ANA II

Chapter 25

"Major, so far, you've been a good boy, and we do need you on our side, but if you cross us in any way, you will die." Heidi says flatly.

I fold my arms across my chest. "Ok, if you know all that, tell me why you let me come here in the first place."

"You're here because Ana thinks you can help us survive. It's that simple."

So... they think they can turn me. They are sadly mistaken. A man without his pride and dignity is not much of a man. Anyway, let's see if they're ready to play out their hand. "Ana thinks I can bloody help you survive? Well... I do have a good track record of surviving, been doing it my whole life, but maybe you better give me an idea of exactly what you're thinking."

"Tom understands better than I do, but to keep it simple, Ana uses chaos mathematics to calculate different possible futures. Then she works with us to steer toward one the future we want. It's like navigating rapids in a Kayak. And every rock, every ripple of water, affects where you end up."

Now we're getting somewhere. "Go on..."

"And you're here because you're a ripple that helps get us to where we want to be."

"It's nice to be needed. Did Ana say what I'm going to do that's so important?"

"Not in too much detail. Apparently, that would alter the future and make the prediction more unreliable. I do know that you should help us prepare our defenses."

"Well... if we're going to be working closely together, I should know just whose side are you on?" Sometimes being direct could be unexpectedly successful. "Are you a Tiger's girl, or do you still have some loyalty to the CIA?"

She sits back and gives me a look like a mother whose child wants to know where babies come from. "My loyalty is with the human race. Isn't that more important than what any single government wants?"

She has a point, a very noble one at that, but what's good for King and Country is normally, reasonably good for everyone else too. We're not barbarians after all. Sure... sometimes my superiors need help understanding what's best, and I have to 'modify' my orders to get things done right, but our leaders are mostly good people.

"Let's just say, I always try to do what's in the general best interest of my fellow countrymen and I don't see how that conflicts with what's good for the human race."

"I use to think the same way." She looks off at the countryside displayed on the wall. "Then I grew up." She turns back to me with what might be the start of a tear in her eye. "Believe me, it's easy to turn a blind eye to self centered, ethnocentric actions when you believe it's for the greater good of your people, but we've got to rise above that, we're in a position to make life better for everyone, everywhere, and not just those that wave our flag."

"That's nice talk, but it's you and your gang that are holding on to all this advanced science with a death grip," I say. "Maybe you should set an example by letting the rest of us have a go with it."

"That's the plan, but I'm sure you understand our desire to be slow and carful about it," she says.

"Sure... I understand the need for caution, but so far, you've done nothing to help the millions of desperate people struggling to survive all around the world."

She starts to say something, then lets out a deep sigh. "You're right. I've let my personal issues get in the way of some of the more important things I should be doing. I know that... and it's time to make that right." Her eyes seem to focus on something off in the distance for a moment before coming back to me. "For now though, we need to talk about how to bolster our defenses. If the Monks come back, and we're not ready, well never be able to help anyone."

"Well, we do have a mutual interest in surviving," I say. "What do we have to work with?"

Surprisingly, we spend the next few hours actually going over the base defenses. I'm flabbergasted at the sheer amount of vital information she shares with me. This is going to make my job a lot eraser. When she shows me a schematic of a battleship that's currently under construction, I'm amazed. This just keeps getting better and better.

Then she tells me about some smaller ships they plan to build and explains how they work independently. Now, I'm getting concerned. "You're not seriously considering letting armed warships run around on their own, with no supervision, doing whatever they fancy... are you?"

Furrows appear on her forehead. "That bothers me also. We should to talk to Tiger more about those 'self-thinking' ships when he gets back."

Suddenly, the room goes dark. "Why'd the lights go out?" I ask. It's a good thing I can see so well in the dark. Heidi, on the other hand, seems to be at a total loss as she starts to fumble around the room.

"I have no idea," She says before she stumbles into the leg of the table. "Ouch..."

"Here let me help." I reach out and take her by the arm. "You better sit before you hurt yourself." I lead her over to a chair and guide her into it.

"Thanks, but how can you see?" she asks. "It's completely pitch black in here."

"Oh, I've always had pretty good night vision."

"People with good night vision still need some source of light to see by. You can't be—." She stops in mid-sentence.

Come to think of it, how many times have I've been in complete darkness like this? Can't think of anytime in recent history. There's always at least a little light from stars when I'm out in the wilderness at night, or from dim windows when I'm inside a dark room.

"Holy crap!" She says.

"It's nothing to get too worked up about," I say. "My mom used to say—."

She shakes her head. "No, it's not that... When I asked Ana to turn on the lights, all I got was an automated message saying the Ana Interface has been taking down for emergence maintenance."

"Well, let's hope it comes back up soon," I say. "Are your IT people working on it?"

Her eyes go wide with fear. "You don't understand. This has never happened before. Ana doesn't go off-line or down for maintenance and we don't have any IT guys."

"I still don't see what the bid deal is."

"The bid deal is, without Ana, I can't access the computer at all, so we can't get food or water, and our defenses aren't accessible."

"I see..." This situation is exactly what I've been waiting for. Three simple words from a long ago sermon come to mind, 'God will provide'. And so he has.