The Contrivance

Chapters 1-10

PART I

Chapter 1

York, England

It is May 2038 and the pleasant warmth of the sun consoled the neck of the gentleman kneeling at the recently placed gravestone. A green butterfly fluttered in the warm air and landed gracefully on the gravestone. The man considered the butterfly's arrival and made an effort to wipe his tears with his hand.

Standing up, he took a brief look at the gravestone, closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, recovering from the grief and anguish he had just experienced while visiting this grave.

Opening his eyes, he felt a renewed energy and subsequently left the cemetery.

The gentleman's name is Bob Chandall. The last few weeks had been extremely tough for him. His father, who he had endeared so deeply had passed away. To make it worse, to outsiders he had passed away abruptly, in the flicker of an eye and he had shown no signs that he was suffering from anything.

Slowly though, Bob was starting to get to grips with what had happened. His acceptance was growing and he was finding that the acceptance was a far less evil feeling than the miserable sting that sorrow brought. Maybe he would accept it more now, he thought to himself.

It was when Bob had just left the cemetery that he received a notification on his wrist module. The result of the postmortem was in. Bob grabbed his electronic key and hopped into his car and the car drove him to York hospital.

On entering the hospital he paused on noticing the queue. Just a short wait, he hoped.

15 minutes later a doctor approached his chair and said, 'Follow me Bob.' The doctor held out his hand to him once they reached a door with the plaque on it: Dr Marshall - Special Cases.

Bob frowned at the plaque. They entered the room and the doctor closed the door behind him. Before the doctor sat down he instantaneously said, 'Very healthy your father was Mr Chandall.'

Then came a moment of silence.

Realizing that the doctor had caused the silence purposefully, Bob looked at the doctor curiously, 'But doctor, if he was so healthy then why the... death?'

'I am not at all sure Mr Chandall. It seems like his heart stopped as there are no other signs of anything irregular occurring.'

'What about poisoning?'

'No, you can rule that out.'

 Massachusetts, USA

'You're going to be late' remarked Andy van Solteren in a kind warning tone. Richard, Andy's brother, looked at the glass, now almost empty, and took a last swig. 'You're right. Let's go!'

They stepped into the car and it drove them to the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Andy made a connection to the car's media screen with his wrist module and turned on some independent disco music from 2 decades back.

'I don't want to celebrate too quickly,' laughed Richard.

'It is not as if you are going to fail Rich,' answered Andy.

'I suppose.' he said doubtfully, 'I am just a little nervous.'

When they arrived at the premises they both noticed the almost jam-packed car park. 'This is it,' said Richard. They gave each other five and they walked towards the entrance. At the steps one of the professors handed over a program to them.

'Feeling nervous Richard?' he inquired.

Richard smiled, 'Just a little.'

The 2 brothers took an eager glance at the schedule. Andy took a look over his shoulder to the large white-faced clock. '15 minutes to the results,' he exclaimed. 'And then proceeding that the ceremony of hoods!'