The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,91

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