Chapter Four

The Growing Darkness

Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, England, April 1983

Still inside the complex of buildings housing The Royal Military College of Science, in the area designated as his sacrosanct private quarters, and once more seated at the desk in the room he used as his office, the man was again deep in thought.

He was naturally reluctant to use the word, even in his mind, but he knew that he had been lucky. In his exacting world of scientific precision, luck rarely played any part. Pressure of work, confining him to the laboratory, and that irritating man’s repeated threat to divulge and denounce their latest breakthrough, had of course dictated the circumstances. Bringing the need for release within his other equally private world. A need which could not be denied. Forcing him to operate closer to home, so to speak, and he suppressed now the giggle which threatened to escape with his choice of words.

The press coverage revealing the woman’s nationality had initially jolted him. But he had calmed himself with the rationale that rather than seeking to establish any kind of link to the Italian mother, the police would focus their attention on the main event. Which would lead them nowhere. They would round up all the usual suspects, but his name was not on their register. He had further assuaged his anxiety by reminding himself that his officially sanctioned overseas liaisons with others within his fraternity, provided the valid reason for having visited Italy’s capital. The reminder had intoxicated him. Ah sweet Rome. Such innovation!

Nevertheless this recent episode had been a salutary lesson. Which had made him determined not to depart again from his normal routine. A routine which would of course once more be perfectly satisfactory towards serving his needs. Pressure was no longer a factor which need concern him. The irritating man’s threat would not be repeated.

The man closed down these thoughts, picked up the glass-fronted picture frame from his desk, and rose to his feet. He turned on his heel to face the wall behind his desk. With his back to the desk, and carefully holding the glass-fronted picture frame, the man Sergio Sabbatini had vowed to disembowel smiled to himself as he looked at the scene before him. He knew he wasn’t looking at what the plebeian masses would expect to find in their traditional gallery, but as far as he was concerned he was looking at works of art. Symbols of a unique art form, but art nonetheless. His art. The art of science. He was standing before what he sometimes thought of as his trophy wall, but knew that wasn’t strictly accurate. Others had hunted the same quarry before him, but none had surpassed his own achievements: His brilliance.

He stepped forward and refilled the space on the wall, standing back slightly to adjust the positioning of the replaced picture frame. He must decide now which one he would take down and stand on his desk. He liked to alternate them, to remind himself of how much progress had been made, and how near he was to the summit of achievement. He began reading one of the other framed and glass-fronted texts mounted on the wall.

Extract from survey of implantable microelectronics & scientific paper entitled

‘Telemetry is coming of age’

‘Electronic systems that can be implanted totally within the body have progressed in the last twenty years from single transistor devices, to complete multifunction devices with integrated circuits that can also incorporate memory and microprocessor logic functions.

The implants that surgeons can place in the brains of patients under anaesthetic on the operating table, use wave lengths close to the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum.’

The man decided to leave this one on the wall, and moved slightly to read the next.

Extract from ‘The Use of Electronics’ (1972)

‘It would be ironic indeed if science, which was granted and is still granted the freedom to invent weapons of total destruction, were not granted a similar freedom to invent methods of controlling the humans who wield them. The technique of telemetric control of human beings, offers the possibility of regulating behaviour with precision on a subconscious level and avoiding the cruelty of depriving man of his subjective sense of freedom.’

The man was still undecided and then his gaze alighted on the one he thought would join him at the desk. He read it now, to be absolutely sure of his choice.

Extract from ‘Simbionic Technology’ (1983)

‘In five or six years, by 1988 or thereabouts, portable quasi-human brains, made of silicon or gallium arsenide, will be commonplace. They will be used by an intelligent electronic race, working as partners with the human race’.

The man was satisfied with his choice and carefully removed it from the wall.

May 1983 extract from London’s Daily Telegraph.

Mystery Disappearance of RMCS Expert!

‘The sudden disappearance in Oxfordshire last month of 49 year old Lt-Colonel Anthony Godley, who commanded the ultra-sensitive Work Study Unit at the UK’s highly prestigious Royal Military College of Science, remains a mystery to concerned friends and family.’