‘Oh, yeah, yeah!’ Adam interrupted, with great enthusiasm. ‘Hartmann and Yun’s paper. Yes, I read it. Helped a lot with the transpeptidation issues of our new drugs. Smart guys.’
‘Yeah, they are.’ Bianca was startled that not only had he heard of a decidedly esoteric scientific paper, but also that he had correctly — and instantly — identified its authors based on only a most general description. That was definitely beyond anything she could imagine his having been briefed on.
Kiddrick regarded her smugly. ‘Convinced?’
‘I’d have to say… yes,’ she admitted.
‘Good. Adam, there’s nothing else we should know about Wilmar, is there? He’s not selling secrets to the Chinese or plotting to release anthrax on the New York subway?’
Adam shook his head. ‘Nothing like that. Jeez, suspicious much?’
‘It’s best to be sure while we have the opportunity,’ said Morgan. ‘Okay, Dr Kiddrick, bring him back to normal.’
Kiddrick picked up the injector again and told Adam to return to the operating table. Another hiss from the gun, and Adam closed his eyes. Bianca watched in fascination as Wilmar’s twitchiness seemed to dissolve, returning him to the same blank, unrevealing state as before.
‘How much will he remember?’ she asked.
‘From Wilmar? Only anything he specifically recalled from the implanted persona,’ Kiddrick answered. ‘Other than that, nothing.’
‘We’ll check, though,’ said Tony. ‘Adam — what pets did Conrad Wilmar have as a kid? What were they called?’
Adam sat up. ‘He had…’ He trailed off. ‘I don’t know.’
‘The name of his high school?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘But he still remembers things like the day Wilmar was born?’ said Bianca.
‘Six twelve, six twelve,’ Adam cut in before she could continue.
‘Yes, like that. How does that happen?’
Kiddrick began to remove the skullcap. ‘The same way any memory is kept. Short-term to long-term transfer, if you go by the Atkinson — Shiffrin model.’
‘I’m more of a Baddeley theorist myself, but I understand what you mean. If he brings something out of the persona’s memory, it stays in his?’
‘Exactly.’ He tugged the cap free. ‘All right, Adam, you can get down now.’
Adam climbed off the table. Unlike when he had hopped down as Wilmar, his movements were smooth, precise, with no wasted energy. He stood, watching the others impassively.
Bianca had a question. ‘Adam?’
‘Yes?’
‘You remember things from Wilmar’s memories — but do you actually remember what it was like to be him?’
A fleeting look of incomprehension. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Do you remember his feelings? The enthusiasm when he — I mean, you, were talking about his work, or the… the shame when you told us about his affair?’
‘Meg Garner,’ Kiddrick said quietly, chuckling again. ‘Who would have thought?’
Bianca shot him a dirty look before returning her attention to Adam, trying to judge what was going on behind his mask. But she could pick up nothing conclusive. ‘No, I don’t,’ he said at last.
‘Well, anyway,’ said Kiddrick, ‘now you’ve seen that PERSONA works as advertised, you’ll need to know how to operate the device in the field. We’ll start the lessons tomorrow, at nine sharp.’
‘I think we need to give Dr Childs some time to acclimatise first,’ said Tony, politely but firmly. ‘Considering that she’s just flown here from England with, what, one change of clothes?’
‘Yeah, afraid so,’ she replied. ‘I was rather under the impression that I’d be flying back home tomorrow.’
Tony smiled. ‘I’m sure our budget can stretch to a trip to Macy’s, at the very least. Can’t it, Martin?’
Morgan was less amused. ‘As I said earlier, Dr Childs, we’ll set you up with everything you need while you’re here. We’ll take care of everything regarding your absence from Luminica as well.’
‘That’s work — what about personal matters?’ Tony asked. ‘Have you even told your family and friends about this yet?’ One eyebrow rose slightly. ‘Boyfriend?’
‘No, I haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone,’ she complained. ‘My parents’ll think I’ve gone mad when I say I’ve suddenly gone to the States for no reason I can tell them about. And no, I don’t have a boyfriend.’ The eyebrow rose higher. She tried to hide a smile, feeling her cheeks flush a little at his suggestive attention.
‘It’ll all be taken care of,’ Morgan reiterated. ‘Okay, we still have some more points to cover, so Dr Childs, if you’ll come with me?’
‘Good to have you aboard,’ said Tony as Morgan led her to the door.
‘Thanks.’ She gave him a small smile in reply, then glanced back at Adam.
His face was completely void of expression.
Chapter 12
The Cube
‘You really are an utter shit, Roger,’ said Bianca. ‘What the hell have you dragged me into?’ Her tone was humorous, but it had enough of an edge to make it clear she was still angry about the situation.
Albion laughed. ‘Oh, come on, Bianca. What’s life without a little adventure?’
‘Your last little adventure ended with you getting shot.’
‘If life were completely safe, it would be very dull. Besides, I’ve struck up quite a rapport with one of the doctors here. I think that once the whole tedious doctor — patient relationship issue is out of the way when I’m healed, I might see if she’s interested in becoming my next ex-wife.’
She shook her head, amused. ‘You never change, do you?’ The amusement turned dark. ‘And speaking of ethics…’
Albion sighed. ‘Yes, I wondered how soon you’d bring that up.’ He looked at a wall clock. ‘Fifty-three minutes! Longer than I’d expected.’
Bianca pulled her chair closer to the bed, frowning. ‘Seriously, though. From what Tony and Morgan told me, Persona’s mission seems to be to fly around the world, kidnap people, steal their innermost secrets and then use them so that the CIA can pick targets for its robot death-planes.’
‘The targets are terrorists and other deeply unpleasant people. We’re doing the world a favour.’
‘I don’t want to sound like an absolute pinko hippie—’
‘Too late for that!’
‘—but terrorist suspects have rights, like anyone else — and one of them is “innocent until proven guilty”.’
‘Things change in war.’
‘You’re not a soldier. And I didn’t notice anyone else at STS wearing a uniform either. Not even so-called “Admiral” Harper.’
Albion cocked his head to one side. ‘Be careful when dealing with him, Bianca. Very careful. He’s not someone you want to make an enemy of. As the saying goes, you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.’
‘I don’t like him now!’
‘Well, that makes two of us. But really, try to avoid pissing him off. Just grit your teeth and stand in for me, and think about all that money waiting when you get back to England. As for how you stand in for me, we’d better get back to your training.’
‘What training?’ she protested, holding up a notebook. ‘It only took you fifty-three minutes to explain everything!’
‘Not that part of the training — I meant the part where you make it look as complicated as possible. If it seems too easy, they might figure out that they don’t need me any more and kick me out.’
She smiled. ‘Don’t tempt me. Besides, I’m surprised they haven’t considered hooking you up to the machine so Adam can load up your persona and work out the doses himself.’