Epilogue
Chief gave a weary smile as the minutes before shutdown ticked away. Mondays were
always bad, but this one was the worst. The amount of backed up paper work, the detectives
asking him what the heck had happened. The techs trying to figure out the logistics…
Thankfully Zack and Ivy had convinced the higher-up to chalk it up to a computer glitch.
Fortunately there had been some bright spots during the day. In the international
news, ecologists were still trying to figure out what had caused an unnatural tsunami off
the coast of France. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage had resulted but
no one had gotten hurt. So far government sanctioned dumping of illegal chemicals was being
blamed, but it seemed like it would be one of those questions that never got an answer.
Then there were the other newspapers. One gossip columnist could have sworn she
saw Carmen Sandiego, or at least a woman who was a dead ringer for her, fighting with ACME
agents after a car wreck in the middle of Paris then dragging some mysterious gentleman off
the Eiffel tower. And in the tabloids, a local eccentric claimed she had set her daughter
up with an android; A polite, sweetheart of an android, but an android nonetheless…
The Chief watched the countdown go to two minutes. This time he was hoping for the
zero. He couldn't remember been so tired. And cranky... And happy… And silly. No matter
how many times he had run the hard drive defragmenter he still had remnants of his time in
Paris. Muted sensations and traces of real emotion, not the sight gags he had been
programmed to do. He had hoped that they would work their way out of the system, but now he
was starting to get used to them…
The clock turned over and reset for morning. Chief blinked. That wasn't supposed to
happen… Suddenly the Internet connection opened up and transported him…
… to Carmen's room in the Manor. "Hey" she said.
"Hey." He said.
"Bad Monday?" she asked
"To say the least." He told her, "Kept up with the news recently?"
"Yeah… although people don't usually say I look just like me. I've already had to
start planning my comeback heist."
"Really. When might that be?" he asked, watching her fuss with pieces on a chessboard.
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise." Carmen scolded. "Speaking of which… Got
a surprise for you."
"Really? Is it bigger than a bread box?" he asked.
"A bit…" she said, picking up a pocket flat screen monitor and touching the corners
of the screen. After a moment she turned it around so he could see the screen.
"It's another body..." he said, sounding skeptical
"No. It's the start of another body, minus the explosives, timer or anything else
that would pose a danger for you or the rest of the populace. It should be ready around
Thanksgiving, so the next time you come to play chess with me, you won't have to rely on
me to move the pieces for you. I'm trying to get Sara to tune down the pain levels on entry,
but it's still being worked on. We're using our Chief program as a guinea pig, and it's
not too happy with us…" Carmen smiled.
"I can imagine..." The Chief said, imagining that winy little upstart getting the
hurt of his short life put on him.
"You two just don't get along, do you?" Carmen asked, still smiling.
"Well duh!" the Chief commented pulling a face, "But HE gets to hang out around the
henchmen, steal my look, talk in that weird voice of his, make me look bad and see you on a
daily basis! What do I get?"
"You get thanksgiving with me." Carmen said. "And Christmas and New Years, if Sara
gets the shell finished on time. And even if she doesn't…"
"Oh yeah. How many months away are…" Chief asked.
"Three. But to hold you over." Carmen said, indicating the carefully set up chessboard.
"What's this?" Chief asked.
"A welcome home present. One game?" Carmen asked.
"Sounds great." The Chief told her, an understatement. They took their traditional
places and made their first moves.
"So," the Chief asked conversationally, "How was your day?"
THE END
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