The Dane Commission (The Dane Chronicles) (3 page)

“Not long after, they decided it would
be beneficial to treat patients in the very same facilities, thereby adding
patient data directly to the research. They learned however, that hospitals
combined with research laboratories would prove to be a vastly complex
undertaking. Oversight was necessary to coordinate the patients, staff, doctors,
researchers and infrastructure. Dr. Frances and his group brought their ideas
to the public, and with the resources of the world’s countries supporting them,
IntelliHealth was created. Facilities just like this one, were built for the
singular purpose of helping all mankind.”

Schnell raised his hands and motioned
at the walls around them.
“At first facilities like ours were only found in the world’s largest
countries, but today they can be found in most cities. And inside each
IntelliHealth Facility, our world’s top research scientists have access to
patient data, biological samples, and research from every IntelliHealth
laboratory and hospital in the world. And in every Facility, our professors,
researchers and students have the support and computing power of the SID
program.
 

“Since then IntelliHealth has
effectively isolated and cured many of the diseases and cellular disorders of
the 21
^st
century. Lifetimes have been extended, and the common
welfare of humanity has been served.”

Mr. Schnell paused, smiling broadly.
Ryan wondered if he was going to ask for a donation.
He would have paid too; the pitch was that good.
”Well that’s our story, Ryan. Now, I’m interested in hearing yours.”

It had been years since Ryan had been
through the first-day orientation. For the next several hours, Ryan filled out
work forms. Human resource forms, insurance forms, emergency contact forms,
legal forms; it seemed to go on and on. They placed a lot of emphasis on the
legal ones, indicating that he would not reveal any secrets for the profit or
gain of other companies without approved signatures from offices he didn’t
know, and people he’d probably never meet.
It was painful.
 

But looking back on his last six months
at home, he happily signed it all.
Later that afternoon, Schnell returned to say that Ryan should go ahead and
leave for the day. Schnell went on to remind him that tomorrow there would be
many physicals and scans, and that he should wear appropriate, comfortable
clothing.

Looking forward to going home, Ryan
shook his hand and bid Schnell a good day. Ryan gathered his papers into his
leather satchel, and rose to leave.

As he made his way back towards the
elevators, he saw Theresa waving goodbye. He nodded and waved back. Then he
remembered that he still didn’t understand how the elevators worked. He made
his way around the cubicle walls, and found Theresa standing at the copier
putting some forms together.
“Hi, Ryan headed home?”

Feeling a little embarrassed, he asked,
“Yes, Mr. Schnell has wrapped up my first day.”
”Did he tell you the story about the beginning of IntelliHealth?” she said.

“Yes, he did. He
really
did,”
said Ryan laughing a little.

“We can usually hear him all the way
out here, when hits the ending. He really likes telling it,” she said laughing
with him.

“Actually, I have a question. Theresa,
I know that elevators generally move people up and down, but where are the
buttons, and how does that one know where to take me?”
 

“Oh, sure, I’m sorry, someone should’ve
explained. All IntelliHealth Facilities are fully automated. The building
automatically takes your picture when you first come inside. If you are not an
employee, the guards at the front desk, tell the building-monitoring program
which floor you should have access to. After that, the building monitor uses
facial recognition to move you up and down appropriately.”

“Now that you are employed, you can
wave your ID chip at the touch panel, and the floors assigned to you, will
become available.”

She put down her work, and said “Come
on, let's try it together.”

They walked across the floor to the
elevators.
“Why only the assigned floors?”

“Well, there are many different patient
and research floors here as well, and they don’t want us walking in on
something dangerous.”
They arrived and the elevator doors opened as if on cue.
”Okay, here we are, I’ll show you my chip first.”

Theresa waved her identification chip
at the mirrored finish inside the elevator, and the buttons 1, 18, 75 and 76
appeared. Then she said, “Ok, now yours.”

Ryan waved his ID chip in the air in the same general spot and like magic, the
numbers 1, 18, 75, 76, and 82 appeared.
”See, you also have access to 82, that’s where Dorothy Allen works. Also, you
should know 18 is where the cafeterias and relaxation areas are, 75 is of
course our floor, 76 is also Information Services, but that’s where you will
find our boss Mr. James. If you ever need access to another floor, you can make
a request to your supervisor.”
She smiled, ”Any questions?”

“Nope, I’ve got it; thanks Theresa,” he
said feeling very pleased, “See you tomorrow.”

The doors closed, and another motionless trip surprised him again when the
doors opened on the garage level. It even knew the level where he parked that
morning.
’
Wow,’ he thought, ‘this place is incredible.’

Driving home, he realized he felt
better than he had in years.
The company he’d hired into was a techno marvel, and the people seemed
genuinely friendly. He wasn’t really excited about all of the medical stuff
waiting for him tomorrow, but didn’t really mind it either.

That night, Jean and Alex wanted to
hear all about his first day.

As they sat down to dinner, he told
them about his new office, the super-smart elevators and the story Schnell told
him about IntelliHealth. Jean said she knew a lot of the company history. She
was surprised about the scanning scheduled for tomorrow, and wanted to hear
more about it after they were finished.
 
Alex was more interested in the elevators.

That night Jean told him how happy she
was that he was starting over again, and said he’d be back in his groove very
soon. She had been very supportive of him during his ‘sabbatical’ but was
visibly relieved that he was back at work again.
So was he for that matter.

Lying in bed, Ryan slept soundly, and couldn’t remember his dreams at all.

“Does it matter what I eat or drink
when I have the scans later?”

It was the next morning; Ryan was
getting ready for work, and wanting very much to eat something for breakfast.
She looked at him as he held up a bagel in one hand and a banana in the other.

“No, it won’t make any difference to the scan results, but that banana looks
better on your waist,” she said as she turned away.

“Kill-joy,” he said under his breath.
He ate the banana, looked over his shoulder and ate the pastry too.
He finished getting ready, and after dropping Alex at school, he headed to
work.

After parking his car, he looked across
the garage at the enigmatic elevator. Theresa’s advice would put him in charge
today. Ryan gathered his things, and walked confidently up to the elevator. He
stepped inside and reached in his pocket for his ID chip. But, before he could
pull it out, the doors closed, and he had another vibration-less, motion-free,
ride to the 75
^th
floor.

Disappointed, he couldn’t help but feel
as though he‘d just lost some sort of race.

“You may have won this time,” he said
under his breath, “but the next one is mine.”

Ryan stepped out of his shiny-mirrored
adversary, and onto his new work floor. Everywhere he could see all people
starting their day.

He smiled.
Heading for his office, he arrived to find the door locked. On a whim he waved
his ID chip over the lock and the door opened.
‘ Technology one, Humans one,’ he thought.

Wondering where he could find some
coffee, he heard a knock on the door, followed by a question. “Mr. Ryan Dane?”
He looked up and saw a young looking man dressed in a jumpsuit, and white lab
coat in the doorway.
 
“Yes, that’s me.”

“Mr. Dane, you can call me Josh; today
I am your scanner-processor, and you will be the
man-in-the-can
. If you
would, please bring your things, and come with me.”

Ryan turned and followed Josh to the
elevator where Josh waved his chip, and selected floor 101.

“Scanning hardware is available all
around the building, but my office is on 101, so that’s where we’ll be today.
When we’re done, you can go home, that’s why I asked you to go ahead and bring
your things.”

The doors opened, and they stepped out
into a dimly lit, mostly open area. It was quiet and the air was just a little
on the cold side. Josh glanced at his watch and began walking quickly across
the floor.
”We’re running just a bit late, please follow me.”

Ryan followed him through another maze
of corridors.

“How long will this take, Josh?”

“Unless there is something special
about you, we should be done by lunch time.”

“I thought the new scanners were very
fast,” Ryan asked, “why will it take so long?”

“Well,” Josh replied without slowing
down, “it’s not the technology that takes the time. The scanner we’ll use today
is called an FPA-NPosE, which stands for Fast Particle Array-Neutrino/Positron
Emission model. It can scan your entire body, and provide a detailed analysis
of your complete circulatory system in about 60 seconds.”

As Josh explained they entered a small
work area which Ryan thought was probably his office. There was a wide, narrow
window over a long work console. Looking through, Ryan thought he could see
into the next room.
“You can leave your things here, until it’s time to leave,” Josh said.

As Ryan was putting his satchel down,
Josh picked a book at random from a shelf behind his desk, and stood it up in
front of Ryan.

“So, you asked why it would take so
long. Take a look at this book as an example.”

“If I asked you to describe this book
to me, you might say it is mainly blue, and stands about twelve inches tall.
You might add that is has 234 pages. If you looked at it again, you might say
that it has 24 chapters, or that it averages 16.5 pages per chapter. Look
again, and you might tell me that it was printed using black ink made from a
particular dye extracted from a berry in some forest is Europe.”
”All of these details are important, but we haven’t even begun talking about
the story it tells, or the writing style and language used.”

Josh returned the book to the shelf.

“My point is that, each scan will be
very quick, but to generate a comprehensive description we must consider the
question, ‘What are we looking for?’ Ultimately, the scan data will only be as
thorough as we are capable of making it.”

“Josh, it sounds like you’re talking
about a lot of scans.”

“And that’s why it takes so bloody
long,” Josh smiled.

Josh opened a door to the adjacent room
and led Ryan inside. The room was empty except for a single chair mounted to a
post, rising from the floor. It looked comfortable enough. He motioned for Ryan
to have a seat in the chair.

“Mr. Dane, do you have any more
questions?”

“Actually yes; why is it necessary to
be so thorough? I’m a new employee, but I’m not actually being treated for
anything.”

“All IntelliHealth employees sign a
form allowing for use of their medical data in general research for any and all
reference studies. You must have signed one yesterday, or you wouldn’t be here
now. It’s part of our mission to serve the betterment of mankind through
advanced and innovative healthcare,” said Josh smiling, “Or something like
that.”

Waving at the chair, Josh said, “For
what it’s worth, I had to do it too. Now if you would be so kind, please have a
seat.”

Ryan sat in the chair, and Josh turned
to leave.

“If you need anything else Mr. Dane,
please don’t hesitate to ask. I can hear you, so just call to me. Some people
may find it slightly confining once the scan begins. It’s rare but if you need
me to, I can stop, and we can take a break. Do you understand?”

Not really understanding, but
comfortable enough, Ryan said, “Yes.”