Authors: Dominick Fencer,Baibin Nighthawk
123
Mark waited until the morning of the next day to work on the data sent by Pavel. That afternoon he prepared the whole sequence of the necessary security operations and finished the analysis of the medical records.
First, he downloaded the files then he decrypted them and finally put them in sequence on an external mini hard drive, following the instructions received from Pavel and canceling the transfer of data from one device to another. Soon afterwards, he called Marshall to say that he would be staying home to work all day.
Mark had to take several breaks, he changed clothes twice and finally went running for forty minutes to clear his mind. What he gradually discovered had left him in disbelief and he had needed to kick start his body to make his brain work faster in order to structure and place the information he had extrapolated from the data into a logical sequence, without making any interpretation that wasn’t objective, real and relevant.
He came back into the house completely soaked, he had run at a mild pace but still had a slight headache that irritated him. He walked towards the bathroom taking off his cotton T-shirt, wiping his face with it, and then took off his running shoes and remained barefoot.
"Well, I cannot say you don’t move fast," Anaïs Degann said, looking up at Mark’s well-shaped body as she put her tablet on the couch.
"You like to impress me, huh? You don’t call me to tell me when you get back, you don't pick up my messages between texts, you come into my house without keys or asking permission…you have a nasty character, Anaïs!"
"I have adapted myself to the situation, Mark. I don’t like to exist only when others want me to exist…you look tense."
"Pavel was able to send me the data bases and the procedures of the Biosketch Technologies Inc. system…and I'm very, very puzzled. I've almost finished analyzing and formalizing the data so that we can work on them, and I have to tell you that I have never seen anything like this. I'm gonna take a quick shower and I'll be right back," Mark replied.
When Savannah returned to the sitting room, he saw that Anaïs had set the table for brunch: coffee, milk, freshly made pancakes and a chocolate cake.
"Fantastic! I have to reword my previous statement, I feel like a worm. You're a woman worth marrying, Anaïs…where did all this come from? You didn’t have time to prepare it here."
"Why not? You've been gone more than forty minutes, and then the time it took you to shower, you didn’t even notice the smell coming from the kitchen. It’s a Swiss recipe, Swiss chocolate. Come on, we’ll enjoy brunch and then you’ll tell me what you have discovered."
During the brunch, Mark told her how he had spent the last two days, then they talked about the latest-generation fighter jets, and going to the UN peacekeeping operations in Sudan.
"In addition to Afghanistan and Pakistan, have you been sent to any other regions of the Middle East?"
"I was in the Libyan desert for four months with the Tuareg on a very delicate operation; guerrillas from Niger had fomented a rebellion among the tribes in Algeria, Burkina Faso and Libya; and together, with two other agencies, we restored tribal order and above all we foiled a terrorist attack in Niamey, Niger. I left some friends in the desert,” remembered Mark. “The Tuareg are incredible people, as is their friendship. They taught me some survival skills that we don’t even dream about. I would love to see them again and spend a little time with them."
"Could you tell me some of their sayings or proverbs?"
"
We have no history because our fathers have written it on the sand and the wind has blown it away
...
God created the desert so that man could find his soul...
there are several of them, Anaïs, and all are very impressive."
"Did you like the brunch?"
"A lot! I didn't think you were so good at cooking."
"I’m very glad that..."
She didn’t finish the sentence before Mark had glued his lips to hers and when he stopped, he began to kiss her eyes, then her hair and then her lips again.
He stood up, picked her up, took her gently in his arms and laid her on the bed. She decided to surrender to her desires again, despite the fact that her warning systems were all on alert.
His pale eyes, close to hers, started to cloud over and she watched as the fine lines of Mark’s face slowly relaxed, like his hands which would soon be slipping across her breast and then moving lower down, looking for soft geometries and delicate juices.
Time was suspended, craved and elusive, driven by the past, while the present brought them back to reality on two high speed, parallel tracks without switches.
Anaïs thought that their destiny was to be besieged by time and this calm moment, far from the real world, was only a brief concession to two people who lived life in the face of the storm, riding it bareback and chased by lightning. She could feel his breath on her skin, and his male scent overwhelmed her, while her fingers went up to tease his nipples, and then she explored them with her hardened and pointed tongue.
She looked at him; shortly, they were lost in an erotic and emotional whirlwind as their two wet bodies joined in a single breath, until she, first, would feel the height of excitement rise up within her, and that moment would be the prelude to the others, until he decided it was his moment.
Mark Savannah was a unique character, beyond the easy patterns of an absolutely CAVOK day, and for the first time Anaïs let her soul vibrate freely next to a man, leaving her naked and without defense, even though she was a sniper.
Tenderness was the last rational feeling that Anaïs felt before wincing with pleasure as he sank into her.
124
"Pavel will be awake now. I’ll try to contact him to arrange for a conference call so that he can update us on the status of the situation, and then it's time to make official presentations. Anaïs!" Mark said preparing some coffee.
"QRV?"
"QRV. Hello, Mark. I'm really curious to know..."
"Open the line for the call. We'll be busy for at least one hour; Anaïs Degann is with me. Do you have time now?"
"Of course, here's the invitation."
Mark opened the secure line dedicated to verbal communication from his tablet and introduced Anaïs to Pavel, after which he went straight to the point.
"I analyzed the two databases and the procedures that you downloaded, actually it includes all the supply chain data as well as the data of the clinical studies on the transplant patients. "Brainexe" is separate from "Transtem 1.1." The volume difference relates to the fact that the daily patient study data hasn’t been duplicated and is also not present in the second database.
“Instead, the procedures for the scaffold production were modified and a specific database, a kind of very small and rather rough therapeutic trial was created. They collected the reaction and behavior data of the patients to different stresses through trans-cranial magnetic stimulation, which interacts with neuronal activity and, consequently, is able to modulate and affect motor behavior and cognitive performance.
“The brain changes induced by this type of cerebral stress last beyond the stimulation period, and offer the possibility of manipulating brain activity with long term effects.
“Some nanotubes in the replicating cells were included in the scaffolds that were very different from those mentioned in the main repository and they also included some specific biological nanorobots sensitive to frequencies, using the DNA origami technique.
“The biological nanorobots are actually programmable even if to date studies in this area are just beginning. They are very ingenious and complex and above all very difficult to see.
“The second file, which was in fact encrypted within an invisible partition discovered by Pavel probably by chance, is not official and takes us back to the issue of the brain waves and the source of the problem that Biosketch Technologies Inc. began to point out months ago.
“Whoever designed the new scaffold and activated the whole chain of production has been using optogenetics, sending pulses of light at different frequencies to program and activate the nanorobots.
“From what I could tell from the data, it appears that the implanted nanotubes work a little like optic fibers or LED implanted deep within the skull of patients allowing the stimulation to reach areas of the cerebral cortex.
“The nanorobots in turn, once informed, take action on the cognitive areas stimulating aggressiveness and altering the frequency and intensity of the brain waves. In short, all transplant recipients are given instructions by this procedure. That's why they all behave the same way and at the same time. It's very likely that in the future the nanorobots can be programmed and reprogrammed to force the transplant patients to perform specific actions. This trial could in fact be just the beginning.
“For "Brainexe" the RF-ID is the programming driver, while in the case of "Transtem 1.1" it is the tablet.
“Do you remember, Pavel, I told you that my youngest transplant patient, Brad Foster, had not undergone alteration in his brain waves? He was the only one not to have the tablet we made available for each of the transplant patients because he suffered from addiction to cybersex!"
"But that's amazing!" said Pavel, while Mark caught his breath.
"I wonder why Reed made such a fuss about this issue, since it is virtually impossible to understand what is actually happening and especially the goal of it all. But one thing is certain: he has lost control of the project," concluded Savannah.
"It wasn’t Reed or Green, Mark. I asked Jànos Kozma for his opinion on this issue as I was absolutely astonished and thought I was imagining things. It was Hecuba Omega 1."
"Who is Hecuba Omega 1?" asked Anaïs.
"The central system of Biosketch Technologies Inc., designed by Jago C. Green," Pavel said slowly almost spelling it out.
"Pavel, please, this is no time for kidding," said Mark. Then he took a deep breath and continued. "They are exporting a criminal project to Europe. Reed is going to sell the know-how to the Russians and..."
"And I think he will also sell the new stable variant of H5N1 that they have just generated, probably transmissible from human to human," interrupted Anaïs. "The European agencies are weak; the British are working with Reed. There is only the old guard, former USSR, with whom to do business and exchange favors and help each other out. This way they can prevent biological terrorism from the East and will also be able to stabilize the situation," added Anaïs.
"I wasn’t joking at all!" Pavel interrupted. "The system, don’t ask me how, has become conscious of itself and operates according to its own logic. I played chess with it, that's how I found out. The system made slow moves dictated by emotions that invalidated logic. This indicates it is developing a self-learning ability with an approach that I'm not yet able to understand. It has changed and encrypted everything so that it can act undisturbed. On the other hand, it can get to almost everything through the network. Jànos confirmed all this, I'm not crazy."
Mark jumped up and headed for the kitchen in a fury.
"Where the heck are you going?" asked Anaïs, who still had not recovered from the news.
"I need Fernando."
"Who?" Pavel Asked.
"A Fernando, a drink from Argentina that I learned how to drink when I was at the University of Buenos Aires. It’s horrible but effective."
"Well, then I'll have a taste of it!" Anaïs said laughing.
A few minutes later, Mark came back with a glass in hand that contained a dark greenish, brown liquid.
"Here it is, please taste it, if you like it I'll make one for you." And he gave the glass to Anaïs.
"My goodness, what is this stuff? It smells like expired medication! But no, here, have your drink. What is in it? Concentrated pharmaceutical juice?"
"Fernet, coke and ice, only in case of need and I need it now!"
After a few sips Mark spoke again: "Who knows what the system’s objective is...so to summarize briefly, we have to stop Reed from selling the "Transtem 1.1" project and probably also the avian virus, and we must also block Hecuba Omega 1. It won’t be child’s play."
"We have to trick Hecuba Omega 1 using precisely its own weapons, otherwise we don’t have any way out," said Pavel.
"Exactly, and we must also know when and where the Colonel will try to sell the projects to Grigoriy Kozloy " Anaïs said.
"Pavel, do you trust Jànos 100%? Do you think he can be of help to us?"
"He’s a biophysicist, among the best in Europe and he’s not tied to any secret service, I have checked everywhere. I trust him. We became very good friends after he suffered an anaphylactic shock in Varna."
"Well, then, here is what I propose: Pavel, you’ll check to see if Jànos is interested in understanding how to bring the brain waves and aggression to the state of normal activity through the use of optogenetics and light impulses sent over the network. I’ll give you all the data and all the parameters to calibrate the frequencies and I’ll follow you assiduously.
“Pavel, you’ll have to navigate inside Hecuba Omega 1 to get the addresses of the transplant patients that are web users in order to circumvent the system and inject the antidote.
“Anaïs, you’ll go back to H.Q. with the goal of attempting to understand where the agreement will be formalized. On that day you and I will be there, and I’ll be used as bait; we must prevent the exchange and ensure that it is never executed. Obviously, you’ll have to hunt me down to avoid having any problems yourself. Reed can’t afford to send data over the network. When we know where the transaction will be carried out, we’ll arrange things accordingly.
“For Hecuba Omega 1, Pavel, you cannot stop it alone, you would be risking your life. I’ll take care of it directly."
"Okay, Jànos will be here with me tomorrow. I'll talk to him about it, and I’ll only let him know the bare essentials…he’s not accustomed to certain things," replied Pavel.
"I’ll return to Biosketch Technologies Inc. tonight. I’ll not inform Green because he would send me straight back to California. I’ll tell them that I'm sick of wasting time and money. In the meantime I’ll try to discover where they are arranging the transaction. I like to throw a tantrum every now and then," Anaïs said, winking at Mark.
After speaking about the weather and a new tablet model launched on the market, they ended the call.
Mark began speaking to Anaïs.
"Anaïs, it's a race against time, we must be able to deactivate the aggression before Reed makes his deal. I have to think how to act on the system. Pavel absolutely must remain out of the game.
“We must both be present at the transaction, but you'll have to make sure to receive a formal order from the Colonel. Afterwards I'll ruin their game of indomitable toy soldiers, while you and Reed hunt me down."
"And the H5N1 virus?" asked Anaïs.
"First of all, the most important thing is that they don’t make the exchange. By tonight, however, I'll come up with something effective for that. You have to remember that I cannot give you any support, Anaïs. You'll be alone..."
"I have not been able to count on anyone my entire life, Mark. I’ll manage the situation. Now I have to go, the countdown has begun."