Split Second (27 page)

“What Edgar said I wanted to accomplish
is largely true,” said Cargill. “Other than the part about me being evil and
greedy and wanting to use it to gain more power and line my pockets.”

Cargill took a drink of water
from his newly filled glass and then continued. “It was my idea to start the
shell company to make pharmaceuticals that were impossible for the industry to
manufacture, by the way. But the part about using the devices to duplicate
wealth and weapons, to help with the war on terror, is correct. And what Knight
didn’t mention, because he couldn’t let the conversation go there, are the possible
military uses of teleportation, even if human teleportation is prohibited.”

“Right,” said Blake, nodding
slowly as he considered the possibilities. “You could teleport explosives
behind enemy lines. You’d just have to set your bomb on a short delay, so you’d
have time to turn
your
version off
once you’ve verified the time-traveling version arrived. You could teleport
bombs inside fortresses, inside the homes of terrorist leaders, anywhere.”

“You got it,” said Cargill. “But
once again, Knight wanted to push the military uses of this technology to its
limits. Imagine if sending humans back in time, copying them, didn’t trouble
you? Imagine what you could do? You could teleport hundreds of copies of SEAL
Team Six behind enemy lines, or into a terrorist leader’s residence. They’d
even be somewhat expendable, since the originals, so to speak, would be back at
headquarters, lounging by the pool.”

Walsh’s eyes narrowed. “But
you’d have to set up your device at the exact right distance and direction,” he
pointed out. “You know, field orientation, polarity, the stuff that Knight told
us was required. Which means you’d have to get close enough to your target for
it to work.”

“We have mobile units as well as
stationary,” said Cargill. “This wouldn’t be a problem.”

Jenna nodded. “You build the
devices inside semis, don’t you?”

“Yes. This was Knight’s idea. To
get mobility and directionality. And also to get to within fifty-eight feet of
a potential target, which is our current limit. We haven’t used it as a weapon
in this way before, but it made sense to have a number of devices in
tractor-trailers to provide maximum flexibility.”

He paused and took another drink.
“But getting back to the much more aggressive military use Knight favored, he
also wanted to push the intelligence possibilities. Beam a guy into Kim Jong-un’s
bedroom in North Korea when he’s asleep. Keep him that way with chloroform or
gas. Then teleport a copy of him back out.”

Blake nodded in appreciation. “When
the fearless leader wakes up the next morning, he’d have no idea you were ever
there. Meanwhile, you’d have a copy of him. You could torture him. Learn all
his secrets. All his passwords and codes. Everything. And yet no one in the
world would suspect how you were doing this, and no one would be looking for
him. Because he
wouldn’t
be missing.”

“That’s right,” said Cargill.
“The possibilities are nearly endless. Knight argued that we should do this
sort of thing. And while you can do a lot more with a hundred-mile range, much
of what he proposed would be possible, even limited to fifty-eight feet.”

“So weren’t these arguments a
clue that he was developing delusions of grandeur?” asked Blake.

Cargill frowned deeply. “Yes,
but not as much as you might think. He argued his case in a lighthearted,
intellectual, abstract way. He lobbied for what he thought best, but he
pretended that he was mostly on the fence. Basically, he played me like a
violin.”

“In Lee’s defense,” said Joe
Allen, “he did express concerns. We discussed them. And Lee began secretly
videoing Knight during their sessions, the ones in which Knight was pushing to
exceed the bounds the rest of us supported.”

Greg Soyer now came to life as
well. “These two explained the situation to me, at length,” he said. “I didn’t
believe a word of it. Until I saw demonstrations of duplications that couldn’t
have been faked. They also played the videos of Knight they just mentioned. I’m
sure they’ll do the same for you when we’re through here. But the bottom line
is that I’ve verified everything they’ve been telling you.”

 
Blake extended a hand across the wide table. “Looks
like I owe you an apology, Greg,” he said earnestly. “I’m sorry for doubting
you.”

Soyer shook the offered hand. “Thanks,
Aaron. But no need to apologize. Who could blame you? And even though I had my
reasons, I did betray your trust. And I did shoot you with a tranq dart from two
feet. I’m guessing that didn’t tickle.”

Blake grinned. “No. That pretty
much sucked,” he said. “But you had compelling evidence to believe we were in
danger, and that this was the best strategy.”

With this said, all eyes turned
once again to the head of Q5.

Cargill cleared his throat. “Knight
always told me he enjoyed our little debates as intellectual exercises,” he
continued. “He said he knew he’d never really persuade me, and that it was
probably lucky I was in charge, because he was aware of the Pandora’s Box he might
be opening. Even so, after a short while, in addition to taping our sessions, I
kept a close watch on him.”

“Apparently, not close enough,” said
Blake.

Cargill’s jaw clenched. “No. Not
nearly close enough,” he said in disgust. “I failed to realize that what he was
pushing me to do with the technology was just the tip of the iceberg. He had
far grander plans for himself, once he decided to set out on his own. And I was
unaware that he had won over some of my best people to his way of thinking.”

“When the people you have spying
on someone are actually in that person’s camp,” said Allen, “you don’t get
great intel.”

“So the reports all came back
that he was behaving,” guessed Blake, “ and was as harmless as a baby chick,
right?”

“I’m afraid so. Until he and his
recruits waged a civil war, took many of the mobile units, and killed many of
my best men. That was almost a year ago.”

“You mentioned that his plans
were even bolder than he had let on,” prompted Blake.

“Yes. During our little civil
war, we captured some of the people who had sided with him, so we know what he’s
been gearing up to accomplish since he split from us.”

Cargill paused as though even
he
couldn’t believe what he was about to
say. “Basically, Knight wants to take over the world. Become the ultimate global
authority.”

Jenna shook her head as if her
ears weren’t working properly. “Do you know how
ridiculous
that sounds?” she said.

“Yes, I do. But do you know how
possible
it is? Especially with Nathan’s
work likely making a half-second possible. Brainpower isn’t an issue. Want to
field fifty different project teams, each with its own Jobs and Edison and
Zuckerberg and Einstein? No problem. Money isn’t an issue,” added Cargill,
ticking these points off on his fingers. “Even if Knight couldn’t duplicate
wealth, which he can, he could duplicate the richest men in the world, torture them
for their passwords and bank account information. He could force them to
withdraw funds from their accounts. While other versions of these people go
about their business in blissful ignorance. And he could do the same to
any
dictator, terrorist, or world leader,
including
the President of the United
States.”

“President Janney has been read
into this, right?” said Blake.

“Yes,” replied Cargill, “but I’ve
been treading carefully. I limit the information he has, in case Knight does
manage to obtain a duplicate of him. Q5’s responsibilities are too great, and
too profound, to have an obvious target like a president involved. And we need
to stay above political whims. Fortunately, President Janney agrees with me, so
he’ll be the last president with any knowledge.”

“Leaving you with absolutely no
oversight,” said Blake.

Cargill blew out a long breath.
“I’m well aware of the need for someone to be a check on me. On us. I’m trying
to figure out how to do that. But as it stands right now, my goals are to push
the genie back into the bottle as much as I can, and be ready in case Q5’s
unique capabilities are needed to ward off a disaster.”

Blake wanted to discuss checks
and balances on Cargill’s power at length, but for now, Edgar Knight posed the
more immediate problem. “Let’s get back to Knight,” said Blake. “I have to
agree with you that he really could take over the world, given time. The
darkest secrets of any leader are potentially accessible to him. And manpower,
an army, isn’t an issue either. It’s a lot easier to build an army when you
can, you know, literally,
build
an
army.”

“And what an army,” said
Cargill. “He can duplicate the modern equivalent of five hundred Sun
Tzus
. A thousand
Pattons
. Five
thousand
MacArthurs
. Ten thousand copies of the best
sniper on Earth, the best commando, the best pilot.”

“All this,” said Blake, “and he
can make them magically appear anywhere. Hardly seems fair.”

“And that’s really the point,” said
Cargill. “These capabilities are so profound he probably would never need to
use them in this way. Just threaten to. He could pull strings from off-stage to
build his world government. He’d just need to demonstrate to world leaders what
he can do. You teleport a commando team inside a world leader’s bedroom and
he’ll never feel safe again. At that point you own him. Not to mention that
Knight could have duplicates of world leaders that he, almost literally,
does
own. With the right combination of
money, power, intimidation, and coercion, he can get leaders to gradually work
their way toward consenting to a global government, with himself at the helm.
Without firing a single shot.”

“What I find the most insidious about
this,” said Joe Allen, “is how fervent, how zealous, his followers seem to be.
Even if they don’t always like his personality, they believe in his cause.”

“His cause?” said Jenna in
disgust. “Ruling the world is a
cause
?”

“No. He claims this is only a
means to an end,” explained Cargill. “Stabilizing the world. He’ll be a
benevolent ruler. He’ll wipe out terrorism in a single fell swoop, which is
appealing to more and more people as this problem continues to build.”

Blake had to admit this
was
an appealing prospect. Ridding the
world of this blight could well save all of humanity.

“He’ll tear down totalitarian
regimes,” continued Cargill. “Democratize the world. Well, to some extent.
Everyone will have the illusion of self-rule, but he’ll be the ultimate
authority. The followers we captured claim that he wants to exert as little
power as possible. Well, that is after he makes the entire globe a single
nation under his domain, destroys terrorism, reduces crime, and returns society
to civility. And the technology breakthroughs his teams of duplicated geniuses
will be able to make will revolutionize industry after industry. This, and his
ability to duplicate food, water, precious metals, what have you, will vastly
increase the wealth and quality of life of every person now alive.”

“I can see why his vision would
have a certain appeal,” said Walsh.

“If it weren’t for all the eggs
he’ll need to break to make this omelet,” said Cargill, “it doesn’t sound all
that bad. Except that he also believes that the least intelligent people in our
world are reproducing far faster than the most intelligent.”

“
Idiocracy
,”
whispered Jenna under her breath, but too softly for anyone to hear.

“Because of this belief,” continued
Cargill, “Knight also plans to sterilize everyone not in the top ten percent in
intelligence, and limit population growth in general.”

 
“Why not?” said Blake, shaking his head in
disgust. “He has to make room for all those copies of Albert Einstein, after
all.”

“Yeah,” said Cargill. “That, too. Everyone
has a different definition of utopia. Knight could do a lot of good, which is one
reason his followers are so passionate. Unlimited wealth, an end to terrorism,
and the world populated only by brilliant, educated people. Sounds great, if it
weren’t for the sacrifices
others
would
have to make. And if we didn’t have to rely on his good nature and benevolent
disposition. When Ted Kaczynski goes nuts and turns into the full-on Unabomber,
you don’t want him ruling the world at the time.”

The room fell silent as everyone
considered what living under the rule of an unstable genius might be like.

“Would he also force people into
using his transporter machines?” asked Walsh finally. “You mentioned this was a
long-held fantasy of his.”

“Actually, no,” said Cargill. “He
was excited about this in the beginning, but he knows he has to keep time
travel technology a closely guarded secret. He would keep the supply of his
devices limited, and knowledge of their capabilities known only to a select few.”

“Won’t people catch on when they
see a thousand Pattons?” said Walsh.

“Eventually, but they won’t know
how he does it. They’ll suspect cloning before time travel. And they won’t know
where he keeps the devices. He’ll also wield an iron fist to be sure no one
else ever comes up with the technology.” Cargill paused. “Which it goes without
saying, is something we’re dedicated to doing as well.”

“About the only thing you both
agree on,” noted Blake.

“This makes sense no matter who controls the
technology,” said Cargill. “Would you rather have one man with his finger
poised above a nuclear button, or ten thousand men? With ten thousand you just
multiply the chances that someone will push it.”

“So who does have access?” asked Blake.