Nexus - 0603 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

attacks that have been prophesied for 12,000 years. He believes I defect and get away successfully, others will too. And once that that the only mission worthy of deploying the Labyrinth Group's happens, the mission is compromised and BST may never happen. considerable intellectual power is the development of the ultimate Fifteen and his Directors take their mission very seriously. defensive weapon, or Freedom Key. He's convinced that only the — They are fanatics of the first order, which is both good and bad— Labyrinth Group has a chance to do this before it's too late. good in the sense that they're focused and working hard to devel- You have to remember that the Labyrinth Group consists of 118 op BST; bad in the sense that fanaticism breeds paranoia. humans and approximately 200 Corteum. The intellectual ability My reason for seeking out a journalist like you and sharing this of this group, aligned behind the focused mission of developing knowledge is that I don't want the WingMakers' time capsule to BST before the alien take-over, is truly a remarkable undertaking be locked away from humanity. I think its contents should be that makes the Manhattan Project look like a kindergarten social shared. I think that was their purpose. party in comparison. And perhaps I'm exaggerating a bit for Anne: This will seem like a strange question, but why would effect...but I'm pointing out that Fifteen is leading an agenda that the WingMakers hide their time capsule and then encode its con- is far more critical than anything that has been undertaken in the _ tent in such an extraordinarily complex way if they wanted this to history of humankind. be shared with humanity? Look...if the average citizen had found Anne: So if Fifteen is running his own agenda, and it's just as this time capsule...or even a government laboratory...what's the you say it is, why would you defect from such an organisation? chance they would have been able to decipher it and access the Dr Anderson: The ACIO has a memory implant technology optical disc? that can effectively eliminate selected memories with surgical pre- Dr Anderson: It's not such a strange question, actually. We cision. For example, this technology could eliminate your recall asked it ourselves. It seemed clear to the Labyrinth Group that it of this interview without disrupting any had been the chosen organisation to unlock other memories before or after. You would the optical disc. To answer your question simply sense some missing time perhaps, directly...had the time capsule been discov- but nothing more would be recalled...if that. ered by another organisation, chances are My intuition cautioned me that I was a excellent that its optical disc would never be candidate to have this procedure because of accessed. Somehow, this coincidence—that the behaviours I was exhibiting in deference the time capsule ended up in the hands of the to the WingMakers. In other words, I was | d "k Labyrinth Group—seems to be an orchestrat- believed to be a sympathiser of their culture, on't know ed process. And even Fifteen agreed with philosophy and mission—what I knew of it. who they are, that assessment. 7 ; That made me a potential risk to the project. Anne: So Fifteen felt that the The Labyrinth Group, in a very real sense, but they represent WingMakers had selected the Labyrinth feared its own membership because of their themselves as human Group to decide the fate of the time capsule's enormous intellects and ability to be cun- . content? time-travellers from ning and clever. Dr Anderson: Yes. This imprinted a constant state of the middle part of Anne: Then wouldn't it be reason- the 28th century. paranoia which meant that technology able to assume that Fifteen wanted to was deployed to help ensure compli- learn more about the content of the time ance to the agenda of Fifteen. Most of capsule before he released it to the pub- these technologies were invasive, and lic through the NSA or some other gov- the members of the Labyrinth Group ernment agency? willingly submitted to the invasion in Dr Anderson: No. It's doubtful that order to more effectively cope with the Fifteen would ever release any informa- paranoia. Several months ago I began tion about the Ancient Arrow project to to systematically shut down these inva- anyone outside of the ACIO. He's not sive technologies—in part, to see what one to share information that he feels is the reaction of Fifteen would be, and proprietary to the Labyrinth Group, par- partly because I was tired of the paranoia. ticularly if it has anything to do with BST. As I was doing this, it became obvious to me that the suspicions Anne: So now that you've made these statements, isn't it going were escalating and it was simply a matter of time before they to affect the ACIO? Isn't someone going to ask questions and would ask me to subject myself to memory therapy. What I had start poking around, looking for answers? learned from the WingMakers' time capsule is not something I Dr Anderson: Perhaps. But I know too much about their want to forget. I don't want to give this information up. It has security systems, and there's no way that a political inquiry will become a central part of what I believe and how I want to live out find them. And there's no way the secret network of organisations my life. I mentioned earlier could exert any influence over them: they're Anne: Couldn't you have simply defected and not sought out a completely indebted to the ACIO for technologies that permit journalist who will want to get this story out? I mean, couldn't them to manipulate economic markets. They—the ACIO and you have simply gone to an island and lived out your life and Labyrinth Group—are, as I said before, untouchable. Their only never disclosed the existence of the Labyrinth Group and the concern will be defection...the loss of intellectual capital. WingMakers? Anne: What effect will your defection have on the ACIO or Dr Anderson: You don't understand...the Labyrinth Group is the Labyrinth Group? untouchable. They have no fears about what I divulge to the Dr Anderson: Very little. Most of my contributions with media. Their only concern is the terrible precedence of defection. respect to the time capsule have been completed. There are some I'm the first. No one has ever left before. And their fear is that if | other projects having to do with encryption technologies that I l don't know who they are, but they represent themselves as human the middle part of the 28th century. APRIL — MAY 1999 NEXUS - 47 time-travellers from