The Entity Pt. 03

The gleaming aluminum on black granite, art-deco entrance gave way to a wonderment of imaginings as she strolled from exhibit to exhibit on the arm of Rudolph's great grandfather, the legal mind that had bread an entire line of legal minds that tended her vast empire.

She paused and stared, open mouthed at the depiction of the human brain as tiny points of light followed the recorded narrative explaining how everything we touch, smell, hear and see is transmitted and recorded using a small electrical impulse. A shiver ran up her spine when the voice jovially exclaimed thatsomeday, we may even be able to record a lifetime of memories and thought to be played back at will.

Fantasy to fact had proven costly enough to daunt nations, yet she thought nothing of the billions upon billions she'd spent over the decades to get where she was now.

Theodora had become a big believer in healthy living, even before it had become a much ignored fad. She'd been one of the first to board a modern jetliner in the 60's and try the skills of the Swiss at turning back the clock. She knew her project would not only require vast financial resources, but would also need years of patience as technology caught up with her fanciful imaginings.

She discovered the Doctor, born in Vienna, schooled and trained in Switzerland, on one of her rejuvenation trips. He spoke of something much better than injecting strange concoctions and stretching skin; he spoke of the marvels of DNA and actually rebuilding her body. Not only her body; any body. Even dinosaurs, mastodons and sheep. Even someone dead many years. Her eyes glazed over as he explained whatreallycould be done.

In a secret laboratory in the city of her dreams birth, Chicago, The good doctor had been laboring for decades to produce the perfectblank. To produce from a single dead cell a full grown, living, breathing, replica of something from the past. That part had been easy. Making the process take place in a time frame much shorter than the thirty years needed to produce a thirty year old human, had been another matter all together.

In the 80's she watched closely and invested in the birth and subsequent growth of the computer industry, the constant parallel drawn between the modern CPU and the human brain being her principle catalyst.

Then in 1990 a young, bespectacled, nerd had shown up at one of her many business ventures. Pimple faced and snot nosed, but not without the saving grace of dual PhD's in computer science and medicine with a specialty in brain structure and activity and its parallels in computer chip processing.

Kevin had proven a very sound investment, indeed.

Gerald had been found two years later in his garage experimenting with a crude direct brain interface for computer games. Something he was sure would revolutionize many aspects of man's everyday life, along with his favorite pastime.

Five years later the first experiment had been performed on a homeless man, one of the many faceless people they'd called on to'help out'as they moved from theory to fact. After the scan, while discussing the experience with the old coot, they'd discovered he had watched a terrifying collage of images that meant nothing to him other than being familiar pictures and snippets of speech. The impact was so strong that the homeless drunk had sworn off drinking several times during the interview that followed. He was still babbling about it as they put him back up on the table and injected enoughPhenobarbitalsinto his saline drip to put a whale to sleep. When his heart finally stopped they rolled the body out and found another homeless man to continue the experiment.

From that first scan, they had learned that as they stimulated, read, and recorded each brain cell, it would cause the mind to relive or experience what was stored in that particular cell. They had no idea, at the time, how to find the index - the guide that put the chain together into a congruent and recognizable series of events or occurrences. They had also discovered that time really is relative in the mind - that a dream or occurrence that took place over a period of a year could be scanned, recorded, andrelivedby the mind in an hour, but to the person reliving the experience it felt like the passage of a year. It was rather like having a long complex dream in the morning, just before waking, that actually occupies only 15 seconds of real mind usage.

"How much longer?" the doctor asked, glancing at Kevin.

"Not much, I've programmed it to do an image scan and pick up only the new bits and pieces; her thoughts since our last scan," replied Kevin as he shepherded the readouts to make sure all was in order.

"We have to do her soon. I don't believe she'll last another week."

With that Kevin grinned inside knowing another huge payment would be made and he'd be free at last to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He had no idea how little joy the fruits of his labor would bring him, and much sooner than he dreamed.

*****

Nataliya consulted the motel reservation computer a second time and smiled. It seemed Linda was coming back later this evening. She decided to leave some flowers in her room and called a shop for delivery.

Leo looked at the computer read out on his register a second time. The cashier had called him from the grill when all the tickets started appearing with 'Hi Leo'printed on them.

"I not know," was all he'd said and indicated the cashier should call the company that sold the thing to them and have them come fix it.

*****

Scanner Bob had completed his task, slept soundly, dreamlessly and was on the road again, his purchases stowed away in his duffle bag along with Leroy's problematic handgun and bundles of money. His mind was more occupied with the possibility of a shower when he reported to his mistress the completion of his task, than the finer details of Tammy's lovely skin parting under the sharp, black blade of one of his knives.

It had occurred to him that the serrated side of the blade might be perfect for removing limbs. He just wasn't sure yet how to keep her alive while he carried out his plan.

*****

The three of them were once again gathered around the laptop in the third floor conference room.

'How was lunch, Linda?'the Entity asked.

Tom sat off to the side, out of camera range, looking at the screen of another laptop that was reporting what was traveling in, out and around the local area network into the conference room.

'Lunch was fine. Do you have a name,'Linda hit enter.

'The Entity. I found it in Tom's notes.'

'Besides, Entity. What are you? A program?'Linda hit enter again.

'I had another name, but that's not important. If you want to know how to destroy me, my name won't help,'appeared in the text box.

Linda paused a second then proceeded to type,'Do we need to destroy you?'

'I think it would be best,'was the immediate response.

'Why,'and enter.

'Because I'm sad.'

Linda and Tammy both stared at the screen. Tom saw their expressions and glanced at the conversation. "Sad?" was all he asked.

Shortly another message appeared.'You have an appointment tonight, Linda.'

Linda looked at Tammy before typing,'I do? Where?'

'At Leo's. Your room has been reserved.'

Linda thought a few seconds while Tom studied his screen, then typed and hit enter.'Will seeing, Leo, help us solve the problem?'

'It's a step in the right direction,'appeared on her screen.

Tom looked over and said, "Do it."

Linda typed again and hit enter,'Okay. Will we talk again?'

'Take the laptop and a camera,'was the final response from the Entity.

Tom leaned back and stretched in the tan leather office chair. Linda decided she still wasn't letting Tammy out her sight and they'd gone to pack overnight bags and head south.

A rap on the door frame brought him back to reality and he motioned Debbie, the English teacher, in.

"It's gone," was all she said.

Tom was already running down the hall barking orders. "I want every piece of equipment in the building checked," he yelled, "and I mean all of it. It's going to be a late night people."

Please be sure to take the time to vote and comment. I hope you're enjoying the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Much more to come. BTW – This is a sequel to The Sentinel.