The Nothing (35 page)

“Sure General.
He was an intelligence analyst with top-secret clearance and he was a mole that stole information to sell to the highest bidder. We know he was working with Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China. And as you all know, we have been having a sort of cold war with China and Russia since they started giving our spies asylum and annulled all trade agreements. Looks like our dominance on the world oil supply has finally pissed off our former allies. Unfortunately, we underestimated the world’s resolve when our oil industry got too greedy. It made us all rich for a while, but at a cost we didn’t see coming. In fact, we haven’t even seen the extent of the economic damage from the dissolution of the trade agreements. The preliminary fiscal projections are frightening. But back to Zack Patton, he had been with the Bureau for seven years. Before that he was a Special Forces Master Sergeant assigned to a unit that isn’t on the books. And keep in mind everyone; I was just yesterday informed of the existence of this particular unit and it’s mission. In this unit, the men, their training, and even their missions aren’t written on any paper. They are contacted through secret channels and are sent when tier-1 units such as Seal Team Six or Delta force, aren’t equipped for the task. These are the most dangerous men on the planet. The team we sent to get Mr. Patton is from that same unit. And to have Zack Patton as an enemy scares the living shit out of me. He has an advanced intellect, vast and dangerous skill sets, and a hunger for money. There was never any indication of any malicious intentions while he was at the FBI. In fact we routinely monitor high-level analysts. How he slipped out is a mystery. We have never seen a more cunning or more dangerous agent do this type of thing before.”

General Horton
had more to add and felt more caution was needed regarding the Zack Patton issue. “This team is the most extreme when it comes to being dangerous. They are the Rambos, James Bonds of our military arsenal. They aren’t even housed nor do they operate on any known military base. No one knows their names or their base location. We put a check in an account and send orders through a wire when we need them. Zack Patton was a member of that unit for fifteen years. Now he is out there, helping our enemies prepare an attack, and we are at their mercy.”

Probably good that wireless communications are
down. If this Zack Patton is out there, he couldn’t really do any more damage than had already been done. More than likely, his cell phone isn’t working either!

President Moore
motioned everyone towards the door. Nothing more could be accomplished at the moment and the President felt that everyone would be more productive working back in their areas. “Thank you everyone, I would like another brief in one hour with a focus on restoration ideas for our wireless networks. We will reconvene in the conference room.” He looked toward Dr. Abernathy and indicated he would be right with him. The tension in the room was high. After all the men had walked out, the President went to use the restroom, leaving Dr. Abernathy by himself in the oval office.

It is really empowering to sit here and know that the high level discussion
s I hear involve events that resulted from my actions. That I actually might be the most powerful man in the world right now.

A flushing sound came from the side hallway with the President following behind.
“Dr. Abernathy thanks for coming. How is study going? I know things are bad here right now, but I do keep my appointments.” Dr. Abernathy was surprised by the Presidents intention with this meeting in the face of all that is happening. Appointments such as this one held no relevance to the crisis in the country at the moment and normally would have been dutifully canceled until further noticed. If it had been canceled, Dr. Abernathy wasn’t sure how he would have been able to get facetime with the President. But it had been a scenario explored as well months ago.

“Wow, well Mr. President.
I’m surprised you are seeing me with everything that is going on. I was waiting for more than thirty minutes. You didn’t want to cancel?”

“Well Doctor I was going to until my secretary called in and said you knew how to stop this.
I like your sense of humor and our discussion would be a great diversion. I wish Bob Austin was here, but I heard he is stuck at the airport in Houston. Poor guy was there when a couple of planes with Boy Scouts on board crashed. Well anyway, is there something you want to tell me Doctor? You told Ms. Jodie that you can stop this? Amuse me, make me laugh. Please, I am a mess right now!”

This is it!
This is the moment I have been waiting for. For two years I have been preparing for this and it all has gone as planned. Now I get to share the results that should wake up the world.

“The study is finished sir.
The final results are here. All you have to do is look out your window.”

President Moore leaned back in his chair
and was confused. “I don’t understand. What do you mean by look out my window?”

“Sir
, what you are seeing unfold in the country, and possibly the rest of the world, is the results of removing a damaging component of our current civilization. This component is wireless technology.” Dr. Abernathy missed the dumbfounded look of the President. President Moore was amazed that someone would pick a time like this to mouth off a bunch of utopian bullshit. For shits and grins, the President decided to let the Doctor continue.

“
For years we have watched as the world embraced wireless technology to communicate, socialize, and do business. I’m talking cell phones, the internet, even your intelligence network. Everyone dug up the fiber optics cables that use to be the core of our communications. Our social networks use to exist on the front porches of our neighbors, and in the parks with our children. It used to be difficult for many parents to pull their children in from outside when it was time to eat dinner. Now they can’t pull them off their computers or video games. Now everyone has their eyes on the computer screen, the cell phone screen, or the latest and greatest tablets. They don’t have their eyes on each other and the world around them. People find social edification through online communities or they dream of fairytale romance on dating websites. Wireless technology has proven to be an artificial way for people to exist. This past week I documented many observations here in Washington D.C. I interviewed many people who told me how this was affecting their lives. I got mostly apocalyptic discussion and sad emotional reflection. Nothing positive. There was a great sense of loss in many people, which led to a collective mental breakdown. This is what you are seeing, through your window. Yet all that they lost was their technology. I guess what I am trying to say is, what our question from the beginning was, what happens if everyone’s cell phone lost it’s signal? What if the internet disappeared? What if you couldn’t make a single phone call, send an email, check the weather, or chat with your many friends on Facebook? What would people do with the loss of wireless technology? Well Mr. President, you are seeing the results right outside your office. You have been seeing the results all this week. I would say now is the time to look back and reflect on the height of our nation’s most happiest and successful times. See what was in place back then, and restore those items of society that had kids outside playing and friends visiting each other in person. Bring back the times when you received a letter in the mail you could put in a drawer and save because it is real and been held by the person that wrote it. People will become closer to each other. Families will rediscover each other. Children will rediscover the joys of exploration and tangible achievement. Marriages would be restored with husbands and wives rediscovering each other and falling in love again. This last week, I removed the nothings in order for everyone to see the somethings.”

President Moore sat
stone faced looking at Dr. Abernathy. Both men looked at each other for one minute without saying anything. Dr. Abernathy was beginning to shiver. He has no idea what to expect. The President’s phone rang. “Yes, give me one minute. Stay at your desk, I will be calling you in a few minutes.” He hung up the phone slowly. Dr. Abernathy was surprised but encouraged, that there were still some phones connected to each other by cords. Though, any working phones in the White House could only call other phones within the White House. Dr. Abernathy had been excited about this study and the presentation he was giving to the President. But the way the President kept looking at his eyes, not glancing away even to hang up the phone, scared him.

“What are you telling me Doctor?
You have something to do with all of this? You and your institute are involved in this crisis? You need to tell me exactly what you have done.” Dr. Abernathy cleared his throat and looked at the President. “My team developed a virus software that infected the processing unit of a satellite used by the Department of Defense, which in turn, sent the software to all cell and satellite receivers around our planet. We received the access codes around six months ago from a couple of your soldiers who were put in touch with us by a man named Patty Marvin. Yet I can’t help but to think he might be the Zack Patton the Generals were speaking of, but I can’t say for sure. As far as your soldiers, Roy and Tom were their names; fake names I am sure. Well anyways, this satellite became the central transmitter and sent the virus to cellular receivers on the cell phone towers around the planet. These towers then communicated the virus to their main processors. All servers, processing units, and mainframes connected to anything wireless was infected. It happened in procession during the course of a twenty-four hour period one meridian at a time. The only technology that would work would be anything you could connect to a cord. I have to add, there were more landlines around than I had estimated. But that is a good variable and will have great impact on the implementation and publication of my findings.” President Moore didn’t hear half of what the Doctor said. He felt like a skydiver whose parachute wouldn’t open.

“You did this?
You started all of this?”

“Yes I did Sir.”

President Moore turned and phoned his secretary again, “Is the Attorney General still with the General? Go check and if he is, send him and two Secret Service agents to the Oval Office immediately please.” He hung up the phone, walked around the presidential desk and stood directly in front of Dr. Abernathy. “At least our in house communications are still up you asshole! Doctor, you are going to be placed under arrest. You have committed so many crimes that it is impossible to list. But I can guarantee that you will spend the rest of your life in prison. Unless you get the death penalty under treason, which is what I am going to encourage.” Dr. Abernathy didn’t respond and just stood still as if waiting to be shot. But he had expected this or several other outcomes. He had resolved to the worst possible outcomes even before his plane had landed. But he managed to still enjoy himself because he still had one card left to play. President Moore couldn’t help but to notice that Dr. Abernathy’s expression was becoming joyful. There was a glow in the Doctor’s eyes, much like a man getting married.

“Do you have
anything you want to say Doctor?” President Moore backed up with his eyes still on Dr. Abernathy’s and began to walk back to his desk. Not knowing what to expect or think, the President turned and opened the curtains to see smoke rising from the distance. Dr. Abernathy was smiling. “I do have something to say sir.” President Moore turned around with a sarcastic grin on his face and shaking his head. “Oh yeah? Amuse me!”

“You signed the disclosure form
s approving the software, the planned use of the software, it’s design, the virus and it’s codes. You also signed the forms permitting the implementation of this final phase and its outline, laying out the steps that would be taken. The fact is sir, you gave us permission.”

President Moore slammed his fist on the desk, which caused Dr. Abernathy to Jump.
“Bullshit! Bullshit you madman! You are utterly mad and delusional.”

With his voice nervously shaking, Dr. Abernathy responded, “
I have your signatures on all the correct legal forms, which were notarized by your secretary. Copies as well as expenditure disclosures were also filed with the Committee on Consumerism Spending and Practices. And of course the American people have the understanding that congressional committees dot their I’s and cross their T’s. They would never sanction a project if it would harm the country. That is what the government tells the people right?”

“Bullshit, I didn’t give you permission to de
stroy this country. To hijack satellites and everyone’s lives along with it!” Dr. Abernathy tilted his head to the side as if he was a doctor examining the President’s face. He reached into his hip bag hanging from his shoulder and pulled out a stack of papers. “I have the forms right here Mr. President. You signed them the last time I was here. Bob Austin is a witness. I invited you to read them but you said, and I quote, ‘No problem Doctor, I trust you. I will get my pen. Oh and make sure my secretary notarizes them on your way out.’ You gave me the power of God that day. Power over you and everyone on this planet.” At the same time, he hands the stack of disclosure forms to President Moore, “Take a look if you don’t believe me.” President Moore slapped the papers out of Dr. Abernathy’s hand.”

The
President walked around slowly then came back standing inches from Dr. Abernathy with both men’s eyes meeting. “You will be detained by Secret Service until you can be formally charged by the Attorney General. I expect you to repeat for him, everything you just told me.” Dr. Abernathy didn’t hesitate and was nodding in agreement. “Oh yes Mr. President, Of course.” Two Secret Service agents walked in and one named Kent asked, “Is this the detainee Mr. President?”