Collective Mind

by Klyukin, Vasily

  The Professor and Bikie looked at him with their mouths open. In their eyes, he saw amazement and perplexity. And admiration too.

  “Are you sure you’re not putting us on?” Bikie asked

  “No, no spoof. All serious. How do you like the idea?” Isaac’s voice sounded full of pep.

  “Isaac, you’re nuts. It could be very dangerous!” Bikie sounded shocked. “How do you know, maybe the reservoir is screened off somehow? What if the hack doesn’t work? What if during the process there’s an explosion?”

  “No, the hack will work, and there definitely won’t be any explosion,” Link said calmly. “I guarantee that. It’s an excellent plan. And the reservoir isn’t screened, that’s for sure. Why would they screen it, who from? And I’m not just talking theory. The experiment with Pascal worked, didn’t it?”

  “Then it’s decided, and we start preparing,” Isaac summed up. “Link, it’s up to you to modify the device and install the timer. We’ll register Bikie as my chaperone, I’ll fill out the contract.”

  “Well, okay, let’s keep the plan as it is. I agree. Only let’s swap,” suddenly said Bikie.

  “Swap? With you? What for?”

  “Well, think about it,” Bikie explained. “If you’re ready to do it, why shouldn’t I be? There’s a risk, but I consider it acceptable. I want to download instead of you.”

  “But why do you want to, what’s the point?”

  “Well, you see… Let’s put it that way… You know I’m poor. Even if we do finally complete our mission and they don’t clap us in jail... Pascal has a fortune. You have your anti-rain device, you’ll sell it soon and get rich. But I still have nothing, the same as before, you know? Maybe we’ll save the world – and then? I don’t even have an apartment to live in. I want to earn something at the end of the day. I want money. And I see how to get it. I’ll sell my OE. We’ll cash the earnings quickly, the moment I sign the donor contract. And I’ll be rich! I don’t think UNICOMA will go broke instantly because we hack in. My OE will come back and I’ll still have the money. Like Pascal.”

  “Well, Bikie, you’re certainly no fool,” the Professor put in. “I’m for it.”

  Isaac thought about it. What Bikie said made sense. After all, in order to put the plan into action, it didn’t matter who went to download, him or Bikie.

  “And, even if something goes wrong… I know you, Isaac, you won’t stop and you’ll never abandon me. Sooner or later you’ll hack the system. So maybe I’ll spend a year as a Veggie, so what? I’ll never earn that kind of money in my life. I’ll give you a couple of my contacts, reliable guys from among hackers, they’ll help out if need be. I’ll write into the contract that I want to live near Paris and appoint you as my administrator. We already know how to snatch a single Veggie’s OE from there. And if something goes wrong, it will be a lot harder without you. You’re our main man, after all.”

  “And well, you see, to tell you the truth it’s not even money. I want to know for sure what I am capable of. It’s the first time in my life I’ve gone cross- current. Before I used to crtiticize, judge, ignore, but I still remained part of the system. Even when you came, I went with the flow, but the flow, this time, was yours. What I want to know is that I also can call the shots.

  It is easy to stay aside because no one will arrest you, you won’t have problems with the police or at work. And you can hope that someone will do it all. But what if this someone just doesn’t exist? It’s you or no one. No nice guy is coming over to solve your problems. You or no one.

  You say that tomorrow I’ll become a revolutioner, liberator, Julian Assange. Tomorrow. I’ll fix my computer, make some money, fix my catarrh… Always tomorrow. Assange is my hero. But I haven’t been able to be like him, I guess, just not enough balls, that’s it.

  He paid the full price, he was never wrong, never had any excuses for tomorrow. He just did his stuff, no matter what, wasn’t scared to go against the power of the US and their secret services. And I? I guess I would have never made up my mind, but with your help, I got a chance. I even like the idea of some risk, it makes it all real, not like conquering summits on helicopters. That’s why this victory for me will be not just ours, but mine. My Olympic gold medal.

  What a chance! Lady Luck smiled at me!

  Remembering my previous achievements… All I did was I got into a fight twice. That’s all! I have never gone to a demonstration, never spat at a drug dealer’s face, haven’t put a slob into his place, never kicked a sleeping cop. I was the one who created the world where I lived. Doing nothing, ignoring, letting it go and got what I deserved.

  I never told you that I had gone to work in the bar as a bruiser in order to purify my conscience from the weight of my own silence. As if there was a real risk and drive…

  But this was a lie, an excuse. I’ve never touched anyone there. Hey, that’s Monte Carlo, what fights are you talking about?

  To download my OE will be my identification. My life check-point. I want to do that. Even if this risk is not that big, I don’t want to share it. It’s mine.”

  Bike was speaking disconnectedly, brokenly, repeating things again, which, however, made him sound more sincere. Everyone was listening in silence, not interrupting.

  “Well, that’s it. Wanted to tell you this because I respect you a lot. And you too, Professor”- he finished.

  “All right, Bikie,” Isaac agreed. “Have it your way.”

  However, Isaac felt alarmed and sick at heart. If he was prepared to risk himself, than all right. But when it came to Bikie, he saw all sorts of dangers looming up. He still felt bad for Pascal and now it was hard for him to risk his other friend. The doubts whether it was rational to destroy the system returned.

  “We’ll prepare it thoroughly, Bikie, and I swear I’ll never abandon you among the Veggies!” Isaac pulled himself together.

  The two friends hugged and Link felt slightly envious watching this firm friendship. He was famous and respected, but in more than sixty years of life, he’d never had a friend like this, as solid as a rock, to cover his back.

  So now they had the simplest and least criminal version of a hack. Before this their thoughts had circled round different versions of a multi-stage invasion. Isaac had even theoretically considered an armed assault and taking hostages. But getting into download OE was a breeze.

  They summed up the plan as Link went off to his room to assemble and test the timer. He had to buy an extra couple of small parts.

  Isaac consulted Wolanski on how to cash a check quickly, explaining that Bikie was going to sell his OE. It turned out there was no problem: it took ten minutes at the most and could be done from an ordinary phone. The banking system had updated its technologies following the appearance of UNICOMA.

  Talking to Peter on the phone this time was much easier - they could get by without hints and code words. The downloading was planned for three days later, so they could prepare for everything without rushing. In the end, Isaac hinted to Peter that this time it would all be over. One minute thirty two seconds. Isaac noticed that Peter didn’t hang up cowardly again, as before.

  Then Isaac dialed the number of the hospital. At last there was joyful news for him: Vicky had been brought out of her coma!

  He was not able to talk to her, she would not regain her speech fully for a couple of days, but they could already text each other. In his happiness, Isaac immediately called Pascal, who promised to deliver flowers and a phone to Vicky within an hour.

  And even though it was not her voice but only a text, Isaac finally got the first words from her in six months. “Isaac, my dear brother, thank you. Come back soon, I miss you terribly!”

  Isaac had tears in his eyes. It was good that Vicky could not see him. He blubbered like a little child as he sent her text after text with trembling hands, after waiting so long for her to be able to answer. She was alive and she was talking to him! Herself! His beloved little Vicky.

  ***

  Bikie went
out first thing in the morning and was missing for almost the whole day. He said he was going to stroll around the city, drop into Central Park, have a beer and maybe pick someone up to round things off.

  He felt like he was going in for surgery: he realized that they’d rescued Pascal, so it was all reversible, and even if everything didn’t go right, there was still hope for him to return to normal in the future. But getting downloaded was still repulsive. What if his memory was totally erased?

  Early in the evening, Bikie pulled himself together, called Isaac, and they went to the museum, where they were shown to the familiar minus one level.

  “Hello, I’ve come to fill out a contract,” Bikie began briskly.

  “Good evening”, the manager said with a smile. “Have you already filled out the questionnaire?”

  “I’ve even done the test already,” Bikie said and took out the sheet of paper that was printed for him after the measurement in the museum. “Make a note please, that I will be accompanied by my friend, Isaac Leroy. After the downloading we’ll go back to our hotel, and then fly to Paris.”

  “Are you French?” the girl asked.

  “Uh-huh. Can we go back independently?”

  “Yes, of course, there is a provision for that.”

  “And can I make an addition to the contract?”

  The girl picked up the certificate with Bikie’s test results and raised her eyebrows in surprise. 49020 HITs, almost five stars. They didn’t see that level of OE very often.

  “What kind of addition?” she asked.

  “One little condition. They have to give me the check before the downloading. I’ve never held that kind of money!”

  “That’s no problem!” The girl smiled. Another weirdo here. Downloaders usually preferred a wire transfer to their bank account. But weirdness was pretty common among people with high levels of OE. You could never guess what eccentric ideas they would come up with.

  All the necessary points, including payment of the fee by check were entered in the contract. Bikie signed it and one copy of the agreement went into his breast pocket.

  Bikie went back to the hotel in an elated mood and invited everyone to his room.

  “I can’t allow the world to have one biker less, even for one hour,” he began solemnly. “Who knows how all this will end? So I want to initiate Isaac as a biker!”

  He took a scuffed, black biker jacket out of a plastic bag, along with a bandana with the words “Harley Davidson” and a bottle of Aniversario Venezuelan rum.

  “A biker can’t live without a motorbike, so there’s a chopper as well. This kind for now!”

  Grinning slyly, he took a silver key ring with a motorbike on it out of his pocket. Isaac laughed, but meekly went through with the ceremony.

  “Isaac, you are worthy of being a biker. You might never have thought about it before, but you’re a right-on guy and the spirit in you is a biker’s anyway, believe me. You’ve stirred up such a mess of trouble for the sake of freedom, right now I can’t even believe it’s real! No one would believe it if they were told.”

  Bikie poured rum for everyone

  “To Isaac and to bikers’ traditions!”

  “You are still the good old Bikie I know, even now! I am not sure about the traditions, but I’ll make them up and stick to them,” Isaac said and drained his glass.

  Bikie gave Isaac a stern look.

  “I meant, I’d learn them.”

  The rum was totally mind-blowing.

  “The best I’ve ever had,” Isaac remarked.

  “Venezuelan,” Bikie explained. “Discovered using the method of multiple trial and error. My favorite.”

  Isaac looked pretty good in the biker jacket.

  “Never thought it would suit me so well… To bikers!” Isaac proposed, and everyone drank again.

  Link was lighting up a big cigar on the balcony.

  “Know how we really figured out where you were, Professor?”

  “How?”

  “Your cigars. First we discovered you hadn’t stopped smoking. Then we found a shop where you bought them. You blew your cover with the cards you used to pay to get to Sardinia. Tracking down the only tobacco shop on the island led us to your house.”

  “Hmm. Clever. I was told smoking would kill me. It hasn’t killed me yet, but it has given me away. Maybe I really should give up?” said the Professor, coughing.

  “The important thing is not to give up drinking,” Bikie put in, pouring the remaining rum into the glasses.

  When the bottle was finished, Isaac went to his room. Three missed calls and a message from Wolanski were blinking on his French phone. Isaac dialed Peter’s number.

  “I got my inheritance!” Peter told him delightedly. “So I’m ready to hire you back again!”

  “Congratulations! We’ll have to see about the job. The day after tomorrow Bikie’s going to download his OE. Today was his last boozing session. We tried once already, but it didn’t work out.”

  “You already tried? But you promised to tell me when you went for it!”

  “Sorry, Peter, I forgot.”

  “That’s important! Okay then. Good luck. Everything will be fine.”

  “I hope so.”

  “I think we’ll see each other soon.”

  “God willing.”

  Wolanski said goodbye and Isaac decided to have a chat with Michelle - alcohol had put him in a romantic mood.

  The next day they relaxed and didn’t do anything related to the project. Downloading with alcohol in the blood was against the Agency’s rules.

  Isaac spent all morning texting Michelle and Vicky.

  Link brought the hacking device. He wanted to brief both of the guys, just to be on the safe side. During the previous attempt he was planning to do everything himself, this time Isaac and Bikie would have to operate it alone.

  Link’s hacking device was built into the housing of an old smartphone, which was rather bulky compared with the modern models. Pascal’s compact amplifier easily fitted in there as well. The alarm function was used as a timer.

  The hack did not beam back the OE itself, but it switched off the server’s magnetic field temporarily. The creative energy sensed the magnetic field of its original owner and skipped back to that person, which only took about ten seconds.

  Not knowing if it is possible to switch on the hack in open view, Link had covered all the keys with tape, except for the “on and off” key. Isaac slipped the smartphone in his pant pocket, felt for the key and pressed it several times. It was simple and worked easily. Then Bikie practiced for a while. They did not know who is going to activate the timer, so both of them practiced how to do it.

  Now they were fully prepared. However, Isaac still felt uneasy about Bikie becoming a Veggie, despite his friend’s determination and Link’s confidence.

  It was something he couldn’t help.

  Chapter seven

  In the morning, Bikie was awakened by a knock on his door.

  “Who is it?”

  “Link.”

  Bikie opened the door and saw the Professor standing there, holding out a Dictaphone.

  “Here, take this with you. It might come in handy,” said Link. “Hide it deep in your pocket.”

  “A Dictaphone? Wow, a really cool number! Like the one in the movie about Commissioner Jackson,” Bikie tried to switch it on.

  “No, no stop! Don’t you press anything on it for now, it’s not quite what you think, just your little insurance policy. I’ll explain later. Better keep it in your jacket, or you’ll lose it.”

  “OK,” said Bikie, shoving the dictaphone down deep in his pocket.

  “Keep in mind that the hack and your insurance policy both have to be on the minus two level!”

  “Don’t worry, I got it …”

  “The floor and ceiling insertions screen off their signals. So bear in mind that if you can’t carry them in, we cancel the operation! Or you’ll be stuck as a Veggie!”

  “Eve
rything’s understood, Professor.”

  He was in no mood for discussing what kind of insurance policy this was. He felt too nervous about the downloading; it was his life now at stake.

  The Professor insisted once again that the hack and the safety-net device had to be on the minus two level and had to be activated there.

  Link left and Bikie went to the bathroom, took a shower, trimmed his stubble and called Isaac’s number.

  “Hey! It’s time, get ready and let’s get going. I don’t want to drag it out, or it gets too frightening.”

  Bikie and Isaac walked into the museum through the separate entrance, on the left was a special one, meant for those who came to download. One didn’t have to buy a ticket there, just to present a picture ID.

  Isaac put the phone aside and walked through the metal frame. Bikie followed. The metal detector started beeping. The security man looked at a monitor.

  “Something in your jacket pocket.”

  “Ah, yes, sorry, the Dictaphone,” said Bikie, recollecting.

  Isaac gave Bikie a quizzical look.

  “The Professor told me to bring it,” Bikie replied in a low voice. “An insurance policy.”

  Taking back their phones, the hack that looked like a smartphone and the false Dictaphone, the guys went down a broad stairway and found themselves on the minus one level, at reception.

  Bikie was assigned a staff member as an escort and told to go to the lift. When Isaac set off after him, he was stopped. Bikie immediately stopped too, pulled out his contract and stuck it in the security man’s face.

  “He’s with me. My chaperone. It’s all in the contract”. Bikie was all ready to blow.

  The security man checked and let Isaac through. Once they were in the lift, Bikie slapped his pockets twice, checking that the hack and the dictaphone were both in place.

  The doors opened at the much-anticipated level minus two. How simple! No metal doors or grill work, no sub-machine gunners, no bulletproof vests. Of course, who would ever get the idea of attacking an orange energy server when there were at least three copies in other parts of the world?