Gabriel's Stand

by Jay B. Gaskill

  ——

  The members of Berker’s team were waiting for her in the same windowless bunker she had used for all the early meetings with her own personal group, starting with the failed kidnapping of John Owen. Now all the furnishings were complete, including hardwood tables, comfortable chairs, and well-appointed bathrooms. At the end of the room, the high tech communications console had been fully deployed. It gave Berker encrypted access to all the G-A-N’s worldwide resources, centers, and operatives.

  Berker took her usual seat at the end of the large table, unfolded her computer, and smiled benignly. “Let’s have your summary of progress to date and recommendations please,” she said.

  “We continue to be very cautious about avoiding the premature dismantling of the communications infrastructure,” Chief Guru said. He was a slightly overweight man with Asian features, vaguely resembling Mao Tse Tung.

  “Of course,” Berker said. “First we need to acquire and consolidate control over the general population. More or less willing media cooperation is essential. They must be anesthetized, not aroused. We let Longworthy do his magic for a while. Ongoing propaganda requires control of communications, but not their elimination.”

  “Elimination is a later Stage action, of course,” Guru said.

  Berker nodded and turned to the man called LONER. His report was to be this afternoon’s centerpiece.

  “How do you plan the implementation of the Commission’s latest order?”

  “You mean the Silicon Valley cable cutting.” LONER was a hawk-faced young man in tee shirt and jeans. A dented metal briefcase rested on his lap. “We’re using local help. The television news feeds we need will not be affected. Of course our own encrypted backbone is undisturbed. After this Stage, the general population in the area will be forced to rely on SatCom or land-line telephones for the net. We will make sure that their service will be intermittent. And, of course, some of the businesses in the Valley will be driven into bankruptcy.” LONER made this last observation with a certain satisfaction. He had been discharged from one of those businesses before starting work for the G-A-N.

  “Why not a Stage Three confiscation operation?” The question was from Alpha Dog. “Then Longworthy’s people could seize the SatComs, too. It could be a pilot project for us.” The Head of Operations was an emaciated, bald woman dressed in black. She smiled, revealing a perfect set of teeth.

  “It could be that,” Berker said. “But we need to stick to our schedule and the overall plan. The retirement of the other technical means of political control—communication, transportation, weapons, and so on—must be carefully staged.”

  “We need to fully disarm our opponents before we discard the high tech advantage,” Guru said. “And we need to avoid arousing the general public prematurely.”

  Berker nodded. “Exactly. Now, let’s go over the final staging.”

  LONER continued, “Land lines and cables can be cut pretty much at will. The satellite communication corridors will be more of a problem. Of course, over time, the satellites will wither and die. This year alone, three satellites went down without replacement. So we are gradually winning the battle by attrition. But as part of the Stage Three seizures, all the wireless portable com-links, especially the SatCom uplink devices used by the general public will be captured and destroyed. Our goal is to achieve at least ninety-nine percent removal from service.”

  “Nothing is perfect,” Berker said.

  “Obviously,” LONER smirked. “The best seizure coverage leaves holes, of course, as the law enforcement experience with narcotics has proven. So we will keep wireless technology for ourselves linked to an encrypted backbone, while the general public is left relying on the handful of remaining T1 lines and the old phone lines.”

  “Which we can sever at will.”

  “Yes.”

  “All under our control,” Berker said. “Except for that satellite supported wireless net.”

  “Yes,” LONER said, “the last one percent.”

  “Tell us more about the holdouts.” Berker had asked the question for the benefit of the others.

  “Ah, Stage Four?”

  “Yes. Did you bring your sample weapon?” Berker asked.

  LONER smiled and slipped into his briefcase. His hand emerged clutching a gray, bullet-shaped cylinder, about the size of a baseball, which he carefully placed on the table. “Not armed,” he said.

  “Tell them about your toy,” Berker directed.

  “This is a screamer,” LONER said. His eyes glinted with the amoral satisfaction of someone who had just killed his boss in a video game simulation. “This is a multi-band self-powered jamming device, very much like an EMP bomb. It has an effective eighty percent kill range of about ten kilometers. At short range—in this room for example—all chips are actually fried. Farther away, some hardened chips would survive, but they are all in military hands at present. Very few SatCom devices will be still working within 500 meters of the detonation point. And we already have dozens of these.”

  Berker nodded with satisfaction.

  “A miracle of miniaturization. Are you in production?” Guru asked.

  “Soon. We’ll have a thousand in a few months.”

  “And that will take care of the last one percent of the rogue wireless devices.” Berker said this with a quiet note of satisfaction.

  “Can we shield our own devices?” Alpha Dog asked.

  “Yes, as long as we know when the screamers are to be detonated in each area.”

  “The overall plan is sound,” Berker said.

  “That’s because it is simple,” LONER said. “Jamming, frying and seizure. And Stage Four will be messier, but equally straightforward—an open and comprehensive crackdown on all wireless. At that Stage we expect to have the technology to jam wireless communications over large geographic areas one at a time or all at once. We will also have the capacity to detonate EM pulses that will fry all unprotected chips, circuits, processors and electromagnetic memory within very large areas.”

  “What are the loose ends?” Alpha Dog asked.

  “Current optical technology cannot taken out by EMP. Se we will need to go after all the fiber op cables, processors and transducers with business invasions, house-to-house seizures and hole digging.”

  “So there it is,” Berker said. “Our staging strategies are critical because we don’t want premature opposition. And because we need time to develop our own capabilities.”

  Guru nodded. “In the meantime, we pit one group against another, rewarding those willing to become our allies.”

  “We continue to cultivate useful idiots and intimidated followers. Longworthy is doing fairly well with that,” Berker said. “Even as he, himself, occupies the first category.” Berker rubbed her hands together. Now, let’s talk about medical technology.”

  “Yes, yes,” Alpha Dog said. “That is open to immediate retirement. The coming pandemics will distract and weaken the resistant authorities, greatly thin the general population, and generally accelerate the process of achieving control.”

  LONER suddenly looked troubled.

  “Are you concerned about this part?” Berker asked him gently.

  “Not exactly,” he said. “I was just thinking about…staying useful to the cause.”

  “Oh,” Berker said. “You are concerned about the ultimate rollback.”

  “I just want to remain useful.”

  “Not to worry. There will be much for you to do for a very long time…much challenging and valuable work, a lifetime’s worth, really. You will be protected, of course. I promise. Only someone of your talent can accomplish the phasing.”

  An hour later, Berker rode the elevator alone with the head of Operations. “I want you to keep an eye on our all technical people.”

  “You are worried about LONER’s loyalty?” Alpha Dog asked.

  “Not him in particular. But all technical people are flighty and have tendencies to act independently. Just watch for signs, wil
l you?”

  “Of course,” Alpha Dog said. “Of course. What about Dr. Owen?”

  “You mean eliminating him?”

  “Yes.”

  “We are having difficulty tracking his location at the moment. So he is a low priority. Eventually, I may ask you for logistical support, but I actually have in-house talent for this, when it comes to his elimination.”

  “The Sister who likes killing men?”

  Berker just smiled.

  Chapter 36

  BREAKING NEWS: TECHNOLOGY LICENSING COMMISSIONER HONORED AT WHITE HOUSE DINNER

  Washington, DC. President Chandler’s press secretary announced today that Rex Longworthy, former Director of the Environmental Alliance, and newly appointed to administer the terms of the recently ratified Earth Restoration Treaty, will be honored at a White House dinner next week. Longworthy, an environmental lawyer with offices in Boston and Seattle was busy assembling staff and…

  Rex Longworthy enjoyed all the trappings of normal life, a wife, three children, four grandchildren, and no money worries. He was one of those characters about whom the neighbors might say—on learning of an arrest for murder, for example—“But he was such a nice man.”

  Rex actually despised Berker, and his interactions with her became increasingly revealing, though he managed to delude himself that his own decency was untainted by these unsavory associations. Longworthy was one of those trial lawyers for whom ego, the thrill of power and the rush of a good cause had so thoroughly become entangled that his rare moments of moral introspection could be easily dismissed as nerves.

  As Commissioner, Rex Longworthy’s star was rising every day. This particular afternoon, he sat in his new Commission offices and surveyed the latest headlines with deep satisfaction.

  He would be meeting with Berker shortly, but then he would quickly resume his real work.

  The circumstances of the meeting with Berker an hour later deflated his good mood like a lanced boil. To be summoned was an annoyance, and to be forced to see this former activist in her offices was an insult. Why did he have to see her on her turf? Why did he feel so compelled to respond? Having arrived, Longworthy stared at the obnoxious woman with a blandness he did not feel.

  She had just said: “I made you, Rex.” Longworthy was furious.

  They were meeting alone in a conference room in the Fowler Building, just one floor beneath the offices of Environmental Opinion Associates and the public offices of the Gaia Organizational Directorate. Berker took special pleasure in the acronym. G-O-D wields all the real power, she thought…a lesson for Rex. Poor man still has so much to learn.

  “Really, Louise.” Rex was using his best older mentor tone. “I have been a successful environmental lawyer for almost thirty years following my six-year service in the Environmental Division of Justice as their principal litigator. And my people tell me that you, my young friend, were still a graduate student when I was given my first federal case to litigate. Let’s just say you made you and I made me, and leave it at that.” Rex smiled. Berker’s eyes remained cold. “More to the point: Knight Fowler made this enterprise a success. Your entire organization, starting with this newly created Directorate, all the front groups, the secret G-A N itself is beholden to my friend, Knight. The entire effort runs on money. You are a realist. Where would you people be without it?”

  Berker was unfazed. She began speaking evenly and unemotionally. But her eyes were icy with anger. “The Directorate—I should say, my Directorate—has special powers under the Treaty, as you well know. Moreover, the G-A-N had funding in Europe long before I met Knight Fowler, and certainly long before you and I ever met, Rex. The glue that holds all these organizations together and the energy that drives all of its parts is not money, Rex. No, it is the cause, Rex. Jee-Ah herself, Rex. This is bigger than one wealthy American post-industrialist.”

  “I’m afraid we must differ,” Rex said.

  “No, Rex, we cannot differ.” She paused. Her next look chilled Longworthy’s heart. “How is your family’s health?”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Don’t you ever worry? The world is an increasingly dangerous environment for Homo sapiens, Rex. Even for the Longworthy family. Human-caused global warming and the cooling periods together have spawned a new set of aggressive diseases. This is the work of Gaia, herself, Rex. Think about the new forms of staphylococcus, of tuberculosis, of viral meningitis. These are no longer just third world concerns. Think of the inner city, Rex. What starts there, spreads to the financial centers, seeps into the nice neighborhoods where your people live, yes even to your precious suburbs. No place is exempt from the reach of Jee-Ah. And the process is just beginning.” She smiled like a feral cat looking at a nest of chicks.

  “Now, Louise, let’s not confuse your radical rhetoric with policy. Naturally, we’re expecting a gradual population reduction through natural causes; but we are not actually planning some genocidal pogrom. Are we?”

  “You naïve little man. How long did you think we could wait? And where do those three children and four grandchildren of yours live?”

  “Is that a threat, Louise?”

  “That was a description of reality, Rex. No place is exempt. No person is exempt. The defenses are down or soon will be. We have destroyed Edge Medical and we shall soon destroy the rest of John Owen’s drug empire, and hopefully we will eliminate the man himself. The remaining industrial leaders, the lesser pharmaceutical makers—these cowards are easily dealt with. What are the implications? Come on, Rex, you are supposed to be an intelligent fellow. If we really care about the environment, what made you think we’d stop at zero population growth?”

  “You really intend to strip away all human defenses against the new pathogens?”

  “Good, you are beginning to comprehend the obvious. Yes we do. Except as the G-O-D allows. Rex, of course I have arranged for special access to certain private supplies of all the new drugs…for our special friends. Now consider the implications further. As our new Commissioner for this region, you will need to think through your relationship with me and with my Directorate very, very carefully. We are the heart, the beating heart of the movement. Can anyone live without a heart?” Berker smiled.

  You obviously can, Rex thought darkly. It was one thing to move the world gradually in a better direction, understanding that there will be necessary casualties, he thought, but quite another to so blithely include present company among them.

  “Louise, this is a pointless discussion,” he said aloud. Longworthy rubbed his forehead. God how I detest this woman, Rex thought. “Of course I understand the relationship. We are all engaged in the greater struggle.” He smiled thinly. “You were just a little…abrupt with me. That’s all.”

  “Ah, yes. The male ego. Sorry, my friend. But I think we understand each other. Yes?”

  Longworthy simply nodded. When Berker dismissed him from the room, he found himself shaking—with anger, or so he told himself.

  Chapter 37

  Rex found Knight Fowler after dark. The great philanthropist was working alone in his office.

  “Congratulations, Rex,” Fowler said, looking up. “Monumental job ahead.”

  “Thank you, Knight,” Rex said, sliding onto the couch. After a moment, he said what was on his mind. “That Berker woman greatly worries me.”

  “Why?”

  “I just had a very disturbing conversation with her in her conference room.”

  “Go on,” Fowler spoke softly, keeping his hands neatly folded on the desktop.

  “I knew all along, of course, that the G-A-N was a necessary evil. We agreed that a certain…practical action—”

  “Terrorism.”

  “Was a necessary component of the political effort to speed up the process of acquiring power.”

  “It still is useful from time to time.”

  “I know that. I know that. But these G-A-N people are dangerous. They are unbalanced. They actually intend genocide.”<
br />
  “Tell me something I don’t already know, Rex. And, by the way, what did you think we were talking about? One person’s population control is another’s genocide. It’s all just semantics, Rex. Population control is our common goal, is it not?” Rex nodded. “So Berker’s people are in a bit of a rush. They want to help speed things along a little by facilitating the spread of natural pathogens while protecting our friends, of course. You’re not really shocked are you?”

  “Our friends, Knight? Or hers? And how do we control people like that? Louise Berker is a monster.”

  “Monster? Now, now, Rex.”

  “Knight, she threatened me.”

  “What did she say to you? ‘Monster’ sounds a bit over-the-top, don’t you think?”

  “She implied, clearly implied, that if I didn’t give her my full personal loyalty, she might…” Longworthy’s voice was tight with emotion. “She would withhold medication from my family.” Longworthy was fighting back tears. Embarrassed, he looked down.

  Fowler glowered. “She can’t do that, Rex.”

  Rex looked up. “They think of the new diseases as a form of germ warfare against the general population.”

  “Well?” Fowler smiled. “Isn’t it in a way?” Longworthy shrugged, defeated. “You and I have enjoyed similar discussions over dinner,” Knight continued. “Remember that fundraising lunch with that fool John Owen in L.A.?”

  “But for Berker this not just rational policy. It has a sick, cultic connotation. ‘Gaia’s revenge’. She will overplay her hand and get us all in trouble. The woman has no judgment, Knight. And she is after even more power. It’s downright spooky.”

  “‘Gaia’s Revenge?’ We’ve heard that rhetoric before. It goes all the way back to that twentieth century book by James Lovelock. Movements thrive on dramatic imagery. You don’t have any evidence they are actually releasing these pathogens into the environment, do you?”

  “Not really…”

  “Well then. It’s all very natural. After all, the population must be reduced.”

  “Don’t forget her threat to me. That was no damned rhetoric, Knight.”