But Merc took control last week.
And if he can do it, I can too.
And if we can do it together, and get the procedure for how to give her the do-over she most certainly deserves from Carter, now that right there is what I call a cure.
We are gonna be mushing dogs in the fucking Arctic come November.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - MERC
The day begins with an awkward breakfast and I think everyone feels it, not just Sasha and me. To us, these people are strangers. We’ve been off living our quiet normal lives, far away from the Company, for almost a decade now. The rest of them—they live it every day.
We don’t belong here. That’s what I keep thinking as we eat and listen to the scattered conversation.
But Doc and Sabella arrive home about ten minutes in, so I excuse myself to go greet him. Sasha follows.
Cerene is already out there, asking if they need help. Sabella is holding a black leather case and Doc is clutching a small mason jar of thick, blue liquid when we meet them halfway between the truck and the house.
Doc nods his head towards the breezeway. “Let’s go this way.”
Sasha and I follow him as Sabella and Cerene chat quietly behind us.
“What is the blue stuff, again?” Sasha asks.
“Lectra.”
“What is it?”
“It’s…” I bob my head a little. Because Lectra is kinda hard to describe. “A drug, I guess. A psychedelic.”
Sasha laughs. “How in the world will that be helpful?”
“Well, when you combine it with the right sound frequencies, it… pulls the mind apart.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It separates memories. And this is what we’re looking for here. Donovan and Carter have two separate sets of memories. So we’ll know who we’re talking to, for sure. They won’t be able to mingle.”
“What does the sound generator do?”
I smile at her. “You’re full of questions this morning, aren’t you?”
She smiles back at me. And it’s bright. Maybe too bright. “I’m just curious. I’ve never heard of this sound thing.”
“Well, there are nine frequencies you can use to mess with consciousness.”
“Hold on. Sound?”
“Yeah. Sound is…” I shake my head. “The next superweapon. I’m sure it’s already in use, but the human range of hearing is limited. If they were using certain frequencies, we wouldn’t even know.”
“Who is this… they? Company people?”
“Maybe. But I generally referring to any one of the hundreds of corrupt governments currently in power.”
“OK.” We’ve reached Donovan’s room, but Doc and the nurses are busy going over vital signs or whatever, so Sasha asks another question. “Do these frequencies have a name? And how do they work?”
“You’re very curious this morning.”
“No.” Sasha laughs. “I’m just…”
“Curious.”
“Fine. I’m curious. I find it intriguing.”
“Well.” I pause to sigh and think back on what I know about sound so I can give her details. “The nine frequencies are called the solfeggio frequencies. And if you look them up on the internet, or whatever, sometimes you only find six. Because the lower ones—the ones I’m going to use—can really fuck with your head. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can hurt yourself. Open yourself up to… suggestion.”
“Like hypnosis.”
“Not exactly. It’s much more powerful than that because hypnosis is a trick. The frequencies are not a trick. It’s physical. When you find the right one, and then combine it with this drug, Lectra, it’s fuckin’… well. State of the art mind control.”
She pulls out her phone and starts tapping.
“You’re not gonna find any of this on the internet.”
Sasha looks up at me. “No?”
“Hell, no. It’s all scrubbed. Can’t have a secret superweapon if you can find the plans to build it on the internet, now can you?”
“OK. But you know how to do it, right? I mean, you’ve done it before?”
I glance over at Donovan. Really, really wishing I had said no to this job. “Yeah. A couple times. Back in the military.”
“That was a long time ago. Are you sure your technique isn’t out of date?”
I just stare at her for a moment. Is she being weird about this? “Do you have something you need to tell me?”
“What do you mean?”
“This curiosity of yours—weird.”
“Forget it then.” She laughs. But then her smile falls and she gets serious. “I’m worried about him.” She nods her head to Donovan. “I want him to pull through. And Indie is expecting him to pull through. I don’t think she’s prepared if it doesn’t work out.”
“That makes sense. But the technique hasn’t changed. It’s just a set of frequencies. And the Lectra. I’m gonna do the tests first,” I say. Trying to ease her mind. Before I start picking around in his memories and shit. I won’t fuck him up.”
“So you’re not worried about any of it?”
“Well. Yeah. I want to know who I’m talking to. But I’m fairly certain I know the right frequency to split apart a personality. It’s gonna be 174 Hz. But I need to try them all, just in case.”