by LEMPEREUR
Jacques answered for him, “My brother is a dyed-in-the-wool puritan. He spends a lot of his time trying to talk sense into me and, if possible, to make me feel guilty.”
“I’ll let that slide,” said Charlie with a smile. “Actually, what Jacques says is true. I’m not usually a smoker, but on occasion I do appreciate a fine cigar, especially when the circumstances lend themselves to it, as they do today.”
Mario laughed heartily at the well-defined roles the brothers assumed, forever united in spite of themselves, by an unbreakable bond. In some ways they were like an old couple who had learned to grow together without forgoing any of their original differences. They were all savoring the moment and the little garden was plunged into almost complete silence for a few moments. Plumes of smoke rose slowly from the gondola then dispersed into the gleaming heights of the dome.
Mario spoke again, in a more serious tone, “You know, it may be your difference that saves you one day.” Then he fell silent, leaving the twins to wonder about the true meaning and relevance of his comment.
9 EXPLANATIONS
Giuseppe stood before his audience. Despite his long years in a strictly scientific world, he had never been able to resist enriching his speeches with expressive gestures – no doubt reminiscent of his national origins.
“First of all, you must know that Victor’s state is close to that of hibernation, although it has lasted for centuries, perhaps even millennia, according to our estimation. In fact, we do not know for precisely how long he has been in this state. His sleep is therefore extremely deep and very old. His muscle tone is practically zero. In spite of this, we have been able to establish with certainty that Victor dreams. Of course, we are not able to discern the nature of his dreams, but it seems that some of them resemble what we know as nightmares. Several times, his eye movement has sped up markedly and his brain activity has shown significant acceleration. We even thought he might wake up suddenly, as is the case for humans when the emotions caused by a dream become unbearable.”
“But that has never happened?” asked Charlie.
“No. As you can see, Victor is still asleep and the mystery remains intact.”
“You said he had recently shown signs of waking up, following the explosion we were involved in. Isn’t it more likely to have been because of one of the nightmares you mentioned?”
“We thought so at first, but the signals recorded are of a different nature this time. In particular, this activity has not been accompanied by the previously observed eye movement and it continues today, whereas after the nightmare phases his brain activity quickly decreased again. This is why we think that Victor has detected something from an external source, like some sort of signal which may have begun a slow awakening process.”
Jacques spoke up, “Am I to understand that you think this monster could wake up any minute? In that case, why do you need us?”
“That’s not exactly it,” answered Francisco. “Victor is certainly no monster. He is a being of unknown origin who, according to all probability, must be of superior intelligence. The problem is that if my reasoning is correct, the waking phase could well be very long. We need you here to get to know him and possibly accelerate the process that has begun.”
“As Francisco says, the waking phase will probably be very long. It may possibly last several years or even decades – assuming it even eventuates. We can be sure of nothing. For the time being, it is only a hypothesis. We cannot afford to just wait, especially as it would be preferable to have obtained more information before it happens, because afterwards we don’t know what, or rather who, to expect. Whatever happens, it would be a lot more difficult to study Victor’s psychological functions at that point. Don’t forget that we are talking about a being that is possibly of intelligence far superior to ours. In that case and taking his size into account, it is better for us to be ready to enter into communication with him when the time comes. Or else the consequences could be disastrous.”
Francisco saw fit to complete Giuseppe’s explanations. “If it is correct that Victor received a signal from an external source, we don’t know who sent it or for what purpose.”
“That is also one of our concerns, indeed. Suppose the signal was sent by other N.H.I’s, what will happen when he wakes up?”
Mario, obviously bothered by the undeniable assertions of his colleagues, decided to intervene. “Francisco, you can’t be so certain. All this amounts to nothing more than theory based on very little concrete proof.”
Francisco, who was fidgeting more and more nervously on his chair, held his head in his hands. He answered Mario, much like a child submitting to parental authority. “That’s true. You’re right, Mario. I’m sorry.”
Giuseppe quickly came to his rescue. “You needn’t be sorry, Francisco! Even if Mario is right to play down conclusions which may seem a little hasty, he must also recognize that your intuition has almost always proved correct until now. And also, we need a basic hypothesis to work from – flawed though it may be – if we are to make headway without being overtaken by the circumstances.”
“Okay! Let’s get to the facts,” said Jacques impatiently. “We have agreed to help you, even though, personally, I don’t know what miracle we can possibly work. How are you planning on making contact with him?”
“Very well, I’ll try to be brief. Firstly, I must confess that you will not be the first to try this experiment. Others have already attempted to delve into Victor’s mind, but unfortunately, they did not succeed. We do not know exactly what caused these failures but several theories have been proposed. We will come back to that later, once I have explained in more detail the main points of the experiment…
As Giuseppe continued his talk, Jacques spoke internally to his brother, “What happened to the poor bastards who failed the test?”
Charlie answered him in a whisper, all the while pretending to listen attentively to the old man’s words. His voice was barely audible.
“Let him finish. He would tell us if it was really dangerous. We’ll sort that out later.”
Jacques remained silent but his face had clouded. His confidence in Giuseppe had just been severely shaken, although he could not say exactly why. It was just an uneasy feeling that had not left him and was now impossible to ignore. He could have simply asked a direct question, but lacked the nerve. Maybe he was reluctant to seem like a coward again. Giuseppe demanded their attention again, which focused Jacques’ thoughts on what was being said, rather than on his impressions.
“I guess you have already heard talk of stem-cell research and the extraordinary possibilities it is opening up in the medical world?”
Like a good student, Charlie did his best to answer Giuseppe’s question. His scientific knowledge did not stretch very far, but he happened to remember some information on the topic.
“I heard something about it during the debate over whether research on that type of cell should be allowed or not. If I’m not mistaken, I think they were hoping in the near future to be able to recreate vital organs like the heart or the kidneys from those cells.”
“I have been working on this type of cell for many years now, but the standards imposed by the Committee on Bio-ethics impeded a great deal of large-scale work which would have allowed us to progress more rapidly. It was especially the harvesting of stem cells which posed difficulties, because they are mainly embryonic. To cut a long story short, the benefit of using such cells lies in the fact that they are not yet differentiated and therefore make it possible to progressively form all the other cells of the organism. To be able to do this, we must master every stage of cellular differentiation. So these cells have opened up a new approach to living matter and to medicine in general thanks to what is now known as cellular therapy. Several years ago, the first encouraging results were recorded, but we gradually met more and more obstacles, arising from a developing legal framework and increasing pressure from religious groups. Thankfully, in 2007 the Japanese scientist, Shinya
Yamanaka, developed technology enabling us to make any differentiated adult stem cells revert, and genetically reprogram them to create pluripotential stem cells, called “I.P.S. Cells”. In other words, today it is possible to harvest differentiated cells from any living being and make them revert to the state of an undifferentiated stem cell. Are you following me?”
“Er, yes. I think so,” replied Charlie rather unconvincingly.
Jacques decided to speak up, which took considerable courage. “If I may, haven’t these techniques also been criticized because they have opened the door to human cloning and a biomedical revolution with as yet unknown consequences? I’m mainly thinking of the ever-present fantasy of transhumanism and the potential for abuse in the bio-cybernetic world. In other words, to use your expression, we may be approaching the end of humanity as we know it today. Perhaps even its end pure and simple if our technology overtakes us and we create independent intelligent beings.”
A brief silence came over the group. Both Charlie and Clementine were stunned by the pertinence and vehemence of Jacques’ words. Giuseppe was equally surprised. Jacques actually seemed to know a lot more than he let on, and was obviously passionate about the subject.
“I can see this subject interests you, Jacques!”
Jacques, rather proud of himself, replied in a calmer tone, “Oh, well I’m really just a big fan of science-fiction. It’s a very instructive genre that raises questions about humanity and where it’s going – despite what the purists say, like my own brother, who will only read Literature with a capital L.”
“Well then, my dear Jacques, you will soon realize that here, reality has surpassed fiction. For ten years, our team has been working on neural stem-cell differentiation, particularly in the hippocampus region of the brain. Just like embryonic stem-cells, these cells are pluripotential, except that their differentiation potential is limited to neural cell types such as neurons and the other cells that make up the human brain. This technology has raised very high hopes. Very soon it should allow us to treat numerous degenerative brain diseases linked among other things to the ageing population. As you can see, our research is not only a source of doom and gloom. It is also the source of considerable progress in the treatment of major human illnesses. It is also the promise of increased longevity and moving toward the preservation of humanity. What’s more, I would remind you that this is the primary mission of the Mataiva base. Apart from the medical applications which I have just mentioned, we have a parallel research program which aims to recreate, from I.P.S.’s and neural stem-cells, what could be called a cerebral pathway. To be precise, it is more like a neural probe, capable of establishing a neuronal connection between two distinct brains. To visualize this more easily, it can be compared to a cable linking two computers. Such a cable allows the passage of selected information from one computer to the other, but each computer conserves its own functions and not of all the information is transferred or even transferable. Some, however, can sometimes pass from one system to the other unintentionally, which makes the task more complicated.
Jacques decided to interrupt Giuseppe.
“Is that what happened with the previous experiments?”
“That did occur, indeed, but many of the technical problems encountered during our previous attempts to connect with Victor’s brain have been resolved since then.”
Now Charlie, who had just understood the implications of what Giuseppe was saying, spoke up.
“You mean you’re going to plug your neural probe into us, and biologically connect us to Victor. Is that it?”
“Only you, Charlie,” answered Francisco.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I need to clarify a few points with you first. As it happens, delving into Victor’s mind is no simple matter, despite the very advanced technology we are utilizing. We think that one of the main reasons the past attempts failed lies in the fact that the volunteers involved in the experiment were not capable of coping with the huge influx of information. It seems that they lost their free will to the extent that they could no longer distinguish reality from what was similar to a waking dream, largely made up of material from their own minds…”
On hearing these words, the anxiety which had been slowly mounting in Charlie suddenly reached a whole new level. He felt as if he were suffocating. His palpitations became tangible until they reverberated in his head. He was breathing faster and faster, and soon a sensation of freezing cold overwhelmed him. Large drops of sweat trickled slowly down his pallid face.
Jacques noticed his distress and spoke internally to him, “Now you’re beginning to understand my doubts. It’s not a game anymore, where your waffling and your literary capers can pull you through. The guys who tried this before us certainly didn’t come out of it unscathed. It’s not too late to say no, you know!”
Clementine watched Charlie for a few moments. She had noticed that something was wrong too, but she didn’t move.
“Is everything okay, Charlie?” asked Giuseppe.
Charlie tried to pull himself together. He held his breath for a few seconds then cleared his throat rather noticeably before answering in a slightly husky voice.
“Yes, fine. Just a little hot flush. I get them from time to time.”
“Well, it’s midday, anyway. I suggest we take a short lunch break. We’ll continue our conversation at one o’clock, if that’s okay with you. Unfortunately, I have some things to see to, but Mario will go to the canteen with you.”
Giuseppe found himself alone with Francisco.
“Are you sure about this, Francisco? Charlie seems mentally fragile. What will happen if he panics during the connection?”
Francisco’s eyes met Giuseppe’s, furtively then he answered quite confidently, “That’s a risk which I have just calculated, but it will not last indefinitely. He should gain control of himself after a few minutes. If the worst comes to the worst we could always tranquilize him. Anyway, we don’t have any choice. An opportunity like this will never come up again.”
10 INTERLUDE
Clementine was having difficulty swallowing the cold macédoine salad that the canteen cook had carefully coated in a grayish mayonnaise with dubiously identifiable seasonings. A second plate sitting on her tray contained a slab of freeze-dried turkey, still steaming. It was served with mashed potatoes, supposedly “home-made”, whose color and consistency made her think of a tomato coulis that has lost the vibrant red that once made it appetizing. The canteen held the promise of a new feast, each day that the friends were to spend on the base. The grotesqueness of such cuisine, especially after the repast they had enjoyed the day before, at least helped to relax the atmosphere.
With a laugh, Jacques said to Mario, who had only taken the salad, “Aren’t you hungry, Mario?”
“Oh, well, it’s not that I’m fussy, but I prefer to savor the gastronomic memories of yesterday. Besides, the shock would be difficult for my digestion to cope with. It’s better to make the transition gradually.”
The wise words of Mario immediately set the others laughing, which was a welcome relief from the ambient tension.
Even Charlie had his color back and laughed as he happily quipped, “Thankfully, we’re on a base full of scientists, so each dish is carefully labeled, or else we might have trouble identifying them!”
And Jacques added, with a grin that he could not suppress, “What about the cook – do you think he’s from Naples too?”
Everyone laughed heartily, even Clementine, who finally gave up on trying to finish her salad. But Jacques went too far. Trying to unite everyone around a childhood memory bathed in nostalgia, he made an unhappy allusion.
“I bet they also serve stewed sheep’s brains, just like Mama used to make, ‘because they make you smarter’!” Charlie was no longer in a jovial mood. His face became grave again as he questioned Mario, “Why did Francisco say that I would be the only one to be connected to Victor? Do you know?”
Mario, though rather ill-at-ease
, decided to answer anyway.
“I should really let Giuseppe explain this to you, but since you’ve asked me, I’ll do it.”
Jacques was really starting to appreciate Mario.
“Giuseppe hasn’t told you yet that the main reason for the earlier failures stems from the fact that the volunteers were not able to free themselves from Victor’s hold. As I hinted last night, your physical and psychological duality will be your advantage in this experience. By connecting only your brain, Charlie, we will be able to leave Jacques’ brain free, which will ensure a grasp on reality. This grasp on reality is only possible because Jacques is able, for some inexplicable reason, to communicate with you through something approaching telepathy. Therefore, even though there is no neuronal link between your two brains, communication is possible.”
“Is that what will stop Victor from taking control of my own mind?” asked Jacques.
“Yes, exactly. Each of you will have a crucial role to play in the experiment, which is interesting because your different temperaments seem particularly well suited to this configuration. I don’t think I’m mistaken in saying that you, Jacques, are probably the more pragmatic and logical of the pair. Charlie tends to daydream more and be more in touch with his own feelings. These specificities are indispensible for neural connection because the volunteers must let themselves go completely, without any resistance. Unfortunately, until now, no one has been there to bring them back to reality.”
Jacques finally found the opportunity to ask the question that had been bothering him throughout Giuseppe’s speech.
“What happened to them?”
“I don’t know a lot, but Giuseppe told me that they recovered after periods of coma of varying length.”
“Well, that sounds like fun!” remarked Jacques, looking at Charlie.
“That is unlikely to happen to you. Your situation is completely different and you’re certainly not here by chance.”