The next morning, the Ghost seemingly vanished as crews began setting up for Greater Ottawa's World Fair. He snuck into the Greater Ottawan Armor Works. He climbed into an old minecart that took him down a singular, narrow tunnel that seemingly stretched for miles, heading for nowhere. However, deep within the Starved Rock National Park Cave, Dr. Sue, Dr. Von Schneider, Sundeep, the Japanese Nuclear Physicists, the Australian Robotics Team, and the Ghost had a project to go over.
As the minecart screeched to a halt, everyone was waiting on him.
"Good Morning everyone. Let's get down to brass tacks." With the nod of his head, Sundeep, Dr. Von Schneider and Dr. Sue all pulled out blueprints. Once they overlapped and were shown on a projector, it became clear as to what they'd be working on.
"Everyone in this room has been vetted, and sworn to secrecy. Nobody outside of this room gets to know what the hell we're working on. Dr. Sue, would you rather me explain what they're looking at?"
"I've got it." She said, grabbing a yard stick as her pointer. "This is Project Let Freedom Ring. Each of you has a designated team lead that has your team's set of blueprints. Ladies, Gentleman, and Ghosts, this is how we change the face of warfare forever."
As they all looked at their blueprints, they held them together to see the full image. It was the blueprint for a prototype automaton. It was to stand forty-feet tall, be fully autonomous, and fire a version of high-powered combat tri-laser that Barbara and her recovery team found during a raid on an abandoned, unnamed military installation in the middle of Nebraska.
As they looked over their parts, the sounds of another minecart had the Ghost draw his revolver, Michael Murphy draw his AK-47, and Sundeep his gold-plated Desert Eagle. However, the Ghost had them lower their weapons as his father climbed out of the minecart.
"False alarm. It's just my father. He's cleared."
The others put away their weapons as he walked up.
"You're late."
"I hit traffic, but I'm here now. What did you need me for?"
"You're a draft-designer or contractor right? Either way, it doesn't matter. I need you to work closely with Dr. Madie Sue. Like I explained to the others, this is a highly classified operation. The only people who know this place exists are the vetted list of people on this clipboard. There are construction crews installing the gantry, and blast-proof silo doors above it, and the lift for when this thing is done. Welders and Riveters for when we enter phase two of the plan. Any questions?"
"Are you sure this thing will even function?" asked Scott and a few of the other project members.
"Sundeep, Michael, show them what you showed Dr. Sue and I."
Sundeep and Michael uncover a table, revealing the head of the automaton. As Michael hooked it up to power, the CPU lit up. Sundeep typed something into the keyboard, then hit enter. Suddenly, the eye bar light up and the head spoke in a feminine, robotic voice:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense....."
The head fell silent as the function-command ended. Everyone stared in amazement at the head of their automaton.
"Michael helped me pick out what to type in just for cases like this."
"Now, are there any more questions?" Asked the Ghost, looking around at everyone.
"Nope, just point us to our stations." Said Dr. Von Schneider
As they began working, Dr. Sue and Scott began drafting the blueprints for the automaton's secondary armament, while Dr. Von Schneider went into his laboratory while his colleagues, who worked on the Hadron Collider, and the Japanese Nuclear Physicists began working on the power supply. The Ghost, Sundeep and Michael continued their work with wiring the head. Normally, the Ghost wouldn't include himself in a project like this, but with his mechanical knowledge and wiring knowledge, he was in the thick of it. The Australian Robotics team used a scale model to find where they'd need heavy actuators, hydraulic pistons and more movement items for the automaton.
Several hours later, the welders and riveters had begun construction of the robot's massive frame. It was going to have to take on missiles, and calibers of all kinds if they used the robot for its intended purpose, but progress
Meanwhile Scott and Madie were working on the secondary armament design. They'd struck up a conversation about the Ghost.
"So, nobody actually calls him by his real name?"
"It's more out of a sign of respect. He introduced him as the Ghost to our allies, then to the enemy as "The Ghost of Ottawa". You should head to the theater during the Fair. The Confederation of the Texan Republic compiled war footage of your son in action, along with those of us who rose up to answer the call to arms our ally put out. You should watch the film."
"I'll do that."
Back with Michael, Sundeep and the Ghost, they had just about had the CPU dialed in when the Beryllium Battery Row, powering the head, started to sizzle spark.
"Shit! Murphy douse the battery now!" Yelled Sundeep, jumping back away from the table.
With the push of a button, suppressive foam coats the entire battery then drops into a tank of the foam below the table. As the others gathered around to check on the three, it became clear, the power supply issue wasn't going away.
"We got lucky. If those had exploded, it would've been to the hospital for the three of us, then back to the drawing board." Said the Ghost shaking his head.
"We also found that the fuel in our reactor design isn't nearly strong enough to power it. We had even simulated other fuels and they became unstable and exploded." Said Kenji Sato of the Japanese Nuclear team.
For a moment hope seemed to be quickly fading, just like the sunlight in the dead of a midwestern winter.
"What is everyone so glum about?" Asked Dr. Von Schneider. He stood in his doorway, confident as ever.
"We can't power this thing using any of our current power supplies or even the Japanese reactor." Said Dr. Sue.
"Ghost," Started Dr. Von Schneider, grinning ear to ear, "Put on the Ottawan Bias Armor. Mr. Murphy, grab that Geiger counter and voltameter box. Everyone else, go upstairs to the van. We have science to witness!" Dr. Von Schneider grinned like a mad genius. There was something he wasn't telling the others, something miraculous.