“Afternoon darling” purrs Ruth
“Afternoon darling” purrs the person next to her, a woman dressed in a Hart Security suit, I stare at her for a couple of seconds before recognition hits, it’s Elena, and I smile broadly, involuntarily as I realise I had been wondering where on earth she had gone.
“Elena” I say stupidly. “Ruth”.
“I was escorted upstairs by Elena” smiles Ruth. “She’s forgiven me for shooting her, she’s so lovely”.
I look questioningly at Elena and she smiles back. We’re all so happy today. “Well darling, since you kicked me out, I didn’t really know what to do, so I went downstairs, and found a job with your security detail. It’s quite amazing down there.”
“Yes...” is all I can say.
“And then Miss La Fleure came in, she was looking for you, and of course she has been security vetted, so I escorted her upstairs. Tim wanted to do it, but Ruth insisted that it was me. I’m so happy to be here.”
“It’s great to see you back” Ruth says to me, “are you ready to party? Elena will stay with us the whole time, to make sure we’re not too naughty” (she winks at me) “ and that we keep you out of trouble.” She wanders over to my drinks cabinet, and starts to mix two very large cocktails. As she’s doing that, Elena comes up to me, she looks very chic, very desirable, in her tight uniform, it really hugs her figure, and I can’t help stroking her breasts as she stands next to me. She slowly licks my neck.
Ruth shouts “yes” and involuntarily I push Elena away, gently, as Ruth turns with two cocktail glasses. I extend my hand, but she ignores me, hands one to Elena and starts to sip one herself. The liquid inside looks very, almost luminously, green.
“Erm, should you be drinking that whilst you’re on duty” I ask Elena; she looks up at me, hesitantly, and I’m about to add something, when I feel a huge sting on my face, and see Ruth, who seems to have just slapped me. “Lighten up, darling” she says sweetly. “What were you up to?”
“Well, I was just about to do some work in my lab when the storm...but maybe, now, I’ll leave...”
“No, no, no, no, that’s brilliant, I would love to see your work” she cries, reaching into her pocket and tossing something in the air. “Catch!” and I grab out, catching it, I see it and gratefully throw the happy pill into my mouth. “Let’s go then” I reply.
There’s a picture on the wall of my lab, it’s the only picture in the whole apartment. It’s a painting of a naked woman, very beautiful, very dark, she’s facing away so you can see her back, her head is turned slightly so you can just make out the beauty on her face, but more importantly she’s looking sideways. More importantly for me that is, as the painting is next to the chamber, and in my mind, she can see, she can appreciate what’s happening there.
Ruth goes straight up to it, studying it, studying the woman, putting her hand on the painting and stroking, slowly, gently, the nude body. In the meantime I’m flicking a few switches, lighting up banks of control panels, looking at Elena, who sits outstretched on the chaise-longue, smoking a cigarette nonchalantly.
“So” I start, “first we need a subject”.
“Hmmm?” says Ruth.
“Do you want to see this?” I ask.
“Of course, darling!” she says, prising herself away from the picture and coming back to me, standing by my side. I tap a few keys on the keyboard, as Ruth gazes longingly at the picture. She’s distracted by the noise and the strobe lights that come from the chamber, then suddenly there’s a flash and there’s a man, quite old, quite grey, standing there, wearing non descript overalls, looking questioningly at the glass window through which we observe him. He puts his old and wrinkly hands up to it and it looks like he’s pushing.
“Don’t worry, he can’t see or hear us,” I explain, “to him he’s in a closed cell”.
I tap a few more keys and light is thrown out behind him. We walk over and look in to see a spotless white room, with a single white table and two chairs, right in the centre. There’s nothing else there at all.
We go back to the control centre at the other side of the room and I tap a couple of the keys. Writing comes up on the screen in front of me –
Subject Name: John Alexander
Age: Sixty seven
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
G1 tests: 100%
G2 tests: 97%
Length of captivity: 45 days
I love this bit. I touch a button, the screen shows
Microphone on. Please talk, Mr Paris.
I clear my throat, and the effect is immediate; the man twirls round, looking for the source of the noise.
“Good afternoon, Mr Alexander” I start, trying to make my voice sound deep and provocative. He looks up, expectantly.
“I am going to ask you some questions” I continue. “Please sit down”
Meekly, he turns, walks to the chair and sits. I touch a button and “Muted” appears on the screen.
“He’s had the violence removed” I explain to Ruth, “otherwise the experiments may be flawed”.
“Now”, I continue, un-muting the mic, “can you please tell me your name”
“John” he says quietly, “John Alexander”
“Thank you. Now I would like to ask you two questions, and please give me as honest an answer as you can. Please stay seated during all that time. Would you like something to drink, before we start?”
“No, no thank you, I’m fine, but thank you for asking” He’s looking down now, quiet, patient, like he knows what to expect. Ruth is standing by my side. “It’s warm in here” she murmurs, then puts her hand suddenly to her mouth, “sorry!” she whispers. I touch mute. “Don’t worry, it’s programmed only to recognise my voice”. She smiles and pulls off her leather top, revealing just a bra. I nod appreciatively. The screen changes again, some text appears on it, which I read out loud.
“Now, Mr Alexander, my first question is this. Imagine you were alone, in a room with a man that you know. Now imagine that this man, had in some way, hurt, even killed, people that you love. And that in your hand is a pistol. You know that if you shoot this man, there is no way, absolutely no way that you would be held accountable. On the other hand you know that if you don’t shoot him, he will walk out of that room, and will never be punished. Please tell me what you would do, would you shoot him or not.”
The man looks up, he gets up, and he paces around the room. On the screen appears the word “Analysing”. He sits down again. Lots of data appears on the screen, hundreds, thousands of numbers.
John Alexander looks up and says “I wouldn’t shoot him. I can’t do it. I’m sorry.” I can actually see tears in his eyes. “I am so sorry”.
I am starting to say “That’s OK” but I am stopped by Ruth, who puts a hand lightly over my mouth. “He’s not talking to you, “ she whispers, “he’s talking to his family.” I’m about to start laughing but the look in her eyes silences me, even though I don’t quite understand why. “OK, erm, well” I cough, and then I say “Thank you, Mr Alexander, don’t worry, just relax.” I touch on mute, and then say to Ruth “now, look”. Elena actually gets up too, and comes over, standing on my other side.
The screen blinks a few times and then comes up with
Analysis data complete
Request emotional response change?
“Yes” I say
Response change swing required? Simple or Advanced
“Simple”
Please confirm percentage swing
“Seventy five percent”
Thank you. Processing. The process will take approximately five minutes.
We wait. “How does it work?” Ruth asks
I go to the side of the chamber, to a glass cabinet. I should be wearing a white jacket, really, not my tailored silk suit. I may not have the personality for the mad professor, but at least I have the intelligence. Oh yes. Just watch.
I touch the cabinet. “Look insi
de here” I say.
“Oooh,” say both Ruth and Elena in unison, then they regard each other and laugh. I shake my head, realising they’re actually making fun of me. “No, really, “ I say, “look”.
“Okay, “ sighs Ruth and she joins me and peers inside the cabinet. There’s a small, shiny metal canister inside with lots of tubes and wires coming out of it.
“That” I say grandly, “is power. That is the heart of it all, that little thing generates more power than you could possibly imagine, and this” I say, sweeping the room with my arm, “is my latest application.”
“What’s in the canister?” asks Ruth
“Power”
“Yeah, I get power, but what is it, what sort of power?”
“Energy. Just pure, pure energy. Think of it like a tiny sun, living there, in that container.”
“Processing Complete” states a mechanical voice.
“That was never five minutes” says Ruth.
“That was one and a half exactly” agrees Elena.
Ignoring them, I go back to the console and touch it again.
“Mr Alexander?” I ask.
He looks up. “Yes, yes, I’m here.” His voice sounds different, slightly more certain this time.
“Thank you Mr Alexander. I’m going to ask you the second question now, OK?” He nods.
“Now, Mr Alexander, my second question is this. Imagine you were alone, in a room with a man that you know. Now imagine that this man, had in some way, hurt, even killed, people that you love. And that in your hand is a pistol. You know that if you shoot this man, there is no way, absolutely no way that you would be held accountable. On the other hand you know that if you don’t shoot him, he will walk out of that room, and will never be punished. Please tell me what you would do, would you shoot him or not.”
This time John Alexander doesn’t get up, he doesn’t pace around the room, he looks straight upwards, facing where he thinks the voice is coming from, and says in a firm voice “I would shoot the fucker dead.”
Elena whistles, and Ruth nods her head, appreciatively. “And it’s reversible?” she asks.
“Completely”.
“No other damage?”
“Well, we’re still not entirely sure, there does appear, I have to admit, to be some psychological damage, but it doesn’t concern us too much.”
“What sort of damage?” Ruth asks
“Some other emotional responses, such as fear, or jealousy, appear to be touched slightly. There’ve also been a few subjects who appear to have slid into a serious depression. In one case, catatonic. But we’re not really worried. It doesn’t seem to happen often, and when it does, it’s normally at least twenty days later, so we can manage with that timescale.” I’m impressed by how I sound, very knowledgeable.
“And...” continues Ruth “what happens if you ask for a one hundred percent swing?”
“Then” I say slowly, “you can see the full force of human emotion being released.”
They are silent, till Elena asks “What happens to them?”
“To who?”
“To him, to them, to the people you experiment on”
I scratch my head. “Good question. I’m not really sure. I know they’re here for a couple of months, maybe more, and then, well. Yeah, good question, I’ll find out.”
Elena and Ruth look at each other. “So... what, I’m being judged here?” I ask, uncomfortably.
“No, no, darling” says Ruth quickly, soothingly. “Just curious, that’s all. Anyway, it is very impressive.”
“I’ll find out, really I will.” I even tap a few keys on the computer.
“So...” starts Elena.
“So...?”
“So, you can control people’s minds.”
“Emotions. Just their emotions. And so far, for the moment, they have to be close. And controllable. We can’t do it over long distance, though we're trying hard. That’s the trick. That’s what we need to do. At the moment, it’s impressive, but useless.”
“Well...” says Elena.
“Go on”.
“Well, you could always kidnap someone, change their emotional response, wipe their memory of the event, and then put them back. Like, say, a politician or something.”
I consider this. “Yes...Well, no, it just wouldn’t work, would it? I mean...”
“It’s a terrible idea” cuts in Ruth. “But how are you getting on with the distance experiments?”
“Yeah, well, it’s kind of tough for the moment. I’ve had some success but limited. To be useful, it really needs to be through satellite and the signal isn’t reliable enough to transmit the power. What seems to happen, is... well look, I’ll show you.” I turn back to the machine and enter long distance mode. “Now, is there anyone you want to choose?”
“Erm...”
“Yeah, ok, tough choice. Let’s just go random.” The screen goes blank and then fuzzy, gradually a picture appears, becoming more and more defined, and we can make out an aerial view of a street, it seems. It gets larger, you can make out the people walking along, though it’s still a little grainy and stilted. “I have no idea where this is, but it doesn’t matter.” I touch the screen and it zooms further in, it’s almost possible to make out the features on the people now. I touch the head of a woman, she looks smart, dressed in a suit, long flowing hair. On the screen her image is highlighted, a white circle sitting on top of her head like a halo. “Information” I say. On the right of the screen we get the following
Subject Name: Unidentified
Age: Unknown
Ethnicity: Unknown
Gender: Unknown
G1 tests: Not tested
G2 tests: Not tested
Length of captivity: Not applicable
“Transmit”
Warning – insufficient data to perform accurate test. Likelihood of success: 37%
Warning – aerial objects in direct line of site of satellite. Likelihood of impact – 97%
Please confirm transmission
“Transmit” I repeat
Transmission confirmed
Transmission complete. Summary statistics:
Target acquired
Two aerial interceptions
Interception 1: high impact, significant fatalities
Interception 2: low impact
Target being processed
“What happened?“ asks Ruth
“Hang on, look at the picture“
We see the woman on screen, she wobbles slightly, drops her bag. Confused, she reaches down to pick it up.
Please confirm emotion control
“Anger“ I say
Processing…Anger isolated
Current level estimated as 13%. Please confirm relative swing
“Lets say, erm, 50%”
Processing…Target achieved
“Now, you’ll see the issue”
There are quite a few people around the woman as she reacts. The camera slides in to show a view in front of her, and it’s possible to see the change in her face, the smooth, elegant features crumpling and turning, the lines around her mouth and eyes hardening, and a sudden flash, actual red in her eyes before she starts lashing out, with her bag, her fist, at the person next to her. The man, young, fit, healthy, jumps back, shocked, and she comes after him. He has his hands around his head to defend himself, and she acts with a force that belies her frame, hitting, punching him, and he can do nothing except take it. She has her left shoe off now, she’s stabbing at his body, his arms, his head with the stiletto, it’s very effective, people around have circled her, a few are trying to pull her back but she manages to fight them off too, still going at the man, struggling to hold onto her shoe as it’s slippery with his blood, until he crumples to the ground, lost, dying and she spins round to face everyone, a wildness in her face, her hands held out.
“Quite a reaction” comments Ruth.
“That – is not the issue, this is, look”.
I’
m right of course. As she keeps her hands held out, a couple of people walk tentatively towards her, and then recoil as her head suddenly, violently, explodes, sending bone and brain all over them. I tap the screen and the image disappears, it’s replaced with a single line that says
Target lost
“Wow”.
I nod. “The issues is that we transmit the power via satellite. We have a number of distortions on the transmission process, so we have to compensate by additional power, a lot more. It seems to have unwanted consequences, though.”
We all stand in silence for a moment.
“And the aerial interceptions?” asks Ruth
I sigh. “Yeah, another issue. We basically shoot a high power laser from the satellite to the target. It’s incredibly thin, incredibly hard to detect, so when it passes through buildings, or walls, although it creates a tiny hole, it is irrelevant. But, and this is the issue, if it hits an aerial obstacle, like, say a plane, in the wrong place, it can have, erm, unfortunate impacts.”
“Like, crashing?”
“Well, yes. We have been quite lucky, we’ve only caused the crash of three planes since we started working on this. You’ve probably seen them on the news?”
“Three including this one?”
“Four” I shrug.
I've got it!“ Elena looked so excited. “Nano technology! Use tiny insects with wings to fly it there, and inject itself directly into them. You could even build in a location thing so you don't have to rely on satellites!“
We both stare at her. "Elena that's brilliant! Why did we not think of that?“ I pick up my phone and tap in a few numbers. “Dan? Yes, its me, listen you're fired. I've got a new research head, she's here... Yes that's right. Before you go she's got a brilliant idea, I want you to get it sorted by tomorrow, ok?.... Hang on, let me ask her... Elena, do you want his car?“
Elena looks nonplussed, so I carry on, “yeah, yeah I'm sure she will, ok, yes, hang on“ I hand the phone to Elena, “can you explain it to him, thanks darling!“ I turn to Ruth, “time to celebrate right?“
She gives me a broad smile, “Absolutely! And I have something really special for us to celebrate with"
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