Ch 897 - Great, SCOT

Christopher held the thumb drive high in the air as though it were a holy relic.

"This thing is absolutely beautiful," he said, admiring the sleek design. "Why would anybody just hand it to us like that?"

Louis snatched the thumb drive out of Christopher's hand.

"Hey!" Christopher protested.

"Not sorry," said Louis. "We need to find out what's on here, and if it can help us defeat whoever sent the low-budget Hulk after us."

"I'll get my laptop," said Yvonne.

"No," Louis said. "Get mine. It has anti-tracking software and encryption cracking modes on it. We can crack this puppy open in no time with it."

Yvonne nodded and shot up the stairs. Louis placed the thumb drive reverently on the coffee table and sat cross-legged on the floor. He, Christopher, and Debbie all stared at it, trying to make sense of the sleek black plastic object.

"I wonder what's on it," Debbie said, twirling a lock of hair. "Do you think it's a cryptocurrency bank?"

Christopher laughed. "Alex has enough money to buy the world. Why would he need crypto?"

"Well, what's your guess, smarty pants?" Debbie pouted.

"Alien invasion," Christopher said without missing a beat. "It's got to be something super insane if it's being handed to us on a thumb drive."

At that moment, Yvonne returned with Louis's laptop. It was a MacBook Pro which Louis had overclocked to suit his needs. Although it was one of the most powerful computers on Earth, it was still sleek. Louis rested it on the coffee table and booted it up.

[SFX: computer booting up]

He closed all the apps so that it would run as fast as possible. They all gathered around and waited with bated breath as he slid the thumb drive into one of the USB ports.

There was a single pop-up.

[SFX: ping]

It read:

WARNING: Contents of USB Port-C may contain materials hazardous to your device's health. Proceed with scan?

"No, thank you!" Louis grumbled, clicking "no."

He opened up an application on the computer. It was a black background with green lines running up and across the screen. A few more clicks later, and he opened the thumb drive into the application.

[SFX: negative ping]

Another pop-up. It read:

WARNING: Dangerous encryption detected. Shutting down.

[SFX: Computer shutting down]

"No, no, no!" Louis said desperately as his computer shut off. He mashed buttons on the keyboard, plugged it in, and tried a hard restart, but nothing happened. The screen remained blank.

"No!" he wailed, slamming his head against the coffee table. "My life's work was on that laptop!"

As he sobbed into the coffee table, Debbie picked up the thumb drive. It looked like an ordinary thumb drive. Black. Made of plastic. Smooth to the touch. What could be on it that it was powerful enough to break down an overclocked MacBook Pro?

"We're missing something," she said. "There's no way an ordinary thumb drive is that powerful."

Yvonne was by Louis's side, comforting him. "Maybe it just froze it?" she said.

"I'll get mine," said Christopher. He moved to go upstairs, but the girls shouted to stop him.

"No!" Debbie said. "If it killed Louis's overclocked monstrosity of a MacBook, what's it going to do to your factory-settings Lenovo?"

Christopher turned to her and snapped, "What are you expecting to happen? The FBI turn up at our doorstep and demand all the tech we have? If that was going to happen, it would have."

He stormed up the stairs and returned with his black Lenovo laptop. He shoved the distraught Louis's MacBook out of the way and started setting up. Grabbing the thumb drive from Debbie, he blew into it and rubbed it on his shirt. Then he slid it into the USB port.

All was silent. Then…

[SFX: hissing, fizzing, and popping]

"Holy shit!" Christopher cried as smoke poured out the laptop vents. Yanking out the thumb drive, he tossed it to one side and began fanning the burning laptop. Bright blue flames sparked off of it and keys popped off like popcorn. Underneath the rapidly-heating laptop bottom, the wooden coffee table began to singe. Wisps of gray smoke curled around it as the laptop sank deeper into it as if it was mud.

"SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING?" Christopher screamed.

Yvonne darted to the kitchen, searching frantically for the fire extinguisher. Then she kicked herself. Alex had used it against Ethan! Thinking quickly, she grabbed a fire blanket off the wall and threw it over laptop, accidentally catching Christopher underneath the heavy red fire-retardant fabric. Christopher rolled out from under it in a cloud of smoke.

There were still a few pops and mechanical sparks, but the fire stopped. After a few minutes, they pulled up the fire blanket, revealing the melted remains of the laptop. It had melted as it sank into the coffee table and fused with the wood.

"Oh my god," said Debbie, gagging.

"What the hell is on that thumb drive?" Christopher said, exasperated. Then, he looked at the girls. "Do you have your laptops?"

"Are you freaking insane?" Yvonne shouted, picking up one of the fallen laptop keys. "Do you think I want my laptop to become one with the furniture? No, there has to be another way."

"We can't risk another laptop," Louis said. "Debbie, did you even bring yours?"

Debbie shrank back, shaking her head. She was standing far away from the coffee table, hugging herself. Smoke still hung in the air around them. To distract herself, Debbie opened some of the windows to let in some fresh air and dispel the smoke.

"Debbie!" Louis snapped.

"I didn't bring it!" she said, spinning on her heel. "I wanted to spend a few days with my boyfriend, just hiking and being in nature! Why would I bring my laptop?"

Louis shook his head. "Well, we're screwed. How are we supposed to crack open this goddamn thumb drive when even an overclocked MacBook can't handle it?"

They all sighed. Yvonne slumped against the sofa, Christopher and Louis mourned their laptops, and Debbie lounged by an open window.

What would Alex do? She wondered.

Alex would know what to do. He always knew what to do. Even when things were at their worst, he was always able to pull through. Whether he was fighting against super soldiers or coming up with new ideas for businesses, he always came up with an answer. Maybe they were thinking too small. Alex always had an extra thing or two up his sleeve.

It was then that she had a brilliant thought.

"Guys," she said, "follow me. We're going to the basement."

"Why?" Louis asked. "Unless there's a perfect replica of my MacBook down there, I don't see the point."

Debbie bit her lip, unsure how to explain.

Whenever she asked, Alex has been evasive with his answer, but she had seen something on the real estate records. Something about a guy called, 'Scott' who lived in the Baltimore woods.

Only, it had been spelled, S-C-O-T.

SCOT.

The last time they had come to the house together, Alex had kept disappearing into the basement. He would be there for hours at a time, and he would come back upstairs looking a little unnerved but also excited.

Then, the pieces clicked together.

"I don't think your laptop's down there," she said, determined. "But something, or someone, who can help us, probably is."

The others started to protest but Debbie marched past them, through the kitchen, and to the basement door. It was locked by a fingerprint scanner. It would have Alex's fingerprint on file, and it would also have hers. When Alex brought her here for the first time, he had told her she was the only person he could, and would, trust with his life. So, he had made a point to log her fingerprints and retinal scan into the identification system.

"In case something happens to me," he had explained. "It's not ready to show you now, but if something happens to me, or if there's ever an emergency, just go into the basement. What's down there should be able to help you. But you have to promise emergencies only!"

Well, a thumb drive that melted and killed laptops certainly constituted an emergency.

She pressed her finger against the scanner. A green light flashed, and the door clicked open. The others filed in behind her as they descended into the dark and dreary basement.

Lights went up all around them. Broad consoles and monitors lined the walls. The monitors lit up, and a face appeared on the one nearest to them.

"Greetings, Debbie Clifton," it said in a masculine voice.

"Oh my god!" Yvonne shouted, jumping behind Christopher.

"What the hell is that thing?" Louis asked, taking on a defensive posture.

Debbie looked up at the computer-generated face with wonder.

"It's an artificial intelligence," Debbie said softly. "Wow. Alex was always interested in making technological progress. I didn't realize he could build something so sophisticated!"

"I am very flattered, Miss Clifton," said the AI. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Secret and Covert Operation Telecommunications. You may call me, SCOT."

"This is incredible," Christopher marveled. He cast a sweeping look around the room. "What is all of this? And why is it in the basement?"

SCOT's face transferred to a smaller monitor on a table by Christopher's left arm.

Christopher jumped back a little but settled soon after.

"I have that effect on people," SCOT said, then laughed. "I kid. I have only ever known Master Ambrose. And now I know you all. Miss Clifton, you are in my database as Master Ambrose's emergency contact. Yvonne, Christopher, Louis, yes I know you too. Not as well as I know Master Ambrose and Miss Clifton, but well enough that I know my Master wants to keep you safe."

Debbie could not get over the fact that the AI laughed. Sure, the sound was hollow and lacked emotion, but the mere fact that it could laugh was incredible. And the animation was so lifelike! How had Alex managed to capture such humanity in a computer-generated face?

"As for the whys of the situation," said SCOT, "I am sure you are aware that my Master's life is in grave danger on a regular basis. He created me to keep his safe house, well, safe. It is my duty to block all traceable signals within the house, and a ten-mile perimeter in the surrounding area. As to why I'm in the basement, the answer is simple: there was more room down here. You can see that I'm not a small piece of machinery. I require a great deal of room to operate, although Master Ambrose has been working on a way to make me more portable."

The computer-generated face smiled to signal that he was finished.

"Are you why my laptop exploded?" Christopher asked.

"Regrettably," said SCOT. "The contents of the thumb drive left by our mysterious yet friendly visitor may pose a risk and broadcast our location from your laptop."

Debbie thought for a moment. "Can you crack it open?"

"Hey, that's not a bad idea," said Yvonne. She turned to the monitor that displayed SCOT's face. "You can block all the incoming and outgoing signals as you break it open!"

SCOT made a face that looked like he was thinking. Debbie couldn't help but stare. It was incredible. Alex had gotten so much right. The arch of the eyebrow, the way the eyes looked up and to the side as SCOT was thinking, even the purse of the lips.

SCOT looked back at them.

"Yes," he said. "I believe this is something I'm capable of doing. However, I cannot promise that the results will be what you expect."

"Any results are results," Louis grumbled. "Crap! We left it upstairs. Be right back."

He raced up the stairs and retrieved the thumb drive. Then, he slotted it into one of the USB slots beneath the monitor where SCOT's face floated against a black screen. SCOT froze for a moment, his green eyes going white. Debbie's heart pounded, fearing they had lost him. Then, SCOT blinked and his eyes returned to normal.

"Ah," he said. "This is a most unusual drive. Yes, I believe I can decrypt the base layer of decryptions."

"Base layer?" Louis asked. "You mean..?"

SCOT nodded. "Yes, there are multiple layers of encryption to this drive. Without Master Ambrose, I will be unable to decrypt more than the first hundred or so files."

Yvonne huddled behind the group, in awe of the AI face that was speaking to them.

"Then we should wait until Alex gets back," said Christopher. "Do we want to know some of what's on there, or all of it?"

"No," Debbie said firmly. "SCOT, decrypt the files that you can. When Alex gets back, we can work out the rest."

"Okie dokie!" said SCOT. "This will take but a few minutes."

SCOT's face froze again. This time, his eyes remained green, and he looked like an ordinary picture of an ordinary person. Impressive though it was, it was also terrifying. SCOT sounded so much like a real person that Debbie wondered if he was, indeed, a real person trapped in a computer. A series of whirring sounds emanating from the monitor proved her wrong, but also added to the effect.

SCOT blinked. "The results are ready."

All around them, the monitors blinked to life. Images of the 53 people who had gone missing occupied most of them. But there were also screenshots of forum posts, and images of documents. Debbie's jaw dropped as she approached a monitor the size of a television.

"Oh my…" she gasped. The image was a document, detailing several lists of "desired characteristics." They included size, stature, hair color, build, approximate weights and heights.

"Guy!" Yvonne squeaked. "It's Ethan!"

The others rushed to Yvonne's side. She stood in front of one of the smaller monitors, her eyes wide and cheeks pale. On the screen was a picture of Ethan, at what Debbie assumed to be his normal height and weight. Ethan had been kind of tall, with a slim build, and a round cheerful face. It was nothing like the deformed monstrosity who had attacked them the day before.

"So that's what he looked like," Louis said absent-mindedly. "I wonder what happened to him."

"Something rather horrible, I expect!" Quipped SCOT, appearing on the monitor next to the one they were looking at.

Great. SCOT could quip.

Fear bubbled in Debbie's stomach as she stared down at the picture of Ethan.

"Oh," she whimpered, "What would Alex do?"