Empty Planet- 2:8
Harita's POV
"'I'm sorry, Did you say a bomb, sir?" The female asked, on the recording the team and I were listening to.
"On a bus... In the city where it all began. Get my message out." The male, also now known as our new unsub, ordered.
"Message? What message?" The female questioned.
"That this is only the beginning. Until it is brought back under control, people will die.'" The unsub threatened.
"In the last 20 minutes, virtually identical threats have been made to most of the coast-to-coast news networks in the country. It's the same information, just slightly different words." JJ informed.
"So it's not a recorded message or script." Morgan observed.
"Dude's gotta be pretty confident to do that." I added.
"He could have easily just called one network. This guy obviously wants attention." Spencer speculated.
"It's typical behavior for a personal cause bomber. One bomb has a finite impact. It's just a little package. Make a bunch of phone calls, that magnifies my explosion 100 times." Gideon stated, clearly from past experience.
"We have the additional recorded calls being gathered for assessment." JJ said.
"Networks say the calls came from a restricted number. Two have given limited permission to trap and trace the lines if we should need to." Penelope announced.
"You got a news organization to agree to a trap and trace?" Hotch asked. Garcia raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"Who could say 'no' to me?"
"This is not likely Al-Qaeda. They don't call unless they bomb something." Morgan stated.
"At Homeland security's request, the networks are going to keep this quiet until we've assessed the situation." JJ announced.
"It doesn't feel like a hoax. His voice is calm, resigned. He's made his decision. He's committed to it." Hotch profiled.
"Plus he said: 'This is only the beginning'. The beginning of what? And he also said: 'until it is brought back under control'. What's it?" Spencer asked.
"I mean, he has to call back. And if this threat isn't followed by an event, no one will take any future calls seriously." I added.
"So, we're going to tell the media to go ahead with the story?" Garcia asked.
"Absolutely not." Hotch responded.
"Threats like this, with an unspecified location will just cause tremendous panic." JJ said.
"Then, what are we gonna do?" Garcia questioned.
"Unfortunately, all we can do is wait." Gideon answered.
…
*CUE INTRO*
(For one of the 'pictures' in the intro, imagine Harita fidgeting with a pen, looking at a map with her left eyebrow raised.)
…
"Robespierre wrote, 'Crime butchers innocence to secure a prize And innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime.'"- SSA Jason Gideon.
…
"So Seattle's where it all began." Spencer said, as we were observing the crime scene. A few minutes after we reviewed the case, we got a call saying that a bomb exploded on a bus in Seattle, Washington, so here we are now.
"We just need to figure out what it is. And off the top of my head, I can think of grunge music and overpriced coffee." Morgan grumbled.
"Jeez, what did Seattle do to you to rumble your pickle." I questioned. Personally, I like Seattle.
"Either way, that doesn't seem significant enough for terrorism." Spencer stated.
"It's a personal cause bomber. It only needs to be of significance to him." Gideon pointed out.
"Agent Nick Casey, Seattle field office." Agent Casey greeted.
"SSA Hotchner, how do you do? This is Dr. Spencer Reid, SSA Derek Morgan, Dr. Harita, Agent Jennifer Jareau, and SSA Jason Gideon." Hotch introduced. "Have you identified the device?"
"Looks like a small pipe bomb attached to an umbrella." Agent Casey replied.
"My colleague, Dr. Harita, and I'd like to take a look at those bomb fragments as soon as possible. We've got bomb squad experience." Morgan said. That part was true, just that Morgan has more experience than me. I only took a few classes, but examining bombs was my hobby a few years back. I learned a lot from Morgan, so that also helped.
"As soon as they're catalogued."
"How many people were on the bus when the explosion went off?" Spencer asked.
"25 including the driver. Explosion killed two. The driver and a young male. Injured seven." Agent Casey answered.
"So you're telling me that a pipe bomb that was in a crowded city bus only killed two people?" I asked.
"Had a relatively small charge. The two dead were found closest to the bomb at the time of detonation. Sylvia Cohen, an elderly passenger, found the umbrella on the floor at her feet. She said the young man volunteered to take it to the driver for her. She's pretty broken up about it." Agent Casey stated.
"Have you vetted and debriefed the rest of the passengers?" Hotch questioned.
"I have their info if you want to talk to them."
"Did you get their positions?"
"Sorry?"
"Were they on the bus?"
"No." Agent Casey admitted.
"JJ, maybe you can recontact the passengers and map their locations." Hotch ordered. JJ nodded.
"Yeah, you got it."
"Nobody saw anyone leave the umbrella?" Gideon queried.
"No. But, you know, from the style it looks like a... remote detonator on the corner over there." Agent Casey pointed.
"You say remote?" Morgan clarified. Agent Casey nodded.
"Limited frequency remote."
"Like a garage door opener?" Reid suggested.
"Something like that."
"Pretty risky. Anyone on this bus could have accidentally set off the bomb by just pulling out of their garage." I said.
"That's right."
"He used a remote from the corner. Did he want to be close enough to see what happened Or did he need to be mechanically?" Hotch asked.
"Those remotes are pretty limited. He probably needed to be." Morgan answered.
"Then he might have been nervous." I added.
"Maybe that made him stand out. I could set up a public service announcement encouraging anyone who was in the area of the time of the bombing to contact us." JJ suggested.
"Well, we do need a press conference. But it'll be about getting this unsub to call us." Gideon said.
…
While JJ and Hotch were giving the press conference, Morgan and I were going over the bomb fragments, and to say, it was pretty interesting.
"You know, Harita, the bomber could have bought this detonator at any old toy store. You take a remote control car, plane, boat, attach a detonator like this to the motor, touch the remote, boom! Instant fourth of July." Morgan stated.
"Sounds pretty fun." I mumbled.
"How are you doing?" Morgan asked the lady that was approaching us. "I'm Derek Morgan. This is Dr. Harita. We're with the BAU."
"Cassondra Atkins. Cass or Cassy works, too. Bomb tech." Cassy introduced.
"It's a really nice reconstruction." Morgan complimented.
"Oh, it wasn't that hard Explosive was limited and the fragments were comparatively easy to locate."
"Okay so tell me what else you got here?"
"Well, besides the light explosive load, he used dry peas." Cassy held up a bag of dried peas.
"Dry peas?" I questioned.
"He chose a shrapnel that wouldn't do too much damage outside of a limited range. Why? What's he doing, trying to minimize his kills?" Morgan asked.
"It also has a picture engraved on it." Cassy handed the reconstruction to me. I pushed my glass up, and looked closer.
"It's a robot with an arrow through it." I observed.
"Anti-robotics?" Morgan questioned.
"Doesn't the city center bus stop use smart buses?" I recalled.
"Smart buses?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah, Hi-tech buses that use time sensors on the buses and the bus stops to give out arrival and departure times. Reid told me about them." I said.
"Yeah. Went automated last year." Cassy announced.
"So he's anti-technology." Morgan concluded.
"Maybe." I shrugged my shoulders. Morgan got up to call Garcia.
…
"What else do you have, Garcia?" Gideon asked. We just watched a video of a kid smashing a few computers with a sledge hammer, a video that Garcia sent us.
"I also found an article in the 'St. Dennis University College Newspaper'. Last spring, close to the school, an Internet cafe was attacked. Someone created floppy disk bombs that went off in 4 of the computers. No one was injured." Garcia read.
"Who uses floppy disks anymore?" Spencer asked.
"Right, Agent Brain, that was the point of the attack. They left a note: 'Ultimately, you'll be as obsolete as your graveyard technology'."
"Is the note signed?" Hotch asked.
"'FFT Brigade'. I'm finding references to a freedom from technology brigade, a fringe group that's showing up lately."
"Anything else in the note?"
"Yeah. There's a not very artistic drawing of what kind of looks like a... robot with an arrow through it." Morgan and I looked at each other. "I'm uploading it to you now." The picture was projected onto the laptop, and Gideon held up pictures of the figure we saw on the bomb next to it, comparing the two. They looked pretty similar.
"You know, Seattle's the birthplace of some of the most cutting edge technology in the world." Spencer stated.
"Where it began. I think we're ready to give a profile." Gideon announced.
…
"We believe the unsub resides in Seattle. All of the attacks, most of which have just involved property damage, have taken place here, and the timing and location indicate knowledge of the area. Even though he escalated to a lethal bombing today, we don't believe that that was necessarily his intention." Hotch started.
"In fact, anyone not directly next to the device received minor injuries. So we think fear may have been the larger motive." Morgan added.
"So he's a terrorist then." One of the officers said.
"He is, but... that's too vague of a description for our purposes. Douglas and Olshaker categorize bombers as criminal, group cause, psychologically disorganized, and personal cause bombers. And we believe this guy to be a personal cause bomber." Spencer replied.
"And personal cause bombers are motivated by an underlying emotional conflict." I added.
"In an interview from prison, the unabomber, Ted Kaczynksi, admitted that while he was a graduate student at the university of Michigan, he started having fantasies of becoming a woman. Even got on a list to get a sex-change operation but, during a mandatory psychological exam prior to the procedure, he changed his mind. He told the psychologist that he made a mistake." Spencer recalled.
"From that moment through the next three decades of his life, Ted Kaczynksi carried out a campaign of isolation and murder." Gideon adjoined.
"This unsub is male. He lives alone. He's possibly self-employed. He's highly organized. He's meticulous. And he's very smart." Morgan profiled.
"And he seems odd to those who know him. Angry, distant, prone to sudden violent rage. This is not the kind of guy whose neighbors will be surprised to find out what he's arrested for. This guy's neighbors will have no trouble believing it." I silently chuckled.
"Targets appear to be technology, but not the hi-tech variety. The kind of technology we're surrounded by. In a city the size of Seattle, we're talking 10,000 possible targets." Hotch stated.
"Agent Gideon, you got a call on the tip line." Agent Casey announced. Gideon and Hotch left the room to answer it.
...
"Can you smell that?" Morgan asked. I took a sniff and smelled it again.
"Same explosive, just more of it." I stated.
"Yeah. And same detonation device, too." Cassy observed. There was another bombing at a gas station, so we headed there to check it out.
"The gas station closed 15 minutes prior to the explosion. Fortunately, the worker had already gone home." Spencer said.
"No casualties, an escalation in the size of the explosion, and a decrease in the number of victims. We need to do a grid search as soon as possible." Hotch ordered.
"What do I tell them we're looking for?" Agent Casey asked.
"Said his message would be here when we arrived." Gideon remembered from the call.
"Clear!" Cassy yelled from inside the store. We all headed towards her. "It's a book."
"It says, 'Manifesto'." Spencer read.
"Bag it." Gideon ordered.
…
"His manifesto's main demand is completely unrealistic: stop all automated machinery that's replaced american workers within a week." Hotch said, once we got back to the station.
"And if his demands aren't met, he says he'll detonate even larger bombs." JJ read from the book.
"So we have an anti-technology bomber who so far has attacked computers, an automated cashier, an automated gas station, and a smart bus." I reminded.
"Who calls himself Allegro." Gideon added.
"What was that?" Spencer asked.
"He told me to call him Allegro." Gideon repeated.
"Of course. Yeah, it's a book." Spencer exclaimed.
"Yeah, it ought to be." Morgan replied, clearly not getting what he meant.
"No, no It's an actual book, a novel I read as a kid. It's called 'Empty Planet' by one-hit-wonder author David Hansberry. It's got it all: technoids, mutians. All that stuff is in there. It's robots that take over the world once they figure out how to reproduce with humans. Essentially, humanity's lost to technology and the hero of the book is a 12-year-old boy named Allegro who builds an army and fights for the humans."
"Morgan, have Garcia get as much information as possible on the author of 'Empty Planet'. David Hansberry?" Gideon ordered.
"Hansberry, yeah."
"I'm on it."
"There was a passenger on the bus yesterday, Dr. Emory Cooke. He's supposed to be some kind of computer genius, pioneer in artificial life." JJ recalled.
"Yeah, Cooke. He developed software that mirrors the human reproductive system. Computers that can replicate themselves." Spencer giggled.
"So maybe Cooke was the target and not the smart bus." I suggested.
"If so, that would definitely be imitating events from the book. Allegro and his army not only destroyed robots, but they assassinated the scientists that are responsible for creating them."
"Dr. Cooke was sitting right in front of Sylvia Cohen." JJ said, pointing to the white board, where we had the list of where the passengers sat.
"And the umbrella was initially found underneath Dr. Cooke's seat."
…
"Do I seem like the sort who would want to be followed around all day by a government goon squad? I don't think so." Dr. Cooke said, storming out of the room once Morgan and I entered.
"Goon squad?" Morgan asked.
"Us? Pfft, never. More like you." I said to Morgan, who rolled his eyes, and slapped the back of my head, lightly.
"Ever talk to someone who wants to continually show you he's smarter than you?" Gideon sighed. Morgan pointed to Spencer and I.
"Everyday." I slapped Morgan's finger away, and started munching on my bagel chips.
"I really hate that." Gideon muttered. Morgan held out his hand, clearly wanting one of my snacks, but didn't give him any. He rolled his eyes again, and turned to face Gideon.
"Garcia found the author of the book. David Hansberry's just a pen name. The real name is-" Morgan got cut off by Spencer.
"Ursula Kent. The professor of postmodern literature at St. Dennis university where the floppy disc bombs were sent." Morgan rubbed his forehead, clearly in distress.
"Anyway, JJ's contacting her, we can go see her any time." I said.
"Let's go." Gideon stood up.
"We need to stop by a bookstore and get a copy of 'Empty Planet'. I want to re-read before we talk to the author. I haven't read it since I was 6." Spencer stated as we walked out of the room.
"6? I was still ridin' by big wheel at 6 years old." Morgan exclaimed.
"My mom was teaching me multiplication at that age." I muttered. Morgan looked at me in disbelief.
"Do you mind? It'll only take 10 minutes." Spencer asked.
"To buy it or read it?" Gideon questioned.
"Oh, both, actually."
"Can I come along? I wanna meet her. Plus, I need to buy more snacks." I asked.
"Sure." Gideon said.
"Morgan, have agent Casey set up protection for Dr. Cooke. Like him or not, he's in danger."
...
"We got the stuff." I announced to Gideon as I hopped in the back, Reid sitting in the passenger seat.
"It was the last copy left, according to the clerk, it's actually become a pretty popular novel in science fiction circles." Reid stated.
"Plus I got the last box of bagel chips." I opened it up and popped a few into my mouth. I gave some to Reid as well. Gideon's phone rang, and went to answer it. Once the call finished, he turned to the two of us.
"Looks like a pipe bomb at the water works."
"Are we gonna go there?" Reid asked.
"No, we'll still go see Professor Kent."
…
"Hello. Ursula Kent." The woman said, as we met her up near the stairs of the building.
"Hi. My pleasure, Professor Kent. Jason Gideon, FBI. This is Dr. Reid, and Dr. Harita." She held her hand out to me, and I shook it.
"It's a real pleasure to meet you. I'm a fan of your work." Reid fanboyed. Professor Kent smiled.
"Well, that's very nice of you to say. We can speak in my office."
"Lead the way." Professor Kent and Gideon went up the stairs first, leaving Reid and I to follow. "Your book has become a significant part of our investigation."
"So your colleague explained. I can't imagine how, though." Professor Kent pondered.
"Bomber sees it as some kind of prophetic work. He's attempting to save humanity by stopping the proliferation of robotic technology." Gidoen explained.
"Well, that's absurd."
"He's written a document-like manifesto called a guide to practical living, and several sections of it are lifted directly from 'Empty Planet'." Reid emphasized.
"He's taken up what he believes to be your cause and, well, he's killing people for the sake of it." I added.
"But 'Empty Planet' is a fantasy." Professor Kent defended.
"Not to this man."
"How could anyone think it's more than that?" Professor Kent asked, clearly flabbergasted.
"Unfortunately, it's impossible to predict how an unstable mind will interpret something." Spencer answered, as we walked into Professor Kent's office.
"And it's caused him to kill people?"
"Do you know Dr. Emory Cooke?" I questioned.
"Very well."
"He spoke to your classes?"
"Yes."
"Dr. Cooke was murdered by the bomber an hour ago." Gideon blurted.
"No." Professor Kent gasped.
"Professor, what is that?" Spencer asked. I looked at what he was pointing at, and it was a necklace, with the same symbol as the ones on the bombs, a robot with an arrow through it.
"This is something someone... a brilliant man gave me a long time ago before he died. Actually, it's part of the inspiration for 'Empty Planet'. James was a rather early alarmist about how much we were letting technology control our lives. It's become a sort of talisman for me." Professor Kent explained. Reid and I looked at each other.
"You wear it when you teach?" Gideon asked.
"Sometimes, yes."
"The symbol has been etched on the bomber's devices." I professed. Gideon showed her the pictures.
"Oh, my god!" Professor Kent took off her necklace.
"Bomber's written a manifesto he wants published, but not in the national newspaper. He wants it published in the Seattle Ledger. He wants someone here to read it."
"Have you ever had a student you think might be capable of doing something like this?" Spencer asked.
"One of my students? Someone who hates technology? I'm a postmodernist. In my area of study, technological inventions are often viewed as art objects." Professor Kent protected.
"That's true, but oftentimes the biggest critics of technology are those with scientific backgrounds, and... your students definitely fit that category."
"I need you to read this." Gideon handed Professor Kent the manifesto. "Tell me if the writing seems at all familiar to you. We'll wait."
…
"Is this the syllabus for your class?" Gideon asked, handing Professor Kent a piece of yellow paper.
"Yes." Professor Kent answered.
"Is it the same every semester?"
"Mostly, maybe a book or project changed."
"You only have two guest lecturers listed."
"Yes... Dr. Cooke and Dr. Brasier. I always have those two, they're the only two I invite. They speak to every new class. Dr. Cooke is... was... an expert on artificial life, and Dr. Brasier... artificial intelligence.
"Dr. Brasier have an office on campus?" I asked.
"No, it's crosstown at Rolling Hills." Gideon left to go and call Morgan.
…
Turns out Gidoen's theory was right. Dr. Brasier's car seat had a bomb underneath it. And she is sitting on the car seat as we speak. And Morgan is right next to her, not going away. Sometimes that bastard does good things that can cost him his life. Gideon hung up his phone, and turned to us.
"Bomb tech's just about ready."
"Maybe we should get over there." Spencer suggested.
"No, I think we would just be in the way."
"What about Morgan?" I asked.
"He hasn't changed his mind." Gideon shook his head.
"Bastard." I mumbled under my breath.
…
"Aside from the sections of my novel that were blatantly plagiarized, I didn't recognize anything. It's just page after page of the ravings of a lunatic." Professor Kent confessed. I groaned and shook my head.
"Right now, a young man I greatly respect and admire, who is my college and who I treat like an older brother, is putting his life on the line because of that lunatic." I said to Professor Kent.
"I'll look through it again."
"Thank you."
...
"Now blow the car up." Gideon ordered to Hotch, after hearing the news that both Morgan and Dr. Brasier are okay.
"You're blowing it up?" Professor Kent asked.
"Best way to keep Dr Brasier safe is... by letting the bomber think he was successful in killing her. Neighbors will hear an explosion, it'll be on the news." Gidoen explained.
"You have a complicated life." Professor Kent mumbled.
"Complicated world." I corrected.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help." Professor Kent sympathetically said.
"Yeah, me, too." Gideon responded as we walked into the hallway.
"Give the manifesto a little more thought. Maybe something will occur to you without the pressure of us looming over you. You could go back over your student list. Think about the males. Anything odd about them. Guy probably had a temper. Something... you maybe haven't thought about for years." Spencer profiled.
"I'll have my TA pull the files." Professor Kent nodded.
"May I ask you something, ma'am?" Spencer asked
"Of course."
"Why didn't you ever write another book?"
"I guess it was the only story I needed to tell. I'll be working in my office most of the night, don't hesitate to call."
"Thank you." Gideon said. "Have a good night."
"You too."
…
"Okay we got 5 crime scenes worth of new information to go through." Hotch ordered. We were all back at the station, and having dinner from some kind of fast-food restaurant. "And the targets that the unsub chose for the decoy bombs, do they force a change in the profile?"
"I don't think so, I think they are what they are decoys to throw us off the trail of Dr Brasier. Reid, what's that?" Morgan asked. I looked over to where Reid was, and he was writing words onto a whiteboard.
"It's the subplot of the Empty Planet book." Spencer answered.
"Allegro kills his mother?" I questioned.
"Yeah, at the end, he discovers he's adopted, he's reunited with his birth mom. He thanks her for having the strength to give him a better life, but... ironically, he realizes that she herself has become a robot, so he kills her. He sacrifices the one person in the world he has a biological connection with for the greater good." Reid explained.
"I thought we were talking about some geeky sci-fi book here. That sounds like greek tragedy." JJ sassed. I covered my mouth from trying not to burst out laughing.
"It's not played as a tragedy at all though. In fact, his mother's incredibly proud of this final act, like it's the ultimate fulfillment of his destiny, proof that... proof that she was right to have given him up in the first place."
"Wait a minute, If he kills her, how do you know she was proud?" Morgan asked.
"It's told from her point of view, the whole book is. It's kind of like she's talking to the reader from heaven. It's really her story."
"Only story she needed to tell." Gideon said.
"And in order to fulfill the story, he's gotta kill his mother." Hotch profiled.
"So we're saying that Professor Kent is the unsub's mother, only because it's told from 'her' point of view?" I asked. Hotch nodded.
…
"Morgan, Harita, stairs. Go around." Gidoen ordered, once we entered the building and heard commotion coming from the auditorium. Morgan and I headed the way Gideon told us to, with our FBI vests on and our guns drawn.
"Leave us alone!" The usub yelled to Gideon, Hotch, and the other SWAT members once Morgna and I came up behind Professor Kent and the unsub.
"No, we can't do that, Allegro. We cannot leave you alone." Gideon stated.
"Okay, listen, I'm... I'm... I'm okay." Professor Kent insisted.
"Doesn't have to end this way-"
"This is how it ends!" Allegro yelled.
"You can change the ending." Gideon argued.
"This is how it ends!" Allegro shouted.
"How does it begin? I don't even know the story, tell me the story."
"You don't know the story!?"
"I wanna know who you are. Are you in the story, Allegro? Start the story!"
"Leave us alone!" Suddenly, a gun went off. The next thing I knew, Professor Kent was falling to the ground, and I was apparently rushing to arrest Allegro.
"Get an ambulance, get him out of here." Gideon ordered. Morgan and I went to drag him out to the car, and away to jail.
…
"I'll be right back. Do not cheat." Hotch pointed to Reid. JJ, Hotch, Reid, and I were playing Gin on the jet. And guess what, Reid looked at Hotch's cards.
"You know, a lot of science fiction's deeper than you might think. There are some genuine human emotions-"
"Yeah, let me save you the time, Reid. I am never going to Comicon with you." JJ said, and Spencer's mouth dropped.
"Okay, come on Reid. Just because I can't go with you to Comicon this Saturday, does not mean you can torture everyone else to go with you, just because you don't want to be alone." I said, laughing at Reid's face.
"Gin!" JJ yelled. Spencer looked at her in disbelief. "What, you don't trust me? Come on."
"Let's just make sure." Reid took the cards from her and looked at them.
"It's fun beating a genius." JJ smiled, and I put my hand up. JJ reached up and high-fived my hand.
"Genius Dr. Reid let you win." Reid said. JJ and I scoffed. "Let's play again." Morgan came over and tried to take my almonds, and I slapped his hand away.
"Nah-uh, no almonds for you."
"Oh come on! I almost sacrificed my life to a bomb, and I don't get any almonds?"
"You almost scared me to death, you idiot!" I argued. Morgan, JJ, and Reid laughed. I joined them too.
Flashback
"You fucking idiot. What the fuck did you do. Why!? You are a fucking bitch, bastard, and an idiot. I love you too much to lose you." I yelled at Derke, as I was hugging him.
"Jezus, calm down. I'm alright. You know I had to do that." Derek returned the hug.
"You're right, but it was a stupid decision. Very fucking stupid." I muttered.
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