Science Fiction Book Excerpt :       ©The Facsimile   By Pat Mullan       I.   Anger gripped Dr. Dan Grimes…been building all day.   He turned down the volume on the TV where he'd been watching the blizzard sink Boston in 30 inches of snow. "Yeah?" he yelled into the phone.  Only the unrelenting sound of a fax machine greeted him. "Shit!" he shouted to no one, "I'm being harassed by a fucking fax machine.  Got to find the maniac behind this!" Since two am he'd been called every hour, on the hour, by a fax machine.  At nine am his desktop had gone berserk, screen rolling continuously spewing out endless lines of alphanumerics and special characters.  Pulled the plug and rebooted several times.  To no avail.  Then about noon it had become even more bizarre.  The system had commenced beeping, in morse, the universal SOS distress signal and the scrolling screen now repeated, line after line, the words 'Help me, Dr, Grimes! '      II.   Fear gripped Dan Grimes…down in his gut where only pleasant fantasies used to hold sway…now the worst fantasy of all had taken residence…   Dr. Dan Grimes was the most sought after computer scientist on the planet.  Bill Gates had tried, unsuccessfully, to buy his mind with millions.  But wealth didn't motivate Grimes.  A minimalist in everything, he lived frugally.  Artificial intelligence alone motivated him.  He wanted to take AI the next quantum leap.  He wanted to train the computer to think, to create, to solve, to function more magnificently than a thousand Einsteins.  MIT believed in him.  They'd funded him now for ten years.  Asked for nothing.  No objectives.  No project milestones.  Nothing.  MIT believed.  Believed that Grimes's genius would eventually repay them beyond the wildest dreams of even the most far-out thinkers in their renowned research department.     III.   By 3 pm Dan Grimes had had enough.  He no longer answered his phone or attempted to check his email.    Looking out the second floor window, he could see that the snowstorm had abated and that a few hardy souls had started to shovel a narrow pathway in front of their homes. He went downstairs, layered himself in warm clothes, pulled on his boots and gloves, and braved his way into the cold.  Normally a fifteen-minute walk to his lab in Cambridge, he reckoned that it'd probably take him a good forty-five minutes today.  Muffled against the biting cold, he set out. Ten minutes later, his cell phone rang.  Couldn't be, he thought, and reckoned that he'd better answer it.  Took off one glove, fished the phone out of his right pocket, and answered.  The unmistakable sound of a fax machine greeted his ear.  Feeling haunted, he dropped the phone into his pocket and continued, knee deep in the snow, to plough ahead.     IV.   Out on Massachusetts Avenue, snowflakes drifting, vision blurred, he stumbled into a fire hydrant and fell into a snow bank.   Cursing, he got to his knees, forced himself onto his feet and lurched forward again.    He never heard his phone ring again, down in the snow where he'd dropped it.   Instead he focused his mind and tried to make contact.  Only garbled thoughts.   Must be the weather.  What else?  He'd never failed to make contact before.  But he worried now.  Something had happened.  Is the fax a warning?  Is the fax a threat?   Is the fax a decoy?   Blinded by the snow and caught up in his own thoughts, he almost missed his street.  The Chinese takeaway sign warned him that he'd gone too far.  He turned back, went a hundred yards, and made a right.   This street was more sheltered and people seem to have cleared away much of the snow on the sidewalks.  Ten minutes and he should be there, he estimated.      V.   Dr. Dan Grimes was  wrong… twenty minutes passed before he reached his lab …   It stood amid a cluster of old buildings, some dating back to the eighteenth century.  Most were now used as warehouses.  Some were empty, developers awaiting rezoning approval.  Prime target for gentrification.  Dr. Grimes's lab encompassed at least eight connecting buildings on the corner of two adjoining streets, just a stone's throw away from the Charles River and MIT itself.   Once inside it became evident that the cluster of old buildings surrounding the lab was only a shell, camouflage for another building that stood inside.  The tall stainless steel structure housed the only lab on earth combining quantum mechanics and genome structuring.  A facility born in the brain of Dr. Dan Grimes.  A facility that merged the evolution of the digital world with the birth of laboratory conceived DNA.      VI.   Dr. Dan Grimes knew in his gut that his worst fantasy had become real …   He keyed in his entry codes, placed his right palm on the scanner, entered his fingers in the print sheath, placed his eyes in front of the retina reader, and waited.  In fifteen seconds the outer security door opened to let him enter.   "Dr. Grimes, it's too late.  It's too late." The man who greeted Dr. Grimes could have been his identical twin brother.  But that would have been impossible.  Dr. Dan Grimes was an only child. "What's too late? "  he said to his twin. "We've lost four already.  All dead.  Suicide!   I tried to stop it.  But I couldn't.  The first born are all gone.  Now there's only three of us left." "Why didn't you call me?" "I tried.  Many, many times.  They blocked all audio and voice communication.  I sent a help message over the operating system.  Then I bombarded your phone with faxes.  I hoped that that would set off an alarm in your head.  We have got to stop it." "How did this happen?" "Your last born.  He did it.  He doesn't want to be a twin.  He wants to eliminate everyone like him.  There's something wrong, deadly wrong with him.  I can't stop him.  He's trying to kill me too.  You created him.  Only you can stop him, Dr. Grimes."     VII.   Dr. Dan Grimes had had no warning…no, the calls from the fax machine; the SOS on his computer …these had been warnings!    His twin marched ahead into the inner reaches of the lab, heading for the sterile Core where they had all been conceived.  Halfway there he stumbled and fell, tried to recover, and fell again.  Dr. Grimes reached down, lifted him up, and dragged him to an examination table.  But it was too late.  He could see the life ebbing away from his twin.  Leaving him, he strode purposefully ahead.  Reaching the Core, he saw Dr. Grimes  looking at him through the plexiglass wall as he approached.   Only the two of them left now.   When this ended there would only be one.  Just like it had been in the beginning. "Dr. Grimes, come out of the Core and let's talk." "Why?  So you can kill me too!" "Kill you!  You have delusions.  You are the killer !" "No, with me gone, you will destroy everything." "Haven't you got this wrong?  Aren't you the one who wants no one around anymore who looks exactly like himself?" "You're crazy!   Where did you get that idea?  Why would I want to kill my own children, my own flesh and blood?" "Your children!  Your flesh and blood.  You are delusional.  Now you think you're me." "I am Dr. Grimes.  You are not!  You are my favorite.  The one most like me.  With you I felt that all my research had finally paid off.   I knew the risks.  But I knew the rewards too.  You are my reward.  At least you were.  But I've been wrong!" "No, Dr. Grimes.  You are not me.  You only think you are.  You have been reading and studying my research.  Your subconscious has replicated my own memories.  Don't you see what's happened?"       VIII.   Dr. Grimes knew that only one Dr. Grimes would live to carry on the work …carry on the race at the beginning of this new century…   He had anticipated this confrontation.  He knew what had to be done.  He had already made provision for just such an outcome.  Striding to the console outside the Core, he keyed in his password and issued a set of commands.  Immediately the Core sealed shut.  No one could exit.  Then extraction of all oxygen commenced.  Soon Dr. Grimes in the Core would suffocate.  Even now he could see what he had set in motion.  Through the plexiglass he could see Dr. Grimes's face turning red, his eyes bulging, his lungs fiercely gasping for air, as he slowly sank to the floor, his fingertips desperately scratching their way down.  Dr. Grimes reset the secure seal and entered the Core.  He stepped over the body, knelt down and felt the pulse.  None.   He stood up, looked out of the Core, and felt tremendous power.  He had won.  He wasn't at all breathless from the lack of oxygen.  He looked down at the body of Dr. Grimes.   After all, he was, of course, the perfect facsimile!

"With BLOOD RED SQUARE he has challenged Ken Follett and Jack Higgins. One thing is for sure, Mullan is a force to be reckoned with. "   Narayan Radhakrishnan, New Mystery Reader "An excellent read! " - Shelley Glodowski, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW    "a rollicking ride...a great new book in the thriller genre!"   Peggy Vincent, author of Baby Catcher -  film rights have been optioned by Elliot Gould's production studio and the screenplay has been assigned    ::: I found this book of poetry to be beautiful, touching, and approachable. It had me in tears, and laughing, all within the space of a few lines. It covers childhood, early working years, family, social-consciousness, etc. all from a Northern Irish perspective - but highly applicable to any life, anywhere. I highly recommend it!! -  Dan Masterson, Poet "Pat Mullan's latest, TRIBUNAL, is a razor blade down the spine. So fast-paced, expect whiplash.  This is Irish noir with a hero whom you'll want at your back in any gunfight. Grab a copy and clear your schedule!"   JAMES ROLLINS,  New York Times bestselling author of BLACK ORDER “TRIBUNAL bristles with ingenuity, and a plot to kill for …this is a thriller of such high caliber that it transcends all genres…has all the Irish gifts: dizzy narrative, sly humour, and marvelous readability.  It rocks!”    Ken Bruen, Edgar and Macavity Award winning author of THE GUARDS. "A high-powered legal thriller chocked full of betrayal, deceit, corruption, and murder. Mullan is Ireland's answer to John Grisham, with a smattering of Ross MacDonald thrown in. TRIBUNAL will make your head spin." JA Konrath, author of RUSTY NAIL. "Pat Mullan is a natural born storyteller with a gripping, engaging style. He may just be the next big thing in Irish crime fiction."   JASON STARR, author of LIGHTS OUT   "TRIBUNAL is a tight, intelligent thriller. Author Pat Mullan blends political intrigue and murder with a unique Irish flavor that goes down smooth.  His hero, Ed Burke, is striking - almost an anti-hero in some respects.  To unravel the deception and save himself, Burke must test old friendships, and determine who to trust in an Ireland changed by the Celtic Tiger.  Mullan writes suspense with an edge reminiscent of Bob Ludlum. An author to watch." - CERRI ELLIS - MOSTLY MYSTERY REVIEWS ***************************** Read the opening chapters of TRIBUNAL in DUBLIN NOIR - in your bookstores in the US, Ireland, and the UK -  NOW!!!

Meet The Author: Pat Mullan was born in Ireland and has lived in England, Canada and the USA. He spent two years with the US Army in Japan and Korea. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and the State University of New York where he studied creative writing. Formerly a banker, he now lives in Connemara, in the west of Ireland. His novel, The CIRCLE of SODOM, is available on all the on-line stores. He has just completed a second novel, BLOOD RED SQUARE, which has been published by LBF Books. His story Tribunal appears in  DUBLIN NOIR (published in 2005 in the US by Akashic Books and in Ireland and the UK by Brandon Books).  Tribunal is part of his current novel in progress , of the same name, TRIBUNAL; set mainly in Ireland, it will introduce Ed Burke. Pat is a member of International Thriller Writers and the Mystery Writers of America.  You can visit Pat at www.patmullan.com