“Hello ladies and gentlemen. I’m not sure what General Ramford has planned for you, but I must seize this opportunity to show and tell you something myself,” He began.
“And who are you, exactly?” Senator Burbank said, superciliously.
“I apologize, I am Colonel Jessop. I was one of the privates assigned to the original experiment. While I was rejected from the experiment due to a health problem, I was kept on to do observational work. I probably would have been one of those killed in the building fire, but I was in the hospital on that day.”
“I see. What do you have to tell us?” Hardman asked.
“It is more something to show you. It is vital that you see it as soon as possible,” He said, and his gravity affected them somehow. Everyone in the group knew that they could not leave without seeing what this young officer had to show them. But just then the General reappeared.
“Now, if everyone would follow me, I have one final demonstration to show you in the basement of this building,” Ramford said, doing a poor job of hiding his anxiety. Fortunately, the group looked between him and Colonel Jessop and, to his surprise, they all agreed without complaint.
They walked to the elevator, all ten of them cramming into one, and went down to the third basement in the building. As they walked, they followed behind Colonel Jessop, even General Ramford. He couldn’t tell why, he just knew that he needed to let Jessop lead for a few minutes, and then he would be able to trap Halle and Kyler.
Colonel Jessop walked directly past the holding cells to the secondary laboratories. They were secondary because the first group was in a stand-alone building on the other side of the base. That was the original site of the devastating fire. These laboratories had been used until a replacement building had been constructed.
He swiped his card and held the door open for the group to file in. The General, despite his impulse to stay outside and bolt the door, found himself inside the room with the rest of them.
“Do you recognize this room?” Jessop asked the group.
“Yes. It’s the room from the videos,” Senator Howe answered.
“Yes, it is. I asked the General to show you those videos for a reason. The things in that room seem magical, and amazing, do they not?” He continued without waiting for a response. “Well, I’m here to show you something, if not as magical, at least as amazing. Especially for someone like me, who has believed in this fantasy for years.”
“Colonel Jessop! What do you think you are doing?” Ramford said angrily, finally coming out of his reverie. “We are leaving this room immediately!”
“No General. I don’t believe we are,” Speaker Hardman said. “I’d like to hear what he has to say.”
“Thank you, Speaker. If I may have two of your aides, please? One will sit here, and another here.” He placed them on the hospital beds that Kyler and Halle had been on. “Now, the rest of you come stand in this corner, where the camera is in the video,” He beckoned.
“This is preposterous, Jessop! What are you thinking? We need to get these people out of here and—” He stopped short. It occurred to him that Jessop was probably not acting of his own accord. And since the rest of them weren’t really the Committee, it didn’t make a difference what he said. So Ramford stopped protesting, and started planning a way to get them all into the holding cell on the way back to the elevators.
“General, I apologize for my actions, but I really feel this is something that must be shared with the Committee,” Jessop replied. He went back to the two aides on the tables and put the brain scanning equipment on their heads. “Alright, now, I’m going to come stand over here, out of the reach of the camera, and we’ll see what happens.”
“Okay, now, what’s your name?” He asked the woman on the bed closest to him.
“Anna.”
“Alright, Anna, would you please raise the ball.”
“Um, what do you mean? I can’t—” She gave a little gasp of shock as the ball rose into the air. The other aide jumped as well as the trash can lifted off, flew through the air and came to rest next to him. All of the aides whispered in astonishment.
Ramford snorted. What on earth are they planning?
“Interesting, I didn’t ask anyone to do that,” Jessop said, clearly making a point.
“That is how it happened in the video,” Senator Howe said, comprehension of what Jessop was doing dawning on him.
“Indeed it is,” Jessop said soberly. “Next the lab table, and subject B’s bed rose at the same time.”
Now they were watching him. He visibly hit a button and both pieces of furniture did as they were supposed to.
They looked at Ramford, but he didn’t say anything. He barely looked interested.
“And then the chalkboard,” Speaker Hardman contributed. “I found that to be quite impressive, given the control required.”
At another push of a button the chalk rose and wrote on the board. Jessop moved over to intercept it. He pulled the piece of chalk away and the board still diligently spelled out the ABC’s. None of the Committee members said anything, they were absorbing the meaning of what they had seen.
“If you’d like to come away from the positioning of the camera, you will see how it is all done,” Jessop told them.
They did as he suggested, walking to the different items in the room and examining them while Jessop pressed the buttons. There were hidden ropes, fishing line and levers. All were clearly visible from other parts of the room, but cleverly hidden from the camera angle. There were harnesses attached to the ceiling and one to a portable device that could have easily been used for some of the “flying” shots in the videos.
“This is inconceivable,” Senator Burbank said, very distressed. “No one in Congress ever saw any of the abilities before, but we had videos. And testimonies from very respected individuals.”
“All the soldier’s ‘being controlled?’ They were under General Ramford, weren’t they?” Howe asked, clearly not needing any convincing.
“Of course,” Jessop said. “Gentlemen, as much as it pains me to admit, given my dedication to this program for the duration of my career, I no longer believe that the young people we have been chasing for the past few years have any special abilities.”
“Those videos would have been even easier to fake than these,” put in Speaker Hardman. “At best they were hypnotized. But far more likely, they were merely lying. All of the videos and proof we have seen could easily have been manufactured. And we are lured here with promises that the subjects have been caught, but instead we are fed more lies and requests for more resources.”
“The brain scans were clearly fraudulent as well,” Jessop said showing them scans from the two innocent aides, showing wild brain activity. “This is exactly what brain scans from the two ‘subjects’ looks like. And we—I—believed it to be unique to them.”
Burbank was reluctant to believe he had been deceived. “I can’t believe it. We have the word of dozens of good soldiers.”
Jessop shook his head sadly. “Yes, but as soldiers, we are taught the most important thing we can do is follow our leaders. And everyone on this base has been trained that General Ramford is practically God.”
General Ramford finally moved around the room, looking at the equipment with confusion. He touched a piece and felt nothing, as he expected. What is their endgame? They have to have some sort of plan? Do they merely want me to believe my funding is denied? Let Jessop talk, he thought, deciding it was time to act. There would be plenty of time to discover their motives later.
He let his anger show, knowing they had to believe he believed they were the Committee. “How dare you, Jessop? This equipment was not like this when the studies were done years ago! Why on earth would we keep it if it was a trick? Surely we would destroy the evidence!”
“That is a good point!” Burbank said. But the other two were beyond convinced.
“If you will come with me, I will show you the last proof you need,” Ramford
said, trying to usher everyone out of the room. To his relief, they followed with little protest.
“I hope you understand what this means, General,” Senator Howe told him.
“I believe you will understand what has happened here, if you will just come with me and let me explain,” he answered. The committee did not talk as they followed the General, perhaps waiting for some final proof that would, indeed, vindicate him.
The aides, however, whispered incessantly amongst themselves. He could hear them, and was impressed by the thoroughness of the illusion. They were gossiping about how incredibly naïve anyone would have to be to believe “those ridiculous stunts in that room.” This did not improve the fake Senators’ or the Speaker’s mood.
They want me to feel nervous about broadcasting their abilities. Ramford thought.
When the General reached the room he had prepared, he unlocked the door and held it wide open. “Everyone in. Yes, you too, Jessop.”
They filed obediently in, and then turned around in confusion. But before anyone could say anything, the General had slammed the door shut with a triumphant laugh and a click of the lock.
“Aha! I have you now! You’re not going anywhere or fooling anyone!” They heard him laugh through the closed door. Then his footsteps quickly hurried away.
Chapter 21: Curtain
Cassie watched from the screen as the Committee and their entourage were greeted by General Ramford at the front door of the main building. Either Halle or Kyler had turned on the General’s microphone, which Cassie was grateful for. The security room was on the far end of the building, and Kyler was not bothering to cover that far. Essentially, Cassie could see and hear everything.
She was fascinated to hear them talk about her friends. It is a strange thing to see someone else’s worldview on a topic that you feel strongly about, and the time passed quickly. Cassie was delighted when she realized the General had not yet informed the Committee of their escape. Her animosity toward him had not faded, and she enjoyed watching him squirm as he delayed telling them. It was equally amusing to note that his targets were standing in the room with him, unnoticed.
As he led them to the conference room, Cassie saw Jessop appear and tactfully suggest the watching of the drive he had retrieved from Cassie. They were handed off and then Jessop left to talk with one of the scientists on the project. None of the original scientists were still there, so everyone here was working on hearsay.
Cassie’s attention was drawn to the room where the videos were playing. She watched in fascination as they watched the video footage. She chuckled as Ramford was chastised for losing them, thinking hopeful thoughts toward his future.
The footage of her escape was especially interesting to her. She was surprised to see that Halle flew in where the cameras could see her, rather than the spot where she and Cassie had left. That spot was clearly chosen for its lack of security coverage. But Cassie realized their leaving that way would have been compromised if Hal had used it, as they almost immediately caught her.
Cassie was amazed at Halle’s calm demeanor as she was captured and led onto the base, and even more so as she seized the opportunity of the explosion and unobtrusively joined the circle of soldiers, ‘encouraging’ Private Ganeiri to take her place. As the footage continued, Cassie watched them less and the other screens more, monitoring the base for any sign of trouble, any indication that they were in danger.
Again, she was vastly entertained by the renewed anger, especially Senator Burbank’s, toward Ramford.
Cassie grinned when the General sprang away from Speaker Hardman’s hand in astonishment.
“Perfect,” Kyler quietly murmured. “You can do this, Hal.”
They relaxed as he shook hands with both senators. But then Lt. Diana Berg went to a side room and gathered the aides. As they congregated in the hall Cassie knew the most difficult moment was coming. It took immense concentration to change what people feel, but they needed him to believe he was alone with two people.
Cassie held her breath as General Ramford shook five other hands. Neither Cassie nor her friends could tell by his reaction whether it had worked or not. Halle shrugged at Kyler, who nodded. Cassie wasn’t sure exactly what Kyler did, but it lit a fire under the General. He started several times, as if to burst into action, but he contained himself. Just then, Colonel Jessop returned, walking down the hall toward them.
“Ah, perfect.” The General left them with Jessop and hurried to Diana. They moved to the elevators with the General speaking rapidly.
“Diana, that is not the Committee, it’s them,” he began. “I need you to place a small R39 camera in the corner of Holding Cell 3. One of the ones already connected to the network.”
“Sir, are you sure—?”
“Immediately!”
“Yes, sir,” She said hastily.
“Oh, and set up a laptop for video conferencing over a network I can take offsite. I need to be able to prove it’s them and stay clear of them.”
“Sir, if they’re here before the Committee and we can catch them, then that means—”
“Exactly. I will not have failed at all.” He finished matter-of-factly. “Please hurry, we don’t have much time.”
“No sir. Yes sir!” She responded and rushed off to tech support.
Cassie watched her do as he requested with remarkable speed. Deciding this could help them in the end, if used properly and known beforehand, Cassie warned her friends.
“Guys, steer clear of Holding Cell 3. He intends to trap you there, and he’s put in a camera connected to a network. There would be solid proof you’d been here.”
Halle gave the camera a thumbs up.
Cassie turned her attention back to the group as the General asked them all to follow him. At first it looked as though they would decline, but with a little persuasion from Kyler, they all obediently went to the basement. They were led to the room Cassie had seen Jessop, Kyler and Halle enter earlier. They all passively went in, where Cassie’s participation was limited to listening. This room had no outside cameras. But she knew the plan. They would all be seeing strings and harnesses to make the General seem a fraud. Also, to debunk the brainwave theory, Hal and Ky would pretend to be aides and allow their own brainwaves to be recorded.
Cassie listened to it all unfold, waiting for the General to snap and start shouting his own accusations. But he did not. Eventually he did shout angrily, but it was not nearly as fierce as she had imagined it would be. He convinced them to walk back to the holding cells and Cassie was relieved to be able to see again. Everyone except the General, Kyler and Halle entered cell three. Once they were all inside, he slammed the door, laughed maniacally and fled. Presumably to not allow Kyler or Halle any time to influence him, which was ironic since they followed him to the elevators.
Cassie ignored the General for a moment because there was a security camera in that holding cell that fed to her screens. And Colonel Jessop’s microphone was on.
“He just… left,” Senator Howe said, feeling disoriented. “Has he lost his mind?”
“Why on earth would he put us in here?” Speaker Hardman asked Jessop.
“I don’t know. Unless he believes he can keep his secret by keeping us in here,” Jessop answered gravely. He felt quite depressed. He had wholeheartedly put himself into this program for his entire career. He was almost as ruined as the General was at the discovery that it had all been a fraud.
“So it really was all fake.” Senator Burbank sank down into a chair with a long sigh.
“Of course it was! I can’t believe you all fell for it for so many years,” Senator Howe said loftily.
“You saw the videos. It was convincing. And there were several very respectable scientists and military personnel who confirmed it. Of course, the main vocalist to support the program was Dr. Priest. And he’s dead now,” Senator Burbank said.
“Forget how this happened. We just need to figure out what we’re doing from here,” Speaker Har
dman told them. “Colonel, will my cell phone work down here?”
“I’m not sure. But my microphone does. I can get a soldier down here to release us.”
Cassie jumped at a knock on the door. She looked at the screen and saw the General, accompanied by Halle and Kyler, at the door.
“Yes?”
“It’s me, General Ramford. Password’s M-16.”
“Yes sir.” Cassie quickly unbolted the door and let him in.
“Show me holding cell three,” He ordered.
Cassie pointed obediently to the screen as Halle carefully picked his pocket.
The General cursed. “They can reach up here. Alright, I’m leaving the base, I will be in touch with you. In the meantime, no one is to go to the Holding Cell floor. And no one is to use their microphones. I want you to completely turn the system off.”
“Yes sir,” Cassie said obediently. And with Kyler’s help, they did turn it off. Though she could no longer hear them, Cassie could see that the Committee members had immediately noticed the system shut down. Howe kicked a chair and Burbank was yelling at his aides.
The General left the room. He and Diana, who carried a briefcase, hurried to a car in the lot and pulled out of the base. During this time Kyler, Halle and Cassie set to work. They needed to destroy all evidence that they had ever been here or that they had had any impact on the day’s events, if they wanted to succeed. They dragged the men into the hallway before deleting all of the video files and destroying the electronic equipment in the room.
“Do you think this is going to work?” Cassie asked them anxiously.
“I hope so. Him locking them in that room was the icing on the cake. I don’t see how he’s possibly going to be able to get out of that,” Halle said. And again, she seemed to be sorry for hurting the General.
“Any influence we had was extremely minimal and probably will just be written off as intuition. Everything else was just sight, which doesn’t fade,” Kyler said. He seemed satisfied with their results, which comforted Cassie.
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