The Creegan Journals
Entry 2
"Welcome to Wonderland"
Part 4
One news anchor even reported that several islands had just up and
disappeared in the middle of the night, sinking to the bottom of the ocean
floor. Cole sighed. "Well... maybe after that happened everyone finally
took that sinking of Atlantis theory seriously!"
"What am I saying?" He couldn't believe he was hearing any
of this and he couldn't believe that he was hearing himself make a joke of
any of it. If all of this had really happened! Well, this was horrific and
this wasn't anything to joke about!
He watched as news anchor Tara Franks reported: "Tired of the ever
hazardous pollution that threatens our daily lives? The worst tragedies in
our history have befallen us within the last few years, but there is finally
hope! We having been hearing talk in regards to a scientific break through
in environmental control. Well the talk is finally over and our government
has finally signed the contract with Zagar, which will allow Zagar to
manufacture mass quantities of these environmental control units. Yes that
is right! Today marks the first day of the incorporation of George Bailey's
environmental control units into our lives! Environ and the EPA has worked
closely with the CEO of the Zagar Corporation for the last three decades to
make this remarkable day possible!"
"Three decades," he repeated. "Three decades after I was
placed in cryo-suspension?" he wondered as he continued to watch the
clippings that hailed the coming of what the media were calling "The
Bailies."
Then he saw footage of one of these environmental control units.
“That's not what he was working on! That is one of the same machines I
was working on! One of the same ones they backed out of their support from!
It looks as if it has been modified but it is it nonetheless! Son of a bitch
stole my design!"
He stood up from his seat clearly aggravated. He jerked the keyboard out
and threw it across the room and placed his hands on the desk applying the
force of his weight as he continued watching the clippings.
From what he could deduct from the compiled news footage within only a
decade later, "The Bailies" had miraculously somehow reversed a
good deal of the damage done to the Earth's atmosphere.
"But how?" he wondered.
Then a memory flashed across his mind. He remembered after working several
nights with hardly any sleep that Jinx had decided to make him a bedroom out
of one of the empty rooms intended for storage of unused laboratory
equipment. The second night in that room, which had been on the same floor
as the laboratory, he had been struck with an epiphany of sorts. It was more
like a mad dream concerning a special mutation of sorts.
To grow a massive organic tissue that had the capacity of the human brain,
using a form of cloning and a plant base was a very interesting idea. Plants
converted carbon dioxide into oxygen, ran off of solar energy, could
reproduce, and could regenerate. These were all features he had wanted to
incorporate into the environmental control unit. At last he had thought he
had come up with a theory that could be the solution to both his pet problem
that he had been working on, and the environmental control unit problems
that the whole team had been working on. To think that at the same time the
solution had been right there under his nose in the image of the soybean
plant at his desk. He guessed he had looked over it because he had been too
exhausted to notice it, but he realized that something that had plant like
properties could be remarkable in combating pollution and could also be
quite maintenance free, which was a extra plus.
Anyone else having the same mad dream would have probably disregarded it
as folly, but not him. He felt like it was a message from God and that he
could find a way in which he could bring his dream to life, only he didn't
know how to begin. He needed to consult a very open minded botanist.
He remembered recording all of his findings and his theories on the matter
one night, when the golem that he had brought with him into the laboratory
alerted him that someone was approaching. He quickly saved his findings and
switched over to another screen. Pretending to play solitaire because no one
could find out about this yet, not until he had some solid evidence that
could back all these theories up. He realized that with proof, that this
wasn't just something dreamed up; he could petition for funding and perhaps
take this somewhere.
His uncle walked into the laboratory and the golem halted him.
"Stop where you stand!" it said in Cole's voice.
"Seems he doesn't like you too much unc!" Cole scooted his chair
around. His folded his arms and wore a big smirk across his face.
"Stand down, soldier!" he commanded the golem.
"You've given it your voice?" his uncle noticed.
"Ahh - you know what they say about imitation and flattery!" Cole
pointed out.
"What is that doing in here to begin with? I'm well aware it is your
design, so don't start with me about that! But as I recall that project was
abandoned. They did pull your funding Cole! You were supposed to pull
out!" His uncle seemed to taunt.
"Yeah... I'm well aware of that, George! I'm sorry that I don't often
do what I'm told. However, I really love the work I did on Ace here! And it
is a real shame to spend the time and effort I did working on him to just
have my project canned.
"I mean, to end up scrapping a multi-million dollar worth weapon that
the government petitioned us to work on to begin with, mind you! Because
what? Because they decided they would rather kill off real soldiers in
wartime instead of using my toy soldiers... Well, it is unbearable to even
think about!"
His uncle sighed. "I know it meant something to you, but you can't keep
a weapon like that around the laboratory and you definitely can't take it
home! It doesn't belong to you anymore. It belongs to the company, and if
the company wants it dismantled, you’re going to have to dismantle
it!"
"Oh, come off of it, uncle! You know you pretty much own this
company...Tell them I'll alter the programming! Maybe we can turn out nice,
highly advanced, robotic maids or something! That is just too much of tax
payer money and too much of my sweat gone into its creation to just simply
toss it out as scrap metal!"
Suddenly his attention snapped back to the present. His eyes focused on
video footage as he heard panicked voices over it. He couldn't believe his
eyes as he watched the catastrophes that were raging on as "The
Bailies" that he himself had designed, were attacking multiple cities.
In a series of separate news video clippings from all over the world,
several more assaults on humanity played out before his eyes. He wasn't
there, but he felt as if he were there to see it as he suddenly felt deathly
ill with guilt.
He reached back behind himself clutching hold of the chair's arm and
steadied himself as he eased his way back on
the chair. He felt so sick to his stomach that he could have hurled if there
had been anything in there to hurl. As he sat there taking all of this in he
tried to piece together just what went wrong and just what was missing from
this puzzle besides the obvious conclusion. The obvious conclusion being
that he had had a hand in both saving and destroying the world as he had
known it. Only he didn't really know how much of a hand he had had, he had
no idea if George Bailey had stolen anything other then the prime layout of
his design.
The video footage ceased playing, freezing on the image of one of the
machines that he shared his name with. He sat
there entranced by the image of the Bailey for
several minutes, his heart felt like it was up in his throat and he knew
that everything that was wrong, was wrong with the whole world because of
something he had or hadn't done. He wondered if there were any more footage,
any more that George Bailey had intended for him to know, but that perhaps
he had jinxed himself and now, if there was anymore he had been intended to
know, he wouldn't know it.
What his uncle had said earlier on the video repeated in his mind: "Under
no other condition ever use the name Bailey!"
"No worries about that!" he said to himself.
He felt as if he was destined to die right here. After all, he was home,
wasn't he?
"I won't ever tell anyone... That's a promise!"
-------Creegan
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