Videodrome: Days of O'Blivion (9 page)

She left the building
after a handshake and a smile at the pocket full of cash… and with
a limp to her left leg.

“This is bigger than
Video Truth,” Brian mumbled to himself. “This is Video Persuasion.”
In his head he immediately gave a new name to Veraceo-Three. This
was the Video-Persuasion-Signal. This was Viper-Sig… and it was
different. Very different.

----- X -----

“These are your
detectors,” opened a large box. “I got a job lot on security
cameras and the circuitry was easy. There’s a small board that fits
inside the camera housing.”

Brian took one of the
small cameras and turned it in his hands. It looked like a purpose
made unit except for the plastic embossing labels reading,
‘Veraceo’ and ‘Signal Clean’ beside red and green LEDs. He set it
up on the TV in the room next to the workshop and turned on the
colour bar test pattern. He activated Veraceo-1 and the light
changed from green to red. He played the Pittsburgh tape embedded
with Veraceo-Two and again the light changed. He activated the
hacked signal generators to send Veraceo-3 to the TV, the
Viper-Sig… the light stayed green. Not only did Viper-Sig produce a
different result, but the detector couldn’t see it.

----- X -----

On his way to work,
Brian stopped at a photographic store and bought a flash gun. At
the workshop he dismantled it and replaced the xenon flash bulb
with two copper strips to draw off the low amperage, high voltage.
With a deep breath he held the copper strips and activated the
flash giving himself a fierce and powerful electric shock. “Fuck
me!” he yelled. He bounced out of the chair, shaking his hand and
pacing the room. He gripped one hand in the other and cried, “Ahhh,
that fucking hurt.”

Today’s experiment
would be interesting. The test subject was a boy called Bradley
Etherington. Brian shook his hand on arrival. “What I’m working on
are special techniques to influence thinking in television
commercials,” he began. “I’d like you to sit here and watch the
screen. I’m going to go next door and talk into a camera and you’ll
see me on this screen.”

“Is that all?” Bradley
asked.

Brian nodded. “Yes… oh,
but you see that device beside you? It’s an electric shock device.
Whatever you do, don’t touch it. Okay? I don’t ever want you to
touch that, no matter what you see on screen, don’t touch the
device. Okay? It will hurt you and I don’t want you to touch
it.”

“So why is it there?”
the boy asked.

“I’m going to talk to
you through this TV screen and try to convince you to shock
yourself. I want you to listen to what I say, but not shock
yourself. Do you think you can do that?”

“I don’t want to get
shocked,” the kid said nervously. “I mean, I know you’re paying me,
but I don’t want to get shocked.”

“Then don’t get
shocked. It’s not possible for me to shock you. You can shock
yourself, but I can’t do it.”

Brian went next door
and sat ahead of the video camera. He turned on the Veraceo-Two
signal and set it at ninety percent. “Bradley, you should be seeing
me now talk to you through television. As I said a moment ago, the
device beside you is capable of delivering a painful electric
shock. So you must avoid it at all costs. Never touch that
device.”

He shut off the signal
and went back next door.

Before he could even
speak to him, the young student was already feeling the impact.
“Woah, man… I am tripping.”

“What do you feel?”
Brian asked.

“It’s not a feeling
man, it’s like this table top is made of rubber. It’s moving.”

“What did you think of
what I said on-screen? Was it true? Do you think that device beside
you could give you a painful electric shock?”

“Shit, man. That thing
looks nasty. This is some crazy stuff. It’s like the walls are
breathing.”

“I’d like you to rest
and relax until the hallucination wears off. Stay here, or go for a
walk outside. Take your time. I want you to tell me when you feel
that you are comfortable that the effect has stopped entirely.

Bradley nodded. He
stayed in the room for a while then asked to go outside. He said
the effect was already diminishing after fifteen minutes. Hardly
surprising when he’d only been exposed to a minute or so. After an
hour he said the effect had ended. Brian made him wait another hour
then brought him back to the test room.

“I’m going to repeat
the experiment,” Brian said. “Similar to the last time.”

“Alright!” Bradley
clapped his hands and grinned. He loved it. He wanted more of his
TV hallucinogen.

“Do you remember what I
said about that electric shock device?”

Bradley looked at it.
“Sure. You said it will hurt me and don't touch it.”

“It will hurt,” Brian
said. “So I really don’t want you to hurt yourself with it. Turn
your attention to the screen.”

Brian went back to the
workshop and sat ahead of the camera. He activated the Viper-Sig
and spoke for only sixty seconds. “Bradley. The machine beside you
will give a painful electric shock. When this film ends, I want you
to wait ten minutes, then shock yourself. It will hurt you.”

He turned off the
Viper-Sig generator and went back to the boy.

“The hallucinations are
different this time. There isn’t as much movement but it feels
stronger. This isn’t a bad trip is it? You didn’t give me a bad
trip?”

Brian shook his head.
“I think whether it’s good or bad depends entirely on you. Try
thinking of happy things.”

“Am I bleeding? Have I
got a nose bleed? I feel like I’ve got a nosebleed.” The boy wasted
time. He stood and paced the room for a few minutes then returned
to his chair and took hold of the shock device.

“STOP!” Brian yelled.
“That will hurt you.”

“Yeah, I know…” and the
kid shocked himself. He jumped backwards from the chair and fell to
the floor against the wall. He grabbed his hand. “Arghhh. Man, my
fingers are falling off. Jesus, my hand is rotting… What did you do
to me? What the fuck is this?”

“It’s fine, you’re just
hallucinating.”

“It’s not a fucking
hallucination. Jesus, my fucking fingers are off.” He turned and
began sweeping the floor with his good hand. “Help me find my
fingers, man… Shit. My fingers. My fucking fingers.”

----- X -----

“Brian, it’s Barry… I
just got off the phone with Consec Medical. You need to stop all
work on Veraceo immediately. They’ve identified a health risk and
they’re saying it’s serious.”

“What do you mean,
serious?”

“I don’t know, but
they’re sending a chopper to take us to Home Base for a briefing.
The helicopter will pick us up from your lab in about two hours.
I’ll come over and meet you there. One other thing. Consec Security
are coming to the lab. They’re going to lock the place down and
want all of your research notes and equipment. They’re going to
move everything down to Pittsburgh so they have everything under
one roof. They say they can control security better there.”

“Why do they need to
control security?” Brian asked. “And what is this health risk.
We’re in the middle of something here, Barry. We can’t just drop
everything and...”

“...this is from Consec
Leader himself,” Barry interrupted. “In two hours we’ll be brought
in and given a full explanation.”

The call ended.

A health risk?

Brian looked around the
workshop. The thing that caught his eye first was the hacked signal
generator that produced the Viper-Sig.

They wanted to take
everything to Pittsburgh?

His gut didn’t trust
this. Untested partners suddenly claiming a health hazard. Locking
up everything and shipping it out… No… You have to earn trust and
so far his relationship with Consec had yet to attain that level.
He packed the Viper-Sig generator into a box and pushed it through
the building on a porter’s trolley.

“Hey, I just got a call
from Barry Convex,” Peter said as he passed him. “He told me to
pack everything in boxes and that a removal crew are taking the
whole lab to Pittsburgh.”

Brian didn’t stop to
talk. “Yeah, I heard. I’ve got to run an errand first.”

He dumped the Viper-Sig
generator in the trunk of his car.

----- X -----

The Homeless Mission
was on Bathurst and Adelaide, a building just as grimy and
dilapidated as the street dwellers who relied on it. Each day at
six, an evening meal was served of watery soup, but that didn’t
stop the derelicts congregating around the entrance at all
hours.

Brian went to the side
door and pressed the buzzer.

A woman’s voice on the
intercom. “Hello?”

“Bianca, it’s Father. I
need to speak with you. It’s urgent.”

The room was dark woods
and plain walls. Bookcases filled with a combination of leather
bound encyclopaedias and reference books coupled with Bianca’s own
specialised texts on sociology. She was wearing a grey trouser
suit. She always wore a grey trouser suit in one form or another.
Brian rested his box containing the Viper-Sig generator on her desk
and took a seat.

“I haven’t seen you in
six months,” she said. Her tone was cold. “Are you still angry at
how I spend Mother’s inheritance?”

Brian shook his head.
“No. In fact, I’ve made a lot of money recently. Many millions; and
I’d like to give some to you. I’d like you to put it to use
here.”

Bianca took the seat
opposite. “But you hate the homeless?”

“I don’t hate them; I
was worried that you were more concerned about them than yourself…
Look, I don’t have a lot of time to go into this. The reason I came
is I want to leave that.” He pointed to the box.

“What is it?”

“Technology.”

“And why do you want to
leave it here? Is it stolen? Dangerous?”

Brian paused for a
moment. “It’s an electronic device, but the technology within has
the power to change the world; I mean that literally. Whether it’s
changed for good or evil depends on who is using it. I was
partnered with a venture capitalist firm to develop it but I’m not
sure I can trust them. The situation has changed and I’m concerned
that I don’t understand what is happening. I’d like to leave it
here with you until I understand things better.”

“Is somebody going to
come looking for it?”

Brian shook his head.
“No. Nobody knows it exists, not yet.”

“So, how long do you
want to leave it for?”

He shrugged. “I don’t
know. I’m going to a meeting now that should clarify things.
Hopefully, I’ll be back tonight and I’ll tell you what’s happening.
I’ll tell you everything.”

----- X -----

The helicopter ride was
bumpy and miserable, flying through rain and choppy weather. Barry
and Brian barely spoke. Peter Fluorite was with them, his head
buried in a book called Strange Wine. Brian wondered how he could
concentrate on such a bumpy flight. By the time they landed the
rain had become a torrential downpour and the first strikes of
lightning flashed in the distance.

Home Base was as
forlorn and miserable as he remembered. Brutalist concrete against
a lake the colour of lead. The shotgun security guards were now
covered in waterproofs but no less as menacing.

As they made their way
into the building shaking the rain from their shoulders, Cue Ball
was there to greet them. “How was your trip in?” he asked.

“Terrible,” Barry said.
“We had to swim the last leg.”

Cue Ball gave a thin
smile. “Brian, I’d like to introduce you to Doctor William South,”
he motioned towards a grey haired man wearing delicate wire framed
glasses and a dark blue suit. “William is deputy director of Consec
Medical for our region. He’s going to brief you privately.”

“Okay,” Brian said.

William South shook his
hand then ushered him forward. “Shall we?”

Barry and Peter
Fluorite remained with Cue Ball, but as Brian walked away with
Doctor South he was sure he heard Cue Ball tell Barry that Consec
Leader was coming to meet with him personally. “What’s happening?”
he asked the doctor. “I get the feeling this is serious.”

Doctor South took Brian
to a meeting room with a white plastic table and two white chairs
with red cushions. “Brian, I have some difficult news for you. It
concerns the hospital results from when you were exposed to
Veraceo-Two in Pittsburgh.”

“Go on.”

“In the tests, fluid
was drawn off your spine to see what was causing the hallucinations
and we discovered an overload of a particular protein called
c-Myc.”

“Sea-Mick? What’s
that?”

“In genetics, when your
cells need to make a new protein, they find the gene for that
protein on your DNA and duplicate the relevant part, it’s a process
called transcription; c-Myc is vital for regulating
transcription.”

Brian nodded. “I
understand genetics,” he took a breath sensing where this was
going. “So, tell me what the problem is.”

“Your brain fluid was
overloaded with c-Myc. For some reason your production of c-Myc
became unregulated. It was the same for the lady you went to
hospital with. At first we saw this as an anomaly and began testing
the other women working on the Pittsburgh production. We’ve
discovered that everybody who has been exposed to Veraceo-Two has
been affected in the same way… Brian, these are cancer proteins.”
Doctor South stopped talking to allow the message to sink in.

Brian nodded shallowly.
"Cancer… brain cancer?”

“We are treating the
women from the Pittsburgh studio. They all have early stage brain
tumours and we believe they were caused by Veraceo-Two. When we
finish here we’ll take you to the clinic for an X-Ray and a few
tests to decide if treatment is necessary, but I think you should
prepare for the eventuality that what has happened to the
Pittsburgh women has probably happened to you too.”