2156

by C M Dancha

  "That sounds easy enough, Rollie. What are you going to do with your clones?"

  "I'm not sure what I can do with the frogs, but I'll think of some tests to put the puppy through. I grew up with a bunch of dogs in the neighborhood, so I have a good idea of how to train a dog and determine its intelligence. One of the things we definitely have to focus on is the clone's ability to remember."

  "What do you mean, Rollie?"

  "It's critical to know if the clone can remember what it learns each day. In other words, does it have a memory? Let me give you an example. Let's say one of your cloned mice learns how to negotiate the maze and lowers his average time to five minutes. Then, you stop the maze test for a week before resuming it. Does the same mouse remember how to get through the maze in five minutes? Or, does he have to relearn the intricacies of the maze to get back to the five-minute speed?"

  "Okay, that sounds reasonable. What else do we need to do?"

  "For the next few days, we need to go through the autopsy results and analyze the blood, fluids and tissue samples. We need to run comparative tests on the chromosomes and DNA for all the clones. Bottom line is that we need to look at everything. We need to explain why some clones were successful and others were, well, you saw what they were."

  Rollie paused for a minute to take another drink of coffee. After collecting his thoughts, he spoke. "Claude, if we're going to play God, we better be damn sure we know what we're doing because I don't have the stomach for any more results like tonight."

  Before Claude could say anything, Rollie spotted Raul Hakala enter the cafeteria and look his way. He gave Rollie a half wave, went to the coffee dispenser for a cup and then walked over to the where Rollie and Claude were sitting.

  "Oh, shit! Claude, don't look now but Raul, the security director, is heading over to our table. Let me do the talking, okay?"

  "He's all yours, Rollie."

  "Well, I didn't expect to find you two here this morning. Especially on your day off."

  Raul sat down and began adding a sweet creamer to his coffee.

  "Hi, Raul. Do you know Claude Ekstrom?"

  Raul leaned over the table and shook Claude's hand. "Pleased to meet you, Claude. You have a popular last name."

  Claude didn't know how to take Raul's remark. Rollie knew he was either kidding or wanted to see if he could get a rise out of Claude. Either way, the remark was of no importance. Claude kept his mouth shut and ignored the security director's comment.

  "Funny, Raul. To answer your question, Claude and I were here all night working on the ReLife project. What are you doing here so bright and early?"

  "One of my agents is sick so I thought I'd fill in for him." Raul's lie sounded plausible. And it was unlikely that Rollie would waste time trying to verify his story.

  Neither man was going to admit what they were doing at Phoenvartis on a day the company was closed. Raul wasn't going to say that he came in to look for abuses in the ReLife project. And Rollie left out that he and Claude spent the entire night using a supposedly inoperable CR47 cloning machine.

  For the next thirty minutes, the three men sat in the cafeteria discussing sports, women, family and any other subject they could wring a few laughs and thoughtful remarks from. As much as Raul tried, he couldn't get Rollie or Claude to open-up about their late-night vigil. Their silence would make his job of getting to the bottom of the ReLife project a little harder. But he was glad they kept quiet about highly confidential information.

  "Well guys, I have to get home and get some sleep. Raul, it was a pleasure meeting you and I'm sure I'll run into you more in the future."

  "The pleasure was all mine, Claude. Say hello to your uncle for me."

  Claude stopped shaking Raul's hand at the mention of his uncle and gave Raul a questioning stare.

  "Yeah, sure. No problem. See you guys later." Claude turned and walked out of the cafeteria. On his way to the lab to get the mice, he wondered why Raul would make such an odd comment about saying hello to his uncle. Did he think his uncle was a close friend? As far as Claude knew, Raul reported directly to his uncle which gave him more access to the man than himself. When Claude got to his office, he was too tired to worry anymore about Raul. If he remembered, he would ask Rollie in a day or two what Raul was trying to do with the comment about Klaus. Otherwise, screw Raul.

  "Claude was pretty quiet this morning, Rollie. I heard he was a loud-mouth, ego-filled dink. He sure didn't act that way this morning."

  "Claude is a good guy when you get to know him, Raul. Plus, I worked him hard last night. I'm sure he's really tired like I am."

  Not to be denied, Raul tried one last time to discover what Rollie and Claude were doing during the night. "Did you guys make any progress on ReLife last night?"

  Rollie wanted to either laugh at Raul's question or tell him to knock off the bullshit. The repetitive questions about ReLife and their all-night vigil plus the wisecrack about saying hello to Klaus made it obvious he was digging for something. If he had to guess, Rollie put his money on Klaus instructing Raul to find out why the ReLife project was stuck in place.

  Rollie made a mental note to himself to talk with Claude about Raul. Claude had to understand they now had a bloodhound on their trail. They would have to be extra sneaky and cautious from this point forward.

  "Raul, I think we made some progress last night. We spent most of the time evaluating our progress thus far and laying out the best course of action for pushing the ReLife project ahead. You know, just scientist type stuff."

  Raul gave Rollie credit for coming up with such a noncommittal, ambiguous answer. He was good at making nothing sound so important. With or without Rollie's help he would get to the bottom of the ReLife project one way or another.

  "Well, I know you guys will figure things out soon. Hey, are we going to meet for dinner tonight?"

  "Yeah, I'm glad you reminded me. Let's meet at the Raven's Lair at 7 p.m. I need to get a good nap this afternoon, so I won't bore you to death at dinner. Do you know where the Raven's Lair is?"

  "I do. They've got great food. I'll meet you there at seven bells. Go home and get some sleep, buddy."

  Raul patted Rollie on the back a couple of times as the two men left the cafeteria. Once in the main hallway, they went opposite directions. Rollie needed to get the puppy and frogs before going home. Raul's first stop was the monitoring central station to review recordings and look for unusual access code activity.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mr. Slice

  Finding Rollie and Claude in the building early in the morning made Raul reprioritize his schedule for the day. The first thing he decided to do was find out if the CR47 room had monitoring equipment in it. If it did, he could determine who was using this room. He also decided to put an auto-search on the video recordings for Claude and Rollie's offices. The auto-search would do a fast review of the recordings and make a condensed version showing only the times someone went in or out of either office. By using this feature, approximately 30 hours of recordings between the two offices could be reviewed in less than 1 hour. By noon, Raul would know exactly how much time the two scientists spent in their offices the previous night. And if they weren't in their offices, then where the hell were they?

  All the backtracking of access codes and recordings had to be done by 1 p.m. at the latest. Digging into the ReLife project and Rollie's activities were important but not as important as preparing for the visit by the World Council member. It was imperative that Raul check the building's physical security and emergency preparedness plans in detail. Were access systems used? Were employees trying to bypass these systems? Were there any signs of system break-ins from off-campus? Was each electronic access from off-campus by a registered and authorized person?

  There were a hundred other things to look at before tomorrow morning. He planned to return to Phoenvartis after dinner and work through the night making sure his areas of responsibility were 100%.

  When Raul walked into t
he monitoring central station, he was surprised to find a stranger being escorted around the facility. Raul watched as two of his agents described each piece of equipment to the stranger and gladly answered his questions. They were falling over themselves trying to be helpful to the stranger. Raul had no idea who this person was. This fifty-year-old with a full, bushy beard that matched his rotund physique certainly didn't work at Phoenvartis.

  The more he watched the more upset he became. Who the hell was this stranger and what was he doing in his monitoring central station? Raul's internal thermometer was rising fast and close to bursting. He wanted to race over to the three-man group and haul all their asses out of the central station. On a military base, he would have these idiots arrested for violating security procedures in a top-secret, crypto area. Unfortunately, this wasn't a military zone so the best he could do was fire his two agents. Then the stranger could be interrogated to determine his identity and why he was at Phoenvartis. His answers better be damn good, or he would face criminal charges.

  "Agent Murphy, can you tell me..."

  This was as far as Raul got with his question before Murphy saw him and said, "Director Hakala. We've been looking for you. I'd like to present Mr. Slice from the World Council. We've been showing him around the facility …"

  The guest cut off agent Murphy's introduction. "Mr. Hakala. My name is Sedgewick Slice. As Mr. Murphy said, I'm a member of the World Council. How are you today? If I remember correctly your first name is Raul, isn't it?"

  Raul was taken aback by everything he heard. He should have seen this coming. It was so typical of the World Council to use misdirection and show up on a different day. Of course, Raul couldn't act peeved about this unannounced visit. He wasn't supposed to know about Slice's visit at all. His snitch at the World Council had tipped him off to the visit. But, was the tip intentionally leaked to deceive Phoenvartis management? Regardless, there was a fat man with a red beard standing in his central station. Raul needed to put his anger aside and treat this guy with the respect due any member of the World Council.

  "I, ... I mean, yes, my first name is Raul and welcome to Phoenvartis, Mr. Slice. I hope Mr. Murphy and Mr. Zeggler have been informative and answered your questions satisfactorily."

  Raul turned his attention to Murphy and asked, "Mr. Murphy, did you check Mr. Slice's credentials?"

  Brimming with exaggerated pride, Murphy responded. "Yes, Director Hakala. That was the first thing we did downstairs when Mr. Slice walked into the building."

  Thank God Murphy followed the proper access procedures. "Mr. Slice, we have a double access verification procedure here at Phoenvartis. Could I see your credentials, too?"

  Murphy and Zeggler looked at each other and then to Raul. They never heard of a double access verification procedure but were smart enough to keep their mouths shut. Their boss was up to something and they wanted to see what this was all about.

  "Very efficient, Director. No problem." Mr. Slice flashed his holographic, multi-embossed and colored identification onto a nearby wall. Raul quickly memorized Slice's identification number. He would enter it later into the world security sub-system to verify it was a legitimate number. It would be interesting to see if Sedgewick Slice's name appeared and when the identification number was entered into the system. Or would it be blacked-out and labeled "Restricted Access Only."

  "Thank you, Mr. Slice. I must admit, I've always wondered what type of credentials the World Council members carry.

  "Now you know, Mr. Hakala. Interesting last name you have. Sounds Hawaiian. Is it?"

  "You have a keen ear for the origins of names, Mr. Slice. It is Hawaiian. My father was Hawaiian, born and raised on the big island." Raul didn't believe for a minute that Slice could guess a person's heritage simply from his name and physical appearance. He bet that Slice spent a lot of time researching and committing to memory facts about the facilities and people he planned to visit. His unrestricted access to all company and government files was all he needed to make people believe he had the mental powers of a mystic. Raul wasn't falling for his act and hoped his men were smart enough to see his surprise comments for what they were.

  "I want to apologize for showing up unannounced. I hope this minor interruption won't delay or negatively impact the important work you and the employees of Phoenvartis are doing. I meant to communicate my trip agenda to your central office, but my schedule has been so hectic I didn't seem to get around to it. I hope you and Mr. Ekstrom will forgive me."

  Murphy and Zeggler nodded their heads up and down in full agreement with everything Slice said. Raul couldn't help thinking what a bull-shitter this guy was and hoped the amount of time he had to spend with him would be minimal.

  Raul wanted to slap the big, broad smiles off his agent's faces but elected instead to excuse them. "Mr. Slice, agents Murphy and Zeggler should get back to their primary responsibilities. So, if you don't mind, I'll take over for them as your escort."

  "Excellent recommendation, Mr. Hakala. Again, I don't want to upset the operational cart here at Phoenvartis. I'm sure these two fine citizens have more important things to do than waltz me around the building." Murphy, Zeggler, and Slice exchanged handshakes and parted ways.

  Raul found it interesting that Slice used the term citizens rather than employees. But, coming from a person who didn't believe in socio-economic classes, it made perfect sense. In Slice's socialistic world, there was no such thing as an employer and employee. Everyone was the same. At least, that was the theory.

  "Mr. Slice, what would you like to do? See the rest of the facility, or did you have something specific in mind?"

  "Mr. Hakala, I forgot to mention. I think I saw Mr. Ekstrom's nephew leaving the building as I was talking with your agents in the lobby." Slice paused for a second but then continued, not giving Raul a chance to respond. "Why don't we go upstairs and look at the CR47. Is that a reasonable request?"

  "No problem, Mr. Slice. This way, citizen."

  Calling Slice, a citizen, was Raul's way of letting him know he wasn't fooling anyone. Raul and Klaus knew exactly why he was at Phoenvartis and there was nothing unplanned or spontaneous about his visit. At least Raul gave Slice credit for not dragging out the charade before requesting to see the CR47.

  "Would you like me to contact Mr. Ekstrom and tell him you are in the building?"

  "That won't be necessary, Mr. Hakala. I don't think Mr. Ekstrom is feeling well today."

  As they walked to the CR47 room, several questions were racing through Raul's head. How did Slice know the CR47 was on an upper floor of the building? Why did he think Klaus wasn't feeling well and what did he mean by that comment? Why did he mention seeing Claude Ekstrom and where did he know Claude from? And most important, how long was Slice going to continue with the parlor tricks? There were too many simple-minded people who would believe he possessed special powers and insight?

  For the rest of the afternoon, Sedgewick Slice ran Raul ragged. He inspected everything and asked hundreds of questions. The examination of the CR47 room and adjacent lab alone took over two hours. For such a portly little guy, he had an immense amount of energy and was more inquisitive than a new-born kitten.

  What bothered Raul about the man wasn't the number of questions, his inquisitive nature or running from one area to another without a break. Raul was put-off because it was obvious that Slice already knew the answer to damn near every question he asked. He asked Raul questions only to confirm what he already knew. Raul didn't like being tested, so he purposely answered one of Slice's questions with a made-up, bullshit answer. It was the only time during the entire tour when Raul saw Slice stop dead in his tracks. He flinched like he was hit in the head with a pitched baseball. He gave Raul an odd stare but didn't say anything.

  Around 5:30 p.m., Sedgewick Slice thanked Raul for the tour of Phoenvartis and walked out the front door. He disappeared into the early evening foot traffic of couples and groups on their way to the theater, dinner and where lovers go.
Raul wanted to follow him to see where he was staying but couldn't muster the energy. Slice wore him out physically and mentally. He was so exhausted he considered contacting Rollie and canceling their dinner. But the need to get off his feet and put something in his stomach overrode the cancellation.

  There was no sense looking at access codes and recordings and double-checking the company's security and safety regulations. It was too late now. Plus, Raul didn't have the energy to tackle one more thing before meeting Rollie and then going home to sleep. Yet, there was one more thing he must do.

  When he got to his office, Raul entered Slice's identification number into the world security sub-system and waited for the results. For some unknown reason, it took almost three times as long to process Slice's information.

  As Raul expected, the coded response came back, "Restricted Access to This File." The name Sedgewick Slice did not appear, and the normal picture of the individual was missing. The only other information for this identification number was an addendum at the bottom of the screen. In small print, it read, "This citizen has been granted approval to access all domains and files." Raul wasn't exactly sure what this meant but it sounded impressive.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Help from Macon

  After collecting his coat and umbrella from his office, Raul left Phoenvartis and started walking the mile to the Raven's Lair to meet Rollie. He was hoping the crisp air would reinvigorate him, so he wouldn't be a complete bore. Halfway there, he realized he was going to pass by Klaus Ekstrom's apartment building. He decided to stop and see if there was any truth to what Slice said about Ekstrom's condition. If Klaus wondered why he stopped, he could always use the excuse of telling him about Slice's surprise arrival and tour of Phoenvartis.

  Raul showed his credentials to the front doorman and was immediately granted entrance to the building. Few apartment buildings had full-time doormen, but Klaus lived in one of the nicer buildings which housed many of the zone's top executives. Raul had been to Klaus's apartment once before for a cocktail party, so he proceeded to unit 302 on the third floor.