‘Don’t worry about that.I have a friend who can innovate.Tell me more about this flow capture.’
‘So, with enough fibre optics, you could compile the images to create a sort of handheld camera effect, like it’sonthe intruders, capturing all angles and combining for 3D.You could also combine night-vision and thermal.’
‘And have it everywhere in the East Wing.’
‘My father wouldn’t want it to be visible, though.’
‘What about semi-opaque photonic laminate?’Blaire suggests.‘We could print it to match the walls exactly in sheets to hide the wires, plus it would be hard to the touch, protecting the fibre optics underneath.’
‘That could work,’ Lachlan says.
Jules goes further.‘Maybe we could run sections from micro nodes instead of one big main supply.Segmented, you know?’
‘Yeah,’ Lachlan says, still a little astonished.‘I do.What else?’
?
Lachlan begins working with Jules to craft new innovations.
Between the two of them, they compile a thorough list of upgrades that improve security so much Lachlan is tempted to run war-game drills just to see who can still get inside once everything is implemented.
One of his favourite things Jules creates is theStarmap.
A tactile, architectural navigation system carved into the lower walls of the hallways and rooms, designed to be read only by Jules and Mimi.It helps them find their way in the dark to one of several new panic rooms, which Lachlan callsPocket Roomsso there’s no negative associations.Invisible to the naked eye, you’d have to know where to feel for it and how to read the markings.
Teaching Mimi is fun because Lachlanmakesit fun, has Vasily and Jules wear blindfolds too, following the marks, stopping when told to, checking both ways.A simplified version of Braille, Mimi takes to it like she takes to everything Lachlan teaches her.Beautifully.
She starts drawing stars, becomes obsessed with crafting a little language of her own and sometimes she’ll leave drawings for Lachlan, or Blaire, rarely Jules because they’re still not close like they were before.It’ll take time.
Lachlan tests it one night in October.
He shuts the lights off, watches from a distance as Mimi crawls in the dark, carefully following the stars until she makes it to the nearest Pocket Room, even stopping to collect a radio from a hidden panel.
Lachlan couldn’t be prouder.
Jolene is curious whose ideas they were, doesn’t seem to believe Lachlan when he tells her they’re his, but she crafts all that he requests like always and the Estate’s safety recovers and grows.
TheIvy Wall,as they call it, is a sublime innovation that Lachlan suspects is the first of its kind.Jules’ strange affinity with electronics and technology piques Lachlan’s curiosity over the weeks leading up to Jules’ birthday and in the very little time he has for himself, he starts researching about Paranaturals.
?
A delicate balance has settled over the Estate.
Security is tighter and more adaptable to danger than ever before.Without the old man lurking around commanding every moment of Jules’ life, the boy begins to relax, although Lachlan knows that summer changed something in him forever.Vasily settles in beautifully.It feels like he’s always been there.Slowly, as the months turn colder, he comes to life a little more.Less reading, more talking, less bedroom time, more walks outside.
Mikhail Sorrenko checks in with Lachlan once every fortnight.
The messages are brief.He’s simply asking if his son is doing well and Lachlan always says that he is.It’s especially nice to see Jules hanging out with him, to see them talk.
One day in October, Mimi has a bad nightmare but instead of calling for Lachlan, Jules or Blaire, she sneaks out and makes it to Lachlan’s quarters where he was catching his standard two hours before sunrise in the low threat period.He didn’t even hear her come in, but she slips under his covers and burrows against his chest.
He just smiles, pulls her close and falls back asleep.
‘How did she get in?’Blaire asks him when he explains the next day.Lachlan is shower-fresh while Blaire organises their schedules over breakfast.‘Your quarters are code-locked.’
Lachlan shrugs, doesn’t especially care, but he thinks maybe her big brother had something to do with it.‘I’ll just give them both the code.’
‘You should have some distance between you.’
