Chapter Forty-Six: Not All is Within Our Control

Deep underground, behind countless barriers, biometric scanners and surveillance equipment lies a lab that few people know about. The lab houses equipment rarely seen outside of government agencies, and even in the government it is housed only at top secret sites such as Groom Lake, Nevada. More important than the equipment itself are the minds that created the machines. Minds that work with an almost supernatural force. In fact, some say that what they do could not be accomplished without metaphysical assistance.

It was in this Mind-Tech lab that Harold now found himself. The room was air-conditioned and temperature-controlled to keep the systems running exactly as they had been designed to run. Failure of the machines was truly a matter of life and death in this place. Monitors in the room displayed a variety of unrelated images. Some screens showed images of hospital rooms, some showed cars driving or people eating dinner and some were simply blank screens.

Harold had not been here in several years and was unnerved to see what had happened without his supervision. Initially the project involved affecting matter through thought-control. It was an advanced form of controlled telekinesis.

“What have you done?” was the first thing Harold said after a long silence. The question was as much about the ethics of the project as it was about the technology that surrounded him. The question was directed at a ordinary-looking man in a dark suit. He was clearly a government agent, which gave Harold his first clue about what was going on.

“We did what you only dreamed of, Dr.” was the snide reply.

“But how did this all happen without anyone knowing?”

“It was actually very easy. In fact, it was by design. You see, the government is always being watched very carefully. Of course there is risk of spying, but the real risk comes from our 'friends'. There are people in other agencies that would love to have our technology for their own purposes or glorification. There are so-called 'watchdogs' that would love to give our secrets to the public under the guise of giving the taxpayers what they paid for. And sometimes you just have to eliminate as much of the human factor as possible. Idiots go home after work and try to impress their friends and family by telling them about the top-secret work that they do.

“People don't watch private companies in the same way. They assume that private corporations have better security and better ideas. They tout it as 'capitalism at work'. And even if all these things were true, our enemies have no need for what you make. You are a target for corporate espionage, nothing more. To hide the government's most important project here was our best idea yet. As you can clearly see, even you didn't know what we were doing. You sit in your lab playing with monkeys while we plot to takeover the world! It's quite funny when you think about it,” the agent said as he let out a somewhat genuine chuckle.

“I...I don't know what to say,” Harold started. “You've used me and my company. You've made a mockery of me since my employees see that I don't know what goes on here.”

“You want to know what goes on here, Dr.?” the agent abruptly interrupted. “I'd be happy to tell you. I'm sure you'll be fascinated and as you'll soon see, there's really no harm in letting you in on our little project.” Harold felt light-headed as he sensed the threat in the agents tone. His face turned gray and he slumped slightly.

“Shall I go on Dr.?” It made Harold uneasy that he used the word Dr. so often and in such a condescending way. “How convenient would it be if you never had to go to war to kill your enemy? What if you could cause them to think of killing themselves? Our army stays safe at home and the enemy looks like they just got hit by a neutron bomb. Think of it!” The agent had dropped the condescending tone and was becoming impassioned as he spoke. “We would control the world!”

“It's not possible,” Harold contested. “You obviously know of the work we do with the chimps. No one has ever accomplished as much as we have! To think that anyone can control the minds of humans, let alone control them with having them hooked up to the machines-” As Harold said the words his mind was trying to comprehend the possibilities.

“Time for thinking about it is over, Dr.,” the agent reminded him. “Machines only do so much, but they have their limitations. You know that. The very first work Mind-Tech did with this project involved the manipulation of dimensions, so I don't know why you're so surprised. This was your goal all along, isn't that correct? Now it's been done and the success of our tests have proven it .”

“What tests?” Harold was starkly reminded of what brought him here to look for answers.

“I think you already know the answer. We had to do it to be sure. Two lives are a small price to pay to save millions of American lives in a war, don't you think? It was unbelievable! She acted right on queue – not just the trigger to kill, but she actually projected the thought to the other two, leaving no evidence. Come on, Dr. Even you have to admit this is impressive.”

“This is not science – this is chaos!” Harold shouted. “You cannot play with the mind this way. It is not a 'thing' to be toyed with.”

“I beg to differ. You do it everyday.” To this Harold felt silent.

“As I mentioned earlier, there is no risk in telling you this, Dr. Your thoughts show up on a screen just like everyone else that we're monitoring. Each of those monitors show us what our subjects see and think. Should you decide to share our little secret with anyone else, we'll know and simply silence you. Or kill you.” The agent smirked and stood up abruptly. The implication was that Harold should also stand up so that he could be escorted to the door.

Harold had no idea that there was one more problem to figure out: How does one control a person beyond impulses? How does one achieve total control over another? This much the agent kept to himself.

Chapter Forty-Four: Just a Walk in the Park

"Why are we here, anyway?" asked Krystal. The Drone studied her for a moment, then responded, "We are waiting for the others." She and Tedford both looked at him quizzicly for a moment, then T-Bone asked the obvious followup question, "What others?"

The Drone, a little confused by the complete disappearence of their fear of him, nonetheless explained that this place is one of several nexuses for the Hive. A gathering place, a center of focus for the energies that sustain the Queen and the collective Mind. "You can therefore see that it was rather ironic that you would try to flee here, where our power is the strongest and our senses are the most attuned."

*****
Tony parked the car in a parking lot off of Cowan Drive, right in front of a wall with many bronze plaques. It looked like a tribute monument or something, but Tony couldn't read the writing on the wall from the car. "This is the first leg of the multicache," said the guy, hopping out of the car. Tony stayed in the car and turned on the radio, but Will got out and strolled over to where the guy was writing something down on his sheets of paper. "You see, it wants us to plug in the last word of the engraved phrase from the wall into these blanks, here..." explained the guy, his words reduced in Will's mind to a mumble unworthy of focus as Will cast his glance around and beyond the wall and caught sight of something. The guy was now muttering something about deciphering coordinates or whatever, when Will abruptly left him and ran over to the car. Tony rolled down his window, and Will stuck his head in and said, "Found 'em."

*****
David walked along the north bank of the river, down Riverside Drive, as he moved steadily westward, heading for something called "Idlewild". He passed a large strange tree that had been carved into fish heads, but he didn't stop to ponder upon it. He hung a left on Booth Street, then an immediate right on Idlewild Drive. His step quickened and his pulse raced as he correctly surmised that he was close - very close. He noticed that he was entering a large municipal park. There were people all around walking dogs, throwing bread to the ducks, jogging with headphones on. He paused for a second, surveying the scene. Cowan Drive turned off onto Mastroianni Drive, and then Latimore Drive. It was as good a place as any to start looking. For what? David didn't quite know - but he'd know it, he told himself, once he saw it.

He didn't see it at first, however - he heard it. He wasn't quite sure if he heard it with his ears, or just in his mind, but he heard it nonetheless. He could hear voices (or were they thoughts?) - other people's conversations, even though he was too far away from anyone in particular to make out distinct words. The din of the park's activity was noticable, but didn't account for his ability to clearly hear separate threads of dialog. He wondered for a moment if he wasn't going mad, and he paused for a few moments to consider the possibility. He didn't feel crazy, but what would that feel like, exactly? Would an insane person know that they were insane? He didn't think so, so he dismissed the idea. He told himself that as long as he still felt normal, acted normal, and was able to self-reflect that he was still in control of his mental faculties.

He listened for awhile to the various ideas and concepts being portrayed in his mind. Someone was talking to their friend about getting her cat neutered before things got out of hand, another was arguing with his spouse about finances and her stupid Botox. Someone was working with letters and numbers, trying to figure out some sort of code, and someone else afar off was pondering the mysteries of time and of the galaxy. This stuck a chord in David's mind, triggering memories of a dream or a vision of sorts. Doorways, battlefields... a man in a suit.