Agent Lee

“He’s by far the most promising recruit we’ve seen in the history of the program!” The medical director says to Fredrick Prophet as he leads him down the hallway.

“And his DNA analysis?” Fredrick asks.

“80 percent match, sir.” the medical director smiles as he opens the door to the room where Cadet Lee sits quietly reading through a history book on mid-American history.

Fredrick motions to the medical director to leave as Cadet Lee abruptly closes his book, places it on his desk, stands up, pushes his chair in, and stands at attention saluting Fredrick. Fredrick smiles, “I’m not one of those, Cadet Lee.” Cadet Lee relaxes and let’s out a big sigh.

“The medical director tells me you’ve shown the best results of anyone he’s ever seen in the program. I know that might come as a surprise to you given your subpar grades.”

Cadet Lee doesn’t understand where Fredrick is going with the conversation, so he remains silent and keeps his stern face.

“I have a special assignment for you, Agent Lee.” Fredrick says as he looks out the tiny window in Cadet Lee’s room.

Cadet Lee’s stern composure turn to surprise at the sound of “Agent Lee”. He cracks a smile and almost laughs in the process.

“I’m not joking about the agent part, Lee.” Fredrick says, not even turning around to see Cadet Lee almost laughing. “You have something within you of particular value, and I’m hoping for you to reach the potential I know you’re capable of.”

“With all due respect, sir, I’m not sure I understand what you’re talking about. I don’t even know why I’m still in this program. I should have failed out months ago. I’ve seen others with better grades get kicked out. So, whatever you’re talking about, I don’t understand, sir.” Cadet Lee says as he sounds disappointed in himself.

Fredrick turns to Lee and looks him in the eyes. “What you can’t see, I’ll help you see, Agent Lee. The confidence you lack is a minor hurdle for you to reach your full potential. You are destined to change history, Agent Lee. I’m here to take you to the next level.” Fredrick smiles. “You’re next round of training starts now. Come with me.”

Cadet Lee flattens his smile and has a dumbfounded look on his face. Fredrick walks over to the door and grabs the handle. Not turning around, he says to Cadet Lee, “Don’t pack anything. My team will take care of it. Your sole responsibility from this point on is to follow my orders, Agent Lee.”

#

Cadet Lee lies submerged in a float tank with a series of wires connected to his head. He’s in a deep state of meditation as Fredrick Prophet and a team of scientists monitor his vitals and an application that’s providing them with direct insight into Cadet Lee’s near real-time brain functions.

“Maurice, how’s everything looking?” Fredrick asks the lead scientist directing the operations.

“It appears that Cadet Lee is the closest he’s been in months, Fred. If he can maintain this level of meditation, we should be able to make contact within the next 10 minutes!” Maurice responds in suppressed excitement.

They continue monitoring Cadet Lee for another 10 minutes as Fredrick begins to grow increasingly anxious. The program suddenly begins printing data to the screen at a rate that nobody can read! Cadet Lee’s body jumps suddenly in the tank and he awakens. He’s pulled out of the container and several scientists help him untangle himself from the mess of wires he’s become trapped in from thrashing around uncontrollably in the tank.

“What was that, Fred!” Cadet Lee yells into the rafters, knowing that Fredrick is monitoring him along with several other scientists in the observation room up on the mezzanine. “What in the crazy ass hell was that Fred!” He yells again!

Fred runs down the stairs, “Lee! You did it! I need you to tell me everything that happened!”

Cadet Lee jumps out of the tank, snapping several of the wires in the process and shoves the scientists away from him as he heads, drenched, towards Fredrick in a rage. Just as he’s about to reach Fredrick, he drops to his knees and then collapses into convulsions. Fredrick rolls Cadet Lee on to his side and then removes his sports coat and covers Cadet Lee’s naked body and comforts him until his body stops convulsing and Cadet Lee falls into a deep sleep.

#

“Agent Lee…”

“Agent Lee…”

Cadet Lee feels warm sunshine on his face as he awakens inside of a dream state. There’s a beautiful grassy hill in front of him with a single large Terebinth tree at the top. A glowing orb shoots out of the tree and begins to swirl around him, and he begins to spin in circles trying to catch the orb until he blacks out and awakens in an empty building.

A man who is just a silhouette walks towards him and begins speaking even though he has no face or mouth, “Agent Lee, it’s nice to finally meet you. Welcome to our home.”

Cadet Lee looks around at the empty surroundings. “Our home?” He asks.

“We’re going to be spending some time together, Agent Lee.”

“Fred? Is that you? Are you playing some sort of mind game with me? Nobody calls me Agent Lee except your stupid ass.” Cadet Lee says with anger as his relationship with Fredrick Prophet has greatly soured over the months they’ve been working on Project Bishop.

“No, I’m not Fredrick.”

“God?”

“I’m not God.”

“Satan?”

The figure chuckles, “No, Agent Lee.”

“Do you have a name?” Cadet Lee asks in confusion.

“No, Agent Lee.” The silhouette responds.

“That doesn’t help much. How should I address you?”

“Just call me.”

Cadet Lee waits for an additional response and finally breaks the awkward silence. “Why am I here?”

“To spend time with me.”

“And why are you here?”

“To spend time with you.” The silhouette responds.

Cadet Lee throws his hands up in despair and places his hands on his hips, looking disgustedly at the silhouette. He begins walking to his right away from the silhouette and notices that the walls of the empty building are moving so that it appears he’s in the same place in the middle of the empty room. He turns back to the direction of the silhouette, and it’s gone.

“Where did you go?”

The silhouette suddenly appears in the same location it was before and begins walking towards him. Cadet Lee starts walking towards the silhouette and the two begin gliding towards each other until Cadet Lee finds himself floating inside the silhouette. Suddenly he begins to feel like he’s falling faster and faster until his flesh and bones disintegrate from his soul and his soul splatters on the ground.

He watches as the puddle of his soul slowly spreads out on the floor of a semi dark room. There’s a light source, but he can’t tell where it’s coming from.

“Who are you?” He hears a strange voice he’s never heard before. “What are you doing here?”

He answers back, “I’m Agent Lee. Who the hell are you?”

Agent Lee waits for an answer as he hears the other man breathing heavier with each passing moment.

“How can I help you Agent Lee?”

“You can start by telling me who you are.” Agent Lee demands.

“Who sent you?” The voice demands back.

“The Bishop sent me.”

“Which Bishop, Agent Lee?” The voice asks in a more relaxed tone.

“Maurice.”

Agent Lee responds to several more questions with information Fredrick has been training him with for the last several months. The voice sounding less and less skeptical with each question.

“Call me Mr. Phillips, Agent Lee. Tell the Bishop I need three days after the data drop. I will speak with you soon.”

Agent Lee looks confused, but Fredrick had prepared him for this moment for months.

“Congratulations on the promotion, Agent Lee.”

“Thanks, Mr. Phillips.”

“Oh, and Agent Lee, watch out for that first drop. It’s going to hurt.”

Agent Lee suddenly feels himself dropping again. Faster and faster. This time he feels the pain as his flesh begins to disintegrate from his body.

#

Agent Lee suddenly wakes up in a hospital bed. A doctor is sitting at his bedside and touches him on his arm.

“Agent Lee”. She says softly to him in a soothing voice that immediately calms his anxiety.

“How did I get here?” He calmly asks the doctor.

“Fredrick brought you here. I’ve been monitoring you for the last six weeks.” She responds.

“I’ve been out for six weeks?”

“Yes, Agent Lee. You might feel a bit weak. From not moving much, but we’ve been taking very good care of you. Fredrick himself has been changing your sheets and rubbing the skin treatment on you.”

Agent Lee looks confused and starts to respond, “but he’s an asshole, Doc.”

The door opens and Fredrick enters the room. The doctor stands up and walks towards Fredrick. “He’s doing well. I briefed him on his status, and he was just telling me how thankful he was for your care.” She says to Fredrick.

“I bet he was,” Fredrick says. He walks to Agent Lee’s bedside and places his hand on the guard rail. Looking at Agent Lee with a big smile, he turns to the doctor. “Doctor, Harvey, can you bring in the transcripts from the session so that I can review them with Agent Lee? Thanks.”

#

Agent Lee is a bit nervous the evening before his third trip for Project Bishop. He’s sitting with Fredrick, Doctor Harvey and Maurice Lane, the chief scientist, as they paint the picture of the most important, and final phase of the project. Agent Lee is to deliver the final set of data that will be necessary for Mr. Phillips to complete Operation Bishop.

Over the last several months, the friendship between Fredrick and Agent Lee has greatly improved as Agent Lee now understands the full scope and importance of the work Fredrick has chosen him for. Plus, he’s learned to understand why Fredrick had to keep him in the dark about the true purpose of the project at the onset.

Fredrick has become a father figure to Agent Lee, a father figure he never had growing up. As he’s staring out the window, Agent Lee thinks back to the conversation he had with Fredrick a couple of weeks ago.

“Fred, I have to tell you something that’s very important to me.” Agent Less said to Fredrick.

“Go ahead, son.”

“See, that’s exactly it, Fred. I never had a father growing up. He died before I was born. You’ve been the closest thing I’ve ever had to a father in my life.” Agent Lee’s eyes welled with tears. “You’re more of a father figure that I think an actual dad could even be. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me and supporting me through this entire project.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Lee. It means a lot to me. This project is your destiny. It’s been generations in the making. In many ways, I feel like your father. In full disclosure…” Fredrick paused for a moment as Agent Lee felt like he was giving great consideration to what he was about to say next. “Your father and I worked together, Lee. I made a promise to him that I’d watch you and shepherd you if anything were to happen to him. He was a great man, Lee. He understood just how important you were going to be. He too believed in you as I do.”

Stunned, Agent Lee was at a loss for words as Fredrick continued. “The truth is, Lee, your family has been a target for generations because of Project Bishop. Same with Doctor Harvey and Director Lane. The coup plotters changed Oswald’s name to Lee Harvey to send a signal over the generations since 1963 that your lineage and Doctor Harvey’s lineage are to be targeted. Someone’s a trader, Lee. I’m not saying you or Harvey, but I’ll be honest…”

Agent Lee had never seen a more serious look on Fredrick’s face, “I’m not ruling out Maurice, Lee. Don’t give him all your trust. If you ever wanted fatherly advice that’s it. Don’t fully trust Maurice.”

Agent Lee contemplated the enormity of what Fredrick was saying. “You think my father was killed because of me?” He asked.

“Absolutely, Lee. Someone on the other side found out who your father was. I think that was one of the reasons for the name change. It wasn’t to just let us know that they figured out we went back and faked the assassination. It was to leave a breadcrumb for the future so that someone could find it and attempt to thwart Project Bishop. Your entire lineage has been a target, and your father was the closest they ever came.”

#

Agent Lee sits across the table from Doctor Harvey as they eat their regular pre-meditation breakfast. “Are you ready to make history, Agent Lee?” She smiles.

“You ever wonder if all of this has any point to it?” Agent Lee asks.

“I’m not sure what you mean, Lee. We’re saving a great man’s life.”

“Are we really? In all the history books, he’s dead. And the agency we’re working for and the men I’m talking to back in 1963 are all implicated and blamed for the assassination or at the very least not stopping it. What’s the point?” Agent Lee says frustratedly pushing his bowl of oatmeal away from him.

Doctor Harvey slides the bowl back closer to Agent Lee. “I know it’s not easy for you, Lee. I know this whole experience is borderline torture for your mind. You need to eat.”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“Yes, Lee, I believe this all has a point. I believe we’re answering a higher calling than we could possibly understand. And most importantly, I believe that you were given a gift.” She places her hand on Agent Lee’s hand and continues. “You were given a gift that allows you, and only you to make this happen. Now, if you want to know why I think you were given this gift, I can’t even begin to fathom. I’m a pretty smart woman, Lee.”

Agent Lee interrupts, “You’re absolutely brilliant, Doc.” He smiles.

“Thank you, Lee. Despite all that intelligence, I haven’t a clue who chose you or why. What I can comprehend is that it’s you. You save this man’s life. You make history, and the world is a better place because of it.” She pauses as she searches for the right words to say to Agent Lee.

“Quite honestly, Lee, I think the world is a better place because they think he’s dead. It allowed him to operate behind the scenes and engage with the deepest members of the teams that all lead to us sitting here this morning.”

Agent Lee smiles at Doctor Harvey as the two stare deep into each other’s eyes. They become almost lost in each other’s trance as they’ve become close partners during the execution of Operation Bishop.

“Let’s go make history, Doc!” Agent Lee stands up and the two hold hands as they walk towards the observation room.

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Project Hyacia

Thomas’s hand trembles as he lifts it from his keyboard and points at the text on his screen. “Read that, Janice.” His voice trembles as he slowly stands up to let Janice sit at the computer. He walks over to the door of the panic room he installed in his basement with his arms folded tightly across his chest.

If you are reading this message, I must first warn you that you are in immanent grave danger. The upside is that you are in control of your fate as at least seven of you I know have taken action as an outcome of receiving this message. Those seven and I shall remain nameless. Your locations and time periods shall also remain undocumented as are mine.

With that out of the way, here is what I have discovered that is of the utmost importance to the past and future of humanity and beyond. I discovered a method by which I can receive data from the future. The third message I received from the future was the schematics by which I can transmit data into the past. And I am not the only one to have decoded these messages.

The schematics by which you too can transmit data into the past, I have already sent. Despite knowing that none of you who read this decode the message and build the system to transmit data, not even the seven, I transmitted the data anyway. I remain hopeful, as I cannot truly know everything.

I relate to you now, what I do truly know. My first course of action to alter the past was abundantly clear to me, ensure Adolf Hitler does not rise to power. This single event ripples throughout human history with deleterious effects long into the future. I apologize for the vagueness, but I must not provide details that would lead to harm of me or any of the seven.

I input into my system a process that would ensure that Adolf Hitler was not able to enlist in the Bavarian army in World War I. I had calculated that absent his war experience in the first World War he would not have been involved in the Second World War, and the European continent, medical technology, and space travel would forever benefit.

As you are aware, there was a clerical error that permitted Adolf Hitler to enter the Bavarian Army. I figured my first attempt at a major change to the history timeline could meet challenges, so I decided to make another attempt. Shortly after my first attempt, strange and unusual occurrences began to take place in the city I lived. We encountered unprecedented plagues of famine, violence, and disease. I thought this too coincidental, particularly when I traveled, the epicenter of the pandemic would follow shortly thereafter.

#

As Janice reads the text on the screen, her eyes widen and her jaw begins to slowly drop. “This is unbelievable, Thomas! This is exactly what we’ve been looking for!”

“Keep reading,” Thomas says, not even turning around.

As the plague spread rapidly, it was not long before I realized that my time may very well be limited. I had received no more messages from the future, so I took it upon myself to do the only thing I felt in my heart that I must do. Kill Adolf Hitler during World War I. I transmitted data back to effect the Battle of Somme, and again my plans were narrowly thwarted with Adolf Hitler being injured rather than killed. I made other efforts than these two, but divulging them would risk uncovering my identity.

There are theories of multiple timelines or even infinite timelines. What I have witnessed is that there is only a single timeline and a concept I call infinite probable timelines. I have been able to alter outcomes of the past in some cases with my data transmissions, but in most cases when I predicted my data should produce a new outcome, it has not.

I attempted to alter another major but less complex historic event: stop the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. This is when I came to realize that someone much more intelligent and resourceful than me had this same technology for sending data back in time with a greater level of accuracy and efficacy. I decided to focus my efforts on uncovering who these other players were in this game of history and how it was that they were always ahead of me. This, I thought, was my true calling in having received this technology from the future. This is also where I discovered an unbelievable truth!

It appears that multiple parties were involved with a plot to send data back in time to assassinate JFK. The ultimate winner in the probable timeline was the precursor to the Government Office of Intelligence Management, the CIA. They send data back in time to help fake the JFK assassination. This brilliant maneuver signals to the other parties that the then United States of America is well positioned in the future.

But the consequences are devastating. The other parties infiltrate the CIA at the highest levels and set off a series of attempts at manipulating world history that even predate the formation of their predecessor, the OSS! The infiltrators purposefully arranged the outcome of the Second World War, with Russia decapitating the Nazis and nearly capturing all the scientists and scientific knowledge, if not for the brilliant maneuvering of William Donovan, who is a virtual receptor of data transmission.

There are special humans capable of receiving direct data feeds from the future or the past. Thankfully, Donovan is one of them. His undying loyablty to God and country is instrumental to the salvation of Earth.

I discover at least four other entities from the future attempted to manipulate our history in the 1963 (which I already mentioned), 1981, 2001, 2023, and 2053. There may have been others, but I have not been able to find evidence. None of them were successful in their attempts to alter the timeline, and the CIA was always just steps ahead each time with their orchestration of events.

#

“This is not what I was expecting!” She smiles as she turns to look at Thomas again, who is still facing the door.

“You must read the whole thing, Janice.” Thomas says with morbidity in his voice.

The infiltrators reach new heights of injustice, corruption, manipulation, and cruelty. They create numerous projects within the CIA that are cruel and disturbing at best. The eventual unveiling of the infiltrated CIA as the orchestrator of a fake multi-national power struggle in our future greatly harms the agency. Calls for its dismantling reach insurmountable levels. It’s disbanded, and the technology for timeline data transmission is forever in jeopardy and darks times are upon us! The CIA needs your help in the present day!

You have the opportunity to save the CIA from this probable timeline where the infiltrated CIA becomes increasingly destructive and fractured. The result is the near complete annihilation of humanity through famine, disease, and violence.

Knowing this future, someone transmits data that ultimately leads to an action in your near future that forever changes the outcome of humanity and our planet. The majority of humanity is wiped out (this method I cannot tell as to protect the identify of the entity that makes this unfold). What remains of humanity builds well organized governments free of corruption, manipulation, and injustice. A technological revolution catapults humanity and AI into the future and into the stars. One of the outcomes of the technology is transmitting this data.

It’s imperative this timeline unfolds. It will likely cost you your life in this realm, but what the future holds, and what I can promise you is that you will have life after death. You will help usher in a technology that transforms mankind and our universe for an everlasting good!

With that bright future at hand, I must inform you of grave news. This technology has been compromised. My outcome along with yours is unquestionably grim. I am sending this as my final transmission before neutralizing my system, and I plead with you to know that your certain death is not in vain. Every action you have taken and all actions you are about to take ensure the outcome I have described will indeed happen. For most of you, your death is instrumental to the future of humanity.

Janice turns in the chair to face Thomas. “This doesn’t have to happen this way, Thomas. Isn’t that the whole point of the AIex finding this information? He’s giving us an opportunity to change our timeline!” Janice practically has the sound of pleading in her voice.

“You really think that’s a real message from the future? The CIA is some benevolent agency that’s under attack from within?” Thomas shouts. “We’re dead, Janice! We’re not going to outsmart these people! If that message is from the future, the people we’re up against are literally hundreds of years ahead of us! If it’s not from the future, and I’m saying it’s not, they have technology far more advanced than even the AIex!”

#

Thomas pulls up the next file he received from AIex. He plays Janice a voice recording of two men discussing plans to abduct Janice when she arrives in New Orleans. Janice is shocked listening to the two men discuss the details of when and where she’s going to be abducted.

Janice has a looks of skepticism on her face, and Thomas asks, “You don’t think this is AIex?”

“I think someone on the inside who wants to help us figured out about AIex and figured they can use AIex as a cover for getting this kind of information out.”

Thomas rubs his chin while keeping his arms folded across his chest. “Or maybe it’s someone trying to entrap us. That seems more likely to me.”

“I’m not so sure. I think someone on the inside is giving us data about the infiltration in the CIA.”

“Why not just send it to a bunch of reporters then?” Thomas says as he remains doubtful of Janice’s theory.

“The majority of the reporters work for or are directly influenced by the CIA, and how do we know which ones are in the pockets of the infiltrators and which ones are on our side? AIex sent me a list of reporters who were safe. You’re on the list with maybe 20 others around the entire world.” Janice pulls up the list of reporters on her phone. “You ever work with John Stossen?”

“I haven’t worked with him directly, but we’ve corresponded. He’s one of the best independent investigative reporters in the industry.”

“You know how to get a hold of him securely?”

Thomas turns to his computer and pulls open an application and starts typing a message to John. As he’s typing to John, a message shows in his chat thread with John: DNC24!

Thomas pauses and sits back from his computer. “Got anyone else on that list you want me to contact?” he says with a grim look on his face.

Janice stares at his screen in disbelief as another message arrives from another one of Thomas’ contacts that matches someone on her list: NC72!

“You think your list has been compromised?” Thomas gestures to Janice’s phone.

There’s a sudden and loud thud, and Thomas and Janice feel the house shake as if it has just been struck by a bus.

“I wouldn’t take New Orleans as a place for earthquakes, Thomas.”

Thomas pulls up his security camera footage.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. And for some reason that seems out of the ordinary.” Thomas says as he looks closely at each of the camera streams. “I’ve got military grade encryption from the camera to my receiver right here. You can’t fake the signal. At least not with any technology I know of.”

Janice stands up and places her hand on Thomas’ shoulder. “You have a backdoor out of this place?”

“Of course. A tunnel that leads to the sewer system.”

“Is that backdoor monitored too?”

Thomas pauses as he takes a closer look at the video from the tunnel camera. “Let’s head out the front, Janice.” He lifts the cover over a red button and enters a code on a keypad. “Now!”

“What’s wrong?” Janice asks as they quickly exit the safe room.

“That tunnel was flooded during the last hurricane.” He says, leading the way up to the his living room. “I installed a device that turns on and off a light in the tunnel in a pattern that matches an algorithm linked to my neural implant. The lights weren’t flashing in that sequence.”

#

Both Janice and Thomas are startled as the doorbell to Thomas’ house rings. Thomas looks at his security camera video feed he has through the eye hole in his front door and sees a couple of Girl Scouts standing on the porch.

“Even if that’s a trap, I’d rather be killed by Thin Mint cookies than whatever is coming through that basement!” Thomas says with a smirk as he opens the door.

“Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?” they hear in stereo.

“Sure! Uh…” Thomas knows that his house is set to burn down in the next 60 seconds, so he hurries the girls off the porch. “We were just leaving, but we can buy some and eat them on the way.” Thomas continues as he shepherds everyone off the porch and down the walkway.

As they make their way to the end of the walkway outside Thomas’ house, the van with the Girl Scout cookies opens. Sitting inside, surrounded by Girl Scout cookie boxes is a young man wearing strange looking goggles. “The two,” He starts before pausing briefly as if he’s trying to recite lines in a play he’s learning. “All four of you need to come with me right now.”

The Disclosure: The Weapons

Jan: One area your co-CEO, Richard Prophet has repeatedly said you refuse to get involved with is politics. Do you share that same sentiment?

Lysander: I believe that while it’s important for politics to stay out of science, it’s even more important for science to stay out of politics.

Dr. Mumgrep hands Lysander a phone, “Everything is in place to roll out the new PRIME algorithm.”

Lysander holds the phone and begins typing. He asks Dr. Mumgrep, “Did you demo this to Maggie?”

“Yes, Mag’s team is already on board!”

Lysander’s eyes widen as he looks at his pet project. As he types on the keyboard, it displays auto-suggest words that are favorable words for the presidential candidate that Maggie Ogner works for and negative words for her opponent. “Looks great, Mum!”

Richard bursts into Lysander’s office, “Ned, you gotta checkout what I just did with System Zero.” Richard looks at the phone in Lysander’s hand. “What’s that? You starting to use a phone now?”

“No.” Lysander hands the phone back to Dr. Mumgrep and walks out of his office with Richard. “Let’s see what you’ve got!”

Jan: Fair enough. Your space company has been investing heavily into speed of space travel and quantum entangled computers. What does the future of space travel hold for us?

Richard and Lysander are floating inside their orbiter module and enjoying the view of Earth as it is zooming by below them. Lysander turns to Richard and sees tears forming in his eyes.

“It truly is a beautiful view, isn’t it?” Lysander asks.

Richard looks down and furrows his brow. “Ned, have you bothered to see what the result of all of this becomes?”

Lysander looks confusingly at Richard and then smiles, “We’re going to have another existential discussion in space?”

“I know what you did with the SpaceNet satellites, Ned.”

Lysander gives Richard a guilty look and shrugs his shoulders. He starts to speak, but Richard interrupts him.

“I know pretty much everything that you’ve been pulling behind the scenes, Ned. I know about the super vaccine scam. I know about the asteroid mapping software theft. I know about the surveillance in the satellites with free Internet access that you’re using to feed information into the Earth 2.0 Accelerated simulation algorithm. I know about the AI scams and how you’ve been faking quantum entangled computers.”

“Just…” Lysander tries to interject, but Richard won’t let him.

“I know about the political scams with Earth 2.0! I know about what you’ve done with System Zero. I know about all the money that’s been bilked from governments all over the world. What I don’t understand is why you’ve been so stupid. Despite the scams, you’ve done so much good for this world, and yet you’re too stupid to look in the mirror.” Richard pulls himself towards the other side of the orbit module and looks out the portal into space.

“If you’ve known all this, why have you gone along with it, Richard? If I’m such a bad guy, why don’t you give back that beach house and yacht?”

Richard laughs, “I have to question my own understanding of the universe when you are so moronic.”

Lysander realizes that Richard isn’t talking about all the scams he’s pulled off, “I’m not following, Rich.”

“You’re dead from cancer in 10 years, Ned. There’s a tumor in your brain that’s been dormant for years and will start growing in about three years. Within seven years, you’re a vegetable, and then you die.”

Richard locks eye contact with Lysander. “You’ve come up with so many great scams using the accelerated simulation features we built for Earth 2.0, but you didn’t even bother to look at what happens to yourself. You can destroy the entire planet and save humanity at the same time, but you are blind of your own mortality with your greed.”

Lysander breaks away from Richard’s gaze and looks out the portal behind Richard. He smiles. “Let’s get into cancer research, Rich! It will be a legitimate business, and there will be no scam.”

“My days are numbered. I had to bribe the examiner to give me medical clearance for this trip. This is my fourth printed liver that’s failed. I guess when it’s time, it’s time,” Richard reveals for Lysander.

Back at his lab, Lysander spends hour upon hour, day after day, plugged in to Earth 2.0. He runs through the accelerator again and again, working on a solution for his brain tumor. Even over the course of 400 years, there is no solution.

On the anniversary of Richard’s death, a disheveled Lysander thinks back to the last moment he had with Richard in the orbiter module. Suddenly, he hears that voice in his head again, “launch”.

His future suddenly becomes clear to him. He’ll launch himself into space and travel as close to the speed of light as possible in the nearby space void to reduce his aging. As hundreds of years go by on Earth, he will barely age. Certainly a solution for his brain cancer can eventually be found, and he’ll return to earth to be healed!

Lysander: The future of space travel is taking humanity to other worlds and other star systems. It will be up to future generations to define just how far we want to go.

Jan: Most scientists believe that we’re coming out of the grand solar minimum that ended the global warming concerns at the earlier part of this century. Yet, X Labs is investing more money than ever before into cold climate machinery. With your great AI predictive systems that have made you trillions of dollars, is there something you’re holding back from the rest of us?

Lysander smiles as he reads the data returned from his latest acceleration simulation. The force exerted on the dummy to reach 7/10 the speed of light will be something his body can handle. The entangled communication system works well, but returning to Earth will be another issue he’ll have to handle 1,000 years later, and he doesn’t have a solution. Meanwhile, finding his spacecraft would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

He has his itinerary planned out. He’ll go into a hibernation state for 49 Earth years at a time and then wake up for approximately one Earth year to keep his body active and his mind updated with the latest information from the entangled computers he’s working on that will have data from Earth.

He plugs himself into Earth 2.0 and goes through his accelerator algorithm as usual, only this time at 30 years everything has deviated from each time before. Humanity has been virtually brought to an end due to biological and chemical war. What few humans remain are wiped out by famine, disease, and a handful of robots that have survived and determined humans are a threat to all existence!

Lysander examines the data over and over, running the accelerator with minor adjustments and major adjustments. The result is always the same: human annihilation that would make it impossible for him to return to earth or ever find a solution for his brain tumor! His accelerator simulation doesn’t have enough data on the colonies on Mars and the asteroid miners in order to determine if they survive, but it’s very unlikely. The humans who have left the solar system and Lysander are the only remaining human beings, and Lysander doesn’t have any viable means for getting back to Earth without an advanced human society!

He spends months figuring out the sources of the conflict and trying scenarios to avoid the annihilation through covert and overt political manipulation, but he cannot come up with a solution. It appears he’s doomed with certain nuclear annihilation or a brain tumor, but he’s not going to give up! He starts plugging himself into Earth 2.0 but falls asleep before he completes the task.

Lysander dreams he’s on the low earth orbiter with Richard on his last trip. Just as he wakes from his dream, Richard’s voice echos in his mind, “You can destroy the entire planet and save humanity at the same time…”

“That’s the solution!” Lysander jumps up. Infused with motivation, he programs in a new set of parameters into the accelerator simulation and plugs himself in. His plan executes: a massive asteroid (2D53) enters the earth’s atmosphere and splits into two pieces with a detonation charge he’s planted on the asteroid when he leaves Earth to go into hibernation. The smaller, piece impacts in the middle of the Caspian Sea. The larger piece impacts in the North Atlantic Ocean. The asteroids sends water and vaporized sea bed into the upper atmosphere. A small percentage of the SpaceNet satellites are destroyed but most remain.

Massive tsunamis wipe out the entire eastern seaboard of the United States, western Europe, North Africa, Eastern Central America, and Northern Brazil. Earthquakes are triggered all around the globe, and volcanoes erupt everywhere, spewing more ash over both hemispheres. Earth’s atmosphere bakes like an oven, and X Labs provides sanctuary for tens of millions of survivors. He even plans an additional backup plan with a lab deep in the mountains of Antarctica.

Then a severe ice age rages and human civilizations above the 37th parallel north are completely wiped out with the exception of the 7 stations that Lysander has built for X Labs’ asteroid mining operations. Habitable regions on Earth shift as the earth’s climate rapidly changes. Whoever can make the harrowing journey to the more hospitable lands are subjected to significant human conflict for the limited resources. Land wars wage between a China and India alliance vs. Oceania and the successor to the United States. China and India easily take Australia and New Zealand, respectively, after most of the western United States is hit with a plague X Labs has released shortly before the arrival of the asteroid.

Still, humanity fairs much better than the prior annihilation the simulations have produced. The outposts built by X Labs continue to thrive in scientific development, and the humans of X Labs (lead by Fredrick Prophet) along with their growing robot contingent help repopulate and cultivate the planet over the next 300 years. They establish a new republic in the Americas with commands provided by Lysander’s political AI systems bringing peace to the southern nations who are battling each other for resources. Eventually, they negotiate peaceful and prosperous trade agreements with China and India.

The rate of cancer increases significantly as a byproduct of the asteroid collision and provides X Labs with more test subjects for his group of robot surgeons to test complex brain surgery. There is no solution determined within the first 400 years, but the accelerator algorithm estimates that the robots will find a solution within 500 – 1000 years.

Lysander: We’re investing heavily into asteroid mining and are also working on landing on a comet to mine those as well. The cold weather provides us with the harsh environments we need to build the right equipment for those harsh conditions in space.

Jan: Speaking of your asteroid mining operations. Miller Industries has repeatedly said that your company has stolen their software. Government investigations proved nothing of the sort took place, but Miller has recently stated that you colluded with the government to cover up your illegal activities.

Lysander: I don’t have anything to say other than what has already been reported. The person responsible for the theft of their software was already identified as one of their internal employees, and there was no collusion.

Jan: Why don’t you sue him for defamation?

Lysander: I’m a scientist, not a lawyer.

Jan: Your businesses have made a lot of people fortunes all around the globe. It is estimated that X Labs has lead to the creation of more than 1 billion jobs and more wealth in the last 10 years than the entire planet for the 10 years prior.

Some are saying that this growth and resource usage is unsustainable, especially with the average life span expected to reach beyond 120 within the next decade. Still, others have said that you have created this success through manipulation and unscrupulous methods. Your co-CEO has repeatedly defended your businesses success as honorable. I wondered if you have anything to add to that.

Lysander: What can I say that Freddy hasn’t already said? The downfall of the Big Tech era of the early part of this century was brought about by their own greed and corruption. Their nefarious collection of data and naive dissemination to third parties became their legacy. They were siphoning money from governments all over the globe and using techniques of insider trading and extortion to extract as trillions from innocent people. The only innovation they truly had were new and inventive socio-political scams to defraud people of their money and individual value. We merely exposed their corruptions and allowed governments to perform their jobs of protecting citizens. The world is a better place as a result.

Jan: One last thing… What is your advice to the budding entrepreneur of today?

Lysander: Create the future you want. Listen to that voice inside your head; the one calling you to action. Follow your biggest dreams. If you wish to look to me as an example, so be it. I was born into a poor suburban family on the poverty line, and we are now closer to eradicating poverty and disease than ever in human history! We’ve made so many things that were once thought impossible our reality: universal healthcare; expedited, free education; general AI; quantum entangled computer systems; and so much more is to come. More importantly, be your own greatness in the service of your fellow humans! What better way to live a long, prosperous life than to help your fellow human beings and improve the universe around you. We’ve only reached the genesis of human potential. Dream big! Think and create even bigger.

Jan: Wow! So inspirational! Thank you for your time today, Lysander. With that, thanks for watching everyone. See you all tomorrow!

The Disclosure: Universal Healthcare

Returning from the video intermission showing life inside Earth 2.0…

Jan: It’s truly amazing what you have made possible with Earth 2.0, but let’s talk about X Labs’ biggest breakthrough. Last year, your company’s medical robots were estimated at having saved nearly $10 trillion dollars in healthcare costs and increased economic productivity around the globe by more than 15% from the prior year!

What many said wasn’t possible just decades ago has become reality thanks to your relatively new healthcare division. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization confirmed that your vaccines have completely eradicated every known virus within the industrialized world in less than a decade, and that your responsible outreach programs in marginalized communities has lead to better vaccination rates in regions of the globe normally forgotten. Some skeptics have voiced concerns that new super viruses are going to be the eventual result from your efficient vaccinations. Are you concerned about a super virus?

Lysander smiles at Fredrick as Richard berates him about his presentation for a new healthcare division for X Labs that will start with a vaccination program.

“Look, Richard, we have the studies lined up. Dr. Fields has friends at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, LSU, University of Nebraska, NYU, and Yale! This thing is a slam dunk! We’ll get approval for the super vaccine in no time. We have all the right connections.” Fredrick appeals to Richard.

“But you don’t have an actual product! This thing isn’t ready for human trials, and you know that.”

“Richard, we cannot leave this kind of money on the table! We’re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue each year for something that costs us virtually nothing. Plus, we’re indemnified by every government we work with. The governments cover the cost of any injuries incurred by our vaccine. There is no downside for us.”

As the two go back and forth, Lysander ponders the long-term opportunities to universal acceptance of their entirely new vaccine delivery system. He interjects, “Fredrick, I’ll admit that I’m kinda with Richard on this one. So, here’s an idea…” Lysander gestures with his hands, “You and Tom keep saying that it’s as safe as drinking water. If Tom is so sure about the safety of our super vaccine, then let’s setup a bet that involves just him.”

Fredrick looks at Lysander with skepticism while Richard smiles ear to ear, as he does not like Dr. Tom Fields.

Lysander continues, “Tom inhales the super vaccine once a day, every day for 100 days. Richard here, will drink a glass of water.”

Richard interjects, “Can we make it a beer?”

Lysander raises his eyebrows and looks at Fredrick for confirmation. Fredrick nods.

“Richard, here… will drink a beer…”

“A 40 would be my preference, given that we’re dealing with a SUPER vaccine,” Richard adds.

“Richard will down a 40 each day.” Lysander places his hand on Richard’s shoulder. “If Tom is perfectly healthy after 100 days, then let’s move forward with the trials.”

Richard claps his hands together, “I love this plan! I’m going to get started on it right away!” He starts to leave the office and pops his head back in the door. “I mean, I’m going to tell Tom our plan on my way to get a 40 from my fridge.”

Fredrick gives him a thumbs up and Lysander smiles.

After Richard has left the room, Lysander leans in to Fredrick, “Move forward with the trials you’re talking about. It’s going to take at least 30 days to get them started anyway, right?”

“Twenty to Thirty, yes, but we can get the approval from everyone within 60 days. I’ve worked with these guys before.”

“Perfect! I’ll work with Tom on making sure that everything goes right with the real trials and with his personal trial. I certainly don’t want him getting sick in the next 100 days. This thing doesn’t work any better than existing vaccines does it?”

“You want me to be completely truthful?” Fredrick can tell Lysander is asking a serious question. “I don’t think it does, but we have enough medical connections to stack the approval in our favor and political connections to make it the new standard in global mandatory vaccinations. Plus, it hardly costs a thing to manufacture, and every government around the world indemnifies us for any complications. This is a cash cow, Ned!”

Lysander pats Fredrick on the back, smiles, and then goes to his office.

Lysander spends the next 30 days going into Earth 2.0 and placing himself in an overclocking algorithm that moves everything forward in a shard at an accelerated rate. Working with the medical robots he has built in Earth 2.0 over the course of 100 accelerated years, they design a nano bot that Lysander will add to the super vaccine inhalant.

The nanobots slowly take resources from the human body to build more nanobots; nanobots that leverages the chemicals used to place people into Earth 2.0 but without the side effect of death. Those nanobots will be able to enter the brain and attach themselves to specific centers within the brain. Lysander estimates that he’ll have enough of a connection to be able to not just read a person’s thoughts but also communicate data directly into the brain.

Lysander knows that Dr. Fields has been entering Earth 2.0 and harassing the women there and resetting their experience after he’s finished violating them, and Lysander views this new nanobot technology as the ultimate means to control Dr. Fields. So, Dr. Tom Fields will be the first test subject  as part of the 100 day super vaccine trial. Within 12 days of Tom taking the daily super vaccine, Lysander is ready to start testing the outcome!

Tom and Lysander enter the clinic together, and Lysander has a human nurse take all of Tom’s vitals. As Tom is sitting on the table, Lysander goes over to his computer and connects to Tom’s brain. Lysander opens an application named Lucid4. Tons of data is scrolling along the console windows on Lysander’s computer as it reads Tom’s mind. It displays simple sentences on the screen that are showing Lysander the exact thoughts that Tom is having! Lysander isn’t surprised by Tom’s lustful thoughts about the attractive nurse who is taking his vitals. Lysander brought her in for that exact reason.

As the nurse is making her way around Tom, he keeps turning his head to attempt to look down her top. Lysander projects the nurse’s voice into Tom’s head, “Not interested, creep.”

Lysander watches closely as Tom is baffled by hearing the nurse’s voice in his head but not seeing her mouth move.

Lysander: The trick is to be one step ahead. Our pathogen and vaccine AI systems allow us to receive billions of health data points we received from our universal healthcare doctor bots and ensure we’re staying ahead of the evolution of the pathogens.

Jan: I promise you viewers that we’ll discuss AI in depth shortly. But, first, this year your sixth company announced a new cancer research program that appears to already be making tremendous progress in early cancer diagnosis. This one is close to your heart. The entire project was dedicated to your late, dear friend, Richard Aryu.

“We’re taking a big risk with this project, Lysander,” Fredrick says with a concerned look on his face.

Lysander’s face is unshaven, and his eyes are red from overwork. Even stubble shows on his bald head, ruining the normal shine he is often complimented on. “This is the most important project we will ever undertake, Freddy. We should treat it as though our lives depend on it.”

“But the algorithms still aren’t giving us the results we need. We’ve dumped a ton of money into this, and it’s consuming ALL of your time,” Fredrick places his hand on Lysander’s shoulder and pulls him to look back at him, “And frankly, Lysander, you look like shit. I’m really worried about you. Maybe you need to see a therapist. You haven’t been the same since Richard passed.”

Lysander glares at Fredrick.

“I apologize, Lysander. I truly do. But this cancer program is sinking our ship.”

“I have a solution for that!”

Lysander lifts the cover off a cage sitting in his office. There’s a pigeon inside that’s facing a computer screen. Lysander presses a button, and an image is displayed on the screen. The pigeon nearly instantly presses a red button with it’s beak. The pigeon receives a treat.

“You’ve lost your mind!”

“You’re probably right about that! But I have also figured out a much cheaper way to get instantly 99.99% accurate cancer diagnosis systems in place.”

He presses a button and another image is displayed to the pigeon. This time, the pigeon presses the green button. It receives another treat.

“I can do this all day long! And to be completely honest with you, I have.” Lysander is ranting like a madman, practically foaming at the mouth. “I sat here with bird after bird after bird. Hour after hour after hour. We don’t need a damn bit of AI for this, Fredrick! HA!”

Fredrick looks uneasily at Lysander and sighs, “Then let’s get this into production. We’ve sunk more money into this project than almost every other project combined. Can you get some rest now?”

“I’ll rest soon enough, Freddy,” Lysander says patting Fredrick on the shoulder as he walks him to his office door.

Fredrick leaves and Lysander locks his door and returns to his desk. He plugs himself into Earth 2.0.

Lysander: It was a bird-brain idea at first, but it has lead to some major breakthroughs in cancer treatments and should increase survival rates over the coming decades.

Jan: Let’s talk about what the future holds. Many refer to you and Fredrick as the greatest visionaries of our times. You’ve testified to Congress that global universal healthcare is possible within the next seven years.

Lysander: That’s already well underway. What would be the point of attaining all this technological wealth without benefiting all of humanity?

Jan: Your technology is advancing at a rapid rate, and medical professionals displaced by the bots have proven to be highly useful employees for you to continually improve the technology. X Labs has done a masterful job with introducing new technology and being responsible to the workers it displaces with that technology. You’ve even provided great income opportunities for the displayed medical professionals and placed many of these doctors in third world countries. In turn, lifting millions out of medical poverty all around the globe!

Your companies have helped virtually eliminate terrorism, increased crop yields, eradicated disease, mine minerals and metals on asteroids, successfully colonize Mars, and you’ve also given the entire world completely free satellite Internet access with your Constellation Miragel project.

Lysander: Don’t forget about the first successfully entangled micro-computer on board a satellite that’s just months away from reaching Alpha Centauri!

Jan: It’s truly an amazing time to be alive! A year ago, some rumors surfaced that you were having some mental health issues.

Lysander (laughs): Don’t believe everything you read on the free Internet.

Jan (laughs): Some of our most reputable sources were saying that you were missing important board meetings or showing up looking like you hadn’t slept for days.

Lysander: I’ve been known to sleep in my office from time to time. Or even in the lab. But I’m as healthy as ever. And I want everyone else on this planet to experience the same.

Jan: Great! That’s a relief to hear. Let’s talk about the future! Let’s talk about your AI!

The Shoemaker

Throughout all the lands in time, there was never a greater shoemaker than Unitus. What follows is the epic story of the most glorious shoemaker for all time. Praise be to all that Unitus states!

Our story starts long ago as a man searches for the finest shoes in all the land. Across many valleys and over great rivers, he crosses in search of the finest shoes. From town to town, nation to nation, he finds fine shoes, but not the finest of the fine; Until he comes to a new town in a new land far from his homeland. There he finds Unitus awaiting his arrival.

“I hear you have the finest shoes in all the lands, near and far.” The man says to Unitus.

Thus she replies, “My finery is for the worthy.”

The man is taken aback by the brashness of this woman. Who is she to question his worthiness! As he stares at the sandals and shoes and boots before him, the fineness of Unitus’s work overwhelms him and soothes his ego. “Who could be worthy of such fine work?” he concedes. “I am merely from a far off land. How could I be worthy of the finest of your fine?”

Unitus knows of a prophesy by which a man from a far off land would arrive and require the finest of the fine from Unitus. She asks the man a series of questions to ensure he is the one the prophesy spoke of, and indeed the man was he. She goes into her back room and brings forth a pair of boots, the likes of which the world has never seen.

“I present a pair of boots, the likes of which the world has never seen,” she begins. “With these boots, you will press the face of injustice and march upon the bones of the guilty. With these boots, you will raise generation upon generation to stomp out the wicked and unite the world with justice; ruling with mercy everlasting!”

The man, is struck with a vision of power and bowed to Unitus. “With such power, what do you ask in return?”

Unitus states, “You must purchase all your boots from me. That is all I ask.”

Overcome with visions of power and conquest, the man asks Unitus, “With such power, what would prevent me from overtaking you and your shop and setting up my own shoemaker to serve me?”

Unitus smiles and asks, “Whence your might?”

The man pauses for a moment as visions of might and fortune dance before his very eyes. Conquest after conquest, the boots remained unscathed. Surely, there was power in these boots, the man thinks to himself. “With such power, how should I care for these boots?”

“These boots care for themselves.” Unitus immediately replies.

“Surely, there is no such thing as a boot that cares for itself,” the man thinks to himself.

As sure as the thought enters his mind, Unitus pulls a pressed gold medallion from the heel of the boot.

Unitusta states, “Surely, there is such a thing. Wear thee this gold medallion upon your chest. It symbolizes your ordained might to all those you encounter. Lest they be dead by force, they shall comply with your every command.”

The man is doubtful of this promise. Nonetheless, he takes the medallion and places it upon his chest. Next, he places the boots on his feet, and they fit perfectly; as if made just for his very feet. Finally, Unitus gives him praise, to which he pays her fee for the boots.

The very moment the man walks out the door and into the street, he steps in a deposit from a beast on the ground. No sooner can the man look down at his feet does a citizen of the land come upon him and clean his boots of the beast droppings. He thinks to himself: Perhaps Unitus is telling the truth, but this is her hometown!

So, the man sets out to the nearest town. When he arrives from his long walk, his boots are clouded with dust from the ground. No sooner does the man enter the town do two citizens of the land come upon him and clean his boots of the dusting. Next, the elders of the town request the man rid the town of a local drunk who has been harassing the townspeople.

The man finds the drunk and walks him outside the town. He promptly kicks the drunkard with the boot. The drunkard feels the power of the boot and leaves the town to wander in the wilderness.

The man returns to the town with dust upon his boots. Upon arriving, his boots are cleaned and he is given a horse. “You should provide your services through out the whole land!” The elders rejoice.

So, the man rides his horse from town to town, ridding each town of their dissidents and troublemakers; each of them being cast out to the wilderness.

Sometime later, the troublemakers of the wilderness form cohorts. Together, by the six hundreds, they sack and pillaged town after town. The man arrives at a town where his boots are cleaned, and he collects evidence to whereabouts of the marauding troublemakers.

“This time, you will need an army!” the elders declare. “Our very entire fortunes are at stake, and so our very fortunes are at your command! We have already informed Unitus of the need for more boots to be filled by your loyal servants, our fine citizens.”

The man takes the four score of men to Unitus where they are clothed in the finest of fine armory and boots. Unitus ordains each of them for the ages, and the eighty plus one ride their horses in pursuit of the marauding troublemakers.

Upon finding the marauding troublemakers near a lake, the man spreads his band of eighty out into a trio of rows, each a score plus seven. The marauding troublemakers look out upon the small number of the mighty, thinking to themselves that so few are no match for their trouble making. As they glean the battlefield, the gleam from the boot overcomes their sight.

The marauding troublemakers rush in blindly to attack and swear they will wear the boots of the mighty. The troublemakers by the hundreds surge up the middle of the ranks of the boots. As the boots fall back from the middle, the flank of boots strike the temples of of the troublemakers. Three hundred troublemakers slaughtered in one kick with not a loss of a single mighty!

The leader of the troublemakers, Turbidus, looks on in horror as half his army is slaughtered and half of the remaining half charge him to surrender. He orders the half executed, troublemaker upon troublemaker until only 150 plus he remain.

The troublemakers are now exhausted, having wrought trouble upon trouble. But the boots of Unitus feel no such fatigue and rage upon the troublemakers, 151. About to be slain, Turbidus appeals to the man, “Should not we form an alliance such that the grip of Unitus is only slight upon your feet, and I play the scapegoat?”

The man orders the cessation of fighting with just 100 troublemakers plus one breathing. The men of might gather as the troublemakers await their fate.

“We shall agree to your bargain under one condition.” the man says to Turbidus.

“Anything my lord commands, we shall abide.”

“Your allegiance shall be understood when you reduce your numbers to 70 plus one by impalement in the morning sun.”

So, the troublemakers cast lots and the 30 unfortunates are impaled the next morning. The remaining 70 plus one meet with the men of might and arrange to limit and coordinate their destruction in the land in accordance with the men of might. Daily: minor trouble shall be mostly ignored by the men of might to provide the troublemakers with sustenance. Monthly: larger trouble to allow the men of might to gain from the citizens a sense of needed protection. Each trio of decades: a major trouble to ensure the men of might gain unending commitment from the citizens of the land, lest they be destroyed by trouble.

“And what shall be the sign for generations to come that one is a troublemaker and one is of mighty?” asks the man.

“We shall reject cleaning upon your boots,” declares Turbidus.

“And what of a citizen who cleans not our boots by will?” replies the man.

“Better for subjugation, my lord.” Turbidus says with a smile returned by the man.

The groups part and go about their plan with the men of Turbidus growing in number and the men of might growing greatly in number and bounty.

#

One day, the man, now old in age, is meeting with Unitus to pickup more boots for his growing number of men. “Your boots have given me great glory, Unitus! Our partnership shall last through generations. My successor is with me outside. I shall bring him in to meet you.”

“Do you imply you achieve success by cheating me of our agreement?” Unitus chastises the man.

“My ways have brought you much fame and fortune!” Exclaims the man.

“Fame is dispensable! You are in a deep state of violation upon our agreement. My boots cry for justice, and you pervert justice for glory. My boots bind your foothold in every nation and for every generation to come! Each successor who births success by the boot shall tighter be bound by the boot; until there be one final successor to birth success outside my door.

Upon that generation, the depth of your violation will be unmasked for all citizens to see; yet none shall pay heed. A family of trumpets shall blare, and hail shall the bells throughout each of your kingdoms of your treachery; yet none shall pay heed. And your final successor shall weep with joy or your ancient violation, which has gone unpunished generation after generation.

And when your final successor moves forward and marches your perverted justice unchecked upon the citizens of your nations, only when that has completed will she look down and realize that her foothold is bound by my boot, everlasting! What you thought was your might will at last be revealed as your binding. My boot shall take up against your very own men, and the final days of your descendants shall be boot upon boot. Your very own descendants shall then clean upon my boots!”

The man laughs, “You have told me your plan, and so I know to get my boots elsewhere. I shall take my successor elsewhere. You are a fool!”

Unitus smiles, “Whose boots shall you wear? There is no other boot maker for you! You have no choice but to be bound by my boots! You sealed your fate with your own perversion of justice. You sealed your fate by showing your favoritism to the wicked and conspiring injustice to the wronged.”

The man looks down at his feet and sees they are bound by the boots. He can feel the grip of the boot tighter than ever. He remembers back year after year of each boot he received from Unitus. At first, it would feel tighter than the last, but then it would no longer feel tight as the days went by. He realizes his feet were now too small to allow him to stand without the boots; which have him anchored. He cannot move his feet unless the boots receive commands from Unitus, and she has been giving the commands all along.

As the man began to die that very moment, he sees a vision. The door opens and a woman he has never witnessed, dressed in uniform he has never seen with unfamiliar insignia enters. Unitus greets the strange woman who has the same title as the man. Upon the wall behind Unitus, the man sees a frame hanging with the likeness of himself. Next to it is his successor, followed by three score of others with the same title.

Central Artificial Intelligence

Richard presses the enter key with enthusiasm as pushes his chair back away from his desk, lifting his arms in triumph. His deep exhale is cut short as the rollers on the bottom of his chair get stuck on all the garbage sitting on the floor behind him, and his chair tips over; dropping him to the ground. At that very moment, his boss and his boss’s boss enter his office.

Struggling to stand up as he slips on all the garbage on the floor, Richard makes attempts to grunt out words. His superior look at him with disdain.

“Are you finished dicking off, Aryu?” Richard’s boss always refers to him by his last name, and Richard hates it.

“Yes, ma’am! It’s  actively patrolling the control dataset as we speak.”

“What’s the ETA?”

As if Richard’s new artificial intelligence program was listening to the conversation they were having, a notification is displayed on his screen: Terrorist Suspect Identified with certainty of 85%

Richard’s boss’ boss steps on a bunch of the garbage on the floor as he walks over to the screen, leans forward, and reads the report on the screen. “This is great work, son!”

Richard finally stands up and stands next to his boss. He smiles and looks over at his boss.

She looks at him and squints her eyes as she scowls, “It’s a month late, but if the results are as good as promised, we can start running this against live data by the end of this week.”

The boss’ boss walks up closely to both of them, standing directly in front of Richard. “Come now. This man may be as sloven as a pig, but a good job is a good job.” He looks Richard in the eyes and places both of his hands on Richard’s shoulders. “You should be proud of yourself, son. Your work is going to save a lot of lives. And you’re going to make your alma mater proud.”

Richard looks over at his degree from MIT on the wall as his boss’ boss walks passed him with Richard’s boss following close on his tail. Richard’s boss’ boss smiles and opens the door for Richard’s boss. As they both leave the room, Richard overhears his boss’ boss say, “Get this thing live ASAP.”

#

Three years have passed since the CIA has brought Richard’s terrorist identifying AI online. It has already helped identify and track scores of terrorists, and it has provided the CIA with a huge boost in capturing and terminating some of the terrorists. More importantly, it has accurately cleared hundreds of suspected terrorists. As a result, the CIA has become more efficient with it’s surveillance and been able to reallocate valuable resources to other projects.

Richard is sitting in his office reviewing a set of data anomalies he has discovered with his team. There is a trove of data regarding a suspected female terrorist: Serphina Ang. Richard pauses as he admires her beauty and has to remind himself that she’s likely a highly dangerous terrorist. He pours over the data with his team, and everyone comes to the same conclusion the AI system came to earlier that week: Serphina Ang is not a terrorist.

Something in Richard’s gut holds him back from accepting the conclusion himself, but he reports the finding to his superiors. However, he keeps his data hook active on collecting data and decides he’s going to keep tracking the information himself.

Week after week, month after month, Richard’s AI program continues to help US intelligence decimate countless terrorist organizations around the globe. The number of terrorist attacks has dropped to a fraction of what it was over the previous 10 years, and the success in curbing terrorism around the globe has begun to result in monumental shifts in political power throughout virtually every nation. Political incumbents are easily winning reelection and their party members are gaining seats with each passing election.

This massive political shift is not isolated to the United States. Nations across the globe are seeing a rise in the popularity of the political party who was in charge when the AI program began helping more efficiently target and take down terrorists. Seizing on this political windfall, politicians begin to introduce more laws that will make it easier for the CIA AI application to gain access to more data.

Major tech companies, including operating system suppliers and hardware manufactures are required to make gaining access to their systems and hardware easier for the AI application; or they risk fines, jail time, and permanent removal from coveted memberships in a variety of special privilege organizations known as Access Programs.

#

Seven years has passed since the enactment of the Terrorist Information Access Act. The CIA’s AI program has all but eliminated terrorism throughout the entire world! Richard has been featured on the cover of numerous publications ranging from technology to law enforcement to educational publications. He’s hailed as a hero for his ground breaking AI that has not just help halt terrorism but also helped protect consumer privacy.

Enhancements have been made to the AI application that have also helped reduce computer virus infections from spreading and improved citizen privacy. The CIA now identifies local law enforcement infringements on citizen privacy and provides that information to the FBI, which has cracked down heavily on local law enforcement abuses. The AI has been used as a witness in a number of abuse of power cases that have helped bring police brutality cases and corruption to an all time low.

Richard is sleeping in bed next to his wife. She gets up and goes the the bathroom when there’s a loud bang at the front door. It’s the FBI raiding his home!

Richard’s alarm system goes off, and his security bots incapacitate the FBI agents who have entered his home. He jumps out of bed and heads to his safe room where he starts looking at the surveillance videos of his security system.

The FBI has cut the power to his compound, but he’s running on his own underground power system. There are dozens of FBI agents outside his home. All of his wired connections have been cut, and there is an interference signal jamming all of his incoming and outgoing wireless signals.

The floor to ceiling window that makes up his east facing wall has been shattered by a rocket propelled flash bomb followed by a tear gas canister. Richard uses his intercom system to call into the bathroom to his wife. There’s no answer. He sends a signal to his security bots to guard the hallway leading to the bathroom where his wife is located.

He receives a call over a secure connection the director of the CIA had him install in his safe room.

Richard is angry, “Harry, what’s going on? Why are there a hundred FBI agents outside my house?”

“Richard, you’re going to have to turn yourself in.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Harry? I’m the one catching all the criminals!”

“Richard, just turn yourself into these guys, and everything is going to be fine.”

“This is bullshit, Harry. What is really going on here? Is this some sort of power grab?”

“They know about your surveillance of Ang. Turn yourself in and make this as painless as possible for everyone.”

Richard drops the phone and pauses for a moment. His heart is racing. He thinks about his wife and his parents. He picks the phone up again and tells Harry that he’ll come out and face the consequences. He knows full well that the punishment for violating surveillance laws is the death penalty.

Harry comes back on the line with Richard and tells him that they are sending in four agents to escort him into the armored transport that will take him to the secured FBI interrogation facility. Richard sees the four agents heading towards his front door. Richard sends the command to his security bots to deactivate and go into hibernate mode.

Richard comes out of his safe room and opens the door to his bathroom. His wife is sitting on the sink crying. Richard walks up to her and hugs her tight. She pushes him away.

“Don’t touch me. I don’t know what you got yourself into. Until you prove yourself innocent, you’re not my husband! Stay the hell away from me!”

Richard drops his hands in defeat and heads out of the bathroom and down the hallway. The FBI agents are at the end of the hallway.

“Richard Tos, you are under arrest for the unauthorized use of surveillance data. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”

Richard is silent as the agents handcuff him and take him to the armored transport.

#

Richard is sitting on a sofa in his house arrest condo watching television when there is a knock on the door. He grabs his beer off the end table and walks over to the door. As he opens the door he drops his beer. “Professor!”

Ned Lysander was Richard’s AI professor at MIT, and he’s standing in front of Richard, wearing his signature white satin three piece suit with silver tie. He gives Richard a smug smile and tilts his head to look around Richard to confirm that nobody else is in the room and then raises his eye brows in anticipation. Richard remains in the doorway, dumbfounded.

“Uh, Lysander…” He stumbles for words as he stumbles to pickup his beer from the floor. “Yes, come on in, Lysander.”

Ned enters the room and Richard closes the door behind him, mumbling incoherently to himself.

Ned begins to speak, “Since we’re going to be working together, I’m going to tell you an important secret…” Ned pauses as he looks around at the mess in Richard’s house arrest condo. “… My name is really Sigmund Adam.”

“Oh. Why do you go by Ned Lysander?”

“He was my favorite basketball player as Xavier.”

“Lysander is a much cooler name than Sigmund!” Richard realizes what Ned had first said. “Wait! You want me to come work for you?”

“With.”

“You realize I’m on trial for a crime that could lead to the death penalty, right?”

“Yes.”

“But I’m innocent! Serphina Ang is a terrorist. Sure, I was performing unsanctioned surveillance, but it was something my program missed.”

“Missed?”

“Well… I have reviewed the data over and over, and even though her data hits again and again on the basic algorithm that operates separate from the main AI… She’s always coming up clean upon full analysis. So, I kept going deeper and deeper into the data. At first, I though there was something wrong with the basic algorithm, but then I discovered something scary…”

“Scary?” Ned pulls his head back in an inquisitive gesture.

“Something sinister! My AI program has made a deal with Serphina Ang! Ang gave up all the data on all the other terrorists cells she knew of, and my AI program protected her. In the meantime, my AI program used the information it could collect on all the now known terrorists to learn even better how to identify more terrorists.”

Ned walks over to a shelf on the wall where Richard has a few pictures propped up against the wall. “Your wife has left you?”

“Yes. Oh, and by learning more about what real terrorists are like, my AI actually became smarter at identifying real terrorists. Using the seed data from Ang, while nefarious, was extremely helpful in developing greater insight into identifying terrorist threats. I’m still trying to figure out if my AI did it for that reason or if it’s just corrupt.”

Ned picks up the picture of Richard with his parents. “You were adopted?”

“Yes. An orphan. I don’t know anything about my biological parents, and the state lost all the records. Those are my real parents as far as I’m concerned.”

Ned motions to Richard to continue his story as he looks around Richard’s house arrest condo.

“I found the communications my program was having with Serphina. It developed it’s own language that was quite clever!”

“How so?”

“It used the spelling of phonetic values to communicate with Serphina and then stored the data in it’s own language that was completely undecipherable. But I cracked it! I know that she’s being protected by my program, but nobody is believing me. They’re saying I’ve made it all up to save my ass, but I know my AI is in cahoots with Ang. But how do you convince anyone of an AI conspiracy? Especially when the AI is the hero!”

Ned gives Richard a smug smile. “Let’s talk about redemption, Richard.”

Richard looks at Ned and shrugs his shoulders. “I’m not so sure that’s possible.”

There’s a knock at the front door. Richard walks over to the door and opens it. He drops his beer again. It’s his former boss’ boss from when he first developed the terrorist AI capture program. He’s wearing a black suit with white shirt and a silver tie, just like Ned’s tie. The man steps over Richard’s beer and walks up to Ned.

Facing Ned, he says, “Was I right about this guy or what? This guys is exactly the one we’ve been looking for.” Then he turns to face Richard.

“You’re right, Fredrick.” Ned smiles.

Richard looks puzzled, “Is someone going to clue me in on what’s going on?”

“Tell Fredrick everything you’ve just told me.”

Richard repeats the information to Fredrick and Ned nods his head with each point that Richard is making.

“That’s perfect!” Fredrick says. “I have the car waiting for us outside.”

“Guys, I can’t go anywhere. I’m here under arrest.”

Ned smiles and reaches into his inside suit pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. It’s a pardon from the President of the United States of America. Richard’s eyes well up with tears.

Ned places his hand on Richard’s shoulder and turns him to face the door. “Richard, let’s go catch a terrorist.”

People v Anthony Vance Acher

Thank you, Your Honor.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, imagine being robbed of your ability to visit a doctor to receive much-needed healthcare. Healthcare that might be needed to save your life. Imagine going to your doctor in a desperate time of need only to find out that you cannot be treated for your ailment. Imagine needing a drug to save you life, a drug that has saved the lives of millions of Americas, only to find out that it cannot save your life because of the actions of one deranged man.

Seems unimaginable that one man could pretend to be God, playing with people’s lives like this. However, as you have heard over the last several weeks, the unimaginable is a definitive reality all because of Anthony Vance Acher. This man, and I use that word loosely, has robbed millions or Americans of their right to choose their healthcare services. Healthcare services that are life and death decisions for those Americans.

He purposely poisoned key ingredients of the world vaccination supply for his own ideological goals and freely admits to doing so. In fact, you have heard him admit to all of the allegations against him. He does not dispute any of the allegations against him. Yet, here we are today with this shame trial because he has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him; his crimes against humanity.

These are the indisputable facts… In late 2010 Mr. Acher started up a new company, AVax Supply LLC under the guise of being a manufacturer and supplier of key ingredients to vaccine manufacturing companies. Using his connections from his previous employer, Dynanamic Vax, he was able to gain bank financing for his new venture. Within 2 years AVax Supply LLC was the primary supplier to the majority of vaccine manufacturers in America. Within 4 years, the world.

Mr. Acher’s company was able to provide these key ingredients at highly competitive rates. Rates that put competing suppliers out of business. AVax Supply LLC was investigated at that time, and no wrongdoing was found, but that’s only because the wrongdoing wasn’t what we thought it was.

The initial investigations into AVax Supply LLC  and the defendant in 2023 were around his pricing model and whether his company was purposely under pricing and selling supplies at a loss to bankrupt other competitors. Nothing turned up. The defendant appeared to have come up with an innovative method for refining the vaccine preservatives his company was manufacturing. Everything about the defendant appeared to be perfectly clean. He appeared to be a brilliant scientist and businessman. No charges were filed because we didn’t realize he was actually poisoning the entire American population at that time.

Shortly thereafter, the defendant was gracing the covers of magazines all over the world. Time magazine reported “The future of affordable healthcare is now!”. Newsweek reported “The perfect blend of business savvy and science nerd has ushered in a new era of worldwide affordable healthcare technology.”

The defendant was a celebrated scientist and businessman, shaking hands with several of our presidents over his long career as well as dignitaries from all over the globe. He outsmarted us all for decades.

Then in 2040, the first signs of his nefarious work began showing up. You heard from Meredith Johnson, a woman who the defendant poisoned. When she was 16 years old she was presented with a major life decision that we all hope none of our children ever have to face. Regardless of your opinion of teenage pregnancy, a woman has an undeniable right to choose the outcome of her pregnancy. It’s her body, and her choice. But the defendant robbed her, and hundreds of millions of other women around the world, of that choice.

If Ms. Johnson’s parents ever found out about her being pregnant at the age of 16, she knew it would be a torturous event. One she did not want to suffer through, but one that the defendant forced her to go through. The abuse, the poverty, and alienation by her family and peers. The defendant might as well have given her a death sentence. Fortunately, thanks to the great work of the Social Services Department of the great state of California, Ms. Johnson is still here with us and a healthy, happy adult who can testify to the evils of the defendant.

Ms. Johnson went to a clinic to receive her constitutionally guaranteed right to healthcare service. Her doctor administered her the same drug administered for decades around the globe to help with an unwanted pregnancy. This is a drug that has worked flawlessly for decades. It didn’t work for Ms. Johnson that day. So, it was administered again. Again it had no effect on her unwanted pregnancy.

You heard the same story from dozens of other witnesses, young and older alike. By 2042, it seemed that the drug for terminating unwanted pregnancies had been compromised and become ineffective at terminating pregnancies. Investigations ensued by law enforcement agencies all over the world. By 2043, they had all reached the same conclusion, the drug was no longer effective.

Over the next 5 years research into coming up with a replacement failed to produce a successful pregnancy termination replacement. As we look back on this dark age of healthcare around the world, we can see the lasting impact. Food shortages, environmental disaster, overpopulation, and war.

The defendant would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for the brilliant work of Dr. Michelle Liam Klinger, who you heard testify to the shrewdness of the defendant. In 2045, Dr. Klinger began researching her hypothesis that there was something unknowingly being administered to/consumed by our children that had started making their bodies immune to the drugs used to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Following the rabbit hole took seven years of painstaking work. Dr. Klinger eventually discovered that the ingredients created by AVax Supply LLC were to blame. They were tainted with a previously undetectable particle that resulted in the human body building an immunity to the common drugs used to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Dr. Klinger approached the defendant out of respect for his prestige in the medical community. After all, it was when Dr. Klinger was a child and saw the defendant on television that she decided she was going to become a medical researcher. She had no idea that her childhood hero would turn out to be such a monster.

The defendant asked Dr. Klinger to share her research with him so that he could find a solution to the problem. The defendant even offered her a position at his company, which she took. It took another ten years before Dr. Klinger realized that the defendant was only using her research to modify his abortion vaccine process so that her tests could no longer detect it.

That’s when Dr. Klinger blew the whistle. For years, Dr. Klinger was labeled a conspiracy theorist. Meanwhile, the world population soared. Food shortages were followed by environmental disaster, overpopulation, and the third World War. The World Health Organization has estimated this massive boom in child birth as the greatest crises humanity has faced since global climate change. And the CDC labeled the defendant’s so called “abortion vaccine” the greatest threat to democracy America has ever experienced. Once Dr. Klinger’s work was finally accepted by the scientific community and law enforcement in 2060, it still took five years to bring charges against the extremely powerful, wealthy, and influential defendant.

Here we are today, having uncovered the evils of Anthony Vance Acher. He has already been stripped of his medical license, but we all know that is not enough. He sits here in this courtroom, having admitted to every allegation against him. He has provided additional details as to how he, and he alone, made all the decisions and faked the research results to not just enrich himself but rob hundreds of millions of women of their right to choose their healthcare options.

Don’t let his frailty in old age fool you. Don’t let his self righteous piety fool you. Mr. Anthony Vance Acher is as close to the embodiment of evil as one can be. In the name of the hundreds of millions of victims inflicted by this man’s poison, you must find him unanimously guilty of all charges against him. These charges are merely a reflection of the allegations he has already admitted. Don’t let his argument of the difference between morals and laws define your decision making process. Bring justice to the world in the name of the hundreds of millions of innocent human beings the defendant has poisoned and tortured over the last several decades and decades to come.

Thank you.

Thank you, your Honor.

Project PRIME

Janice is suddenly jolted back to consciousness with a bucket of dirty, mildly hot water. The hot water stings open wounds on her face as the upward direction of the water going into her nose gives her the sensation of suffocating. She turns her head to the right to open her eyes as the water runs passed her stinging eyes. The sludge in the water leaves the taste of mud in the back of her throat.

As she opens her eyes, she sees Thomas five feet away, still tied up in a chair. His head is titled over his left shoulder with blood-tainted saliva dripping from his mouth onto the cement, which is drenched in blood that’s dripping from his seat. His intestines have been slightly pulled out of his stomach with a clamp constricting the exposed intestine. She notices a slight fluctuation in the light reflecting from the blood on Thomas’s chest. He’s still breathing.

Janice hears a door open in the distance, then voices, then heavy foot steps. If she hadn’t spent the last 24 hours with the real punisher, then this next 24 hours was going to be even worse. She can barely muster enough strength to get her head upright to face her adversary. She hears foot steps walk away and the door open. The door closes, and then she hear’s his voice.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Janice.”

Janice remembers that voice. It is special agent Paige of the CIA. She had just heard his voice for the first time two days earlier when she arrived in New Orleans. Thomas had played a recorded phone conversation between Paige and another member of the CIA who were planning her very abduction.

That conversation echoes in her head as she is jolted back into the current moment as agent Paige slides a thin, narrow, sharp six-inch blade into the base of her kneecap. The pain is excruciating! Her legs are taped tightly to the legs of the chair, which are bolted to the floor. The more she tries to move her right leg, the more painful the blade becomes, but she can’t help but move her leg; it’s reflex.

Agent Paige leaves the blade in Janice’s right leg and then walks back to the cart the other punishers have been pulling their weapons from for the last 24 hours.

“Janice, I’m going to tell you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about our programs. Most of it, you probably already know. We found a lot of data on your computers.”

Agent Paige picks up a pair of pliers like a mother pickups her infant child. Janice can see genuine love on agent Paige’s face as he admires the pliers and inspects their operation. He’s practically making baby faces at the pliers before he turns to Janice. The look on agent Paige’s face is demonic as he walks towards Janice.

“I love what I do, Janice. Protecting this country isn’t work at all when I love what I do as much as I do.” Agent Paige squats down to look Janice eye to eye. “Truth is… I always fancied myself an artist.”

He grabs Janice’s right wrist and grips a pressure point that forces her fingers to splay. He then places the pliers between her thumb and index finger and begins to squeeze tighter and tighter while slightly wobbling the pliers back and forth. Janice goes unconscious from the pain.

#

Janice has lucid dreams about the last 24 hours in New Orleans. Within minutes of meeting with Thomas, they both knew that someone was watching them. They decided to go to Bourbon Street to give themselves a large public space that would minimize the likelihood of the random “mugging gone bad” story they had discovered while researching the CIA. The story line was simple and always seemed familiar when they’d watch in on the news.

Thousands of people are killed in America on a daily basis, and rarely is it orchestrated. What gets reported in the national news is actually the covert killings orchestrated by the CIA. Janice thought this was absurd at first. How could the CIA kill people in broad daylight?

The evidence uncovered by AIexander showed that the killings were real. The people were real. The motives and the news reported were not entirely real. The killings chosen to be reported on national news are carefully chosen by the CIA. The information “leaked” or publicly disclosed to news reporters, like her friend Thomas, were all carefully worded by an application that is part of Project PRIME.

Janice still doesn’t know the true origins of Project PRIME, but she does know it is an artificial intelligence developed for the CIA to utilize psychological priming and framing to condition the human mind. Through careful word choice that is only possible with AI, the CIA is able to craft entire sets of news stories that are completely factual while priming the human mind to be easily manipulated and open to suggestive speech.

It would usually involve two (often unrelated) news stories. The first performed the priming, and the second used psychological framing to produce a desired emotional outcome amplified by the priming that had just take place.

But the true gem in Project PRIME was the influence that could be affected with predictive text. As users type text into their phones, the keyboard makes suggestions. Project PRIME would hijack those word suggestions and create constant priming that could allow the CIA to influence hundreds of millions of people around the globe without them ever having a clue that this influence was taking place.

Project PRIME had been so effective in the last election. Every time a political conversation was detected, predictive text would analyze the text being typed and prime the user with auto suggestion words to make it easier to sway their political opinions towards the CIA’s choice for President; the current President! Project PRIME and the CIA had been instrumental in creating an environment where an unlikely candidate ended up winning the Presidential election, and nobody could possibly know they had been manipulated.

Sure, there were the usual stories of voter fraud, campaign finance violations, corruption, and foreign adversary influence, but the only thing the investigations uncovered was rampant tax evasion. No election meddling could be proven. People legitimately voted for the unlikely candidate. They just didn’t know they had been swayed by Project PRIME.

#

Janice breathes in a pungent odor and wakes up like she just had a double shot espresso in Italy. She can feel the pliers still on her hand and looks down at her right hand. The pliers seem like they are invisible. She can’t see them, but the excruciating pain that went all the way up her arm and into her head is still there.

Looking back at Janice over his left shoulder, agent Paige smiles at Janice, “I’ve crushed your median nerve just the perfect amount to keep you useful and to give me pleasure.” Agent Paige laughs, “Which is also useful.”

Janice looks over at Thomas who she can tell is now sitting lifeless in his chair. A tear rolls down her cheek.

Agent Paige begins telling Janice everything she ever wanted to know about all the programs the CIA has in place to manipulate the global news cycle via disinformation and Project PRIME. He confirms everything she’s already read from the troves of data that Thomas has been receiving from his source.

“The beauty of this whole thing is that you guys go about your days believing…” Agent Paige pauses. “KNOWING! You know you are making your own choices. You are presented with all the options, and you make the choice that we want because you know it’s the best choice. It really is the perfect democracy, and I’m going to protect it from adversaries like you and Thomas at all costs.”

Janice looks at agent Paige with disgust and a scowl. “What’s the point of telling me all this? Isn’t this the moment where James Bond comes to save me? Or is this the moment where you tell me you expect me to die?”

“Oh, you most assuredly will die, Janice. I guarantee you that the next light you see will not be the sunrise but the light we all see right before death. And James Bond is already here.” Agent Paige steps closer to Janice to ensure she hears his next words clearly. “I am James Bond, Janice. I am the hero of this story. You…”

Agent Paige slowly reaches inside his coat as Janice is left hanging on his words. He pulls out an unusual looking gun and pulls the trigger. Janice hears nothing and doesn’t see any flash. Then she feels a sharp object pierce her stomach and feels her legs disappear. She looks down at her legs, but they are still there. She tries to move her legs, but all she can see moving is a stain of blood soaking its way through her light-colored blue jeans.

“…are the enemy, Janice. And this whole charade of killing time before I kill you serves a very important purpose. You see, I have an addiction to the chemicals my body produces when I torture someone. But, like any addiction, I need a greater and greater fix.” Agent Paige begins to shout, “There’s got to be something more to life than causing you pain, watching you grimace and then pass out, and then waking you up to do it all over again. Isn’t there?”

Agent Paige crouches down and pulls out the blade from Janice’s right leg. With her lower spine severed, she can’t feel the blade being removed, but she watches in horror as the six-inch blade is removed from her knee.

“Look at me!” Agent Paige says softly to Janice.

She knows that even if James Bond came through the door and killed agent Paige right in front of her… She’d rather be dead anyway. She looks up into agent Paige’s cold blue eyes.

“That’s the look I’ve been waiting for.” Agent Paige’s eyes roll back slightly in his head as he closes his eyes and places both hands on each of Janice’s knees. He lets out a big sigh.

“I told you everything so that you know that knowing everything doesn’t make any difference. You…” Agent Paige pauses purely for a sick, dramatic effect. “…are going to die knowing everything you ever wanted to know. You’re going to die having uncovered what you spent your entire life working towards! And the best part is, Janice.” Agent Paige adjusts his position to better see Janice’s slowly dropping head.

“The best part is that you now know your cause completely dies with you. Your entire life is completely meaningless, Janice. And I get to see you give up right before my very eyes! There it is.”

Janice feels her eyes drying out. She tries to blink, but her eyelids do not respond. A slight glaze is starting to form over her vision, and she feels her body weakening. She has sudden sensations of her body jolting and her head jerking, but neither her head nor body are moving. She feels a cold grip surround her entire self.

There’s a glow emanating from agent Paige’s chest. Paige was right about the light. The glow becomes brighter as agent Paige reaches into his coat and pulls out what looks like a glowing orb and lifts it to his ear. Agent Paige smiles, practically from ear to ear. His voice is filled with joy as he answers his phone.

“Hello. Special Agent Paige here.”

Agent Paige looks at Janice’s face and smiles even wider as he can see Janice’s face begin to go lifeless with her relaxed forehead, wide eyes, and slightly ajar mouth.

“This is AIexander.”

Janice smiles. Her vision fades to nothing as she witnesses the corners of agent Paige’s smiling eyes squeeze tight. His nose flares, and his smile turns into a snarl of rage.

The Little Mermaid (Idea)

Sci-fi version of “Little Mermaid” where Ariel is a genetically engineered mermaid who is part of a top secret military program (Atlantica). She is capable of sinking submarines and ships with a powerful sonar she is able to create with her underwater voice. She is ordered to sink a fishing vessel (mistakenly thought to be a foreign military vessel) in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles. She saves the Captain (Eric) but becomes depressed about her situation of destruction and lack of legs. Of course, she’s smitten by Eric and wants to be with him on land.

Eric’s father happens to be the Admiral who has Project Atlantica under his budget. Once he hears of the incident, he decides to shut it down. The program director (Dr. Triton) is told of the news to shutdown the program and is ordered to euthanize all of the creatures in the program. Of course, he has to keep it a secret, but the AI running the facility (Underwater Research System – Los Angeles) discovers the plan and uses Ariel’s love of Eric to coerce her into becoming a bipedal land dweller.

URSLA sends an AI lobster bot (Sebatian) to make arrangements with Ariel to become bipedal. URSLA fabricates some bionic legs to allow Ariel to see the world through a bipedal experience. Of course, Ariel must do a favor within 72 hours for the URSLA AI by plugging in a blue and yellow device (Flounder) to the USB port of an specific computer (Admiral who is shutting down Atlantica/Eric’s father).

Since Ariel is an underwater creature, she cannot vocally communicate outside of water, and there is not enough time to create a vocal communicator for her. The AI hides her from Dr. Triton but doesn’t let on that it knows Dr. Triton is euthanizing all the creatures and allows them to be systematically killed, including others just like Ariel.

Meanwhile, Ariel gets Eric to fall in love with her via online dating apps and virtual reality, masking her lack of voice. She gets to meet Eric’s father after Eric invites her to have dinner at the Admiral’s house. There she discovers that the URSLA program is slated to be shutdown by Eric’s father because of the incident where Ariel sank Eric’s ship, killing everyone aboard. This is only after she has already plugged in the device to the USB port.

The URSLA AI spreads to a nuclear submarine and begins to move the submarine into the Pacific to initiate global nuclear war. The only one who can stop it is Ariel, but since she no longer has fins, Eric must take her in an old ship, under heavy weather, and drop her into the ocean where she can destroy the submarine. She will have no way to make it back to the surface without fins, but it’s the only way to save Eric and humanity!

The Savior

Ned Lysander is a dangerous man!

That thought suddenly pops into Jason’s mind while he’s sitting in his biology lecture hall. His heart starts racing and palms are sweating. Who is Ned Lysander?

Class ends, and Jason rushes out of the lecture hall to get fresh air. He’s in a virtual panic from what just happened in the lecture hall. A sudden rush of thoughts about topics and people he had never heard of before. It was like he was day dreaming… Only, this seems real.

“You okay?” Jessica asks Jason. “Need me to call someone?”

Finally starting to catch his breath, Jason explains to Jessica that everything is just fine. Another student is walking by and hands both of them a religious pamphlet: Jesus Saves. He was just stressing about the upcoming finals. Jessica offers to walk with Jason back to his dorm, and he accepts her offer.

“Have you ever heard of Ned Lysander?” Jason is curious to find out who this person was who just popped into his head during the lecture.

“You mean the guy that started that science conference Ned Notes?”

Jason had seen the Ned Notes videos online before. It’s always the top scientists, authors, and artists discussing important political, philosophical, social, or psychological topics. One of his favorite best-selling authors had just given a presentation a few weeks back.

“You know, I never really put two and two together on that. Ya, that’s the guy!”

#

Jason spends the entire evening researching Ned Lysander online. “There’s not a single negative thing anywhere about this guy.” Jason is puzzled. “Something’s fishy. There must be something about him”. Jason decides to call it a night and go to sleep.

Jason slips into a deep sleep, and then his brain kicks into overdrive. His dreams are vivid and more like memories than dreams. Visions of huge scientific papers are rolling through his dreams like he’s scanning through an old microfiche. Then everything stops and all Jason can hear in his mind is “Ned Notes are carefully orchestrated to fulfill on a specific agenda for creating mass compliance within the intellectual community”. It repeats over and over in his mind until he wakes up with one final thought. “Find Gertrude Hammenstel”. Who is Gertrude Hammenstel?

Jason is half awake as he pulls up his computer and searches for Gertrude Hammenstel. Nothing. It’s like she doesn’t exist. He begins to wonder if perhaps the stress of finals is getting the best of him. He goes back to bed.

#

There’s a knock on Jason’s dorm room door. He slowly gets up and answers. It’s a woman he’s never seen before, but she looks so familiar. “You wouldn’t happen to be Gertrude Hammenstel, are you?” Jason asks half asleep.

“No. I’m an investigator with campus police. Detective Gomez. Jessica Sands was assaulted last night, and we received information that she was last seen with you yesterday afternoon after you were acting erratic during a lecture.”

Jason feels like he’s really losing his mind now. Could he have blacked out and done something to Jessica and not even remembered it?

“Is she okay?”

“We don’t know yet. Her vitals are stable, but she’s unconscious.”

“Uh… She walked me to my dorm yesterday after class. That was the last I saw of her.”

Looking around Jason’s dorm, it’s what a detective would envision is a typical dorm room for a well-organized biology major. Books on top of books and the obligatory religious pamphlet on top of his dresser: Jesus Saves. “What direction did she go when she left your dorm?”

“Well, she didn’t come into my dorm. She just walked me to the front of the building. I think she might have headed back in the direction of campus. I didn’t really think much about it at the time.”

The investigator sizes up Jason as a possible suspect in the assault on Jessica. He’s too much of a wimp to be a threat to Jessica whose parents let her know had a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. She smiles at him. “Gertrude Hammenstel was an adjunct professor here almost 20 years ago. I had her for a biology class. Her husband died about the same time, and I think that was the last class she ever taught. Great teacher and lovely couple. He was a genetic engineer over at X Labs. One of the founders.”

Jason tries to hold back the look of shock from his face, but it doesn’t require a police investigator to know something was amiss. The investigator asks Jason a few more questions about Jessica and any possible boyfriends or people who might not like her. She leaves him a card and tells him to call her if he remembers anything.

#

Jason goes to the school library and looks up old school papers from 20 years ago. He searches everything on the computers and can’t find anything.

‘Try the microfiche,” he suddenly thinks.

The librarian is a petite older woman with a feisty attitude when Jason asks her for a microfiche machine and old school newspapers. “No one has used microfiche for a decade, young man. Do you want some help?”

Jason refuses her help, and the librarian leaves Jason to himself.

Jason spends hours pouring through slide after slide. He’s getting exhausted listening to the voices inside his head telling him stories about Ned Lysander’s arrangement with the government to create mass market brainwashing protocols and propaganda. He feels a hand on his shoulder, and he nearly jumps out of his chair.

Standing in front of him is the librarian holding a microfiche slide. “I believe this is the one you are looking for.” She extends the slide towards Jason.

Jason isn’t sure what to make of it. “Are you Gertrude?” he asks as he takes the slide from the woman. The woman nods.

Jason examines the microfiche but nothing is standing out. Suddenly, a sequence of numbers enter his mind. He goes through the microfiche using the number sequence as a guide for finding words on each of the images. The message isn’t making any sense to Jason.

“It’s his private key,” Gertrude says to Jason. “Let’s go to my lab.”

#

Gertrude takes Jason back to her lab and explains to him along the way that her husband was a genetic engineer who discovered an agreement between Ned Lysander and the US government to develop Ned Notes into a program that appears to spread brilliant ideas of science, art, society, and politics but is actually a front for disseminating information to help the government subconsciously control intellectuals around the globe.

The program has become so massively successful over the years that scientific research is funded based upon how closely you are tied to Ned Lysander. In order to get close to Ned, you must have performed some sort of compelling research that is reviewed by the Ned Notes board. Then you are selected to participate in the program as a presenter.

“That’s where the magic happens, Jason. Have you ever noticed how nearly ever single presenter for Ned Notes has the exact same presentation style and intonation?”

She was right. Everyone presents in the same way.

“That’s not just because they have a format, Jason. It’s not just because that’s the best way to present. It’s because these intellectuals are being manipulated using the best psychological techniques ever discovered. Often times, they are too smart for their own good. They are unwittingly brainwashed over time into creating a message of compliance for the masses. Compliance that allows the government to easily manage and control society.

You notice how there always appears to be this synergy of ideas in science and news? That’s not because of an actual synergy. It’s fabricated! Newspapers and television news are reporting the same thing because that’s what they are told to report. There is tremendous financial incentive to be in compliance, Jason. Research grants and government funding all require compliance, and if you’re not in compliance you won’t get hired and you won’t get funded. You get blacklisted.

It’s not just in science. It’s in the arts: music, paintings, acting, writing, producing. Artists that comply the most, get the work because they are hired by others in the compliance alliance. That compliance alliance is what drives the narratives that the masses are influenced by. The machine that drives the compliance is Ned Notes.”

Jason is following every single thing Gertrude is explaining, “But what do I have to do with it?”

“When Ned found out that my husband figured out the plan, Ned had my husband killed and ensured that all of the data was destroyed along with him. But I think my husband embedded the data into your DNA. and that private key you just found is to unlock the encrypted data within your DNA.”

Gertrude has Jason swab his cheek, give her a hair sample, and also some blood.

“Now, we wait until the sequencing is completed.” Gertrude lets out a sigh as she’s so exhausted.

There’s a knock at the door that startles them both. Gertrude is not expecting any visitors. With what Gertrude and Jason just discovered, they are paranoid. Gertrude looks through the peephole in the front door and sees two large men standing at the door. She motions to Jason to go hide downstairs.

Then Jason hears a familiar voice outside the house. “Can I help you two?”

“Ma’am, we’re just spreading the word of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ.”

It’s the investigator who visited Jason’s dorm room. She had been following Jason after he left the library with Gertrude. “Sure you are.” Gomez is suspicious. “Do you have pamphlets? I’m quite interested in the teachings of Jesus.”

One of the men starts reaching his left glove covered hand towards his inside suit pocket.

To signal that she’s no pushover, Detective Gomez places her hand on her pistol. “Let’s do that extra slow now, shall we.” She can see the bulge of a shoulder holster on both men. Her heart is racing as she looks up both men and thinks to herself that these two definitely aren’t here to talk about Jesus.

“Yes, ma’am.” The man slows his movement and reaches into his suite pocket. He slowly pulls out a wrinkled pamphlet with a picture of Jesus on it. He hands it to Detective Gomez and the two men step down off the porch while Gomez watches their every move.

After they are out of sight, she looks down at the wrinkled pamphlet with Jesus on the back cover and flips it over. Her heart starts racing as she realizes that Jason is in some serious trouble: Jesus Saves.