“I’m glad to hear that Charles.” Lee says. “Thank for your time, oh, just one last thing, why are we testing this virus in the United States first?” Lee asks. “I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that if we lead the way other countries will be willing to support doing the same thing in their countries. Also, if it happens in the United States first, the world could not blame us when the technique is applied in other countries; you know it’s important to have a scapegoat. Also, it allows us to get rid of a little trash,” replies Charles.
“I thought this was to look like an accident,” Lee says.
“It doesn't matter what it looks like as long as it happens. The conspiracy theories will go on for decades. No one is interested in the truth, everyone wants to make money. The press will make a fortune. Books will be written and it might even inspire a movie, but you always have to have the downside covered, always!” Charles boasts.
“What if you don’t have the downside covered?” Lee is concerned.
“Lee, I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and it always looks like an accident, or someone else’s fault, you never get caught or admit wrong. I learned that in business. We will ‘spin it’ as we see fit. We have marvelous marketing and PR departments. We have the best government that money can buy,” Charles says cynically, adding, “You know, Lee we all spend 50% of the time covering up the 50% of the time we screwed up. Just leave it to me, Robert. It all works beautifully.”
Lee laughs, “Very true, I’m glad you’re in charge, Charles, I don’t have your lack of conscience, and you need that to be really successful in politics, but just one more question for a slow-witted, aging senator like myself. What's to stop someone from discovering the virus on the envelopes after this has all happened; what if someone tests the envelopes?” Charles laughs, “Because of technology. This is a smart virus, like smart phones or TV. You can program it with Wi-Fi. We can turn it on and off. This is just a very small test. It's the latest and greatest! I expect it to kill less than 100,000 people. We'll blame it on the water pipes. I know they’re doing a lot of work in those areas. We'll plant something for the press. You know someone pushed the wrong button. Robert, I like you, but you’re too smart for your own good, someday that could get you in a heap of trouble. I have to go now.”
Charles shakes hands with Senator Lee, and waddles off down the hall. Lee stands for a moment and watches him. He was truly bothered by the conversation and he was unable to shake off a feeling that something had happened to EOJ. Lee’s family had been in America from before the Revolutionary War and was raised to deeply appreciate liberty and freedom and the Constitution of the United States, which he considered the greatest piece of literature in the history of mankind. He knew Charles was up to no good but, he just didn’t have the power to stop it.
Chapter 24 Senator Kathryn Bennett stood in front of the console of the master Guard computer in the Directives room of EOJ. The room was filled with row after row of holographic screens their operators sitting or standing, arms moving through the images as they each controlled their assigned Guards’ efforts to carry out their missions. “Is Chase still resisting his directives?” questions Kathryn.
“That’s right Senator,” Dorothy responds. “I’ve tried everything, it’s amazing, and he has somehow learned to resist his directives. I'm not even sure he hears them anymore,” Dorothy complains. “Ally seems to be selfaware too.”
Kathryn thinks for a moment and says, “That makes sense, I don’t think he would go with her if she wasn’t but there is a difference; Chase is much further along. Rebooting Chase might not work but maybe we could reestablish control of Ally. It’s worth a shot," Kathryn says.
”It’s dangerous, Senator Bennett, it could kill her. There must be a flaw in the system or some subroutine that we are not aware of. I think the best course of action is bringing them in and replacing their Cybarium implants,” Dorothy responds. Kathryn thinks for a moment and asks, “Is she still responding?”
“Yes but only to some things, I believe she is actually responding selectively,” Dorothy replies.
“Can we download Chase’s history for the last twentyfour hours?” Kathryn asks.
“No, our signal seems to be blocked. Again, I don’t know how that’s possible either; maybe his processor was damaged somehow.”
Kathryn stares at the large holographic screen and asks, “Can we get a visual on what he is seeing?” The operator manipulates the four foot high screen before her, her hands moving feverishly. “Something has disabled that view from the transmitter, it could be broken.”
“I don’t think so; you know Chase was on a very important assignment. He was placed in that NYPD precinct for a reason.
Dorothy was a thin plain but attractive woman, with a robust sense of herself; she lets it all out and says, “Here, look, this is the last transmission we have from Chase.” Dorothy points to a small monitor, “Here you see he had a gun in Juan’s mouth, about to pull the trigger and then he just didn’t or couldn’t do it. It looks to me as though he had two directives going on at the same time. Look here, you can see the coding changes running along the bottom at this point.” “What is that?” Kathryn asks.
“It’s a completely different code, as a matter of fact it’s a completely different language, and it’s not like anything I’ve ever seen. It’s not any known computer language on this planet. It looks like Klingon from Star Trek,” Dorothy replies.
Katherine says, “It had to come from the outside. Chase has been reprogrammed, but that’s impossible!”
“Well I can’t see what he’s doing but I get a clear feed from Ally, and I think he likes her,” Dorothy responds.
“What do you mean, how can that be, he’s not supposed to ‘like her,’ he’s a robot?” Kathryn screams.
“I mean I think he likes her as a man likes a woman - he held her hand and kissed her last night and she seemed to like it too. I think he wants to drill her sweet butt, that’s what I think,” Dorothy prattles on. “That’s impossible, how, can that even happen?” Kathryn expostulates. “
“Un-huh,” Dorothy can’t hold herself back. “Self- awareness has great risks. These Guards spend their lives totally asleep to their own reality, and maybe that’s a good thing.”
“You’re right about that,” Kathryn agrees. “What time will they be here?”
“It should be only a few hours,” Dorothy replies. “Good,” Kathryn says as she turns to leave but Charles is standing in front of her breathing hard. He scares Kathryn who is small next to his massive frame.
He takes out his inhaler and takes a deep puff, saying jokingly, “The air in this place is terrible; all of you stop breathing.”
“It’s the cleanest air on the planet Charles, what’s up, you startled me?” Kathryn says impatiently. She doesn’t like this new Charles and she doesn’t trust him either. “How can I help you Charles?”
“No small talk, don't you love me anymore?” Charles asks in a teasing tone.
"I’m in a hurry Charles, we have real problems here. Chase has been re-programmed with an entirely new language,” she replies.
Charles looks very nervous and says, “That’s impossible.”
“That’s the problem with the word impossible, Charles - it's made from the word possible,” Kathryn responds.
Mr. Dean, “please look at this code,” Dorothy adds. “What the hell is that?” C harles asks wonderingly. “We have no idea, and it could even be invading our whole system,” Kathryn says.
“It’s not even computer code; it looks like some kind of ancient sign language. What the hell is it?” Charles says as he looks at the screen and manipulates it. He had been a skilled programmer before being encouraged by his wife to go into politics. Charles had owned a computer software company called Ellenron that he had started with a childhood friend - it grew into one of the largest software companies in the world. He had even developed a new computer language called CeltiC that is still used by software develo
pers worldwide.
He continues, “It’s not the code at all it’s the computer interpreting the code, you’re seeing the code being scrambled, look here. This is a real pain in the ass, damn!” Charles manipulates the screen at lightning speed. Dorothy and Kathryn are amazed at his ability. “Oh my God, this is a new language, a macular language, and up to now it only existed in a theoretical state. This is a three-dimensional impulse language. You have no idea what I’m talking about do you?” Charles asks with a smile.
Dorothy and Kathryn shake their heads from side to side.
Charles, continues, “This is cellular, not informational at all. Traditional computer language is in binary code, tiny cells and each cell holds one piece of information usually a zero or a one and they are moved along at megabytes per second. Imagine information being moved in big chunks the size of a superstring directly through your nervous system. You would not only process information thousands of times faster than the fastest computer, you could theoretically move into different dimensions and perhaps even travel through time, but that is only theory and we have no idea how that might work.” Charles continues thoughtfully, “We must be very careful in bringing Chase in, he seemingly embodies technology that is priceless and unknown; my God, it appears that his nervous system has absorbed this technology like a sponge. How curious, and where did this come from? You're right it could infect our entire system. Disconnect Chase from the system right now. In other words it appears that human and machine has utterly merged and somehow has genetically created a new language from scratch on their own, but this is much more than a mutation. I’m not even sure how to describe what this looks like. It’s like string theory meets genetics.”
“How do you know all this Charles?” Kathryn asks. Charles frowns at Kathryn’s lack of respect for his position, and says, “Alright, I want to know the minute that Ally brings Chase in, and I want Ivan present also; that’s an order!” Then he waddles out of the room.
“Sure,” Kathryn and Dorothy both reply dryly.
“That guy gives me the creeps,” Dorothy says, “he’s a bigot, he’s ugly, but he’s also smart as hell – down here we call him the ‘the white Nazi.’”
“Fitting,” Kathryn responds. “However, I’d keep that last comment to yourself; ever since his wife Doris died something in him just went out of whack.” “No, that sucker was always out of whack, his sweet wife kept him from falling over the edge,” Dorothy chuckles.
Kathryn thinks for a moment, “Where is Beneizen?” She sits in the chair next to Dorothy and says, “Can I try something on your computer?”
“Sure,” Dorothy says cheerfully.
At New York Presbyterian Hospital Juan and Esperanza sit looking through a window at their daughter laying within a machine that looked like a large open tube with numerous arms working all over her body. It looked like a printer that was reprinting their daughter.
Tears were welling in Esperanza's eyes as she asked, "How did you ever make this happen?"
"I can't tell you?" Juan says.
"Oh, nice, is that why you got shot?" she asks. "Probably," he responds.
"Wonderful, who do you really work for?"
"I work for a lot of people. Listen, I did what I had to save our daughter. What that machine is doing would cost over $500,000 and it's saving our beautiful daughter’s life," Juan says.
"It looks impressive." she says and then smiles and asks, "Do you have any idea what's its actually doing?"
"None," he smiles and she kisses him on the cheek. There is a long pause as the machine cranks on. Juan thinks for a moment and says, "I’ve been working both sides of the fence."
"How much danger are we really in? Esperanza asks. "We're in trouble" he says, "I'm getting a new partner, and I have to go back to the bureau. Chase was sent to kill me. They figured out I was FBI," Juan replies. "Will they stop Maria's treatment?" Esperanza asks. "I don't know. They're probably just going to send another one of those ‘things’ to finish me off. I hate those androids – yet the bureau has just developed one of their own," Juan explains.
"Nice, real nice," she replies absently.
A nurse comes around the corner and brings Juan and Esperanza two fresh apples.
"Wow, where did you get these?" Juan asks.
"Don't say anything; I got them out of the doctors’ lounge, they have everything in there." the nurse says. "Thanks, so much - how sweet!" Juan says.
"Oh, you're welcome," the nurse replies and leaves. "Nice," Esperanza says. Dr. Myers comes out of the room where their daughter is receiving treatment. "How is she doing?" Esperanza asks.
"Fine, she is responding well to the treatment, but she is going to need several more. Your daughter has a very rare form of Ewing sarcoma. It’s extremely rare these days and we don’t know what causes it. We don’t think it’s from a virus. The best guess is that it's environmental," Dr. Myers says.
"What does that mean?" Juan asks.
"It means we don't know. There is a growing epidemic of these kinds of cancers, but fortunately we do have effective treatments," Dr. Myers says. "Not covered by most people health insurance?" Juan says sarcastically.
"I'm sorry to say that is true. I'm not sure why the government is dragging their feet on this. The treatment works and has a fairly low impact on the body," Dr. Myer adds.
"Thank you doctor," Esperanza says.
"What does that machine do, exactly?" Juan asks. "I'm not quite sure, but it's very effective," Dr. Myers adds.
"I'm sure," Esperanza says prayerfully.
The house of Charles Dean, like the man himself, was no small affair. The house was large, imposing and dark. It sat on a great hill, English Tudor in heritage, and plain in its landscaping. A high stone fence surrounded the entire property with an iron gate at the entrance and from the entrance to the lonely stone house was an open lawn. There were no flowers, shrubs or any kind of ornamentation, just yard and house like a dark castle. A cobblestone driveway wound up the hill like a large serpent with the house at the head.
The interior had the aura of a tomb, large, sparsely furnished, with high vaulted ceilings. There were solemn servants, and expressionless Guards stationed around the property. The house was spotlessly clean, and everything was of the finest quality and simplest of tastes. Doris had built the house and furnished it. She had loved people and there had been many parties when she had been alive.
No one had been to the house since Doris died. Charles was frightened of people, and liked being alone best. Even with all of this space Charles ate in a small dining room off the kitchen. In the wall of the small dining room was a door to the basement, and there he made his work space, deep down in the bowels of the basement. After his meals he would retreat to this workroom, it was actually a vault, all the walls and the door were seven inch thick laminated stainless steel. Once inside with the door closed he felt safe. The room was very large and like a great stainless steel cube. There was no noise; there were absolutely no sensory impressions whatsoever. He could control the outside world from his little room of steel. He rarely spent time in the rest of the large house, most often sleeping on a small cot in the corner of the vault. There was also a small kitchen alcove with food piled on shelves and in cabinets. He could theoretically live down there for years, maybe even decades. It had its own air supply from oxygen making technology initially developed for long distant space travel.
There were several computers and seven enormous holographic monitors covering the vanilla white walls of the room and the lighting was white florescent. Charles looked positively ghostly against the white walls. He never allowed anyone else in the room and carefully closed the door and set the combination when leaving. No one was going to get to him, ever! He sat in front of the largest monitor talking to himself, no one judged him here. When Doris had been alive, she would not allow him down here except for short periods of time. He had told her the room was for national security.
“Someone told Lee about the Pr
esident, and I mean to get to the bottom of this, or maybe he just guessed, or maybe I made a slip,” Charles thought to himself. Charles could secretly control all of the Guards worldwide from this room. He could override any directive, any mission. “I must look at the president’s history.” He begins scrolling through the images of the President’s mind for the last several days. Everything seemed as it should be. There was nothing unusual.
“Maybe it’s further back,” he thought. He goes back several weeks, nothing. He stops for a moment. “Think!”
Then he remembered that Senator Lee and Sam had met with the President several months ago. He needed to find that memory. There it was. He turned on the sound and watched the meeting. He grabbed a large bag of Cheetos. Snacking on them helped reduce his anxiety as he played back the event.
“Good morning Senator Lee and good morning to you Sam,” the President opens.
“Good morning Mr. President,” Sam and Senator Lee answer together.
“Why don’t you both sit down,” the President offers graciously.
“Are you feeling well?” asks Sam.
“I always feel well, never been sick a day in my life,” the President boasts.
“Never?” Sam asks.
“Never!” The president answers.
“Good, congratulations, have you been having headaches?”
“No!”
“Good, you know with the bad air, and all,” Sam says.
“Good air, bad air it’s all the same to me,” The President again boasts.
Senator Lee starts to take notice of the conversation, saying, “I know you don’t have a lot of time, Mr. President, but I need to understand your position on this water bill. I brought Sam with me to answer any technical questions you might have. There is a growing problem with high levels of bacteria in our drinking water; there were over twenty-five hundred deaths recorded last year that have been verified to have been caused by bacteria in public drinking water and some bacteria have become resistant to chlorine.” “I have no opinion as of yet, maybe in a few days. I need to meet with the NIH to discuss the findings you describe,” the President replies.
Sentinels of the Cosmos Trilogy Page 11