|
"So what is this, really?" I started to ask, and the doctor jumped a little, startled by the break in silence. I rolled the device around in my hand, looking at the winding hands and dials inside of it. It really resembled clockwork, I thought, except that it seemed too small to be functional, and it was in the shape of a sphere instead of being a flat disc.
"I mean, what did Synchro really do to those people, and how is it that you even had subjects to deal with at all, and how did you convince them to implant this inside of their bodies, and what else should I know that you're not telling me about?" I stopped for a breath. I figured that it was within my rights to ask things like that, since anything would be an improvement over my current level of knowledge on the subject. Plus, it would be kind of unfortunate for
Partain if I actually had to use the gun in my pocket that I'd introduced him to when I first convinced him to come into the bar for a couple of drinks.
"The actual drive device?" He asked, clarifying the subject of my first question. I nodded.
"Starting with that," I said.
"Think of the device as if it has a personality of its own. The AI programs inside of it develop and mature as they age, and they exhibit inclinations and directions of modification that best adapt to the user’s individual memory experience. But the device in your hand is only a first-stage unit, a prototype, and was rendered obsolete by our development and research teams very early on in the testing process for the Synchronicity Drive. The final procedures, the ones we treated ourselves with, they relied on almost undetectable nanite ‘swarms’, which were composed of mostly organic bases and were designed to be eliminated from the body, naturally, once the treatment had effectively taken place: usually within just a couple of hours." He pointed to the bathrooms. "We wanted a much less invasive approach, and of course, we wanted deniability."
"You have an awfully good memory for someone who underwent the treatment," I observed. "I'd really hate it if you were lying to me about any of this."
"What reason do I have to lie, anymore? Anything useful is still just a blank spot in my
head," he retorted. "If you don’t believe me, shoot me. Or order me another drink."
|