The Aegis Solution (24 page)

"Quite well, considering. Over the period of a semester, we were able to speed up their rate of
speech an average of twenty-two percent. And that was inclusive of both modes of speech: normal,
conversational speech and speech in which the subject was instructed to talk as rapidly as he or she
could – what I called verbal sprints."

"Excellent results!"

Kreitzmann shrugged off Elias' compliment. "What that first experiment actually taught me was
the importance of true immersion."

"True immersion?"

"As I said, we only had the subjects for two hours a day, five days a week. We were able to measure
the gains we made in the time period of a single session, and then measure the same subjects again upon
their return for the next session. After exposure to the barrage of so-called normal speech in their
classrooms, lecture halls, dorms, et cetera, we would lose nearly all of the gain we had experienced. It
was almost as if we were starting over every day. And on Mondays, our frustration level was even
higher."

"Well, that is the reality of behavioral work on campus."

"I know, believe me. But I kept wondering what we could accomplish without those limitations."

"Having subjects you control all the time?"

"Exactly."

Elias watched the man as he spoke and was amazed at the indifference he displayed for what he was
saying. There was not a moment when he appeared to grapple with the thorny ethical implications of
his words, not even a perfunctory lip service excusing it. He might as well have been relating a lab
experiment with fruit flies, rather than human beings.

"I decided that as long as I was doing my work on campus, there would be no real opportunity to
move closer to my goals. I waited patiently until I was away from the academic environment and had
secured my first private funding. It was then that we saw, for the first time, the true potential of the
technique; and that was by utilizing only adults as subjects, those who had progressed far beyond the
critical formative years. We have now reached a point where we are probably very near the structural
limits of the vocal components. Would you like a demonstration?"

"Of course."

Kreitzmann nodded at Boehn, who turned away to sit at a monitor. With a few key strokes, he
opened a video file which displayed a still-frame close-up of a woman's face. She was in her mid-forties
and Asian. Elias guessed that she was Vietnamese. With another tap on the keyboard, the speakers came
to life and the woman's face animated. To Elias' eyes, the region below her nose was a blur, almost as
if he were watching a news commentator recorded earlier and now being played back at thirty times the
normal speed. The sound coming from the speakers could only be described as a tonal torrent. On the
right side of the monitor, a column of text scrolled past at a rate too fast for Elias to read.

"Am I seeing this at normal speed?"

Boehn cleared his throat. "Yes, Doctor Brightman, you are. The playback you are observing has
not been accelerated in the least."

"But, other than the frequent pauses for a breath, it doesn't resemble speech. I can't seem to
distinguish any variations in inflection or enunciation."

"We can't. Without the benefit of immersion, our brains are not prepared to process what we hear
from this subject or the others who have attained her level of skill."

"Patrick, it is very much like the two discreet segments of the brain which are assigned the distinct
tasks of object recognition and motion detection," Kreitzmann explained. "These two segments are
competing for the attention of the conscious mind. This is an observable phenomenon in our everyday
lives. If you lie on your back and watch a ceiling fan which is not yet moving, you can see the individual
blades. As the rotation of the ceiling fan blades begins and is slowly increased, you are still able to
discern the individual blades. But at some point, and this varies greatly from person to person,
depending on experience and orientation, the segment of the brain which observes motion takes over
and the blades become a blur. The individual blades are still visible to you, but the skill to separate them
from their motion is not developed."

Elias thought about the blur he had witnessed during his altercation in ZooCity, but decided against
broaching the subject.

"Watch what happens as Doctor Boehn digitally slows the tempo. Let us know as soon as you can
understand what the subject is saying."

Boehn typed a command on the keyboard as Elias watched the monitor. The change was, at first,
subtle. But within seconds he was able to tell that she was speaking words, even though he was not yet
able to distinguish them. After a few more seconds passed, the words became understandable to him.

"Now."

With a nod from Kreitzmann, Boehn typed a command which stopped the deceleration of the
speech.

"Doctor Boehn, please tell Patrick the level we've reached."

With another few taps on the keys, a small white box, filled with numbers, appeared at the lower
right-hand corner of the monitor.

"Seventeen percent."

Instead of explaining, Kreitzmann smiled at Elias, waiting for the fellow scientist to figure it out
on his own.

"Seventeen percent? The point where I was able to understand her speech was at seventeen percent
of her recorded rate?"

Kreitzmann only nodded to indicate that Elias was correct.

"That means that she was speaking at more than five times the normal rate?"

"It depends on how you define normal. Remember, all of these things are truly relative. We have
had other subjects who have not been immersed in the speech enhancement protocol but who were able
to understand her at twenty-three percent. Some required slowing to as low as eleven percent. But, yes,
she speaks at approximately five times the average human rate."

"Rudy, I hate to ask this, but what's the point of having individuals speak that quickly if they can't
be understood?"

"But they can. Their speech is perfectly understandable to others who have gone through the
immersion protocol. They are able to converse with each other easily at that rate. You see, Patrick, not
only can we enhance the ability to speak at a rapid rate, but merely by exposure from, essentially, birth,
the brains of the subjects are also able to hear, distinguish, and understand at that rate, as well."

Elias stared at the face of the unnamed woman on the monitor. The video had been paused and
she was locked in mid-word, frozen. He tried to read her eyes in an effort to imagine what her life had
been like as a subject for Rudy Kreitzmann, but they were flat, blank.

His thoughts were interrupted by Kreitzmann. "To answer your question, there are numerous
applications for this skill, some immediate, some requiring a wider-scale societal immersion before the
true benefits can be gained. There are many fields in which technology has progressed so rapidly that
the slowness of human speech has become a true impeding factor to further advancement.

"Take air traffic controllers, for example. At the current velocities, if a plane veers off course and
there is suddenly an impending midair collision, the controller is capable of viewing the data and
mentally formulating the appropriate instructions to both pilots so that the disaster can be avoided; yet,
the physical time it takes to verbally convey those instructions, when the closure rate is mere seconds,
can last far too long to be effective. With the volume of airline traffic at major airports and the speed
at which the planes travel, the benefit of the controllers and the pilots being able to convey information
at a more rapid pace would, most assuredly, prevent accidents and allow for a more efficient utilization
of the physical facilities. I have no doubt we could accommodate a higher volume of landings and
takeoffs if the communication were radically accelerated. And imagine the effectiveness that could be
attained if fighter pilots, in the midst of a rapidly evolving air combat situation, were able to
communicate with each other and their base at five times the normal pace of verbal communication."

"I can see how that would be beneficial."

"Another obvious application would be the battlefield. The current limits of technology to deploy
RPGs, missiles, tank-mounted weaponry, and the like far exceed the on-the-ground soldier's ability to
convey or modify targeting and tactical information or to request support quickly enough. The
moment-by-moment coordination possible with a group of soldiers proficient in this skill would be
dramatically improved."

"I was wondering about that, Rudy. Is the military funding your research?"

Kreitzmann chuckled. "They would seem to be the likely source, wouldn't they? The mad scientist
working secretly with limitless funding from the Pentagon – it's almost a cliché. The truth is, although
I did receive a few grants from DARPA early in my career, I have not had a relationship with that
particular group for well over a decade."

"Why is that? You're right. It does seem to be a natural for them to support someone who could
be creating an entire army of super-soldiers."

"It was mutual. Accepting funding from the military is surrendering control of the direction of your
research to them. I did not care to do that. Additionally, with our history of imperialism and
heavy-handed, corporate-driven adventurism, I'm not certain that I want the military of the United
States to be the sole possessor of these abilities.

"And from their perspective, the military is seen, first and foremost, as a political organization,
subject to the emotional whims and vagaries of public sentiment to maintain their funding. They were
as uncomfortable with my methods and techniques as was the general public. Sorry, but there is no
exciting black-ops funding going on here. Besides, from my early days directly out of Johns Hopkins,
funding has never been a problem for me."

"If you don't mind my asking, where does it come from?"

The smile returning, Kreitzmann answered, "At the risk of shattering another cliché, I can tell you
that there are no huge, multinational corporations shoveling dollars, yen, or euros at us so that they may
reap the benefits of a faster, more efficient work force. No, our funding comes from like-minded
individuals who believe that the human race needs a little assistance to realize its true potential. The
names are guarded, as you can well imagine, due to the social stigma which has attached itself to our
work."

"Speaking of which, before I came to Aegis, I heard all of the comments about you and your work."

"I've been called a monster, Hitler, a demon…an almost never-ending list of epithets."

"Yes, you have. Although some of my colleagues, in private of course…."

"Of course," Kreitzmann interjected with a smile.

"Some of my colleagues have called you a visionary and a genius."

"How do you feel? About my work, that is. I am not fishing for a stroke to my ego."

Elias knew that in order to continue receiving the free flow of information, stroking Kreitzmann's
ego was exactly what he needed to do. "You can count me as one of those who believe you are a
visionary."

The comment triggered the desired reaction on the scientist's face. His reaction, Elias thought, was
not dissimilar to that of a young girl being told she was beautiful.

"However, I must admit that I did struggle somewhat with your methods."

The appreciative expression dimmed, but did not disappear.

"And by that I don't mean your methods in the lab. I guess that I would be referring to your…."

"Acquisition of subjects?"

"Yes. If I have any unsettled questions in my mind, they would be related to that issue, and if you
would prefer that we discuss this at another time…."

Kreitzmann glanced at Boehn, who was standing silently with them, and said, "No need. All of the
members of my team have been a party to this conversation at some point. Many, prior to joining me,
raised the same question."

Boehn nodded his agreement and commented, "I was one of those in the latter category. I had a
tough time of it, at first."

Elias asked, "You changed your mind? You are comfortable with turning newborn babies into
subjects of experiments?"

Boehn shrugged while releasing a heavy sigh. "Comfortable? No, I wouldn't say that. I don't believe
that I can ever be what you would call comfortable with the idea."

"I don't understand then. You're here."

"Yes, I am. And I am glad to be a part of this team. You asked if I was comfortable. My sister is a
research chemist with a major pharmaceutical company in Europe, one of the largest in the world.
Whether she is working with laboratory animals or humans, she never reaches the point where she could
say she is comfortable with the pain, disease, injury, or even death that is inflicted in the name of coming
out with a new drug. But she believes that the benefits to mankind outweigh the costs."

"And what we are doing here," Kreitzmann broke in, "is a little different. Some of our projects will
have a much farther-reaching effect than curing restless leg syndrome."