Trellis Page 16

  She couldn’t help but remember back on Trellis being taught all her tactical defense classes, computer tech, and devise operational classes she had. They were training her, no doubt, for more than she was doing now.

  At Trellis, one of the youngest teachers she had taught her class on technical training and advanced circuit boards systems, Simon Flidman, he was a highly intelligent, backwards thinking, dry humored individual that annoyed Dr. Salvaggi. A tall thin guy that wore glasses and fit to a T every joke you ever heard about a nerd. He was the walking poster boy for every Silicone Valley web startup company out there and had an over hyper personality that drove the great Doctor Salvaggi nuts. His fast-paced personality and witty speech was just as busy as his clothing choices, plaid ‘slacks’ and cotton superhero shirts with high-top multicolored shoes. She was taught by the smartest and brightest mind out there, his wardrobe choice discernably, did not matter to him.

  No expense was spared on her education. Well, thinking it was just for her education would be wrong, more of —no expense spared in furthering the operations and experiments of Trellis. Most of the average rooms on the island were not high-tech but a few of the buildings were. The computer lab where Simon taught was one of the high-tech secured buildings. The computer lab they had at Trellis was probably the most advanced on the planet. Only a few people were allowed in and out of the lab and even then, they had to go through an eye and fingerprint recognition alarm system. The place the island had was a playground for Simon, and from what she gathered the only reason he took the job at Trellis. Every advance in technology was there. Toys, in every computer-sense of the word.

  Being around Simon exposed her to many of his thoughts. He was a complex individual and she never really could quite put her finger on it, but she had a crush on him. Silly as it was, she didn’t even understand it herself, but she tried harder in his class than she did in any other one she had. She never wanted to disappoint him. He was normally quiet and reserved until she would finally accomplish something she was having trouble with and he would think in his mind, “Good job! I knew she could do it!” Of course, he rarely spoke accolades aloud to her, but she knew he respected her.

  He taught her many things over the years at Trellis and the one thing that stood out the most was never to look at a problem one way. There was always a ‘fix’ and if she couldn’t find a fix then she needed to start at square one, again.

  When she left Trellis she found out that Simon had also left Trellis soon after. He had went to California and started a company, an exceptionally successful Fortune 500 company that she read about every now and then. Simon seemed happy and he was now married with two children. Someday D would love to see him again, to thank him for never giving up on her when she wanted to give up on herself. After what had happened to Treeny, she never crossed any boundary with Simon by showing Dr. Salvaggi a friendship had grown, even if it was just in her mind.

  She had wondered many times what Simon would have agreed to do for Trellis to let him go freely. Whatever it was, you can bet Dr. Salvaggi still had an eye and quite possibly a thumb on Simon’s new technology that he had developed. It may look like Simon had a normal life but she was sure that was far from the case.

  Taking a deep breath, she tried to push Simon out of her memories. If she was going to be on the road next week, she should probably head to the store and get some actual food. She looked down and noticed she had her sweatpants on and decided that they will do for her late evening out shopping for groceries.

  Chapter Thirteen~

  Back at Trellis’ cafeteria plates clattered against the metal rails as a line of children pushed through the food procession. There were men and women behind the counter doling out pre-weighted amounts of food in each food slot, yet, these cooks never made eye contact with the recipients of the food. In the corner stood a tall thin man with brown short hair and glasses that hung from a button hole on his white doctor’s jacket. He held a tray with little plastic cups containing a mixture of colored candy pills in each. The children finished eating their food, then carried the trays back up to the deposit center, the medical assistant administered a cup full of the colorful pills to each, making sure they swallowed the medication by inspecting their mouths while they held their tongues out at him.

  Then the children were shuffled among different classrooms to begin that day’s schooling. Every day of the week, they met in these classrooms unless there was a hurricane or tropical storm headed towards the island. On those days, they were corralled in crowded, hot underground bunkers.

  In the classrooms, the children were graded on compliance and academic achievement with the language that they had been assigned for their life. Then a few hours a day were spent in another classroom being bombarded with loyalty exercises to Trellis. In what could only be called an initiation ceremony with the younger children, one of these brainwashing sessions ended with a hot metal iron in the shape of feathered wings that were burned on the children’s lower abdomen.

  Once the initiation was a success, the children moved to other areas of the island. Some areas were stricter than others. Depending on what each child was being raised for determined where they ended up. Some were being grown to adulthood to infiltrate other governments or sent on a project for a political agenda to change laws or public opinion. Ghastly acts that could be achieved to either focus attention on a subject or take attention off of another. Whenever one of Trellis’ clones was sent out on a ‘project’ they would not be returning. Almost all the brainwashed clones were expendable in this particular compound of Trellis, but there were many more.

  Dr. Salvaggi would visit regularly and make his assessments on which subjects he would operate on or new ideas he would implement on encoding individuals with intricate training for upcoming projects. Neither decision was a winner for the patient. Winding up on Dr. Salvaggi’s operating table usually ended in death, which would have been welcomed in light of what awaited them once they left the island, of course the clones didn’t know that. They thought they were the ‘chosen one’ to be handpicked by Dr. Salvaggi. Once acquired for a project for a particular country or political party, a Trellis clone would complete the mission and if the chosen clone was not killed in the process, the guard that accompanied them would kill them with no remorse, on site. Usually adult clones were hired to carry out projects. Recently the need for clone children to carry out missions was growing in popularity.

  A younger medical assistant named Maury Black walked up to Dr. Salvaggi who was standing behind a long narrow window the length of the cafeteria watching the children move along the lunch line. Dr. Salvaggi was taking notes as usual and paid him little attention.

  “Dr. Salvaggi, the test subject that we are sending to the States is exhibiting signs of paranoia. I am not sure that this is such a good objective for the future of Trellis. If a reporter notices the odd behavior at the Fort Knox project, we may have a situation on our hands. It is a particularly risky deployment and if D catches on to what we are trying to do...” He stood there pleading with Dr. Salvaggi a little longer before Dr. Salvaggi raised his hands motioning the man to be silent.

  Dr. Salvaggi finished writing his thoughts down and motioned with his long pointy finger for one of his staff members in the cafeteria that he had picked a human subject to be his next guinea pig. The attendant rushed to the line of children and quickly moved the young boy to another room of the compound only to be whisked off to be prepared for intricate neurosurgery in a highly advanced section of the island. A segment of the island surprisingly few workers ever saw.

  The doctor then raised his heavy glasses off his nose and rubbed his eyelids, no doubt infuriated at being questioned. He placed the thick glasses back on his rigid face and sharply communicated in his deep Italian accent to the young medical assistant Maury Black dressed in a doctor’s coat himself, “If I thought that the subject couldn’t handle this project at Fort Knox I wouldn’t take the chance. The States have had D long e
nough. I have abided by what they have asked thus far, but I am done. She is my greatest work and I will not hand her over indefinitely. Other countries have expressed interest and if I do not move now they might. Who knows where she could wind up? And if Coughlin sees fit to get in the way, he will be removed at all costs.” Then with only the authority of a mad scientist, he threatened the concerned ill-equipped assistant standing in front of him. “If you question my plan again, you will find yourself on my operating table. I guarantee you won’t ever speak again.”

  The young assistant looked down at the floor wondering why he agreed to come and work on this island. How he was ever roped in to this program was now a replaying question over and over again in his mind. He knew he would only get off the island now if he proved his worth on the outside as some of the other doctors, scientists and tech people had done in the past. There have been few workers to make it off the island, and he wondered if his turn would ever come.

  Maury Black started to walk away back to his lab when Dr. Salvaggi issued one more warning, “Coughlin has been showing signs of detrimental digression of the cornea. The light UV pulses we have been using on him are having less and less of an affect. Without being able to block those conversation areas of his brain from D, we will be at risk from only one person— D herself. In addition, if she realizes what is going on, we may opening ourselves up for a retaliation of great proportion. We have created a beast whether she has tapped in to that part of her mind or not, it is there hiding, waiting. The normalcy we have programmed in her may subside. There was not enough data taken to know how long her habitual routines would hold on her. We knew she would cultivate a personality and eventually escape and I planned accordingly, but she escaped from the Island sooner than expected before all the sequenced data was programmed. All she feels now is a need to be loyal to the government, and do what is asked. Feeling as if she is in control and has free will is important to the health of her cooperation. She has had more programming than any other human subject that Trellis has ever created. Therefore, if you value your position here… or even your life, you need to come up with another alternative to block Coughlin’s thoughts from D. He could send her straight to us, and not on our terms. She will only deal with him, which leaves us abnormally little choice, at least for the next few days.”

  Chapter Fourteen~

  The heavy round woman behind the wooden counter stood up as D entered the western themed room. Horseshoes and copper tin cacti tacked up on every wall with thick rope lining the walls where a chair rail would normally go. By the woman’s thoughts D knew she was wondering why a young woman like D would be out here on her own. The campground she chose sat off the beaten path and far enough away from Fort Knox’s snooping agents or possible Trellis clones as she could be and still be close enough to access easily. She had already checked this place out a few months ago when she was procured for this assignment. Of course, this kind campground lady did not remember her.

  D asked her for the most secluded section of the campground, placed the thought that she was a family of four in the lady’s head, and D and her family were on a nature vacation with the kiddos. With it being so late in the camping season there were few campers set up. A few of the old-timers with their colony of retired travelers have hitched their wagon train of fancy campers in a row near the entrance. No doubt, they will be there until the first forecast of expected snow, then, will head their retired-wagon train further south.

  As she settled in the spot she would be calling home tonight, she couldn’t help but wonder if Coughlin or any one from the island had ever thought about looking at area campgrounds when searching for her? She knew they would never suspect she would be traveling in a van/camper and staying isolated away from the public like this. It really had been one of her better hiding venues, she thought as a smirk stretched across her face.

  Tomorrow morning she would have a briefing at the Federal Building inside the Fort Knox base. This was when Coughlin would explain the whole reason she was here, although the news media had been painting a good picture of what was expected. She presumed she would be placing thoughts in the spectator’s minds of rooms filled with millions of gold bullion bricks stacked to the ceiling. Tomorrow morning she would also be able to speak to the people being duped by the government. She hoped there would be no obstruction when placing these false thoughts and picture transferences in their minds. Being able to pinpoint difficulty with anyone that was going to be in the gold depository with them tomorrow afternoon was imperative. For instance if they were thinking thoughts in another language like Mr. Zhao, or for some odd reason she couldn’t read their mind like she couldn’t read Colin Banks when he interrogated her. Doubtful, though.

  Thinking about Agent Banks made her realize that she hadn’t checked on him today. Not being able to read Banks’ thoughts made him a threat, yet she couldn’t help but feel he could help her. She pulled up a few screens on her laptop, initiated a sequence of password entries and the view of his dimly lit spare bedroom/office popped up. Nothing. She wondered if he made it back from whatever outing he had this weekend. If she hadn’t caught, the two agents Saturday morning spying on him she would have been able to find out a little more about where he spent the weekend.

  She closed the computer and moved to her bed area a few feet away above the driver and passenger seat. D’s sleeper/camper/van whatever you would call it, wasn’t large but big enough for a long period of stay when she was on a project. The RV-camper was longer than a normal van with a raised roof for headroom inside. A petite bathroom and shower stall was in a boxed off area, across from that was a miniature fridge and microwave with a cabinet. In the back of the van was a compartment for her motorcycle. Of course, for good measure the van was also bulletproof which cost an arm and a leg but worth it.

  Never had an animal attacked the camper but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen and bears were a common problem this far back in the woods. D normally didn’t indorse herself carrying weapons knowing how she could AND had taken a life in the past with one, but she had a small pistol holstered on her hip in case the gun was needed. If it was one thing she knew, animals hated her for some reason. She was not taking chances on this trip.

  She took a large map of the area that she had marked in different highlighter colors and unfolded it across her white down comforter on her bed. With a red highlighter marker, she began to scrutinize the different routes in and out of the area. She had been studying it for a while now but nothing actually beat driving on the actual roads and getting use to the topography in an actual vehicle. Which she did a few months ago and will try to do early in the morning again. The region where Fort Knox was located had a lot of wavy back roads and unmapped areas that her GPS was unaware of, which may make things more difficult in a case where she had to flee quickly. While driving around the area today she was sure she had a somewhat good feel on the accessible channels of the surrounding roads to the base.

  She folds the map and decides to call it a night even though it was early. She rummages through the groceries she brought, snacked on a few items, and picked up her mess.

  Tomorrow she would pull her hair up taut in a ponytail until she reached the base then she would let it down, being able to hide her face behind the flowing long hair calmed her for some reason. It may be excess but she could never be too cautious when being the most sought after informational weapon in the world.

  The silver wristwatch she had contrived for this project would make any spy agency salivate. She had two small tracking devices that could be dispensed easily tucked in the watch, that with any luck will be planted on a Trellis clone or their guards. That is if she could get close enough and escape with her life. She knew it may not be needed, but she wanted to be prepared.

  She had a drop-point for the motorcycle she had scouted a pizzeria about six miles from the base. She would park the motorcycle there, commandeer someone’s thoughts, and have them drive her to the base. She would do the sa
me on her way back to the bike, after many stops along the way making sure she was not being followed- depending on how smoothly the mission went. She was getting sick of the cat and mouse games she played for her own safety, she wished she could tell the US government ‘No’. Thinking about turning them down physically made her ill, even though she knew they would love to see her locked up in a cell and used at their disposal. How could she turn her back on her own country when they needed her? Where did this sense of patriotism come from, at Trellis she never even heard the name USA used as a country. She thought the name ‘American language’ was just a class she had to take. She had to keep telling herself it wasn’t her country, still she had a strong urge to stand up for America. Why?

  Chapter Fifteen~

  She arrived at the base with her female ‘seized, willing driver’ she picked up at a gas station; they pulled up to a booth at the admission’s gate with armed guards. Coughlin never gave her instructions on how to actually get on the secured army base, assuming he thought she would do what she always did- manipulation. They slow down, a lady walked to the driver side window, she reached for something that wasn’t there, reads the imaginary ID, and motioned for them to enter, and they pass. Easy minds, so far, D hoped the whole day continued that way.