by Dane, Max
He called in one of his better ones.
“Susan, I need an example of a prescribed medical treatment. It needs to have data sufficient for entering into the system as though it was a real patient.”
“Ok, Dr. Sarin, but this could be quite lengthy.”
He was pretty sure Ryan didn’t want that.
“Please try for a simple procedure. Maybe something like a broken leg?”
“Oh, alright. I’ll find something short and simple.
He smiled, “Wonderful, thank you very much, Susan.”
Pleased to help, she walked across the hall into the neighboring lab suite to find it for him.
Jeff went back to work organizing some results from Bender.
He thought, ‘Ah very good, another problem solved again.’
While he was looking for something to do, Ryan received a call from Theresa.
“Ryan, I show that an electronic tablet has been returned to our office supplies. Typically, we all carry these for meetings. Would you like to have it?”
“Sure, I’ll be right there.”
He made his way to her desk.
She smiled, “Hey there Ryan, follow me.”
She led him to a room near the back of the floor.
Waving her ID chip at the door, it opened and she went inside. Together hey stood in what was clearly an office supply room. It didn’t look very organized; the supplies seemed to be arranged more by pile-size than functionality.
“Sorry about the mess, usually the room is in better shape, but the lady responsible has been out on maternity leave. She’s going to have a fit when she comes back.”
After a few moments, she produced a tablet. It was silver and black with the IntelliHealth logo across the top.
“Ah here we go, this is it, if you want it.”
“Sure, thanks Theresa. So how do I actually check it out.”
“First turn it on. Ok, now hold your ID chip over it.”
“Now when you pass through the door, watch the screen, it should read that you've checked it out.”
As they walked out the door, Ryan read the message and said, “Hey that was really easy, thanks Theresa.”
“Sure, if you need help to sync it to your terminal, just call me.”
Like a kid with a new toy, he headed back to his desk and sync’d the tablet to his terminal.
At the end of the day, Ryan gathered his things and headed home.
While he was driving home, he started going over what he would do tomorrow.
He had the test-bed interface from Jim, hopefully tomorrow he would get the sample procedure from Jeff.
It had been kind of slow today, but hopefully tomorrow would pick up.
That night after Alex went to bed, Jean asked him about his phone call that morning.
“So did you get it all figured out?”
“Not really, that number still bothers me.”
He sat down next to her on the couch. She was watching the news.
Suddenly he realized why he was surprised at the number.
”Jean, why would they have the whole number?”
”What?”
“How could IntelliHealth have vaccination information for the whole city population? Wouldn’t some people go to their own doctors, their own clinics, and schools?”
“Yeah, I guess so. The shot I got at work was from some paramedics that work for the city.”
“So why would IntelliHealth have records for everyone that had been vaccinated?” he said excited.
Ryan thought about it, “I had to swipe my ID chip to get the shot. Did you Jean?”
“Yes, it was the first time they’ve requested it that I can remember.” she said.
She could see that he was focused on this.
It didn’t seem that important to her, but she knew he would be stuck on this idea for the rest of the night, if they didn’t talk it through.
“What information did you find exactly?” she asked.
“What I saw showed that IntelliHealth has information on everyone who was vaccinated including their name, age, address, everything.”
She frowned, that was a little odd.
“So, you’re saying the city must have shared its data with IntelliHealth,” she said.
“Yeah, maybe,” he said slowly, feeling very much as if there was a clue here he was still missing.
“But if it’s true, why would the city do that?” he said, “IntelliHealth just provides the inoculations for the city to use, right? It would make more sense for the city health department to keep tabs on the people inoculated.”
She shrugged, “I don’t know. It does seem a little intrusive.”
He paused and changed the channel, still perturbed.
“I’m sorry Ryan, but why is that so important?”
He put the remote down, and turned to her.
“If you believe it’s the same in all cities, then IntelliHealth must have the most accurate census records anywhere, for the entire world.”
“Now, I think I see your point. That does seem a little odd.”
He turned back to the story on the news, and raised the volume.
Rubbing his neck, she said, “Well, if you wanted to see how close the numbers really are, I suppose you could search the web for the official government census, and find the real number for comparison.”
“That’s a good idea,” he said getting up immediately.
He went to their computer on the bar, and began searching.
He pulled up information from the local federal government website on the city census. What he found, confirmed that the total number of people was about 2.3 million, and that apparently IntelliHealth had records for nearly all of them.
“Jean, you had a good idea, and it looks like it’s true. So why would IntelliHealth have that much information on the city population? And, if it’s true, and it’s the same in any city, why would IntelliHealth have that much information on the whole world population?”
“OK, seriously Ryan, you sound a little paranoid, baby.”
He sat back down next to her, “I know. My project at work is frustrating me. Maybe it’s starting to get to me a little.”
“Well,” she said, “I’m tired and I’m going to bed. I’m sure it will make more sense in the morning.”
With a quick kiss, Jean went to bed and left Ryan still thinking about the census numbers.
After she left, he went back to his computer.
With the data in front of him, he glanced back over the last several years. The census for the city seemed to have slowed and leveled off. The data for the current year wasn’t in yet apparently, but the trend he was looking at seemed to suggest that the next entry would actually go down.
Could that be true?
He was confused.
People were living longer, so at least in the short run, the ‘death’ rate might seem to be falling. That should mean more people were alive at the same time. If the birth rate was stable, and as long as people weren’t fleeing the city in droves, then the census would definitely go up.
So why would the census level off, or even fall?
It had to be the birth rate.
He began searching hospitals for public data on deliveries for the last two years. He wasn’t coming up with much information. There had been a flood of new fertility services. From commercials, to electronic mail, to digital billboards, everywhere one looked one could see a happy couple holding a new baby. It never occurred to him that the opposite could be true.
‘I must try not to sound paranoid,’ he thought, and laughed out loud.
The next morning was Friday, and Ryan was back at work and excited to see Jeff’s sample treatment waiting for him in the mail.
With the language ready, he began filling out the input form. The treatment was calling for a scan of a broken limb, which would be handled by one technician, and an injection of something called cod-L122 ‘for relief of pain’, that would be handled by another techn
ician. It was perfect, very short, and very simple.
Ryan entered the data and hit ‘submit’.
There were no complaints, everything seemed to work, and he even got confirming messages indicating that the treatment was submitted to Patient Services.
Now he entered the information again, but mistyped the name of the drug.
The field with the misspelling was immediately highlighted, and he could not submit the form.
Ryan was startled when a voice emerged from the monitor speakers.
“Mr. Dane, you have mistyped an entry in the highlighted field. The most commonly used pain relief medication for such an injury is cod-L122. Is this what you intended?”
“Yes, thank you SID,” said Ryan.
The field was corrected, and the highlighted portion returned to normal.
After several more tries, he came to believe it was as equally hard to break the manual input as it would be the fully interactive SID version.
He decided to take a break, and walked over to see Jim and David
“Hey guys, how’s it going?” he said.
“Wow, you look like the local bully just took your lunch money,” said Jim.
“Yeah, that’s kind of how I feel. I can’t catch a break on this ‘data collision’ project; and I think I’ve just run out of leads.”
David spoke up, “I’m guessing the manual input program didn’t help you much.”
“Well, it’s not over yet. But what it proved to me is that the manual entry is not easy to break. The slightest mistake is captured by SID, who intervenes and blocks the submission until it gets corrected. It really is a very thorough, and very credible system,” said Ryan.
Jim stood up, and stretched.
“SID’s pretty damn good,” said Jim, “the SID program was written by a whole team of programmers, but the real work, the really innovative stuff came from Dr. Steven Ranks a friend of Dr. Sid Frances, the IntelliHealth founder. Ranks was only about twenty at the time. He’s pretty much a hero to us.”
“Only 20, and that was about 25 years ago now, so he’s still alive isn’t he?” Ryan asked.
David was interested now, “Yeah, but no one ever hears from him anymore. The last project he worked on was the energy source problem. He wrote the operating system for the first generation, particle-smasher arrays. The ones that saved the planet. People talk a lot about Dr. Frances, but because of Steven Ranks we’ve had clean power that is strong and reliable ever since.” David was definitely a fan.
Ryan said, “Well, I’ve explored every possibility I can think of for human error. I’ve looked in detail at the initial stage where our research scientists prescribe treatments. I’ve also explored the hospital side and learned how their staff receive the prescribed treatments and then carry them out.”
Letting out a short sigh, Ryan went on, “I don’t believe I could break the system if I set out to try. The amount of control on both sides is staggering.”
David said, “I understand what you’re saying, Ryan. The IntelliHealth networks are strong everywhere.”
”Everywhere?” said Ryan.
Jim leaned against the partition wall, putting his hands in his pockets.
“That’s right Ryan, all of the IntelliHealth facilities are set up in identical fashion. I learned that when I first started here. Back then, this facility was one of the older ones, and we were always asked for program templates to use at the new facilities. They said that each facility would be run in the identical way, so that any researcher, anywhere, could interact with and access resources at any other facility, seamlessly. ”
Ryan was considering what Jim said.
“A system so solid and uniform that it can’t be broken,” he almost whispered.
“And yet, someone is,” said David.
“What?”
“I just mean that because the errors are still happening, it means that intentionally or not, someone is breaking the system.”
The words echoed in his head.
‘Someone is breaking the system.’
CHAPTER 6
“When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream.”
- John Lennon
The next day Ryan reviewed his progress.
Looking at his results from his explorations into the Research and Hospital components, he had made an excellent case for why these treatment errors, or ‘data collisions’ as Ben called them, could never happen.
Something else was happening here.
He needed more information, and decided it was time to try something new. He wanted to talk with some other IntelliHealth Facilities and see if they had documented similar events.
He called Theresa to ask if Ben was available.
“Yes, you can see him now if you like.”
Ryan arrived at Ben’s office and explained what steps he had completed in his investigation, and regrettably, that he still had found nothing.
“Ben, I want to contact some other IntelliHealth Facilities and see if they’ve ever documented a case like ours.”
Ben frowned, “Ryan, I have to say that I’m not entirely comfortable with this idea. Spreading our problems over the IntelliHealth System is something not to be taken lightly. The wrong words could mean bad news for a lot of us.”
“I understand, but I’m stuck Ben. I have explored and documented every logical point where error could conceivably be entered into the system. All I’ve done is shown how strong and well protected your system is.”
“Along the way, I’ve spoken to highly qualified people on your staff, the research staff and the hospital staff. These are individuals relied on by yourself and your peers. Their knowledge is based on years of experience, working right here. They helped me to understand the system from each of their perspectives, and I don’t believe it can be compromised at any of their entry points,” said Ryan.
Pausing to pick his words carefully, “My conclusion is that there isn’t a way to generate the type of errors we are experiencing; at least not through the common activity that takes place every day.”
Ryan knew he was on tender ground, and wasn’t sure how far he could take Ben in this line of thinking.
Ben looked puzzled.
“Ryan, what are you suggesting exactly?”
“I’m not sure, but I believe something unconventional is happening here. It’s why none of our tests are revealing anything.”
“How will talking to other facilities help?” he asked.
“I learned that they’re set up exactly as we are, even employing the identical software. I believe they should be just as susceptible to this anomaly. What if they are experiencing the same thing, and just too afraid to talk about it?”
“Let me think about it,” he said as he leaned back and sighed, “I will get back to you once I’ve had a chance to thoroughly think through what you’ve said.”
“Thanks Ben, if you choose not to approve it, I will certainly understand. I can go back to the beginning and start putting together some new field comparisons for Jim to run.”
Ryan got up and started walking back to his office. Ben was clearly frustrated and not interested in sharing it with other IntelliHealth Facilities. Ryan thought he was probably afraid of the scrutiny if the other locations came up negative. Still though, if Ryan were to get any further in his investigation, he would need to learn if the problem manifested elsewhere.
When he got to his office, he felt like he needed a break, so he decided to switch gears. He sat down and pulled up the treatment he’d found for the Rn186 virus. The number of trials had gone up again. People in the city were still getting vaccinated. With his paranoia from last night still twitching in his head, he decided to call Jeff and see if he knew anything that would settle his questions.
“Hey Jeff, do you have a few minutes that I could come and visit?”
”Sure Ryan, come on up.”
/> Ryan found Jeff in his lab washing some sort of flask in a sink at the end of a lab bench.
“Jeff, thanks for seeing me,” he said.
”Hello Ryan, you called at a good time,” said Jeff as he walked over to shake his hand “the students are all at a seminar, and we finally have peace.”
“I have a couple of questions, and I know they might sound a bit strange. Frankly, I’m hoping you’ll be able to tell me why I’m wrong. It’s possible my wife is right when she says I’m being a little paranoid.”
They entered Jeff’s office, and he turned to shut the door.
Curious now, Jeff said, “Sure Ryan, what have you got?”
Ryan hesitated for just a second, feeling a bit awkward.
“All right, this is going to sound weird,” he said, “but, is there anything wrong with the birth rate?”
Jeff clearly wasn’t expecting the question, “Is this part of your investigation?”
