Journal of CRPA, Issue 3, September 1974

Why the Silence Protocol will not work

Dr. Aldwin Maykind

Synopsis

As commonly known, scientists have long sought a way to limit the high – and steadily rising – rates of mental diseases in the Psy population. Now we are told that the long desired cure has been found. As a member of the Cross Racial Psychiatric Association (CRPA) the author has been among the very few to be introduced to the details of the so called Silence Study Program (SSP), a scientifically designed method to assess the applicability of the Silence Protocol that was introduced by the Adelaja family, who have taken the risk to test it on their own children. Basically the new program elaborates the first that has been introduced by the Mercury Group six years ago and already proven to be a failure.

The results of the new program are gravely disappointing, as it works with both ethically and scientifically questionable methods. The treatment mainly contains making the recipient afraid of his emotions on the most basic level. In psychiatry we have a word for what the so called conditioning process does: Traumatization. And it is open to discussion if the resulting lack of affect really has any features of classical conditioning, or is just the result of the severe traumatic pressure that is applied, and therefore just a symptom of a posttraumatic stress disorder. In any case the Protocol cannot be stable for a longer period, because any form of life will always strive to heal itself and adapt even under the most adverse conditions.

To achieve even moderate stability one would have to maintain a constant severe threat to every individual and therefore ongoing traumatic circumstances. And even then the PsyNet itself will probably start healing the population or may otherwise be severely damaged.

It seems moot to point out that the systematic, constant traumatization of the whole population can hardly be an option to counteract mental illness, apart from the obvious ethical considerations that are to be taken into account and are contemplated by M. Miller, PhD in the ethics section of this issue.

Chapter 8

When Alja entered the small office she'd been assigned for her work, she looked forward to counsel the staff on their shielding. She could do something she was really good at and she could help people. The fact that this was what she had always wished for, could almost make her forget that she paid for her new employment with a big, bad and very unsettling Councilor at her back.

The downside of the task hit her when she started on the first staff members. She'd thought the next tests would at least be a little more ingenious after the skill she'd just shown. But the bugs in their shielding were so obvious it was insulting.

She removed them all with short explanations, only explaining more elaborately if she thought there the gap or mistake in the shielding had any chance to be genuine. And she found enough to gain her a little respect among the other employees especially on her own team. Which was good, because it meant no one picked on her or tried to initiate any power games and, as her species was not exactly sociable, they didn't bother her with free time activities either. So the next few days went relatively quiet. She also didn't get in contact with the changelings and wondered if that was on purpose.

However it helped her calm down a little to have a constant occupation and not too much contact to the man that threatened to crack her control whenever he got close to her.

The next time she encountered him was several days later on a meeting with the security team. She was surprised again that she'd been invited, when she saw only Delenko and three other members of her team in the small conference room, all of them Psy who had served loyally for several years. Other than them only Silver Mercant, who seemed to be the Councilors right hand, was there. So Alja seated herself as far as possible from the head of the table and tried to keep a low profile. She couldn't risk letting her provocative impulses show in the presence of others, sure the Councilor wouldn't react as tolerant as he had so far to her slips in respect.

They were all handed a set of different emergency plans and the guards got new alternating times for their shifts that ensured the whole system stayed unpredictable. She learned that security had been upped after a new set of attacks by Pure Psy on organizations and companies who were suspected to be tolerant about flawed Silence. The fanatic pro-Silence movement had suffered a heavy blow, when they'd tried to attack a changeling pack in North America but some of them remained and still operated form the shadows.

Now Kaleb was preparing for an open war. "I haven't officially positioned myself to the subject of Silence yet, but since Pure Psy has gone underground and has started a guerilla war, they have become somewhat unpredictable in their choice of targets. So we need to be prepared for possible attacks." And Kaleb had after all formed an alliance with Nikita Duncan, who had worked very closely with the changeling packs that hosted the only known defectors from the Net. Her daughter Sascha Duncan among them.

"So isn't it risky to start working with the changelings just now?" The woman who posed the question was Anastasia Velon, the head of security tech. She had already been criticiting the involvement of the wolves, when they had first been informed about it.

"As I do not expect to be able to keep out of the war forever, it is still safer to have their abilities at hand." His tone should have made it clear the statement was not to be discussed further.

"Reasonable. But will they go as far as to fight in our war? I can see no reason for them to involve themselves in our conflicts." Delenko. Obviously all of the attenders had earned the right to question the decisions of the Councilor at least at some level.

"We have a specialist in that field with us today. Alja Dardo has worked with the emotional species before several times. What do you say?"

So that was why she was here. Her answer was prompt and exactly to the point. "The other races will keep out of the conflict as far as possible. They'll just watch us weaken ourselves in our war. But the stronger, predatory changeling packs – such as BlackEdge – might as well see a chance to gain power by allying with the most promising parties. And the gain can be mutual, as we have seen in California."

"That doesn't sound very emotional." The chief guard, a tall man named Bernhard Hanser. He was built almost as broad as Delenko. It was striking that Kaleb Krychek apparently made his choice of personnel not only based on their psychic abilities. A strategy he was likely to profit from under the current circumstances.

"You forget that they're not exclusively driven by emotion. They're predators too and think as such. We shouldn't make the same mistake like so many of us and underestimate them." If she had learned one thing about changelings, it was that they weren't the stupid animals so many of her race believed them to be.

"A mistake Pure Psy has made not too long ago." Silvers cutting voice.

"You're talking of the incident with SnowDancer in California." Cylan Say – the weapons specialist had been quiet to that point. But the recent defeat of a skilled Psy organization by primarily changeling opponents seemed to cause some uneasiness in all of them.

"Yes. Although I think Pure Psy mainly underestimated the degree of cooperation between the changelings and the Psy in the area. Anyway, their actions were precipitate and irrational."

Which was exactly what made them so dangerous, Alja thought. Although she had sworn not to risk dropping another brick, she needed to speak on that point. "Pure Psy is fanatic. And fanaticism isn't rational, not even under Silence. They're digging their own graves using these terror strategies. They're trying to scare people into remaining Silent. A contradiction in itself: Fear is an emotion and it will only lead to a faster demise of the Protocol." A very violent one. And she could do nothing about it. Not yet. She needed so be stable and before all else feel safe to do what she was made for. If she ever found a way.

Kaleb remembered that he'd read something similar some time ago. Researching something else in the vast archives of the Net he had come across an article from the early days of the Protocol, when there was still controversy about Silence. He was among the very few persons in the Net who had gotten access to such documents at all. And even he had only found a synopsis. The full article had probably been destroyed in the early attempts to stifle all criticism towards the implementation of Silence. His further research had only unearthed that – like so many of the scientists opposed to the Protocol – the author had found an untimely death. He made a mental note to look it up again.

It was Velon who spoke next. "But the casualties would be severe at this point. We're not prepared to give up Silence yet." She sounded almost concerned.

"Yet… Are you advocating the fall of Silence?" Hanser.

"No I'm advocating to start preparing for its fall, because it might happen whether we want it or not." A brave statement. Alja was glad she didn't have to be the one who made it. It was uncomfortable enough finding herself neck deep into a political discussion with the security committee of a Councilor. She didn't need any more fucking attention.

Finally the head of the table joined the discussion. He had been watching them silently during the last few minutes undoubtedly using the hot button issue to evaluate all of them.

"Velon is right. It might no longer be a question whether we favor the demise of the Protocol or not. We need to be prepared for all eventualities, including the devastation of a failing Silence and full blown war conditions." She noted that he still hadn't expressed his personal opinion on the subject and was sure he did it on purpose. Not even his closest advisors knew for certain whether he favored the preservation of Silence or not. A clever strategy.

After that the discussion turned quickly to more technical issues again. The result was a set of preparations for severe destabilization of the political and economic situation. Alja only got more detailed instructions to train her colleagues in shielding techniques and also check some of Kaleb's armed forces. That left her with a little time to observe the assembled herself, while they were reviewing issues she wasn't directly involved with. Everyone in the room seemed to be a perfect Psy. Skilled, intelligent, Silent. Only Kaleb was set apart by the fact that he was ten times colder and indefinitely more powerful than anyone else.

And still you could make all of them fall with a single flick of your power.

The comment came from a part of her she successfully suppressed most of the time. The tempting voice of cold hate and contempt hadn't spoken to her in quite a while. It was a sign of how fragile her own mental and moral stability had become during years and years of acting against her nature. Being so close to a part of the power structure that forced her to do so had apparently triggered it again. She tried to ignore it – as always.

Her mind took the opportunity to wander right in the next undesired direction: To the very attractive male who was leading this meeting. She had worked hard on her behavioral control over the last few days trying to stifle these inexplicable emotional impulses. In the end she had even fooled herself that she had succeeded.

It took only minutes in the presence of the Councilor to prove her wrong. When she looked at him all she wanted to do was touch, stroke along the even angles of his face, feel the texture of his skin and that rich, dark hair under her fingers. Thinking of what he would feel like alone caused a strange hot, sensation to unfold in her body. And there was something even deeper, something that drew her to him in a way nothing else in another human being ever had. She couldn't even explain what it was. It was just a feeling of something beneath his darkness and coldness that made him seem human despite all the ice and stone he had wrapped around himself. A perception not many people were likely to share.

But she had to be honest with herself. There was no denying it any longer: She was attracted to Kaleb Krychek – probably the last man in existence she should face with any emotion but a healthy dose of self-preservative fear.

This was impossible. Of course she had felt attracted to other men before – not being Silent and constantly in contact with the other races had brought on all kinds of sensual temptations Psy usually never faced. There had been some human acquaintances she barely knew, that she'd found appealing or attractive. But never Psy. And she had rarely been around the humans long enough to develop real attachment. Of course, that would have been impossible for an Arrow who was supposed to be one of the most Silent. And as she had learned from her special friend, it was what had killed her mother after all.

But Alja had been curious enough to try for more intimate contact once. All in all it had been awkward and even a little disgusting. She knew that was not the way it was supposed to be. And that wasn't the fault of the very sensitive human man she'd followed home one night after she had gone out to seek her so called human contact. It felt completely wrong, because her body didn't react to the intimate contact, to the touch. At least not enough to give her the pleasure she knew it gave other human women. She had felt just enough to make her realize just how much she'd lost through the dissonance conditioning. After that she had refused any form of contact that went beyond a casual talk, especially physical contact.

And now Kaleb Krychek of all people made her want to try again.