The Adjusters (25 page)

“Our scientists have already cloned a brain from stem cells,” said another member of the audience, a guy in a suit who had the same military bearing as the others nonetheless.
“How is this different?”

“Your scientists might be able to clone a brain,” Dr. Chancellor said, moving towards the group. “But to what end? I am sure you are aware, a cloned brain is merely an empty
vessel. Devoid of knowledge, memories, skills. Even if you implant it in a donor body, you create nothing more than a zombie – a creature without thoughts.”

“Why go to the trouble of cloning a brain when you can improve what’s there already?” Mallory said, waving his cigar at the vat. “A scan is taken of a subject’s
brain, pre-operation. This is to ensure the subject is viable and to gauge the best implantation points for the…” He struggled for the word.

“Ganglions,” Chancellor said.

“Ganglions,” Mallory repeated. “This allows for maximum control and responsiveness from each subject. As I’m sure you can appreciate, every brain is different.”

“But what is the purpose of all this messing around in brains?” an Italian-sounding woman asked.

Mallory shrugged. “Imagine being able to copy the knowledge and skills of your best scientists. Your most gifted soldiers. And then implant that knowledge into the bodies of… How
shall I put it?
Less productive
members of your societies. The neural patterns of a gifted and loyal warrior can be copied simply by scanning the subject’s brain
,
loaded into
the SPIDIR…and then implanted into the brain of a test subject. Creating an equally gifted soldier.”

This caused a stir among the audience. Henry remembered the scan they’d given him and he felt a chill – had his knowledge, his memories been mapped onto one of these SPIDIRs? Mallory
had told him he wanted his initiative. Could that aspect of his personality already have been tapped and put into someone else’s brain? And would that brain think like him? The thought made
his flesh crawl.

“But that’s only the beginning,” Mallory continued, seeing he really had the attention of his audience now. “Once implanted with a SPIDIR, the subject gains two massive
advantages: increased intellectual capacity and the potential for us to implant a wide variety of information. Give me a day, and I can create a subject who is fluent in twenty
languages…able to solve the most complex mathematical problems… Or with our military programmes, a soldier willing to push his body to breaking point at your command.” Mallory
nodded at them. “That’s right.
Your command.
Every Malcorp SPIDIR comes with certain fail-safes built in – most importantly complete, unquestioning loyalty to the
controller.”

“You’re talking about brainwashing,” a British-accented man said. “It doesn’t work. Our scientists have been trying to develop it since the 1950s.”

Mallory looked at him. “So has the CIA – and you’re quite right, brainwashing in the traditional sense doesn’t work. But it does with our SPIDIR implants.” He
nodded to Dr. Chancellor. “Let’s give them a demonstration.”

The doctor walked to the door and opened it. Henry stifled a gasp as Christian appeared. So they had experimented on him… A wave of remorse and guilt washed over Henry. How could he have
left his friend in the medical centre the night they broke in. Was it too late to save him now?

On Chancellor’s command, Christian walked into the centre of the room and stood before the audience. His expression was blank and he didn’t react at all as Mallory placed a hand on
his forehead and lifted his hair away to expose his scalp.

“This subject had a SPIDIR implanted less than forty-eight hours ago,” Mallory explained. “The boy is now fluent in six European languages, is expert in applied mathematics and
has an unquestioning respect for authority. A new-found desire to exercise will transform his body over the coming weeks.” Mallory ran a finger across Christian’s forehead.
“Notice the lack of cranial scarring due to our patented healing accelerators. The operation takes less than thirty minutes. You can have a skull opened, the SPIDIR implanted, and closed up
before anyone knows what happened – especially useful for covert operations.”

Someone at the back asked, “Can more information be mapped onto the SPIDIR post-implantation?”

“This is achieved by wireless upgrade – simple,” Chancellor said with a snap of her fingers.

As members of the group muttered among themselves, Henry looked away in disgust. So, this was what it came down to – the kids at the Malcorp complex were all part of some experiment to
create a generation of emotionless, robotic followers. A technology that Mallory was selling to the highest bidder. And their parents had signed them right up for it – just as long as they
kept on getting top grades. Poor Christian.

“You say you have made him into some kind of genius?” a bearded general said sceptically. “He looks like a sleepwalker.”

Mallory held up a hand. “He’s merely in a fugue mode built into the brain implant. This state can be triggered at will by the subject’s operator – usually by a targeted
theta wave combined with a command phrase, but for larger scale pacification the trigger could be built into a sound wave broadcast across an entire city. In this state he’s highly
suggestible, impervious to pain…”

Dr. Chancellor proved this by removing a pin from her coat and pricking Christian on the arm. He didn’t flinch.

“…and will remember nothing after the fugue is cancelled. However, he is also fully capable of following orders from an operator. Let me give you an example.”

Mallory opened a desk drawer and removed an automatic pistol. Then he took out a sleek silver bullet-shaped object. Pressing a small button on this, he said to Christian,
“Initiate.”

Christian immediately stiffened to attention at the command word, like some kind of soldier. From his hiding place by the counter, Henry shook his head. It was like looking at a different person
– a machine rather than his friend.

Mallory held up his hand so the audience could see the tiny device. “The Initiator is a simple wireless theta-wave command switch used in conjunction with the command word. It also has an
emergency kill-switch built in.” He pointed to a red button on the other side. “When the Initiator is placed at the base of the subject’s skull and the kill-switch depressed, it
sends a concentrated electronic burst to the SPIDIR, deactivating it. Only to be used in a last resort, of course.”

“Why?” the bearded general asked.

“Because the deactivation is permanent. And it would most likely lead to some brain damage for the subject.”

“Most likely?”

“Well, we haven’t ever had cause to try it out. Our SPIDIRs are one hundred per cent safe, after all.”

“Then why have the kill switch?”

Mallory grinned at him. “I’m overly cautious. Now, back to the demonstration.” He handed the gun to Christian. “Field-strip this, Christian. With your eyes closed,
please.”

Henry eyed the Initiator in Mallory’s hand
. If I could just get my hands on one of those,
he thought. It could be used to control the adjusted kids and shut down their SPIDIR
implants. Mallory’s words echoed in his head:
some brain damage…
But what was the alternative? Remaining one of Mallory’s slaves for the rest of your life? He knew that if
he had a SPIDIR in his head, he’d be prepared to take the risk.

Across the room, Christian took the gun, moved to the nearest workbench and started taking the weapon apart. Henry noticed the way he laid out the component parts of the pistol in a neat line,
as if it was an operation he’d done many times before. Christian had his eyes clamped shut as he did this.

“Military training that would take years has been implanted in seconds,” Mallory said as Christian reassembled the gun, slotted the clip into the handle and opened his eyes. He held
out the weapon for Mallory’s inspection. “Very good, Christian,” he said, before turning back to the audience. “But what good is training without the will to use
it?”

Mallory took a step back and looked around the room, his eyes falling upon a swivel chair in the corner. “Shoot the chair, Christian.”

Without a second’s hesitation, Christian raised the gun and put a round through the back of the chair. Everyone in the room jumped as the noise echoed around the room. Mallory grinned at
the stir he’d created.

“Quite a shot for a fourteen year old, don’t you think?” he said. “Now, Christian.
Shoot me
.”

Christian raised the gun and aimed it at Mallory’s head. The weapon trembled in his hand and his face screwed up in concentration, as if he was desperately trying to pull the trigger, but
just couldn’t do it.

“Shoot me, Christian.
Do as you are ordered.
”

Christian gave a whine of agony as he continued to fight against himself.

“Okay! Stop!”

Christian breathed a sigh of relief and lowered the gun. Mallory looked at the stunned audience.

“Like I said, certain fail-safes are built into every SPIDIR,” he explained. “Subjects who have undergone adjustment will do as they’re told, but not to the point they
can be used against you. The idea of doing anything to harm myself or any other Malcorp employee is so deeply ingrained in Christian’s new brain that he couldn’t have pulled that
trigger, even if he thought I would have caused him terrible harm.
Complete obedience
, that’s what we offer, ladies and gentlemen. Imagine taking the most troublesome people in your
countries and having them
adjusted
. No more protests… No more annoying Facebook pages and Twitter feeds putting down your governments… Just happy citizens.
Productive
citizens
.”

Henry looked in disgust at the approving nods from the group.

Only the bearded general looked unimpressed. “Will he follow
my
commands?”

“If I order him to.”

“Good. I want my own demonstration.”

Mallory studied the man carefully before saying, “Of course.” He looked at Christian. “This is General Aziz, Christian. You’re to follow his instructions as if they were
from me. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Christian’s voice sounded different. It was flat and dead. It could have been anyone’s.

General Aziz stepped forward with his hand outstretched. “Give me the gun.”

Christian handed it across. Aziz ejected the clip and inspected it, as if checking to see that the bullets were real. Satisfied, he reloaded the gun and pointed it at Christian’s head.
Henry stifled a cry… But Christian didn’t even flinch.

“Good,” General Aziz said with a little laugh. “He’d just stand there and let me shoot him?”

“Absolutely,” Mallory said. “If you asked him to, he’d even help you line up the shot.” If he was nervous, he was doing a good job of not showing it.

“That’s very good.” General Aziz handed the gun back to Christian…but the demonstration wasn’t over. “Shoot yourself,” the man commanded.

“Now hold on…” Mallory said as Christian placed the gun under his own chin.

“I don’t need citizens who will stand still for a bullet,” Aziz snapped, without taking his eyes from the kid. “I need citizens who will put a bullet in their own heads
if I command. Do it, boy! Shoot yourself.”

Christian’s eyes flicked towards Mallory, who sighed and shook his head. “This is going to take some explaining to his parents,” he said. “Go on, Christian, do as the man
says…”

Christian straightened a little, finger tightening around the trigger…

“No!” Henry yelled, leaping from behind the counter. “Christian, stop!”

Every head in the room turned towards him. For a moment no one moved – even Christian seemed momentarily confused, although he showed no sign of recognizing his friend. Then Dr. Chancellor
grabbed a communicator from her coat and barked into it, “Security breach in demonstration lab!”

A siren sounded in the corridor. General Aziz threw out his arm, finger pointing towards Henry like an arrow.

“Shoot him!”

Christian brought the gun from under his chin and fired twice across the lab. Henry threw himself back behind the counter as bullets whizzed by, impacting the wall. More rounds ripped into the
counter as Christian began unquestioningly to empty the clip at his former friend.

“Henry!” Gabrielle screamed from the vent opening. He threw himself towards her, squeezing into the shaft as she crawled back.

“Move!” he said, half expecting to hear the sound of Christian following them. Instead he heard Mallory yelling from the lab…

“Stop! Stop shooting, you idiot! I want him alive!”

Security lights flickered on around the medical centre as distant alarms sounded in the background. In contrast to the first time Henry had escaped from the building, this time
it seemed they would stop at nothing to catch him.

As they crawled through the vents, the sound of running guards seemed to come from all around. Yet somehow they made it to an exterior vent grille. Henry grabbed Gabrielle’s hand and
pulled her from the shaft. They’d come out at ground level and, as yet, the guards didn’t seem to be searching nearby. Henry ran towards the gate and the cover of the trees, dragging
Gabrielle with him. Halfway there, a buggy driven by a single guard whizzed out from the side of the building. Henry saw he had two choices; he could run, or…