The Good: A page turning thriller where politics meets future technology in a bid to control human behaviour
Page 19
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Finsbury Park, London
The familiar chime of an email arriving stopped Leon in mid-conversation, he apologised to Sarah and went across to his laptop.
Clicking through to his email, he saw it was from Vanessa. He read the email, thought for a moment and then opened up a new blog post. He wanted to use his blog not just to hold the Government to account but also to help the public if he could:
Hero War Veteran Foils Assault on Young Girl
Last night in Hitchin, a 73 year old former army major was monitoring his street during his shift as part of a successful Neighbourhood Watch Scheme that has been operating in many parts of the town for a number of years.
He spotted a young girl walking through a local park towards a gang of youths and spotted trouble immediately.
His quick thinking in calling police proved vital as the gang had just starting to launch an attack on the girl, just before police showed up on the scene.
This demonstration of people power is occurring up and down the country as more Neighbourhood Watch Schemes start up to help protect their communities against crimes such as burglary, graffiti and even assault.
With police forces pushed to their limits, it’s time for the community to pull together and provide support to make their own areas secure.
The example of Neighbourhood Watch in action described above shows how important this is. However, it does highlight the issue of people putting themselves in danger.
It’s time for people to wake up and start to realise that we live in dangerous times and we need to protect ourselves to avoid becoming victims of crime.
That means securitise our homes, watch out for one another and think about the dangers we’re putting ourselves in by walking home alone at night.
We’d be interested in hearing any other stories you would like to share about how your community has reduced violent crime. Send your stories to thedaytoday@blognews.com
The blog was published. Almost immediately comments appeared featuring inspirational stories of Neighbourhood Watch Schemes acting on behalf of their communities.
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HRM Prison, somewhere in Leicestershire
The planning session with the team had gone well the day before and they were most of the way through finalising the individual programmes for each of the test cases.
Jennifer was driving back up to Leicestershire to see how the video and audio capture had gone. The drive up was spent considering the next steps in the research program interspersed with trying not to crash.
When she arrived, she was greeted by a smiling Governor Voskov again.
“Hi Dr err, I mean Jennifer. How are you?”
“Good Dimitri, thank you. How have things gone here?”
“The prisoners have responded well. We have had no reported incidents of trouble this week so I’m sure your video and audio recordings will be quite dull I’m afraid.”
“That’s fine. I’m sure the video and audio will provide enough data for us to continue to build our records on the test cases and to identify the best program for each,” responded Jennifer as optimistically as she could.
“Ok then well, please follow me.”
Jennifer followed Governor Voskov through the same route she had taken the other day. The same room was filled with the same ten people as previously and she held individual meetings with each of them throughout the course of the day.
As usual, the prison guard was on hand but Jennifer requested he stay outside the room. Governor Voskov had made it clear that Jennifer was in charge, so he did as he was told.
She and her team had prepared individual scenarios to take the test cases through each designed to push certain buttons to identify their response.
Her first subject was referred to as A01. Names were not required as she did not want either her or the team to get emotionally connected with any of the subjects.
A01 sat down opposite Jennifer. She fitted him with an array of sensors to monitor his blood pressure, heart rate, brain waves as well as a camera to read body language.
It was her research takeaway kit and was used to determine AO1’s reaction to the assessment as well as to check if he was lying at any stage.
He was tallish at about 6 feet and 1 inch and had a muscular physique. There was coldness in his eyes and she found she had to keep asking if he understood what she was saying in order to get a verifiable response.
“How has the week been?” She asked.
“Ok,” he said.
“Any difficult or challenging situations?”
“Nope.”
“Was the audio and video equipment ok to manage?”
“Yes.”
The dials on the monitoring equipment presented as dull and lifeless a picture as AO1’s conversation. There was nothing out of the ordinary here.
He was definitely a man of few words. Jennifer would have to work hard for this to go anywhere meaningful.
“Ok, well. As part of this process we mentioned that we would set certain challenges for you to see how you would react. These are purely theory questions so I would appreciate an honest response.”
Nothing more than a nod was forthcoming.
“Right, so your scenario is as follows. You’re walking along the road and a man in front of you dressed in a nice suit is walking towards a sports car. As he gets into the car his wallet falls out of his pocket. What would you do?” She looked at A01 to see if he was following…
A01 thought for a minute and said, with a smile slowly introducing itself to the corner of his mouth, “He probably doesn’t need the money because he has a nice suit and a nice car right?”
He was looking to Jennifer for some sort of guidance.
“If you say so,” she replied.
“So… so I’d pick up the wallet and…” Jennifer was feverishly scribbling notes as though she had second guessed him.
“I’d give him his wallet back,” concluded A01.
The dials started to move and she could see a heightened level of activity particularly in his brainwave patterns. His breathing was becoming excitable and his blood pressure had increased.
“Really, I was thinking something else. Why would you do that?”
“Well, he’s got a nice suit and a nice car and that. I doubt there’d be any cash in his wallet. He probably pays for everything on a card. They’re much more risky to nick. Plus, if I gave it back. Who knows what might happen right?”
Left between confusion and uncertainty, Jennifer tried to process this response. It was inherently intelligent and she was quite taken aback. It was certainly unexpected.
He’d weighed up the pros and cons based on selfish greed but added in an element of laziness by wishing to avoid having to deal with a stolen credit card.
But it was also tinged with opportunity and optimism that something positive might happen if he gave it back.
Out of the nine other assessment meetings she undertook that day and scenario responses received, this was by far the most well thought out and considered.
She felt a little guilty by thinking it odd a ‘prisoner’ could be so contemplative. However, she was excited to study the readings of each test case from the monitoring equipment.
Her journey back to the lab was painstakingly slow but full of anticipation.
Chapter 15:
Early December 10 Downing Street, London
“So, are we any closer to a solution?” David’s question was directed at Vanessa primarily although Russell shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the same time.
“David, I can report that the test cases are responding well to the study. Dr Hopwood and her team are gathering some excellent results. However, there’s nothing concrete at this stage,” Vanessa said.
“Are we likely to have anything before Christmas, Russell?” David switched his point of attack and almost caught
the Minister for Social Behaviour off guard.
“I would say at this stage it’s unlikely we’ll be able to announce something until the New Year David.”
“Well, this update was a bit of a pointless exercise then by all accounts,” David was getting frustrated and he was the sort of person who found that particular emotion difficult to hide.
“With all due respect David,” Vanessa countered, “We all knew this wouldn’t be an easy fix but I will encourage Dr Hopwood to expedite the process as much as possible.”
“However, to manage expectations, I think we need to provide a media update that things are progressing well and that early results should be available to announce in the New Year.”
“As diplomatic as ever Vanessa,” David’s calm was restored.
“Russell, can you draw something up to announce to the press. Vanessa, go and give our scientist an appropriate nudge. Thank you both.”
Russell was happy to swiftly scuttle out of the room. Vanessa strode out with her usual air of grace. She called Jennifer as soon as she was in a quiet place and stressed the importance of progress, just as requested.
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Finsbury Park, London
Leon received an email from the press team for the Department of Social Behaviour inviting him to attend a briefing later that day.
He responded with a confirmation of attendance.
Over the last week or so and with his new found confidence thanks to his relationship with Sarah, Leon had been out and about as if he was back to normal.
He was reporting on stories on location and the nervousness that had taken hold of him following the attack had seemingly rescinded.
She had breathed new life into him and he was writing each post with a renewed vigour.
He had continued writing articles about the positive impact of Neighbourhood Watch Schemes. He was encouraged by their determined approach and felt that promoting it could help to get more people focused on looking out for each other.
However, he was genuinely excited about the Department of Social Behaviour press conference that was a matter of hours away.
He started preparing questions as Sarah busied herself in the kitchen preparing breakfast. One thing that had definitely improved was Leon’s diet.
Sarah was an amazing cook and the drawer containing all of the take-away food menus had barely been opened since she had been there.
She came through with a steaming plate of goodness and Leon averted his gaze from his notebook towards the smell.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“I’ve got a press conference this afternoon at the Houses of Parliament. The Department of Social Behaviour is announcing something in a couple of hours. I’m just trying to work up some questions,” he responded.
“You should ask them about how they are researching,” Sarah countered.
“What do you mean?”
“You know, what format is the research project taking? How do they align their studies with human thought processes, etcetera?”
“Go on,” Leon said, intrigued.
“Well, they’re supposed to be looking for a way to manage anti-social behaviour so to do that they’d surely need to monitor human test subjects right?”
“I suppose so. Good thinking. Are you sure you’re not a journalist?”
Sarah smiled at that and began tucking into her food; it was a Texan style breakfast with square potatoes and spicy chicken in a chilli and tomato sauce. It was a specialty of hers.
Leon devoured his and carried on with his preparation work, full but inherently satisfied.
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Houses of Parliament, London
Russell and Vanessa went through the same routine as they had with the previous press conference, although this time it was a little more hurried as they had less time to play with.
The other difference was that Jennifer wouldn’t be attending. They wanted to provide a brief update and felt that it just required Russell.
Jennifer was happy with that arrangement too, as it meant she could continue to focus on her research.
They worked out the announcement and started to run through a couple of mock presentations. Pretty soon Russell was comfortably delivering his well-prepared narrative and they both became much more comfortable with the impending media huddle they were about to face.
There was an hour to go until the start.
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Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
The team assembled in the main meeting room, ready and waiting eagerly for Jennifer’s review of the results from week 1 of the study.
This was the first step on their journey to finding a resolution to the challenge set by the Government.
Jennifer entered the room and connected the laptop to the monitor.
As she was doing so, she addressed her audience.
“I want to thank you all for your hard work over the last week. I know there have been some late nights and a scientists’ lot of frustration…” a chuckle emanated around the room.
“But, I have to say, I believe you’ll feel it worth it when you see the first set of results. They are…,” pause for effect, “...very encouraging.”
Large smiles appeared on lots of faces.
The monitor burst into life and Jennifer navigated her way through the presentation.
“Ok, so you’ll see that I’ve split the presentation into ten components, one for each of the test cases and finished with a summary review of the general findings so far.”
“Now, they always say when delivering a presentation to start off at a level of engagement that allows you to build up into a crescendo. Well, unfortunately, I’m going to break that rule.”
“Our first test case here referenced as A01 happens to be the most intriguing of subjects as far as I’m concerned.”
“As you’ll see, there was significant brain wave activity and blood pressure level elevation as scenario one was run through. This echoes the readings from the introductory assessment so we can say there is a definite pattern.”
“Fortunately, this isn’t the unique element that gets me most excited about this test case. Each test case showed patterning between the introductory assessment and initial scenario.”
“What A01 has that the others didn’t is an innate intelligence which demonstrates a real depth of thought in his responses. That’s what makes this case fascinating.”
Jennifer ran through the other test cases in order, highlighting the more pertinent observations as she did so. Her research team were nodding in support as they journeyed along this enticing scientific route with her.
She paused before she came to the summary of results.
“The following slides show what I believe to be the highlight results of our first week as well as what we hope to see in the proceeding weeks.”
“You’ll see that we have consistencies emerging from both the brain wave and blood pressure measurements. We also have similarities in terms of breathing and heart rate. We expect there to be differences in the body language of each test case because of the uniqueness of human interaction.”
“In terms of next steps, I’ll send the results to each of you; and I want you to split into teams like before. Each team will be assigned two test cases and I need you to record the results from week one against their permanent record.”
“I also want you to review each of the video and audio files and note down anything you observe that might be relevant to this study.”
“On Thursday, we’ll reconvene and I’d like to see a new scenario for your test cases. My aim is to take them through these scenarios at my next assessment with them.”
“Ok, any questions?”
She knew there wouldn’t be in such an open forum. She wasn’t sure if this was the same all around but in her experience, most scientist
s she worked with did not like to stick their heads above the parapet.
They enjoyed debate mainly in a 1:1 dialogue but not as part of an open forum. She would undoubtedly be fielding questions via email or following subtle knocks at her office door.
The truth was, where the entertainment industry seemingly feared having their bad hair day or poor clothing choices exposed, in her world ignorance was the one thing that people wanted to hide.
It’s much easier to control a demonstration of poor intellect if there is an audience of one than if there is an audience of plenty.
“Thank you for your time and have a good week.”
The team filtered back to their various stations. Week two had begun.
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Finsbury Park, London
Sarah accompanied Leon into town. She wanted to play the role of tourist and see some of the key sights on her first outing into central London.
This was also a new experience for Leon. They hadn’t really travelled to zone 1 together, yet and he was excited to be out with his girlfriend.
That term was something that would take a little getting used to. He knew it was sad but he had practiced saying it in his head so he was totally prepared when he first introduced Sarah to anyone.
The tube traversed the space between Finsbury Park and the City Centre like water flowing through a straw. The constant exchange of passengers was fascinating.
It was an excellent place to people watch and that was something Sarah loved to do.
Within no time, it had arrived at Oxford Circus, Sarah’s destination.
She gathered her gloves and scarf before saying goodbye to Leon.
Alone now, he gathered his thoughts as he continued the journey to Parliament.
He changed trains at Victoria and took the Circle Line to Westminster. He noticed that the clothing of the passengers changed based on where you were travelling to.