Chapter 19: Orchestrated Reduction

How did I get here? Where is this?

He lay on his back, staring up at a blood-red ceiling. Diana was passed out and snoring on her stomach. Her long pink hair wove its way into every nook and cranny of the bed. He was stuck in her web. He looked over at the window where a green sickle of Strelizia formed a silhouette against the Serilonan night. He reached down to stroke her back.

"Mmmmm darling- keep going."

"How did we get here?"

"Don't you remember? We flew all the way back. We killed the Klaxosaur in one shot— and you were wonderful, Darling~"

"Wait. How? This happened before- the first time we met. It's just like back then- I didn't remember anything between until the next morning."

"Is that a bad thing?" she rolled over and asked him. She pulled all the covers along with her, leaving him naked and exposed. He shivered in his boxers. She rested her head on her hands and gazed up at him.

"Well- I wish- I wish I could remember more about you- about what happened. We linked minds- didn't we?"

"Mmm hmmm." She continued staring intently, biting the tip of her finger.

"Well, what did you see? Are you the girl I met when I was a kid?"

Her expression turned serious. "No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"I didn't want to let you in my mind- so I just-"

"What?" he sat bolt upright.

"Remember that evil woman? The first one- with the blue eyes and blue hair? How she said that some people are better transmitters or better receivers?"

"Yeah- why?"

"Well- darling, you're like a really good listener. You're sensitive. I'm more like, a really good transmitter. When we linked minds through that Shrike, I was the only one conscious. You were- unconscious."

"What do you mean unconscious? Did you carry me here?"

"No. You were perfectly normal until just now."

"How is that possible?"

She sighed. "I guess Alban was right... I guess you can't really have two consciousnesses in the same head. Something about a philosophical zombie?"

"Wait- What are you talking about? Alban? You mean the bartender?"

"Well- it's the idea that someone can walk and talk and act totally normal, but they're not actually conscious. It's possible I went too far- trying to keep you out of my head- and when we linked up, I ended up being the only one conscious for both of us. At least while we were in the Shrike, and probably for a while afterwards. Up until now, I guess. Although I don't know why."

"Did we- wait what HAPPENED last night?"

"Darling- don't get so hung up… I promise, you had lots of fun!"

"This is insane. What have I gotten myself into! I've got to get out of here." He felt terrified and violated in some unspeakable way.

He looked down at the foot of the bed where his suitcase sat. In it he noticed the spine of the black mysterious book, the one he'd kept since he was a child.

Wait- is that my suitcase!

Thoughts and obtrusive images washed through his mind which he failed to grasp. Images and sounds flowed like water through his fingers.

He ripped the covers off and started to run toward the door but a hand grabbed his wrist, "Wait! Wait!"

"Let me go!" he shouted. She released him and ran for the door handle. Once again, he stood at the threshold.

"Please, darling. Don't leave. I just wanted- I couldn't let you in- or you'd see everything- everything about me- about my messed up past. About my real darling, the one from long ago. It was the only way. If I didn't, I'd be so vulnerable, and I just- wasn't ready for that."

"What about last night? Was that because you didn't want me to know all your secrets?"

She looked down at the ground in shame. "I- I didn't realize what was going on. I didn't know you were- unconscious. I didn't really know what Alban was talking about until now. Usually everything goes back to normal when you take the transceiver off! But I guess since we weren't wearing them, something changed… You just looked so happy. So unbelievably happy. And it made me so happy to see you like that. I didn't realize that it was- you know... Until you made it sound so wrong!"

She started to cry. "Please, I'll do anything- please forgive me."

"I still don't get it- what's Alban got to do with any of this? Is this what you did to your other partners? You suck out their souls like some kind of demon? Is this how all your other partners died?"

She continued to cry, her sobs accelerating. There was no beauty left in her face.

Selfish tears, he thought. The tears of a manipulative girl who used me. Who used others. A victim of a curse she can't explain. A girl who wants so desperately what she couldn't have. Who wants so desperately- not to be exposed, to not be vulnerable.

"I want to know who you are." The words finally left his lips.

"Okay- okay-" she sobbed.

He searched the room for the new transceiver the Khanians gave him. He put it on. Then he grabbed hers from the nightstand and tossed it to her.

"Sit there," he commanded. She sat back on her pillow, obediently, still sniffling. "Put it on."

He held her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. Strange green lights appeared around the room. He struggled to focus on one memory. Something deep and personal that he could grasp within that dark green abyss.

…

She was strapped to a cold metal table when she awoke.

"The modifications must be tested now that she's old enough."

"Yes, doctor Karmann."

Her head was restrained. A large strap across her temples. She couldn't move. She screamed but there was no one to scream to.

"I'm sorry, sweet. I need to take some samples now," said the doctor in between her outbursts.

"Get me out of here! Let me go!"

She felt a light pressure on her arm and saw a small vial fill with red blood.

"What are you doing!"

"We need to test your reflexes."

Her arm was bandaged and a number of small pads stuck to her head. The man they called Dr. Karmann stood over her. Three bright surgical spotlights shined above his head, concealing his facial features in shadow. She could only see grinning teeth and the whites of his eyes.

"What did you do with my friend?! Where did you take my Darling?"

The man stopped dead. His hands quivered. "No," he whispered. "Of all the things to call him-"

The expression of his shadow-cloaked face turned from astonishment to anger. He motioned for some instrument and said, "get the camera and the oscillograph running."

A stabbing pain pierced the ball of her foot.

She closed her eyes and whimpered but did not scream. She held it in. She held back the tears.

"Your- darling," he snarled. He bent down. The man's eyes were terrifyingly blue, the anger steamed from his nostrils. "Oh I'll take good care of your darling."

"Daddy?" She whimpered. "Why?"

"Your mother took you away. You were so special to me- to my country- people paid good money to bring you into this world. Do you realize the things I had to do show my loyalty- the things our Elder Hachi had to do to bring you back?!"

"I tried to find the things you were looking for, daddy. Under the ground. I dug for them everywhere I could. You said you needed to find them- under the ground. I remembered what you said." Tears came to her eyes. "All I found was this," she looked at her wrist, but her bracelet was gone. "oh no. Where is it?"

Her father picked up a small silver bird from the surgical table. "This? You thought I was looking for this?" He shook his head, "no Diana- I found what I was looking for. And it's you. It's always been you."

"But why? Why do you need to do these things to me? Where did you take my friend?"

"We have some tests to run. I'm sorry if they hurt. But they're necessary. A lot of other people could get really hurt if we don't learn more about you. You have to be strong," he said. Then he turned his head and walked away.

…

Royce released her and scrambled away.

"Holy shit."

She began to cry again, "are you happy now?" she asked facetiously. "Now that you know I'm daddy's little experiment?"

"Doctor Karmann- is your father?"

She nodded.

"Your father did all this to you?"

She nodded again.

"That's why you can't trust anyone?"

She nodded up and down repeatedly, shaking her head as if it was going to fall off. He reached for her shoulders and held her. "Look- I trusted you. I came back, all the way from orbit to rescue you. You risked your life to rescue me when my parachute failed! Isn't that enough- to trust each other?"

"Please don't go-" she whimpered. "I don't care if you're not the one."

He held her as she shook in his arms, clutching on to his chest and shoulders, desperately trying to pull him closer.

Arthur Sobu lifted one leg onto his glass coffee table, then the other. He clutched a half full glass of synthetic whiskey.

It was past midnight when the call came in.

"Captain Sobu. I have a special assignment for you."

"Sir? It's awfully late. Can it wait 'till tomorrow?"

"It cannot."

"What do you need?"

"There's a sample I need you to pick up from the Genista clinic. Private Simmons has it."

"What is it?"

"Take the small tube from my desk. Put it with the vial, then take both to the top of the control tower and smash them together."

"Uh- sir, what are these things I'm smashing?"

"You are NOT to inspect the contents. Under any circumstances. This is classified priority one."

"Yes, sir. I'll head right over."

Three exhausted pilots and one exhausted redhead slogged through the Pine's door.

Kimi was still queasy after the flight. She'd been tossed, turned and put through the wringer. After she got back on the ground she lost her lunch. Now her stomach was in knots.

Like a car crash, she thought. You never feel the effects until it's over. Until the adrenaline leaves your system and you start to think about what happened – that's when it hits you.

But the effects lingered in her stomach. She felt it growl. She felt the weakness in her arms, the jelly-like wobble in her legs- it all reminded her of the ordeal she just went through.

"You got any grub?" she said to the bartender, today it was a fat old man with bulging cheeks and dark sloppy hair.

The man nodded, tapped a few buttons and returned with a plate of greasy habanero chicken wings.

Cho, Morisato, and Victor sat down with her.

Cho grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth without a word.

"Hey!" she scowled, "you're not even gonna' ask?!"

"Can I haff somm," he asked with a full mouth.

"Ew! Keep your sticky fingers to yourself!"

"Fanks!" he tossed down a second wing.

Then she noticed something unusual, "hey- you're not the same bartender from the other day, are you?"

"I'm the manager." He announced with his hands full of beer mugs. He plopped them down on the gigantic hanging log.

Morisato and Victor took their mugs and began to guzzle reflexively.

"No, I mean- where's the other guy? The blond one?" she pressed him.

"Dr. Stein's a busy man. I'm surprised he's been manning the bar- he only comes around once in a while."

That's so strange.

"Really?" Victor spouted, "we see him every time we come here."

"That's odd," the bartender shrugged off toward the kitchen through a flapping saloon-style door.

"You think he could be hanging out at the bar just to chat with us?" Victor asked.

Cho tossed another clean chicken bone back onto the plate.

Kimi slapped his shoulder. "Hey! Come on!" She stabbed an untouched wing with her fork and started munching on it.

"There's something fishy going on." She announced with fork in hand, "If he only comes to the bar when we're here. Maybe he's squeezing us for gossip. But then, why go missing after the juiciest mission in years?"

"He's upstairs." Said the manager as he ploughed back through the kitchen's still-swinging door and stood facing them. "He just called. He's up in his studio. Said you're welcome to join him if you want to talk."

His studio?

She leaned back a bit.

"Can we bring our beers?" Morisato tilted his quarter-full mug from side to side. The man reluctantly took it and topped it off.

"I don't see why not." The large man growled. "Doc's clearly got a soft spot for you guys."

…

At the end of a poured concrete corridor stood a black obelisk etched with the number: 613.

Victor took a swig and stepped out of the elevator. He knocked twice on the black door and it flew open to reveal Alban's smiling face.

"Victor! You're back! Cho, Morisato, and Kimi!"

"Yup!"

"Come in, come in! It's great to see you! It's great to hear you're all safe! Because of you guys- that thing never even got close!" Alban ushered them inside a brightly lit penthouse. Its large holo-screens projected a simulated cityscape on every wall. One-way mirrors for the tasteful recluse.

Morisato, Victor and Cho maneuvered to an open bar adorned with bottles of fine spirits which sat unguarded in slowly steaming baths of cold liquid.

"I wanted to say thank you. You can help yourself to the booze. Take as much as you want."

Morisato raised up a bottle of aged Cognac, "oh man, you're definitely welcome!" he said, taking a hearty swig and passing it off to Cho and Victor who returned similar gestures of appreciation.

"But I'm glad you're all here. I also wanted to conduct a little- follow up with you all."

"Follow up?" Victor re-corked the bottle and shot the doctor a confused look.

"Yes. A while ago I helped someone with a problem they were having. It was a problem I struggled with- ethically." He began to pace back and forth through the center of the room.

"You see, while the Khanians designed the transceivers, I designed the therapy itself. The vector. The optogenetic gene therapy that allows brains to interact with transceivers. The second piece of a two piece puzzle. A piece you all received. Well- all of you except Kimi." He nodded at her. "I've made it a point to always to observe how you're doing whenever you stop by. Tonight I figured- it would be best to talk here.

"Because that someone from long ago made another request- a request stands on even shakier ethical ground. And unfortunately I can't continue this experiment any longer. At least until I know how it's affected you all. I need to know if you've had any side effects since you got your optos?"

"Uh- I don't know. Like what?"

"Well, there's this theory. It's been around for a while. It's called orchestrated objective reduction. In a few words it says that quantum processes inside human neurons are the basis for consciousness. And, any time you try to observe those quantum processes, say: by emitting a photon of light, you collapse the wave function that forms the basis of your consciousness. In other words- you run the risk of making someone un-conscious. A philosophical zombie, if you will."

Morisato gently rested his beer on a nearby metal table. "Excuse me. What? Zombies?"

"Not a literal zombie. Not the kind that walks around like this" he held out his arms, "and shouts brainnnnsssss-"

He continued, "To the layman it's more like a brief lapse in memory. Like a black-out after drinking. Or a sort of abulia - an inability to make conscious decisions. An inability to exercise free will. Maybe you did a mission and didn't remember much of what happened afterwards? Or you followed an order that you wouldn't ordinarily follow?"

"That happens all the time- that doesn't mean I'm a freakin zombie!" Cho said. Victor and Morisato nodded as well.

"It's worse than I've feared." Alban continued to pace.

"But- Ishigami said all that was normal," Cho tried to explain. "Between the heavy drinking, g-forces and traumatic stress, it's all par for the course, right? We knew that going in."

"It's not normal." Alban said sternly, "And I'm starting to question Ishigami's judgment more and more. You see, you've revealed something truly dangerous. You're demonstrating the exact same symptoms I heard about two years ago- when your pink haired compatriot told me about those symptoms happening to her partners."

Cho put his glass down on a table and stared intently at Alban. "Excuse me, what?"

"Back then I figured it was just something unique to her. She has a different thing going on. But what she said- got the gears turning in my head. And- as I looked into it more and more, my suspicions grew."

"What suspicions?" Cho asked.

"Well, whenever you start messing with brain-computer interfaces, or brain-brain interfaces, or really any neuron-level observation of the brain, you run the risk of creating an individual who appears normal: they walk, they talk, they might even make decisions, or form memories which guide future decisions. But their actions are entirely deterministic. They've been robbed of their free-will by the act of observing it at the neuron-level. They observed similar stuff way back in pre-Plantation times. Whenever they exceeded a certain field strength on old M.R.I. machines, it started to affect people's consciousness. The act of observing the brain in any sufficient detail affected its process of operation.

"I told Diana about my theory, but she didn't care too much. She thought it was all bullshit. She thought I was just Ishigami's puppet. Which, I'll be honest, she had a point. But the idea I was trying to convey was legitimate. People can act perfectly normal even though they've been robbed of their consciousness.

"And- while that might be fine for military applications, like fighting an enemy, or flying a plane- hell it might even be considered a benefit- it presents real problems for touchy ethical subjects like responsibility, or consent, or intention.

"The fact that you're all experiencing these kinds of conscious lapses when your optos are functioning normally, means it's an intrinsic effect of the observation itself."

Morisato stood there with a confused look on his face. Cho stared at the doctor. Kimi became inexplicably nervous.

"Wait- why are you telling us all this? What does any of this have to do with us?" Victor spouted off.

"You're all experiments- Diana was the first of which. Project Torikago, as we called it. The silent birdcage. It was a way to keep her under control. Once we thought we had all the bugs ironed out, we tested it on Sunbird pilots, integrating the Torikago technology into the birds you all flew.

"Ishigami considered those tests, your tests as pilots, a success. Hell- I even considered you all a success. But now he's asked for a larger study. And I gave it to him. And now I think I've made a huge mistake."

"What do you mean- a larger study?" Kimi spoke up slowly.