The Premise

by Andy Crossfield

  "But how do we know it works?" said another man, visibly agitated near the front.

  "Because the evidence is incontrovertible," said Jack. "Is anyone here from New York City?" Jack said lifting his gaze out to the general audience.

  A few in the audience raised their hands.

  "Can anyone tell me what has happened to the crime rate in New York over the last three years?"

  One man in the audience yelled out "It’s gone way down!"

  "Right!" Jack said picking up the beat of his talk. "And curiously, nobody knows why…

  "My source tells me this was the large-scale experiment that proved the efficacy of the cure. You see, New York is the perfect test case because they get their water supply mostly from a single source, the Catskills, the best tasting water in the world, they brag. Adding the cure to a trusted water source with a single entry point is the ideal large-scale test case."

  A woman stood up in the audience, "The economy is in awful shape, has been for years, my husband is a deputy sheriff, are you saying he’ll be out of work soon?"

  "Yes, I’m afraid so, although we will still have need of a civil defense to help communities through natural disasters. The results of testing on this is very clear– the vaccine changes our thought processes very quickly, some say as soon as one week, and eliminates the recurrence of criminal behavior.

  "The process is irreversible and once the vaccine is ingested, its effect completely and permanently modifies the gene defect responsible for criminal activity. No criminals mean there is no need for police or other law enforcement.

  "Of course, if you are not criminally inclined… that is, you don’t have the defective gene, no change will occur in you." Jack was glad to get that point out of the way, better to have it come up quickly than have the audience mull it over and come to a wrong conclusion.

  "Dr. Colder, I’m a businessman," said a heavyset man near the back, "with some pretty tough competition. In the past they have resorted to some really underhanded tricks to steal my customers… if this stuff works, will they stop that kind of thing?"

  "Ah, an excellent question, sir. In fact, business will be one of the greatest benefactors, aside from society in general. Once conversion is complete, business can get back to selling on relationships and competing on quality of service or capability instead of lowball pricing or payoffs. Since taking advantage of your suppliers is at its heart simply a form of extortion, that will cease.

  "Folks, I don’t think any of you yet grasp how dramatically different our lives will be in the near future."

  Jack’s cadence became more animated as he began to sell the benefits of the discovery. "You can leave your homes unlocked again, keys in the ignition, let your kids play in the park after dark…" Jack always enjoyed this utopian view as he began to sermonize. "Crime has forced us all to be prisoners in our own homes, our own cars, our own little paranoia filled spheres … and you all, we all, just got paroled!"

  The crowd slowly began to applaud… spotty at first and then, like passengers on a bumpy flight when the wheels finally touch down, an uneasy, but relief-filled, applause filled the auditorium.

  When the applause began to fade, a tall older man near the aisle stood and said, "I certainly am fascinated by the prospect of what you say, and I don’t want to throw cold water on the concept, but one problem occurs to me that you haven’t addressed."

  Jack walked closer to the man in the audience and waited at the very the edge of the stage for the question he knew was coming; because it always did, in fact tonight, he had gotten farther than he usually did before it came up.

  "And what would that be sir?" replied Jack.

  "Well, assuming the report is accurate, and frankly that is a big assumption in my mind, how do we know everybody will be cured? I mean, this only works if everybody is honest, right? How can we be sure there won’t be somebody out there that this stuff won’t work on?"

  Jack paused as he always did when he got "the question". He began stroking his chin as if contemplating the question for the first time.

  "The answer to part of your question sir, is not simple to explain, but I’ll give it a shot. As I understand it, the cure has been tested on every human genetic type with remarkable success. You see, crime is an old human defect. Many trace it all the way back to Cain, right?" As Jack scanned the audience with his gaze, he elicited several nods of agreement, drawing the crowd deeper into the prospect of a society without fear.

  "Crime is at the root of our genetic development, a hardwired, original defect, if you will. That fact actually makes its locus of origin easier to find and correct, since evolution in humans seems to have been more uniform at the point in which it arose.

  "Put it this way," Mark said, "the task was to find the genetic marker for crime among the millions of other markers in the human code. It was similar to looking for an insect in a tree." He explained. "The object of your search is a lot easier to find if it is located on the trunk near the ground, than if it were hiding out on a branch or in the leaves…, do you see the advantage?"

  Jack took another deep breath and sipped some water from the glass on the podium before continuing.

  "As for your question relating to universality of treatment, that part is simple. We can assure ourselves that everyone will be treated because the cure has already been added to our water supply, food supply, and the ventilation systems of all public areas and buildings, even this one we are in right now. We are, all of us, now in the process of becoming crime free!"

  The audience erupted in a single roar. A mixture of shock, outrage, fear and anger coursed through the building with a singularity of rage. People shouted, jumped to their feet and shook their fists. Some rushed the stage, as if Jack could reverse the process somehow. Many turned to the stranger next to them to confirm the audacity of what had just been said.

  "People, people," Jack pleaded… "Settle down, settle down. Let me explain!"

  He pulled a bullhorn from behind the podium and turned it on. By moving it close to the mic, Jack caused it to emit a shrill feedback sound that immediately hushed the crowd.

  ‘Settle down now, please. Are you saying you don’t want to eradicate crime?" Jack shouted, straining to be heard. "Are you saying that you would rather live in today’s crime-imposed prison, than free yourselves from bondage?"

  "Yes, if it means not pulling tricks on us!" shouted one red faced woman shaking with rage.

  "Who gave permission to use this stuff on us?" said an old man up front. "Its Nazi Germany all over again!"

  "People, please, please" pleaded Jack. "Sit down and let me finish. Please, let me answer that question."

  He sent another shrill blast of feedback from the bullhorn out over the audience.

  ‘Someone asked who gave permission to vaccinate each of us…," Jack was yelling loudly at this point, "I would like to answer… Please, settle down, let me answer!"

  The crowd slowly began to take their seats again and the roar died to a loud murmur.

  "The question was asked who gave permission to use the vaccination on the public without notice." Jack said as his voice lowered with the crowd noise to a more normal tone. "My sources say the decision was made many months ago after a meeting with the CDC in Atlanta and a series of confidential conference calls with all fifty governors, the FDA commissioner, select leaders in Congress, the FBI, the CIA, the U.N. secretary, and the president. The conclusion of the group, after hearing a presentation similar to the one you just heard, was that this had to be done, and had to be done in strict secrecy. For the good of the economy, the citizens, and the government, this is akin to curing a disease like cancer. A once in a lifetime opportunity.

  At the slight pause in Jack's presentation, the audience began to erupt again. Jack held the bullhorn high over his head in order to calm the outcry.

  "The need for secrecy is understandable when you realize that if it were not done in discretely, criminals would take steps to avoid the cure. Sti
ll, there are instances that will occur, people out of the country for example, that will need to be vaccinated. Processes are now in place that will disseminate the vaccine on all transportation modes into the United States, and while I can only speak for our country, I would expect the vaccine is being administered in secret throughout the world.

  "For that reason, two points need to be made. First, the exact method of administration of the cure will not be divulged– to prevent circumvention; and second, the treated individuals will be able to be identified by a benign skin condition at the wrist that can be detected under ultraviolet light.

  "If you think about it, as I have in the day or so since I was informed of the projects progress, there are many more benefits to this than problems. Let’s explore some more of them…"

  Dr. Colder spent the next 30 minutes handling every question from the audience. He patiently explained again and again the importance of the vaccine, the lack of side effects, the short transition period and how people typically would require an extra hour of sleep each night while transition occurred.

  He worked brilliantly. Calming the crowd, answering all their questions to the begrudging satisfaction of a very skeptical audience. Walking them through the benefits again. Treating the subject with the care and concern of a parent instructing a fearful child.

  And when he had answered all their questions, he sat for the first time in the lone chair on stage and said, "I want to thank each of you for coming tonight. As a token of that appreciation, I would like you to reach under your seat and retrieve the envelope that is taped there.

  "You see, I have a confession to make. Sadly, there is no cure for criminal behavior. You have been participating in vital research this evening to understand how crowds react to hearing unexpectedly good news with unpleasant downsides."

  "In the envelope, you will find another envelope with five one hundred dollar bills inside. That is my gift to you for your participation this evening. You will also find a pen and a Non-Disclosure Agreement, an NDA, which will swear each of you to secrecy about this evening’s presentation.

  "That said, you all deserve to know the reason for my ruse.

  "About 3 years ago, a colleague and I were thinking about society’s biggest problems. It occurred to me that if or when discoveries were made so that we were able to solve them, how would we unwind the infrastructure that we have built up around them that have protected us from their damaging effects? Would we as a society be able to accomplish implementing the solution if we had already become dependent on the measures we had designed to mitigate the damage?

  "If, for example, we could cure crime, would all those who make their living from its existence be persuasive enough to stop the cure from being administered? If we could control the weather, would we be able to have society agree on what kind of weather to deliver?

  "I decided we needed more data on how society reacts to amazingly good news when coupled with the inherently negative outcomes such solutions inevitably bring. I felt we had better start gathering that data now, in order to be able to best present future breakthrough solutions to the public.

  "If you think about it, while it’s certainly disappointing that there is no magical cure for crime, you all are really no worse off now than when you came in tonight. In fact, if you wish to play along with my research, you will actually leave $500 better off.

  "Each of the seats in this theater has had feedback response collectors built into the arms, back, and seats that record the occupant’s heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tone, breathing rate and temperature. That information becomes crucial to my research."

  "As for the NDA, I think you will appreciate that the data would be meaningless if the next audience knew the truth from the start. If some of you decide not to sign, that is your prerogative. If word gets out about the content of this presentation, I will stop and begin my evaluation on the forty-five presentations we have done so far. If not, we will move on to another city and continue to gather as large a sample as possible. It is your choice.

  "Again, my apologies for the ruse and the high blood pressure, thank you for your participation tonight! Please hand either the $500 or the signed NDA to the staff on your way out. Oh, I almost forgot, in the envelope with the money is a brief summation you may find helpful to use when friends or family ask you how your evening went.

  "Good night all!"

  Jack was exhausted as he left the stage. The emotional swing he created always took its toll on him, but tonight was unusually hard. One woman was in tears when she found out there was no anti-crime vaccine… her husband had been in prison for over 10 years and she was in hopes he could be vaccinated and released. Her vitals would be particularly interesting to evaluate, he thought as he made a note of her seat number.

  Chapter 4 A Discovery Is Made

  The dark sedan eased up to the curb in a dingy section of south Chicago. The woman at the wheel scanned her surroundings and hesitated before turning off the ignition. The streets were Sunday morning quiet, and the church crowd had yet to descend. This was a City Boyz stronghold and the corner across the street was where court was held. It was warm for October, and somebody had opened a hydrant nearby where a crowd of kids had gathered to play in the spray.

  The arc of water gave off a fresh smell like rain. It blended with the aroma of food cooking in the nearby café and the motor oil in the street, into a curious mix that seemed familiar to her. The sedan door opened and an attractive, slim and smartly dressed brunette with a mocha complexion got out and approached a group of young men standing on the corner.

  She spoke with authority, asking the group "Anybody here named Winston?"

  "Who wants to know?" said a tall black kid in the back of the group as he kept an eye on the children playing in the hydrant spray across the street.

  She thought he couldn’t be more than nineteen or twenty, but he already had a face for poker and an attitude like a concrete wall. He seemed to be the group leader because when he spoke, everyone looked at the ground.

  "I’m Dr. Colleen Baker. I need to talk to Mako Williams, and was told you would know where he is."

  "What you want with Mako?" he shot back, still distracted by the kids across the street.

  "It's personal, do you know where I can find him?"

  "Well, ya see, I handle all Mako’s personal business. Whatcha got?" said the kid as he turned his full unblinking stare toward her.

  Without missing a beat, the woman sized up the situation and said, "Tell him he’s dying of AIDS." Then she turned back toward her car.

  "Hold up!" a voice from behind her said. "You really a doctor?"

  "Is this some kind of punk?" said another voice behind her.

  The woman turned around again and pulled a card from her pocket. "Here. Give this to him. Have him call me if he wants to live."

  She flicked the card with considerable skill and speed, hitting the tall black kid in the forehead before he had a chance to react, then it dropped to the sidewalk. The hushed crowd cleared a path between Winston and the well-dressed stranger and watched their leader for cues. She stared him down for a moment then got in her car and drove off.

  Her passenger, a boy about sixteen asked, "You think he’ll call?"

  Dr. Baker turned to him with a slight smile, "You did, didn’t you?"

  They drove about a mile to an industrial area and pulled into an underground parking garage. The dingy elevator took them up to the fourth floor and to the large heavy door of the lab. A sign posted near the door read:

  Xerxes Research –

  Lab Has No Narcotics

  The outer door led to a small waiting area with a glass partition and a pass through. A motion sensor and camera kept a record of everyone entering and leaving through the lab’s only entrance.

  "Okay, Sam, let’s get you hooked up," Dr. Baker said, moving him through the door and down a long hallway to an examination room. Sam rolled up his sleeve, revealing many injection sites. He knew Dr
. Baker noticed them but she never said anything. He wanted to tell her he was going to quit, but he knew she was too smart to believe that… it seemed like the only people he knew that ever quit using in his neighborhood were dead folks.

  She worked fast, giving him the injection in his upper arm, then taking a pouch from the refrigerator and warming it in her hands. She swabbed the area on his arm and pulled the needle tipped tube from its restraint on the packet. Sam had been shooting up for over 2 years, but he always turned his head as Dr. Baker inserted the needle into his vein. He wondered why he did that, but he could never figure it out. He was getting drowsy now… an effect of the hydration process necessary to enhance absorption of the injection. Soon he would be asleep and not remember much at all of the next three hours.

  Dr. Baker checked to make sure Sam was comfortable, pulled a blanket over him, and quietly closed the door. She continued on down the hall to her office, a small room packed with stacks of papers, reports, and tabulations, each neatly stacked and sitting on almost every horizontal surface. She sat behind her desk and picked up the results of the latest test subjects.