Ana

CH 12

Tom decided he would take a detour on the way back to Texas. He might as well take the spaceship for a little joyride and go someplace he’s wanted to visit for a long time. After all, he had the whole weekend to test Ana’s willingness to follow his orders before he had to go back to work.

Later that day, Tom stepped out into the cool Canadian air of a valley north of Calgary. He took a deep breath of fresh air and admired the view of mountains that still had snow covering parts of them even at this time of the year. He donned a jacket that Ana made for him and took a leisurely walk through the beautiful forest until he spotted a small lake cradled between the mountains.

Tom looked at the band on his wrist that Ana had given him. Would it work away from the ship? He held it close to his mouth and said, “Ana, how many people are in the area around the lake?”

“There are four people near the edge of the lake but no others for miles,” Ana said.

This bracelet was going to be handy. Tom looked around the lake to locate where the people she mentioned were but couldn’t see well enough through the trees. “Are they on this side?”

“I can show you on a map if you like.”

“Sure, go ahead.” Tom held his arm with the strap in front of him and soon he was looking at a holographic representation of the area around the lake with a blue dot on one side that he assumed represented him and a small grouping of green dots on the far side of the lake that must be the other people she had mentioned.

Tom pointed at the green dots and said, “Can you zoom in on them please?”

The image zoomed in such that he could see individual people, including a young couple in the shallow part of the lake. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were naked. Brave souls in this temperature he thought. But how did her map turn into a video image.

“I’m confused. How are you getting this image?”

“These are computer generated models based on information gathered using probes from the ship, orbital sensors, photos of the individuals on file and other information I’m able to obtain from human computer systems. I can render models in a high enough resolution that they look like optic videos but are much more accurate,” Ana said.

“More accurate, how do you mean?”

“My probes don’t only rely on optical information in the way human satellites do. They use high frequency sonar like bats along with micro wave emitters and infrared thermography which lets me gather enough information to form much more detailed models than what visual information would provide. For instance, I can tell you the body temperature and pulse rate of each person by the lake.”

As he watched, the couple got out of the cold water and ran to some blankets next to a campfire. The other couple he had thought were napping were actually hard at work generating their own heat together under their blanket. The scene made him wish he had been able to bring Naomi with him. What was he going to tell her? What could he tell her? He decided that, for now, he was going to say nothing to anyone about this. Not until he had a better understanding of what Ana’s intentions were.

He watched the foursome for a little while longer before he ended Ana’s projection and continued his walk alone through the peaceful countryside. The trip to the moon seemed almost a surreal dream in this setting. What should he do next? If Ana was going to do whatever he asked, there ought to be something useful he could do with the vast information she seemed to have access too. It should be easy to become the world’s greatest spy with the kind of abilities she had shown so far, but for what purpose? He wasn’t a politically motivated person. Perhaps he could help track down terrorist. Ana might already be trying to lead him in that direction when she took him to the bomb in the Philippines.