Computerized

Chapter Twenty One: Conference Room A

My eyes scanned the huge room. A large rectangular table was situated in the middle with chairs positioned all around it. A large flatscreen television hung on the wall. Anton and Hannah had already arrived in the conference room and were sitting to the left of the table.

Ty and I took our seats across from them while people slowly started to file in. Bert, Whitney, and Kyran were the first to enter. Then Ella entered after them, and everyone else who came in I didn't know. There were fourteen people in the room, all seated at tables holding notebooks and clipboards. Bert stood next to the t.v and cleared his throat, getting all of our attention.

"Good morning everyone. So, today is a long awaited day. Seventeen years ago we had a huge scientific break through. I'm sure many of you remember the day clearly. It was an incredible accomplishment for us. My team and I were able to connect a highly advanced technological computer chip to the human brain. The result, giving these humans computer like abilities- but we did more than that."

"Joining us today are Ty and Rebecca, the two people we preformed the surgery on. Up until a few months ago everything had gone fine. Both Rebecca and Ty had developed correctly, their chips developing along with them. But, something interfered  with the proper development of Ty's chip and we have to figure it out and fix it before we move forward with our experiment."

I almost choked on my water. Move forward with our experiment. I thought the experiment was over, and frankly, I wasn't to happy about being an experiment. We weren't rats. We are humans.

"Excuse me? What exactly do you mean by moving forward with your experiment?" I asked using my fingers as quotation marks.

Bert lit up like a lightbulb his friendly grin reaching his eyes. "Now that is a good question. But first, let me introduce you to my team. You'll be working with them a lot."

"You've met Whitney, Kyran, and Ella. This is Albert, Georgia, Anders, Mike, Jessica, and Xavier." We all greeted each other, shaking hands and saying a quick hello. Then everyone was dismissed besides Kyran and Whitney.

"Okay, so I suppose this is the part where I explain to you everything that has happened, huh?" Bert chuckled.

"Yeah, it is. Don't leave anything out," Ty retorted sending and icy glare Bert's way.

Bert held his hand up in surrender and began, "I have worked as a neurosurgeon for many years, longer than any of you teenagers have been alive. And, while I was working at the hospital in California I made a scientific discovery as you know. I continued to investigate and experiment with this discovery, slowly developing it along with my team of scientists. When I thought I'd figured it out I implanted a chip into Anton. This was a year before you two came along."

"The chip worked, so of course I continued research and continued to develop the chips. The technical term for the chips is a neuroprosthetic, but that's a mouthful so we like to refer to them simply as chips. I bettered the chips and about a year later the second model was complete. That morning I was working at the hospital and Rebecca's mother died. I seen a chance and I took it. That is when I told everyone you had a birth defect and implanted the chip."

"That same day though, Ty was brought to the hospital. A teenage girl had carried him inside, given him to the receptionist, and took off. We still to this day think that the girl was his mother. That girl was fifteen years old. I didn't tell anyone about Ty though. I just brought him into surgery, managing to stay hidden. The surgery is really quite quick and easy, but it has to be done when a child is just born to work fully."

"Two weeks later I was working late one night in the hospital, doing more research on my experiment and a couple interns and one of my colleagues noticed something strange in the files and logs. They came to talk to me about it and seen the secret research I was working on. Of course they got incredibly suspicious and we're slowly piecing all the clues and information together. So, I took my team of scientists and we relocated here in Montana. It seemed like the best place, it's isolated which is perfect."

"We have now heard that my colleagues and the police have figured out I had something to do with the day long disappearance of the both of you. It's not often a doctor is arrested or jailed for malpractice, but in my case, if they figured the entire thing out and found me, I would surely go to jail. That is why I am in hiding," Dr. Belford paused from explaining.

"Okay, how did you know Ty was having episodes?" I asked.

"Well, I sent two agents from my team out to watch and protect you secretly. But, I also have your vitals, records, and information on computer monitors. I could tell Ty's chip was malfunctioning and I knew when and for how long."

I was trying to process all this information. How did I not know there was an agent watching me my entire life?

"Can you fix my chip?" Ty questioned eagerly.

Bert nodded. "I believe so, but before I do I need to see you have an episode personally, and get more information. I have electronic sensors that my team built. They are programmed to coordinate with your chip, which will get me the information I need when you have your  episode."

Ty, Hannah, and I nodded. I glanced at Ty flashing back to something he'd said the first time I met him.

"Um, Bert, what exactly can we do with these chips? Anton said he's had training to master the abilities of his chip and Ty told me that if the government knew what we did and what we could do, they'd come after us."

"Both of them are correct. When I built your chips I didn't do so just so you could have a photographic memory. That wouldn't be worth it. I programmed those chips to slowly develop as your mind and body did. Now that you are all nearly adults, I can activate the second part of your chip. And, if the government knew what kind of information could be stored in those chips and the extent of things you three could do, they would want you," Bert answered.

"What exactly is the second part of our chips? What does it do?" Ty asked.

"I will tell you soon, I promise. But first, you need to learn how to control the abilities you have now and our main concern is fixing your chip so that you are fully healthy."

Ty frowned but didn't push any further.

"Whitney has printed out a schedule, map, and plan for your next few days here. You will receive training up until we find a way to fix Ty's chip and then we can continue with your training and teaching."

Whitney sauntered forward several files in her hand. "Hannah, although you don't have a chip we still think it would be good for you to take a self defense course and attend some classes that will inform you of your sister and Ty's abilities," Whitney said. She handed Hannah a gold folder. She then handed Ty a black folder and me a purple. Anton was already holding a red folder in his hands.

"You're dismissed but remember to show up to every thing scheduled for you!" Bert announced ushering us outside.

I flipped open the front page of the folder. The first thing that was in there was my schedule, and below that was a map. I scanned over the map for a few seconds noticing that there was a gym, arcade, and pool. A grin found its way onto my face.

"Hey guys, I don't have anything scheduled until this afternoon. Do you want to go to the pool?" I suggested. Ty agreed followed by Hannah and Anton. We all headed up to are rooms.

I shut the door behind me heading towards the closet. I found the swimsuits in a pile on the second to bottom shelf. I chose a floral bikini and tied my hair up into a bun on the top of my head. I grabbed a soft white towel and draped it over my arm.

Before I left my phone beeped. The screen lit up with a new text message.

Unknown Number:

Help me. Pls. Rebecca pls.

I narrowed my eyes. The message seemed rushed, like someone was after them and they didn't have enough time to explain. But, I didn't know who the message was from. Sighing, I set my phone back down on the table and decided to ignore the message for the time being. I'd talk to Ty about it later, but for now, I wanted to enjoy the pool.