"What's so special about this synthetic?"
"Super high potency."
"Why not just take more of the regular NDT?"
"Because there are only so many receptor sites in the brain available to regular NDT. Once they're all engaged, that's it — you've got your maximum effect no matter how much you pour in. The super NDT has quadruple the bioactivity of regular."
She did a little more fiddling around on my head, then said, "That does it. The wire's out. Now…I can either close you up tight or implant a membrane patch so you can put NDT to use on a regular basis."
"How about a free sample of the super stuff? If it helps, I'll come back for the membrane and you'll have yourself a regular customer."
Didn't want to trade one dependency for another, but if NDT would help me over the rough spots, I couldn't pass it up.
There was a pause, then, "Sounds fair. I'll get some."
She left me alone. If not for my open scalp, it would have been a perfect opportunity for some quick snooping. Stayed on the table and waited.
"I'm going to add a ten-nanogram dose of NDT suspension directly into your CSF and then — "
"CSF?"
"Cerebrospinal fluid. The juice your brain floats in, so to speak. Then I'm going to close you up. You'll get a short, quick, intense reaction to the NDT. It lasts much longer through a membrane patch."
"This is the super stuff you're giving me? On the house, right?"
"On the house."
It didn't hit me until I was off the table and thumbing my bill in the outer office. Suddenly noticed that colors seemed brighter, clearer, objects more sharp-edged. Was aware of all my nerve-endings, could feel the scanner read the processor in my thumb and deduct the unbuttoning fee. Felt the blood racing through my capillaries, felt the slow coiling peristalsis of my intestines, the microturbulence of the air currents in my lungs, the electric currents arcing along the walls of my heart. If this was the effect of super NDT, I could see how it would make it easier to forget how lost and alone you felt without your button collection.
The NDT I'd had in the past had never been like this. Super NDT…nordopatriptyline…everything I'd ever learned, ever read, ever heard about it came back to me and swirled with my latent thoughts and questions about the snatched urchins, living and otherwise. And suddenly it was all clear. All the pieces fell together into a seamless could-be that needed only a few more facts to make it a must-be.
"Of course!" I heard my own voice mutter as I withdrew my thumb from the payment slot. "That's why you snatch the urchins!"
"What did you say?" the tech asked with suddenly narrowed eyes.
"Nothing." Loose-lipped idiot!
"No, you said something about urchins." Her smile had shrunken to a tight thin line, her cherubic face had settled into a petrous mask.
I didn't hesitate a microsecond. "'Luncheon.' I said, 'I still have time to make a luncheon.'"
"Oh," she said and nodded, but I knew she didn't believe me. Got out as fast as I could and headed for Elmero's, hoping Doc was there.
— 11-
"Seems kind of a waste to me," Doc said, his black face gleaming in the bright lights of Elmero's office. "I mean, we've already been into Central Data once and found nothing useful in the p-m report. Why go back?"
"Because I don't think we asked the right questions."
While I argued with Doc, Elmero was already at his console, working his jacking procedure. The super NDT was still buzzing through me. My thoughts were flying.
Doc shrugged. "Well, it's your money."
"Right. So tell me: Is a cerebrospinal fluid analysis done on a routine post-mortem?"
"Of course. Protein, glucose, chlorides, bacteria, viruses, toxins, and other sundry things."
"Neurohormones?"
"Hell, no!"
"Why not?"
"Be like checking for subcutaneous fat on your ass: Everbody's got it to varying degrees. Why should they check for neurohormones? Everybody's got those. Besides, those assays are expensive. You'd have to expect a problem along those lines before trying to justify that kind of expenditure. Certainly wouldn't do it on a John or a Jane Doe that's undoubtedly an urchin."
That was what I had figured.
"How long do they keep tissue samples in the coroner's dept?"
"Depends. On a Doe case, probably a month, tops."
"We're in," Elmeror announced from the console.
"Can you requisition a test on one of the dead kids' CSF?"
Elmero gave a me a look that eloquently mixed disgust with annoyance.
"Sorry," I said. "Don't know what came over me. Get a nordopatriptyline level."
He told the coroner's computer to run the test, then leaned back in his chair and glided it back to the desk. Doc went out to the barroom for a fresh whiff, saying this would take awhile. His timing was perfect: The result of the NDT assay popped into view just as he returned. He stepped over and looked at it.
"Damn me!" he said.
I joined him and scanned the result: "NDT level in subject CSF = 2.7 ng./dl. Normal level in age group = 12.5 — 28 ng./dl."
"Figured that," I said.
Doc gave me a sour look. "And just how did you 'figure' that someone had sucked off this kid's NDT?"
Told them how B.B.'s "comet" had led us to NeuroNex, what the tech had said about the super synthetic NDT, about my earlier guess that NeuroNex might be testing a new substance on the urchins.
"But if that's the case, the kid's brain should have been loaded with NDT!" Doc said.
"Not if the assay doesn't pick up the synthetic," Elmero said.
Doc scowled. "Then why the depressed levels?"
Waited a few beats, then said, "Because everything the tech told me about the new synthetic super NDT was true, except the part about it being synthetic."
They stared at me uncomprehendingly. Nice to be the smart guy, the guy with all the answers for once. Allowed them to stew for awhile. Finally:
"Think about it. NDT is a normal component of the CSF. It's necessary for normal cognitive functions, and in increased concentrations it can enhance those functions. Now…at what time in your development is the brain most actively sorting, analyzing, filing, matching, compounding, linking, correlating, and so on?"
"Childhood," Doc said.
"Right! The whole world is new. The mind is relentlessly bombarded with a seemingly endless flow of new data."
Doc bit his lower lip. "I don't like where this is heading."
Elmero said nothing. He just sat there and absorbed it all.
"Bet there's an obscure piece of research somewhere that recounts the remarkable enhancing power of toddler NDT on adult cognition. Quadruple bioactivity."
Doc whiffed and exhaled slowly. "NeuroNex is a reputable company. I can't believe it would get involved — "
"It's not," Elmero said. "If this was being done on a corporate level, I'd have heard about it."
Nodded in agreement. A big operation would cause supply problems, creating a black market in toddler NDT, and there wasn't a black market in Sol System that Elmero didn't know about.
"Right. This is strictly small time. The tech and the local franchise owner are probably working it on their own, snatching the kids, siphoning off their NDT, and bartering it away as an 'unapproved synthetic' at a very stiff price per nanogram."
That explained the holosuited customers this morning — they wanted to remain anonymous.
"There's people who want it that bad?" Doc said.
"Definitely."
The effect of my test dose was fading a little now and I could see why you'd want some more. Especially if you were a businessman or analyst. Never thought so clearly, never saw so many relationships and correlations between seemingly unrelated facts in all my life. Like being terribly nearsighted since birth and then having your focal length corrected — a whole new world is suddenly available to you. Probably never feel this way again. Would miss it.