When the Chips Are Down (5 page)

“Good luck with that, sister.  The government isn’t going to stop until they’ve taken over the world,” Lars retorted when they had reached the bottom of the stairs, “Every time they say that they are going to ‘protect’ us, they take away more and more of our freedom and constitutional rights.  They use terrorist attacks as excuses to pass laws that stomp all over the constitution. “

“According to the American Act, they can basically do whatever they want to you if they accuse you of being a terrorist.    First they started bugging our phones, then they put a microchip in our driver’s license; now they want to bug our bodies.  If you can monitor, you can control.  They’ve ruined the military and, with that, my career.  That’s why I resigned.”

“
You
were in the military?!” Brooklyn said astonished.  Lars nodded. 

“Ever since high school I wanted nothing more than to join the Marine Corps. 
I got my chance when I turned eighteen, and I loved it. I spent twelve years as a Marine.  I saw the world and had a hell of a time, but the things I started to see convinced me not to reenlist.  Homeland Security was using us as pawns in a sick, greedy game, so I walked away from the career I planned to retire from and never looked back,” he explained.

“They started using microchips in the military before the bill was passed.  They put chips in some of the lower ranking officers that gave them superhuman strength and alter egos.  I think it was activated by a code word because they would get a call in the middle of the night, disappear, and return several days later with no recollection of where they had been,” he said intensely.

“Where do you think they were?” Brooklyn asked. 

“On a secret killing mission
. Only the Company Grade Officers knew where they went,” Lars said plainly.

“I can’t believe it,” Brooklyn said softly. 

“That’s not the worst of it, sister,” Lars continued, “When I said that the government wants to take over the world, I wasn’t kidding and they want to use biological warfare to do it.”

“How do they plan to do that?” Brooklyn said in shock.

“They’ve developed a virus at Prune Island that could either kill or incapacitate almost everyone it
comes into contact with.  It spreads through bodily fluids, so it’s highly contagious.  They created it as a weapon against any foreign country that resists their invasion and leadership. They want to take over these countries so they can mine their oil and other natural resources,” Lars explained, leaning against the door frame.

“I thought Prune Island was a research lab where they test vaccines on livestock,” Brooklyn said confused.

“That’s just their cover story.  Prune Island develops and tests biological agents for use in warfare
. I think that’s why the microchip bill was passed.  Prune Island needed human test subjects for their new virus who wouldn’t object to being infected.  Of course, you’d have to mess with someone’s mind in order for that to happen!” Lars said in disgust.

“Why would they need to implant a chip in
everyone
when they’d only need a sample of people to test?” Brooklyn wanted to know.  

“That’s a good question, sister.  I think they want to chip us all so no one blows the whistle on what they’re doing. 
If one person told these other countries what was coming their way, it would be World War III,” Lars replied.

Brooklyn was stunned and speechless.  She realized that Lars was much smarter than Trent had given him credit for.  His paranoia was definitely understandable; he knew more about what was going on than most people. She felt even more compelled to do something now. 

“Do you know who controls the chips?” Brooklyn asked. 

“They were created by the department of Homeland Security.  They’ve now outsourced their dirty work to a company called ICS, Integrated Communication Systems.  They monitor, design, and control every chip,” Lars explained. 

“Have a seat,”
he said, gesturing towards an old, orange and yellow couch in their “living room.”  Brooklyn sat on the couch on the dirt floor of Lars’ small, cramped, and cluttered dwelling.  The sleeping bags and blankets on the floor made Brooklyn think that he had more people than he needed living there.  Their “rooms” were separated by curtains and Brooklyn could see an arsenal of weapons in the back room.  These people were definitely prepared.

“I haven’t had a chance to go through all of these yet,” Lars said, dropping a crate of books, magazines, and periodicals at her feet, “I think this is all I have on microchips.”  “Thanks, Lars,” Brooklyn said, grabbing the first book on top of the stack. 

“Anything for you, sister
. I’ll be hunting in the woods if you need me,” Lars started up the stairs.

Brooklyn scoured the mound of books for anything useful on microchips, but she did not find much.
There were books on how to protect your identity from hackers who can steal your information and studies proving that the chip had caused cancer in laboratory rats.

Caleb’s cell phone rang from her pocket. “Hello?” Brooklyn said.

“Brooklyn, where the hell have you been?” Trent’s voice sounded irritated, “You know Zane has done nothing but
hide in the basement all week since this crap happened with his brothers and Caleb and I have had to do
all
of the farm work today.”

“Well, sorry but I’ve been a little busy,” Brooklyn said,
thumbing through a periodical that had slid under the couch, “I think I might be…..”

What she read made her stop in the middle of her sentence. “Brook, are you still there?” Trent said after several minutes of silence.

“We’ll
talk when I get home,” she replied, hanging up the phone. “I’m going home now, Lars,” she called, snatching up the periodical, “I think I’ve got what I came for.”

“Zane Zaaaannne,” Brooklyn called running into the house.

“He’s downstairs as usual
. What did you want to talk to me about?” Trent asked.

“
You and Caleb come downstairs with me and I’ll tell you,” Brooklyn said.  With that she darted down the basement steps. “Zane, I think you should read this,” Brooklyn exclaimed, thrusting the periodical towards him.

“What’s this?” Caleb
asked, snatching it from her.

“Your name isn’t Zane,” Brooklyn said, impatiently.

“I just want to see what all the commotion is about,” Caleb said.

“Turn
to page forty, then,” Brooklyn huffed.

“The article called ‘A Chipped Society’?” Caleb asked.

“Yes, read the part where it mentions Raymond Eldridge,” Brooklyn said.

“Dr. Raymond Eldridge, a scientist and former Brain and Cognitive Sciences Professor at MIT, believes that the microchip is not only an infringement upon American constitutional rights, but can produce potentially harmful results in humans, due to the amount of radio waves the chip uses to transmit signals within the body,” Caleb read.

“Ok, it’s just a section on one person’s professional opinion about the microchips.  Although it’s a good argument against the chips, I really don’t get why I’m reading it,” Caleb concluded after reading the rest of the article.

“Read the last sentence
s of the section,” Brooklyn barked.

“Dr. Eldridge has recently left his position at MS Labs, and it has been rumored that he is now conducting research on the behavioral effects of the chip on humans at an independently funded laboratory. Eldridge has denied such rumors” Caleb read.

“Ok?” he then said, confused.

“Don’t you get it, Caleb?!” Brooklyn exclaimed, “If this man, this credible person, is studying how the chip affects people’s behavior, don’t you think he might be on to something?”

“He clearly stated in this article that he wasn’t conducting any research like that,” Caleb said.

“If you’re researching something this controversial, would
you
want everyone to know about it?  Of course he’s going to deny it. He’s a former Brain and Cognitive Sciences teacher. You can’t tell me that someone with that kind of background isn’t interested in how the chip is affecting people,” Brooklyn said.

“Brook, if he would’ve found something concrete, don’t you think everyone would know about it by now? It would be all over the media,” Caleb argued.

“I don’t think he would go to all of the trouble of researching and then just sit on his findings,” Trent agreed. Brooklyn was frustrated and disappointed that Trent did not seem to believe she was on to something.

“Let me see that article,” Zane said, holding out his hand. The three turned around surprised, as Zane had been silently sitting at his computer.

After carefully reading the article, Zane turned back to his computer.  He began looking up information on Dr. Eldridge.

“I’m having a hard time finding anything on this guy.  Every web page I’ve found associated with him says it’s no longer available when I click the link,” Zane said after a few minutes.

“That doesn’t sound suspicious at all,” Brooklyn said sarcastically.

“I’m going to see if I can access the archived web pages.  I should be able to download their content as a text only file,” Zane said.

“I got it!  Raymond Maurice Eldridge, graduate of Yale University, former MIT professor, and independent researcher.  This guy has made quite a name for himself,” Zane announced, still staring at his computer. “I don’t know guys. I think Brooklyn may have an idea here,” he said after a few minutes.

For the first time since he’d found out about his brothers joining the Army, he was thinking clearly. Brooklyn was delighted that someone was agreeing with her. “If we could just talk to this man and-”

“We can’t do that,” Zane
interrupted Brooklyn, “We’ll never be able to do that because he’s dead.”

“What?!” Brooklyn exclaimed.

“He died two
months ago in his home. It doesn’t say in this obituary how he died, which is odd. He was only forty-eight,” Zane said.

“Where did he live?” Brooklyn
asked.

“Boise
, Idaho,” Zane replied.

“Maybe he died before he could release his findings,” Brooklyn said.

“Or he never finished his research,” Zane said. “In fact, there seem to be lot of scientists from Boise who have died or disappeared recently. According to the newspapers, they all died or vanished around the same time too,” Zane added scrolling through the Boise local news articles.

Zane thought for a minute and glanced up at Brooklyn. “I think we should take a road trip,” he declared, certain she was thinking the same.

“You can’t be serious. What do you think you’re going to accomplis
h by going to Boise?” Caleb blasted.

“Look, I know we don’t know much about this Dr. Eldridge
, but there’s a good chance he had valuable information about the chips. He may have even died because of what he knew,” Brooklyn said.

“But he’s dead! You can’t ask him anything. Do you think you can just go snooping around Boise and stumble upon your answers?” Caleb exclaimed.

“Well, do you have a better plan?” Zane retorted, “I’ve been
trying like hell to think of a way to bring my brothers back home, and all you have done is whine and complain about the extra farm work you’ve had to do. Do you want to be eighty years old and still living on this farm? That’s how we’re going to end up if we sit around and let Big Brother destroy the world.  All we’ve been doing is living under a damn rock.  Brooklyn was right all along; we shouldn’t just live in fear and hide, especially if we have a chance to try and make things right again.”

“We all want the world to change, but going to Boise is risky. If you guys get arrested, you’re screwed,” Trent said.

“
I realize it sounds crazy, but I know if we go to Boise, we won’t come back empty handed.  I don’t know how I know, but I’m sure of it, and I’m not sure of anything else in this world anymore,” Brooklyn proclaimed.

“You and I can go, Brook
.  These two doubters can stay here,” Zane said. She nodded.

“I’ll go with
you, Brook. I have a feeling you’re going to need me to keep you from doing something stupid,” Trent said reluctantly.

                                        
 
Chapter 4

Zane, Brooklyn, and Trent were quiet in the truck.
This is insane,
Trent thought.  They were only an hour into their seven hour voyage to Boise, and Trent was already sick of seeing nothing but the highway, flat lands, and other cars.  They had loaded the truck with extra clothes, food, water, and as many supplies as they could gather in a short amount of time. “Caleb’s going to have fun at the farm all by himself today. That’s what he deserves,” Zane laughed.