by Dane, Max
She still had not let go of his shoulder; he turned and faced the conference room.
“I’m okay, I’m ready.”
“Very good, Mr. Dane. I have taken the liberty to provide coffee and water at your seat. Just look for your name tag… it’s on the tallest chair.”
She smiled at him and vanished amidst the entire hubbub.
Ryan turned to his friends, and smiled, “Well this is it. Let's kick some robot ass.”
They went inside single file and sat down. Lara was to his left, with Jeff on his right, and Jim next to Jeff.
The conference room was quite large, easily 200 feet on the long axis, and 2/3 as deep. There was a heady mix of scientists and administrators around the big table. Near the middle sat Ryan and his ‘Dane Commission’. Cohen sat opposite him, deep in conversation with another man Ryan didn’t know.
There were six medium sized televid screens around the table, and two large ones further back placed on opposite sides of the room. There were faces in all of the medium sized screens, but the two big ones were black with the IntelliHealth logo. Counting around the table it looked like there were about fifty people present.
After a few minutes, Dr. Cohen reached to the center of the table, and rang a large brass bell. It reminded Ryan of the liberty bell souvenir he got as a kid, but this one wasn’t cracked. As it rang, the crowd quieted down. After a moment, Dr. Cohen addressed the meeting.
“Good morning everyone,” he said, “Thank you for coming; I certainly appreciate you being here for a meeting regarding some troubling ideas. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Sid Frances and Dr. Steven Ranks whose expert opinions may shed light on the subject today. Not many of you know this, but Sid is a college friend of mine, and although I know that you do not like to make appearances any more Sid, I wanted to say thank you for joining us today.”
As he was speaking, the large screens came to life revealing Sid Frances on the left, and Steven Ranks on the right.
Dr. Sid Frances said, “My pleasure, Eric, thank you for inviting me.”
“We also have the Presidents and Facility Directors of some nineteen facilities recently contacted by Mr. Ryan Dane, of the IntelliHealth, Dane Commission. We are also fortunate to have with us the uppermost research scientists of the IntelliHealth System. Our charge today is to listen to the findings of the Dane Commission, and determine what action, if any, is warranted. I will now remind this body why I first established this investigative commission.”
“Recently, it came to my attention that this facility was experiencing a seemingly random anomaly wherein one of our research doctors would prescribe a treatment, only to learn that the receiving hospital technician had received something different, sometimes with dire results. The total number of such incidents amounted to less than 1 % of our total patient treatments. Regardless, our duty is to protect our patients and to that end, I established the Dane Commission whose charge it was to learn how this happened and put an end to it.”
“Yesterday I received the results of their investigation, and found them to be quite alarming. Before I give the floor to Mr. Ryan Dane, I would like to say that my own staff has confirmed the documentation provided for what you are about to hear. As such, I can provide copies in part or in whole, at your request.”
Cohen turned to Ryan, “Mr. Dane, please explain to this body, your results.”
Ryan felt flushed; he squared his papers before him, and looked around the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have documented that sixteen of nineteen facilities have been affected.”
He re-counted his story as he had with Cohen yesterday. As he spoke he looked around the room, and could sense the tension mounting among the participants. Several moments later, Ryan was explaining the proportional breakdown of research across the Facilities, which Jeff had found.
Suddenly, IntelliHealth founder, Dr. Sid Frances cut him off.
“Excuse me, Mr. Dane. I think we are all interested in getting to the bottom of this. Can you please skip to the end, and simply tell us where the fault lies, or perhaps what system needs revision?”
Caught off guard, Ryan wasn’t sure how to go forward. He paused, and tried to re-organize his notes.
“Well, we believe the SID program has engineered these events and is responsible for-”
Dr. Sid Frances cut him off again, as voices began rising around the table.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Dane did you say ‘the SID’ program’ did this? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? We built the program to act as an automated lab assistant. It doesn’t give orders, it takes them. The scientific arm of the entire IntelliHealth System relies on it.”
A rising cacophony of voices peaked from around the table.
The scientists were yelling back and forth, and some of them were yelling at him, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying over the noise.
‘Well,’ he thought, ‘this didn’t go well. Nope, not well at all.’
Sid Frances, cut through the noise and chaos.
“Please, please… my friends and colleagues. Let me ask Steve a question.”
Then, Dr. Frances addressed Steven Ranks on the big screen on the opposite side of the room. “Steve you were the principle author of the SID program. In your expert opinion, is it possible for SID to act independently?”
“No.” There was no hesitation at all.
Steven Ranks continued, “I can say with all confidence that the premise in Mr. Dane’s argument is flawed. SID simply cannot act independently. It takes direction, and returns the finished work.”
“Thank you Steve, I’m pleased this has been resolved,” said Dr. Frances, “Please feel free to contact us again when you have had time to revisit and update your case, Mr. Dane. Thank you gentlemen, this meeting is adjourned.”
The words echoed in Ryan’s head.
The noise in the room was great.
Everywhere people were standing up and complaining about their morning, their research, their day.
Jeff was saying something, he looked very emotional. Jim was angry and pointing, ‘talking with his finger’ Alex would say. Lara had disappeared from the seat next to him.
Men surrounded Dr. Cohen and were rapidly questioning him. He looked at Ryan briefly, but only a second. They made eye contact, and then Cohen looked back at the men around him.
Ryan put his things together.
The order didn’t matter. He stood amidst the chaos and then slowly walked to the door. Looking back only once, he saw Rosemary talking as fast as she could with several people around a televid.
Damage control.
He walked by himself back to the elevator, and returned to his office.
The quiet enveloped him like a warm, comfortable blanket.
Before he could enjoy it too much, he heard the smooth ‘ding’ of the elevator across the floor. It was followed by the voices of Jeff and Jim as they made their way back to Ryan’s office.
“Ryan, that was unbelievable, the stupid, blind fools,” said Jeff.
“I couldn’t believe that they wouldn’t even listen to the results,” said Jim. “My guy, Ranks made his decision without even talking about it. I never even had the chance to talk about the code I found.”
Ryan said, “Go home.”
“We’ll talk about it on Monday. Try to have a good weekend.”
Ryan sat at his desk.
Jeff and Jim were still protesting all the way to the elevator.
Lara knocked lightly at the door, “Ryan?”
“Hi Lara, thanks for coming. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“It’s okay, really. Believe me, I’ve seen worse. I’m going to leave, you can call me at home if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Lara. Have a good weekend.”
Shortly after, there was another ‘ding’ as the elevator arrived and whisked her away.
Still Ryan sat, staring at a blank monitor.
He tried to digest what had happen
ed, wondering how it might have gone if he had chosen different words. He knew there was no denying it, that meeting was his fault.
He should’ve handled it better, kept control.
While he sat and berated himself, there came another ‘ding’ from the elevator.
Soft footsteps led to his door.
Dr. Cohen stepped through.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned.”
“No sir, it did not.”
Cohen walked to a chair by the window, and sat down, looking out across the city.
“I lost control of the meeting, I should’ve done better,” said Ryan.
“Sometimes Ryan, there are circumstances for which no words will suffice. There was nothing that could’ve been said that would have held back the tide in there.”
”I could’ve done better.”
”Really? You think that you could have stopped, the Dr. Sid Frances? Really?”
Cohen said, “Ryan, he simply didn’t want to hear what you had to say. He doesn’t want to admit that he made a mistake. He doesn’t want to say that IntelliHealth has anything to do with the fertility crisis facing the whole world.”
“Eric, what happens next?”
“Now that, Ryan, is the right question.”
Rosemary joined them as Cohen was talking. She glanced at Ryan, walked right past him to the cabinet behind him, opened a door, and pulled out a bottle with a bow on top.
“I got this for you as a gift when you first moved in,” she said.
She deftly opened it and poured herself a drink.
They watched as she downed the whole thing.
“Well, gentlemen, I think that meeting rather sucked.”
Cohen laughed out loud.
“Rosemary, Ryan was just asking what our next move would be.”
“Ah, yes of course. Well, Dr. Cohen must approach Dr. Frances privately.”
“Exactly correct Rosemary. I believe I will call my old friend and invite him for a chess game tonight. We used to play back in college, a long time ago. I seem to recall beating him on more than one occasion.”
“Do you need his contact number?”
“Yes, Rosemary, please. That would be very helpful.”
“Ryan, go home and relax. However, be ready to go over your case again on Monday. I don’t know when we’re going to get our second chance, so stay organized and be ready.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Come Rosemary, lets get my good friend on the phone.”
Ryan put his things away and went home. Dr. Cohen had made him feel better about the meeting. Maybe he was right, and Frances simply didn’t want to talk about the problem.
That night Jean and Alex called from her parent’s house to say, ‘hi’. They talked for about thirty minutes before she had to leave because Alex was throwing a ball somewhere he shouldn’t be.
Ryan made himself dinner, and settled in for some movies on the vid.
Maybe Monday would be better.
CHAPTER 14
“Children know from a remarkably early age that things are being kept from them, that grown-ups participate in a world of mysteries.”
- Anthony Hecht
“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.”
- Mark Twain
When Monday arrived, Ryan went to work and followed Dr. Cohen’s directions. He got some coffee and put his files back together. He was ready, if or when Cohen might call for another presentation.
At his desk, he logged in and checked his mail. Already, there was a message from Cohen, ‘Ryan, please come see me as soon as you get this. Thanks, Eric.’
He didn’t understand exactly what that meant, but he collected his things and walked out front. Jim was just coming in.
“Ryan, where are you going?”
“Upstairs to see Cohen.”
“Do you want me to come with you? Maybe I could help.”
“Thanks Jim. I’ll tell you about it when I get back.”
He got in the elevator and went to Cohen’s office. Rosemary was already there when he arrived. Cohen waved him in, and shut the door.
“Good morning Dr. Cohen, Rosemary,” said Ryan.
“Good morning, Ryan. Please come join me at the table.”
The three of them sat down.
Cohen seemed to be having difficulty picking the right words.
“Ryan, I have already discussed this with Rosemary, and what I’m about to say, must be kept in the strictest possible confidence. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Please Ryan, call me ‘Eric’. I have a story to tell, and I find that I am dumbfounded in how to tell it.”
Rosemary said, “Start at the game.”
“Yes, of course.”
After a short pause, and a drink of water, Cohen began.
“You see Ryan, I played chess in college. It was just a hobby, but one that I picked up from my father and it has stayed with me, my whole life. When Sid Frances and I met, it was in our fraternity chess club, and we became friends quickly. Oh, perhaps not close friends exactly, but regular friends. Attending the same functions, meeting in many of the same circles that sort of thing. The thing that kept us together was chess. We played once a week, for nearly four years. Even afterwards we continued playing a game every few months, or so. Of course it slacked off and eventually ended as our careers overtook our free time.”
He shifted in his chair, and took another sip.
“Ryan, I am someone who can honestly say that I know the man, and I know how he thinks. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“At first it was difficult to get him to agree to join me last Saturday night. But I was in a mood after that meeting, and I was not going to be refused. I wanted the opportunity to revisit the meeting and appeal to Sid on a personal level. Eventually he stopped making excuses, and agreed to play, he on his side, and I in my office.”
“I let Sid start, as I always did. In all the times we played, he very nearly always began with the Ruy Lopen opening move. He called it the Spanish Game. I remember clearly because I would always respond with the more conservative Caro-Kann Defense. After that I always went for the inevitable exchanges, while Sid would always press for the position.”
“What I experienced that night, was something hard to put in words.”
Cohen walked to a small fridge in a cabinet, and pulled out another water.
He returned to the table.
“Ryan, the man I played chess with, was not Sid Frances.”
“As we played I saw that he used scripted openings and strategies, and played very repetitively. As the game progressed, he played well enough, but stumbled when I made an unorthodox move, and finally lost when I sacrificed my queen for a checkmate elsewhere.”
Cohen paused and looked at Ryan, holding eye contact.
“Ryan, do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“Not exactly…”
Cohen took another drink of water.
“I swear, I think I played a computer.”
“SID… the program?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Then how do you explain the video, and the conversation? You must have talked while you played.”
“Well yes actually, we did talk. He was polite, but I think he realized I saw through the masquerade. Our conversation was wooden. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to end the call. I made a poor play with my queen just to end the game quickly. I won, said goodnight, and hung up as fast as I could.”
They sat in silence for a minute of two, thinking on the story he told. Ryan spoke first.
“We have to find Dr. Sid Frances.”
“I agree, and it must be quickly. If your findings are true as we suspect, then SID the program, somehow pretended to be Sid Frances at that meeting.”
“Ryan, I think you should go to his home, and speak with him. Discover if he really attended our Saturday m
eeting. Maybe it will help understand whom it was that I played chess with. Meanwhile, I will build a coalition of friends within IntelliHealth and prepare to release the Dane Commission findings as publicly as possible.”
Ryan stood, “Yes sir, I will do it now.”
Ryan got up and returned to his office.
He was not at all clear how to proceed. As he sat there he received a message from Rosemary. It had three addresses listed. One of them was local, actually not far from here. The other two would require plane flights. One was in Bellingham, Washington, and the last in Newport, Rhode Island.”
He called Jim and Jeff into his office.
“I’ve visited with Dr. Cohen, and I need to explore some new possibilities. I don’t have a lot of time, so please listen. I need help from both of you. Jim, please find the video footage from our meeting and take a look at Frances and Ranks on the big screens. Look closely and let me know if you find anything.”
“Find anything? Like what exactly?”
“I don’t know Jim, please just try.”
“Jeff, I need you to come with me.”
“Do I need to bring anything?”
“Not now. Maybe later. What’s your schedule look like for the next couple of days?”
“Uh, well… I guess I’m free. I’ll need to talk with my wife. Why Ryan, are we going somewhere?”
“I honestly hope not.”
