The Eyes of Justine (6 page)

             
“Well…yeah.”

             
“And just what is it that you’re researching for the government?”

             
“Organic Visual Enhancement Applications,” Roland answered.  “The…people I work for were searching for a method to enhance visual acuity and perception in their operatives.  Nearly ten years ago they caught word of my research when I was at MIT.  I’d written a paper articulating a method for replacing optic nerve neuron sheaths with a modified covering in the impaired populations that would repair degenerative afflictions in the blind. 

             
“Unfortunately it wasn’t the gist of my research that caught their attention but a rather offhand aside I included that such a
n
engineered replacement could actually provide benefits beyond merely restoring normal visual acuity.  Could, in fact, provide a whole slew of additional benefits: low-light and no-light capabilities, vision that stretched in the ultra and infra ranges, perhaps going so far as into the x-ray and gamma ranges.
”

             
“
It all depended
on the ability of the brain to interpret the new data and the composition of the replacement neuronal sheath.”

             
Justine
froze as she listened to his words.  Her anger swept away in a flash as he continued.

             
“When they came to me with their proposal to fund my research with virtually unlimited funds and technical support, I
jumped at the chance.  I spent years developing techniques and processes.  You have no idea of the complexities involved.  It took almost five years to get to the stage where I was ready for animal testing.

             
“I’ve spent the last four years progressing my testing procedures, modifying the formula to fit their specifications.  Then I discovered a compound using a superconducting alloy that showed great promise.  I wanted to begin the testing all over again using the new alloy.

             
“They grew impatient with my progress.  I told them it wasn’t ready…that the subjects were too often injured, even killed by the procedure.

             
“They were insistent.  And…I was so close…so close to a breakthrough that…I agreed to speed up the testing…only…on human subjects.”

             
Roland’s shoulders slumped in shame as he thought of what he’d planned for this innocent young woman.

             
“And I’m your first human subject?”
Justine
whispered into the prolonged silence.

             
“What?  No…no…there…there’ve been nearly a dozen subjects before you.”

             
Justine
’s heart
leapt.  Dared she hope? 
Could what he was saying, implying, be true? 
“And what happened to them?”

             
Roland sighed heavily.  “The first one died.  He was a volunteer…from the Army.  He was only twenty-two.”  Roland paused reliving the guilt and horror he’d felt watching helplessly as Corporal Alan Ricks screamed on the table as Roland’s nanoalloy seared though his brain burning large swaths of
grey matter,
causing a massive hemorrhage.

             
“I wanted to quit right then.  Told my overseers I was done…that it was a failure…wasn’t worth the cost.   And for two months they left me alone.

             
“When they returned, they became rather more insistent, more threatening.  Promising me riches in the same breath they warned me of dark, secret holes waiting for people who wouldn’t play along with their agenda.

             
“I’m…I’m ashamed to say they frightened me rather well.  I agreed to continue with the testing.  I spent countless hours over the next
months
reverse-engineering what I’d done that caused Ricks’ death before I’d try it on another human.

             
“When I thought I was ready, they brought me another subject.  He…he survived.  Barely.  The new nanoalloy didn’t kill him, but…it did permanently blind him.  As it did the modified alloys
I created do
to the next four subjects to one degree or another.

             
“Can you imagine,
Justine
, the guilt and shame I felt?  Each failure doomed another to death or permanent darkness.

             
“But each failure taught me so much,
Justine
.  I was getting closer and closer to the answer.  I could feel it!  But there was something I was missing.  Some crucial interaction underlying the cause of the failures that eluded me.  I went over and over my research looking for what I’d missed.

             
“In the end, it turned out to be so simple, so obvious I can’t believe I never considered it.  Wouldn’t have unless my handler hadn’t made a sarcastic remark when I last threatened to quit the project, prison be damned.

             
“I was in the middle of a rant on my failures trying to explain to her why it wasn’t working when she said, ‘Don’t bother with the technical stuff, Doc.  When it comes to science, I’m more blind than your lab rats.’

             
“In an instant I knew…I knew why the alloy failed.  All of my subjects were healthy, normally sighted people.  The ocular sheath covering the optic nerve was perfectly healthy in these subjects.  The alloy, interacting with a healthy nerve-sheath caused an allergic reaction as their immune systems
tried to fight it off.

             
“But what if…what if,
Justine
, the subject’s optic nerve was damaged…the sheath diseased or absent all together?  In that situation the interaction wouldn’t occur.  There’d be no allergic reaction, no resulting hemorrhage or blindness.”

             
Roland took a breath as he remembered the flush of discovery.  In that moment he’d been so certain he’d found the answer; so sure that this time he’d have success.

             
“
So I’m your first blind test subject, is that it?” 
Justine
was surprised at just how calm and controlled her voice was as she asked him that question.  “I got this job because you needed a subject for your experiment?  Someone who was already blind?”

             
“Not just blind,” Roland explained reluctantly, “Blind in the right way.  Blind because of degeneration in the optic nerve. 
Someone whose eyes were otherwise normal and healthy.”

             
“So…how did you find me?  Did you just troll schools for the blind looking for a new rat for your lab?”

             
Roland knew the next part would be even harder than what he’d said so far; knew that as unforgiveable as his admissions
had been so far, she would never forgive him for what had happened.  In the same instant he knew he’d gone
too
far to turn back now.  She deserved the full truth.

             
“I…I didn’t find you,
Justine
.  Mina did.”

             
“What?  What do mean ‘Mina did?’ 
Justine
felt her stomach drop as her skin went cold.

             
“Mina…is my handler…my liaison with the agency funding my research.”  Roland found his shame and guilt overwhelming as he rushed on.  “It was she that found you.  She that
brought you into the program.”

             
“But…but she’s my…friend,”
Justine
lamented in a whisper as she recoiled at his accusations.  “It can’t be true.  Mina wouldn’t do that.  She’s…she’s…” 
Justine
drifted to a halt as she remembered how Mina had come into her life a few years ago.  “Her little brother is blind!  I’ve known her for years!  She can’t be a part of this!”

             
“It’s true, I’m afraid,” Roland affirmed.  “It’s because of her brother that she wanted this assignment.  She wanted me to succeed. 
It’s
why she pushed me, threatened me when I wanted to quit after my failures.  And it’s why she suggested you apply for a position at the Academy even though you thought it a waste of time.

             
“Because she knew you’d have no problem being accepted.  She brought you here,
Justine
, so I could experiment on you.”

             
So much had happened in the last half hour, so many harsh cruel truths revealed,
Justine
found herself incapable of any more feeling.  Betrayed by her friend and lover, lied to by the man she wanted, treated as nothing more than a specimen for their experiments,
Justine
wanted to run; wanted to leave; to forget all of this.

             
Except…if what Roland said was true…there was a way, a hope.  It was that hope that rooted her to the spot.

             
“Can you give me back my sight?”  Her voice broke as she spoke the words.  So often she’d asked that question to the legion of physicians and specialists she’d seen over the years; and, always, the answer had been the same.

             
She’d given up hoping.

             
Until now.

             
Roland remained silent as he watched her; watched hope bloom on her face; watched and his heart sank.

             
Mina had known, he realized, had known that given a chance
Justine
would risk everything to regain her sight, even death.

             
He owed her this one, final truth.

             
“It might…or it might kill you.”

             
Justine
didn’t even pause, “I’ll do it.”

             
The preparations did not take long.  Roland’s home also served as his lab. 
Everything he needed was there, had been there and ready for weeks as he delayed subjecting
Justine
to this risk as his feelings for her deepened.

             
“I’ll need to strap your arms down as well,” Roland informed
Justine
as she lay on the modified padded table.  Already he’d affixed immovable bindings to her skull preventing her from moving so much as a fraction.

             
“As I explained,” Roland repeated, “The procedure cannot be done under anesthetic.  It’s going to be painful, I’m afraid.  The straps prevent you from harming yourself until its over.”

             
“I know.  You’ve already told me three times.
  Just get on with it.”

             
Roland tightened the final strap on her wrist.  Pausing, he looked down her.  She still wore the towel she’d wrapped herself in earlier.  Bound like this, she seemed so helpless, so innocent and young; smaller than she really was.

             
Tearing himself away he prepared the syringe filled with the clear liquid.  The procedure required two injections directly into each ocular nerve.  The easiest way to do that was to penetrate though the eye socket.

             
The first injection, Roland knew from experience, would be easy; almost painless.  The pain would start then making the second injection difficult as the subject,
Justine
, reacted.

             
Steeling himself, he paused, the syringe hovering over her, “Last chance to back out,” he warned.  “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

             
“How…” she cleared her throat, “how long before I know…before…before I can see?”

             
Roland brushed her bangs back from her face as he saw fear and hope wash across her.  “The effect should take a few minutes as the alloy c
oats
the nerve.  No longer than five or ten minutes I think.”

             
Justine
swallowed hard.  “Okay…let’s get it over with.”

             
Sweat beaded on Roland’s forehead as he gave her a final reassuring pat.  Despite his anxiety his hand held rock steady as he lowered the thin needle point toward
Justine
’s amazingly green eyes.

             
Committed, Roland pressed the point into the white sclera as
Justine
grunted at the penetration.  “Not so bad,” she breathed harshly.

             
Roland didn’t comment.  He knew the hard part was coming.

             
With practiced perfection he moved the needle through her eye and unerringly to the minute nerve connection penetrating the ocular cavity. 
Once he was certain of direct contact, he depressed the plunger with a slow steady pressure as he introduced the nanoalloy.