The Persona Protocol

24


No History


Albion shifted uncomfortably under Bianca’s stony stare. ‘I don’t suppose playing the helpless invalid card would get me any sympathy?’

‘Not really,’ she said.

‘I thought not. Still, it was worth a try.’

A lengthy silence. ‘Well?’ Bianca prompted.

‘Well what?’

‘Are you going to tell me what happened to Adam before he joined the Persona Project, and why you and Kiddrick wiped his memory and brainwashed him into not thinking about it?’

‘Oh, that.’

Another long pause. ‘Roger,’ Bianca finally said, exasperated, ‘I told Adam yesterday that if you didn’t tell me what I wanted to know, I was going to poke your bullet hole until you started talking. I was joking then, but now I’m starting to consider it.’

‘Look, what can I say?’ Albion protested. ‘That whole part of the project is classified as need-to-know, and you don’t need to know.’

‘I disagree. I’m standing in for you—’

‘Temporarily.’

‘So what? You might think that I’m only here to keep your seat warm, but there are real people involved, real lives at stake. Whatever it was you and Kiddrick did to Adam, it’s seriously affected his mental state. You must realise that.’

‘Of course I realise that,’ he snapped. ‘I’m not blind – and I’m not devoid of empathy, either. But those were the orders we were given, so we carried them out.’

‘So you were ordered to erase his memory?’

‘It’s hardly something we’d do for shits and giggles.’

The mere fact that he had sworn in front of her told Bianca that he was becoming stressed by her questions. She felt a stab of sympathy for the old man, trapped in his hospital bed, but knew she had to get closer to the truth. ‘Who ordered it? Harper?’

He regarded her with suspicion. ‘You seem to know so much already, I don’t know why you’re bothering to ask me. Yes, Harper.’

‘You told me that Adam came from some special forces unit. But what was he like? As a person, I mean.’

Albion was reluctant to reply. ‘He was . . .’ he finally said, ‘how best to put it? Damaged.’

‘In what way?’

‘Angry, disturbed. Very guilty.’

‘Guilty?’ The word came as a shock. ‘About what?’

‘I don’t know. And I was specifically told not to ask. My diagnosis would be some kind of recent emotional trauma. But as for the cause, I have no idea.’

‘So what you did to him was to erase this trauma?’

‘Partly, yes. Although the main reason was to test the theory that the problems Tony had – I assume you know the basics?’ She nodded. ‘That Tony’s problems were caused because the imprinted personas were clashing, for want of a better word, with his own memories. I created a modified version of Mnemexal to block specific protein kinases during the act of recall, effectively suppressing Adam’s memories. Do that, and the imprinting process should work without the same risk of side effects.’

‘But you weren’t just suppressing the memories,’ she said, appalled. ‘You were wiping them! Do you even know if it’s possible to recover them?’

‘Adam didn’t want to recover them,’ said Albion. ‘He volunteered for this, remember? Whatever happened to him, whatever it was he experienced, he wanted all memory of it gone.’

‘And you went ahead and did it? Rather than try to help him deal with his problems, you just deleted them? Jesus, Roger! How can you possibly think that’s in any way ethical?’

‘Don’t you preach to me about ethics, Miss Childs!’ he fired back, his heart monitor warbling in early warning. ‘The world I’m working in – that we’re both now working in – puts ethics way down the ladder. This is about national security. It’s about results. Whether something is ethical or not is a very low consideration.’

Bianca shook her head. ‘What the hell happened to you? You never used to be like this.’

‘It’s called going through the looking glass. Only you find that what’s on the other side is actually the real world. And it’s not pleasant.’

She stared at him, disgust giving way to another emotion – a deep disappointment in her former mentor. ‘I don’t want to end up like that, Roger,’ she eventually said. ‘And I think I should get out before I do.’

For a moment he looked angry . . . then his expression sank into a resigned sadness. ‘No, you’re right,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry I got you involved. This is a very cynical little universe I’ve found myself in, and I’m afraid it’s infected me. No reason you should catch anything too.’

‘It’s a bit late for that.’

A melancholy smile. ‘There’s still time to find a cure. Yes, you should go back to England. After all, you’ve got a very rewarding future waiting there.’

Grim pragmatism stepped on her idealistic outburst. ‘It won’t be if I don’t stay here until you’re back on your feet.’

‘What do you mean?’ he asked, puzzled.

She told him about Harper’s blackmail. ‘That son of a bitch!’ he erupted when she finished, setting the heart monitor trilling again. ‘I can’t believe he’d . . . no, actually I can,’ he decided. ‘He’s one of the most unpleasant men I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet.’

‘No arguments there,’ said Bianca wholeheartedly.

‘That’s a new level of pointless malevolence, though. Especially when you’d already agreed to help.’

‘His justification was something like “when you’ve got no choice, you have to give the other person even less”.’

‘Yes, that sounds like him,’ he said, with a short, sarcastic laugh. ‘Oh, Bianca, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have dragged you into this.’

‘No, you shouldn’t,’ she replied, but lightly. ‘Although there’s another reason to stay other than just being forced to by a loathsome old man.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yeah. Adam.’

‘You want to help him?’ She nodded, and Albion smiled. ‘You know, there’s still hope for the world yet. As long as there are people like you in it, rather than everyone being like Harper.’

‘Thanks. Although sometimes I feel extremely outnumbered.’

‘One good deed can outweigh fifty bad ones. So how do you want to help him?’

‘I’m not sure. But I’m sure the real Adam Gray is still in there somewhere, underneath this . . . this robot they want to turn him into. If I can help him find those memories . . .’

Albion appeared unsure. ‘Be careful, Bianca. I wasn’t kidding when I told you that Adam wanted to have his memory wiped. Getting them back might not be the best thing for him.’

‘But he lost all his memories,’ she countered. ‘That can’t possibly be what he thought he was signing up for. He doesn’t even remember his parents, for God’s sake. Was erasing everything a deliberate part of the process?’

‘I don’t know. I devised the drug, but I wasn’t involved with the actual procedure.’

‘Who was? Oh, let me guess,’ she said, before he could answer. ‘Kiddrick.’

‘Afraid so.’

She huffed. ‘That man is an absolute arse.’

Albion laughed. ‘Oh, you noticed?’ He became more serious. ‘That said, he might be an arse’ – he rolled his tongue around the British pronunciation – ‘but he’s not stupid. And he has connections. And he’s petty and vindictive. So, again, be careful.’

‘I’ll watch out for him. Anyway, I have to get over to STS.’

‘So where do we stand?’ Albion asked. ‘Are we still okay?’

‘We’re still okay,’ she replied.

Bianca was expecting a joke, but instead he said, ‘I’m glad. Thank you.’

She gave him a smile. ‘See you soon.’

From the frosty reception she received in the Bullpen, the staff of the Persona Project had obviously received the email Tony had mentioned the previous night, and figured out that she was part of the reason for it. ‘So,’ said Kyle loudly as she walked past his workstation, ‘anyone want to go bowling tonight? Oh, wait, we can’t. That’d breach protocol.’

Tony looked up from a discussion with Levon. ‘All right, knock it off. Bianca, hi. Glad you’re here.’

‘Hi. Where’s Adam?’

‘In the Cube.’

She started for the door, but Tony called her back. ‘Martin needs to see you.’

‘Right now?’

‘Yes.’

‘Let me see if I can guess why,’ she said with a sigh as she reversed course.

Morgan was in his office – along with Kiddrick, who had positioned himself next to his desk like some sort of twitchy henchman. ‘Good morning, Dr Childs,’ said Morgan. ‘Please, take a seat.’

She did so. Kiddrick remained standing. ‘You’re not going to sit down?’ she asked him. ‘Run out of Preparation H?’

The scientist bridled, but Morgan pre-emptively raised a hand to silence him. ‘Dr Childs, that’s enough. Now, we need to discuss last night’s . . . incident.’

‘You mean when two goons aggressively interrupted a perfectly innocent conversation?’

‘That’s hardly what happened,’ Kiddrick sniffed.

‘Oh, were you there? Funny, I didn’t see you.’ She turned back to Morgan. ‘Look, what happened was—’

‘Adam already gave me his account,’ he interrupted. ‘And Spence and Fallon gave theirs. I think the best way to deal with this is to say that both sides overreacted and escalated the situation unnecessarily, but since nobody was hurt beyond the odd bruise, the matter is now considered closed.’

She was taken aback, not expecting it to be concluded so quickly. ‘Okay . . .’

‘That’s far from the end of it, though,’ said Kiddrick, glaring down at her. ‘We’re going to—’

‘Dr Kiddrick,’ Morgan interrupted. Kiddrick reluctantly fell silent. ‘However, as a result of this incident, all members of the Persona Project have been given a reminder to adhere to the USIC black agency rules and regulations on social interactions, to the letter. Normally, this is an area where I personally would allow some leeway in the interests of team morale, but a directive has been issued by the Director of National Intelligence, and it will be followed. By all team members. Do I make myself clear?’

‘Perfectly,’ she said, not hiding her disapproval.

‘Since you didn’t go through the standard STS orientation and training, you’ve been sent a copy of the relevant regulations. I’d recommend that you read them. To avoid any future problems.’

‘I see. Is that all?’

Kiddrick was unable to stay quiet any longer. ‘No, it’s not all,’ he said, stepping forward. ‘As of now, you are not to talk to or communicate with Adam except for strictly work-related reasons.’ His head jerked forward with each emphasis, reminding her of a strutting chicken.

‘Well, excuse me,’ Bianca shot back, ‘but I think that Adam’s mental well-being is work-related.’

‘That’s not your concern!’

‘It should be everyone’s concern! Without Adam, you don’t even have a project.’

The tendons on Kiddrick’s scrawny neck stood out as his anger rose. ‘You’re only here to work out drug doses for the PERSONA subjects. That’s all! Adam’s well-being is my responsibility, not yours. If he has any problems, I can handle them.’

‘Like the great job you did for Tony?’

She knew the moment she said it that she had gone too far. Kiddrick looked to be on the verge of exploding with fury, but Morgan swiftly rose to his feet and slammed both palms flat on the desk. ‘All right, enough!’ he barked. ‘Both of you. Dr Childs, for now, keep any interactions with Adam to nothing more than what you need to do your job. Understood?’

Face tight, she stood, refusing to allow herself to be physically intimidated by Kiddrick. ‘I understand what you’ve said, yes. But I don’t understand the reasoning behind it.’

‘You don’t need to know,’ Kiddrick growled. ‘And just because you’re temporarily standing in for Roger, that doesn’t give you—’

Someone knocked on the door. Before Morgan had a chance to respond, it opened and Tony leaned through. ‘Sorry to interrupt,’ he said urgently, ‘but we’ve got something.’