27

Dr Razia greeted Drecker and Brennan at the entrance to the experimental facility with an uncharacteristic smile.

‘Making progress?’ Brennan asked.

‘Excellent, thank you,’ Razia replied. ‘All four subjects that emerged successfully from the surgical process have proved highly responsive.’

Together with Dr Holst, he had established a test bed in a separate building from the main laboratories and was excited by the speed of their progress. Having assessed the members of his team in the days after their arrival, he had swiftly concluded that he and Holst were most suited to conducting the live experiments while Bellman, Kennedy and Sphyris were able to function best when allowed to remain in their intellectual bubbles, insulated from the practical applications of their work. The human mind was astoundingly capable of organizing itself into convenient compartments and only rare and exceptional individuals could tolerate the larger picture. He was undoubtedly one of them, and so, he was pleased to say, was his new colleague.

He led them across the tiled floor to where Holst was standing at a long raised bench sited next to a window glazed with one-way glass. Beyond it was a small area occupying the far portion of the single-storey building in which a young woman dressed in a plain surgical gown was seated at a desk hungrily eating a lunchtime meal of rice, beans and steak. The only clue to her recent procedure was a small shaved area on the left side of her scalp. Aside from her plate, the only other object on the desk was a shiny, steel hemisphere the size of a golf ball set in a disk of insulated ceramic material attached to the desk’s surface.

‘Dr Holst’s methods have proved extremely sound. He has worked hard to perfect them,’ Razia continued. ‘I have been more than impressed.’

Holst responded with a modest smile. ‘The procedure is well established, as Ms Drecker knows.’

Drecker’s expression remained chilly and aloof. ‘How soon until we can combine your work with Bellman and Kennedy’s?’

‘That depends entirely on the speed of their progress,’ Holst answered. ‘Their work is delicate, but we hope to conduct a live test within weeks.’

‘We are paying you to work fast,’ Drecker said. ‘We have customers waiting. The sooner we can close deals, the sooner we can all get out of here and move on.’

‘Nobody will delay a moment more than necessary,’ Razia said, thinking of the wife and children he hadn’t seen in nearly eight months. ‘Everything we have achieved so far assures me we are on track for huge success. Allow us to demonstrate.’

He nodded to Holst.

Taking his cue, Holst adjusted the voltage on the control unit sitting on the desk. ‘Twelve volts. Equivalent to the shock you might receive from a car battery.’ He pressed a switch which caused the object on the desk in front of the young woman to pulse with a green LED glow.

Her hand hovered midway between her plate and her mouth as her attention switched away from her food and fixed on the half-round ball. Her hesitation was only momentary, however. She reached out with her free hand and gingerly touched its surface with her fingertips. The muscles of her arm spasmed as the current coursed through her, causing her to drop her fork but there was no hint of pain in her expression, only one of intense and instantaneous pleasure. She sat back in her chair, her shoulders relaxing and her eyes drooping as the dopamine coursed through her veins.

‘Looked like she enjoyed that,’ Brennan said with a leer that Razia found distasteful.

‘The next stage is to programme a response to more subtle stimuli,’ Razia said. ‘We will expose the subject to an image while causing the implant to emit a far lower charge. The result should be a highly positive association rather than this extreme level of nervous arousal.’ He looked to Drecker and smiled. ‘Perhaps you would like some input into what images we choose?’

Refusing to engage, Drecker’s face remained fixed in a frown as she stared through the glass at the young woman whose eyes were slowly coming back into focus like those of an addict coming down from a trip. ‘Is this the first time you have experimented on a human subject, Dr Holst?’

‘I must confess it is,’ Holst said.

‘Do you find it difficult?’ The question came from Brennan.

Holst hesitated. ‘I can’t pretend it’s not challenging.’

There was a moment of silence. The young woman had picked up her fork and was continuing to eat her meal.

‘Would the maximum voltage you can administer prove fatal?’ Drecker asked.

‘Yes … it would.’

Dr Razia shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. He knew what was coming. Sadly, it was a necessary part of the process for one new to this kind of work. His only regret was that it was the girl who would be the subject. A sentimental part of him had already grown rather fond of her.

‘Would you care to demonstrate?’

Holst appeared shocked. He looked to Razia for help.

Razia lowered his eyes to the floor. ‘Do as you are requested please, Dr Holst.’

Razia glanced up and caught a glimpse of the young woman’s bright, innocent eyes and full lips, then averted his eyes as Holst reached for the control unit with unsteady fingers. The pulsing light appeared for the second time.

This time there was no hesitation. The subject moved to stroke the sphere as she might have done a baby’s head. The laboratory lights flickered as she was thrown off her chair by the force of the shock, her body coming to rest lifelessly in the far corner of the room.

Drecker watched with fascination as thin wisps of smoke curled up from seemingly randomly arranged patches of scorched flesh along her arm and across her face and neck.

Razia looked up to see Holst staring at the uneaten plate of food on the far side of the glass. He was impressed by what he saw. His colleague had not crumpled as some did, rather he could see that his intellect had triumphed over emotion. He truly was one of the rare breed for whom ends could justify the ugliest of means. A kindred spirit, indeed.

‘I think we can count that a success,’ Brennan said. He turned back to the door with Drecker. ‘I’ll send in a couple of men to help clear up the mess.’