Descender rat
| Track 1 1:37 |
Legend: Philadelphia
Epoch: The week before the 5th battle of Mercury (Bleeding Sun, Book 3)
Character: Dr. Patricia Elchevarra
Musical Image: Using principles of hyperlogic and neurocybernetics, Dr. Patricia Elchevarra has engineered rats and mice with extraordinary psychic powers.
Curiosity?
No. Weapons of mass destruction. Psychic warfare like never before, and never again.
In a large cage on the shelves on the wall behind her, there's a small RR rat that's showing signs of agitation.
"This is Plato, my favorite descender rat!" she smiles affectionately. "When he sees me setting the table, he knows some food is about to be delivered. Sit down!" she invites Hiram.
Tuning in, Hiram finds Plato's Point remarkably fast-moving, like a high pitched voice bordering ultrasound. "Is Plato still at the stage when he needs to be kept in a cage?" he asks.
"It's not a cage, it's his home. He can go in and out as he pleases. But he and I have a deal: when I see patients, he stays home. Most of the time. Plato!" she calls him. "Now you can come out."
Using a mindswitch, the rat opens a trap door. He bolts out of the cage, jumps his way down from shelf to shelf, surfs on top of the chaos which covers the floor, goes straight onto Pat's lap, where he lies on his back like an over-trusting cat.
"Hello, gorgeous!" she bends down, tickling his furry belly.
On the same shelf there are six other cages with a couple of rats in each of them. "Descenders too?" Hiram asks.
"On their way."
Naively, "Couldn't that be terribly dangerous, though? What if it went all wrong? Once I met a descender-cat with phenomenal maruding powers. Suppose you bred mice like this and they started reproducing all over the place."
"This was the topic of two of my PhDs," Pat announces with a candid smile.
Mathacker's grin, "I see the plot! Create little monsters that can fuck up computer networks like hell. Send a few couples to every space station of the Rex, and a colony to Hyper-Earth Link. Let nature do the rest! I bet your PhDs were classified."
"You bet they were. All three of them."
He puts his hand on her shoulder, "I like dangerous women."
Same candid smile, "There are a few of us in this department."
From that moment onwards they're friends.
Bleeding Sun 3.26
Music by: Samuel Sagan and Michelle de Vries Robbé