Psychic Warrior (8 page)

"What happened to this ability?" Captain Anderson asked.

"It's still there in some people but regressed," Hammond said. "Once we developed a verbal language, it wasn't as important. The person who saw the tiger could yell ‘Tiger!' which was just as quick and more effective in that it specifically identified the threat. Since this was a better mode of communication, evolution took over and the verbal mode of communication became dominant.

"So as humans used the verbal language more and more, the telepathic capability waned and became residual. It's not entirely gone. All of you have had moments when you sensed things despite the fact that there were no specific normal sensory inputs that gave you that information. A sixth sense."

Hammond stood up. "Especially you men. Each of you has an even stronger residual mental capability than the norm. Significantly stronger. That's why you were chosen for Trojan Warrior three years ago.

"First, each of you is left-handed or ambidextrous. The brain consists of two hemispheres." Hammond pointed at her neck "At the base of our brain, our nervous system does a switch. So the right side of your brain is responsible for the left side of your body and vice versa. Thus a left-handed person is right hemisphere dominant.

"Both sides of your brain are pretty much the same. That makes for redundancy. There have been clinical examples of people who have suffered tremendous damage to one hemisphere, or had extensive surgery, who were still able to rehabilitate to almost a normal level of functioning."

Dalton thought about Marie, lying in her hospital bed. Whatever damage the aneurysm had done, perhaps there was hope that she would recover. Hope. Dalton knew what a two-edged sword that was from bitter personal experience. He forced himself to accept reality: Even if by some miracle she did regain consciousness, the ALS would be that much worse, the disease still progressing even as she lay in the coma. And he knew Dr. Kairns had leveled with him: Marie was never going to wake up.

Hammond walked to the front of the room and pulled a chart down. It was a top view of a brain. She pointed to the right side. "But there’s something very interesting that doctors have always wondered about here. The speech center on the right side appears to not work. All our speech comes from the left side. But the same parts are present on the right. Why?" She didn't wait for an answer and tapped the chart. "This is where the residual telepathic ability resides. This is where we focus our efforts to get you into the virtual plane."

Hammond went back to the desk and picked up the TACPAD. "This machine amplifies the parts of your brain that can allow you to get to and operate on the virtual plane. We've used the TACPAD successfully for two years.

"What the TACPAD does in conjunction with the isolation chamber is the following-" She grabbed a marker and began writing on the board.

1 — Isolation Chamber

Emphasize Parasympathetic

Hammond pointed with the marker. "When the parasympathetic nervous system is operating, your body relaxes. Your pupils constrict, your heart rate slows, your digestive system practically shuts down, your muscles relax. You did some of this consciously in Trojan Warrior. The isolation chamber does this by lowering your body temperature to the point where your body is almost totally inactive."

She pointed at the wall plug. "Your brain operates on such a low voltage that its power is almost negligible. We can't exactly increase the voltage into your brain, as that would fry the cells, so we focus the power that is already there by reducing the need for it to be expended on unnecessary outputs. As I told you earlier, the isolation tube even does your breathing for you. It will also control your heartbeat."

"How?" Barnes asked.

"We do direct electrical stimulation to control and maintain your heartbeat and also control the nervous system in the brain."

Dalton glanced at the other men in the room. No one looked particularly happy.

The pen squeaked against the board again.

2 —TACPAD

Cryprobe

She turned the helmet once more so that they could see the thick lining inside. "The cryoprobe is a device that surgeons have used for a while to target certain areas of the brain. It's a very fine probe that reduces the temperature in the target area to ninety-three degrees. This causes the neurons there to cease firing, effectively shutting that area down."

"What parts of the brain do you shut down?" Dalton asked.

"Those connected with the parasympathetic nervous system, since those bodily functions are taken care of by the isolation tank," Hammond said. "Every milliamp of power we can save is critical."

"What exactly is the microprobe?" Captain Anderson asked.

"A microscopic wire that’s inserted directly into the targeted areas of the brain." As there was an uneasy rustle in the room, Hammond quickly elaborated. "The wire is so small that you won't even feel it go in, and when it's removed there’s no bleeding. Less than point zero-zero-eight millimeters in diameter. The fact that there have been so many breakthroughs in microtechnology in the last several years has been one of the reasons we've been able to develop the TACPAD." She held up the helmet. "It's so thin, you can't even see the probe with the naked eye."

She wrote again.

3 — TACPAD

Thermocouple

"The thermocouple does the opposite of the cryoprobe. It targets those areas we want to activate and emphasize. It raises the temperature of the designated area, which facilitates its functioning."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Barnes asked. "Wouldn't that be like someone suffering heat exhaustion, where the body temperature goes too high? I've seen guys get their brains fried like that."

Hammond shook her head. "No. It's very controlled and specific. There is a low-grade electrical current running through the thermocouple that does slightly over half the emphasizing."

"Hold on," Dalton interrupted. "You just said that it's not a good idea to up the voltage or amperage in the brain."

"In an uncontrolled or nonspecific manner, yes. But here, we're talking about less power than you would get from a double-A battery. It's safe, I assure you," Hammond said. "Doctors have been using this technique in brain research for years."

"Do you use wires into the brain for that too?" Anderson asked.

"Yes. Again, so fine that you can't see it or feel it." She went back to the board.

4 —TACPAD

Cyberlink

"Not only has this technology been used by experimental psychologists, everything I've talked about up to now has also been used for the past couple of years in the Bright Gate program by our remote viewers. It is only in the past six months that we’ve developed the critical piece of technology that takes us one step beyond.

"The last component that makes the Psychic Warrior program possible is the cyberlink." Hammond paused for a second in thought. "You've all seen or used simulators that act like the outside environment, like the ones pilots practice on?"

Everyone nodded.

"In a way, the cyberlink reverses the simulator process." Hammond reached into the TACPAD and held up a black pad about two feet long by eight inches in width with numerous wires coming out of the back. "We can use our mainframe computer, code-named Sybyl, to help you locate where you are going on the virtual plane and also to orient you. More importantly, the computer gives you form—what we call an avatar—in hyperspace that you can project into real space."

"Form?" Anderson asked.

"That’s the key to being a Psychic Warrior," Hammond said. "You have to be able to come out of hyperspace, or virtual reality, and into the real world. By using the precoded avatar formats that our programmers have developed with Sybyl, you’ll be able to stay oriented while in the virtual world and come out into the real.

"Sybyl is one of the most powerful computers in the world, perhaps the most powerful. She’s able to calculate at a rate that was unheard of even six months ago. Because of that, she’s capable of the vast number of concurrent calculations needed to give your virtual reality avatar enough substance so that you can project it into the real world. She also projects the power into the virtual plane that you reconfigure into mass when you want your avatar to materialize. The power she sends out is critical. That's what allows us to make the transition from just remote viewing into being able to project the avatar form in both the virtual and real planes."

Hammond was now walking back and forth across the front of the classroom, her eyes gleaming. "But Sybyl does more than that. She is also your communications link back here to the operations base. You can also access the computer's database for information as needed." Hammond's words were tumbling over each other as she raced to get them out. "It's truly remarkable. You've never experienced anything like it. Through the link, you can get whatever knowledge you could ever possibly need. It's like you’re part of the computer."

"As long as the computer has it in its database," Dalton cautioned. "Correct?"

Hammond stared at him. "Sybyl has over-" She paused. "Suffice it to say I can't think of any information you would need that Sybyl doesn't have somewhere in its memory or couldn't access through the Internet."

Raisor had been standing in the back of the class. "Time, Doctor," he said.

Hammond nodded. "All right. You've seen the equipment that you’ll use in the isolation tank, and I've told you how it will help you. The other part of your classes here will consist of some refresher training on mind control techniques." She pulled down another chart. "These are some of the techniques our experts will be reintroducing you to:"

Biofeedback

Attitude

Visualization

Relaxation

Cognitive Task Enhancement

Conscious Physiological Control

Meditative States

Death and Dying

Mission Commitment

"Whoa," Dalton said, reading down the list "What the heck is ‘death and dying’? And ‘mission commitment’?"

Hammond held up her hands, palms out. " 'Going over' is transcending to another level. A level most people never experience. In fact, the closest experience to 'going over' that I've heard of is those people who have near-death experiences. Who travel out-of-body while their body passes into what is often momentary physical death. Some of our RVers experience an initial panic when they go on missions. The feeling that they may never return to their bodies, that they have indeed died.

"We have found the best way to deal with that is to train you on the emotional problem you will experience, to make you feel more comfortable with the theoretical concept of death and dying."

"I don't find death to be theoretical," Dalton said. "I've seen it many times and it's damn real."

Hammond shook her head. "But it's not real when you go to the virtual plane. There's another aspect to it. We're talking about the concept of virtual death also. That you might encounter some conflict on one of your missions and your virtual self is wounded or killed but your real self is still alive. We want you to be prepared for that so you can come back to your real self."

"So," Dalton said, "what you are in essence saying is that you want to teach us to accept the virtual death?"

"Correct."

Dalton shook his head. "I don't like that. To me that means you want us to give up. To surrender our will. There's a big difference between accepting a situation and surrendering one's will."

Hammond sighed. "It’s what we think will be best."

"Has anyone ever been 'killed' in cyberspace?" Dalton asked.

"We haven't had that occurrence." Hammond's eyes shifted once more to Raisor.

Dalton caught that look He also noted that the CIA agent was no longer leaning against the wall. "So this, like the other stuff you're talking about" Dalton said, "is still theoretical. For all you know, if someone's cyberself, their psyche, gets killed, they are dead."

"Well, that's theoretically possible," Hammond said, "but the body will still be alive. The structure of the brain will still be intact. So there's no reason to believe the self can't be restored."

Dalton shook his head. "But if you turned that thinking around, wouldn't that be like saying if you programmed everything a person knew into a computer, that computer would be alive? Would be that person?"

"I think if you were truly able to do such a program," Hammond said, "that the computer would indeed be alive. But no one's been able to accomplish that yet, so your argument holds no weight. As you noted, the situation is exactly the opposite here—your real self remains here at Bright Gate, while the projected self, with the aid of the computer, will be out there on the mission."

"Enough theorizing," Raisor snapped. "We have a very tight schedule, Dr. Hammond. We need to get started."

She nodded. "The first thing we need to do is fit all of you for your TACPADs."

***

Oma had dismissed Barsk, letting him rest after his journey from Kiev. She turned to the window and looked out on Moscow, a city she could rightly call hers. If she desired, she could wipe out the other six clans that also worked the city. But there was no point to that. Because the effort required would not be worth the reward gained. It would be like a jackal fighting the others over an already eaten carcass. Oma had no trouble seeing herself as a jackal. She believed that self-awareness was the trait that had led her to her current level of success. One always had to be aware of one's capabilities and limitations, or else any other kind of awareness was worthless. She knew she could not judge others unless she was very certain of her own perspective.

In the midst of her musings, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck tingle and she turned, recognizing the feeling. A shadow flickered in the corner of her office. She waited as the shadow took on the form of a large creature. A Chyort.

"Yes?" she said.

"Very careless to have a GRU turncoat be your grandson's bodyguard."

The voice echoed in her head, the rough edge giving it an inhuman quality.