Page 89 of Dark Island: Rescue
"Yes, yes, of course." Petrov took a long swig from his bottle. "My new improvements. You want the shaman to read the subjects and determine their newly improved levels of coherence." He turned his unsettling gaze on Eluheed. "They're much more organized now. The hive mind has coalesced and they are more aware. Perhaps they are salvageable after all."
That was exactly what Eluheed had been afraid of.
"Let's get to it," Navuh commanded.
As they passed through another door, this one heavy and fortified, Eluheed saw that the enhanced soldiers had been moved from the previous holding facility and now resided permanently in the laboratory, each kept in a separate chamber behind reinforced glass.
It made things much more convenient for Petrov.
Nevertheless, Eluheed could still feel them despite the glass barriers, the wrongness of their merged consciousness pressing against his mental shields like fog seeping through cracks.
Only eight remained from the original batch, at least on the island. Supposedly, there were more of them scattered throughout the world, but chances were that Navuh had ordered them eliminated.
They were too dangerous to leave roaming freely outside a prison cell, and Eluheed wasn't sure that reinforced glass partitions and concrete walls were enough to contain them.
They sat motionless on their cots, but their stillness was worse than if they'd been pacing. He knew what they were doing, and they were not as idle as they appeared. They were communicating, plotting, and reinforcing their mental fortress. If their combined super brain managed to overpower Navuh's mind, they could take over the island without firing a single shot.
"At first, the merging of consciousness caused psychotic breaks," Petrov said. "That's why they were so violent and rebellious before. Thanks to my new protocol,they've adapted. Evolved. They exist as individuals and as a collective simultaneously."
The guy seemed proud of himself.
"What about control?" Navuh asked. "You know that's one of the main objectives. They are useless to me, no matter what they can do, if I can't control them."
Navuh had just distilled into one sentence what leaders of this, and other worlds, had always known. It was always about what could be controlled. Navuh had a clear advantage over almost everyone else because of his power of compulsion. Other world leaders used either fear, intimidation, or propaganda to assert control, or a combination of all three.
"First, we need to determine how cohesive they are. Then we will address ways to control them." Petrov gestured to Eluheed. "Your job is to assess the current state of their combined consciousness."
Eluheed already knew the answer to that. He'd felt it solidifying with each reading, felt the hive mind becoming stronger, and that had been before Petrov's arrival and implementation of his new protocol.
A guard emerged from further down the corridor and bowed to Navuh. "The subject is ready, my lord."
"Very well." Navuh waved a hand toward a door at the end of the corridor. "Let's proceed."
It was the same procedure as before, just in a new room. The enhanced soldier was shackled to a metal chair that was bolted to the floor.
The man's eyes were empty, but Eluheed could sense the intelligence behind them—not one intelligence, but many, all observing through this single pair of eyes.
Eluheed placed his hand on the soldier's arm and immediately wished he hadn't.
The hive mind slammed into his consciousness like a battering ram. Before, their thoughts had been chaotic, fragmented, difficult to parse. It felt more like a beehive. Now they were organized. Structured. Coherent.
We see you,the collective voice whispered in his mind.We know you.
Eluheed slammed all his mental power into his shields, and they held, but barely. The hive mind pressed against them, probing for weaknesses. They were searching for something, trying to understand what made him different from the other minds they'd encountered on the island.
What are you?
He pulled his hand back, breaking contact before they could dig deeper.
"Well?" Navuh demanded.
"They're fully integrated," Eluheed said. "I have a feeling that Doctor Petrov will not be able to find weakness in their hive mind. It seems impervious, and therefore impossible to control."
Navuh's eyes narrowed. "Can the hive mind be broken apart?"
"Not without killing them." Eluheed met Navuh's gaze. "And even if you killed some, the ones remaining would continue as if nothing had happened. The hive mind adapts."
Petrov was practically vibrating with excitement. "You see? This is exactly what I theorized! The quantum entanglement creates a feedback loop?—"
