The Manhattan Incident (2 page)

Home was a far cry from his previous small house in Atlanta Georgia and later Rutland Vermont. “Home” was now a very large apartment and office building in what was still known as Stamford, Connecticut. Of course, this was no ordinary apartment. There were sensors everywhere and many surveillance cameras to boot. A back-up generator system was ready to take over smoothly when power failed. Numerous staff, both military guards and office assistants, bustled about. Families of the guards also lived here. They did have a life of their own when not involved in their duties. From this complex Dr. Paul Laurent was the Science Councilor in charge of science and engineering efforts worldwide, which included the science education system from beginning to end. Science was looked at as the savior for what all thought would be coming someday. A significant part of his operation was to identify promising students, especially in the sciences, engineering, and math. Much of that function and other tasks were left to his assistants here and around the world. As leader of the operation, he was very busy keeping up with administrative tasks, logistics, and long range global planning. Still, a few times a year, he delighted in field trips to schools, where he personally would make selections from lists of promising students. Hence the trip tomorrow to the eighth grade class in a Rutland Vermont school. He was most happy when he had his hand in the selection process.

Regardless of who did the numerous trips to all the remaining grade schools worldwide, the protocol was the same. It always started off with showing a documentary entitled “THE INCIDENT.” Its purpose was two-fold. One, it ensured new generations of youth would never forget the horror of THE INCIDENT. Two, it was meant to instill patriotic fervor for the goal of all working together for a common goal. It was but one aspect of Global Remembrance Week full of poignant ceremonies to honor those who died and those who led the current defensive efforts. Humanity would never forget those who perpetrated THE INCIDENT.

The history depicted in the DVD was more or less correct, but certain liberties were taken. The major historical individuals were accurate down to their real names.  Laurent knew that very well, as he was one of those persons in the DVD. His role was played by an actor, as were all the roles. The actors were generally more muscled and handsome or more beautiful than the real people. After all, the hero image was important, according to the PR types and psychologists that were consulted during the filming of the DVD. Another difference was that their mistakes were not noted; they always seemed to know exactly how to respond. Of course, they never showed fear. A hero wouldn’t. Vignettes were some times composites to show approximately what happened during the bad times. They were mostly true to life, being based on surviving documents, eye witness testimony, cellphone videos, blog dialogues, and circumstantial evidence. Vignettes vary as there are country specific versions of the DVD. The salvation hero, Dr. John Cabrot, and military hero, General Tyler Straub, are constants in all country versions.

Oh, and some died heroically saving the day or countless lives. That’s what heroes did. Some did survive, but a few of their identities were changed. Saving humanity wasn’t appreciated by everyone. Some religious extremists took a different view. Those with new identities and the few who knew kept the secret, given the urgent need to be ready for another incident. Time was of the essence. They could not afford to fritter away time with demands from the media or congressional circuses, not to mention assassination attempts by some of those religious nutcases. It didn’t hurt that they were given important roles in the readiness effort. Those who gave much, even their identity, wanted for no creature comforts and were guarded around the clock. What his former name was no longer mattered. He accepted that he was now Paul Laurent, Science Councilor to the Earth First Council, EFC for short.

Laurent and his guards entered the main entrance. The desk guard gave them a smart salute. Down a long hallway they went. At the end, Laurent brought his eye up to the scanner and the door slid open. It was not an ordinary door. Not only bullet proof, but it could handle a small explosive charge. Ridiculous, he thought. What a waste. As the door opened, he was nearly bowled over by a leaping pit bull named Roxanne. She sat promptly when he roared “Sit.” Laurent let her lick his extended hand and then reached into his pocket and pulled out the mandatory treat. Roxanne wolfed it down and ran off. She promptly returned with a donut toy. Laurent obligingly pulled and tugged. Eventually Roxanne released it and he threw it vigorously. Back came Roxanne with the toy. A few more cycles of pull, tug, throw and return happened. Laurent loved Roxanne. She had probably saved his life. He would play with her anytime she wanted, although she was slowing down, being middle-aged. He was glad that Roxanne was still around.

Around 5:00 PM Laurent had a glass of a delightful mencia from the Galicia region of Spain. Some brie and manchego accompanied it. The chef as usual made a wonderful dinner. Lamb chops, a mixed green salad, and amaranth, followed by a crème brulée. He looked forward to the once a month red meat dinners. Most times he ate healthily, you know, the usual fish, chicken, and lots of vegetables, fruits, legumes and grain. Dinner was accompanied by an excellent Priorat from the area outside of Barcelona, Spain. Thank God the remaining wineries still made quality wines. Joe, Lisa and Roberta joined Laurent at dinner. Roberta was his former nurse and companion and now his wife, but that’s a story for later. Most times he needed all their company. They and the night guards were his family. Night guards joined him at breakfast.

Night and day guards rotated places monthly, so all got to know him well. Their families were lost during THE INCIDENT, so he felt badly about them. Still, they had managed to start anew with different relationships and things seemed to be going well for them here. He had no family, but not because of tragic loss. A few decades ago, he had been married, but it ended in divorce. Back then, Laurent was consumed by work, a workaholic at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. He never remarried nor had any children, the CDC being his life. Regrets, yes some. Heroes didn’t have time for regrets and always got the woman, he mused as he swallowed another mouthful of wine. Yes, that part came true as he gazed at Roberta.

The wine cellar in the Stamford complex, or the Room of Delights, as it was affectionately called by those who worked here and visited it, was fully stocked. Food supplies and transportation were now adequate. Law and order had been restored. Things were good, at least on the surface. While most things looked, ran and functioned more or less normally, much was different. The difference was hidden, out of sight. Only a handful knew where or what was hidden. Given the sparse population and firm government control, it wasn’t so hard to keep things secret. Oh, sure, media still existed, but an understanding that secrecy was essential for incident preparation. No one was convinced that the enemy had stopped surveillance of our communications. After all, given the events surrounding THE INCIDENT, it was certain that much was known about public institutions. Undoubtedly, the enemy had eavesdropped on our public and encrypted communications and data stored in the cloud.

Around 8:00 PM the day guards swapped places with the night guards and went home elsewhere in the complex to their families. Laurent was dimly aware of the change as he absorbed information about tomorrow’s classroom visit. Teacher notes for grade eight were included for each student. He scrolled down the list, looking only at those students identified as exceptional. While Laurent was interested mostly in students with an aptitude for science, he studied others with technological or sociological or other notable bents. These students would be watched closely by him during the film and after when classroom dialog took place. Should any look promising, they and their families would be moved to designated education centers for the best education possible. Sure, it smacked of elitism, but few complained. Everyone knew the reason behind the program. Maybe someday it could be different. He only hoped that people would be around long enough to see that time. Roberta was already in bed when he climbed in. “We’ll, about time,” she said. They hugged affectionately and cuddled for a while before falling asleep. His last waking thought was how damn lucky he was to have Roberta.

Morning found him in the limousine traveling on the Merit Parkway toward the join with I-91 at Meriden. Laurent preferred the route to I-95. Once, he disliked I-95 because of the constant traffic. That was no longer a problem. The Merit scenery was nicer and he didn’t have to look at the deserted buildings and areas along I-95 that once teemed with humanity. Scenes like that were to be found all over the globe. Nature was reclaiming those areas where people didn’t. Sad, very sad, he thought. The journey up I-91 to the Rockingham exit 6 in Vermont went smoothly. They did stop for a pleasant lunch break. At the journey’s end, they followed routes 103 and then 7 into Rutland.  Rutland looked the same, he thought, old brick buildings, gambrel houses, a downtown out of the turn of the century. Perhaps somewhat run down, but still intact. He wondered if the Sweet Tomatoes restaurant was still there. It was not; he wondered what happened to its owner. He remembered the past owner had a penchant for attractive young women waitresses. He thought they would probably look like grandchildren to him now, if he had had any. Perhaps dinner in Rutland elsewhere tonight for old time’s sake, he sighed to himself. He hoped the food and wine was as good as in those past years.

The limousine pulled up on Library Avenue. The building looked just like any other countless numbers of schools. As Laurent exited the vehicle, he couldn’t help but wonder would this be the time? Might he find something beyond the ordinary? Evolution had gone in rapid spurts in the dim past of the fossil record after catastrophic events stressed the survivors. This observation led to the idea of punctuated equilibrium, a theory in which the evolution of new species occurs only periodically, in relatively rapid spurts at critical junctures or events. Certainly these students were born during catastrophic climate changes; extreme weather events and horrible heat and drought had become the norm and might have influenced their genetic recombination when they were conceived.  To date, Laurent’s hopes had led to nothing. Well, he did find intelligent children who with accelerated special educational environments were helping us make great technological strides. Some were even classified on the genius level. But no one had ESP or telepathy or whatever. The stuff of science fiction and the imagination might just remain as such. Still one could hope.

They entered the building and walked through the metal detectors. Their P-Com implant chips communicated with the detector, over-riding the alarm system as they had high level government clearance to enter anywhere. The officious guard undoubtedly noted some jacket bulge on Joe and asked for identification. He quickly waved everyone on once seeing the Earth First Government ID for the Directed Education Outreach. Just doing his job, a good thing Laurent thought. The principal hurried toward the group in her chalk stripe gray suit. “Hi, I’m Principal Georgiana Black. Welcome to the Rutland Intermediate School. Follow me to classroom 8.” Joe and Lisa had small smiles, perhaps thinking back to their days at school.

The teacher was named Edward Rabideau. He was a wiry, thin individual with the kind of face that blended in everywhere and was easy to forget. He explained to the class who Dr. Laurent was and that they would see a very important video, perhaps the most important one in their lives. Laying it on thick, Laurent thought, while scanning the eager or bored faces sitting at their desks. School hadn’t changed much, he thought. One student was staring at him and quickly glanced away when Laurent made eye contact. “Ed, who is the student in row 3, fourth seat back,” he whispered. “Oh, that’s Zack. He’s a loner and a bit strange. Most of the kids find him weird. He doesn’t have any friends that I know of. He lost his parents during THE INCIDENT.” Looking at his list, Laurent noted that Zack was not one of the exceptional students on the list. He put Zack out of his mind. The video started to play at that moment, so he sat and watched the students on his list from the class seating plan that Ed had handed earlier to him. He hoped to not nod off; having seen the video so many times that he could recite each line from memory. Actually, he had lived it too in some parts.

VIDEO: THE INCIDENT
. The video opened with a handsome, ageless male dressed in casual, but sharp clothes. He had a deep, commanding voice with perfect diction. “Greetings, viewers, I will be your narrator throughout parts of this documentary. The scenes you see are portrayed by actors. The material is true to life as it reflects the reality of THE INCIDENT. I will vocalize background material, the thoughts of the characters, important asides at critical junctures, as well as setting the scenes at various locations. These thoughts are important as they give you direct insight into the decisions made by the men and women of those difficult times. While the thoughts might not be exact, they are nevertheless as true as possible based on interviews with survivors, friends and relatives of survivors, blogs, diaries, emails, recordings, notes, and interviews with relatives and co-workers of those that didn’t survive. Certain segments are narrated to clarify or to condense a too long timeline. The producer and director stand behind the accuracy of this documentary. All references and resources are available through the web site indicated here, www.THEINCIDENT.gov/resources.”

PRESENT DAY
.  Paul watched the opening scene with mixed emotions. Memories returned, some painful and some not. In the video, he was portrayed as Dr. John Cabrot. That was his real name before he became Paul Laurent for protective purposes.