Good Intentions Copyright © 2000 by Spencer Parrish
A set of footsteps echoed down the hallway as Devro Kylan walked toward his office through the empty New Lexington Hospital. He never thought that his job would become obsolete, but now as he looked at the vacant rooms around him, he finally realized that he was in a dying profession. The advancing technology had been slowly destroying the need for doctors as sickness and disease were now being cured by tiny nanomachines and bio-technological implants. Who needed a vaccine when you could implant a computer chip that would seek and destroy any harmful cells in your body in a much quicker and easier fashion? People now lived much healthier, longer lives without the aid of "primitive" medicine. Bio-Tech, the company that produced the nanomachines, didn't have to worry about causing overpopulation. Overpopulation was no longer a concern after the ice cap thaw of 2107 when the heat from a massive sun flare suddenly raised the temperature of Earth and caused much of the coastal lines to be submerged in huge tidal waves, killing millions. Now, almost twenty years later, land reclamation crews were slowly uncovering the highest submerged points and turning them into island communities. The people were flocking to them like crazy and living there for years beyond their life expectancy thanks to technology.
"Soon," Devro said quietly to himself, "there will be more people living longer lives and not dying from diseases and it will be like it used to- so crowded that you have to live in a box."
Although he was still young during the ice thaw, Devro remembered what it was like to live in an overpopulated world. He hated it and would give anything to not have to go back to that way of living. Granted, the years of recovery after so much destruction were tough, but now he was almost happy with where he was now. If only his job wasn't on the endangered list.
Devro was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't see the shadow silhouetted in the doorway. The tall, dark-haired doctor stood watching his friend from the doorway, quietly observing. Devro claimed he was only a few years younger than Orion Danar, but he looked young enough to be Orion's son. Orion had often joked around with Devro about him having aging reducer chips, but Devro always denied it. "I'm one hundred percent organic" he would always say. "My parents never believed in that techno-child stuff".
Orion and Devro had met not long before the medical evolution, and they had ended up being some of the last doctors to stay in the profession after it had become out-of-date. When they first met, Orion thought of Devro as an energetic, ambitious young doctor. Now if he looked closely at his friend, Orion would see a tired middle-aged man who could use a break.
"You busy?" Orion asked, breaking the silence.
Devro jumped at the unexpected noise. "What'd you say?"
"Are you doing anything?"
"Oh yeah! Can't you see I'm swamped with work here?" Devro remarked sarcastically.
Orion seemed surprised at the bitterness in his friend's voice. It must have shown on his face because Devro apologized quickly.
"Sorry Orion. It's just that I'm so sick of this. I can't handle it anymore. Nobody needs our help anymore and I can't do anything about it."
An impish grin crossed Orion's face. "I think I can help you with that. Follow me."
Devro left his office, clueless as to what Orion was talking about, and followed his companion through the barren corridors. Orion made a series of turns and soon Devro was completely lost. He had never really been in this part of the hospital because it wasn't used much anymore. Devro turned one last corner and collided into Orion, unaware that he had stopped.
"It's here," whispered Orion.
"What's here? And why are you whispering?" Devro was completely baffled.
Orion didn't hear his questions. He was too absorbed with looking at the wall. He scanned it up and down as if he was searching for something.
This only managed to make Devro more perplexed.
"If you've come to show me some weird new style of praying or something, then I'm going to back to my office now," Devro muttered.
Still concentrating on his objective, Orion paid no attention to Devro. Suddenly, with one quick motion, Orion reached out and pushed on the wall in front of him. It held fast against his efforts.
"This is ridiculous! It's not like the wall's just going to open up and let you in." said Devro.
Then, as if it was mocking Devro, the wall moved. The sound of groaning metal reverberated in the air. The scent of stale, dusty air drifted out of the opening and into Devro's nose, making him sneeze repeatedly.
"Well, don't just stand there like a human hurricane factory. Let's go." Orion motioned with his hand for Devro to follow him and vanished into the darkness.
Having little choice, Devro followed his friend through the mysterious opening.
<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
Orion had traveled this hallway many times. He didn't need the use of his sight. He walked instinctively into the center of a dark room and paused. He could hear Devro behind him, wandering around in the dark and cursing every time he stumbled into a wall. Orion reached up and pulled on a cord. Lights flared and he went from blind to blind again. He shielded his eyes and waited for them to adjust.
A large room slowly materialized around Orion. Dust covered almost everything. There were footprints on the floor and streaks where hands had brushed over equipment. The single light hanging from the ceiling cast eerie shadows across the floor. Devro stood not far off, leaning on a desk that he had found in the dark.
"What is this place?" asked Devro, scanning his surroundings.
"I found it one day when I was looking through the hospital blueprints. The door was covered in a remodel about five years ago." Orion explained. He walked to a small console and switched on a computer.
"This is amazing," exclaimed Devro.
"Cool, isn't it?" Orion said, sounding like a little kid who was showing off his new toy. "Come over here. I have something I want you to see."
Devro walked over and gazed at the screen in front of Orion. Sequences of numbers and letters scrolled across the screen in intricate patterns.
"Okay. What exactly does all this mean?" Devro asked, still looking very confused.
"It's the solution to our problems," replied Orion with a gleam in his eye. "It's a virus. I've been working on it for quite some time now. Theoretically, this virus should have the power to disable any nanomachines in existence."
"How did you-- what--why would--?" Devro's questions tumbled out of his mouth like a verbal rockslide.
"Let me explain. All the nanomachines in circulation are manufactured by Bio-Tech. I've been researching about their product. Every command given to these tiny computers comes from a central mainframe. If I could somehow input a virus into this mainframe, I would be able to render every one of the nanomachines useless."
"Wait." Devro paused, questions still clicking in his head. "What about security? How did you get in? And even if you messed up the current models, couldn't they just implant more?"
"Whoa! Slow down. I haven't gotten to those parts yet." Orion began to wonder if all of this was too much for Devro.
"As for matters of security, I've taken care of that. It took me a while, but I managed to hack into Bio-Tech's mainframe."
Devro looked puzzled. Orion smiled slyly.
"I just didn't learn medical practice at school, you know. A guy's got to have a few hobbies. Well anyway, I've got it all taken care of. If they tried to implant more machines I could handle that by commanding the existing nanomachines to get rid of them like a bad cancer cell. At least they'll be of some use to us."
"Okay, I know how, but now I don't understand why." said Devro.
"Oh come on Dev! You're the one that's always talking about balance. You're always saying that people need to die in order to keep everything stable. If anyone should know why, it should be you. Don't you see? If there isn't anything to completely destroy disease, people will need us. We will be able to help people again. It will be like it used to be when death was a given. Sure, we will save lives, but people will still die. You can't stop that when you don't have all this blasted technology. There will be balance again and the crowding will go down. Isn't that what you want?"
"Sure, but not necessarily this way," Devro replied harshly.
"Well it's too late anyway. I've already started the download." declared Orion.
"You what!?" shouted Devro.
"You heard me. It's almost done. Soon our problems will be over and you'll have me to thank for it."
Devro stared regretfully at his obsessed friend and turned to walk away. Before he left, he stopped and uttered a farewell. Orion was too caught up in his plan to even notice.
Minutes passed and the download finished. Orion could imagine the reactions of the employees at Bio-Tech as they realized that all of their work was erased with a single keystroke. He thought pleasantly about all the work he would have waiting for him soon. He thought of Devro and the heated words they had exchanged. He had to apologize to him and tell him of the success of the virus. Orion walked briskly from the room and to the hall. As he approached the end of the hallway, he noticed a pile of dust sitting in the middle of the floor. He was about to sweep it away with his foot when he noticed two shiny objects half-buried in the pile. He bent down and examined them more closely. He picked up the first and read the small type. It read:
Bio-Tech Corp.
Aging Reducer Chip Prototype
Installation date: Jan 1, 2018
Orion slowly reached for the other object, his hands shaking nervously. Sweat mixed with newly formed tears and trickled down his face. He picked the object up and read it, already knowing what it said. There were only two words. Devro Kylan.