Ana

End of Part I

"Then, why haven't you done something about it?"

"I am about to do something about it. And when you see what I'm going to do, you'll be glad the Russians ended up with the bed instead of the Americans." His tone would have chilled the dead.

"What do you mean by that?"

Tom took a deep breath and looked out through the transparent wall at the silhouette of the Earth hovering just over the horizon. The Earth was peaking over the lunar mountains as if to keep watch on them.

"I was quite clear that the bed was not to leave the hospital."

In a few minutes he would send a message that would forever change how secure every man and woman on the planet felt. After this, they would always have some fear in the back of their minds because they would know there was a power beyond their control, a power so far beyond their understanding that they would not be able to conceive of a defense against it. Tom knew that this single act of terror, performed at his command, might taint his soul forever.

Naomi interrupted his dark thoughts. "You infected them didn't you? The same way you took out the Washington Headquarters."

"Actually, I didn't know about the Washington attack until after it happened. This next act, however, Ana and I planned together."

Naomi burst out, "I wish you'd quit talking about the computer like it's alive. It's a damn machine. Don't try and blame it for your schemes."

A machine? Ana had been his online gaming friend for too long for him to completely accept that she was a machine. He was certain that his vision of Ana was much more accurate than Naomi's cold assertion that she was only an unfeeling collection of processors. He looked into her hard set face while he prepared to explain the eminent doom he would unleash.

"Ok, I'll tell you everything. Like I said, I didn't know about the attack Ana committed on Washington until after it was over. Then she explained to me why it was necessary and why more action was needed to secure our future, because, after her initial attack on the CIA headquarters, there were still some parts of the CIA that Ana couldn't get in to that were going to become a problem if we didn't deal with them soon. Ana showed me a few possible courses of action and I chose this one because there was also a chance for her to get into the Russian secret service section that was also isolated from her. That is what I've been waiting for before I act. She told me about an hour ago that she's in. One important difference between this and her attack on Washington is that, this time she's going to say hidden in the systems so they don't know she has access."

Heidi leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, you'll never get that bed back from the Russians without a fight and I'm sure they'll do everything they can to keep it."

Tom nodded. "You're right about that. They put it deep underground in a military base with a full brigade guarding it."

"That's just great," Naomi said obviously exasperated. "Just fucking great." She took out a yellow cigarette which ignited instantly when she took a drag from it. It began filling the area with the fragrance of lemons. "Was that also part of your plan?"

Tom was unfazed. "In a way, it was. Ana predicted that would happen and that's exactly why we put a small amount of anti-matter in the bed. I'm about to give the order for it to self-destruct."

Both girls started yelling at him at the same time making it difficult for him to explain. They were mostly concerned about the Russians retaliating against them so he focused on easing that concern first. "Don't worry about them attacking us here. I asked Ana to modify one of the mining lasers so we could use it to defend the moon base from anything the Russians can send at us." For some reason this didn't calm the girls at all. Again, they both assaulted him with a barrage of questions. Tom turned away from them in frustration and said, "Screw it. Ana start the Tiger program now."