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Dr. Balis:
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Good afternoon, Ms. Gregory. It's good to see you again.
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Ms. Gregory:
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Yes, yes. Good afternoon to you too. Good afternoon.
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Dr. Balis:
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Would you care to sit down today, or would you feel more comfortable
standing again?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I believe I'll sit. Yes, that would be fine. Doctor, may I
ask you a question?
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Dr. Balis:
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Yes, of course. What's on your mind?
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Ms. Gregory:
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It's very important that you respond with the utmost sincerity.
I'll be able to tell if you're covering anything up.
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Dr. Balis:
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Of course. What is it?
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Ms. Gregory:
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Has there been anyone in this office in the past week unattended
by you?
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Dr. Balis:
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Why do you ask?
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Ms. Gregory:
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Just answer the question, please. To your knowledge, has there
been anyone in this room alone, other than yourself?
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Dr. Balis:
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Well, not to my knowledge, but what is this all about?
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Ms. Gregory:
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And do you lock the office securely, with the dead-bolt, every
time you leave it?
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Dr. Balis:
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I believe so, but...
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Ms. Gregory:
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And does anyone else have a key?
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Dr. Balis:
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Of course not.
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Ms. Gregory:
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And to your knowledge, is there any type of surveillance equipment
in this room? Any bugs or wires?
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Dr. Balis:
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Ms. Gregory, I insist on knowing what...
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Ms. Gregory:
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Answer the question. Please. It is extremely important to me.
Just answer the question.
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Dr. Balis:
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Of course not.
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Ms. Gregory:
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I believe you. You speak the truth.
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Dr. Balis:
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Now, will you please explain to me what this is all about?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I've discovered something terrible. This is all much larger
than I ever imagined. Too many people involved. Too many enemies.
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Dr. Balis:
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What are you talking about?
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Ms. Gregory:
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The code. It's the code, Doctor. I'm afraid I may have cracked
it.
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Dr. Balis:
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Ms. Gregory, I've been doing some thinking over the past couple
of weeks. In reviewing my notes of our sessions together, your doodles,
and Matthew's letter, it has become increasingly clear to me that you are
in need of medication. Now, I suggested as much three weeks ago, but you
emphatically refused.
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Ms. Gregory:
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Please hear me out. This is all coming to a head! Everything
is happening at once, but I'm beginning to understand. You have to listen
and believe. I need you. Please. You must believe me.
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Dr. Balis:
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I have been listening to you, but your symptoms of paranoia and
confusion haven't diminished. The medication will help you keep things in
perspective.
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Ms. Gregory:
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You have to believe me. There is no one else. And to abandon
me now, of all time's blanketry, when I need you the most.
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Dr. Balis:
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Why is now any different from 3 weeks ago?
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Ms. Gregory:
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Because. I told you already everything's coming to a head.
You don't listen to me. Just like the boy. I'm losing you. You don't listen
and you don't believe.
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Dr. Balis:
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Okay. I'm listening now, Ms. Gregory. Why don't you tell me about
what you mean when you say that everything's coming to a head.
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Ms. Gregory:
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I've cracked the code. It has taken me weeks because whoever
invented it is clearly very gifted at encryption, and knowledgeable about
ancient languages. If I'm correct in my research and assumptions, they were
using a cipher-based phonetic rendering of Gaelic.
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Dr. Balis:
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Who was? What code are you talking about?
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Ms. Gregory:
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The code with which Silicon Impressions encrypts their communications.
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Dr. Balis:
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You're telling me that SII encodes all of their business correspondence
in Gaelic?
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Ms. Gregory:
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No. Not all of its correspondence. They have to keep up a
successful front. To the business world, they are simply one of the many
computer firms based in the San Francisco Bay Area. But to the survivalists,
militias, and domestic terrorists, they are something very different indeed.
And to the intelligence community? The agency itself? Oh, methinks all is
not well, and I am afraid.
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Dr. Balis:
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This is exactly the type of paranoid delusion I was talking about
earlier, Ms. Gregory. Now, I'm just going to write you out a prescription...
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Ms. Gregory:
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Listen to me. I believe that Silicon Impressions is somehow
involved in a massive conspiracy to overthrow the American Government. I'm
not saying the company itself is entirely responsible for spearheading this
operation, nor am I insinuating that someone within SII, acting independently,
is the mastermind behind the scheme. I don't yet know the names of those
involved, or the depth of their involvement. But Doctor, you must suspend
your disbelief and listen. You must listen to me. You must listen to the
sound of my voice and believe.
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Dr. Balis:
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Okay. What makes you think this? Do you have any evidence?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I have the documents, the code.
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Dr. Balis:
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Yes, of course. The code. Why don't you try to explain to me
what the code is, and how you learned of it.
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Ms. Gregory:
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I...I don't know where to begin. Or when. I don't even know
how to begin.
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Dr. Balis:
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For my sake, Ms. Gregory, try to begin as far back as you can.
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Ms. Gregory:
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All right. I suppose the 4th of July is the most relevant place
to begin, but everything is woven together. I couldn't possibly tell it
all because I'd have to begin when I was two years old, or before. And even
then, there are so many holes in my version of the story. So many holes
ravaging the great tapestry in which the life of Helen is woven.
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Dr. Balis:
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Just to satisfy my curiosity, what happened when you were two
years old?
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Ms. Gregory:
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That's where my memory begins. And it begins with the visitors.
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Dr. Balis:
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I see. Tell me about it. What do you remember?
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Ms. Gregory:
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She was at her grandmother's farm. A great white house surrounded
by a gentle sea of summer afternoon and squirming grasses. Helen was alone
when they came to visit, the little men with owl's heads. She didn't see
them coming up the road or across the field. She didn't see them coming
at all. They were just there. All around her. A group of them, faces gray
as oatmeal, all around her, looking.
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Dr. Balis:
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And what happened then?
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Ms. Gregory:
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Blackness. A sea of eventless nothing through which she floated
for no time at all. No duration. It was just night then, and tiny Helen
all alone on the dirt road that approached the house. All alone. And so
she cried out a shrill scream of fear and loneliness swelling within her
and the darkness swelling without. Never forget that feeling. The panic.
The night all over my skin. Frantic empty holes. The eyes. You could feel
them touching you.
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Dr. Balis:
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Hmm. What is the next thing you remember?
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Ms. Gregory:
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Mother. She scooped up little Helen, felt her crying out in
the blackened night. To this day, I have no idea what became of that afternoon
and evening. They vanished like objects. Slipped through the cracks. Or
what became of Helen in between. I asked mother about it years later, but
nobody who was there that day could remember a thing. Mother remembered
helping to make lunch. She remembered us eating. She remembered clearing
the dishes. And then nothing. She found herself crouched beneath the dining
room table, all in darkness, slowly realizing that it was night and that
her Helen was missing.
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Dr. Balis:
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Hmm.
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Ms. Gregory:
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But that's not significant. No. Not right now. There are too
many things you must know and too little time. About the 4th of July. About
the code. About Silicon Impressions. And most importantly, Doctor, there
are things you must know about Calvin and Matthew.
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Dr. Balis:
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Okay, Ms. Gregory. Please continue. What happened on the 4th
of July?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I overheard the message.
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Dr. Balis:
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The encoded message you've been talking about?
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Ms. Gregory:
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It was...I don't know if I can explain it, but I think I overheard
something the visitors let slip. A transmission of some kind, not intended
for me.
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Dr. Balis:
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What do you mean? Where did you overhear this transmission?
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Ms. Gregory:
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In my mind's radio voice that connects me to the visitors.
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Dr. Balis:
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Hmm. And what was it exactly that you overheard?
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Ms. Gregory:
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Well, it only lasted for a few seconds, just a tiny fragment
of something larger. As if someone was turning the dials, searching for
the correct station, and they accidentally sent part of the message to me.
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Dr. Balis:
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What did you hear? What did the message say?
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Ms. Gregory:
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"Silicon Impressions." That was it. That was all
I heard, the only two words. But what was beneath them. Oh! A strange feeling
portentous of conspiracy, violence, and conflagration.
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Dr. Balis:
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I see. And this experience inspired you seek employment at SII?
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Ms. Gregory:
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Yes. To find out what it meant. What the message was portending.
As I mentioned before, at night as I make my rounds, I look and listen.
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Dr. Balis:
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Have you discovered anything?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I found a series of twenty-three electronic documents containing
more than fifteen megabytes of encrypted text.
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Dr. Balis:
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I see.
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Ms. Gregory:
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The code, Doctor.
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Dr. Balis:
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Yes, I understand.
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Ms. Gregory:
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I downloaded the files in the middle of the night and have
spent nearly a month trying to read them. But I'm afraid I've found the
answer to the riddle.
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Dr. Balis:
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And?
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Ms. Gregory:
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And it's just as I told you. From what I can tell, those files
contain intricate and meticulous instructions masterminding an enormous
conspiracy against the American Government. It seems that the company, or
some individual within the company, has been using the available technology
to disseminate information in an attempt to help coordinate survivalist
and militia organizations and ultimately launch a grassroots-level revolt.
It's really quite terrifying.
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Dr. Balis:
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If this is true, Ms. Gregory, why are you telling me? Shouldn't
you be warning the proper authorities? Your ex-colleagues in the CIA perhaps?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I can't.
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Dr. Balis:
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And why not?
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Ms. Gregory:
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Because I don't yet know who's involved. The agency itself
perhaps. And...
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Dr. Balis:
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And?
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Ms. Gregory:
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And my family.
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Dr. Balis:
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What do you mean?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I mean Calvin, Doctor. I have reason to believe that Calvin
is involved in all of this.
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Dr. Balis:
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What makes you say that?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I found his name mentioned in the files. Do you understand
what this could mean?
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Dr. Balis:
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Why don't you tell me what you think it could mean.
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Ms. Gregory:
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That he has been...
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Dr. Balis:
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Yes?
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Ms. Gregory:
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That he has been attempting to groom my son into some sort
of...
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Dr. Balis:
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What?
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Ms. Gregory:
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I...I have to go now. Our time is up. I'm afraid for my son.
I can feel him. A strange, empty...I can't stay. Goodbye, Doctor. Goodbye.
Yes, that is all. Goodbye, goodbye.
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###
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Doctor Balis' Notes on this Session
Transcripts of Helen Gregory's Therapy Sessions
