The Clean Slate Accord (3 page)

Chapter 4

With the raising MB activity occurring globally, Alexa paced around the control room, unable to sit or concentrate for any length of time. Her mind was consumed with the failing Accord, and with Jonas. Hopefully the test results would show that he was healthy and that the mirror was right about the hormones in his system. Hormones could be adjusted easily enough.

She went over to David's console. There'd been only a scattering of removals so far, mostly from the larger countries like Contiguous Eurasia and the United Lands of Africa. David hadn't reported any complaints about the removals, which meant they must have occurred so fast that nobody noticed. At least that's what she hoped.

David suddenly announced, “Director, President Chandler is calling. She says it's urgent she speak to you.”

“Thank you, David.” Alexa pressed a button on her wrist communicator. “President Chandler, how can I help you?”

“Director Lange, my husband and daughter are missing.”

Alexa almost gasped out loud, but caught herself before any sound escaped. “Missing?” Alexa covered her wrist monitor. Could it be that they'd both been removed? What would the odds of that be?

“Yes, missing. One minute they were sitting with me watching the news broadcasts and then they were just gone.”

Alexa swallowed a lump in her throat. “I'm sure they've just gone out for a walk or something.”

“It's the middle of the night, Director. And they were right beside me, arguing with each other. Then they were quiet. I thought I heard a sound, like a whisper, but when I turned around, nobody was there.”

“How do you feel about their disappearance, President Chandler? Do you feel anxious, upset?” Alexa uncovered her wrist monitor and studied the President's face. It was almost expressionless.

“I don't know. I'm concerned. I just thought I should let you know.”

Alexa muted the call and said to David, “What's her MB number?”

“Fluctuating between 15,000 and 15,500.”

There was definitely a change in Chandler's attitude. She was calm, with no evidence of increased Megaburst activity. Alexa smiled. At least her implant was working as it should. She un-muted the call. “President Chandler, why don't you mount a search and get back to me if you still can't find your family.”

“I already have. Can you put a trace on their implants for me?”

“I'm sorry, but I won't be able to do that until we've completed running statistics.” Alexa watched Chandler's body language.

“All right. Please let me know as soon as you can.” There was no change in Chandler's expression.

“Of course I will.” Alexa disconnected the call. At least Chandler's Serum A seemed to be working as far as regulating Megaburst activity. “This is a nightmare, David. I need some air.” She left the control room and went straight to the door leading outside of the Operations Bunker. Whenever she needed some fresh air, she would go out to the garden, alone. Only once had Jonas ventured out there, only to quickly go back to the Bunker saying the buzzing bees scared him. He was so timid.

She strolled along the garden path leading from the Bunker, enjoying the gentle fragrance of her own purple and blue hybrid roses. Up ahead was the reflecting pool, complete with lotus plants that gave off a continuous, intoxicating scent. She'd modeled it after the pools placed in front of ancient Egyptian temples and could never resist gazing into the still water and letting her mind be free, if only for a moment. She made her way to a small bench near the pool. She'd chosen the Arctic Principate for her Operations Bunker because the desertification of the landscape reminded her of what the ancient Egyptian desert must have looked like so long ago. It was hard to imagine that the Arctic had ever been covered in snow and ice.

When a small breeze came up and nudged the lotus blossoms into a slight sway, she sat and allowed herself to imagine the world in a year. She closed her eyes. It would be a world filled with happiness and ethics. No more killing. No more quarreling over who owned what plot of land or whose religious beliefs were best. It was sad to think that the only way to accomplish peace was by force, but if that was how it had to be, then it was the right thing to do. Now if they could just stop the removals, New Earth could develop as it was supposed to.

Alexa's wrist communicator chimed, signifying an incoming call from outside the Bunker. She opened her eyes and pushed the answer button. “Director Lange.”

“Director, it's President Chandler again. Half of my staff has vanished.”

A strong wind suddenly blew in, bending the lotus blossoms until their stalks broke in half. Alexa had no idea what to say to Chandler, but she had to say something. “Don't worry, President Chandler, I'll start a trace as soon as possible.” It wasn't exactly the truth, but Chandler wouldn't know that.

“Oh, good. I got a little nervous when I didn't hear back from you.”

“I said I'd call you. You didn't give me any time. Don't call again because every time you do, it slows things down. Understand?”

“I do. I should tell you that I also heard from the leaders from the United Lands of Africa and Contiguous Eurasia. There's something odd going on there, too. People disappearing without a trace.”

“All right, all right. I've got to go.” Alexa disconnected the call and hurried back to the control room. “David! What's going on? People are being removed. Lots of them. You didn't tell me that.”

With a confused look, David motioned to his monitor. “That's because the MB levels haven't reached critical yet. No one should have been removed.”

“But they have. Chandler said it's happening all over the world.”

“How does she know? She's a politician with an IQ inferior to mine, or yours.”

“Well, she doesn't know what's happened, but people are there one minute and not the next. She's bound to figure it out sooner or later. So are all the other leaders.”

David shook his head emphatically, his curls bouncing. “I tell you, Director, the implants could not have fired.”

“Then there's something wrong with either your equipment or the MB programming of the implants. I'll be in my room.” She ran down the hallway to her room and activated the mirror.

As its lights came on, the mirror announced, “There's been a breach in my system.”

Oh, what now, Alexa thought. “What sort of breach? How could this happen?”

“You didn't shut me down. You left me operational.”

“So what? I always do that. No one else can access my room.” She wandered around the room, trying to think, but all her thoughts were scrambled. There was too much going on. She couldn't concentrate. “Jonas has access. Did you run the tests?”

“Director, that's where the breach occurred. The analysis of the biological sample was downloaded from my system.”

“By whom?”

“Jonas.”

Chapter 5

Alexa was speechless. Why would Jonas break into the files? Surely he knew she'd tell him everything. She needed to find him, and fast. Every second of delay in finding an answer to the malfunction of the implants meant more innocent people would die. She didn't have time to waste chasing down a pubescent child.

She looked out into the hallway. “Jonas!”

No answer.

“Jonas, where are you?” She couldn't bring herself to go back to the control room to hear any more updates until she found him, so she went to the lab instead, hoping to find him peering into his microscope. Maybe he was pouting because she'd hurt his feelings. Was it even possible to hurt his feelings?

When she got to the lab, she saw that the door was ajar. Jonas would never leave the door open. He preferred to work in seclusion with no prying eyes. She gave the door a shove. It swung inward. Alexa held it open before it could close again and stepped inside. The microscope was still on the counter, along with a stack of slides and Jonas' black eyeglass frames. He was nowhere in sight.

“Jonas! Jonas, are you in here?” she called, walking around the lab, peering behind the heavy bookcases. “Jonas?” The small closet-like bathroom was the only place he could be. She knocked on the door several times. “Jonas? Are you all right?”

No response. She turned the doorknob and found it unlocked. The room was empty. Staring into the dark bathroom, she called David on her communicator.

“Yes, Director?”

“David, is Jonas with you?”

“Have you misplaced the little imp somewhere?”

“That's unkind, David. A simple ‘no' would have sufficed.” Alexa hurried from the lab and stood in the hallway. “Can you see if he's in his room?”

“One minute, Director.” David paused for a moment. “No, the heat sensors don't detect anybody in his room. Do you want me to search for him by his sub-dermal transponder?”

She'd never fitted Jonas with a transponder chip because she didn't see the need. He never went anywhere without her. Now she wished she had. She couldn't let David find out or he'd probably make a point of how hypocritical it was since all other personnel were required to have a transponder. She touched her upper arm, where her own transponder lay. How short-sighted she'd been. “Ah, never mind, I must have missed him somehow. He probably went outside. Carry on with your work.” She disconnected the call. On the way to the outer door, she stopped at her room, but Jonas wasn't there either.

“Activate mirror.”

“Hello, Director. Sorry I can't think of a suitable compliment, but you look terrible and I'd only be lying.”

“I can't find Jonas. Can you search his movements?”

“By his transponder?”

“No, he doesn't have one.”

“Excuse me? Director, by your very own directive, all personnel must receive a transponder.”

“Yes, I'm aware of what I ordered. It's too intrusive for Jonas. I don't want him to feel like he's…being watched.”

“Well, pardon me for going out on a limb here, but if he'd had a transponder, you wouldn't have lost him and gotten yourself into this trouble.”

Alexa groaned and sat down on a footstool. “I'm also aware of that. The point's moot now anyway. Perhaps I can find a way out of this mess on my own. After all, it was me who created the implants.”

“Yes, but Jonas was the one who found the initial critical errors, although now it appears that a peer review of his work would have been advantageous.”

“Also a moot point.”

“A question for you, Director. Since he's obviously capable of error, why are you so dependent on using his intelligence? How can you ever trust his work?”

“I just have to examine his genetics and run a few more tests, then my confidence will be restored. I created him so he could solve problems that were too difficult even for me. His IQ is the highest on the planet. I need him.”

“Perhaps it would have been wise not to rely on him at all. If you needed him to find solutions and catch errors, then doesn't it stand to reason that the project was too difficult in the first place and shouldn't have been implemented?”

“No. Clean Slate is the only way to bring peace. I probably would have found the errors, in time, but I didn't have enough time to devote…can you trace his movements through a heat signature?”

“All right, I see you don't want to debate the issue any longer. I can trace his heat signature, but it depends how long ago he wandered off. Where do you want me to start searching?”

“The lab. I was only away from him for an hour or two.”

“There'll be nothing left after that long, Director.”

“Then scan the entire Bunker for his signature body temperature. He runs warm, 1.8 degree points higher than a normal human.”

“Yes, I know.” The lights around the mirror blinked off and on. “Scan running. Director, I can only detect a faint trace of heat that's the same as Jonas' near the vehicle bay.”

“Why would he go there?” Alexa got up and paced. “He can't drive or fly. Can you tell if he left the Bunker?”

“I can't scan anything beyond the Bunker walls, Director. But there is one of the flight vehicles missing. Your high speed solar barge.”

“What? Why would he take that? He's never had a lesson. At least each vehicle is fitted with a transponder.” Alexa placed her hands on either side of the frame. “Trace it.”

“There seems to be a problem, Director.”

“What problem?”

“The transponder was disabled and the heat signal from the solar panels was tampered with, deflected enough so that it seems to be bouncing off low orbiting satellites.”

Alexa sank to the floor. She'd underestimated Jonas' intelligence. If only she hadn't ordered him to destroy the Serum D, there might have been a chance. “Mirror, how long would it take to manufacture another batch of Serum D?”

“Director, if you weren't already sitting on the floor, I'd ask you to sit. Jonas erased all references to Serum D, including the manufacturing data, and all of the remaining vials. There is no more Serum D and no chance of making more in time to stop what's happening right now. Even if you had the chemicals and neuro-biologics, it would take more than a week to make it operational. Besides, I thought you said you refused to undo Clean Slate.”

She didn't reply. There was no need. Clean Slate was to be the new hope of humanity, but it had turned into humanity's doom instead. She felt sick. A cold sweat broke out and she shivered. Had she been too consumed with achieving a Utopia that she'd disregarded the morality of taking away free will? She wiped her forehead. Then again, how far had free will taken humanity? To the brink of annihilation, that's where. Someone had to step in. Someone had to take charge before it was too late.

She got up. She couldn't give up now. All she had to do was concentrate. And when Jonas came back, they'd work together to stop the malfunctioning implants and get the Accord back on track. Everything would be all right. It had to be. She hurried to the lab and slipped the first of the stack of slides under the microscope.