Guardian Program

Note: tags are for the whole book, not each chapter.

Guardian Program Ch 06

A novel by R.C.PeterGabriel, all rights reserved.

At precisely the moment the Smiths turned into their driveway, Jack Henderson was handed a key to a small self-storage unit in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

The night manager had absolutely no idea who Jack was, nor did he care. For eight dollars an hour, he didn't care about much that went on with any of the storage units. As soon as the door closed on the office, he promptly went back to the porn movie he'd been streaming on the company's computer.

Jack drove past two rows of identical units and turned right down the third row. He counted off six doors and stopped in front of unit thirty-six, slid the key into the lock, opened the well-oiled steel overhead door, returned to his car, and pulled it inside.

After closing the door, and sliding the deadbolt home, he flicked the glow-in-the-dark light switch, activating a dim recessed bulb. He heard a click and turned to find a panel along the wall adjoining unit thirty-seven, which was now slightly ajar. After entering unit thirty-seven he noticed that there was no outer door, even though there seemed to be one on the outside.

The only feature was a set of stairs leading down. Descending, he counted eight full flights before coming to a stop in front of the only door. Centered in the door slightly above waist height, was a keyboard with a small display above it. He assumed his password was required and started typing it in.

The moment he began, a duel countdown timer on the display started ticking off the seconds. One started at thirty seconds, the other, at two minutes. After typing his password the third time, the door buzzed and swung open and he stepped through.

Dim lighting illuminated a twenty-foot corridor, terminating in another door. With no other option, Jack advanced with little hesitation. As he passed the five-foot mark, the illumination increased many times over, leaving him shielding his eyes and squinting. He also heard the door behind him lock as a computerized voice began speaking.

"Lethal countermeasures have been invoked. You now have twenty seconds to identify yourself."

A high-pitched beeping began counting down the remaining seconds and a panel slid open beside the door at the far side of the corridor. Jack moved forward without further hesitation recognizing the screen inside the panel as a palm scanner and placed his right hand on it.

A light moved down the scanner pad from top to bottom, and the voice returned. "Identification incomplete. Lethal countermeasures will activate in eleven seconds. Please Identify. Ten. Nine..."

Jack almost panicked but realized that Mr. Smith had made him use both hands on the scanner. Quickly placing his left hand on the scanner as well, he drew and held a deep breath.

"Eight. Seven." The light began to move down the scanner. "Six. Five. Four. Identification accepted."

Jack released his breath and caught the door as it buzzed and popped open a few inches.

Reaching the halfway mark of the next corridor, a panel again opened on the far wall near another door. The computer-generated voice began again, "Please state your full name, today's date, and step forward for a retinal scan."

Doing as he was told, Jack looked into the scanner and repeated his name and the date. This was rewarded by the adjoined door releasing a loud gush of air and swinging open. Air continued to blow rather forcefully while he passed into the room beyond and until the door resealed itself. The next door seemed to be a normal office door and he went through it as well.

He found himself in a room that looked to be a combination of his bedroom, kitchen, and home office. Looking around casually, he noted a sitting area with an eighty-seventy-inch flat screen, and that his office area had six monitors and two landlines. He then walked to the only other door and opened it. Beyond was a walk-thru closet with several changes of clothing, which included underwear, socks, and shoes, as well as sleepwear, all along the left wall. The right side held only a padded bench running the length of the wall.

Continuing on Jack found a shower room, stocked with towels, his brand of soap, shampoo, and conditioner, a shaving sink with his brand of razor and cream, and a door that looked like another airlock.

He walked over and pressed the green button marked open.

The door did not open.

"Mr. Henderson," the same disembodied voice used for the security doors began, "Before descending to the file room floor, protocol requires you to shower and pass the airlock in the nude. You are required to dock your phone on the desk before doing so, however.

"Inside the airlock, you will find your viewing integration suit. It is required for you to survive any extended period of time. The ambient temperature at that level is maintained at minus forty-five degrees Celsius. The suit also allows you to maneuver within the files.

On a hunch, Jack asked the air around him, "Can you respond to me?"

"Yes, Mr. Henderson, my responses are interactive, if that is what you are asking," the computer stated. "You may interact verbally, with your touch screen monitors, or by using the keyboard on your desk."

"What should I call you?"

"My voice is patterned after Majel Barrett, but you may call me whatever you choose, Mr. Henderson."

Jack found himself laughing. "I thought you sounded familiar. I guess I'll call you Majel."

"As you wish Mr. Henderson."

"Why is there a kitchen and sleeping quarters here?"

"The likelihood of your spending extended periods of time here is extremely high, Mr. Henderson."

Figuring that there was no time like the present, Jack returned to the office, docked his phone, showered, dried, and pressed the green button again. This time the door hissed open.

Inside the lock hung what looked like a space suit, open in front. Examining the suit, he found the interior material to be highly unusual, with what looked like tiny plastic tubes alternating with even smaller metal studs, in a honeycomb pattern, over the entire surface. Majel was required to explain how to put it on, due to its integrated restroom. Almost fifteen minutes and several moments of awkwardness later, the inner airlock door opened.

The view beyond this final door shocked him long enough for the computer to say, "Mr. Henderson, please move forward so that the door may be secured." He complied and watched as the door swung closed of its own accord. Turning back to the room, he began to estimate its size; he also noted it was cold enough to see his breath.

The ceiling could have been touched if desired from the platform where he stood, but that wasn't what had impressed the Assistant to the Deputy Field Operations Manager of the NSA. What impressed him was that hidden under this nondescript self-storage facility, was a server farm that rivaled some of the facilities of the NSA itself. The round room, whose floor looked to be another forty to fifty feet below him, had to be over one-hundred-fifty-thousand square feet, and a central hub that looked to be about four thousand square feet.

He activated the open-air elevator and began his descent. "What did you mean earlier by 'maneuver'?" Jack asked the computer.

"You will understand once you open a file, Mr. Henderson."

"Majel, how big is this facility?"

"That information is classified, Mr. Henderson."

"What can you tell me about the facility?"

"The entirety of information pertaining to this facility, its function, and components are considered classified Mr. Henderson. I have been instructed to explain the safety equipment and file viewing controls. Seeking information outside those categories will be considered beyond program parameters and would eliminate you from the Guardian Program."

Finally reaching the file room floor, Jack realized it had been closer to sixty feet down. He then walked about four hundred feet past row after row of computer servers to the central hub. His destination seemed obvious, a contoured couch with dozens of cables running to it from the surrounding computers and a side table supporting what looked like a fighter pilot's helmet, also cabled.

"Mr. Henderson, please sit on the couch facing the exit, and attach the red cable to the port on your left hip," Majel instructed and then waited while he complied.

"Now, Mr. Henderson, please lay back with your head towards your right, and your legs to the left." Again, Majel waited while he complied.

"Now, Mr. Henderson, using your right hand, reach under the edge of the couch, you should feel a retracted coupling device exactly like the one you used to attach the red cable to your left hip. Extend the cable and attach it to the port on your right hip."

Jack complied saying, "Majel, it isn't necessary to use my name with every comment or instruction. There doesn't seem to be anyone else here, so who else would you be speaking to?

"Mr. Henderson, I will from now on, refrain from using your name except in greeting, salutation, or if otherwise required by protocol. Is this acceptable?"

"Yes, it is. Why is it necessary for my suit to have the means for me to relieve myself?"

"Most files will require you to spend many hours to examine. However, I will not allow you to view a file for more than six hours at a time. You will be required to consume sufficient amounts of both solid and liquid nutrition, as well as sleep if appropriate, prior to your being able to re-open the file."

Jack noticed the suit was now at a comfortable temperature. "Please put on the helmet to your left. Do so without removing your head's thermal protection. Once you have done so, close the visor. That will activate the file program. You will be disoriented for a short time while your brain readjusts to what you are seeing, hearing, and feeling. You will still be able to communicate with me, and you are required to do so in order to maneuver properly."

When Jack lowered the visor, the world spun, twisted, flipped, and dropped out from under him, causing him to scream.

When he could understand what was happening to him, he realized he was in free fall with the wind roaring past his ears and pulling on his clothes and his eyes watering at the force of it. The ground was very quickly approaching causing Jack to scream again. Then just as suddenly he found himself standing on the sidewalk outside his house. It was wrong however, the trees were not moving. Nothing was moving for that matter.

He looked up and saw a bird frozen in space, behind him he saw a car split in half by a white wall. The wall seemed to encircle his house, bisecting the homes on either side. Then a noise drew his attention. The noise was accompanied by Mr. Smith, walking out of his house through his front door, as if it wasn't there.

"Mr. Henderson, I'm sure you're a bit confused at the moment. I am temporarily superseding Majel and will answer a few of your questions, like the fact that all of the equipment in this facility is necessary to decompress and decode the massive amount of information in this file. There is so much information that you won't be able to store any files here. If you need to re-review a file, you will have to re-request it.

Files are requested based on three-dimensional GPS locations, followed by a radius, and range of time. The radius is necessary to determine how far the white wall behind you is from the exact GPS location of your request. The range of time involved must be given in the proper time zone.

"By the way, sorry about the skydiving thing. I needed to make you realize that inside an open file, perception is paramount.

"At this point, your file is paused. By speaking the word 'play' the file will move forward at a normal time frame. You may pause and play, fast forward, or rewind as many times as you like.

"The audio will be centered on your perception point. You can adjust the sensitivity simply by saying volume up or volume down. Spoken words or sounds carried from outside the visual range may hold answers to your questions just as well as the sounds that accompany the visual.

You can listen to the other end of a phone conversation, or listen to what is said outside a window, even if it originated outside the white wall.

"Visual observations obviously could be of benefit, such as witnessing a murder or any other crime. You can read documents, no matter how many pages. You can even read them inside file cabinets, or hidden under a mattress, like the magazine in your son's room. You could read the serial numbers on every bill in a safe, or wallet.

"Computers are easily accessed. You will be able to read the entire drive if you wish. While, phones, and other electronic mediums, are just as easily accessed.

"Temperature may not seem to carry many clues, but for example; if you notice a container feels hot to the touch, is it due to normal means such as a stove burner or is it due to the composting remains of a body, or a chemical bomb nearing detonation.

"Chemical analysis is readily available for any object, surface, or liquid.

"Fingerprints, voiceprints, retinal scans, and DNA can be obtained from all parties in the file range. You can even get the DNA from the plant spores on clothing, the bottom of a shoe, or even in a person's lung.

"Yes, Mr. Henderson you could look at smaller files, molecule by molecule if you had the time and patience for it.

"This file is far too large for some of what I've suggested, however, and I have already reduced its size by half by eliminating the bottom half of the sphere. You must remember that the size of the radius requested will greatly affect the amount of data that you can examine. You can request the top of a file only to do what I did by not rendering the soil below the basement level, however, do not forget that people who hide things, often do so underground. This facility for example.

"Mr. Henderson, I recognize that the majority of applications afforded you by this program will in all likelihood benefit your counterparts in other agencies in far greater ways, however, you can use this program to search a much larger area than they because you would be looking for very few things. Transmitters or conversations about specific subjects for example.

"Do you have any specific questions for me at this time?"

"Um, ... I'm a bit overwhelmed. Perhaps after I've had a chance to operate the program and digest what is happening?"

"Very well, when you do wish to contact me directly, use the white phone on your desk. You'll most likely need to leave a message. I'll be notified immediately after your call is completed and I will return your call as soon as it's appropriate. You'll need to wait by the phone or you can continue reviewing a file and I will join you here. Majel can relay a message to me as well.

"Good luck to you Mr. Henderson." With that, the image of Mr. Smith sparkled out of existence like it had been 'beamed up' in an old science fiction show.

The next four and a half hours went by quickly. Jack had managed to get the hang of moving around inside the file but was having only some success with looking at objects below what seemed to be a surface when Majel stopped the program and he found himself panting into a dark echoing helmet. Quickly pushing up the visor and sitting up, he tried to catch his breath.

"What Happened?"

"I believe you are asking me why I shut down the file viewing program. If so, the correct response is that you were overstimulating yourself and began to hyperventilate. Also, you were nearing the designated point for shutdown due to dehydration as well."

"Dehydration?" he panted. "How long have I been in the program, file, whatever?"

"The file viewing program was active four hours, thirty-three minutes, seventeen point two-nine seconds."

Removing the helmet and settling back on the couch he finished catching his breath before asking, "Where do I get something to drink?"

"There is bottled water in the warmer at the foot of the viewing couch, however, you will not be re-entering the file viewing program without a full cycle of sleep and sufficient liquid and solid nutrition. You have been awake for twenty-five hours, and six minutes, excluding the fourteen-minute nap you took on your flight from Nevada, in which you did not achieve REM. It is now zero-four forty-eight.

"Will you be requiring my instruction for disconnection of your viewing integration suit?"

"No, I think I can handle it," Jack replied and was able to disconnect both cables without difficulty. "How did you know how long I have slept or whether or not I achieved REM?"

"The process is classified, Mr. Henderson. Mr. Smith explained to you yesterday morning that you would be watched very closely. However, Mr. Smith was inaccurate in his statement, as it has been true that I have been assigned to observe you in great detail for the past seventy-four days."

"I was only offered the job ten days ago."

"That is correct," stated Majel.

"How many candidates did you observe before I was chosen?"

"Personnel files are restricted, I cannot respond to that question, I have no access to the files in question."

"Why do you call the personnel files restricted and not classified?"

"You have clearance for the information within the personnel files that I have access to, therefore, the designation of restricted. The classified designation indicates you do not have clearance for that information. You should, however, recognize that Guardian Program security designations do not correspond to governmental designations."

"How many personnel files are there?"

"That information is classified, Mr. Henderson."

"How many personnel files do I have access to?"

"One."

Jack sighed, then tried to stand and realized that almost every muscle in his body ached. "Why does my whole body hurt?"

"The motor nerve action potential arrives at the motor end plate. Acetylcholine is released, sarcolemma and membranes depolarize from sodium flux moving into the fiber. The action potential is transmitted via T-tubules to SR, Calcium is released from the SR terminal cisternae into sarcoplasm, to be bound by troponin. Myosin ATPase is activated and..."

"Majel, please explain to me in lay terms why my body hurts."

"You are experiencing fatigue due in part to the anti-atrophy workout I gave you, and in part to the stress of not being able to move well inside the file. Stress hormones cause increased cardiovascular response and muscle tension. Combining your deconditioned state and lack of sleep, has caused you to feel stiff with mild pain. As your body is conditioned and you adjust to the new environment inside a file you should no longer feel discomfort. In fact, some athletes become addicted to the feelings gained through working out."

"So, in essence, it's like I'm going to the gym every time I activate a file."

"That part of the program intends to prevent your body from undergoing atrophy, although it is possible to increase the intensity of the workout. If that is what you desire of me, I would highly recommend a stretching regime, such as yoga, because I can assist you in weight loss and muscle building, but I can do little in the area of flexibility."

Jack hobbled his way to the elevator.

"Majel, who cleans up, stocks my kitchen, washes the clothes?"

"That information is classified, Mr. Henderson." ...

The long hot shower helped ease some of the stiffness in his muscles. Dressing in sleepwear, he made his way to the kitchen. In the refrigerator he found a blender cup with a note attached, 'After workout protein smoothie', so he pulled the cup out and located the blender stand, re-blending the smoothie.

While walking to the office area, he found the smoothie to be quite tasty but only had a few swallows. Picking up his phone, he texted his wife, apologizing for not letting her know that he would be out all night and that he would sleep at the office.