Copywrite 1999 -- Robert Baer Jr

PROLOGUE

This is the story of a superhero, The Computer Renegade as told through
the eyes of his faithful bionic dog, Otto.  
Disguised as Account Nathan Lovejoy, the Renegade keeps a watchful eye out
for whose in need of help.  Together with their many friends, this duo
fights a never ending battle against crime, injustice and danger.  This is
another entry from his "system log."  

The Renegade Files:  "Trouble at the Cape"

It was a very bright and sunny day, I was looking forward to this day for
a very long time!  Although I have not been very "self aware" for a long
time, I can fully comprehend the human emotion known as "anticipation."  
Today was the day that Nathan's Uncle Buford, a retired NASA scientist,
was going to take us to the next Space Shuttle launching!

Nathan was going because he had the day off, I wanted to go also, but was
warned many times by both him and his uncle that dogs may not be allowed
on the premises.   Stubbornly, I insisted on going with them, so we all
got into the car.   Using my master's "black box" we made excellent time! 
  It was an hour before launch, and as we drove toward the first security
checkpoint, I made myself invisible, just in case it was true about not
allowing dogs on the base.   As Nathan parked the car in our designated
area, Uncle Buford could see a sign in the distance.   "Well, I was right
Otto," Uncle Buford said as he turned to me,"the sign says NO DOGS
ALLOWED."    

"Well, I can stay invisible and go with you two anyway!"  I said with a
grin.

"Otto," Nathan said as he pointed toward the entrance,"they have metal
detectors here, and even invisible, you'd be detected."

"That means we'll have to leave all of our 'black boxes' behind also,
nephew!"  Uncle Buford added.

"But I'll stay invisible, and materialize inside the base!" I pleaded,"and
then I'll get to see the launch with you ...."

"That's out of the question!" Nathan answered,"this is a high security
area, there may even be motion detectors in some areas, Otto, I can't let
you risk it."

With sad, soulful eyes, I looked at Nathan and said,"then what am I to do?"

"The way I see it, my German Shepard friend," Uncle Buford explained," you
have two choices, one, wait for us out here in the car, or second, zap
yourself back home.   I know your wife is there and she would probably
enjoy the company."

"Sorry, old friend!"  Nathan said as he patted me on the head,"you just
can't come in with us."

Given those two "choices" I chose to zap myself back home.   Samantha
looked rather startled when I suddenly appeared in the living room at
home.   "Honey," my loving wife said sweetly,"I thought you were going
with Buford and Nathan to see the shuttle launch."

"I was," I said sadly,"but NO DOGS ALLOWED."

"I hate it when that happens!" Samantha quipped,"there are so many places
that we dogs can't go because of those stupid signs that humans put up.  
Many a time my father and my sisters had a hard time entering courthouses
just because they happened to be Collies.   Usually, dad still has to
carry a copy of his law degree with him to prove that he is an attorney!  
And shopping, forget it!   Stores in this area are used to us, but so many
won't let us in the front door!"

"Darling, I can't find the television remote," I said as I began lifting
the cushions off the couch,"I at least want to watch the shuttle launch on
CNN."

"I don't know where it is, dear," my wife said cheerfully.

Then I remembered something, I'm a computer-enhanced dog!   I scanned the
television set and was able to set my transmitter to the proper frequency
to mimic the commands set out by the missing remote control device!   Now
that I had
the set on, I watched the live camera shots of the shuttle on the launch
bay.   I decided to relax, opened up a bag of Dog Chow to snack on, and
laid down on the sofa.   During the commercial breaks, just to pass the
time constructively, I would study my system scans of the shuttle that I
had obtained before I returned home.   It still fascinates me how fast my
'online' brain can compile and compare data!   It was during one of these
commercial interruptions that I had make a shocking discovery!   I sprang
from the couch on all four, upsetting the bag of Dog Chow.

"Honey, what's wrong!" Samantha barked as she came running into the living
room when she heard the commotion.

"Sam, I have to go back to the Cape, something's terribly wrong!" I
answered in a panic.  Using my internal 'balck box' circuitry, I instantly
zapped myself back there.

Although I was invisible, I could heard clearly on the loudspeaker, "T
minus 3 minutes and counting."  There was little time to scan the base for
my master and his uncle, so instead I used my communications circuitry to
link into the public address system: "Nathan Lovejoy, you have a call on
the red guest phone.....  Buford Lovejoy, you have a call on the yellow
guest phone....."

Since I used my own voice on the PA System, I know that would get them
running to my position.   I chose the red and yellow guest phones because
they were both located in a far corner of the front lobby, when Nathan and
Uncle Buford arrived there, I shut off my invisiblilty shield.

"What's the matter?" Nathan asked me.

"Why did you call us away?" Uncle Buford said rather stressfully,"don't
you realise it's less than two minutes till launch?"

"Exactly!' I told them,"I ran a level A scan on the shuttle, there's a
minor problem that has a 95.3% possibility of making the shuttle explode
shortly after liftoff!"

"Are you sure?" Nathan asked me.

"Yes, my scan confirms that there is a tiny hole in a fuel line in the
booster rocket section of the shuttle," I replied,"when the internal
pressure in that hose reaches maximum, it will, in all likelyhood, burst! 
We have to stop the launch somehow!"

"Why can't you simply override the NASA computers and halt the launch
yourself?"  Nathan asked.

"Because they're too many layers of passwords and encryption for me to get
through, there's not enough time for that!"

"Just zap yourself up there and fix it!" Uncle Buford suggested.

"It's not that simple!" I insisted,"that particular line is located
between the outer casing and the inner wall of the shuttle.   It would
take too long to disassemble that panel to reach it in time."

"We can't do anything about it ourselves, since he had to leave all of our
black boxes in the car." Nathan said in a hushed tone of voice.

"There's less than one minute left in the countdown!   We have to do
something!" Uncle Buford bellowed.

"Take it easy, sir!"  I said respectfully,"may I suggest that first,
Buford, you go to the mission control center, find one of your old buddies
and tell them to stop the launch.  Nathan, you go back out to the car and
get your black boxes, there still may be time for you to assist.   I have
an idea that may at least stop the launch, agreed, gentlemen?"

"What are we waitng for, let's go!" Nathan shouted and we all went our
separate ways.   My internal calculations indicated that there would be
only a 10% probability that Buford would be successful and less than a 1%
chance that Nathan could get out to the parking lot in time,. this meant
that it was up to me!

Using my super speed, I raced out to the launch area and began running
around in circles.   I concluded that if I could get myself detected as an
'unidentified object' in the launch area, they would have to stop the
countdown to investigate!  I ran at top speed for approximately 14.7
seconds, but the countdown continued!  Now it was at T-Minus 15 seconds
and counting!   I had one last idea, but a quick estimated calculation
indicated that my idea would take 95.7% of my energy reserves to achieve. 
 Time was running out, I had no choice but to risk internal shutdown to
stop that launch!   I powered up my image projector and produced my
largest illusion ever!   It made the sky looked like a thunderstorm was
starting, complete with the bright lightning and loud thunder noises!  
The sudden expenditure of energy left me motionless, and I soon passed
out.....

The next thing I remember seeing was Nathan looking down at me and saying
repeatedly,"Otto, can you hear me?   Are you alright?"   He was wearing
his Zorro-type mask so I assumed that perhaps he had done something heroic
to save the shuttle.   Most of my systems were still offline, so I had no
way of knowing what happened, or even where I was now!   I could hear
Uncle Buford's voice in the background, I could tell by the way he kept
refering to Nathan as "Mr Renegade" that he was 'covering up' his
relationship with the mysterious superhero.   Seeing that my eyes were
open, the Renegade spoke,"Otto, what is your status?"

"Nearly 83.1% of my internal systems are still offline," I said
slowly,"life support systems are functioning, power slowly increasing...."

"That's because this kind citizen from the crowd found a old car battery
charger and adapted it as a power feed into your internal power core." the
Renegade explained,"it's primitive, but it will get you a little juice in
your system until we can return to the lab."

"The shuttle...." I said in a wavering voice,"  what about the shuttle?"

"You're instant thunderstorm worked, my friend!"  the Renegade answered
with a smile on his face,"it so surpirised the mission control center that
the countdown was halted.   Somehow, they received word to check an
internal fuel line, and they discovered a small pin-hole sized hole in it!
  The launch was cancelled for today."

"Your German Shepard saved those astronaunt's lives!" one of the NASA
staff members said to the Renegade,"he's a genuine hero!"

Uncle Buford looked toward to door,"there's a mob of people outside, I'll
bet that most of them are reporters!"

"I detect 87 people behind that door," I said,"and there's 9 people behind
the door at the other end of this room.   It seems that my scanning and
motion detector systems are back online!"

Just then, two well dressed men walked into the room through the door at
the far end of the room.   One was the NASA director and the other seemed
to be an Air Force official.   One of the men turned to the Renegade and
said,"sir, I don't know who you are, but on behalf of NASA I want to thank
you for stopping this shuttle mission!"

"Don't thank me," the Renegade explained,"thank Otto here,  it was his
illusion that stopped your countdown, he deserves all the credit."

"Well," the NASA director giggled,"thank you... Otto...."

When I replied, "You're welcome, sir!" I think it startled the man!   He
kept staring at me the rest of the time he was in the room!   The other
man came over to me and said,"Otto, there's some folks who want to meet
you, if you feel up to it."

"They're not press, are they?" the Renegade shouted.

"Oh no sir!" the man said calmly, "they came down here with me, they're
right behind this door.   Come in, everybody!"

Seven people walked in the room, I could tell by the way they were dressed
that this was the crew of the shuttle!   Each one of them, five men and
two women, surrounded the table I was laying on.   Each thanked me and
petted me, and even engaged me in some light conversation!   None of them
seemed ackward about talking to a talking dog!   One of the astronaunts
turned to the Renegade and said,"we all have heard about you're exploits,
how you and your dog have appeared at various places around the world,
doing all this heroic stuff, but I don't think any of us ever thought we'd
get to meet you two in PERSON, let alone have our lives saved by your four
legged companion here.   Thank you both for being here, we'll never be
able to thank you enough.

"All of you are quite welcome," the Renegade told them.

"Yeah, " I said rather starstruck,"I sure never thought I'd meet real
astronaunts in person!"

Everyone in the room laughed.   Another NASA staffer came barging into the
room,"press people are lining the hallway, they want a official statement
explaining the entire incident."

"What are you going to tell them"" I asked.

"Well," the NASA director said,"I'm going to tell them that a dog saved
the lives of a crew of astronaunts today, not just any dog, but Otto, the
canine sidekick of the Computer Renegade!"

"Well, I think Otto has enough juice for his legs to function, c'mon old
boy, it's time to leave," the Renegade said.

"But won't you stay for the press conference?" the NASA staffer asked.

"Please, stay and accept our congraduations!" one of the astronaunts added.

"Thanks, but no thanks," the Renegade said,"Otto and I don't like a lot of
publicity, we simply lend a helping hand, and then we leave, right Otto?"

"That is correct, Renegade!" I added.

With that, everyone in the room (including Uncle Buford) told us goodbye
and we zapped ourselves home.   When I got back to the basement, I
immediately got 'wired up' to finish recharging my power supply.   I sure
am glad that at least today, a dog WAS allowed on the premises!

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