He'd been silent throughout the exchange, watching the verbal sparring match with guilty relief. He'd said and thought the same things, but compared to Petrov's bluntness, his arguments had been diplomatic.
"We're not making any decisions right now," Dimitri said, heading off the argument before it could spiral further. "The immediate priority is figuring out how to respond to Dave'sproposal. The merge, the escape, the logistics. We need to go back to him with specific questions."
Petrov nodded. "When you're right, you're right. The first question is the merge itself. How would it work?" He was redirecting his argumentative energy toward practical matters. "Dave says he doesn't know the mechanism because it just happened. It wasn't planned, but we need to understand what a temporary connection to the collective consciousness actually means in neurological terms. What pathways would be involved? Can your brain even support that kind of connection without the enhancement drugs? And more importantly, can the connection be severed once it's established?"
Dimitri grimaced. "I don't want to take the enhancement drugs. That's a permanent addiction, and I don't want to be dependent on chemicals to keep from losing my sanity."
Petrov reached for a notepad and began writing. "Question one: mechanism. Question two: reversibility. Question three: what happens if the merge changes Dimitri's cognitive function permanently? We need to quantify the risks before we agree to anything."
"There's also the matter of privacy," Mattie said.
Petrov looked up. "Privacy?"
"If Dimitri merges with the collective, Dave will have access to everything Dimitri experiences. And I mean everything."
"Ah." Petrov glanced at Dimitri with a look that was equal parts amusement and sympathy. "I see the problem."
"The privacy issue is manageable," Dimitri said. "I mean, it's problematic, but this is exactly what Dave is after, so he will notcompromise on that. It will be something that Mattie and I will have to come to terms with. What's not manageable is the risk of cognitive contamination. If the merge introduces elements of the collective consciousness into my individual mind, I might not be the same person when it's over."
"The 'We are Borg' scenario," Petrov said.
"That's what Dimitri called it, too," Mattie said. "I didn't find it funny."
"Great minds." Petrov scribbled another note. "We also can't forget about Losham."
"What about him?" Mattie asked.
"He gave us a deadline," Petrov said. "One month to produce a viable proposal for human enhancement. A formula that could create enhanced human soldiers. That deadline is still there regardless of Dave's schemes."
The escape planning and the enhancement deadline were two trains running on the same track and using the same engine, but the engine had limited fuel to work with.
"If we fail to produce the proposal," Petrov continued, "Losham replaces us, which means we are dead, and because whoever he gets will be less qualified than we are, there will be many more humans dead than if we managed the project. The same will happen if we escape, just without the part of us being dead."
"Can you fake it?" Mattie asked.
Petrov tapped his pen against the notepad. "We need to give Losham something, enough to keep him satisfied and to buy time, but not so much that he can actually use it. A proposal that looks promising but is riddled with complications that requireextended research. That's our specialty, after all. Making science look harder than it is."
"Meanwhile, we plan the escape," Dimitri said.
"Correct," Petrov confirmed. "Which means we need two parallel tracks of work. Track one: the enhancement proposal for Losham. Track two: the response to Dave's offer. Both tracks need to be running simultaneously, and neither can compromise the other."
"Sounds like you need my help after all." Mattie raised her good hand in a gesture that encompassed the lab, the notepad, and the entire impossible situation. "You've got a lot to do."
"I never said you weren't needed, Mattie. I said you're not allowed to do anything physical because your body needs time to heal. It's not the same thing."
"Semantics."
"Not really. Your body is compromised, but your mind is not. You can help us think and strategize, but if I see you trying to lift a beaker, reach for a pipette, or do anything that puts strain on that hand, I'm carrying you back upstairs."
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
She studied his face, apparently concluded he meant it, and settled deeper into her chair. "Fine. I'll be your consultant. Your strategic advisor."
"Our strategic advisor," Petrov corrected. "I'm not working under a hierarchy where I report to a twenty-three-year-old with a broken hand and delusions of military grandeur."
"I'm strategically advising, not commanding."
