Pop Travel (30 page)

So that’s where he put it! Hidden in the silver band, my reader couldn’t detect it. Clever!

Cooper handed the stick drive to Hasan.

“What’s on it?” he asked.

“Just watch. And I warn you, it’s not pretty.”

Hasan considered it, then shrugged and plugged it in.

All eyes locked onto the imager to watch an almost life-sized, 3D account of the terrible scene.

When the man turned to dust, Geri gasped. Afterward, no one spoke. They all stared at the blank imager, digesting the horrific revelation and what it meant.

Geri put her hand to her mouth. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Did Ed know about this? How long had it been going on? She thought back to her initial assignment. It was supposed to be a simple snare-n-snatch. Get close to the mark and retrieve the evidence, protecting Hasan as needed. She now knew the truth of the matter. She was perpetuating a cover-up. Ed had her aiding murderers! She would have to wait and get the whole truth before determining her next move.
I may never pop again.

ooper’s face sank, watching their reactions to the video. He knew how they felt.

Dr. Rastogi shook himself out of his shock before the others did.

“We need copies of that,” he whispered and opened a drawer searching for blank stick drives. He pulled out two and transferred the data to them.

Cooper nodded.
Good idea.

When the Doc finished, he handed Cooper the two copies and the original. His face scrunched in disgust, as if he was getting rid of contaminated waste. As Geri and the Doc sobered from their initial reactions, Hasan sat immobile, his face frozen in shock.

Changing from shades of light brown to a red magma, his face scrunched with each deeper hue. His breathing accelerated to near hyperventilation. He looked like a teapot ready to break into a whistle. Finally, he could hold it in no longer and let loose an explosive lament.

“
O my God! O my God! How is that possible! What have I done? O my God!
” Hasan raised his arms to the ceiling, then dropped them and grabbed his head. Curling his whole body downward, he rocked himself in the chair.

Dr. Rastogi went over and put his hand on Hasan’s shoulders.

“Calm down, Hasan. Get hold of yourself.” He lifted Hasan’s face and forced his nephew to look at him.

Tears threatened to spill.

“That is not your responsibility!” His uncle pointed at the imager.

“No wonder they didn’t tell him,” Cooper said to Geri. The kid was a minefield of emotions.

“I still don’t understand why they didn’t shut it all down and fix it,” Geri said.

The Doc took them through his logical thought process.

“The company was wrong to hide this information, especially from Hasan. They were also negligent not to conduct a thorough investigation after the very first instance. We don’t need to know their reasoning, though I hope it would be because they didn’t want to disrupt the globe’s travel, which could cause a worldwide panic. We must deal with what we have, now that we know.”

“Right. Those selfish bastards aren’t worried about the people. They didn’t want lawsuits and loss of cash flow,” Cooper said.

Hasan slowly sat up, put his elbows on the desk, and rubbed his temples. Cooper could see him trying to get a grasp on this distressing situation. After a minute, Hasan jolted upright and spouted again.

“That’s why they pushed me so hard. And why they didn’t like it when I watched the news. I remember all those ‘disappearances’. It all makes sense now!” He raised his hands and spread them, emphasizing his point.

He pounded a fist on the desk.

“Oh, my God! This is terrible! They wanted a quick fix. I told them from the start, they went into production too soon! I told them we hadn’t done enough testing. But they were already approved and had a jillion orders. ‘It works just fine,’ they said.” Hasan shook his head and focused on a foot in the lab to stare at, as he rambled on. “I have to fix this. How many have died? Why didn’t they tell me? What can I do? We have to stop them. We have to put an end to this and fix it!”

“Of course, Hasan,” his uncle agreed. “We will help you.”

“The first thing we need to do is expose the problem,” Cooper said. “Whoever is in control of this cover-up wants this evidence destroyed, along with anyone who knows about it. They’ve already killed others for nosing around. They even sent a hit man after me.”

Hasan shook his head and came back to reality at Cooper’s admission.

“What? Oh, no! No wonder you came directly to me. How did you know I could help you?”

“I didn’t. But I’m glad I didn’t have to convince you. You aren’t like those greedy tycoons. You are more of a deer in headlights, with the instant fame and fortune. I had hoped to play on your naiveté as a young, impressionable science geek, thinking I could convince you to tell everyone the truth. No offense.” Cooper shrugged.

“None taken. I
am
innocent!” Hasan pounded his chest. “And I will prove it by giving the people hope. I don’t want to let those money-hungry jerks ruin this indispensable technology. The world depends on pop travel. They trust it. They trusted
me
! I have to find a way to ease the blow. To let them know this deception wasn’t my fault and, as soon as I found out, I wanted to make it right. I will need to restore their faith when we tell them the horrifying news.”

“You don’t have that kind of time,” Geri said.

“I know, I know. It will take months to research and study why this is happening and more time to experiment with possible solutions. And even longer to implement!” With one hand on his hip, Hasan held his head again with the other. “I just want a ray of hope. I don’t want people to give up on pop travel and think I’m a terrible person. This is horrible!”

With pursuers who could catch up to them at any moment, Cooper understood the urgency. But he also wanted to help Hasan ease his conscience so he would agree to help with the exposure.

“Hasan, you have already done some research without knowing it. Excessive pops must be part of the problem, right? And when I interviewed people close to the missing persons, I found several similarities that could be clues. The missing travelers had been experiencing severe headaches and nose bleeds. Many visited doctors because of the symptoms.”

“Those sound like side effects from allergies or drugs,” said Geri.

“More like brain damage, considering the process,” Dr. Rastogi suggested.

Hasan absorbed the information, tapping his chin in thought.

“So excessive popping, headaches, and nose bleeds, brain damage.”

The group watched as he stood up and paced, processing the data like a compucenter.

Cooper mentally rooted for Hasan.
Come on, kid. We need an answer.

Hasan snapped his fingers and spouted, “It could be the synchronization is off.”

“What?” Geri asked.

He walked back over to the desk and typed in a formula while he explained.

“Like my first attempts. When I figured out a transmission code to receive the cells, they came together in a blob because I hadn’t made a map for the laser to follow when it released them. I solved that problem with the pre-scan. But there could be a slight mismatch in the re-entry that has gone undetected.” His fingers flew on the desk pad as he spoke.

The imager filled with complex calculations. “If the synchronization is off only by a tiny fraction, the reconstruction would still take place, but not as precisely as it should. The body would make the minute corrections, like healing a small cut.”

Hasan’s uncle spoke up.

“I see where you are headed, Hasan. Popping over and over again would be like continuously ripping open a wound. Many tiny scars that never heal. After too many times without complete healing, the body rejects the reconstruction. It’s the brain that is affected first, giving the warning signs. The travelers do not wait long enough to recover between pops.”

Hasan grinned at his uncle.

“Exactly. And with so much scarring, the cells can’t connect and a chain reaction occurs with the laser. The cells come through as confetti. I saw that with the rats, too.”

“There will have to be a safer limit on pops once there is time to test it,” Geri said. “And stricter enforcement.”

“No wonder only first class travelers have been affected. The rich and powerful think they can get away with anything.” Cooper shook his head.

“I should be able to extend the significant digits to give a more precise transmission. But there could be more. The reconstruction is based on the scan. What if the scan itself is flawed?” Hasan asked, staring at the imager, still processing.

“How could that be?” Geri asked.

Cooper didn’t like the sound of that either. His stomach churned as he listened to all the potential problems. This was too much information. If the public knew all the details, they’d definitely be opposed to ever using pop travel again.

“The diazepam relaxes the body because you have to be perfectly still to get a good scan,” Hasan said and started typing again.

The Doc explained further.

“Yes, it is similar to an MRI. If you move, the image is fuzzy.”

“But people are awake for an MRI. With my scan, if the subject isn’t completely still, the pop is halted and the scan is redone. We avoid movement by administering the anesthetic,” Hasan said while he went over his notes on the imager.

“And you have considered the blood flow? The digestive system? Breathing? Brain activity?” his uncle asked.

“Of course. My program accounts for all that.” Hasan shooed away the question with his hand. Then he brightened and shared another inspiration. “But maybe there is a way we could do better.”

He looked at his uncle with hope in his eyes.

“Another drug that relaxes the brain and body to dead still?” He waited for his uncle’s response.

Dr. Rastogi smiled and they both exclaimed at the same time.

“Propofol!” They nodded at each other.

“What is propofol?” asked Cooper.

“It’s so simple! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.” Hasan slapped his forehead.

“Hasan. What is propofol?” Geri asked, getting his attention this time.

“Oh. It is a drug used to induce a temporary coma. It’s an older drug that has been replaced by cheaper substitutes, but the original propofol is the best,” Hasan said, beaming. He raised a finger and pointed to the ceiling. “We need to test it immediately! A good set of test results would show the world I am serious about fixing this for them and I care about their safety. I’ll even test it myself!”

“Hold on. A coma?” Geri asked and put a hand to her chest. “Comas are certainly serious! Isn’t that a little extreme?”

“Yeah, putting someone to sleep with anesthesia isn’t enough?” Cooper didn’t like the thought of being put into a coma either.

Hasan shook his head and swept his hand, brushing off their concerns.

“The anesthetic is fine, but it is merely a sedative. The brain is still semi-conscious. With propofol, we can put the body in a deeper state of unconsciousness, relaxing the brain completely. And it’s really no big deal. They induce comas all the time in hospitals. It’s a good way to relieve intracranial pressure—to lessen swelling of the brain, like after a car accident. And it has a quicker recovery time.” Hasan sounded like a mad scientist, rambling on with wild eyes and casually throwing around drastic medical jargon.

“How exactly do you wake someone from a coma?” Cooper asked.

“There is no need. When the transmission reconstructs the body, all the body’s functions are given a jumpstart. Like a warm boot of a compucenter. The effect of any drug is gone when you restart.” Hasan spoke as if everyone should know that, lost in his thoughts as he read something from the Qnet.

“Now that you have some theories, where can you test it? We can’t just stroll down to the local public transport to try it out,” Geri said. “And do you keep propalafel just lyin’ around?”

“Propofol? No. We would need to get it from a hospital.” Hasan turned to his uncle with the unspoken question in his pleading eyes.

Dr. Rastogi frowned.

“Well, I suppose that is where I am expected to help, hmm? I believe I could get some from the pharmacy at the hospital without much trouble. Even though I don’t approve of lying, it is a justified cause. I will accept any consequences,” he said.