Collective Mind (35 page)

“Pellegrini’s
flying in late this evening and he worries me too. Who knows… What if we were
wrong about him after all?” Isaac continued. “I think Pascal ought to leave
before he appears, just to be on the safe side.”

“Makes
sense,” Bikie said. “What do you say, Pascal?”

“I
don’t want to leave. But Isaac has a point,” Pascal agreed. “Who is the
Japanese woman?”

“A
long story, I’ll tell you later. I’m worried that Link isn’t thinking about
escape routes. Or maybe he is, just not telling us. I also noticed that his Red
Beard has not come either,” Isaac continued sharing his concerns.

 “And
what if he has thought about us?” asked Bikie.

“That’s
fine. Pascal will think about him too. And if something happens, we’ll have two
getaway plans in place. Will you give it some thought?”

“Yes,
of course. But how will the Professor fly out without me, Isaac?”

“Don’t
worry. Leaving America is far easier than getting into it.”

So
they settled on that. Having left the museum, they went to the hotel, where
Pascal packed his things and went to the airport. Isaac remembered to call
Wolanski. He didn’t feel like it, but he couldn’t put it off any longer. The
commissioner was due to arrive soon. Isaac had to warn Peter, just in case. The
phone they bought for Pascal was perfectly okay for that.

“Peter,
sorry to wake you,” Isaac said in response to Wolanski’s sleepy “Hello?” “What
hotel are you in?”

“The
Armani,” Peter replied. “Call me.”

Isaac
quickly found the number on the internet, called it and asked to be put through
to Peter Wolanski’s room. The front-desk receptionist hesitated, explaining
that it was a late night in Dubai.

“Don’t
worry, he’s expecting my call,” Isaac assured her.

Two
rings and Peter answered the phone.

“Listen,
Peter. My old childhood friend, who became a Veggie, is doing just fine, but
what came up is that there is sort of a side effect: he doesn’t remember a damn
thing as if he had been sleeping for two years. But the two of us got a certain
persnickety individual all steamed up. In short, he got too close to us. It
would take too long to explain, but the point is, he had to spend a couple of
days as our reluctant guest”.

“What?
– Peter’s voice broke down to groaning – Fuck…”

And
he hung up. Isaac dialed his number again, but there was no answer.

In
fifteen minutes Wolanski called back.

“Isaac,
we hadn’t agreed on it this way! You shouldn’t have dragged me into this, guys.
And now this…”

“Wait,
Peter!” Isaac snapped.

“It’s
all good. Don’t shit your pants, man. This guy is for us now!  Moreover, we
know now,  we are sure, that they are all like that. It’s like a coma. So
everything we are doing is right. After speaking with my friend, this pesky
guest changed his mind and he is now going to help us…voluntarily. However, I’m
not entirely sure how far we can trust him, so now I’ve warned you just in
case. I’m sorry, we were working for you and we pulled these messy stunts in
your house. You didn’t know anything,” Isaac added, just to be sure in case
someone was listening.

“I,
I… sorry guys, but you are fired,” said quick-witted Wolanski in an icy, but
still trembling voice. “And there’s something else very important! Make sure
you call me before… Call me a day before! Don’t forget. Now you’re sacked, Mr.
Leroy,” – and Peter hung up again.

“Thank
you, Mr. Wolanski. Sorry, again,” Isaac mumbled automatically and looked at his
watch: the second conversation took 57 seconds.

He
felt that Peter apparently wanted to say something. “He’s probably scared,” he
thought, smiling to himself. “Although he’s quite a brave man. Brave enough to
overcome his blind fear. It’s just that he’s still very young and has never
come across a real danger in his respectable life”. He wasn’t angry with Peter
for freaking out; you can’t ask too much from people. Having finally told him
about Pellegrini, Isaac felt relieved. Peter didn’t call back.

***

That
evening Pellegrini arrived and moved into the hotel next door. He might be
their ally, but a certain mutual dislike still lingered after his kidnapping.
However, that was a minor detail compared with the fact that he kept his word:
he had not betrayed them and came to help.

Isaac
went to see him at the hotel. They greeted each other and went down to the bar.

“What
are the plans?” the commissioner enquired.

“Tomorrow
we are going to the site. The goal is to get into a conference that is taking
place there in two days,” Isaac replied briefly. “The server’s in the basement.
We have to get to it.”

“OK,
I get it. When are we going?”

“At
eleven. So there’ll be plenty of visitors around.”

“I
see. Until tomorrow then. At 10.30 here in the lobby.”

“And
here, take this,” said Isaac, handing the commissioner a local phone.

The
commissioner nodded and walked to the elevator, stretching his back.

He
obviously didn’t fly the Concorde, or in business class. “That’s a government
employee’s business trip for you,” Isaac thought in sympathy as he watched the
brass doors close.

Tomorrow
arrived and the plotters walked into the Guggenheim again.

Pellegrini
hung back at the entrance. Once inside, he went straight to the head of house
security and introduced himself, saying that he worked in the police department
in Paris and collaborated closely with UNICOMA.

“I’m
on leave here and I found out this interesting conference was taking place,”
Pellegrini went straight to the point. “Could you please help me, as a
colleague, get into it?”

“Of
course,” the head of security replied with a beaming white smile. “I’ll give
you a guest pass. Here you are.”

Pellegrini
thanked him, examined the pass without giving away the disappointment: that was
not exactly what he wanted. No chip, no magnetic strip. He obviously could not
get into the basement with that.

“Tell
me, I have another question,” he continued, mangling the words slightly in the
French manner. “Can I take a look at the list of speakers?”

“Certainly.
Over there,” said the American, pointing towards a square table. “Pick up the
program. Only don’t take it away, it’s my last one.”

A
stroke of luck this time. A double one. Firstly, the head of security obviously
was not curious and did not ask questions why Pellegrini wanted the list. And
secondly, the sponsors of the conference were listed on the program, including
a five-star hotel. For the first time in ages, Pellegrini was able to use a
detective’s most important skill: a good memory. He memorized several names and
the name of the hotel where these scientists would be staying for the next
three days. To be on the safe side, so that the American would understand why
he had wanted to look at the list, Pellegrini muttered: “Oh, Dr. Cohen decided
to come after all, wonderful! I definitely must listen to his talk. You are
really helpful. I am most grateful.”

“You
can take a photo of the program on your cell phone. So you won’t forget
anything,” the head of security suggested.

“That’s
even better!” said the commissioner, giving him a broad smile.

When
he found Isaac and Bikie, Pellegrini only showed them his pass for the
conference. He decided to tell them the rest later.

“Excuse
me, you were here yesterday!” a pretty girl in a white uniform caught up with
Isaac. “Have you decided to get your level measured after all? The stand is
over here on the right, you almost walked past it.”

“Good
guess,” Isaac gasped in relief and smiled. “I decided to get measured after
all.”

Isaac
sat down in a comfortable chair. They put a disposable cap on his head, asked
him to close his eyes and relax.

“Don’t
worry, it doesn’t hurt at all,” it looked like the girl was flirting with him a
little.

“I’m
not worried. I just don’t want to appear stupid in your eyes,” Isaac said with
a wink, joining her game.

Bikie
was observing this scene from a short distance and he gave Isaac a thumbs-up.

A
soft melody began playing in the helmet and Isaac started feeling drowsy. The
melody obviously had some kind of hypnotic effect, because the next thing he
saw, or rather, felt, was that he had woken up. Everything was exactly as his
first time, in Monaco.

They
helped Isaac take off the helmet and get up out of the chair.

“Congratulations,
you have a very high level. I’m awed! Here you are, I’ve printed out your
result and potential fee.” The girl was clearly impressed by both his high
rating and the six-figure number.

Isaac
glanced at the certificate. The rating was five points lower than his previous
result. “But even so, that’s a margin of error of only 0.01%,” he calculated.

“Maybe
you’d like to take part in the records competition?”

“No,
thank you.”

“You
don’t want to fill out a questionnaire?”

“No
thanks, I don’t. And to be honest, this isn’t the first time. I’m already registered.”

“So
you were trying to impress me like this?”

“You
read my mind,” said Isaac feigning embarrassed. “Can I come back to you later?”

“Of
course, you can!” said the girl, rewarding Isaac with an expressive smile.

Bikie
slapped Isaac on the shoulder and murmured his approval.

“Well
done, you’re making progress. She could be useful!”

“And
just who was my teacher? Mr. Chrome Casanova himself!” Isaac joked.

They
looked at a semi-transparent screen. A video sequence started and a voice over
informed them about the operating principle of the system.

“In
order to use the creative energy, the operator puts on the helmet and starts
thinking about the problem; immediately a lot of ideas occur to him. He notes
down these ideas. The computer has a faultless memory. Even if the answer given
is not complete, it contains, at least, a definite part. Like a skeleton, in
which some bones may be missing, either large or small, but most tasks result
in absolutely complete formulae.”

Bikie
set off resolutely towards the testing chair. He had his OE tested previously
too. But unlike Isaac, he did not refuse to take part in the ratings, and he
didn’t regret it.

“Well
now, here’s a little gift certificate for you,” the girl at the stand
twittered. “It says here that you set the record of the day and the record of
the week, so congratulations once again.”

“You
know, I saw you have a conference on OE here. I just can’t make up my mind
whether I should download. Maybe I could attend the conference, as the winner
of the week?”

“I
wouldn’t mind going too,” Isaac put in.

“You
know, there were tickets on sale. But now it’s sold out, unfortunately.
Although, wait a minute I’ll be right back.” And she disappeared through a door
with the words “Staff only.”

Five
minutes later she was back, with a colorful leaflet.

“There,
take that. It’s an invitation. We sent them out to some journalists and
scientists, and a few came back because of the wrong address. This one is a
spare. My gift to you.”

“Why,
you’re absolutely fantastic!” Bikie exclaimed. “I’m almost in love.”

“Go
and enjoy. I see you’re a nice guy too, maybe you will contribute to the system
somehow.”

“Superb!
I definitely will!”

Isaac
and Bikie couldn’t believe their luck when they saw that the invitation was for
two persons! That really improved the situation.

“Now,”
murmured Isaac, barely moving his lips, “counting Pellegrini, all three of us
are inside already.”

“Don’t
get too overjoyed,” Pellegrini remarked when they left the laboratory and
museum. “You and I have got guest passes. They don’t give access to the
basement where the server is. But don’t get too upset either,” the commissioner
continued ironically. “I’ve got the names of the people who have full-access
passes, and their address.”

Half
an hour later the full team assembled in Link’s room, studying the faces of the
people who would be going to the conference with a full access pass in their
pocket.

“This
is the plan,” Link was instructing. “I know the hotel where they are all
staying, I’ve stayed there before. The central hall there is very convenient –
you can see everyone coming in or going out. There are sofas and tables in the
hall. You will position yourselves there, pretend to be engrossed in a
conversation and wait for someone from the list. Follow him to see which room
he is in and, gentlemen, I would rather not even pronounce the word ‘steal,’
but that is exactly what you’ll have to do with his pass.”