So the cataract surgery worked—yay! and I am now back to posting. Note: no posts the week of Thanksgiving.

With this segment of Chapter Sixteen of Repairing the Legacy, we continue the serialization of Repairing the Legacy. This is a rough draft work in progress and may not reflect the final form. Time period: set after the ending of The Martiniere Legacy main trilogy. I’m breaking longer chapters into sections for readability. This is the fifth part of Chapter Sixteen. There will be six parts to this chapter.

New to the series? Chapter order:

Chapter One, Section One

Return of the Prodigal Son (2 parts)

Conversations and a Dinner (2 parts)

Dancing into Change (2 parts)

Sisterly Compromises (3 parts)

Conspiracies at the Rodeo (3 parts)

Passing the Baton (4 parts)

Research Complications (3 parts)

Chasing After Shadows (3 parts)

Fifth Anniversary Present (3 parts)

Mariah (5 parts)

Shadows, Redux (3 parts)

Accidents Happen (4 parts)

Maternal Memories (4 parts)

A Voice…Weeping for their Children (6 parts)

Winding Down the Years (4 parts)

August, 2073

GABE

Gabrielle tweaked Gabe’s protective programs, which made it easier for them to exchange videos through a process he still didn’t understand. They just—appeared—in his email. And for whatever reason, if he responded directly to her emails, they went through. If he tried to write a new email to the same address, delivery failed.

He created the necessary algorithm over two weeks, detailing the process in short videos that he stuck along various online nodes. Gabe’s awareness of digital life shifted as he built the digital clone version of himself. Sometimes, he almost felt like he was inside the digital world, and could almost—but not quite—reach to Gabrielle in that manner. She didn’t seem to have that blockage.

As August temperatures soared, Gabe and Mike retreated to their inside offices, so he had more privacy. But he had to be careful. If Ruby came into his office and asked what he was doing—his growing knowledge of how digital information flowed helped him identify several holes in his protections that Philip could breach and he couldn’t block. He couldn’t tolerate many more times being shot by Philip. Sooner or later, those incidents would weaken him enough that he would die.

There were times when he wondered what he was really doing. Was Gabrielle just an old man’s fancy, as he slid into delusions?

Hard to say.

But if these were delusions—well, except for Philip shooting him, they were pleasant ones.

#

Gaby—Do you think it’s safe to tell Ruby, Brandon, Justine, and Mike about digital thought clones? They need to know.—Papa.

Father—better we wait until it’s finished. You only have a few more tweaks. The clone version of you is more realistic now.—Gaby.

Somehow, Gabe couldn’t imagine his daughter and Ruby’s calling him Father. Gaby just shrugged it off by saying that she was more comfortable calling him that. She had always thought of him as Father, not Dad or Papa.

He kept recording videos, structured now toward Ruby, Justine, Brandon, or Mike, dealing with branched likelihoods. He didn’t mention anything about multiverses, or different worlds—that might be too farfetched for any of them to believe. Getting them to accept digital thought clones would be difficult enough.

Gaby identified the location of Philip’s mind control programs that were the foundation of his digital clone as being in Gabe’s universe. Where—she wasn’t certain.

But it was the source of that damned worm that had caused them so much grief.

The worm that had something to do with Lily’s escalating decline.

Gabe raged—quietly—when he learned that. It was almost enough to risk telling Ruby and Brandon.

Not yet, Gaby kept saying. You’re not strong enough to survive digitally if he attacks you there. We need to keep building the algorithm.

#

The final breakthrough happened on the morning of the thirteenth anniversary of his and Ruby’s second marriage.

Father—it’s not perfect, but I can’t completely activate you as a digital clone. It has to happen in your world. You need to designate two live persons to type a code word into a prompt—your choice. I recommend several options for the persons, just because I’m seeing evidence of trauma in Philip’s notes. It may take you a while to adjust to digital life before you can completely transition, and they have to be alive when you’re ready.—Gaby.

Gabe contemplated his choices.

He picked a word—fulfillment. Then he made more videos, to cover several contingencies.

Gaby—it’s done. Now do you think it’s safe to tell Ruby, Brandon, Justine, and Mike about digital thought clones?—Papa.

He didn’t get an answer until it was time to go upstairs and change for their anniversary dinner.

Father—if you must. Please be careful, Papa. I love you.—Gaby.

Gabe scratched his chin thoughtfully.

Then he went upstairs, to tell Ruby everything he had learned.

Share Martiniere Stories

Leave a comment