Thirty Four Minutes DEAD (27 page)

“Yes until that day - goodbye”.

Designation B had represented more than just a building to most project members. The Neo-Gothic majesty evident in the architectural design had given the residence a presence beyond mere bricks and mortar. When fire raised this structure to a state of ruin most MC-Project members felt the collective loss and morale was very low when the four splinter convoys arrived in the substitute Designation. The fire which engulfed Designation B seemed worse than the Chicago blaze to many, because ‘mass’ public anger had generated the flames, and not the kind of’ cabin fever’ which had been the probable cause in America. Thus the flames in England had been supported by many, and weren’t an outcome of an individual rogue protest.

Conventional security forces had given way without much resistance, and it seemed likely that some of these law enforcers had actually been ‘with the people’, contributing to the rampage that saw the end of the Designation. Several project staff claimed to have seen British Riot Police turning their batons into demolition tools and not preventative devices to repel the crowd. This riot had been brewing for some time and Sinquiry had been the last straw for those who were fearful of the lawless power that the MC-Project seemed to possess. Mr Fray’s TV anger had obviously been one contributory factor behind the violence, but many signs of public unrest had come to light before the project security chief’s TV appearance. Even the Church of England had attacked MC-Project methods, commenting that the organisation “tampered with the soul!”

After the devastation at Designation B, Leif Denison looked forward to the day when his beloved project would be permanently sited in his home nation. He was getting rather tired of the seemingly universal protest Britain was levelling against ‘his’ scientists and he was particularly angered by the Anti-project stance of the conventional security forces of Britain. When the riot was taking place, Jess Wheeler had implored him to use a fatal nerve gas upon both the rioting crowd and one section of apathetic riot police officers. Denison had told him that he was being far too headstrong, but mentally he was ‘right in line’ with the request of the would-be executioner. Denison knew that if the project had to metaphorically ‘return underground’ and sever media relations, he could count on men like Wheeler to violently repress any attempt to gain project information. In the past he had always kept Jess under control and rarely let him really express his obsessive protective urges. As far as he was concerned, it was now timed to let Jess Wheeler off his leash. He would be promoted as the new Anglo-American ‘Active’ Security Chief.

Before the Designation ‘B’ evacuation, mindsight explorations had been the order of the day as far as MC-Project work was concerned, but now Denison was going to temporarily suspend all front-line work. He had several issues to raise with his project staff, and all the personnel who were resident in the new Designation were summoned to attend a collective audience with the MC-Project controller the afternoon after the late-night arrival.

Denison was an individual who thrived on this type of verbal address, but on this day his usual buoyant swagger was non-evident, with his preferred ostentation giving way to an almost world-worn sobriety as he began his speech.

“As I stand here in front of you, I have to admit that I made a mistake. To think that we could ‘go public’ and not suffer the consequences was an error of judgement that I must bear on my conscience to the optimum level, due to my pivotal project status. I apologise for believing that we could undertake a duality of roles - leading edge scientific researchers and media ‘house-hold names’. I realise now that the two identities are oppositional and no such coexistence is possible. The days of project concealment will thus return from this day onwards.

“I can hear some sighs out there, some discontented mutterings, but I wasn’t the only one who made a mistake, was I? I didn’t blow the script on national UK TV, I didn’t brandish an Uzi at reporters after my sexual shenanigans offset my media detection, and I didn’t leak high security MC-Project info to the world’s gutter press. I could go on, and indeed I will.

“It wasn’t me who tried to create a snuff market from archived MC-Project explorations and I didn’t ignite the Chicago flames. You see my friends, the bottom line points an ugly finger in your direction. Not all of you for sure, but jeez some of you have been disloyal across a range of indiscretions. Agreed, there is one helluva difference between careless actions brought about by an overcharged libido, and the sleazy calculated activity associated with a media informant.

“We’ve ‘wiped’ the latter scum category as far as we know, but now
all
public indiscretions have got to be history, and the following steps aim to return us to our former ‘safer-day’ sanctuary”.

The collective MC-Project audience waited in trepidation as Denison drank from a glass of water before continuing.

“The initial protection step involves an immediate scaling down of our work in England. This country has seen a greater level of project treachery, and the public have proved hostile towards us, to say the least. In the States we seem heroes to many, but over here most people seem to have a Dark Age fucking mentality when it comes to our brilliant scientific discoveries! The aforementioned snuff-trading attempt took place when most of us were in Chicago, and so today is the first you will have heard surrounding that crime of project treachery. You can draw your own conclusions as to who was the guilty party in question there, but my reason for dwelling on that particularly despicable act further emphasises my point surrounding the bad fortune England holds for our project. We dealt with that problem to the required level of severity and as I reiterate, that will be our course of action for the slightest offences from now on.

Mr Wheeler has been promoted accordingly, and he is now subsequently the head of all holistic security departments. Jess is a man who gets things done. He will rid us of the internal cancer that has beset our ranks. He will have total right of passage to visit any areas of the MC-Project and he will answer solely to myself. Mr Wheeler’s promotion thus means that he now has the second highest level of project authority. Jess is going to help me to turn the clock back and re-secure the future of our beloved MC-Project”.

Denison broke for a few seconds so that the MC-Project cohort could digest the implications surrounding the new appointment. The adjustment obviously meant demotion for Vance Fray and he looked ashen-faced as he heard Denison’s words. Mr Voight also appeared to be slightly disturbed by the words of his leader, not because of Wheeler’s promotion, but because of the scaling down of MC-Project operations in England. Denison referenced this point for the last time when he started to speak again.

“Our work in England won’t totally cease, and this country will keep a skeleton staff to undertake some of our archiving work, but all active front-line exploration work will take place in America. We will break for a forced one month period of leave in three days time and when we reconvene, our new permanent working base will be situated in Washington DC - the city of our greatest achievements thus far. Our Designation will be a new construction. It is another underground venue and all our future workstations will be similarly hidden. The curfews will also return through necessity, and when staff are in working residence no outside excursion will be granted. Outside Designations promoted a laxity amongst us that made our collective number too off guard and we were ripe for intrusive targeting from external sources - the events at Designation ‘B’ proved this”.

Dwight Richards, an MC-Project member prone to claustrophobia, sunk his head in his hands when he heard the latest edict from his leader. Denison seemed oblivious to the displeasure he had offset amongst most of his project staff and he directed his next words directly at the MC-Project staff who resided in Britain.

“Our British MC-Project contingent will notice some radical domicile changes when they meet their families again in a few days time. You don’t live where you did and your children all attend the same school in Guildford. It is an institution specifically set up for the dependants of MC-Project members. We had to take this hard line after Sinquiry made us public enemy number one in this country, and the reallocations are taking place as I speak. The bottom line holds that your families could end up as bait for lynch mobs if they stayed where they were, and we’ve already witnessed the ineffective nature of conventional security forces in this country. We safeguard your dependants, they sure as hell wouldn’t. The British based MC Project members will be taken to their new domicile when we break in three days time. Don’t worry, we’ve had these reallocation contingency plans in readiness for over four years now, and so your new homes bear the hallmarks of quality that characterised your previous estate. So far you have heard me relate some significant changes to protect the leading edge nature of the MC-Project. I tell you to contemplate these alterations with a collective determination that helps obliterate any further obstacles, rather than a weak will that keeps recalling your brief ‘freedom’. My next decision will fully test your resolve”.

Denison paused momentarily, probably in deliberation, stalling his crowd and playing his power rein to the fullest capacity.

“In five weeks time all of us, I repeat all of us, are going to receive a new face - literally”.

Uproar broke out amongst the project rank and file. Some people just shook their heads as his words stung them to the core, some shouted abuse in Denison’s direction and others pleaded for calm so that they could hear more specifics pertaining to their leader’s maverick command. Vain felt his sharp cheekbones and Levene nervously tweaked the ends of her raven black hair. Narcissus became an invited guest.

When order was eventually restored, Denison elaborated.

“A bedlam befitting a child when their favourite toy lies broken in the nursery! Get a grip on yourselves my friends, and listen. I know some of you feel harshly done by. You’ve never been recognised by the media, you’ve never occupied front-line status, and your job is insignificant when compared to some of the leading MC players. Stop those thoughts. You see, we don’t know how many of our number are known to the media, and all positions represent a threat in that context, because as soon as one of us is located, their scent leads the media pack back to the rest of us. I’m not talking broken jaws to alter facial structure and crows feet to weather a young face. I’m not talking ‘devil’s venom’ to alter your skin colourisation or a two-month hospital lay up to hold you from your work. I’m talking the ‘Rochaux treatment’. No scars, no breaking, just plastic modifications over an eight-day period. Before you ask, I can hear your collective question - will you look very different? Of course you will. What would be the point of the treatment if you didn’t appear ‘altered’ to a level of significant difference? Our old face is a mask of the old days - a cancer that will block our return to closed-door security.

“We will select the appropriate alterations, because if self determination shaped a ‘new’ face, two likely weaknesses would emerge. Firstly, human nature is such that the modifications would be too slight due to the fears surrounding facial changes, and secondly, people would subconsciously be drawn towards replicating facial traits evident in some of the icons that inspire them. We’d have film star dimples and catwalk beauty spots!

“Some of you had your interests shredded by the global media and if they received a plastic-surgery tip-off, they would start looking for evidence of any possible ‘wannabe’ influences.

“We aren’t going to paint you ugly folks and give you the last mask in the joke shop! I won’t reveal all the details of the Rochaux method yet, because you have already had to cope with several changes and a descriptive account of the intricacies surrounding the Rochaux method would be a form of information overload”.

Diana Fearston interrupted her project leader.

“Mr Denison. Isn’t the Rochaux treatment the one that involves dye injections through the iris to change eye colour permanently, and didn’t some individuals go blind as a result?”

“Yes, seven years ago some prototype problems were encountered, but the treatment has been made flawless since. Some of you may feel that you could use coloured contact lenses instead, but you know as well as I that lenses would be lost and the old eye hues would return in time. As I stated, I didn’t want to divulge any further details pertaining to the Rochaux method just yet, but I guess Ms Fearston has forced my hand a little with regard to eye colour change. You see, most of you
will
have this alteration because eyes are one part of the face that firmly indicates identity. Changing eye colour will be a definite alteration for most of our project entourage but for now the Rochaux treatment is a closed subject”.

The sinister prospect of a person’s new face being chosen by the French surgeons hardly appealed to the MC-Project members, even though the Rochaux unit had been woven into the project ranks three years hence, and the possibility of plastic surgery had therefore already been anticipated by some of the assembled staff members. Vain had been relatively unenlightened, and had thought the recruitment bizarre until Denison’s edict. He could now see how Denison’s mind had prefigured their current crisis situation. The MC-Project leader showed no signs of leaving his speaker’s podium and after inter-unit discussions had abated, he continued with his address.