Thirty Four Minutes DEAD

by Kaye, Steve Hammond

  The Burundians were spectrally thin in a fashion very close to the imagery surrounding famine and some of them looked as though they were about to fall where they stood. In effect the Africans looked as though they had their life-force sucked from them and one image in particular kept reoccurring fighting the others for dominance. This image featured a frozen close up of the face of one of the Burundian onlookers. This portrait involved a young male Burundian, about ten years of age, who smiled when the trains passed, but this smile illuminated bleeding gums and his eyes were caked in a residue designed by malnutrition. The lad looked as though death would be a blessing, because his smile was forged in lost faculties and the delirium associated with those who are victims to wasting illnesses. The German speaker Werner Schinkell had made what seemed to be a morally sound support speech but his mindsight had betrayed the German offer - right down to the bleeding gums of Burundian persecution.

  Whilst his colleagues screamed abuse at Delavoy, Schinkell just sat down shaking his head in disbelief. He knew that somehow, someone had read his mind!

  As the clamour of agitation grew, the various security units in attendance shifted uneasily in their assorted positions, and the Burundian delegation started to project lines of suspicious enquiry in the direction of the Germans. Some delegate nations remained quite calm amidst the escalating chaos, and as more nations became aware of their own laser display screen, some speakers started to take the lead with regard to explaining the source of the images behind their delegation. The Italians were one nation that remained calm despite being a country of vivacious extremes with regard to their political reputation. Their calmness was achieved because they hadn't got a hidden agenda like some of the other nations, and thus visual truth married verbal promises. The most composed delegation were the Chinese - one of the nations under suspicion!

  This nation sat in uniform silence as they viewed the consternation around them. Their own laser screen highlighted a consistency of HVs despite the fact that three speaking-delegate minds had been explored. The illuminated imagery showed Chinese politicians, shaking the hands of Western politicians and representatives of Laos were given a central visual prerogative. Crops in healthy abundance appeared on the screen, as did images surrounding education and medical developments. Each group of images featured the presence of China, the home nation and Western support, just as China had verbally promised. The MC project suspicions concerning this country were subsequently unfounded, as China had not hidden falsehoods within their words. China had nothing to hide - their words had been their bond!

  The nation that protested most vehemently was France. Her idea lay in tatters at her feet because of the lies embedded in her offer of support to Guyana. When the French delegate's visuals appeared on the respective laser screen, not even the most suspicious MC project members could have prepared themselves for what met their eyes. The French speaker had sold the raw material support France offered Guyana very effectively, imploring the South American nation to embrace the European nation by agreeing to a mentor partnership that would set a seal for a permanent alliance. The speaker's voice quavered slightly as they spoke of the economic hardships Guyana had got used to living with, and as the delegate drew near the close of their address, tears of apparent empathy ebbed down their cheeks. It had been a speech which had won over the assembled nations and the global media entourage who were present to record the events surrounding the conference. The French received the loudest applause because they initiated the idea underpinning the conference, and because their chosen speaker injected so much passion in their oral delivery. When the supporting HVs hit the screen, the German visuals looked almost tame in comparison.

  The initial images showed French helicopters spraying the tropical vegetation of Guyana as nationals surveyed the scene from the foreground. The South Americans cheered as the spray hit the vegetation, and a few French soldiers helped co-ordinate a burst of applause as the spray cascaded downwards. Smiling faces abounded and as more spray was discharged, the French led the Guyanans in cheering every time a fresh piece of vegetation was contacted.

  The next series of images well and truly shattered the notion of regenerative teamwork. These HVs illuminated gas mask wearing French troops sifting through Guyanan corpses that lay in a devastated tropical wilderness. The speaker's heightened visuals had betrayed the method by which France was going to initially test Guerre Ex 20 in Guyana. France was planning to spray the tropical vegetation of this country in the pretence that the action was linked to the rejuvenation of sections of damaged foliage. The French would tell the South Americans that the liquid sprayed from the helicopters was part of this rejuvenation process and this factor explained the 'envisaged' cheering crowds in the mindsight of the speaker. At this stage in the visual display, the conference audiences who were observing the French screen were confused. All they had seen so far was evidence of a good rapport between France and Guyana and then the corpses. The third series of HVs clarified the treacherous 'cause and effect' links between both sets of images. These visuals showed consignments of Guerre Ex 20 being transferred from military storage vehicles to the helicopters.

  Emblazoned on the side of the said vehicles was the name of the deadly cargo, and as the Guyanan delegation made the very obvious conclusion with regard to what they were witnessing, they turned as one to confront France for an explanation. The visual show wasn't over though, and whereas the first three batches of HVs had an element of gradual continuity to them, the remainder hit the screen in a discordant, racy fashion. These visuals showed mass graves of Guyanan dead, French execution squads shooting rioting Guyanans, and the French flag billowing over the desolate landscapes of the home country. The image of the tricolour kept reoccurring frequently between the various batches of HVs and this image rightly became synonymous with all the suffering being displayed. Images reminiscent of the Nazis dominated the screen, and the French flag claimed ownership of all of them. The Guyanan delegation broke away from their area, and with the support of their security personnel they attacked the French delegation. With eight of the ten nations having no ulterior motive with regard to their verbal promises, it became clear as far as the speakers were concerned that the images carried a visual truth. After all the speakers were looking at their own minds on display! Delegates from different nations snatched moments of partial conversation with each other, and this factor meant that accusing fingers were pointed at both Germany and France after the realisation of visual truth started to sink in. Some delegates preferred to carry on surveying the screens in silence. They were overcome by the fact that the 'thinking mind' could be converted to film.

  As fights started to break out in the conference hall, American security forces tried to keep a state of order. Delavoy shifted uneasily in his seat. He, unlike the enlightened delegates below him, was still largely ignorant with regard to the motivating factors concerning the chaos that was taking place, and as the violence started to escalate Delavoy was ushered away. The Burundian delegation were assisted by other African nations when they attacked the Germans, and some South American nations helped Guyana attack the French. As one German hit the floor dead, the scene was the antithesis of the peace motive which supposedly governed the conference. Bloodied knuckles and broken chairs became hallmarks of the occasion as the conference degenerated into the universal language of violence. The Chinese remained seated in calm dignity as bedlam reigned around them. They were collectively an ingredient of constancy, and as the American security forces gradually started to restore order, the Chinese took their leave in a uniform departure. They passed a wounded member of the French delegation, who kept repeating "witchcraft, witchcraft" in his native tongue.

  Leif Denison turned towards his MC project cohort. His words were uttered in frenzied excitement.

  "Guys - we've made it. Fuck the honesty of China, the other two climbed right into our fucking web. Our mindsight tracking has left the world wondering what the hell is going on. It's ti
me to 'break global' guys - we're gonna let the world know!

  ELEVEN

  The Washington peace conference shook the world as the MC project staff had envisaged. Most of the speaking nation delegates had realised the link that the conference had exposed, between a person's thoughts and their recorded mental imagery. The other nations hadn't made a connection that was quite as clear, but words of enlightenment had been exchanged during the event, and thus nearly all the nations left the conference with the knowledge that some kind of 'mind-reading' apparatus had been tested.

  The conference had definitely exposed a form of treachery from two powerful European first world nations, and this factor was the chief reason for the violence that forced the event into a very premature closure. Rumours had escalated in the global mass media with regard to what the hidden agenda behind the conference had involved, and truth became camouflaged by speculations of ignorance in the two days after the conference. The French and Germans verbally attacked America, claiming that their respective visuals were a fabricated construction. Both nations carried broadcasts featuring strong Anti-American sentiment on television, and the political leaders of these countries sought 'crisis - talk' opportunities with Delavoy. These were not forthcoming at this point in time though, because the American President was genuinely ignorant with regard to what had taken place, unlike the 'guilty' nations and their media bluff.

  Leif Denison enjoyed the forty-eight hours which elapsed after the conference, because in effect he held the American power reins with regard to the global exposure of MC project operations. The man could hold the world on tenterhooks with regard to this exposure if he so wished, because his elite position was beyond Senate or Presidential control. Denison effectively commanded his own 'micro-empire' and to say that the man enjoyed this position of control would be an understatement - he worshipped power!

  The presentational method planned for the 'global exposure' press conference was very meticulous in it's design, and Denison had decided to utilise Vain's team to a person at this event. All three would be named via code- based pseudonyms, but their physical appearance would be shielded from the media ranks, by corralled 'single view' screens. Both Denison and Mr Fray would initially address the global media entourage, and each man would flank the screens concealing Vain's front-line team. Both Denison and Fray would not be 'screened out' but would stand in full view, almost like sentinels protecting the identity of their 'dream team'.

  Denison would initially set the scene by acknowledging that a hidden agenda did underpin the Washington peace conference. He would then give a brief description on the primary vault research that was undertaken upon the 'dead' mind, and after his words, Fray would activate a laser screen to show visual recordings from the first two explorations performed by the front-line team. After a short duration, the images would leave the screen, and Denison would then explain the full criminal significance lying behind the visuals that had just been witnessed. He would then continue with his verbal address, by relating the exploration work undertaken upon Braddock and the 'living' - mindsight capture retrieved from him. This revelation would be followed by Leif's summation of the key events surrounding the Washington peace conference, and both he and Fray were going to let the world's media understand how it felt to be to be 'in the know' visually speaking, when the chaotic confusion reigned beneath them, amongst the delegates.

  Denison was going to involve some of the Chinese delegation in the press conference, as they had been impressed with how the 'Americans' had achieved 'thought capture', and they obviously hadn't been aware of the initial project suspicions that hung over their nation. The Chinese had maintained a uniform calm as violence reigned around them, and this factor motivated Denison to seek their presence when global media exposure of MC project prerogatives took place. The Chinese acknowledgement of the 'truth' behind their visuals would in turn condemn both France and Germany, and Denison envisaged that their calm demeanour would be a better way to 'feed' the global media entourage than a reliance on just two ‘all American’ males. The Chinese delegation had displayed a controlled dignity at the conference, and it was envisaged that their presence would be an effective sedative to conference proceedings. The MC project leader had planned out the Press conference with Fray's close support, and both men knew that the world's media would expect some 'visual' demonstration surrounding MC project work - in effect the media ranks would expect a 'performance'.

  Denison briefed Gregory Vain’s front-line team with regard to the format of the press conference, and after his verbal address Vain directed a question to his MC project leader.

  "What contingency plans have you prepared, Mr Denison, if the media ranks believe the 'fabrication falsehoods' spread by vengeful or ignorant nations?”

  "Well Gregory, we hope that our screenings will convince the majority of the media representatives in attendance, but we do realise that individuals who decry the legitimacy of our work will generate some initial disbelief amongst those who may wish to keep scientific development 'checked' in the confines they have gotten used to. We have subsequently decided to have two contingency strategies prepared, to counter this negativity. Our primary response will involve screening the exploration performed on 'Christopher'. You may think that this is a back-to-front way of illuminating our work to the world, but this effective 'failure' on our part will score for us here. It will prove our fallibility to a global audience and our research should command a greater appreciation in the process. Human nature is such that our honesty surrounding an area of failure will soften some of those who may have suspicions regarding our work".

  As Denison paused, Vain reflected on the merits of a strategy which used failure to stimulate belief. He eventually decided that this form of contingency plan did have a part to play in MC project exposure, although he could see that Ko-Chai was having trouble coming to terms with the value of this method. Vain knew that Mishimo's look of disapproval was generated by the word 'failure' being Denison's favoured adjective for the exploration involving Christopher's dead mind sight. Ko-Chai wasn't going to re-open an old wound here by any protestation though. He was keen for Denison to continue.

  "If there are still a significant number of nations who doubt the validity of what they see after the screening of the 'Christopher' exploration, we have a final power card to play - the Braddock option! We will offer the opportunity for any individual to have their mindsight read, and although this may seem a bit like a cheap conjuring trick, it will eradicate any dissenting voices for good. Individuals who wish to have their 'heightened visuals' screened will be told to think of very vivid, memorable images and before they are 'geared up' for the extension scan, they will write down brief details surrounding the imagery. These will be distributed to a small sample of media representatives as they survey the set up of the relevant mindsight equipment, or whilst the individual is tested at respective two-minute intervals. After the third testing, the imagery will be given the 'ole screen test and those holding written information surrounding the imagery will endorse the truth of what they have seen. If we have to resort to using the mind reading option we'll get 'em. After all, seeing is fucking believing as far as we're concerned!”

  Vain had never encountered an individual who could plan ahead to the level of precision that Leif Denison maintained. He would often foresee developments which others would only stumble upon once they were in the heat of a situation, and if his master gameplan was challenged in any way, Denison always seemed to be the master of alternative strategy.

  This flawless organisational ability was again in evidence at the start of the global press conference. The event was held in the same venue as the Washington peace conference but the assembled media ranks increased the attendance to a figure which was three times greater in totality. The world's media were ready to try and dissect the faction and myth which hung over 'Memory-Camera' operations. As Denison introduced himself, his face became an icon for the hoards of photojournalists in at
tendance - he would be their front-page tomorrow.

  Vain and his team watched the crowd from behind their one-view screens, and as Denison's words rose to counter the camera noise, the screens vibrated slightly due to the deep tones of the American's amplified voice. The speech favoured by Denison was similar to the one he had made after the Venison exploration, but this time the names of the 'Front line' team were changed to protect the trio’s real identities. Vain was encoded as 'The Mindfinder', Ko-Chai as 'Laser' and Tavini as ‘The Converter’. The MC project leader then turned his attention to the Venison exploration, working back to front with an initial concentration that involved television pictures showing Sandford-Everett being taken away to commence his imprisonment after his 'quick-fire' sentencing. These images had been flashed all around the world and many journalists had wondered how the accused had been had been metaphorically 'hung, drawn and quartered' in a matter of just a few days when he had such powerful Legal connections. Fray then activated the display screen, and gradual enlightenment started to dawn in the minds of some of the assembly. After the screening, Denison pointed out that DNA linkage was used as a secondary conclusive method in establishing guilt. People couldn't refute genetic evidence, and the project leader explained how this factor gave MC project operations a 'protective womb' to hide behind until global exposure took place. He stressed that he realised that images could be digitally morphed together to a remarkable level in the current technologically-accelerating zeitgeist, and thus he was particularly careful to ensure that MC project explorations were not understood to be an 'alternative' to genetic determination - he wanted the assembled media ranks to appreciate that work done on 'dead minds' would still be underpinned by DNA conclusions in terms of proof.