Fire Wall (Book 1: The Fall)

2 | Project Beta

What? The walls close on me as I stare at mother in shock.

"Haven is corrupt," She whispers, "I don't work for them. I've been waiting for the right moment to tell you...but now that people are coming after you, I have to tell you now."

"Tell me what?"

I feel like I'm going to throw up. I hold my head in my hands.

"Something happened before you were born. Something Haven tried to cover up. In 2266, they created an experiment called Project Beta in an underground facility. It tested the brain's response to the micro identification chip..."

I already know where this is going. Everyone has wondered what the chip could do. All our identity, our finances, our work-every part of our life is centered on the chip. Even our health can be monitored. But who exactly is benefitting the most from the chip, no one knows. It could be the government; they have more control over us with everything centralized on them. It could be us; we have more social and economic benefits than anyone in history.

I've had my doubts but I never really wanted to confront them. But a secret experiment on the chip? Something awful happened, and I need to know what it is. I lift my head to meet her dark gaze.

"What did they do to the chip?"

"It's worse than you think," She admits, "They've managed to control the nervous system, the relay of information from surroundings to the brain."

I slowly sit back in my seat, feeling a lump in my throat. 

"Memory, senses, and motor movement-all of it the chip can influence with just the right electrical impulses. Think of it as a filter for all the information that comes through your brain. It's the director of the control system, the director of the brain."

It's too sick.

Mother pushes my telescreen toward me and goosebumps form on my arms as I look at the portal to the database.

"It's all here," She taps intently on it, "Every blueprint of the experiment. I have videos of their trials on test subjects, though I don't recommend you watch them. They're disturbing. They killed hundreds this whole time."

"Hundreds?" I slowly reach for it, "How did you get all this?

"I was in Phantom," She pauses, wearing a painful grimace, "A group of underground hackers. We leaked Project Beta five years ago. They quickly got rid of the evidence and almost killed all of us. I'm alive only because a connection I have in HCI is protecting my identity, keeping me hidden."

For some reason, it all makes sense to me. I know it's crazy but it makes sense. The intense coding sessions, the panic if I left the house without telling her, the frequent talk about being aware of my surroundings, the odd work schedule. To think she was living another life this whole time...To think Haven was secretly testing on people's chips-killing people in the process...And for what? More control? They already had us dependent on them for daily living. 

"Why? I whisper, "Why did they...why are they doing this? What could they possibly gain?"

"It's more than control," Mother's gaze dims further, "They want to build a new society. It started off as a military training program to help with PTSD but it took flight into a different monster when they realized they could control a person's memory and influence thinking patterns.  We could be a mindless army or the perfect citizen. I've seen both."

I stare at her dumbly, too shocked and sick to the stomach to put any words together. How did I not know this? If mom and the rest of Phantom leaked the experiment before, why aren't people fighting them right now? She answers my question without me asking.