by C M Dancha
Nothing changed by the time his dinner arrived. He considered what he should do. There was a part of himself who wanted to stay and see what happened to the woman-in-black. And there was the other option of packing up and leaving. It was possible that he was misreading the situation, and going home to eat dinner was a wise decision. It might not be as interesting but at least he could eat without the intense scrutiny of a stranger's gaze.
"Waiter, I'm not feeling well. Can you put my dinner in something, so I can carry it home?"
The server transferred Rollie's dinner to an insulated clamshell and then placed it inside of a medium-sized thermal bag. Rollie paid the bill, left a tip for the server and headed to the tavern's front door. He did all this without looking at the woman-in-black. But he couldn't help himself before taking the final steps into the night. He gazed one last time to the back of the tavern to where she was sitting.
She gave him a weak wave with her right hand and a modest smile. The other two women missed both signals and kept babbling like magpies.
Rollie ambled along the narrow side streets to his apartment. He couldn't stop thinking about the woman-in-black. Why was she looking at him? Did they know each other? Would they meet in the future? It would be some time before he knew the answers to these questions. For the moment, he reveled in the thought that he might be more attractive and desirable to the opposite sex than he believed at the beginning of the day.
Chapter Three
Six Months Later
"Mr. Ekstrom, can you give us the latest results on the ReLife project?"
Rollie normally hated attending committee meetings devoted to updating new product development. They were boring and monotonous. It was aggravating listening to the snail's pace required to bring new products to market. But as Senior Vice President of this department, he needed to attend each update meeting. It didn't matter that 90% of the updates were not updates at all. Rather, they were excuse sessions for why projects fell behind schedule or came to a screeching halt. It was the 10% of updates with encouraging news to report which captured his interest.
But there was another consideration why he attended every product development meeting. Somehow, his boss, the CEO of the company always knew about each failure and success. There was no reason for Rollie to look like a fool simply because he missed the latest significant news.
The ReLife project was an exception to the rule. Rollie looked forward to each update meeting regardless of the latest reports. They were a welcome change of pace from the routine meetings about developing or improving drugs and devices to extend human life. Phoenvartis Corporation had a storehouse of drugs and devices in one phase or another of testing, development or approval. What it had only one of was the ReLife project which was a major leap forward in the recreation of human life. It was one step away from understanding how God and the universe worked.
Claude Ekstrom leaned forward in his chair, straightened his collar and glasses and then cleared his sinus cavities. The snorting sound he made through his nose was his trademark and object of repeated teasing. The snorting went on for two to three minutes. The other attendees either stared at him in disbelief or let their minds wander and daydream. A few who attended prior meetings with Ekstrom regarded this an unscheduled break. They walked around the conference room, poured themselves more coffee or ate a Swiss pastry.
Ekstrom's greased-back, golden hair reminded Rollie of the way men wore their hair over two hundred years before in old America and Europe. Old black and white movies were filled with actors wearing this hairstyle. Unfortunately, these movies were banned from viewing without special permission from the World Council.
As Ekstrom continued to snort his sinuses clear, Rollie couldn't help thinking about Dixie Peach. It was the sweet-smelling salve his grandfather used to grease back his hair. Besides making his hair smell like a summer meadow it shined like a patent leather shoe. It made his hair so rigid that even a hurricane wind could not move it. Rollie didn't know what Ekstrom used to get the same greased-back look but thought it would be fun to give him a small round, metal container of Dixie Peach. Of course, the gag wouldn't be complete unless he signed the gift, "from an unknown admirer". He dropped the idea because it would take forever to find a can of the salve. Just the thought of researching the central government's allocation network was exhausting. The network was supposed to make locating "hard to find" and frivolous items easy for citizens with a few extra world credits to spend. In reality, it was a royal pain in the ass. The network was hard to navigate and extremely outdated.
"Mr. Ekstrom, you can begin your report at any time." Rollie was hoping his slight jab would speed along the snorting routine but knew from experience he was fighting a losing battle.
Rollie wanted to fire Ekstrom years before. But there were two things which outweighed Ekstrom's annoying personality traits. First, he was incredibly smart. Rollie had no idea what his IQ was but it had to be far above any other employee at the corporation. Even more important than his brilliance was the fact he was the nephew of the CEO, Klaus Ekstrom. Rollie accepted years before that Claude was on his team until one of the Ekstroms died, retired or moved on to a different company.
Claude gave the final inhale snort which Rollie heard so many times before and began his presentation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, the ReLife project has been in development for several years. During the last two years, it has been my distinct honor and pleasure to lead this effort. We are on the brink of making a major breakthrough in medical advancement. This project will not only benefit mankind but thrust Phoenvartis Corporation to a position of leadership in …"
Ekstrom's opening statement was so self-serving and grandiose Rollie couldn't take it. He was ready to interrupt for the sake of everyone's sanity. But before he could say anything, another senior vice president, Helmer Stanke, spoke up. "Claude, can you please get to the update information and statistics? Everyone here has very busy schedules today. We need to hear the key facts of your report before heading off to other meetings."
Rollie considered Stanke the best executive in the company. He was smart and hated corporate politics. He excelled at cutting through all the bullshit and getting to the point in record time. His direct manner put off quite a few of his peers. For Rollie, it was a refreshing change of pace in a company where politics was, at times, more important than producing ideas and products.
Stanke and Claude were well-established foes. Stanke took every opportunity he could to irritate Claude. The well-aimed barbs, like the one he shot across the room at Claude, always got under his skin.
Claude was annoyed with Stanke's interruption and gave him an "I'll remember this" look. Even though Stanke was number one on Claude's "shit list," the interruption did push him along to bypass the self-serving opening statement. He launched into the vital facts about the ReLife project.
"Rollie, and esteemed colleagues. My team has taken a major step forward in the ReLife project. I am pleased to announce that this week we recreated an entire field mouse from a severed foot of a deceased mouse. It appears that we have brought a version, or should I say, brought a cloned version of a dead mouse back to life."
Claude stopped to let his information soak in with the other attendees. He knew this breakthrough would vault him into the annals of medical history and probably put him in line for a major promotion. Dead silence now gripped the meeting. It was the same reaction he got two hours earlier when he told his uncle, the CEO of Phoenvartis, the news about the cloned mouse. He had been warned about going behind Rollie's back, but in this case, he didn't care. This news was too earth-shattering and momentous to worry about corporate rules and politics.
After the initial shock, Rollie immediately thought of his boss. Claude must have run to him already with the news about the successful cloning. It must be killing him to wait until Claude delivered his presentation to the ReLife committee. Otherwise, there was no other way to protect Claude, the snitch. He woul
d have to control his reactionary personality a few more minutes. Then he could call the executive committee together to discuss the next step in the cloning project.
Rollie also knew his boss would want to bypass prescribed scientific methodology. He would demand going to the ultimate goal of the ReLife project which was creating a cloned human from a corpse fragment.
Before anyone in the room could ask a question or make a comment, Claude continued with his presentation. "From what I can tell, the cloned mouse is physically and mentally sound. Granted, it's been only a week, but all tests on the mouse have netted positive results. What we don't know is if the cloned mouse possesses the memories of the donor mouse or will develop its own memories during its life cycle. Then again, it might be a combination of both. I guess we won't know that until...."
"Claude, how long did the cloning process take and did you record it?"
Ekstrom hated interruptions but showed Rollie the respect of his position and answered. "The entire process didn't take long. Once the severed foot from the donor mouse was put into the CR47 incubator capsule the regeneration process started immediately. It took about an hour before the new mouse was born, so to speak. By the way, we named the mouse Eden, as taken from the fictional Biblical story of Adam and Eve. And yes, the entire regeneration process was recorded so each of you can watch it."
"I think we would like to watch the recording now, Claude. All of us can clear our calendars to watch this incredible breakthrough."
"Rollie, I'd love to show the recording to everyone now, but I've got a very important doctor's appointment which I can't miss. Can we do the showing tomorrow?"
Rollie put an artificial, concerned look on his face and responded. "Well, I guess you don't have to be here for the video showing, Claude. I can go up and get the recording out of the CR47 and play it for the group. And you can go to your doctor's appointment."
Rollie started to get up from his chair knowing Claude was formulating another lie to cover his first lie.
"Sir, I'd really like to be here for the group showing. I can add a lot to the video presentation and answer the questions which come up. I don't think the people in this room will understand exactly what is happening as they see each phase of the regeneration process. Again, can we play the recording tomorrow?"
Rollie wanted to call Claude out as a liar and discipline him in front of the entire group. The CR47 recording wasn't in its locked housing as it should be. It was in Klaus's office, exactly where Claude took it when he realized the regeneration process was successful. Claude couldn't admit the recording was with his uncle. It would be an admission that he went around the chain of command again which would result in disciplinary action.
Rollie made the snap decision to let Claude off the hook. Rather than be petty it was far better to let Claude have his ten minutes of glory. He could then wait to expose him for a sneaky little rat sometime in the future. And Rollie knew exactly how he was going to trap the rat.
"Okay, Claude, we'll have the recording review tomorrow. I'll have my assistant set up the meeting." Rollie looked at the meeting attendees and asked, "Tomorrow might be a better time to ask questions, but are there any which have to be answered today?"
None of the other four people in the room raised any questions. All of them congratulated Claude on his achievement as they left the room.
As an afterthought, Rollie added, "Okay, people, see you tomorrow. And please remember this is top secret. We have a chance to bring to the world the next great medical advancement since the cure for cancer. So let's keep our mouths shut until we know for certain if the process works."
Rollie left the room a minute or so behind Ekstrom on purpose. He wanted to see which way Claude headed. Would he go in the direction of his own office, out the door to the fictitious doctor's appointment or scamper back to his uncle's office?
It was almost comical watching Claude leave the building. The first thing he did was make a call through the government's Universal Communications Network (UCN). He didn't have to enter a number into a communications device. All he did was speak in a normal tone into a tiny micromic embedded into his clothing.
The micromics were unique to each citizen. They allowed each user to connect with any other citizen by simply stating that person's name or identity number. When the connection was made, the parties could talk to each other. If they wanted to see each other they chose the visual feature. This feature used a person's peripheral vision without blocking his forward vision. Somehow, it fooled the brain into believing that the other person's face was directly ahead when in fact it was offset to the corner of the eye. This split-screen effect allowed each person on the call to do something else without being hindered by the other person's image. It was common to see people driving a hovercraft or playing a sport while they communicated on a micromic.
The UCN was an incredible communications system developed a decade earlier by a corporation in Zone 3. It was also an incredibly efficient system to track the movement of every human on the planet Earth and the three colony planets. And the World Council did exactly that. If a citizen wore a piece of government issued, free clothing he was tracked regardless of when and where he went. If he wore non-issued government clothing, the injected kidney microdevice tracked his movements.
Monitoring citizens through the UCN plus the health injection program kept close tabs on nearly everyone. It also identified radicals and dissidents before they had a chance to be a disruptive force on society.
Wearing non-issued government clothing without embedded micromics was tolerated but not encouraged. Very few people outside the zones were wealthy enough to buy more than one set of non-mic clothes on the black market. Wearing "scrubbed" clothes was frowned upon by the government. It made those people stand out from his fellow citizens and appear to be special. It didn't matter that scrubbed clothes were better made and more attractive. What mattered was that no one citizen appeared to be superior to his fellow citizens.
Violations of the Standards of Living Codes could result in a penalty phase lasting up to two years. Wearing non-issued government clothing often or exceeding travel restrictions were considered violations. During a penalty period, the violator did not receive his full monthly allotment of world credits. This forced him to come up with other ways to get food, shelter, and the necessities of life. Many violators died during a penalty term, especially if they couldn't find a friend willing to share food and shelter.
A medical emergency during the penalty phase was a death sentence. Hospitals were barred from treating patients who were serving time for violation of the Living Codes. It was not unusual for many of the hospitals in larger cities to find human corpses outside their entrance doors each morning.
Rollie owned quite a few scrubbed items of clothing but didn't think much about where and when to wear them. He didn't buy them to avoid the government's tracking system but rather for his own vanity. Scrubbed clothes were always more fashionable than clothes with embedded micromics.
Rollie watched Claude from a third-floor window close to his office. The corporate office had environment windows which produced radiant heat in the winter and cooling during warm days. This environmental feature made the windows one-way and prohibited anyone from seeing into the office building.
For being such a brilliant scientist, Rollie couldn't get over how mentally clumsy Claude was in his normal life. As he watched Claude below, he couldn't help wondering why the fool didn't walk another fifty feet and duck behind another building. At least he would be out of sight from prying eyes at the Phoenvartis building.
Claude was talking wildly to whoever he had connected with on the UCN system. Rollie didn't know for sure but he suspected that the other person was his uncle, Klaus Ekstrom.
He could just imagine their conversation about the cloned mouse. He was sure Claude was also whining about almost being caught in a lie about the CR47 visual recording. He knew Klaus wouldn't have one bit of sympathy and wouldn't of
fer to help Claude if he got caught lying about the recording. Rollie was sure Klaus couldn't stand his brother's kid. The only reason he befriended him was to have another pawn and informant.
Claude headed back to the corporate office building forgetting he should be walking the other direction toward a fictitious doctor's office. Rollie could see he was no longer talking into his UCN system. If the person on the other end of Claude's call was his uncle, then Rollie could expect a call from the boss within the next couple of minutes.
Almost as soon as this thought left his mind, Rollie's shirt micromic hummed, indicating he had an incoming communication. God, he hated the humming sound. For some reason, it irritated the hell out of him. His grandmother once said that it reminded her of scratching fingernails on a chalk blackboard. He agreed with her even though he didn't know what a blackboard was. He made a vow to find a way to change the activation sound of his micromic units.
"Rollie, Klaus here. What are you doing?
"Hello, Mr. Ekstrom. I'm reviewing some communiques in my office and …"
That's all Klaus needed to hear before interrupting with, "Rollie, I need you up here in the next ten minutes. We have some important topics to cover."
Rollie took advantage of the situation and had some fun by asking, "Anything in particular, sir?"
"No, I mean, yes. I'll explain when you get here. See you in ten."
Rollie slipped into his office to look at messages. He asked his assistant to complete a couple of tasks which he knew would be critical to the ReLife program. He could foresee where the project was headed. He might as well be out front of the illogical and outrageous demands his boss would soon be asking for and expecting.
As they discussed the assignments for the rest of the day, Rollie looked up just in time to see a woman walk by his office windows. The tight-fitting blouse and skirt caught his eye first. But when she turned and smiled at him, her piercing eyes grabbed his attention enough to make him stop talking in mid-sentence to his assistant.