Ch. 29 - What We Do Is Wrong

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Paul and Patryck were sitting at the Base bar, sipping coffee together in anticipation of the long night ahead.

The café was discreetly crowded, all people wearing masks, including doctors and privates. They were chatting with each other, in pairs or triplets. There was a quiet air of carefreeness and laughter.

Patryck placed the empty cup on the counter and sighed.

''Look Paul... can I be completely honest with you?''

''Sure my little fretka, go ahead'' said the mechanic with a smile.

''I... I'm not convinced about this whole thing, Paul. Something smells fishy to me.''

''What do you mean?''

The bartender gently took the boys' two cups and, with a digital smile, took them away to wash.

''I... understand that Edd is a great rival of ours and has caused problems in the Leader's life but ... are we sure that all this is ... necessary?''

''The Laboratory thing you mean?''

''Yeah, but other than that, I mean all this.
I'm confused.
What was the need to treat him well, to build him a whole room especially, to wash and care for him if he was going to attach him to that strange machine in the lab anyway?''

Paul looked around, then pulled his chair closer to his companion's so he could speak more quietly.

''Look ... I was talking to Tom yesterday about this very thing, and he told me that the procedure plan on Edd is top secret, and for our own safety we have no right to know anything about it... only the Leader, Tom and the A.I. know about it.''

Paul smiled and continued.

''...But you know me well, you know how curious I am. So I infiltrated the Security room, where Tom keeps these documents, and gave them a brief reading.
Unfortunately, I only read part of it, someone was coming and I had to run."

Pat's little eyes sparkled with curiosity.

''I'll tell you what I found out:

Apparently, treating Edd well and getting him to trust was a procedure designed specifically to lower his fear levels.

The whole paper talks a lot about this concept of ''chemical values of emotions''.

There's a long study that was done some time ago, I didn't understand much about it, the documents are written in terms I don't know very well, I'm a mechanic, not a computer scientist.''

''Computer scientist?''

''Yes... apparently these studies on the chemical values of emotions like fear and anger were carried out by the A.I, the papers are mostly mathematical data and code results that I can't understand, like some combination between Fear, Anger and Pain values''

Pat crossed his arms, offended.

''Tord could have asked us to do the study. I have a team of psychologists among my doctors, there was no need to give the damn computer another task of our.''

''Pat, as I told you, it's a top secret plan that the Leader didn't want to share with us, he couldn't ask you... and besides we've already talked about it, you know very well that A.I. is clearly faster in research.
Maybe the Leader needed to have the data right away...''

Pat huffed.

''I get it I get it, however, he could have made us participants as well....
I don't understand why he had to cut us out, we are his most trusted friends after all.''

''You know how Tord is, he looks to the greater good, I'm sure there are motivations, have faith in him.

Anyway, I was saying:

The goal was to get Edd to tell him the location of the Core, and the first phase of the plan involved gaining his trust through social interactions, general questions, false interest and... trusted friendly figures.''

''...like Tom? So he was part of the plan?''

''Apparently.
It didn't work though, Edd didn't open his mouth, so they tried drugging him and subjecting him to hypnosis.''

''Oh boy, isn't that a little... extreme?''

''The worst comes now ... because if the first phase had failed, they would have moved on to the second phase, the one underway right now.

Unfortunately, the documents pertaining to the second phase are even more technical, pages full of codes, I understood almost nothing about them, and I had little time to try to read them.

I think it is because this part of the plan is still in progress, maybe Tom is in charge of translating everything into more ''human'' terms once the phase is over. I don't know.''

''Yes, Tom is very good with codes and that sort of thing''

said Pat, who was playing at sorting sugar packets by color.

''The only info I was able to translate was about studies done years and years ago on Edd.
Do you remember that strange period during which the Leader had asked us to monitor everything his ex friends did? Right after The End?''

''Yes I remember it well, he had really gone off the deep end.
We had cameras everywhere around London.
Every day we would record hours and hours of footage of them, and at night Tord would be watching and rewatching them.
Creepy. I couldn't tell if I was frightened by his behavior or if I felt sorry for him."

''Yeah... it was a bad time.
Anyway, do you remember the day Edd got those strange powers? ... well.

In the documents they are mentioned.
I didn't understand much, it's full of mathematical and physical formulas that I don't understand. Maybe you would understand more about it.

I only understood that strong emotions and the chemical changes they generate in the body are interpellated.

It is as if the Leader is looking for a source of energy that can replace the missing part of the Core.
Perhaps, during these searches, he found similar energies in the powers Edd had...''

Pat made an astonished face.

''But ... I remember that it's been so many years since Edd had those powers, I had been asked to conduct checks every year and monitor him in case the powers were still there. But he hasn't used them for an eternity, the case had been closed with the conclusion that he had lost them.''

Paul looked at the table.

''Maybe the study done by the A.I. found a way to bring them back.
I was the one who built the machine in the lab to which they connected Edd.
It's a kind of... energy converter.''

''Converter? They want to use Edd as a human battery? But isn't that cruel and inhumane??''

''Yes... I think so, too.
I have the feeling Tord is getting out of line again... we should talk to him privately and-''

Paul interrupted himself.

Pat, turning around, almost jumped in fright.

The bartender had appeared behind them, smiling as if by default.

Holding a rag in his hand, he evidently wanted to finish cleaning that part of the bar where the two boys stood.

''Would you like anything else, Private Paul and Private Patryck?''

The Make-waiter asked in a gentle, kind robotic voice.

''No no, we are fine, thank you very much!''

As soon as the Mak-waiter moved away, Paul looked at Pat.

''Maybe we'd better move and talk about this elsewhere...''

''Yes, good idea.''

So the two walked away.

As soon as the two were out of the bar, the buzz of chatter dropped into a deep silence.

The bar remained dirty, no one had bothered to clean it.

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