by Dane, Max
Now he was even more determined to catch them.
He was still reluctant to run a 24-hour monitor script, and face questions and explanations with David. Instead, he changed his script to monitor 23 of the next 24 hours. The one-hour gap was between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM, and would be as revealing as an actual hit.
He thought to himself, ‘your move my friend.’
David spoke over the partition, “Listen Jim, I want to talk about the new floors coming up.”
“Sure, go ahead, I’m listening.”
David stood up and looked over the partition, “Apparently, the groups coming in are going to be bringing a couple of ‘super’ computers. Not quite on the SID level, and they will be limited in functionality for users, but they will be resource-greedy all the same. I want you to set them up.”
”Okay, what are they exactly?” said Jim.
“Not sure. I will send you the specs on them when I get them, probably sometime this afternoon. I am guessing that the total number of user accounts on them will be about 8 to 10, and SID of course.”
“Do I need to worry about the power supply?”
“Probably not, but it wouldn’t hurt to just mention it to facilities. I imagine the people bringing them will have a whole list of special needs. They will have to go over all of it with facilities at some point,” he said.
“True, very true. Ok, I’m on it, anything else?”
David walked around the wall, and lowered his voice, “Man, I think something happened.”
”What?”
He looked around, and half crouched.
“I don’t know what’s happened, but it’s huge. My friends upstairs are freaked. They won’t talk either, and that’s even more weird.”
Jim leaned forward, “Do you think it's something biological, like maybe a new virus or something?”
“I was thinking the same thing. Like maybe some kind of plague,” Dave whispered.
Jim was at a loss for words. He remembered how severe Mr. James looked at the last staff meeting.
“Dave, keep after your friends in the labs.”
“I will. We’re supposed to have a network party tonight; I’m going to see if he’ll talk then. After work, I’m going to the grocery store as soon as I get off work, and maybe the hardware store.”
“I don’t understand Dave, why?”
“I want to stock up on supplies.”
David looked around again and went back to his cubicle.
Jim turned back to his terminal, imagining people filling up heaping grocery carts. He shook his head and tried to focus on setting up the new floors.
Upstairs, Jeff walked back to his office in a daze, still reeling from the faculty meeting in the auditorium.
‘Well,’ he thought, ‘there it is.’
The big mystery that he didn’t even know existed. Not until that damn Ryan Dane walked into his office, yesterday. It had been there right in front of him the whole time.
He and his wife, Kali had been trying to get pregnant for a year. They had been going to a fertility specialist recommended by a doctor at work. At first he had been reluctant to go at all. Everything about it was too personal.
He remembered that when they first walked into the waiting office, it was crowded; so full that they had taken the only remaining chairs. Seeing so many people waiting for help had actually comforted him; they weren’t alone.
Now it made sense why there were so many.
And it scared him.
He stepped into his office, and sat down. He stared at his computer screen.
What was he going to say to Kali? Should he even say anything?
How long would this be a secret he wondered? Ryan had been correct to ask how could such a thing even be secret? From what he had just heard, it seemed that city and federal governments around the world knew about the problem. It wouldn’t be long until someone broke the story to the press.
What a mess this was.
He opened his mail, and there was a response from his friend Amala, it read, “Dear Vignesh, an odd question to be sure. But perhaps an insightful one too. Fewer than I can ever remember. Is there something I should know? May we speak tomorrow on the televid?”
Jeff didn’t want to deal with that just now.
He was having too much trouble just trying figure out what to say to his own wife.
Amala will learn soon enough.
He wrote back, ‘Please forgive me, but I am unfortunately quite preoccupied at the moment. I will contact you soon. My best wishes and heart go to you and your family, Amala.’
He hit the send button.
He felt dirty.
He knew that if he told Amala, it would only bring grief and questions and turmoil to her just as it had with him. He will spare her for as long as he can.
And maybe that was the answer for Kali, too.
He was wrestling with these decisions, and the knowledge he didn’t want, when his graduate student walked up and knocked on his door.
“Dr. Sarin, I finished cleaning the benches, and I wanted to say that I found another centrifuge we can use until we get a new one.”
He swiveled in his chair to look at her.
If what they said was indeed true, she too would be sterile; never to have her own children. Wincing slightly, he said, “Thank you. Please go back to your work. I will check in on you later.”
“Ok, thanks Dr. Sarin.”
He turned back around called Kali.
“Hello Vignesh, how are you?”
Downstairs, Ryan called Theresa and asked if he could meet with Mr. James.
She said he would be busy the rest of the day, but would hold time for a meeting late tomorrow morning. He still had some time to kill so he walked over to see Jim and David.
As he approached their cubicles he could see the activity surrounding his two friends. David had three other programmers present. He seemed to be listening to their questions, and giving some sort of directions.
Jim had four very young men outside his cubicle, and he was handing a paper to each. They wore tool belts, and carried flashlights. He gave some instructions, and they took off in the direction of the elevator.
“Hey Ryan, how are you? You didn’t come by this morning with more searches. I was worried.”
“Yeah, I know. I need to throw some more together. I got a hit on a different front, and I want to follow up on it. How are you guys doing? You seem very busy.”
“Yeah, we’re making arrangements for some new labs coming in, and they are bringing some pretty big stuff.”
David’s group had broken up, and he leaned over the partition too.
“Speaking of which, have you had a chance to check your mail, Jim? I sent you the specs on the new super computers for Dr. Zimmerman.”
Jim turned around and logged into his account. Checking his mail, he found the specs and pulled them up.
“Wow, look at that!” He moved them around so they filled four of his screens.
“Man, look at the local CPU cycle parameters. Those are the new sino-organic chip clusters.”
“I read about how they actually grow the organic material on the silicon base.”
To Ryan, it was a lot of numbers, but not wanting to be left out, he said, “Yeah, wow.”
Misunderstanding the sarcasm in Ryan’s voice, Jim said, “Ok, maybe this is a little light compared to our own SID system, but some of this technology is actually newer and superior.”
“Jim, those are awesome machines,” said David. “Look, I now they’re your project, but I want to play with them too. So, let me know when they are set up and functioning.”
“Ok sure. Hmm… yeah, my project; my names,” he said as he typed some notes on the plans, “I shall call you Loki and Thor.”
Jim smiled at his new project.
They were obviously preoccupied, so Ryan said goodbye, and headed back to his office. He was looking forward to talking with Ben tomorrow and getting permission to start canvassi
ng other facilities too.
Very quickly, he sent a message to Jeff upstairs. It said, ‘Jeff, I have some news regarding the treatment errors. Interested? Give me a holler when you have a few minutes.’
He also responded to a message from Laura Stems in London. Her message said, ‘Wonderful speaking with you Ryan. I should tell you that I’ve also enjoyed talking with my friend, Sarah Warren from the Australian Facility. Hopefully you will have a chance to meet her one day.’
He understood that she still didn’t have permission to discuss this as openly as he did, and appreciated her clue. Ms. Warren would be his next target.
His investigation was finally getting somewhere!
He logged out, headed up front and ran into David at the elevator. They walked through the garage together. David was telling him tonight was his weekly network party.
“Well have fun Dave, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said as he walked to his car.
Several floors up, Jeff was ready to go home.
It had been a long day.
He had received new lab assignments, and learned that his lab was merging with another lab whose research was supposed to compliment Dr. Bender’s. He didn’t mind that much, but it would mean new headaches.
And now he had to work with another lab director.
Her name was Dr. Sam Niles, and she was a total pain in the ass.
Upon receiving the memo, she had stormed into his office and begun telling him where they were going to put some new equipment. He tried to remain diplomatic, and listened to what she had to say. Ultimately, they agreed to ‘share’ the responsibilities, and delegate the work in her lab ‘component’ to her, while his lab duties would remain his purview. The sticky part would come when they exchanged a few researchers.
She was explaining that the people and their inventoried equipment would have to remain as part of their lab of origin unless through the consent of the local PI.
‘Blah, blah, something, something,’ he thought as he drifted away during her speech. Clearly Sam was overly consumed with the minutia.
Jeff really didn’t care, he wondered if she had attended the meeting earlier.
When she finally came to a stopping point, he cut in, “Dr. Niles, the only thing that matters at this time, is that we work together to get this research going as quickly as possible. Delay for administrative details is not acceptable. If there are questions of accountability, I have no problem being responsible. You may quote me on that.”
While he had her attention, he continued, “I am holding a list of three people, two from your group, and one from mine, that are to exchange positions. Let us focus on accomplishing this immediately.”
With a more somber tone, she worked with him to get the change made right then. It took another couple of hours, but it gave Jeff a sense of doing something meaningful. After finishing the person exchange, he went back to his office again and checked his mail. His wife was wondering where he was. He sent her a quick message saying that he was coming home shortly.
He also saw the message from Ryan regarding the treatment errors.
He gathered his things, but sat back down.
There was actually one person he could talk to, about all of this, without letting anything out. It was Ryan who had stumbled on the whole mess in the first place. He sent a message to Ryan that said, “Yes, perhaps we should talk, I may have news as well.”
Dragging the floor, Jeff made his way to the garage, and drove home.
That night at the Dane house, Ryan was watching the news when a story caught his attention.
“Has our population stabilized? New numbers seem to indicate a drop in birth rates among Americans. It appears that fewer births were recorded last month than any month in the previous 10 years. Scientists are suggesting there may be a link to our longer life spans. Fertility specialists are exploring new techniques for those families interested in having more children. Look for more on this story in the weeks to come.”
Ryan asked Jean if she had heard anything about the story.
“No, not a word, but I have noticed that Alex’s classes seem smaller than they were when I was a kid.”
Later that night Ryan got out of bed, and sneaking into the kitchen got another piece of pizza out of the refrigerator.
Man that was good.
He washed his hands and got back in bed. Jean who looked very much asleep, suddenly said, “There better some left for my lunch tomorrow.”
He hugged her and went back to sleep.
CHAPTER 8
“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity.”
― John F. Kennedy
“When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.”
― Robert A. Heinlein
A rainy Tuesday followed Ryan to work and waited while he read his mail. Ryan had sent a message to Jeff yesterday asking for a meeting, and there was a reply from Jeff saying that he was interested in talking with him too.
Stretching, and stifling a yawn, he slowly rose to go get a fresh coffee. Planning afterwards to take a walk to Jeff’s office, he suddenly received a call from Theresa.
“Hey Ryan, Mr. James can see you now.”
“Okay,” but not really prepared at just that second he said, “Sure, thanks… I’m on my way.”
It was not a problem, he gathered his notes from yesterday, and organized his report in his head. Ryan walked upstairs to Ben’s office. When he got there, the door was closed, but he could hear voices inside. Rather than interrupt, he sat down outside and took the time to get his facts together. In a few minutes, the voices stopped and shortly after that the door opened.
A man left at a brisk pace.
Ryan had never seen him before, but judging from his suit it was someone pretty high up.
He peeked around the door, and knocked.
“Hi Ryan, come on in and have a seat.”
Ryan walked in and sat down in front of Ben’s desk. Ben looked distracted.
“Ben, if this is not a good time, I can always come back. My schedule works around yours.”
“No, it’s okay. I guess we’re all a little on edge these days.”
He took a drink from a water bottle on his desk.
“That was my boss, Peter Styles. He’s under a lot of pressure right now, and making rounds to ensure everyone is on the same page.”
“Ryan, I believe it was you who wanted to get together; so what’s up?”
Ryan couldn’t help but smile; he was finally making progress and looked forward to telling Ben about it.
“I made contact with the London IntelliHealth Facility, found the right person to talk to, and discretely learned that they are having the same problem we are,” he said.
“What? Really? Slow down and give me the details.”
Ryan, started over again.
He explained how he approached Jack Spree’s assistant.
“With barely any explanation, I was transferred to a woman in their Hospital, Mrs. Laura Stems.”
Ryan put his notes down, and leaned forward unconsciously.
“She told me what they’ve been experiencing on their side, and their cases appear to be identical to ours.”
“You were careful in how you presented it?”
“Yes.”
“So, the problem is not localized after all,” Ben said, “that’s quite a story.”
“I think that I may have a lead on another facility with the same experience as well.”
“Really? Where?” asked Ben.
“Australia. Sydney actually,” Ryan continued, “You see, Laura was not allowed to make contact with other facilities. Probably for all the same reasons you were leery as well. But she has indicated to me that she has had informal communications with a friend there implying they have the same problem. If you approve, I will try there next.”
“It sounds like you’re on a roll, go for it, but keep in mind all the same points, and take all the same precautions when you talk with them,” Ben said.
“Yes sir, will do.”
“Oh, and Ryan before you go, there’s something else. Please, shut that door for a minute.” Ryan shut the door and sat back down.
“Two things. First you need to update Dorothy on what you are doing. I would like for you to do so after you’ve had a chance to talk with the Sidney Facility. Confirm that they are having the same problem, then meet with her. Get with me after that.”
“Yes sir, I understand.”
“Second, there may be a change in how we are prioritizing our projects. Some issues have come up that are taking precedence over everything. I can’t predict how this may affect your project,” said Ben as he stood up. “I can’t go into any more detail right now, but information is moving down from the top, pretty fast. I expect that everything will be clear soon.”
