When his host pauses for wine, Buckle appears to be dazzled when he says, “Man, you’ve really worked this story out in detail.”
Hollister can feel his blue eyes twinkling with merriment, and he knows his captivating smile has never served him better. “Only because I so very much want you to be part of this, to sign on for this adventure with me. Now, ribosomes. Each one has more than fifty different components. If you break down thousands of ribosomes into their individual components and thoroughly mix them in a suspending fluid, then they ricochet off the molecules of the suspending medium and keep knocking against one another until one by one the fifty-some parts come together like puzzle pieces and, amazingly, assemble into whole ribosomes again. That is Brownian movement. It works with Bertold Shenneck’s control mechanism because each of the components is designed to fit in only one place, so the puzzle can’t assemble incorrectly.”
“Shenneck?” Buckle asks.
Hollister should not have mentioned Shenneck, who had in fact invented the nanoweb implant. Now he covers his slip of the tongue. “As I was working this out, I needed to name some characters. That’s just what I call the scientist who developed the nanoweb implant.”
“It’s a good name for the character, but …” The director frowns. “It sounds a little familiar. We should check it out, make sure there’s not a prominent Bertold Shenneck out there anywhere.”
Hollister dismisses the issue with a wave of one hand. “I’m not wedded to the name. Not at all. You’re better than I am at this.”
Having finished his salad, the director blots his mouth on his napkin. “So how long does it take this brain implant to assemble once it’s been injected?”
“Maybe eight or ten hours with the first-generation implant, but the device will be improved, so it might be brought down to, say, four hours. The subject has no memory of being restrained and injected. Once the control mechanism is in place, his mind can be accessed with a key phrase like ‘Play Manchurian with me.’ Once accessed, he’ll do anything he’s told to do—and think he’s acting of his own volition.”
The key phrase delights Buckle. “That great Cold War movie about brainwashing. The Manchurian Candidate. John Frankenheimer directed from a Richard Condon novel. Sinatra and Laurence Harvey. Angela Lansbury as Harvey’s power-mad mother. About 1962, I think.”
“Shenneck liked his little jokes. The scientist character. Whatever we’re going to call him.”
“My head is swimming, Wayne, but in a good way. I’m really getting into the whole concept. But exactly how does this tie to Jane Hawk, where we started?”
Responding to the call button, Mai-Mai enters to remove the salad plates.
Hollister says, “Just imagine, Tom, that these Techno Arcadians are intent not only on repressing the unruly masses by injecting and controlling selected leaders in politics, religion, business, and the arts. They also want to prevent charismatic individuals with wrong ideas from influencing the culture.”
Tom smiles at Mai-Mai and then responds to his host. “What wrong ideas?”
“Any ideas in disagreement with Arcadian philosophy. Let’s say it’s been decided that controlling these charismatic types isn’t enough, that it’s necessary to remove their unique genomes from society, prevent them from propagating. So they receive a brain implant and are later directed to commit suicide.”
Tom Buckle nods. “Like Jane Hawk’s husband. But how would these people be chosen for elimination?”
“The computer model identifies them by their public statements, beliefs, accomplishments. Then they’re put on the Hamlet list.”
“Hamlet? Why Hamlet?”
“The theory is that if someone had killed Hamlet in the first act, a lot more people would have been alive at the end.”
Frowning, Tom Buckle says, “For the movie, we’d probably have to call it something other than the Hamlet list. Anyway, how many people would be on this list?”
“Let’s imagine the computer model says that, in a country as large as ours, two hundred and ten thousand of the most charismatic potential leaders in each generation would have to be removed at the rate of eight thousand four hundred a year.”
“Mass murder. This is a very dark movie, Wayne.”
“To the Arcadians, it’s not murder. They think of it as culling from the herd any individuals with dangerous potential, a necessary step toward peace and stability.”
Lovely Mai-Mai returns with the entrée: sea bass, asparagus, and miniature buttered raviolis stuffed with mascarpone and red peppers.
Conversation throughout the main course focuses on what changes to make in the lead character and possible twists and turns in the story line. Hollister enjoys this blue-sky session far more than he would if he were actually going to finance a motion picture.
Movies are terrible investments. Perhaps one out of ten makes a profit. And there are countless ways that the distribution company can massage the box office numbers and pad the costs, so when there is a profit, much of it disappears.
However, Tom is bright and enthusiastic. Inventing this movie with him is a pleasure. The more the young man talks, the clearer it becomes that the computer model was right to put him on the Hamlet list, and it is good that he will be dead by dawn.
When Mai-Mai returns to remove their plates, Hollister says, “The time has come for you to do as we discussed.”
She meets his stare, and though she is submissive, she is also afraid. Her lips part as if she will speak, but instead of words, her voluptuous mouth produces only tremors.
As she stands beside her master’s chair, Hollister takes one of her hands in both of his, and he smiles reassuringly. He speaks to her as he might to a daughter. “It’s all right, child. It’s just a moment of performance art. You have always excelled as an artist. This is what you were born to do.”
Her fear abates. The tremor fades. She answers his smile with an affectionate smile of her own. She bends down to kiss his cheek.
Tom Buckle watches with evident perplexity. When Mai-Mai leaves the room with their plates, the filmmaker is at a loss for words and covers his uncertainty by taking a sip of wine and savoring it.
“I see you’re curious about Mai-Mai,” Hollister says.
“No, not at all,” Buckle demurs. “It’s none of my business.”
“In fact, Tom, it’s the essence of your business here. Mai-Mai is twenty-seven, a year older than you, an exceptional woman.”
Tom glances toward the swinging door through which Mai-Mai left the room. “She’s quite beautiful.”
“Quite,” Hollister echoes. “She’s also supremely talented. Her paintings redefine realism. They’re stunning. By the time she was twenty-two, she’d won numerous awards. By the time she was twenty-four, her work was represented by the most prestigious galleries. She broke new ground as well by combining several of her larger paintings with a unique form of performance art that began to draw enthusiastic crowds.”
“Does she still paint?”
“Oh, yes. Better than ever. Magnificent images exquisitely rendered.”
“Then why …”
“Why is she here serving us lunch?”
“I can’t help but wonder.”
“She creates paintings but doesn’t sell them anymore.”
“You sure know how to build mystery, Wayne.”
Hollister smiles. “I’ve intrigued you, have I?”
“Greatly. I’d love to see these paintings.”
“You can’t. After she finishes a new canvas, she destroys it.”
Bafflement creases Tom Buckle’s brow. “Whyever would she do such a thing?”
“Because she’s an adjusted person. She made the list.”
This incident with Mai-Mai has disoriented Tom just enough so that the word list has no immediate meaning for him.
“The Hamlet list,” Hollister explains.
Puzzlement gives way to misunderstanding, and Tom smiles. “You give one hell of a pitch meeting, Tom. And she’s quite an actress.”