The Thought Cathedral

by Nathan Williams

“—and still growing?”

  “It is still growing, yes,” Xiang said. “Mostly due to illegal immigration. Inter-provincial migration is illegal without a permit. So, most migrants are people coming from the rural areas to work on temporary permits. However, many are coming without them.”

  Lee fell silent for a few moments as she finished her food. Xiang let her eat in silence. Lee enjoyed the dimly lit ambience of the restaurant as she finished her meal. A Chinese bamboo flute played gently through the speakers, its beat kept in rhythm by the softened thumping of drums.

  She felt Xiang’s gaze hold steady upon her, studying her as she ate, but he was not rude. As the remaining strains of the flute died away and the music came to an interlude, the waiter appeared, placing the check on the table. Xiang surprised her by insisting on paying. When he’d finished, Lee followed Xiang out of the restaurant and back down to the lobby of the high rise. They’d agreed to depart here, since neither of them drove a car in to work.

  “Would you be interested in accompanying me someplace next weekend?” Xiang asked. “I have something else I’d like you to see.”

  “Where might that be?”

  “I want to keep it a surprise.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll text you the meeting place and time sometime next week.”

  “That should be fine.”

  Lee let him kiss her lightly on her cheek. She felt certain he was watching her as she walked the length of the lobby to the exit, but she didn’t look back to find out.

  Chapter 6

  New York City

  Monday, January 26, 4:18 p.m. EST

  Agent Rose was sitting in his office in the FBI New York Headquarters building when his landline rang.

  “This is Rose.”

  “John, this is Denny. I’ve got something you need to see. It’s related to the abductions at Brooklyn Capital.”

  “Your office?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, I’ll be right up.”

  This can’t be anything but bad, Rose thought. Random calls from the senior agent in charge of the New York office himself were never good unless it had to do with the issuance of a service award of some type. Since he wasn’t up for any service awards that he knew of, he expected the worst as he grabbed his Brooklyn Capital files and headed out of his office and toward the elevator.

  Upon arriving at Lorren’s office, Rose knocked on the door as he opened it and walked in.

  “Come in John,” Lorren said. Lorren, who’d been sitting in his desk chair, stood as Rose entered. Sitting on a leather chair in front of Lorren’s desk was an older man dressed in a business suit. “John, I think you’ve met Charlie Monroe, the owner and CEO of Brooklyn Capital Management?”

  “Mr. Monroe…” Rose said, as the two shook hands.

  “It’s good to see you again, Agent Rose.”

  “Good seeing you,” Rose said. “What’s going on?”

  Rose noticed Lorren was wearing white rubber gloves and holding a paper document and manila folder in his hand. Lorren tossed a pair of the gloves to him and slid the document, lying in the folder, across the desk top.

  “Mr. Monroe received this letter today. It was addressed to him. It was mailed to him at the firm’s corporate address in Manhattan.”

  Rose put the gloves on and picked the letter up to examine it further. It contained just three short sentences followed by five color photos.

  TO CHARLIE MONROE,

  COPY AND DROP CHAPTER 10 SUBCHAPTER D THROUGH CHAPTER 14 SUBCHAPTER Q OR THE INFORMATION THEREIN INTO THE LINK IMMEDIATELY OR ONE OF YOUR FIVE WILL PERISH. PDF FORMAT PREFERRED

  www.http://globalfront.hk/56233252212478578744123329525856471

  The five photos were color photos of each of the five Brooklyn researchers who’d been abducted over the previous few days: Benjamin Halberstom, Rochelle Honeycutt, Jonas Craig, Patrice Clemente, and Sam Than. The photos showed each of the five post-abduction, each confined in separate spaces.

  “When did you receive this?” Rose asked.

  “Earlier this afternoon,” Monroe said. “I came here as soon as I received it. I wanted to deliver it personally.”

  “What is it that’s being requested? What’s being referenced in chapters ten through fourteen?”

  “It’s referencing a section of our research documentation that we keep in our classified database,” Monroe explained. “Or, rather, we used to have it in our database. It’s since been taken out of digital format. Specifically, it contains virtually all of the classified documents related to Project Magus.”

  “Where are the documents now?” Rose asked.

  “Those documents are highly classified and kept in physical form at an undisclosed location.”

  “What’s Project Magus?”

  “In a nutshell, it’s a major project that’s been ongoing for quite a few years now. We’re developing cloaking technology for the military.”

  “Do you have the envelope the letter came in?”

  “Yes, of course,” Monroe said.

  Lorren had been holding the envelope in his gloved hands. He handed it to Rose.

  “No return address,” Rose observed. Rose turned the envelope over in his hands. “The mailing address was your corporate address in Manhattan?”

  “That’s correct, John.” Monroe’s voice was raspy, seasoned over time. “It was delivered to that address and dropped in my in-box in my Manhattan office.”

  “Can you instruct your mailroom personnel to capture any mail addressed to you going forward? Make sure it gets inspected before it’s forwarded to you. Have them call me at this number if they see another letter or anything else that looks suspicious.” Rose handed Monroe his FBI-issued card.

  “It’s already been done,” Monroe said.

  “Excellent. Anything else for me at this time?”

  Lorren said, “Not now, John. You know everything we know.”

  “I’ll get to work on this.”

  Rose was about to leave when Monroe interjected with another question. “Agents Lorren and Rose, I’m deeply concerned about my staff. Five abductions within the space of a week. The time has come to notify my employees. I’m sure you can understand my concerns.”

  “You’re in an extraordinarily difficult situation,” Lorren said. “I understand your viewpoint. I really do. But, at this point in time, Ms. Lee is the best lead we have in this case. What will she do if she finds out about these abductions? I’m guessing she’s going to have serious reservations about continuing in this role, if she doesn’t already. Let us examine this letter, Mr. Monroe. Let’s see if anything comes of it. I’d like to see some progress elsewhere before we risk jeopardizing Ms. Lee’s position. At this time, she’s our best hope—our only hope—of finding the abductors. We need more time.”

  Monroe pondered the situation for a few moments. “Okay, I’ll agree to it for now.” Monroe stood and looked Agent Rose in the eye. “Agent Rose, please do your best to find whoever has been attacking my company. I can’t keep my employees in the dark very much longer.”

  “I’m working—we’re working—as quickly as we can, Mr. Monroe. We’ll continue to be in touch, and you’ll be the first to know of any developments.”

  Monroe nodded and thanked Rose. Rose carefully placed the letter and envelope in a sealed plastic bag and carried it out with him as he left the room. He needed to get it to forensics ASAP.

  New York City

  Monday, January 26, 4:23 p.m. EST

  Digital Lyn Lee was standing in the Help Sponsor kiosk on the third level of the portal when she received an email from one of the Polymaths by the name of Simon Shelby. The Polymaths were avatars of people who were, similar to the Help Sponsors, available to all of Brooklyn Capital’s employees within the portal, except that they provided assistance on a much more technical level. They were people responsible for creating customized pieces of software applications or other pieces of technology at the request of Brooklyn Capital’s emp
loyees. They had expert-level skill in a large number of IT skillsets. If a magic pill was required, they could manufacture it on demand.

  Lee had emailed Shelby several days prior, on behalf of a researcher, requesting the creation of a computer program that would allow the capture of information from a specialized piece of scientific equipment and allow for easier data manipulation. She’d just received Shelby’s response, indicating that the application was ready and awaiting retrieval. Since there were no other patrons to assist, Lee decided to make the digital trip back down to the Polymath kiosk, which was located on the ground floor of the portal in the Grand Cathedral. Shelby had indicated he wanted to speak to her directly in order to more easily explain how to use the application.

  Lee exited the Help Sponsor kiosk and began walking down a hallway that ran between several of the employee kiosks. As she walked, she passed by several avatars, most of them in the ubiquitous black suits and skirts. However, there was one pair of avatars walking side by side that stood out: Johannes Kepler, the German mathematician and astronomer who was famous for his contributions on the study of light and optics, and Charles Darwin, the famed English naturalist who proposed the theory of natural selection. Kepler was wearing a brown robe with a wide white lace collar that had been popular in Western Europe during the first half of the 1600s. Darwin, on the other hand, with his bushy white beard, was wearing a thick brown frock coat, wool vest, cotton pants, and a brown hat similar to those worn by men in the middle of the nineteenth century

  When she reached the end of the room, she entered the elevator and descended to ground level. The Grand Cathedral was busy, as it always was, with the hustle and bustle of a remarkable array of avatars. Sir Isaac Newton was still present under the apple tree, chomping sloppily on another apple. I can relate to you, Newton, Lee thought.

  Standing near the elevator, she could see the bronze spires of the Polymath kiosk at the far end of the cathedral, rising toward the ceiling. Also visible was a massive circular fountain at the center of the cathedral. She could see the apex of each of the five majestic plumes of water as they shot skyward. In the middle of the five plumes was a large, circular reflecting pool, its water dark and still.

  As she made her way toward the Polymath kiosk through a corridor of soaring Roman columns that split the cathedral in half, she spied a familiar avatar far off to her right, walking by itself along the perimeter of the cathedral. It was a silhouette of a man, black in color but semi-transparent. After a moment of reflection, she realized that it was very likely Xiang, since only a handful of other employees used a similar avatar and she’d never seen anyone other than Xiang using it in the cathedral. It walked in her general direction for a few seconds before Lee saw it turn to its left, out of the Grand Cathedral and into an ancillary hallway.

  Curious as to what Xiang was up to, Lee decided to try and follow him. She turned toward the same hallway, moving her legs as quickly as she could on the walking track to speed her avatar’s travel. She wanted to somehow shout out to Xiang, to ask him to stop so she could chat, but the portal was restricted. She would need to get within a much closer proximity before the PROMPT feature on the communications tool would allow her to engage him.

  Lee had rarely ventured outside of the Grand Cathedral. To her knowledge, there wasn’t much worth visiting, although she admitted to herself it had been a long time since she’d tried and things could’ve changed.

  She was startled that, as she continued into the corridor, things had, in fact, changed greatly. The corridor, in fact, eventually ended in a spherical room of beige stone. There was a pale light shining into the room through a small window in the ceiling. On the opposite side of the room was a small rectangular-shaped sink with rounded edges protruding out from the wall, which was designed in the same beige stone as the rest of the room. When Lee approached it, she saw that it was filled with dark placid water. When she tilted her head down, she found she could see her avatar’s reflection in the water. She waited to see if the reflection would change, but it did not. It reminded her of the similar reflecting pool located at the center of the Grand Cathedral, except on a smaller scale.

  She noticed to her immediate left a small opening leading into a stairwell. Although the opening appeared to be too small for her avatar to fit through, she found that, as she approached it, it became semi-transparent and allowed her through to the opposite side. She was now standing on a gray stone landing atop a narrow staircase, descending into blackness. She pondered whether Xiang had come down here and realized he must have, since he was nowhere to be seen.

  Avatar Lyn Lee proceeded down the stone staircase. As she descended, the stone turned from beige to dark gray stone on both sides and above. At the bottom, another tunnel of gray stone extended off to her left. She followed it. It was dark inside the tunnel, illuminated only by a light source from somewhere up ahead. Eventually, she came to a small bridge constructed of aged wood straddling a small ring of dark, stagnant water. Across the bridge, a stone cavern stretched across the entirety of her vision, with a beam of light spilling in from above as though it were the bottom of a well. The flat cavern floor was made of the same dark stone as the tunnel. In addition to the white light, the whole cavern emanated a faint color of green, apparently reflecting from various deposits of green emeralds embedded in the dark stone throughout. Stalactites and stalagmites protruded from the ceiling and around the perimeter of the floor.

  In the middle of the cavern, bathed in the light streaming from above, was the silhouette of Xiang’s avatar, still semi-transparent. He was communicating with another avatar designed in the image of a man—a Chinese man—with a long black beard and mustache that hung down to below his jawline. He was dressed in a red, burgundy, and brown-colored robe and matching headdress. It was…Confucius.

  She knew the dialogue between Xiang and Confucius was encrypted because the dialogue box was empty.

  Lee stood there, watching the two avatars in this bizarre setting. They were still deep in conversation and had not noticed her presence.

  Lee suddenly thought to take advantage of a zoom feature at her disposal since she’d been given more rights within the portal. She brought her hand up to her face so that her right digital hand was between her line of sight and the two avatars. She chose a point in space just above and to the left of Xiang’s avatar, pinched her thumb and index fingers together, and pulled diagonally down and to her right. This created a square window within the portal that overlapped Xiang’s semi-transparent avatar. When she released her fingers, the square hung there in space over the avatar. She tapped on the square and the portion of the image within the square zoomed in, revealing the detail within the avatar.

  When she viewed the close-up image, the reason for the transparency became clear to her. The avatar contained a multitude of numbers—whole numbers—numbers too small to see with her naked eye. The numbers were present in a variety of sizes and densities, depending on which part of the avatar she zoomed in on. Further, the numbers were in constant motion, shifting with the movement of the avatar, emphasizing certain features. They even wrapped around the figure, giving the avatar its 3-D quality.

  With a sudden movement from Confucius, her concentration was broken and she realized that the two avatars had finished their conversation and had separated. Confucius, or whoever was behind the avatar, was looking straight at her. It was very evident that he now knew she was there. She froze, uncertain what to do. For his part, Xiang had turned away from her and appeared to be heading into the hazy, green-tinted blackness on the opposite side of the cavern.

  Confucius held his gaze on her, and began walking toward her—toward the bridge. Lee walked slowly forward to the bridge and began to cross. She met Confucius halfway across.

  Lee: HELLO.

  Confucius: WHO ARE YOU?

  Lee wasn’t sure how to respond, so she refrained entirely.

  Confucius: WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

  Lee: I’M SORRY.


  Confucius had drawn next to her on the bridge.

  Lee: I JUST SAW YOUR FRIEND AND THOUGHT I KNEW HIM.

  Confucius: I’M SURE YOU MUST BE MISTAKEN.

  Lee: I UNDERSTAND. I JUST THOUGHT I SAW MY FRIEND AND WANTED TO SAY HI.

  Confucius: HE’S NOT OF YOUR CONCERN. HE’S GONE NOW. PLEASE LEAVE.

  Lee: OF COURSE. I’M VERY SORRY.

  Lee felt embarrassed and exposed. She powered her HUD off and knew that, to Confucius, she would’ve simply disappeared out of the portal.

  Terrific. What’s Xiang going to say about this?

  Lee powered the HUD back on, and she appeared again in the main lobby of the Grand Cathedral. She spun around in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree arc to see if Confucius was around anywhere. She didn’t have any desire to run into him again—at least, not yet. She headed once again toward the far end of the cathedral, except now she veered off to the left. She still needed to visit the Polymaths.

  Lee continued moving diagonally to her left, passing by the towering ornamental columns. Sometimes she liked to stand in one place, looking up into the vaulted domes in the ceiling. Each column ended within a cluster of domes arching off one another, higher into the ceiling. The intricacy of the detail and the multitude of colors never ceased to amaze her. The designs included influences from most of the world’s major societies, including the Egyptians, Romans, Mesopotamians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, and on and on. There was also a floral presence throughout the cathedral, with a multitude small trees and flowers planted about. Some of the columns had vines growing on them.

  As she walked, she passed dozens of other avatars. Included in the mix of black suits were Jewish priests, Arabic nomads, a Native American of the U.S. plains dressed in full battle regalia, a Tibetan monk, and even a Roman gladiator. There were a few scientists and historical figures passing by, all dressed as they had been in the era in which they’d been alive.

  Lee was almost to the far corridor, wrapping around the perimeter of the cathedral, when Albert Einstein suddenly materialized from behind one of the columns. He was dressed in a black suit with a gold watch chain and had a pipe sticking out of his mouth. He was clearly approaching her, as though he’d been waiting.