Scene 21
¨I'm hungry.¨
Gorn gave an irritated sigh and answered without looking back at Anna, ¨Yes, I believe you've mentioned that already. Maybe several dozen times, in fact.¨
¨Good, so your ears are working. You know what it means, right? I mean, I realize Standard isn't your first language…¨
¨Of course I know what it means!¨ he exploded. Stopping to get Ivana's leg fixed up had been delay enough, and he felt like they couldn't rest just yet, but Anna was more annoyingly persistent than Skaarj light infantry. ¨But you're not going to starve to death, and we need to assure our safety first! You can't eat if you're dead!¨
¨Don't know, I've never tried it.¨
¨Oh, for the love of…¨
¨Besides,¨ she jumped in, ¨I know a safe place to eat. You actually showed it to me, remember? Where all these shenanigans got started?¨
Gorn sighed again. He should have known; anything you told or showed Anna could and would be used against you in a future argument. But actually, he wouldn't be too upset to concede the debate, taking into account the input from his own stomach. ¨All right, dammit, I give up. Let's go to Bibiana's.¨
Ivana, who had never been to the café before, was suitably impressed with its level of security (¨Like an embassy, or something!¨) and they all felt a bit safer to be inside, though Gorn thought it ironic that his main motive for coming to Bibiana's this time was actually the food. After leaving the pack and all their other gear in the entryway, they grabbed a table and ordered enough sausages, eggs, and biscuits to choke a Krall Titan and tucked in. Between mouthfuls, Gorn quizzed Anna and Ivana on more details relating to the time they'd spent in FenTech's New York facility – the building, the guards they had encountered, and the mysterious memo.
After going over it all several times, Gorn finally sat back with a dissatisfied look and said, ¨well, I still feel like we're missing something. The things that happened there, in my opinion, can't possibly justify this response towards us. What you say you read in that memo, even if they did somehow know you'd read it, isn't nearly specific enough to be damaging. And we didn't even take anything with us. Unless this is all just a misunderstanding, we must be practically sitting on top of something hugely important and not know it.¨
¨Hey, wait,¨ breathed Anna, suddenly struck by something, her eyes widening in excitement and tentative understanding. ¨We did take something and I'd totally forgotten about it! I have Kilgard's office ID. It was actually a mistake; I was just looking at it when those guards showed up and during the chaos that followed I somehow ended up holding onto it.¨
¨Maybe it's one of those magnetic ID cards that could get him into his office?¨ Gorn suggested.
¨No, as far as I can tell it's perfectly ordinary. Just a picture and a name on a piece of plastic, information that lots of people already know.¨
Gorn shrugged. ¨I'd like to take a closer look at it anyway. You guys want to?¨
¨Yeah,¨ Anna agreed. ¨Though it seems unlikely to be anything, it was dark before and we were in a hurry – I might have missed some important detail.¨
¨I'll get it,¨ Ivana volunteered, and rose to head back to the entryway. ¨We can check it out here at the table.¨
Ivana had to dig around through the clothes and gear in Gorn's pack for awhile before her hand brushed up against the thin, hard wafer of plastic. Extracting it form the bag and starting to walk back to rejoin her friends, she suddenly felt a very heavy hand on her shoulder. Jumping reflexively, she was relieved to hear the voice of one of the door guards, ¨I'm sorry ma'am, you can't take that card into the restaurant. The sensor is saying it holds a magnetic memory chip.¨
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Five minutes later they were all huddled in a corner at a nearby pub, drinking beers and excitedly looking through the data stored on the card's tiny concealed memory chip with the wireless data reader on Gorn's handheld. It wasn't a huge amount of data – there were certain limits to what you could fit on a memory chip that was practically microscopic – but it was certainly enough.
The data on the chip were organized carefully in three different folders, labeled CURRENT OBSERVATIONS, PREVIOUS OBSERVATIONS, and PROPOSAL FOR FUNDING – PHASE BETA THREE. Avoiding any direct references to what they were actually looking at, Ivana and Anna both adamantly tried to steer Gorn's exploration.
¨We should check 'current obserations' first,¨ maintained Ivana. ¨That should give us the most details of what's actually going on, and if it involves, uh, our friend.¨
¨Bullcrap,¨ countered Anna. ¨We need to check the 'historical observations' to see what the project's based on, and if it has anything to do with, uh, my work, or those, er, representatives that dropped by yesterday.¨
Gorn solved the argument by simply opening the PROPOSAL FOR FUNDING folder without a word. As both Anna and Ivana started to protest, he held up a hand and said, ¨A proposal for money is going to have a summary of the project, guaranteed. Plus it will probably talk about past successes, if in this case they can be classified as such. Finally, we might find some of those, uh, work contacts we've been looking for.¨
The folder they were looking at contained a few data sheets of cost analysis and a document labeled PROFILE BETA 3, which he opened. They all silently read the document together, fascinated, with Gorn revealing more text each time Anna and Ivana told him to continue. What they saw answered a lot of questions:
Name: Project Metis
Developer: FenTech Laboratories, Inc.
Stage:Beta 3.1
Funds solicited:360,848,255.42 Terran Credits (current value)
Project cost analysis: see Annex II.
Summary:
In the demanding world of inter-planetary combat, and faced with the reality of defeat at the hands of a merciless, inhuman enemy, it is imperative that today's military leader be equipped with the necessary means to ensure obedience and effectiveness in his troops. Recently, recurring problems with morale and willingness to follow orders have been linked to mental strain of fighting in alien environments against a psychologically intimidating enemy, a situation unacceptable in the armed forces charged with the defense of mankind.
Subsequent experiments with improved training methods have ultimately proven unsatisfactory, and real progress in this field has been hampered by the bad publicity generated by certain techniques of psychological preparation. Likewise, the use of fully robotic troops, while effective, has remained impractical under most circumstances due to the extremely high cost.
FenTech Laboratories, long a trusted scientific partner of the terran military, has developed Project Metis in response to the need for a low-cost, effective solution to this important dilemma. Using patented FenTech nanotechnology, the commands of officers in the field are relayed directly to the control center of their troops' brains, rendering their orders literally impossible to disobey, regardless of the soldier's mental or emotional disposition to do the task. The result is an efficient, effective, dependable soldier in all circumstances that is equal to the task of preserving the human race against the continued threat of the Skaarj and other hostile aliens.
Due to the possibility of a negative public reaction to Project Metis, and furthermore because of its status as an unproven technology with a risk for errors, previous beta testing groups have been limited and highly classified. Having now had the opportunity to perfect the design of the protein-based nanomachines and the nature of their interaction with the human brain (see Annex I, Analysis of Past Results) we feel reasonably confident in increasing the size of the tester group and beginning actual field tests in zones of frontier combat. Also, the pilot experiment of using Tournament gladiators to test the nanomachines has proven very useful and we plan to continue it on a slightly larger scale. Regardless, the project will remain highly classified in phase 3.1, especially in light of recent pressures from certain other government agencies.
In spite of recent minor setbacks, we at FenTech look forward to continuing our fruitful working relationship with the Global Defense Forces, and as always trust that our record of dedication, discretion, and quality results speak for themselves in your wise consideration to continue support for this indispensable project.
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¨Holy crap,¨ breathed Ivana.
¨I…. I don't believe this,¨ said Gorn, shaking his head incredulously. Anna, however, just exhaled deeply and said, ¨Well… I knew it. I thought it had to be something like this.¨
Gorn, who was still busy being in denial, ignored the comment, but Ivana turned and asked, ¨How, Anna? Something you learned before?¨
¨It wasn't that. It's the name of the project…. Project M…¨ she glanced furtively around the room, ¨well, you know. That name isn't familiar to you?¨
Ivana shrugged. ¨I thought it was some acronym, or made-up word.¨
¨Nobody reads Greek myths anymore,¨ Anna complained. ¨You're all missing out. Well anyways, Metis was the goddess of prudence, a character that Zeus, the head honcho of the gods, tricked into turning herself into a fly and then swallowed. But because she was immortal, instead of dying she set up camp inside his head and gave him advice from there.¨
¨Hmm… appropriate.¨
¨That's why I was pretty sure this thing related to M…er…oh fuck it,¨ she exclaimed, glancing around at the crowd of chattering drunks, ¨nobody's listening. I was pretty sure it related to Malcom because I remembered how we thought he might be somehow receiving outside information. Hey Gorn, you okay there, big guy?¨
¨That was almost me,¨ he said hollowly. ¨They wanted to make me a slave.¨
Anna looked at Gorn curiously, regarding him in a new way. ¨Wow, that's fucked up. When did this happen? Before you started the Dark Phalanx?¨
He nodded numbly, as if wishing he didn't believe the evidence of his own memory. ¨When they gave me these… improvements, I was asked if I wanted to participate in an experimental program to facilitate deliver of orders in the field. They made it sound like a radio link to my head or something. But I bet it was this project, because a friend of mine who was also badly injured signed up and he disappeared after that. I opted out because I simply wanted to retire from the military.¨ He shuddered. ¨Glad I did… I could've ended up like those… things in the park.¨
Ivana patted his massive shoulder. ¨Well, we're glad you didn't end up like that.¨
¨Damn straight,¨ agreed Anna. ¨If you weren't here, who would I argue with all the time?¨
Gorn shook his head ruefully. ¨Well, I can think of one argument you may have won permanently. I can't look at the GDF the same way anymore knowing that they support this…. this… he foundered, looking for a suitably descriptive word, ¨…goddamn travesty.¨
¨I'm not going to say I told you so,¨ responded Anna charitably, ¨since I didn't have a clue about this either. But would you understand now if I wanted to leave the Tournament to pursue… ´personal interests' after this season?¨
¨We'll blow up that bridge when we get to it,¨ he answered stoically. ¨Speaking of the Tournament…¨
¨Wait, don't you mean 'cross' that bridge?
¨Whatever. Anyway, I wonder if there's anything in here about weaknesses they've found with these nano-things? Maybe we can jam their signal or something in the match. After all, it is cheating.¨
Ivana laughed. ¨Right, I forgot that's what we went through all this shit for. Maybe there's something here in the annex about past results?¨
They advanced through the document, finding the annex quickly, but it was mostly a bunch of numbers that everyone was too tired to sit down and analyze at the moment. Further on, Ivana exclaimed, ¨Wait! Go back… what did that say about 'side effects'?¨ Gorn scrolled back to a short list:
Possible side effects: Disorientation, headaches, psychosis under non-combat conditions, loss of memory and/or free will, acute SBI (spontaneous brain implosion – only one reported case).
¨These are all chance,¨ remarked Gorn, ¨nothing we can specifically use. Let's check that 'current observations' folder.¨ The ladies agreed, and upon opening the folder they found a series of other files, all labeled ¨Case Study:¨ and the name of someone, presumably an experimental subject. About halfway down was ¨Case Study: Malcom¨. It contained a few daily observations on his responsiveness, a few records of his performance during matches (Gorn was amused to see a document named 'duelwithGorn9-22') and one mysterious document labeled 'notes'. They opened it up and were immediately glad they did. It said:
This week
Test subject growing suspicious. Refrain from use until next Tournament match.
2.9 nanomachines discontinued. Instruct Agent 5. to use destruction phrase for old machines, and administer new ones.
New signal encryption code: y35o7u28a66re922m4i0n17e
¨Wow,¨ said Gorn, ¨This is excellent. Hey Anna, can we use this code to jam the signal to Malcom's nanomachines?¨
¨Just knowing to look for that signal would probably be enough,¨ she replied, a wicked grin working its way onto her face, ¨but with this, we can mess with him even more.¨
¨If it involves doing brain damage, it's vetoed,¨ said Ivana firmly. ¨That's just going too far, especially since it looks like Malcom doesn't know what's going on… see how it mentions here that he's 'getting suspicious'?¨
¨That about fits with the way he acted after our match on Deck 16,¨ Gorn remarked. ¨Still, we can't allow this to go on. We'll just have to figure out how to stop it during the match on Temp…¨ he stopped, eyes widening. ¨Oh my god! That's tomorrow!¨
¨Just find us a place to crash tonight, and I'll take care of the rest,¨ Anna said reassuringly. ¨Radio signals are my thing.¨
Gorn gave her a big thumbs up. ¨Sounds good. Let's just make sure we get enough rest to function well tomorrow… I feel like I'm about to collapse, and you both look about the same.¨ He raised his glass. ¨To victory.¨
¨To justice,¨ added Anna, toasting him.
Ivana felt she had to round that out with a more unifying message. ¨To the Dark Phalanx,¨ she said. ¨To my friends.¨ They gladly drank to that.