We segue to Florida as Ellis and Statterfield yank Hammond's aid Petty Officer O'Neill off to visit a certain someone.
Florida Coast:
“Why are we in Florida to find a Canadian again Director?” Petty Officer Sandra O’Neill grumbled as a row of palm trees obscuring a vast beach and golden sands on one side and rows of McMansions on the other side. Nestled between Juno Beach and another upscale retirement area, the only sane member of the O’Neill family couldn’t even be sure this town had a name.
But there was one thing she was sure of. The seemingly gauche town was filled with former spooks, retired mobsters and engineers and “consultants” for the defense industry. One had to look at the sort of cars that were parked in every yard, behind the same iron gates. Or the same kind of vapid playboys that were out on the beaches, young adults and teenagers who were born into the kind of unearned wealth only people affiliated with the bureaucracy of the American Intelligence apparatus or its byzantine civilian counterpart could attain.
“Because this is where he was put when he went off the rails Sandy.” The tone was lyrical and there was a touch of a bayou born swamp runner’s accent that years spent commanding a carrier group or walking through the halls of the Pentagon or the Capitol building never could quite erase. Abraham Ellis had retired officially from the Space Force and assumed his (rightful in the eyes of many) place as the director of Project Constellation and was the first director of the newly created home world Security. Positions that Ellis was hesitant to accept, believing he was too old (His eldest son Abe Ellis the second was a Captain on a carrier and Abe’s son Abraham the third was a newly minted Petty Officer in Space Force for gods sakes) to fill. The President had other ideas though and after a lengthy conversation the wheeler and dealer in chief managed to convince Abe to serve his country for another five years, helping them in this time of crisis to build up the infrastructure that would hopefully make Earth a power one day a century or more from now.
And so here he was, with Admiral Hammond and Jack O’Neill on one last adventure. Or in this case, with Sandra O’Neill Hammond’s “Aide de mountain” and a small security detail looking for a guy in an upscale Florida lunatic asylum.
O’Neill’s whistle broke him out of his introspection, however. “He must have been a huge deal if you put him in a place like this.”
“Your sister would hit you for not knowing who this guy is.” A second voice from the back remarked. Kim Statterfield had come along for this jaunt, she hadn’t seen Meredith in almost fifteen years and while almost everyone struggled to put up with his eccentricity back in the day, she’d taken a liking to him off the bat. “And your father would shoot me for this.”
“Oh, he got on Dad’s nerves?”
Kim and Ellis both shared a look that suggested her father probably still dreamt about shoving this guy in a stump grinder. “Any way, he did a lot of the calculations for Constellation. His work was, you might say integral to certain key areas of the project. Plus Carter based a lot of her research on his work”
Namely, without his theories on hyperspace, the Arizona would just be a really expensive battleship looking model.
“So, you put him up in a nice crazy house when he snapped…Why did he snap and are you sure he’s still useful to us sir?” Sandra asked.
The old Admiral laughed “Girl, you’ve gotten quite mouthy since I stepped out of uniform.”
Sandra smiled warmly at the old man. “Only because I respect you so much sir.”
Like father, like daughter Abe thought. “He’s the smartest human being in his field, with the exception of Doctor Carter and maybe your sister.”
Sandra beamed with pride.
They pulled up to the august facility that loomed over a brackwish water lake that was fed by a creek and by an artificial bay. The smell of mangroves, seabirds and schizophrenia filled Sandra’s nostrils as the group made their way towards the entrance of the facility that reminded her of the architecture she saw in Southern Spain. “This place looks like a pink copy of the Alhambra.”
“I think it is.” Kim said, regretting her choice in wearing black in the Florida sun. “Any idea what to expect in here Abe? It’s been a while; do we even know where his head is at?”
“Can’t be worse than before.” Ellis remarked.
They were led down a series of hallways by an overly friendly receptionist and eventually out of a door near the park. Down a path that was far too pleasant and flowery to have a positive impact on anyone’s mental health and to a large cottage where the object of their quest evidently was confined. “He’ll be glad to see you, he hasn’t had any visitors in five years.” Their guidet said in that pleasant, patronizing tone Sandra came to hate from head shrinks those who worked for and with them. A door opened and an exasperated guard built like freight train who was a green beret in another life told their guide that “The Good Doctor was on one of his math spazzes again.”
Sandra wasn’t sure what she was prepared for but when the shout of “YO, RODNEY WE GOT GUESTS” came out and a dude wearing a silk bathrobe, whose face and hands were covered in calculations (Did he run out of space on the walls and floors and with paper? Why didn’t he use a computer or a tablet or a laptop like any normal crazy person?) and a mess of Einstein like hair that rose almost like a fan that accentuated his impressive widows peak and rather formidable forehead. He gazed at everyone present, as if he was looking through them until he seemed to recognize something in the spot on the wall he was gazing at. “Admiral Ellis! Statterfield?! Why are you here…wait..why are you out of uniform? Did you retire? Of course you retired, you’re what? Eighty?”
“Seventy five Rodney.”
“I knew that! I was just checking to see if you had dementia, how’s Misses Ellis?”
“She’s fine Rodney, she sends you, her regards.” Ellis said in a patient, grandfatherly voice that sounded almost strained. “How are you doing?”
“Whose this!” He yelled rounding on Sandra, looking the raven haired girl up and down. “Hmm, facial structure reminds me of Jack and Sara..But your hair color is all wrong. I take it you’re not a caveman like your dad?!”
“umm..How’d you..wait…HEY! My father isn’t a cave man..” He was twitching, running his fingers along the lapel of his robe and mumbling to himself, pacing in a circle.
“Yes, he is! But he’s a damn smart one, yup definitely an O’Neill.” He turned to Ellis and Statterifled now, seeming to grow more agitated, agitated enough the Guard gestured for an orderly that was sitting in the TV room. Only to wave him off when Rodney calmed down and gazed at Ellis with a look of awe and excitement. “
I was right…That’s why you’re here.”
Ellis smiled, he might have gone crazier, but he was still as perceptive as ever and as fast as ever. “Sorry I lied to you Rodney..”
He nodded. “You should be sorry, you’d be having this conversation with me from Alpha Centauri if you clued me in and I wouldn’t be here. Why are you here? Wait shut up…I need to know if this is a hallucination…How do I know you aren’t a delusion.”
“They’re not a hallucination Rodney” The human freight train said in an exhausted tone.
“That’s just what a hallucination would say!”
“Meredith..” Ellis piped in.
“HEY!” the lunatic paused, blinked then seemed to sag with relief. “Oh good…you’re not a hallucination, my hallucinations never call me that.”
“Good Rod..wait..what?” Kim blurted out.
“Nothing, nothing..now, you’re twenty years behind where you should be, well actually you should be fifty years behind, but I heard you tapped Carter, she’s good, for a place holder but.”
“Rodney.” Ellis said with a bit more firmness in his tone mixed with relief that Mccay wasn’t completely blitzed and crazy.
“Not now Admiral..we have to get to work!”
Ellis let out a deep chuckle.
You don’t know the half of it my boy, you don’t know the half of it.