by Dennis
E. Power
(with much assistance from Matthew
Baugh,
Win Eckert and Chuck Loridans)
PART ELEVEN
SEBASTIAN CAINE 1958-1999
Concurrent with the career of Darien Fawkes at the Agency there also occurred the mercifully brief experience of Dr. Sebastian Caine as an invisible man.
Dr. Caine headed a project funded by the military specifically to make a viable, safe and reliable method of achieving invisibility. Dr. Caine's team used all of the available methods and protocols of the previous forms of invisibility and blended them into a new protocol that utilized chemical, genetic engineering and quantum physics. (1) The chemical formulas were based on the original Griffin formula using monocaine or duocaine derivations. Dr. Caine labeled his new formulation as SBcaine. The quantum mechanics utilized were advances of the original techniques first used by Dr. Daniel Westin who apparently never achieved reversal of his condition.
Dr. Caine was fascinated by the problem of invisibility because it was something that had stumped many brilliant men and he knew that if he achieved what they could not, it would not only forever make him renowned in the annals of science it would prove the immensity of his brilliance.
Dr. Caine's team achieved invisibility with relative ease, regression proved to be the main problem. The bodies of the subjects could not withstand the strain of regression and their cellular structures ruptured. Another problem with Caine's team's invisibility protocol was that the chemical elements of SB-Caine like the previous formulations of monocaine or duocaine, brought about aggressive and violent behavior. Even a test subject gorilla, normally the most placid of the great apes, became violent and bloodthirsty. Dr. Caine thought this a negligible problem that could be addressed once regression had been achieved.
Sebastian Caine had become involved in the invisibility project through the efforts of his former professor and mentor Dr. Howard Kramer. Kramer as well as being a top flight physicist in his own right was also an old friend of the family as was Dr. Nathan Waldman, who was the mentor of Sebastian's sister, Samantha. (2)
Sebastian or his parents probably
never knew
about their connection to the
With the loss of his financial records, the continued freeze out of his business by the other brokers Robert Caine found that he was unable to trade effectively on the stock market from late summer to early fall of 1929. In retrospect this turned out to be a good thing for he was not hit too badly when the great crash came in October. Robert had been forced to find other avenues of income. Although he had tried to walk the straight and narrow since leaving prison, society would not let him forget his youthful indiscretions and so Robert Caine jr. began to once again associate with the criminal element. (3) He did not become a full fledged criminal in the sense of actively stealing or embezzling. Instead he used his contacts with the criminal element to become a bank roller of heist jobs, of various criminal activities, he invested in book operations, hook operations and hooch operations. He laundered money for his criminal associates by investing it in various front businesses. Caine and Son Brokerage house appeared to be a middling prosperous investment house.
Nathaniel Caine
seemed to
inherit Robert's mathematical skills and understood financial matters
at an
early age. This seemed to allay Robert's suspicion that Nathaniel was
William
Carpenter's child until he remembered William Carpenter had been a
financial as
well as a scientific genius. Nathaniel was genius in mathematics and
specialized in economics. He was aware of his father business
associates from
an early age, especially after 1948 when his father began helping
associates
set up businesses in
Nathaniel Caine
decided
to do his thesis on the socio-economics of gambling and so visited
Without
discussing the
matter with anyone Nathaniel Caine pieced together what Noel Peterson
was doing
through various conversations with people in the casinos and by
observation of
her play techniques and patterns of wins and losses. She worked for
three
different parties; one was the
Furthermore Noel Peterson used her card play to send coded messages to certain croupiers and players. Nathaniel found himself drawn to this beautiful and very intelligent young woman.
As a lark he played against her and sent her messages via the same code. He thwarted her play that evening despite her best efforts to play around him. She signaled him to stop playing a dangerous game and left the card game to play craps and make up her losses .
Later that night Nathaniel Caine was visited by a couple of goons who beat him senseless and dragged him out of his room. He was taken blindfolded to a location in the hills to an office in a tobacco warehouse. He was tied to a chair and interrogated by a member of the Cuban Secret police while a distinguished, middle-aged man of European descent watched with detached interest.
After Caine was tortured for a few hours, the distinguished man signaled for the interrogation to stop. The man was certain that Nathaniel knew nothing of their activities. Since Nathaniel had broken the code by mere observation, the distinguished man offered him a job that he could take or he could die.
Nathaniel Caine began working with the Krafthaus at that moment. His new employer introduced himself as Carl Peterson jr. He was Noel's father.
As Nathaniel Caine recuperated in the hospital, Noel Peterson visited him. She was very upset that he had been tortured for his interest in her. They began dating while Caine finished his research in Havana. He was as of yet not assigned any task by Krafthaus. (5)
Upon finishing his thesis, Nathaniel Caine became a Professor of Economics at a small university in Nevada. He was offered a job as a member of a Washington think tank. He was visited by Noel Peterson who urged him to take the job. Krafthaus wished him to take the position
To sweeten the pot, Noel mentioned that she too was moving to Washington to become a statistical analyst for the think tank. That clinched the deal. Nathaniel Caine and Noel Peterson were married in late 1952.
Nathaniel Caine made friends with the other members of the think tank. A couple of them had ties to the Intelligence community. Nathaniel's task for the Krafthaus was to pass along information the Krafthaus determined was pertinent to their needs. Since this was mainly financial in nature, Caine did not feel as though he was being disloyal to his nation.
Despite her checkered past and the shadiness of her family tree, (6) Noel Peterson was basically an honest woman who reluctantly worked for the Krafthaus. She was braver in withholding information than was Nathaniel, possibly because having grown up around the organization she knew how it worked and how to work around the system.
Noel Peterson Caine bore two children. The first of these was a girl named Samantha Caine born in 1954. The second was Sebastian Caine born in 1958. Neither Nathaniel nor Noel hid their families' past from their children. They encouraged them to follow their dreams. They were also rather indulgent and both children grew up head strong and arrogant. Samantha idolized her adventuress grandmother and was intrigued by the espionage game. One of Nathaniel's fellow think tank members saw her potential and exploited it. Samantha Caine became a government counter intelligence, anti-terrorist agent and assassin (7) She disappeared while on a mission to eliminate a terrorist named Daedalus in late 1988 (8) Part of her life is chronicled in the film Long Kiss Goodnight. The names of her false identity and her real name are transposed in the film either for deliberate misinformation or because the writers became confused as to which was which.
While growing up Sebastian Caine was fully aware that his ancestry included some of the most brilliant if nefarious men in the recent history of world. This was even without knowing of his descent from John Hawley Griffin or William Carpenter. He became a brilliant biochemist with an interest in quantum physics and laser technology. Sebastian was also a border line socio-path who believed that the world and all the people in it had been put there to serve his needs and feed his ego.
Although he had been brought onto the invisibility project to iron out the wrinkles and create a safe, reliable protocol to create an invisible soldier, he rapidly began to think of the project as his own. Although Sebastian Caine built on the work of others, he felt that his improvements allowed him to claim responsibility for the entire protocol. Although he had other scientists working under him, he consider them to be his underlings in intellect and status therefore he deserved all of the credit.
To achieve his goals Sebastian Caine had no qualms about crossing ethical boundaries or cutting corners in his research. The primary goal so far as Sebastian was concerned was to make the project a success at any cost and the success of the project would allow Sebastian to achieve the renown he deserved, including the Nobel prize.
Sebastian had been romantically involved with Dr. Linda McKay, a fellow scientist on the project. It rankled him that she had ended their relationship. This was not because he had a deep, abiding love for her but rather because he considered her his possession. It should have been his decision when to end the relationship. We can see one aspect of his borderline socio-pathic personality manifested in his relationship with her.
Sebastian had wanted a sex partner to be available whenever he had the urge. Romance had not really entered the picture. Even though they were no longer dating, when Sebastian suspected that she was dating someone else it angered him. This was not because he was jealous as much as he felt someone used one of his possessions without permission.
In addition to his desire for recognition Sebastian was obsessed with controlling those around him. He was also obsessed with sex and saw all women as his possible sexual conquests. Despite his charm and good looks, Sebastian Caine had trouble connecting with women. It might have been his arrogance or because he viewed every woman as a possible conquest that made women avoid him. It may have been that they sensed his deeper problems. His need to control and manipulate people and his propensity for violence.
In the early stages of the invisibility project, a gorilla had successfully been made invisible. On occasion she escaped from her cage. Instead of conducting a methodical search which would have returned the ape to her cage without too much disturbance or distress. Sebastian made these occasions into a hunting game. Armed with dart guns and thermal visors Caine and his fellow scientists would chase the already confused and frightened ape thorough the labyrinth of the lab. It was cruel and unnecessary, something that the project veterinarian protested on every occasion. Yet Sebastian saw it as a contest in which he could once more prove his superiority over his fellow team members. He did not need the thermal visors, most of the time he could sense or almost see the invisible ape and shoot it. It was in this manner that he acted out his violent impulses.
One night with a sudden insight Sebastian Caine broke the chemical code that would enable the team to bring about regression. The trial went very well with the ape, although the strain nearly killed her.
Sebastian Caine lied to his team mates and told them that they had been given the go-ahead to begin human testing. As project leader he insisted that he be the first to undergo the process just in case there were any flaws in the process. He claimed he did not want to risk anyone else life. Sebastian lied. Sebastian had been absolutely certain that the process was infallible. He had designed it after all. He just wanted the glory of being the first invisible man (9).
Despite Sebastian's great genius, the process was flawed. Although they were able to make the gorilla invisible and regress her, the process did not work on human beings. Sebastian was stuck in his invisible form. The monocaine and duocaine derivations in the new protocol acted on his brain very rapidly because of Sebastian Caine's barely restrained psychopathology.
Within hours of becoming invisible, Sebastian Caine sexually molested a fellow team worker while she slept. Even though this was confined to exposing, kissing and fondling her breasts, it demonstrates his lack of inhibition and reinforces the fact that he viewed other people as mere objects to be manipulated by him.
The team members tracked him by infra camera and an infra red camera was pointed at his bed to make certain that they knew when he was sleeping. Because his invisibility was unnerving, a latex costume and mask were devised. As the days passed Sebastian's behavior became increasingly agitated and violent. When the laboratory animals' noises irritated him, he killed them. Sebastian liked being invisible, it made him feel powerful (10). He started thinking of his fellow team members as his enemies because they wished to bring an end to his power.
The project was centered in an government sponsored laboratory. It appeared as though it were an abandoned warehouse. Once you passed through several doorways and entered a voice print activated elevator and traveled several stories underground you were in a highly modern laboratory.
Sebastian rigged the camera to show a looping image of his infra red sleeping form. He sneaked out of the laboratory vault to the outside world. He first took the opportunity to spy on Linda McKay to see whom the guy she had chosen over him. Linda's new beau was Matthew Kensington, another member of Caine's team. Caine saw this as an absolute betrayal. He resolved to remain invisible and to take whatever measures were needed to secure that condition.
Before returning to the vault he took care of some unfinished business. The woman who lived across the street from him was a sexual tease. She often undressed before the open window, clearly her intent was to tempt anyone with powerful binoculars such as Sebastian Caine possessed.
Sebastian followed her into her apartment, watched her take a shower and then when he could no longer control himself sexually assaulted her. Although the after effects of the rape were not recorded in the filmed version of these incidents. The woman became certain that she had been assaulted by a poltergeist. Her recurrent nightmares lead to her being treating for clinical depression.
Sebastian returned as to the vault as if nothing had happened.
The other team members were frightened and angry that he had gone out. They changed the security protocols so that he would be unable to get out of the vault unless accompanied by another member of the team.
Sebastian merely rewrote the security programming to suit his needs. He had decided to clean house, remove all the people who knew about the project, to destroy all records of the project and then do as he wished among the inferior masses.
Sebastian Caine left the vault again. He visited the home of his friend and mentor Dr. Howard Kramer and made it appear as though Dr. Kramer drowned his pool. He erased all records off of Kramer's computers about the existence of the project. He then visited General Caster and made it appear as though he suffered an accidental death. Sebastian returned to the project. He made certain that everyone was in the vault and had them sealed it by programming the security system on the elevator so that it would only respond to his voice and finger prints.
Sebastian played his hunting game for the last time as he picked off his team members one by one. Sebastian took great pleasure in killing them even while he was being hunted.
Linda McKay and Matthew Kensington managed to elude Sebastian, although both were nearly killed by him. They climbed up the elevator shaft to freedom as the laboratory was destroyed by Sebastian's home made bombs. Sebastian Caine died either a result of his wounds sustained in his hunting game or from the explosion that destroyed his laboratory.
The filmed
version of the
story of Sebastian Caine was called Hollow
Man, although this was perhaps inspired by the of the latex
suit that
Caine wore, which appeared as he were a humanoid skin without an
interior, it
was also rather appropriate title in terms of his character. Caine was
outwardly handsome, charming and to a certain extent sociable but this
was only
a facade. He was an emotionless, opportunist whose ambition and desires
were
his only real substance. Sebastian Caine was a hollow man because he
was
essentially a man without a soul.
Click here for a Griffin family tree graphic
NOTES
SEBASTIAN CAINE 1958-1999
1. Apparently the progenitors of this project were unaware of the quicksilver program. This was probably another case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing.
2.It
is uncertain as to whether Dr. Howard Kramer was actually named Howard
Kramer.
His actual name may have actually been Thomas Janeway. Janeway was a
intelligent, savvy and dedicated intelligence officer who was willing
to
sacrifice his own men and work with despicable people for the good of
his
nation. He was originally a naval intelligence officer with training in
physics. Janeway joined a think tank along with some other young
academics who wished to take a more proactive role in their nation's
security.
The think tank became the Division and among its members were "Doc"
Levy, Nathan Waldman, Thomas Janeway, Nathaniel Caine, Noel Peterson
Caine and
a few others whose names have not been released.
In one of
their intelligence operations Levy was killed and Thomas Janeway was
seriously
injured. He retired from field work after this incident. He retained
his seat
in Division but also became more active in physics and taught at the
University
level.
3. When Robert Caine jr. father had been convicted of embezzlement, Robert Caine jr. had turned to crime to pay for his father's legal fees. During his criminal career Robert Caine jr. used the pseudonym Johnny Apollo. By an odd coincidence, Robert Caine sr. and Robert Caine jr. ended up in the same prison
4. Among the clients that brought properties through Caine and Son was Hagen & Associates. This prominent law firm's most famous and largest clients were the Corleone and Sabatini crime families.
5. For more on Krafthaus please see Win Eckert's The Original Wold Newton Universe Crossover Chronology Part III , The Man from Uncle Chronology, Win Eckert's Malevolent Moriartys article and my Lethal Luthors article.
6. Noel Peterson was the daughter of Carl Peterson jr. Carl Peterson Jr. was the son of Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond's greatest foe. Carl Peterson fought Hugh Drummond jr twice in the mid-sixties. There is some speculation that this was the original Bull Dog Drummond. See Win Eckert's Malevolent Moriartys and Brad Mengels The Daring Drummonds for fuller details. Carl Peterson was the grandson of Professor Moriarty through the casual marriage of John Clay and Urania Moriarty. He was the brother of Dr. Caber. He was the half brother of Lawrence Luthor the Ultra-Humanite, Lex Luthor, Scott Luthor a.k.a. Dr. Evil and David Luthor a.k.a. D.D. Warburton a.k.a. Daddy Warbucks. Carl Peterson had become romantically involved with criminal genius named Fidelity Dove. Fidelity Dove was an extremely beautiful woman with a regrettable tendency towards law-breaking. She used her gang and her own not-inconsiderable talents to help others who've been wronged by criminals and the authorities; she also made sure that by the end of the caper she was financially ahead, usually substantially so. Part of her biography is in The Exploits of Fidelity Dove (1924) by Roy Vickers.
Fidelity Dove became involved with Carl Peterson jr. in late 1928. They were married in 1929. He managed to conceal from her what his true profession was until mid 1930, she believed that he was an insurance broker. By the time she discovered his deception she was pregnant with their child. After Noel was born Fidelity tried to reform Carl, motherhood apparently having reformed her. He tired of her attempts. When she tried to take Noel and leave, Carl arranged for evidence from her previous criminal career to find its way into Inspector Rason, Fidelity's old nemesis. Fidelity was sent away for her previous crimes. Carl Peterson jr. took full possession of their child.
Noel Peterson became an agent of the Krafthaus at an early age, her size and age making her able to accomplish many tasks which an adult could not do such as listen to conversations without arousing suspicion or gaining entrance to small rooms or windows.
7. We are not certain which agency trained and employed Samantha Caine as an assassin and anti-terrorist agent; it may have been The Shop or possibly the agency which also employed Jonathan Hemlock.
8. Samantha Caine created a cover identity to get close to Daedalus. The cover identity was Charlene Elizabeth Balitmore. Daedalus was successful in turning a fellow agent against Samantha. He drugged her, sexually assaulted her and threw her off a sea side cliff.
Samantha did not die but she had a severe head trauma and had amnesia. A few weeks later she would discover she was pregnant. Over the next eight years she would live as Charley Baltimore and become a school teacher and single mother. A private detective she had hired to investigate her background had a breakthrough, which lead to her remembering the identity as Samantha Caine, government agent. The film version of these events transposed her identities so that Samantha Caine was the happy homemaker and Charley Baltimore was the assassin. Whether this was done deliberately or by mistake is unknown.
9. The fact that many others had previously been documented to have become invisible was beside the point. Sebastian Caine would have become the first acknowledged invisible man, and so in his eyes the first legitimate one.
10. There was good reason for his powerful feelings. As in the previous Invisible men, Sebastian Caine displayed strength and stamina beyond those of ordinary men. John Hawley Griffin and Jack Griffin had walked naked through winters in temperatures that should have killed them by exposure with little more than a feeling of deep chill. Sebastian was able to lift a man off of the floor while hanging upside down; he was able to walk naked through a cold night after diving into a heated pool. This version of the formula may have had even regenerative capabilities for Sebastian was able to overcome being severely burned, electrocuted, being hit over the head with a crowbar and a minor explosion that should have killed him.
Invisibles Timeline
1897 Invisible Man by H.G.
Well (John Hawley Griffin. OIM Original Invisible
Man)
1898 League of Extraordinary Men (John
Hawley Griffin)
1922 Invisible Man (John
(Jack) Griffin)
1929 Invisible Murderer with William Carpenter as the Invisible Man
1931 Invisible Man's Return (Frank Griffin----- with Geoffrey Radcliffe as the IM
1935 Invisible Man's Revenge
(Robert Griffin) the IM
1938 Invisible Woman (Kitty
Caroll)
1942 (twenty years after Invisible
Man) Invisible
Agent (Frank Griffin a.k.a. Frank Raymond)
1948 Abbott
and
Costello Meet Frankenstein (Geoffrey Radcliffe IM)
1949 Abbott
and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (Tommy Nelson IM)
1966 Invisibility Affair
Willard
Morthley and Kerry Griffin inventors of the
OTSMID
(Omnidirectional Total Spectrum Molecular Interpenetration Device)
which can
render objects invisible
1974 Daniel Westin
becomes an Invisible Man
1998 Darien Fawkes
surgically
implanted with quicksilver gland to become an Invisible Man
1999 Sebastian
Caine has
a brief and deadly career as an Invisible Man as seen in The Hollow
Man
Return to
the Table of Contents