The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (4 page)

“
Yes, Dad,” she replied with a
sigh.

“
But honey, what they teach you
in 7th grade is much more advanced than what they normally teach,
you know this right?”

Jade continued to type, “Whatever, Dad.”

“
Well, I guess my 7th grade
experience was a little more low tech.”

“
Yeah, like no tech. I’m almost
done.”

Just before she finished a
holographical avatar of a middle-aged man seven inches tall
appeared on a cylindrical platform in the kitchen and said, “Call
for Mr. Cade.”

“
Thanks for doing this Jade. I’ll
be right back, I have to take this.”

“
Ok, well hurry up, I have to get
going. And I still need a ride to the hover rail or I’ll be late
for school,” replied Jade as she typed the last of the
commands.

“
I’ll be just a second,” yelled Spencer from
the other room.

Jade told the console to close
and yelled back, “I’ll be outside in the parking garage waiting,”
as she grabbed her bag, and ran out the front door.

“
Hello Peter, what do you want,” said Spencer
as he looked at the hologram.

“
Sorry to bother you on your day off, we just
wanted to know if you could come in later today and work Jennifer’s
shift, she booked sick.”

“
No, I can’t.”

“
Are you sure? We’ve already
received nineteen cyber tips, and it’s looking like five of them
will lead to an arrest.”

“
Yeah well, if you want me to
keep my sanity, I suggest you find someone else. Call Robert, he
could use the extra hours and certainly the training.”

“
Are you joking? Robert has the personality of
a dead snail.”

“
You’re the one who promoted him
to the unit. See you tomorrow. Bye,” said Spencer as the hologram
faded away while calling out, “Spencer, but wait …”

Spencer grabbed his coat and
walked towards the front door as he mumbled to himself, “Ever since
the Federal Government took control of this task force they think
they can just call you up at anytime and assume you’re willing to
drop everything to run and help.”

After he realized there was
nothing he could do, Spencer thought, “I’ll just have to stand my
ground. It’s a paycheck.” As Spencer left he called out, “Have a
good day HICAMS, I know I will.”

HICAMS replied, “You too, my
Royal Highness and Champion of all who walk this Earth.”

Spencer paused for a second then yelled, “Jade,
that’s not funny, you will most certainly change that when you get
home tonight!”

Who Controls Whom

Spencer ran to the elevator to
catch up with Jade, but just missed it, so instead of waiting he
decided to take the stairs. In a rush to beat Jade to the parking
lot, he ran past a female, who appeared to be in her mid twenties.
Spencer was certain he had recognized her from his past. Once he
was confident enough, he immediately stopped and felt an
irresistible need to find out what she was doing in the stairwell
of the building. Spencer turned around, headed back up, and
followed her into the elevator lobby of his floor.

Once Spencer opened the stairwell
door, she stopped, briefly turned to face him, but did not say a
word. While he approached her, he realized he had never seen anyone
as beautiful. She quickly glanced at him again, out of the corner
of her eye, and gave the slightest hint of a smile, while she
continued to walk down the hallway. Spencer took this as a sign of
flirtation, as he continued to study her jet-black hair, which
passed her shoulders in a flow of waves, as he asked himself,
“Where do I know her from?”

Astounded by how her eyes briefly
looked at him Spencer stood there in awe. They were wide, turquoise
in color, with dark black eye lashes, surrounded by purple
eyeliner. Her flawless skin was light bronze. She wore a black
glossy shirt, which came down to her belly button and displayed a
pattern of silvery figure eights. Her pants were as black as her
hair and defined the curves of her body perfectly. The top two
buttons of her shirt were undone, and exposed a silver and gold
necklace with three oval teardrops that pointed downward, all
connected by a silver chain. The entire necklace draped down the
exterior of her clothing and stopped just past her exposed belly
button. She wore open toed black heels with three black leather
straps over the middle and one wrapped around her ankles. A solid
dark purple nail polish overlaid both her fingernails and toenails.
What Spencer admired the most, was on the right side of her lower
stomach. Approximately three inches in length was an oval shaped
tattoo. In the middle were three wavy lines one yellow, one blue,
and one green, all which circled a single orange star. The backdrop
of this tattoo was white and outlined in black. Spencer did not
comprehend what the tattoos meant, but felt he had seen them
before.

As he approached her, he tried to
keep eye contact, but could not resist in taking the occasional
glance towards her cleavage.

“
Good morning,” she said.

“
Um, good morning,” replied Spencer stumbling
for words.

“
Is there a problem?”

“
Oh, um yes, no, I mean no,” as
he tried to recover. “I was just noticing that I had never seen you
here before.”

“
Ok,” she said with a confused
look.

Spencer quickly realized what he was saying really
did not come out the way he wanted it to. “No, I mean you must be
new here, I’ve never seen you before.”

“
I may be,” she replied with a
tone of caution, with a quick follow up, “And you are?”

“
I’m sorry you must think I’m some type of
stalker or something,” said Spencer with a shy grin.

“
The thought had crossed my mind.”

“
My name is Spencer, Spencer Cade, I live in
the condo right down the hall, number 29.”

“
Nice to meet you, my name is
Serafina.”

“
Serafina,” Spencer repeated.

“
Yes, is that ok?”

“
Sure! I just never met anyone with that name
before, that’s all.”

“
Well, now you have.”

“
So did you just move in or something?” asked
Spencer.

“
No, I am just visiting a friend.”

“
Really? Who is your friend? I may know
them.”

“
I am sure you do. It was nice meeting you,
now I must be going. Goodbye,” said Serafina
disinterestedly.

“
Sure you do, I understand. So do I, my
daughter is outside waiting for…” Spencer paused then added,
“That’s my motherless daughter is outside waiting for
me.”

“
Motherless daughter?” asked
Serafina.

“
That didn’t come out right, I
mean it did, but I should’ve phrased it a little bit different,”
stumbled Spencer.

“
Are you nervous?” asked Serafina.

“
Oh no, I just haven’t had my daily dose of
caffeine yet, so I’m a little on edge.”

“
Of course,” Serafina said. And
after an awkward pause, she replied, “Ok, I will bite, why is your
daughter motherless?”

At this point, Spencer came to the realization that
he had screwed up royally on his introduction so he figured he
might as well play it out. “Well since you asked…”

Out of shear politeness Serafina
just stood there and nodded, as he continued, “You see my wife left
my daughter and I eleven years ago. Three months after her leaving
us, she was committed to a mental institution, and seven months
after that she took her own life.”

“
Well I guess when you do something like leave
your family, karma will certainly come back and haunt you,” said
Serafina without a care in the world.

“
Karma? I never really thought of it from that
perspective,” said Spencer.

“
So, is that your normal opening
line when you meet a woman for the first time?” asked
Serafina.

“
No, I guess I’m just a little
nervous and that was the first thing that came to mind.”

“
Does mental illness run in the family because
you seem to carry a little of it yourself,” laughed
Serafina.

“
No, it doesn’t, and I don’t appreciate you
laughing about it, nor do I like the fact you’re taking it so
lightly,” snapped Spencer.

“
Listen, I did not start this
conversation, if you are trying to look for sympathy you are
talking to the wrong person. I cannot say it was a pleasure meeting
you so I am not going to. Goodbye!”

After Serafina turned her back
towards Spencer, she walked off as he just stood there in
astonishment. Never has a woman talked to him in such a direct and
precise manner, and for some strange unknown reason he found it to
be the ultimate emotional stir. He realized he needed to say
something fast, in order to keep her from leaving, so he blurted,
“Well it was a pleasure for me to meet you. I like your tattoo.
Will I see you again?”

Serafina turned around out of
pity, gave Spencer a slight grin, and said, “I do not know. The
galaxy is a big place.” After she spoke Serafina turned the corner
and disappeared from Spencer’s view.

“
What? The galaxy is a big place,” Spencer
asked himself. “I’m such an idiot, I like your tattoo, and
motherless daughter…” as he started to question the words that had
previously poured out of his mouth uncontrollably. Spencer knew he
could have conversed better, so he decided to give it a second
chance and pursued her down the hallway. He looked around, but
could not find her anywhere. It was as if this mysterious beautiful
woman just vanished.

The building Spencer lived in had
forty-one floors. The majority of the floors had eight condominiums
excluding the basement and lobby. The seventh floor housed the pool
and the forty-first floor was the penthouse. The elevators ran up
the center of the building with four hallways that intersect. The
floor design that encompassed the condominiums was equivalent to a
large plus sign with two housing units in each quadrant. The floors
exhibit different colors in order for the occupants to
differentiate them from one another. Spencer’s floor was olive with
holoscreens in the hallway, which constantly showed the weather and
building activities for that month.

Spencer immediately ran to the
first neighbor’s door, knocked, and cried out, “Hello.”

“
Who’s there?” yelled back a
grumpy old man.

“
I’m sorry to bother you Mr. Sozek, but did
you just have someone come into your condo a minute
ago?”

“
What?” yelled back Mr. Sozek even more
disturbed as before.

“
Again, I’m sorry, but was
wondering if someone just came …”

Mr. Sozek interrupted, “I heard you the first time.
I’m old, not deaf and the answer to your foolish question is no!
The only one here is me.”

Mr. Sozek called out, “View,” and
a small rectangle approximately five inches by five inches appeared
on his side of the door. This allowed him to view Spencer, but did
not allow Spencer the returned ability.

“
Mr. Sozek are you sure …”

Spencer was cut off yet again,
“Spencer is that you? What do you want? Don’t you realize I fall
asleep around dawn? Now go away! No one came into my
house!”

“
I’m so sorry to bother you, but
if you see a really attractive women with jet black hair and
turquoise eyes can you try and find out where she’s staying or what
she’s doing in our building and then give me a call?” asked Spencer
nicely.

“
Are you insane? If I see anyone remotely
attractive in this building the last thing I’m going to do is call
you,” laughed Mr. Sozek.

“
Yeah, well, ok then. Thanks,
have a great day, you perverted old man,” mumbled Spencer as he
walked away.

“
Pervert! You get back here! How
dare you wake up an old man who needs his sleep, ask foolish
questions about some strange women, and then call him a pervert.
I’m not the one looking for strange women, you are. You’re the
pervert. Pervert!”

Fortunately, for Spencer, he was
able to escape earshot before he heard Mr. Sozek throw out his
remaining insults.

Spencer thought, “Well, she must
have walked into Mrs. North’s condo. It’s the only other residence
off this hallway. I bet that’s Mrs. North’s granddaughter,” as he
continued to walk down the hallway towards her
condominium.

When Spencer approached the front door, Mrs. North’s
HICAMS greeted him. “Good morning, may I help?”

“
I was wondering if Mrs. North was home?”
asked Spencer.

“
I do apologize, but I have been
informed by Mrs. North to advise subjects that she will be out of
the country for the next week. Please state any inquires and I will
be sure to relay them to Mrs. North upon her return.”

“
Ok, well I was wondering if anyone had just
entered her apartment or if anyone may be staying here while she is
gone,” asked Spencer in a more cordial voice.

“
I do apologize, Mr. Cade, but the information
you are requesting will not be forth coming, have a splendid
day.”