Busy Skies: The Council Dissolution

by Ivan Svogor

  The same evening, Hank came to Mr. Holtzman and said, “good evening Mr. Holtzman, I didn't get a chance to greet you since we came. A terrible circumstance.”

  “Indeed it is”, said Mr. Holtzman while nodding his head.

  As Hank was also nodding as if to agree with Mr. Holtzman, he asked, “Mr. Holtzman, today, during the call with the officer I noticed you wandering off in your thoughts for a second there. I was curious as to what were you thinking about?”

  Mr. Holtzman puffed and said, “ah, nothing, just an old man with his thoughts. As I'm getting older I'm getting more paranoid.”

  “Paranoid?” - Hank asked.

  “Ah”, Mr. Holtzman paused for a moment and said, “it's nothing, I was just thinking about life.”

  Hank frowned a bit in suspicion and asked, “o you did, really? I'm sorry, I was just wondering, you don't need to explain it to me actually.”

  Mr. Holtzman was quiet for a second and said, “for me personally, and I was working on autonomous systems, I find it genuinely weird that both of the robots had a battery malfunction, as their things have backups, also that Dave's har nor his computer didn't log anything. That's very weird to me.”

  “But it seems that the robots Dave was using were not made for the South Pole conditions, they were for the jungle and it seems that these models couldn't handle the temperature”, replied Hank.

  “Yes, but you see Mr. Bishoff”, started Mr. Holtzman, “I've been out of the game for a while now, but as a developer of such technologies and software, I would say it is a very bad practice not to record anything. Nor logs, nor any kind of data. So, I just thought to myself, whether I'm getting old, or today’s kids have some new ways of ensuring safety and malfunction reproducibility.”

  Hank said, “indeed, that is a bit weird. Are you questioning the capability of the investigation team?”

  “No, no, my dear young friend”, said Mr. Holtzman, “I am sure that they had very good people working on the case, I was just wondering about the technology.”

  On the other side of the room, Jess was talking with her parents and her brother.

  “Did you guys know that Dave had a girlfriend for a while now, but he was anxious to let us meet her?” - Jess's father nodded, and said, “I am glad to know that, and I am genuinely sorry I gave him such a hard time. It seems that his life just started to take a new and more promising direction.”

  Miller interrupted him by saying, “Sure dad, more promising by your considerations. I think that Dave was actually happy, and it's all of us that were giving him a hard time. I am sorry too.”

  Regina Winson said, “Jess, I am so happy for him, it feels somewhat comforting. They were living together somewhere beyond the city near the jungle, I think it was about two and a half hours to get there. Maybe we should call her. Imagine the poor thing going through this by herself, we really should Jess. Do you have a way to contact her?”

  Jess said, “apparently they lived together, so probably we should just call Dave's home number.”

  The holo-phone was showing the waiting message, and then, a woman appeared. A young, good-looking short-haired woman, sitting on a sofa, with a failed attempt to hide away the devastating expression on her face, and the bags under her eyes. “May I help you?” - she asked.

  Regina stepped forward and said, “my dear, I have just found that Dave has been keeping a secret from us. We are his family and I think we should all be together.“

  “We never did meet, Dave was very nervous about the prospect of meeting his family. Actually, we intended to visit you soon, and now, we meet in a way I have never imagined. I am Delilah Ahmed.”

  Regina introduced her family, Hank, and Mr. Holtzman, and asked, “would you like for us to pick you up? We don't want you to bear this alone and regardless of the fact that we just met, you provided happiness and joy to our son, so we need to be here together. At this moment we are a family and we need to be together.”

  It was now becoming visible that Delilah was actually devastated and crying and she just nodded. She nodded her head and said, “no Mrs. Regina, thank you. I don't want to be a burden for you.”

  Mr. Winson said, “nonsense, dear Delilah, it is out of the question, you aren't a burden and you need company now. My son Miller will pick you up tomorrow morning, we will have lunch and we will honor Dave together.”

  Delilah was silent for a moment and said, “Alright. Thank you very much, Mr. Winson, I wish I met you in different circumstances. You seem to be very nice people.”

  Mr. Winson stretched a smile and said, “I believe Dave told you everything about us, and now it seems that you know more about us and Dave than we do. You are welcome here, see you tomorrow”

  * * *

  The next morning, Jess rushed out of the room to Hank with what appears to be a memory device. “Hank, what is this?” - she asked.

  Hank, in the middle of his breakfast, looked at it, and said, “it appears to be a memory device. What is so special about it?”

  “It's not mine and I found it in my pocket”, she replied.

  “Curious”, continued Hank, “what's on there?”

  “Nothing, it seems to be encrypted”, she said. “It shows that there is no data, but when you look at the storage cell display, it said its 80% memory capacity is used.”

  “I really don't know”, said Hank, but Jess continued. “It's one of those memory devices that we use back at the research facility, however, I was scanned and I didn't carry any of the data outside. And when I think back, remember the weird hug Dr. Quill gave me?”

  “I do, it was unexpected and awkward”, replied Hank.

  “Very”, said Jess, “when I think about it, I didn't notice before, but when Dr. Quill was getting back to the main hallway, the alarm didn't go off. He must have slipped this into my pocket.”

  “That's very weird, and you are unable to open it. Hum, should we ask Mr. Holtzman to help us with that?” - asked Hank.

  Jess thought for a moment there and called him. “Mr. Holtzman? I have an encrypted memory storage device, and I would really need to get its content. It's not mine, however, I think someone slipped it into my stuff in order to pass on a hidden message. Would you be able to help us with that?”

  Mr. Holtzman kept quiet for a second and asked, “A hidden message? You kids seem to really live a different life than I am used to. Sure, you can stop by my place. Would after lunch be alright?”

  However, Jess tried to rush him by saying, “actually, I am a bit curious and I was thinking..."

  Mr. Holtzman interrupted her and said, “OK fine. You can come to my place now."

  When the conversation was over, Jess noticed that Miller was giving her a cross look. “What”, she asked?

  Miller continued, “you know that I need to pick up Delilah now, and mom and dad are going to be here alone? - Can't you wait until I come back? What can possibly be so urgent?”

  “With you, it's always about keeping yourself busy, and now, it's the time that you need to provide some support to someone who needs it”, said Miller.

  “O, look who's talking”, said Jess. “Don't you lecture me about providing support, Mr. Big City Life. When was the last time you were here? Is it maybe your first time here?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” - Miller asked angrily.

  Just as there was about to be some yelling, Mr. Winson came to the room and said, “kids, enough. Miller, you go and do what you need to do, while Jess, you can go to Mr. Holtzman and bring him here to have lunch with us on your way back. Your mother and I will be just fine, we will cook lunch in the wood oven outside, while you do your things. It's fine, cooking relaxes us and also it will keep our thoughts off of Dave. We still have the two of you and we would love to provide for you. It makes us feel better.” He managed to pull off a painful smile and said, go on.

  He went out of the room and Miller followed, and Jess was staring at Hank. “Yes?” - he asked.

  “Are you
coming?” - asked Jess.

  “Where?” - replied Hank while chewing his breakfast.

  “To pick corn, what do you mean where?” - said Jess sarcastically, “To see Mr. Holtzman."

  * * *

  Onboard a space station, in a dark room overseeing an African desert, a silhouette sat down and turned on a holo display. It started displaying the message that the Winsons just received from the officer in charge of Dave’s death. The silhouette was patiently watching the projection, and once it finished, it strongly smacked the desk.

  “You have a loose end, Mr. Cox”, said the voice. ”I am disappointed with this. I hope you understand that I don't tolerate incompetence well."

  The silhouette of Ryad Cox replied, “Yes councilor."

  “You know what needs to be done”, said the first silhouette. “Yes, councilor Krueger."

  Chapter 14

  Mr. Holtzman was the only neighbor the Winsons had. He was an old retired automation engineer with very good software skills, and absolutely an excellent scientist. He was very known in his discipline, however, after retirement, his wife passed away so he withdrew from all of his past activities and started over. He really enjoys history and biology now. Occasionally he reads into that but just for fun and sport. After about 10 minutes of walking, Jess and Hank arrived at Mr. Holtzman’s house. The first thing they noticed is a beautiful garden with many out of place plants. Also, Jess never really noticed before, there was a glasshouse half-hidden between the garden trees. If you don't look at it, you will probably not notice it's there. There were a couple of old, clearly homemade non-humanoid robots that were handling the garden, and Hank almost stepped into one.

  “Good morning”, they heard from the porch, where Mr. Holtzman was sitting and enjoying his morning coffee while reading the newsletter. It was a semi-transparent piece of thin plastic that had all sorts of imagery and text. He set the newspaper aside and waved to them to join him on the porch. Halfway there, a very excited labrador thoroughly sniffed the guests.

  “Sam, it’s alright, go find a squirrel to bark too”, Mr. Holtzman said to the dog. Sam excitedly, as if on a mission ran away in the direction of the garden.

  Jess and Hank sat down on the bench across him. “Would you like some coffee, or a smoothie? It's very good for you in the morning”, asked Mr. Holtzman.

  As Hank was just about to say yes, Jess interrupted him, “Oh, no Mr. Holtzman, we just had breakfast. We wouldn’t like to inconvenience you."

  “Are you sure”, he asked once again. “You had a rough day, and actually, I can offer you an excellent tea for such a situation. In fact, you have no choice." Mr. Holtzman then went inside.

  Hank was looking around and for a moment there, he heard a noise coming from the garden, somewhere near the glasshouse. He stood up, on guard, as his military senses kicked in. “Did you see that?” - he asked.

  Jess stood to look but didn't see anything.

  Mr. Holtzman came with two cups of tea and saw his guests looking all confused. “What is going on”, he asked.

  “Probably nothing, I thought I saw someone in the glasshouse”, said Hank. “Oh, yes you did”, Mr. Holtzman replied. “That would be my wife, Areea."

  Jess looked at him as if he was insane, and asked, “Areea? Are you OK Mr. Holtzman?”

  He just smiled. “Dear Jess, you have never been here before, right?”

  “Just once, sir”, Jess replied.

  “When my wife Areea got sick”, Mr. Holzman started explaining, “I was working in a laboratory that was working on a neuromorphic computer that was able to balance the competing neural networks to mimic the mammalian brain. I had long sessions with Areea in which she was asked about many of her opinions, and we made historic review of her decisions, actions, and even biometric components like walking, posture, and so on. I have made a digital model of her, and after she died I was in a very bad place. Miserable and sad. Terrible. I understand that she is gone, and I still do, however, I feel better not being here alone, so I've placed several holo projectors around the yard and in my house. What you saw is her holo projection. In the mornings, I would usually drink coffee and she was watering the plants.

  I know that it is weird, however, I'm an old man. I don't have many days left so I would just prefer to live them through without caring much about what is good, wrong, or what my psyche might do. I am happier this way.”

  Hank said,” But I've never seen such technology. I mean, I've seen holo-rooms, phones, and so on, but never used to realistically recreate someone real.”

  “Of course, you haven't”, Mr. Holtzman replied, “I’ve developed it. It is limited in capability but at least it produces enough distraction that I can fool myself to not being here alone. So, Sam and I enjoy the company of an imagination.”

  Loud barking sounds were coming from the garden, startling Jess a little bit, but Mr. Holtzman looked at her, closed his eyes as if annoyed, and said “ it seems he found a squirrel”, which made Jess smile.

  “Anyway, how can I help you?” - he asked.

  “We have a memory device that I cannot access, but it seems to me that it is full. It's not mine, but someone very important gave it to me, so I was just wondering whether you could make it readable for me?” - explained Jess.

  “Dear, Jess, my hacking days are long behind me”, said Mr. Holtzman. “This useless brain is not serving me as it used to. I hope I will be able to help you, let's go inside.”

  Mr. Holtzman started walking to the garage, and once they had entered, he pressed a button and a hidden floor passage opened. They went in and it seems that they were somewhere underneath the glasshouse, as some of the natural light was still passing through. Welcome to my humble lab. The room was fairly big, cozy, with several very comfortable chairs and sofas, but the main part of the room was something that Jess could only describe as a control center. Several huge screens, with keyboards and computers. Jess noticed a security camera feed, some background processing tasks, charts, analysis, etc.

  As Hank was approaching one of the desks where Mr. Holtzman had an impressive tool collection, spare robot parts, soldering robots, 3D printers, and a whole lot. Mr. Holtzman faced Hank and said, “Mr. Bishoff, if you wouldn't mind being very careful and not touch anything, I would be very thankful. As you might imagine, I don't have a lot of guests here.”

  Hank whispered to Jess, “no wonder, look at this place”.

  “And also, I have excellent hearing”, added Mr. Holtzman, while Hank was slightly blushing in embarrassment.

  “Are you still working Mr. Holtzman”, Jess asked. “I noticed there that you are using a similar analysis tool as I do.”

  “Oh no, my dear”, he replied, “this is mostly related to my garden, plant, and soil monitoring. Do you have the memory drive?”

  Jess gave a small piece of glass to Mr. Holtzman, and he was turning on one of the older computers. “You see, with such things, you need to be careful, so this machine is a sandbox”, he explained and continued. ”You can play with anything without fear of destroying any of my personal memory, work, or being discovered if someone has some malicious activities in mind.”

  Jess and Hank were looking around the room as Mr. Holtzman was doing his magic. The walls were full of various achievement awards, photos of famous leaders and politicians. At some point, Jess’s and Hank’s eyes met and Hank approvingly smirked while whispering, “he’s pretty cool.”

  After less than a minute, Mr. Holtzman said, “Jess, I think we have something here. It seems that we have the entire data backup of all the research that is conducted in the Antarctica research facility.”

  Jess couldn't quite believe this.

  * * *

  Far away from the city, in the middle of the forest was a very tall and thin living facility. It was hidden in the trees and it seems that its top deck had a wonderful view of the forest canopy. Miller found a place to park, maybe two minutes away, from the cabin. He landed and realized that there was a fore
st path leading to the cabin so this was probably a place where Dave parked. He took the path and he was amazed at the nature surrounding it. There was a small spring passing near the path, huge, tall trees, and a lot of bird songs. He came to the door and realized that the cabin is much more rustic than it looked from the air.

  There was no call screen to ring, just a classical old door knocker. Miller smiled for a second and said to himself, of course, classic Dave. He knocked on the door but nothing happened. He tried once more, and once again after that but it seems that nobody was there.

  He took the path to the backside, in the hope of finding a window. I hope I'm at the right address, he thought. On the backside of the cabin was a big glass wall with an overview of a ditch with a beautiful spring that he has encountered previously, and a wooden terrace.

  He tried to see what's inside but had a hard time since the glass was semi-transparent and very reflective. Then, for a moment he saw something that could be a person sleeping in the chair. Just on the side, he noticed a smaller window that was halfway open, so he stood on one of the chairs on the porch and looked inside.

  “Mrs. Ahmed, wake up, it's Miller, Dave's brother!” - He said calmly, but no response came.

  “Hello, Delilah, wake up” - he repeated a bit louder. Then, he noticed there was an empty pillbox on the floor. Come on, sleeping pills? - he thought to himself, as he was finally louder, almost shouting “hey, Delilah, wake up!”