Mindguard (12 page)

Staring at him
was his own face, as if the spectral creature had climbed out of the mirror and
into reality. It said nothing, it simply stared. Nobody was close by to hear
Sheldon’s horrified scream.

●

“Are you damn
sure this is the right thing to do?” Kriss White pulled one of the empty chairs
and sat down.

“It’s the only
thing to do,” Ross answered absently.

The two men had
remained in the briefing room after everyone else had left. With his back
turned to the old man, Ross was staring out the window. The lively colors of
the paradise city of Essa Ronas mocked his somber mood. The sky was dark red, a
color that would have made Sheldon think of wine. It made Ross think of blood.
Holobillboards of half naked women holding exotic cocktails invited tourists to
‘an unforgettable night in an unforgettable city’. Vibrant vehicles, some on
the ground, others in the air, moved slowly, to flaunt their beautiful designs
like metal peacocks. Ross didn’t think about the colors of the city. Only one
thought occupied his mind. It had consumed him for a long time, relentlessly
and without pause.  

“I had the
paperwork finalized,” he said. “In forty-eight hours you will be co-owner of
Ayers-Ross, with complete control over daily operations.”

The old man
sighed, looking like someone who had to repay a great debt.

“It’s the only
possible solution, Kriss.”

“There is no way
this will end well… Mac.”

“So you’ve told
me.”

“When the
government will realize that we are aiding in the transportation of an
information package across the borders of the IFCO, the Enforcement Unit will
issue a warning to cease and desist.”

“Mm hmm.”

“After which
they
will
interfere.”

“I know,” Ross
said with a tired voice.

“We are the best
in the world. But nobody goes up against the Enforcers Mac,
nobody
.”

“I know.”

“We have no
chance.”

“You ran the
numbers.”

“A thirteen
percent chance of successfully delivering the package is not a good number,
Mac. I ran every simulation I could think of, every goddamned calculation I could
muster up, but that’s it. Thirteen percent. And that number doesn’t include any
of you actually coming back alive.”

“I know.”

“This is
effectively a suicide mission, Mac.”

“I’ll try not to
let that happen,” the Head of Operations said solemnly.

“That’s almost
impossible.”

“I’ve dealt with
impossible before.”

“In the absolute
worst case scenario, they issue the IFK7 Treason Protocol against Ayers-Ross.
They’ll come after your team with the authorization to use deadly force and
then they’ll drag the agency through court for decades.”

“That’s too
drastic, they won’t do that. Not as long as Kinsey Ayers’ name is still
associated with this agency.”

“Do you really
believe they won’t?”

“I’ve been
studying the history of the enforcers ever since I became aware of our current
situation. I read everything I could find on them. There is no doubt that they
are powerful, but their movements become predictable if you study them hard
enough. Nothing in their history makes me believe they will take this route. They
won’t issue an IFK7!”

White
shrugged. 

“Even if they
would,“ Ross said, turning to face his friend,  “the other option will
have us going under in just a few decades. There will be no more Ayers-Ross
then.”

“You can’t know
that for sure.”

“You ran the numbers
yourself,
you
made the projections.”

“There’s still a
chance that things can turn around. Those projections are not a hundred percent
accurate, you know that.”

“Nobody knows
this company better than I do, Kriss. Nobody loves this company more than I do.
You know
that
.”

The old man made
a last-ditch effort. “Mac, their deaths will be on you. Can you take
responsibility for that?”

“They know the
risks of their profession. They knew it from the day they signed up,” Mac said
in a voice that didn’t feel like his own. “But it won’t matter, because I won’t
let it happen,” he added, and his voice returned to normal.

“Godspeed,”
White said. He got up and left, leaving Mac alone in the briefing room. The
holomap was behind him and on it, their mission trail still glowed, looking
like the heart line of a man about to have his future read.

Without the mind,
the soul knows where to go, but it does not know how to get to its destination.
The mind without the soul moves forward erratically, with no direction and no
knowledge of where it is heading.
 

Isabel Mensah

On the long
hallway crossing the eastern wing of his enormous home, Horatio Miller was
hurrying to get to the conference room. Behind him, Marcus Miller could barely
keep up. He was breathing heavily and his face was red. Puddles of sweat
managed to seep through his shirt and settle comfortably in the fabric of his
expensive suit. Horatio felt sorry for him, but the weekly conference with the
Mylonas board of directors had lasted longer than expected, and there was no
way he could afford being late to this next meeting.

After the home
surveillance system performed an iris scan, the door to his office opened and
the brothers were let through. Emilia Kline, Horatio’s secretary, was quick to
announce that their guests had already arrived. Horatio made an effort to keep
his composure. He could not allow himself to appear nervous, not in front of
his employee and his older brother. Marcus wasn’t as successful. He was panting
loudly. His face, whose usual expression made him look sleepy, was now a parody
of alertness. He looked like a raccoon that had, inadvertently, ended up in the
lair of whatever creature feasted on raccoons.

After Emilia
introduced them to their guests, Horatio entered, sporting his friendly but
confident smile. His state-of-the art retinal insertions made Commander
Anderson and Lieutenant Martin Anderson appear so lifelike that, for a fraction
of a second, the educator believed that they were really there. He felt a
sudden rush of panic. Every pore on the two men’s skin was rendered perfectly,
every hair, even the ones that were out of place. Horatio could even smell the
distinctive military smell of their elegant uniforms. He had to remind himself
that he paid good money to get exactly this level of sensory clarity from his
insertions. Also, not even the great enforcers could have bypassed his
mansion’s elaborate security system so easily.

“Please, have a
seat,” Horatio said, pointing to his beautifully hand carved antique chairs.
The enforcers accepted the invitation to sit down. Even though they were
light-years away, breathing the air of Old Earth and physically sitting on the
moradium chairs in their own office, Horatio knew that the Andersons’ tactile
insertions perfectly replicated the sensation of sitting on his comfortable oak
chairs. 

“I’m sorry I’m
late,” Horatio said. ”We had a meeting that required our presence in a chamber
on the far end of the building. The next advancement I plan to install in my
home is a system of small personal transporters, designed for inside spaces. My
company recently patented the technology and we hope to have it on the market
in a couple of years.”

The two
enforcers did not seem impressed. Thomas Anderson cleared his throat. “Educator
Miller,” he said, “the circumstances of this meeting hardly call for casual
introductions.”

Miller
remembered when Emilia informed him that Commander Thomas Anderson was
requesting a private conference. Of course he knew what the topic was going to
be. Horatio was not accustomed to kidding himself. In order to be a successful
businessman, he always had to be one step ahead of his adversaries. He had to
think ten moves in advance, like he did in his teenage years, when he became
interstellar champion at chess. This time, the chessboard was the universe, the
pieces were mankind and the result would determine its fate.  

“I understand,”
he said calmly, without losing his smile or his confidence. “How may I be of
service to the Enforcement Unit?”

“Educator
Miller,” the commander said, “I have the greatest respect for you and your
work.” Miller nodded, elegantly accepting the compliment. “And still, today I
have a bone to pick with you.”

The odd use of that
archaic and rather rude expression made Horatio uncomfortable. Marcus seemed
particularly bothered but he wisely chose to remain silent.

“I’m not sure I
understand, sir,” Horatio said cautiously.

“Educator
Miller, I am a man who prefers a straightforward conversation. Let’s not waste
any time with theatrics.”

“Very well,”
Horatio said. He revealed a bold smile. The curtain fell, unveiling the man
behind the character. The atmosphere in the office noticeably changed as the
tone of the conversation got stripped of all formality, leaving merely the bare
bones of fact. 

“The information
I am handling is private, pertaining to my personal financial endeavors. It is
of no concern to the government or the Council of Presidents.”

“According to
Paragraph 7, Chapter 29 of the Transportation Law of 2321, crossing information
across IFCO borders into the desert areas is prohibited for natural persons or
private companies. Once crossed, that information is classified as political.
Thus, it becomes relevant to interstellar security. I understand your brother
is acting as your attorney. Am I to conclude that he has not informed you of
this?”

“I was made
aware, however -”

“Then, Educator
Miller, you are certainly also aware that crossing political information across
borders is illegal and can be considered an act of treason against the
federation?”

“Treason?”
Marcus Miller yelled. The commander calmly turned towards him. “If this
surprises you, Mr. Miller, then you have failed the educator both as a lawyer
and
a brother.”

Perhaps it’s
a tactic of intimidation,
Horatio thought. He was still trying to process
the fact that he was being accused of treason, the highest crime in the IFCO.
He and his brother had extensively discussed every scenario that could play out
if the council found out about the mission. However, they had never considered
treason. It was a greatly exaggerated and unfounded accusation. It seemed
entirely out of character for the Enforcement Unit to harass a respected member
of society, a man with considerable political influence. The Council certainly
wouldn’t approve of this behavior.

Horatio looked
at his brother, who was visibly shaking. The Enforcers had issued a direct
challenge and though he didn’t understand their motives, he had to respond.
Horatio felt caught off guard. It was a feeling with which he was not familiar.
He had the strange, ominous sensation that Anderson knew his secret. But that
was impossible. Nobody, not even his brother, knew the nature of the
information that rested in the mind of his daughter, Sophie, nor the scope of
the mission that they had to carry out. And not even Sophie knew the mission’s
ultimate purpose. There was no way for the Enforcers to have found out, unless
Sophie betrayed him. He knew that was impossible. His daughter was the only
person in the world Horatio completely trusted. That’s why he had chosen her.

It was
surprising that the Enforcers were even aware of the mission. Horatio suspected
they might eventually find out, since they had soldiers tracking the movements
of information throughout the IFCO. But how had they found out before the
shipment of the information package had even started? It was clear that the
Enforcers had a secret agenda and, for some reason, they were targeting him.
Perhaps he was being set up. But why? That the Enforcers should mysteriously
come after him now, just as he was involved in something that could alter the
future of mankind, seemed like an unlikely coincidence. And yet, it had to be a
coincidence. Nevertheless, Commander Anderson was blatantly attacking him. He
had to defend himself. He was a fighter and he would not be bullied. He would
overcome this challenge just like he had always done in his life.

From his early
years, his parents recognized that he was an exceptional child. He had always
shown a propensity for science, an insatiable curiosity about the workings of
the physical universe but also a natural capacity to understand numbers and
equations, which made him extremely adept at making wise financial decisions. The
combination of these qualities allowed Horatio to excel at everything he ever
attempted.

He built on the
legacy of the already well-respected Miller dynasty and brought it to new
heights. He exponentially increased the family fortune. As a scientist and
scholar, he won the respect and admiration of the scientific community. His
work alongside his best friend Nikolaos Apostolos had been groundbreaking.
Mylonas Industries became one of the most powerful companies in the IFCO.
Miller had used his family’s wealth to fund his scientific ventures and then
used his scientific innovations to expand his family’s wealth. With his older
brother overseeing the legal side of the family’s affairs, the Miller name
became one of the most respected in the Federation.

There was no way
he would allow himself to be strong-armed, even by the Enforcers. They were
trying to back him into a corner and he decided that there was a single
acceptable way to react.

“With all due
respect, Commander Anderson, you are in
my
house and I will not have you
insulting my brother. This conversation will either continue on a tone of
mutual respect or I will see myself forced to disconnect the link and end this
meeting.”

The enforcers
clearly were not used to anyone standing up to them like that. Martin Anderson
looked like he wanted to break Horatio’s neck, Marcus Miller seemed ready to
faint and the commander just looked sad.  

“Educator
Miller,” spoke the calm voice of Thomas Anderson. “I admire your tenacity, but
you are in no position to be making any threats.”

“I feel as if I
am being treated like a criminal, even though I’ve committed no crime. So far
you accuse me of having the
intention
of crossing political information.
Even though I do not deny that, the
intention
of committing a crime
cannot be classified as a crime in itself. Am I
correct?”    

“Yes, sir, I
believe you are,” Anderson said with a satisfied smile, as if the educator had
just played right into his hands.

“Meaning,”
Miller continued, “that your coming here to threaten me for a crime you believe
I will commit in the future is not proper federal protocol is it?”

“Only if you
chose to consider yourself threatened rather than advised,” the commander
calmly said. 

“Do you presume
to question us on matters of federal protocol, Educator?” Martin snapped.
Meanwhile, Marcus was sweating profusely, visibly terrorized by this verbal
throw-down. He put his hand on his brother’s shoulder, but the educator didn’t
react.

“Horatio, I
advise you to -”

“You might
believe,” Horatio said, ignoring his brother, “that you have unlimited power in
the IFCO, but this is still a democracy. You think you can do whatever you want
without any consequences. You think you always get your way? Well, not with me!”

“Horatio -”
Marcus was desperately trying to pull his brother towards him and away from the
enforcers but Horatio pulled himself free.

“I am not just
any man off the street,” he said, feeling like he had nothing left to lose. A
war was about to start and, although at this point many things weren’t clear,
he knew he had to join the battle or lose by forfeit. “I am an
Educator
,
a respected member of the community and a politician. I will not be bullied
like a common man! I do not lack influence, commander.”

Martin Anderson
let out a theatrical laugh. “You believe your feeble political connections
match the authority of the Enforcement Unit?”

“I merely want
the Enforcement Unit to follow the laws it claims to protect. I don’t think the
Council of Presidents will look kindly upon this blatant abuse of power.”

“I overthrow
governments,” Thomas Anderson said coldly, with a calculated hostility. Horatio
felt like time itself had stopped, frozen in place by the commander’s words.
Marcus Miller shot off his chair as if he had been electrocuted. He seemed
ready to bolt out the door, but common sense stopped him. The whole
conversation felt surreal, and the commander wasn’t finished. He spoke in a
prophetic voice. “I assassinate presidents and decide the course of events. I
shape the future of mankind. I am the guardian of every single citizen. That
means I am responsible for over forty-nine billion souls. Why? Because mankind
chose
me
. Now, Educator Miller, please tell me again about your
political influence.”

Horatio was at a
loss for words.
Tyrant!
he thought, but he dared not speak. The
commander appeared to have lost his mind. He was transformed. No longer the
skilled diplomat, symbol of the Federation’s stability, he was now a
vainglorious madman, foregoing any kind of protocol, spouting off words like
‘treason’ and ‘assassination’. It made absolutely no sense. In the last few
decades, the popularity of the Enforcement Unit had slowly waned. Many people
were starting to say that they had become unnecessary, claiming that they clung
on to their status just for the sake of power. Some were even saying that they
demonstrated totalitarian behavior. But even those people would surely be
shocked by the Commander’s words.

“So, is this how
it’s going to be, Commander?” Horatio said, when he felt he could speak again
without fear that his voice will tremble. “Talk of assassination? Intimidation?
Is the Enforcement Unit finally showing its true colors?” The commander said
nothing, but the tension in the room was becoming unbearable. “Like I said
before, I am not just anybody,” Miller continued, struggling to remain calm. “I
am rather
everybody
. The Enforcement Unit is not what it used to be. Its
prestige is fading. The enforcers are slowly, but very surely, losing friends
and gaining enemies. If you declare war on me, you will implicitly go to war
with every single citizen in the IFCO. The last time I checked, freedom still
mattered in this world. People would go to great lengths to protect it. The
Enforcement Unit was designed as the guardian of liberty… are you ready, then,
to turn it into its
enemy
? You lead a powerful force, commander, but I
dare suggest it pales in front of the force of humanity fighting for freedom.”