end of days chapter 5
TRANSCRIPT
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Colonel Genesis had controlled the meeting
to the best of his ability. His fear that itwould become another gripe session
motivated him to begin the meeting with a
simple expectation.
This meeting will not become a repeat of
our last. There will be no finger pointing and
blame games played here today. Every one
of us is aggravated by the lack of resources.
We are here this morning to prioritize andaddress practical and realistic solutions to
our challenges using the tools and supplies
we have. The bottom line is that we have
jobs to do and this meeting will about
solutions and not complaints.
With such intent the meeting began with as
positive an atmosphere as one could expect.
All six department heads struggled with
morale on a day by day basis due to a
desperate lack of materials, resources and
equipment needed to perform their most
basic day to day job responsibilities. The
lack of fundamental resources was asymptom of a greater illness. The most
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recent Eleazar revolts and raids on supply
lines had only exaggerated the greater worldwide crisis. There were just too many people
sharing our dying planet. The terrifying truth
was that our corrupt, dystopian
governmental society was primed to
implode.
Sadly the Zevlon intelligence laboratory was
the best in the world. It was the A.W.Cs
primary go to source for decoding andscanning worldwide communications for
potential civil threats. Zevlon was
synonymous with oppression and brought
fear to the minds of both honest and
dishonest citizens alike. They governmentdepended greatly on the labs ability to
search for common chatter in worldwide
communications. Chatter was essentially
unrelated bits of communication that
collectively suggested some threat or
conspiracy against the government.
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Genesis team had the thankless job of
culling through massive amounts ofinformation to separate and label good
chatter that could indicate a military threat
from noise that likely posed no threat to
the greater good. Dr. Gavriel Genesis was
recruited for the brilliance which made him
successful in the private sector. Like any
good citizen Genesis he served his
government honorably despite the unspoken
shame of running a facility that so deeplyinfringed on the liberties of its people.
When his team was successful innocent
people often became collateral damage in
the governments ruthless and even paranoidpursuit of control over its citizens. When the
lab found no chatter predicting upcoming
terroristic activities Genesiss was ridiculed
for his incompetence. It was, in many ways,
an unwinnable situation.
With the meeting nearing its end Genesis
mind began to wonder. He was exhausted
and worn down by the fast pace of the lab,the unreasonable demands of his superiors
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and the daunting responsibility of keeping
the lab operating without the necessaryresources. His weary mind drifted back to
his days as a respected father, teacher and
engineer in the private sector. For a brief
moment Gavriel faded back to that happy
period when he had time for his work and
his family.
A tangent of conversation amongst his men
ended as one by one they began to notice thedead air stare on the Colonels face. Each
man fell silent as they noticed his seemingly
hypnotic state. They were confused and
looked at each other as if to ask where the
Colonel had gone?
Colonel? ....Are you alright?
Colonel Genesis was thinking about how
upset Micah had been that morning.Thoughts of her distress over the nightmare
reminded him of another, older but vividly
haunting memory. It should have been a
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comforting memory but instead it only
settled over him as a distressing fog ofanxiety.
It was the memory of Aris birth. Without
argument that day was the proudest moment
of Gavriel and Micahs lives. He knew Ari
would be special from the first moment he
held him. He knew in his heart that such a
perfect innocent creature could not exist
with out purpose. Like most, Gavriel wasnot a religious man, but in the traumatic
hours following Aris birth Gavriel spent a
great deal of time thinking about the idea of
God.
The memory always brought about a strange
combination of emotions because Aris birth
almost cost Micah her life. More troubling
was the fact that one of Micahs dreams had
predicted the rare complications in the
weeks before Aris birth. Seven years later,
those hours of holding his beautiful new
born son and not knowing if Micah would
survive, still haunted Gavriel. Although hewould deny it to Micah, her latest
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premonitions did occupy his thoughts, and
his fears.
Colonel? Sir, are you alright?
The Colonels shoulders had curled forward
as he sat there. His glazed eyes stared intothe empty space above the table. Then he sat
up and rejoined the meeting seeming almost
rushed to finish.
Sorry, gentleman, I was lost in a thought.Lets wrap this up for this morning. I believe
we have accomplished a number of things. I
will be working on the System III with
Captain Gidon and then back in my office in
two hours.
The team seemed a bit confused by the
harried end to the meeting. There were
several open issues they had expected to
cover. Lieutenant Uriel was in charge of
incoming requests for specific military
intelligence and reconnaissance. He had
received over a dozen requests that morning
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alone from General Amorah. Between the
peace negotiations and the impendinginvasion of Thode he was facing what
seemed to be an insurmountable mountain of
work orders. Young Uriel nervously begged
Genesis to address this challenge before
adjourning the meeting.
Colonel, incoming has received over a
dozen decode requests this morning alone.
We have almost a dozen open orders we cannot even begin to process because systems
are either down or compromised in one way
or another. I dont mean to complain sir, but
how do expect me to explain the back up?
Lieutenant, I will explain to General
Amorah that we are having to prioritize
decodes and that our teams are doing the
best they can. Tell your officers to start with
the decodes that will need the least band
width and or will eat the least code. Then,
work their way to the larger ones. Chances
are that any super sensitive information the
Eleazar rebels are passing along will be on
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older technology and likely have shorter
code.
Most of the career military men in the room
resented Genesis for being an academic
genius who was drafted into the military and
placed in charge of the Zevlon laboratory. In
moments like these, when his clever
problem solving ability offered them hope in
the face of such impossible goals, his men
could not help but respect him.
Yes sir, Colonel.
The room slowly emptied as each of the men
headed to the challenges before them. As
Genesis completed gathering his notes an
eerie silence fell over the room. He was all
alone and the space fell silent except for the
sound of his own voice inside his head
trying to make sense of reality.
What am I doing here? The war is
escalating. When will I get to continue with
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my studies? What if there was some truth to
Micahs dream?
Genesis paused on this question but in doing
so his anxiety turned quickly into a
frustrated anger fueled by the lack of control
he had on his situation. He felt helpless and
buried as he slammed his fist violently down
on to the table.
Damn it!
Releasing an exhale, as if remembering to
breath after an inhale moments before,
Gavriel murmured three words aloud to
himself.
Get it together.
Collecting himself the Colonel straitened his
uniform before heading to his first
appointment for the day. Genesis hadpromised Captain Gidon that he would
personally diagnose System III, one of four
systems with completed of the heart of the
Zevlon laboratory computer network. Each
of the four systems worked independently
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for its sector but with his main-frame down
Gidons segment of the laboratory could notprocess code and the speed of the greater
network was severely hindered.
As Genesis entered Sector III officers and
recruits alike scurried to look busy. Their
productivity had ground to a halt during the
twenty four hours that the system had been
down. Finding Captain Gidon, Genesis
wasted no time trouble shooting theproblem.
How many times have you run worms
through the system for repair?
Twice, Colonel. Diagnostics came back
both times negative for issues. This machine
is half as old as I am and my gut is that it is
something mechanical. If it is mechanical
the worms are not finding it. Like I told youin this mornings meeting, my team and I are
baffled.
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Genesis began applying his signature
mechanical genius to the problem. He hadbeen a gifted problem solver since childhood
and, although he would modestly deny it, his
gift kept the Zevlon laboratory functional
when the resources to complete even the
most simple of repairs were most often
unavailable. He quickly began moving
sporadically around the large room from one
digital display to another. Aside from an
occasional request for a password he couldnot override, Genesis spoke only to himself.
The way he mumbled to himself in a chaotic
array of rapid questions and answers was the
source of light hearted ridicule which the
Colonel sometimes even joked about
himself.
His trance like frenzy soon involved Captain
Gidon and two younger privates as the
massive mainframe was pried apart to reveal
a glimpse into the electronic bowels of the
giant antiquated system. Genesis wiggled his
way inside and started to tinker. Soon he
began to scream out commands from inside
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the body of the dead machine. Captain
Gidon and his technicians began enteringcode as directed by the Colonel.
Damn!
Genesis released that single explanative andthe rustling from inside the beast ceased.
After a moment of silence a technician
spoke up and asked the question many were
beginning to wonder.
Colonel, is everything under control?
Another moment of silence passed before
Genesis yelled out his answer.
Who is the lowest ranking officer in the
room?
Everyone looked at each other as if
confused. A young, rather effeminate maleofficer spoke up after a brief hesitation.
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This is Lieutenant Esau, sir; I believe I am
the lowest ranking officer here. How can Ihelp?
Lieutenant, slide your communicator to me
through the crack on my right side.
The young officer took the piece of
equipment off his belt, waked over to the
opening into which the Colonel had
disappeared. All the eyes in the room were
on him as he bent down, placed the item on
the floor and gently slid it to Genesis.
Within seconds pieces of the communicator
began to fly out from under the massive
computer. First came the broken casing ofthe device followed by small pieces of
molded plastic and metal shards.
The lieutenant had a helpless look of
frustration on his face as he raced to gatherwhat was left of his equipment from the
floor. Laughter broke out amongst ranks and
Colonel Genesis once again yelled out for
assistance.
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Someone grab my legs and pull me out of
here slowly!
Two other young officers hurried to gently
pull the Colonel from the machine. Once
clear, Genesis calmly walked to the control
panel and booted the system which slowly
began to hum as it came online. The
laughter prompted from the destruction of
Lieutenant Esaus communicator quickly
turned to applause and then to an explosionof frantic discussion as one by one computer
stations began to come on line.
The pride of accomplishment in a problem
solved was short lived for Genesis as nosooner did System III come on line did he
received a communiqu from his superior,
General Amorah.
Be in my office in an hour, it isURGENT!
What had almost been a smile on Genesis
face quickly melted into a miserable look of
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intense frustration. Not once since leaving
civilian life had Genesis enjoyed a positivemeeting with Amorah. The General was a
life long military man, as corrupt as any,
who poorly hid his disgust for any civilian
given a high ranking military position.
Amorah resented Genesis and no amount of
eighteen hour days or undying loyalty to the
A.W.C. seemed to be able to earn his
respect. This loyalty issue and a hundred
other thoughts thickened the fog of anxietythat was weighing so heavy on him.
Genesis made it back to his desk knowing
that he had only a short time before he
would have to leave for his meeting withAmorah. No sooner did Genesis sit down
was he interrupted by Lieutenant Uriel. The
young officer ran into the room holding a
disorganized stack of reports. He quickly
shuffled towards the Colonels desk only to
be stopped abruptly by the furnitures edge.
The stop forced Uriels body forward,
jarring a couple of the sheets of paper loose.
They floated down to the desk as he
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attempted to organize the bulk of the reports
in his hand. The young man began to rambleon uncontrollably as he fumbled with his
print outs.
Dr., I mean Colonel, sir. You were right!
Well, at least I think you were! Look! We
changed the system settings in order to
process data scans and we began picking up
Chatter we have never picked up before!
Lieutenant Uriel stopped briefly to gasp for
air when Genesis interrupted him.
Lets slow down for a minute. What was I
right about?
Oh, sorry sir. You idea for us to prioritize
the scanning by data size prompted us to
change system settings. We started
processing the smallest requests but almost
immediately the scanners began picking up
chatter that mentioned old fashioned radio
transmissions. We then turned on an old
scanner and looked for radio transitions just
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to see if we could confirm the chatter. We
found dozens of separate transmissionsalmost instantly! Most of them seemed
harmless; just old timers or illegal
gambling.
Genesis was now slightly intrigued but
growing irritated with the young mans
inability to arrive at his point.
So you rushed into my office and
interrupted me to tell me people are
communicating on old short wave radios?
Yes sir, I mean no, not exactly. You see
there are clearly some rebels using radio
communications to circumvent the
networks.
Let me see!
The young man handed the disheveled stackof report to Genesis. As he sorted though
them it became clear that the rebels had
recently found a way to slip information past
the Zevlon computers. Genesis instantly
came to the realization that this was not
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going to sit well with General Amorah. How
had such a simple method of bypassing thegovernment watchdogs been overlooked?
He knew Amorah would not be happy when
he found out.
As he gathered the papers and prepared that
thank Lieutenant Uriel for a job well done
the Colonels eyes were drawn to the loose
page of the report that had fallen when the
officer bumped into the desk. Genesispicked up the paper and rushed to add it to
the bottom of the stack of reports. Before he
could do so something on the page caught
the Colonels attention. His eyes scanned the
page quickly and it appeared to LieutenantUriel that Genesis was re-reading a section
of the data repeatedly to himself in an
attempt to make some sense of it.
Colonel, what does it say?
Genesis scratched his head before answering
the young officer.
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Temple Abba: 02:00 Hours. The package
will be delivered.
Colonel, thats an old church in the
industrial district, I believe. What do you
think it means?
After a long moment of reflection Genesis
looked up at the young officer and smiled.
It is probably just illegal gambling vice of
some sort. Good work Lieutenant; I amheaded to go see Amorah and will explain
the findings to him. Get back to your station
and have a status report on any potential
chatter in those radio transmissions ready for
my by this afternoon!
Uriel left hurriedly to begin sorting out the
depth and scope of his new discovery.
Genesis gathered the reports and headed to
see General Amorah. The long walk allowed
him time to plan his proactive verbal attack.
He was tired of Amorahs one sided tirades
which generally left him with more
challenges than solutions. Genesiscommitted to himself that, this time, he was
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going to do the talking and Amorah was
going to listen. They needed resources to dotheir jobs. How could we repair computers
with parts from communicators and expect
to be perform as expected? He was fired up
and ready to give the General a piece of his
mind.