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Back at the military base, Captain Miller was pacing the control room. The engineers he had working on this new problem had managed to isolate the main servers but were unable to bypass the real problem Alex had left them with. The counter was still counting down, and the Captain was thinking there was going to be no other option, he had to inform the Major. He had been fortunate that the cargo had already left the site and was on its way to one-hundred-mile Island, otherwise the whole project would have been dead in the water, his only saving grace.
“Have you figured out what this countdown marker is yet?” Captain Miller asked, as he watched the counter ticking down and was now at 14 hours and 34 minutes.
“No captain.” Programmer Wilson replied.
He had been with the project from the beginning and admired Alex. Although they had never met, he had been working with his new programming a long time and even with all his knowledge, could not figure out this new language. The coding that Alex had sent did make it more sense, but it still required masses of information to piece it all together. It was like learning a foreign language for the first time and only be able to read single words and not yet formulate whole sentences. It was a slow process that the Captain had no concept over, and he was getting frustrated at how long it all this was taking. They had managed to get some operational functions rebooted, but still had no access to the main servers, which held all the information on the project.
“How long it this going to take?”
“Right now, Sir, we have no idea. At worst, we may never be able to get access. At best, could take weeks to unravel this new coding Sir.”
“Well, we don’t have that long. And do we know what has been taken yet?”
“At a guess Sir, everything.”
“How is that possible?” The Captain said sarcastically, still not understanding the technical side to all this mess.
“He used the original concept we used when we rounded up the criminals. The Wi-Fi signals.”
“So, all that information was taken under our noses!”
“Yes. His secondary programming was hiding within the new programming codes he sent us. It found the information then compressed it into manageable byte size. Then was transmitted to a designated receiver, Lesley’s phone, and she simply walked out of here with it and probably had no knowledge of it herself.”
“Can he still access the main servers?”
“Technically no, he would need another receiving device close by to take more information, but this guy is a beyond clever. Who knows what else he has hidden away? We are playing catch up on everything he has created, and at best, second guessing what this new coding can really do.”
“Keep plugging away. I need to make a call.”
Just as the Captain was about to leave the control room, another technician walked in.
“YES.” The captain snapped, thinking all he needed now was more bad news.
“We have heard some more reports from Alex’s cabin Sir.”
“Well, spit it out lad.”
“They have found Lesley’s vehicle with a shot-out tyre. No reports of anyone found at the site. From what the Police are saying they suspect two explosions have occurred. The site is a write-off Captain.”
“Get some local area ordinance survey maps and get a chopper ready. I assume they are back on base now!”
“Yes Captain.”
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Dug had been called out of his sleeping quarters an hour ago to start the evening meal. He had a guard watching as he attempted to prepare lunch, while trying to find the right time to add his special ingredient. It was going to be trickier than he hoped to slip the crushed sleeping pills into the cottage pie he was preparing. He needed a diversion that would give him time to add the white power to the mash potato he was about to spread over the top of the cooked meat, and the time to do it was running out. Just as he was about to run out of ideas, the guard left the kitchen. Shaking, Dug took the small plastic bag out of his pocket and added it to the potato’s. No sooner had he finished, the guard walked back in, carrying a glass of water he had dispensed from the mess room. Dug could feel his heart racing. Getting caught was not an option, but the deed had been done and as he slipped the empty packet back into his pocket. He just hoped there was enough sleeping pills in the mixture to do the job. He had used the whole bottle and now he was thinking had he used too much! It was too late now to worry about that. Dug finished off levelling the mash and added a couple of knobs of butter to melt as it cooked, giving it a crusty top. He knew the pills could not be tasted, as he had been taking them for years. He slipped the pie in the oven and told the guard it would be ready in around forty-five minutes. The guard just smiled and kept to his post, while Dug began to prepare the vegetables. A simple case of opening tins and emptying the contents into a pan to boil a few minutes before the pie would be ready.
––––––––
Alex had been sat quietly for over an hour now and Lesley was starting to get impatient. She had already eaten her supper of fish and chips and watched Alex pick at his, while he was absorbed by what was on her phone. Lesley could not wait any longer.
“So, are you going to sit there all night?”
Alex looked up. Lesley was staring at him like an expectant patient, waiting for bad news. If she had not spoken, Alex would not have even known she was in the room with him, he had been so engrossed at what he had just learned.
“Are you sure you want to hear this?”
“Why? Is it bad!”
“Bad! I just cannot believe it. I have been so stupid.”
“Alex, just tell me what is going on. Perhaps we can change it!”
“Well, here goes, but you might have a hard time believing me.”
“Let me be the judge of that. Just tell me, and not the edited version. I want to know it all.”
“If you are sure, but I can tell you this, it might not be what you are thinking that is going on, it runs a lot deeper than that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I had better explain it from the beginning, because in all honesty, it just sounds crazy. Do you remember when the first wave of criminals got rounded up?”
“Yes. It was part of the world clean up.”
“Yes, and no. My technology allowed the Police to find them.”
“So?”
“The Wi-Fi signal they used was way more sophisticated than they realised. I invented the technology in-order to see what a dream was like. They adapted it to seek out the wrong doers. If anyone had a dream and was near a mobile device, which is pretty much everybody. The dream could be intercepted. What people do not realise is that all dreams are unique to that person and carry way more information than just the dream. It carries their lives. Like a portable library of their activities. Then when they dream, all this information is being processed and the dream you have is just part of it. The real work the brain is doing you don’t see.”
“So, you’re saying that’s how they found them?”
“Yes, it was that simple to pick them out. It was a case of just filtering out the good from the bad, then they were taken.”
“Where would they take so many people, millions are what have gone missing, if not billions. You just cannot make them all just disappear?”
“That leads me onto the scary part. Professor Bourneski was trying to tell me. He kept writing words on scrap pieces of paper.” Alex took them out of his pocket and handed them to Lesley.
“I remember him, he was reassigned, wasn’t he?” Lesley said, as she laid the notes out and looked at them, puzzled. “What do they mean?”
“I think they were meant for me to solve. He was scared and I think he knew we were being watched.”
“So, have you figured this all out?”
“Yes. Are you sure you want to know!”
––––––––
Liev had been parked at the end of the track for the last hour, waiting for early evening to come and the cover of darkness. The main road was quiet with the occasional car passing by. He would have much preferred to have done some more research of the area before going after his targets blind. It was reckless and could lead him into a corner he was not prepared for. There was no time for that now, he had to just rely on his experience. Liev pulled out onto the road and began the short journey to the hotel hoping that his targets had done as he hoped and booked a room. It was a calculated gamble, because if they had moved on, there was no way of knowing where they would be with the head start they had.
––––––––
A worried looking technician walked into the computer room carrying the ordinance survey maps the Captain had wanted.
“Here is the ordinance map of the area Sir.” The technician said, as be backed away for the Captain after putting the maps on the table in from of him.
“Good.” He snapped, then rolled the map on the table in the middle of the room.
Captain Miller scanned the map for a few seconds. He was tracing the only route away from the cabin Alex should have taken. All around the cabin was high ground and it would make hard going. The only route out that made easy walking was the one that led onto a track. It was about two miles away and the track led out of the woodland onto a main road, another two miles away. The only feature that stuck out nearby was a hotel and petrol station. The next town was a further ten miles away.
“Is this hotel still in use?”
The technician looked over the map and wrote down the name of it down.
“I will check Sir.”
“Be quick and get a chopper ready and four armed personnel. We need Alex alive, so no gun-hoe heroes.”
“Yes Captain.”
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Dug had been waiting for the food to cook. His heart was racing with anticipation of what might be about to happen. He was not even sure he was doing the right thing, but with nearly all the original people gone, what choice did he have as he pulled the oven door down. A cloud of steam billowed over him and the smell of the pie filled the kitchen. As the steam cleared, he could now see the golden crispy top. It was ready. Dug looked round and could see the guard that had been watching him looking over at the open oven door. Dug could almost see his eyes extend onto stalks, clearly, he was hungry.
“Ready Dug?”
“Cooked to perfection. Are you going to let the others know or do we need to go together?”
“I’ll go, you can get the food ready.” The guard replied, with his stomach grumbling at the sight and smells that filled the kitchen.
“Sure! A bloody waiter as well now am I!” Dug replied, trying to hide is anxiety
Dug carried on. His guard ignored the sarcasm, hunger was biting, and he went off to inform the others lunch was now being served.
––––––––
Alex was not sure how to begin this next bit of information he was about to tell Lesley. It was not the fact he did not want Lesley to know, it just seemed incredible something like this could happen, and was still happening. Would she even believe him because he was having trouble believing it himself?
“Before I start. I want you to open your mind. This is going to come as a shock.”
Lesley was getting even more impatient. Alex was stalling. He was still processing the information himself and had no idea where to begin. They both sat in silence, Alex on the end of the bed and Lesley in the chair opposite him.
“Just spit it out Alex. I can handle it.”
“Okay here goes, but like I said. Keep an open mind.”
“Just flipping tell me, before I start pulling my hair out.”
“Remember the food shortages. Keep that in mind.”
“Yes, yes, go on.”
“After the first wave of people being taken, another meeting was held in secret. The world councils and governments needed to extend the project further. Food supplies were still at critical levels and the worlds populations were still too large to sustain. They rolled out the project further to protesters, troublemakers and basically anyone who did not have a function in a productive world. They named it the ZEN project. Zero Environmental Negativity.”
“I see that, millions have disappeared, and an idiot could see something was going on. Even I was too scared to say anything. I just hoped it was all a dream and would go away. I guessed something more was happening with the drug I was developing to control the people that were beyond saving, but where have they all been taken?”
“Now comes the ugly part. The words the Professor was showing make sense now.”
Alex took on a glazed look. Lesley also felt her mind drifting. This had to a lie, but she knew it was not. The whole world had been duped into believing the lies they had been peddled for years and now this man in front of her was just confirming what many people already knew. A mass genocide was going on and nobody dare speak of it.
“So where are they being taken?”
Alex still sat there not wanting to tell her the truth. For some reason he wanted to protect her.
“Alex, tell me. Where are they being taken?”
“They are being processed.”
“Processed. What does that mean?”
“There are human processing plants all around the world. Turning humans into animal feeds, and other products.”
Lesley could not speak. She stood up and walked to the window. She turned back around and looked at Alex.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s all document on secret files. Everything. All the meetings that have been held, all the plans to control the worlds populations, everything.”
“How? How is this possible?”
“My new programming has allowed a way for them to do this. It has handed a solution to them that even I did not know was going on. I suspected something was happening, but nothing like this.”
“What about the drug I was working on. Does it say anything about that?”
“There is no drug.”
“There has to be, that’s why they hired me. To research and find a way to impregnate it.”
“It was a lie, they lied to you. They plan to transmit something far worse.”
“Why would they lie, second thoughts, don’t tell me. I think I know. It’s you, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sorry.”
“It’s okay, you didn’t know. So, what else is there? Or should I not ask!”
“It’s the signal. They plan to transmit a signal.”
“How, I mean what for?”
“It's similar to the Wi-Fi signal they used to round people up, but this time it will activate the brain to respond in a way they have control over you.”
“What sort of control?”
“It’s difficult to explain. The brain gives off minute electrical impulses. With the right wavelength and corresponding data, you can influence the brains responses.”
“Like sublime advertising!”
“Exactly like that, but on a level so advanced it could control your whole life and you wouldn’t even be aware of it. You would go about your life thinking you had made the decision to say, not have children, not to smoke, drink, abstain from sex, work till you drop, anything they wanted.”
“What would be the point of that?”
“Think about it. This signal will be everywhere, transmitted from satellite. Let’s say the population needed to be reduced. They send the signal to stop people procreating. They need more workers on a new project, again they send the signal and so on. A whole world of controlled humans, no crime, no need for politics. Everyone would be ants, productive and compliant and oblivious to it.”
“What about the elderly? The sick and needy?”
“That’s the sad part. All but one processing plant has been shut down. They plan to keep that running for those that are not productive. No old people, no sick people and everyone will have a use or...”
“Shit, what can we do?”
“We need to...”
Hearing a familiar wheel screech, Lesley turned her head and looked out the window. It was pitch black outside with only a few streetlights illuminating the outside. It was enough though. She recognised the Land rover that had given them the lift earlier, but this time it was not the farmer Billy driving. It was another man she did not recognise.
“We need to leave?”
“What is it?”
“I think the person who was after us in the woods has just pulled up outside.”
Alex rushed to the window. Liev Malik was just getting out the vehicle and was now looking round the small car park.