How it Started
"Buzz" That was the buzzer that told him that someone was at the door.
"Who is it?" he asked the com-cam. A moment later the machine answered him.
"It is a mister Grenier Bennet. He is a screen watcher. He comes to you with an 'urgent message.' the General was confused. He never got company while in his office.
"Let him in" he mumbled.
The door opened revealing a breathless man of about thirty. He was average height but looked almost lanky. His collar was crooked and his hair was disheveled. To The General it was obvious the man had recent insertive surgery because below on his forehead was a small scar. The General thought instead of a scar, he should have 'Techie' written across his forehead. His eyes were droopy and bloodshot, no doubt from watching the screens for hours. The man blinked hard every few seconds as if struggling to bring them back to the open position every time. Despite his appearance, the man had an aura of importance that held your attention to him. Just by looking at him, The General knew what this man had to say was important.
*****
Grenier Bennet ran out of the lifting pod as soon as the door opened. He ran down the granite hallway, slipping every so often on its shiny surface. As he rounded a bend he ran into a tall blue object. From the floor Grenier looked up to see a security guard peering over him. Grenier stumbled to get up.
"Uh hello sir I am um Grenier Bennet. I am going to see The General to alert him of an emergency." He held out his hand as he introduced himself. The guard ignored the gesture and spoke into his badge.
"I have a Grenier Bennet here. He claims to be going to Mr. Hessing due to some emergency." There was a pause. "I do not know sir, I will check." The guard pulled out a device and held it up to Greniers eye. After just a second, he put it back. "I scanned his retina sir, he is not lying." There was another pause, shorter this time. "You may continue now" the guard told Grenier.
Grenier stepped beside the guard, walked a few steps, and then ran again. He ran down a red hallway in which small bits of imbedded stone reflected off his eyes. He then turned left into a yellow hallway. Just as Grenier began to think he took a wrong turn he found the black hallway he was looking for. He ran down the hall all the way to the end. By the time Grenier reached the desired door he was out of breath. He pressed the button on the wall. A moment later a monotonous voice came from the speaker.
Who are you?" it asked.
"Well I am…"started Grenier
"And why are you here?" the voice interrupted. Grenier waited before answering to make sure there were no more questions. Finally he said "I am Grenier Bennet. I am a screen watcher and I am here to deliver an urgent message to General Hessing." He waited for a response but none came.
Instead he heard a humming, then a pop and the wall opposite the door, began to split. The wall opened at the center and pulled to the side showing a bald man sitting at a desk in a room a bit larger than Greniers office. The room was simple; all silver with only a desk, a portable com-com, and a pixel wall. The pixel wall, opposite the desk, was the best of the best. The new .003 pixel for sure. Unlike Greniers, his covered the whole wall. The wall Grenier was facing was solid steel. To see that much metal in one room was a rarity. Behind it was crammed with hidden security, no doubt. Grenier blinked expecting to see what was hidden behind the wall to appear in his vision but there was nothing but a wall. 'Amazing' thought Grenier. The security here was so tight that it disabled his EBLA.
His Electronic Brain like Assistant was the newest most improved version. Grenier got the basic vision-brain chip when he first began working at the Child Watchmen Facility. As a screen watcher, Grenier was expected to watch one hundred twenty-six screens, all at once, for eight hours. He only works four days a week but it was tedious work. Grenier would return home 5 pm and sleep until noon the next day if he did not work. Even with the EBLA chips assistance, the screens still strained Greniers eyes. The only thing the basic chip did was improve peripheral vision, give you near photographic memory, and your brain reacted faster to what you saw. There were other things but they were just not necessary so he never used them. As the technology increased in the facility, Grenier got worse and worse headaches. His near caveman chip could not keep up with the brighter faster technology of the screens.
So Grenier scheduled an appointment with a 'doctor.' The computer doctor asked him questions about his headaches, his work, the screens and if he had had any vision problems. It also ran many tests before telling Grenier that he qualified. Actually, the technology in the facility helped him qualify for the most advanced EBLA, but the comp doc told him that a real doctor would come to see him. Grenier did not understand. The computer said he was healthy and qualified. What else was needed? Grenier waited a nerve wracking twenty minutes before a doctor walked in. Grenier did not like him. He smiled too much and his hair bounced when he walked.
"Hello Grenier, I am Dr. Matthews." Dr. Matthews looked at Grenier expecting a reply. Grenier gave him no such thing. He just nodded, which caught the Doctor off guard. Nevertheless, he continued smiling and began to speak again, hair bouncing all the way. "Let me just say, Mr. Bennet that we have examined you thoroughly and your health is exceptional." The doctor gave him a look that made Grenier self-conscious. "We would like to introduce you to EBLA 14."
The doctor held out a Petri dish that held a small chip. He went on to explain to Grenier the benefits and dangers of EBLA 14. Dr. Matthews told him that Grenier would be the first to have this chip installed. The procedure would take about twelve minutes. After a day of adjusting, Grenier would be able to zoom and pan through his vision. He would be able to refer to prior sights and his enhanced 'brain' could easily help him with day to day things such as, simple calculations to planning his day down to the minute. The chip would allow him to nearly be asleep while watching the screens. Dr. Matthews constantly reminded him of the danger and that if there were any complications were to 'pop up' then Grenier was to report it immediately.
So far EBLA 14 had proved itself reliable. The only issue so far was that this room completely disabled it. Grenier could not even check the time.
Greniers gaze found its way back to the man at the desk. The man just sat there patiently as if all his guests were awed by the room. Grenier met the mans eyes, and then remembered why he was there.
"Oh sir, there is an emergency." the man sat up straight in his chair and held out his hand.
"General Irvin Hessing. How do you do mister Bennet?" His voice was gruff but friendly, like a dog on an old children's network show. Grenier looked at the hand. "Oh right." He shook the mans hand.
"I believe I am doing all right." Grenier replied. "I wish the same to you sir, but I do not think you will feel so comfortable after hearing my news." Greniers face dropped as his look matched the gravity of the situation. This worried Irvin. He sat stiff in his chair expecting the worse. That is exactly what Grenier gave him.
*****
Grenier struggled to keep up with Mr. Hessing as he paced down the white hallway at great speed, clearing the distance between the General's office and the lifting pod in half the time it took Grenier to the first time.
"You are telling me that these kids just disappeared from all radar!?"
"Yes sir that is what I said." Grenier replied. Irvin shoved his hand in between the glass doors of the lifting pod.
"They just vamoosed?!" Grenier did not even bother to answer again. Irvin had not even asked for any information on the situation. He just kept screaming, "They are gone! How are the gone?"
Once in the lifer pod, Irvin finally asked something different.
"What floor?"
"Excuse me?" asked Grenier. Irvin repeated his question.
"What floor? What floor is your office on?"
"Oh, floor six please" Grenier told the pod. The pod detached itself from the wall and began to descend. "Level six?" questioned Irvin.
"You are that close to the ground? That river must be a real ear pain am I not correct?" Grenier did not see how the question was relevant but answered anyway.
"Ah yes sir it is a bit of an ear pain but it is not that bad once I am in my office and completely focused. But sirs are you not interested on the situation at hand? I mean you have not asked anything about the kidna…"
"What are you babbling about Bennet?" The General interrupted. "We have a serious situation here!" the lifting pod shuddered as its magnets lined up with the magnets in the floor.
"Oh nothing sir. Nothing of apparent importance." "What section?" asked the robotic voice of the lifting pod. "This one will do, thank you." Grenier told it. The magnets locked and the glass doors opened revealing a slat hallway.
Irvin had not been up to these levels lately. He had all ways used the exit on the twentieth floor. There, was a hover boost for higher ranked businessmen of CWF, such as himself. Since being promoted to head, the only reason Irvin stepped below the twentieth floor was to go to the cafeteria on the sixteenth floor.
Greniers screen room was in the second hallway, in the first section of the sixth floor. He stepped in front of the door and placed his finger to a small screen of smart pixels.
"Grenier Bennet with General Irvin Hessing." He told the screen. The pixels changed red while saying, "Please hold still." A small machine came out of a pocket in the wall and scanned Greniers retina. The pixels quickly turned blue again, then the door popped open. Greiner pushed it aside and stepped into a small room with two walls of screens. Most blinking, changing the picture shown every few seconds or scrolled through data. A few screens constantly showed the same thing without changing. One screen close to Irvin scrolled through over thin white lines. Occasionally it would stop on a red line and blink. After looking at it, Irvin realized the lines were names and the red ones were the names of the missing children.
"Any updates?" asked Grenier. Irvin turned to look at him. Grenier was in some sort of daze. It took Irvin a moment to realize that Grenier was using an EBLA to connect with the rooms computers to search for updates instead of scrolling through the screens. A ten minute job done in ten seconds. When Grenier dismissed the daze, Irvin asked,
"How many screens are in her?"
"One hundred twenty-six" Grenier told him. "But we should just focus on these few here." He pointed to a few screens, just a foot above eyelevel including the one Irvin was looking at before. "This one shows the names of the missing kids." Grenier explained. "So far only five are gone but I have a feeling there will be more. This one here shows the exact time of disappearance and the last known location of each child. This screen is black because its com is going through the history of the past four days looking for anything suspicious."
"Why four days?" asked Irvin. Grenier wasted no time explaining.
"Well that is all the coms memory can hold. The rest of the information gets booted to 'Memory' downstairs. If nothing turns up here, we will have to access that."
Irvin looked around. He was very impressed. At this stage in his career, he had not been this brilliant. 'This kid is going places.' thought Irvin. He then turned his attention towards a screen Grenier had pointed out but had yet to explain. The picture on the screen was moving. It showed a kitchen with dirty floors and food on the counter. Whatever was recording the footage showed no interest in the kitchen so it moved on to the living room. After a quick jolt, the camera shot upwards panning over an aerial view of the living room.
"What does this one do?" Irvin figured Grenier would eventually explain it but his curiosity got the better of him. Grenier turned to face the screen Irvin was looking at.
"Oh sorry sir, I sent out a hover com-cam to investigate each child's home. I know that was not my stone to turn but I had to do something."
"No. No" Irvin said while shaking his head. "You have done well. Despite all this, you might land your self with a promotion Bennet." Grenier looked surprised but felt grateful.
"Now sir, I am not here to receive a reward or get promoted or anything, I am just, just doing my job I guess." Both men laughed as much as they could in the situation.
"So," begins Irvin. "How do you suppose five children disappear from all our fancy radar equipment?" Grenier moved to the original screen Irvin looked at.
"Well sir, four of the children are either six, seven, or eight years of age. Their names are Andrew, Angelica, Calvin and Brady. All still live in the burbs, obviously. None are of age to even be considered moving any one else." Grenier paused. Irvin nodded, then Grenier continued. "Except the thing is, all the kids lived miles and miles away from each other." Grenier trailed off thinking obviously in complete disbelief. Irvin pulled a chair out from underneath a wall length desk and sat in it. Grenier was in his daze again, consulting his EBLA. He scanned through a map of the city calculating distance, time, speed and such.
"How does them living miles apart have to do with anything?" Irvin did not get it. Did he miss something? Greniers sub conscience heard Irvin's question. He gave up on his work and answered.
"I got the alarm of the first missing child. That was followed up with the disappearance time and the last known location, then, BANG! There is another disappearance! I just do not get it!" Grenier stopped. He was breathing heavily and was very worked up.
"Me neither" mumbled Irvin. "I am sorry son, but your going to have to explain a bit better. I am not as quick as I used to be." Grenier calmed himself, sat then explained.
"Sir, Irvin, all five children disappeared within seconds of each other." Irvin sat deep in his chair as he took in this new information. After a minute of silence between the two, Irvin asked another question.
"The fifth child, what about him?" Grenier thought a moment.
"The fifth child. Oh." he sighed. Irvin got that sick feeling in his stomach again. More bad news was on the way. Grenier took a deep breath then continued. "His name was Xander Blake."
'Blake?' thought Irvin. He lifted an eyebrow. "A last name? How old was this boy?"
"Eleven" answered Grenier. "But what is even more odd is that he lived in Tower Six." Irvin froze.
"Tower Six!" squeaked Irvin. "Bennet if you got any more disturbing news up your neck, you better get rid of it now." The Generals face was pale and he did not move.
"I have got nothing more sir. Also, it is not in my head, it is all in the computers." Irvin snorted.
"Tower Six huh? Well that just determines what kind of vermin we are working with. Our government official machinery and technology cannot hack into those walls. It has got the most advanced security in the city. How could one person manage that? Wait, was there more than one?" Grenier sighed.
"There is no proof that one person did this. How can I determine if there were more than one? I mean look at the home. There is absolutely no sign of a struggle. It looks as if the family was in the middle of dinner, got an important message, and left." They both turned to the screen again. Grenier was right. Nothing was tipped or torn or spilled. "This is so mind boggling. Not even my EBLA can find anything to piece together or relate any past events to. It is just, just…" Grenier sat in a puzzling gaze.
Irvin stared at the com-cam screen. It was still above the living room. The com-cam seemed to be expressing an interest in something below it and began to zoom. As the image grew closer the cam had to refocus every few feet. Irvin tapped Greniers shoulder.
"Bennet, look at this." Grenier turned to look a the screen.
"What is it doing? Do you see anything?" He was so caught up he did not even think to use his EBLA
. "Just let it be." Irvin told him. "Watch. These machines can pick the tiniest disturbances." They both watched as the com-cam zoomed closer. It brought into view a coffee table.
Both Irvin and Grenier saw what was there but neither said any thing. On the corner of the coffee table, drawn in the dust, was a fish.