2085 by Alejandro Volnié Read Free Book Online

elimination of the deserter we will immediately replace him. All procedures shall be punctiliously executed as stated in the manual. The Internal Security Central has started from Thursday night the routine suitable in these cases. The subject will be reinserted next week, as the reserve body won’t get to its maturity point until then. Pertinent information must be published in order to justify his absence during this week. No need to remind you that this is a matter of utmost priority. You should not circulate any information through the internal system nor discuss out of this room anything said about the case. We will conduct a follow up meeting every day of this week at four in the afternoon, starting today. This meeting has concluded.”
    The leader stood up and left the room. The rest of the attendees did the same not breaking the silence. The clock on the back wall did not read 9:10 yet.
     
    At that same time Lucy was returning from her morning walk. This was her fourth day at the clinic and she was feeling great. So far she had been treated wonderfully. She had been told how her husband had stumbled and fallen down, ending with a fractured skull. She knew that while he was out of danger, some of his brain functions had become limited. The situation was not serious, but he should remain at this specialized clinic until modern medical techniques made him achieve a full recovery. At the same time, she should provide several mental backups to help rebuild the short-term memory loss of his partner.
    She h eeded the call without hesitation. She was happy to be of help on her husband’s recovery. She would go back home next Saturday and await the return of her man, scheduled for Sunday afternoon. By then he would be fully recovered from the mishap.
     
    At the headquarters of the Internal Security Central the specialist on human source files reconstruction was working busily.
    Modify ing the information in a mental backup was a task bearing a high level of complexity. First of all, it was necessary to find the ideas that had overtaken the subject’s willpower and immediately neutralize them. This was, in itself, the most demanding portion of the procedure, and would take care of most of the available time. Then, essential memories had to be replanted to let the subject resume its activities, providing the missing history between the time of the most recently stored backup and the moment of replacement, plus the artificial memory of the alleged accident that would explain his absence to other people. The result should be a new version of the executive, this time fail proof, and it was mandatory that everything was ready by the following Friday. So was stated in the program made by the leader.
     
    Inside a ruined chapel nestled in a distant forest, surrounded by high cliffs and deep gorges, the embers of the fire on which a coffee cup lay empty still smoked whimsically.
    After speeding to the neighboring town, some 125 miles away from his own, this unlikely hermit left his car to take the bullet train to his next stop in a mining center.
    According to his calculations, it would be by then when the alarm for his absence would be issued.
    He had managed to get a three hour lead, which he had seized to put 250 miles of distance between himself and his pursuers .
      He lost no time to walk across the the bustling station’s hall, hiding from the crowd that rushed to and from the platform.
    On weekend afternoons, activity significantly increased at this place, making it easier to pass by unnoticed. This town’s trendy mine was owned by a rival corporation, so security personnel at this point would not receive the alert to look for him.
    He exited the station and headed towards the outskirts of the village. He was dressing like a hiker, which prevented him from attracting people’s attention as he looked just like dozens of others who wandered the streets in that place. The route he had planned began at a path just at the