RESTORATION (a science fiction novel) (RESTORATION (the science fiction trilogy))

by Utley, Todd

  “Wow,” said Bobby, “I didn’t realize it was that powerful.”

  “Yes radio waves can permeate just about anything. In fact it’s good that you mentioned that Bobby, Toby is there any place at the compound that you can think of that is solid metal construction? Something that if you got inside of it you would be completely surrounded my metal, no windows, no doors, no openings at all?”

  “Yeah there are some old ovens on the lower floor and I think they’re all metal. They’re stripped out you know, the wiring is gone, and the heaters are gone, but the shell is still there. They do have some openings in them though like for air and gas to go in and big metal doors for putting things inside them.”

  “All right that’s good to know, if you get a chance to check them out a little closer look at the doors and see how tightly they close. Make a note of the holes in them and how large they are and where. Try to get an idea of which one is the tightest with the least openings in it and let me know how large it is.”

  “Okay, I can do that, we’re allowed to go in them, some people actually hang out in them and play cards and stuff, they’re big enough to park a dang bus inside. Some people go in them to sing because it echoes so well in there.”

  “That’s good, we might be able to save some of these people and have some living witnesses to testify against Cyrus and Glitch when this is all over with.”

  Dodge and Bobby dropped Toby off at the house around 4:00 p.m. as planned. Todd and Cheyenne were inside watching a documentary about the pandemic of 2027. When Toby went in he was surprised to see them getting along so well. Todd looked up at Toby when he came in.

  “Heads up,” said Toby as he tossed Todd the blue micro drive. He looked at the label on it.

  “All right! GTO stuff!” He Said.

  He jumped up and went to the next room to look at the GTO restoration files on his PC. Toby plopped down where Todd had been sitting, threw his leg over the arm of the big puffy chair and looked at Cheyenne with a smile.

  “Miss me?” He asked.

  Cheyenne was watching TV and didn’t turn to look at him.

  “You know I did, Todd isn’t much company ya know. I’ve had better conversations with rocks.”

  “Yeah, I know, but I think deep down inside he’s probably okay.” Cheyenne nodded in sarcastic agreement.

  “So, you know that conversation we had about the metal box thing and the whole head bomb thing?”

  “Yeah, what about it?” Replied Cheyenne.

  “Well, you know those big old ovens down on the main floor of the factory?”

  “Oh, my god! You read my mind, me and my friend Alice . . .” She stopped short, realizing she might be saying too much.

  “Alice? Is she the one that does the genetic stuff for Cyrus?” Asked Toby.

  “Yeah, that’s her.” Cheyenne said quietly.

  “I didn’t know you two were friends.” Cheyenne leaned forward to see if Todd was still engrossed in the GTO stuff on the PC in the other room.

  “Well I’m not really supposed to be, she said in a softer voice. I probably shouldn’t have said . . .”

  “It’s okay Cheyenne, don’t worry, I won’t say a word to anyone.”

  “You promise?”

  “Yes of course.”

  “All right. Sometimes Alice and I sneak at night and hang out in her room and watch old TV shows on her PC and sometimes we have ice cream or pop corn or something. The guards are really sloppy at night. I mean seriously sometimes they are gone for fifteen minutes to the commode or they fall asleep at their post.”

  “Really? Wow,” said Toby, “Go on.”

  “Well the other night we started talking about what you said, you know, getting inside the metal box, we thought the ovens down there in the old factory would be perfect. We were thinking of just locking ourselves in there forever.”

  “Cheyenne that’s brilliant!”

  “What? No, Toby of course not, we couldn’t live in there, we were just kidding, Cyrus would get us eventually, I mean, we wouldn’t have food or water.”

  “Yeah you’re right, but it was a fun thought” Toby played it off, but he believed it might be feasible, he would investigate this more another time.

  They went back to watching the documentary again for a while and Toby began telling Cheyenne what the pandemic was really like. He was a middle-aged man when it had happened so he actually experienced it firsthand. Cheyenne and Todd were just small children at that time and could barely remember anything about it.

  They watched the rest of it and talked about it until they got tired and turned in for the night. Todd was still going through the GTO pictures and video files when Toby went by to go up to bed. He lay awake in bed for a while working on his plan, if they could get most of the people to agree to it, they could go inside one of those ovens to survive.

  If planned carefully, they could go in right before John and Dodge and then the Black Ops team would burst into the compound and do what they do best. Toby and his friends could seal themselves inside the oven somehow. They would have to devise a way to lock it from the inside so that Cyrus’s men couldn’t get to them in the amount of time they had available. They would need air but couldn’t tolerate a hole where a signal could get through or where a grenade or poison gas could be tossed in. He would have to talk to John and Dodge about how to keep the radio signals out.

  Dodge said that holes were no good and the doors had to fit tightly. Just how tightly he didn’t really know, only John or Dodge could tell him that. Normally he wouldn’t care to go to the compound, but now he found himself anxious to return so that he could check out the ovens more closely.

  The next morning Todd woke Toby up early.

  “Hey man, get up and get ready, Glitch called, we gotta go to the compound. He wants to talk to you about what you got from Kerrington’s office, by the way, what did you get?”

  “Oh, it wasn’t much really, just some old files, I don’t think it will do Cyrus much good but maybe it will get me some points.”

  “Good,” said Todd, “I kind of like ole Dodge. I don’t really want to see him get hurt or nothing like that ya know?”

  “Yeah I know what you mean, they seem like a real nice family, I hope Cyrus doesn’t kill all of them over some trade secret that he wants.”

  “Yeah I know,” Todd said, as he left the room.

  Toby could see that Todd was starting to care about these people. He was beginning to feel better about approaching him, but it was still a little too soon. They ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast to save time and headed out to the van. Just the two of them were going this time, Cheyenne would be staying behind at the house.

  When they got in the van, Toby didn’t put the bag on right away, he waited until they got out on the road a little ways, and then slipped it on. Todd never said a word about it. As they were driving Toby decided to get up his nerve and say something to Todd.

  “Hey man, have you ever heard about the wrapping your head in tin foil thing.”

  “Huh?” Todd said, “what for?”

  “You know to block out radio signals.”

  “Oh yeah, I did hear about some guys doing that because they thought aliens or the government was trying to read their minds or something, that’s pretty damn funny, if you ask me.”

  “Well I heard that it might actually work if Cyrus was planning to kill a person, you know, they could wrap foil around their head and then the thing in your head wouldn’t go off.”

  “What? Man, no, that sounds like it wouldn’t work.”

  “Yeah that’s what I thought too,” said Toby.

  “Who told you that nonsense?”

  “Oh just me and some guys talking at the compound one day down by the ovens, I really shouldn’t say.”

  “Oh, yeah, I understand man, just day dreaming about a way out, we all do that.”

  Toby thought for a moment.

  “I don’t think that would work because you would have to cut your hea
d off and then wrap it in foil and then, well, that wouldn’t be so productive.” Todd busted out laughing.

  “Man, you’re a funny dude, you know that? You really make me laugh sometimes.

  “Well, I’m just trying to keep my sanity in a bad situation.”

  “Yeah man, we’re pretty screwed, really no way out of this short of old Cyrus dropping dead. That might not even work, I heard he’s got a dead man switch on the bomb in the head program.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah you know, he has a heart monitor on him, if his heart stops the program pops everyone in the list. See that way, if any of us got the bright idea to snuff him out then we all die with him. Toby was surprised.

  “Really?”

  “Well, it’s just a rumor but it sounds too smart to be some made up thing.”

  “Yeah, I agree that is pretty clever.”

  “You know I was thinking, the foil thing won’t work but what if you got your whole body inside a metal box of some kind that had no openings at all, just solid metal?” “Yeah,” Todd agreed, that might work. Hey, Dodge is a really smart guy, ask him. Don’t blow your cover, just find another way to ask. Tell him it’s for a science fair project or something.”

  “Hey that’s a good idea. I’ll ask him next time I’m at their house.”

  They arrived at the compound and pulled inside. Toby took the bag off his head and got out, and they both went up to Glitch’s office. They were called in after only a short wait.

  “Toby, good to see you, have you obtained something for us?” Asked Glitch. Toby pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Glitch.

  “The file is on the mem card.”

  “Yes, very nice. Did Mr. Kerrington or any of his family members say anything that might be of interest to us?”

  “No Sir.”

  “All right Toby, that will be all, you’re free to do whatever you like around the compound for the next two days and then you’ll be going back with Todd to the house. I’ll have Todd return your phone later today. Did you provide Bobby with your new phone number?”

  “Yes Sir I did.”

  “Good. Did he suggest that they might be having you over again sometime soon?”

  “Well, No Sir, they didn’t, I think it might seem more normal now for me to have him over to my place, at least once, you know, just kind of normal for it to happen that way Sir.”

  Toby thought he might have stepped over the line there but to his surprise Glitch seemed to be thinking about what he said.

  “Okay, very good Toby, if that is what is necessary, then so be it, however the ultimate goal is to get you back in their house as soon as possible. If that requires taking turns then we’ll play along. Todd, be sure you and Cheyenne are ready to play the role of parents in the home, make sure the house is fully furnished. The Kerrington’s are great assets and as you know, in our line of work, asset management is very important. You may stay here tonight if you like, but then return to the house sometime tomorrow, it’s best that you return sooner to get the house ready for your guest.”

  Todd and Toby left the office and went down to the kitchen area to get some early lunch, the cereal they had for breakfast didn’t stick with them too long. They made some sandwiches and sat down to eat with several other guys that were there on their break. Toby was about half way through when he saw Alice come in. Todd was telling two of his buddies about the GTO so Toby decided to join Alice who was sitting alone.

  “Hey Alice is this seat taken?”

  “Oh, no, go ahead, have a seat.”

  “Thanks, I’m Toby by the way, I’m not really a kid, well I guess I am, I don’t know it’s confusing.” Alice laughed.

  “That’s right you’re the guy Cheyenne told me about. So you’re like 70 going on 16 right?” Toby felt his face turning red, he felt like a teenager talking to a pretty girl that was older than him. His brain was 68 but it was soaking in the hormones of his teenage body. “What a mess!”

  “Yeah people shouldn’t mess around so much with Mother Nature huh?” Toby said, in an effort to get back in the conversation.

  “Yes I agree, more than ever now that I find myself here in this weird place.”

  “Yeah, it’s weird all right,” said Toby.

  “Hey I wanted to ask you about something. Cheyenne talked to me about the whole living in an oven thing.” Alice put her hand over her eyes, and laughed.

  “Oh my god, I can’t believe she told you that, now I feel like the kid here.” Toby leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice.

  “Actually I have an idea that came from that. See I got my hands on a PC for a few hours and I did some research. If you get inside an all metal box of some kind and it’s all sealed up with no windows or doors, then no radio signals can get in or out. Your head won’t go boom, pretty cool, huh?”

  “Well, it’s an interesting thought I guess,” said Alice.

  “Hey, I’m just saying, that if the situation did arise, and we thought some numb nuts might push a little button to ruin our day, the best place to be is inside one of those ovens. I think when I finish this sandwich and chips, I’ll be going down to take a closer look at them to see which one I plan on jumpin in when that moment comes, you in?”

  “Sure, I’d love to join you. I don’t have anywhere else I gotta be today, so it’s a date.”

  Chapter 21 Back at the farm it was time. Dodge’s clone was ready to load and had been for over two days but Jason was still waiting on the order to load him up. John had been working on and off for the last several weeks. He was trying to get the LifeCorders ready to do something no one had ever tried before.

  They had verified that each person’s implant chip had the ability to receive as well as transmit. Cyrus and his team had obviously been successful in loading something into an existing person for a short period of time. They weren’t sure exactly what it was but it was controlling the victim for sure. This was done in order to clean out their bank accounts. What had John so baffled, was the fact that no one had ever been able to load up a clone with anything other than that person’s own thoughts and memories, so how in the world could Cyrus and his team be controlling these people.

  John believed that he had finally figured it out. Cyrus was hijacking their target individual’s lifefile and DNA. Once they had these items, they could clone him and then load him up with as little or as much of his lifefile as they wanted. They could cut off the last couple years of a person’s life for example by only uploading a calculated percentage of the total file and dump the rest.

  Once they had him loaded up they would simply trick the clone into believing that they were government agents or some kind of cyber vigilantes. They would convince the clone that some bad people, or even his own family, had hijacked his life and that he, the clone, was in fact the original person. They would tell the clone that these criminals had taken over his family and his money, basically his whole life.

  They would convince him that he should get them back by taking back his money, leaving them high and dry by transferring all of his funds to an off shore account where he could go and live out his life without these losers. His original would be in the nut house or in prison for whatever they could pin on him, but the clone, still believing wholeheartedly that he was in fact the original, would be living it up in some foreign country like a king.

  John figured this was the only way, it had to be a lifefile created on a tangent life line that was being layered into the victim to control them by merging their thoughts and feelings while they slept. The victim would awaken one morning with a new awareness that seemed to come from out of the blue but was completely understood and in harmony with what they wanted or at least what they thought they wanted.

  There would be no tangible reason to resist the new feeling and the plan at hand. That would be like arguing with yourself on a point that you already agree with. The diabolical genius behind this crazy scam had to be Cyrus Slade.

  John supposed th
at this could be done without losing the soul. It would be similar to twins splitting at a cellular level in the womb. Once the genetically matched mind was awakened it was like another child had been born of the same zygote. Instead of the soul splitting into two in the womb it was just happening later in the life cycle and the soul would apparently honor the division. It seemed as if God had set the laws of the universe in motion and then removed his hand. For some reason it was happening, and he didn’t seem to intervene.

  This research was helping him to understand how Cyrus was controlling his victims, or at least is was his best guess based on the facts. John decided that he would order Jason to load his clone first. John didn’t have children and he didn’t have a wife. If it didn’t work and he lost his mind then it would not impact so many people. He couldn’t ask Dodge to take that risk, what if the clone didn’t work right for some reason, it would be a disaster for his family. John called Jason and placed the order for that night.

  The concept was simple, each day the two John’s, the original and the clone, would live two parallel lives with a completely separate set of events. At night when they slept the LifeCorders would receive their lifefiles. Those two files transferred into a central server Jason had running at the farm. After the lifefiles were saved they became merged by an interlace program that John developed. The newly merged file would be uploaded back into both the sleeping John’s before they awoke. If everything went as planned the real John would wake up and have a complete memory of everything he experienced plus he would also have the complete experience of the clone for that same day. Vice Versa when the clone awakened he would awaken as the complete John Calhoun, with all of his memories, skills, attributes, and he would understand where he was and his task at hand. They would be completely aware of each other and would have all the same opinions, knowledge, and goals. Each morning they would awaken having the others total experience of the prior day as memories in addition to their own. Two separate bodies with one like mind.

  Just before he lay down he called Dodge and let him know. Dodge was grateful for John trying it first but he was also very concerned for his friend, what if it didn’t work, he loved him like a brother and didn’t want to lose him. Dodge reassured him that clones had gone wrong before and when they did, they simply grew another clone and reloaded their file, they might lose a day or two of the memories, but that would be the worst case scenario.