Counting Up To Infinity

by Allen Fleishman

  O’Connor thought for a moment, “Yes, I would love to represent him. I’d also represent you, if you need it.”

  Charlie said, “I hope it will never come to that.”

  ***

  Martin was lead into a small office. It had the polygraph and the interviewer. He was told that the former Justice of the Supreme Court was sitting outside the mirrored window. Martin looked up and nervously smiled at the mirror.

  After the test was explained to him and the leads were placed around his body, Martin asked the tester, “You don’t know the answers to any of these questions?”

  The polygraph expert said, “No sir. I have to ask one more time, do you agree to take the following polygraph test freely and you have waived your rights under the fifth amendment of the constitution?”

  Martin nodded, then loudly said, “Yes”

  The tester asked, “Your name is Michael Rogers, Samuel Knox, Martin Klein, Steven Weiss, Wendell Boyd.” After marking on the polygraph paper, he paused then resumed, “Your age is 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 53, 58, 70.” He paused, “You live at 50 Mill Street, 210 Brunswick Place, 14 Chester Street, 127 Talbot Trace, 180 Crestwood Road, 501 Newton Street. The murdered men whose heads were sent to Allegany Coal were: Robert McDonald, Bruce Cummings, Herman Cogswell, Erik Morehead, Stewie Roberts, Norman Bruce. The package which held the murdered men’s heads which were sent to Allegany Coal included their wallet, car keys, a 32 page manifesto, a handwritten letter, a threatening note, a suicide note. The boxes the heads came in were wrapped in the New York Times front page, bubble wrap, brown meat market paper, an art poster, blue birthday paper. The office the Vice President used was Moody’s Warehouse, Hartford Insurance Company, Agrew Computer Repair, Barkley Shipping, U-Pack It. The walls outside the building are grey concrete, red brick, blue metal, green wood. On the way inside, David was met by a number of men in the limo. The number of men was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. …”

  The questions continued for fifteen more minutes.

  ***

  Sandra Day O’Connor asked Dunne as he entered the office, “Well, how many did he fail?”

  Grim-faced Dunne said, “None, he reacted appropriately to the control questions but did not react at all to any of the other questions. I keep my word, your man is free to go.”

  Ms. O’Connor stood, “You realize you should be talking to the Vice-President and not harassing C H Enterprises. You saw the tape.”

  “I passed that info to my boss. Otherwise, I’m not free to comment.”

  “And what of his son, David?”

  “We still have questions for the boy. He must have known about the taping.”

  Ms. O’Connor icily said, “I see. You know that this is completely illegal.”

  Dunne walked out without reply.

  ***

  David had five microscopic relays installed from his cell to the outside. Each relay was the size of a common housefly and the grey-blue color of the walls. They were placed alongside the corridor lamps and transmitted an invisible laser communication link or a beam to his internal antenna.

  David was led into the interrogation room by a stony faced very large guard. The guard did not say anything beyond ‘Follow me.’ Based on a book he had read, David nicknamed the guard, ‘The Rock which Speaks’. As he left he turned on personality 12B, the idiot-savant. He also turned up the sensitivity of his Superego program and increased the amount of punishment that went to three ‘pain’ centers in his brain, should he be tempted to break any rule.

  Along the way David noticed men fogging the halls. Some were flicking a laser pointer along the corridor. Someone had seen the movie, ‘The Invisible Man’.

  David sat on a backless chair facing two other chairs. He sat there for forty seven minutes. While waiting, David worked through 356 e-mails, replying to 63.7% of them; he worked on the health policy of his companies; authorized the hiring of 2,241 new employees and spoke to his wife, his father, Corey, and had a long discussion with Joshua. David was the master at distributed processing/multi-tasking. When he felt more creative, he would work on optimizing the gravity-reflection equations. David was looking lost in space when Dunne and Ruillio arrived. They sat opposite David and didn't say anything. David continued his correspondence, without glancing at them. He knew they would get bored before he did. David had allowed his face to go slack and he breathed through his open mouth. David authorized new electricity contracts in China after a few modifications, pegging the electricity rate to the Chinese yen. Three additional minutes passed.

  Ruillio said, “David.”

  David continued looking off in space, he said, “One minute.” David pulled up pi. He reviewed the various algorithms used to calculate its digits. David thought, ‘I’ll be damned if I let them control me.’

  Ruillio shouted, “David Klein”

  David ignored him, he continued to ignore them for a minute and seven seconds, then he faced them in the middle of another shout. He quietly said, “Yes?”

  Ruillio was already red-faced and had trouble lowing his voice. “What were you doing?”

  “Pi”

  Ruillio looked puzzled, “Pie, like in dessert?”

  David slowly said, “Pi, the number.”

  Dunne said, “Come off the act, we know you're not retarded.”

  David smiled, “Good. I'm not, I'm real smart.”

  Ruillio said, “We know you got into college.”

  David smile broadened, “And I have a high school diploma, too.” David shook his head up and down.

  Dunne said, “We heard you knew more than the professors.”

  David very enthusiastically shook his head affirmatively. “I know a lot more them. I never forget.”

  Ruillio whispered something to Dunne. Dunne then said, “You have a photographic memory?”

  “Yes, wanna hear pi?”, without waiting for a reply David said, “3.1415926535897932384626433 83279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273...”

  Ruillio shouted, “Enough already. How many numbers do you know?”

  “They put into a book two million. Do you want to hear more? I memorized the first ten thousand four hundred twenty seven numbers. I even can start at ten thousand and go backwards, wanna hear?”

  Dunne quickly said “No. So how did you get into college?”

  “I read books. I do real good on tests.”

  Ruillio cynically smiled, “I bet.”

  Dunne asked, “So why did you leave college?”

  David frowned, “I knew more than my History teacher. He said that since I knew so much I didn't need to be in his class. I also knew more than my other teachers. I didn’t like it there, the other kids laughed at me. The college president said it would be best if I left the school. I was disruptive.”

  Dunne quietly said to Ruillio, “Follow up on that.” Louder, “How did you get the video camera to record the meeting with the Vice President?”

  David looked shocked, “I didn't have a camera. Your guard checked me for a cell phone too. I don’t carry one either.” He scrunched up his forehead looked up for a second, “The guard, he can vouch for me. He checked me with the machine and with his hands. I didn't have any camera.”

  Ruillio said, “Come off of it. How did you get the recording of the Vice President Chamberlain?”

  David said, “I didn't do it.”

  Dunne quickly said, “But you do know who did it? Don't you?”

  David angrily said, “I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't do it.”

  Dunne said, “So who did?”

  David said, “I didn't see anyone. The guard can vouch for that. The Vice President can vouch for that. The man in the other room can vouch for that. No one els
e was there.” David was in pain from the Superego program.

  Dunne slyly said, “Did Charlie Haines take the pictures? He can make things invisible.”

  David smiled then slowly said, “I didn't see him.”

  Ruillio shouted, “Enough of this. Do you know if Charlie Haines did it?”

  David continued to smile, “I didn't see him.”

  Ruillio continued to shout, “This is bullshit. This is now a Federal crime. You can go to Federal Penitentiary for life for threatening the life of the President. Do you know what happens to a young man like yourself in prison?”

  “Arrest the guards. I didn't have any camera. Maybe he did it. I was searched. I got an alibi. I'm innocent.”

  “Does Charlie Haines have a way to be invisible?”

  David allowed his red face to lighten a bit, “Oh yes. I saw his invisible dog a couple of times.”

  “How does he do it?”

  “Ask him.”

  Dunne stood, “Jez-us H. Christ. Guard, bring him back. Maybe he'll remember tomorrow.”

  David stood and followed the guard out and back to his cell. David used the same pace, he used to walk to the interrogation room, from personality style 26B. It was the style common to the secondary actors playing prisoners. David sang to himself, ‘Swing low, sweeeet char-i-ot, / comin’ fo’ to car-ry me hooome.’ His face looked miserable, because they always looked miserable. Meanwhile he was working on a modification of the Cooper-Singe algorithm for his gravity equations. The modification was only an eight dimension non-linear equation. David did some simulations as he walked. He was also singing to himself. ‘I look’d ov’r Jordan and what did I see / Comin’ fo’ to car-ry me hooome’.

  ***

  The next day, the ‘Stone who Speaks’ came for him. Dunne and Ruillio asked David the same exact questions as the first day. David said, “As I said yesterday” and repeated himself verbatim. He was asked if he saw how Charlie make his dog invisible, David just said he didn't see how it was done.

  ***

  By the fourth interrogation David said he wouldn't repeat himself. He closed his eyes, shut off his hearing, and started to recite pi, he got to the two-thousandth place before they gave up. David didn't know about it until the ‘Stone that Speaks’ shook him. As he was walking back, 26B-style, he sang, ‘If you ge’ there before I dooo / Comin’ fo’ to car-ry me hooome / Tell all my friends I’m a-comin’ too / Comin’ fo’ to car-ry me hooome’. Although he was scowling, David was watching ‘Debbie Does Dallas’ with his wife and himself as the lead actors.

  ***

  David was now reclining on his bed, ignoring the government camera in the ceiling.

  Phyllis: Any idea how long they’re going to keep you?

  David: No idea. They’re using me to get to Dad.

  Phyllis: It’s been three weeks and I miss you. This is getting on my nerves. I want you here.

  David saw an image of his wife stamping her feet.

  David: I miss you too. Just run a feelie of me.

  David got a stupid slap from Phyllis.

  Phyllis: It’s not the same, and you know it, I miss you.

  David: It’s not the same? Sure it is.

  Phyllis: David! You know your dad still wants to pull out all the stops to free you.

  David: Yeah, I know. At every turn they’ll quote ‘domestic terrorism’ and their hand-picked judges will follow their lead. And as soon as we make it public, my face will be on every TV screen and in every newspaper. Just thinking about it gives me a headache in three part harmony. If this goes on for another week, we’ll get Justice O’Connor to help us.

  David: Oh, I hear my jailers. I miss my microphones and my other baubles. I’ll speak to you after today’s interrogation.

  The ‘Stone who Speaks’ appeared at the door. David silently pivoted off the bed and slowly walked in front of him to the interview room. David turned on personality 26B as he walked. No words needed to be exchanged.

  ***

  David turned on personality 12B when he sat down. Dunne and Ruillio were already present on one side of a table. David sat opposite them in his chair.

  Without a prelude, Ruillio started, “How was the Vice President bugged?”

  David sighed, “To repeat myself, I did not do it.”

  “But you know who did?”

  David angrily said, “All I can say is that I did not have any camera with me. Your people inspected me thoroughly before I entered. The only metal they detected was in my glasses.”

  Ruillio switched topics, “On September 11th 2008, you said you were present for a discussion between your father and Don Gardner. I want …”

  David loudly said, “NO.”

  Dunne smiled, “You have to answer the question David. If you don’t it’s a breach of the law.”

  The pain in David’s head was becoming unbearable, “NO. NO. NO.”

  Dunne slowly said, “David, David there’s no reason for you to get upset. We only want to understand all this and we all go home. If you cooperate we will take you out of solitary and perhaps allow you to go home.”

  David said, “I want to see my lawyer.”

  Ruillio hastily said, “Only if you cooperate. Listen! There was a major breech in the security of the Executive Branch of the government. It is imperative we solve this. Don’t you understand that? Are you a traitor to the United States of America? Are you a terrorist? Don’t you care about your country?”

  David’s face turned red and he stood. His face was scrunched up in pure agony from the Superego program. He said, “I want to see my lawyer.”

  Ruillio stood, “David, we both know you’re a pawn in this. You’re a nobody here. The administration is willing to let you rot in jail. You want. You want. What about your country’s security? What if everyone just took? You went to college, get police protection, fire protection, eat safe foods, have access to the hospital, there’s a stable government. What are your obligations? You’re a traitor. You only take. Now you have an obligation. You need to shed some line into this investigation. Talk.”

  David had trouble saying words, “I … I”. His three pain centers were throbbing with a violence that brought David’s head down.

  “Talk David. You need to do your share.”

  “No.” Three separate pain locations throbbed in agony. It had cut out his vision into a red blur.

  Dunne stood also, “David, Mr. Ruillio is correct. You owe it to your country. You have to cooperate.”

  “You wouldn’t even be here if ‘Sea Lav’ hadn’t saved your butt.”

  “We need you to cooperate. What is this bullshit about a seeing dog?”

  David paused, stood, then turned back to face the door. He heard someone take a step toward him. David bent down shifting his weight, then pivoted on his left leg as he brought his right leg up to solidly connect to Dunne’s midsection. His right hand followed, using all of his twisting momentum to hit Dunne’s nose. David heard a crunch. He continued for the door. ‘Perhaps they’ll be distracted’, he thought as he was led out.

  ***

  The news of the chief investigator’s injury landed on Judge Hardesty’s desk. The President had asked him two years ago to take this position as Head of Homeland Security, until a Supreme Court judgeship opened up. Now this! The Judge, as he was called by his people, knew that if he got involved in this political can of worms his career would be in the crapper. On the other hand, he could take early retirement. He had been a judge for 35 years. Over these years, he could almost smell guilt and innocence. Actually, he mused, there was nothing olfactory about it. It was the interruptions they filed, the distracting arguments they made, the points they didn’t contest, and their general demeanor in court. All clear to those who knew how to read the signs. Perhaps being the Head of Homeland Security, might be a good final position. He had a strong legacy. He sighed. He opened the folder.
Dunne had a broken nose. The man would recover nicely. Hardesty read the transcript of this last interview. Why? Why would the son of the world’s richest man throw a punch at Dunne? Ruillio was playing the bad cop, not Dunne. Unless it wasn’t the words that Ruillio said which made this kid swing, but David’s. He knew that videotaping was never the same as being there, but it offered the next best thing. Hardesty pulled up the videotape of that interview. He saw David being led into the interview room. He paused and checked the timestamp. Yes, it was yesterday. The kid had been in solitary for 23 days. He checked the first and tenth day’s tape. The kid was walking in the same exact manner. Time to give some of his analysts training in how to see.

  Hardesty picked up the phone and called his secretary. “Margaret, have a set of analysts look at 10 people who were in solitary and interviewed for at least three weeks, make sure that David Klein is included. We could just use the first, middle, and an end tape. Have the tapes blinded to the date and have the analysts rate, using the Krieger Scale, how the subjects enter the interview chamber. Then unblind them. Tell me if they notice anything unusual.”

  He picked up the phone and called the Head of the FBI. “John, this is Warren, I assume you noticed Dunne’s accident?”

  The Head of the FBI said, “I just picked it up.”

  “Did you notice the reference to ‘See Lab’? Could you ask someone to do a search on that?”

  “Sea Lav.” John Carroll paused before answering. “Judge, I think we should discuss this privately. Can we meet in two hours? This is important, very important.”

  ***

  Two hours later the Head of the FBI, John Carroll, led a train of boxes into Hardesty’s office. The Judge stood up.

  “What’s the meaning of this? Moving in already?” The Judge smiled weakly.

  “No, but I know you will want to scan some of these.” John Carroll dismissed the detail pushing the carts. After they left, he sat down. “I don’t know how to begin, so I want you to think of our biggest breakthroughs.”

  “Like the Adams’ theft of plutonium?”

  Carroll looked uneasily, “OK, we can start with that one.” John Carroll checked a sheet of paper, stood and tapped one box in the middle of one of the carts. He returned to his seat. “Our first clue to that case was an e-mail from ‘Sea Lav’. That’s S-E-A L-A-V, although it does sound similar to See Lab. He or she laid out all the primary links to Adams. We followed them up, cross-checked them all and arrested Adams. But the initial work was done by this vigilante – Sea Lav. We are sure that Sea Lav is a good guy, but he’s obviously using some illegal methods to gain his sources. We’re not sure how. The Adams case is not the only one. There are 73 others that I’m aware of.”