Mind's Eye (30 page)

“That’s right. I’m not saying I wasn’t lucky. But you know the old saying: I’d rather be lucky than good.” Hall shrugged. “And maybe this Delamater ran out of talented bad guys.”

“The same Delamater who managed the flawless assault on the
Explorer
?” said Fyfe. “The kidnapping of the century?”

Hall ignored him, deciding to forge ahead with the rest of the chronology instead. When he had finished, Fyfe said, “A fascinating story, Dr. Hall. . . . Nick,” he amended, since Hall had insisted they use his first name. “You are, indeed, a very lucky man.”

Fyfe leaned forward and stared intently at Hall, his eyes probing. “But are you
certain
there isn’t anything else you’d like to tell us?” he asked, almost as if daring Hall to answer.

Hall shook his head. “That’s it. I wish I could remember my seven-month imprisonment, but I can’t. I don’t think that’s ever coming back.”

“That’s okay,” said Fyfe. “We have more evidence than we need already. And you at least remember that Kelvin Gray was behind it.”

“True,” said Alex Altschuler, who had been largely silent up until this point. “But it would have been nice to have eyewitness testimony, from a Scripps
Explorer
survivor, that
we
weren’t involved, Cameron. Regardless of the evidence we present, you know the public will have lingering doubts.”

Fyfe smiled, which was a rarity. “More than just lingering,” he said. “And with good reason. If this had been perpetrated by the CEO of another company, I’d have trouble believing the majority investor and Executive Vice President of research had been totally clueless. Even if they were responsible for bringing the CEO down in the end.”

Hall knew with absolute certainty that Altschuler hadn’t been involved, but he knew this using a means he couldn’t disclose. So if they wanted eyewitness testimony, he wouldn’t feel the slightest bit guilty in stretching the truth to assist. “But I
can
deliver testimony that will help show you weren’t involved,” said Hall excitedly. “Gray spent five minutes boasting to me about how great he was.”

This was an absolute lie, but it did fit in with what he had learned about the man. “He bragged that he was the only scientist involved. How he was so smart he was using hundreds of other scientists to translate his findings into reality, and was still able to keep them all in the dark. He mentioned Theia Labs and specifically said that not a single person in the company had any idea of what he was doing. He boasted that no one at Theia would believe a bad word about him, anyway. Even if you showered them with evidence.”

“Very interesting,” said Fyfe, but his expression suggested he didn’t entirely trust this statement either.

Hall realized it
was
a bit of stretch to believe he could only remember one short interaction with Gray, but during this lone meeting Gray just happened to have said the exact words needed to absolve Theia personnel.

“I guess your luck is rubbing off on all of us,” continued Fyfe. “This will go a long way toward getting everyone comfortable with new management and the people Gray left behind at Theia.”

Hall went on to describe his web surfing capabilities, and then the group discussed their plans to catch Delamater and hold a press conference at nine or ten in the morning on Tuesday. Fyfe would fly out to Fresno immediately afterward to meet Hall in person, which he was eager to do, and present him to the FBI.

This normally wouldn’t have been so intimidating, but the authorities were sure to be
livid
they hadn’t come forth sooner. Especially when they learned that Kelvin Gray had been killed and left to rot in his own private wine cellar days earlier. Not to mention that Hall could have cleared up several unexplained murders in Bakersfield.

“I’ll call the press conference for New York,” said Fyfe. “Arguably the news epicenter of the world.”

“What do you plan to tell the press to get them there?” asked Altschuler.

Fyfe frowned. “I’ve given this a lot of thought. I
could
tell them I know, with absolute certainty, what happened on the mysterious voyage of the Scripps
Explorer
. Then I could tease the true story beforehand. I’m sure this would get the press there in droves.”

“But you aren’t sure if that’s what you want?” guessed Hall.

“Very good. Under the circumstances, a very modest, low-key press conference might be the better choice. So I won’t get swarmed and tied down. So I can make a quick exit and wait for the world to digest things. So I think I’ll just tease this to a select few journalists, who will end up thinking they’ve won the lottery. Believe me, within hours of the press conference finishing, this will be the number one news story in every country in the world.”

“And you plan to reveal everything you have on Gray?” asked Megan. “No matter how bad it makes your company look?”

“That’s right,” said Fyfe. “We’ll tell the world about the
Explorer
and apologize for Gray’s heinous acts. After this, the press conference and Theia Labs will be in a tailspin. That’s when we’ll announce Nick is alive and show a video statement from him, which should begin to pull our propeller back up.”

He turned to Hall. “Nick, as soon as possible, I need you to tape a brief statement and a demonstration of your implants. Both with respect to web surfing and your view of the technology’s use for blindness and deafness.”

“Tape a statement?” said Megan. “Wouldn’t this be more effective if Nick was at the press conference in person?”

“Yes,” replied Fyfe. “But we can’t risk him traveling across the country and making a personal appearance while this Delamater is still out there. And I can’t have him fielding questions. I’ve already mentioned how pissed off the FBI will be by all of this. If the public got to question him before they did, this would rub salt in the wound. They’d take pissed off to a new level.”

“What’s the point of demonstrating the web surfing aspect of the implants?” asked Hall. “Why create buzz for a technology that can’t possibly ever see the light of day?”

“Why not?” snapped Fyfe. “Because of how it was obtained?”

“That’s one of the reasons, yes.”

“Let me worry about what becomes of this technology,” said Fyfe, with a can-anyone-really-be-this-naive expression. “Just give the best demonstration you can. Visual, auditory, and thought-controlled Internet connection.”

“So when this all settles out, you really think you can market the Internet aspect of this technology?” said Hall skeptically.

Fyfe answered in the same way he had answered Altschuler earlier. No technology had ever been more tainted, but it was too important and useful not to be adopted. “You can’t stop progress,” finished Fyfe. “Not the kind of progress this represents.”

“I hate to rain on the parade,” said Hall. “But I don’t think it will ever get approved. For reasons beyond how it was obtained. The visual and auditory aspect, yes, for blindness and deafness. But not for a personal, thought-driven Internet. At least not in the US. Not when the government thinks through all the implications.”

From the looks on the faces of Cameron Fyfe and Alex Altschuler, it was clear they had no idea what he was talking about.

“I don’t get it, Nick,” said Altschuler. “You’ve been
raving
about the technology. You’ve said it works flawlessly, and is profoundly useful. You said you’re already having trouble imagining life without it.”

“I am. And that’s the
point
. That’s the very thing that makes it too dangerous for widespread use. It’s absolutely, one thousand percent addictive. Think of how many people are addicted to their cell phones. Who can’t carry on a conversation at dinner without checking it every ten seconds. Think of those
already
addicted to the Internet. The
old style
Internet. And online virtual worlds, like
Second Life
, and role playing games like
World of Warcraft
,
Sim City
,
Guild Wars
, and the like, which are growing in popularity every year.”

He had become so facile at using his internal Internet connection that the exact figures for the growth of this demographic hovered in view of his mind’s eye, but he ignored them.

Hall took a deep breath and pressed forward. “A scary and ever-growing number of players are becoming so addicted they live more of their lives in the virtual world than the real. And the technology in my head makes this a
hundred
times worse. It’s totally immersive. People will become so addicted they won’t leave their beds for days at a time. The technology works
too
well. You’d have better luck asking the government to approve widespread use of LSD.”

Altschuler looked highly troubled by the picture Hall had painted. Fyfe, on the other hand, looked almost amused.

“And just to make one final point,” continued Hall. “Any idea how many traffic accidents immersive web surfing will cause? How many annual fatalities?” He paused. “Ten thousand? Five hundred thousand? Five
million
?”

Fyfe shook his head condescendingly. “Nick, you make some good points. But let me tell you, an army couldn’t keep this out of the hands—minds—of the public. The government will talk about addiction. And about safety. They’ll wring their hands. But it will go forward. Do you know how many car accidents have been caused by cell phones? Do you have any idea?”

Hall effortlessly queried cyberspace and the answer hovered in his view. In 2010, years before hands-free cell phones in cars were mandated in all fifty states, it was estimated that more than twenty percent of the nation’s annual accidents were cell phone related, which amounted to roughly one and a half million. And after cell phone use in cars was restricted, this number of accidents was actually thought to have stayed the same, or even to have increased.

“No,” said Hall, not seeing the need to quote these statistics. “How many?”

“I don’t know for sure,” said Fyfe. “But a lot. A hell of a lot. But Americans are fully prepared to overlook dangers, and even clear evidence and proof of fatalities, to have their tech toys. The government will just make a law like they did with cell phones. You know, you must have your hands free and no texting. Who cares if you know for sure that many millions will ignore the law, and thousands will die each year because of it. Same thing with this. The danger of addiction and traffic fatalities will be gladly overlooked and accepted. Cell phones still cause numerous deaths, but nobody has the nerve and audacity to suggest we stop using them.”

No one spoke for several long seconds.

Megan Emerson finally broke the silence. “Sorry, Nick,” she said softly. “But I think Cameron’s right.”

“I
know
I’m right,” said Fyfe.

“There are other issues,” said Hall. “Privacy issues. Porn issues.”

Altschuler couldn’t help but laugh as his agile mind considered the porn angle. “It would certainly shake things up in the world of sex, all right. In the old days, if you were bored with your partner, you had to
imagine
you were with someone else. These implants would allow you to actually ‘see’ someone else—no imagination required. Even if your actual eyes were open and focused on your partner, you could choose to view a porn film in your mind’s eye instead.”

“Yeah, brave new world,” said Fyfe in disgust.

“Sex isn’t even the real issue here,” said Hall. “The real issue is that I don’t see any problem with reversing direction, so that you can convert anything you see or hear into video and audio. So everyone becomes a perfect spy. Every human interaction is potentially recorded. Two people never can be certain of absolute privacy. The consequences of this are
incomprehensible
.”

Altschuler nodded thoughtfully. “The cloud could become a repository of every word ever spoken in the presence of someone else.” He shuddered. “It does have a Big Brother vibe to it,” he said grimly. “And just to bring it back to sex for a moment,” he added. “Sleep with a girl, and nothing can stop you from ‘filming’ the act with your eyes, and posting videos of the entire encounter online before you’ve even finished.”

“Now he tells me,”
Megan shot telepathically to Hall.
“I’m not about to see a YouTube video labeled, ‘How to be intimate with an injured Neanderthal girl,’ am I, Nick?’”

Hall laughed.

“Do you find the idea of invading a woman’s privacy amusing, Nick?” asked Fyfe.

“No. I was laughing at another thought I had,” replied Hall.

Fyfe stared at him a few seconds longer and then continued. “My point stands no matter what argument you make. This is progress. This is an invention that is as big a leap forward as the fire, the wheel, and electricity. And it will
not
be denied. Society will adjust—or turn their backs on any unpleasant side effects. Maybe they’ll make it an imprisonable offense to post images of others taken without their knowledge or consent. Who knows? Expert systems are getting smarter all the time. Maybe the Internet itself will police this kind of behavior.”