2022 (5 page)

The event was caused by the sudden release of
thousands of pages of documents from government and corporate
computer systems illegally obtained by a group of computer hackers.
The stolen documents were related to a heavily used herbicide and
its linkage to several neurological disorders like autism, ADHD,
Alzheimer’s disease, and bipolar disorder.

Not only did this group get the documents,
but they had also spent what appeared to be considerable time
examining the data and organizing it to show that the evidence had
been available for many years. However, through mishandling, or, in
some cases, blatant suppression, it was withheld from the public,
and use of the herbicide was allowed to continue. There was no
intervention even when GMO seeds resistant to the herbicide were
introduced, such as maize, corn, and soybean, allowing farmers to
apply more of the chemical to the crops to fight the weeds that
developed a stronger tolerance to it.

The fallout was swift and on many fronts, but
public reaction was the loudest and most severe. A worldwide
boycott of foods that had anything to do with the herbicides and
pesticides that were mentioned in the data leak went into place. As
a result, farmers scrambled to grow crops without them, which
turned out to be a disaster. Throughout decades, weeds and insects
had been evolving to resist the chemicals, and now, with their
opposition no longer in play, they attacked the crops with a
vengeance. Yields were cut drastically, and food shortages became
commonplace.

The land-based food shortage created a higher
demand from the overused oceans, causing the near elimination of
critical food stocks there as well. In short, it was a tragic
mess.

The government formed the DIR shortly
thereafter in order to avoid a similar information catastrophe in
the future. The mission of the new department was to not merely
gather data but to process it into useful information. It would
serve as the single source for all areas of the government, and its
measure of success was the speed and accuracy of the information
delivered.

Shortly after his arrival, Spencer felt “the
gaze.” He could sense Sue looking in his direction, and without
uttering a word, she expected him to pay close attention. A quick
look in her direction proved him right.

“Ready for an interesting problem?” she
asked.

“Sure!” He felt ready to do something
different.

She made a small, sharp gesture with her
head, indicating that he should come to her desk.

“Remember my telling you that I was looking
into The Pleasant Belief Foundation?”

“Yes. What’s going on with them?”

“Several government departments are starting
to complain, or are getting complaints, that the foundation may
actually be gaining traction in their efforts to slow down
consumption. That’s a problem since our whole system is built on
growth and doesn’t handle reduction well.”

“What can we do about it?”

“We’re not going to do anything except gather
data and report accurate information. I thought of going into their
computer network and seeing what they’re up to.”

“Sounds reasonable. What did you find?”

“That’s the problem. Go to your computer and
type in Pleasant Belief Foundation, and tell me what you see.”

He returned to his workstation, entered the
name, and studied the results.

“Hey, this can’t be right. There are only
about a hundred pages of information and no vampire icons. There
should be thousands, if not tens of thousands, of pages.”

She smiled. “Well, well—there’s a brain
behind those blue eyes after all. The only way that what you see
can be possible is if they’ve completely isolated their company’s
computer network from the Internet. Something pretty much unheard
of these days. This is raising a big warning alarm for me, and I
think they must be hiding something.”

“Maybe, or maybe they just want a really
secure network.”

She made an impatient sound. “It would cost a
great deal extra to run this way. Most of the employees would still
need access to the Internet so they would have to double up on
network costs. But that’s not all. I’ve also heard through reliable
sources in the Department of Wildlife that the philanthropist is
working on acquiring a large piece of land up in the northwest.
He’s asking for security around it—something similar to Area 51. No
one would get access or even be able to fly over it.”

“That
does
sound suspicious.”

“And he’s working on similar deals with at
least three other countries. He’s calling them wildlife preserves,
which sounds good on the surface, but I think there’s much more
behind it. Then there’s the whole CURE thing. I keep thinking there
has to be a link between them and the foundation. They’re both
fighting for the same cause and started up at roughly the same
time.”

“Do you have a plan?” He swung his chair away
from his computer and leaned his arms on the desk.

“Yes, and this is where you come in. I’ve
already checked, and their headquarters has very good security
around it. But one of their projects, called The Colonies, is open
to the public, and I think you should go there for a few days.”

“Really? What for?”

“Like I said, it’s important for us to know
the truth. If we can’t get information on the colonies or on the
rest of the foundation from the Internet, then we’ll have to do it
the old-fashion way and actually see it in person.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Oh, and one more thing. If it’s possible,
and only if there’s little or no risk, maybe you could install a
piece of hardware into one of their computers, that’s tied to the
company’s network. Somehow they’ve blocked our search engine, but
with a bit of hardware on the inside, we should be able to get in
there.”

“Isn’t that illegal?” he asked. “This sounds
like more of a job for a different agency than ours.”

“I said
only
if it’s easy to do. If
not, you’re right, there’s another division that’ll take care of
it. As for the legality . . .” She shrugged her shoulders. “We have
divisions that will take care of that too.”

He sat back into his chair and felt somewhat
dazed.
What have I gotten myself into?

Mikhail waved Richard into his office and
pointed to a chair in a corner grouping of furniture “I’ve just
read that the Mars mission confirmed the rumor it’s on track for
two manned missions this year—a few days apart. Is that due to more
funding from your foundation? I didn’t see any reference to it in
the press release.”

“You know I like to keep under the radar, but
yes, an added completion bonus was all that was needed there,”
Richard said as he sat down. “With the successful landing and
operation of the habitat, greenhouse, and supply modules, I thought
it would be a good idea.”

“But why? There will be another open launch
window in two years.”

“Because with the growing political
instability and eco-terrorism threats, there’s no certainty of
there being more missions, and I want to make sure they’ll have a
chance from the moment they set foot there. That’s why I tripled
the habitat and other modules sent a few years ago and then doubled
the number of humans for this year. I’ve also worked with the
director of the program and convinced him to include a few extra
things as well in this year’s launches.”

“Such as?”

“Some of the surprises we’ve been developing
for the villages here on Earth. I think they’ll be particularly
useful to the team on Mars; after all, they’re like any one of the
villages we’re building here, but on a smaller scale. I have also
sent hundreds of genetic samples from the residents of our
villages. The Mars team will be able to use them to achieve the
diversity in the population they will need if no other ships are
sent.

“Well, hopefully you didn’t impose your
stupid rule about riddles on their computers,” Mikhail said,
referring to a quirk insisted upon by Richard, not only for his
foundation staff but throughout his corporations. Every workstation
was protected not only by a password, but the user also had to
answer a riddle. There had been more than one occasion on an
afternoon when an employee left the office infuriated by an
inability to access their station because the riddle couldn’t be
solved.

Richard laughed. “I can’t promise that. My
company, my rules—and I love puzzles. Do you think that the name of
the foundation or our virus, are random name choices? Each is an
anagram, and pertinent too. That’s why I’m so passionate about this
whole project. The challenge of getting us to a workable level with
the planet is the ultimate puzzle.”

Mikhail shook his head. “You’re right. And
you’re the boss, but I think we’re doing more than puzzle solving
here. On the subject of Mars—even with all the help you’re
providing the mission, will they stand a chance? Look at how much
we’re doing for the villages here. On Mars, they’re going to have
to fight every day just to have enough air and food.”

Richard nodded silently before he answered.
“I never said it would be easy. They’ll certainly need a portion of
good luck, but who knows, Mars may have a secret or two of its own
that’ll help them out. Let me change the subject for the moment.
How are you doing at spending my money here on Earth?”

Mikhail smiled. “I have to admit I’ve never
worked on a project without a budget before and it’s taking some
getting used to, but it does get results. The three “surprises” for
the villages are either on track or are ahead of schedule,
including the structures where we’re putting them in.”

“That’s good news. I’ll have to go and take a
look.”

“I’ve also finalized the land deals for all
four village sites. Now, instead of just being long-term government
leases, they’ll all be designated as wildlife sanctuaries with no
access, including from overhead air traffic. By the way, thanks for
your help with the Asia site. I’m not sure what you did, but
they’ve been very cooperative lately.”

“The dictator in that country needed a favor,
and I made a few phone calls. Kind of like the way you get things
done sometimes here. Let’s leave it at that.”

“Touché!” Mikhail said, laughing. “The size
of the plots is perfect—about fifty miles square with our village
and other construction roughly in the center of each. I had to
concede to allowing inspections by government officials if they see
any unusual activity from their satellites, but that shouldn’t be a
problem.”

“Impressive.”

“Anything is possible, Richard, with
sufficient bribes to get things moving. And then, of course, annual
future payments with some additional persuasion.”

“You don’t need to know my secrets, and I
don’t want to know yours. How about the construction work on the
village sites themselves?”

“The major construction activities, the town
center, fabrication hub, and greenhouses are near completion at all
sites”. He wondered about the kind of secrets a man like Richard
would have. “I already sent you the plans from the environmental
engineers on the design for the remaining buildings and village
infrastructures.”

“They’ve done a good job. Hopefully, nothing
big has been missed.”

“No, they have the big stuff figured out. The
design of the clan huts, Air Chair, water-and-power systems all
looked good to me. We’re far enough along that I think we can start
construction now. There’ll be things they haven’t thought of, but
isn’t that the point of this whole exercise—to find what it’s going
to take?”

“Exactly!” Richard said. “I agree, let’s get
this construction going at all four villages. How about the initial
residents? Are they all at the sites?”

“They are. We’ve set up temporary trailers
and kitchen facilities for the first six months, or until there’s
enough infrastructure built to live in. There are roughly three
hundred residents at each site plus some five hundred additional
people to handle most of the construction. More than enough to get
things done on schedule.”

“How about Virtuesh?”

Mikhail unrolled several plan drawings and
spread them across his desk. “I wanted to talk to you about that. I
think we’ve got the details sorted out for the storage, vaccine,
and dispersal, but Olivia, the lead scientist, would be a big asset
to have onsite at Percipience to finalize things. Are you okay with
that?”

“Sounds good to me,” Richard said. “We have
time—it would only be used after a major collapse anyway, so let’s
take the time to do it right. Move ahead if she’s willing to
go.”

“She’s okay with it—I’ll send her and one
last resident up there within the week.”

“How about the pituitary gland research?”

“I still think this is one area where you’re
completely wasting your money. Telepathy, telekinesis, or any other
paranormal powers don’t exist, and throwing money at enhancing a
small gland to make them happen will lead to nothing. But I’m a
good soldier and I’ve found the best researchers and am giving them
whatever they ask for. They’ve made some progress at enhancing the
activity levels in the gland, but without a real end goal, it’s
hard to say when they’ll be done.”

“I appreciate your honesty, Mikhail. You’ll
have to continue to trust me. I’m convinced beyond a doubt that
these abilities exist. I have to admit I’m probably guessing on the
pituitary gland being the center of it all, but I’m willing to take
a risk. If I’m wrong, then I’ll let nature find the answer through
evolution with the genetic pairing plan I have for the
villages.”

“Why are you so convinced?”

“There are a multitude of cases reported from
reputable people. The issue has been that events are not
repeatable. But what has me convinced is the traits and behavior in
animals that can’t be explained by modern science. For instance,
animals sensing that their owners are coming home, their innate
sense of direction, and so many examples of their premonitions. I
think our bigger brains and higher cognitive powers override these
natural abilities that most other animals appear to have.”