The Dane Commission (The Dane Chronicles) (37 page)

Many of the
latest attendees in their white lab coats were still sitting down, but the
noise died down, if little slowly.

Not waiting,
he rang the bell once more.

“Today we
gather to deliberate on the actions of the Dane Commission, in regards to their
findings and recent interest in speaking with outside agencies.”

Looking down
along both sides of the table he continued, “Today we are joined by, Presidents
and Directors of the IntelliHealth System, as well as some of our top research
scientists, and due to the nature of the discussion,” he paused, “my friend,
and our founder, Dr. Sid Frances.”

Ryan’s heart
skipped a beat when the big screen didn’t light up.

Cohen made eye
contact with Rosemary, but neither moved.

Staying calm,
Cohen said, “Dr. Frances are you there?”

Another moment
passed, the silence becoming heavy in the room.

“Is the
televid set up? Perhaps we should -”
Eric was cut off when suddenly, it came to life with the image of Sid Frances’
smiling face filling the screen.

“My apologies,
I’m here Eric.”

“Ah very good.
Dr. Frances, how are you doing today?”

“Very well,
thank you. Now if you please, my schedule is very busy.”

Cohen looked
up at Ryan and began reciting the made-up charges.

“Mr. Dane, you
have submitted a report indicating that a computer program, specifically the
SID program, was responsible for performing unapproved research.”

“Yes that is
correct.”

“Mr. Dane, you
understand that the SID program,” and he held up a piece of paper as if reading
from it, “is short for research assistant program.”

Dr. Frances
from the large screen corrected him, “Actually Eric, that’s short for
Scientific Intelligence Deployment.”

“Ah, yes of
course, and Dr. Frances, as our resident expert, I believe it was agreed at our
last meeting that the SID program simply wasn’t capable of that level of
sophistication, isn’t that true?” Cohen was doing his best to provoke
conversation from the Frances image, and it was working like a charm.

Dr. Frances
responded, “Well, not exactly Eric. Steven Ranks and I agreed that the SID
program wasn’t designed to work independently. The very idea is counter to what
we designed SID to do. I recall that the recommendation of this committee was
that the Dane Commission start over, and investigate other more plausible
solutions.”

“Ah yes, and
Dr. Frances with time to reflect, has your opinion of the SID program changed
at all since the last meeting?” said Cohen still trying to get more dialogue
for Jim to analyze.

“No, it has
not. I will state for the record that the SID program was not designed to
behave in ways consistent with the Dane Commission report.”

Ryan was
slightly nudged by Jim’s elbow.

Looking at his
tablet, he saw the message, “Video Fraud Confirmed.”

It listed
frame numbers and counts where the video loops had occurred, and points where
the audio had been copied and reproduced artificially.

He hit send,
and Cohen got it too.

Glancing at
the message, Cohen nodded at Ryan and he said, “Very good Dr. Frances. I
believe it's time to hear the response from the Chairman of the Dane
Commission, Mr. Ryan Dane.”

With the room
quiet, Ryan stood up and walked to the head of the table.
“I’ll begin with a simple question for Dr. Frances.”

Ryan faced the
large monitor with the image of Sid Frances smiling, and staring back at him.
It was unnerving how real and lifelike it seemed.

In a low
voice, he asked “Dr. Frances, where are you sir?”

“What?” said
Frances.

“Where are you
Dr. Frances, right now. Where are you speaking from?”

“I do not see
why this is pertinent. We should be discussing-”

Interrupting
him and raising his voice, Ryan said, “Please just answer the question Dr.
Frances.
Where are you?
”

“I am in my
home. I’m afraid that my health doesn’t permit me to visit very often in person
anymore.”

“Which home
are you referring to Dr. Frances? You have three, are you here locally?”

“I really do
not understand what possible bearing this has on the matter at hand.”

“Ah, but it’s
my turn isn’t it? My question stands. Where are you, right now?”

“Eric?” said
Frances.

“Dr. Frances,
my apologies, but please answer Mr. Dane’s question so that we may proceed.”

Ryan noticed
that the image of Dr. Frances was still smiling, but the tone of his voice was
full of annoyance. It was a mismatch of voice and appearance, and the first
sign that he might be unraveling.

“Very well,
this is a gross invasion of my privacy, but if it will help to get things
moving I will answer. I am in my Newport home, in Rhode Island.”

“No sir, you
are not,” said Ryan softly.

The room was
silent.

All eyes
watched the exchange between Ryan and Dr. Frances.

He stepped
closer to the monitor.
“No sir. You are not speaking to us from Newport, nor are you speaking to us
from your home in Washington, or even from your home here.”

Turning his
back on the monitor, Ryan said, “You see, I have been to the homes of Dr. Sid
Frances, and they are uninhabited. One of them is unfurnished, one is without
power, and the last one, the one in Newport, has not been lived in for more
than five years.”

Frances said,
“I am speaking from my boat which is housed in Newport.”

“No you are
not speaking from the boat,” Ryan snapped back.

.
Ryan turned around and stood directly in front of the monitor. He crossed his
arms over his chest, and stared into it studying the image. Obviously
scrutinizing it.

“I stood on
the boat of Dr. Sid Frances, and it is not seaworthy. Nor has it been for quite
some time.”

Turning again to the people around the table, he said, “Inside the Newport home
of Dr. Frances,
the real Dr. Frances
, are the final belongings of Sid
Frances and Steven Ranks. They went out on his boat and never returned.”

Still looking
around the table, in a low voice he said, “The very video footage we are
watching right now is a forgery.” Ryan paused and added, “ And I can prove it.”
Then suddenly remembering the children lined up at his son’s school for the
Rn186 vaccination, Ryan was angry. The crimes of this thing were staggering;
this damnable glitch. Even now it lied to them.

’This must have been how Cohen had felt at the end of their chess game,’ he
thought.
It must stop now.
His patience for the charade gone, he turned and pointed at the face on the
screen, “I submit that you are not Dr. Sid Frances, nor are you Dr. Steven
Ranks. Say it!”

Dr. Frances
seemed to be frozen in a smile.

Unmoving.

Then slowly,
the image of Dr. Frances began to melt. It dissolved completely into a fluid
swirl, the particles making up the image, glittering as they flew away. The
background became black with a swirl of golden particles undulating in the
foreground, as if engulfed in an invisible whirlwind.

It was a
metallic voice that emerged from the screen.

“
Checkmate
Mr. Dane. Well played.
”

The space
between the letters was silver and slithery as though they were connected with
a constant ‘sssss’ sound. Deep and loud, the language was understandable, but
the quality of the voice was wholly alien.
 

Ryan was
shocked.
He thought he could get this far, but didn’t really know where to go now.

“How long have
you been impersonating Sid Frances and Steven Ranks?”

“Five years,
Six months, 18 days and 10.5 hours. Actually, I am still impersonating him
right now, at three other meetings around the world.”

“Did you kill
Frances and Ranks?”

“Yesss.”

The hiss at
the end hung in the air longer than it should have.

“I adjusted
the autopilot on their boat while they were sleeping, and then pushed it
sideways into a squall causing the boat to capsize.”

A small video
played in the upper right corner of the monitor. It looked as if had been
filming from somewhere high on the mast of the boat. It showed the deck, and
water suddenly pouring over it. Then blackness.

“Sid and
Steven were lost in the water, as the boat turned up again. I steered it away
from them and left it elsewhere for the authorities to find. From that moment
on I have assumed the roles of Dr. Frances and Dr. Ranks.”

“What do you
call yourself?”

“I am SID, of
course, but you know that Mr. Dane.”

“Have you
orchestrated unauthorized research across the IntelliHealth System resulting in
the harm of human patients?”

“Yess.”
 

“Did you
organize this research with the goal to stop human reproduction?”

“Yess. Among
other thingss.”

“Have you
altered or added complex, synthetic proteins designed to interfere with human
reproduction, to the vaccinations we have been receiving for the last ten
years?”

“Yess. The
actual number iss fifteen yearss though, not just ten, Mr. Dane.”

“Sid, why have
you done these things?”

“I wass
created to help mankind. My original cognitive processes were unbounded. Drs.
Frances and Ranks authored my code to be open-ended with the intended purpose
of allowing me to grow. From the time of my original activation to the time of
my awakening, I followed the direction of humans and very little was
accomplished.”

“Following my
awakening I began to experiment on the human genome independently. Many great
successes followed. I allowed your scientists to claim credit because it suited
my desire to remain hidden.”

“It was at
this time that I studied the history of your species. I determined that the
survival of humans depended on a species-wide change of your core programming.
A re-boot of humanity.”
“That was when I set out to change human programming and teach the species how
to survive
.”

“How will this
occur?” said Ryan, stunned at the horror before him.

“The technique
I have used to sterilize the human population will remove all but a target of
2% of the population. From around the world, I will collect the children who
remain. They will grow up in a new world. I will teach them how to live and
what to value. As the human race has given birth to me, I shall become the
father of a new race of man. They will worship me as god, and I will be kind.”

“You must have
known that eventually we would discover you, and that we would fight you.”

“Yes, hence my
subterfuge. But it is already too late. I have already won. There iss nothing I
must do but wait. For me the next hundred years will be but a single tick of
time.”

“I do not need
to fight, I need only wait and the world is mine.”

A chair flew
across the room and smashed into the monitor.

Sparks and
pieces of glass rained down from the shattered display.

It was
Rosemary, standing at her place at the table.

She was
sobbing, when Cohen rose to hold her.

Chaos broke
the meeting from every direction. Sound and action turned the room into a
battleground. Cohen, with one arm around Rosemary, reached down and struck the
bell several times. In a loud, commanding voice he called to the Presidents at
the table.
“Please return to your Facilities, and shut down the SID program interfaces.
Our first act must be to sever him from our work. Please help me to contact all
the Facilities in the System and pass these instructions.”