It was a red eye back to
London. I did not put us in Frank’s
favorite hotel. I figured it would
be best to try make whoever beat up Frank to have to find us. Granted that would not take long. I already tracked down Sir Terrance for
Frank and Princess Marianne just to make sure they were in the London area. It would have been dumb to fly to London
if they were in New York or Beijing.
Frank did not sleep on the flight at all. He tried to watch a movie on the airline
screen, but I could tell he was not very interested in it. He kept checking the time and flipping
to the channel that showed the plane’s progress and speed. It took four stiff drinks to make him
relax enough to fall asleep in our new hotel room. It was about three in the morning when
he fell asleep. I debated if I
should wake Frank up at six in order to get an early start. I had not been given any orders by Frank
to get him up at any specific time, but sometimes I would do so in order to help
promote whatever was high on his agenda.
Sometimes Frank would thank me, but many times he would just tell me to
go someplace that did not exist.
Although there is a Hell, California and a Hell, Michigan but my AI
guessed there was less than a 1% chance he meant for me to go to those
meaningless towns. I decided to let
Frank catch up on his sleep. He
would need all his brain cells working at capacity to talk to Sir
Terrance.
At 7:20 there was a knock on the
door. In replaying the audio before
the knocking I knew there was only one person outside. Since about 5:30 AM I had heard people
or robots starting their day. I had
ignored them as far as gathering intelligence, but with the knock I was on high
alert. I had guessed it was a
female by the time I opened the door.
It was the
Princess.
“Is Frank awake?” she
whispered.
“No, Princess.”
She walked quietly in and in a
whisper soft voice said, “Order breakfast.
Both coffee and tea, too.” And she made her way to the bathroom. In less than a minute she came out stark
naked and quietly got into the king size bed that Frank was in. She slowly kissed his arm and shoulder
as Frank was facing away from her.
Slowly without even opening his eyes he turned to her and sought her
lips. It is interesting how humans
can communicate with touch only.
Most of the time they ignore the sense of touch. Most of the time they need to talk,
talk, talk. I quietly busied myself
getting Frank’s clothing and toiletry items ready while Frank finished being and
getting satisfied. Physicality must
be a wonderful thing.
Unfortunately, my model does not come with any analog for
that.
The breakfast came about five
minutes before they were done. I
did not bother to announce breakfast.
They were still verbally quiet in bed. Finally, Frank rolled them to their
sides and said, “Hi Princess.”
“Hi Frank Huntington,” she said
with a giggle.
“How did you find me?” Frank
asked while playing with her long hair.
“I have made a friend with one
of my husband’s security men and he will find anyone for me.”
“I bet you never have a problem
making friends” Frank said with a laugh, “Jack, I smell bacon, is Breakfast
ready?
“Yes sir, Drop Dead coffee or
black tea Princess?”
“White, please.”
I served the Princess her tea
with cream and Frank his usual JD and Drop Dead Coffee. They both enjoyed the eggs, bacon and
toast. While they ate, Frank told
the Princess about his observations of Old Jerusalem. She asked a few questions, but seemed
more interested in her toast and marmalade. Finally, Frank asked her if she could
help get him close and personal with her husband to ask about how this religion
killing mumbo jumbo was being done.
“Sure, after I have dessert
let’s head out to the castle.”
“I’m sorry, Princess I did not
order any dessert with breakfast,” I told the Princess in an apologetic
tone.
“Jack, she didn’t mean it like
that,” Frank said with a smile. He
took the Princess by the hand and led her back to the bed. I collected the dishes up and pushed the
trolley back into the hall.
After they were done, they
shared the shower and got dressed.
As she was applying lipstick she told me to order a car. We all three headed down to the lobby
and boarded our hired automated car.
Frank took out his smart phone device and muttered he was going to check
his emails and texts messages. The
Princess must have thought that was a good idea and took out her own
device. Both of them were clicking
away. The next think I know Frank
had texted me to ease drop [eavesdrop] on the
Princess. As to who she was typing
to I could not determine that as I could not see her screen. And things like menu choosing I was
blind as well. By her hand moments
I was able to figure out what she was typing. One must have been a text from her
fashion designer because she wrote short messages that she like such and such a
design or made comments such as; Raise hem. Darker blue. Ugly. Order for French party in white. Finally she gave a quick glance to see
what Frank was doing and sent the following text – “On way now, just passed
Folyes. Love M”. I relayed all her
text verbally as Frank had on his earbud.
Finally, Frank put away his
device and turned towards the Princess.
“Marianne, did you ever get a
chance to talk to your husband about how or who might be doing
this?”
“Yes, I did Frank. I told him about the attack at the
Vatican and how it changed his Unholiness,” she said with a low laugh, “and I
asked him point blank how could someone do this?”
“So what did he
say?”
“To be honest he said he could
think of at least six ways to accomplish what happened.”
“Did he explain any of
them?”
“Only one. He said the easiest was to use a common
virus that would have been immediately attacked, but could still deliver the
goods to whatever part of the brain you wanted to attack or
change.”
“Wouldn’t that leave some
telltale sign that there had been an attack?”
“I asked him why no one would
notice that and he said that if they picked the right virus most people would
have the antibodies to take out the virus.
It would happen so fast that the host would not have any fever or other
signs of illness. He said most
attacks to the body are snuffed out by the immune system and we are totally
unaware of these small battles. It
is only when we get something new or our bodies are weakened that we would have
symptoms of being ill.”
“I wonder why it doesn’t keep
spreading?”
“I don’t know. I guess you will have to ask him.” With
that she pulled him to her side of the car and proceeded to seek out a
kiss. I turned my head to the
window to give the illusion that I was not looking, but I’m sure they both knew
that was only a social convention.
I had 360 degree vision.
Anyway one thing lead to another and before I could recite all of
Shakespeare’s sonnets they had a satisfying session of car sex. After it was over she said, they had
better put themselves in order before they entered Maidstone Labs. She had quipped, “I don’t want my
husband to see me just in a bra on one of his security cameras.”
I saw the security gate ahead
and the car stopped for a scan. In
a few second the car said it was going to continue and the gate opened. Once again we were in the lovely wooded
estate of Sir Terrance. I noticed
that we were not heading directly to the lab or the castle and told Frank that
fact in his earbud.
Frank asked Marianne where would
we be meeting her husband. She
said, “I don’t know. Let’s see
where the car takes us. It would
have been given directions at the gate.”
“After about three minutes the
car turned onto a road that headed due south. After going less than a tenth of a mile
it turned again onto a short road that ended with a steel gate that was
opening. We then came out onto what
looked like a runway and ahead was a large jet transport plane with the front
nose open and tilted up. Without
hesitating the car drove up the loading ramp into the darken interior of the
plane. The plane made a new louder
noise and I could see the ramp and nose were moving back to a closed
position.
“What the fuck is going on,
Marianne?” asked Frank with a look of anger. Frank doesn’t like surprises like
this. My AI was telling me this was
very unusual and I raised my security level.
Marianne had a look of almost
bemusement and said, “Leave it to my husband to do something impressive. He likes to show off, Frank. He had told me he had a project that he
was about to announce to the world.”
Frank’s face had a sour look. He
did not like to be made a sucker.
He obviously believed she was probably in on what was happening. Most women would freak out if something
like this happened without warning. For that matter, most JAICs and males,
too. After the plane was sealed we
heard what sounded like the jets engines starting up. With that the lights went on in the
cargo bay. Besides the car there
were many cases tied down on pallets.
Coming down the side I spotted two people coming.
“Mr. Huntington, I see two
people coming. One is Sir Terrance
and the other is Dr. Amy Larson.”
Marianne proceeded to open the
door and get out. Frank and I then
did that same. By the time Frank
had closed the car door Sir Terrance had arrived and offered his hand to Frank,
“It is good of you to come see me again, Mr. Huntington.”
“A noisy cargo bay is rather an
unusual place for an interview.
What’s coming down?” Frank asked with a slight scowl on his
face.
“You sound unhappy, Mr.
Huntington, is there anything wrong?” Lutts asked with a look of
surprise.
“Well, to be honest, I feel like
I’m being kidnapped.”
“If I recall you asked to see
me. The when and where was not
given. My business requires me to
be on the move all the time.”
We followed Sir Terrance and the
Princess to a hatch at the very front of the cargo area. Once past that we were in a luxurious
cabin area. There were plush seats,
desks, and all kinds of monitors showing the Lutts corporate logo. By the front of the plane was the
hallway to the restroom and the famous Cirrus Pods that were to be used in case
of crashing. Cirrus had become
famous for the concept of having an emergency parachute built in their planes,
but when they started making jets as big as the one we were in it became
impractical to parachute the entire plane. Their solution was to have rescue pods
that would eject humans to safety.
With no human pilot it was a great selling point back when people were
still a little uneasy trusting their lives to a robotic pilot. Of course, such prejudice against
robotic piloting was irrational.
The safety record of robotic commercial planes was far superior to the
old planes piloted by humans. Lutts
asked his wife if she would mind being the bartender as there were no servants
on the plane. Dr. Larson had gone
off in a corner and was looking at a tablet.
Lutts took a seat and said,
“Have a seat, Mr. Huntington. After
we have our drinks we have about two hours for your interview.”
“Where are we headed towards?"
asked Frank.
Princess Marianne answered as
she handed Frank a tall glass of Jack Daniels, “Somewhere close to
Kittila.”
“Where the hell is
Kittila?”
“Lutts smiled and said, “It is
in Norway above the Arctic Circle.
I own 25,000 hectors there.
I keep a research lab about thirty miles east of Kittila. This is where we have developed my
latest discovery.”
“Can you tell me what your
latest discovery is?”
“Not until we get to the
lab. Marianne tells me you have
some questions for me.”
Frank took a healthy swallow and
then said, “As you know there have been three or more incidence where people
have woken up and discovered they no longer feel religious.”
“Yes, I saw on the BBC the news
about Jerusalem and your article about the Buddhists, Sir Terrance
interjected.
“Those were the biggest events,
but there were others as well. Until Jerusalem, however, these atheist
conversions usually resulted in many of the people becoming violent or
suicidal. Very
messy.”
“I see.” Lutts said
quietly.
“The reason I wanted to see you,
Sir Terrance, is you are probably one of the world’s leading experts on
biotechnology. These events are all
very confined to just one location.
Only those at the Buddhist temple went nonreligious. The businesses by the temple had no such
transformations. Even as big an
area as Old Jerusalem was confined to the area within Old Jerusalem. The ten million dollar question is how
could this be done?”
Lutts did not respond. He sipped on his wine several
times. Finally, he said “I would
need to know more, Mr. Huntington.
I would need to examine some of these people.”
“If it would help I can tell you
that based on blood samples there have been found no unusual chemicals or
viruses.”
“I would doubt it was a manmade
virus. Most retroviruses you have
to inject and I think someone would have noticed that. If you made a retrovirus that could
survive in the air or water it would be impossible to contain. Also, given the size of Old Jerusalem
you would run into the chance of a virus exchanging genetic material with
another virus or bacteria and that could be very deadly. As to a drug, I just can’t see that as a
possibility. Again, how would one
administer it? Most drugs would not
be easy to hide if put in a water supply or atomized into the air. Even if it broke down after a certain
time period there would be some trace either in the environment or within the
human subjects. Chemicals that act
on the brain usually don’t change it long term. I assume this change of religious
feeling is permanent?”
“From what I can tell, yes. I have been in contact with some of the
converted and even after several months they have not come back to religion.”
Frank said while pondering his empty glass.
“A change like that would have
to remodel the brain cells that hold religious beliefs. I can’t see how that could be so
specific. Most humans hold many
kinds of beliefs. To just pluck
belief in God along with all the other aspects of religion that you must have
faith in would be almost impossible, I would think.”
“I get that, Sir Terrance, but
the fact remains someone is doing this.”
“I know you are an atheist, Mr.
Huntington. Why are you so anxious
to know who is killing religion?”
“Because there is more to it
than putting religion on the dust heap of history,” Frank said with a firm
voice. “If someone can go into our heads and change a belief or a characteristic
of our brains they could turn us all into slaves. They could commit genocide and never
fire a bullet themselves. It comes
down to being a free race. I don’t
mind if someone freely decided to be an atheist or a monk, but I do mind if I am
forced to be something I never would have chosen.”
“I see what you mean. Has there been any indication that
whoever is killing religion is changing people in other ways?”
“Yes and no.” I haven’t seen anything like what I
worry could happen. However, the
first incidents of religion being killed had the side effect of the violence and
suicide. Now with the latest and
biggest attack these side effects are missing. Instead everyone was overly happy. They acted like those people you see on
infomercials where their product will solve all your problems and life is just
one big exciting time.”
“From what you say, it is
obvious that whoever is doing this is perfecting their process. Again, I highly doubt it is a drug or
group of drugs. If it was a virus
that remodeled the areas of the brain where religion is held it would have to be
one complex virus. It might even be
a combination of viruses, but then they would run the risk of higher failure
risks. Also, someone would be bound
to have a reaction and become either sick or die.”
“Is there any new technology
that could be used to do this?”
“Not that I know of and I know
all the scientists who are working on biotech. It would be highly unlikely they would
develop such a powerful tool and aim it at religion. There are so many flaws in the human
brain. People are sent to jail
because some fool claims they saw something that never happened. Also, the brain is so plastic how would
they know where exactly do we have religion in our brains. Before you could take on a project like
this you would have to know how the brain works. We have come a long way from thinking
love resides in our heart instead of our head, but the brain is a rather big
organ to go poking around in.”
“Excuse the interruption, Terry”
Dr. Larson said quietly after getting up from her seat, “I have the statistical
study you wanted ready for you.”
“Ah, great, Amy. Mr. Huntington, do you remember Dr. Amy
Larson?”
“Yes, I do. However, you have never let me have a
chance to pick her brains.”
“Sorry, she is too busy for an
interview for People magazine.”
“Ouch. I didn’t know you had such a low opinion
of the Wall Street Journal.”
“Marianne, can you make another
drink for Mr. Huntington while I confer with Amy?”
“No problem. Maybe he will interview me," she said
with a sweet smile.
With that Frank was pawned off
on the Princess and they chatted about a variety of random subjects. The good Doctor and Sir Terrance seemed
preoccupied with the tablet that she had been using. Unfortunately, they never held the
screen towards me so I could not take a peak at it. Nor could I gather any intelligence from
what they talked about. They kept
their voices down, but that is no protection from a JAIC, I could instantly give
you a transcript of what they said.
However, they were rather circumspect by speaking in short one or two
word expressions. Forty minutes
later the plane landed on a single airstrip airport where the most common color
was white. It must have been
Lutts’s private airport as there really was no hint of civilization. Kittilia was forty miles away and I
could not even verify if there was a road to this part of the arctic. Even if there was, the town of
Kittilia was not very big. No more
than 4,000 humans lived there. The
only industry was a gold mine and that was operated by robots. Most of the humans in Kittilia earned
their living on winter sports. It
was freezing during part of the day seven months out of the year. We landed in a small valley surrounded
by mountains. Other than the hangar
there were no visible buildings.
This did not look like a place Frank would like to hang out
in.
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