The ELI Event B007R5LTNS

said her goodbyes and pressed the return button. Arty and Robin stepped back and watched the sparkling, shimmering display until it was gone, and for several moments afterward.
    “Well,” Wheeler said, extending his hand, “I’ve got to tell you, for saving our lives and those of nine million other people, preventing the complete destruction of L.A., and changing the entire future of the world, ‘thanks’ just doesn’t seem to cut it. But… thanks.”
    Arty laughed. “Yeah. And ‘you’re welcome’ seems kind of lame too, but, you know…” Wheeler nodded.
    “So long, pretty lady,” Arty said to Kelly. “You kick ass—literally.”
    Kelly smiled and hugged him. “’Bye, Arty. Good luck.” She kissed him on the cheek.
    “Eli, old friend,” Arty said, “I imagine we’ll meet again one of these days. In fact, I’d guess that our fates are now pretty much intertwined. What do you think?”
    Eli’s holographic face burst into a broad grin. “I’m almost certain of it, Arty. I hope that when you return home you find your world a better place.”
    “As you say, Eli,” Arty replied, “I’m almost certain of it.”
    Finally Arty turned to Robin. “Well, Robbie, I expect I’ll be heading out any minute now. Take care of yourself. Don’t let any big bad fires get in your way.”
    “I won’t,” Robin replied earnestly. “Not ever again.”
    “Good. But I’m sorry you have to go back to Mrs. Faraday’s.”
    “Actually, he might not have to,” Wheeler offered. “There’s a great magnet high school, the California Academy of Mathematics and Science, right here in Carson. That’s south L.A., just down the 110 from here. Kelly and I might see if we can get him in there. What do you think, Kel?”
    Kelly smiled and nodded. “Dr. Sanderson’s granddaughter Melody goes there, and he donates a lot of money to them. I expect they owe him a favor or two. And he certainly owes us one!” She looked at Robin. “Don’t worry, Arty, we’ll watch out for him.”
    “Excellent,” Arty said. “Hear that, Robbie? You’re going to braniac school!”
    Robin nodded. “Arty,” he said suddenly, his eyes beginning to fill, “will I ever see you again?”
    Arty smiled an enormous, tender smile. “You bet you will, Robbie,” he said, patting Robin’s shoulder. “Every time you look in a mirror, for the rest of your life, I’ll be there.”
    Robin sniffed and tried to smile. They hugged for a long time.
    Suddenly Arty felt a tingle on his arm; his callback unit was activating. He stepped back and took one last look around the lab. As his form began to shimmer and glow, he said to Robin, “So long, you—I mean, me.”
    Then he was gone.
    Wheeler plopped into the desk chair. “Jeez, what a morning! I could use a cup of coffee.”
    “There is a fresh pot in the break room now, Dr. Wheeler,” Eli said. “I turned it on a few minutes ago.”
    Wheeler stared. “Seriously, E-L-One? In the middle of saving the freakin’ world, you take time out to start the coffee pot?”
    “What?” Eli asked innocently. “I was multitasking.”
    Kelly laughed tiredly and headed for the break room.
    “Eli,” Robin asked, “did you really fix the mistakes in the project data?”
    “I did indeed,” Eli replied. “Not only did I correct the errors, but I also succeeded in redesigning the formulas so the Molecular Disruptor Array could be used as a power source instead of as a weapon.”
    “What do you mean, a power source?” Wheeler asked.
    “As I corrected the formulaic errors, I realized how the MDA works, by breaking down materials into their base components. Of course, that breakdown releases tremendous amounts of energy, which is usually lost into the atmosphere during the molecular disruption process. I reasoned that this effect could also be used as a catalyst to start energy-releasing breakdowns of simple, easily obtainable materials housed in specially designed power plants anywhere in the world.”
    “Fascinating,” Wheeler said.
    “The power plants housing the materials would be targeted by the MDA; they would capture the energy released by the disruption, convert it to electricity, and distribute it to provide power for construction, medical care, food production, anything at all.”
    Wheeler shook his head. “Molecular disruption as energy. E-L-One, that’s brilliant!”
    “Of course, if I had returned the project data to NADCOM after all, that is the only version they would have