STOLEN MINDS
A part of the Beyond Now collection
By Pthasse Amadeus
Edited by SJKH
Copyright 2013 Pthasse Amadeus
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
Beyond Now is a science fiction collection of stories, where each tale considers a scenario from the wealth of possibilities regarding the future of the human race. These stories are entirely fictional and unrelated to the Radiant Order World of A Tale of Tales. This novella contains Stolen Minds, which is part of the Beyond Now collection. Stolen Minds is a tale of a woman called Dr. Hannah LeBeaux and the life she lives as a citizen of Safe Haven. She falls victim to a vicious terrorist attack but things may not be entirely as they seem... Enter the technologically advanced mega-city and follow the path that Dr. Hannah LeBeaux walks...
You are invited to visit my site www.lunchtimetales.co.uk, where you can find more stories, poems and some artwork, thank you in advance.
DISCLAIMER
Since some adult content is presented, parental guidance is advised. This novella is a fictional work and is not meant to portray any persons alive or dead, any similarities observed are accidental and unintended.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Author’s Note
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Dr. Hannah LeBeaux was a beautiful, driven woman, who let nothing stand in the way of her goals; absolutely nothing. Those within her circle said that it was because of this trait that she had become such a successful businesswoman. However, Hannah would tell you that it is easy to sell what people wanted... Hannah like others of her generation was born into a new world. Before she was born, nature raged, decimating populations and cities, leaving destruction in its path. Luckily, a truly United Nations effort put forward a project, led by a group of top scientists and engineers, and the result was Safe Haven, a domed city that was completely protected and shut off from the outside world. Shortly after its completion, Safe Haven became a point of refuge for all those Humans who survived the initial devastation. That was about two centuries ago, now Safe Haven has become a thriving metropolis, a mega city that sustains itself and provides everything Humans would ever need; and Hannah lived at the centre of it all.
*****
Hannah roused herself from sleep, feeling a little groggy from the heavy night, last night. She stretched in bed and her arm met another sharing the bed. She remembered that she slept with John Grayson last night... She accessed her brain implant, a fourth generation chip that did many things. Her implant retrieved her memories of last night, minus her intoxicated stupor. She smiled as she remembered that he was an excellent and eager lover, which made her task all the more easier. Her musings were interrupted by a popup advert that flashed irritatingly on the edge of her vision. It was part of the function of the implant and she tried to ignore it, knowing that her attention will only end up filling her senses with the full advert; she had more important things to deal with right now. The room was dark and she wanted to leave John's apartment in silence. So she used her implant to access its positioning system, which lit up 'breadcrumbs' on the floors and walls, giving her a rudimentary image of the room, and more importantly where the door was; the implant also located her missing items of clothing.
As she got dressed, she used her implant to call a private cabin to her location and turned on the news, which played the images and sounds for her senses only. She decided to have a caffeine-inducer and her implant obliged, releasing the stimulant into her body. An alert popped up in her vision, telling her that the cabin she ordered was waiting for her outside. Hannah took one last look at John Grayson, moving the images of the news to a small semi-transparent caption in the top left corner of her vision. She smiled as she watched him knowing that he wouldn't wake anytime soon; his implant wasn't as equipped as hers was at straining out the intoxicant that they had used last night. The deed was done and she had got what she needed from him, his signature. And with that thought, Hannah followed the 'breadcrumbs' to the door, walking a short distance to her cabin. The cabins were part of the intelligent transport network that crisscrossed the city, but only those with money and/or influence could order private cabins. As she approached the cabin her implant joined its network, and as an AI spoke her mind heard.
"Good morning Dr. Hannah LeBeaux."
"Hello Atlas, how's life treating you?" Hannah replied with her thoughts.
"All software commands are operating within acceptable parameters and all city systems are performing at optimal efficiency Dr. LeBeaux, thank you for asking," said Atlas.
"Well that's good to hear..." said Hannah, absently marvelling at how well Atlas managed most of Safe Haven's operating systems, including the transport network.
"Where would you like to go to today?"
"Back to my head office, do you know where it is?" Hannah replied, opening the cabin door and taking a seat.
"One moment please..." Atlas said via the cabin speakers. "Yes Dr. LeBeaux, it is located in Building 10, Capital Complex, Perimeter 1," Atlas said after pausing for half a moment.
"Good. Ok Atlas, let's go," and the cabin started moving, following an invisible predetermined grid. "Oh and I would like to opt out of any complimentary packages and ads," Hannah decided that she didn't want any interruptions during this trip.
"Very good Dr. LeBeaux, we will arrive at your destination shortly."
Using her implant once again Hannah made a call to her business partner, Marcus Greene and within moments the call connected; Hannah saw an image of him before hearing his deep voice, via the cabin speakers.
"Hannah, at last! How did it go?" Marcus asked impatiently.
"Marcus, we are good to go!" Hannah replied with a smile. "The mayor of Perimeter 1 loved the product and he has given us his signature in support."
"Brilliant! That's great news..."
"One moment Marcus, I'm getting an urgent message," Hannah interrupted, putting her call to Marcus on hold. Her implant brought the new message to view and she read with excitement. She closed and archived the email, then switched back to her call to Marcus:
"Marcus, we just got WHO approval!" Hannah exclaimed to him in excitement.
"Fantastic!! OK, I'll get the production team to prepare for mass production immediately."
"Good, I'm on my way to the head office now. With WHO approval and the Mayor's support there is nothing left to stop Select from becoming the next big thing."
"Hannah you've done a great job. I didn't think anyone would support this kind of narcotic use with the implants but you've done it!"
"Well, I've always said, it's easy to sell what people want," Hannah replied and Marcus smiled.
"Dr. LeBeaux, we are now approaching PharmaTech," Atlas advised.
"OK, thanks Atlas," Hannah replied. "I'm almost there Marcus, see you soon," she added to Marcus ending the call.
Hannah discussed the details of distribution, marketing and sales with Marcus for most of the morning, and her afternoon was spent ensuring that the formula and
initial production was up to her high standards. Finally, she added her approval to Marcus's and sent the order for mass production of Select. The production itself was relatively straightforward; simply producing copies of the formula in its corresponding software language, so that with a single thought, a user could purchase a copy of the formula; their implant would read the code and reproduce the narcotic effect that matched the formula – the code would then disintegrate with each use. Hannah had high expectations for Select, it would be her most successful product yet; and by this time tomorrow, she expected the whole of Safe Haven to be customers. Nothing like this had ever been done, except the odd stimulant or so but narcotics had always been a no-go area. That was until Hannah produced a formula that overcame all the problems, with all of its benefits; there was only one downside to Select; in high doses and over prolonged use, it could cause deep blissful sleep-like state. But then again, Hannah didn't really consider that an issue and if it was, well her company also sold the formula to strain out Select from the user's body. With all that work done, Hannah sat back in her comfy chair and looked at the large clock in her office. It was already 18:00 hours and Hannah decided to call it a day, but she didn't leave her office. She decided as she often did to spend the night in her adjoining bedroom. As she got up to walk to the bedroom, her implant alerted her to an incoming call and she recognised it as a call that she had been expecting all day. So she sat back in her chair, waved her hand over her desk and a horizontal bar hovered from an open slot, which then settled mid-air, above the desk. After a brief pause an image appeared between the horizontal bar and the slot, which displayed the crest of the company making the incoming call.
"Accept incoming call," Hannah said to her holographic screen. An image of a man dressed in overalls with a large factory in the background was displayed. She recognised him as her consultant from the company called GenGo, but she couldn't remember his name.
"Good evening Dr. LeBeaux, sorry about the late call," the consultant said.
"I trust you have some good news for me?" GenGo was a versatile engineering company that manufactured any product to its client's specifications, and Hannah had requested a very rare product indeed.
"Yes, I do. The GenGo AT-1 you ordered two months ago is ready for collection, once payments are..." said the consultant.
"My car is ready!" Hannah exclaimed, interrupting the consultant. Hannah enjoyed watching old movies and was particularly fascinated by the cars she saw in them.
"Yes, it is," the consultant replied with a smile. "Although, I can't see why you'd want one of these things, our transport system is beyond sufficient."
"Don't you worry yourself about that; I'm on my way to pick it up now," Hannah replied, summarily ending the call. She called a private cabin to meet her downstairs, since she wanted to have a quick chat with the night-shift staff before she left.
Suddenly, the building's illuminations changed and the exit to the transport network from her office became sealed. Hannah looked around confused and then she saw that someone was using her lift from the ground floor to her office.
"Atlas, what's going on?" Hannah asked out loud.
"Good evening Dr. Hannah LeBeaux, I am sorry to say that this building's systems have been infiltrated and I am no longer in control," Hannah tried not to panic, she used her implant to access her building's cameras, but she was unable to look into the fast approaching lift.
"Please try to remain calm, I have alerted the Guardians of this incident. They will be here shortly," Atlas said as the lift reached her floor and the doors opened. An oddly dressed man walked out with a gun firmly pointed at Hannah, and with a calm voice he spoke.
"Hello Hannah."
"Please, call me Dr. LeBeaux," Hannah replied, while using her implant to identify this intruder.
"Quite a good setup you've got here, Hannah," he responded with a smile.
Her implant had a hit and with a thought she brought the information to her senses. The man pointing the gun at her was called Daniel the Rebel; a dangerous, psychotic and delusional criminal, who had been serving a life sentence in the underground Penitentiary. He was classified as extremely dangerous...
"Bravo! You're able to use your implant effectively, you should have been a Guardian," he said after noticing the recognition in her eyes.
"You're Daniel the Rebel."
"The one and only, but you may call me Dan."
He started to walk towards the windows and then to the desk while keeping his aim steadily at Hannah. Daniel looked at her as he slowly lowered his gun...
"Don't move an inch," he ordered menacingly and passed his hand over her desk activating her holographic screen, within moments he accessed the building's computer.
"Dr. LeBeaux please be advised, Daniel the Rebel is attempting to sever my connection to PharmaTech..." Atlas said through the speakers before being cut off. Hannah decided to make a move but Daniel quickly raised his gun.
" What did I say Hannah?" he teased. "Two down, one to go," and with deliberate steps he approached Hannah.
"Atlas?!" Hannah called.
"He has severed my connection to this building's systems, but your implant is still part of my network. I strongly advise you to attempt an escape through the lift but proceed with extreme caution," Atlas replied to her senses alone.
"Don't worry Hannah dear, that voice won't be there for long," Daniel said and reached into his pocket to retrieve a device. "I want you to recall your new product."
"And why would I want to do that?" Hannah asked.
"Well for starters there's this thing in my hand," Daniel said waving his gun. "Secondly, your product is going to cause more harm than good. Last but not least, if you don't, I'll destroy this building."
"I see," Hannah replied trying to conceal the panic in her voice, while wondering how long it would take the Guardians to arrive. "Well Select is probably already available for download by now and I'd need Marcus's signature for a recall order."
"Come on Hannah, don't bullshit me! You can get it done if you really wanted to but I guess you don't," Daniel said raising the device he held in his other hand. "Do you know what this is?"
Hannah immediately used her implant to find information. There was a match and it flagged with the distinct yellow hue of ‘caution’, but curiously she was unable to access the files.
"Of course you don't and I doubt very much you have the clearance to access any information on it. Let's just say after my thumb releases this switch a countdown will begin and when the count reaches zero, goodbye PharmaTech head office. You understand?"
"There are still people here! Blowing up this building wouldn't solve anything, it won't recall Select!" Hannah protested.
"Ah, those sheep won't even know what's happening. As for this building, Hannah, PharmaTech is a symbol of all that you have built in Safe Haven; it will be my pleasure to help you forget. Since you won’t comply, I have no choice but to accelerate this whole process," Daniel said with a smile and released the trigger on the device, which he set down on Hannah's desk. "Right, that's sorted. I believe your car is waiting for you outside that sealed door," Hannah wondered how he knew about her car or how he got it here so quickly. "After you," and he unsealed the exit to the cabin port on Hannah's office level.
"No way in hell," Hannah stated dryly.
"Please, I insist," Daniel replied, activating the pulse chamber of his gun, threateningly. Hannah had no choice but to do as he asked, and Atlas told her to remain calm; he would update the Guardians on the situation.