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“Well, the hard part is going to be transpor—”
“Agent Stillman?”
“Captain! Yes, sorry, just calling to report that we have located and secured the targets. That is, well, mostly they’re secure where they are and they aren’t going anywhere because, well, they can’t be around people, sir.”
“The report said they lived in an apartment.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll, uh, we need a facility that keeps them separate. No neighbors, no human workers within at least a story vertically or an apartment block horizontally. A completely separate facility would be advised. As soon as feasible, sir, but we’ve got a little time because O’Brien is still trying to work out an alternate route to get them out of the city without triggering any more incidents.”
“That bad, huh?”
“We can’t get close to them. Well, three of them. Proximity seems to trigger irrational emotions, and the closer you try to get, the greater the effect. Their upstairs neighbor couldn’t pass over Rosie’s head without bursting into tears, and the unconscious aversion eventually left him stuck in his kitchen for two weeks before he managed to call for help.”
“The subject’s name is Rosie?”
“Ah, um… we’ve taken to calling them by the color of the bracelet, sir. At least until we get more info. The Rose bracelet triggers the emotional effect.”
“They won’t tell you their names?”
“We’ve only just managed to get in touch with them, sir; Jefferson’s trying to arrange things. Like I said, we can’t get close. Nobody can get close. The landlord hasn’t been able to rent out any of the apartments on their floor because getting anywhere near Rosie sets off anxiety attacks. The janitor refuses to clean any higher than two floors below her, acted like she had offended him merely by existing.”
“The other subjects don’t have this problem?”
“No, sir. Anyone with a bracelet can get near Rosie just fine. Observation says they love it, actually—there’s a lot of physical contact between the other victims and Rosie. Hugs, shoulder pats, cuddling and the like. They play with her hair a lot.”
“So the effect prevents contact with others, but increases contact within the group?”
“Effectively, sir, yes. That’s actually the next problem we’ve been having: They won’t leave the apartment without her. We can’t get any of them alone; we’ll have to deal with all five as a group.”
“But you’ve finally established contact?”
“Just set that up, uh, forty minutes ago, sir. They didn’t have a working phone because no one was willing to enter the apartment to install it, but eventually we hit on putting a walkie-talkie and a cell phone in the lobby downstairs and contacting them visually through the balcony to tell them to go get it. Good news is, it looks like they’re willing to work with us, if only because they’re running low on supplies and they don’t want to keep stealing from the grocery store.”
“Stealing?”
“Well, no one sticks around to sell them anything. Besides, their money’s running out.”
“That’s good, that’s good. Ah, not the money running out—I mean, that they’re willing to work with us. So they’re okay with the idea of living in one of our facilities?”
“If there’s no other people around, sir; we’ve agreed on that. See, there’s another problem. The, uh, the white bracelet, it seems to want to accumulate experiences. That is, if White is around another person for more than twenty minutes or so, he’ll find himself fixated on some aspect of their life experiences that he doesn’t share. And then circumstances seem to conspire to give him that experience. He’s been prompted to eat food he knows he’s mildly allergic to, to perform surgery on himself; he’s been fighting off the urge to drown a bag of kittens, and he thinks the only reason he hasn’t is that he can’t leave Rosie’s side long enough to find some kittens. Or a river.”
“Please tell me we aren’t going to have to find a bag of kittens for this guy to drown.”
“Well, he says the urge has been fading ever since the next-door neighbor killed himself. We’re guessing that’s related.”
“I see what you mean about not having neighbors, though. Put them near a few D-class prisoners—”
“Indeed, sir. He’d end up compelled to commit all the crimes that put them on death row.”
“Okay, so, set them up in a facility nowhere near other people. Any other considerations?”
“We’ll need to be careful with the food distribution. Gray can’t feed himself, and he only chews or swallows when one of the other four is doing so.”
“That’s another bracelet effect?”
“Yes, sir. They have to put the food in his mouth; he can’t seem to work out how to do it for himself. Foreign concept. And if they’ve got the same kind of food in their mouth, he’ll synchronize his chewing and swallowing; otherwise, it’s a bit of a mess. Or could choke him.”
“Now that’s a hell of a thing.”
“They’re used to it by now. They’re careful to ensure that he gets fed on a schedule, because his hunger gets magnified to the group if they don’t.”
“Another effect of the gray bracelet?”
“No, sir, the lavender one. Actually, that’s another reason they can’t be near anyone else. Near as they can tell, the lavender bracelet suppresses the wearer’s normal emotions, twists emotions from people outside the group, and shares and magnifies emotions within the group. Including certain physical sensations like hunger or pain or cold. If they let Gray go hungry, they all suffer.”
“Lovely. And, ah, the last bracelet? What’s it do?”
“Dark blue—it prevents the wearer from communicating directly with anyone outside the group, and prevents them from lying to or deceiving anyone within the group. Or so they claim.”
“Well, at least that one doesn’t create any additional problems for us. Except as research goes.”
“So do you have any facility in mind, sir?”
“We don’t have anything suitable set up right now, but we should within two weeks. Can they last two weeks, agent?”
“We’ll have to buy the apartment block, and arrange for supplies, but that should be doable. And for keeping the rest of the city away that long? The usual gas leak and endless construction, right?”
“Stick with the classics.”
“Yes, sir.”