by Utley, Todd
“Good evening, I’m Brian Wilcox with news 21 reporting live on the scene. We’re in front of the Presidential Hotel here in downtown Indianapolis where Top Engineer, Dodge Kerrington, of ESS, and his family, were put up last night at no charge. The stayed in the spacious penthouse at the top of this luxury hotel. It seems that ESS, the company that has become famous for the MedicStar government contracts, is allegedly under some kind of cyber attack at the hands of their competitors. We’re waiting here for the Kerrington family to emerge, we’re hoping to get a comment on this development.”
“Let’s go now to a clip from Angela who was at the Kerrington residence very early this morning taking a statement there from Mr. John Calhoun.”
“Mr. Calhoun, the acclaimed security expert and former owner and CEO of RockTight systems, is now apparently working for Mr. Kerrington as a consultant. Interestingly enough he’s also a former ESS employee. Let’s take a look.”
“Good evening, I’m Angela Berry with News 21 reporting live from the North side at the residence of Dodge Kerrington a top engineer at ESS. ESS is well known for its groundbreaking work in the development of the MedicStar health care system. We’re here with Mr. John Calhoun security expert and good friend of Mr. Kerrington. Hello John.”
“Good morning Angela.”
“What can you tell us about all this equipment here in the streets of this normally quiet neighborhood? It’s the middle of the night, there are bright lights set up, we hear power tools running and there are a lot of workers inside and outside of this house, what’s going on?”
“Well Angela, as you already know, Mr. Kerrington is a senior project engineer at ESS, and just two days ago the police were called out here to this residence on a fairly routine security system breach. They thought that the attempted break in was just a normal burglary attempt, and that may still be the case. However the Kerringtons felt that the security system was outdated so shortly after the incident they called the High Voltage Security Company out here to do a security system evaluation. As many of you may know from their commercials their basic system quote includes a free complete security sweep of the house. Much to everyone’s surprise, they found multiple high tech listening devices, in the Kerrington’s home.
This and further discovery led us to believe that the attempted break in may have had to do with those devices and fortunately it led to their discovery. As a logical result ESS has heightened their security awareness. This attack on the Kerrington family’s privacy, is most likely a result of Mr. Kerrington’s employment in a high tech engineering firm working on government systems. No doubt competitors would love to know what ESS is working on.”
“So what has been done here to prevent this invasion of privacy from happening again?”
“Well Angela, I can’t go into specifics for obvious reasons, but let’s just say, this place is like Fort Knox now and we’re putting the people attempting to steal these trade secrets on notice. The message is simple, ESS and their employees will all get system upgrades, and their homes will be checked out very well, any evidence collected at the various locations will likely culminate in charges once those behind this are identified by investigators. ESS will simply not tolerate their employees being harassed and their privacy invaded.”
“Hold on Mr. Calhoun, I just received a note here. Just one more question, is it true that you bought out your last employer for the sole purpose of firing your former boss?”
“Oh, that’s rich, come on now Angela who would do that? You can’t believe everything you read in those skyphone tabloids! I did purchase RockTight systems because I saw tremendous potential in the company as an investment. Once purchased I simply replaced the incompetent management with individuals that had goals in alignment with the success of the company. With the right leadership in place the company became even more valuable and as a result I received a buyout offer for RockTight that I simply could not refuse. I need to go now Angela, we have a lot of work to do here and I must get back to it, thank you.”
“Thank you Mr. Calhoun. Well there you have it folks, ESS is taking extreme measures to protect their secrets and their employees, back to you in the studio Alise.”
The Kerrington’s were all munching on snacks and laughing at the whole thing, John was so entertaining and the look on his face when asked about firing old fish lips just about caused Dodge to choke to death on a mouth full of poPCorn.
Once again, John had woven a tapestry of words that only a master could comprise, especially when facing such an unexpected question from the media. Across town, John was watching the same broadcast and was also getting some enjoyment out of the whole thing. The video feed returned back to the anchor.
“All right, thank you Brian. We also have another recorded clip from the Presidential where Brian was earlier, let’s take a look.”
“Good morning, Brian Wilcox reporting from the Presidential where we’re still waiting for the Kerrington family to emerge in hopes of getting a statement from Mr. Kerrington on the security situation. Oh, here they come now let’s see what they have to say.”
“Mr. Kerrington, what can you tell us about the break in at your house?”
“No comment, let’s just get to the limo!”
“Mr. Kerrington do you believe the break in has any connection to the listening devices found in your home?”
“No comment, please just let us through here folks, we would like to get to our car.”
“Mr. Kerrington, does this invasion of your home have anything to do with your work at ESS?” “No comment! Excuse us, coming through, get out of the way people, we have no comment.”
“Well that’s it, as you can see they didn’t have much to say, and they have made their way to the car that was waiting to whisk them away, back to you in the studio Alise.”
Seeing themselves on TV was enlightening, the whole family was laughing.
“Oh my god, my hair looked awful! I’m so embarrassed, and I’m going to get teased at school for sure!” Said Sarah.
“Are you kidding me! We’re famous, look we’re on TV getting into a Limo.” Added Bobby.
“I agree with Sarah,” said Linsey, “I just looked like crap on camera, no wonder actors get work done!”
“Work done? Shoot, they all just get restored nowadays, who needs work! The plastic surgeons are all going bankrupt,” said Dodge.
They had a great time watching themselves on TV in their five minutes of fame.
Across town in the compound, Cyrus Slade watched the same news broadcast as the rest of them but his outlook on the situation was entirely different. He was still unaware that Dodge Kerrington and John Calhoun were on to him and his hackers. The way he saw it he had lost access to the home of his prime person of interest but he still remained undetected, a real victory in his book.
The loss of audio access was a minor setback. Soon he would have Kerrington and Calhoun under his control, soon he would have the answers he needed regarding the vulnerabilities of the system that only the creators could know. Once he had that, he could destroy them both and no one could stop him.
The following week was a great one for John, Dodge, and Linsey. Amanda was still out of town on false pretenses for her own protection. John had his cars checked out for bugs daily as did the Kerrington’s. They had their privacy back and it was all under the guise of increased security due to Dodges Job. Under this umbrella they could do regular sweeps leaving Cyrus to believe that it was all to do with ESS and nothing to do with him.
Slade now had to rely solely on the watchers with no means of ease dropping except for a few directional microphones from time to time that caught bits and pieces of conversations. John and Dodge were aware of these capabilities so they didn’t talk about these things in open areas where there was risk of being overheard.
Back at the farm Jason Bluffton was working diligently. He was only sleeping two hours at a time in order to keep constant monitoring of the clones that were now rapidly growing in
the suspension tanks. He had made his own pods by ordering plastic tanks designed for farm sprayers and then cutting them in half lengthwise with a laboratory laser. It worked perfectly and didn’t raise any suspicion when being delivered. After all, there was still a tractor outside and it still looked very much like a farm.
He was exhausted but he continued to work. His only communication with the outside world, was occasional messages exchanged with John to update him on the progress, and a small television that he found in storage there at the farm. He had seeded the tiny clone blanks with the DNA samples from the Kerrington’s. He had four tanks going now, and was adding a fifth tank to start Bobby’s clone. Dodges’ was first and was about two days ahead of John’s, then Linsey, Sarah, and Bobby in that order. Dodges’ clone was beginning to accelerate more rapidly now as it was day 15 of its progression, the body was now developed to that of a two year old child.
Acceleration could now be increased more rapidly up to the pubescent stage then it would have to be slowed down as science had not yet devised a method to regulate the massive hormone level swings in the body during puberty. As a result this stage required a reduction in acceleration by 50% for eight days, then after that the speed could be increased again.
He had worked tirelessly for days before the DNA samples arrived so that he could have everything ready. The process required nearly sterile conditions to work properly.
First he had to set up an area in the building where he could control temperature, humidity, and light fairly well. The place was a real mess, everything was dusty and there were cob webs hanging down everywhere. They had a spider infestation in one area that had to be exterminated. He had to clean, vacuum, and wipe down the whole place with disinfectant solution. It took him five days to get this area in decent enough shape to make it all work. He had asked for an assistant but they had not found one yet.
They had to very careful about whom they brought in. John had been so busy with everything going on at the Kerrington’s that his screening process for Jason’s assistant had been set back. Now that the clones were all started and seemingly doing fine he had caught up on his sleep in short segments. Even though he still had to do it in two hour intervals he was getting used to that schedule and felt pretty good.
He had a little bit of spare time today so he decided to do some digging. He contacted John and got some hacked clearances from him to log into government sites related to healthcare and cloning so that he could find some things out. He wanted to know the exact ingredients in the pink goop. The stuff that everybody hated so much but had to have so that they could get strong and healthy fast and go home very quickly after Restoration.
He was having some difficulty in getting results until he used the pentagon pass that John gave him. Once inside their system he started looking for reports on nutrition. He came across a study that someone had conducted in relation to the health of CIA field agents. A few doctors working under orders of secrecy for the government back in the late 1990’s had come up with a dietary supplement that had astounding results in the rehabilitation of agents that were injured and laid up for long periods of time.
It was common for people to develop muscle atrophy which made them nearly crippled from lying in bed for weeks on end while recuperating. The government wanted their valuable assets to be available again in a shorter time frame so they developed this supplement.
As it turns out, this was the same pink goop now being served to the newly restored. It helped them get stronger faster so they could go home sooner. This saved the government health care system billions of dollars per year by shortening their hospital stay after the procedure was complete.
If consumed on a regular basis it created muscle mass and strength unmatchable by any amount of a workout regiment or the outdated steroid supplements. Simply put, it made ordinary men and women four times stronger than usual, three times faster than normal and did it with only mild side effects like occasional skin rash and mild insomnia.
He decided to attempt making a batch of it up, but it would require ordering some supplements and herbs from online sellers of naturalist products, and some quite serious chemicals. He sent a grocery list of sorts to John for ordering with a note that said: please deliver by courier. John knew this meant a trip to the bank.
It was a hot summer day and Bobby was having a great time. He and Matt knew that summer was slipping away, it was late July now and summer vacation was nearly spent. It was time to start maximizing the fun days before the return to school. Soon it would be back to the old books.
He had gone to the courts to get in on some pickup games and met a new friend, a boy that was new to the area and looking to fit in. He and Matt decided that the boy seemed down because the other boys were either picking at him or ignoring him. They decided saying hello would be the right thing to do.
His name was Toby Lansing and he really was a very nice guy. He and his parents had just moved there from Michigan. Toby’s Father found work there in Indy so the family moved there for a better opportunity. They learned Toby was their age and would be attending school with them in the fall.
They shot around some ball with him for a few minutes and he was pretty good, and he was also interested in the same things they were. They invited him to come over after practice and hang out with them. Matt messaged his Mother and she said it would be all right to bring his new friend home for a little while after practice. Toby just needed to ask his parents if it was okay.
They all sat there and talked about sports and the girls they liked while they waited for Toby’s parents to answer. A moment later they got the green light and they were off in a flash to the retro-cade, the new teen hangout in town that had brought back the old style pin ball machines and retro video games. They had the old whack-a-mole, pac-man, space invaders, and even skeeball, all the games that were popular when Grandpa Kerrington was a kid.
Alan had talked Dodge and Linsey into going to check it out one Saturday afternoon. Alan had a blast, it was like a flash from the past for him but Dodge and Linsey just didn’t get it, their generation just didn’t warm up to it at all. It had been revived by an entrepreneur recently that lived to be 99 years old when he decided to be restored. When he got into his new body, he felt renewed and full of energy like a youth again. It inspired him to start retro-cade and so he obtained rights to the old games and began having them made again.
The mechanical bells, levers and lights of the pinball machines were a new real world experience for youth that had grown up in a totally computerized era, and the retro video games while still electronic were all two dimensional and so basic that it became intoxicating for the modern youth. The new retro-cades were now all over the United States in malls everywhere. The boys settled in there for an evening of fun and junk food from the concession counter.
Back at the Kerrington house Dodge and Linsey were going through tutorials on the PC connected to the new security system. It was feature rich, and so well thought out, that it was certainly the best system available. The house was wired with 36 cameras placed carefully to not invade privacy but still provide excellent coverage of all windows and doors. No one could get in or out of the house without being detected. Any intruder would have set off several sensors just trying to get in. Once inside they would be quarantined quickly by high voltage laser curtains that would shoot across each door frame. Going through these curtains would render even the toughest of men unconscious, badly burned, and all of their electronics completely toasted. It was so advanced that it could easily detect children or pets allowing only them to pass unharmed.
Authorities would be alerted and the perp would be easily taken into custody when they arrived. It was high tech enough to have facial recognition, retina scan and full hand scan touch-less entry as a backup. The house would unlock the door for you before you even got all the way to the door. It had already scanned your retina and face by the time you got to it and it also welcomed you by name.
They
could talk to it and give it commands to turn things on and off like lights, music, TVs just about anything. They wanted to learn this system well and get full control of it. In the event of an attack it might be the only thing that would save their lives.
Meanwhile John Calhoun was spiraling ever deeper into the rabbit hole that was Cyrus Slade’s complete medical history. He had finally found the detailed files of everything that had been done to this poor man, that is, if you could call him a man. The cloning gone wrong had left several parts of his body grossly deformed. He had been through countless surgeries to fix various problems. Several of his organs had been replaced with bionic organs because cloning him only yielded another copy with all the same infirmities. The real horror of it all, was that he had been in excruciating pain with every operation. His pain receptors were not normal but this was not discovered until his sixth year after he was cloned. He had been put under for numerous operations and they thought he was feeling nothing but his mind was actually fully awake and aware of every cut, every pull and every stitch going in when they sewed him back up.
He could be re-cloned, but it would simply render the same mess that they had started with. The process had not been perfected, as he and Ron were the first clones. Ron was the second one, and they corrected many things that they had learned from Cyrus’s process that went wrong. They were keeping Cyrus alive in order to learn from their mistakes, he was like a human guinea pig. This fueled his hatred for Ron and his parents even more.
He knew that eventually they would destroy him when they were done with him. He didn’t let it happen, he escaped, he outsmarted them by drugging their drinks and overpowering the guards. After his disappearance the government shut the project down and dispersed the staff. The Doctor and his wife tried to give Ron as normal of a life as possible and were instrumental in getting him a job at ESS.
