mirror of
git://git.9front.org/plan9front/plan9front
synced 2025-01-12 11:10:06 +00:00
124 lines
4.1 KiB
Text
124 lines
4.1 KiB
Text
.LP
|
|
.ce
|
|
.ps 16
|
|
.CW
|
|
DISSIPATION
|
|
.R
|
|
|
|
.ps 8
|
|
.CW
|
|
tags: 1963, plinth_mold, saito
|
|
.R
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
Click, click, click. Twelve cubes of light, each flipping past the
|
|
other, rotating into the slot left vacant by its predecessor. The
|
|
purpose of this orchestration is to massage the cortex with
|
|
electromagnetic oscillations in the frequency range of 8\-12Hz.
|
|
Patients appear to derive the most benefit, Saito has noted, from
|
|
working through the entire routine, pausing rhythmically at the
|
|
completion of each sequence to allow the electronics to catch up with
|
|
the procession of their focus.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
But what are the effects, he wonders, if the patient identifies his
|
|
therapeutic parlor trick and susses out the mechanism? What happens
|
|
when the patient's conscious mind tracks the incoming data with
|
|
greater precision than the machinery? Click, click, click. Saito leans
|
|
forward. Perhaps this particular arrangement of cubes is novel. He
|
|
presses a button, freezing the arrangement in memory. To be studied
|
|
later.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
He is pleased that the treatment has proven efficacious. For the
|
|
vast majority of his patients, anyway. Ironic, then, that he should
|
|
feel so powerless to alter the degree and substance of his own
|
|
compulsive addictions. Contemplating this, Saito produces a pocket
|
|
lighter from his coat and sears the flesh of his right hand. He
|
|
stifles a primal yelp, burying his shame in his handkerchief (not only
|
|
the shame, but the evidence\(emself\-immolation is an offense not only
|
|
against the state, but against Saito's ancestors, for historical
|
|
reasons peculiar to his family). He then re\-calibrates his equipment
|
|
for the next patient.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
The work he is carrying out could revolutionize treatment of
|
|
numerous conditions, given the eventual push into mass production. For
|
|
uncounted moments Saito shifts out of time, is aloft, floating on the
|
|
awareness of what he is so very close to achieving. He finds the
|
|
sensation is fleeting.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
Saito adjusts his
|
|
.I
|
|
coiffure
|
|
.R
|
|
and smooths down the front of his white
|
|
coat, feeling his sweat cool against the skin of his wrists. If anyone
|
|
has seen him burning himself, it could result in the loss of his job.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
But of what use is a job, at this point in his life? They've made
|
|
his impossible.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
He has been forced to accept a number of compromises that limit the
|
|
efficacy of his design. He doubts that the latest cubes, in their
|
|
present form, will do much more than narcotize. Hypnotize. Amounting
|
|
to nothing more than an entertainment. Saito ruminates on the shambles
|
|
of his career before taking the lighter back out of his pocket and
|
|
burning several additional black marks into the flesh of his hand. He
|
|
tries to ignite his skin completely, but succeeds only in singeing the
|
|
sleeve of his coat. With the smoke, he imagines his
|
|
.I
|
|
kami
|
|
.R
|
|
slinking up
|
|
to the ceiling, dispersing across its surface, crawling in several
|
|
directions at once towards the duct work and vents.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
A knock\(eman abrupt punctuation to his thoughts\(emand the door
|
|
swings open, pulling his
|
|
.I
|
|
kami
|
|
.R
|
|
back down to the floor. So, they had
|
|
seen him after all. He knows now that the charade is concluded. His
|
|
work is finished.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
As a result of his actions his patients will suffer. But then,
|
|
patients are always suffering.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
With his expulsion, Saito's role in the project will be expunged.
|
|
Because his research is considered a state secret, there will be no
|
|
one to complain on his behalf. His data will be reclaimed and filtered
|
|
for an executive summary. And then, he suspects, quietly abandoned, as
|
|
it is clear that the process of weaponization would exceed the
|
|
available funding. This, at least, is some small cause for relief.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
Still, he feels as if his
|
|
.I
|
|
kami
|
|
.R
|
|
has dissipated. There is nothing
|
|
left for them to kill.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
This thought compels him to emit a tiny laugh. The thought dies,
|
|
strangled stillborn in his throat.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
Saito flinches as the door swings inward.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
Into the room bounds Plinth Mold, flanked by two of his most
|
|
trusted attorneys.
|
|
.PP
|
|
.ps 10
|
|
"Relax, Saito," says Plinth. "Let's talk patents. I'm interested in
|
|
what you've been working on up here, all these years."
|