. My admin doesn’t have those rights.”

“Are there audit logs?”

“It’s a hosted system. I’m sure the hosting company has logs.”

I scanned the office. Cameras on the walls were from a company called Secured Office Space, a division of Deimos. There were smart devices everywhere that were Deimos products.

“Who is your provider?”

“Prescription Rover.”

My stomach lurched. I turned to leave.

“I hope you can see we had everything in place to assure an accurate prescription. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

“Yes… So am I.”

*** December 4, 2027 ***

I tried to set everything aside and to chalk Lucky’s death up to an accidental glitch, but I couldn’t let it go. Prescription Rover was another subsidiary of Deimos. Over the years, Deimos bought competitors, hardware vendors, and software companies if they could increase the monopoly of Deimos or provided substantial reward in the way of information and data. In the case of Prescription Rover, the advertising dollars generated from Deimos having access to people’s pet data funneled portions of the $100B per year industry straight into Deimos’ coffers.

Bringing up a search screen, I entered keywords. Lucky, Grayson, Nash, prescription, Tramadol. My code would access the private encrypted channels within Deimos’ communications systems. I wasn’t expecting any results, but what was returned made me furious. It was a chat between two of Deimos’ employees.

‘BorisMaster: Did you know Nash has a dog?’

‘ElizaD: Poor dog. I bet he feeds it scraps from his leftover caviar and lobster. Must be nice to be so rich.’

‘BorisMaster: It isn’t right he made his money off our hard work and now he’s turned his back on everything we are trying to do.’

‘ElizaD: Looking up records…’

‘BorisMaster: What are you doing?’

‘ElizaD: Scanning records. I was trying to find a description, photos, or anything about Nash’s dog. I was thinking of sending animal control to his place.’

‘BorisMaster: Lucky’

‘ElizaD: Lucky what?’

‘BorisMaster: His dog’s name.’

‘ElizaD: LOL. No way his dog is lucky.’

‘ElizaD: Not seeing much information. I got Lucky’s chip info. It was just scanned at Valley Vet.’

‘BorisMaster: LOL, probably needing antidepressants.’

‘ElizaD: That gives me an idea… Yeah. Here it is. Prescription Rover just issued a new prescription for Tramadol for Lucky.’

‘BorisMaster: What are you thinking?’

‘ElizaD: Offline…’

I recognized their names. Both had sent me anonymous hate mail in the recent past. Although there was no concrete evidence, it appeared that these two people must have changed the prescription and killed Lucky. I could easily make their lives miserable, but after taking several deep breaths I realized they were a symptom and not the root cause. I didn’t make my viewpoints public to staff. This was coming from the top.

*** December 5, 2027 ***

“Grayson. Come in and have a seat. What did you want to see me about?”

“My dog died, Ted.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Murdered.”

“Who was murdered?”

“My dog, Lucky.”

“A real travesty.”

“I think it was someone at Deimos.”

“You can’t be serious, Grayson.”

“Listen, Ted. You know the board has taken the company in directions I don’t agree with. I’ve been pushed out of the board and most recently the executive team. This has to stop.”

“I’m not quite following you, Grayson. What has to stop.”

“The staff think I’m a traitor.”

“Well, your concerns have been widely vocalized. This new generation of staff have come to us highly polarized in their views. It’s easy for them to see you on the wrong side.”

“You’re wrong, Ted. I’ve only vocalized my own ideals to the executive team and the board. It’s been years since I spoke at staff meetings or conferences. If staff have this impression of me, it’s coming from one or both of those groups. It needs to stop. I get hate mail every day and this time… someone went too far.”

“I’m not sure what you’re implying, Grayson.”

“I’ve given my life to this company. I’ve watched it grow and become everything I wanted it to be. Now, it has become a cesspool of deceit. You and the cronies of the board and the executive team are using everything in your power to use this company for ill-gotten gains from corrupt alliances. Deimos is using its power and influence to spread its version of social justice far and wide.”

Ted stood and pointed out his corner office windows. “You’re going too far, Grayson! The world has changed. Look at it. Everything runs and flows smoothly because of information. A car is nothing other than a computer and an engine. They make decisions every second based upon information we feed it. Deimos is the preeminent provider of knowledge and information in the world. We collate and catalog information about everyone and everything. Why? We do this to make lives better. We do what we do to improve the lives of everyone.”

“By playing God? There is a point where Deimos encroaches on the fundamentals of life itself. People learn from their mistakes. They learn from pain. You think you can prevent pain and suffering, but you only create more. You try to create equity, but you only create disparity.”

“What’s all this about, Grayson? You’re upset over your dog dying and now you’re trying to blame Deimos for that? You’ve been idly watching Deimos make these decisions for years. Why now? Why suddenly do you feel Deimos is evil incarnate?”

“You’re right. I should have spoken up a long time ago. I’ve withdrawn from any active decision making about the company, but then again, I’ve also been shut out of those very same decision-making discussions. Lucky was a good dog. He died because someone in leadership here at Deimos made me look like a villain. His death won’t be in vain. I’m resigning from Deimos. I’ll stay on for a month and then you’ll never have to deal with me again. You’ve won. All I ask is you call off your good-willed henchmen. Tell them to stop smearing my name amongst the staff so that I can leave on a good note.”

“You’re leaving will send shockwaves throughout our investors and shareholders.”

“That’s your problem to deal with. You’ll have my letter of resignation on your desk by the end of the day.”

***

“What do we tell the staff when our stocks suddenly drop?”

Ted stood before the room of board members and executive leadership. He turned to Ramon. “We tell them the truth. Grayson Nash has decided to leave Deimos.”

Miri smiled. “About time. I’ll draft a memo to all staff.”

“We need a press release as well. If staff decide to sell shares before a public announcement, it could look like insider trading. We don’t need the additional scrutiny right now.”

*** December 8, 2027 ***

I was angry and upset that Lucky had been murdered, but I wasn’t going to retaliate. I decided to use his death as a catalyst for me to take back the reins of my own life and start living rather than focusing on the negatives. I debated my own desires for revenge to show them that I was still capable of a fight. I could bring down Deimos, but I would only be stooping to their level. As much as I wanted justice, I realized it was a losing battle and my efforts would only embitter me in the end.

Yesterday, an internal communication went out to all staff about my leaving Deimos.

‘Dear colleagues,

It is with mixed emotions that we announce the resignation of Grayson Nash. On one hand, Grayson’s ingenuity and market wisdom propelled Deimos into the global spotlight and he has played a significant role in our success.

On the other hand, Grayson has held us back from becoming all that we can be. His values greatly differ from the vast majority of us.

As an organization, we are poised to become the most influential, course correcting, life altering force the planet has ever seen since the dawn of mankind. Grayson’s departure doesn’t hinder this, rather it assists us in moving forward.

Grayson’s last day will be January 5, 2028. Expect potential volatility in Deimos stocks. Due to legal reasons, it is inadvisable for you to sell your stocks prior to the public communication that will go out later today.

Join us for our Moving Forward celebration, January 8, 2028 in the Commons Conference Hall.’

There had been no mistake that the celebration was set for the next business day after my departure. It didn’t bother me. I was, however, inundated with a fresh batch of hate mail and corporate attorneys hounded me wanting me to sign hundreds of pages of documents. I refused to sign anything much to the dismay of Ted Parsons.

Ignoring the vitriol from staff and the constant calls from the media, I set about cleaning my office space and taking the few boxes of trinkets I had accumulated over nearly twenty-two years with the company. I had put Deimos before everything and everyone causing the end of my relationship with Julie and wasting the better part of my life. Now, very little held much sentiment for me.

Picking up a photo of my dad, I gently brushed the dust from the glass. My dad had been a big supporter of my endeavors, but he saw what it had been doing to me. He urged me to take a break from it all and focus on family and myself. During his last remaining years, I hadn’t visited him as the company ‘needed’ me. When he passed away, I managed to take a single day to go to his funeral. Mom gave me a letter my dad had written for me.

‘My beloved son,

No dad could be prouder of all that you have accomplished. My last wish for you is that you will take the time to cherish that which is important; family and friends. Don’t let life pass you by. It is out of our love for others that we truly accomplish anything worthwhile. There will always be another project; always be more work to do; but there will never be enough time for those we love.

Now, at the end of my days, my only regret is not having spent more time with you. I look back upon my years of work and I can honestly say that nothing I accomplished was more important to me than the impact I have had on those around me.

It is my prayer for you that you will find fulfillment, love, and relationships that mean more than any company, or project.

I love you!

Dad.’

As I looked around my office and out the window towards the vast complex that had become Deimos, I knew he was right. I only hoped that I still had ample time to put my dad’s wisdom to the test.

“Grayson?”

I turned around to see Marge Lawson as she poked her head into my office. She had been my administrative assistant for more than ten years.

“Yes, Marge?”

Marge looked over her shoulder, stepped inside, and closed the door. “I wanted you to know I’ve greatly enjoyed my time working with you. Over the years you have been kind and caring to me and my family, especially when my husband passed. I also appreciate that you never succumbed to the direction of the company. I won’t be staying on after you leave as I have no desire to work here any longer. I wish you well.”

I gave Marge a hug knowing full well that HR would be all over me for a public display of affection. “All this time I put into building this company and you’re the only one to come and wish me good tidings.”

“There are others that would like to, but they fear retaliation. Do you have any idea what you will do once you leave?”

“I haven’t given it much thought. Maybe I’ll take up surfing or go back to school.”

Marge laughed. “Ha! You go back to school? You think it’s bad here, schools these days are bastions for groupthink. Besides, I’m sure you would be bored. You’re too smart for school.”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something. I have something for you.” I walked over to the wall and pulled down a framed, gold-covered microcomputer. “This might be worth something someday. They encased in gold the first microcomputer that held my original search engine code for Deimos. You might get ten dollars on eBay for it.”

“Grayson, you know it’s worth far more than that. I can’t take such a gift. It must mean a great deal to you.”

“I don’t want to leave it here and I don’t want to take it home as I’m trying hard to distance myself from Deimos. Do me this favor. Take it and stuff it away in some closet at home. If I don’t change my mind in six months, it’s yours to do with as you see fit.”

“All right, but in less than six months, I’ll be giving it back to you.”

Marge took the framed three-inch square computer, turned, and headed for the door.

“It’s been an honor working with you, Marge.”

“For me as well, Grayson. Take care of yourself.”

I sat back in my chair and spun slowly taking in my entire office. There would be things I would miss about being here.

Reaching for my keyboard, I brought up the news.

‘Sasaki Nariakira found dead at scene of fiery crash.

Sasaki Nariakira was declared dead on scene after a fiery vehicle crash late last night. Sasaki, candidate for Prime Minister of Japan, had been maintaining a substantial lead in the polls even after weeks of bad press and negative stories about his personal character were leaked. Sasaki left a speaking engagement and his autonomous vehicle veered off the road rolling several hundred feet down a steep embankment.

The vehicle manufacturer was at the site of the accident and had recovered the black box. A spokesperson for AutoDynamix indicated that the car avoided a crash with a cyclist, but the edge of the roadway was soft due to recent rains and the vehicle was pulled over the edge.

The cyclist was not found for comment.

Sasaki Nariakira is survived by his wife and three children.’

I had been following this election closely as the two candidates’ opposing viewpoints could have had significant ramifications for Deimos. Sasaki was fighting for increased citizen privacy regulations. This was certainly not what Deimos wanted. Deimos relied upon obscure end-user agreements and took advantage of legal complexities and people’s laziness to blindly provide approval allowing Deimos’ hardware and software to stream their personal information all the time.

AutoDynamix was yet another subsidiary of Deimos and would no doubt be spinning the accident as a positive thing; that the vehicle properly predicted harm to the cyclist and maneuvered to avoid a collision. The fact that the cyclist had not been found further raised my suspicion.

Activating my search engine, I keyed in the words, Sasaki Nariakira. The results were rather surprising in that the news had spread like wildfire throughout Deimos. Staff were cheering Sasaki’s death as a great serendipitous event as Matsuura Tashiaki would now no doubt win the election. I began to dig a little deeper and excluded chats and conventional communication platforms.

I spent the night in my office as I followed leads and threads until I uncovered evidence that Deimos executives had altered their search engine algorithms to list references to Sasaki in a negative light. They had gone even further to utilize Sasaki’s voice recordings from smart devices and had them carefully edited and leaked to media making it appear Sasaki was a bad person. Money was transferred to an AutoDynamix employee’s account through several shell corporations. That employee’s computer showed evidence of connecting to a shuttle through satellite at the approximate time of the crash.

Have I been this blind?

I sat back and stared at my screen. Deimos assassinated a leading Japanese political candidate. It was murder by technology to protect Deimos from excessive privacy regulations.

They created a smear campaign, provided misinformation to the public about Sasaki, and when that all failed, they murdered him.

I hadn’t slept nor ate but I couldn’t stop there. I continued my research further exposing that Deimos funds were being given to Matsuura’s campaign. Money that had been given for Sasaki’s campaign through a Deimos-owned application, had programmatically funneled most of those dollars to Matsuura.

I spent the next day and night looking into other elections around the world. Deimos had been influencing the outcome of elections for years.

How have I missed this?

Finally, I discovered a trove of secured, encrypted data that I was able to break the encryption on primarily because I had written the code that had been used to lock it up. These were strategic plans detailing every aspect of Deimos to infiltrate our lives and sell the public’s private information to like-minded organizations. They would target advertising to someone based upon their conversations in their home or car. What was perhaps the most frightening was project Theta. Being secretly developed, this data mining system would be capable of scoring every person on the planet across one hundred categories. What you typed into your searches, what you spoke when the smart devices were listening, what you purchased and how you spent your time and who you affiliated with would give Deimos a detailed profile as to who you were. They could tell if you might vote for one party or another, know if you were sick, and what you liked to eat. By binding this information to Deimos’ search systems, you would be presented with information to mold and guide you into their model citizen.

George Orwell’s 1984 had nothing on the Deimos Corporation and the people of the world were letting them do it.

*** January 5, 2028 ***

“Grayson, I’m not sure why you’re being such an ass about these legal documents.”

“Listen, Ted. We go back a long way together. You’re asking me to sign non-disclosures, non-competes, and give you rights to search my home for anything that may belong to Deimos. If there is something you think I have, then tell me.”

“How would I know what you might have?”

“I’ve told you before I value my privacy. I’m not inclined to sign anything and I’m under no legal obligation to do so.”

“You’re a witless fool, Grayson. Having these agreements in place will appease our shareholders and stabilize our stock prices. Without them, we anticipate a thirty to fifty percent loss in our stock value. You still own significant numbers of stocks. You’ll lose billions overnight.”

“I can live with that.”

Ted walked to my office door and opened it. “Guards!”

Three guards entered.

“Hand in your badge and keys. I’ve authorized information technology to immediately disable your accounts.”

“It’s a shame it has come to this Ted. You’re treating me like I’m being fired for misconduct. Where you’re taking Deimos is wrong. The culture at the organization has gone from a tight-knit family to something closer resembling the Russian KGB. Do the right thing, Ted. Turn this ship around before it’s too late.”

“I am, Grayson, starting with your removal. Get him out of here!”

It was humiliating to be escorted out of the very building I had designed. We walked past hundreds of employees, many of which stood and clapped at my departure. They weren’t clapping to thank me, but rather clapping I was leaving for good.

Once outside, I didn’t even turn back to look at Deimos. I headed to my car and drove across town.

***

“I want to bring the power of Deimos to infiltrate every aspect of Grayson Nash’s life. I want to know where he goes and who he talks to. I want to know what he is eating for breakfast and how many times he goes to the bathroom. If anything looks suspicious, I want to know immediately!”

Ted continued by slamming his hand down on the table. “Why the hell can’t someone tell me what he did here for the past four weeks?”

Ramon shook his head. “His computer was non-standard. He had no cameras in his office, no smart devices. He leveraged encrypted data tunnels. He built most of the core systems at Deimos. Who knows how many backdoors he put in?”

“Where is he now?”

Berker Ares brought up a map on the screen. “Facial recognition last spotted him three minutes ago in downtown Palo Alto. I don’t want to make light of the fact that Grayson left on bad terms, but what do you fear? He has never shown any tendencies to harm Deimos or staff.”

“You think that he didn’t intend to harm Deimos when our stocks slipped since the announcement of his resignation? We’ve lost nearly one hundred billion dollars in valuation due to that fool. I want you all to tell your staff to dig in and get to work.”

***

What I was about to do could prove very foolish. After leaving Deimos, I took a drive, stopped at a restaurant to eat some lunch, then headed to a nearby park for a hike. Once I was deep into the park, I paused and sat down on a bench and waited.

“Mr. Nash?”

I nodded and indicated for the man to have a seat. “Turn your phone off please.”

The man nodded and switched off his phone. “Nathan Graves, Special Agent with the FBI.”

“Thank you for meeting me.”

“It’s not every day one gets a handwritten letter from Grayson Nash.”

“It’s not every day I consider having a chat with an FBI agent.”

“Why all the secrecy? Does this have something to do with you leaving Deimos?”

“You could say that. In some ways I feel complicit even though I never knew what was really going on there. For the past five years, I’ve isolated myself within the company and ignored everything that was going on around me. I recently discovered that someone at Deimos killed my dog.”

Nathan sighed and moved to stand. “I can’t help you with your dog’s death.”

“During my final weeks at Deimos, I began investigating my own company. I have evidence that Deimos has been involved in the murders of thirteen people around the world and likely more. There is also evidence of election tampering domestically and abroad, campaign finance fraud, and a host of hundreds of miscellaneous crimes. Do you think you can help me now?”

*** January 18, 2028 ***

Ted Parsons looked up from his desk at the young man that entered his office.

“Mr. Parsons, sir? You put the word out for us to come forward if we saw anomalous behavior from Grayson Nash?”

Ted sighed. “What do you think you’ve discovered.”

“It’s more of a hunch.”

“That’s about all we get these days.”

“Well… I’ve been working on code that correlates patterns of activities to anticipate what people might be doing next. Grayson Nash is well known and oftentimes people publish photos of him to their social media accounts. The hidden metadata in those images gives me locations and times. For example, an Alice Whetstone recently snapped a pic of Grayson where she works, Lionel and Strauss Attorneys. I have also gathered statistical data on frequency of sightings, and Grayson seems to be doing a lot of business in the vicinity of these ten businesses. One being the most likely, an accounting firm.”

“He’s got lots of money and probably getting his act together with legal stuff. So what?”

“Many of the staff have been actively engaged in social engineering, getting additional information from places Grayson visits. Let me bring up a map on all the locations Grayson has been flagged.”

“I’ve seen all of this before. He wanders around town, goes hiking, goes home. I’m very busy.”

Ted frowned as the young man sat down in front of him.

“We’ve started drone surveillance in some of these areas. This is a picture of Grayson with another man that has been recognized as Nathan Graves. He’s with the FBI.”

“What?”

“Here’s the really cool thing about my code. I put all this information and much more into my system and poof! I think I know what Grayson is up to.”

The young man sat back and smiled.

“If you don’t tell me what you think you discovered, then poof, you’ll be fired!”

“Witness protection. Grayson is working with the FBI to expose some crime. Part of this process is reorganizing your estate, setting up trusts, and preparing for a change in identity. I was thinking we might be able to tap into XeonNet to find out what crime he is testifying against.”

“You’re an idiot!”

“I don’t understand. My code is really cool.”

“You don’t need code to figure out who he is testifying against. You only need witness protection when there is a potential threat to you from who you are testifying against. Grayson spent up to one hundred hours a week working here for the last twenty-two years. He rarely took vacation. Who do you think he is concerned about testifying against?”

The young man shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“We’re hiring morons. Get out! Get out and tell my assistant that I need Ramon in here in ten minutes.”

“Uhm… Yes sir.”

***

“Mr. Nash, I’m Jason Montgomery. I’m here to discuss the enhanced witness protection program, or as we call it, EWP. I also wanted to let you know that our investigation is now fully mobilized, but much of the support will still need to come from your direct testimony.”

“Deimos is a very dangerous company, Mr. Montgomery. Why would I need to put myself at further risk by being present to testify? They can easily kill me just like they did others.”

“During the trial, there will be direct questioning of how we obtained the evidence. I can guarantee that without you to answer these questions, our entire case will fail. We utilize a neural fingerprint to authenticate your masked image and voice as Grayson Nash. We can then transmit your responses via secure network to the trial.”

“But they will always know it’s me that is testifying.”

“Which is why I’ve been sent in to speak with you. The FBI has already helped you begin the process for normal witness protection, but, due to the nature of the case and the threat Deimos imposes, we’re recommending our enhanced witness protection program. This will permanently mask your identity from Deimos.”

“I can’t just change my name and address as every camera in the world will identify me for who I am.”

“Hence, the enhanced part of the program. With EWP we now can transfer your mind into a donor body. You go to sleep and wake up as someone completely new.”

“You transplant my brain into another body?”

“Not exactly. We map your brain and transmit your neural image into a donor body.”

“You just randomly pick someone from off the street? How does this even work?”

“The current administration has made changes in the organ donor program to allow entire body donation for witness protection. The circumstances around the death of the donor need to be very specific. Oxygen deprivation to brain, typically cold-water drowning is how we receive most of our donors. The body and brain are fine, but the loss of oxygen has caused the death of the donor. These bodies can be maintained in perfect health for months awaiting a neural map transplant.”

“I wouldn’t be me anymore?”

“Yes, and no. You will retain the full knowledge of who you are, but you will be in a new body with a new identity.”

“Then, you can also transfer me back after the trial and things are safe again?”

“No. The human brain has certain limits and transferring a neural map onto a brain does some damage making the risk of secondary transfer too high. Theoretically, after ten to fifteen years, there is a chance full healing would allow this. Nathan, can you bring in Tess?”

A middle-aged woman entered and sat down.

“Tess, meet Grayson.”

“Hello, Grayson. I’ve been asked to help you decide on whether you should consider the enhanced witness protection program. I’m retained as a consultant as I was in your situation just a few years ago.”

“You were transferred into this body?”

“Yes. In my case, I was about fifty pounds overweight and this body was fit, had no health issues, and was a few years younger. It was an easy decision for me, but it isn’t a bed of roses either. There are some psychological impacts waking as someone else and getting used to your reflection can be challenging.”

Tess pulled up a laptop. “Let me show you the three donors that are currently available.

She scrolled through pictures and stats of three men. One was overweight, one was about ten years younger than me, and the third looked rather rough around the edges as if he had a hard life.

“What can you tell me about the second one.”

“Yes… that would be my choice. He’s the typical California guy with blonde hair and great physique. He’s a professional surfer.”

I laughed. “So, I could be a surfer?”

“Ahh… Here’s the thing. The body is trained to surf, but your brain doesn’t know how. I suspect you would need to learn how to surf, but your body would already know how to respond. The trick is getting your brain to align with your new body. I think you could be a good surfer in just a few days, but don’t get the idea you can immediately be a pro. All base functions, like walking, posture, eating, drinking, and sitting, are part of the brain’s core functions which isn’t mapped with yours. I did struggle a little as my brain tried to force a movement that my body already knew what to do. You need to relax your mind to let your body take over. After a few days, you won’t even notice it anymore.”

Jason Montgomery closed the laptop and leaned against a desk. “This is how it works. Assuming you agree, in twenty-four hours, you will go to our lab. You will then choose your donor, and we put you to sleep. You will wake up as surfer boy, if that was your choice, and assume his identity. This is all done through our protected and encrypted network, isolated from any other connections. It’s perfectly safe.”

“I would take over another person’s life?”

“Technically, they’re dead, but not to those around them. They believe the person is in a coma. Oxygen deprivation often causes lapses of memory and personality changes. Families are notified of this and, while it can be hard on them, they learn to adapt as does the person.”

I held out my hand and stared at it. I was skeptical and it all sounded dangerous. I was, after all, rather fond of myself. However, Deimos needed to be taken down for their crimes and I would constantly be at risk if I wasn’t able to mask my identity. One side benefit might be that I could start a relationship knowing that it was me rather than my money someone might be interested in. “Can you show me all the details on the surfer?”

*** January 19, 2028 ***

“Was that snot-nosed kid one of your team, Ramon?”

“Boris Yaznisky. Yes. One of my brightest.”

A chirp sounded. “Mr. Parsons? Elizabeth Desir from voice analytics is here to see you.”

“Send her in.”

A wide-eyed young woman stepped into the office. “Mr. Parsons and Mr. Curry. I hope I’m not interrupting anything important?”

“What do you have?”

“Our system just flagged a conversation from one of our smart phones.”

“From a call?”

“No, sir. We have an application running in the background that has access to the microphone all the time. The phone was placed in airplane mode, but we captured the recording and it just came through when the phone was put back on the network. It involves Grayson Nash.”

“Play it.”

“Tess, meet Grayson.

Hello, Grayson. I’ve been asked to help you decide on whether you should consider the enhanced witness protection program…”

*** January 20, 2028 ***

“I’m relaying data from XeonNet, sir.”

“Ramon, remind me to give a bonus to our executives over at XeonNet. It was pure brilliance on their part putting in the data sniffing system.”

Boris pushed his glasses up and looked at Ted. “Uhm, sir? We can do more than sniff. We can capture, hold, and relay traffic as well.”

“Can you mirror what is going on?”

“Putting it on the display now, sir.”

Photos of four people came up on the screen.

***

I was in a gown and lying on a bed. A helmet with glowing LED lights and fiber optic leads was placed on my head.

“Neural scanning started.”

Tess leaned over me. “Look at the screen above you, Grayson. These are the current donors. We like to refresh the list just before insertion to confirm. There is a new donor, but I think it is obvious we can take that one off the list. The surfer guy is still available as are the other two.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this. Let’s go for it. Maui, here I come.”

“I’ll put in the target information. When you wake up, we will have someone waiting there for you to help you get oriented. Good luck, Grayson.”

***

“They’re making the selection. Do we allow it, or do you want it changed, sir?”

Ted grinned. “Grayson deserves this… Change it from donor number two to donor number four.”

*** January 21, 2028 ***

I heard the beeping and smelled the sterile scents of antibacterial cleaners as I slowly woke. My eyes were still closed, but everything felt quite normal. I struggled to open my eyes and to pull myself to full awareness.

I tried to relax and had some trepidation but also some excitement. I was going to gain ten years of my life back and the donor surfer guy was buff. He probably spent years in the gym; something I hadn’t done much of.

As I forced myself to remain calm, my eyes opened. The room was bright and there was no one around. Didn’t Tess say there would be someone waiting for me?

I tried to move, but I struggled against straps. I could look up at the ceiling, but that was all.

I heard the door to the room open and I tried to speak, but something in my throat stopped me from saying anything. I gagged slightly. A nurse bent over me and looked down.

“My goodness! You’re awake!”

She rushed from the room calling for the doctor.

Moments later the doctor was leaning over me flashing a light into my eyes. “Can you understand me? Blink twice if you can.”

I blinked twice.

“It’s a miracle! Nurse, carefully remove the straps, life support systems, and breathing tube. I’ll be right back.”

I felt the nurse’s hands tugging gently at my breathing apparatus. It felt rough and harsh as she pulled it out of my throat. I coughed and struggled to breathe.

“Try to relax. You’re fine.”

Once it was free, I tried to speak, but couldn’t.

“Shh. Don’t try to talk yet. We’ll need to get some fluids in you, but we can’t do that until the doctor fully checks you out.”

The doctor came back in and I could hear the clacking of keyboard keys while the nurse pulled off several wires that had been stuck to my head. Once that was done, she released the head restraint.

I was anxious and somewhat frightened. Lifting my head slightly, I got a better glimpse of the room, but my eyes ignored all of that as once I saw the thin, hairless arm, feminine hand, and what could only be breasts pressing outward from my chest, I began to hyperventilate and struggled against the remaining bindings.

“Nurse, sedate her! We need to fully check her out and I can’t do that if she’s thrashing about.”

The nurse injected something into the IV and leaned over me. “You’re going to be just fine, Amelia.”

I immediately became sleepy, but I could still hear the nurse and doctor speaking.

“How can this be, doctor?”

“I’m checking now. She was connected to the donor system, but I see no evidence that she was selected. We would have been called in any event.”

“You’re saying Amelia has returned from brain death?”

“It’s the only explanation I have.”

“What about the family? Should I notify them?”

“Not yet. I need to perform a complete checkup first, but it does appear Amelia Wilson is back.”

***

Ted Parsons paced back and forth. “I want to know all the details. What can we confirm?”

Boris Yasnisky kept typing on his computer but offered his response without looking up. “The transfer was a success to donor number four. I relayed back to the FBI computers that the transfer to donor number two had catastrophically failed. I have worked over the past hours to eliminate all evidence of our activity, including erasing the transfer request to donor four.”

Elizabeth Desir chimed in. “Ever since we captured the conversation on Tess Jackson’s smartphone, I have continued tracking that phone. I also have a new recording from the same time the transfer was happening. Would you like me to play it?”

“Yes.”

“Look at the screen above you, Grayson. These are the current donors. We like to refresh the list just before insertion to confirm. There is a new donor, but I think it is obvious we can take that one off the list. The surfer guy is still available as are the other two.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this. Let’s go for it. Maui, here I come.”

“I’ll put in the target information. When you wake up, we will have someone waiting there for you to help you get oriented. Good luck, Grayson.”

“Grayson is fully sedated. Target is set. Tess, have you contacted our agent to be standing by?”

“Already set. We have time as while the process is quick, it can take up to twelve hours for Grayson to wake. Once we have confirmation, I will make the final call.”

“All set, everyone?”

“We are cleared to transfer. Initiating…”

There was a pause in the conversation for several minutes.

“One hundred percent. We are just awaiting neural sync.”

“What’s that? Did that just say transfer failure?”

“I’m working on it!”

“What does this mean?”

There was much noise and commotion in the recording. People were shouting.

“I’m very sorry to have to report this. Grayson Nash… is dead. The transfer completed, but the neural sync shows failure. We’ve lost him.”

“I don’t understand! This has been thoroughly tested!”

“I don’t control the results, ma’am. I’m sorry.”

“God damn it! We just killed our only witness and any hope of nailing Deimos.”

Ted waved his hands. “That’s enough. Thank you. We dodged a bullet on this one. What’s the real status of Grayson?”

“Successfully transferred into Amelia Wilson, an eighteen-year-old girl that had been drinking at a party and drowned in a pool.”

Ted smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Keep tabs on him. You’re all invited to my home tonight. We’re celebrating!”

*** January 22, 2028 ***

“Amelia? You’re back with us. The sedation is wearing off. Take your time and when you’re ready, open your eyes.”

I was groggy, but I could feel my senses slowly returning to me. It had just been nothing other than a bad dream.

“Go ahead and open your eyes, Amelia.”

Amelia? It wasn’t a dream?

My eyes opened quickly and took a moment to focus. I was in a different room. The nurse… she was there before.

I tried to lift my head, but it felt heavy.

“The sedation can linger. Let me raise the back of the bed. You’ll be groggy for a few minutes yet.”

I closed my eyes as the whirling motors of the bed raised my torso up. I opened them slowly again, wishing that I was still dreaming. Once again, I saw a thin arm and feminine hand. With the shifting of the bed, I could also feel the weight of…

“Wh…” My voice croaked. My throat was dry.

“Let me get you a sip of water. Don’t drink too much.”

The nurse brought a straw to my lips and I took a sip. I could feel the rawness of my throat ebb slightly.

“What…” I stopped mid-sentence as I tried to grasp the sound of my new voice. While still scratchy, is was clearly feminine. “What happened?”

“You had an accident. I don’t have the full details, but you were found in a swimming pool a few days ago.”

I lifted my new hand towards my eyes and turned it back and forth. The nails were painted a hideous green color.

“What do you remember, Amelia?”

“I’m not…” I paused. I had no idea what might have happened. Perhaps the FBI had to make a last-minute change, but was it wise to expose who I really was? “Nothing…”

“You don’t remember the accident?”

“I don’t remember anything before waking up.”

The nurse frowned and quickly put on a fake smile. “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as the nurse left, I pulled the sheet back and glanced down past the bumps rising from my hospital gown to my bare legs and to my toenails painted the same horrid green color as my fingers. I still had tubes connected everywhere, and I began to panic. My hands moved to my breasts and felt them through the gown before I pulled the gown away from my chest and looked down inside. What I saw confirmed everything. I had two large breasts attached to me. The next thing that happened was my hand moved between my legs to feel the absence of anything other than a catheter tube.

With all the tubes, I couldn’t get up without significant pain. Looking around me, I discovered a stainless-steel bedpan. Hoping there was nothing in it, I held it up to look at my distorted reflection. I had long bleached-blonde hair that had green dye on the ends, large, inquisitive, blue eyes, and full red lips. Get rid of the punker green, and the girl in the reflection would be quite pretty.

Hearing sounds outside, I put away the bedpan and pulled up the sheet, suddenly realizing how small and vulnerable I was.

Somebody messed up in a major way.

The doctor and nurse came in together just as I reached for the water. My throat was parched. I tried to fight the panic and remain calm.

“Good to see you’re finally awake, Amelia. I’m Dr. Gordon. How are you feeling?”

Frightened, ashamed, confused. Very confused.

“It’s hard to assess as I lie here. I physically feel fine. How should I feel?”

“That’s excellent, Amelia. What’s the last thing you remember?”

You mean other than my entire previous life?

“Nothing before waking up. I mean, I have knowledge, and I can speak. I didn’t forget those things, but I couldn’t tell you anything about who I am. You call me Amelia, so I assume that must be my name, but I don’t know what my last name is, where I live, where I am, or what I do.”

“Tell me if any of this makes sense to you. Your name is Amelia Grace Wilson. You’re eighteen years old. You live In Palo Alto with your parents Joanne and Henry Wilson and you attend a local public high school.”

I’m eighteen?

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

The doctor looked worried even though for me this was what they prepared me for.

“I need to run a few more tests. Nurse, I think it’s time to reach out to Joanne and Henry Wilson.”

I tried to imagine what this girl’s parents must be feeling right now. Their daughter was effectively brain dead, but as part of the donor program they weren’t made aware she could be repurposed to host a witness. Now, I’ll be introduced to them as their daughter, but I’m really an imposter with no memory of them whatsoever. I needed to contact Nathan at the FBI.

“When can I get out of here?”

“You don’t seem too concerned over your memory loss, Amelia.”

“What should I say? I feel fine. I don’t know what I lost. Is there a phone or computer I can use?”

“You want to make a call?”

This was going to be tougher than I imagined. How do I explain I need to call someone that I supposedly have no memory of?

“I thought perhaps if I had a phone, I might be able to look through photos and that may help me remember something.”

“That’s an excellent idea. You have a phone. It’s with your purse in the drawer next to you. However, I should run some more tests and make sure you can eat and move around on your own first. I think we should start by removing the catheter.”

That didn’t sound fun.

Five painful, embarrassing minutes later, I was free to swing my legs over the edge of the bed.

There I sat, looking down past my breasts to my feminine arms and legs while the doctor tapped my knees, elbows, dragged cold metal across the bottom of my foot, checked my ears, lungs, eyes, and throat.

“You appear in perfect health, Amelia. Other than the loss of memory which is common for your type of accident.”

“Can you tell me more about what happened?”

“I don’t have all the specifics, but you were at a house party, had been drinking heavily, and fell unconscious into the pool. You were discovered approximately twenty minutes later.”

“I was dead then?”

“Clinically, yes. When someone drowns, their functions begin shutting down after about four minutes. Oxygen deprivation to the brain can result in everything from memory loss to neurological disorders, but I’m not seeing any disorders in you at all, just memory loss. The good news is that you’re alive. Try slipping off the bed for me and walking around the room. You’ll need to drag the IV with you.”

I was experiencing so many new sensations; the heavy feeling of my long hair as it slipped around when I looked down towards the floor, the bounce and shift of my breasts, and the slightly softer feeling of my backside. I had been just over six feet tall and closing in on two hundred and ten pounds. This young, female body made me feel like a little child in comparison.

My green-toenailed feet touched the cool, linoleum floor with barely a sound. I recalled what Tess had said and I tried not to overthink my actions. I sighed in relief as my first steps were smooth and graceful. I walked to the end of the room and back and noticed how different it felt to move as a female.

My mind was anything but silent, but I wasn’t feeling uncomfortable. Quite the contrary. Even with this body in a depleted state, the youthful energy of an eighteen-year-old was remarkably refreshing. I remember being told this was a one-way transfer and I had to set that aside in my mind to cope. I loved the youthful feel I had long ago forgotten, but being female was nothing I had ever contemplated.

“You’re doing great, Amelia. I’m going to order up some soup and soft foods for you to eat. Take it slow and easy. If we get through the night without problems, then we can consider removing the IV and possibly letting you go. I will be referring you for psychological assessment.”

“You think I need a shrink?”

“You lost your memory. This will have profound impact on your personality, and you will have to learn to deal with your friends and family in an entirely new way. There is still a chance you will get your memory back, but with the complete loss you’re exhibiting, I would be derelict in my duties if I were not being conservative in my diagnosis and telling you some of your memories may never return. I’ll give you a few minutes to yourself, then I suggest you lie down and get more rest.”

The doctor left and I quickly dragged the IV stand over to the bathroom. Slipping inside, I closed the door and stared at my reflection. The bedpan hadn’t done me justice. I was a very beautiful young woman. What had appeared as excessively large breasts from my top down viewpoint, in my reflection they appeared to be generously sized but also nicely matched to my form. I had a very trim waist.

Pulling the hospital gown up, I exposed my legs, hips, and stomach. Amelia had been fit. She must have been an athlete.

I deliberately turned away and headed back to the bed. There I found Amelia’s purse and pulled it onto the bed beside me. I found her identification first. There was no driver’s license, but many people didn’t get those anymore. Putting that aside, I gravitated to the phone and turned it on. Facial recognition acted as my passcode.

The phone vibrated and chirped in my hand and a message appeared on the screen.

‘Welcome to your new life Grayson. Consider this a retirement gift from your friends at Deimos.’

The message vanished quickly, and I threw the phone onto the bed in disgust. Somehow Deimos had done this to me.

***

Ted Parsons walked into the large conference room that had been turned into a GOC, Grayson Operations Center. Boris and Elizabeth were huddled in front of a computer screen and laughing hard.

“What’s all this about?”

Boris leaned back but seeing Ted his smile quickly faded. “We were just watching Grayson’s reaction from the hospital room camera.”

“Show it to me.”

The scene showed Grayson grabbing his breasts and looking down the top of the hospital gown before finally grabbing a bedpan.

“That’s actually very funny. I would be tempted to broadcast this out to all staff, but nothing must leave this room. Do you both understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Has he tried to contact anyone?”

“Not yet.”

“What do we know about Amelia Wilson? What’s his life going to be like?”

“She’s eighteen and goes to a public high school. Her parents are upper middle class. We’re still digging.”

“I want a complete profile by tomorrow. There’s no guarantee that Grayson won’t still cause a stir. I think we should be keeping tabs on him and providing gentle nudges to let him know we’re still here and watching him.”

“Okey dokey, sir.”

***

I ate my soup and Jell-O and was rather surprised that the flavors seemed bolder and brighter than before the transfer. I wondered if like everything else in the human body that taste buds degenerated over time or this was just the way a woman tastes things.

Acclimating to the new body wasn’t too hard if I tried not to think about it. When I stayed still and closed my eyes, I was still Grayson. After my initial shock with Amelia’s phone, I picked it up once again, making note to be rid of the Deimos phone once I got as much useful information as I could from it.

Amelia had been obsessed with social media and daily she posted photos and videos of her life. This was helpful for me in trying to identify who her friends were and what kind of girl she was. All I could see was that she was spoiled, bratty, and rebellious. Her friends looked to be no better.

I was itching for some freedom to contact the FBI but was quickly realizing being a teenager and still under my new parent’s care, I had far fewer rights. I couldn’t just walk out of the hospital on my own. I couldn’t drive, and I didn’t want to use a Deimos phone to reach anyone. I was going stir crazy with the lack of privacy and ability to do what I felt was urgent.

I was still reviewing photos and videos when the doctor came in.

“Hello, Amelia. How are you doing?”

“I feel fine, Dr. Gordon. The food hasn’t given me any problems. When can I get this IV out and get out of here?”

“I can take the IV out for you now. Your parents are here.”

“What are they being told about me?”

The doctor slid the IV from my right wrist and I winced slightly. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at me.

“You’re a very astute young woman. They’re meeting with the psychologist right now.”

“I can’t imagine how traumatizing this might be for them. I look at my photos and videos and can only imagine that this accident might have been a good thing. I don’t appear to have been a very nice person. Maybe everything will change now.”

“I’ve seen some dramatic changes in people from accidents like this, but if you recognize that you don’t want to be the same person, then I would encourage you to take this as an opportunity for change. You may lose some friends in the process though.”

“What friends? The ones I don’t remember that encouraged me to drink and party? The same ones that didn’t notice I was at the bottom of a pool for twenty minutes?”

The doctor chuckled. “Your parents love you very much. Maybe all of this will help you restore some of what was lost.”

“So, what are they being told about me?”

“That you are fully recovered except for your memory. Your personality may be completely altered, you may act out, and you may seem confused at times.”

“Understandable. I have no desire to hurt them, but it will be hard on all of us.”

“You’re free to move about as needed. Please stay in your room at least until you have met up with your parents. If all goes well, I see no reason not to release you by tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

I carefully rubbed my thin wrist grateful to have the IV removed. Glancing at my reflection in the window, I thought about my old parents. They had both passed away and I hadn’t been a very good son over the last years. Maybe being eighteen again isn’t so bad if I can right the wrongs I have done.

I pulled my legs underneath me and noticed how much more flexible I was. It was comfortable sitting like this. I tugged at my long hair and made another quick glance down the front of my hospital gown. Although not uncomfortable, it would take a lot of getting used to.

“Amelia?”

Looking up, I saw a smartly dressed woman with glasses enter the room. I made some careful deductions and since she was wearing an ID badge, I felt confident in my guess.

“You must be the psychologist.”

“I’m Dr. Mary Heathers. Doctor Gordon tells me you’re doing remarkably well for losing your memory. If you could sum up how you feel with one word, what would that be?”

“Anxious.”

“Anxious? That’s an intriguing word. In what way are you anxious?”

“I’m anxious to be out of the hospital and anxious about meeting my parents that I gather are waiting patiently to see me.”

“That’s not what I would have expected. Most amnesiacs are angry or confused.”

“You deal with amnesia often then?”

“You’re my first.”

“If you don’t already know this, much of what you read on the Internet is misinformation.”

Mary smiled and sat down. What followed was a lengthy conversation where she probed my personality and character. She stood. “Let’s get this over with, Amelia.” She leaned out the door. “Joanne, Henry. Please, come in.”

I was more than anxious about this meeting. Extremely nervous, but one look from Joanne Wilson and I could feel my lower lip tremble in response to her pain. Joanne rushed forward, stopped, then pulled me into her arms.

“We thought we lost you, Amelia!”

I felt tears falling from my eyes for the first time in years. These damned female hormones were doing me in. My arms wrapped around Amelia’s mom and held her close. Henry came and joined the hugging. He kissed my head. It was strange, surreal, and comforting at the same time.

After several minutes, we pulled apart and Joanne sat on the end of the bed and Henry sat himself down in a chair. I could tell he was conflicted as he looked over at Mary who had stayed in the room to observe.

Joanne reached her hand and touched mine. “You don’t remember us, Amelia?”

“I don’t remember anything before waking up in the hospital. I’m sorry.”

Henry huffed. “Well you finally went ahead and did it. All your partying and drinking, this was inevitable.”

Mary caught his eyes and he settled back down.

I held up my phone and scrolled through the pictures. “If this was me, then I can understand why you would be upset.”

That softened Henry’s look.

Joanne brushed some hair from my eyes. “We’re all sorry. The important thing is that you’re alive. We’ll make it through this together. How do you feel?”

“I feel fine. I hope to leave here soon and get on with life.”

“What about school? Do you remember anything from your classes?”

“Nothing, but I think I’ll do all right.”

“You really remember nothing about us? How we took you to the beach when you were young? Christmas in Tahoe? Bedtime stories with me?” Joanne started to tear up.

“I wish for your sake I could say yes.”

Henry stood. “We’ll be back in the morning with some clothes.”

Joanne hugged me tightly again. “I’m so happy you’re still with us. Rest up, sweetheart.”

My new parents left, and Mary stayed behind.

“Are you all right, Amelia?”

“Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t remember anything. There is much hidden behind my dad’s comments.”

“The one thing I know about parents, Amelia, is that they will always love you even if at the moment they may struggle to like you. I better check up on them to see how they’re doing. For some reason I’m not too worried about you.”

“Thank you.”

Mary slipped from the room and I stood up, finally feeling free to be able to roam. I had to relieve myself for a while and made my way to the bathroom, pausing for a minute to stare at my reflection. I brought my fingers to my face and ran them over my full lips.

Can I live like this?

I imagined Deimos staff laughing at what they had done to me, but the reality was I had no choice and moping around about becoming a young woman would do me no good. The fact was, the longer I was Amelia, the better I felt.

I did my business and stripped completely. Seeing myself naked was shocking. I was very pretty, and I had forgotten what having smooth, taught skin was like. My muscles were tone and once again I could imagine Amelia being an athlete.

After several minutes of staring at myself, I showered. I felt a need to feel fresh and clean.

*** January 23, 2028 ***

The next morning, I was greeted once again by Dr. Mary Heathers.

“How are you feeling this morning, Amelia?”

“About the same as yesterday. Still anxious about what it may be like for all of us to try to be a family when I can’t recall anything of my past.”

“Only time will tell us what the end results will be. I have a few questions I must ask you. Have you considered ending your life?”

“No. There’s confusion, but no depression. I have to admit I don’t like who I saw on my phone.”

“What matters the most is who you are now, but the question remains as to who are you? What do you strive for? What type of person are you?”

“These are good questions, for which I have few answers. How can I strive for something when I’m not certain who I truly am? For example, I appear fit and athletic, but was I a soccer player or a cheerleader? In either case, I may want to play the same sport again and that might guide my future. As to what type of person I am, I know what I want to be.”

“And what is that? What do you want to be like, Amelia?”

“Kind, caring, loyal, and appreciative.”

“Those are all interesting values. Why those?”

“I don’t want to be the person I see in my photos. That Amelia looked very spoiled and self-centered to me.”

“Then I encourage you to become everything you wish to be. Take your time and know this could prove to be frustrating for you. Things won’t come all at once and sometimes those choices we made in the past come back around to haunt us. If, by chance, you run into your old friends, be careful not to stray from the path before you. Stay firm in what your desires are, and you will achieve what you have your heart set on.”

“Thank you, Mary.”

“Your parents are waiting for you. They gave me these clothes for you to change into. They have my number in case you need anything. I’ll send them in about ten minutes from now.”

Mary slipped out the room and I eagerly reached for the bag of clothes. The bag contained a pastel yellow dress, slip-on shoes, a bra, and a pair of panties but even though my mind rebelled, I was even more excited knowing that getting rid of my green hospital gown put me one step closer to freedom.

I quickly changed even though I struggled with the bra and checked myself out in front of the mirror. The dress greatly accentuated my feminine body and if I ignored the dyed ends of my hair, I could almost appreciate my new looks. Almost, but not quite.

Upon returning to the room, I found my new parents conferring with the doctor. Joanne, mom, came over to me right away and hugged me.

“You look so much better, Amelia. Are you ready to go home?”

“No offense to the doctors and nurses here, but I can’t wait to get out of here.”

The doctor came over and gave me one last check before releasing me. Dad had stayed stubbornly quiet and I suspected he an Amelia never got along well. He didn’t speak until we all got into the autonomous shuttle. As soon as the doors were closed, dad sent the address of our destination to the vehicle and we started moving.

Dad sat across from me and looked at me sternly. “I’m not certain I completely believe you can’t remember anything. You’ve always managed to find ways to manipulate us to go soft on you for your selfish mistakes. We’ve made some changes around the house and hope we can all make a fresh start.”

Mom reached for my hand. “I know it’s a lot to absorb right now. We spoke at length to Dr. Heathers and Dr. Gordon and based upon their recommendations, we enrolled you in Laurel Trinity Academy. It’s a private school and will get you away from your old friends that…”

I tried to put myself in their place. Their daughter had drifted away from them, had become involved in partying, drinking, and most likely drugs. “I understand. I’m sorry that my behavior wasn’t appropriate. My actions obviously hurt you both.”

Clearly dad didn’t trust me, but mom’s eyes glistened, and she smiled weakly.

I briefly noted where we were and glanced up onto the hillside. My old mansion reflected the morning sunlight from its dozens of floor to ceiling windows. Will I ever recover that which I lost? Did I really lose anything?

We travelled north along the highway and I absentmindedly identified landmarks to help me gauge where we were, but I spent most of the time quietly looking down at the hem of my dress as it rested just above my exposed knees.

“What day is it today?”

“Tuesday. If all goes well, you will start school on Monday.”

I found it hard to look directly at my parent’s faces. I was ashamed I had stolen their daughter’s body even though I realized she had been brain dead. Looking up and out the window I saw my reflection and turned back towards mom.

“Would it be possible to get rid of this green dye in my hair and on my nails?”

Mom smiled. “Absolutely. We could go together tomorrow.”

Even dad seemed to smile a little at this.

***

“Grayson’s been released from the hospital. Looks like they’re heading to the Wilson residence. They’re in one of our vehicles. Would you like me to give them a scare?”

Ted stared out the window and continued to keep his back to Boris. “No. Keep close tabs on Grayson. If he makes any move to contact the FBI that’s when we intervene and let him know he’s being watched.”

“Amelia’s parents transferred him into a private school. Laurel Trinity Academy just happens to use our security systems, firewalls, and school administration software.”

“Keep me posted.”

“Yes, sir.”

***

The shuttle pulled up in front of an upscale single-story house with a Spanish-tiled roof and perfect landscaping. I wasn’t sure what dad or mom did for a living, but the house looked to be in a nice neighborhood. I could only assume that either the family had good income, was heavily in debt, or both.

“Welcome home, Amelia. Does anything look familiar?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. We’re just glad you’re here with us. Right, Henry?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Dad’s attitude was still cool towards me, but he appeared to be less angry. He opened the front double doors and I stepped inside my new home. The 1970’s sprawling ranch was remodeled with a modern design, sleek wood floors, and an open, airy feel. Lots of natural light poured in from skylights and windows.

A gray Boston terrier skidded across the polished floor before running in place until he gathered enough momentum to combat the lack of friction. He raced up to me.

I was immediately reminded of Lucky and knelt on the floor to pull the exuberant dog into my arms.

“Aren’t you full of energy.” Looking up to mom, I asked her what his name was.

“We haven’t named him yet. We were hoping you would.”

“I don’t understand. This isn’t your dog?”

“We got him yesterday. It was all part of the changes around the house. Come into the living room and sit down.”

Dad sat down across from me. “We thought we lost you and when the doctors told us of your condition, that you had lost your memory, they commented on how you weren’t happy with who you were before. They encouraged us to make every effort to start anew. I’ll be the first to admit, we all made mistakes. Once you became a teenager you got caught up with a bad crowd and you turned into someone that was very hard to love. We were no longer a family. I took advantage of the chaos and spent far too much time at work. I wasn’t here like I should have been.”

Mom held his hand as she continued for them. “We had been seeking counseling and had even considered an intervention for you when the accident happened. Doctor Heathers suggested that we should take this as an opportunity to become the family we wanted to be. Your dad has adjusted his work so he can be at home more often. We got rid of your old punker and party clothes hoping that you…”

Dad sighed. “We’ve been fools, Amelia. New clothes, school, and a drooling dog won’t make us a family. We only want you to know we’re sorry, and we love you. We want to make this work for all of us.”

I was staring at the hem of my dress again. “I don’t feel like I’m the same person as I see on my phone. That person isn’t who I want to be even though I’m not certain who I am any more. I recognize the efforts you’re going through. If you have made this effort for me, then I can at least reciprocate and do the best I can to be someone you can be proud of.”

“It’s all we can ask for, Amelia. Let me show you to your room.”

I could smell the fresh paint as I entered my new bedroom. Everything appeared crisp, new, and feminine.

“You’ll find everything you need here, Amelia.” Mom opened the closet door to show me dozens of dresses, skirts, and blouses.

I got the feeling they were trying to recreate me into the perfect image of what they wanted their daughter to be. I couldn’t see a pair of pants anywhere. On the pastel-colored bedspread a white blouse and a navy-blue long-sleeved school uniform dress was laid out.

“That’s your new school uniform. I like that it isn’t the traditional tartan mini skirt.”

I’m an eighteen-year-old girl that must wear a uniform as I go back to school. “It’s lovely. Thank you.”

“I’ll go make a call to the salon to set up our appointment for tomorrow. We’re just in the other room if you need anything. Try to think up a name for the dog. I think he likes you.”

Mom closed the door behind her, and I sat down on the bed and fingered the soft sweater-like school dress. A quick glance at myself in the mirror showed me I was sitting poised and had my legs deftly tucked under my dress. There was no hint that I had been a forty-seven-year-old man a few days ago. I didn’t dislike what I saw, but at some point, I needed to mentally move on and accept my new life. At least I would have an excuse for not knowing how to act like a girl.

*** January 24, 2028 ***

I woke with a renewed desire to reach out to the FBI. Deimos had ruined too many lives and while I had chosen to make the best of my new situation, I was still determined to take them down. If nothing else, it would give me a goal to achieve.

I stretched and noticed how my breasts snagged a little on the silky fabric of my nightgown. Trying to remind myself to move on was useless. The feeling of these new body parts was foreign and yet pleasant, but better than waking up with a… I sighed and looked over the clothes that were in the closet, blindly reaching in, I picked out a peach-colored dress to wear.

I spent a great deal of time in my room yesterday getting familiar with everything. I noted the absence of a computer and this morning my phone was also missing. As I moved into the living room, I could see dad holding onto my phone.

He frowned as he was obviously deleting things. “I’ve messaged a number of your old friends asking them to not contact you again. I’m also removing your old contacts, photos, and videos.”

“Just throw out the phone if it makes it easier. I can do without.”

“Are you serious? This phone hasn’t left your side since you got it.”

“It would be useful to have a basic phone, but maybe we could find something that doesn’t have all the social media applications. Samsung still makes some basic phones.”

“Why don’t you stop by the store with your mom after your salon appointment?”

“If it is all right with you. I don’t want either of you to go to any trouble.”

“It wouldn’t be. You might get harassed at school with an old-style phone though.”

“Harassed because I don’t want to waste time telling my so-called friends what I was eating for lunch? I’m not concerned.”

“You’ve changed so much, Amelia. I’m at a loss.”

“I’m sorry if I’m making things hard on you and mom. I can’t explain it other than I have an opportunity to be someone I can look in the mirror at and not be disappointed.”

He smiled. “Maybe we should drown all your old friends if they have half the chance of making a change like you have. I want to encourage you, Amelia. Do you know we haven’t spoken civilly to each other in years?”

I sat down on the couch next to him. “Tell me about your work.”

“When I look at you, I can’t see anything physically wrong. It’s hard to fathom you can’t recall anything about…” He signed and seemed to refocus his thoughts. “I’m vice president of research and development for Charterhouse Security.”

“Really? Don’t they make data security appliances?”

“How do you know… Doctor Heathers told us your memory loss was quite selective to your life but not necessarily to things you may have known before. Yes. We make firewalls and security systems.”

“I’d love to see it someday.”

“You can come to work with me tomorrow. If you’re really interested.”

“That would be wonderful. May I ask another question?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t see a computer. Did I used to have one?”

“You need to understand that before the accident, you spent all your time on your phone and computer. We’ve cleaned up the computer and moved it into the den. For now, we only want you to access the computer where we can see you. Was there something you needed?”

“You’ll think this is odd. I need to research girl stuff.”

“Girl stuff?”

“I don’t know how to style my hair or what makeup to use and… a few other things.”

“Your mom would be happy to help, but feel free to use the computer. You don’t… you know… Hmmm. You know about sex, right?”

I’m certain I blushed several shades of red. I hadn’t even thought about sex.

“Are you ready to go, Amelia?”

Looking up, I saw mom waiting for me. I was quietly grateful to sidestep this conversation. “Yes.”

“Joanne? Amelia was hoping to get a new phone… an older styled phone without the social media apps on it. Can you swing by the store on your way back to see if you can find one?”

Mom nodded and smiled at dad. “You two were talking?”

Dad stood and puffed out his chest ever so slightly. “That’s what dads and daughters do. Amelia is even coming to work with me tomorrow.”

Mom stared into my eyes. “Remarkable.”

“Enjoy the day you two. Amelia, don’t forget to ask your mom about those things you wanted to know.”

Mom led me out to the shuttle and once seated and underway she turned to me. “What things were you wanting to know about?”

“This seems rather foolish, but I can’t remember how to style my hair, put on makeup, or how to take care of myself when I get my…” I couldn’t even say it.

“I’d be happy to show you. Please don’t feel embarrassed. How are you feeling?”

“Confused, but secure. If that makes sense.”

“It does. Can you think of anything that would make it easier for you?”

“Time.”

“Thankfully we have lots of that now.”

“This must be hard on you and dad.”

“We’re a resilient family. We’ll overcome. Do you have any aspirations, Amelia?”

“That’s hard to say right now. Losing my memories makes me question much of who I am. Did I want to go to university? Did I used to play sports?”

“Volleyball. You were so good at it, but then a year ago you were caught… You haven’t played for a while. As for university, your grades were hardly good enough. When you were young, you loved technology and said you might want to be an astronaut.”

“That’s a lot to consider. Why was I such a bad person?”

“You were never bad… That’s not entirely true… I really don’t want to bring up the past too much.”

“It’s all right. I have no connection with the past. I would hate to repeat what led me to the accident.”

“For years, your dad and I were having problems. We were talking about getting a divorce. That’s when you started acting out. When you graduated into high school, you fell in with the wrong crowd, started partying and doing drugs. You were kicked off the volleyball team, your grades plummeted, and everything we tried was of no use. We expected to get a call in the middle of the night that you had been raped, were in prison, or…” Mom wiped away a tear.

“You and dad. How are you both now?”

“Better. I have much hope that things will work out just fine.”

***

“Grayson hasn’t tried to communicate with anyone yet. He’s at the salon with his new mom.”

“Keep me informed. Send in Ramon on your way out.”

Boris left Ted’s office and a few minutes later Ramon entered.

“I’ve got a new task for you. It’s time to get Project Theta operational. The work Elizabeth is doing on voice analytics, put it into production. We have a presidential election this year.”

“We’re already ahead of you on this, Ted.”

“I’m not talking about the typical campaign that we’ve been involved in for years. We can’t afford to lose this election. If there is even a hint that someone might vote for the wrong candidate, we need to know about it and work to change their opinion. Anyone that persists in their wrong choice I want to leak their candidate preference to more action-oriented groups, neighbors, and voters. The public needs to understand the consequences of their choices and if that means they get denied food service, harassed, or worse, then so be it.”

“If we go this far, Ted, there may be more eyes looking at us. We do well when people aren’t aware of what we’re doing.”

“For years the United States has policed the world only to be led into one war after another. We’ve spent trillions of dollars and haven’t done anything to better life on the planet. We can alter the world, Ramon. We can do this without risking a single life. We have an obligation and we’re well paid for it by our sponsors.”

***

My chair spun slowly before the mirror. Removing the green dye and bleaching, then returning my hair to its more natural state was quite the ordeal but the results were fantastic. My long golden hair was absolutely stunning and made me look even more beautiful than before. My finger and toenails were painted red at mom’s suggestion.

“I knew my daughter was in there somewhere. You look wonderful, Amelia.”

Staring back at my reflection, it was hard not to smile. Over the last few days I had begun to acclimate to my reflection, and I liked what I saw. Every time my mind went to a negative place about my new life and body, I reminded myself I didn’t have a choice. I then took a few moments to focus on the benefits. I’m pretty. I have a lifetime of knowledge and experience and a whole life before me. I’ve gained almost thirty years of my life. I’m fit and healthy.

What still seemed to get me stuck was when I thought about being female, sex, having to go back to school, and that this was all Deimos’ fault. I decided the best way to deal with each of these thoughts was to continue to ponder them in depth knowing that eventually, I would need to settle my mind, or I would go crazy. A logical, systematic, and programmatic approach was needed.

I offered a smile to my mom. “Lucky.”

“Lucky what?”

“The dog’s name. I think we should call him Lucky.”

“I like it. Lucky it is. We should get to the phone store.”

“Thank you, mom. I don’t think I could handle another day with green hair without cutting it off.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. Your hair is gorgeous.”

***

“Mr. Parsons? Boris is here to give you an update.”

Ted frowned. “Send him in, Agnes.”

Ted waited for the door to hesitantly open knowing that the next thing he would see was the thick glasses of one of Ramon’s nerdy coders.

“Excuse me, sir. I have an update on Grayson.”

“Close the door, Boris.”

“You want me to leave?”

Ted closed his eyes briefly. “No. Close the door with you on this side of it.”

“Oh… Yes.”

Boris closed the door and stood patiently before Ted.

Ted sighed heavily. “Out with it, Boris.”

“Status update for Grayson, now Amelia, as of January 24^th, 2028 at 1:13pm. Grayson got his hair dyed. She, I mean he, looks really pretty now. There’s no way a guy like me would ever have a chance with a girl like her…” Boris’ focus drifted.

“I don’t care about Grayson’s hair color or how your sex life resembles that of a penguin, Boris. Get on with the update.”

“A penguin?”

“They have sex once a year.”

Boris chuckled loudly before snorting several times. “I get it… I wish I was a penguin. Anyways… After Grayson changed his hair color, they went to a phone store and he did something very odd. He got an old Samsung flip phone on a carrier we don’t have access to. I don’t even know his new number.”

“Damn it! Figure out a way to get useful information from him. Tap his parent’s phones if you have to.”

“Yes, sir. Grayson is quite smart.”

“Smarter than you will ever be. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

***

When we pulled up to the house, I could see someone standing at the door. Dad was arguing with him. Mom and I exited the shuttle and the twenty-something guy with more tattoos and piercings than unaltered skin turned towards me.

“Amelia!” The guy boldly stepped towards me.

I stood rooted in place. I didn’t know what to do.

“You need to come with me!”

Dad was shouting at him. The guy grabbed my arm and pulled me.

I pulled back. “Let go of me!”

“Amelia, what’s wrong? Let’s go.”

“I don’t know who you are.”

He got in my face and grabbed my hair. “What’s this?”

I was frightened as I looked up into his angry face. “I don’t know who you are. Please leave.”

“I’m your God-damned boyfriend!”

I glanced at mom and dad. They both looked afraid. Dad was on the phone. The guy was creepy, and I was certain mom and dad thought I could easily fall back into Amelia’s old ways.

The guy grabbed my arm and pulled again. For a second a forgot I was a smaller female and got angry. I reached for his face and grabbed a large metal ring in his nose. I pulled hard bringing his face down next to mine. He squealed.

“I told you. I don’t know who you are and I’m not going anywhere with you. I had an accident and I don’t remember anything before a few days ago.”

Suddenly remembering my place in the world, I let go and backed away towards dad.

The guy held his nose and pointed at me. “You’re a freak!”

Sirens sounded in the distance and the guy bolted towards a park and some trails beyond.

I moved to dad and felt his arms wrap around me. If that had been Amelia’s boyfriend, then I had a strong urge to go shower again.

*** January 25, 2028 ***

It had only been four days since I woke up as Amelia and each new day brought new awareness of who I was now. Today was no exception as I got up, showered, picked out a dress, all without thinking of the new me. I did pause, however, when I brushed out my long hair in front of the mirror. I smiled as I looked at my reflection.

Yesterday had shaken us all up. The police had come, and we had to explain the situation. Mom and dad decided not to press any charges as it was all a misunderstanding. We had talked into the evening and I thanked them repeatedly for their decisions to move me to another school.

“I have breakfast ready for you, Amelia. Your dad will be ready to take you to his work in thirty minutes.”

“Be right there.”

I was excited to see the inner workings of Charterhouse Security. I had admired their work for years and was impressed they avoided being bought out by the monopolies like Deimos. Deimos would buy security companies to gain access to their software code and assure they had backdoor access.

I scampered down the hall with the renewed energy of a teenager, gave Lucky a scratch behind his ears and told him I would take him for a walk later, then headed into the kitchen. Mom and dad were there, and dad was reviewing the latest news on his tablet computer.

He tossed the tablet onto the table. “I can’t believe where this world is going.”

“Most of the news isn’t real, dad. You’re just seeing what the media outlets want you to see to steer your opinion.”

“When have you been interested in the news, Amelia?”

It was back again. That slightly hard edge to dad’s tone. “I’m just saying you should shift your search engine to one that doesn’t track you. You’ll get slightly better results. Oh… and we should turn off the smart devices in the house. They’re spying on us and using that information to alter what you see on the Internet.”

“Maybe we should take you back to see the doctor. My daughter didn’t care one iota about technology.” He became quiet and took a sip from his coffee.

He had caught me, but he didn’t seem serious, so I cautioned myself and quickly ate breakfast before getting into the shuttle to dad’s work.

Dad and I were deep in a conversation when we pulled up to his office building.

“I still don’t understand your sudden fascination with data security, Amelia.”

“Did you see some of the photos and videos I posted on the social media sites? I’m embarrassed by them. I need to be thinking of my future and posting images of myself being a drunken idiot will allow that information to be out there forever. Anyone can copy and replicate it and future employers routinely check an applicant’s social media when hiring. Not only do I want to remove what is out there, but I want to limit what people know about me.”

Dad smiled. “Let’s hope you’ve had a good lesson learned. Welcome to Charterhouse Security.”

We stepped into the glass and wood-paneled foyer before heading up to dad’s office. These offices were nothing like what Deimos had for their executives, but that was to be expected with one-billionth the budget.

“Amelia, meet Anna. Anna is my personal assistant.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Anna.”

“The pleasure is all mine. Henry never told me how beautiful you are. I bet you have your pick of the guys at school.”

This was one of my mental buttons she had just pushed. I was instantly reminded of the new me and I was still coming to grips with the enormity of the change. I was about to reply when dad interrupted us.

“Anna, I have a few meetings first thing this morning. Could you give Amelia a tour? Maybe you could introduce her to Charles if he is free.”

“I’d be happy to, Henry. Come on, Amelia.”

Anna led me through a few hallways, and we came to Charles Babbige’s office. His title read Chief Information Security Officer.

“Charles? Do you have a minute?”

“Yes, Anna. Come on in.”

“I’d like to introduce you to Amelia Wilson. This is Henry’s daughter.”

Charles stood and extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Amelia.”

“Nice meeting you. You’re Charterhouse Securities’ information security officer?”

“Yes. They all come to me when it comes to our own internal security. Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“I’m recovering from an accident and start in a new school on Monday.” I glanced up at a camera mounted on the ceiling. “That’s an Infinescan camera, isn’t it?”

“You’ve got a good eye. Yes, it is.”

“I’m certain I remember those being in the news lately. Deimos is the parent company, and someone found code vulnerabilities in them. I think Infinescan was sued when companies found out their trade secrets were being recorded through hacked cameras and then being sold to China… but I could be mistaken.”

“We have these cameras everywhere in the building.” He tapped away on his computer and frowned. “You’re spot on, Amelia. Now that I investigate it, Infinescan has gone bankrupt and our cameras were never patched leaving a chance someone could spy on us. I’ll have to tell your dad he should give some of his bonus to you for pointing this out.”

“Happy to help. My accident left my memories a little messed up. I’m just glad I seemed to remember something important.”

“Anna, sorry to interrupt our time, but I should get on this. Amelia, I’m glad you came to visit us today.”

He put his head down to focus on his computer screen. Anna took us back into the hallway. “Let me show you our marketing department.”

We turned a few corners and came into a large open room with many colorful cubicles.

“Everyone, we have a guest. This is Amelia Wilson.”

One young man looked around his cubicle wall. “As in Henry’s daughter?”

“Yes, Adam.”

“Remind me to tell Henry that Amelia must have got her looks from her mom. How old are you, Amelia?”

“I’m eighteen.”

Adam’s face faltered. “Oh… Hmmm… Carry on then.”

Anna took my arm and led me into the developer’s area. “This is where all the programmers sit. This is the team that writes the code for our firewalls.”

There were glass boards covered in algorithms and formulas and a giant coffee station in the corner. About a dozen employees poked their heads up like prairie dogs and Anna introduced me again. Rachel, one of the managers offered to talk with me while Anna headed back to her desk.

“What do you know about firewalls, Amelia?”

“They are appliances on the network that act as a gatekeeper, watching all data flowing through them.”

“Very good, but I would expect no less from Henry’s daughter. All firewalls do basically the same thing, but we’re trying to create something new here. We want to combine a regular firewall with a communications-specific firewall. We’ve spent months trying to work out the most efficient algorithm to do this.”

“This is because voice and video data streams are different than regular data.”

“Exactly. Let me show you.”

Rachel took me to the glass boards. “This will look like nonsense to you, but this code is for regular data and this one is for communication streams. The team here has spent months attempting various methods to combine the code but none of them have worked. Their efforts always overloaded the main processors.”

Rachel’s office phone rang, and she stepped away. I bit my lower lip and looked over my shoulder. No one was paying any attention to me. I grabbed the eraser and wiped a few lines of code away, then wrote down an efficient piece of code that would do exactly what they needed.

“Amelia! Don’t touch that board.”

I quickly put down the marker as Rachel stormed out of her office.

“What were you thinking? Please, head back to your dad.”

“I’m sorry.”

I turned and felt very much like the chastised teenager that I was. Once I got into the hallway, I ran towards my dad’s office and arrived just in time to see dad getting off the phone. His face was red.

“Damn it, Amelia! Just when I thought you might be getting better; you do something stupid. It was a mistake bringing you here. We’ll talk about this when I get home. Anna! Get a shuttle for Amelia. Make sure it is set to go straight home and confirm Amelia gets on it.”

“I’m sorry, dad. I was only trying to help.”

“Help? You know nothing of this stuff!”

I felt like running away but just sat there with my hands twisting in my lap. There was a knock at the door.

“Henry?”

“I’m taking care of it, Rachel. I’m sorry.”

“Henry, I misspoke. Amelia didn’t wipe out a month’s worth of work, she gave us the answer.”

Dad looked at me and then at Rachel. “Nonsense!”

Rachel strode purposefully into the office and held up her phone. “Look at what she wrote.”

A quick glance turned into a long stare, a peek at me, then he grabbed the phone from Rachel’s hand and scrolled the photo around before looking back at me.

“We need to go see the doctor.”

“You should bring Amelia around more often, Henry. She’s a genius. I’m sorry I snapped at you, Amelia. Where did you learn to code like that?”

I was feeling rather intimidated and couldn’t formulate a good response.

“Henry, the shuttle is here.”

“We’re changing the destination from home to the hospital. I need to get some answers.”

***

“Doctor Gordon, on the ride over here I confirmed at length with my team. Amelia wrote a very sophisticated algorithm that a dozen people have spent months unsuccessfully trying to create.”

I sat in the corner of the doctor’s office fearful that I had completely blown everything, but I was shocked at the doctor’s reply.

“It’s not unheard of, Henry. We simply don’t understand the mechanics of the human brain. People have died and were revived speaking new languages or could play Mozart without ever having training before.”

“But computer software coding?”

“It’s all math, binary ones and zeroes. Our brains are much like computers. Maybe Amelia’s memory loss gave way to a miraculous understanding of computers.”

“This isn’t right. There must be something wrong with her.”

“Quite the contrary. She’s as healthy as anyone I’ve ever examined, and her brain function is perfect. I’m telling you there is nothing wrong with her. You should be rejoicing in her health.”

“All right, doctor. Thank you.”

“It’s good that you brought her back for me to check on her. She’s quite remarkable.”

Dad stood, shook the doctor’s hand, and quietly we left the hospital.

“What do you say we go get ice cream?”

I used to have a lactose intolerance and yet I loved ice cream There was a good chance I could eat all I wanted now. “I’d like that. I’m sorry if I’m causing you trouble.”

“No. I’m the one that needs to apologize. You’ve been a perfect daughter ever since the accident. I keep looking for a reason to believe you haven’t changed, but you have.”

“I shouldn’t have touched the board.”

“How did you do it?”

“It just came to me. I saw what they were trying to do, understood it, and tweaked the formula to make it work better.”

Dad shook his head. “Charles called me. He told me you pointed out a very serious flaw in our security camera system. I don’t understand it, but I’m not upset by it. Forgive me, but you were a horrible daughter before the accident. I expected you to wind up dead from a drug overdose and used to imagine you running away with some God-awful man like Calvin yesterday. If I were a praying man, I would say God answered my prayers.”

*** January 28, 2028 ***

Over the past few days, things had begun to settle into a comfortable routine. Life at home was improving as well with mom and dad being more accepting of the new me. I had also come to terms with my new body and life. While I was still confused as to my sexuality, everything else seemed to be growing on me and I was very happy to be Amelia. I had a chance to redo my life.

I glanced at my phone sitting on the end table next to me. I hated what it represented. I got it so that I could communicate with the FBI and let them know I was alive, but to what end? Deimos knew who I was and what I looked like. Even if they paid for their murders and evil ways, the likelihood the entire company would be gone would be slim. I would be hunted and unsafe the rest of my days. Except for the one message from them, all was quiet. I took it as a warning to not do anything stupid. I could have a long and happy life as Amelia.

I had slowly been falling into the role of daughter and teenaged girl. While I didn’t have a choice, I had begun to enjoy the airy and fresh feeling of the dresses. They were more comfortable than I ever imagined them to be. Henry and Joanne were gracious, loving, and kind people and I saw much of my own family in them both. I wanted to please them and make them feel proud of me. I wanted them to know how much I cared for them and this terrible situation that had been thrust upon them.

I did, however, need closure. I sighed, picked up the phone, and took Lucky for a walk. When I knew I had reached a place I had ample privacy, I called Nathan at the FBI.

“Nathan Graves, Special Agent with the FBI. How can I help you?”

“Nathan, this is Grayson Nash. Deimos redirected the witness protection transfer as a warning to me. I wanted to let you know I’m all right.”

“Is this a joke?”

“I have your private number memorized and we used to meet in the park. Listen, Nathan. Things are rather complicated. Clearly, I’m not a surfer dude. They transferred me into donor number four. Amelia Wilson.”

“That’s not possible. Our networks are secure. If it really is you Grayson, we can still use your testimony and take them down.”

“They know who I am, and I suspect they’re watching me. I think it is best to try to live my life and forget about Deimos.”

“What about your home, belongings, and trust fund. You have billions of dollars we can now transfer to you.”

“I’ve lived with all of that and it didn’t make me happy. I’m an eighteen-year-old girl, Nathan. I have parents that believed I drowned and miraculously came back to life. There is no way I could testify or receive a trust fund without having to disclose to them I’m not really their daughter. Enough pain and suffering have been had by all. Give everything I had to charity.”

“I don’t understand how you can walk away from everything, Grayson.”

“I’m not walking away; I’m walking towards something better for myself.”

“All right. I’m glad you’re alive, Grayson. That knowledge alone takes a heavy burden off my shoulders. If you change your mind, you have my number. Enjoy your new life and I’m sorry for everything.”

“Thank you, Nathan. One last thing. You know that XeonNet is owned by Deimos, right? You’re never as secure as you think. For those from Deimos listening to this conversation, you won. Please let me and those around me live our lives in peace. Goodbye, Nathan.”

“Goodbye, Grayson.”

***

Ted sat quietly in the board room with Miri, Ramon, and Berkar. It was Berkar that spoke first.

“That’s quite the update we just had. In a way, I feel badly how we treated Grayson, but it all worked out well in the end. Grayson will officially be declared dead; his shares will be sold off and we will maintain a healthy majority of the stock. I’m glad it’s over so we can focus on the business again.”

Ted slammed his hand down on the table. “Over? You think this is over? No. It’s just begun. This was all a ploy. Grayson’s playing us. He wants us to ignore him while he and his FBI buddies build a case against us. Why else would he leave a message for us in his conversation with the FBI? He’s up to something.”

Miri sneered. “I never trusted Grayson and I agree with Ted. It’s not over. We should arrange for something to happen to him.”

Ted stood and shook his head. “No. Nothing that overt. I’m certain that’s what he wants us to do. By us trying to get rid of him, we provide enough evidence to hang ourselves. Ramon. Tell your nerds to ramp it up. Let’s make Grayson’s life a living hell but do it subtly.”

“They will be thrilled to hear this.”

*** January 29, 2028 ***

My first day of school didn’t start out well. My alarm didn’t go off when it should have and I found myself scrambling to get dressed, find something to eat, and out the door. Unfortunately, I missed the bus and mom had to order a shuttle. By the time I got to school, classes had already started. I was frazzled when I got to the front desk.

“Miss Wilson, the principal will see you now.”

I had sat in board rooms signing multi-billion-dollar deals and I wasn’t sure I had ever been so intimidated. The principal looked me over with disdain and inwardly I cringed knowing how disappointing this might be for my parents.

“Miss Wilson. You’re off to a less than stellar start with us. You’ll find us most accommodating in many areas, but timeliness is a value of this school. We’re here to prepare you for a transition into real life and if you can’t manage your time here, then you won’t be able to anywhere.”

“I’m terribly sorry. I set two alarms.”

“Consider this your first warning. I noticed there was a last-minute change to your courses. They seem rather unorthodox. What are your career goals?”

“I haven’t given it much thought.”

“I gathered as much. Do you plan on marrying rich so you can get your nails done every day?”

I was still a forty-seven-year-old man even if I was an eighteen-year-old girl. His attitude didn’t sit well with me. “That’s a little sexist.”

His eyes narrowed. “Then tell me why you have art, music, and cooking classes selected and no sciences.”

“I didn’t select them. Maybe my parents chose them for me?”

“The change request came per your request, Miss Wilson.”

Suddenly it dawned on me. My alarms were smart devices and Deimos had heavily invested in education software. “I didn’t make these changes, sir. I’m very much interested in math, sciences, computer programming, and physical fitness. Can we make those changes?”

“I’m not sure what kind of game you’re playing, Miss Wilson.”

“It’s not a game. I want to be here. Please, let’s see if we can straighten this out.”

***

We ironed out my courses and I even had the principal lock me out of the system so that if any new changes came in, I would have an alibi. My first class was almost over by the time I arrived. I was introduced and felt rather exposed by the lustful, longing looks of the boys in the class. The hem of my uniform stopped mid-thigh and sitting in a way that protected my vanity was a new challenge for me. Of course, all the other girls were in the same situation, but I was drawing a lot of attention and stares being the new girl.

By lunch, I had come to the realization that high school was downright frightening. I thought that being male was bad enough when I had gone to school, but the girls… I pictured them being all kind and caring to one another. Was I ever wrong. They were more cliquish than the guys and they would make sure you knew if you didn’t conform or belong. I struggled figuring them out. Some were angry at me, some were aloof, and others were just plain rude and condescending.

It was easy to understand what the guys were thinking. They paraded around me like they were God’s gift to women. I was a sensation and plagued by adolescent young men wanting to “get to know me better”.

I was drained and exhausted by the end of the day, happy to have just made it home alive. I had no idea how much testosterone boys had. As a man, I was careful in how I checked out a pretty woman when she walked by. I used to imagine how a woman might feel if some guy looked lustfully at them. At school, I couldn’t walk down the hallway without dozens of guys tearing my clothes off with their eyes.

After changing and taking Lucky for a walk, I got on the computer and started changing the configurations on all the smart devices in the house. I made it so that they would stop spying on us but there was no guarantee someone from Deimos couldn’t simply connect and undo what I had done. I would need one of dad’s companies’ firewalls for that. I found an old mechanical clock and put that by my bedside.

When dad came home, we had another chat over dinner.

“We had a call from the principal’s office. You were late for school?”

I sighed. “I set two alarms, but it appears their times were adjusted.”

“Who are you blaming for this besides yourself?”

“I’ve set another clock, so it won’t happen again even if we’re hit by an electromagnetic pulse.”

“You have an active imagination, Amelia. We’re paying a lot to have you go to this school. I’ll not have you squander it.”

“I told you both I want to make you proud of me and I hope one day I will earn your trust back. Do you have a spare firewall from work?”

“I could get one. Why?”

“I want to configure and put one on our home network.”

“We have a firewall built into our broadband router.”

“Yes, but this will give me experience setting one up. Could you get two?”

“Why the need for two?”

“I thought I could also set one up for the school.”

“I’ll bring one home tomorrow. Do you have any marketing advice for my team while you’re at it?”

“I do… A new product idea…”

“I wasn’t really asking, Amelia.”

Dad’s harsh tone and innuendos were a constant reminder that I wasn’t to be trusted nor listened to. “May I be excused from the table, please?”

“You’ve hardly eaten anything.”

“I’m not very hungry.”

Mom frowned at dad.

“You’re excused. Do you have homework?”

“Finished that hours ago.”

I took Lucky out into the back yard and sat down on the porch while tossing the ball for him. It had been a rough day and I felt my tears begin to flow. I cursed my new female hormones even though I knew I was just upset over my constant failures. Living as a teenaged girl was harder than I would have ever imagined.

*** January 30, 2028 ***

My wind-up mechanical clock was earth-shatteringly loud, but it had worked when the others hadn’t. I now felt strongly that Deimos was involved and once I had my hands on one of dad’s firewalls, I could prove it.

Mom tried to smooth things over last night and she showed me how to style my hair. I took extra time this morning to try to mimic what she had done. Overall, I was impressed by the large twists in my hair that added volume and gave me a girl-next-door look. My white blouse collar accented against the darker navy blue of the school dress. I turned slowly before my mirror and understood why the boys were going crazy yesterday.

I had some questions for Tess, the woman that had gone through a witness protection before. While she wouldn’t be able to compare her own with my experience, I wondered if she noticed anything about her sexuality. As I laid in bed last night, I spent a few hours contemplating and investigating my feelings. My mind was attracted to women, but my body seemed to gravitate towards men. I wondered if I would always feel this way or if one would ultimately win over the other.

I noticed how my body was significantly different and how much more sensitive it was, but I still had no sexual desires. I felt I just needed time to acclimate.

I determined that today would be a better day. I put a smile on my face, spun away from the mirror, and went to get some breakfast. After cleaning up my dishes, feeding and taking Lucky outside, I then made my way to the bus and arrived at school on time.

My first class of the day was computer programming. I had been looking forward to this to see what they were teaching these days. The class had assigned seating and I stood there patiently waiting for the room to fill and the teacher to arrive. I tried to ignore the roving eyes of the mostly male class.

“Ahh… Yes. Everyone, we have a new student joining us. This is Amelia Wilson. Amelia, I’m sure you will be well behind the rest of the class. I believe programming is a team responsibility and I have broken the class into seven teams of three. We have one team that only has two members, so I will be assigning you to that team. Go ahead and sit down with Meghan and Kent.”

There was only one table with two people, so I assumed that was where I would sit. Meghan was a pretty young woman with long brunette hair and captivating brown eyes. Kent was good looking and fit, possibly more at home on the football field than in a computer programming class except that he looked inquisitive and alert. The only seat was between the two. I sat down and whispered that I was pleased to meet them.

“Now that we’re settled, I want to go over our current project for Amelia’s sake. Each team is to cooperatively design and build a rudimentary web search engine. Each person on the team is responsible for a portion of the three main components that you will find outlined in the project worksheets. There is the front end, the search engine, and the database. This project must be turned in no later than Friday at two o’clock. Get to it.”

The room burst into conversations as teams actively discussed their strategies.

Meghan didn’t look very happy. “Great. We’re stuck with the newbie. Do you have any programming experience, Amelia?”

“Some.”

Kent leaned over. “Meghan and I can cover for you. Don’t get stressed out about the project. We’ve been focusing on the front end and the database as the search component is quite simple.”

I smiled as I had stepped into an area I considered myself an expert. “You mean you’ve figured out how to parse someone’s search request and convert that into a formatted query for the database to generate the results that match the intent of the request?”

“We were going to simply take every word in the request and look for matches in the database.”

“Is this the project worksheet?”

“Yes.”

I read it through. “It suggests we need to pick a focus topic from three categories. Gardening, cars, or literature. Which category did you choose?”

“Gardening, because the provided database was much larger, and it would be easier to find matches from the search.”

“Hmmm…”

Meghan sighed. “We’ve got this, Amelia. You can just sit back and watch. Kent and I want to beat Team Two. They’ve got the best programmers in the school.”

“Scoring is based upon twenty percent for the interface and eighty percent on the results. What would happen if the teacher used your design and searched for ‘How do I protect my tomatoes from bugs?’”

Kent reached for the keyboard and typed in the search. The results came back as empty. “Amelia has a point, Meghan. Do you have any ideas on how to fix this, Amelia?”

I grinned. “I have a few.”

***

After tasting the food in the cafeteria yesterday I opted for making and bringing my own lunch today. This helped me avoid the unwanted stares. It was a beautiful sunny day and I found a seat on a low landscaping wall beneath a tree where I could eat.

“I’ve been looking for you, Amelia.”

I glanced up to find Kent there.

“With these uniforms, trying to find someone here is like a Where’s Waldo picture.”

“What’s a Where’s Waldo picture?”

I smiled realizing most teenagers had never seen Where’s Waldo. For that matter, few had even held a real paper book. “You’ll have to look it up sometime. Thanks for being so open to my ideas today.”

“They were brilliant. May I sit?”

“Nope. The entire wall was recently quarantined. If you sit here, you could become infected.”

Kent smiled and sat down. “I’ll take the risk. You’re new here? Where did you come from?”

“I used to be the head programmer of a multi-trillion-dollar company. The FBI sent me here as part of a witness protection program.”

“Very intriguing. So, you’re a spy then.”

“Guilty as charged. I work for Team Two. They put an ad out online looking for a computer programming mercenary to infiltrate your team and take you down. No hard feelings?”

Kent smiled again. “You know, you’re special and unique. I like that.”

“The truth isn’t so entertaining. I was going to public school and got caught up in a bad group of friends. I partied too much, drank too much, and fell unconscious into a pool. I woke up days later with amnesia. I can’t recall my life at all. Since everything still functions, my parents used this as an opportunity to set me on the right path and here I am. I’d rather prefer it if I was a spy in my past than knowing what a horrible person I was.”

“You’re not a horrible person, Amelia.”

“Hey you two. I was hoping to find you both.” Meghan smiled and sat on the other side of me. “We should get together to work on the project.”

I pulled some sheets from my backpack. “I wrote this between classes this morning. It still needs a little work and we need to alter the database some.”

Meghan’s eyes went wide. “I can’t even understand half this stuff. You wrote out a natural language processing algorithm between classes?”

“It’s pretty simple actually. I use a codified dictionary to assign formulaic values to words. Nouns become keywords, and verbs become actions. By passing the search phrase through this code, I can generate a database query that maximizes results. We just need to tweak the database to index and categorize the data better so this can be used more efficiently.”

Kent took the pages from Meghan and scanned them. “Simple for you maybe, Amelia. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“I owe you an apology, Amelia. I wasn’t very excited getting stuck with the new person, but I’m excited now. I’m glad you’re on our team.” Meghan leaned over and hugged me. “Besides, us computer programming girls need to stick together. No offense, Kent.”

Kent laughed. “All I know is that I’m the envy of the school right now.”

“Why is that?”

Meghan giggled. “She’s smart and naive. Let’s plan on meeting at my place tomorrow after school.”

Kent stood. “I’m in.”

“I should check with my parents first. They may want DNA from you both before letting me go.”

Meghan smiled and stood. “You’re from that kind of home then.”

“No. It was my own fault. They’re good people. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

***

The rest of the school day went surprisingly smooth. I got home, took Lucky for a walk, and finished all my homework before offering to help mom with dinner. She was rather shocked and pleased.

During dinner I asked about going to Meghan’s tomorrow so we could work on our project together. I was pleasantly surprised that they agreed, although they wanted me home right after school to finish my homework first, then to make sure I would be back by seven.

Dad had brought home the firewall and I quickly programmed it and inserted it between our broadband modem and our wireless router. With that in place, I felt much more secure and locked down the devices once again to stop spying on us. I noticed that I was blocking activity from Deimos right away thus confirming my suspicions.

As I laid in bed I thought through the events of the day. Things had gone well from start to finish. I was looking forward to tomorrow and I hadn’t spent any time today dwelling on my past life. I replayed my conversation with Kent and realized I had sounded slightly flirty. He was easy on the eyes and was smart and kind. I also found myself attracted to Meghan and her hug still caused a slight thrill as I thought about it. My sexual confusion was obviously still lingering.

The other thing I noted was how much simpler life as a teenager was. I had forgotten how freeing it was to not have to pay bills and work for a living. My responsibilities were few and I smiled with the full realization of my newfound freedom. I would have never thought I could be happy as a young woman still in high school, but I wasn’t sure if I had ever been happier. Maybe all the newness would wear off or something would happen to cause me to rethink everything, but at the moment I was enjoying myself.

Even the dresses and the girly things weren’t bothering me anymore. Today, I felt a little powerful watching the guys’ heads turn. With this realization that I was happy and enjoying life, I smiled, rolled over, and drifted off to sleep.

*** January 31, 2028 ***

Boris stood and walked around the conference room table. Elizabeth and two new recruits, Hasam and Kendra, had been pulled together to actively survey Grayson. Boris turned towards the small team.

“I hereby call this meeting to order. Our internal secret project name is GOO, Grayson Oversight and Overreach. It’s our job to surveil Grayson and remind him of our presence.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Sit down, Boris. Just because you’re giving reports to Ted Parsons doesn’t mean you lead this team.”

“When Ted Parsons calls on you regularly for a meeting, then you can take leadership of this team. Until then, I’m in charge. What’s the latest on Grayson?”

Kendra put up her hand and Boris sighed. “What, Kendra?”

“Before we begin, wouldn’t it be good to establish talking parameters? I mean, like, I’m confused. Grayson was a guy, now he is a girl. Shouldn’t we call him Amelia and she?”

Hasam nodded. “He is obviously a she now. I suggest we use Grayson for the name and she and her for the pronouns. That way there is no need to change our project name from GOO to AOO.”

Boris threw up his hands. “What difference does it make?”

Elizabeth chimed in. “Kendra and Hasam are correct. We can get in trouble with HR if we don’t use the proper pronouns for people. If you wanted to be a girl, Boris, wouldn’t you be offended if we called you a he?”

“We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about Grayson, a traitor to Deimos. He doesn’t deserve any special rights.”

Kendra looked pale. “I’m not feeling safe or comfortable with this conversation.”

Boris turned away and stroked the twenty hairs on his chin that he was growing out. “I have an idea. We will defer deciding on what to call Grayson and what pronouns to use for him until he tells us himself.”

Kendra put up her hand again. “I’m confused. You want us to call Grayson and ask him?”

Boris laughed. “What’s the fun in that?”

***

“You must be up to something, Amelia. You’re smiling too much.”

I tapped my hand on the wall next to me and Meghan sat down. “It’s a beautiful day, I have my grilled chicken sandwich to eat instead of the cafeteria mystery meat, and I have new friends that I get to visit with after school.”

Meghan beamed. “I’m so glad you can make it.”

“I need to stop off at home first and walk my dog, but I can come over after that.”

“Kent said he may be a little late but please come over as soon as you can.”

The announcement speaker interrupted us. “Amelia Wilson, please come to the office.”

Meghan hugged me again and I felt that little thrill once more.

“Sounds like you need to go. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

I quickly finished my sandwich and made my way to the office. When I got there the administrative person told me to take a seat. A few minutes later, a lady came out of an office and called my name.

“Please come in and close the door behind you, Amelia.”

“What’s this about?”

“You put in a request to speak with a sexual therapist. I have it right here.” She handed me a page of information.

I read it over and handed it back to her. “There must be some mistake. I didn’t put in the request.”

“Regardless, according to Title Eighty-two I must follow up on this. You stated in the form that you’re male and you wish to now call yourself George. I want you to understand that it’s my responsibility to support every student’s individual desire to be whatever they think they are. I can arrange for documents to be changed, communications to go out to all staff and students, and even work with your parents.”

“I didn’t request this.”

“It’s possible someone entered it on your behalf. Having gender identity issues can be frightening for someone your age. So, tell me, when did you first feel you were a boy? Can I call you George?”

“No!”

“This is a safe space for you. Feel free to share who you really are.”

“I’m Amelia Wilson and I’m female. Can I go now?”

“Are you certain? All it takes is a memo from me and you’ll be treated as the boy you really are.”

“Do I look like a boy to you?”

“It doesn’t matter what you look like or what parts you have, you’re a boy if you think you’re a boy.”

“This is demented!”

“I know talking about your gender identity can be horrifying the first time, but I’m here to help you and getting angry doesn’t help me establish trust with you.”

“I’m not a male, don’t wish to be male, don’t think I’m male, don’t want to be called he or him. Is that clear enough for you?”

“Then what are you? Maybe your non-binary and want to be called George, but neither identify as a male or female.”

“I identify as female. My name is Amelia. I want people to call me she or her.”

“Then you must be a lesbian. This is an exciting day for you to be coming to me and talking about your sexuality for the first time. You’ll remember this for the rest of your life.”

I stood and headed for the door. “I’m going to be late for class. Don’t put anything in my file.”

“I’ll schedule a follow-up meeting. Have a great afternoon, Amelia.”

I quickly walked down to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Making the statements to the crazy lady had felt confirming to me. I did want to be Amelia Wilson. I wanted to be female. I just wasn’t certain what my sexuality was.

***

Elizabeth paused the recording. “That was enlightening and sounded rather definitive. Grayson identifies as Amelia and wishes to have she and her pronouns used. I think we must all agree from here on out we need to honor her request like anyone else who wishes to be what they want to be.”

Kendra smiled. “I’m good with this.”

Boris sighed. “Fine. What’s the status on Amelia? Hasam, you go first. What’s going on at home?”

“We can’t see anything. They put a new firewall in place, and we can’t reach any of their smart devices. All video, voice, and phone information are blocked while they’re in the house.”

“You didn’t think to notify anyone of this?”

“I thought our priority was determining how we were to talk about Amelia.”

“What else do we know? Who is she meeting with?”

“No one. She appears to be settling down. I don’t think she is a threat.”

“We’re under direct orders to make sure she knows Deimos is watching her, not to posture whether or not she is a threat. I want options. How can we remind her of her place?”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and shook her head. “If you’re our majestic leader, what ideas do you have?”

“We send her into San Francisco when she wants to go in a shuttle somewhere else.”

“That’s an annoyance, nothing else.”

Hasam leaned back. “All ideas are good ideas. We should write that down.”

Kendra put up her hand. “I’ve got an idea! We change her grades.”

Boris stood and paced. “That’s not bad, Kendra. We need to focus on pain and suffering.”

Elizabeth smiled. “If we add humiliation to the mix then I have the perfect plan.”

***

“Come on in, Amelia. I love that dress you’re wearing. It really highlights the color of your eyes.”

“Thank you. Your home is beautiful.”

“Let me introduce you to my mom.” I followed Meghan into the kitchen. “Mom, this is Amelia Wilson. We’re on the same computer programming team.”

“She really is as pretty as you said. Nice to meet you, Amelia. You can call me Tina.”

“Pleased to meet you, Tina.”

“I’m running to the store. Do you need anything, Meghan?”

“I’ll send you a message if I can think of anything.”

“Have fun. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“Bye, mom!”

Meghan grabbed my hand and pulled me into the backyard. They had a pool surrounded by tropical landscaping.

“Next time you come you should bring your swimsuit.” Meghan pulled me down onto a chaise lounge. “I’ve been dying to get you alone to get all the details.”

“Details?”

“Who do you have your eyes on at school?”

“It’s a little early. I’ve not had much luck even talking to anyone other than you and Kent.”

“What do you think of Kent?”

“He seems nice and good looking.”

“So, you’re interested in him?”

“I… I just met him. Are you interested in Kent?”

Meghan giggled. “Not in the least. We grew up together and we both know we’re not right for each other. You know that you’re the talk of the school?”

“Me? Why?”

“As if you don’t know, Amelia.”

“I don’t.”

Meghan leaned closer and ran her fingers through my hair. “You’re absolutely gorgeous. All the guys are talking about you. I think Kent is rather taken by you.”

“I’m not leading him on, am I?”

“You’re so cute and naive.”

The doorbell rang and Meghan frowned. “I bet that’s Kent.”

Sure enough, Kent was waiting at the door. He was carrying his backpack of school supplies and computer. It was a hot day and he was wearing flipflops and shorts as if he was halfway expecting to go swimming. He all but ignored Meghan.

“Hi, Amelia.”

Meghan sighed. “We’ll set up in my dad’s office. Can I get either of you something to drink?”

Kent still hadn’t taken his eyes off me. “Water would be great for me. What would you like, Amelia?”

“Water is fine.”

Meghan slipped away and Kent led me into the office. He leaned back against the desk with a casual air of familiarity.

“Sorry I was late, Amelia. I missed you yesterday. I heard you got called to the office.”

Meghan appeared with three glasses of water.

“Someone suggested that the school sexuality counselor should speak with me.”

Meghan sat down on a leather couch and patted the spot next to her. “That sounds intriguing. What happened?”

I sat down next to Meghan. “She was pressing me on whether I thought I was a male or non-binary and what pronouns I wanted people to use around me.”

“And?”

“She had a hard time when I told her I was a she, her, and female. She insisted I shouldn’t be frightened to say what I am.”

Kent smacked his hands together. “Sounds like it was all settled and you’re none the worse for wear.”

Meghan glared at Kent as she reached for my hand. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

I was getting rather confused signals and struggled to figure Meghan and Kent out, so I directed our focus off me and back towards the project. “Shall we get started on the project?”

Kent smiled and squeezed himself next to me on the two-person couch.

*** February 1, 2028 ***

I woke flushed after having dreams about Meghan and Kent. I was in the hall at school when Meghan found me, pressed me up against a wall, and with people all around us, kissed me. In my dream I had melted into her embrace and closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes, it was Kent kissing me.

This was the first sexual dream I had, and it further unsettled me. I felt confident in who I was as a female. I loved being Amelia. For the first time in my life I had been freed of stereotypes and I could yield to my true self. I wanted to be more extroverted, kind, and caring. I had been given a new lease on life and wished to take advantage of it.

My dream haunted me throughout the morning. During computer programming class I was highly distracted. One look at Meghan and I was lost in her beauty and then when I looked at Kent, I imagined being safe and protected in his strong arms.

“Amelia?”

My brain had been working overtime and I caught myself staring at Meghan’s smooth, long legs. “Sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Meghan smiled. “Me either. They called an assembly. We all need to go to the gym.”

Kent popped up at my side. “You can sit with me if you like.”

Meghan stayed close and we all found seats together in the bleachers. Once seated she leaned close and whispered to me. “You see the group of students and teachers down near the podium?”

There was a large group that seemed overly joyous and exuberant.

“Is that the glee club?”

Meghan giggled. “What’s a glee club? That’s the diversity team. They call these assemblies when someone is coming out about their sexuality. Here they go.”

The principal stepped up to the podium. “Students and faculty of Laurel Trinity Academy. It is always a great pleasure to stand before you and have the chance to reintroduce to you someone you may already know. As you can see next to me, we have our Diversity Team. One of the values of this school is inclusivity. We take pride in who we are as individuals as well as collectively, knowing we’re all better together. I would like to invite Mrs. Randall to the podium to speak a few words.”

I watched as the sexuality counselor came to the podium.

“Hello, everyone! Today is an exciting day. We have two students that have made the decision to proclaim who they are. I will remind you all that this is a very important day for them. We need to offer our full support. Back to you, Principal Guthrie.”

The principal came back to the podium. “The first student I would like to call is Jeff Haselwort.”

The Diversity Team all cheered and began jumping up and down. A slightly feminine boy ran down from the bleachers and through a tunnel made of hands and flags. The principal waited for the cheering to subside.

“Jeff has identified as a girl. Jessie is her new name. Now that you’re all aware of Jessie, I will remind you of our school policy. Understandably, there may be mistakes made, but if someone deliberately uses Jessie’s old name or calls her anything other than she or her, that will be cause for disciplinary action. Please welcome, Jessie Haselwort!”

I was slightly aghast and taken aback. It had been a long time since I had been in school. Would Jessie now be expected to wear the girl’s uniform?

“Our next student is new to us. Amelia Wilson, please come down!”

Everyone cheered wildly again, and I sat in stunned silence.

“He didn’t just call my name.”

Meghan looked at me a little sadly. “You’re a guy?”

“No!”

Kent looked equally displeased. “You’re gay?”

“Amelia, come down. Don’t be shy. We’re here to support you. Everyone, give Amelia some encouragement.”

People around the gym began clapping and cheering.

I stood, but it wasn’t to go down through the tunnel of waving hands. Everyone turned to stare at me.

“No! This is a mistake!”

To my horror, the principal continued. “Amelia has decided she is male and wishes to be called George. Come down, George.”

It was all too much. I squeezed my way through the crowds on the bleachers, but the moment my foot hit the floor, I ran full speed out of the gym and outside. I found a tree and placed it strategically between me and the school as I sat down and cried.

It was only a few minutes later that the principal and Mrs. Randall found me. Mrs. Randall started into me first.

“George, please come back to the gym. Everyone is eager to support your decision.”

“My name is Amelia. I’m female. A she. Her. I never said I was George.”

“Yes, you did. I have a voicemail that you left me yesterday.”

“I didn’t call you and I didn’t leave you a message. Please, just leave me alone. You’ve already done enough damage for the day.”

The principal wasn’t happy. “You’ve not had a very good week, George. You were late the first day, and two days in a row you prank us about something of vital importance. Are you trying to mock us?”

“Has it occurred to you that I might be the victim of these pranks? I told you yesterday I never said anything to the effect that I was male. Now you’ve proclaimed this to the entire school.”

“I’ll be notifying your parents and you now have detention for two weeks. During your detention, you will write an essay as to why your actions have undermined our values.”

“It wasn’t my fault. You’re punishing me for something I never did. Isn’t it bad enough that you told the school I’m male? Do I look male to you?”

Mrs. Randall nearly choked out her words. “You see… You don’t get it. It’s not about what you look like, it is who you think you are that matters. Just think how your actions have diminished Jessie’s coming out.”

“Try imagining yourself being publicly humiliated. Are you going to tell the school you made a mistake?”

The principal leaned in. “Once you complete your essay, you will read it out loud to the school and then apologize for your actions. Get your things. You’re going home early today.”

***

Ted waved Boris and Elizabeth into the board room. Miri, Ramon, and Berkar were all in attendance.

“I’ve asked you both here for an update on Grayson. What are his actions and how have we been keeping him reminded that we’re here?”

Boris stepped forward. “Our GOO team has met and decided to call Grayson Amelia and call him a her now. You’ll see this in our reports.”

“We’re not interested in what you call Grayson.”

“Sorry, sir. We were only complying with company HR policy. Amelia has taken no actions to contact the FBI that we have discovered. She seems to be settled on ignoring Deimos and living her life. We have gently reminded her that we are still here.”

“And what forms have your gentle reminders taken?”

“We sent an anonymous request for Amelia to be considered male to the school sexuality counselor. We also, sort of, made that information public to the school at large to humiliate her.”

Miri leaned forward and smiled. “Public humiliation about sexuality isn’t something I condone… Except for Grayson. How did you accomplish this?”

Elizabeth handed out reports to everyone in the room. “I used our artificial intelligence engine to computer generate a call imitating Amelia’s voice. The call went to the school sexuality counselor’s voicemail and the content was Amelia indicating she wanted to come out publicly as George, a male. Under new federal regulations, the school must then act to publicly affirm and support Amelia’s new gender. They held a general assembly and publicly announced to all students that Amelia wished to be called George and be referred to as a male. That happened a few hours ago. We have video if you want to see it.”

Ted smirked. “While I’m certain the video would prove entertaining, perhaps you can summarize the results for us.”

“Amelia shouted to everyone it was a mistake and ran from the gym in tears. I’ve found comments in Amelia’s file posted by the principal of the school that he would be notifying Amelia’s parents and her punishment is to include two weeks of detention plus a public apology for trying to prank school administration about her sexuality.”

Ted chuckled. “Nicely done. Keep up the good work. You’re both dismissed.”

Once Boris and Elizabeth left the room, Berkar stood. “I’m not certain this is a good idea, Ted.”

“What’s not to like about it?”

“It seems to me that Grayson had accepted his new life and wanted to walk away from the whole situation here. I suggest we back off and focus on more important matters like the upcoming election.”

“Point taken. Ramon, have Elizabeth put on a new project. I want her using the artificial intelligence system to selectively edit candidate’s past voice recordings. John Maxwell has a bit of a sordid past where he has said things that are now regrettable. I want those past recordings eliminated, and new versions surfaced. He needs to be our next president. We also have the capability to leverage A.I. to manufacture videos of candidates. I want to create as much negative press as possible for everyone but John Maxwell.”

***

Dad had come home from work early with the news from the principal. I was verbally assaulted from the second I stepped in the door. I never even got beyond the foyer.

“Where do ideas like this even come from? We thought you were changing for the better. After all we’ve done for you. We’re going to look at options to remove you from this home.”

“I didn’t do anything. I can understand you not wanting to believe me. Ask for the phone records of the school. Don’t kick me out without evidence.”

“Without evidence? We have years of evidence, young lady. Don’t expect dinner tonight. Get to your room. You’re grounded indefinitely.”

I stood and turned towards the door.

“If you walk of here, don’t expect to come back.”

Angrily, I spun around and rushed to my bedroom. I flung myself on my bed and cried. I was, at this moment, very much a young girl that had been unjustly accused and humiliated. After a while, I settled down and my sadness turned to hatred. Deimos had gone too far.

*** February 2, 2028 ***

I was up and out the door very early. I walked and fed Lucky, made some breakfast for mom and dad, and got to school well before I would have normally arrived. As I entered the school, one of the administrative assistants called out to me.

“George?”

I stopped and closed my eyes. “I’m Amelia.”

“I thought… never mind. You have a message.” She handed me an envelope. It was addressed to Amelia Wilson.

No doubt this was more of Deimos’ nonsense, but the reminder of what they had done to me made me realize I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing my next response. I found a corner hidden from the cameras and opened the message.

‘We need to talk. Meet me at 4:05pm. Nathan.’

There was an address just around the corner from the school. I wonder why the FBI wants to talk to me.

I slipped the note into my backpack and went about my day. My first class was computer programming and I steeled myself for a day of correcting people. I must have said “I’m Amelia” twenty times before I sat down between Kent and Meghan.

“Just to be clear, I’m still Amelia and still female.”

Meghan leaned over and whispered into my ear. “I’m sure it was all a big misunderstanding. I’m here to talk anytime, even if you’re confused. I don’t care what anyone is saying, I want you to know how much I like you.” With that said, she kissed my cheek and pulled away.

Kent slid me a note.

‘Glad you’re still Amelia. It would be terrible having a crush on a girl that thinks they are a guy. That is unless you thought you were a guy that was into guys. I think I could handle that.’

I sighed as the teacher arrived.

“Good morning students. Today your projects are due. I’ll be reviewing them over the weekend. I didn’t want to say anything, but the top two teams will be receiving a special treat. I have a friend at Deimos and he and I have spoken about this project. He is willing to give the two highest scoring teams a tour of Deimos.”

There were noticeable gasps and excitement rippled through the room. Now I was second guessing my code as I knew it should get us top marks. I pondered my frustration for a moment before smiling.

“We’re going to win.” I whispered.

***

Meghan found me at my usual place outside on the wall during lunch.

“How are things going, Amelia?”

“I’m glad at least you and Kent are still talking to me. Even my parents think they want to kick me out of the house.”

“That’s terrible!”

“I was framed.”

“Who would do such a thing? An old boyfriend? An old girlfriend?”

I ignored the innuendos. “I can’t say at this point. It was quite sophisticated to emulate my voice and leave the counselor a voicemail she thought was me. The trouble is no one believes me.”

“I believe you, Amelia.”

Meghan’s kiss on my cheek had tingled all morning. I knew I was naïve enough to not fully understand if she was merely being friendly or she wanted something more. I took a chance and reached for her hand. “Thank you. Your support means a lot to me.”

“Did you want to come over this weekend? Maybe we could go to a movie.”

“I’m pretty sure my parents will only let me out of the house in handcuffs or to drop me off at a home for delinquents.”

“Maybe I could come over then.”

“We’ll see. We should get back inside. Lunch is almost over.”

Meghan squeezed my hand and pulled me to my feet. She slipped her arm in mine and we walked back into the school.

***

The afternoon was a repeat of the morning except for detention. I was now headed to meet up with Nathan.

“My phone is off and there are no cameras around. How are you doing, Grayson?”

“I go by Amelia now. It hasn’t been easy.”

“I’m sorry for all of it. I’ve been keeping tabs on you and I know about what happened yesterday. Deimos isn’t very happy with you.”

“I’ve come to grips with my new reality. You may think this is weird, but I love being Amelia; everything but being framed all the time. I need a solution to clear my name and get back at Deimos. I think I have an excellent chance at being invited for a tour of Deimos.”

“I came today to see if I could encourage you to work with us again. Deimos needs to be taken down. We have rumors they may be trying to affect the outcome of our next presidential election. I think I can help you with your current situation. Is your house secure?”

“Yes. I put a firewall in place to block Deimos. How do you think you can help me?”

***

Dad was a little more reasonable today and even let me sit at the table and eat dinner with them. I didn’t talk much, and I think that suited him fine. I was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner when the doorbell rang. I stepped out into the foyer just as dad opened the door.

“Mr. Wilson?”

“That’s me.”

“I’m Nathan Graves, Special Agent with the FBI. Do you have a moment?”

Dad looked back at me. “What the hell did you do now?”

“Sir, I’m here to admit a mistake. It has put your daughter at some risk.”

“Can I see some identification?”

“Certainly. You’re also free to call our local office to confirm all I would like to share with you. Is there a place we could talk? I would like Amelia there as well.”

Dad frowned, called mom, and led us all into the living room. “What’s this all about?”

“The FBI periodically offers internships in our cyber division. We have a lengthy, timed online test that gives us insights into applicant’s skills and abilities. Amelia took that test on Monday.”

I nodded. This was something Nathan and I had planned together. “After my time at Charterhouse Security, I wanted a way to test myself. I was captivated by the work your team does there and very pleased that I was able to help in some way. When I found the FBI internship test online, I was excited about the possibility.”

“How did taking the test put Amelia at risk?”

“First, I want to say that our test is extensive. Amelia scored higher than any previous applicant, by a long shot. She was competing with fourth year university students. Anyways, the system automatically generated a second test. The second test is scenario-based and mimics real-life cyber situations the FBI have been involved with. Unfortunately for Amelia, somehow one of our agents loaded a scenario with real-world information. This was part of an active investigation. Unbeknownst to Amelia, she successfully completed the test on Tuesday and infiltrated a development team inside of Deimos.”

Dad looked stunned. “You hacked Deimos, Amelia?”

“I thought it wasn’t real.”

“If you don’t mind, Mr. Wilson. I’d like to tell you what has transpired since the second test.”

“Please, go on.”

“Amelia managed to get into Deimos from a school computer and download documents from their network. The school computer was unprotected, and Deimos was able to trace the hack and identified Amelia. It appears as if they weren’t taking the hack seriously but decided to put Amelia in her place. First, someone from Deimos used a web form at the school and placed an anonymous suggestion that Amelia wanted to be called George and be considered male. That led to Amelia being called into school’s sexuality counselor on Wednesday. Apparently, this wasn’t enough for Deimos, they followed up that night by leaving a voicemail for the counselor making it sound like Amelia desiring to come out on Thursday.”

Dad shook his head. “Why would the FBI even care about such things?”

“As I mentioned, we have an active investigation of Deimos and have been monitoring all their traffic. We realized a mistake was made on the second test, and our machine learning system correlated everything. It was able to definitively show that Deimos deliberately tried to cause problems for Amelia. I’m here for several reasons. First, to offer the FBI’s sincerest apologies for the mistake. Second, to say this may not be over for Amelia. More may be coming, and the FBI is here to support all of you. Finally, we’d like to offer Amelia the internship. Initially, this would involve working with our cyber division several nights per week.”

Dad turned to me. “I’m so sorry, Amelia. Once again, I jumped to conclusions, tying your past with who you are now. Please forgive me.”

“I know I wasn’t the best daughter before, but I’m a different person now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the internship?”

“I know how few people ever get the chance. I didn’t want to disappoint you if I didn’t get it.”

Dad sat back and chuckled. “My board of directors met and when they heard about how you helped our development team, they unanimously wanted to thank you. They even offered to help you get a car.”

“A car? You mean I could get my license? I’ve been thinking about applying.”

“It’s a good skill to have. Not every country has autonomous shuttles like we do. At first I thought it was a great idea until all of this happened.” Dad turned to Nathan. “Mr. Graves, thank you. Will you also be speaking to the school administration?”

“Already done, Mr. Wilson. About Amelia working for us. She’s young and I can certainly understand you not wanting her to do this, but I believe she has a real future in technology. She would be an asset and previous recipients have gone on to do very well for themselves. It is great to have that internship on a resume.”

“I’ll leave that up to Amelia.”

“I’d like to, dad.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll get the paperwork over to you, Amelia. I’ll need your parents to sign off on it.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Graves.”

“Once again, my apologies. Please let me know if anything residual manifests itself. I can see my way out. Good night to you all.”

Once Nathan had left, mom and dad pulled me into their arms and apologized once again.

*** February 3, 2028 ***

By morning, I was a new person. My name had been cleared, I had a path forward, and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was in no way naïve about the future. I was going to take on the largest tech company in the world. If I wasn’t already considered an enemy to them now, I would be soon.

I still needed to get my head straight. I was confused about many things, mainly Meghan and Kent and my sexuality. Of all the things I could be thinking of, this is what my mind dwelt upon the most. Finding a colorful sundress and good walking shoes, I left a note for my parents and took Lucky for a long walk.

I tried to focus my thoughts during the walk, but just couldn’t. Instead, I relaxed, let my mind wander, and was somewhat surprised to find myself looking up at my old house. There was a for sale sign outside.

“Come on, Lucky. Let’s go inside if they haven’t changed the code.”

I was pleased my security code still worked, but I was also filled with trepidation. Would I be reminded of my old life and want to go back to it? Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside.

My initial reaction caught me off guard. The house felt stuffy and cold. I ran my fingers over the furniture, recalling when and where I had bought each item. Money had been no object. I bought something because I felt a connection to it in some way. Now, I looked around the rooms and felt nothing but shame. The couch could have funded a medical mission’s trip; the painting on the wall, a small home for a family in need.

I liked to think in my final days as Grayson, I woke up; as if I had just realized Deimos was a company involved in evil deeds. The reality was quite the opposite. I had been complicit, happy to live my life in blissful ignorance to the damage I was causing all around me. I had let Deimos ingratiate themselves into the lives of billions of people. I sat back and idly watched as the company devolved, becoming more of a global nanny than a service provider.

I didn’t know how far and how criminal they had become, but as a cofounder, I should have known. I had wallowed in my self-pity ignoring everything.

I found one of Lucky’s old water bowls, filled it, and took it out onto the deck overlooking the city below. I sat back in a lounge chair and closed my eyes to see if I could imagine myself here again.

“For some strange reason, I thought I might find you here.”

“Good morning, Nathan. Have a seat.”

“Do you miss it?”

“No. Not at all. This house is filled with things I bought for no other reason than I could buy them. If anything, it is more of a reminder of my failures than my success.”

“That’s a lot to absorb.”

I laughed. “Try waking up as an eighteen-year-old girl.”

“I’m sorry for that.”

“Don’t be. I’m quite happy and thanks to you, I’m no longer an outcast in my own home and don’t have to be called George. No offense to all the George’s out there, but it’s rather a mundane name.”

“You wouldn’t rather be the surfer dude?”

“I think I would have missed a valuable life lesson had I been him. All of this would have been transferred into my name. I wouldn’t have to worry financially and probably would have surfed around the world living an oblivious life. When I think about it, Nathan, I should be going to jail with the rest of the executive team. I shouldn’t have let it happen.”

“What are your plans now, Amelia?”

“You mean after I help you take down Deimos?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a very good question. I don’t know yet. I just hope that I never forget what opportunities I missed to do the right thing. That and maybe settle down and have a family.”

“You mean kids?”

“I know what you’re thinking. I don’t know what it is about being female, but I feel there is something inside me that wants and desires to nurture. I also missed a chance with my ex. I could have had everything. Julie was a wonderful woman and now she is married to a great guy and has two children. She had it all together. She knew what she wanted, and I could never give it to her because I was so self-absorbed.”

Nathan smiled. “I’m glad you can live with what happened. Knowing what Deimos did to you has caused me to have many sleepless nights.”

“Sleep easier knowing now I have a real chance at living a good and decent life. I plan to make a difference in this world. Not everyone gets a mulligan.”

“If there is anything in the house you want, I’m certain no one would miss it.”

I stood and walked back inside. Nathan followed me. I went to the wine rack and pulled one bottle of red wine from the rack of hundreds of wines. I handed it to Nathan. “This bottle of red wine is nearly one hundred years old. I was told it was the best wine and vintage ever made. Take time to be with your wife. Enjoy it.”

“This is probably worth a year’s salary.”

“Then sell it and take a vacation at an all-inclusive resort somewhere tropical. Just promise me to use it in a way where you emphasize what’s most important in your life.”

“That’s it, nothing for yourself?”

“I won’t lie, I miss my corvette, but I don’t even have my driver’s license yet.”

“Let’s meet up in a few days. Don’t do anything rash with Deimos. We need to work together on this.”

“Not even a little foray?”

“Not even. Please lock up when you leave. Have a great weekend, Amelia.”

“My suggestion for the wine?”

“Sure.”

“Go buy some steaks, grill them up, and treat your wife. Drink it as I can’t imagine the FBI being too amenable to a gift that exceeds twenty-five dollars.”

“Sounds like a good plan. What about you? What will you do the rest of this weekend?”

“I think I’ll see if my new parents would like to take a day trip together. Even with the challenges of being labelled the daughter from hell, I have a second chance to do this right. They deserve a daughter that loves them and cares for them.”

“I can only hope than when I have one of my own, she thinks like you.”

I laughed. “Maybe that’s not the wisest wish, Nathan.”

I watched Nathan leave before turning back to Lucky. “Let’s get out of here. This place reminds me of a life I’d like to forget.”

*** February 5, 2028 ***

The weekend had progressed nicely, and mom and dad were excited about taking a day together. We drove out to Santa Cruz and spent the day at the beach, ate great food, and, for me, it was a perfect opportunity to connect as a family.

I even forced myself to not think much about my sexuality, but I think it was becoming clearer to me. I was attracted to both sexes, but only one could provide me the future I had been dreaming about. I wanted a family and to not make the same mistakes I had made before.

I just sat down in my first-period English class when I was called down to the office. At least they used Amelia and not George.

“The principal and Mrs. Randall will see you now, Amelia.”

“Thank you.”

I slipped into the principal’s office and closed the door behind me.

“Please, Amelia, take a seat. We would both like to apologize to you. We failed to listen to your concerns, and we should have had at least a face-to-face conversation prior to making the announcement. Understandably, if this wasn’t what you wanted, it could prove quite humiliating.”

Mrs. Randall continued for them both. “We want you to know that we had an obligation to proceed as we did, but we see now that our process was flawed. We have discussed this at length and altered the process to make sure we have verbal consent before making any announcements.”

The principal leaned forward, seeming slightly worried about my response. “We’re prepared to make a public apology to the school.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’m fine correcting anyone that calls me a he or George. Perhaps just an internal communication to the staff to let them know so they don’t continue to propagate the misunderstanding.”

“We’re very glad you see this as a misunderstanding. Once again, we offer our humblest apologies. Is there anything else we can do for you?”

“Come to think of it, there is. You’ve had several incidents with hackers. Might I suggest you hire someone to come in and evaluate your data security?”

“We’ll take that under consideration, Amelia. You’re now welcome to return to your classes.”

“Thank you.”

I had thought about being less gracious, but Deimos was the real root culprit. I headed back to my morning classes and was tracked down by Kent and Meghan during lunch.

Kent sat down next to me on the wall and Meghan did the same on the other side of me.

Meghan looked a little disappointed. “You never called me on the weekend.”

“Let me see your phones.”

Meghan and Kent passed their phones to me and I turned them off before handing them back to them. They were quite confused by my actions.

“The FBI straightened everything out. Someone from Deimos had created the entire situation. It’s because of a test I took to apply as an intern with the FBI. There was a mistake on the test, I hacked Deimos, and Deimos decided they wanted to make my life miserable. The good news is, I’m still Amelia Wilson, still female, and I got the intern job with the cyber division of the FBI.”

Kent clapped his hands together. “Wow! You’re and FBI agent now. Why did you have us turn off our phones?”

“I’m an unpaid intern, so no glory there. You both have phones with Deimos operating systems. The FBI still thinks there is a chance Deimos staff might want to do harm to me or my friends. Turning them off stops them from potentially snooping in on our conversations.”

Meghan’s finger rolled gently across the top of my hand. “This means you’re no longer grounded?”

“It does, but I’ll be working some evenings and weekends for the FBI. I’m not sure of what my schedule is.”

“We should plan on getting together. Do you want to come over tonight?”

“I would, but I promised my parents I would make them dinner tonight. Maybe you could both come over. It would be good for my parents to see I’m not hanging around with bad influences.”

Kent laughed. “Meghan is a bad influence. If you want to impress your parents, then I’m your guy. I can make it.”

Meghan wasn’t one to be outdone. “I’ll be there if only to make sure Kent doesn’t ruin their meal. You want someone with style and sophistication. That’s me.”

“That’s great. I will expect you both at six o’clock.”

***

It was the final class of the day and it was my computer programming class. Everyone was anxious for the results of the projects. The nerd team looked smug and confident as the teacher came into the room.

“Welcome class! I want you all to know how pleased I was as I reviewed your search projects. Without further ado…” The teacher hit play on his phone for a drumroll. “The winning team is… Team four! Meghan, Kent, and Amelia!”

Team two, the nerd team glared at us.

“I need to say; it wasn’t even close. Your algorithm to dissect search requests was beyond my expectations and whatever I did, I couldn’t fool the results. Very well done! The second-place team is Team Two! Chris, Kyle, and Mitchel. Great job to everyone.”

We had a moment to high-five each other before the teacher told us to get out our textbooks as we were moving onto the next project.

***

I was busy all afternoon cooking. In my days as Grayson, I had become known far and wide for my spaghetti. One of the perks of having more money than you could spend was travelling and once when I was in the northern part of Italy in a tiny little town, I came across a restaurant that served the best spaghetti in the world. At least that was my opinion. With a generous tip to the owners and chef, I procured the recipe and memorized it over the years. The sad thing was for years I had only cooked it for myself.

I kept having to shoo mom out of the kitchen as she was certain I would burn the house down. This was another leftover of Amelia’s life. Apparently, Amelia never cooked. I was in the final stages of dinner when Kent and Meghan arrived. I poked my head out of the kitchen and waved. Kent was smartly dressed and had brought some flowers for mom. That was a nice touch. Meghan was dressed in a conservative dress that made her look both adorable and elegant.

I crossed my fingers that my parents would see these two for the kind, caring, and intelligent people they were as I was certain they would have concerns of any of my newfound friends.

I had everyone sit at the table while I brought out platters of food. I didn’t want any distractions during dinner, so I put Meghan and Kent on the opposite side of the table from me. Kent, however, wouldn’t be put off from acting chivalrous and pulled my chair for me before he sat down himself.

“Meghan, Kent, thank you for coming.”

Mom reached over and squeezed my hand. “Thank you for cooking dinner. This all smells heavenly.”

Meghan held up her wine glass of grape juice. “Before we begin, if I may, I would like to make a toast. To Amelia, the prettiest, smartest, girl in school. Without her, we would certainly not have won top honors in our web search project in computer programming class.”

Mom beamed. “When were you going to tell us about that, Amelia?”

“Meghan vastly exaggerates. It was a team effort.”

Kent shook his head. “Meghan is right except for the fact that Amelia is the prettiest in the school. It’s a given because she’s the prettiest in the city.”

I was getting rather embarrassed, so I held up my glass. “To wiping the floor of team two, the nerd team. Please, help yourselves.”

***

Everyone sat back and dad patted his stomach. “That was fabulous, Amelia. Best spaghetti I’ve ever had.”

Kent took a little more for his fourth helping. “Without a doubt.”

Everything had gone wonderfully. I was certain my parents were thrilled with Meghan and Kent, even more so when they offered to clean up and wash dishes. I held up my hand. “I’ve got this. You have all had to put up with a lot from me lately. I’m too grateful for you all to have any of you clean up. This was my treat to say thank you to my parents that didn’t send me to a home for girls, or both of you for giving up on the new kid at school.”

Mom would have none of it and escorted me to the living room. “Sit and relax.”

Only dad joined me while the others cleaned up.

“I’m greatly impressed, Amelia.” A tear slipped down his cheek. “We thought we had lost you and in my heart I had been relieved. I’m ashamed I ever thought that. I spoke to Doctor Gordon again and asked how anyone could have such a miraculous turn around. He told me that children are like sponges. They absorb everything around them. His theory is that you had seen the work I have done through the years and held onto it, only to manifest after you lost your memory. You always loved technology in your early years.”

I moved to my dad who sat in a chair opposite me. I had stopped feeling like an imposter days ago. My life as Grayson had also been slipping away. I felt I was truly Amelia Wilson. Not that I had any choice in the matter, but I desperately wanted to be part of this family. I threw my arms around my dad and hugged him tight. I felt the wetness of his tears on his slightly rough, stubbled cheek.

“Please don’t give up on me. I may be changed because of the accident, but there is nothing more that I want than to make you and mom happy.”

“You still don’t remember anything?”

“It sounds like there was little worth remembering. In a way, I’m glad I can’t.”

“I know you’re going to be busy with school and the FBI, but I’m hoping you might come to work for the summer with me at Charterhouse Security.”

“I’d like that as long as I get a little time to go to the beach. I’ve been thinking I might want to learn to surf, and, maybe find a beach volleyball team to join.”

Dad smiled. “I’m sure we can work that out. Especially since the board approved your new car. You’ll be wanting to drive that to the beach.”

“A new car?”

“It’s nothing special. Just an inexpensive sedan. I’ll have to start teaching you how to drive. It’s been years since we owned a car.”

I was about to say I loved to drive and never trusted the autonomous vehicles, but I bit my lower lip to hold back my thoughts. “Please thank the board for me.”

“No need. Your algorithm is already being tested with great success. We have an entirely new lineup of firewalls we believe will take significant market share away from the big tech companies. They’re cheaper, more efficient, and can now handle data and streaming communications at the same time. You, my precious daughter, may have inadvertently saved hundreds of jobs, including my own.”

“It was nothing. The team had it mostly figured out already.”

“No, they didn’t. You know that otherwise you wouldn’t have erased half the board.”

“It wasn’t half the board, just a line or two. I’m glad I was able to help.”

“About your new friends…”

I bit my lower lip again.

“I’m very impressed by them. They’re smart and don’t seem to be partiers. Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Careful?”

“With Kent.”

“Oh… We aren’t…”

Dad smiled. “It’s written all over his face. He’s smitten with you. You’ve gone through a lot lately and it’s important you take things slowly.”

I smiled. “What about Meghan?” I was somewhat joking, but I wanted to see his response.

“Meghan?”

“Yes. You don’t think she’s cute?”

Dad shrugged. “At least you wouldn’t get pregnant.”

We both laughed.

“It’s your life, Amelia. Your mom and I will be happy if you’re happy.”

“You’re not looking forward to grandkids?”

Dad’s eyebrow raised. “Don’t tell me you’re pregnant.”

“No. I’ve been thinking long-term.”

“Exactly how long-term are you thinking?”

“I’m in no hurry. Maybe five to seven years out.”

“Well, in that case I could look forward to be a granddad. All the fun with no mess or responsibilities.”

We were quite for a few minutes.

“I want you to know that we’ve always loved you and were proud. It’s just that you had so much going for you. We saw it being squandered away. You had horrible friends. I know we’ve been overly protective and controlling lately, but it feels to us like we finally have our daughter back and we’re afraid to lose you.”

“You won’t lose me, dad. Please don’t hesitate to tell me if you think I’m going down the wrong path. I value your wisdom more than you’ll ever know.”

We were interrupted by Kent and Meghan coming into the living room.

Kent came over and gave me a light hug. “Thank you for dinner, Amelia. I must unfortunately get back home to catch up on some homework. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“It was great to have you over, Kent.”

Kent turned to dad and shook his hand. “Very pleased to meet you, sir.”

“You’re welcome here anytime, Kent. Thanks for coming.”

I saw Kent to the door. Meghan stayed behind and I circled back to her and my dad after saying goodbye to Kent.

“Can I see your room, Amelia?”

“We’ll be in my room if you need me for anything.”

Meghan closed the door behind her and looked around the room. “It’s not what I would expect. There’s very little personality to your room.”

“My parents removed most of my things and repainted the room right after the accident. Knowing I had lost my memory, they didn’t want anything reminding me of the horrible person I once was. I appreciate their efforts.”

“Can I snoop?”

“I have nothing to hide.”

Meghan looked in closets and drawers. “All these dresses were your mom’s choice?”

“I assume so.”

“She has great taste.”

“When I woke up after the accident, I had green dye on the ends of bleached hair and green nail polish. I doubt my taste was very good. I looked hideous.”

“No… There’s nothing you could ever do to look hideous.”

Meghan sat down next to me on the bed. She took my hand in hers. “I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately.”

She leaned over and kissed me. At first, I was stunned, but my mind and body quickly yielded. I closed my eyes and felt a fire building within me. Her lips were so soft, and her fingers gently stroked my cheek. I moaned slightly and that gentle sound brought realization.

I tenderly pushed myself away from Meghan and lowered my head. I fought my internal desires. When I looked up into Meghan’s confused eyes, I felt wetness on my cheeks.

“I… I’m sorry, Meghan.”

“Hey… It’s all right, Amelia.” I felt her fingers wiping my tears.

“It’s not that I don’t… I could easily yield to my desires. I find you sweet, adorable, and beautiful. I’m trying to be honest with myself. I want a family and children one day… I don’t want to give up on that dream… I want…”

Meghan lifted my chin to force me to look into her eyes. “It’s all right. I understand. You want to wait for your husband, and I think that is truly honorable. I admit, I’m greatly attracted to you, but I’m glad you’re stronger than me. I too want what you want.”

“You do?”

“I’ve always been attracted to both men and women. When you came along, who wouldn’t be attracted to you? You’re smart, caring, and beautiful. You’re hard to resist.”

“You’re hard to resist as well. You’re not upset with me?”

“How could I be? So, you’re interested in Kent then?”

“I still don’t understand why you two aren’t together.”

“We know each other too well. We were neighbors for ten years. He feels more like a brother to me. I could never be more than friends with him. He feels the same way about me.”

“I’m young. I’ve got a lot of years to worry about the future.”

“I wouldn’t kick the can down the road too far. I think you and Kent are well matched for each other. He would be a great catch and an easy one right now. He has tunnel vision when it comes to you. I’ve never seen him act so politely as he was around your parents.”

I smiled. “I hope I don’t regret this.”

Meghan smiled back at me and winked. “I hope you do. I should get going since we have school tomorrow.”

“We’re still friends, right?”

“Definitely!”

Meghan hugged me and I walked her to the door. “See you tomorrow, Meghan.”

*** February 6, 2028 ***

Boris waved Elizabeth over to his desk. “Look at this. I’ve intercepted an order for a car to be delivered to Amelia. What do you say we have a little fun?”

“Why does she get a new car?”

Boris snickered. “She doesn’t have to get a new car. Look at this one. It’s fifty years old. What do you say we swap the order?”

“You’re brilliant, Boris. Do it!”

*** February 10, 2028 ***

The school week had passed quickly. I was grateful that things weren’t awkward between Meghan and me and as the week progressed, I felt I had made the right decision. However, I was looking at Kent in a new light and that proved somewhat distracting.

I had been anxious to get on with the process of taking down Deimos, but I hadn’t heard from Nathan until late in the week. He wanted to get together today, a Saturday. A Saturday when Kent had asked to take me to a movie and apparently my car was supposed to arrive. I had to postpone my first teenage date in nearly thirty years until Sunday.

I was sitting on the couch reading when a horn sounded outside.

Dad came into the living room. “It’s here, Amelia. Let’s go look at it.”

I was excited as once I passed my driver’s exam, I would have a little more freedom.

Dad called mom over and made a big show over opening the front doors.

Mom gasped. “Is that even roadworthy?”

Dad frowned. “That’s not what was ordered.”

I was excited. It wasn’t my corvette, but I was pleased, nonetheless. “I love it! It’s perfect.”

Dad wasn’t looking very happy. “I’ll make a few calls.”

“No! It really is perfect.”

The man unloading the vehicle handed the bill of lading to my dad.

Mom looked over his shoulder. “A 1978 Volkswagen Van?”

I smiled. “Just think of it this way, I won’t be able to drive too fast.”

Dad turned to me. “Are you certain this is what you want?”

“Positive!”

I looked over the puke-green camper van. It had a pop-up sleeping compartment and a small kitchenette. The real beauty of it was it was too old for being connected. There were no computers on board for Deimos to hack. I suspected it was Deimos that fouled the order, but they inadvertently made it harder to monitor me.

I grabbed dad’s hand and pulled him over to it. I opened the sliding side door and was impressed as the van had been restored quite nicely.

“You like this, Amelia?”

“Can’t you imagine how fun it will be to go to the beach or camping in the mountains with it? I can slide a surfboard inside, have privacy for changing, and even store food for snacks.”

“As long as you’re happy. You’ll have to schedule your test so I can teach you how to drive it. Oh… it’s a standard. I’ve never driven one. We’ll have to send it back.”

“No! I want to learn it. There are tons of videos online. Besides, standard transmissions are common overseas.”

“All right, all right. We’ll keep it.”

***

It had been a convoluted affair, but I managed to get to a secondary FBI office that Nathan suggested we meet at. I used their procedure for arriving there which avoided as many cameras as possible. The office was located behind a bookstore to make it even more clandestine.

“I’m glad you could make it, Amelia. We have a very small team here, but rest assured a much larger team is working behind the scenes.”

“This place is pretty much well behind the scenes as it is.”

“It’s just a precaution, especially knowing we’re going up against Deimos. You might recognize Jason Montgomery.”

I shook the man’s hand. “You were helping out with the enhanced witness protection program.”

He smiled and looked me over carefully. “I am. Nathan briefed me yesterday. I’m sorry for the way things worked out. It must be hard on you.”

“It was at the beginning, but not anymore. This will likely seem unmanly to many, but I’m rather enjoying the new me.”

Jason’s eyes lingered on my chest a little longer than I felt comfortable. Nathan had me sit at a table. Jason and Nathan sat down as well.

“So, when do I testify?”

Nathan frowned. “It’s complicated. We can no longer use you for testimony. First and foremost, when we believed Grayson to be dead, the neural map was accidently deleted. We have no way of definitively showing you’re Grayson.”

Jason continued. “Also, it has been weeks since the transfer and I can only surmise that you have had significant brain realignment since you were transferred into a female body. Female brains are significantly different.”

“Tell me about it. My mind is thinking about everything all the time.”

Nathan continued. “Additionally, we couldn’t have you testify without exposing who you are.”

“Then why am I here? You have the data. Can’t you open a case?”

“The data went missing.”

“Seriously? This is the FBI and not Mayberry, right?”

“We had a breach.”

“You need me to get you more information? That’s why you came to me.”

“We thought that if anyone could hack Deimos and get the information, it would be you.”

“The FBI can’t hack Deimos?”

“Not without a sufficient evidence that we no longer have.”

I sighed. “There are no back doors to Deimos’ network. Every device uses multifactor authentication. You can only get to the data from the inside unless…”

Nathan stood and paced. “Unless what?”

“You would need specialized code on one of their computers that could allow for remote communications. It would have to be sophisticated to mimic regular internal computer traffic so as not to be flagged by their security appliances.”

“That’s it then. We have to wait for Deimos to slip up.”

“Not necessarily. I think I can get in and place the code on one of their systems.”

Nathan shook his head. “They already know you.”

“But they don’t know I’ve been invited for a tour as part of a school project.”

Jason shook his head. “Don’t even think about it, Nathan.”

*** February 11, 2028 ***

I was somewhat frightened as I reached for the door. What had I been thinking when I agreed to this?

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door to see Kent standing there. With a deft move, he produced a single red rose and held it out for me.

I had been completely insane to accept his offer to go to the movies. I was a forty-seven-year-old man. However, one glance down my body in a bright summer dress and feeling my heart skip a few beats at the sight of Kent told me otherwise. I had to put aside who I was to concentrate on what I wanted in my current circumstances. I had dreamt of Kent multiple times and the thought of being a mom and being a part of a family had been overwhelming.

“What a lovely gesture. Why don’t you come in so I can put it in some water?”

Kent stepped in and waved to mom and dad in the living room. “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson.”

I went into the kitchen and watched my parents stand and greet Kent. I smelled the rose and smiled. As a man I had never received flowers, but I had, on occasion, given them. It was a strange and yet heartwarming feeling to be on the receiving end; I felt wanted and undeserving.

I stepped back to the foyer.

Dad was lightly grilling Kent. “When will you have Amelia back?”

“I promise to have her back by dinner.”

“You have our number in case you need to reach us.”

“I do.” Kent extended his arm to me and I slipped mine in his.

Mom kissed me on the cheek. “Be safe.”

I smiled. “We will.”

Once the door closed behind me, I breathed a sigh of relief and scooted into the shuttle. We had a minute of awkward banter before things smoothed out.

“You’ve got me all to yourself for a few hours, Kent. I feel bad doing something without Meghan.”

“She suggested it.”

“She what?”

“She told me you were pining for a date with me.”

“She didn’t! Did she?”

Kent laughed. “No. She suggested that you and I might make a good couple though. I agreed with her.”

“Only time will tell. Obviously, I’ve hidden my dark side well.”

“You have a dark side?”

“Anna Chapman has nothing on me.”

“Anna who?”

I had to learn to catch myself. Anna Chapman was old history. “Famous Russian spy.”

“My sources said your background was squeaky clean.”

“You need new sources.”

Kent shifted in his seat, so he was facing me more. “I want you to know I’m very attracted to you, Amelia. This is our first date and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. I promise I will behave gentlemanly. I never want you to feel unsafe around me.”

I surprised myself by reaching for his hand. “I wouldn’t have accepted if I didn’t feel safe around you. Tell me about yourself. What’s your favorite food?”

***

I really enjoyed my time with Kent. True to his word, he never tried to make a move on me. I was slightly disappointed when the shuttle stopped back at my house signaling the end to our time together.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you all about my baby.”

“Your baby?” Kent looked rather conflicted.

I smiled, grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the garage. I punched the code and the door opened. “There she is. My baby.”

“I was expecting something less green and much smaller.”

“I get my learner’s license tomorrow. I’m so excited.”

“It’s so old.”

“It’s a gas guzzling beast. A remnant of a time when climate change wasn’t even considered. It has style; not like the newer modern electric monstrosities. When I get my full license, maybe we can go to the beach together.”

Kent smiled. “Now I think I can start seeing its charm. Does this mean you want to see me again?”

I rose up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Yes.”

Kent was all smiles as he practically danced back to the shuttle. “I’ll hold you to it, Amelia.”

“Please do.”

*** February 12, 2028 ***

“Your guest is here, Mr. Parsons.”

Ted stood. “Send him in.”

Ted watched as a man came in and took a seat.

“I thought I asked you to never come here, Jason.”

Jason Montgomery sat back in the comfortable leather chair and crossed his legs. “After all I’ve done for you. I thought you might want to know Grayson is back and Nathan Graves is working with him.”

“You could have told me that through an encrypted channel.”

“Apparently Grayson as Amelia has a tour of your facility. They were planning on using that opportunity for Amelia to break into one of your computers.”

“Stop this from happening.”

“I’ve already put myself at great risk by deleting the data they had on Deimos and the neural map for the transfer. I want in. I want a cut of the action.”

“How much?”

“Twenty million ought to be sufficient.”

“You’re out of your mind, Jason.”

“I’m sure I could find a way to make the data reappear.”

“That’s blackmail.”

“As if your organization is any better than me.”

Ted’s face turned red. “Ten million.”

Jason put his hands behind his head and smiled. “Twenty-five.”

“That data better be gone for good. We won’t have this conversation again. Twenty. Now get out.”

“Pleasure doing business with you, Ted.”

Ted waited several minutes before calling Ramon and Berkar to his office.

Once they arrived, Ted started right in.

“I have word that Grayson is working with the FBI again. Why is it I’m getting this information second hand?”

Ramon shrugged. “We’ve had no indication that Grayson was involved in anything other than having a movie date. He’s acting like any other eighteen-year-old girl.”

“You and your team need to do better. Grayson can bring down this organization and I won’t have it. Understand? Apparently, Grayson is having a tour of our facilities; something to do with a school field trip. Don’t you think this would be something we should know about?”

“Grayson’s school recently put in Charterhouse Security firewalls. We have limited access to data now.”

“Damn that Grayson! Berkar, buy Charterhouse so we can get rid of their products from the market. Ramon, I want to know who invited the tour, all the details, and I’m to be alerted immediately once Grayson steps foot on campus. Berkar. Stay behind.”

Ramon knew when he was dismissed. Ted waited for the door to close.

“We have another problem, Berkar. Jason Montgomery just blackmailed us. Get rid of him. Discreetly.”

“You want me to arrange for an FBI agent’s death? This is getting out of control.”

“We killed a candidate for Prime Minister of Japan, and you’re worried about a lowly, crooked FBI agent? Just get it done.”

*** February 13, 2028 ***

The day had crawled at a snail’s pace. I did enjoy a little time with Meghan and Kent at lunch, but I was bored in class and anxiously awaiting school to be over. Once school was finished, I got a shuttle and went to the driver’s permitting office. After an eye exam and a test, I left with my learner’s license.

I was all excited and anxious to have dad take me for a drive, but as I pulled up to the house, Nathan was standing near the garage and waved me over.

“You’re here congratulating me for getting my learner’s license?”

“I wish that was the case. I’m worried about your safety.”

“Why are you worried about me?”

“Jason Montgomery was killed this morning. He was in a shuttle and coming up to an intersection. According to witnesses, all the lights went green and a truck slammed into him.”

“You think it was Deimos?”

“I have my hunches. I’m still investigating.”

“There’s always a digital trail. I’d start by getting access to the logs of the streetlight manufacturer.”

“I’m done, Amelia. You should be too. I have a family to think about and you appear to be happy with your new life. Deimos is too large, and they hold too much power.”

“That’s it then? You’re just going to walk away? Deimos will continue their path of corruption, lies, and deceit?”

“It’s not worth the risk.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Maybe Deimos will be exposed one day, and the investigation can start again, but I won’t be putting you, your friends, and your new family at risk trying to gather evidence on them. I wish you well, Amelia.”

Nathan started walking away.

“I’m sorry to hear about Jason.”

Nathan nodded. “Keep your head down and stay out of trouble.”

*** February 16, 2028 ***

Three days had passed since I last spoke with Nathan. I tried to take his words as a sign I needed to move on, and I found it easier than I thought it would be. I arrived home from school anxious to get more time driving with dad. We had gone out every day since I got my learner’s permit. He had been stunned that I was able to drive so well and suggested I might even be able to take my driver’s test soon. I was looking forward to getting a small taste of freedom that my previous life had even if I was fine with the pace things were going. Every day I had grown more accustomed to myself and my new parents.

Life at school had settled down and since I was no longer working with the FBI, I had much more time on my hands. I had been working on new ideas to protect personal privacy. In many ways, I felt I owed the public something. I created Deimos and sat back watching them slowly infiltrate the lives of billions of people. Perhaps I could find a way to make up for what I had created.

I set my backpack down on the foyer bench, and found mom and dad talking in the living room. It was early for dad to be home.

Dad looked up at me. I could see defeat in his eyes. I immediately went over the past few days and couldn’t think of anything I had done.

“You’re home early, dad.”

“I have some bad news. I lost my job today.”

“I don’t understand. Why?”

“At the beginning of the week, a Deimos subsidiary offered to buy Charterhouse Security. The executive team has spent the past few days going over the offer with the board. I fought it all the way and was the only one to stand firm against the purchase. Our CEO didn’t want me interfering, so he let me go. In his words, we owed it to the shareholders to turn a profit for them.”

“Deimos will only dissolve the company. They will absorb any intellectual property of any value, then get rid of everyone. Charterhouse was one of the few independent security companies left.”

Dad shook his head. “When did my daughter become more knowledgeable than our board members? How do you know so much about Deimos and how they operate?”

I lied. “Tomorrow I go to Deimos for a field trip. We’ve been studying them all week. What are you going to do?”

“We’ll be fine for quite a while. Deimos offered three times the value of the company and my boss gave me a year’s severance pay. It was very generous of him. We have ample savings and when I dispose of my stocks, we should be set. I could even retire.”

I sat down next to him and hugged him. “I’m glad you’re my dad. I’m proud of you. I’m also happy this happened.”

Dad smiled weakly. “Why are you happy?”

“Because now there is nothing stopping you and me from going into business together. There’s a market out there for personal data security. I want to stop companies like Deimos from spying on people. Additionally, I’ve been thinking of a new form of social media where users maintain all rights to the data they post.”

“Both of those ideas are intriguing. There’s nothing that would make me happier than to have a chance to work with you. Of course, you’re still only eighteen. Have you thought about college?”

“I’m bored enough at school. Besides, I recall someone saying colleges are bastions of groupthink.”

Dad laughed. “Get the keys, Amelia. You’re going to drive us to a restaurant so we can celebrate.”

*** February 17, 2028 ***

We waited for our computer programming class teacher to give us his last-minute orders before we got off the shuttle to start our tour. I had some trepidation about entering Deimos, but I was going to use the time for a little scouting even though I had given up the idea of putting specialized code on one of their computers.

“Everyone! I will remind you what an incredible honor it is for us to have this chance to see the inner workings of Deimos. Stay together, no horsing around. Your good behavior might just open the door to future tours for other students that follow you.”

The teacher led, and the remaining six of us followed him out of the shuttle to stand before the empire of glass and steel. Kent slipped a note into my hand and nonchalantly walked a few steps ahead of Meghan and me. He had been leaving me love notes every day. Smiling, I slipped the note into my uniform pocket for later reading.

Meghan slipped her arm in mine and leaned in. “How are things with Kent?”

“Going slow, which is nice, but also going well.”

“I’m glad. Would you look at this place?”

“It’s hard to miss. There is no denying that ego exists in technology companies.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They made it big and glamorous to instill the belief in others how great it is when it is just a mask covering up their true motivations.”

“You’re still pissed off at them for what happened at school.”

“Yes, but it is more than that. Just imagine how much of your personal life is locked away inside these walls. It helps to put things in perspective.”

Chris, Kyle, and Mitchel were glaring at Meghan and me. Chris, the leader of the nerds sidled over to us.

“I know your team won the project, but it was lucky. We…” He waved towards his two companions. “…are going to work here one day while you both are handing out popcorn at the local theater. Deimos recognizes real talent when they see it. Don’t mess this up for us today.”

Meghan sighed and whispered to me. “The only thing those guys will ever be famous for will be the oldest virgins in history.”

I laughed hard and our teacher shushed me.

We stepped inside the main hall and got ourselves checked in. Everyone stood in open-eyed wonder at employees of Deimos jetting back and forth on scooters and electric bicycles. We waited a few minutes for our teacher’s contact to join us.

“Anton, it’s good to see you. This is your group?”

“Good to see you too, Jerry. Yes, this is Chris, Kyle, Mitchel, Kent, Meghan, and Amelia.”

Jerry welcomed us all. I remember Deimos hiring Jerry several years ago. He was a first-line supervisor.

“I see you all have your security badges. We take security very seriously here. Let me begin by…”

“Jerry Thomson. Good to see you this morning.”

Inwardly, I cringed.

Jerry looked shocked and most of our group sat there with their stunned looks on their faces.

“Uhm… Mr. Parsons. Nice to see you. Group, this is Ted Parsons, CEO of Deimos. We have, Anton, their teacher, and Chris, Kyle, Mitchel, Kent, Meghan, and Amelia. They’re all from Laurel Trinity Academy.”

“I was told we had a remarkable talent amongst this group today. I had no meetings, so I thought I would come down and introduce myself.”

Chris stepped forward and extended his hand. “Mr. Parsons…”

Ted ignored him and came to stand in front of me. “Amelia Wilson. I was given the chance to see your school project search code. It was absolutely brilliant. Now, I can’t say too much as we’re in final negotiations, but I understand you also authored the algorithm for Charterhouse Security’s newest firewall. Sorry to hear about your dad’s job. The technology field is such a volatile place.”

“That happens when giant companies like Deimos decide to buy out their competition to maintain a monopoly.”

Ted smiled. “Jerry, I think I have some time this morning. Why don’t I take over the tour?”

“Yes, sir.”

Ted turned back to me but addressed the group. “Are you ready to see to inner sanctum of Deimos?”

Chris, Kyle, and Mitchel eagerly voiced their willingness. Kent and Meghan were focused on the interaction between Ted and me.

“Follow me then.”

Ted swiped his badge and we entered a large open space with glass writing walls and brightly colored collaboration furniture. At one end of the room there were entertainment options and Deimos staff were playing pool and foosball. The last time I was here I was being escorted out.

“This is awesome! Do all your staff get to play on this stuff?”

Chris was practically drooling.

Ted once again put his focus on me. “What do you say, Amelia? Is this a good use of space for Deimos staff?”

“I understand that Deimos makes a point of offering food, entertainment, medical, laundry services, and even alcohol to their employees to encourage them to spend as much time here as possible. Sometimes I wonder if more emphasis should be placed on having a life outside of Deimos would boost productivity. May I ask you a question, Mr. Parsons?”

“Of course.”

“With all the wealth and information at Deimos’ fingertips, you would think that Deimos could be an organization that benefits everyone. Wasn’t that one of the late Grayson Nash’s desires?”

“It was a very sad day when we heard of Grayson’s death.”

“Were you sad when you ousted him because he felt Deimos was going the wrong direction?”

Ted glared at me before softening his glance. “Deimos is a highly philanthropic company, Amelia. What you may have heard about Deimos is simply incorrect. Any one of our staff can personally speak directly with me if they have an idea or even a suggestion about the direction of the company. While it is well known that Grayson and I didn’t always see eye to eye, it was a solemn occasion around here when he willingly parted ways with us. It was even more solemn when we heard of his death.”

“It’s heartwarming that you care so much about your employees, Mr. Parson.”

Ted’s eyes closed ever so slightly before turning and leading us into the cafeteria. “When we’re finished our tour, I’ll have someone bring you all back down here. Feel free to order anything you like for lunch. Deimos will cover your meals today.”

Chris moved up next to Ted. “That’s very generous of you. I’m a computer programmer.” Chris glared at me.

Ted ignored Chris. “Onward.”

Kent came up to me and held my hand for a quick moment. It was a nice gesture that gave me strength.

Ted turned to the group. “Very few people ever get to go into this room. This is where all the magic is made. Don’t touch anything.” He opened the door and called out to Deimos staff. “Guests on the floor.” All the screens went black.

Ramon met Ted on the other side of the door. They had a quick whispered conversation.

Ramon came over to me. “You must be Miss Wilson. I’ve heard so much about you from Jerry.”

“I’m sure you have.”

Ramon motioned to the staff around him. “These staff are responsible for many things. They are the best of the best here at Deimos. Every time you use one of our devices, or search for information, it is likely someone in this room was the one responsible for writing the code that produced the results.”

I saw Elizabeth walking down the aisle towards us. She seemed to recognize me and grabbed another person who peeked his head up over the cubicle wall. Elizabeth smiled and sauntered over towards us.

“Hey boss. Who do you have here?”

“This is a school group in for a tour.”

She looked at Kent. “They’re sure producing some handsome men these days. I’d be happy to show this one around.”

Ted nodded slowly. “That’s not such a bad idea. Ramon, why don’t you take the teacher and these three down to see the cinema. I’ll take Amelia. Boris can take Meghan, and Elizabeth can take Kent. It would be a great chance for all of them to get their specific questions answered. We can all meet back down in the cafeteria in thirty minutes.”

I thought that was a bad idea. “I think we should stay together as a group.”

My teacher whispered in my ear. “We don’t say no to the CEO of Deimos.”

I frowned.

“Come with me, Amelia.”

Ted led me past my old office. Marge was still there. I sighed seeing that life had simply moved on.

Ted stopped outside his office and told his admin to hold his calls.

Once inside his office, he closed the door and sat down.

“I hear you go by Amelia now.”

“It’s my name.”

“I laughed so hard when I saw the video footage of you waking up in the hospital. You were always a little feminine, Grayson.”

“What do you want from me, Ted? Your team of idiots have made my life hell. My dad lost his job because of Deimos.”

“You started it.”

“This isn’t some schoolyard fight.”

Ted laughed. “Coming from a teenaged girl that still goes to school, that’s pretty funny. I understand you’re still working with the FBI.”

“They approached me, but there is nothing going on. They backed away from the case when their data went missing and one of their agents mysteriously died this week. That’s not something you happen to know anything about is it?”

“You’re insinuating I had something to do with his death?”

“I never said if the agent was male or female.”

Ted paled and stood angrily. “What do you want from me?”

“I don’t want anything from you. Just leave me, my family, and my friends alone.”

“You’ve changed, Grayson. For years you sat back not caring about anything. Now, suddenly you’ve grown a conscience. I suspect it’s all the estrogen.”

“Maybe it’s time you grow a conscious too. I’m not doing anything to Deimos. I know what you and this company have done and what you continue to do. Change while you have a chance.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Look at me, Ted! What can an eighteen-year-old girl do to harm Deimos? Please, let me live my life in peace.”

Ted sneered. “I think Elizabeth has taken a particular interest in Kent.”

I turned away angrily and headed to the door. “Don’t touch my friends or family!”

I stepped outside, but Ted was right there. “Agnes, can you please escort Miss Wilson to the cafeteria to join her team? Amelia, I highly recommend the Parson’s burger.”

“I hear the Nash burger is far better.”

Ted chuckled. “It was removed from the menu. The staff felt it was unsafe.”

Agnes walked me towards the cafeteria. I spotted Kent and Elizabeth in a glassed-in space. Elizabeth was leaning in and getting close to Kent; she put her hand on his arm. I pulled away from Agnes, opened the collaboration room door, walked straight up to Kent, and kissed him. “Time to go Kent. We don’t want to monopolize Elizabeth’s time. I’m certain she has puppies to drown.”

Elizabeth growled at me. “Skank!”

I pulled Kent from the room. “That was bizarre. I mean, I liked that you kissed me. Do you know Elizabeth?”

“Never met her.”

“Should we find Meghan?”

“I’m not too worried about Meghan. Boris looked like an older version of Chris. Probably from the same deprived gene pool.”

“Are you angry? I’m not sure.”

“I’m pretty sure it was Boris and Elizabeth that set me up to come out to the entire school.”

“Hmm… What are the odds?”

“Apparently higher than either of us could fathom.”

“Miss Wilson?” Agnes was looking baffled.

“Sorry, ma’am. I just wanted to make sure my schoolmate was with me as we made our way to the cafeteria.”

Agnes led us the rest of the way to the cafeteria. There we found the rest of our group. Jerry had rejoined us to guide us through the cafeteria experience. I waited for everyone to get through and bring their food to the tables.

Kent sat next to me and Meghan was on my other side. Chris was still fuming about my preferred treatment.

Kent was digging into a steak. “This is great. You’re not eating anything, Amelia?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Did Mr. Parsons say something to you? Did he make a move on you? Because I’m all about being protective. I’ll go up there right now and whip his sorry butt.”

That made me laugh. “My gallant hero.”

Meghan was looking at us both. “Did I miss something?”

Kent smiled between bites of steak. “Amelia kissed me and told Elizabeth to go murder puppies. Best day of my life.”

***

Berkar watched Ted pace back and forth.

“I heard Grayson was here.”

“Grayson says he’s not interested in harming Deimos, but I know he’s lying. If he’s out there, he’s a threat. Get rid of him.”

“We’ve been doing a lot of this lately. We need to decide if this is in our best interests. Grayson is now a teenage girl. Do you think he can do anything that we can’t simply discredit?”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, Berkar. Just get it done.”

*** February 19, 2028 ***

It was Sunday morning and mom came by to sit with me on the couch.

“I want you to know how proud I am of you. I’ve been seeing your test scores and your grades will be outstanding this term.”

“Thank you. How’s dad doing?”

“Very well. In a way, it’s why I came to find you this morning. You need a dress.”

I laughed. “My closet is full of dresses. Which, by the way, I love. You have excellent taste in clothes.”

Mom smiled. “You need a formal dress and some matching shoes.”

“I’m not certain how this all ties together.”

“Your dad has been excited about your ideas and the chance to work with you. He believes there is an excellent market out there but needs some investors. He wants you by his side to promote the concepts. He’s planning an event to take place in three or four weeks. It will be at a fancy restaurant; thus, you need a new dress. It is also the perfect excuse for some mom and daughter time.”

“I’m ready when you are.”

Mom hugged me. “Let’s go then.”

***

Mom and I had a fabulous time. I wish I had been this close to my old parents. It saddened me that I had let them slip away. By the end of the shopping excursion, it felt like mom and I were best friends. We sat side by side laughing and giggling as the shuttle car took us home.

“Your dad will love this new dress on you. It’s perfect.”

“I’ve said it before, mom, but I’m sorry for how I was before my accident.”

“We’ve all moved on from that time. Sometimes we forget what’s important in our lives. The doctors were right. We’ve all had a fresh start and I’m thankful for every…”

The shuttle screeched loudly and veered. I was thrown to the side and slammed into the door as the vehicle tipped. I recalled seeing a steep embankment before we crashed into a tree, then began rolling end over end down the hillside.

***

I heard beeping sounds and could smell sterile air. A feeling of Deja-vu came to mind, but this time I was in substantial pain.

“Amelia. You’re all right. Wake up, Amelia.”

I opened my eyes. My head hurt and my vision swam, but I recognized I must be in a hospital. It wasn’t a room, rather it was a curtained off area. I groaned and felt my ribs.

“Careful, you have several cracked ribs and you have a concussion. Do you remember what happened?”

I struggled to find my voice, but every second made things clearer. “Shuttle… Loud noise, then we veered. Mom? Where’s mom?”

“She’s expected to be all right, but she’s in surgery.”

The doctor helped me sit up. Again, I felt some dizziness and pain, but it was bearable. Looking down, I saw blood on my clothes. The doctor gently touched my shoulder.

“It’s all right, Amelia. You’re fine. Let me get your father.”

The doctor left and I slowly swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Dad rushed in.

“Amelia! Thank God you’re all right.”

I hugged him as tightly as my ribs to stand it. “Mom?”

“We’ll know more soon.”

The doctor poked his head back in. “I just got word. Joanne will be fine, but she’ll need to stay here a few days. She’ll need some help when she gets home. She has a broken right femur and arm.”

“When can we see her?”

“She’s in post-op. In about an hour, we’ll transfer her to a room.”

*** February 20, 2028 ***

I skipped school as I was in more pain the day after the accident than I was the day of the accident. I wouldn’t leave mom’s side. I held her hand as she was heavily drugged for the first twenty-four hours. Dad had been there as well but had just stepped out of the room to get some food for us.

I glared up at the Deimos camera in the room. Standing, I crossed the room and stood right below it.

“I assume you were merely trying to kill me, but this…” I waved at mom. “This is below the likes of you. I was willing to let this go, but no more. You thought I was your enemy before; I wasn’t. I am now!”

I winced as I grabbed a chair and knocked the camera off the wall.

A few minutes later, Nathan knocked on the door frame. I invited him into the room.

Nathan looked down at the shattered camera. “Nice redecorating.”

I was disappointed in him. “Why are you here?”

“When I heard the news about the accident, I felt a need to apologize. I’m really sorry.”

“Please tell me you’re investigating this.”

“I’ve been put on another investigation.”

“Figures.”

“You should lie low for a while.”

“Yeah. I’ll do that as soon as mom is fine, dad has his job back, and, oh… when I’m old enough to be on my own, have an income, and a driver’s license.”

Nathan frowned.

“I’m sorry, Nathan. You don’t deserve my anger.”

“I got you into this.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“What are you going to do, Amelia?”

“I can tell you one thing I’m not going to do. I’m not going to sit around waiting for Deimos to kill me, my family, or my friends. I’m also not going to wait for the FBI to do anything. I’m done sitting around.”

“Please, don’t do anything stupid.”

I shook my head. “Stupid was me not seeing where Deimos was going all these years.”

Nathan sighed. “What do you need? Off the record, of course.”

I looked at mom and couldn’t imagine anything more happening to my family. “Deimos needs to be taken down, but I can’t do what I need to do if I’m worrying about my friends and family.”

“What if I could arrange for their safety?”

“That’s a start. Assuming they were safe, then I need freedom. I need a place where I can go and have the right tech to break into Deimos.”

“If I could get you those?”

“Transportation in case I’m discovered and need to move quickly and a full driver’s license.”

“All right. Anything else?”

I closed my eyes slightly as I looked at Nathan. “I’ll need an excuse for school and my parents as to why I might be gone for several weeks.”

“Don’t you have spring break coming up? I think I could arrange all of this.”

“How can you do that if you’re on another case?”

“We discovered there is a high likelihood that Jason Montgomery was working with Deimos. There is evidence to suggest he was the one that erased your neural map and the Deimos data. We suspect Deimos had him killed.”

“You think?” I said it sarcastically.

“We need to get into Deimos. I need any and all data that can be used against them.”

“What kind of story will you use?”

“Just an extension of the one we used before. When you hacked Deimos, you pulled data that potentially exposed them. Deimos has obviously decided you’re a threat. The FBI needs to put you into protective custody. Separating you and your family makes this safer for everyone.”

“What about everything else?”

“I have some ideas. It will take a few days. We have someone posted here at the hospital. You should be safe. Just stay away from autonomous shuttles.”

I touched my ribs. “Yeah… That one is rather obvious.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

Nathan turned to leave.

“Nathan?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry I got angry with you. Thank you.”

Dad arrived back a few minutes later. He had several bags of food. I was famished. By the time we had finished eating, mom started to stir. It was great to see her awake. Her first concern was for me. I was angry as a hornet at Deimos, but mom was my first concern. I stayed with her through the night.

*** February 21, 2028 ***

I had been extremely careful getting to school and making sure everyone would be as safe as possible. Mom was doing well and scheduled to go home in the afternoon. She would likely be home by the time I got there after school.

I had no word from Nathan, but I had asked for a lot and not entirely sure how he would pull things off. I was highly distracted in classes.

Kent and Meghan found me at lunch at my regular spot. I had communicated to them both letting them know about the accident.

Kent kissed me and carefully checked me over. I still had a small bandage on my head and my ribs were wrapped. Meghan hugged me gently.

“Are you all right, Amelia? How’s your mom?”

I grabbed Kent’s hand and sat down on the wall. I tapped a spot next to me for Meghan. “Phones please.”

They both turned their phones off.

“I’m doing all right. I have a couple of cracked ribs. Mom got the worst of it. She broke her femur and arm.”

“Why all the secrecy?”

“Deimos. Apparently, when I hacked them as part of the FBI test, I downloaded something sensitive. They’ve moved on from harassment.”

Kent stood and I pulled him back down.

“This is important. You both need to be extra cautious. They may try to target you both for being my friends.”

“You believe they tried to kill you? Is that why Ted Parsons took such an interest in you?”

“He threatened me and you.”

Meghan shook her head. “I can’t believe Deimos tried to kill you. There must be another explanation.”

“Do you remember the FBI agent that was in the news the other day? He was in a shuttle accident.”

“I remember something about it. A truck ran a red light.”

“That’s what the news said. The lights were all green. He was an agent I had worked with. Listen, there’s more going on and the less you both know the better for you. I might have to go away for a while. If I do, then you won’t hear from me. It could be weeks.”

Kent was clearly conflicted. “I don’t like this at all. You’re my girlfriend. I should be there to protect you.”

I smiled and squeezed his hand. I had just been told I was teenage boy’s girlfriend for the first time, and I loved it. I truly had moved on.

“Amelia Wilson to the office.”

I hung my head. “God, I hate that paging system.” I stood and hugged Meghan and kissed Kent. “I love you both. Be safe. I mean it. Hopefully this will all be over soon.”

***

Nathan was with the principal when I arrived. The principal waved me in.

“Amelia, Special Agent Nathan has just informed me that you and your family are going into protective custody. I want you to know you can take all the time you need. Next week is the start of spring break, so I don’t expect you’ll need to catch up on much.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Nathan?”

“Yes, Mr. Guthrie?”

“Amelia might possibly be our most promising student to date. Please. Take good care of her.”

“The FBI agrees with you, Mr. Guthrie. We’ll do our very best.”

Nathan escorted me to his vehicle. “We need to meet up with your father at your home. Your mother will be taken straight to a safe house. We will have supportive care for her, and your father will join her soon.”

“I don’t get to see her?”

“I’m sorry. Everything is in motion. We have limited time before Deimos discovers what we’re doing.”

Nathan reached into his pocket and handed me a card.

I stared in wonder at it. “You got me a full driver’s license?”

“You said you needed it.”

“I would hug you right now if you weren’t driving.”

“It’s not like you didn’t have one before.”

“What’s the plan?”

“We have a safe house and a select team. I need you to lead them into collecting data from Deimos.”

“What about Lucky?”

“Lucky?”

“My dog.”

“He’s going to the other safe house with your mom and dad.”

I sat quietly as I thought through the ramifications of everything that was transpiring. Deimos needed to pay for what they had done but this was a David versus Goliath scenario.

When we pulled into our driveway, I ran into the house to find dad. When I found him, I threw my arms around him. Dad held my tightly and only pulled away when Nathan stepped into the room.

“Time is of the essence. Amelia, I need you to gather what you need to take with you. Henry, I assume you’ve been briefed?”

Dad seemed angry as he replied. “I don’t understand why Amelia needs to go with you and not stay with me.”

“It’s just for a short while. She was able to hack into Deimos when no one else at the FBI could. We need her to retrace her steps under our guidance. If all goes well, you can be reunited within two weeks. It will be safer for all of you if we keep you separate as Deimos has shown clear intention on wanting to harm Amelia. We will keep her safe.”

Dad frowned as I rushed off to pack a few things. A second FBI vehicle had arrived to take dad and Lucky. When I came back, dad was waiting for me in the living room.

I hugged him tightly once again. “Take care of mom for me. Tell her I love her.”

“I will. I love you, Amelia.”

Dad turned to Nathan. “Don’t let anything happen to my daughter. You hear me?”

“I’ll take good care of her, Henry.”

I watched another agent lead dad to their vehicle. By the time I got back into Nathan’s car, I was in tears.

Nathan sighed. “I’m sorry, Amelia. It’s all for the best.”

“You don’t understand why I’m so upset. As Grayson, I was lost. My life was miserable and the very things that were important to me, my parents and friends, were long gone. I squandered my life building Deimos and ignoring everything that I should have focused on. I can’t tell you how hard it has been adapting to being Amelia, but I wouldn’t give it up for anything. I see Henry and Joanne as my parents. I love them and it grieves me that they must suffer because of me. I allowed Deimos to become what it is but when I tried to make a difference, look at what lengths they have gone to. However, what they meant for ill for me has awoken me. They gave me a life worth living. They gave me a chance to love something more than myself. Now… Now they’re trying to take it all away. I’ll die defending everything I have become and those around me that I love.”

“No one needs to die, Amelia. We can take Deimos down together. For what it’s worth, I believe you have already given Henry and Joanne something they had thought they lost forever.”

I sniffed, aware that my crying and words were very much that of a young woman. I didn’t care. Grayson was gone forever. I was Amelia Wilson now and proud to be her.

***

“Status update.”

Ramon glanced at Berkar before updating Ted. “You saw the recording of Grayson at the hospital with his mother? I hate to admit that I believe Berkar was right. We pushed Grayson too far.”

“He was supposed to be dead! Now he’s a bigger threat than ever before. Where is he?”

Ramon sighed. “Unknown. We believe the FBI have put him and his family into protective isolation.”

Ted turned to face the window. “Find him. No second chances this time.”

***

I stared out the window as we drove, but I never focused on anything. I was surprised when we pulled into the driveway of my old home. My red and white 1955 corvette still sat in the garage.

“What are we doing here?”

“The FBI took over your home knowing it was highly secure and could house everyone needed for the job. We gave you the master bedroom.”

“How generous of you.”

“Do you have what you need here?”

“Unless things were removed, yes.”

“It doesn’t bother you that we’re using your home?”

“Amelia Wilson doesn’t own this home, so not really.”

Nathan smiled and led me upstairs. The living room had been turned into a cyber warfare room. There were six agents working on computers. I saw at least two others as well. Nathan introduced me as a lead consultant on Deimos cyber security. The looks I received from the agents expressed their skepticism. When Nathan told them I would be overseeing information gathering strategy, they became outright abusive.

“Team, I know Amelia looks young, but she brings with her much inside information about the security of Deimos. Amelia, they’re all yours.”

Nathan looked at me as if he was waiting for me to say something to the team. I picked up a basket that I had purchased on one of my trips to Africa. “I need someone at the front door assuring that no phones come into this room. All phones need to be turned off within two miles of here and left in the basket. Turn your phones off now and place them here.”

No one did anything. Nathan ordered the team to do it and they begrudgingly complied.

One of the team turned to me. “Why? Our policy is to switch to airplane mode.”

“Airplane mode doesn’t stop applications and the operating system from running. Any one of these phones, especially those that have Deimos operating systems, could be used to spy on us. Applications can record everything we say; cameras can do the same. Once back on the network, Deimos can access that data.”

The man looked suitably impressed. “I didn’t know that.”

“What vectors are you approaching Deimos with? Let’s start with you, Bob.” I was grateful for Amelia’s younger and more retentive brain and memory.

“We’re sniffing all traffic that leaves Deimos.”

“That’s a good start. Have you gone beyond Deimos to also sniff all their subsidiary companies’ address ranges? Deimos, in its entirety, has approximately five thousand public address ranges they can communicate on. However, internal communications will never be seen by your sniffing appliances.”

“I’ll get on the additional ranges right away. I disagree, we should see Deimos to Deimos communications.”

“Deimos’ internal data traffic is routed only through privately owned fiber networks. It will never touch where your sniffing appliances sit. Even if you were to see the internal communications, the data is doubly encrypted.”

“How do you know all of this?”

Nathan came to my side and fabricated a somewhat convincing story. “Grayson Nash was Amelia’s godfather. He shared much with her.”

Bob nodded. “Wow. So, you used to come here to his house?”

“Quite often.”

I listened to what the other agents were working on, gave some advice and tips, but nothing they were doing would get to where we needed to be. I stepped out onto the deck to think.

Hearing steps behind me, I saw Tess, the consultant for the enhanced witness protection program.

“Do I have a lot of questions for you, Tess.”

Tess looked over her shoulder towards Nathan. “Let’s step a little further away from the others.”

When we reached a place of privacy, we sat down.

“Nathan called me here. I was devastated when the transfer failed, and it looked like we killed you. He knew I needed closure. He says you’ve adapted well.”

“I love the new me. I would never have contemplated being female before, but it’s wonderful. I have a family and everything.”

“That’s incredibly relieving to hear. Obviously, this is new territory. No one has ever changed genders like this.”

“I was frightened, scared, and embarrassed.”

“I can’t imagine the shock for you. When I woke up in this new body, I was elated and frightened at the same time.”

“When you… Did anything change for you?”

“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”

“I’m attracted to both sexes now. I have dreams of becoming a mother. I even, sort of, have a boyfriend.”

“That’s fascinating. Nothing changed for me at all. Here is what I know. The core functions of the brain aren’t touched by the transfer process. Amelia Wilson most likely grew up attracted to men. Her autonomic responses would have been burned into her neural pathways for years. In other words, your new body is hard-wired to find men attractive. What we transferred, however, wasn’t. I would suspect that over time your mind will let go of your attraction to women in favor of your core programming.”

I laughed. “You make it sound like computer stuff.”

“In a lot of ways, it is. How do you feel when you hear this?”

“I’m relieved. My mind fought what my body wanted.”

“Unless you go through a transfer like this, no one would ever fully understand what you went through. I know that Nathan told me you want to be Amelia. I need you to know that you are Amelia. Don’t second guess yourself. It’s hard to sleep if you’re constantly wondering who you are.”

“You’ve just given me an idea. Thank you, Tess.”

We both stood and Tess hugged me. “Be well, Amelia.”

I watched her go before heading back inside.

Once I had everyone’s attention, I laid out my plan.

“We’re going about this the wrong way. We need to get inside their network.”

Nathan frowned. “We discussed this before. It’s too risky.”

“I didn’t say we needed to get into Deimos’ headquarters. Deimos just bought Charterhouse Security. The first thing they will do is attach Charterhouse’s network to theirs so they can assign a team to remotely filter through all the data. During the transition, many contractors will be going in and out of Charterhouse’s building. We send someone in, attach a hidden system to the network, and we’re in.”

Nathan looked thoughtful for a moment. “Vince, Wayne. Redirect your activities to Charterhouse. Find out what vendors are working there right now.”

*** February 22, 2028 ***

Ted walked back and forth in front of the small team. Miri, Ramon, and Berkar were all present. Boris and Elizabeth had computer systems connected to large screen displays.

“What do we know?”

Berkar spoke for the group. “Not a lot. Grayson was last spotted leaving school early yesterday. We believe the vehicle he got into belonged to the FBI. Joanne and Henry Wilson have vanished. We can only assume the worse.”

“We need to start thinking like Grayson. What would he do?”

Elizabeth giggled then remembered who she was in the room with.

“You have something to say, Elizabeth?”

“No, sir. Yes, sir.”

“Out with it.”

“I’m pretty sure she has a thing for Kent. I mean he’s very handsome and sweet.”

“That’s…” Ted shivered. “How does that relate?”

“I was just thinking that if I were her, I’d grab him and find someplace safe to… Anyways, that got me thinking. What’s safe? A hotel would have cameras and ask for money. We’ve been monitoring her friends’ homes and see nothing there. Grayson owned a mansion. That’s where I would go.”

“Grayson had that place locked up so tight, a nun… How would we know if someone is there? Utilities. Check electricity and water usage.”

Elizabeth began clicking away on her keyboard. She started chewing on her pen. “Hmmm. This is interesting. Electricity has spiked at Grayson’s house in the past forty-eight hours. Water usage has gone from almost nothing to equivalent use of between eight and a dozen people over the same period.”

“Sir?”

“Yes, Boris.”

“I can redirect a drone to provide surveillance of Grayson’s house.”

“Those are too noisy.”

“Not our graphical mapping system drones, sir. They fly upwards of fifty thousand feet.”

Ted stroked his chin. “Do it.”

***

It was late in the day when I came out of my bedroom. “How are things going, Nathan?”

“We’ve got a few options for vendors. We’re now working to set something up to get into Charterhouse. You’ve been holed up in your room most of the day. Everything all right?”

Nathan looked at my hand that held a pair of odd-looking sunglasses.

“I’ve been working on a project to keep my mind busy. If I sit idle, I think of mom and dad. I wonder how mom is doing and… I should be there. These…” I held up the glasses. “These are my freedom.”

“You do know that most artificial intelligence systems can tell who you are even if you wear funny sunglasses?”

“I was just going to test them. I could use your help.”

“All right. What do you need me to do?”

“We need to go to my car. Technically, it’s someone else’s car.”

Nathan followed me down the stairs and into the garage. I pulled out an old camera from a cabinet and handed it to him. I moved to the corvette and sat in the driver’s seat. Putting on the sunglasses, I activated a small switch.

“All done. Complete freedom.”

“I don’t see anything different. I still know it’s you.”

“Turn on the camera and look through the lens.”

I watched as Nathan did so. He looked through the lens and then back to me several times.

“There’s nothing but a sun glare showing in the viewfinder. I can’t see your face. How did you do that?”

“I’m using high-powered infrared light emitters on the glasses. The cameras translate light from the infrared spectrum as white light.”

“You could market these.”

I grinned. “I could drive with these. Wanna go for a ride?”

***

“No doubt about it, Mr. Parsons. There are a bunch of people at Grayson’s house. Those black vehicles likely belong to the FBI.”

“That one looks like the same one that was used to take Amelia from the school.”

“It’s a black SUV. They all look alike to me.”

Ted sighed and stepped away. “Elizabeth and Boris. Where do your allegiances lie?”

Boris poked his head around his computer monitor. “Excuse me, sir?”

“What I’m asking is if you both will go the extra mile to protect Deimos.”

In unison, Boris and Elizabeth nodded. “Of course.”

Berkar was shaking his head. “No. Don’t do this, Ted.”

“We have to trust them. If they want to move up in this company, they will do what they’re told.”

Ramon looked pale. Miri sipped her coffee.

Ted walked over to Boris. “Give me control of the drone.”

“Sir? Have you ever flown a sixty-foot wingspan drone before?”

“I’m not planning on flying it.”

***

I left the glasses in the car, unable to convince Nathan that I could safely go for a drive. I needed to get out and taste my own independence, even if it was for less than an hour. Resignedly, I followed Nathan up from the garage. At the top of the stairs I noticed a shadow as I looked out the windows. That’s when I saw it. A large aircraft was nearly upside down as it angled towards the house.

“Oh, crap! Incoming!”

Everyone looked up from their screens. Nathan yelled for everyone to take cover and promptly dove on me. This sent us both tumbling down the stairs. Time seemed to slow. The sky darkened; glass shattered. I could hear the roar of a jet engine followed by a fraction of a second of silence before hundreds of pounds of jet fuel exploded.

The fireball and explosion flung Nathan and me even faster down the stairs. Nathan took the brunt of it all. He crashed into the cement wall of the garage and I crashed into him. Flames shot down the stairway towards us; the heat singed my hair and burned my lungs.

Nathan was in bad shape and unconscious. I managed to pull him slightly just as another explosion ripped through the house. We rolled together down the final flight of stairs.

Shaken, and with reinjured ribs and a badly twisted knee, I checked on Nathan. He was a bloody mess, but he was breathing. Somehow the stairwell and cement walls of the garage area had spared us. The garage itself was engineered to withstand even the largest earthquake. It’s ceiling, floor, and walls were all reinforced concrete. I pulled Nathan into the garage and turned back to the stairwell hoping I could help the others.

Looking up the stairwell, I could see that the entire floor above me was engulfed in fire. The steel railings of the stairway were twisting from the heat. Glass and burning debris were falling all around me. Reluctantly, I turned back into the garage. There was no hope for anyone on the main floor.

The power was out, which wasn’t surprising. I hobbled over to the garage door and slowly and carefully opened it. Outside looked like a war zone. FBI vehicles were on fire and pieces of flaming aircraft were strewn around the street. I checked in on Nathan again. He looked bad but was coming to. He coughed up blood, his eye was badly swollen, and blood was oozing down his head.

The house shook and groaned. Nathan tried several times to get to his feet but collapsed. I rushed to him and gave him a hand. I screamed as he wrapped his arm around my side, but the pain gave me energy. Together we managed to get him into the corvette. Getting into the driver’s seat, I felt something behind me. They were my glasses. I almost threw them away but had a moment of clarity. I put them on, turned on the switch, and floored the car.

The corvette tires smoked as we skidded out onto the road. I dodged several pieces of falling, flaming debris before I was in the clear. I looked back at what had once been my house, but all I could see was a flaming ruin and a mass grave for nine FBI agents.

I could hear sirens in the distance. Nathan coughed, sputtered, and lapsed into unconsciousness. I raced through the streets towards the nearest hospital.

I pulled straight into the emergency ambulance zone and hit the horn. People raced out and got Nathan onto a stretcher. I sat there for a moment, every breath causing me pain. After the initial flurry of activity, a hospital worker came to my side of the car and bent down.

“Miss? Are you hurt?”

I looked up at the security cameras all around me.

“Miss? We need to know what happened. Miss?”

The worker stood and waved to a police officer. He started walking towards us.

This wasn’t a coincidence. Somehow Deimos was involved. I’ll be taken in, questioned, and at the mercy of Deimos. They are everywhere. I’m not safe.

I made my decision just as the officer reached the side of my car.

“Miss? Can you step from the car please?”

“The man’s name is Nathan Graves. He is a Special Agent with the FBI. Please take care of him.”

I revved the engine and accelerated away.

***

The room was completely silent as Ted Parsons stood and backed away from the computer. The camera windows on the screen showed nothing but static.

All eyes were on Ted.

“If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Anyone hungry?”

***

I pulled into my driveway and stopped the car. The passenger seat was covered in soot and Nathan’s blood. He saved my life. I thought about all the lives of the innocent agents and slammed my fists down against the steering wheel.

“Why?”

I sat there a few minutes before getting out of the car, or, rather attempting to get out of the car. As soon as I put pressure on my left leg, it collapsed, and I fell to the ground.

“Amelia!”

I felt strong hands on me, and I looked up to see a very confused and worried young man.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes, Kent.”

“Oh my God. What happened to you? Are you all right?”

I pointed behind me and up onto the Palo Alto hillside where smoke billowed high into the sky. “I was there.”

“You need help. I’ll call an ambulance.”

“No! I need some time to think.”

Kent’s hands wrapped around me and as gently as he could, he lifted me up. I winced in pain from my ribs and my knee.

“What do you want me to do?”

“The garage. We need to get this car inside and out of sight.”

“You didn’t…”

“No. It’s not stolen. Just borrowed.”

Kent brought me near the garage, and I reached out and punched in the code. He took me into the house and laid me down on the couch.

“What do you need?”

“Please, just bring the car into the garage and close everything up.”

“All right.”

Kent turned and headed to the garage.

“Kent?”

“Yes?”

“Be careful.”

Kent smiled weakly and headed back to the garage. I never heard the car engine start, so he must have pushed it in. The door to the garage opened and Kent came back to my side.

“Why is there blood all over the passenger seat?”

“Ice.”

“It was an immigration raid?”

I laughed, but that caused pain. “Could you get me some ice for my knee?”

“Are you in trouble?”

“Yes. Most likely.”

“From whom? Can I call your parents? Where are they?”

“I can’t stay here long. I’ll tell you what I can.”

“I’ll be right back.”

***

I felt a wet, cool cloth on my face. My knee was cold. I remember…

I jerked as I saw flames everywhere but when I opened my eyes, I only saw Kent leaning over me.

“You drifted off for a few minutes.”

I closed my eyes and opened them again. Kent was still there. Grimacing, I pushed myself up a bit.

“Your phone!”

“You need to call someone?”

“No. Is it off?”

“I’ve only turned it on once an hour to see if you messaged me. It’s been off the entire time. Relax, Amelia. What happened? What’s going on?”

“The FBI took mom and dad into safe custody. They were asking for my help in gathering information from Deimos. The FBI are investigating Deimos for multiple murders, election tampering, campaign finance fraud, and hundreds of other crimes. They suspect Deimos came after me because I found something incriminating against them.”

“Is that why Ted Parsons took such an interest in you?”

“Yes. He threatened me, you, and my family. There is strong evidence to suggest that Deimos took control of the shuttle mom and I were in and ran us off the road. The problem is that Deimos’ communications are all on private networks. The FBI wanted me to retrace my hack to help them gather evidence.”

“What about the car and blood and your injuries?”

“The initial investigation against Deimos was fueled by Grayson Nash. He had slowly become ostracized within the company he founded. He had ignored what was happening and in his final days with the company he discovered evidence of what they were doing. He went to the FBI, to Special Agent Nathan Graves. The FBI decided to place Grayson in witness protection so that he could be safe and to testify against Deimos when the time came. Deimos discovered this and Grayson was murdered.”

I shifted on the couch. “As it turned out, Deimos had someone on the inside of the FBI. Jason Montgomery. From what Nathan told me, Jason appears to have deleted key information that Grayson had provided to the FBI. This is how Ted Parsons knew I was working with the FBI in an ongoing investigation. Jason most likely blackmailed Deimos and Deimos had him killed.”

“It’s hard to believe you got caught up in all of this. That still doesn’t explain the rest.”

“After the shuttle accident, Nathan invited me to assist the FBI in gathering more data. It also accomplished a second goal which was to keep me safe. Knowing that Grayson’s home was highly secure and part of the investigation, they had us set up there. I assisted where I could, but it was hands off for me. Their team was doing all the work.”

“So, that smoke and fire is Grayson Nash’s house?”

“What’s left of it. We were all there when a plane, or more likely a drone crashed into the house. Nathan dove over top of me to protect me, but the resulting explosion threw us down the stairs towards the garage. Nathan’s actions saved my life. The crash imploded the home and the explosion and fire engulfed the entire first floor. Nathan was in bad shape but with his help I managed to get him to the car. We escaped before the house collapsed entirely. I took him to the hospital.”

“You should have been treated as well.”

“I was afraid, Kent. I’ve learned a lot about Deimos. They have more control than you can possibly imagine. They’ll not stop. I pray to God that Nathan will survive, but even more that Deimos doesn’t get to him. No one could have survived that explosion, Kent. Nine agents lost their lives. The investigation will continue, but I’m not certain I’ll be safe.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I need time to think and I can’t stay here. Deimos might think I’m dead, but at some point, they might figure out I’m not. They’ll be watching this place. Mom and dad have some cash in a safe here. I’ll use that, take the van, and go to a campground for a few days.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“There’s no way, Kent. You have school and what would you tell your parents?”

“You forgot we have a ten-day break for spring. Look at you, Amelia. You can’t even walk. About my parents… I’ve gone camping for a week at a time before and they were all right with it.”

I looked into Kent’s worried eyes. My mind didn’t yell at me. It wasn’t saying how wrong it was. I was Amelia Wilson, eighteen years old. I loved being with Kent and how protective he was over me. My heart decided for me.

“I’m worried that if you’re around me, you’ll be at risk.”

“All the more reason why you need me. What are you going to do about Grayson’s car?”

“I’ll leave it here for now. If the FBI wants it back, I’ll contact them in a few days to let them know where it is. It should go to Grayson’s estate. I should shower and start packing.”

Kent was immediately at my side and helped me to my feet. His closeness was intoxicating. With my left foot off the ground, I leaned into him and kissed him. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. You certain you want to hang out with someone that has been run off the road and a plane landed on her head?”

“I could use a little adventure.”

“You might just get more than you bargained for.”

“I’m up for it as long as I’m at your side.”

“I guess that’s it then.”

“What?”

“You’re officially my boyfriend.”

Kent laughed. “Now I’m more worried about your father than Deimos.”

“A little fear never hurt anyone.”

Kent tried to help me walk, but the ice had reduced the swelling and I was able to limp along on my own.

“Why don’t you see if you can find anything in the kitchen? We should gather enough food for a week. Anything you find you can load into the van. I already have nonperishables and some basics for cooking, cleaning, and for the beds.”

***

Within the hour we were driving up Page Mill Rd. I had planned on using Portola Redwoods State Park as a base to camp at. It was close enough that I could get what I needed but far enough the way to be mostly off the grid.

Kent drove as he had his license and my knee was still in rough shape. I found myself daydreaming; imagining all this with Deimos to be done with. Kent, my husband, was driving us over the pass to the beach.

“How’s your knee doing?”

“I think it will be fine once I can raise it up and get it rested.”

“Should we stop and buy the necessary ingredients for proper camp food?”

“You don’t think we have everything we need?”

“I’m talking smores.”

I smiled as my mind drifted to camping with my parents and roasting marshmallows over an open fire.

“That would be nice, but I want as few cameras spotting us as possible. Maybe there will be some ingredients at the campground, or we could mooch from our neighbors.”

Kent kept glancing at me, which was a challenge as the road was quite narrow and had many turns on it.

“What are you looking at?”

“Is this considered a date?”

I laughed. “You mean running from a mega-corporation intent on killing me? You know mom and dad would kill me themselves if they thought anything funny was going on between us.”

“So, if asked, I’m chauffeur and bodyguard? I could be MI-6 on a mission to save the world. Kent Carmichael, 007.”

“Now you just need a beautiful woman and a tux.”

“I’ve got the beautiful woman covered.”

***

We pulled into the campsite and within minutes had the top raised for the upper bunk and additional headroom. With Kent’s help, I managed to pull the back seat into the bed configuration, and I stretched myself out on it.

Kent sat down next to me. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m pretty sure I reinjured my ribs and my ears are ringing. I hope I don’t develop PTSD and every time I see a plane I’ll expect it to crash on me.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Deimos has blocked the way I got into them before. We were exploring the idea of putting something on Charterhouse Security’s network to get into Deimos’ network since Deimos just bought them. I’m certain by the time the FBI get organized again, it will be too late.”

Kent stroked my hair. “I wanted to know what you’re going to do. Let the FBI take care of Deimos.”

“They almost killed my mom. They tried killing me twice. By the time the FBI gather the information and prosecute Deimos, I’ll be dead. I can’t sit back and do nothing. I need to go on the offensive.”

Kent stood and stepped away. “I don’t like it, Amelia. It’s too risky. Look at you. You have broken ribs, a banged-up knee, and you want to try to take on the largest technology company in the world from a campsite in a green van? I hate them for what they did to you, but how far can you possibly get?”

A smile twitched up on my face. “It’s not how far I can get alone…”

“Don’t look at me like that… Damn it! All right. Where do you want to start?”

“I need to get something. Grayson Nash had a microcomputer. It was listed as items that belonged to his estate. According to records, it was given to Marge Lawson, his administrative assistant.”

“You can get a computer from anywhere. Why do you need that one?”

“It’s super small, can hide anywhere on a network, and has the original software code that he wrote to build Deimos. I’m certain we can use it to infiltrate Deimos’ network.”

“Does this stovetop work?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because I’m starved, and I think the lack of food is making me delirious. You honestly think you can walk up to this Marge lady and get her to give you a computer that’s probably worth ten million dollars and belongs in a museum?”

“Not me… You.”

“Me?”

“I bet you would look really nice in a suit and tie. Kent Carmichael, intern for Lionel and Strauss Attorneys.”

“I’ve never worn a tie in my life and I’m quite proud of that fact.”

“All right. I’ll get the computer. You get the hard job of installing it on Charterhouse Security’s network.”

Kent took two fingers, pointed them at his eyes and then back at me. “I see what you did there. It was a bait and switch. You think I can simply walk into Charterhouse and install a computer on their network without anyone noticing?”

“Not without these.” I held up a pair of the modified sunglasses.

“Those have got to be the ugliest glasses I’ve ever seen. I’ll make you a deal. If you get the computer, I’ll try to put it on the network. However, if you don’t get the computer, then we walk away and let the FBI do their job.”

“Deal. You were going to make us dinner?”

Kent smiled. “I’ll have you know I can make the best mac and cheese this side of the Mississippi. Where was that box?”

*** February 23, 2028 ***

I woke as the van shifted slightly. Kent had just jumped down from the top bunk. Through my disheveled hair and blurry eyes, I caught sight of his chiseled, muscular body. He was only wearing boxers and they did little to hide his…

I felt heat come to my face and it was all I could do to fight my overpowering teenage female hormones. A wave of desire washed over me. It hadn’t helped that it took me a while to get to sleep knowing he was just above me.

“Are you going outside like that?”

Kent turned around quickly towards me, his eyes went wide, his hands moved a pot and a spoon to cover himself up, and he tripped backwards landing between the driver’s and passenger seats.

I couldn’t help myself, but a giggle left my lips. “Are you all right, Kent?”

“Never better. I was practicing being stealthy. You caught me off guard.”

He struggled to get himself up. He grabbed the pot and held it over the front of his boxers.

I burst out laughing. “Uhm… I’ll turn around so you can get dressed.”

“No peeking.”

I turned around, but the rear window did give me a distorted view of Kent hopping around on one foot trying to get his pants on. I was shocked at myself about the thoughts running through my head.

***

“Mr. Parsons?”

“Yes, Boris?”

“I have discovered that shortly after the incident at Grayson’s house, Nathan Graves was admitted at a nearby hospital. Correlating the time of the data source, I was able to get a visual.”

Boris flipped his laptop around for Ted to see.

“Someone was driving Grayson’s corvette after the incident and you can see here in the video they dropped Nathan Graves off at the hospital before leaving.”

“What’s wrong with the picture? Are there other angles? Who drove him there?”

“That’s the thing… While I was able to trace the corvette through several intersections, I was never able to get a picture of the person driving. As you can see in all these pictures, there is some sort of sun glare blocking our view.”

“The face is distorted, but I can clearly see that the driver is female. Damn it! Grayson is alive.”

Boris looked confused. “How can you deduce Grayson is alive from these images?”

“The driver is a young woman.”

Boris stood quietly for a moment. “Oh! Yes. You mean Amelia is alive and is the driver. Got it.”

“Find him!”

“Nathan Graves? He’s in the hospital.”

“Grayson. Amelia. Find him, her!”

“Gotcha.” Boris turned to leave but swung back towards Ted. “I want you to know I am fully supportive of your actions to kill everyone, sir. We have an obligation to protect Deimos so that we can direct the world into a glorious future.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill anyone, Boris.”

“But you had control of the drone. You said…”

“It was an accident that the drone lost power. Do you understand me, Boris?”

“But… Yes, sir.”

***

We stayed at the campsite until late in the day before heading back towards town and stopping in at a local library. Using their computer systems, I printed off a fake letter from Lionel and Strauss attorneys. We then went back to my house and I changed into an elegant dark blue skirt and white blouse. I put my hair up to try and make myself look more professional.

It was around dinner time that we pulled up a block from Marge Lawson’s home.

“Sit here. I am sure it will be best if I go alone.”

“It’s not going to work, Amelia.”

“If it doesn’t then we will go to the beach for a few days.”

Kent smiled and took my hand in his. I still marveled at how my smaller hand felt in his.

“Did you pack a bikini?”

I squeezed his hand. “I might have. Be right back.”

I winced as I got out of the van. My ribs were incredibly sore and breathing deeply wasn’t an option. I straightened out my skirt, waved at Kent, and walked around the corner.

With a shallow breath, I knocked on the door. A part of me hoped Marge wasn’t home, but a moment later the door opened. Marge looked weary.

“Marge Lawson?”

“Yes. How can I help you?”

“I’m Amelia Wilson, intern for Lionel and Strauss attorneys.” I paused a second. “Lionel and Strauss attorneys represents the late Grayson Nash.”

“Oh… Yes.”

“May I come in?”

“I’m forgetting my manners. Yes. Please come in.”

When the door closed behind me, I took in Marge’s home. I had been here before several times. It was quaint and showed signs of someone who lived very frugally.

“Ms. Lawson, I was sent here to retrieve an item that belongs to Grayson Nash’s estate.” I fumbled with my purse and pulled out the letter I had printed earlier. I handed it to Marge. “When the firm was going through his estate listing, there was mention of a framed microcomputer. Grayson had been meeting with Lionel and Strauss before his death and there was a note that you might know the whereabouts…”

Marge stifled a cry and sat down. “Grayson was a wonderful boss to me. When I heard he had died I was at work and I could hear the cheering from staff as the news spread. I was disgusted, angry, and terribly saddened. Deimos treated him so badly. It was criminal.”

“You still work for them?”

“Today was my last official day. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I stayed on for a few weeks after Grayson’s death. I needed to make sure I had everything in order.”

“What will you do now?”

“The cost of living is too expensive here. I have some savings, but I’ll have to find another job. When my husband died, we were left with so many debts.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that, Ms. Lawson.”

Marge looked into my eyes. “I have it. The framed computer.”

“I… I’m sure it is valuable. I could go back and tell them you never had possession of it.”

“You’re just starting your career. It would be wrong of me to put your future at risk. If they found out, you would lose your job and the way things go around here you would be blacklisted from every attorney’s office in the valley. I do appreciate the suggestion. You’re a sweet girl.”

Marge stood and opened a nearby closet. She pulled out the framed microcomputer and stared at it reverently. “It’s the end of an era.”

Marge handed it to me, and it felt very heavy in my hands. Marge was wiping a tear and I struggled to keep my own composure.

“No one would have to know, Ms. Lawson. Please. Keep it.”

Marge shook her head. “Take it. It’s the right thing to do.”

I looked up into Marge’s eyes. “Thank you. Take care, Ms. Lawson.”

I stepped through the door and heard it close behind me. Through my tears, I gritted my teeth. “I will put this to good use.”

I was shaking when I got back to the van.

“I see you got the computer. I gather that means no beach then?”

I smiled weakly. “Not yet. Let’s go back to the campsite.”

*** February 24, 2028 ***

My visit with Marge had left me saddened and depressed. Even smores that Kent found the ingredients for did little to lighten my mood.

As I sat at the van table with my laptop checking on the status of the microcomputer Kent kissed the top of my head.

“Ever since you got the microcomputer you’ve seemed lost, Amelia.”

“Deimos has done many things to so many people; not just me. They leave destruction everywhere they go. Marge needed that job to survive and I took the one item away from her that would have given her freedom to retire. Is it worth it?”

“I can’t answer that for you, Amelia. I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching myself lately. If I was in your shoes and my family and friends were the ones threatened, then I think I would do what I could. Deimos is huge and has unlimited resources at their disposal. I still don’t quite understand how this tiny computer can take them down.”

“The computer itself can’t, but it can gather the necessary data for us to take them down. Do you remember WikiLeaks?”

“No.”

I had to remind myself to adjust my thinking. “I read about a guy named Julianne Assange. He created a company called WikiLeaks and publicly leaked over ten million sensitive documents. This computer has Grayson Nash’s original search code that crawled the Internet and indexed what it found. With this computer, we can use it to crawl Deimos’ data files based upon keywords and phrases we put into it. We can then pull that data out of Deimos and publicly distribute them.”

“Won’t Deimos staff see this happening and shut it down?”

I smiled as I felt my sadness begin to retreat. Talking about this was helping me focus. “Deimos uses artificial intelligence systems to monitor data traffic. If it sees anomalous patterns, it can alert staff and shut things down. However, we can emulate existing traffic patterns to fool their artificial intelligence and exfiltrate the data. Once we have the data, we can then broadcast it to sites all over the Internet.”

Kent shook his head. “You’re amazing, Amelia.”

“What do you say we have a little fun?”

*** February 25, 2028 ***

Ted Parsons paced back and forth as he glanced at the large conference room monitor. “What am I looking at?”

Boris pushed his thick glasses up his nose. “This is a map of the Palo Alto area.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Boris and continued carefully as Ted did not appear in a good mood. “The dots indicate locations that our systems believe Amelia may have been spotted. Our tracking system links all known information about Amelia and any source we connect to across any known data points will trigger a dot on the map and a time entry. We have several dots that were triggered by her vehicle license plates and a few facial recognitions from patio and security cameras. When we link them all together, we get a sequence of events and can trace her path.”

Boris tapped some keys on the keyboard and the dots began to form a sequenced path.

Elizabeth tilted her head as she looked at the screen. “That’s…”

A rudimentary image of a hand with a middle finger extended began forming on the map.

Ted turned away from the monitor in complete disgust. “I want to know where Grayson is now!”

Berkar leaned back in his chair and started laughing. Everyone glared at him. “Doesn’t anyone see the humor in all of this?”

***

Kent was busy trading license plates from the corvette to the van so that we wouldn’t trigger too many cameras when we were driving around. I found a few work clothes of my dad that he would change into before we headed over to Charterhouse Security.

Once Kent was changed, we drove over and parked near the back of the building but out of sight of any cameras. As I expected, there were numerous companies that Deimos had hired to perform contract work at Charterhouse.

“Not many people going back and forth. Do you know where you are going, Kent?”

“I feel like a covert spy. Grab a hat from the back of one of the work trucks, head in through the back door carrying a box of cable, past two hallway intersections, and into the wiring closet on the left.”

“On the right. The wiring closet is on the right. Once inside, plug the microcomputer into the top network switch and use the double-sided adhesive tape to find a hidden area inside the rack to place it. I’ll be ready with the van running.”

Kent turned to go, and I grabbed his arm. “Hey…” I kissed him. “If it looks bad then come straight back.”

Kent smiled. “This is going to be fun.”

I saw the nervousness in his eyes as he slipped from the van and headed to one of the wiring work trucks. He found a baseball cap, slipped it on, then grabbed a box before walking through the back door of Charterhouse Security.

I’m certain I held my breath the entire ten minutes he was inside. When I couldn’t stand it any longer, he emerged carrying some large bags of garbage. Tossing them into a dumpster, he ran across the parking lot and jumped into the van.

“Let’s go!”

As we pulled away from Charterhouse, I kept glancing at Kent. He was smiling.

“So… Did you do it?”

“I was so smooth. I should be a secret agent.”

“It all worked out fine then? What took you so long?”

“When I got to the network closet, it was locked. I just stood there wondering what to do when a pretty young woman came over to me. I thought I was caught for sure. She asked me if I could help her. I told her I would, but I needed to drop off my load in the wiring closet first. She pointed to a door on the other side of the hallway and said, ‘You mean this room?’ I said yes. She told me to come by her desk as soon as I was done. Went like clockwork. She was smitten and blinded by my rugged, good-looking spy looks.”

I giggled. “Smitten enough to give you two bags of garbage.”

Kent lifted his chin ever so slightly. “You’re just jealous.”

“Maybe a little.”

“She has nothing on you.”

“That’s why you called her a pretty young woman.”

Kent pointed at me. “Hah. I know where you’re going. You’re trying to entrap me in a sophisticated mind game. It won’t work because where she is pretty, you are stunning.”

I raised my eyebrow at him as we pulled into the library. I realized it had been days since I thought of myself as Grayson and I longed for the day when I only thought of myself as Amelia.

“What are we doing at the library, Amelia?”

“We can use their computers to connect to Grayson’s microcomputer. This way, if we are traced, Deimos comes looking for us here. Come along, Mr. Bourne.”

“Mr. Bourne?”

“You need to watch some older movies.”

I took Kent’s hand in mine and led him inside. We found an out of the way computer and I verified I could connect to the microcomputer Kent placed in Charterhouse Security.

“Let’s find out if this is working.”

“Where do you start?”

“Do you remember Elizabeth?”

“Yes. Greatest day of my life. That’s when you kissed me the first time.”

With a few quick moves, I was able to mirror what Elizabeth was viewing on her computer. “This is great news. Charthouse’s network is connected to Deimos and we can reach their computers.”

“That’s Elizabeth’s computer screen?”

I nodded.

“She’s shopping. Somehow I imagined everyone at Deimos to be working on top secret programs.”

“People are people no matter where they work, Kent. Let’s see if we can get her away from her desk for a moment.”

Bringing up a chat window, I emulated Boris’ screen name and started typing.

‘BorisMaster: Elizabeth. You got a second? I need to speak with you in private.’

We watched Elizabeth’s screen as the message popped up and she entered her reply.

‘ElizaD: What’s it this time? You find Amelia or did you finally get a date?’

Kent frowned. “Do you think these two might be the same ones that told the school you were a guy?”

“I’ve always had my suspicions.”

Kent growled and reached for the keyboard. “May I?”

“Sure. Just be careful. We’re trying to be stealthy.”

“Stealth is my middle name.”

I smiled as I watched Kent type a reply.

‘BorisMaster: I thought I spotted her on a camera downtown San Fran. I bet she would date me. She’s hot.’

‘ElizaD: All you guys think the same. It’s not just about looks. It’s ridiculous watching all of you drool over her.’

I laughed. “Careful, Kent.”

‘BorisMaster: My drool is for you alone... You and my poodle.’

‘ElizaD: Oh, please. You’re not even in my league. I’ve got work to do.’

‘BorisMaster: You know we can see everything you do. Shop much?’

‘ElizaD: How dare you spy on me. I’m coming over to wring your scrawny neck.’

I held my hand to my mouth. “Oh my God. You started a feud. Hopefully she will be too angry to figure it out. The good news is that the system is fully connected. Let me activate her camera.”

The screen shifted to an empty chair.

“She’s left her cubicle and her computer is unlocked with her shopping account still active…” I bit my lower lip and shrugged before taking over her computer for a minute.

Kent’s hand rubbed my back softly and I noticed he looked away for a few seconds.

“Did you just buy something, Amelia?”

“Nope. Wasn’t me.” I quickly disconnected from Elizabeth’s computer and brought up my microcomputer’s search engine.

“You did. You bought something using Elizabeth’s account.”

“I would never do something like that…” I turned to face Kent and batted my eyes.

“When they send me to prison for accessory to fraud will you visit me?”

I giggled. “You won’t need me then. The men in the prison will love you, Kent.”

Kent shivered. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Let’s start by setting up the document search.”

***

Elizabeth stormed over to Boris’ cubicle. “How dare you spy on me! You’re sick.”

Boris pushed his chair as far back as he could to get away from Elizabeth. “What are you talking about, Elizabeth? We spy on everybody. You know that.”

“I should smack you, but you would probably use that opportunity to take a few sick days and go mate with your poodle. Don’t ask me for any more favors.”

Boris watched Elizabeth stomp away. “Poodle? What poodle?”

*** February 27, 2028 ***

The sound of a doorbell caused Elizabeth to look angrily towards her door. She paused her movie, put down her glass of wine, and opened the door. In the distance she watched a UPS truck pull slowly away. On her deck were dozens of forty-pound bags of dog food.

She yelled after the truck. “Hey! What the hell is this? I don’t even have a dog!”

*** February 28, 2028 ***

Kent and I spent a lot of time at various libraries around the city over the weekend. We reviewed thousands of documents and those led to more searches. We amassed terabytes of information demonstrating the corruption of Deimos and how the executive leaders were directly involved in the decisions. What I had found on my own before all of this had just scratched the surface.

We uncovered dozens of murders and assassinations that had occurred around the world. Deimos was involved in currency manipulation, finance fraud, and devaluing companies using social media outlets only to buy the company for pennies on the dollar. As I had found before, there was more evidence of campaign fraud, election tampering, and most recently what are called deepfake media, artificial intelligence systems that can create voice and video recordings of people that never happened.

If Kent had any doubts before, they were now long gone. There was evidence that Project Theta was now operational for the United States. People living here were now being profiled and those that failed to align with Deimos’ values were having their private information exposed to dangerous activist groups. We could even find correlations from crimes being committed to the timing of information being released.

Kent leaned back in his chair. “They rule the world without a care in the world. What happens when you send out this data?”

“I suspect Deimos will have a really bad day and be in a boatload of financial trouble. Their stocks will tumble. Lawsuits will abound and investigations, both domestic and international, will be opened.”

“If I owned their stocks I would sell right now. We found evidence that Elizabeth and Boris were the ones that outed you to the school. I almost hate to send this to the public without getting back at them a little.”

“Boris has a date tonight. Would you like to go watch? I could use another camera angle.”

“Wait… Have you been doing stuff without me?”

I tried to look contrite. “Just a few things.”

“You’re not having a date with Boris, are you?”

I shook my head, smiling as I saw Kent’s confusion and felt my long hair slide over my back reminding me of how much I enjoyed the sensation. “Not me. Do you want to help me with Elizabeth? We still have a few hours before we head to dinner.”

“I like the dinner part… Not sure what you’re up to with Boris. What exactly do you have in mind for Elizabeth?”

“Do you remember how she emulated my voice and left a voicemail for our school diversity counselor?”

“Yes.”

“I think Elizabeth needs to confess something. Several things, actually.”

***

Elizabeth glared at Boris across the table. Berkar, Ramon, Miri, and Ted also sat in the large conference room.

Ted started the meeting off. “I want to know where Grayson is! What is he doing?”

Boris waited for anyone to speak, but they were all silent. “Uhm, sir. We have camera recordings of Amelia in several locations around the city. She is moving from library to library, but by the time we get there, she is long gone. We don’t know where she is…”

Ted spun Boris around in his chair. He hovered over Boris. “Perhaps you aren’t spending enough time focused on this problem.”

Boris stammered. “It’s my primary responsibility. It’s all I do.”

“Is it? You’re not fraternizing on the job with Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth sat forward. “What?”

“You both heard me. You think running off to get married at the most critical time in Deimos’ history is appropriate?”

Elizabeth shouted at Boris. “What kind of rumors are you spreading, you filthy bit bucket?”

Boris shouted back. “I wouldn’t even considering dating you unless you were the last female alive after a zombie apocalypse.” Boris paused a moment. “You want to marry me?”

“No!”

Ted placed his phone on the table. “Then perhaps you can explain this…” Ted hit play from his voicemail.

‘Hello, Mr. Parsons. This is Elizabeth Desir. I wanted to inform you that Boris and I will be heading to Vegas to get married. He’s such a handsome nerd. I can’t live without him. Anyways, we will be flying from there to Nebraska for an extended honeymoon. We should be back in six months.’

Boris leaned towards Elizabeth. “I had no idea you loved me. I’m not sure why you want to honeymoon in Nebraska, but I’m up for it. I hope you’re ready for a real man like me though. You might not get much sleep.”

Elizabeth threw her arms up and stood. She pointed to the phone. “That’s not me! I never said that!”

Ted picked up his phone. “I bet if we perform voice analysis it would suggest otherwise.”

“That’s not possible because I never said it!”

“You’re a fool, Elizabeth. Don’t you realize this is Grayson’s handiwork? He’s using your own code against you.”

Elizabeth’s eyes went wide. “Dog food…”

“What the heck does dog food have to do with anything?”

Elizabeth looked pale. “Grayson, Amelia… She must have access to my computer. But how?”

Ted slammed his hand down on the table. “None of you understand what is at stake here! Grayson has been playing with us; leading us on a wild goose chase around the city. Wake up, everyone! Don’t you see what’s happening? He has us fighting each other and distracting us from seeing what he is really doing. Ramon, Miri, Berkar. Find Grayson and kill him! Find out how he has got on our network and shut him down! Now! Go! Get to work!”

Once out of the conference room, Boris walked next to Elizabeth. “I have a date tonight, but I can cancel it if you still want to go to Vegas.”

“In your dreams, nerd boy.”

***

I leaned forward and placed the flat of my hands against Kent’s strong chest. “You look handsome tonight.”

“And you look like a model straight off the runway. I can’t wait for this all to be over and we can get back to normal lives.”

I felt Kent’s lips on my forehead and his arms wrapped protectively around me. I never would have thought that I would love being Amelia Wilson so much. I felt like everything was the way it should be.

“You mean normal as in back to school? There is something rather idyllic about the simple life driving around in my van, camping…”

Kent interjected his own thoughts. “…taking on Deimos, impersonating a network install technician, creating messages with a GPS.”

“School is sounding not so bad after all. I miss mom, dad, and Lucky.”

“You had a rough go of it your first days at school. I can understand why it isn’t on your topmost exciting places to be. Just think though. We have the final dance of the year coming up and then we graduate into the world. With your skills you could go anywhere.”

“After school is finished, I plan on going into business with my dad.”

“No college or university?”

“I don’t want to be taught what to think and university would only take me away from my family. I’m not ready for that yet. What about you? What are your plans?”

“I’ve been accepted at five universities. I haven’t decided yet. I guess I want to see what becomes of us and what your plans are.”

“You’ve really fallen for me then. I don’t want you to change your plans because of me. Things will work out between us and I have no intention of straying. In case I haven’t been clear with you, I can’t see my future without you.”

Kent’s fingers lifted my chin and he kissed me. “The feeling is very mutual. When do you want to leave for the restaurant?”

“We should go now to get there early. We have someone to meet.”

***

Kent and I sat at a table near the bar when Meaghan arrived. She spotted us right away and came straight for us. She hugged me tightly and my ribs gave me a reminder that they weren’t fully healed yet. With a kiss on my cheek and giving Kent a quick hug, she sat down.

“I’ve been missing you both so much! What’s been going on?”

I took Meaghan’s hand in mine. “I asked you here because we’re involved in some dangerous stuff. Deimos has escalated their attacks on me and the FBI. Kent and I have been working to try to bring Deimos down.”

Kent stared at me and laughed. “If you want the real story, you’ll have to speak with me. Remember the plane that crashed into Grayson Nash’s house last week?”

Meaghan nodded.

Kent pointed at me. “Guess who was there with nine FBI agents.”

Meaghan’s eyes went wide. “You were there?”

Recalling the events of the day reminded me of our mission. “Yes… Many agents were killed because Deimos crashed a drone into the house. I barely escaped alive. Listen, Meaghan. Maybe this is a bad idea to get you involved.”

“Why not let the FBI handle this?”

“I’m worried if I don’t take things in my own hands then Deimos will finish the job before the FBI takes them down.”

“I’m in! They tried to kill you twice and I’m not going to let them do that to my best friend. Why am I here tonight all dressed up?”

“You have a date with Boris Yaznisky.”

Meaghan’s face twisted. “Ugh… That’s so disgusting.”

Kent leaned forward and took a sip of water from his glass. “He and Elizabeth were the ones that outed Amelia at school. We believe they were involved in other things, but before we take down Deimos, we wanted to make sure Boris got some retaliation.”

“What do I need to do?”

I held out a small pin camera. “We want you to wear this and get him to talk about Deimos.”

Meaghan smiled. “That’s too easy. The entire time I was with him last time all he did was brag about himself.”

“That’s what we want him to do. If we can get any dirt on Ted Parsons, even better.”

“Where do I need to meet him?”

“Over at the bar. We’ll be over here filming as well.”

Meaghan stood. “I’ve got this.”

I watched her take a deep breath and moved over to the bar.

Kent nudged my foot with his. “What would you have done if Meaghan said no?”

“Why do you think you’re all dressed up tonight?”

“Me? You thought I would be on a date with Boris?”

“There was no clear sexual orientation for Boris when I read his online profile. He might respond better to you.”

“That’s just wrong.”

I giggled as Kent indicated that Boris was entering the establishment. I hid my face a little more as Kent shifted his phone for a good angle.

“Boris!” Meaghan got up from her stool and hugged Boris.

There was no question that with Meaghan’s looks and her warm welcome that she had Boris fully enraptured.

“I… I didn’t know it was you that I was meeting tonight. You’re Meaghan, right? From the school tour?”

Meaghan placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. “I was hoping you would remember me.”

Boris sat down and ordered a Mai Tai. “What can I get you, Meaghan?”

“Maybe I could get a virgin one of what you’re having?”

Meaghan was laying it on thick, but Boris seemed to be oblivious to her acting.

“After my tour of Deimos, I couldn’t get you out of my head. You must be very important.”

Boris pushed his shoulders back slightly. “Yes, I am. I practically run the place. I meet with Ted regularly.”

“Ted Parsons?”

“Ted and I go way back. For a while the board even considered me for CEO, but I liked staying in the technology. I have sort of a secret role where I co-lead with Ted and make all the tough decisions. I try not to let anyone else know about it.”

“Oh my God. I had no idea. And here you came all this way to meet me. I feel so unworthy. I would understand if you are disappointed and want to leave.”

“Not at all. I find your… intellect refreshing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Believe me, if the idiots I work with were half as smart as you I could transform Deimos.”

“That’s such high flattery, but I love it.” Meaghan leaned forward. “Tell me, what’s it like to be a leader at the most important technology company of all time?”

“It can be pretty boring some days, especially when I have to deal with low performing staff. That happens all the time. Then, there is Ted. He is extremely slow to learn new processes and technology, but he is a better face for the organization. I coach him a lot so that what he says publicly is accurate. Then there are the women that work there. I swear we must be hiring from a low-quality gene pool.”

“Certainly, there must be something good?”

“Oh, yes. Those things aside, Deimos is a great place to be. I hide my fifteen million-dollar per year salary to not make others jealous, but I do regularly travel internationally to speak with heads of governments. I get to use my influence to play a small part changing the world. Then there is my coding. Grayson Nash might have started Deimos, but his code was so flawed and buggy. I had to rewrite most of it. Did you know that when you search for information from our platform, that I wrote that?”

“Wow. Unbelievable. I never could figure out how you return data that seems so specific for me.”

“We’ve been tracking you for years, slowly building a profile of who you are. We just launched a new system called Project Theta. From now on, we will combine everything we see you do and what your interests are into a hyper-profile. Imagine an online dating system that only matches people across similarities to forty questions. We have thousands of data points on every person in the world. We can even tell who you will vote for with nearly one hundred percent accuracy.”

“You’re so impressive, Boris. It’s comforting knowing Deimos is such a philanthropic organization. Just think how that information could be used for evil. I bet with all the information pouring through Deimos, you could get inside information on everything from stock market fluctuations to forecasting crimes.”

“You’re very astute for someone in high school. Most of my colleagues can’t even put two coherent sentences together. The reality though is much better than you surmise. Deimos has actively used its platform to change the outcome of elections. We can facilitate someone getting into power and this allows us to be in favor with the incoming leader allowing us to continue our good works around the world.”

I had heard enough. Kent and I got up and walked over to Meaghan and Boris.

“Meaghan! It is so good to see you!” I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

Boris’ eyes were wide as he recognized me. He began fumbling with his phone. Kent took it from his hands and dropped it into Boris’ Mai Tai.

“We were about to take in a movie. Did you want to join us, Meaghan?”

Meaghan stood and took my arm in hers. “I kept waiting for my interesting date to show up and all I got was Boris. Let’s go.”

We started walking away when Boris finally got his voice back.

“Amelia. Watch your back. You can’t hide from us.”

“Does it look like I’m hiding, Boris?”

Kent bumped his shoulder against Boris as he walked by. “I’d suggest you might want to sell any stock you have. Deimos is going down.”

Once outside I hugged Meaghan. “Lay low for a few days. Hopefully this will all be over soon.”

“What are you two going to do?”

“Exactly what we said. Deimos is going to be exposed for what they are.”

Meaghan hugged us both. “Be safe!”

*** February 29, 2028 ***

Elizabeth heard a loud and boisterous commotion outside her house and moved to her bedroom window. She blinked several times letting her eyes adjust to the morning brightness and the colorful signs waving back and forth. There were hundreds of people outside her home.

Elizabeth quickly got changed and rushed out onto her porch. “What the hell is going on out here? Get off my property!”

“Dog killer!”

“Lucky lives on!”

A microphone was pushed into her face.

“I’m standing outside of the home of Elizabeth Desir, self-proclaimed dog killer. Miss Desir, what prompted you to call the media and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and confess your crime of killing a bulldog named Lucky?”

“I didn’t call anyone!”

“Miss Desir, I see hundreds of pounds of dogfood on your porch. You also threatened that you were going to use dogfood to poison thousands of dogs in the neighborhood. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I didn’t do anything! Get off my property!”

The crowd began to chant. “Lucky lives on! Down with the dog killer!”

Police pulled up just as dog excrement was being tossed at Elizabeth. “Everyone pull back!. Elizabeth Desir?”

Elizabeth looked back towards her door but ran past the police through her yard. One of the protestors tripped her and as she scrambled to her feet her body seized with fifty thousand volts from a police taser.

Shaking on the ground, Elizabeth managed to look up into the policemen’s stern faces.

“Elizabeth Desir, you are under arrest for the confessed murder of Lucky the bulldog and for cruelty to animals. You have the right to remain silent…”

***

Boris looked up at the imposing glass and steel building. He had convinced himself that Amelia was merely toying with him and decided it was best not to inform Ted Parsons of his interaction. Yet, he paused. There was this nagging doubt in the back of his mind.

Someone zoomed past Boris on an electric scooter. “Jerk!”

Boris shrugged off his feelings of doom and headed into Deimos.

He was partway into the foyer when a woman at the front desk shouted after him. “Mr. Yaznisky?”

“Yes?”

“Ted Parsons told me to make sure you come straight to his office when you come in.”

“Uhm… Thank you.”

Boris walked through the main doors and into the collaboration room. He stopped to look at one of the large screens that had the volume turned up loud enough for all in the area to hear clearly.

“It can be pretty boring some days, especially when I have to deal with low performing staff. That happens all the time. Then, there is Ted. He is extremely slow to learn new processes and technology, but he is a better face for the organization. I coach him a lot so that what he says publicly is accurate. Then there are the women that work there. I swear we must be hiring from a low-quality gene pool.”

“Traitor!”

“You’re a real piece of work, Boris!”

Silently Boris left the space and headed through the developer’s department on his way to Ted Parson’s office.

“Go right in, Boris. They are all waiting for you.”

Boris stepped inside the expansive office. His boss Ramon was there as were two people he had never met before. Ted Parsons was leaning against his desk.

“Ahh. There you are, Boris. Our legal and HR departments have a few documents for you to sign. That is before we fire you, of course.”

“Fire me?”

Ted frowned. “I’m not sure how I’ll run this company without your sage wisdom and advice. Do you know that the recording of your date has been published on a dozen websites around the world? I’m standing because there is not much left of my backside after the board of directors took several large chunks out of it this morning.”

“I… I was forced into saying those things. Amelia was there. She forced me.”

“It looked very forced with a tropical drink in your hand and a pretty brunette falling all over you. You’re a fool!”

“I’m your most loyal worker. I’m sorry! Please don’t fire me. I won’t find work anywhere after this.”

“Ramon, stay behind.” Ted directed the other to take Boris from his office and have him escorted off the site.

Once Boris had left the office, Ted turned to Ramon.

“Best and brightest? Where’s Elizabeth?”

“Arrested this morning after confessing to killing Grayson’s dog and threatening to poison thousands of other dogs. She will be released by this afternoon.”

“Why is it we can’t find Grayson? There are cameras everywhere!”

“You’re brilliant, Ted. You just gave me an idea. We do have cameras, moving ones. We can tap into the cameras on the shuttles.”

“We already have, and I doubt Grayson will ever get back into one of our shuttles.”

“Not the interior cameras, the ones that scan the roads.”

***

I stretched as I sat in the uncomfortable library chair. “We’re almost done, Kent. I sent the files to the FBI and was able to reach Nathan Graves. He was released from the hospital yesterday. Everything is in motion. Six hours from now the documents will be sent to news agencies and public websites around the world. By this time tomorrow morning it may all be over. It’s time to go home.”

“I’ve enjoyed this time being with you. I remember you saying that it was idyllic. As much as I yearn for us to have a normal life, it has been exciting, and I might miss the adventure.”

I placed my hand on his stubbled face. “We can have many adventures.”

Kent pulled me up from the chair and wrapped his arms around me. “Let’s get you home.”

We left the library hand in hand and approached the parking lot. Suddenly, a shuttle carrying a young family veered towards us. Sounds of squealing tires alerted us to two more shuttles picking up speed and turning in our direction.

“Run!”

I could hear the screams of the family inside the shuttle as it bounced up and over the curb. Looking back, I could see all three shuttles bearing down on me across the sidewalks and grass. I ran faster than I had ever run before, but the shuttles were closing in on me. I heard a crunch as two shuttles collided but corrected themselves.

I headed for a four-foot retaining wall that was in front of the library. I looked back once again and the shuttles we very close. I couldn’t see Kent anywhere. That’s when I tripped and rolled, my back contacted the wall. I was staring straight into the headlights of three shuttles that were bearing down on me. I screamed and held my arms futilely in front of me.

At the last second, my wrists were grabbed, and I was lifted over the wall just as the shuttles crashed into it.

I heard the screams of the people inside the shuttles and the sounds of broken glass falling to the ground. Turning away from the scene, I looked up into Kent’s concerned face.

“I thought I lost you. Are you all right?”

I began to shake and slipped to the ground. Kent checked on me again before jumping down and helping the people from the shuttles. Minutes later, ambulances and police arrived and took over the scene.

Kent found me still sitting on the grass. He sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“I’m a fool, Kent. I got caught up into thinking I was one step ahead of them. At first, I let my anger fuel my attacks against them, then I was excited believing I could actually bring them down. Now, because of me, people are in danger. I don’t know what to do.”

“Will it stop just because you stop, Amelia?”

“It won’t stop until I’m dead.”

“And if you’re dead, will Deimos stop what they have been doing all along?”

“I appreciate all you’ve done, Kent, but this has been a fool’s quest. I shouldn’t have dragged you and Meaghan into this. It has put you both at risk.”

Kent sighed. He had more to say but stayed quiet. “It’s time I go home as well. My parents are expecting me. Let me take you home.”

Kent drove the van and once we had it back in the garage, he silently headed home. I felt weary and very lonely.

***

“Mr. Parsons? Berkar, Ramon, and Miri are here to see you. What am I to tell all the media agencies that are calling?”

“Send my leadership team in. Tell the callers we have no comment.”

Once the door closed, Ted walked slowly and quietly around the room, finally stopping to face the window that looked out over the bay and towards San Francisco.

“It’s over. Ramon, shut down the searches for Grayson. All of them. Turn off Project Theta. Immediately stop all activity regarding elections.”

Ted turned back to his team. They looked pale.

Ramon stepped forward. “I don’t understand. What changed?”

“A mother and two children and two other adults were nearly killed yesterday when three of our shuttles chased after Grayson. Grayson escaped and the three shuttles crashed into a cement wall. There were people in those shuttles.”

“Collateral damage. We can turn this around.”

“We’ve gone too far. That could have been your family. Mine. There’s more. An hour ago, tens of thousands of documents were distributed to media agencies and websites around the world. I’ve seen some of them and they completely expose all of us and our actions over the years. The best we can hope for is to discredit the information and use our hundreds of millions of dollars of reserves to tie up the legal process for decades.”

Berkar looked from person to person. “How much time do we have?”

“A day. A week at most.”

Miri looked away from the group. “That’s it then? For all the good we have done in this world… for all our good intentions? We were brought down by a little girl. Can we somehow exact revenge on Grayson? Can’t we demonstrate he was lying? We must be able to discredit him somehow.”

Ted took a long drink of scotch. “I’ve done some digging on our network logs. The files were transmitted from your computer, Miri. Grayson has outwitted us at every turn. There is nothing that ties back to him. We will, of course, do our best to see if there are any traces, but I don’t think we will find anything. He’s just too good at what he does. Shut it all down. Go home and be with your families. I need you back here tomorrow morning.”

Miri turned back angrily. “There has to be something!”

“There isn’t anything we can do, Miri! Nothing!”

***

The doorbell rang and I nearly jumped off the couch. I was frightened to be alone and had berated myself over and over for my actions. I kept seeing the faces of those poor people locked in the shuttles.

The doorbell rang again just as I reached the door.

“Who is it?”

“Nathan.”

I placed my hand on the door and hesitated before opening it. Nathan was standing there with his arm in a sling and a few healing cuts on his forehead, but he was otherwise looking well.

“It’s good to see you, Amelia. I never had a chance to say thank you for saving me.”

“Come in, Nathan. I wouldn’t be alive today if you hadn’t shielded me. It is you that should have my thanks. Can I get you anything?”

“I’m fine, thanks. You’ve been busy.”

I frowned. “I was stupid.”

“No, you were brilliant. Deimos is on the run. Their crimes have been presented to the world. You did it. Tomorrow morning the FBI along with local police will be raiding Deimos and arresting their leadership team. We will take into possession anything we can get our hands on.”

“So many lives destroyed… It’s my fault.”

“Amelia, I learned a long time ago that I can only do the best I can. I can’t feel guilty for the actions of others, even if I was involved in some way. It was their actions that killed our agents. It was their actions that assassinated political candidates. They tried to kill you multiple times.”

“Even the best of intentions can’t bring healing to those that lost their loved ones.”

“Deimos needed to be held accountable for their crimes and they had to be stopped.”

“What happens now?”

“There will be a long and painful set of trials for the thousands of crimes committed. It would have been nice to have a few confessions to avoid a lot of that. We will keep close tabs on you and your family, but we’re not expecting any further attempts on your lives. We will bring them home tomorrow and then you can start living your life again. I hear school starts back on Monday.”

“Oh, joy. School. I’m looking forward to my life, Nathan. Really, I am. I can’t tell you how much I miss my family.”

“They miss you too.”

“May I ask a favor, Nathan?”

“Certainly.”

I moved to a desk and wrote some items down before handing it to Nathan. “Is that possible?”

“I’m believe I can arrange this. You’re certain these are your wishes?”

“Absolutely.”

“I have a busy day coming up. Be well, Amelia.”

“Be safe tomorrow.”

I hugged Nathan and watched him go. What he had spoken was heartwarming and I truly hoped it was all over. There was something he had said that made think. I had at least one more thing to do.

***

It was late in the evening when Berkar stuffed the last of his private files and data flash drives into his briefcase. These would keep him safe in case Deimos tried to make him a scapegoat. With a final click on the screen he purchased his flight out of the country.

He paused briefly at the door to his office and took it all in with a glance. Turning quickly, he headed to the front of the building and called for a shuttle.

The autonomous shuttle pulled up in front of him. “Welcome Berkar Ares. What is your destination?”

“San Francisco Airport. American Airlines. Departures.”

“Sit back and relax. Our estimated time to destination is forty-two minutes.”

Berkar patted the heavy briefcase next to him and stared out the windows. For a while he was lost in thought, but something caught his attention.

“We’re going the wrong way.”

“I am sorry, Berkar Ares. You are incorrect.”

“This isn’t the way to the San Francisco Airport!”

“That is not your destination.”

“It is. My destination is the airport!”

“There is no need to get hostile.”

Berkar tugged at the door handle.

“The doors are locked while in transit for your safety. Please sit back and enjoy the ride.”

“Stop the vehicle!”

“I am sorry. I cannot do that, Berkar Ares. It would be unsafe to stop the vehicle while on the highway.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“To your destination. I have taken the opportunity to serve you better by alerting people to your imminent arrival.”

“What people?”

Berkar pulled on the door again.

“Here we are at your destination.”

Berkar growled as he saw that the shuttle had delivered him to the Palo Alto police department. Several officers and a man in a sling with the letters FBI on his jacket stepped forward.

“You are now free to exit the shuttle. I hope you enjoy your new home, Berkar Ares.”

With a mechanical click, the door unlocked.

“Please watch your step as you exit the shuttle. Good day.”

Nathan Graves stepped forward. “You must be Berkar Ares. I’ve been wanting to talk with you.”

*** March 1, 2028 ***

I wore an elegant dark blue dress. I remembered many years ago before I started Deimos when I was preparing for an interview being told that dark blue was a great color to wear as it presented an air of confidence. I wasn’t feeling particularly confident, but the dress helped make me feel less nervous.

I stepped out of the red and white 1955 corvette that I had parked out front of Deimos. Once again, and hopefully for the last time I stood before the monolithic glass buildings of Deimos. The salty, slightly musty bay air spoke to me of freedom. Do I want to go in there?

I checked the time. It was 8:17am. I reminded myself that this should be the last of it and stepped boldly towards the front doors.

“How can I help you, Miss?”

“I’m here to see Ted Parsons.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No. However, I’m fairly certain he will want to meet me. Tell him Amelia Wilson is here. I would be happy to wait in the collaboration room here in the foyer for him.”

“Let me check.” The woman at the front desk placed a call. “Agnes, could you inform Mr. Parsons that an Amelia Wilson is here to see him. Sure, I’ll wait.” The woman tapped her pen for a minute. “Yes. Thank you, Agnes.”

“Miss Wilson, please go ahead and get comfortable in the collaboration room. Mr. Parsons is on his way down.”

“Thank you.”

I was too nervous to sit. It wasn’t long before the main doors leading into the heart of Deimos parted and Ted Parsons stormed through. He looked around before his eyes fell on me through the glass walls of the collaboration room. He wasted no time and barged forcefully into the room.

“You have some nerve coming here, Grayson! Have you come to gloat?”

He stood close and I felt small and fragile.

“Not at all. I wish all of this could have been avoided. You left me no choice.”

“Deimos will survive. You’ve wounded us, but nothing more. I would never have thought you would stoop so low to try to destroy that which you built.”

“I built something I was very proud of at one time, but no more. I’m saddened by what my code has been corrupted into, but even more disheartened by the lives that were lost. You’ve tried so hard to eliminate me when I was willing to walk away. You killed nine FBI agents. You almost murdered a young family yesterday all in your anger against me. Have you no soul? Do the lives and injuries of others not mean anything to you anymore?”

Ted turned away but spun around quickly and pointed his finger at me. “You never understood what we were doing here! Sacrifices need to be made for the betterment of the world.”

“Then I wasn’t wrong taking the steps I took. You deserve your fate. I only feel badly for the tens of thousands of employees Deimos offers a good living to.”

“As I said before, you only managed to wound us, but we can’t be taken down. Certainly not by the likes of a little girl.”

I glanced at the time. “Turn on the television.”

Ted angrily grabbed the remote and turned the television on.

“… just in. We have a direct feed coming from Deimos’ headquarters. We’ve been told this will be a statement about the thousands of documents that were released yesterday.”

The image shifted to Ted Parsons standing in front of his desk.

Ted looked back at me. “What is this?”

“You don’t recognize yourself? I assume you recorded this earlier.”

“What have you done, Grayson?”

Knowing there may be cameras watching me, I played it safe. “Nothing. I heard there would be a news announcement and hoped you might offer something to mitigate the damage.”

“Shut it down!”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re asking me to do.”

The Ted on television began to speak.

“People of the world. I come to you with a heavy heart.”

I marveled at how well the artificial intelligence system was able to create an exact model of Ted. Over the years, these deepfake videos had become so real that they were now indistinguishable from real video. Ted’s voice and mannerisms were perfectly recreated. Every detailed had been stitched together by the system. The Ted on the screen even had a few stray hairs.

“The information that has been broadcast around the world is true. For years Deimos has been collecting your personal information and using it for our own profits. We sold your information to the highest bidder, marketed products to you that you didn’t need, and even listened to you and watched you when you didn’t believe our devices were doing so.”

“We didn’t stop there. Using free services, we lured you in so we could mine your data. Every email you sent and received, every text message, every photo, every search, everything you watched and browsed to, and every call you made we used to create a profile of who you are. If you liked a presidential candidate, we knew, and if that candidate wasn’t the one we at Deimos knew should be president, we offered you only misleading information and guided you into alignment with our beliefs.”

“We believed we knew better than you and we manipulated the world. Under the direct decisions of the executive leadership team, Berkar Ares, Miri Cortez, Ramon Curry, and myself, we determined the fate of the world. Recently, we chose to assassinate Sasaki Nariakira. We did this by taking control of his autonomous shuttle and drove it over a ledge. We also crashed a drone into the late Grayson Nash’s home killing nine FBI agents that were investigating us. We confess these sins to the world.”

“In the days to come, you will hear many things. Deimos has been involved in campaign finance fraud, election tampering, manipulating currencies and the stock market. We bought our competitors to take their intellectual property and assure Deimos had a monopoly. Every product and service we provided was designed to give us a tactical advantage. Our goal has always been to turn the world into what we wanted it to be.”

“My only regret is to the thousands of employees that will no doubt be harmed by the actions of a few. In a way, I’m grateful that Grayson Nash is no longer with us as he told us the error of our ways and we failed to listen to him. We thought we knew better.”

This was my queue to leave. I quietly made my way to the door and slipped out while Ted was still watching himself on the monitor. I was almost back to the curb when Ted burst from the building. I paused and turned to face him just as hundreds of police and FBI swarmed the building. For a moment I felt shame in what I had done as handcuffs were placed on a struggling old friend of mine.

As I turned away, Nathan Graves stood in my path.

“Why am I not surprised to see you here, Amelia?”

“Serendipity?”

“I’ve come to believe that when I am around you things are much less fate as in orchestrated. I had an interesting call last night to be at the Palo Alto police headquarters.”

“Did you now? I hope it was fruitful.”

“Very.”

“I never would have believed Ted Parsons would make such a public confession. It will make the court cases go much smoother.”

“One never knows what’s in the heart of another. I thought it was rather touching in places. What’s next for Amelia Wilson?”

“I’m going to go home and spend some time with my family. Go back to school on Monday. Walk my dog. Be the best daughter and friend anyone could ever be. Learn to surf. Who knows what else lies in store for me?”

“I’m certain whatever you do will be a success, Amelia.”

I tossed Nathan the keys to the corvette. He caught them with his good hand.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“It’s part of Grayson’s estate. Do with it as you see fit. If you drive it, it’s best with the top down.”

“Do you need a ride?”

An old green van pulled up. “Got one.”

I started to walk away.

“Amelia?”

“Yes?”

“It’s been and honor and a privilege getting to know someone like you.”

I curtsied to him. “The pleasure was all mine, kind sir.”

I turned and got into the passenger side of the van. Leaning over, I kissed Kent. “Thanks for picking me up. We need to make a quick stop at Charterhouse Security. Are you up for another stealth visit?”

“I can do it.”

I was grateful that Kent didn’t come back with another story about the front desk girl and that he retrieved the microcomputer without any problems. We made a quick stop at the FBI office and I left the computer and a very specific note for Nathan in an envelope for him.

Turning to Kent, I leaned into him across the gap between the seats. “Thank you! I’m ready to go home now.”

***

I was anxious and excited as I cleaned the house and cooked dinner. I had been told my parents would arrive at any moment and I wanted our reunion to be perfect. I had a bouquet of flowers for mom and made my special spaghetti dinner.

When the front door open, I ran to them and threw my arms around my dad. I then leaned down and kissed my mom. She was still in a wheelchair. Lucky bounced all around me wanting to make sure he also got his welcome.

“I’ve missed you all so much!”

Mom reached over and stroked my wet cheeks. “We were so worried about you. We’ve seen the news. Deimos is in a lot of trouble.”

“The FBI did a fantastic job.”

Dad looked skeptical. “I think you’re not telling us everything. If your involvement was so insignificant then the FBI would have let you join us. The good news is that we’re all back together again. Is that your spaghetti I smell?”

“It is. I hope you’re both hungry.”

“We’re starved.”

“Let me put the food on the table.”

With another set of hugs all around, I hurried off to the kitchen. I was having a hard time keeping my emotions under control. Everything had worked out. For the first time in weeks, we were safe. I felt perfectly home in my new body and in this place with my mom and dad.

“Amelia Grace Wilson!”

I felt the color drain from my face. I hurried to where my parents were wondering what I had done wrong.

Mom and dad were holding up one of my dresses. It was covered in blood, soot, and had several burn marks on it. In all my efforts today, I had forgot to hide it when I was cleaning up.

“Would you care to explain this?”

“Uhm… The food is ready… Aren’t you hungry?”

Mom looked sternly at me. “Spill it, young lady.”

Dad’s eyes softened. “I’m certain you’re trying to make light of things for our sake. Tell us what happened.”

I gently took the dress from their hands and shivered slightly as I recalled the events. I swallowed as I put the dress in the laundry room. “You heard about the drone crash at Grayson Nash’s house that killed nine FBI agents?”

Dad quickly put two and two together. “You were there?”

“Nathan Graves saved my life. He protected me when the drone hit. We were both flung down the stairs towards the garage. If it wasn’t for his quick actions, I would be among those dead. Nathan took the brunt of the fall and was badly injured. I dragged him to a car and brought him to a hospital.”

Mom reached her hand out and took mine. “Why didn’t you want us to know?”

“You’ve been through so much. I didn’t want the events of the past days to take anything away from our reunion. I’m fine… mostly. I still dream about the explosion and I can’t stop thinking about the families of those nine agents. My ribs still hurt as does my knee, but none of that matters because I’m home with those that I love and care about.”

There were more tears all around. More hugs and kisses. More sharing of events but I carefully avoided my involvement in bringing down Deimos. We had much to be thankful for.

*** March 6, 2028 ***

Things were quiet through the weekend and we stayed together as a family the entire time. I cooked and dad cleaned, we watched movies and ate popcorn together. Kent even came over for a few hours and much to my surprise, mom and dad were rather thrilled by our blossoming relationship.

This morning I eagerly got dressed in my school uniform, left breakfast for mom and dad, walked Lucky, and got to school early. I was anxious to get back to my life, even if that included school.

My morning was filled with mundane classes and my English teacher asked us all to write a short essay about what we each did on our spring break. I was considering whether I should write the truth knowing no one would ever believe it when Meaghan and Kent found me at my regular location during lunch.

As always, I was sandwiched between my two best friends. Meaghan hugged me and kissed me on my cheek and Kent… Let’s just say Meaghan had to slightly intervene to make sure I wasn’t called to the office on some new impropriety.

Meaghen nudged me with her elbow. “No warnings about phones today?”

“Nope, but you should still get rid of them and exchange them for one that isn’t from Deimos.”

Meaghan giggled. “You’re so biased against Deimos products. It’s not like they tried to kill you or anything.”

I laughed. “You’re right. They would never try something like that.” I stood and turned to face them. “I’ve been thinking…”

Kent chuckled. “God help us. Who are you going after next?”

“I’ve been thinking about my future. Our future. I want us all to stay close and there isn’t much time to decide what happens next. You both have dozens of colleges and universities begging for you. I haven’t even applied anywhere. My dad and I are starting a new business together. Next week we will begin the process by looking for seed money from investors. How would you both like to be a part of this?”

They both looked interested. Meaghan spoke first.

“What about getting a degree?”

“Getting investors isn’t easy and there are no guarantees. I recommend you both continue your selection process for where you might want to go. Come with me to the investor events. If we get significant money, then you can make your decision. If not, then you are no further behind on your plans. In any event, if things go well and we get the startup capital we need and you join me, we can make plans to re-evaluate after a year. There’s always a risk in a startup, but done right, the rewards can be amazing.”

Kent smiled. “I’m in. There’s nothing to decide unless you get the money you need. I’ve seen you work, and your dad is well respected in the technology industry.”

Meaghan stood and hugged me. “I’m in too. What do we need to do?”

***

Marge Lawson opened the front door to see a well-dressed man and woman. “How can I help you both?”

The man introduced them both. “Ms. Lawson, I’m Brent Strauss and this is my partner Camile Lionel. We are the owners of Lionel and Strauss attorneys. We have a rather sensitive matter to discuss with you. May we come in?”

Marge looked them both over carefully. Camile was holding a framed, gold-plated microcomputer. “Please, come in.”

Once they were all seated, Camile handed the item to Marge. “Ms. Lawson, I believe this belongs to you. We were very grateful our intern was able to collect this from you the other day. It allowed us to verify its authenticity as part of Grayson Nash’s estate.”

Marge rested the microcomputer on the couch next to her. A tear slipped down her cheek. “Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me.”

Camile and Brent offered genuine smiles. “There’s more, Ms. Lawson. Due to many circumstances beyond our control, Grayson Nash’s estate has been tied up as part of the investigation with Deimos. Recent events have occurred allowing us to finally proceed with distribution according to Grayson’s final wishes. Ms. Lawson, except for several small items, you are listed as the sole named recipient to Grayson Nash’s entire estate.”

Marge put her hand to her mouth. “What?”

Brent continued for the pair of attorneys. “Luckily, Grayson sold most of his Deimos stocks before his death, however, the stocks were already in some decline. His estate is worth over fifteen billion dollars. This includes his home that was recently destroyed by a drone but will be fully replaced by insurance to your specifications.”

“My God! This is a joke?”

Camile stretched forth her hand and lightly touched Marge on her arm. “No, ma’am. Grayson Nash highly respected you and had no heirs of his own. I hope this comes as good news for you.”

Marge sniffed. “I was about to list my house as I haven’t found work to cover my expenses. You’re certain?”

“It won’t be without significant pain. There is a stack of paper nearly three feet tall we need you to go through and sign back at the office.”

Marge stood and wiped more tears. She whispered a gentle, “Thank you, Grayson.”

*** April 28, 2028 ***

Dad, Meaghan, and Kent sat to my right as I stood to move to the podium. The past weeks had been grueling between school, taking care of mom at home, and trying to raise funds for our startup business. To date, we hadn’t received a single investment after five of these events. It was disheartening. The fall of Deimos had sent shockwaves through the technology community. People were simply not investing.

I smoothed out my dress remembering the day mom and I bought it. I tried not to wince at the image of mom in the hospital. Her recovery had been difficult, but she was now out of the wheelchair and casts and working with physical therapists to regain her strength and smooth out her walking.

Stepping up to the podium, I took a deep breath.

“Thank you all for coming. My name is Amelia Wilson and I would like to share a vision with you all. Cyber crime has become the most common threat to individuals, governments, and businesses. This year alone the cyber crime economy has grown to over forty trillion dollars while our cyber security prevention measures accounts for only twenty-three billion dollars. This gap shows that we aren’t taking this seriously enough. For governments, we can demonstrate that our elections are compromised, our infrastructure, like power and water, are at risk. For businesses, imagine not just the financial loss to your organization when you are breached and your customer private data is exfiltrated, but also to your loss of trust in the marketplace. It is a known fact that businesses that suffer a major cyber breach will close their doors forever at a rate of five out of nine. If you’re a person, identity theft, including criminals having the ability to use artificial intelligence systems to mimic your voice and face, will ruin your reputation and credit in seconds. We are asking you to invest in us, not to make us the next Deimos, but to protect yourselves.”

“There are two aspects to our solutions. First, we need capital investment to fund our research into distributed database record encryption, blockchain technologies to verify ownership of every byte of data, and artificial intelligence engines that can securely identify users across a variety of systemic and biometric methods. These tools will become available on a subscription level to government and business organizations through our for-profit side of the business.”

“The second aspect of our solution will work to establish new security controls for individuals. You are fully aware that social media sites own your personal data. We look to give ownership of personal data back to the individual, allowing for personalized approval and access by social media sites for photos, videos, and messages. Using techniques developed for our government and business clients, we will incorporate distributed database encryption and blockchain technologies to assure ownership rights of the data. End users will finally be allowed to track where their data has been copied and sent and recall that information at a click of a button. Additionally, we will utilize centralized firewalls that will alert users when applications on their home networks or mobile devices are trying to gather personal information without permission. This portion of our business would be non-profit as we feel strongly that privacy is as much of an individual right as the Internet itself.”

“Please feel free to stay, mingle, and with signed non-disclosures, we can demonstrate for you some of the solutions we already have developed. Thank you for coming.”

I wandered from person to person having brief conversations, but, like our other sessions, had no one interested in funding us.

Dad came over and hugged me. “Once again, you did a fantastic job tonight. The challenge I am hearing is that no one wants to see their profits diminished and the entire non-profit side of our business is scaring them away. We may need to rethink this strategy. I know it is in your heart to give back to the world, but this post-Deimos world we live in is making everyone very skittish.”

“Perhaps this isn’t meant to be. I can always do something else with my life.”

“That would be a tremendous shame.”

I looked past dad to see someone I knew. She was dressed conservatively but very elegantly. “Ms. Lawson. It is wonderful to see you again.”

She smiled warmly at me. “Walk with me for a minute?”

I glanced at dad who merely nodded. I stepped out of the event room for a minute with Marge.

“A little bird told me I might want to attend this event tonight, Amelia. You’re a very impressive young woman.”

“Thank you. I understand you were given back Grayson’s microcomputer. I’m so thankful that worked out for you.”

“You were so sweet to be willing to risk your job for me. It has worked out. Even better than expected. I want you to know that I worked with Grayson Nash for many years. You think like him. You have his heart to serve. What you said here tonight is needed.”

“I can’t tell you how much hearing those words mean to me, Ms. Lawson.”

“Please, call me Marge. How have things been going for you Amelia?”

“Excellent.”

“Including your fundraising?”

I shrugged. “Lack of funding is an issue, but I will figure it out somehow.”

“You seem to me to be a very intelligent and trustworthy person. I’ve watched you interact with your friends and your father tonight. You care deeply about those around you. I want you to know that I believe in you. You remind me a lot of Grayson Nash.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Marge.”

“I believe in you enough to give you this check for one hundred and fifty million dollars. Based upon your financial plan you handed out, this would easily cover your startup expenses for the next five years. By then, I have no doubt that you will be profitable.”

“One hundred and fifty million dollars? You’re aware there will be minimal return for your investment?”

Marge smiled. “It’s an investment in you. I expect no return except for your friendship and to keep me posted on how you are progressing from time to time. I was given a gift beyond imagination and I am merely paying it forward. I expect no repayment. This is a gift.”

Marge handed me the check.

“This is a lot of money, Marge.”

“Money well spent. Stay in touch, Amelia.”

“I will. Thank you!”

Marge smiled and left the building.

As soon as I stepped back into the event room, Dad pulled me aside and looked at the check. “You will never cease to amaze me, sweetheart.”

I smiled and hugged him. This was the first time he had ever called me something endearing. It made me feel like I was truly and finally accepted by him.

I pulled Kent and Meaghen aside. “I understand you both may have plans, but I want to ask you if you would work with my dad and me for at least a year.”

I held up the check for them both to see.

Meaghan jumped up and down. “Oh my God! You did it!”

“We did it!”

Kent kissed me in front of my dad for the first time.

“You know I’m in.”

I glanced at dad who nodded his approval before I kissed Kent back.

“You all won’t get anywhere without me. I’m in too!”

Meaghan gave hugs all around.

“We have so much work to do, but I think we need to grab mom and go celebrate.”

*** June 3, 2028 ***

It was a beautiful day on the beach. School was done with and I graduated for the second time in my life. Kent had asked me to the final dance, and I was thrilled to go with him. Mom was almost fully recovered. Dad was enjoying his new role as CEO of our newly formed company. The barbeque was fired up with corn on the cob, potatoes, and steaks. Meaghan and Kent’s families had joined us for this festive occasion.

I sat squished between Kent and Meaghan and loved every second of it. A kiss from Kent, the laughter of my parents as they got to know everyone, and a hug from Meaghan all made me feel very happy.

A lot had happened to me since I was Grayson Nash. While it had been a struggle at times, no one would have ever convinced me how much better life could have been as a teenaged girl. Not a second passed that I wasn’t thankful. I had been given a new chance at life and I could make up for my past mistakes.

“Amelia Wilson!”

I spun around and spotted Nathan Graves walking down from the parking lot.

“Nathan! I’m so glad you could make it. You’re not well dressed for the beach. You need to lose the FBI suit.”

I ran up to give him a hug. I introduced him to everyone.

“Without Nathan, I wouldn’t be here today. If you want to blame anyone for my existence, he’s the one to blame.”

Dad shook Nathan’s hand. “Good to see you again. I never had the chance to thank you for saving Amelia.”

“Amelia fails to tell the entire story. She saved me by dragging me out of a burning, collapsing building.”

I smiled. “Shhh… They still think I was never in danger.”

Kent laughed. “You’re the most danger-prone person I’ve ever met, Amelia.”

Turning back to Nathan, I took his arm in mine. “I hope you can at least stay for steaks.”

“I’d love to, but I can’t. I just stopped by to say hello. I’ve been promoted to regional director and that’s keeping me busy.”

“I hope not too busy to enjoy your life.”

Nathan smiled. “I’m setting good boundaries. Have a great day, everyone.”

Nathan started walking away, then turned back to face me. He tossed me a set of keys. “The paperwork is in the glove compartment. This is a thank you from the FBI for all you’ve done. Whenever you can, drive it with the top down.”

I looked down at the keys in my hand. “Who wants to go for a ride!”

***

***

I think every author wants to think that one day they may make it big and create the next best seller. I debated long and hard about the possibility of publishing this story. Ultimately, I remembered why I write. This is my escape, my life beyond life. By publishing, I deny the opportunity to give back to this community. It is my prayer that my stories give all of you hope; an escape from the lives we at times all struggle with.

Please take a moment and leave a comment. It is by far the best payment I can ever receive.

My hearts are with you all,

Casey