Calvin Blake NeuroCorp
Copyright 2014 Darrel Lorenz
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1: Who am I?
Chapter 2: Ian Michaels
Chapter 3: Ian’s Late
Chapter 4: The Cave
Chapter 5: Darkness Falls
Prologue
A Bioengineering lab, NEUROCORP owned by the brilliant and obsessed billionaire “Calvin Blake” is trying relentlessly to create “Mental Body transference” through a project he has labeled OMD “Optical Mind Download” This will be achieved through a highly classified type of Nano technology. This will enable people to transfer their memory from one person to another. Calvin Blake desires to become an elite SIS operative, he was born in a wheelchair and was never able to experience a life that he believes he was robbed of ,Calvin is getting older and of poor health and only through this OMD project can he stay young forever. He’s hired a group of elite mercenaries to hunt down and capture the top SIS agents but only those that fit Calvin’s specific profile, Handsome, Tall and physically fit, only the top graduates of their class. He also has used these same mercenaries to kidnap homeless teenagers in the area to test his OMD but to no avail, all of his test subjects seem to either end up deceased or become comatose. The local police are starting to wonder why so many homeless males are disappearing. At first no one cared or even looked, but now because he has run through all the homeless he takes anyone he can lure. He also has a problem within his circle of mercenaries’ one man “Hunter” the ex SIS agent that has gone rogue, the leader and alpha male of this crew. He is becoming power hungry and sick of Calvin’s obsessions and secretly wants him dead but Calvin Blake finds out through a snitch he has placed into Hunters crew. Hunter will try to kill him during the transfer process; this is the only time he knows Calvin will be at his weakest. John is not aware that Calvin knows so when the transfer is complete Calvin is able to escape but not without Hunter and his mercenaries on his heels. But Hunter also has to be very careful of his own surroundings because the SIS is also hunting him.
Chapter 1: Who am I?
I woke up from a jolt, like waking up while falling in a dream I pull my hands out from underneath the covers and they’re shaking, but I’m not cold. I immediately reach over to grab my wheelchair, what’s happening to me? I continue to sit up and notice that the sheets are soaking wet. The television is on; the news reporter is speaking German.
“Good morning Berlin, the current time is 8:00 am on the 8th of July 2035 and in current news”, he walks over to the window, “Berlin?” He glances over at the chair that’s near the window and his bag is open, his passport is lying on the table next to the chair, Ian Michaels, London.
His suit is hanging pristine on the hotels suit hook; his shoes are shined and placed perfectly under the suit. His cufflinks, money clip and HK416 are sitting on the nightstand along with a half empty bottle of Hessian and the room key, Hotel Adlon Kempinski.
The phone rings, “Hello?” The woman on the other side is speaking with a French accent, “Hello Mr. Michaels we are just confirming your dinner reservations, 8:00 pm at Lorenz Adlon, will you be dining alone?” Ian pauses for a second, “I’m sorry but can you tell me when I made this reservation?” “Yes Mr. Michaels you made it last night around 10:30 pm”. Ian pauses again trying to recall what he was doing, “Mr. Michaels?” “Oh yes yes I will be dining alone thank you”, Ian sets down the phone and continues to stare out the window at the Brandenburg Gate.
“What was I doing last night? I can’t remember a thing! Not good, not good” he says to himself. He calls down to room service to order breakfast and walks slowly into the bathroom to take a shower while continuing trying to recall what happened the night before and how he ended up at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin. He walks over to the sink but doesn’t even look at himself in the mirror he just splashes some cold water on his face and turns the water on in the shower. He gets in the shower and grabs the shampoo bottle opens it and smells it, “not bad!” He proceeds to pour some of the shampoo into his hand, rubs his hands together and proceeds to wash his hair. There’s kind of a fruity smell in the air from the shampoo. This fruity smell triggers Ian’s memory, but it’s very distant, he knows he’s been here before. He finishes showering and steps out of the shower staring at the ceiling while drying off, “How do I know this hotel?” He walks over to the mirror and uses the blow dryer to get the fog off of the mirror. He finally sees himself and jerks back quickly out of the view of the mirror feeling his face; he’s very startled and doesn’t even recognize himself.
He sits down on the chair in the bathroom grasping his hair with both hands and starts to rock back and forth, He hears a man’s voice speaking in a German accent; “Room Service!” Ian shouts out “just a minute” he throws on the hotel robe and walks across the suite to open the door, Ian doesn’t say a word he just points to the table.
The room service attendant places the food very meticulously on the table, turns towards Ian and in his German accent; “Will you require anything else Mr. Michaels?” Still in shock Ian pauses for a second then walks over to his wallet and takes out 50 Euros and hands it to the attendant. The attendant is quite shocked but before he can thank him Ian places his hand on the attendants shoulder and directs him out the door.
Ian walks back into the bathroom and stares into the mirror all the while touching his face and hair as if seeing himself for the first time. He takes off his robe and walks over to the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door and notices a tattoo on his upper right arm, a dagger with wings with the words "Qui audet adipiscitur” written on a flowing ribbon underneath the dagger. What does this mean "Qui audet adipiscitur” is it Latin? I’ve seen this symbol before, I think its special forces but from what military branch?
Ian walks over to the chair by the window and grabs his bag and sets it on the table and starts to go through it. “What’s this?” It looks like another wallet just a little heavier, he opens it and it’s a badge, “SIS!” He sits down on the chair where the bag used to be, still holding onto the badge as he gazes out the window, SIS? Ian grabs the bag and places it on his lap and continues to rifle through the bag throwing everything out on the floor trying to find more clues, he reaches further down into the bag and at the bottom of the bag is a laptop. Ian clears the table and sets down the laptop but doesn’t open it right away; he gets up and starts to pace the room almost afraid to find out what’s on it. After a few minutes of pacing and staring out the window Ian takes a deep breath and sits down in front of the laptop. Ian opens the laptop and presses the power button, it begins with the typical generic branding hologram and it’s always that same beautiful women; “Hello and thank you for purchasing the CS 4500”, Ian sits back in the chair knowing he can’t do anything until this power up hologram is over. The beautiful women in the hologram continues to speak, “The 4500 is the newest and fastest laptop on the market”, Ian’s growing very impatient and stands up to draw the drapes closed but as he does he hears a different voice interrupting the branding hologram, he sits down very quickly and notices a man in a wheel chair.
The hologram flickers on and off, the hologram starts to slowly spin in a clockwise direction and then suddenly stops. The man in the wheelchair starts to speak. “Hello Ian my name is Calvin Blake, I designed this program to give you a daily reminder of who we are”, there’s a short pause and Ian leans back in the chair rubbing his eyes just to make sure he’s not hallucinating. Who we are? The hologram flickers again but just for a second, the man in the wheelchair begins to speak again; “You’ve been dealing with some memory loss, woke up startled and reached for your wheelchair is this cor
rect Ian?” Ian answers the question out loud as if this man in the wheelchair is actually there in the room. Overwhelmed Ian reaches over and pauses the hologram, He gets up and starts to pace the room, “This can’t be real, this can’t be real!”
He walks over to the bar and grabs a glass, still overwhelmed by what he saw, he walks over to the nightstand and proceeds to pour three fingers of Hessian into the glass and chugs it. “Okay Okay I can handle this!” Ian sits back down, reaches over and presses the enter button. The hologram flickers a couple of times and then starts where it left off.
Calvin Blake begins to speak; “Ian this message was created to give you a daily reminder of who we are, there has been some adverse side effects that are occurring that we were not expecting. Now listen very carefully and follow my instructions, There is a specially designed set of Nano lenses and a flash drive hidden inside of the laptop, look under the right side of the laptop, you will see a battery cover, open the cover and take out the battery. Run your fingers down the side and you will feel a small ridge, press it down”. The hologram pauses for a few seconds, Ian follows the instructions, finds the ridge and presses it; the side of the battery begins to slide open, Ian notices the faint flickering of a blue light, he picks up one of the lenses to get a better look and notices that the light is coming from tiny numbers scrolling across the bottom of the lenses. The hologram powers back up, Calvin begins to speak; “Now that you have the lenses put them into your eyes”, the hologram turns off. Ian gets up and walks back over to the nightstand and proceeds to pour in another three fingers of Hessian and chugs it. He walks into the bathroom to wash his hands while talking to himself in the mirror; “Are you ready for this?”
Ian jumps up and down a couple of times with anticipation then walks back into the room. Ian sits down and very gently picks up the lenses and puts them into his eyes. Ian waits only 30 seconds then slams his fist on the table, “Nothing’s happening!” All of a sudden he hears Calvin’s voice; Ian is startled and looks around the room. Calvin begins to speak; “the lenses will only work in your eyes, they are specifically designed to your DNA and will begin to reboot after a series of specially timed eye movements. Now please close your eyes and do not open them until you hear my voice”. Ian waits, there’s only a short pause, Calvin’s begins to speak again; “now open your eyes and do not blink until you hear my voice”, there’s another pause, just a little longer then the first. Calvin begins to speak; “now there will be another short pause and when it’s over your journey will begin”. Ian’s heart is pounding through his shirt, he doesn’t know what to expect and just as he takes another breath a screen appears, Ian’s taken back by what he sees, it’s almost like looking at a 3D IMAX screen. Calvin begins to speak again; “The screen in front of you works very similar to a touch screen but instead of using your hands you will be using your eyes”.
“What you see on the screen is chapters of my life from my point of view, downloaded directly from my memory which I’ve named OMD, Optical Memory Download”. Ian’s looking at the screen and sees a series of chapters or pictures that are individually labeled and placed in a single row and at the top of the screen is the word Neurocorp. Calvin continues to speak; “In order to scroll left, move your eyes left, to scroll right, move your eyes right. As you can see my whole life is documented in these chapters from the earliest memories of my childhood to the last chapter of my life. In order to view these chapters blink one time on the chapter and it will begin to play then simply blink again to pause, the program will automatically remember where you left off. It may feel like you’re watching these chapters for hours but in reality it will only be a few minutes”. There’s a moment of silence than Ian hears the voice of a woman; “this program will power down in 10 seconds, the countdown begins now, ten, nine, eight”, the screen flashes then goes blank except for a message that begins to blink on the middle of the screen; “FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE FLASH DRIVE IF YOU WANT TO LIVE” Still shaken up from what he just saw Ian takes a deep breath, takes out the flash drive then places the lenses back into the battery compartment.
He then places the flash drive into the computer and while it’s uploading he grabs the Hessian and starts to drink directly from the bottle. He sits down in front of the laptop and begins to view what’s on the screen. It seems to be a numbered map of locations throughout Europe with the number one landing on the Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin.
Ian lets out a sigh, leans back in the chair and says out loud; “Is this for real?” He sits back up and takes another look at the screen, scrolling down he finds a list of more specific information regarding the numbered locations.
The very first on the list is Berlin, Ian clicks it and it opens a file, he begins to read; when you arrive in Berlin you will go to the Schoenefeld airport and enter the terminal building. Take the escalator to the lower level there you will see a row of red lockers. You will find a locker key sewn into the right side of your duffel bag between the fabrics. Open the locker take out the leather bag and leave your current bag in the locker. Everything that you will need until you get to your next location will be in the leather bag. You will then proceed to The Hotel Adlon Kempinski. When you arrive at the hotel take the elevator up to the suites level, your room key is in the side pouch of the bag. Ian takes another chug from the bottle stands up and begins to walk around the room talking to himself; “I did all of these things and I still can’t remember anything! I still don’t even know who I am!! This Calvin guy didn’t help me out at all! I know I’m supposed to be running but who’s chasing me!!” Ian walks back over to the laptop sits down and continues to read.
Ian starts to scroll down to the bottom of the page and notices a link that’s blinking that’s labeled “Hunter”, Ian clicks on the link; the screen begins to flash similar to a strobe light. Ian’s mesmerized and can’t take his eyes off of the screen.
The flashing begins to slow down until it stops, Ian closes his eyes and shakes his head but when he opens his eyes he’s Calvin Blake; “I’m Back!” Calvin takes the flash drive out of the laptop and places it back into the battery compartment along with the lenses. Snaps the battery back in place and continues to slide the cover back on.
Calvin stands up and notices all of the contents that were in the bag are thrown all over the floor. Calvin’s is concerned about the gap of time that he’s not in control of Ian’s body. Calvin walks over to the night stand next to the bed, grabs his phone and clicks the clock app and notices that’s it’s been exactly twelve hours since he was in control of Ian’s body. The last thing he remembers is making reservations at Lorenz Adlon. Calvin is aware of this problem and isn’t too concerned at the moment; the gap of time has never gone over twelve hours. Calvin loses himself every night when he goes to sleep and has set up these very specific memory stimulants to bring himself back. Calvin designed the lenses to power down and created the last message to scare Ian from viewing any chapters that are programmed on the Nano lenses.
Calvin understood that in order to bring himself back that he would have to allow Ian to watch the prerecorded portion of the Nano lenses to keep him confused long enough to feel fear when he read the last message “FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE FLASH DRIVE IF YOU WANT TO LIVE”. Calvin still isn’t aware of what would happen if Ian chose to start watching the chapters. Calvin designed the Nano lenses not only for the OMD process but also to bring himself back in the event that Calvin begins to lose his own memory.
Calvin sets down the phone and notices the food still on the table; he smiles and starts to walk over to the table, sits down and takes the lid off of the plate.
“Ahh, I knew there was a reason I liked you Ian!” Calvin’s looking down at the plate he’s just uncovered, an omelet with black truffles and an assortment of cheese and fruit. He pours himself a glass of Dom Perignon, grabs the napkin and places it on his lap and begins to eat.
Calvin Blake NeuroCorp Book 1 Page 1
