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The Controllers

By ~ Lori Cox
Completed 4/26/00  

Modern Technology has come a long way.  But now they have thought of something better and I am directly affected by it.  I am the military's new weapon.  My story begins about a year ago.  I had just finished my junior year of high school, and trying to enjoy my summer.  I had plans on going on a few trips and seeing some guys and all.  My father, a navy general insisted that I go to the base with him every day to convince me how great a military career could be.  My worst and most boring subject is Social Sciences.  I hate the military and anything political.  He was my father, though, and I had to obey him.  So the next Monday would start what I thought would the most boring summer I would ever have.

            It started on the first Monday I went with my father to the base. We went to his office and he showed me and lectured me about military strategy.  I was pretty bored until he showed me the computer simulations.  He showed me some neat things and I asked if I could play with them.  He was excited that I was even interested and let me at it.  I just saw it as a game.

            After about 15 minutes, he was called to a meeting, and I barely knew he left.  I had “beat” the simulation after a couple hours.  I strategized and programmed my way out of any situation it threw at me.  I did this with every simulation program my father had on his computer.

            My dad walked in as I was opening up the last one I had found.  I looked at his face.  It was a cross of surprise and pride and dread.  I looked at him.  He was a tall man with meat on his bones, but not too much.  His stern eyes surveyed me.  I sat unsure what to do.  “Daddy?” 

            He sighed, “Emmy, why didn’t you tell me you were so interested in computers?”

            I was a bit puzzled, “Well, it never came up.  Why?”

            He walked closer and nodded toward the screen, “The simulations you were “playing” were watched and recorded by our chief networkers.  The General happened to be there and saw how quickly you processed programs and got yourself out of situations that men with years of training were unable to do.”

            I laughed, “Maybe they should think of it as a game.”  I frowned when I realized he wasn’t laughing.

            “We have been looking for someone for a specific project, but they had to be very fluent in computers.  The General suggested we use you, but I don’t think so.”

            I got excited at this time, “Well?  What is it?”

            “It doesn’t matter.”

            “Please!  Let me know what you don’t want me to do!”

            “Well, the General is going to make you do it anyway.  They are going to do a surgery on your brain to make it hold certain files and data.  All top secret and no one would think it would be in a human brain.”

            I laughed, “Oh sure dad!  You’ve seen some crazy movie haven’t you?”

            He frowned, “No.  Its dangerous and I don’t want them to use you like that.”

            Well, next thing I know I’m laying on an operating table.  I’m scared to death, but this project is important for some reason.  I have no choice.  I am my dad’s daughter and therefore our family belongs to the military.  Tears of fear roll down my green eyes.  My auburn hair has been shaved off.  They told me that my brain was exposed, and I nearly choked.  As they worked, strange things happened in my body.  They said as they touched certain parts, some of my body would tingle or move.  They put me to sleep as they began putting me back together.

            I woke up in a bed with a turban wrapped around my head.  They had me asleep long enough for it to heal.  I had been asleep and liquid fed for a week.  When I sat up my father, the general, and the doctor were there.  The doctor took off the bandage, and I heard my dad and the general speaking, but I was busy figuring out why I felt strange.  My head itched a bit.  “Can I scratch my head?”

            The doctor nodded and as I scratched I got to the base of my skull and felt something like seams.  “What’s this?”

            The doctor felt where my had was and said matter of factly, “The access port.”

            “The what?”

            “You can hook up to any computer and transfer data and files.”

            I was really confused now and very frightened and all I could think of doing was crying, “Daddy!”

            My dad held me as I wept, “What’s going on!”

            He looked at the General and the general spoke, “You are a special bio-virtual agent.  You will be used to transfer top-secret information.  You can also be used as a processor.  Well, your brain.  We won’t ever use that unless absolutely necessary.  As you will learn, it will cause discomfort as your brain performs work as a computer.”

            I stared at my dad. He had tears in his eyes, “Its for our country.”  He got up and left as the General explained that I would have to go through training.  I finished High School at the Pentagon and an accelerated college program allowing me to graduate with a bachelors in 2 and a half years.  The half year because I wanted to take some extra course I wasn’t required to.  I had not seen my family or friends at this time.  I had not left the Pentagon since that day my father left me in the hands of the General and his men.

            I was meeting with the General and I stared out at the wall.  There were no windows in this place.  I said something I wanted to say since I was there at age 16.  “I had my license only a month before I was brought here.  I am now 21.  I have not seen anything of nature aside from the arboretum since I was 16.”

            He had been rambling on about some mission that failed long ago because the papers were lost and the wrong person found them and how that now we have this new program and me that that is no longer a problem.  He stopped when I started talking, “Well.  It is time for your first assignment anyway, so you will see it soon enough.”

            Within a month I had been briefed and sent off.  They had gave me a new identity, address, everything.  I was now Maria Castro.  I own a pottery business.  That was the extra class I took.  They decided to use my hobby as a cover.  They had already had my life pre-processed.  I had groceries in the refrigerator, the house was fully furnished, and I had a few customers.  There were a couple days before my meeting with the first data transfer so I worked on my clients pottery.  I decided to work in the garage with the garage door open.  For once I could sit and look out into the suburban world and feel a wonderful breeze I’d missed for 5 years.

            I was concentrating on the pottery so I nearly jumped when I looked up and saw a small boy and girl watching me.  “Hello.  Where are you from?”

            The little girl hid behind her brother and her brother spoke, “Next door.”

            Just then a tall man came running up and looked at me a bit embarrassed, “Sorry.  I can’t turn my back for a moment.”

            I laughed, “It’s alright.  They were just watching me.  Quiet little ones.”

            He smiled relieved.  “I’m Ebbon.  This is Joyce and Luke.”

            I stood and shook his hand, “Nice to meet you.  I’m Maria.”

            He looked at the pot I was making, “That’s beautiful.”

            We got into a conversation about pottery and all and the conversation got more personal and I found I had a friend.  It’s been a long time since I made a friend like this.  The kids were playing and I looked at the clock.  “Would you all like to have lunch?”

            We went out to lunch and then dinner.  Ebbon and I just totally clicked, and I hadn’t had someone to really talk to in awhile and he had lost his wife a few years ago.  Of course I couldn’t tell him EVERYTHING.  At dinner after the kids went to bed and I helped him clean his kitchen he said, “We have told each other a lot over the day.  Things that usually take years of building trust, but your holding something back still.”

            I frowned and looked at him, “Please just know, that I would tell you if there was anyway I could.  And I really wish I could.”

            He nodded.  I said goodnight and promised that I’d to the park with him and the kids that weekend.

            The next afternoon I was in the office of a local bank.  Well in the far back there is something more.  The man finally came in.  “So you are the transferor?”

            I nodded.  He sat and turned on his computer.  I opened my small case and removed the cord.  It had a normal USB port that would hook to any computer.  The connection that goes into my head is a very special connector. I handed him the USB end and he plugged it in.  I asked him to get the file ready that he wanted to transfer.  I plugged the other end into my head and told him to open the directory tree.  There was a new drive automatically installed.  It’s an advanced type of Plug and Play.  It does everything without intervention from the user.  Therefore they may not even know.  I closed my eyes knowing what would come.  As the data transferred a burning sensation went throughout my whole head and pressure built up.  When the burning stopped I knew that the transfer was finished.  There was too much pressure in this though.  The general had only tested 1 gig of information.  This was over 1 gig.  My head began to really hurt and my face clenched and my eyes watered.  When the transfer was finished I had a migraine and it wouldn’t go away until I dumped the data somewhere.  That was a month away, when the dignitaries from Sweden came.  I opened my eyes.  I was pretty irritable and blurted, “All that better be important.”

            He opened his mouth wide and I grabbed the cable and put it away and stood weakly to leave.

            That night I called the General and he made the “special” pharmacy make a super pain killer.  Since I was in this thing, I discovered that there are a lot of things that we citizens can have but the government is hiding it.  I normally boycott this stuff, but I was in pain.

            That weekend I went with Ebbon and the kids to the park.  I still had a minor headache but I wanted to go to the park where we would take a nature walk.  I could finally touch all the plants I had studied about again. 

            That night Ebbon and I stayed in his living room to watch a movie.  I went to his kitchen to make popcorn as he searched around his video library.  I stepped at the doorway waiting for it to pop and saw Ebbon sitting on the floor by the TV staring at the video box.  He looked like he was deeply concentrating on something.  “Ebbon?  Are you alright?”

            Ebbon looked at me, “I should have asked you this before…, “ he shook his head as if he didn’t mean to say that, “Are you a Christian?”

            I had studied Christianity and a person name Jesus, but I never really thought much about it, “No.  I don’t claim to be.”

            Ebbon sighed sadly, “Do you know Christ?”

            “I know who He was.”

            “Is.  He lives forever.  I want you to see this video.  It wasn’t what I intended, but God spoke to me when I saw this, so anyway.”

            He put the tape in.  It was a movie about Christ’s life and his death and resurrection.  When it was over, Ebbon looked at me.

            And I sighed patiently, “Ebbon, I knew all that.  What did you expect to happen when I seen this?”

            Ebbon looked down.  “Because He did that for you.  If you were the only person, He would die for you so you can have eternal life.”

            Ebbon knew I was educated and all, but I just couldn’t see what he wanted me to see, “I don’t understand what you expect here.”

            “I expect that God will touch your heart and you will eventually accept Jesus as your Lord.”

            “My Lord?  Ebbon, I have the whole…”  I was going to say the whole military controlling me but I couldn’t.  “Listen Ebbon, why do I need someone to rule my life.  My life is all worked out.  I am even finding love.”  I had hoped he took the hint.   

            He did, “So am I.  But it can’t happen.  I want to spend time with you, but it can’t be more than a friendship.”

            I was hurt, “Why?”

            “I can’t be with someone who serves a different master.”

            I understood what he meant.  I wanted to serve someone other than the General but how could I?   If I don’t serve him, my life would be miserable.  I would soon learn what I was missing.

            Ebbon talked me into going to church with him the next Sunday.  We walked in the church and there were so many people.  I had never seen so many people in one place.  We got in the auditorium and suddenly music started and we started singing.  Well I didn’t.  I looked up and saw words on a screen but they didn’t mean anything to me.  Then after all the prayer and all, the preacher got up and started.

            “Many people are missing out on a wonderful, joyous adventure.  As in any adventure, the choice to live for Christ alone is a dangerous one, but the rewards are eternal…”

            He kept talking about that basically the whole sermon and I listened intently.  I have not been a very happy person since this whole thing.  I was totally taken control by this government.  Now this man was saying if I give that control to Jesus I would be happy.  I didn’t want anyone to have control over my life.  In the car, I told Ebbon what I was thinking, “Ebbon, I want to control my own life.”

            “Do you really think you have the wisdom to do that Maria?”

            I was shocked at his boldness and my cheeks got hot and I turned angrily.

            He chuckled, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.  I just want you to see that my God is a Big Almighty God and He knows the best for you and loves you.”

            Well Ebbon kept feeding me all this, and when the time came to see the Swedes, I was considering it.  I didn’t have time to think on it too much, the headache made me physically sick and by the time I was on the road to the meeting place I was near passing out.  When I walked in the room I had enough strength to get to the chair and plop down and whisper, “Let’s get this over with.”  I pulled out the cord and hooked up and opened the drive and dragged the files over to their main drive.  The burning was so intense and the headache was worsening, that when the transfer was over I was barely able to move.  I sat for a moment. 

            The dignitary got impatient, “Are you finished?”

            I slightly nodded.

            “Then leave!”

            I couldn’t move.  The dignitary pulled a dagger and put it to my temple, “Leave or I will kill you.”

I found energy to speak, “I am too weak.  Please let me rest a while.”

He looked at me and laughed and motioned to his men, “Then they will drag your limp weak body out to an alley to rest.”

And they did, so I lay in an alley for a long time.  I was still incredibly weak, but if I stayed there I would die.  I got up and leaning against a wall made my way to a phone.  I dialed Ebbon’s number and when he picked up I spoke weakly, “Ebbon…Help.”

He seemed confused, “Maria?  Where are you?”

“Near some bookstore and a bunch of restaurants.”

“The strip mall.  I’ll be right there.”

I hung up and fell.  I used a lot of energy making it to the phone.  I shut my eyes and next thing I know I’m opening my eyes in a hospital room with Ebbon pacing.  He saw me and walked over, “Your feeling better right?”

Before I could nod he went off, “There were some odd men in here last night.  I was in the bathroom, but they didn’t know it and I came out and saw them messing with some machine over your brain.  They knocked me out.  I looked in your purse and found a strange USB cable.  I looked at your head to make sure they didn’t do any damage and found a strange mark on the back of it that matches the cord.  What’s going on?”

I sighed and told him the whole story, and I ended with, “That is the reason why I can’t serve anyOne else.”

He was crying and put a hand on my face, “God will protect you from them.  He protected many people.”

I was crying now too, “Ebbon, God spoke to me while I was out.  He told me I didn’t have to do this.  I can cut myself off from them and be I, Emmy.  I can find my father and forgive him.  Ebbon, He let me see how UN-miserable it would be.  Its hell working for the General.  And I know I can’t lead my own life.  So I really only have one choice, don’t I?  I want Christ to control my life.  He HAS to do a better job than the General.”

So then and there I accepted Christ as my Savior.  I couldn’t find my father because he had killed himself.  I went to my old hometown and an old neighbor had told me he was so guilt stricken that he couldn’t take it anymore.  I mourned for a few days and visited his grave.  I went back and went straight to Ebbon’s house.  He was in the backyard.  I hollered across the fence, “Hi!  I’m Emmy, your neighbor!”

He looked up confused and a big smile came on his face.  He asked me in and after we had sat down he asked,  “Emmy?”

“Yes, they had my name changed for security reasons.”

He laughed, “Well I had been wanting to ask Maria something, but Emmy will do.”

Ebbon asked me to be his fiancé.  He said he knew God wanted us together, but he wouldn’t even set a date until God told him.  Another thing I learned.  Its God’s timing not ours.  And God had perfect timing.  It was the most beautiful wedding.