Trillion Dollar Family (contest) - 3. Chapter 3

“What's going on with my son? Oh, and while we're at it with me!” Jared demanded.

“I have no clue. He shouldn't still be awake, but clearly he is,” Major Williams said apologetically. “I have, literally, no clue what the hell is going on. We've lost all but the monitor feeds to his augmentation, and most of those are being routed through you. And that simply should not be happening! And I can't explain how the bloody hell you're hearing the software like that. Maybe later it could interface like that, but... no, not even then! Not on a conscious level!”

”Daddy, don't worry! I'm fine!” ”Yes, Son, I know. But this wasn't supposed to happen!”

“I wish you two would stop using the link to talk to each other, it complicates our monitoring efforts,” one of the doctor's complained.

“And it drives you nuts that you can't listen in,” someone else heckled him.

“Enough!” Major Williams shouted at them. “Focus, people!”

“As far as we can tell, the synchronization and calibration of his augmentation completed itself, without outside intervention,” one of the scientists commented. “So, effectively, we're finished with the installation process. Even if we didn't finish it ourselves.” “How the hell is that possible?” someone complained. “We were still installing the firmware tweaks that we gave the Sergeant, so how-”

“The tweaks are in place, so clearly you finished that much!” someone interrupted.

“What? No! I'd just finished cataloging the needed updates and transferring the necessary checksums for verification, I didn't have time to do the actual updates,” the other scientist disagreed.

“Well, what little telemetry I've got clearly shows the updates occurred! He's running the exact same firmware and software that his father has!” “Wait, that's impossible, he wasn't going to get the same updates; he doesn't need the military stuff!” “Well, he's got it!”

“Major Williams,” Jared cut through the noise, “do I need to be here for this screaming match? Clearly, you are just as clueless as I am as to what the hell is going on, and I'd like to work at comforting my sons!”

“Under the circumstances, no, I don't think so. We'll probably have some questions, very soon, however,” Major Williams told him.

“Thank you, gentlemen,” Jared said as he left the room. He didn't have to ask for directions, he knew exactly where to find Cody.

Which, of course, led to a different kind of question. Questions that an entire room full of America's best and brightest, supposedly experts in the hardware they'd installed in his very body, could only stare blankly over. It was... intensely frustrating.

“Hey there kiddo,” Jared said as he walked in.

“Daddy!” Cody shouted, bouncing off his bed and into Jared's arms.

“Dad!” Davey echoed, clutching tight to Jared.

“How you two holding up?” Jared asked.

“I missed you Daddy!” Cody told him. “Don't go away again!”

“You missed him?” Davey complained, “you keep talking to him in your head!”

“You're just jealous that you can't!” Cody accused.

“Nah-uh!” Davey said indignantly.

“Uh-huh!”

“Nah-uh!”

“How about we go grab a bite to eat?” Jared cut the argument short.

“Burgers!” Davey suggested. “Pizza!” Cody ordered.

“Burgers!”

“Pizza!”

“Surf 'n' Turf!” Jared ordered.

“What?!” the kids screeched.

“What, I hear the hospital makes a mean steak!” Jared dissembled. “And you guys can get your burgers, and your pizza, and whatever other junk food you can convince the guys there to make!” The kids looked at each other for a few moments, then turned their glares on Jared. “What?” he asked.

“You're planning something!” Cody accused.

“We can tell!” Davey agreed. “Hey,” he said thoughtfully, “Cody, if you can think at him can you dig in and make him tell us-” “Don't even think it!” Jared warned. “Don't play around with that stuff. Until we understand what's going on, it's possible that you could screw something up and hurt both of us. On top of that, if you go digging around in my mind you could run into things you don't want to see!”

“Like?” Davey asked, eagerly.

“Well, um...” Jared couldn't think off hand of something to keep them out. There were too many memories he didn't want them near, things that were private, things that were horror, things they were too young to deal with and things no one should have to face. “Trust me, you don't want to know.” Jared's mind raced, trying to find a memory that they'd recognize and want to stay a mile clear from...

“I dunno,” Davey caged, “sounds like you're pulling another fast one on me...” “Cody, do you really want to relive that time you had diarrhea for a week from my perspective? Complete with smell?” Jared threatened.

Cody stiffened, “No! I'll stay out!” he promised.

“Ew,” Davey turned green at the thought of that week. The entire house had stunk for weeks thanks to the occasional 'accident' as Cody's body had dealt with the side effects of the medications he'd been on to clear up some bug he'd picked up. Jared couldn't remember the name of it, just that it used to be both deadly and untreatable. He'd been too busy applying air freshener to try and remember more. Naturally the smell had still been there a month later, when they had to move out, and they'd lost the deposit they'd put on the house.

Just one more thing for Samantha to complain about.

“Alright, now that I've made my point what do you say we head on down to the cafeteria and find some grub?” Jared asked. Carrying Cody was easier than it had been before the accident, and for a good thirty seconds Jared debated trying to carry Davey too. Of course, Davey was old enough he didn't want to be carried, so Jared finally, and regretfully, decided against the attempt. He just pushed the boy out the door in front of him and let Davey lead the way as he sealed the door behind them.

Once they reached the cafeteria, Cody wriggled his way out of Jared's arms, and the two of them ran off to terrorize the staff. Jared laughed as he watched them bounce from person to person, Davey introducing his younger brother to several new 'friends' as they begged for the food they wanted, and not the yucky 'health' food set out. Salads and tuna sandwiches were not a kid's idea of a meal, and the option of water, tea, or coffee didn't suit them either.

Shaking his head, Jared grinned as he walked over to save the wait staff. “Hey!” one of them commented.

“Hey,” Jared acknowledged the greeting. “So, the twin terrors here scare you off yet?”

The man laughed, “Twin terrors? Certainly fits these two! No, no problem, we've actually got some pizzas in the oven and some burgers on the grill in preparation for the dinner rush. We've had to change the menu a little, what with acting as refugee housing until something better can be arranged.”

Jared laughed and shook his head. “Well, I at least happen to like clam chowder and salad, so don't bother cooking anything special. Well, unless you have a steak sitting around, I'd love something to sink my teeth into.” “Actually, we do happen to have some steaks to grill – how do you like it?”

“Medium,” Jared said happily.

The cafeteria worker laughed, “Your steak will be ready in about five minutes.” Jared paid the bill and dragged his kids of to wait for their food. Soon enough it arrived and they wolfed it down, laughing at each other amicably. Jared, for the most part, just sat back and watched the two of them with a smile.

“Excuse me, sir,” a familiar voice interrupted.

“Corporal Edwards!” Jared exclaimed. “Please, sit!”

“I'm sorry, sir, but you and the boy are wanted by the doctors for some examinations,” the corporal apologized. “I'll keep an eye on Davey while he's waiting,” he added.

Jared shook his head, “We have a meal to finish first.”

“They want you now, Sir,” the corporal pointed out.

“And I want my sons to finish eating in a nice leisurely fashion,” Jared said testily. “It's an imperfect universe; I get to tell my son's to hurry up and the doctors get to wait a few minutes.”

“Yes sir,” the corporal said evenly, “I'll let them know you said that.”

“Please add in one more thing for me,” Jared asked.

“Sir?” “Recent events do not change the facts. I am an adult, Cody is a child, and I am his father,” Jared told him. “Relay that word for word. And if they don't get it, fathers are responsible for their child's well-being.”

“I'll relay the message, and the subtext,” the corporal answered with a smile. “And I'm sure they'll understand.” “Thank you,” Jared thanked him. “Hurry up and eat boys, I don't think the doctors will be happy waiting.” Jared followed his own orders and finished the last of his steak and salad. He hadn't quite finished his potato when his kids finished their meals. With a last longing glance at the potato and the carrots, he led them off to talk to the doctors. Corporal Edwards showed up halfway there and took Davey off with him to visit a nearby lounge.

***

“I think we've figured out part of what's going on,” Major Williams sighed. “It doesn't make sense, and it means a hell of a lot of trouble, but we've got part of it figured out.”

“Lay it out, as best you can,” Jared asked.

“Somehow, while we were working on your son, his built in wi-fi activated and linked in with you. That's... not supposed to happen, not like it did,” the major told him. “Using each other as relays, yes, basic communications yes, but not this. Somehow your connection cut his primary link to our systems and routed everything through you. And since we were in the middle of doing systems updates and calibrations, your augmentation took that over for us. Which is a big problem; you have the full military software which your son was not supposed to get.” “Alright, and what are you going to do about this?” Jared asked.

“That's the problem, we can't do anything about it,” the Major sighed. “Somehow, we're completely locked out of his systems. We're getting basic telemetry data, enough to give us a clue what's going on inside him, but nowhere near enough to debug him if something goes wrong.” “And that... thing that happened with me?” Jared asked.

“If I had to make a guess, and this is purely a guess here, somehow your augmentation managed to short-circuit the link between your subconscious and itself to project through the subconscious and into your conscious mind. Again, this is something we didn't program and don't understand,” the Major shook his head. “We've got more advanced telemetry from you, and it's not telling us anything useful. It's fascinating stuff, the synaptic mirroring is already complete months ahead of schedule, but nothing useful.”

“Synaptic mirroring?” Jared asked. “Synaptic refers to brains, right?” Major Williams shook his head. “Yes, and in this case...” Major Williams trailed of, blinking. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Jared asked.

“That even makes sense!” Major Williams laughed. “How did we miss that?”

“Miss what?” Jared asked testily.

“The synaptic mirroring, that's the key!” Major Williams laughed again. “I don't understand why it completed so quickly, that's going to take months of study, but I think I understand what's going on! The system is designed to mirror your natural brain patterns, and to use that to learn to 'think' more like you. And that's exactly what's happened, and somehow that's caused a link to form between you and the software... yes, of course, the shadow mind is passing the information!”

“Doctor, you aren't making sense!” Jared warned him.

“As simply as I can put it, the augmentation was supposed to develop a kind of 'copy' of your conscious mind, a 'shadow mind' if you will. But it did it too well, and instead of it being a one way link, it's two way. When your shadow mind receives information from the software, your conscious mind somehow listens in... it's brilliant!” “Doc, didn't you say that would drive me insane?” Jared asked, eyes widening.

“That's just it: the software isn't putting information directly into your mind! That was the problem all along, because machines use yes and noes, and your mind uses shades of gray to convey information. The shadow mind is acting as a translator!” The Major grinned, pecking at his computer terminal. “Brilliant, and I think... yes, the core code for... serendipity at it's finest! I just don't understand...” “Doctor, do you need me any further?” Jared asked.

“One moment...” the doctor asked. “Jared, did you think anything during the procedure that might... what were you thinking about when the link failed?”

“Thinking about?” Jared asked. “Um, I don't... let's see... watching my son move like that, when you were using the augmentation to control him, I thought that was rather disturbing. I didn't like it, but I accepted it was necessary to help him. I wanted to understand what was going on, to take responsibility but all I could do was sit there and let you do it.”

“You wanted to help your son? To do the work yourself?” the Major asked.

“Well, no, I'm not qualified to even try!” Jared pointed out.

“I'm not talking about qualifications!” Major Williams said angrily. “I'm talking about desire: did you want to be able to do that!”

“I'm not interested in the years of study-” Jared began.

“No no no!” Major Williams broke in. “That's not what I'm talking about. If you could have done it yourself, you wanted to.” “Well, yeah, if I could have handled things myself I would have wanted to, but I can't, you know that!” Jared answered.

“But your augmentation could!” Major Williams grinned. “So it answered your desire directly!”

“Wait, I wanted it so it happened?” Jared asked.

“Precisely!” Major Williams grinned. “Do me a favor, want to see what your son is seeing right now!”

Jared focused for a second, on wanting to see through his son's eyes...

“Ah!” he said, shaking his head. Nothing made sense, it was as if... “D'oh!” he commented, closing his eyes. With only one visual input to handle, all of a sudden he could clearly see himself... his son... Jared's eyes popped open as he suddenly did not want to watch. “Doc, next time we do that we make sure Cody doesn't mind me using his eyes for a few seconds.” “It worked? What did you see?” Major Williams asked.

“My son, in the restroom,” Jared said succinctly.

Major Williams froze. “Oh. I didn't... I should have thought about... um...” “It's alright, it's nothing I haven't seen before. If not quite from that angle,” Jared laughed, wondering what his son would think about what had just happened. And wondering what the heck his son was doing, since he wasn't actually peeing as far as he could tell.

“We need to check to see if he can do the same to you,” Major Williams commented.

“I don't think so,” Jared answered.

“Why do you say that?” Major Williams asked.

“Because, earlier he wanted to know what I was thinking about, but didn't learn anything. Just now, I wanted to know what he was thinking about, and found out.” Jared shook his head.

“Oh? That's...” Major Williams frowned. “That sounds like something we're going to need to fix, sometime soon... he should have that much privacy, at least!”

“Well, right at the moment it proved useful, I need to go talk to him,” Jared said.

“About?” the Major asked.

“The fact that yes, what he's looking at really is his body. The fact that he has machines running through it doesn't change that. He's... he feels alien in his own body,” Jared shook his head.

“That's actually something I was going to talk to you about,” the Major told him. “Right at the moment he should feel alien, and it'll pass in a few days.” “What?” Jared asked.

“Simply put, when you took over the augmentation cycle from us, you didn't know everything you needed to know to do it right,” Major Williams held up his hand. “You didn't get anything wrong, mind you, you just didn't know to do some of the things we were doing specifically to make this easier for you.” “Like?” Jared asked, eyes blazing.

“The base software we uploaded to your augmentation can handle almost everything on its own, except for the initial calibration cycle,” Major Williams explained. “But to make things easier for you, and your son, we were manually setting some of the variables rather than letting the software do it dynamically. Right at this moment, his software is trying to make sense of the fact that his limbs are shorter than yours, because it's expecting limbs as long as yours. Small things like that are going to make him feel... strange, as his software dynamically adapts to the correct variables.”

“Is it going to hurt him?” Jared demanded.

“No, not at all!” Major Williams reassured him with a smile. “It should feel much like puberty does, only more intense. A feeling of not knowing where his limbs end, where his body begins, of what's going on inside. He's going to need love, and attention, and support, same as any teenager, but he'll be fine.”

“Alright, any other concerns from this?” Jared asked.

“One, long term concern,” the Major answered with a frown. “We deliberately didn't install the full software to him. Part of what concerns us is the combat stuff, but it looks like it's locked out. If he needs it it'll be there, but from what we can tell when you uploaded that stuff you encrypted it so he can't casually access it. The bigger concern is the blood management and filtration. We can't access that part of his programming at the moment, but it looks like he got the full package. Once puberty hits, that's going to go from a small problem to a huge one.” “Alright, but...” Jared's eyes grew distant for a moment. “I...”

“What is it?” the doctor asked.

“I'm not sure... I'm reading documentation of some kind...” Jared snapped out of it and stared at Doctor Williams. “Major, did you include any kind of documentation in the software you uploaded to us?” “Um, yeah,” the Major answered, confused. “You can't actually read it, but pretty much the full user's manual on the augmentation, why?” “How about work notes?” Jared asked.

“Shouldn't be in there, but we didn't have a chance...” the major did a quick search on his computer and started swearing. “Fuck! You're right, some of our work notes were in the files we uploaded. We used the latest report we sent to the brass as a base, and forgot to strip out some of our work in it...” “Well, I can tell you about Cody's BFM operational status,” Jared said, “and scarily enough, I know that means blood filtration and management, and that it refers to the augmentation tracking our blood. It's actively checking for poisons, hormonal imbalances, and other problems. In Cody, it's actively tracking external toxins and intrusions, while allowing his body to engage in 'natural hormonal re-balancing'. His software has been locked into that cycle for... the next thirteen years or so. Until his twentieth birthday.” Major Williams blinked. “It's been... what?” Major Williams did another search. “But this isn't... it can't...” Major Williams turned to stare at Jared. “That particular mode has been in there for forever, but I don't think any of us considered using it like this! It's designed to allow natural hormonal swings, like the menstrual cycle, and the testosterone surge that causes waking erections to occur without undue interference from the augmentation. But it isn't...' Major Williams shook his head. “Jared, either you or your software is brilliant. That's the perfect solution for allowing a child to go through puberty with the augmentation installed. By locking the augmentation into NHR cycle, it will leave his body free to adjust his hormone levels at will. We'll have to keep medical tracking of his blood stream a lot tighter than normal, just to make sure everything is working right since the normal trouble signals are going to be gone, but... brilliant, just brilliant.” “Well, thank you, but I don't think I did it,” Jared told him.

“Well, someone did, and you're the only person in the design team responsible,” Major Williams shook his head. “Had to have been you, wasn't any of us!”

“But... how? I don't even understand this stuff!” Jared protested.

“You don't, but I bet your shadow mind does, it has full access to the documentation,” Major Williams commented. “We need to run some tests, but...” he started rambling on to himself again, and Jared decided to let him ramble for a few minutes.

“Major,” he interrupted eventually, “I'm sure all of this is fascinating, but I should probably go talk to my son.”

“Oh, yes, yes, go,” Major Williams agreed. “I'm going to need to talk with the rest of the team about this, get some ideas bouncing around...” “See you later, then,” Jared said as he left.

Finding Cody was easy enough. Talking the sobbing seven year old into opening the door, a little rougher. “Cody, I know you're in there,” Jared said through the door. “Open up. Come'on, just open the door already.”

“Go away!” Cody sobbed.

“Cody, let me in, we need to talk,” Jared tried again.

“Excuse me sir, is something wrong?” an orderly asked sternly from behind Jared.

“My seven year old son has locked himself inside,” Jared told her over his shoulder.

“Oh, why?” she asked, pulling some keys out of a pocket.

“That's... Well, I can't believe I'm pulling this card but it's classified,” Jared told her.

“Excuse me?” she asked. “A seven year old boy's distress is classified?”

“Believe me, it sounds just as absurd over here as it no doubt sounds to you, but... yeah,” Jared told her.

“I'm going to give you three seconds to come up with a slightly better lie than that,” she told him.

“Problem is, it's not a lie,” Jared paused, and decided to try a half-truth. “It's... the reason why we're here touches on some classified stuff, so...”

“Oh,” she blinked. “Something happened, and you can't talk about it... but he knows?”

“In a nutshell, yes,” Jared answered. “It's not so much what happened, as how it was dealt with though.”

“I see... I'll get my supervisor, she's cleared for secret information,” the orderly smiled.

“Um, top-secret,” Jared said uncomfortably.

“A seven year old boy... is involved in something classified at top secret levels?” the orderly's eyes widened in shock.

“Yes?” Jared tried hesitantly.

“I'm going to contact my supervisor, something here is rotten,” the orderly shook her head and pulled out her cell.

“Jared!” Captain McCullough called from down the hall.

“Captain!” Jared answered. “Good timing!”

“Oh, is something wrong?” McCullough asked.

“My son, the younger one, locked himself in here and is refusing to open up,” Jared said, flicking his eyes at the orderly.

“You,” McCullough asked the orderly harshly, “do you have a key?”

“Yes, but-” the orderly began.

“Give it to me,” McCullough ordered.

“Sir, if I may...” the orderly tried to pull McCullough aside for a few moments chat.

“This had better be good,” McCullough muttered loudly as he allowed it. They argued in quiet tones for a few moments before the orderly gave up and handed over the key. “Of all the nerve,” McCullough complained. “I mean, sure, there's a certain degree of sense, but after I specifically told her you were telling the truth...”

“What was the problem?” Jared asked.

“She was convinced you were abusing him somehow and wanted to hide it,” McCullough shook his head. “Here, this key will get you in... need any help?” “Make sure no one listens in?” Jared asked.

“Consider it done. And God, I hope we get you to that secondary facility sometime soon, this sneaking around has gotten old!” McCullough laughed.

Jared laughed and agreed as he opened the door. “Cody?” he asked. Seeing his son curled up on the floor, still sobbing, he closed the door behind himself and knelt down. “Shh,” he said comfortingly, picking his son up and rocking him. “Everything is gonna be fine,” he kept repeating reassurances as his son's sobbing slowly reduced.

“I'm not me anymore Daddy,” Cody choked out. “I noticed it earlier, but my arms are too short! And I've got all these things in me! I'm wrong Daddy!” “You aren't your body, Son,” Jared told him. “You are your heart, your soul, your mind, and those things aren't touched.”

“But they are!” Cody complained. “I listened to some doctors earlier, and all of a sudden I knew the words they were saying. My head is a dictionary! I didn't even know the name for it until earlier, when I thought about that 'book-of-words' you always keep at home, I knew it was a dictionary, and I am one!”

“I'll talk to the doctors about that, but... you're still you, Cody, not a dictionary,” Jared reassured him.

"But-"

"No buts," Jared told him firmly. "You are my son, not some thing made by doctor's. You are my child, a miracle born of my flesh, and your mother's flesh."

"Then why didn't Mommy love me?" Cody asked.

Choosing his words carefully, Jared was very glad he'd stolen a few minutes here and there to consider this point. He would not lie to his children, if he could avoid it.

"Mommy," he began, "was sick. She had problems that I won't even pretend to understand. She did things she shouldn't have, things that hurt a lot of people."

"There are many things in my life I would change, my son, but in this you may be sure: I love you, and if I had a choice to do it all over again I'd still choose you."

"But Davey said..." Cody started, then stopped.

"Davey?" Jared asked strongly, abruptly upset.

"He and I talked... a bit..." Cody said hesitantly. "He didn't want to, Daddy, I made him..."

"What did he tell you?" Jared demanded.

"I... I asked him about why Mommy left..." Tears started falling down Cody's face. “I asked him about why Mommy went away. He told me she wasn't away, she was... when you said she was gone...” Jared closed his eyes, tears rising. “She's dead, I'm sorry son, I should have been more clear. I should have...” Jared rocked Cody back and forth as they cried.

“He said...” Cody started. “He said he hated Mommy!”

“He's hurt, she left him and-” Jared began.

“No, because of what she did to you!” Cody shouted.

“What did he tell you?” Jared growled, freezing.

“He was talking to that other guy, Corporal Edwards, about her... raping you...” Cody started crying again.

“Oh, Cody,” Jared sighed. “I didn't want you to hear about that yet,” he told his son. “It's not something you should have to worry about.”

“She hurt you Daddy!” Cody cried into his shoulder.

“Yes, she did,” Jared agreed. “What she did was very, very wrong. But what she gave me is worth any cost, any price. Do you know what she gave me?” Cody paused for a few moments, thinking. “Us?”

“Yes, you and Davey. I love you guys, with all my heart,” Jared told his son.

“I love you too, Daddy,” Cody said softly. “But...” “But me no buts,” Jared told him firmly. “I love you. Period the end.”

And Jared was going to keep saying that until it stuck.