The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,35
but until then they’re kept in the cloud, you might say. One of Roger’s drugs, Neutharsine, modifies the recall process – basically tricking the brain into accepting the imprinted memories as its own. But the effect wears off quickly.’
‘How quickly?’
‘The longest we’ve ever seen an imprinted persona last is just over twenty-four hours. And sleep seems to act as a natural reset button before then. Once the agent goes to sleep, everything that’s been imprinted is washed away.’
The list of answers Bianca wanted – factual as well as ethical – kept growing. ‘You said that’s one of Roger’s drugs. What do the others do?’
‘The primary one, Hyperthymexine, is used on the subject. It’s a recall enhancer, putting the protein synthesis process into overdrive. A brainstorm, we call it; the subject remembers everything they’ve ever experienced, all at once. The electrical signals this produces are picked up by the PERSONA device and transmitted via the electrode net to our agent.’
‘That sounds incredibly dangerous. Wouldn’t triggering that much synaptic activity at once carry risks? Overheating and tissue damage, or blood pressure issues, potential haemorrhage—’
‘Nothing so far that we’ve seen,’ Kiddrick interrupted.
‘And what about mental side effects? It sounds like you’ve got the perfect recipe for a psychotic break.’
The scientist was growing increasingly irritated at being challenged. ‘Obviously we’ve thought of that,’ he snapped. ‘We use another drug called Mnemexal, a variant of the protein inhibitor we use to prepare the agent for the process, to completely erase the subject’s short-term memory. It’s no different from dentists using midazolam to repress a patient’s memory of a procedure,’ he added, seeing that Bianca was about to raise another objection. ‘If they can’t remember the pain, then effectively it never happened.’
‘That’s one interpretation,’ she said, voice cutting.
‘It’s an interpretation that fits the facts. The point is, PERSONA works. We can put one person’s memories – more than that, their entire personality – into the mind of another. Our agent can literally become anyone, know everything they know, use every skill they possess.’
‘Reveal all of their secrets,’ Tony added. ‘That’s what the Persona Project is ultimately about. It’s an intelligence-gathering tool that we can use to protect the lives of American citizens – that we are using. The mission Roger was on when he was shot gave us inside information on al-Qaeda that would have been impossible to obtain by any other means.’
The truth was dawning for Bianca, and she didn’t like it. ‘When you say “subjects”, I take it they’re not exactly volunteers.’
‘You heard what the Admiral said,’ Morgan replied. ‘We will use whatever means necessary to protect this country and its allies.’
‘And it’s not as if we’re torturing them,’ said Kiddrick, his tone almost mocking. ‘Would you prefer that? Once we’ve transferred their persona into our agent, we wipe their short-term memory and put them back where we found them. They don’t even know anything’s happened to them.’
Bianca matched his derision. ‘Until you send a drone to blow up their house.’
‘But this way, we know for certain that we’ve got the right house,’ countered Morgan. ‘There’s no guesswork, no interpretation of scraps of information from multiple sources. What we have is direct from the source, and one hundred per cent accurate.’
‘As accurate as human memory gets, you mean. And you’d be surprised just how shaky that can be.’ She remembered another question of her own. ‘This agent you keep talking about – I take it he’s the one with the implanted electrodes.’
‘He is.’ Morgan stood. ‘And now, you’re going to meet him.’
11
Who Is Adam Gray?
Despite still being livid about her treatment by Harper, and appalled by Kiddrick’s ethics, Bianca couldn’t help but be impressed by the large room to which Morgan took her. Now this was worthy of Bond or Bauer! The moodily lit chamber brought to mind NASA’s mission control, banks of workstations facing a wall of large screens.
However, there were currently no missions to control. Most of the displays were either blank or displaying the STS logo on a screensaver background. There were enough workstations to accommodate thirty or forty people, with space for more towards the rear of the room, but only about half were currently active. Whatever work was going on appeared to be bureaucratic or system maintenance rather than high-pressure espionage.
‘This is the Bullpen,’ Morgan announced. ‘Its official name is the Project Operational Command and Control Centre, but nobody much likes the acronym.’