Free Sparks of Chaos by kevin caruso Page B

think he is going to be ready for this mission tomorrow?” Tedford asked.
    “No, of course he won’t but I never expected him to be. I am not certain that even a professionally trained intelligence operative could be expected to do this. Right now he is not only the best option we have but the only option,” Armstrong answered.
    “What are we going to do if he fails?”
    “As far as we are concerned it doesn’t matter whether he succeeds or fails in this mission. It is much more important that the mission go ahead and be attempted for everything to finally be put into action.”
    Tedford mused “Rex will certainly care if it succeeds. How are we exactly going to explain a deviation to his plans? You know how much he hates both surprises and disappointment.”
    “First, you are confusing Rex’s goals with ours; he was always going to be disappointed, it just depended when that happened in the process. It has always been my opinion that it is better for it to occur sooner rather than later when it is too difficult or too late to change,” Armstrong exclaimed.
    “I know we have to do it but it still seems wrong, it feels disloyal. Do you still think he wouldn’t believe us if we simply told him his plans will fail and why Chase is really here?”
    “Rex is a proud and often stubborn man. We discussed this and decided long ago on our course of action; do not backslide on your commitment now,” Armstrong said waving his finger at him. “Now is not the time to waver in our resolve. Secondly, we must have our contingency plan in place. We must be prepared to intervene if the boy faces any danger. We must have him return here, he is now integral to our revised plans.”
    “Is that likely? Only a small percentage of the hundreds of most likely outcome scenarios show any possible danger of capture,” Tedford asked.
    “We may need to adjust our parameters; the boy could end up being much more volatile and unpredictable than even we expected him to be. We should be prepared for any conceivable situation. One of the real dangers he may face is from Rex himself if it goes spectacularly wrong.”
    “I have already put those contingency plans into place. Do you believe we will need them?” Tedford asked.
    “A conflict between the two of them is probably inevitable. They are polar opposites in personalities and they are both strong willed. Managing the conflict is going to be the key to all of our survival and quite possibly the survival of the entire civilization,” Armstrong explained.
    “Be honest, isn’t that overstating things?”
    Walking to Tedford, he looked directly into his eyes and said, “No, it is not an exaggeration at all. Rex is a determined genius with a strong hint of megalomania and something to prove. There may be nothing worse than letting him achieve all of his dreams. Someone must be able to challenge him and tell him when he is wrong. We are not built to stand up directly to Rex, we were created to assist and serve him. With Chase, fate has delivered the perfect foil for Rex.”
    “An average teenage boy is the perfect challenger for Rex, one of humanity’s greatest minds? That makes no sense!” Tedford stated.
    “Chase may seem average at first but I’m sure he is going to be anything but average. Another scientist would be seen as a direct challenge and Rex would always have the upper hand. He could easily destroy another scientist here on his own turf or he would convert them for his own ends, which is his current grand plan. Chase will confuse and befuddle him; he won’t understand him and find it difficult to vanquish him. That spark of conflict is the key to everything. Our goal is to harness that spark to a positive purpose, if we do our job well that spark will ignite a fire of creativity and growth that could transform the world. However if we do nothing or fail that spark could destroy Surga and the world.”
    “Then we must succeed,” Tedford replied.
    Chapter 17
    Chase had