The Society Builders

by Anthony Puyo

  The next one shows a man in a white doctor’s coat, one of Matson’s engineers. He carries a syringe with the red liquid I know. He shoots some out, which triggers my own awful memory. The Thin Chip can be seen in liquid form.

  “David, this will sting a little. But the other shot should make most of the discomfort next to nil. Are you excited?”

  “I am.”

  “Good. You will go down as the first person to ever take the Thin Chip. You will be making history, my friend.” The engineer says.

  We hear another voice. A more jagged one. I know who it is before I even see the person. But the words are too quiet to make out. David turns to Phil Balock. The man in black is chatting with Michael Scarp. They get close to each other so their words can’t be heard.

  “Jake, stop it and go back.” I say.

  “Okay.” He rewinds it.

  “Click on those two,” meaning Phil and Michael, “See what you have in the options menu.”

  He clicks on them, turning them into focus, everything else gets dull.

  “What are you looking for, Jason?” Jake asks.

  “Right there! You can highlight their sound. It seems if David heard it, you can louden it using the Thin Chip enhancing properties.”

  “That’s fucking insane,” Leonard spasms.

  Michael with one hand around his belly the other to his chin, “So his chip does not have the x-plant like ours, yet he will still be able to log into the mainframe?”

  “That’s right. DARPA’s D-code will only affect the chips manufactured from now on. Once the chip is fully functional in him, we should be allowed to—.”

  Phil is interrupted by Michael. “Wait, let’s not talk here. You can’t forget the power of the chip.”

  A chortle from Phil. “Paranoid, are you? That chip will never see the light of day.”

  I turn to the guys, “Well, we know what he meant by that.”

  “Yeah. But what’s the D-code?” Jake asks.

  “Search the next memory,” I say.

  David Casper sits in a waiting room in the testing area. The lobby is plain, like any old small physician's waiting room. He seems nervous, pacing around. He sees Phil Balock talking to two engineers in a glass-wall office. The long blinds are open. He can hear them, but can’t make out any words. One of the engineers happens to be our leaker.

  “Heighten the sound on them.” Leonard blurts.

  “I know I know, don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Jake replies.

  Jake zooms in using David’s vision. David’s eyes tumble a lot; he’s interested in what these men are saying.

  Phil asks the main engineer, a white haired, blue eyed, straight back gentleman in his fifties, “He feels nervous. The readings on the mainframe suggest he doesn’t quite trust us. Are you sure he can’t see into the x-plant’s section of the mainframe?”

  The main engineer speaks, “I don’t think so. Besides, ask your guy here, it was your department’s invention.”

  They both stare at the leaker, the balding, pointy feature man.

  “Well, he should not have that capability. Not unless you let him in. It’s no different from any other chip in that regard. I think you’re all making too much of this in the wrong way. He’s human like you and me. Wouldn’t you have suspicions if all-of-sudden you began to have nightmares and hallucinations? If anything, we may have gone a little fast on the altering.”

  Phil turns, staring out the open blinds towards David. “That sounds believable. I want to stop all the hallucinations for a few days. After that we are going to go full force, and see if we can control the subject. It’s been three weeks; the chip is as integrated as it will ever be.”

  Both engineers appear baffled and concerned.

  “What if it fails?” The main engineer asks.

  “It can’t.” Phil replies.

  “But if it does?”

  “Then he will be exposed of.”

  The leaker gazes down to his own feet. Looking one last time with droopy eyes towards David.

  Phil and the leaker leave the room with Phil giving a wink and a grin to David.

  “I’ll see you now, David.” The main engineer says, peeking out the doorway of his office.

  David sits across the metal desk from engineer.

  “So how have you been feeling, David?”

  A fidgety David answers. “I don’t like—I’ve been having thoughts, bad dreams, Professor Landon.”

  “Professor Landon,” I say. “He’s one of ours.”

  Landon folds his hands. “Hmm. Well, maybe it’s because you’ve been subconsciously feeding your thoughts strange ideas.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “What I’m saying is, that maybe you could’ve had a bad dream because you’ve been thinking of the new enhancement you have, rather than just embracing it, your letting your mind run wild with ideas. So now these thoughts have now snowballed making you paranoid. This could even cause daytime hallucinations.”

  “That’s exactly what’s happening!”

  “Really? Could you tell me what you’ve experienced?”

  “I’ve seen faces. Weird, disfigured faces of people I know. It’s often scary, making me act very uncomfortable around them.”

  Landon asks. “Have you told anyone you know about our experiment?”

  “No. No I haven't. I’ve kept my word.” David adjusts in his seat. “Will these visions stop?”

  “I believe so. Sleep on your stomach for a few days. That should help.”

  “Okay. If you believe it will help.”

  Landon nods.

  “Bullshit liar,” I blurt to the room. “They knew everything.”

  “David was just a lab rat.” Leonard remarks.

  The next episode has David sitting on his couch. I notice the layout of his living room. It’s dark, curtain dark.

  David sits doing absolutely nothing. I find it very strange, I assume the guys do, too. Suddenly, a figure walks in. The person is dressed like a cat burglar, ski mask and clothes all dark. The man holds a green sack, military looking. He stares at David. David does nothing but blink. The man puts down the bag and moves up to David. He moves his hand in front of his eyes; a test of alertness. He then grabs David’s wrist, timing his pulse with his wristwatch. He then checks his blood pressure and pupils.

  “Do you guys see this? This is extraordinary. His readings are normal, but he’s unresponsive.”

  The man seems to be talking through an earpiece or maybe a chip of his own. Whatever the case, the individual begins to go through the bag, pulling out weapons: a shotgun, two pistols, an automatic rifle, and bullet cases. He places them on the coffee table.

  He folds the bag, then extracts a yellow note from his front pants’ pocket. He tosses it on the floor.

  “That’s the confession note!” Jake spits.

  “This is it, guys. This is what we need. We can stop tomorrow's announcement with this video.” Leonard remarks heavily.

  “Make a copy, Jake.” I say.

  “Already on it. Are we going to watch the rest?”

  “We don’t have the time to waste. We need to get this to the news stations. The faster the public knows, the better.” I reply. “Matson will be destroyed, and the Thin Chip will be discontinued.”

  “That’s a victory, fellas,” voices Leonard.

  We all jolt in our seats.

  “What was that?!” Jake utters, referring to the loud boom downstairs.

  I reply, “That sounds like the front door.”

  A scream is heard, “Jake, they’re in the house!”

  Jake stands, “Mom?!”

  Leonard and I stand too, alarmed.

  “Give me the chip,” I blurt to Jake. He quickly takes it out of the slot and hands it to me.

  “The copy is not complete. Take care of it, Jason.”

  A loud voice comes from out the window. I hear running steps coming up the stairs.

  “This is the authority. Jason Mende
z, we know you’re in there. Come out with your hands in the air, and we will spare your life. You have used a deadly weapon, punishable by death! But if you give yourself up, we will spare your life.”

  Leonard grabs Jason’s shoulder and turns to me. “If they apprehend you, that chip may never be seen again. You have to escape.” He then turns to Jake. “Your mom is fine. She didn’t do anything; they won’t harm her. You need to go with Jason, you’re our tech guy and he may need you.”

  “They’re everywhere, Leonard. We can’t escape.” I sound.

  Leonard grins, showing me his wristwatch’s screen: it’s flashing. “Charlene will be out that window in ten seconds. So, go!”

  The door breaks in, alarming us. It’s the men in black suits. Leonard charges towards them, roaring with arms open. His bum rush knocks them over, himself included. I turn towards the window. The turbo, illegally enhanced drone known as Charlene hovers outside it.

  “Come on!” I yell, gripping Jake by his shoulder. If I didn’t, he may still be watching Leonard tussle with the men in suits.

  Jake jumps in the open door of Charlene, landing on his stomach. Halfway hanging out the second story window, my hair blowing in the wind, hot metal passing near my head and body, I jump hands first, curling my feet so the door can close once I’m in.

  I make it and Charlene zooms off. Bullets spark with every hit of her frame. I have no idea where we’re going, since Leonard preloaded a destination. Jake and I stay lying down in the back seat from the jump. After fifteen seconds, I peek out the back window. Two hundred yards behind us are two triangle shaped blue craft: the authority.

  We go around the large buildings with ease, but so do they.

  “I’m going to have to drive this. Leonard put a destination, so eventually we will slow down.” I say. Jake nods in approval while breathing hard.

  I jump in the front seat. I notice on the tallest skyscrapers my face is being shown to the public.

  If we’re to get away, I’ll need to get down lower, mix with the lower air traffic. I maneuver down to do that. Fifty feet above ground there’s air traffic, but I do what’s extremely illegal, I go just over the tops of land vehicles. To my knowledge, the authority will not give fire this low onto traffic. However, this doesn’t stop the authority from imposing more drones on us, trying to block us off on corners of buildings.

  I can see people down below watch with solicitude, some flee from fear. The authority takes up the air with the call for my arrest. I don’t pay attention to their direction. Instead we swoosh left, swoosh right, swoosh up, swoosh down. I try to lose them but they’re much better drivers than I, following closely at every mind bending turn.

  I hear Jake breathe every time he swivels his head. He’s scared. I don’t have time to be. Driving these speeds is concerning. One mess up from me, and this will be a lost cause.

  “Jason, we can’t escape.” Jake spats.

  “We’re dead if I don’t.”

  “We can’t keep this up.”

  “I know. We’re going to have to land and take our chances.”

  Jake puts his head up in between the front seats. “Land? Where? They will surround us—shoot us.”

  “Buckle up.”

  “What, why?”

  “Just do it, Jake!”

  In the rear view mirror I see four authority airships on my tail, their blue frames flicker with red, yellow and red lights. In the front of me, in the shortening distant, more ships hover in place. They’re going to box me in, so I have no choice. I swoop a hard right in the direction of the Sears Tower. The large glass windows look ripe. I accelerate. Hearing the yell of “Oh my God” from Jake.

  We explode into the widow of the second floor. The sides of our drone crush through the sides of the hallway. Our windshield cracks down the middle. As we stop, but still yelling from the adrenaline, I kick the windshield shattering it to pieces.

  “Let’s go! Quickly!” I bark to Jake.

  We jump out the demolished vehicle and head for the stairs.

  “Where are we going?” Jake yells as we scale down the steps.

  “Car parking lot. We’ll grab a car and head out. They shouldn’t have the place surrounded fully just yet.”

  I hotwire a Mercedes, and leave out unnoticed. Amongst the traffic I go. A block away, I see many authority vehicles encircling the Sears building, and more fly overhead going in that direction.

  “We need to get this chip to the news.” I say to Jake. He’s barely starting to calm.

  “What do you think happened to Leonard?” He asks. I hear the despair in his voice.

  “I’m not sure.” I know Jake’s fragile right now, and I don’t want to crack him by assuming bad news. “He wants us to finish this. I know that.”

  Jake’s dirty face moves up and down, giving a nod with a gulp.

  “We need to see the engineer.” I say.

  “I’ll need to contact him. But could we just rest and think, Jason. I don’t feel too hot, man.”

  “Yes. I’ll get us a room in slum town.”

  “Why can’t we just go to one of the group member’s houses?”

  “Because we were found at your house. That means they know who the members are. They’re probably already searching their places.” I look over to him. His hand covers his forehead. “Just rest man. I’ll get us a room and figure out our next move, by then the engineer should contact us.”

  11

  Jake sleeps on the bed of this musty, germ infested room. The thin walls covered in ugly yellow wallpaper give the surrounding a feel of few decades gone by. Jake needs the rest, and I don’t think the appearance of this place had a chance of standing in his fatigues way. Poor guy, he doesn’t have the kind of personality that can handle this kind of stuff.

  It’s 7 p.m. and sun has found its way down. Not like it matters, it barely watches over us in the daytime. It’s always cloudy it seems these days.

  After some thought, I have come to a conclusion on what I want to do. Or what would be best. I don’t think it would be a good idea to walk into any news station even with the biggest story ever in hand. I most likely wouldn't make it through the front door. I’d be arrested or killed and Phil would get his hands on this chip and nothing would ever come out. I think a better plan would be to give it to someone who could.

  I hear Jake’s phone buzz on the nightstand. I walk over. It’s a text from the engineer. He’s responding to my query of a meet.

  Meet me at the old meat factory on Batton street in half an hour.

  I’ll be in the back, on the dock.

  “Myra, can you hear me?” If she only knew how much I miss her. I wish I could finally open to her and turn off my wall, but why, it would only cause more harm than good. Plus, I have to protect her.

  “Jason?”

  “Yes, Myra. I need your help.”

  “Don’t you miss me? Don’t you care? I’ve been in my apartment all day, thinking of you. I even called you, but you didn’t answer. Why are you shutting me out.”

  “You haven’t watched the news, you haven’t seen out your window?”

  “No. Why?”

  “Turn on the news notifications from your Thin Chip.”

  It only takes five seconds.

  “Oh my God, Jason. What have you done?!”

  “Don’t believe it, Myra. Matson is trying to frame me. They killed David Casper because he had something that would prove what we already knew: Matson is trying to control mankind.”

  Myra begins to cry. “Jason, do you hear yourself?! Your obsession with my father’s company—No one is out to frame you. I have the Thin Chip Jason, are they trying to control me too?”

  “Myra, I know what I say sounds crazy to you. But it’s the truth. I have proof. I have David Casper’s chip.”

  “What?”

  “I need you to take it to the media. I know you love your father, and for all we know, he may not even be involved. But Matson Cybertech is. Michael, Phil, Professor Lando
n, DARPA, there’s something bigger than any of us being planned. We need to stop Congress tomorrow. Will you help?”

  I hear the held back sobs. I wish I could hold her. Damn, why do I have to be this way?

  “If you have the proof, I’ll do what I can.”

  “Thank you, Myra. I’ll meet up with you after I meet up with the engineer.”

  “I want to see him, too.”

  “It’s dangerous, Myra, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “If you want my help, I need to be involved.”

  How could I say no? If she’s going be involved, I owe it to her to know what I know.”

  “Okay, Myra. I’ll send you the location.”

  “Thank you. But I need you to do something else for me.”

  “What is it?”

  “I want you to log into the mainframe. I want to feel your heart? I want to know if you still care for me.”

  “I do—”

  “Just do it!” She blurts.

  “Okay.”

  A rush of emotion starts in my brain, and layers the inside of my body. It’s as if Myra is hugging every cell of my being. The warmth, the softness of her, I know now I’m addicted to her. I love her. We kiss in the deep middle of my mind, surrounded by flames and darkness but not consumed by either. Our lips touch wildly; her hands go all over. I run my fingers underneath her red hair, gripping a handful at its base. She unbuttons my black colored shirt and we move with the night. We make sweet love for what seems like thirty minutes.

  “We’re going to be late, I said—”

  “Relax,” she says, lying next to me on a bed in dimly lit room. I wondered if the scenery was the same for her.

  She continues. “It’s only been three minutes.”

  “What? I don’t understand. I know that it’s been longer than that.” I reply.

  “Time moves slower here. Or faster, depending how you want to see it. We’re in control of it. It’s like when you download files. A five-minute video can be downloaded in seconds.”