Analog SFF, April 2007

by Dell Magazine Authors

  "I still don't understand,” Jerry said.

  Lansky bit his lip; it was clear to Arthur that the last thing he wanted to do was explain IMVR to a layperson. But he said, “I'll try to make this simple. Do you remember learning how your eye works when you took high school biology?"

  "Well, it's been a while. This isn't the usual sort of thing I think about."

  Arthur stepped forward and smiled. “Allow me to try, Dr. Lansky. You can let me know if I'm getting it right.” He turned to Jerry. “I think I can explain what Dr. Lansky's getting at. Normally, the way you see something is that light from outside enters your eye and is picked up by cells in the back of your eye, called rods and cones. Then these cells send a signal along your optic nerve into your brain, which your brain interprets as an image. With me on that?"

  Jerry nodded. “Sure."

  "Okay. Now you know that for you to see something, the optic nerve has to be stimulated. So what would happen if we could send an electric pulse directly into your nerve that makes it react exactly the same way?"

  Jerry snapped his fingers. “I'd ‘see’ something that isn't really there."

  "Exactly,” Lansky said. “That's the goal of IMVR. Instead of having to create simulations outside your sensory organs, we could create simulations by sending the images and other sense impressions directly into your brain."

  Jerry looked around nervously. “So where's this IMVR device?"

  "Oh, we don't have one,” Lansky replied quickly, with a chuckle. “That would be the holy grail of our research. No one's managed to build one yet."

  "So you don't have anything like that here?"

  Lansky looked worried. “Well—"

  Arthur looked at Jerry. “I think we should tell him the full story."

  "What full story?” Lansky asked.

  Jerry took a deep breath. “Dr. Lansky, Kiradi's not the only person we found in this condition."

  Lansky looked surprised, but quickly recovered. “I knew there had to be something more you weren't telling me."

  "In the past two weeks, two other people were found in this condition in the area. Before John Kiradi. All three are catatonic and unresponsive, but with normal EEGs. It's as if their minds are just, well, somewhere else."

  Lansky put his fingers together. “I think I start to see why you wanted to meet with me."

  "I certainly hope you do,” Jerry said. “So now that we've leveled with you, maybe you can level with us."

  "I will, but I don't see how our research is relevant."

  Arthur shook his head and sighed. As he asked his question, he ticked off points on his fingers. “Look, doctor, are you saying that you're doing research that involves sending signals directly into the brain, and that three people, including one of your researchers, have their minds trapped in some sort of loop, and you don't think there's a connection?"

  "No, I don't."

  "So, what? You think it's something in the air?"

  Jerry shot Arthur a look and then turned back to Lansky. “How can you be so sure there isn't a connection, doctor?"

  Lansky smiled placidly. “Because we don't experiment on human beings here, Detective. All our work has been done on animals. Mostly rodents and cats."

  "Chimpanzees?” Arthur asked. “Apes?"

  Lansky waved his hands in frustration. “Well, that would be the next step, obviously. But for the moment, no."

  "Well,” Jerry asked, “how come you're so sure that none of your colleagues has already started experimenting on humans?"

  Lansky sighed. “Because all of our work is surgical. The only way to bypass the sensory organs is to operate on an animal's brain so we can feed electronic pulses directly into the neurons.” He paused. “I don't suppose the examinations showed that the victim's brains had electrodes attached to them, did they?"

  Arthur glanced at Jerry, who shook his head. “No. No Pinheads. Besides, any electrodes implanted in them would have come up in the MRI."

  Lansky's eyes widened. “You did an MRI on the victims? That would have ripped any electrodes right out of their skulls."

  "Who knew? Are you sure that electrodes are necessary?” Arthur asked.

  Lansky looked thoughtful for a moment. “Absolutely. There's simply no way to induce IMVR in someone without invasive surgery.” He paused. “Look, if you'd like, I can show you around the whole lab, even explain the surgical procedure and how it works. It'll take about an hour."

  "No, thanks,” Arthur said suddenly. “I think we've heard all that we need. Sorry to have bothered you."

  Lansky nodded. “Well, if there's anything else I can do, let me know."

  As they walked back to their car, Jerry said, “Why did you cut and run? We almost had him admitting that this INVR stuff was real."

  "IMVR. And that's why I cut things short. Lansky was too ready to admit to doing IMVR research, which meant that he wasn't going to give us enough for a warrant. And the last thing I wanted to see was a bunch of post-op animals."

  "So what do we do now? Any suggestions?"

  "Yep. You try to get in touch with Lansky's colleagues. I'll give Lansky a call tomorrow afternoon and see if he'll say something in front of me that he didn't want to say in front of you."

  "And if he won't?"

  "Then we bring him in."

  That night, Trevor waited in front of Rod Carnegay's apartment building for him to come home.

  Trevor watched as other people walked by. He withdrew the inducer from his right pocket, a gloved hand brushing across it. His thumb twitched as he fought to control himself.

  He had determined Rod would get a pleasant world to live out his days. For a moment he tried to imagine what it would be. A life of research? Or indulging in that silly passion for baseball he had? He chuckled to himself at the ridiculous idea of the pudgy, older man running around in a pinstriped double-knit polyester uniform alongside twenty-year-olds.

  His mind drifted to the hopes and desires of the people walking up and down the block. The power to grant those wishes sat quiet in his hand.

  He shuddered. Temptation to use the weapon was all the more reason why he had to take this step.

  Finally, he spotted his prey. Despite the warm weather, Rod was dressed in an overcoat and a knit cap. Trevor backed up against the brick wall of the apartment building, aimed the inducer at Carnegay's head, and fired. The small digital readout lit up, indicating that it was working perfectly. Trevor waited, expecting to see Carnegay freeze up and then fall to the ground.

  But it didn't happen. Carnegay kept walking.

  Confused, Trevor fired the inducer a second and then a third time, and still Carnegay refused to collapse.

  And then Carnegay spotted him. Carnegay froze for a moment and then darted away in the direction from which he had come.

  Trevor ran after him and caught up with him in an alleyway between two buildings. Having nowhere to run, Carnegay turned to face Trevor.

  "Hello, Rod,” Trevor said.

  "Hello, Trevor,” Carnegay said, keeping the distance between them. “I knew you were up to no good when I heard about John."

  "What gave me away?"

  "You haven't exactly been keeping your worries to yourself.” He paused. “When I heard about John's coma, I knew you had to be responsible. You figured out how to build the inducer, didn't you? Brilliant work, I have to say. And yet, you're using it as a weapon."

  "I had to do something,” Trevor said, taking a step closer. “The rest of you wouldn't listen to me."

  "Trevor, you're being ridiculous,” Carnegay said, retreating to maintain distance.

  "No, I'm not. IMVR is too dangerous to unleash upon the world."

  "And yet here you are, using the inducer to stop people from using the inducer. Don't you see how irrational you're being?” He took another step back but almost tripped as he backed into the unyielding brick wall behind him.

  Trevor sadly shook his head. “I don't really see how I have a choice."


  "Of course you have a choice!” Carnegay shouted. “Give us the inducer and show us how it works so we can publish."

  A chill ran through Trevor's body, and his stomach felt queasy. “No,” he said. “That's exactly why I built this. So that none of you could publish."

  "You know how crazy that sounds?"

  Trevor just stared at him.

  Carnegay tried to step back once more, but he had gone as far as the building allowed. “So what are you going to do?"

  "I'm going to zap you now, and as soon as I can find him, I'll zap Lansky as well. The two of you can join John in a perfect world. It'll be peaceful for you. Well, at least for you and John."

  "And then what? Are you going to file your own patent and sell the technology as your own?"

  "No!” Trevor shouted. “Don't you understand? I'm going to bury the research forever. I didn't build this to get rich. I wanted to prove it can be done, but then John started talking about those unthinkable applications. That's not why we researched and studied these last five years."

  Carnegay sighed, his shoulders slumping. “You can't put the genie back in the bottle, Trevor. Once the technology has been developed, it's only a matter of time before someone uses it. Or someone else also discovers it."

  Trevor aimed the inducer again, but Rod shook his head. “It's no use, Trevor. I figured out how to block the inducer. You might as well just give up.” He took a decisive step forward and put out an open hand. “Give me the inducer, and let's go bring John back into the real world."

  "No,” Trevor said. His hand tightened around the inducer.

  "Fine. I'm going to tell Samuel what's going on."

  Trevor stepped forward. “Tell me how you managed to block the inducer."

  "What, so you can use it on me? Absolutely not."

  "But—I must. You don't understand, do you?"

  Carnegay reached into his coat and pulled out a steak knife. “Let me pass, Trevor."

  Trevor stared at the knife. “You have got to be kidding,” he said. He imagined the sight they made—the young man holding a Buck Rogers device in his hand, facing off against an old man defending himself with a thin, serrated knife.

  "When I heard about John's coma, I knew I had to protect myself. Now get out of my way."

  "Or you'll stab me?"

  "If I have to,” Carnegay said calmly.

  The two of them stared at each other for a moment, and then Trevor backed off to the side.

  "Good,” Carnegay said. “Now hand me the inducer."

  "No."

  "Fine,” Carnegay said. “I'll just—"

  Carnegay jumped him.

  The inducer went flying out of his hand, clattering into the darkness, but Trevor didn't have time to go after it. He grabbed Carnegay's hands, fighting to wrest the knife from his grasp. Carnegay held on tightly, and the knife twisted back and forth.

  But the older man was no match for Trevor's strength. Trevor managed to pry the knife loose and grab it with his own hand. He tried to free himself, but Carnegay pushed forward, and Trevor turned the knife on him. With a quick stab, he punched the knife high into Carnegay's stomach, marveling at how easily it pierced through the overcoat, clothing, and then skin. A red bloodstain rapidly appeared on Carnegay's coat, and his eyes opened wide. Carnegay coughed twice and fell over, a shocked expression on his face.

  Trevor caught his breath, dug the knife around inside Carnegay for a moment, and then pulled it out, hearing skin and cloth tear. The sound sickened him. Both the knife and his hand were stained with Carnegay's blood. Trevor wiped the knife clean on Carnegay's coat and looked at Carnegay's lifeless body.

  His mind snapped. Oh my God, he thought. I've killed him he's dead he's dead I'm a murderer—

  He took a few deep breaths and calmed down. It's his own damn fault. In fact, all of them have no one to blame but themselves. I warned them.

  Trevor had to get away before anyone else came into the alley. He grabbed Carnegay's hat, pulled it down over his own head to hide his features, and ran from the alley.

  The renegade scientist had locked himself safely in his own apartment before he finally figured out Carnegay's defense. The notion made him giggle. It wasn't until Trevor sank into a worn easy chair that he remembered the missing inducer.

  At least he had a spare.

  News of Dr. Carnegay's murder reached Jerry and Arthur quickly the next morning, and Jerry cursed his inability to reach either of them the day before. They headed back uptown, this time to the crime scene, where the alleyway had been cordoned off with police tape. Jerry flashed his badge at one of the uniformed officers, who let them pass.

  Not that there was much to see by this time. A chalk outline showed where Dr. Carnegay's body had lain. Dried blood was all that remained. Jerry asked the first responders a few questions about how and when the body was found, while Arthur stood there examining the scene for any other clues that the others might have missed.

  After about twenty minutes, Jerry finished up with the first responders and walked back over to Arthur. “Looks like we're not going to get much information here. I suggest—"

  Suddenly, one of the uniformed officers approached Jerry. “Detective, I think you should see this. CSU has found something interesting."

  One of the crime scene officers held a plastic bag. Inside there was a small electronic device with an angled head.

  "It looks like one of those handheld vacuum cleaners,” Jerry said.

  "With a few added modifications.” Arthur stated. “Amazing how small this is. Like a kid's toy, not something potentially deadly."

  "Do you think it sucks out people's brains?"

  "Maybe it puts something in them,” Arthur said.

  "So, Lansky's holy grail exists?"

  "I think we ought to ask Dr. Lansky about it once CSU's examined it for prints. At this point, it's fairly certain that either he or Bingham is the unsub we want."

  Jerry frowned. “If we know who the subject is, then he's no longer unidentified."

  Arthur shrugged. “I go by the book."

  Jerry nodded. “Fine. Let's go pick him up and see what he thinks of this device. I'll also send two officers to detain Dr. Bingham."

  A few hours later, after the device had been dusted, photographed, measured, and annotated, Jerry and Arthur headed back to the Things That Aren't laboratory along with four uniformed officers. Within seconds, Dr. Lansky opened up and Jerry pushed himself in, followed by everyone else.

  "Good morning, Dr. Lansky,” Jerry said. “We want to talk to you."

  Lansky seemed surprised by the policemen's aggressive approach. He stepped back, giving his newfound guests plenty of room. “About what?"

  "About Rod Carnegay's murder."

  Lansky turned pale. “What?” he croaked.

  "Carnegay was killed last night. Do you know anything about it?"

  "I—I—"

  Arthur stepped forward. “Well, then,” he said, “do you know anything about this?” He held the plastic bag with the device up to Lansky's eyes, and the blood drained from his face.

  "Trevor,” he said. “You actually did it."

  "Trevor?” Jerry asked. “Do you mean Dr. Bingham?"

  Lansky turned to Jerry, his expression going from shock to anger. “Yes. Dr. Bingham. He threatened to build it, Detective, but I didn't believe him. He said he was going to show the rest of us how dangerous our research was."

  "Build what?” Arthur asked. “What is this?"

  "It's a remote inducer."

  "A what?” Jerry asked.

  "I think I know,” Arthur said, nodding. “It's your holy grail, isn't it? An IMVR device.” Arthur looked around quickly. “I bet you've got a nonportable version around here somewhere."

  Lansky nodded and pointed to a metal cube in the corner of the lab, roughly ten feet on each side. “It's the main focus of our research."

  Jerry glared at him. “So why didn't you tell us that before?"

  "Corpora
te espionage.” It was said so matter-of-factly that it caught Jerry by surprise.

  "You lied to us to protect your trade secrets? Like we'd even think to profit from your work?” Jerry shook his head. “Because of you, Dr. Carnegay is dead, and Dr. Kiradi and two other victims are in comas."

  "It's not my fault,” Lansky said defensively. “Besides, the comas are probably reversible. It's what I've been working on ever since yesterday."

  "Reversible?” Arthur asked. “How so?"

  "I'd have to explain how the inducer works."

  "So go ahead,” Jerry said. “None of us are going anywhere for a while."

  Lansky nodded. “The inducer fires pulses of ultrasound into a person's brain after priming the brain with transcranial magnetic stimulation."

  "Trans-what?” Jerry asked.

  Lansky sighed. “Let me start from basics."

  "Please."

  "Suppose you wanted to affect someone's mind. Give them hallucinations, let's say. Do you recall what I told you before? How would you go about doing that?"

  "You'd have to stimulate the brain directly,” Jerry said.

  Lansky nodded. “Exactly. That's what we've been working on in the TTA project. People have done direct stimulation of the brain before, by attaching electrodes surgically and then sending impulses into the neurons. But our new device works differently. It's wireless.” He shook his head. “And for the longest time, I never thought we would get it to work."

  "Why not?” Jerry asked.

  Lansky turned to Arthur. “Agent Valiquette, you have a physics background. How would you go about doing this?"

  Arthur thought about it. “I suppose I'd have to use some sort of magnetic field to induce a current flow in the neurons."

  Lansky raised his eyebrows. “You've been reading up."

  "It's simply applied electromagnetism. Any college kid could figure it out."

  Lansky nodded. “Okay. What you may not realize is that in the VR field, we have a name for this technique: transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS."

  "You mean it's already been developed?” Arthur asked.

  "No, it's simply been researched, and up until now, found to be lacking."

  "Why?"

  "It's too crude. TMS works by using rapidly changing magnetic fields to induce currents in brain tissue. The problem is that the fields can't be finely focused on small groups of brain cells. So instead, people looked into using ultrasound pulses, which could be aimed more precisely."