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with weapons manufac-
turers. Phelobites were unquestionably the premier arms manufacturers for
Central Worlds. Officially, they adhered to all of the regulations and accords
that being a member of Central Worlds called for, including those that banned
the manufacture and sale of certain classes of armament. Unofficially, they
would make and sell anything to anybody for the right price if they thought
there was a good chance of getting away with it.
In most Phelobite languages, the word for altruism translated roughly as
"sucker."
It was an open secret that did little to endear them to most of Central
Worlds, including the Clenst
Defense Group. Who nonetheless felt compelled to maintain a diplomatic silence
regarding the
Phelobites' less socially acceptable business practices.
Seg stretched his fingers and then folded his hands again.
"There are several bio-weapons that are particularly dangerous that we've been
working intensively to
find counteragents for."
"Why not just buy 'em from the Phelobites?" Bros asked reasonably.
"Apparently," Seg said nervously, "they never got around to developing them."
Bros sat up straight and folded his hands before him on the conference table,
mirroring Seg !T'sel's posture.
"Go on," he said.
"All of these diseases attack the brain or nervous system on some level. Their
premiere creation, and the one we're most concerned with, has the effect of
destroying the memory center of the brain. Fairly rapidly and with,
unfortunately, permanent results. It's highly contagious, primarily airborne,
but can also be transmitted through handling things that have recently been
touched by an infected person. We estimate that perhaps twenty humans in a
hundred will have a natural immunity to it. Actually, we believe that's part
of the design, predicated on the idea that one person afflicted will need two
or more to take care of them. Obviously," Seg spread his hands in a gesture of
appeal, "if this disease were released on a planet the results would be ...
catastrophic."
"To put it mildly," Bros agreed. He wasn't ready to ask questions yet, though
he sensed where this lecture was leading.
"Yes. Well," Seg continued. "Three others that we received samples of, from a
package of brain or nervous system influencing agents this pirate company has
been marketing, are not diseases, exactly.
But we've found that a subject can be immunized against them as though they
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were. However, they're not something we would wish to fall into the wrong
hands." He glanced nervously at Bros. "They seem to have been developed with
the dual aim of acting as methods of discipline and interrogation. The first
creates intense pain, the second intense fear, the third produces euphoria and
an overwhelming desire to please."
Here the scientist in him took over, and he said enthusiastically: 'The degree
of control is exquisite!
The timespan and extremity of effect are determined at the time the dose is
made up. And the effects may last only seconds or permanently; in other words,
at the discretion of the user."
Bros caught his eye at this point and Seg dampened his enthusiasm. "Um,
physical side effects will vary depending on how long the dosage lasts. The
pain bug can cause neurological damage in very high doses, the fear instigator
is likely to produce psychological problems in most people, which the pleasure
bug may, depending upon what the victim has been required to do. You see they
act by exciting certain glands or in the case of the pain drug by exciting the
synapses . . ."
Bros was holding up his hand.
"Before we get too involved in the actual workings of this stuff, why are you
here?" he asked. He thought he knew, and he was impatient to hear it said, to
have his worst fears made real.
Anxiety is worse than pain. Pain does not hurt; the fear of pain hurts.
The Sondee studied his folded hands for a moment, then looked directly across
at Sperin.
"We succeeded in developing a serum for the memory wiping disease. A simple
injection will immunize a subject. It cannot reverse damage already done,
unfortunately, but it can halt the progress of the disease. The counteragents
we've developed to the others are, unfortunately, less effective and require a
stepped series of injections. But then, we'd really only begun research on
them. I'm sure we would have come up with something more effective if given
time."
Bros waved his hand in a rotary motion, "And the reason you're telling me all
this is . . ."
Seg looked down/sideways a disconcerting sight in itself and remained quiet
for a time, as though gathering his thoughts. At last he raised his eyes and
looked at Bros again.
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