Chapter Eleven
Priorities
“It’s not a problem, Ben. Just have confidence in your people.”
Ben stared at Glen Tyler. He wasn’t impressed. But if Tyler was confident of getting the results they needed from the data downloaded from the Crays, than why should he worry?
Glen Tyler was one of the Corporation’s best computer men. His field was artificial intelligence, and Grant had insisted that Tyler be involved with Matthew’s research from the start. They were standing in the Corporation’s computer centre in Exchange Quay, surrounded by technicians in white coats. The computer centre was on the eighth floor, within eyesight of the MedTec Offices in Salford Quays, but no one there even knew that it existed.
Every night since the project began, the data from Matthew’s computers had been downloaded to the IBM mainframe for analysis. There were four Cray computers linked to the IBM, and Tyler had used them to simulate Matthew’s results. He was very intelligent and equally as confident. He was also very patronising.
“Let Hall carry on with his work,” Tyler went on, putting his arm around Ben’s shoulders and walking him towards his office. “Even if he succeeds in waking the girl from her coma, it’s not a problem. In fact, it’s a bonus.”
“How can that be a bonus?” Ben snapped, freeing himself from Tyler’s arm. “The last thing we want is her running about, asking questions and causing us more problems!”
“Ah! But she won’t!” Tyler said, holding his finger up in front of Ben’s nose. “Because that’s when she ceases to be his field trial, and becomes ours.”
They had reached Tyler’s office, and as soon as the door was closed Tyler became excited. “I can make this work, Ben!” he said. “The data we’ve obtained is remarkable! A complete neural net, all mapped out! And we’ve already started reclaiming small amounts of her memory. I’ve had them verified with her records, and they’re accurate, Ben. Do you realise how important this is? And now we’re beginning to recognise how to control her nervous system, too!”
“Marvellous, I’m ecstatic,” Ben said in tones that obviously meant that he wasn’t. He sat down on one of the chairs by Tyler’s desk and said, “But tell me this, Glen. It’s been over two weeks now, so have you managed to input anything yet? I know it’s great getting all this stuff out, but it’s putting it in that counts. Or have you forgotten that?”
Tyler sat down behind his desk. “The reception and transmission from the radio in the implant is perfect. We could download information at any time—”
“But have you?” Ben interrupted him.
“Now is not the time—”
“You mean ‘no’!” Ben interrupted again.
Tyler looked annoyed, but he kept his calm. “You know as well as I that downloading information to a woman in a coma would be useless. We have to wait for her to awake before we can begin.”
“No!” Now Ben waved his finger at Tyler. “You put something in now, do you hear me! I want Grant to see an immediate result. Because if, or when, she wakes up, there could be no time to carry out an effective memory alteration. We could be too busy sorting out the mess.”
Tyler was flustered. “But we have much more important work to do analysing the data!” he insisted. “With the implant, we could download any time!”
“Not when she’s conscious. She’ll be aware of the changes.”
“But she isn’t conscious yet. And, anyway, we don’t know that!”
“We don’t know anything yet!” Ben pointed out. “We don’t really know if we can download any data until we’ve tried it, we don’t know if it’ll stick if we can download it, and we don’t even know whether any of this will come to anything. Even if she remembered what you put in, she could ignore it. All we do know for sure is that Matthew seems to be getting along just fine!”
“Alright! I’ll prove it to you!” Tyler announced. “I’ll have something downloaded by the end of today. And I’ll guarantee that she won’t forget it or ignore it. But remember this, you won’t see anything unless she wakes up, and you will have succeeded in diverting my people from more important work.”
“I decide what’s important,” Ben said. “I am in charge, remember?”
Glen Tyler sat back in his chair and folded his arms. “Yes, Ben,” he said, calm again. “You are in charge, and responsible for this project.”
They stared at one another in a brief silence. Ben was well aware of Tyler’s meaning when he said that he was responsible as well as in charge. If anything went wrong, Tyler would be quick to blame him. And Tyler was Grant’s chosen man.
There was a tap on the door, and they both looked up as Rawlston came into the office without waiting for an answer.
“How dare you come in like that!” Tyler snapped at him.
“Rawlston can come in whenever he likes,” Ben told him. Then, turning to Rawlston, he added, “Provided he’s got something important to tell me.”
Rawlston took his cue. “I thought you ought to know, sir. She’s breathing on her own. All the machines are off.”