“What am I doing here?” Charlie asked himself. The driver couldn’t hear him and had stated as much when she picked him up. There was supposed to be a phone call coming through to him that was apparently classified. The driver didn’t appear to be military but something about her demeanor made Charlie both fear and respect her immediately.
This experience was planned, so he wasn’t as freaked out as perhaps he should have been. He had received an email and a call a week ago setting up this meeting. A patient he used to treat for an on and off basis had wanted to meet. Gregory Latimer, he had mild anxiety and depression during some time at university. Initially Charlie thought that maybe Greg had relapsed after going into workforce, which was common.
Although Charlie had not provided personal details with his patients the University must have provided them. So whatever Gregory needed him for must have been important.
It wasn’t until now that he was sitting in the back of a soundproof limousine that he realised he should have asked for more details before agreeing to be involved.
The red telephone beside him chirped. Charlie picked up the receiver and held it to his ear.
“Hello Charlie.”
“Gregory? How are you?”
“I’m fine actually.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Yes, but I do have need of your services. However not for myself.”
“You are talking to me on behalf of a friend?”
Charlie almost rolled his eyes, it was a usual tactic, not wanting to own our problems. However Greg did not have a history for that nor did it sound like he was lying.
“I am hiring you on behalf of a friend actually.”
“Right okay. So who is this person and why are they not talking to be directly?”
“That’s the classified bit I’m afraid. I cannot tell you more details about the patient until you agree to see them and be sworn to secrecy yourself.”
“It’s going to be hard to agree to something if I know nothing about it.”
“You will be moved closer to the patient, living and housing costs paid for. Your regular fee for an hour session will be paid for as ten back to back sessions every business day. However your actual session times will be unscheduled and you may have to do some on weekends. Any details of the patient will be kept classified, you will not be able to publish any findings even anonymously.”
Charlie did not reply. The idea of a fifty sessions a week as a salary was good enough but living and housing on top of that. But even without the money this was an interesting case he had found himself with, a patient with a classified mental condition. Even without being able to publish anything on this Charlie wanted to know what that condition was.
“I’ll take the job.”
“The driver will have you sign a contract and bring you here. It is very imperative that you start as quickly as possible.”
*
The driver hadn’t said a single word to him since she had told him that the rest of his belongings would be moved to his new abode. Charlie had been trying to quickly pack a suitcase.
They were now miles out of the city, coming upon what seemed to be an abandoned airport.
He could just make out Gregory through the tinted windows. Charlie had always thought that Greg had the gait and face of a man who knew something, something that burdened him. Therapy didn’t seem to disrupt that effect.
The car came to halt and Greg opened the door.
“Hello again Gregory.” Charlie greeted him as he shuffled out of the car.
“Yes, hi. Please, follow me.” He spun around and started to move towards the decrepit hanger
“Sure.” Charlie noticed that he still dragged his feet when he walked. Greg hadn’t been working on the physical exercises that Charlie had prescribed him. He shrugged it off, it was only meant to help in theory.
The hanger didn’t hold an airplane, instead in the center of it was what seemed to two smaller hangers. Charlie soon realized that they were just two elevator openings when they got closer and Gregory pressed a button on the outside.
“This scans a fingerprint but there is an optical scanner at the bottom. We’ll get you in the system before you leave for your new abode.”
“Is that enough security? It seems like this is a bit more than top secret.”
“This is just a precaution, we’re not expecting enemies of the state to infiltrate this place even if they did know about it.”
“So what are you keeping down here there?”
“Your patient obviously.”
“I got that much. Can’t you tell me more about them?”
“I was going to leave it as more of a surprise but I guess it’s important if we expect you to do a good job…”
“So who is he? What does he need me for?”
“She… is an artificial intelligence… And as far as we can tell, she has depression.”
Harriotskelli 