I Computer part 2

In a knee-jerk reaction to rejection, a brilliant scientist starts a chain reaction that will eliminate all of mankind. His self-preservational instincts lead him to an ungodly solution.

 

I Computer

Part 2

 

 I made hurried preparations and two days later, I boarded a plane to Switzerland. I had found a psychosurgeon about thirty kilometers from the Ultimate Games lab. They were in the same town as a large state of the art internet provider who recently had all their main frames reformatted and its data replaced with information that they couldn’t access or delete. They didn’t know the correct sequence to get them booted up. That honor belonged to me.

   Arriving in Switzerland, I immediately got started with my task. There was a lot to accomplish in a short time. I had the cab driver at the airport take me to the red light district. I knew an area like that would best suit my needs.

   I checked into a sleazy hotel and opened the phone book. I needed to find the right attire to blend in with my surroundings. I wouldn’t be able to find what I needed standing out like a sore thumb in a suit. I found a thrift store nearby and set out on foot.

   The shop was tucked away down a narrow, littered alleyway. I found and purchased a worn pair of blue jeans, a t-shirt with “people are jerks” printed across the front, and searched for a jacket with an inside pocket. I found a tattered denim jacket.

   My next stop was an ATM. I stopped a hundred feet from it and readied my palm top computer and it’s peripheral. When the machine was unattended I inserted the card attached to my palm top and it began its hack. In no more than 45 seconds the machine began to spit out enough money for the next few steps in my task. 

   On my way back to my rented room I stopped in a liquor store and bought a bottle of cheap whisky and a pack of cigarettes. Back in my room I booted up my lap top and began researching solar power applications.

   As it neared the time I felt would be most productive to start my search, I readied myself. I put on the outfit I acquired from the thrift shop, noticing that I had neglected to buy appropriate footwear. I made a mental note to be more thorough. I can’t afford to make anymore stupid mistakes. I awkwardly lit a cigarette and puffed it blowing the smoke onto my clothes. The taste was awful and on more than one occasion found myself in a coughing fit. I opened the whiskey bottle and stood near the sink. I took a mouthful, swished it around and spat it into the sink. Then I dabbed some on as a caustic cologne.

   At precisely nine P.M. I left my room and headed down the creaky steps. There was a prostitute standing just inside the door. The clerk behind the counter ignored her as he watched a small black and white TV oblivious to everything but it. As I passed her, she smiled and pulled her blouse open slightly, exposing her breast. I shook my head no and continued outside.

   As I walked down the sidewalk it took a great effort to get her out of my mind. I’ve never had time to waste pursing the desires of my libido, but I still had one. Being a scientist can be a lonely way of life.

   I was looking down alleyways that I had scouted earlier. I had seen some large cardboard boxes that had legs with grubby boots protruding from them. As I checked the alleys, I found an outcast “at home.” He was sitting just inside his box and sneered at me as I approached. “What the hell do you want? This is my space, keep moving.” I pulled out the nearly full whiskey bottle and showed it to him.

   “I just need some information.”

   “I don’t talk to cops.”

   “I’m not a cop; I’m just interested in making a purchase.” He sat there a moment alternating between eying me suspiciously and eyeing the bottle in my hand. His addiction got the better of him.

   “What do you want to buy?”

   He led me three blocks away and stopped a hundred feet away from a car that was parked under a broken street light. There were two figures next to the car obscured by the darkness. “There, ask them. Give me the bottle.” He snatched the bottle and was drinking from it before he was five steps away.

   As I approached the car, one of the men met me still thirty feet from it. He patted me down without a word. He pulled out my wallet, looked in it, and then shoved it into my hand. He pulled one side of his jacket open showing me his automatic weapon. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

   I approached the car where the other menace was now leaning against the trunk. “What can I help you with?” He said with a thick Swedish accent. It seemed surreal that he was using a shop keepers tone in such a flagrant enterprise.

   “I need a small weapon for protection.”

He laughed at me. “Ya, sure. Protection.” He reached back and lifted the trunk lid as he turned around. He reached in and pulled out a thick, short revolver. “I don’t have any small weapons for protection. But you can have this for five hundred.” I had no idea of how much something like that would cost, but assumed I should try to haggle.

   “Too much, four.” He cocked the gun and pointed it at my head.

   “This is a fine weapon. Would you like to see how well it works?”

   “Five hundred it is.” I said with a shaky voice.

   I handed over the money and he put it in his inside pocket. I stood there looking at the gun for a moment, and then asked him, “How many bullets does this have?” He seemed to freeze for just a moment, and then folded his arms. He looked me up and down, pausing when he saw my shoes.

   “I think that it is time you leave.” He said sneering at me.

   I headed back to my room, still shaking. I knew how to use a gun from my brief stint in the ROTC. Although I had never had a weapon pointed at me by someone so obviously prepared to use it.

    The next morning I turned on the TV news. North America was in a panic. They were calling it a viral mutation. This told me that they had figured some of it out. I could assume they knew more than they were letting on. I knew I would have to complete my task as soon as possible. They would be looking for me soon. I quickly got ready for the next step in my task and headed out into the cold morning.

   I went to a business that I had found on the internet before I had left America. The company specialized in all things eco-friendly. Fragile Planet Industries was situated in the same district as the Ultimate Games labs were. The games development facilities were above their manufacturing plant in the industrial sector. I went in to Fragile Planet to inquire how many and what type of solar panels they had. I also need further information on large installations of the panels. As I waited for the receptionist to return with a salesman, I helped myself to her P.C. I figured the I.P. address would come in handy.

   Once I had all the information I needed, I headed out to the suburbs. I gave the Taxi driver the address of the residence of Peter and Ann Marconivitch.

   Their house was not extravagant, but somewhat upscale. Nicely decorated and smelled a lot nicer than mine. I don’t give much time to housework. There was a portrait of the pair above the mantel piece. I stood looking at her, wondering what her voice was like, what she smelled like, what it would be like to have someone like that as my partner. I wondered if he knew how lucky he was.

   While I waited for them to return home I searched their P.C. for something that would give me an edge. Perhaps I could find some dirt on them to blackmail them with. They were going to need some sort of motivation to do what I needed them to do. There was nothing. I would have to do it the hard way.

   Around seven-thirty I heard the garage door opener running. I had a quick look around the down stairs to make sure it looked untouched, and then ran up the stairs. I heard their voices as they walked into the house. She had a lovely voice. He told her he was heading upstairs to shower. I heard her turn on the news as he reached the top of the steps.

   He froze when he saw me. I was pointing my gun straight at him. “Good evening Peter. Now if you’ll kindly put your hands behind your head and make your way slowly down the stairs, I won’t have to shoot you.” As we got near the bottom of the stairs she was standing there with a look of disbelief. She had heard me talking to him and didn’t have enough of her wits about her to flee the house. Yes the pathetic human mind, handicapped with emotion.

   I had them both sit across from me in the living room in my direct sight while I explained what I needed them to do. They seemed just as confused as they were shocked. I had only given them enough information to get started, not enough for them to be able to make any sense of my motivation.

   The only thing they could assume at this point was that I wanted to steal their development. I tossed Peter a ten gig flash drive. “Go to the games lab and bring me back every bit of information and research on your project, notes and all. I want everything you have.” He sat there looking uneasy and stammered a bit as he replied.

“You can’t just... just take something like that. Our research is well known, what could you possibly achieve by stealing it at gunpoint?” I ignored his ignorant question.

   “Return here with it and I will be in touch with you.” He hesitated as he started to stand, looking at his wife with confusion still in his eyes. I cleared things up for him. “She’ll be coming with me.”

   “Where are you taking her!”

   “Mind your temper Peter. Yours is to do what I ask, not to ask of me.” I looked at Ann as I continued. “Mr. Marconivitch, you have a beautiful wife. I wonder what it would be like to pleasure myself with her.” I looked back to him and completed my instructions with a forceful tone. “Return here, by yourself, within the hour and I won’t need to find out.” I was bluffing. I would never force myself on someone with such a beautiful mind. With such grace and elegance. I stood from my chair and motioned with my gun for her to follow him.

   Peter grabbed his keys from the hook on the kitchen wall and headed out the door to the attached garage. “Peter.” He turned and saw me standing behind his wife, one arm reaching up in front of her, hand on her throat. “Do a thorough job.” I paused a moment, then continued as my hand tightened. “And don’t let me down.”

   I stood alone with her in the kitchen. She was sobbing and frightened. I wanted to tell her that I would never hurt her, but I couldn’t. I needed her to fear me. “Mrs. Marconivitch, I need you to get your car keys and your cell phone. We’re going to take a little drive.”

   When we arrived at the hotel I had her park two blocks down and around the corner. There were a number of hotels in the area and this would help if anyone came looking. We walked arm and arm, her with a gun in her ribs. She smelled wonderful.

   I sat a chair in the middle of the room, put her in it and tied her ankles to it. This would keep her still without disgracing her unnecessarily. I turned on the TV and flipped around for any information about the virus. As I watched one report I slipped. A foolish scientist was proposing that he had developed a vaccine that could be sprayed over the infected areas. The spread of the virus would slow and eventually start to dissipate. I was tired and I snapped. “Moron! The growth rate could be charted by a child, it’s self-perpetuating. You can’t spray for something that’s attacking on an atomic level. There is no vaccine that could stop something so brilliantly engineered.” I snapped the TV off and spun around off the bed. Then froze.

   She was staring at me. Not in fear this time. It was more of a calculating look. She was trying to figure me out. She knew I wasn’t an Industrial spy. This was not good. You can’t fight an enemy you know nothing about and I had just started her wheels turning.

 Thirty minutes later I used her phone to call her home. Her husband answered with a shaky voice. “All right I’ve got it. Now bring her back!”

   “You don’t make demands of me!” I screamed into the phone.

   I closed my eyes and calmed myself, then gave him instructions. “Drive to the old section of downtown. Take Eastern Ave to 4^th and park on the side street. Continue on foot to 1247 and meet me there with the drive. Come alone and tell no one. I’m sure you understand the consequences of deceiving me.”

   “I’ll be there in twenty minutes just don’t hur…” I hung up on him.

   I changed into my “street clothes” and tied her arms behind her in the chair. “If you scream while I’m gone, I’ll shoot your husband before he even gets out of his car.”

   I stood slumped against the wall outside the hotel to await Peter. I had given him an address one block further south, just in case he was stupid enough to call the police. It was late and the streets were empty. I saw his headlights turn left two blocks away, and soon he appeared walking with purpose in his step down the sidewalk. He checked the addresses of the buildings as he went and didn’t seem to take much notice of me up ahead. As he was a few steps away, I spoke to him. “Have you got the drive Peter?” He jumped.

   “Yes, but I want to see her first.”

   I sighed. “Again with the bravado. Go in.” I motioned to the door of the filthy hotel. “Head straight up the stairs.”

   He fell to his knees in front of her as soon as he entered the room. “Are you O.K.?” He asked, with tears welling up in his eyes. This was getting tiresome. She was holding together better than him. I had him tie their ankles together on the bed and handed them some pills to take. “Don’t make me get the gun.” I said frustrated as they hesitated before taking them.

   “It’s alright.” She reassured him after inspecting the pills. “We’ll just sleep awhile.”

   With them quiet I could get some work done. I stuck the flash drive in my lap top and began to sort out all the new information.

   As the sun came up I was still busy and I needed her help. I surmised that the benefit of her assistance would out way the negative effect of her knowing more of my objective.

   They stirred an hour later. After he had tied her to the bed, I sent him out for food. She was on her back and as he looked back from the open door, I repeated my creatinus threat from my seat across the room. “She does look inviting there, vulnerable, yet somehow willing.” I looked at him with a wry smile that then turned to intimidation. “Return soon, and alone.”

   He looked exhausted. I felt he could be trusted not to do something stupid. As he closed the door behind himself, I turned to her.

   “What do you know about Dr. H McAlister?” I asked her.

   “He’s a brilliant psychosurgeon. Do you need help?” She was prying.

   “Is he an associate of yours?”

   “No, but I’ve met him before. I’m sure he could help with whatever condi…”

   “Stop it! I’m not a fool! I’m not to be analyzed by you! I’m in control here; you will listen and answer only!” I took a few breaths then started again. “You studied together and worked at the same research hospital for awhile. It seems like you would know more about him than that. I’ve studied you. I’ve been on your home P.C. You’ll gain nothing by trying to lie to me.”

   Her tone changed. “He works outside the city. He has consulting rooms attached to his house. He rarely operates himself anymore. He’s had some malpractice suits. They weren’t justified. Sometimes psychosurgery just can’t help. He tries anyway. He’s a good man.”

   “He cheats on his wife.” I was making an assumption. He had been divorced twice and had married again recently.

 “They cheated on him first.” She responded, with a tone of someone defending a friend. She knew him better than she was letting on. She had also just confirmed my assumption.

   After Peter returned we all ate. I changed back into my suit and drugged them again. I needed to pay a visit to my newly rented space.

   I had rented the top two floors in the same complex where Dynamic Internet Services Inc was housed. I had no need for two whole floors, but that was the only way I could get use of the roof as well. It was large enough to accept over a hundred solar panels.

   As I waited for the elevator in the lobby, I heard two men next to me suggesting possible means of getting their servers back on line. I guess they were having problems accessing the hard drives. It seems every time they try to boot the servers they crash. Pity they’re wasting their time when they have so little of it left.

   I traveled to the top floor and took the staircase to the roof. The crew was doing rather well. I approached the foreman and asked him how the progress was going. “We should have this part of the installation done by the end of the week. We’ll start assembling the battery cases tomorrow.”

   “Make sure they all fit on one floor.”

   “No problem.”

   “How about the security cameras, are they being installed?”

   “We subbed that part of the job out. They’re starting on Friday.”

 On my way back to the hotel I listened to the radio in the car. The virus had spread well into South America and jumped the Florida Keys landing in Cuba. The whole world was now feeling threatened. Their fears were justified.

   Once back at the hotel I packed up everything and waited for the pair to regain consciousness. Once they did we were soon on our way to the country residence of Dr. McAlister. We arrived an hour later. I walked behind the pair to the front door. My gun nestled into the graceful curve of the small of Ann’s back.

   It didn’t take long to secure the four of them. Mrs. McAlister and Peter were tied securely to chairs in the dinning room; I had no use for them. The other two led the way to the consulting rooms. I had them up against one wall as I looked around the place. “Have you got a sterile room here?” I asked the surgeon.

   “It hasn’t been used in years.”

   “We’ll need to get it cleaned up. You’ve got some surgery to do.”

   “It’s not a surgical room. It’s only been used for small procedures in the past.”

   “It’ll have to do.”

   “Just what do you expect of me?” He asked. I began to explain. I went through in the best detail I could, with what knowledge I had gained.

   “Ann has already detailed the parts of the brain that need to be wired. You Doctor, are merely the electrician.”

   The surgeon was looking at me with a concerned curiosity. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with me, thinking I had a mental problem. He thought he had put the pieces together and assumed I was a deranged gamer. He tried in vain to stop me.

   “Do you realize the absurdity of this idea? Ann and Peter have made great progress towards an interface that wouldn’t require the extreme measures you’re proposing.”

   “There isn’t time you simpleton! Have you no idea of what’s going on? It won’t stop!” I bit my bottom lip as I waited for my rage to subside. “You’ll drive into the city and collect the things you need. Please don’t be foolish enough to do anything but what I have asked. I have nothing to loose and I have both of your loved ones. I’d hate to have to kill them.”

   After they left, I sat wearily in the procedure room trying to keep my thoughts in order. I hadn’t slept in days and wasn’t planning to sleep during the operation. I needed to eat. The events of the last few weeks were had been taking a toll on my weak body. My pathetic human form. I grabbed something from the kitchen and sat down at the doctor’s computer to do some research and provide myself with some security. When I finished, I changed the password.

   Two hours later, the two doctors returned and began converting the day procedure room into a surgery. They worked well into the night. Afterward, I allowed the doctor to sleep. This would be the first of this type of an implant in all of history. He needed to have his wits about him.

   In the morning I had a talk with Dr. McAlister in private. I told him that I knew of his offshore investments and his kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies. I told him I knew of his infidelities and had told all in a few “self-confessing” e-mails that were awaiting a pre-scheduled delivery date. When our conversation finished, he understood the consequences of failure. He knew I was not to be taken advantage of while he held the top of my skull in his hands.

   I reasoned two things could happen at this point. They could realize their eminent doom, and ignore my threats. They would kill me on the table. Or they could suffer from their own human frailties. Let fear conquer logic, and convince themselves that there was still hope.

   It seemed that the latter was in place. The surgeon was nervous as he prepared. He was being very cautious and professional. These were not the actions of a man who had given up on his own mortality.

   The surgery lasted ten hours. It was strange looking into the monitor and seeing my brain. I somehow thought it would look different than everyone else’s. Once complete, I had 26 strategically placed wires protruding from my skull. I lapsed into unconsciousness from the combination of the pain killers and exhaustion.

   When I awoke, I concentrated on appearing outwardly calm. I was in fact, feeling paranoid. I was sure they had deceived me. That soon the Swedish police would be at the door. I had to get out of there.

   That evening I let paranoia get the better of me. I got Peter and Ann in the car. They were to come with me to the top two floors of the Randolph building. Ann would continue to nurse me and Peter would have the remedial skills to complete the work I needed done there. As an afterthought, before we left, I killed the others. There was no need to leave loose ends. I was surprised how easy it was.

  

End Part 2

 

 

 

Reviews

[mirui]

This was a great part, and I liked the humor it had in it.