Foundation

by M J Kendrick

  “What’s going on,” she asked, showing concern.

  “Good morning, Dr. Reese,” began Oliver. “There’s been a security breach, a serious one.”

  “Please, call me Jean. A security breach?” she said, shocked. “Where?”

  “It’s in your lab and involves a member of your team.”

  Jean’s jaw dropped. “Oh my god, who is it?... How?... Was anything taken? Oh my god,” was all she could say.

  Guy stepped in. “Look, Jean, this is something we’ve been on to for a while now. It was first brought to my attention by your friend Karol Dyer at Omni. As you know, she heads up the team that prepares the information and updates for the board.”

  Jean nodded. “Yes, we talk all the time. She’s smart, with a couple of PhDs to her name.”

  Guy nodded. “Precisely, so she knows what she’s looking for. In short, she removes a lot of the non-essential stuff to keep the reports both legible and short enough so that the board aren’t bogged down. We have to remember there’s a whole host of ongoing and planned projects that Omni are involved with. Anyway, Karol picked up a pattern of very minor but anomalous breaks in certain data streams coming from your lab that didn’t quite marry up with the results sheets we were supplying as part of our regular updates.”

  “I didn’t realize they monitored all of the data that we produce,” said Jean, as she immediately began to worry about the stasis pod being found out.

  “Well, not monitor as such,” continued Guy. “It’s primarily a backup protocol should the facility be destroyed. Karol and her team use it occasionally to double check they’re not omitting anything crucial. It was such an occasion that unearthed this.”

  “When Guy informed me,” said Oliver, jumping in on the conversation, “it was relatively easy to trace the breach back and pinpoint who was involved. We were also able to piece together and extrapolate exactly what was being accessed and what they were looking for.”

  “And what exactly is it that they’re after?” asked Jean, tugging down on her jacket to straighten it in an attempt to hide her extreme anger, as the implications of such disloyalty from someone in her team started to set in.

  “The delivery system data,” said Professor Stanton with authority. “They already have around 40 percent of your fusion data, but from what we can gather, the crucial elements haven’t yet been accessed.”

  “That’s right,” said Oliver. “Karol Dyer thinks that may be because it has been archived and is behind some serious firewalls. We also think that’s the reason they’ve switched to gathering intel to focus on the delivery systems.”

  “Well,” said Jean, still a little unsure if her side project had escaped attention, “I can tell you that as far as the delivery system goes, there is only the preliminary data that supports an overview of possible areas to look at. There’s nothing of any real value yet. We’re still a ways off from attacking that area.”

  Guy nodded. His calmness suggested to her that he’d had time to come to terms with the situation, but even that didn’t ease her nerves. “Yes, and that is a godsend, but as far as their fusion program is concerned, we’ll never know how much of a boost the data they’ve already been passed will give them simply because we don’t know how far they are with their own research.”

  “Who is the source and who exactly are they?” asked Jean, her contempt showing.

  Oliver finally sat down and pulled a personnel file from his briefcase. “The leak is from your Dr. Sandra Teller, or should I say Dr. Sandra Kahn.”

  “What!” exclaimed Jean, flabbergasted at hearing the name. She moved to a chair and sat down, her eyes wide open she stared at Oliver as if the wind had been knocked from her.

  Oliver paused for a moment while she settled. “It would seem that Teller is her maiden name, Kahn being that of her estranged husband. That by itself would not have been an issue had it not been for the fact that she and Mr. Kahn are not as estranged as we were led to believe.

  “I’ve had my people following them for the last three months, ever since we identified who the leak was. They have been meeting on a regular basis. Our investigation team discovered that Mr. Kahn was previously married to an Amrita Varma, daughter of the controversial wealthy Indian industrialist, Manish Varma, who owns the world’s eighth largest cryo manufacturing facility, based in India.”

  Jean was totally lost for words. “Sandy is involved with my right-hand man, Dr. Daniel Piero,” she said quietly, as her mind raced.

  “We’re well aware of that, Jean,” continued Oliver. “Daniel has been under constant, close observation the whole time. Luckily for us, he is very professional and conscientious and has never passed or spoken about anything remotely sensitive, so he’s in the clear.”

  Jean realized just how thorough these guys were. It was obvious they had bugged Daniel’s phones and apartment. “So what happens now?” asked Jean.

  Oliver leaned forward adopting a serious expression. “The FBI picked up Kahn and Dr. Teller this morning as they met in a sting operation. She had data with her. Kahn’s home was raided and a quantity of computers, PDIs, laptops, files, and memory sticks were seized. Dr. Teller’s apartment was also cleared as was her desk at ACR. This all took place in the very early hours of the morning.”

  “I can testify to that,” said Guy. “I’ve been up since 3 a.m. working with security to remove Dr. Teller’s desk.”

  “You mean you took the whole desk?” asked Jean.

  “There’s still a question as to how she physically managed it, so everything was just scooped up lock, stock, and barrel to be forensically examined. One minute it was there, next minute it was gone. They were in and out in a flash.”

  Jean was glad she asked. She had started to worry about the stasis pod being discovered. She also knew that Daniel would have been overly mindful to be seen by all to be professional and “by the book” because of it and what they were doing, so she knew she could trust him not to have passed any information. Given that security was in and out so quickly meant that their little secret was safe for now.

  “There’ll be questions for you from your staff when you go to your lab,” said Oliver. “So you’ll have to handle that carefully. It’s not to be a secret, far from it. We want to use this as a reminder to everyone just how seriously Omni takes this type of thing.”

  “Also,” added Guy, “you’re going to have to tell Daniel. He doesn’t know yet.”

  Professor Stanton lowered his head a little to look over the top of his glasses. “The fallout from this is that there is to be a marked increase in security at both facilities. This will cover internal access and data and will also include ongoing, extended vetting for all members of staff.”

  Oliver gave a half-smile. “I wouldn’t worry too much on that front. The few changes that are visible will be obvious and are changes that should really be expected given the circumstances, such as biometrically chipped identity swipe cards for access to any terminals or rooms, etc. Most of the changes will be to how data is moved or stored.”

  “Well then,” said Guy, “if we’re all done here, I need to get back to ACR.”

  “I’ll join you,” said Jean. “I’ve got to tell Daniel his date is going to be late tonight—twenty-five years late!”

  They left Professor Stanton and Oliver to chew over war stories and headed back over to ACR.

  ***

  Daniel was already waiting for Jean in the carpark as she pulled in. He looked extremely worried and wanted to find out what was going on before she went to the lab. He’d learned of Jean’s impromptu meeting after checking her electronic diary and seeing Sandy’s desk had been removed. He was understandably concerned and confused. The wild speculation from the others in the lab didn’t help.

  Jean didn’t turn off her car but instead rolled down her window.

  “What on earth is going on, Jean? Sandy’s desk is gone.”

  “I know, Daniel. Jump in. I’ll explain everything.”

  A
n hour later, they walked into the lab. The noise level instantly dropped to zero, and all eyes were focused on Jean. Everybody wanted answers.

  Jean relayed the shocking news to the stunned team. Nobody asked any questions. They just listened.

  When Jean had finished, they silently resumed their work. The quietness in the lab told Jean that all of the scientists felt betrayed and frightened by what they had just heard, none more so than Jean herself.

  Her concern for Daniel showed as she looked over at him, tight in his desk, his back to everyone. His hunched shoulders couldn’t hide his overwhelming sadness. She felt her eyes well up as she thought, poor man, he doesn’t deserve this. It was a day they would always remember for the wrong reasons.

  ***

  In less than a month, all of the new security protocols were in place and life in the labs had once again settled down.

  Jean had discussed the stasis pod situation on many occasions and at great length with her close team as they searched for the best and safest way to proceed after what had recently happened. They had all decided that the time was right to come clean with Guy and Omni about their substantial progress.

  She knew that even with Omni’s incredible revenues, what a significant boost the development of a viable stasis pod represented to them. It was scheduled as a future program that was to be their cherry on the cake, reserved for when the technology was developed to make it possible. It was the aim of all the world’s leading companies and their competitors. Her advancements had leapfrogged all current development by twenty years at least, and right now, with their wounds still unhealed from the Teller breach, she was sure her news would be received well by the Omni board.

  She was visibly relieved that she could address her growing guilt, as were they all. She booked her flight to DC.

  No one ever spoke of the Teller incident again.

  Chapter Twelve

  Carlton was lying in his bed fully awake. He’d been awoken by the loud birdsong drifting in through the open windows of his sizeable attic bedroom, which covered the entire top of the house.

  Today was a special day, one that he’d been looking forward to. It was the day he would be joining the middle school students. At nine years of age, he was considered to be at least three years ahead of the other children in his class, and it was apparent to his teachers that, academically, he was ready for a more intense curriculum.

  Carlton had already breezed through anything third and fourth grade could offer, so when he was given the fifth-grade middle school exam, it was no surprise that he finished ahead of everyone else with a perfect score. David and Jean were, of course, elated and often referred to his “good genes” as the reason.

  It was still just before dawn, too early for school, so Carlton decided to get up and shower. He was normally the first up and would usually be the one to prepare breakfast for the family as one of his jobs.

  Carlton had always been given a generous allowance, which David and Jean justified by setting him a list of things to do each week, such as clearing the lawn, taking out the garbage, and cleaning the cars, which Carlton dutifully carried out. In addition, on most days, Carlton would join his parents in their labs after school for his “lab jobs.”

  Being senior management, David and Jean had been able to work it so that Carlton would spend alternate days with them carrying out little jobs and tasks around their labs. It was something that Carlton always looked forward to and would waste no time in cycling over after school had finished.

  Monday was the only day he wasn’t at the labs, as that was the day that most of the meetings took place, so Carlton would race home and rattle through his other jobs as quickly as possible so that he could carry on with his favorite hobby.

  By the time Carlton had finished preparing the breakfast things, dawn was just breaking. It would be at least forty-five minutes before his parents would stir, so he decided to work on the latest addition to his collection. Carlton usually spent most of his allowance on his hobby, which was collecting as many different metals as he could. He would carefully mount them in small, clear, Perspex display boxes and attach a descriptive label once he had worked out what they were. They would then be added to a display cabinet that his mom had got him from the ACR labs.

  Carlton was very organized. His room, which was adorned with hanging spaceships and rockets, was always immaculately tidy. That is, with the exception of the far end, where a countertop had been fitted so that he could work on his hobby. Carlton liked to refer to that part of his room as his lab and would spend much of his time there. It was, however, always strewn with tools, tabletop racks of screws, pins, pieces of wire, and odd bits of half dissected mechanical components that Carlton had collected on one of his many rummaging raids.

  Eventually, Jean had to ask David to see if his guys at the farm could knock up some screens that could hide the mess, which he did, and with a little rearranging, Jean and David created a proper little laboratory-themed workspace for their son so that the mess wasn’t in their faces every time they walked into his room.

  Carlton had decided he wanted to collect metals after his dad gave him a small, shiny, nickel ingot that had been left over from his work. Carlton liked it so much that he continually pestered his dad for more. So every three or four weeks, as David came across them, a new little ingot was given to him, and his collection began to grow.

  Carlton’s latest find was an odd piece of tungsten that he would have to file into shape. That would be noisy, so he decided to clean it up instead, and he set about gently wire brushing the piece in his loft lab.

  Jean and David had made their way down to breakfast by the time Carlton had finished his wire brushing. He’d managed to cover himself in grey dust, so he had to hurriedly clean up and change again before rushing down to join them.

  “Working on your collection?” asked David as Carlton entered the kitchen.

  “Yup,” replied Carlton eagerly. “I’ve found this really neat piece of tungsten. I think it’s from an old engine or something.”

  “I thought you already had tungsten,” said Jean.

  “Mo-om,” said Carlton, as if she knew nothing. “That was a piece of tungsten-nickel-iron alloy!”

  “Well, I knew it had tungsten in there somewhere,” said Jean with a slight smirk.

  David was silently admiring his son’s growing expertise with his hobby. Carlton’s interest in his own field of metallurgy had become more obvious after he had started his regular visits to David’s lab twice a week to do his jobs.

  Carlton was fascinated with all of the machinery and the sheer scale of everything. To Carlton, David’s lab was a very exciting place.

  “You’ll probably find that a little tough to work with,” said David. “It’s a very strong metal.”

  “I’ve already cleaned it up, Dad. I was going to shape it with the diamond file after school.”

  “See how you get on,” said David. “If it’s too hard, then bring it with you tomorrow, and we’ll see what we can do.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” beamed Carlton, helping himself to some orange juice.

  “Looking forward to your new class today?” asked Jean.

  “Sure am, Mom. It’s physics all day, and I’ll get to find out what my science project is for the year.”

  “Wow,” said David, shooting Jean a quick glance, “that sounds very cool.”

  The school had been in close contact with them during the last year, discussing their plans to guide and promote Carlton’s natural and considerable abilities in the sciences. The feedback from David and Jean confirmed to them in which direction his talents were heading.

  Carlton’s early curriculum would be heavily loaded toward physics, math, chemistry, technical drawing, and engineering sciences.

  They both already knew what Carlton’s science project was going to be, to design and build a remotely operated flying apparatus that could lift a one-pound weight to a height of fifteen feet and hold it there for twenty sec
onds before moving to another position and lowering it safely back to the ground, releasing it, and moving away.

  “We had better get moving,” said Jean as she cleared the table. “Can’t have you being late on your first day.”

  Carlton leaped up and ran upstairs two at a time to collect his school bag.

  “He’s going to be a real star, isn’t he?” said Jean thoughtfully.

  “I never doubted it for one moment. He’s going to outshine us both.”

  They both welled up with pride.

  ***

  After dropping Carlton off and watching him join his friends, Jean went straight to her lab, which had just finished being enlarged for the fourth time. Her growing empire could now internally segment into the three main areas of her project.

  The phase two testing now used the least space and was about a third of the original lab’s size. Stasis pod development had the remaining two thirds, and construction of an entire full-length extension was home to systems integration, backup, and delivery.

  As she walked to her desk, she proudly looked around and smiled. The development of the stasis pods had skyrocketed since she’d plucked up the courage to come clean and tell the board of her progress, and now, five years later, she was almost ready to unveil the first viable units.

  With the additional resources and her strong team, she had solved the problem surrounding the delivery system, which was perfected during the first two years. It was now possible for a subject to enter a stasis pod and within thirty seconds fall into a deep cryo sleep without the need for anything other than body monitors having to be attached.

  At the time, she was never really sure if her team had fully understood why she had pushed them so hard, but when their work paid off and full cryogenic stasis was reached within four minutes, and could remain there indefinitely with full re-initialization reduced to between three and six hours, they’d all felt as happy as she had. Even with the headaches caused by the system’s integration setbacks, they still found a way to mate everything together despite one issue after another.