Nano Surveillance (Dave Henson Series Book 1) (23 page)

“I realize this,” responded Dave somewhat gruffly to Dana. “We reviewed some very good field recordings today. I think we have enough ammunition to take the administration down at this point. We just need to build the case around the evidence and pitch it to the public over the next couple of weeks. We just may need to do some of it on the run if they locate where we are. But for tonight, we will release our next video to the public from the confines of our new operations center here in Cut Bank. And we’ll continue to release new videos every other day, exposing the corruption in this administration and the general media, until the public is screaming revolution and this administration is thrown out of office and tried for treason.”

Chapter 60 (March 26, Tuesday 6:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

General Jarod and Ken Hardy were standing in front of Doug Spade’s office at the NRL in Washington DC. They were waiting for Doug to give them a complete briefing on his findings with the canisters the general had left with him the night before. Doug was still in the same clothes he wore the previous night and looked completely worn out and exhausted. His eyes were blood shot and his hair was a mess. His voice for the briefing was slow and slightly labored, however, it was thorough as he faced the two men.

“General Jarod, as I had thought last night, the analysis that I performed today on the contents of the canisters you left me with, confirmed what I had expected. There were trace amounts of nanotechnology carbon structures, or nano-dust, to make it easier for conversation, in them. Their structure was much more complex than any nano-dust materials I’ve seen before. Consequently, there is still a lot I don’t know about these particular nano particles. However, I can say that they have the basic molecular structure to virtually enable any type of sensor, or object for that matter, to be constructed or shaped into, given enough material.”

“What do you mean by the construction of a sensor or object?” asked Ken Hardy.

“I’m saying that given a large enough hive of nano-dust material, and the intelligent software to control it, virtually any type of recording device or sensor could be contrived from the hive. Similarly, it is even conceivable to construct an object such as a glove, ball, weapon, or any other object if the nano-dust is sufficiently controlled. Think of a 3D printer where critical AR-15 assault rifle components today are created out of a small square vat of liquid epoxy. Likewise, the nano-dust can be controlled and shaped into virtually any type of object. However, unlike the 3D printer, this type of nanotechnology can be taken much further to create objects that have much more functionality than a glob of shaped plastic. Not only can the nano-dust be configured to take on a particular shape, it can also be controlled to perform a particular function, such as a video recorder, tape recorder, chemical sensor, etc. And on top of that, it can do it at the nanoscopic level, making it virtually undetectable to the naked eye.”

“Are you saying that the recent videos that have been released to the public by this terrorist group came from this so called nano-dust stuff morphed into video recording equipment?” asked the Chief of Staff.

“Yes, I’m saying it’s more than likely the case if you’ve not found any other evidence of recording equipment associated with the sites where the videos were filmed.”

“You said there was the potential that the sensors could be created at the nanoscopic level,” commented the General. “Do you honestly believe they could make complex and complete audio and video equipment at the nanoscopic level, or do you mean very basic sensors, such as heat sensors?”

“No, I mean it is conceivable that NSurv could have the capability to make sophisticated sensors at the microscopic level of an audio or video recording device with this nano-dust. Think of the nano-dust as a utility fog that represents nanoscopic robots that can be manipulated via software commands to assemble themselves into various shapes and properties.”

“Then if this is truly the case, we would never be able to see the sensors,” responded the Chief of Staff. “We’d have no idea where to even begin to look for them.”

“Not only that, the sensors could be purposely dissolved, if you will, after performing their surveillance function,” replied Doug. “The nano-dust fog could then silently disperse into the atmosphere, leaving no trace that it was ever there.”

General Jarod looked hesitantly at the two men before speaking. “Doug, do you think there is any way that the nano-dust could be ingested by humans and somehow controlled in the body to perform sensory functions?”

“Yes, it is possible, at least for basic sensory functions, such as temperature or chemical sensors. I’d be hard pressed to believe though that NSurv could actually control and configure a sufficient amount of hive material ingested in the body to make complex sensors such as video recorders.”

“So you’re confident with that assessment Dr. Spade,” pressed the Chief of Staff. “There’s no chance that we could be walking around with NSurv implanted video cameras and audio recorders in our bodies?”

“Yeah, it’s very highly unlikely that NSurv could be that far ahead of all the other research university and industry competitors out there in this space, even though they are a very gifted team.  If for some reason they could, I would think anyone carrying the configured nano-dust in their body the size of a functioning video recorder would experience some type of side effect symptoms.”

“If that level of nanotechnology could actually exist, how soon would you estimate we are away from it?” asked the Chief of Staff.

“Well first let’s be clear. It is not a matter of if, but when, the technology will exist for having complex nano-functions coexisting in the human body. Make no mistake there are numerous scientists and engineering groups working across the globe today to achieve that goal as we speak. If I had to guess, however, I’d say we’re probably still a decade or more away from seeing it.”

The Chief of Staff stood silently looking at Dr. Spade as he absorbed the enormity of what he had just said.

“I should also add,” said Doug, “that when you add artificial intelligence to this nanotechnology mix the possibilities become even more profound. And again, make no mistake, there are people today working out there in this world attempting to do just that. When they achieve their objectives, which I have no doubt they eventually will, we are talking the possibilities of autonomous hive nano-fog clusters that can morph into whatever structure and function it desires.”

“What kind of structures?” asked the general.

“Virtually anything. Inanimate objects, as well as organic living objects, such as possibly a cloned human being, if you will.”

The Chief of Staff simply stood there shaking his head in disbelief as Doug finished his last sentence. “The future sounds like a very scary place,” he quietly whispered to the two other men.

Doug looked over at the Chief of Staff with a tinge of disgust. “It’s already a scary place for some of us who are more in the know. It’s just that much of the country is oblivious to what’s going on around them,” responded Doug.      

The general gave a quick hard glance at Doug before looking over at Hardy to see if he was done with his questioning. Hardy looked up from his pensive stare at the floor as he sensed both men looking at him.  Hardy gave a gentle nod to the general and reached out and gave Doug Spade a weak handshake. “Doug, thank you for all your efforts over the past 24 hours and giving us this briefing. Your findings and insight were very enlightening for both the general and me.”

“Yes, I already thought I was an expert in this stuff, but I learned a bit more this evening,” responded the general.

“No problem general and Mr. Hardy. This is pretty interesting and wild stuff. If you get more of this nano-dust material, and even better the software that can control it, please bring it in so we can analyze it further. “

“Absolutely,” responded the general. “You can count on it. We will be back to see you.”

With that, the two men left Doug Spade sitting in his office, mentally wiped out and physically exhausted. He was going to go straight home and take a hot shower and crawl into bed for a 12 hour nap. But for the next few moments, he wanted to just sit in his chair and contemplate the world’s future. It seemed pretty frightening at the moment.

Chapter 61 (March 26, Tuesday 9:00pm Atlantic Standard Time)

Barbas paced furiously back and forth on the deck of the Kosmos staring out at the night sky. He had his phone to his ear and was waiting for Christos Grivas to answer his phone. Grivas was supposed to have gotten back to him hours ago in regards to their plans out in Idaho. On the sixth ring Grivas answered Barbas’s phone call.

“What’s going on Christos? I was expecting a call from you three hours ago.”

“I know, but I haven’t heard anything from Lazaro so there was nothing to report.”

“Nothing to report!” shouted Barbas into the phone. “Your man should have called in hours ago. Something has obviously gone wrong and you should have called me already. For Christ’s sake are you an idiot.”

“Lazaro is a professional and extremely efficient. I’m confident he’s accomplished his mission,” shot back Grivas. “He contacted me around 9:00am today and said they were following two NSurv vehicles traveling northeast in the direction of Montana.”

“Well confident doesn’t cut it right now. I need definitive answers and I need them fast. I heard from Chief of Staff Hardy a little while ago. It seems the security surveillance threat to the administration is even greater than what we had originally imagined. If NSurv is allowed to continue what it is doing unfettered, we are all screwed. The administration, you and me! And I’m not going to let that happen. I want you to get in touch with Hardy after we hang up. Ask him to get some of his goons on site at NSurv and give us a report. Also have them find out where Lazaro exactly was when he contacted you this morning and have them check the area out. Maybe they can find a clue to what happened to Lazaro and Aftonio.”

“Will do,” responded Grivas subordinately.

“Christos, please understand that if we don’t stop NSurv soon we could see much more than the loss of the administration’s TMA legislation and our careers destroyed. We could find ourselves in prison, or at the least, international outlaws. We must terminate NSurv before they do anymore damage to us.”

“Understood Dimitris. I am all over this and won’t fail. I’ll also contact another one of my other go-to guys to fly out there and track down where NSurv has run off to. We will stop them and we’ll do it fast.”

“Good, I’m counting on you Christos. Also, has Jeff Kolosky heard anything from Dana Cogswell recently?”

“No, I asked him the same question today. Kolosky said he hasn’t heard from her in nearly two weeks.”

“Have Kolosky try to get in touch with her. Maybe he can talk some sense into her and possibly find out where Dave Henson and his little band of terrorists are.”

“I’ll have him try to contact her tonight, but I wouldn’t count on learning much from her. I’m convinced it was her voice narrating the last video they released, even though the voice was computer modified. The inflections and intonations in the narrator’s voice sounded very similar to hers.”

“Okay, it’s worth a shot anyways. Anything we can possibly learn from her could help us shut them down quicker. Make sure Kolosky calls her tonight.”

Barbas hung up the phone and pondered the night sky. There was a slight chill in the air and his right eye was tearing again. He pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the eye. He was going to have to see an eye doctor soon if this problem persisted.

Chapter 62 (March 26, Tuesday 7:00pm Mountain Daylight Savings Time)

After getting settled into their new facilities and having an early dinner, the NSurv team had moved into the lab area to prepare for the night’s activities.

Ron, Joe and Dr. Gillian looked over Dave’s shoulder and watched the video that Dana and he had put together earlier in the day. The video focused on the President’s meetings and conversations with various congressional members who had not already committed to his TMA bill. All of the meetings highlighted essentially vote buying, and in some cases blackmail, by the administration. A few of the congressional members had skeletons in the closet that would certainly destroy their political careers, and quite possibly lead to their arrests and imprisonment if the information were to be leaked. After the airing of tonight’s video, indeed the information would be leaked to the public, along with the actions of a dishonest and despicable President.

“It looks good,” commented Ron after the five minute video completed. “At least as good as it can be when watching your own President sell out his country to fellow corrupt politicians.”

Joe and Dr. Gillian made similar comments of the video before Dave explained to them that they’d be airing the video at 8:00pm.

“We have less than an hour to get ready to run this video so let’s wrap up making sure the transmission equipment is ready to go.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” commented Ron. “I’ve already checked all the systems, connections, and antennas myself. Were good to go now if you wanted to.”

“Okay, then do a dry run of the checklist in the remaining time before we go live with this video. I want to make sure this video is seen on both television broadcasts and the top three news aggregator websites.”

“So what’s next after tonight’s video?” asked Dr. Gillian.

Dave looked over at Dana for approval before speaking.

“What we are airing tonight is minor in comparison to what we plan to show over the next several days, at least from the administrations perspective. Tonight’s video is more about exposing the pervasiveness in the federal political corruption. It highlights not only the fact that the administration is corrupt, but also much of Capitol Hill. In specific regards to your question, suffice it to say our infected nano-targets have provided us with copious amounts of new and incendiary information on what this administration is up to. The video and audio recordings that Dana and I reviewed today were absolutely damning of the President and will undoubtedly topple him when we release them. The recordings not only show a new level of unthinkable corruption of the administration, and at a global level, but also the disdain he personally has to his own country. But for now let’s focus on tonight’s efforts.”

At 8:00pm sharp, Ron and Dr. Gillian each pushed a button on their computers’ keyboards and respectively the television airways and the internet lit up with the latest NSurv video of the President negotiating with several congressional members for their support of his TMA bill. In all cases, including the President’s meeting with the congressman from New Hampshire, the public got to see the President buying votes with taxpayers’ money for the personal benefit of the congressional member.

It was 10:00pm on the east coast when the video went live. The House of Representatives was having a late night session at the time of the broadcast. As soon as the video began to play congressional aides, who were seated in the House chamber surfing the net while they listened to the droning congressional member speeches, began to whisper to one another. One congressman who was made aware of the video by his aide then stood up and yelled to the Speaker that another video had just been released and was running live on the internet. The Speaker immediately suspended the congressional session so that they could all personally watch the video. As congressional members and their aides sat in the House chambers and watched from their laptops, those congressional members featured in the video could be heard occasionally yelling out invectives to the video that streamed in front of them. For some featured congressmen, they knew their political careers were now destroyed, and they simply sat silently as the video played out. 

In the White House the President had been relaxing in front of a television watching another March Madness college basketball game when the game was interrupted by the video. As soon as he saw the image of him sitting in the Oval Office pop up on the screen, his skin went cold and his heart skipped a beat. He knew he was about to be exposed further in the ensuing minutes. As the video played out in front of him, Ken Hardy entered into the theater room with a grim look on his face. The President glanced over at him only briefly before his eyes moved back to the screen. Both men watched in horror as they saw the President doling out money and favors to various congressional members for their support of his TMA bill. Even more frightening was the President’s own words to the congressional members for supporting the TMA legislation. That it was time for the American public to pay its fair share to the rest of the world for the economic success it has been so fortunate to enjoy over the past couple of centuries. After nearly five minutes of streaming video the same narrator’s voice they heard before came on and summarized what they had just watched.

“Tonight you’ve once again witnessed your President, along with various members of Congress, working against you and the American people for their own personal gain. As you heard from your own President’s lips tonight, he is pushing the Transportation Movement Act not to benefit the country, but instead to benefit his real constituents, his international financial backers. Their goal is not about serving the American public, nor about global climate change, but instead creating a new world order where the United States is no longer a dominate world leader. It is time to realize the ruse that has been played on you and this country, and to stand up and demand immediate change. Tonight will not be the last evidence that we show you about the depth and breadth of corruption in our federal government. So far what you’ve observed over the past several videos is only the tip of the iceberg. In the days ahead we will release more information to you that will truly show you an administration that holds complete and utter contempt for the American public and this country.”

The television screen went blank for a few seconds before the basketball game resumed airing on the station.

The President and the Chief of Staff stood silently and stared blankly at the game, while in the House of Representative Chambers all hell was breaking loose.