Jo-el

EPILOGUE

On the planet Cirion.

“Eve, what’s up?”

“It didn’t work!”

“What?”

“My project.”

“What are you talking about?”

Eve turned to her father and frowned. What is it with grown-ups? Why do I have to tell them everything? I’m old enough now to have my own life. Her shoulders sank as she realized she would have to explain; you couldn’t hide your actions on Cirion. Her father could just as easily review what she’d been working on later, in his own time. But that might not be good, she wanted to spin it her way. She crossed the patio and slumped down in her usual place, opposite the viewing window, her face fell forward and she folded her arms. Her father came over and sat close by, he didn’t say anything, he just waited. She knew he would do that, she hated it, but that’s what he always did. Thought it was proper parenting or something, let the child tell it in their own way. What crap!

How could she get through this quickly and leave? Rach was going to the Zone and she wanted to go too. Now!

“I rebooted the computers on Earth.”

Her father twisted his head toward her, his eyebrows raised just enough. She knew the next word out of his mouth.

“Why?” Typical.

Eve struggled in her mind how to explain in the simplest terms so that he would just nod once or twice, which would indicate acceptance of her actions and she could get away. She knew the project had failed and she’d have to either pass it over or rework it. It had been almost two months of time wasted. She couldn’t turn in a report that left no further action required. The stupid planet was doomed and she had thought her idea to save it was brilliant.

She enjoyed Social Engineering as a subject and was excited to move onto a real-life situation. She’d picked a doozy. I mean the planet was outside of the vector, way outside and about to be wiped out by a Galactic Storm. So far away that probably no one alive on Cirion today would have even heard of it. A lost cause. Another do-gooders project of millions of years past, just forgotten. And she was going to rescue the billions of humans living there and find them a new home. What a challenge? They were so backwards. It was all set up. Her plan was so simple, give them the technology to leave before the storm hit and find them somewhere to go. They had almost sixty years. All she had to do was set the thing in motion and write it up and she would ace Social Engineering and tick that one off her list. Now she had to find another project or rework the Earth project. Her plan had failed and that wouldn’t earn her a pass mark. She ran the problem around in her head. She realized the software of yesteryear had issues, even with the update thirty million years ago. But she couldn’t fathom why the stupid computer had diverted so much power to creating its own mass. In some way it amused Eve that a computer would even want to be human, how ridiculous. It must have been because of that Earth male she’d picked, his deep sexual needs. How was she to know? Weird. Adults were such jerks. Well it got you killed, or I think it did. She didn’t really know; she’d hit re-boot and lost contact.

Eve’s mouth widened a touch into a faint smile, she had an idea how to fix it. But first she’d have to placate her father, Ka-el.