Chapter 33
9/11
Students and staff weren’t allowed to have private cars on campus, so the school provided a free shuttle to Tampa, Orlando and points in between. A minimum of five students were required to register in advance to reserve the transportation.
Dan managed to convince his four friends from Wildwood and a few others to sign up for a trip to Disney World the first weekend. That was on Monday, but everyone was having second-thoughts by Tuesday afternoon. Monday was full of happy talk and orientation, but Tuesday was a different story. The new arrivals were already overwhelmed.
When Dan went to the office to cancel the trip, he was surprised to learn it hadn’t been scheduled. The office manager was one hundred percent certain he would withdraw the request. The faculty was not surprised by the cancellation either. In fact, nothing the students did surprised the faculty or staff, and that did not happen by chance.
The school collected a dossier on each student with in-depth psychological profiles in addition to scholastic strengths and weaknesses. They also collected personal information including details the students thought no one else knew. The amount of information they collected was disturbing, but the results were undeniable. The school had a precise understanding of each enrollee’s capabilities and limitations.
By the weekend, students were putty in their hands like little automatons following preprogramed instructions. The students loved it because they didn’t realize they were being manipulated.
The mood was somber as they headed back to class on Monday of the second week. The date was September 10, 2001. The happy, optimistic presentations which defined the first week were gone and replaced by a tense, nervous atmosphere. Newly arrived enrollees wondered if the first week had been a pretense to avert a mass exodus.
Dan asked Tim Taylor if he knew what had changed.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “Haven’t you heard the QBIFI forecast? Something bad is going to happen tomorrow. We just don’t know what it will be.”
Steve was still convinced the prediction was part of some elaborate freshman initiation. He thought the joke would be revealed on their birthday, but the others disagreed.
Chris, Matt, Brian, and Dan could see genuine concern in the eyes of students and faculty. None of them got much sleep that night.
“Time to get up birthday boy,” Chris prodded Dan who was still in bed. It was 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 11. With the frantic pace of the first week, Dan had forgotten their birthday. He hurriedly dressed and followed the other boys to The Breakfast Hole, the only public place to eat in the morning other than biometric vending machines.
Haley was already there waiting when Tammy, Tim, and Tom brought out a giant birthday omelet. Large lettering made of chopped red peppers read, Happy Eighteenth Birthday! There were six names inscribed in small letters underneath. Chris Hagan, Steve Davis, Matt Jackson, Brian Adams, Daniel Naidoo, and … Haley King.
Dan didn’t know Haley had the same birthday until that moment. The little he knew concerning Haley’s background was a few details Brian shared after their initial visit to the Institute. He felt left out as usual, but then someone else admitted not knowing.
“It’s your birthday?” Steve asked Haley with a mixture of confusion and hurt.
“Yes, I thought you knew.”
“How do you know it’s your birthday? Weren’t you abandoned as a baby?”
“There was a note with information including my date of birth.”
Steve looked at Chris. “You must have known. Why didn’t you say something?”
Chris shrugged and tried to explain. “I thought you knew. Haley moved to Bayport long after we started celebrating our birthday together. We were fishing, so the subject never came up.”
Steve failed to recognize what was obvious to the others. The six of them were always meant to be together. Haley’s birthdate was the final piece of the puzzle. Until now, Steve considered Haley a good friend, but an outsider.
Then he remembered the Etz Chayim scar on his foot, Chris’s prediction they would all go to the same college, and the Etz Chayim pattern on Haley’s medallion. It had not registered until now, but he saw the same pattern in the vault on Friday.
He started to welcome her as an official member of the group, but before he could utter the words the Director’s voice rang out over the public address system.
“All students, faculty, and staff are requested to assemble immediately in the conservatory.”
Dan stuffed a couple extra bites of omelet in his mouth and followed the crowd. Tammy hurried off in the opposite direction.
The three hundred seat capacity of the conservatory was not large enough to accommodate everyone, so extra seats were hastily set up.
A news report of the World Trade Center attack was being projected on a lower section of the dome. The sound was off when Claude Gautier walked to the center of the circular room and began speaking from a few hand written notes.
“At approximately 8:46 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, a United Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the World Trade Center.”
Claude was startled by a huge collective shriek from the audience. He turned his view to the live news projection which was showing a second plane crashing into the Towers.
“My god, it’s really happening,” he moaned. He turned the sound on to the news report and listened with the students and faculty for the next fifteen minutes. Then he turned the sound off again and addressed the assemblage.
“As you are aware, we have certain technologies at this facility which are unknown to most of the outside world. One of those technologies predicted a significant event would take place today. It projected a major event for the people of the east coast, so we felt a responsibility to notify the Federal Government in advance.”
Claude paused and hung his head slightly as if embarrassed.
“Naturally they are suspicious we may be involved. The Vice President called within minutes of the initial plane crash. He informed me due to the ambiguous nature of the prediction and the resulting events, this facility, staff and students are under quarantine until further notice.”
A quiet chatter filled the room as the crowd strained to understand what was happening, the reason for a quarantine, and what it meant for them.
“Please call your families, tell them you love them, but we are asking everyone to stay on campus for the next few days. I know it will be difficult, but I’m requesting no information concerning the quarantine or the reason for it be shared with anyone on the outside, including loved ones.”
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What Claude didn’t tell them was he had refused a direct order from the Vice President of the United States to maintain a blackout of all information into or out of the facility, including phone calls to family. He told a very angry Vice President he alone would take responsibility for any leaked information.
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A few people went back to their rooms and offices, but most stayed and watched as the towers fell, the Pentagon was hit, and flight 93 crashed. They experienced some therapeutic effect by being together.
Dan saw Tammy standing at the entrance to the conservatory looking for someone. He waived to her as she looked in his direction. She saw him and hurried over.
Her face was more red than usual and her eyes were swollen as if she’d been crying. He couldn’t help but wonder if she was overwhelmed by the disaster or if someone in her family was involved.
“Are you O.K. Tammy?” he asked.
She seemed to ignore him and spoke to Steve.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Sure,” Steve replied as if numbed by the morning events.
Tammy pulled Steve away from his friends. She was holding his hands while speaking. Dan didn’t hear much, but heard the words, “I’m so, so sorry.”
Steve screamed like a wounded animal and Tammy was hugging him as tight as she could
. Dan had never seen Steve cry, not even after the death of his brother John, but tears were running down his face.
No one except Tammy knew what had happened, but Haley had joined the hug within seconds, and then Chris. By the time Matt, Brian and Dan joined in, the whole conservatory was gathering into one giant embrace.
It wasn’t related to the terrorist attacks, but Steve’s mother and father had been killed in an automobile accident on their way to work that morning. Tammy’s prediction “Steve would suffer more than anyone else” had come true.
Steve’s Uncle Frank was the first to be contacted after the accident. He lived near Wildwood and went to the high school to pick up Steve’s little sister Linda. In spite of everything that was happening, Claude made time to contact Steve’s Uncle Frank and asked if Linda would like to be with Steve. She said yes, and despite the quarantine ordered by the Vice President, Linda was with her brother before the end of the day. They were a great comfort to each other. She went off to stay with Tammy and Haley a little before midnight.
When Dan’s head hit the pillow at the end of that horrible day, he could still hear Steve mumbling “it’s a joke, it’s all a joke, it’s a sick joke.” Then the last thing he heard was Steve’s tearful voice, “Dear God, help me.”