3:20 hours
Mike was having an off day. Not only
was he convinced that his partner was holding a secret from him, but his girl
friend had rejected his marriage proposal. It was hard for him to cope up with.
He could not understand where he had gone wrong. He had rehearsed everything a
dozen times before the moment. But she laughed it off and told him to try
better when he grew up and mentioned she would gladly wait all her life for him
to become more than just an intellectual. He could not go back to the apartment
and face her. He decided to pay the nearest bar a visit. He would ponder over
something pleasant there. He found it frustrating. He was a nerd and every one
of his dates had been nice enough to point out he was good only at stuff which
pertained to the use of his intelligence and that his romantic quotient was
close to zero.
But Anne Scharner was unusual. He tried to
attribute her being different to her English descent, but it was mostly her
accent that gave him the, you know... She was a brilliant student of physics
who was independent and had a strong head. She was once a student of Glazer and
had befriended Van Guerin there. She was the one who had introduced him to the
maniacal scientist.
He still vividly remembered their first
meeting. It was nothing like what would be expected when two guys who were
enormously talented in their respective fields met. Initially, Mike thought
that Van Guerin was nothing more than a power hungry, attention seeking man
whose actions were too outrageous to be justified even by his brilliance. The
aim of his experiment was nothing short of ultimate optimism.
How could one imagine creating the
ultimate gift that humans possessed? It was akin to playing God, only that his
friend did not believe in anything that lacked a scientific backing. After many
hours of discussion, it was Van Guerin convinced Mike. Besides, Mike wanted a
new challenge. He had studied the human brain for almost a decade. It was a
fascinating thing to say the least. It was one of the few things that eluded a
complete description, mainly because of inability to reproduce experiments in
lesser organisms, whose brains were a lot less complicated.
Should their quest succeed, he would always
have a big share of his limelight. More than the fame, he would be able to do a
far more detailed study on the organ. That would unravel several mysteries
surrounding the seat of intelligence. They decided to put their dreams to test
in the real world.
They needed a private lab. Van Guerin
was able to come with the money needed, miraculously. Mike put in his share.
They had sufficient funds from a few other sources. One of the biggest
contributors was an agency which monitored pollution.
Finally they had the architectural plan. The
next issue was the security. Van Guerin wanted the retinal scanner; Mike was
against it on account of cost. Mike wanted the money to be spent on the
procedure rather than on the preparation of the lab. No rational argument
worked. All Van Guerin wanted was facts. Then Mike was able to convince Van
Guerin. Cataract and Astigmatism came to Mike’s rescue. The relative simplicity
of finger print detection failed to impress Van Guerin.
They then decided to use their left
hand and complicate things for the intruders by making the identification pad
resemble the right hand. But then, the two men shared the common bane of
forgetfulness and often set up the alarm bringing cops to their lab which
sealed itself. Then they made a change. Even the wrong hand opened the door.
But then van Guerin took safety
seriously. They connected their security device with their impressive
device-the biosynthetic brain. As long as the brain was coupled to the security
system, there was no issue of left and right. They then added an additional
feature that was so serious that Mike was reluctant to agree. But this time Van
Guerin had his say on security issues. Two wrong entries with either of their
right hands without the ‘brain’ inside the lab meant that the lab would self
destruct in less than 60 seconds. Van Guerin justified its use telling that
once their project was over, they had to destroy the lab to prevent imitations.
Mike agreed, but with apprehensions.
Then they had to design their dream.
They decided that the model would draw energy from a canister. Their ‘Brain’
would be a 2 way device-one which could absorb energy from the chamber and
store excess in the canister, while at the same time using the conserved energy
when needed. The chamber was well aerated to prevent overheating. It had
several vents which would serve as sources of an infinitesimal amount of energy
obtained from the roads of New York. The exhaust from vehicles was converted
into energy. The exhausts found their way into the lab just to serve as sources
for another experiment which had earned them $100,000 from the pollution
control group. Van Guerin made use of the exhausts for experiments to give
their fund provider data. He also used it to their advantage as an energy
source. They had a vision and that worked perfectly in paper.
Their work started promisingly. But
they enjoyed success only in theory. They were unable to find a source of
energy that could sustain their model for long periods. That was Van Guerin’s
side of the issue. The intrinsic nuances of the biologic nature of their
prototype looked sound, again in papers. To see if it worked, they needed an
enormous amount of energy. They could not find it. And they were convinced they
would face more than uncomfortable questions if they sought help from the
Federal Government. But they continued looking to resolve the issue.
Something inside kept telling him that
the issue had been sorted out and that was exactly why he had been asked to
take his day off.
But that was the start, for the day
would be so full of staggering questions and startling revelations.
***
3:25 hours
Van Guerin had never relished someone’s
company before he met Agnew. Their friendship was hardly one day old he had
developed a liking for the old man. He was sure the feeling was mutual as it
was evident. After discussing the possibilities of the A.I project’s success,
they discussed a lot of stuff before Van Guerin bid good-bye. The butler was
asked to drive Van Guerin back home.
Immediately after the two men left,
Agnew let his thought process take reins. He was the luckiest man alive. He
would now place the most important call of his life. Norman Landau was a well
known billionaire who invested in science projects. Apart from that, the man
had a reputation for extreme stinginess. He would love the concept of
artificial intelligence, though not in the direct sense. It was not the A.I
aspect which interested Agnew more.
It was the stuff in the canister and of course
the ability of the device to produce impulses-just like a human brain-with the
advantage that it could be manipulated. If only Van Guerin was more sensible.
His device was far more powerful than he thought. The young man seemed to
believe that he could perfect his project before he announced its success. That
meant Agnew would have to wait to let the world know that Higgs particle was
indeed an existing entity as was extra terrestrial intelligence. Agnew could
not wait to take credit for solving the issue of Bosons, of helping overcome
energy crisis, of proving the success of SETI…
All the calculations Agnew had done
would be lost in the sands of time unless van Guerin relented. Something had to
be done. The kid might not succeed. Too bad he had the same rotten habit his tutor
had. Still a question needed answering. Pure Cobalt... That seemed a bit too
much even for Agnew to come to terms with. Was it truly an extra terrestrial
event? He never thought the space ships had an exhaust pipe. By the look of
things, his assumption appeared erroneous. He knew, as a fact, that several
labs were constantly measuring levels of elements in Free State and such a
sudden surge in pure Cobalt’s level would have gained instant recognition. That
meant another man had to be told about this issue. Walter Emanuel worked for
Area 51.
Emanuel was a tough nut and instilling
fear in his mind was necessary, for, it was trepidation that would get answers
easily, as lying in a state of apprehension was tricky. There had to be bait.
He weighed the available options. Just then an interesting thought occurred to
him. Emanuel owned 40% stakes in a petrochemical company. He had once told
Agnew that most of his funds were drawn from his shares and that they were all
he had.
An evil smile lit up Agnew’s face.
***
Same time, elsewhere
There
was very little time for him. He was sure that they would have
noticed his escape despite the precautions and unless he was wrong, they were already on his trail. It was a difficult assignment. Locating his target was a difficult job. But he knew there was someone here whom he could trust .He had run the scan and his
comrade’s place was not far off. He
could walk but he had to save time.
It seemed ironical and he could not
help but grin.
He
pitied everyone around. They were hustling without being aware of the fact that
OMEGA’s return was just days away.
He
took a taxi. It was painfully too slow for him.
It seemed ages before he got to the
desired location. The cab driver kept talking irrelevant stuff. It was about
the man who owned the building they were visiting. He said how the owner
remained ‘invisible’. The driver also wondered aloud why the man kept a low
profile and even joked wondering if it had something to do with a wife wanting
divorce.
The
driver would shut his mouth for good soon. The taxi guy wanted a bit more than
what he deserved. He got it-a bullet straight through the brain. Then he looked at the building. It was a
well built place. He dumped the
driver in the car’s trunk. With one last look at the car, he left to meet his
ally.
***
3:30 hours
The bar was crowded and he recognized
none. He hardly drank. He got here in first place merely because he could not
get back to the lab in this state of mind and this place was just a few minutes
from their Lab. Random wandering had gotten him there. The barman looked
genuinely shocked to see the neatly dressed man in the dirty bar.
“I’ll have Château Margaux”
“We do not serve that”
It was obvious that the man had never
heard of such a thing before.
“Then get me your best drink.”
“It is Sauza
Hornitos. It will cost you 120. You pay 100 in advance”
It was clear that the barman was
cheating him. It was neither the time nor the place to get into an argument. He
was not very rich, but then his funds were sufficient to afford things that a
lot could only dream of. That was one of the few issues that earned him Van
Guerin’s envy.
Van Guerin always used any chance that
presented itself to comment on the doctor’s apparent riches compared to his
‘rags’ despite the fact that both were equally blessed intellectually. Van
Guerin often blamed wrong choices and cursed his mentor for not letting him
take a step further that would have made him rich.
It was far too obvious that Van
Guerin’s spite stemmed from the fact that Mike had everything that Van Guerin
wanted-a gorgeous girl friend who shared a beautiful apartment with Mike a high
security vault in The Bank of America-an ideal life, Van Guerin said. But
occasionally, Van Guerin mentioned his inability to enjoy life as he would have
liked it.
A beautiful girl occupied the seat next
to him as he was almost done with his drink. She looked even more out of place
than he did. She was dressed in red and had an air of assurance around her.
Mike initially thought she was from some secret agency. She smiled at him. Mike
returned it reluctantly. She then spoke in a barely audible whisper.
“Michael Wellesley, I need your help.
Now…”
***
No comments:
Post a Comment