Jason Low as Project HEARD is proud to present GD: Connections Gina smiled. "Welcome to my home. Please make yourself comfortable." The guest nodded and thanked Gina and Brianna, and went inside. Gina looked over at Brianna and smiled again, but more of a sister-to-sister smile, not an entertaining-guests smile. "Your turn." Brianna smiled at the next visitor--someone from the archeological community, she remembered, courtesy of Gina's memories from the day of the third Diggers sister's birth. "Good evening," Brianna said warmly. "Welcome to our home. Thank you for coming. Feel free to have a seat and make yourself at home." The visitor eyed Brianna for a moment, then nodded, then turned to include Gina and said, in a thick Australian accent, "I don't believe I've had the pleasure." "Brianna is my sister," Gina smiled. The man dipped his head in a bow, then took Brianna's hand and kissed it. "Any sister of a friend is a friend of mine," he quipped. Brianna, startled, murmured a thanks as the man went inside the house. She then followed the group inside, staring at the floor as she lost herself in her thoughts. Brianna complained to herself. <'Oh, she's my sister' or 'I'm Gina's friend, so I guess I'm your friend too'. No one sees me for my own ability.. my own merits.. everything comes to me secondhand.> Brianna followed the group for a while. Gina had invited over a number of colleagues and associates, ostensibly to meet and trade stories and such, but considering Gina had spent the past week building a special case to show off her Explorer of the Year trophy in the most conspicuous way possible, Brianna figured she had a good idea what the real reason for the soiree was. She approached a quartet of guests who were listening to a story Gina was telling. "..until we determined it was an undersea cavern," Gina said, beaming. "Then we were able to enter, search and mark off the site, develop a grid, and ultimately find, hidden in the silt, an archway that led in to the perfectly-kept burial room." "Tell 'em about the DSRV," Brianna said with some excitement, smiling and turning to the group. "We put four turbo-screws on a fuselage, mated dive-by- wire fins and rudders to it, with a backup jet-drive system, external ballast tanks, a detachable harpoon gun.. six high-intensity searchlights, and a remote tether to the surface.." Brianna trailed off as the small audience looked at her strangely. One of them even appeared to be looking down his nose at her. The others were polite, though, smiling and saying things such as "Yes, well, that's very intriguing; now Gina, in cataloguing the finds, did you use the Haight method or did you follow the revolutionary procedures in the new Batt-Sterling method?" Gina glanced at Brianna and said "Er. Another time, perhaps, sis.. Actually, Philip, I used my own methods, which take the best qualities of the two you described, plus some other ideas no one has seemed to take into consideration yet.." An hour or more passed in this fashion, with all the talk focusing largely on archaeological and scholarly subjects and less on the technical side of things. Brianna, trying to be a gracious host, did her best to stay and appear interested, but ultimately, she had to draw the line. "Gina.. I just remembered," Brianna said quietly, making a show of looking at her watch, "I promised Brit we'd do something at two, so I have to get moving." "Oh?" Gina said, looking surprised. "Um, all right.. have fun, I guess. See you when you're free again?" "You betcha," Brianna said with a false smile. She turned to the small group of guests Gina was presently entertaining and thanked them for coming, then left the room. As she changed from formal wear into jeans and a T-shirt in her room, she decided, yes, perhaps doing something with Cheetah was more her speed at the moment. After changing, she went to seek out her other sister. "Oh hi Brianna!" Britanny gushed as her sister came up the stairs. "I thought you were with Gina and her show-off party.." "Eh, it was boring me," Brianna said with a slight smile, watching Brit check her appearance in the mirror. "You know how it is when she gets in with that crowd.. always boring digs and stuff." "Oh, I know girl, I know," Brit grinned, slipping her foot into her shoe and then doing the same for the other. "She's got a one-track mind, our sister.. and an eight-track brain." Brianna giggled at the comment, prompting Britanny to too. Brit stood up straight and said, "I'm about to head to the mall. You coming?" "Sure!" Brianna said brightly. "Love to." She turned and headed downstairs to the garage, Britanny close behind. Brianna sat with her hands folded in her lap while Britanny drove. The latter turned to the former and said, "So whatcha gonna buy today?" "Oh, Idunno," Bri' said. "I figured I'd just hang with you and see if anything catches my eye." "Okay," Britanny smiled. "You'll get to meet my friends then!" "Oh?" "I'm meeting some girls from the frequent buyers' club," Brit nodded. "We're gonna go take care of some of our stacked-up club points." She grinned devilishly. "Ah," Brianna smiled. "I don't have a card." "You should start one," Britanny said matter-of-factly. "It only takes ten thousand dollars of purchases to get 100 points! I made it to Diamond level in no time. I'm gonna get a whole week's wardrobe today!" As Britanny giggled, Brianna smiled and nodded too. Her thoughts, however, were on what might happen when they got to the mall, and how she hoped she wasn't right. "Come on, this way!" Brit dragged Brianna a few minutes later. They were on the first level of Mall of Georgia, and, as far as Brianna could tell, she was being led towards the fountain. "Ladies! Hello!" Britanny said, waving, approaching three women standing near the fountain. The three smiled politely and greeted Britanny, then looked to Brianna. "Bri', these're my friends, Celeste, Nancy, and Theresa," Britanny beamed. "Girls, this is my sister Brianna." Celeste, the woman with midnight-black hair and chocolate-brown skin, looked Brianna up and down. "Hello, dear," she said. "Is Britanny going to make you over today?" "Huh?" Brianna asked, looking down at herself. "Yes," Nancy said, nodding her blond-haired head in agreement. "You could do SO much better with some CLOTHES, I'd say." Before the third one chimed in, it finally dawned on Brianna that the three were decked out in elegant, expensive, high-fashion wear, from silk blouses all the way down to twelve-hundred-dollar Cole Haan Cassandra shoes. And so, she realized, was Britanny. And here she was, as she looked down at herself once more, in ratty old jeans and her not-quite-yet-threadbare Toronto Blue Jays T-shirt. "Um," she murmured. "I just didn't tell her what we were doing, ladies," Brit smiled. "Not in enough time to get dressed, anyway. Let's get moving!" "Come on, Brianna dear," Theresa smiled, waving a perfectly-manicured hand towards herself. "Come with us, pick out something for the new you, and enjoy yourself." Brianna followed them around for a while, watching the lot of them try on exceptionally expensive clothing, compliment each other on how FAH-bulous it looked on one another, and occasionally toss off a comment about how it would even make Brianna look "halfway decent". Eventually, as had been the case with Gina's friends, she could put up with no more of it. "While we're here, Brit, I'm gonna go pick up some stuff I need for my next project," Brianna said towards the gaggle of girls, as they hunched over a table of handbags, inspecting the tiniest details of each one. "Okay, see ya," Britanny said, lifting one hand to wave, not even looking up. Brianna stared for a moment, then sighed, turning and walking away. Brianna moped around, walking down the corridors of the mall with her hands in her pockets, slouched over forward, studying the ground directly in front of her. She bypassed Radio Shack, and Staples, and Foot Locker, not even glancing at a window, where she normally would have gone in and studied each entire store intensely. She passed up on Nordstrom, ignored PartSource, and failed to even notice Ivan's Guns 'n' Stuff. It was a minor miracle she didn't slam into anyone or anything, her focus being as inwardly drawn as it was. All the while, her thoughts were rolling around in a vicious circle. After a time, her ears twitched slightly, in that way they do when something familiar catches her ear. She sought out the source of the sound and found herself standing in front of the mall's Computer MegaCity store, where there appeared to be a competition going on. "Huh," she murmured. "Gotta Rogue Spear game goin' on." Top-of-the-line gaming systems had been set up, all linked together, and preloaded with the Rainbow Six sequel. Sixteen stations were available, and as Bri' studied the banner hanging in front of the store, she realized it was being put on to advertise a new type of LAN adapter, but still, a game was a game, and she figured this was just what she needed right about now. She walked in and signed up for the next available terminal. Five minutes later, she was sitting down and customizing her terminal to her preferences. She loaded in her custom player-skin from the machine at home, and remapped the keyboard to her preferred settings, and was ready. The first mission they played together went off without a hitch, as did the second. By the time the third one was in full swing, Brianna was very much 'into' it, and immersed in the game's artificial reality. In fact, she got a little trigger-happy, and didn't snap out of it until she heard the computer-generated "Man down! Man down!" voice right after she'd loosed a shot. Immediately thereafter, she heard a chorus of voices on the headset. "What the!" "Hey! I thought this was a CO-OP game!" Bri' slapped the space bar with her thumb. "Sorry," she said. "Lotta good it does him when he's dead," came the complaint. "Sorry," she apologized again. "Wanna restart?" "Not me," a third voice chimed in. "I'm almost at the bomb now." "Me either," came a fourth. "It's okay," the complainant said dejectedly. "But he must be pissed." "I didn't mean to," Brianna said. "I got carried away." "He doesn't have the Roger Wilco setup," the complainant told Brianna. "He can't hear you." "Oh.." She switched to keyboard chat. (Brianna Diggers: sorry 'bout that to whoever's playing the bomb guy on red team :P) After a moment another line of text appeared in the corner of her screen. (Joe: It's ok I guess) (Brianna Diggers: I wasn't expecting you to be peeking around the corner in front of me.. I figured you were a tango.) (Joe: what is it you're carrying that got through an urban breach suit with only two shots) (Brianna Diggers: Er.. actually.. I am using the CAR-15.. but I took more than two shots.. more like 15.) (Joe: .... really....) (AJ421: hey you guys gonna play or spam us) Brianna blinked at the last line and typed in an apology, then turned her attention back to finishing the level. It didn't take long, with sixteen players, and everyone made their 'good game' comments before starting a new game. 'Joe' opted to sit out, saying he had to do some mods he'd forgotten. Brianna sat out too, opting to observe from someone else's viewpoint, keeping another eye on the console, waiting to see if Joe bailed or stayed or did something else. (Joe: anyone have problems with me running the dfa mod?) Brianna blinked. Unless the unlikely had happened and someone else had made a mod known as 'DFA', Joe was talking about something of her own creation. She typed a quick message. (Brianna Diggers: Not me..) There was a resounding chorus of no's, and so Joe vowed to be back in the next game. While they were waiting, he and Brianna could talk together, without being seen by the others who were playing the game, using the dialog in the setup screen. (Brianna Diggers: So you're using DFA?) (Joe: yeah) (Brianna Diggers: Created 7-14-00, file size 3.8 megs?) (Joe: the very same) (Brianna Diggers: I designed that one. <^_^> You like?) (Joe: very much so. you using it too?) (Brianna Diggers: I wasn't, but if you want, I can..) (Joe: nah, you're too good anyway :) give the rest of us a chance) (Brianna Diggers: *grin* Okay. <^_^>) (Joe: you make this all yourself?) (Brianna Diggers: Yeah. Want me to show you some undocumented stuff in it?) (Joe: sure :)) (Brianna Diggers: Okay, you and me, let's pact, and stick together next game.) (Joe: gotcha) And so they worked together on the next campaign, and Brianna found herself surprised with how well things worked out. Every time she went to tell Joe to move a certain direction or do something, she found that he was already in the process of doing so. (Joe: real cool stuff you got here 'anna) Brianna smiled to herself. (Brianna Diggers: <^_^> Thanks.) (Joe: one question...) (Brianna Diggers: Yes?) (Joe: what's dfa mean?) Brianna almost laughed out loud. (Brianna Diggers: 'Death From Above'. One of my favorite sayings. <^_^>) (Joe: heh) They completed the level with little difficulty. In fact, working together, they were the victors nineteen out of the next twenty times. Finally, five of the other fourteen people playing had to go home, and in rapid fashion, most of the rest of the gameplayers bailed as well. Brianna looked at her watch and blinked. It was six-thirty! She'd been playing games for almost four hours straight. She looked back at the screen as a message came in. (Joe: hey brianna diggers you going too?) (Brianna Diggers: I don't want to, but I been here half the day. <-_-> I had loads of fun.) (Joe: me too..) Brianna made a split-second decision. (Brianna Diggers: What console are you at?) There was a pause. (Joe: number 8, i'm by the big display of zip drives) Brianna didn't have to crane her neck very much; being six foot ten, all she had to do was look over the monitor, and she saw the top of a sandy-brown- haired head and a pair of deep brown eyes peeking over a screen across the store. Momentarily the head bobbed upwards slightly, and he gave a warm smile and a wave. She ducked back down, hunched over the computer, partially to type, partially to hide her blushing face. (Brianna Diggers: Whatcha doing now?) (Joe: typing to you silly :)) (Brianna Diggers: <-_-> *wap* I mean, after you leave here?) There was no response. After a moment, red letters glowed on her screen. (Disconnection: Joe) Brianna thought. She waited some more, and was suddenly startled when a voice spoke beside her. "Why do I feel like 'meeting you' is the right answer?" Joe said, smiling and offering a hand. Brianna wandered around the mall, with Joe at her side. At first she had been surprised by his appearance before her, but that had settled down into a stunned silence, a smile fixed to her face. They talked for a while, about themselves; Brianna smiled when Joe told her his full name--Joseph Scott. "The man with two first names," she teased. "You don't know how many times I've heard that," he said with a wry grin. "So what do you do, Joseph Scott?" Brianna asked. "I'm taking classes at UNA," he answered her. "Major in computer science and minor in electronics engineering." "Ohhhh.. sounds fun," she observed. "So what do YOU do?" "Inventor," she said. "That, and adventurer. I follow my sisters around the world as they search for stuff." "I have to say yours sounds more interesting. Out doing stuff rather than learning." "Hey, gotta learn sometime," she smiled. "It's useful knowledge." Joe nodded. "Yeah, but it keeps me away from home for so long. I'm from Scarborough." Brianna umm'ed and shrugged. "Oh.. sorry, forgive me. I figured from the shirt and all.. well then, you're a Jays fan?" She looked down at her shirt again. "Oh yeah," she said. "Big time." "Whaddaya think their chances are this year?" he queried. "Weellll... if they can manage to pull up their socks.. I think they have a chance at the wildcard," she said slowly. "Get their pitching and hitting to work with one another." Joe laughed. "Yeah, and if they cloned Boomer four or five times it might not hurt." Brianna was quiet for a moment, then said, "Hey.. y'know, being a clone isn't.. er, I mean, wouldn't be great a deal.. I wouldn't imagine." "Oh? How d'ya figure that?" Joe asked. "Well, think about it.. the memories and background and history an'all that.. it wouldn't be yours.. it'd be someone else's.." Joe took on an astonished look. "Well, I was kind of joking, but now that you mention it, I suppose that's true. However. You'd get to define yourself.. make your own background and history and all that.. from the day you were cloned onwards, wouldn'cha?" "Ummmmmm. Yeah, I guess you're right," Brianna admitted. After a long pause, she added, "I have a confession to make." "You do?" Brianna sucked in a breath and spoke her piece without taking another. "I myself am a clone--my one sister's human and the other's a were- cheetah--I might look 23 or 24 but I was actually born only about 4 and a half years ago." "Wow," Joe said after a moment. He noticed Brianna just sitting and staring, and he added, "....Did I say something wrong?" "No," she said, "I'm just waiting for you to make up an excuse and bolt, like everyone else does." He smiled after a brief pause. "Well, you'll find I'm not everyone else. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's neat! How'd it happen?" "Well.." she trailed off, then launched into the story with gusto, telling him all about her inception, and the events surrounding it. "That's pretty cool," he decided. "Well, except for the obvious parts. Kinda explains how you got your cute little ears." Brianna giggled as her face and ears reddened. "Say," he asked her. "Are you hungry?" "Starved," she said, nodding. "Let's go to Windjammer and grab some fish and chips. I have a craving." "Are you.. serious?" she smiled. "Well, yeah," he smiled bemusedly, wondering why she asked that. "I'll take you up on that offer," Brianna grinned, leading the way. The twosome sat down at a small table, Brianna with two helpings and Joe one. "Sure got a lot there," he observed. "I'll finish it all," she confirmed. "And yours if you're not quick about it." She grinned. "I hear you," he said, and started in on his meal. Between bites, he observed, "You played that game today like you'd been on the design team." "I've just had a lot of practice shooting and stuff," Brianna shrugged. "Virtual and real-life." "Oh?" Joe perked up. "I do some recreational shooting myself." "Whaddaya use?" "Right now? I built my own long rifle out of parts of a bunch of different things. But most of it is Remington." "Reeeaaaally," Brianna drew out. "Yeah. Maybe some day I might make the Olympics, if I keep at it. At least, so my family and friends tell me." "Good luck with it," Brianna told him. "Thanks," he returned with a smile. Brianna noticed him drumming his fingers on the table to the tunes coming out of the overhead speaker. "You like this one, eh?" "Yeah, kind of catchy," he said with a nod. "I like almost anything," she explained. "Def Leppard, Van Halen, Donna Lewis, Peter Gabriel, Lonestar, Blink 182, Eve6, Jim Byrnes, and Tom Cochrane are some of the ones in my CD player right now." "Quite a cross-section," he told her. She beamed. "I like to think of myself as a well-rounded person." Joe grinned as he looked her over. "In more ways than one." Blushing and giggling, Brianna said, "Oh, stop it." "You do strike a very lovely figure, though." "You think so?" "It's as plain as day," he smiled. She smiled back, unable to speak. "We, uh.. seem to have a bunch of the same likes and dislikes," Brianna observed. "Who knows? Maybe fate likes us," Joe quipped. "...." "Brianna?" "Gah! It's eight o'clock!" she exclaimed, looking at her watch again. "I'm really sorry but I gotta get back home. My sisters must be worried half to death about where I am.." Joe smiled. "I understand. I have a big sister who moved here with me.. she's totally paranoid if I don't check in every few hours." "I know what you mean," Brianna said, getting to her feet and picking up her purse. "I get the same thing." "So," Joe said, trailing off briefly. Then he added, "See you again sometime?" Brianna thought. After a difficult pause, she said, "Yeah, uh you bet!" and scrambled out of the food court. On the way home, she kept repeating to herself, "He wants to see you again! He wants to see you again!" She skipped and hopped the remainder of the distance home. Over the next week and a half, they met several times, having lunch, seeing the latest action flick, going to a paintball-gun field, going to Joe's university and seeing the computer and technical gadgetry there, and so on. They went to Joe's house, where Brianna met his sister Lisa, and saw all his computer setups and neat toys. They didn't go to the Diggers' complex, though; Joe noticed this but kept quiet, figuring she would be ready for it when she was ready for it. Brianna wanted to invite him over, but she was very unsure of her feelings. They were certainly 'clicking', as they say, and they had a lot in common. Joe seemed receptive to her unique past, and enjoyed being with her, if the constant smile plastered onto his face while he was with her was any indication. But he hadn't yet made any comments about being involved with anyone, which was scaring the hell out of her. she wondered, lying on her bed one evening. She built up courage the next time she saw him, and asked, "So who else are you friends with?" His response floored her and sent her soaring simultaneously. She tried to contain her excitement as she heard: "Oh, I haven't had time to meet anyone else yet," he said. "Been really busy with school and stuff." "Really," she said with a smile, but then her courage evaporated. They hung out for a while longer, and when it was time to part, she ran home as fast as she could and dove headlong into her room, all but hiding under the covers on her bed. she screamed to herself. she told herself a second later. She let her thoughts run wild for a long time, sending her into a near- frenzy, and then, in order to calm herself down, she went to the swimming pool in the sub-basement to do a few hundred laps. When she tired herself out, she returned to her room, lying on the bed, dampening it, but the thoughts still remained. She turned her head and stared at the digital picture frame she had on her night table. Locked away in her room, where her sisters couldn't peek in and ask questions, she kept a picture of him. Him and her, actually, together, with the roller coaster at Worldpark as a backdrop. They'd been there three days previous, and a ride worker had been kind enough to take her digital camera and snap a picture of them. She studied the picture and blinked.. her arm, around his waist.. his, on her opposite shoulder.. both of them smiling and staring into the lens. she wondered, trailing off. Before she could answer herself, her tiredness took her over and sent her off to dreamland. THE NEXT MORNING Brianna opened the refrigerator, then stood up straight. "Heeeyyy!" "Hm?" Brit asked, sitting at the table, eating a sandwich, and reading a magazine. "Where's the sole I had in here?!" "Oh, was that yours?" Brit said. Brianna turned slowly to face her sister. "I had it last night," Brit shrugged. "Sorry." "I was saving that!" "Hey, if you wanna keep something around here, you should snatch it up as soon as you can. Like they say.. you snooze, you lose." As Brit stuffed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, then licked her fingers, Brianna fell silent. Finally, she finished off her glass of milk, stood up, and headed for the door. Brit was worried she'd upset Brianna, so she said cautiously, "Bri'?" "Yeah?" "Where you going?" "Gotta go make sure I keep something," Brianna said, heading out. BUFORD, GA A young lady walked up the sidewalk, towards a rather nice house in the northeast part of town. A half-minute or so was taken up by admiring the place, smiling to herself, and then walking all the way to the door and standing before it. she thought to herself. Finally a finger reached out and pushed the bell. After a moment, another young lady opened the door. The woman on the outside was caught off guard, and stammered a bit, not getting out what she wanted to say. "Stay right here," the lady inside the house smiled. "I'll go get him. Be right back." And so the woman stood at the threshhold of the door for a bit longer. she thought after a moment or two. All at once, the door opened again and the young man was there. They stared at one another for a split second. The young woman had a song running through her head. "Hi," Joe said, smiling slightly. Brianna began with a weak smile but it eventually grew wider. "Hi," she said back, standing there on the porch, hands hidden behind her back, holding a small bouquet of flowers and a couple of tickets to GameCon, waiting for the right moment.. << Lonestar "What About Now" _Lonely Grill_ >> -end-