Elite

by Joseph C. Anthony

  Richfield continued with an explanation. “Don’t worry, we weren’t spying on you or anything. We were just having dinner at Harry Caray’s here, and we saw you walking by—saw the expression on your face.”

  Daniel just dropped his head and laughed. He couldn’t help himself. How convenient that the two of them happened to choose to have dinner at the pier tonight – and after Blank had just spoken to Daniel a couple hours ago. Then again, he supposed Richfield didn’t expect him to believe it was a coincidence. The fact was, they were there at the most opportune moment.

  Daniel threw his arms out to the side, “I’ve got nothing left,” he half yelled to the two men.

  “You’re wrong Daniel,” Richfield said as the two men began walking toward him.

  Richfield put his arm on Daniel’s shoulder and smiled. “I think everything you want is right in front of you.”

  He turned Daniel around and the three men walked off into the city together.

  Chapter 7

  Daniel sat in the specially designed operating chair, his heart racing. The past two days had been a blur. It wasn’t until right now, at this very moment, that he realized he didn’t even remember having agreed to this procedure.

  He knew that he had because he had seen the contract the night before. He didn’t remember signing the papers, but he remembered seeing his signature next to the “X” on the dotted line. It was unmistakably his. This was no trick. Somewhere in his subconscious he had made the decision to go ahead with the procedure.

  And now here he was, sitting in the chair special designed by Doctor Horchoff for this never-before-attempted operation. The enormity of the situation had brought Daniel down to Earth for the first time since his drink with Jordan at Navy Pier where she had once again managed to find a few large enough pieces of his broken heart to smash it even further.

  But it wasn’t entirely her fault and he knew that. She had always warned him off of her,

  knowing that the likelihood of her breaking his heart was substantial. But he refused to accept it. He had twisted his mind into believing that he was different – that he would be the one to woo her so utterly and completely that she would never want to leave his side and would never lust for another man ever again.

  He was wrong, he knew that now, and he had somehow let that lead him into this chair where he faced a life or death situation that could either lead him into salvation, or end him entirely.

  When Blank and Richfield had taken him home just three nights before, there was what seemed to be an unspoken agreement between them that Daniel was going to go through with the operation. At least that’s the way Richfield and Blank had made it seem. On the way back they talked to him about the things that needed to be done before he moved into the training facility, and what was required of Daniel to make sure that the procedure was a guaranteed success.

  Daniel barely remembered all of it, but he was quite sure that he never raised an objection. In those two and a half days leading up to today he felt as though he had nothing to live for — that if he were to die, so what? He had seemingly lost everything in that one day — His job, the love of his life — what more did he possibly have to lose?

  His family. His solid rock that he knew would never abandon him no matter what. He loved his family more than anything in the entire world, as he should. That is, except for Jordan. He loved her so much that his love for her was equal with that of his family, and for that reason he had always planned to make her a part of it. To love and to hold, ‘til death do them part. That was no longer an option however, and in some twisted way it caused him to sell-short his relationship with the family he’d had his entire life.

  He felt terrible about it. He would never want to be the reason that his mother cried, and he knew that if he did not make it through this procedure, it would devastate her. That was why he called her the morning before, an hour before signing the contract.

  He had been as honest as he could be without disclosing any information that would violate the non-disclosure agreement he had signed before his second meeting with Richfield. He told her that his job would consist of protecting high-profile individuals, and that it could, in some situations, put him in harm’s way.

  At first, his mother had been taken aback. She couldn’t understand how her son had gone from something as harmless as working in radio, to protecting strangers from would-be killers.

  He explained to her that he would be put through rigorous training — a revolutionary style of training that had never been attempted previously – and that would give him an edge over any danger that he might come up against.

  As he expected, that did little in the way of reassurance. His mother treated the situation as though he were entering the military, which in many respects, she was not too far off. He would be a soldier — a super-soldier if the procedure was successful — and would be going up against those who would kill him for getting in the way of their ultimate goal. He could not deny that his mother’s concerns were justified.

  Still, he felt as though this was something that he needed to do. He would never be satisfied with his life the way it currently was. His logical mind told him that over time, if he worked hard enough, he could achieve a certain level of pride and satisfaction in his life once again, and that time would heal all of the wounds that currently burned deep within him, but his emotions had fully taken over at this point and they told him that his only immediate escape from the pain was to go to through with the operation.

  Besides, Doctor Horchoff had told him at least a thousand times that the risks involved were relatively low. Most likely the worst thing that would happen is that there would be absolutely no change in Daniel’s brain function whatsoever, and that he would walk away $100,000 dollars richer, which would allow him to live in Chicago at least until he found a new job. The odds of his brain shutting down completely, leaving him as a vegetable for the rest of his life, were extremely low.

  At least that was according to the good doctor. But Daniel wasn’t sure how much he trusted Horchoff.

  “Alright, let’s make history,” Doctor Horchoff said, as he brought the mask up to Daniels face that would pump anesthetic into his lungs, rendering him unconscious throughout the procedure.

  Suddenly Daniel came out of his trance.

  What was he doing? Was he insane?! His life was not that bad!

  He felt his head become very cloudy. The world around him was becoming very dim.

  In a final act of consciousness he tried to call it all off.

  “Wai…”

  He felt a bead of sweat start to slide its way slowly down the bridge of his nose as he kept his hands completely still on the advanced medical machinery in front of him. One had to be extremely delicate when inside poking around inside of someone else’s brain, or they risked destroying the very essence of who that person is in less than a nanosecond. A nurse noticed the droplet of sweat, and quickly wiped it from his nose.

  Fredrick Horchoff had been waiting for this moment his entire life. His colleagues had laughed at him when he first developed the idea for this operation over twelve years ago. They called the mere concept “science-fiction,” but Horchoff had disagreed. He knew that he had the intelligence and the talent to turn fiction into fact – to become one of the most revolutionary medical doctors of all-time. A Renaissance man of sorts.

  His friends and mentors had told him to let it go. They warned him that his obsession in such fantasies would ruin his credibility, and in turn, his career. He refused. He knew that he could accomplish his dream. That he alone could give a man total control of his body, that he could defy the laws of nature itself. He had to prove them wrong.

  Unfortunately that process took time. So much so that his colleagues’ prophecy had proven true, and he was deemed a disgrace to the world of medicine.

  But this was the day. This day he would prove them all wrong! Though they may never know it, he would. He would see the results of his more than a decade
of hard, meticulous work. Receiving the recognition of being the greatest medical mind on Earth may have once meant something to him, but no longer. He would know what he had been able to accomplish, and that would give him the internal satisfaction he so craved.

  And though it may not be in his lifetime, one day the world would find out what he had been able to achieve, and that provided him a source of great pride and comfort.

  His work was not quite done yet, however. He still needed to successfully perform this operation for which he had been preparing himself for what felt like his entire professional life. Something so delicate would be quite easy for anyone of lesser talents to screw up, so he needed to maintain every ounce of focus.

  He maneuvered the robotic surgical equipment by delicately moving his fingers, each with a small metal ring wrapped around it. The rings served as the controllers to the robotic equipment.

  Slowly, he used the equipment to maneuver a six-inch long, yet incredibly thin needle toward the top of Daniel’s now exposed brain tissue. Horchoff had to be exact with his incisions, therefore trying to work through the scalp would have created more difficulty than he wished to contend with. Exposing the brain greatly increased the odds of a successful procedure.

  The needle slowly penetrated the brain tissue, making its way to hypothalamus, while Horchoff simultaneously maneuvered a second needle into the cerebrum.

  In the initial stages of his research, Horchoff imagined that he would create a way for the brain to develop its own new neural pathways, connecting different parts of the brain in a way that exceeded God’s limited design. He quickly discovered the difficulty in trying to force the brain to develop in a way that was against its very nature. It seemed to Horchoff that the only way to accomplish such a feat would have been through the use of nanotechnology. But nanotech was too unpredictable. It could too easily fail, and that would in some ways make the subject part machine. Machines had to be programmed and programs could be manipulated. That wasn’t Horchoff’s vision. He wanted his subject to be in complete control of their actions.

  Therefore he had decided to grow his own neurons. Doing so had been the most difficult challenge he had faced in the past dozen years. It was easy to determine what it was he needed to do, actually executing that idea was a challenge all on its own. Nine of the last twelve years had been spent trying to figure out how to grow neural pathways that would actually function in the human brain in a lab. The year before he had finally experienced a breakthrough. After two thousand and forty-six failed attempts, subject number two-thousand-forty-seven proved to be a success. For almost eight straight years he had spent every waking hour trying to develop a man-made neural pathway using stem cells and other organic materials, and had finally developed one that through a number of tests that he himself had created. The pathway at least appeared as though it would successfully cause synapses to fire, sending neurotransmitters from the axon of one neuron to the dendrites of another. In theory these neurons would interact flawlessly with the others that had already developed naturally in the brain.

  There was only one way to know for sure. After finally unlocking the key to developing an operational neurotransmitter after two thousand-eight hundred and ninety-six straight days of lab work, there would be no time for celebration. The past year had been spent developing a way to insert his neural pathways into the brain in a way that would allow them to properly function in the way he intended.

  Horchoff did this through extensive research on the most modern medical technology available. Richfield was willing to spare no expense to make sure Horchoff had what he needed to make their dream a reality. Horchoff then took pieces of technology from equipment that was currently being used for certain types of brain surgery, and modified them to accomplish his own needs.

  While a medical genius, his mechanical skills were however a bit lacking. Therefore Richfield had dug up an engineer he knew from his days in the CIA to work with Horchoff in constructing exactly what he needed to get the job done.

  The last step was choosing a subject. It made no difference to Horchoff who this subject was, as long as their brain functioned properly. The entire point of the procedure was to give any average person total control of their body and mind, therefore he had left it up to Richfield and Blank to find their newest employee. Daniel would serve as well as any other subject.

  The only thing left to do now was execute.

  Suddenly a soft white noise crept into the room as Richfield activated the PA system from the observation room.

  “How’s it going in there Doc?” He asked.

  Horchoff took a deep breath as he carefully released a neuron into Daniel’s frontal lobe. Once he was certain he had done so successfully, he responded.

  “Quite well. Just a few more incisions and we’ll be able to close him back up.”

  The white noise abruptly cut-off.

  Soon they would all know if the thousands of hours Horchoff had slaved in the lab, the millions of dollars Richfield had invested, and the enormous risk Daniel had taken, would pay off.

  He could hear voices all around him, speaking softly, as if trying not to disturb anyone around them. Daniel couldn’t fully make out what the voices were saying, and none of them sounded at all familiar too him. He strained to make out the words but he could not.

  Darkness. Everything was darkness. Then, like a sudden blow to the head, Daniel regained awareness. His eyes were closed. He had not realized this just a second earlier. He needed to open his eyes to see the source of voices around him.

  Slowly, Daniel began to lift his eyelids. His pupils felt an immediate shock as though they had never encountered light before. Instinctively, his eyes slammed shut again to avoid the sting the light had caused them. Then, slower this time, he began to open them again, giving them ample time to adjust the light in the room.

  He saw two figures standing over him, one male and one female. They seemed to be talking about him. Their gaze was focused on something to his left. Whatever it was they were watching it very intently. Then, the female turned her attention to Daniel, looking him right in the eye. She then spoke in a voice containing a far greater level of excitement than she had just a few seconds earlier, and quickly turned and ran off to Daniels left. The male figure turned to look quickly at Daniel as if to confirm what the woman had said before walking off in the direction of whatever they had been staring at just moments before.

  Daniel let his head roll over onto his left cheek. He was unable to discern what was going on around him, and was also unable to care. His brain was still awakening from what felt like a very long slumber.

  To the left of him Daniel saw a man sitting in a chair along the far wall. The man wore grey slacks with suspenders, and a white collared shirt. Surprisingly, the man’s name came to Daniel’s mind immediately. Mister Blank.

  Blank just stared back at Daniel, hunched over in the chair, his elbows resting on his knees.

  “Welcome back, Danny Boy,” he said.

  Daniel turned onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. Suddenly the world began to spin around him as his mind slowly regained awareness. He remembered his last night with Jordan, and the deal he had made with Richfield shortly after. He remembered going through all of the prep for surgery, and that moment of regret just before going under.

  I guess it’s too late for that now, he thought to himself.

  Just then he heard more people walk into the room. He turned his head and saw Richfield and Horchoff approaching his bed. When they reached the bed they both leaned over him. Horchoff immediately began shining lights in Daniel’s eyes, while Richfield looked on intently. Daniel followed Horchoff’s movements while he examined him.

  “Well, he is definitely cogniscant,” Horchoff finally said.

  Richfield smiled at the good news and continued to stare at Daniel.

  “How you feeling kid?” He asked.

  Daniel tried to answer, but immediately realized that he could not speak. He tried
to move his arm, but he couldn’t do that either. That was when he realized that he couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t feel his arms or his legs – he couldn’t even feel his tongue or his lips. The spinning began to intensify. The more he tried to think, the more he tried to do, the worse it got. It felt as though he had drank an entire barrel of whiskey but had somehow failed to die from it.

  He closed his eyes a moment to try and cope with the misery, then opened them again, staring hopelessly back at Richfield.

  “What’s wrong with him Doctor?” Richfield demanded. “He’s in there like you said, I can see it, but why can’t he respond?”

  Horchoff had moved to Daniel’s right, and Daniel turned his head to follow him. He now saw what the two figures had been looking at earlier. There were a series of monitors that were monitoring Daniel’s current condition.

  “His brain must still be adjusting,” the doctor concluded.

  “So it’s temporary?” Richfield asked, seeking clarification.

  “That would be my assumption, yes.” Horchoff replied.

  “I’m going to need a whole lot better than an assumption, Doc.” Richfield countered.

  Horchoff continued examining the monitors, keying the keyboard that sat in front of one of them.

  “His brain function is normal,” he said. “In fact, it’s above normal, which indicates to me that his brain is trying to determine how to function with the new neural pathways I’ve placed inside of it.”

  “But he will adjust?” Richfield asked intensely.

  “I would assume so,” Horchoff responded with a vague sense of confidence.

  “Again with the assumptions!” Richfield responded, some anger now behind his voice.

  Daniel maintained enough focus to gather what Horchoff had just revealed to them, but while he should have been frightened by the situation, he was putting so much effort into coping with the overload happening inside his brain that he couldn’t manage any sort of emotion.