by CG Blade
Doctor Sanders suggested to Jackie and Emily that they break for lunch and meet up later to discuss the latest imaging slides and the collider anomalies as well as the microchip packages. Emily thought that was a great idea and quickly did an about-face and headed for the door to the elevator. She was shaking from the tour and Doctor Sanders could not stop talking about what a great asset she would make to the team. Emily had to unload on someone about all of this.
Chapter 9
VENTILATION
Bar sat down quietly next to Emily, who was sitting on a stone bench in the atrium complex. She didn’t see him sneak into the room with her being preoccupied with the previous tour of the facility. She was staring into the four-foot wide stream of water going by her feet trying to piece together what she had just heard and witnessed. Bar was taking a break from his work with Tinker. The numbers in front of his eyes were starting to hurt his brain. Birds were singing and chirping everywhere and it was the perfect place for a private conversation. This is going to be a very perplexing tale, she thought.
“Bar, what do you think of me and my work?” Emily asked staring at his face vulnerably.
“Why are you asking me this Emily?”
“I just need to know what you know about me about what I’ve done for the world. What have you heard?”
“From everything I know and read about your work it’s incredible. You have helped countless numbers of soldiers regain their lives and their minds through adaptive cryogenic prosthetics. Your RQMC theory on DNA programming is brilliant everyone knows that. You act as if you just saw a ghost. You have been so confident here. What happened?” She stared at Bar who was studying her face and her body language.
“I saw—some things earlier. Things that made me question who and what I am and what I’m working towards. You remember Mary Shelly right?” She continued after he nodded, his eyes wide open now. “Well, those things I work towards and on—what if they were real?”
“Emily you’re a great person and a thoughtful humanitarian from what I’ve seen and heard. You are a smart person. Why are we discussing this subject?”
“Bar this place isn’t just a medical center. It’s an experimentation lab of sorts. They’re using my work, well some of it to make these integrated weapons out of,—people.” Bar was staring at her with full intent hanging on every word. Her eyes welled up as she spoke. “There are a dozen people—a lot of them military veterans—down there with all kinds of missing appendages and circuitry plugged into them. They have videos of how they are growing limbs and training them for war with programs and microchips attached to their brains. It’s the same stuff in the cadavers we took pictures of at the collider sites. It’s—it’s like Frankenstein all over again!” Emily went on to explain the whole lab tour to Bar who really didn’t know what to say at this point. He decided to try to calm her and reason with her. Assure her that she was probably overthinking this. He was to be her counterpoint. They were both facing each other now on the stone bench.
“Okay Emily, why would the General bring us here to work on a problem in which they were working on here at this facility already that they—know about?”
“I don’t know!” Emily belted out. “Maybe those were some twisted experiments gone wrong up in the real world or maybe they got out of here and escaped and the colliders are all just a coincidence.”
“Emily, please calm down. We will figure this out. In the meantime, do not mention this conversation to anyone. I will try to have a one on one with the General and feel him out. First thing is first, though. We need to see if we’re infected with this microchip as soon as possible. I do not feel good about not knowing if I have this thing inside me or not. If they are doing stuff with—”
She interrupted him quickly. “—so you believe me?”
“I probably have a look that says 'I’m a sucker' but I know scared when I see it and you look like that right now. Like I was saying, if they are doing some experiments and they have the technology to put these microchips in then they have the technology to take these microchips out. We will get to the bottom of this one way or another. Until then, you need to be as normal as possible. We need to be logical about all of this.”
By this time, he was holding her hand. It wasn’t so much a want but a need at this point in the relationship. She admired and respected him since she met him and thought he was smart, but never thought they would be having a conversation like this so soon where she relied on him so emotionally. She thought it would be a lot different between them when they first touched on purpose maybe someday.
“Tinker and I are running programs right now to try and decipher the number puzzle. We’re trying to see if these numbers are at all similar in some kind of sequential pattern or just random numbers, which all the victims knew.” Emily was staring into Bar’s eyes as he spoke. He was calm and thoughtful towards her. She was receptive of his theories. “As of now I’m leaning towards the first because as far as I can tell none of these people were ever in the same area or knew each other. Now due to what you’re telling me they may have been somewhere that no one knows about and had some examination procedure or surgery done that is connected with these experiments somehow. We’ll just be guessing and talking until we are blue in the face unless we discover a little more of what this place is. Let’s talk to the General and see if he will talk to us.”
Emily had calmed down a bit and Bar was thankful that he possessed the intestinal fortitude to take charge of the situation. Now it was on him. A big bag of bricks was lying across his shoulders weighing him down until he got the answers he needed. He just couldn’t shake the ‘microchip’ thought out of his head for very long and wanted her to get on with the imaging procedure. He really needed to know if he should be concerned or not for his own well-being.
Neither one of them had seen Petra walk into the atrium earlier in their conversation. She was sitting beneath a large tree out of their sight storing every word they said to each other in memory.
Chapter 10
MACHINATION
Petra and Ter were now jacked into the network in the Preservation Room uploading and syncing all the information she could gather on the ‘Tri-President’s’ history including their closest ally and supporter, Ray Nelson, CEO of Rayson Industries. It was a story rich with great technological advances and greed.
“As far as my files show Petra, Ray Nelson had moved his corporation’s headquarters to Washington D.C. when he became involved with so many of the military decisions that had been made over the course of the past couple of decades. It made more financial sense for him and his staff to be there than anywhere else.”
“So he made this switch from California to Washington D. C. about twenty years ago?”
“Yes. Ray Nelson’s field of study for most of his young education had been in robotics and cyber warfare programs at the prestigious University of California Berkeley Automation and Science Engineering Division. He not only learned about robotics and engineering but propulsion and rocketry as well. He was quick to apply all of his knowledge towards a life of salesmanship while working for the foremost robotics professor in the world Doctor Isaac Antonoff. Nelson started slowly when he was younger selling odd electrical components to anyone who would buy them on the net while spending his evenings recalculating new and advanced processors and bus speeds on silicon microchips. Soon he and other engineers were able to set up their own lab outside of UC Berkeley and employ several teams of specialists to assist him in his work. The sales of his processors and circuit boards grew exponentially and allowed him the free time he needed to delve into his life’s dream ‘Cold Zettabit Amalgam Particles’.”
“CZAP made Nelson a rich man Ter”
“Yes Petra. The CZAP finding made gasoline, fuel cells, processors, and wiring of the past obsolete. He and his team made up of engineers in the fields of electrical, mechanical, propulsion, chemical, and geology took five years to develop the concept and another five years to perfec
t it. Soon they were on their way to making history, as every manmade vehicle in use had to be re-engineered after this innovation. This discovery made Ray Nelson a very rich man. He quickly leased out the rights to his prototypes and kept some of the more 'important' findings to himself. He never gave away all of his information as knowledge is power and he wanted most of the power for himself. Most of the oil, battery, and fuel cell companies folded up and became subsidiaries of Rayson Industries. Propulsion equipment that used to take up square feet or meters, now took up millimeters, or inches of space. Included in these 'cells' of space was a liquid that conducted billions of calculations a second through an induction process of rare earth minerals found in the Hawaiian Islands and predominately on Mars. Feldspar, Pyroxenes, and Olivine were the basic minerals used in the process and it was all tightly sealed in a six inch small brown tube at the end of the assembly line labeled 'AA5C39' due to its brownish color on the international color wheel.” Ter continued feeding Petra information without stopping. “There was no harmful exhaust by-product when AA5C39 is used and one tube could power a Transport-Carrier or Drone for hundreds of years before needing a replacement. The by-product of the process of making these tubes was Tine Juice and it was kept underground in bunkers until it could be utilized for other purposes. The processes used to make CZAP were hazardous and all precautions in the plants were taken to minimize this. Only when drone warfare was at its peak was this dark process realized to the fullest.”
“Tine Juice sounds like some nasty stuff, Ter.”
“Yes Petra. This is how the newest drug Arc17 is synthesized and distributed. Arcing is an addictive drug that was discovered when Drone number 17 exploded in a Rayson factory. The chemical aftermath of the Tine Juice explosion was accidently inhaled as a vapor cloud leaving the user in a ‘zombified’ state arcing their body and mind with other humans who were also inhaling the drug in the area. Perfected using electronics it provided an inhaled vapor and criminals and the underground control it now. The by-product of AA5C39 originally found by accident in the Hawaiian lava rocks and later Mars surface rocks brought back to earth in 2034 by their successor Geologist Doctor Huerd Tine and posthumously labeled. Doctor Tine had worked side by side with Nelson early in his career and assisted in developing CZAP. Dr. Tine had later died horribly from a massive partition of the brain due to five years of ingesting and absorbing the rock dust. In the coming years, the substance was subsequently found to have medical qualities that could eventually grow and repair the spinal column and surrounding fluid. It could even repair cartilage and bones if used in the correct faculties. Petra, a lot of this research was used to expedite and advance your 'repairs' so to speak.”
“Yes but at what cost Ter?”
“Inevitably as all creativity is exploited for the military Tine was substituted in weaponry for gas and chemical agents. During prison trials, weapons loaded with Tine had excellent results. The first prison convicts used in trials were thought to be dead and buried only to wake up two weeks to a year later. Some of them were buried alive without any recognizable vital signs. Tine Juice is also highly toxic and corrosive in its liquid form.”
“That just sounds awful.”
“Yes. Ray Nelson had also grown in the military community as the most influential contractor of the century and has thousands of employees worldwide. He had never re-married after he lost his wife. His power knows no bounds. The highest bidder has always influenced him and he has no political affiliations. He thought that the Three Presidents were fine in overstepping their boundaries at the time of the coup as long as the money rolled in on a daily basis. 'Capitalize and conquer' is his motto.”
Petra unplugged herself from the network and began to map out the quickest route to a conclusion she could come up with to Cooper’s requests. Tomorrow there was to be a meeting of all the employees at the Meredith facility on the examinations and findings of the microchip imaging. Could these findings possibly be the information she was searching for?
***
Dodging through traffic 361 miles away Ray Nelson’s driver whizzed past the wet structures and monuments down Pennsylvania Avenue on this rain soaked overcast spring afternoon like a man on a mission.
“Pull up to the steps, Kirk,” Nelson commanded. He spoke with a soft even monotone keel most of the time unless he was provoked.
“Yes, sir,” Kirk spoke in broken English sentences and no one could figure out what language it started out as. Kirk stopped the black cruiser, got out, and opened the rear door for Nelson in clunky military fashion.
“Beautiful day, Kirk,” Nelson exclaimed as he stared at the overcast misty sky. His long grey hair was soaking up the droplets blowing around him.
“Yes, sir,” Kirk replied again in executed movements coming just short of saluting.
Nelson walked past the guards and onlookers at the White House as if he were a head of state or a celebrity. He almost looked too comfortable, as if this were his own residence as he proceeded into the Oval Office without any help or announcement from anyone in the area. Most of the staff had seen him as just another gear in the Three Presidents' wheel of rotation. He modeled a lot of his life’s idiosyncrasies on Albert Einstein so he would wear the same colored blue suit white shirt red tie and black loafers every day of his life while working except at his beach houses where he would always don an aloha shirt and shorts. A habit left over from college days.
He walked into the foyer and wiped his shoes on a mat then stepped into the Oval Office. Long started on him immediately while reading the news off her Vidset at her desk.
“Raymond, Raymond, Raymond. Just what have you been up to?” She quipped sarcastically.
“Not much Helen. How have you been?” Nelson responded almost being condescending but stopping short.
“Have you seen the news? Do you realize that our whole way of life is hanging by a thread? I cannot have you experimenting with social modifications on a scale of such vast proportions!” Her face was starting to get red and ugly from the rant.
Nelson sat down on her sofa calmly and coolly never blinking an eyelash as he waited for her to finish. There was a weird grin to his demeanor as she sat across from him at her desk.
“I need to know if this is your work. Just what are we dealing with here? We cannot have people exploding or whatever their doing at collider sites. You’ve made a lot of money off of us and we are grateful for the help but I need to know if you’re going to stay the course or veer off on a tangent?”
“Helen dear I have no idea what is going on. I only know what you know at this point. Our research team is by no means working on some insane social experiment. Do you really think I would do it near the one place that supplies most of my plants with power? That would be counterproductive for me and for you,” he continued calmly and folded his hands in his lap, “everything we have achieved to this point is still on course and headed in the direction we agreed. Yes, our stocks in WASC’s might flutter a little but that is no cause for alarm. I might have my team look into these anomalies and see if we can provide the press with a little buffer until this all blows over.”
“Well see that you do that!” She barked.
“Again, I assure you Helen that we are not working on anything to do with collider sites. Now relax. Take some time off and see the world. I will be heading down south. I have some personal things to attend to as well as the party at my mansion on the island. You know how it is all in the details my dear.”
“I’ll be waiting for that press release Ray. Sheehan and Keller are starting their countrywide tour so I will be in touch. Let’s hope this is the last incident because I don’t need Cooper sticking his nose around in this subject anymore.”
“Yes, that’s something we both don’t need Helen.”
Nelson stood up, bowed almost comically, and proceeded to the door eventually making his way to his vehicle. Kirk was waiting and they sped off in the direction of Reagan National Airport. Wonder what Cooper is u
p to Nelson thought as they stopped at the airport gate and Kirk turned his head towards a facial scanner. The smell of carrier turbines and machinery filled the vehicle as the gates opened quickly. There waiting on the tarmac was his Jumbo-Carrier ‘The Rayson One’.
Chapter 11
EXAMINATION
“Hold still! This isn’t going to work if you keep wiggling around.” The tech said jokingly trying to get Tinker to lie still so she could get the head coil around his skull. “I’ve got a lot to do and I can’t be screwing with you all day.”
“No worries,” Tinker said smiling with a thick, Irish grin “there’s probably nothing up there anyways!”
“Oh I’m sure of it,” she said smiling back at him flirting unconsciously.
Tinker was an odd sort that most women didn’t find sexy unless they counted his big brain. However, as in some cases love is blind or just blindfolded. For the time being, these two would go on flirting while people were scanned for microchips. Their brain images were processed, filed, and looked over by Doctor Sanders and Emily. Jackie had walked into the imaging control room and stood staring at computer screens of brain scans and close-ups of tissue and bone. Emily had gathered herself enough to put aside the conversation she had with Bar and proceed with the scans. She didn’t like putting it aside but found the work to be tranquil and distracting enough.
“Can we raise and calibrate the bit depth to thirty-two?” Jackie asked, staring at one of the scans deeply.
“Sure, Doctor Siebert,” one of the techs replied.
“Do you mind, Emily, if I change the field of view and do a little tweaking?” Jackie asked politely, not wanting to step on Emily’s toes.
“No not at all. I could use the help thanks,” Those ‘tank’ images were still engrained in Emily’s thoughts as Jackie started to assist her with the imaging.