‘But he might not want me to’, suggested Dick.
‘I know Hargreaves’, said Taylor confidently. ‘He’ll be under immense pressure from the Leader to finalise every single detail for the launch; to check, cross-check and cross-cross-check everything so that absolutely nothing goes wrong. The last person he wants interfering in anything or bothering him is you. Say you want to keep out of his way for the day and he’ll breathe a huge sigh of relief and send you on your way with his blessing. I guarantee it’.
‘Nine it is then’, said Dick as they both set off for the test lab.
CHAPTER 32
The Leader looked Dick up and down when he entered the test lab then turned to Hargreaves.
‘I was wrong. He’s still wearing them’.
Dick looked confused. Maxx turned back and smiled.
‘Your pants. I understand one of Dr. Hargreave’s technicians was giving you an impromptu lecture all about Jack’s programming. I said I bet he bores your pants off’.
Dick gave Maxx an earnest look. ‘Actually it really put the whole operation into perspective. It was fascinating understanding how and why Jack acted and reacted the way he did, but we ran out of time just when we got to debugging and static memory testing. If it’s all right with you I’d like to finish the discussion tomorrow morning. I told Kelvin I’d obviously have to get your consent’.
Hargreaves looked at the Leader who looked at Dick through slightly closed eyes. If eyes could speak these were the sort of eyes that would say, ‘Are you bullshitting me?’
Dick added, ‘Of course if it’s not OK then that’s fine. I’d be more than happy to shadow Dr. Hargreaves so I can learn what’s going on’.
Maxx considered the options. ‘Well, as long as you don’t distract this technician from his duties and Dr. Hargreaves is happy with this arrangement, then finish off your discussion’.
Dr. Hargreaves couldn’t wait to nod his approval. ‘This particular member of staff isn’t involved in the bomb project at all. It’s all right’.
‘Splendid’, said Maxx. ‘Then let’s get on with the demonstration’. He clapped his hands together loudly. ‘Let’s see the guinea pigs!’.
On this cue shutters opened in the far wall of the test lab to reveal a large plate glass window. Maxx, Carter, Harvgreaves and three other technicians walked over to the window and peered in. Dick followed and pressed his nose to the glass. He was looking into a small adjacent room but there were no guinea pigs in it, just rabbits. There were about twenty of them wearing blue and pink collars to signify their gender. While a few were scampering around, the majority were doing what they do best. Humping. Like rabbits. While Hargreaves consulted his colleagues over some technical issues, Maxx explained to Dick that they were re-testing the strength of gamma radiation the bomb would release. This needed to be strong enough to cause almost sudden and permanent impotence without causing any other serious side effects. What Dick was about to witness was one of the last trials.
‘You’re going to dose the rabbits with radiation?’ asked Dick, adding, with a sense of alarm in his voice, ‘Now. With us here?’
‘Yes’, said Maxx. ‘Just a small controlled burst. Don’t worry, the wall is lead-lined and the glass has a reflective coating. The radiation can’t affect you’. He laughed. ‘You still have one day of non-impotence left. I would say ‘make the most of it’, but stuck here in this facility, it rather limits the possibility!’
He laughed some more and slapped Dick on the back but Dick failed to see the joke. Dr. Hargreaves walked over to a small control panel by the window and spoke in a low nasal monotone into a microphone.
‘Verification test 114.1. Radiation type Gamma Delta 53. Two second burst. Cameras rolling’.
He turned a large red switch and Dick peered through the glass. Nothing happened. Well not at first, but after about thirty seconds the rabbits that had been mating had separated. Dick peered through then glass more intently and saw that an obvious change had occurred to the rabbits wearing the blue collars. Before the experiment they looked happy and perky. Now they all shared the same sad, bewildered and bemused expression. The sort of expression, Dick imagined, you’d have if you were dedicating the rest of your life to making models out of matchsticks, or worshipping god. The look of someone who’d suddenly lost every single ounce of his sex drive.
‘Excellent. Excellent’, said Maxx.
He turned to Dick but found he was no longer standing next to him. Dick was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, holding his head in his hands.
There was little Dick could do without Taylor so he decided to get an early night and wake up refreshed, ready for action. Maxx had told him that work on the bombs would continue throughout the night, that final checks would be completed by midday and that then they would be transported to the various launch sites up and down the country. The launch was scheduled for 10pm. Dick wondered if Maxx had lied about this and would suddenly announce he was bringing the launch forward just like he’d recently done. However, with the amount of work and testing seemingly still to be carried out, he doubted if this was physically possible.
Dick slept badly that night, tortured by a series of unpleasant dreams, metaphors for his impending fate. In all these dreams he was naked. He saw himself at various times sliding down a banister made of razor blades, trying to leap over a barbed wire fence and snagging himself – and having a piece of cheese wire wrapped around his penis and then being dragged along the ground by a hovercar.
He slipped in and out of consciousness but awoke with a smile on his face, putting all thoughts of severed penises and ripped scrotums out of his mind. While he was asleep, being tormented by these visions, another part of his mind had worked out the missing part of the plan. He dressed, had a quick breakfast and by 8.55 was making his way down to the storeroom to seek out Taylor.
‘It’s ruthless’. Taylor took a deep breath before continuing. ‘And it involves the cold-blooded murder of innocent people’.
‘I know’, Dick said. ‘But it’s the only way I can see the plan working. And it should be relatively easy to orchestrate. All you need to do is make use of your existing skills’.
‘You’re asking a hell of a lot’, Taylor said.
‘I assume you can do the programming?’ Dick asked.
‘Well I’ve got to, haven’t I?’ said Taylor.
It was rhetorical question but Dick still answered, ‘Yes, you do’.
Taylor estimated there was four hour’s work ahead of him and then half an hour for uploads. Dick estimated they only had two hours to do this. Taylor swore. Dick felt that the short time they had left could actually work in their favour as it meant that Maxx’s and Hargreave’s concentration would be focused completely on the impending launch – not on where Dick was, or what he might be doing.
While Taylor inputted lines and lines of unintelligible code from a portable terminal, Dick held the door ajar and kept watch, mindful of anyone paying them a surprise visit. Fortunately they weren’t disturbed and just after half past eleven Taylor unplugged the cable interface from the back of Jack’s head and let out a sigh.
‘This is our one chance Dick, our only hope of stopping Maxx. And I’ve had no option but to rush the programming!’, Taylor warned. ‘I haven’t been able to run tests or cross-checks. There’s no knowing what could happen when he’s activated!’
Dick knew time was of the essence. As Taylor was worrying about his programming skills he felt under Jack’s collar and activated the small switch. There was a reassuring click and Dick stepped back.