CHAPTER 14: Father Easter And Father Fusion In The Time Of ICE

The hospital burned down.

Nobody knew how, there was a government investigation and a civilian-led cause to find out how a hospital had burned down without leaving evident trace.

But let us cut to the chase.

This was out of the ordinary.

After the twins had been born, the hospital emergency system had claimed to detect and announced a bio-terrorist attack at the Birthing Room.

The truth was it sensed something was wrong, a mistake that could not be made certain but a risk that could not be accepted.

The fact that it could not identify the jeopardy was reason enough.

An electronic decision was made.

The hospital would be put on ICE:

Isolate.
Contain.
Eradicate.

This was ICE.

It quickly transmitted to downsystems that a critical death event was about to be initiated.

Immediately, the entire hospital care system reverted to eradication mode, preparation state.

It waited for the run code.

While not requiring approval, the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) both needed to receive a request to send the run code to activate ICE in an entire facility.

Due to the nature and temerity-for-life features of ICE, it could not be questioned when a run code was requested by a hospital care system.

It can only be audited post-event. Meaning, only after death can death be investigated.

In fact, the World Court in numerous and scandalous human-versus-machine lawsuits had ruled consistently that no human or group of humans could request for the ICE run code.

Then the anticipated run code arrived.

In a split second after the ICE run code was received, the immediate death event was put into action.

Though the human-made legacy software called humans to review the state and issue the appropriate hardware override, the humans were too afraid.

No one dared stop an ICE command that was already in eradication mode.

If eradication mode was in effect, the only thing one could think of was run.

Run for your life.

Or stay for your death.

Thus fear was the reason why the hospital burned down.

People lost their power of reason. They did not want to answer back to machines.

Who put the hospital on ICE?

We will come back to this later. For now let the story be told as it was.

In the waiting hall, two men were separately approached.

A nurse approached a man named Father Easter and told him that it was a boy.

"Father Easter, you need to bring him home now."

From the other end of the hall, another nurse carefully approached another man.

"Father Fusion, it's a girl. Take her away now quickly. At the end of the hall take the fire exit and walk away with her as fast as you can."

Before she returned to her next certain moments of death, she cautioned him.

"Father Fusion, walk. Do not run. We are on ICE."

He thanked her for her sacrifice and left.

As each man took to quick action, wearing apparent clothing of the men of faith, the high pitch of alarms started to go off.

Each escaped in the electronic sleight of hand.

The hospital system ordered a mass emergency evacuation.

Very orderly, as the hospital guidance system voiced instructions down to the level of bedpans and critical vials that cannot be left behind.

Then it burned itself to the ground.

Later on, firemen explained on public television that due to a system glitch, the fire alarm subsystem failed to notify that a fire was raging.

They could not explain why all calls asking for emergency help from wireless terrestrial and satellite devices were routed to voice mail and asynchronous backup messaging systems.

When only smoke and ash were to be found, and while those voice mails were being listened to, two men finally looked behind them.

From opposite sides of the City Of Consor, two men finally looked at what was left behind.

A very quick one, then no more.

For only the future remained.

Father Easter headed for the center of the city.

Father Fusion hurried away, to the only place the female baby he held in his arms would be safe.