Manipulator

by Thom Parsons

  “Your research is good,” Owen said, finally coming to a standstill. “But that’s only half the battle. The real challenge is what you do with him once he’s in here.”

  “I want to make him re-live his memory at the nightclub,” Kate replied quickly, clearly having already thought out this part. “By forcing him into the scene again, we can make him project his memories into PRoGRaM and give us the information about what’s happening between the gangs, what they’re planning, and how he’s involved.”

  “Good tactic,” Owen said as he nodded his approval, conceding that Kate had made a good choice. She was slowly becoming a real professional, considering that she was new to this scene. Recreating the atmosphere in the nightclub would make Eli project his memories, giving them the information that they were looking for. What made the task easier for both Owen and Kate was that it had only happened to Eli recently.

  “Right then, here’s the deal.” Owen began to sum up, ready to take everything to the next level. “We’re here to do a memory analysis on Eli Roth regarding the night of December 2nd. Admittedly, you could have brought him in under these circumstances for questioning, but the evidence is purely circumstantial. This would probably spook him and you’d lose his trail shortly afterwards. Looks like this is the only chance you’ve got to find out what’s going on.”

  He took a small break from talking and looked away from Kate for a second. “Nick, we’re ready for the live operation,” he said, looking up as he did so. He saw that the light above the White Room door had changed from red to green. “Kate. I need you to understand that I’m going to be taking control from this point on. Don’t worry, you’ll get your chance another day. We can’t throw you into the deep end this early on. This is your first memory extraction, you’re here to watch.”

  “I understand,” Kate replied.

  “Good to hear. Now that that’s over, let’s bring him in.”

  Chapter Five

  Date: December 15th 2035 (Present Day)

  Location: Unknown

  “You see,” Owen said, continuing to explain the technology to Victoria. “PRoGRaM accesses a part of your brain called the temporal lobe. It’s a memory centre, where all of your experiences and memories in life are stored. It’s like the hard drive of the brain. Dying virtually inside PRoGRaM seems to wipe whatever memory is being accessed at the time, if any at all.”

  “And this is where you come in?” Victoria asked, tapping her pen on the desk, impatiently wondering when Owen was going to get to the point.

  “Almost,” he responded. “Upon further testing and experimentation, it did in fact turn out that if you were using PRoGRaM, and you died whilst inside, whatever memories you were synchronising with at the time, were lost, erased... Assassinated. A new found use for this machine had arisen, and so was fine-tuned to make the most of this new development.”

  “Fine-tuned?” she questioned, not quite understanding where Owen was coming from.

  “Yes. Some modifications had to be made to the equipment that your body wore whilst your mind was inside PRoGRaM, adapting onwards from the original design of the unit. This adapted equipment made certain that death inside PRoGRaM wouldn’t erase any memories, unless pre-planned by those in control.”

  “How many different designs are there?” Victoria asked, turning the page on her notepad, looking mildly interested in what Owen was saying.

  “There are currently three different types of users for PRoGRaM,” Owen said, holding three fingers up to her. “Therefore, there are three different headsets that can be worn upon entry into its digital world. Each one has a different function and has different effects on the users that wear them whilst their minds are inside PRoGRaM. They stimulate different parts of the brain. Simply, they are called the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary headsets.”

  Owen watched as she rushed to write down everything that he was explaining to her. She finished scribbling some notes, and then looked up at him, silently willing him to continue explaining.

  “The Primary Headsets are referred to as the ‘Manipulator Headsets’. This is the king of the there different types; Absolute power and absolute control. The user wearing this headset has the ability to change parts of the world whilst in PRoGRaM. They can bring objects and items into the world. Change the way that things look. The main use for this? Recreating peoples memories, which is then used in conjunction with the secondary headset.”

  Victoria wrote down everything that she saw as relevant. Owen let her catch up with her notes, and then continued. “Going on from that, the Secondary type of headset is called a ’Target Headset’. This is only worn by a person, unknowingly of course, when a memory analysis team needs to wipe a specific memory. When the person wearing it is re-living a specific memory in front of them, recreated by PRoGRaM and whoever is wearing the Manipulator Headset, then that part of their memory is vulnerable.”

  A short silence hung in the air. The sound of the pen scratching against the paper echoed throughout the room. “And the final type?” Victoria asked after finishing her notes.

  “That would be the Tertiary Headset,” Owen answered. “But, this is more commonly called a ‘Bystander Headset’. This is the simplest headset to understand. If you enter PRoGRaM wearing this third and final type of headset, then you have no power over the world, and no significant memory centres of your brain are actively vulnerable. You are simply there as a part of the simulation. Am I making sense so far?”

  “Mostly. I think we’ve covered enough of the basics,” Victoria said, answering vaguely.

  “Something you’re not sure on so far?” Archer asked, hearing the hesitation in her previous statement.

  “It’s all well and good explaining what you do to your… targets, in PRoGRaM, but how do you get them back to your base of operations in the first place?”

  This time, she sounded genuinely interested in what they were talking about. Up until this point, Owen had noticed that the questions that Victoria had been asking were purely out of necessity. She needed the information to form a clear picture in her head of everything that he was involved in. But now, Owen had her interested, and she was finally asking questions that were completely outside the box.

  “Neuroleptic Tracer,” Archer answered.

  “Neuroleptic Tracer?” Her eyebrows frowned together as she repeated his answer back to him.

  “It’s a drug," Owen said. "A combination of a knock-out stimulant and a synapse blocker. The effects are two-fold. Firstly, it renders the subject unconscious for up to four hours. We use dart guns to administer it. It’s absolutely key that we’re not seen before the drug is in the system. It takes a few minutes for the effects to kick in. Then it’s just a simple snatch and grab operation.”

  “Is that legal?” Victoria asked, sounding slightly shocked at the method.

  “My FBI badge said so.”

  She gave him a questioning look, seeming disgusted in these tactics. Owen shuffled in the uncomfortable chair beneath him as she wrote on her notepad. “And secondly?” she asked.

  “Secondly, the subject can’t form any new memories for twenty-four hours once the drug is in their system. It prevents them from remembering anything about PRoGRaM, as well as who we are. By the time we’re done with them, we put them back in their homes. They wake up, and they don’t remember a thing. To them, they just have a day of their lives unaccounted for. We like to leave empty bottles of whiskey around, or maybe a few LSD tablets, to make them think it’s self-inflicted.”

  “I see. It seems like you’ve got it all figured out.”

  “This is the real-black ops stuff,” Owen said to her, leaning in closer over the table between them. “In the end, it’s like we were never even there.”

  Chapter Six

  Date: December 8th 2035

  Location: PRoGRaM

  The epic drum and bass, hip hop and dub-step clash of music filled every space of the room all around them. The crazy swarm of lights, lasers and soun
ds seemed to overload every single one of the senses. Owen and Kate made their way across one of the many dance floors of Echo Nightclub, inconspicuously dragging a third person in tow. With a bag over his head and his hands cuffed behind his back, the three of them looked completely out of place surrounded by an ocean of people dancing all around them.

  Conveniently for them though, nobody else in the room would ever notice.

  They moved their way through the ocean of dancers and as far away from the loud music as possible. Owen genuinely thought about asking Nick to drop the realism by getting rid of all the avatars dancing around them and to turn down the music, but that would just collapse the experience. He needed this memory projection to go well, and he was going to have to put his lack of excitement for nightclub’s aside if he wanted results. Owen wanted Eli’s memory to be accurate, and only by putting him in the exact same position he was in before was he going to get results.

  Kate led the way and Owen followed her, dragging Eli behind him. She moved up some stairs nearby, heading away from the main dance floor and up to an area surround by tables and comfy leather seats merging into the walls. The upstairs of this club was empty. Nick had left this area without any in-PRoGRaM scripted people around so that Owen and Kate had room to operate. Owen threw down the man that he had been dragging quite forcefully onto a chair nearby, and then proceeded to handcuff him to it. They were sitting at a table next to the balcony, overlooking the dance floor below.

  He knew that Kate had wanted to bring her target up to this floor and to this specific place in the club for a reason. It was the same place that Eli had been spotted talking to the affiliates from the local gangs. She sat herself down at the same table Owen had handcuffed their target to. Kate found herself absorbed into the atmosphere, looking at the scene around her in bewilderment.

  She looked at the long table next to them, the place that Eli had actually been photographed at with the varying gang members. It was no coincidence that she had chosen this table. They wanted to be nearby when Eli started projecting his memories out.

  All in all, it seemed that they were ready to go.

  Owen, still stood up behind their target with his arms folded, pulled the black bag from the man's head. Eli Roth was underneath, staring out at Kate who was sitting almost directly opposite him at the table. She saw that he still looked like a teenager, even though the guy was almost in his thirties. Owen walked around from behind Eli and stepped into his line of sight, looking him dead in the eye as he came to a stop behind another chair at the table. He leant over onto it with both of his arms, whilst intimidatingly watching Eli.

  This is odd. Thought Owen. He was used to his subjects being both confused and scared whilst they were in his custody. But not this guy. He's completely calm.

  “Hi,” Eli said to Owen and Kate, radiating a relaxed aura as he spoke, not spooked out by his situation at all.

  “You don’t seem overly concerned for yourself,” Owen replied back to him, noticing how Eli spoke. Calmly and emotionlessly. Archer stood there, trying to gauge the situation unfolding in front of him. Something’s not right.

  “You were expecting me to panic? To ask where I am?” Eli questioned coldly before continuing. ”I know exactly where I am.”

  Owen didn’t respond for a few seconds. Instead, he stood very still, continuously staring back at Eli, trying to show the man that in fact, he was the one in control.

  “It’s not just a matter of where you are, Mr. Roth, it’s a matter of when you are. My name is Owen Archer. This is Kate Miles,” Owen said, gesturing his hand calmly in Kate's direction “We’re part of the FBI, with the technology capable of creating a completely digital world. A world which your consciousness can become a part of. I hope you remember the night of December 2nd, Mr. Roth, because believe it or not, that’s where we currently are. We’re inside one of your memories, re-living an event that you have been through. You’ll have a strange feeling in your stomach which you’ll need to ignore, that’s just called Deja Vu. Me and my team are here because we want information about the night of December 2nd. So help us fill in the blanks? We know that you met with confirmed gang associates here on this night, and we have proof.”

  Owen clicked his fingers and surrounding them in thin air, the pictures that one of the police investigators took started floating in front of them. Owen watched for a moment without speaking as Eli stared at this picture emotionlessly. Seeing that this still wasn't providing any sort of reaction, Owen continued, taking a more forceful approach. “So, you’re either going to help us, or I’m going to start erasing your favourite memories, one by one. What do you choose?”

  Eli sat staring back at both Owen and Kate. Before anyone broke the silence between them all, Eli turned and looked at the table to his left, to the place where he sat on the night in question.

  “Believe it or not,” Owen said quietly, forcing Eli to turn and face him once again. “In this world, when I shoot you and kill you, whatever memory you’re living in gets wiped. But you’re not dead, you’ll just wake up out there in the real world with a piece of you missing. Then I’ll throw you back in here and keep chipping away at you until there’s nothing left. So are you with me or against me?”

  Kate seemed surprised by the sheer brute force that Owen was exerting on Eli. It was all a part of his game. Hit them hard, and hit them fast. Owen wasn’t a bad person, but when you were dealing with people like Eli, it didn’t work to play the good guy.

  “Okay,” Eli responded emotionlessly, nodding his head slowly in response to Owen's threats. “I’m with you.”

  “Good,” Owen said, glad that his speech had gotten through to him. “Now, this next part is real simple. I want you to think hard about the conversation you had with everyone that night. Don't give me any bullshit about not remembering it either. The mind has the ability to remember everything that’s ever happened, regardless or whether or not you can recall it whilst conscious. All that you need to do is start thinking about it. Your brain will do the rest.”

  Eli looked back over to the table where he had been sitting less than a week ago. Right here, right now, he was about to start re-living that memory. Owen and Kate stood up from their table and watched as Eli began to project his memories through PRoGRaM.

  It played out just as Owen imagined it would. Eli was the first to arrive, sitting comfortably at the head of the table. There was no-one else in the area with them. Someone had obviously paid well in order to keep this area off limits for the night.

  One by one, more men and women entered the nightclub, moving up to meet Eli. Owen and Kate sat for a few minutes, watching people enter. Kate watched every second intently, taking it all in. Eli, the projected version of him, greeted each and every person that came in before they took their seats at the table.

  They’re an odd looking bunch. Owen thought. They weren’t your typical looking criminals. They all looked… intelligent.

  They watched Eli stand in his projected memory and begin to talk to everyone that had joined him. It all seemed almost casual and innocent, until the situation unfolded in one way that Owen never saw coming.

  “Gentlemen,” the projected version of Eli said to everyone sitting at the table. “I assume that you have gone over the specifications and briefings that I have sent to each of you. And I assume that is why you are all here. I can assure you that this is absolutely real. I would like to sell you my services as the first non-government, PRoGRaM analyst. And along with my services, you will also get… a fully working PRoGRaM unit.”

  What?! Owen thought as his eyes lit up. Impossible!

  “Nick. Hold the memories,” Owen said quickly whilst looking over at Eli. He was just sitting there, smiling broadly and menacingly at Owen. He knew where he was all along! Owen realised. That’s why he didn’t show any fear or surprise. He has his own PRoGRaM device!

  Owen watched the projections freeze in place as Nick hit some buttons on the outside and held all the information t
hat Eli was projecting out into PRoGRaM. He didn’t know what to do. He’d been caught off guard. He certainly wasn’t expecting any of this at all, and had no idea on how to proceed. He looked at Kate. She too wasn’t sure what to say, and clearly this wasn’t the greatest first job for her. Owen walked over to her and held her arm, pulling her away to one side, out of earshot of Eli, who was still sat there, handcuffed to his seat with a smug look on his face.

  “We need to leave PRoGRaM,” Owen said.

  “But what about-“

  “No,” he interrupted. “This is way above our pay grade. It’s not our call here. We need to get people higher up involved in this. It’s out of our jurisdiction.”

  She reluctantly nodded as they broke away from each other and walked back over to Eli. “It’s your lucky day,” Owen called out to him as they approached. “We’re not taking any memories from you today.”

  “Thanks,” Eli said sarcastically.

  “Nick. It’s time to leave,” Owen called out. He proceeded to wait for the signal.

  Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

  Owen’s digital watch began to chime. And that meant only one thing.

  They were being evacuated out of PRoGRaM.

  The entire world was shutting down and Owen and Kate were about to be pulled out and kicked back into the real world. Owen knew what came next. The world around them would begin to dissolve away to white. Firstly the in-scripted PRoGRaM world avatars would disappear, leaving just Owen and whoever was inside with him. Then the walls and the ceilings would go, leaving nothing but a soothing white light in their place. The floors would follow, dissolving out from beneath them, leaving any living person with a feeling as if they were floating into infinity. Finally, all living consciousness inside the PRoGRaM world would slip out, like falling into a dream. Then, and only then, would they wake up in the real world.