Chapter 36: How hard did you try to resist?
"What have you got to report?" I was meeting with Doctor Weir early the next morning to fill her in on my progress. John was sitting in as well since I'd been too tired to tell him much the day before.
"Partially good news I think," I began. "If I'm right then TED might not be as hard to operate as my first attempt yesterday suggested. It's an amazing device – it's literally measuring reality. Trying to present that in a way the human brain can understand is difficult ... that's why it overloaded me yesterday. I don't think I did anything except get bombarded with all that information."
"John mentioned the headache side effect," Doctor Weir said. "How do you explain that?"
"I've got a theory about that," I said hesitantly. "It's no secret that John and I have a ... connection through the ATA gene. I believe that even though he wasn't touching the device directly I provided a link to it for him. John has shown some ability in the past to resist Wraith telepathy which I think is because he probably has the potential in general."
"And here I was thinking it was my charm and good looks that the Wraith queens couldn't resist," John quipped.
"I'm sure that didn't hurt," I smirked and Doctor Weir laughed at John's faintly disgusted expression. The idea that a Wraith had found him attractive really wasn't something to brag about.
"What else can you tell me about the TED?" Doctor Weir got us back on topic.
"The best I can tell," I explained, "TED uses the quantum nature of the universe to create a kind of telepathic pool that exists in all states and times simultaneously. According to Rodney, nonlocal quantum entanglement means that all states are instantaneously accessible regardless of distance. The device created a way for the Ancients to access that directly to expand their telepathic ability – both range and strength."
"Is it safe for a human to use it?" John asked.
"TED monitors everything possible about the operator's brain and then uses that to facilitate connections to as many Wraith in the telepathic pool as it thinks the operator can handle." I said. "So presumably if an Ancient brain was capable of handling more than my human brain, I won't be able to perceive as many connections as they would have. There're some optimising commands which must be about the grid the Ancients were going to create around a specific location. Since we've only got one TED we don't have to worry about that, although the optimizing will ensure the closest physical connections get priority."
"It sounds worth pursuing," Doctor Weir commented. "Do what you can to progress your use of the device and report back to me in a few days."
"I'm already thinking of ways to overcome the information overload," I said. "I'll keep going with that and we'll see what's possible. I was going to follow up controlling the Wraith Dart as the first priority but given what I've since learnt I think it'll be easier if I try direct mind control first because that was the primary purpose of the device."
"Sounds like a plan," Doctor Weir acknowledged, rising from her chair to bring our meeting to a close.
"So you're gonna start testing with my volunteers?" John asked as we walked away from Doctor Weir's office.
"To be honest I don't really want to," I admitted, "but I think TED is complex enough that I need to get something working as intended before I start pushing the limits on what it was designed for."
"Private Baines was my first choice to get you going," John said. "He's keen to learn and pretty easy going."
"Good ... I guess ... could you get him to report to my lab in an hour?" I asked. John nodded and we parted ways, me down to the lab to prepare myself for my first test experiment.
Private Baines reported dead on time and I could see immediately why John had chosen him. Clearly he was military and since he'd been assigned to Atlantis he would be highly skilled at his job. Baines was still young enough though that he hadn't acquired that scary military facade most of John's men had.
"Thanks for volunteering to help," I smiled at Baines and was rewarded with an easy smile in return.
"I was curious to see what goes on down here," Baines admitted, "so when the Colonel asked for volunteers, I thought why not?"
"I have to tell you that you're my first test subject," I informed him. "I've worked out an experimental protocol – initially I'm just going to create a telepathic connection between myself and the device through to you. If that's successful, I'll try to issue an instruction to you – it'll be your job to resist that instruction. Does that sound okay?"
"I'm ready," Baines said confidently.
"Okay then," I took a deep breath, "here goes ..."
Before touching TED I focussed my mind on the single request to access the telepathic pool for a connection between myself and Baines. Keeping that thought central I placed a hand on the device and was rewarded with the usual lights and faint hum. My mind presented the pool to me as a silvery shimmering circle, kind of like an open wormhole in the Stargate. All the information from the day before was kind of hovering around in the background, readily accessible but easily ignored. I dipped into the pool and perceived a multitude of possible connections, presumably for everyone close by in Atlantis and on the mainland. Holding my mind at the edge of the pool I identified a specific frequency that I somehow knew belonged to Private Baines. Grabbing that frequency I was rewarded with a fragile silvery thread leading away from the pool directly to Baines.
"Step one complete," I said faintly, concentrating on maintaining the connection.
I'd thought hard about what instruction to send and decided on something simple that would be obvious to me if I was successful.
"Raise your right arm," I send the thought softly along the thread. When Baines remained with hands folded in his lap I repeated the thought, a bit stronger this time. It took three attempts before Baines slowly raised his arm, a slight frown marring his face. Breathing out I carefully returned the thread back into the pool and broke the connection.
"You did it," Baines actually seemed happy that I'd been able to control him telepathically.
"Looks like it," I smiled. "You were a good subject ... how hard did you try to resist?"
"Pretty hard," Baines admitted. "I could actually hear your command in my head – even though I had no reason to raise my arm I was doing it before I could stop."
"Was there any discomfort?" I asked reluctantly, hoping the answer would be no.
"Not really," Baines replied. "Just the slightest sensation of pressure and maybe now just a slight headache."
"Okay, that's good," I stood up and held out a hand. "I really appreciate your help," I said as Private Baines shook my hand amiably.
"It was interesting," Baines said. "I'll make sure and tell the other guys it was all good."
"Thanks," I replied. "But don't tell them what command I'm giving – wouldn't want to prime them too much!"
Baines laughed before exiting the lab.
I kept up a steady pace of trials for the rest of the day, before finally calling it quits just before dinner. All the mental exertion had made me really hunger so my first stop was the commissary. I put in a call to John on the way, hoping he'd be able to join me.
"How'd it go?" John asked, sitting down with a tray of his own.
"Unbelievably good," I replied glumly.
"So you managed to control all your volunteers and that makes you unhappy?" John looked at me in confusion.
"It was too good," I explained. "I didn't even have to push that hard so either your guys are all really weak minded or they were taking it easy on me."
"Or you're a lot stronger mentally than you realise," John pointed out another option I hadn't considered.
"It doesn't really matter which it is," I pointed out, "because the end result is that I can't assess the full capability of TED. I need to find someone really difficult who's willing to let me push hard."
"Any ideas?" John asked curiously.
"I thought of Teyla," I frowned, "but I'd really rather not ask her – given her history with the Wraith ... it just doesn't seem appropriate to experiment on her."
"I'll do it," John offered quietly. I looked at him open mouthed. "What?" he demanded. "Aren't I stubborn enough for you?"
"Oh you're plenty stubborn enough," I replied. "And I did consider asking you, only ..." I broke off, looking intently at him.
"It's a little too personal?" John questioned.
"Don't you think so?" I turned the question back to him.
"So let me get this straight," John said. "You were willing to delve into the minds of strangers but you're hesitating to do the same with me even though you know me intimately and we frequently get as personal as two people can?"
"When you put it like that it sounds really stupid," I complained.
"That's because it is stupid," John said smugly.
"Aren't you worried I'll pick up something from you that you didn't want to share with me?" I asked curiously.
"No," John replied with certainty. "Maybe you're worried that I'll pick up something from you!"
"Ha, in your dreams," I retorted. "You'll be lucky if you can resist me!"
"We both know that on occasion I do find it hard to resist you," John looked me up and down mock suggestively and I couldn't help but laugh. "But I think I'll be able to mount a sufficient defence ... I have held off more than one Wraith Queen you know."
"And that's the only reason I'm agreeing to this," I replied. "First thing tomorrow then?"
"You're on," John accepted my challenge.