“That’s convenient,” said Desh. “You’re a model citizen. It’s this procedure of yours that somehow brings out the psycho in you. Is that it?” he demanded, annoyed that he had let himself be taken in by her for even a moment.
“Look, David, I didn’t have to share this with you. But the only way you’ll ever trust me is if I tell you the absolute truth about everything. And no, I still didn’t do any of what Connelly says I did. These were thoughts only. I didn’t act on them,” she insisted. “They were simply strong predispositions, and they went away when my brain architecture returned to normal.”
“So tell me about this state of sociopathy,” said Desh.
Kira frowned. “Just so I’m clear,” she said, “sociopathy isn’t the exact right word for it either. Neither is ‘psychopath’ or ‘megalomaniac’, although they come almost as close. Basically, it’s pure selfishness with a complete and utter lack of conscience. Whatever you choose to call it. A ruthless selfishness, so to speak.”
“As opposed to what?”
“As opposed to this same condition with a sadistic element attached.”
Desh considered. “I see,” he said. “So you don’t get your jollies by torturing others, but if you had to do so to achieve an end it wouldn’t trouble you in the slightest. Is that about right?”
Kira nodded reluctantly.
“That’s comforting,” said Desh with a look of disgust. He paused in thought. “This something-like-sociopathy of yours seems like an unlikely side effect of your treatment,” he said suspiciously.
Kira frowned. “I thought so too before the experiments. Now I realize it’s more of a natural outgrowth of enhanced intelligence than a side effect of the re-wiring.”
“How so?”
“The concepts are quite complicated. To be honest, when my intelligence is at normal levels, they’re beyond me. But I’ll do my best to give you the gist of it.” She gathered her thoughts and exhaled loudly. “Let me start at the very beginning. When our ancient relatives first arrived on the scene, they weren’t the king of the hill. Far from it. They barely managed to stay on the hill. Pre-humans were just one of thousands and thousands of species battling for a tiny niche on a planet teeming with life. If you were a betting man, we were a million-to-one underdog to survive, let alone climb to the top of the food chain. No armor. No speed. No physical weapons.”
“But then intelligence came along,” said Desh.
“That’s right. The polar bear could survive just fine without it. But we desperately needed it. Intelligence was the only way out for our ancestors, and they achieved it just in time.” She paused and eyed Desh meaningfully. “And intelligence in survival terms means cunning, utter ruthlessness, and utter selfishness.” She raised her eyebrows. “What you might consider sociopathic behavior in its primal form.”
Desh reflected on what he had seen of the underbelly of human behavior during his time with Delta Force. He had seen things that would make a veteran pathologist vomit. Decapitations and other unspeakable tortures—displays of cruelty that defied the imagination. Without question, violence and brutality—and bloodlust—were intrinsic to human nature. Scratch any century throughout recorded history and staggering displays of cruelty came gushing out: the slaughter of helpless innocents on a massive scale, brutal wars, enslavements, tortures, mass rapes and murders, and other atrocities far too numerous to ignore. Hitler was just one example in a seemingly endless parade. Humanity could wrap itself in the cloak of civilization and pretend this side of its nature didn’t exist, but the hostility and savagery that drove the most dangerous predator on the planet to the top of the food chain was always seething, just below the surface.
“To survive,” continued Kira, “Homo sapiens evolved intelligence, and a ruthlessness and selfishness hardwired into our genes. That’s one side of the equation.” She paused. “But a cunning and ruthless intelligence alone wasn’t enough. Along with intelligence we had to use teamwork to bring down the mastodon. And our brains were so complex they still needed to develop long after birth. Human infants were helpless for far longer than any other animal on Earth. So our selfishness had to be tempered. We had to evolve some sense of teamwork and fair play. We had to sacrifice for our children and put the clan’s survival above our own.”
Desh was totally drawn into the conversation intellectually now, temporarily forgetting to remain suspicious of Kira’s every word and action.
“So those who were only selfish,” she continued, “died out in the long run. Those who were wired to be totally ruthless, but could also cooperate and work in a pack, survived to have offspring. To this day, a delicate balance of pure selfishness in some respects and pure selflessness in others is hardwired into our genes. For the sake of discussion, let’s use extremes. Call this selfishness sociopathy. Call this selflessness altruism.”