Chapter 17
Anand stepped across the security threshold, flashed his badge at the uninterested guard and then put his hand into a metal box affixed to the door jam. When he first arrived at the security compound, he was greeted by a contingent of severe military police who explained the security procedures.
“This is a top secret security compound,” the crisp officer explained in a no nonsense tone of voice.
We operate under security lockdown at all times. What this means to you is that entry into and out of any building on the compound will require you to successfully pass a three tier interrogation. First, an armed military guard stationed at the building exit will review your credentials. Do not attempt to enter into dialogue with the guard; do not question his authority to prevent your entry or exit. Second, a passive Radio Frequency Identification tag embedded into your security badge will update our central security control of your whereabouts. If your entry or exit is denied by central control, the door will not open and the guard will be notified. Finally, at exactly eight hundred hours every day, you will be issued a four digit entry and exit security code. You are expected to memorize this code. The four digit code must be entered into the security box affixed to the door.
When the briefing officer concluded his speech, the team was led out to the next phase of their orientation.
Anand remembered that briefing every time he exited the men’s dormitory. He entered the four digit security code that had been issued at 8 A.M. the previous morning. The door buzzed and opened. Anand stepped outside and into the dim blue morning. It was his routine to get out of the windowless buildings and take an early morning walk. Anand enjoyed watching the sky change from black to dark blue as the sun appeared from behind the distant Sierra Nevada mountain range.
The wind blowing across the compound was surprisingly hot. Anand had spent the winter months here and now, as the summer season was upon them, the temperature outside was steadily rising. He set out upon the walking path which circumnavigated the buildings. One circuit was two miles. Sometimes he would see colleagues walking or jogging along the trail, but usually at this early hour he was alone. He preferred to walk the trail alone.
He set out with a strong walking pace,. He was anxious to get some exercise before he returned to the compound and started, what he was sure would be, another long day of sitting in meetings or in front of a vid-screen. As he walked along, the path was clear in front of him. The white cement was illuminated by a waning moon. The white path indicated a clear way forward, splicing the darkness of manicured lawn on the left and rough rock and desert terrain on the right. Beyond the dark lawn he could see the dim hulking shapes of the windowless buildings that made up the compound. Obscured in darkness, beyond the rough desert, he knew he would find a security perimeter marked by a tall cyclone fence and patrolled by guards with dogs.
Anand stuck to the narrow path which led him on a slow counter-clockwise arc leading him back to his starting place. As he walked he considered his career. His first project utilized remote sensing systems to allow surgery, and his current project utilized surgery to allow remote sensory systems.
Anand considered that he had not traveled very far in his career. His life’s work was a jumble of technology and biology; semi-conductors and neural-conductors. The result was obscure, like the windowless buildings. Where was he going? Would he now work to re-animate the body of a dead soldier as Al McKnight had suggested?
As he walked, Anand considered the moral descent of his efforts, which at first were unquestionably noble. He was helping to build the remote surgery system which would have saved lives and enriched society. But then later he progressed through a loop-hole in morality, to where he had committed adultery, and then murder at Wild West Alive. Was he really blameless behind the shield of Synaptic Derivation? Where was he going next? Would he now work to raise the dead?
Today they planned to begin work on the fresh corpse of an enemy combatant. Anand was unsure if he was willing to take this next step. Up ahead, the white cement path veered to the left following the contour of the dark buildings. As he walked, Anand strained to see into the darkness to his right. He could not see it, but he knew that in this direction was the security fence, and beyond that, the open desert.
From behind him, Anand could hear the sounds of quick footsteps on the path. Someone from the team was out jogging. Anand stepped off the path and onto the soft desert ground in order to clear the way for the fast moving jogger. Once off the path, he felt a pull from the open empty space. He took another step and then another.
From behind him he heard the jogger call out to him, breathless from the run.
“Anand, Anand, is that you?”
It was Christopher Mark.
Anand retraced his steps and met his boss who was now standing on the white path.
Chris Mark said, “Where are you going?”
Anand made up a bad excuse saying, “I thought I saw something moving out there.”
“It was probably an armed guard,” Mark said, “If you catch up to them they very well might shoot you.”
“Quite right,” Anand said, “I was not thinking.”
Anand stepped back onto the white path and resumed his walk. Mark began walking along next to him. The path was narrow, so the two men were pushed uncomfortably close together as they walked.
After they walked at a normal pace for a while, Chris Mark stopped panting from his run and resumed a normal breathing rhythm.
When he was comfortable, Chris said, “I was hoping to find you out here.”
“Here I am,” Anand said, not so sure he was happy to be found.
“It’s Dr. Singh,” Mark continued, “She has left the project.”
Anand was shocked by this news. Sadhna was his confident. They were intimate albeit via Synaptic Derivation. If she was making a decision to leave the project she would have discussed it with him. Anand felt confused and hurt.
“It’s true,” Mark said in response to Anand’s silence, “She left the compound late last night.”
Anand slightly quickened his pace. His neck and shoulders were rigid and his eyes were looking straight ahead. He did not want Christopher Mark to read the emotion on his face, so he stayed a half step ahead.
Mark continued, “We have decided not to replace her. We are giving you full control of both teams. The bio team will report to you now.”
Anand interrupted, “Thank you, thank you very much for your confidence in me. I have been working side by side with Sadhna… Dr. Singh, for over a year, but I cannot replace her… I am a data and network engineer. I specialize in robotics and systems. This is my resume in its entirety. I cannot replace Dr. Singh.”
“Nonsense,” Mark replied, “You are the only one qualified to take over. Besides, we are at a critical juncture. We cannot bring in someone new.”
Anand said, “Excuse me Chris, but you misunderstand me. I mean to say that I literally cannot replace her. She is the only neuro-surgeon on the team. The rest of the bio staff is geneticists and biochemists and the like. Without Dr. Singh, there is no one who can perform the surgery and implant the Synaptic Interface device.”
“Wrong,” Mark said, “You can do it. In order to gain our agreement to let her out of her contract and off of the project, Dr. Singh agreed to one last surgery. But this time, she will perform the implant operation remotely. You will be the host.”
“The old RSI device we used for Wild West Alive?” Anand responded, “I doubt that this will be sensitive enough for a delicate medical procedure.”
“You will do it,” Mark said flatly, “Remember, you are implanting the device into a corpse, so you don’t have to worry about making a mistake. We can always bring you another dead body and you can try it again.”
Anand realized that Mark was right. Anand had already watched and assisted with the procedure numerous times. W
ith Sadhna directly controlling him, and the experienced team standing by, the surgery could be successful.
Mark continued enthusiastically, “The best part is we will be able to record the procedure. The data relayed to you by Dr. Singh will be stored in our database. Once we have this, we can re-play the recording and allow any competent medic to perform the operation. It solves our scalability problem. We will now be able to deliver new organic robots as quickly as fresh bodies become available.”
Anand grimaced as he thought about cutting into grey lifeless tissue. It seemed a cruel joke that his final interaction with Sadhna would be as her semi-conscious host, and together they would create an abomination.
“I see,” Anand said.
Looking up, Anand could see that a ribbon of sky across the horizon was glowing with a warm blue light; the sunrise would begin soon. To his left, the new light allowed him to begin to distinguish the buildings in the compound. He could make out the shape of the men’s dormitory where he had started his walk.
Walking mindlessly now and no longer thinking of his career or his future; not thinking about gruesome task before him, Anand simply put one foot ahead of the next, he simply followed the path that lay in front of him.