At the top of the stairs, there was the sound of a door slamming, then the pointed stomping of feet of someone coming down the steps.  A young woman in a trenchcoat and wearing leather gloves reached the bottom of the stairs.  She looked around, then proceeded straight to Dr. Zack.  She held a broken bottle in her hand.

Normally, Dr. Zack would have gone into attack mode, using the Olympic pistol in the shoulder holster he was wearing.  Instead, he tossed a glance backwards at the newcomer, "Ah!  Erin!  I thought so, from the lack of burglar alarms."

Erin stopped and shook the bottle at him, "THIS," she stated, "is a CRIME!"

He glanced at the bottle, "What?"

"THIS was a pefectly good bottle of Smirnoff, and you used it like a minnow at the end of a fishing line!"

"Oh yes, my little diversion.  A bottle of good liquor at the end of a retracting line that was intended to lead you on a merry chase through my garden.  Did it keep you occupied for at least four minutes?"

"Two."

"Darn!  What happened?"

"It whipped against the wall when you made it reverse and come back between my feet after it disappeared behind the lawn mower shed!"

"Then you didn't make it to the rose bushes or the holly?"

"Oh spare me!" she rolled her eyes.  She tossed the bottle into the trash can, "Well, I guess I'll admit it DID keep me occupied for five minutes."

"Five?  Why did you say two?"

"I chased after it for two minutes, then cried after it broke for another three." she perked up when she saw what was on the computer screen, "What's that?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

She pulled up a chair and sat down beside Dr. Zack.  She looked at the mess of wires, "Embedded computer?"

"Yes.  In that helmet."

"Wacky looking." Erin leaned over to inspect it more closely.

"It should.  It was created by Jose Von Richter."

"Shouldda known!  So what is it?  An improved video game display for the perverted little addict?  Or was that the addicted little pervert?"

"Whatever.  Actually, it was used to control six of Meridiana's best policemen and detectives, forcing them to hunt down and kill Cybersix with those." he waved.  Erin's eyes followed to the pile of sleek looking rifles on a nearby table.  She whistled, got up, went over to the table, and picked one up.

"Woah!  Laser!" she sighted down the gunbarrel.

"Not very efficient.  You could probably get four or five shots from the battery."

Erin looked around and saw a pile of the helmets on another table.  She glanced between the two piles, "Five helmets, but only four laser rifles?  Where's the rest?"

"It looks as if a helmet and a rifle were lost when Jose's operation got shut down.  I don't know where the fifth laser rifle is.  That's what's got me worried."

"Where'd you get all of it anyhow?"

"Apparently, the helmets were radio-connected taps to a central computer that enforced obedience.  When the control center containing the computer was destroyed, Jose's control over the policemen and detectives were broken.  They turned the equipment in as evidence for an investigation."

"Ah!  And you picked it up at a bargain price!" Erin grinned.

"Wish I'd gotten all the pieces!  There's a bit of high-tech weaponry out there unaccounted for.  Hope it doesn't come back to haunt us."

"Umm." Erin nodded, "Soooo, why are YOU interested in that?" she asked, sitting back down.

"Practicality.  I use voice controls for my wave suit.  Somehow, this helmet affected the brainwaves of the policemen.  If I could somehow use the technology in the helmet, I could just think the commands for my wave suit without making a sound."

"Cool.  Any idea of how it works?"

"It's all in the program.  The headband contains a long coil that acts like an antenna.  It sends a sequence of pulses down the line, timed far enough apart to be the amount of time it takes the electrons to make a full circle.  It sets up a standing EM front.  A second coil, inbetween the coils of the first, broadcasts the command signals that ride into the brain on the EM field."

Erin whistled, "Trickeee!" she nodded, "Can it pick up, like what you're wanting.?"

"There seems to be a third coil, which may pick up signals for use in the feedback mechanism.  I'm not sure, for the signal is faint.  I'm trying to hack into the system, but I'm a rank amateur, I admit."

"Here, lemmie take a look."

They swapped seats.  Erin muttered and fussed as she typed in several commands.  Dr. Zack got up and got some potato chips and dip.

"Ahhh!  The twerp's getting smarter!" Erin remarked after 10 minutes, "But not smart enough!"

"What is it?" Dr. Zack asked.

"His previous stuff used Windows CE: Unlicensed, of course."

"Of course.  He's using a different Operating System?"

"Be operating system.  Slick stuff.  CE configures itself by a complete rebuild of the kernel.  Ditto for Linux and about all the other OSes out there.  In BeOS, ya just drag and drop program files into a folder and presto, new OS.  Lookie here."  She entered a directory command.

"Small!" Dr. Zack was surprised. The entire OS folder held a tenth of the number of files that his copy of Windows 2000 used, "BeOS."

"They're at www.be.com, natch.  Their demo OS is the development system." She shook her head, "The little pain in the ass is getting smarter."  She shifted directories and did another directory listing, "That one." she pointed at a largish file, "I'll need your T1 to FTP my reverse assembler/compiler that I stashed on another site."

"Be my guest."

She downloaded the file, expanded it, and began the reverse assembly.  As it worked, she glanced around, "Hey Doc.  How the heck can you afford all this?"

Dr. Zack grinned, "I synthesize rubies and sell them on the open market.  I'm about to expand into synthetic spider webbing."

"Go'wan!"

He jerked his head, indicating that he follow her.  He first showed her his ruby making setup, then led her to a corner where a spool of white thread 25 centimeters in diameter was slowly rotating, taking up thread from a machine with an extended hood.  A water cooler bottle was on top of the machine, upside down, and half full of a milky mixture.  There were several spools on the floor already.  Dr. Zack pulled out his sheath knife, measured off three meters of the thread from one of the spools, cut it off, and looped it so the bundle was about 37 centimeters in diameter, "Break it." he handed the loop to her.

Erin looked at it, then at him.  She looped it in her hands, grasped it, and tugged.  She frowned, then tugged harder.  She then unlooped it once and tried to snap it with half the threads in place.

Grinning, Dr. Zack got two wrenches.  He took the loop from Erin and wrapped an end around each wrench handle so it formed a crude garrotte with a single thread connecting the two wrenches.  He handed the wrenches to Erin.  Taking one in each hand, she tugged at it, finally snapping it.

"You cheated." Dr. Zack pointed out, smiling, "You let it go slack, then jerked it hard."

"Guilty, doc.  That stuff can come in handy." she remarked, eyeing the spool.

"Better be careful with it.  I wrapped that thread around the wrenches because it would slice through your skin." he said, fishing out a small piece of wood and handing it to her, "Take what you want, but don't tell me what you're going to use it for."

"Why Doc!  In defense of Righteousness, Goodness, and Freedom, of course!"

"Go'wan!"

She pulled off 30 meters of it, wrapped it around the wood, and put it in an inner trenchcoat pocket, "Is it done?" she called to Dr. Zack.

"I think so." he replied, looking at the screen.

She came over to look at it, "Ah, it is!" she grinned, sitting down, "Let's have a lookey at it, shall we?"
---------------------
"You thought one, two, three four." Erin said, glancing up from the screen.

"Correct!" Dr. Zack removed the modified headset from his head, "Well, who'd have thought that our thought processes work on phonemes?"

"Maybe yours does, but what about mine or someone else's?"

He held out the headset, "Want to try it?"

"Sure." She undid her hair to allow the cap to rest closer to her head, "Ready?"

Dr. Zack seated himself in front of the screen, "Ready.  But I won't go through the calibration process."

She closed her eyes.

"Hmm.  Testing, testing, wow this works coolio Von Richter thinks hes got class but he really is a horses ass." Dr. Zack read off the screen.

Erin pulled the cap off, "Success, Dr. Z!  Whatcha gonna do now?"

"Probably modify my ski mask and cross compile the program to run on the suit control computer.  Have you got the source code backed up?"

"Doing it right now."  She said, typing in the command to copy the directory to a CD-RW Disk, "You're gonna need about 512 MEG of memory to run-"  She jerked her head and looked up the stairs.

A few seconds later, Data 7 padded down the steps softly, He blinked at Erin and emitted a pleasant, if rough purr.  He then looked at Dr. Zack and licked his chops.

"Ah, he's hungry." Dr. Zack remarked.

"Universal language, eh?" Erin replied.  She got up and stretched, "Now THAT was an interesting puzzle!  Makes me hungry too!"  She looked through the four big bags of potato chips, looking for crumbs, "And chips make me thirsty.  I'd like- Doc?  Doc?"

Dr. Zack had a strange look on his eyes as he regarded Data 7, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
------------------
"DATA 7!" Cybersix landed on the roof, knelt, and wrapped her arms around her brother's large, muscular neck as he ran up to her.  He licked her cheek and purred roughly as she buried her face in his fur, "Ready to hunt for Fixed Ideas?" she asked him, letting go and rising to her feet.

He began to whine and circle her, pushing his body against the back of her knees.

"Hmm?" She frowned, "Something wrong?"

"Mrrr!"

"Something IS wrong!  Lead the way, brother!"

Data 7 took off like a shot.  Cybersix sprinted after him.
-----------------
"Dr. Zack's!  That's not good."  Cybersix frowned as she stopped at the rooftop across from the Doctor's Townhouse.  Data 7 had disappeared: probably went in his usual way through the sewer drain.

Cautiously, Cybersix made a half-circuit around the townhouse, keeping to the roofs as she looked over the townhouse and its surroundings, "Nothing unusual.  No cars or people hanging around.  What could be wrong?"

She went around to the south side.  She leaped onto the wall, turned east, trotted three paces along the wall, turned, then leaped onto the ledge to the left of the library window on the second floor.  She cautiously peeked in, but didn't see the doctor in his chair.  Frowning, she reached over the window and pressed the upper left corner of the second complete brick on the second row of bricks above the window.  It went in slightly, with the sound of bolts snicking into the wall immediately after.  The window unlatched by itself.  Cybersix stepped inside, closed the window, then listened intently.  Frowning, she made her way down to the kitchen, then down to the basement.

"HIYA GIRRRRL!!" Erin waved, startling her.

Cybersix inhaled deeply, "Calm, my heart!" she intoned silently, "Erin!  what a pleasant surprise!" she said brightly, "What are you doing-" she caught sight of Data 7.

He was lying quite regally on a workbench top, wearing something that looked like a smirk, as well as a headset.  Next to him was a computer.  Dr. Zack turned around and threw a grin at her, then turned back to the computer and typed something into the keyboard.  He then got up, turning on the computer speaker while doing so.

"Dr. Zack, what is going-" Cybersix started.

"wellhellosister" a flat, raspy, and quite artificial voice came from the speakers.

She blinked, frowning from puzzlement, "What is-"

"itsmedata7" pause "drzackanderinwereworkingonsomethingandhadmetryit"

"Pace yourself, Data 7." Dr. Zack counseled, "You think quicker than you speak, and the computer is a fast one."

"For a lameass P-four." Erin muttered.

"Yes-Doctor-Zack."

"Data 7?" Cybersix approached the computer, noting that the cable from the headset went into the back of it, "Is that you?"

"Yes-itzz-me."

She felt for the chair, found it, and eased into it, not letting her eyes off Data 7 for a second, "How are you-"

"not-now-sister-later-okayeee"

Dr. Zack touched Erin's elbow, "You said you were thirsty?" he asked her.

Erin tore her eyes from the tableau of brother and sister communicating for the first time after a silence lasting years, "Umm, I'll have a coke.  And a steak, or something like it."

"Got fillet mignon."

"Sounds good to me."

"Sure you don't want wine with it?"

Erin glanced back at Cybersix and Data 7.  Cybersix had scooted the chair in front of him, and was caressing his head muzzle, and ears gently, an earnest, intent look on her face,  "Nah.  Don't feel like it tonight, for some dumbass reason I can't figure out."

She closed the door at the top of the steps on the sound of the computer saying,"-ove you, sist-"