Pierre sat alone in his office, typing a hundred lines of code that would transform our understanding of human behavior. He had been working on this project for a month after the F01's outrage.
Initially, he wanted to test with the women he acquired from Feta's house. His mind had changed after spending several nights with them. They showed no sign of resistance, perhaps a Stockholm syndrome. A week had passed, all of them were abroad, two were in Jepunia, developing medical technology, the other two were in Itulia, studying and assisting his pregnant acquaintance.
The FRI Institute building was famous for its H-shaped design. There were 5 sections or units in this building. The right wing faced to the east of the island and connected to the sea. The left wing faced the living area. The middle section was for communal space, and also bridged the left and right wings, for example, a canteen, a sports club, a library, a conference room, and a napping pod, etc.
Pierre mostly spent his time on the left wing, in his office, which was for research purposes. The north part of the left wing was where the main server was located. He rarely went out for lunch at the canteen, or would just grab a sandwich and quickly come back to eat alone. Indeed, unless Elena — FRI's scientist — came in.
For three years working here, loneliness was never on his mind. Or occasionally, as it was an aftereffect of the dopamine surge. The former director, Edwin Weissman, of this institute was impressed by his work on behavioral hormone synthesis.
A hormone synthesis at the quantum level
by Pierre von Therma
He grabbed and put his thesis back in a locker. It was a very ambitious work to employ a quantum approach to synthesize biological substances. Although that novel approach was still on paper, the former chief offered him a research position here. This institute felt like his home.
At first, he slept at the institute rather than waste time walking back to the living area, his house, which took 20 mins if one was in the left wing and 40 minutes walk if one was in the right wing. Food was never a problem, as FRI provided you with a good-quality food vending machine. Later, he got attracted by Elena's presence, which made him come back home much more often.
As a principal researcher, his research focused on neurotransmitters and hormone development, probing new paths through the human mind. Imagine a drug or some substances that could erase you from pain, relieve you from depression, or even temporarily enhance your physical abilities. These were controlled by our brain through multiple neurotransmitters and hormones. Their mechanisms were very complex.
Besides being a scientist, he was recently appointed as an acting director. Technically speaking, he was the head of this institute because the former director had retired. Precisely, he got his promotion to the acting director by manipulating the former director's mind via his creation PX-18.
One advantage was that he could access all units, areas of this institute, and also some parts of this island that were guarded by the Granitz camp. In exchange for this privilege, he must handle non-scientific work: signing paperwork from the research and engineering sectors, approving some equipment and substances, and receiving VIPs whenever they visit the FRI. Those were very boring and routine jobs. The paperwork and approval for the use of some materials could be done with some programming skills. Only receiving VIPs that he must present in person. These people were quite influential as funding was from them. So, avoiding them would only make things more complicated.
( Beep )
Break
( Beep )
A notification from his watch was on his right wrist. The screen alerted him to pause his work and started walking. 'Break' was running on the screen. It was a signal that he had sat in front of his laptop for more than 30 minutes. Now, it was time to walk to a coffee machine in the right corner of his room. He pressed for 'espresso', the sound of the coffee machine started grinding coffee beans, and pressing was very enjoyable. A few seconds later, the espresso was poured into his cup and was ready.
He took the cup and then walked to a nearby window. Outside was the view of a beach and the sea. The Baltic Sea raged beyond his office window. No one was playing on the beach, which was not surprising since this was not a tourist spot and a few people were able to enter this island. The institute was located on the far eastern side of the island. This part of the island was not attractive due to the strong waves. It was also quite far from the harbour and the city, requiring 1 hour to walk along the coast, or a 30-minute drive.
He looked at his watch, it was now 11:00 AM. He still had 1 hour before lunchtime. The canteen served Calamari today, a trigger for his happy hormones. He put his coffee cup back on the counter. Then, turned to his laptop and opened a directory, clicked on a project:
PX-19
"PX-19," he murmured, the name a guarded pulse in his mind. This project was his, hidden from any FRI's logs. It was a drug, which he had been developing recently was in undergrad. Now it was a 19th prototype, a marble of all prototype.
Humans' emotions, thoughts, and behavior was driven by levels of hormones and neurotransmitters flowing inside the body. One day, you might find yourself angry easily over a small argument, while on the other day, you might find that the same argument was nothing. Our body responded to those external factors, relying on hormone levels and other available substances.
( Beep Beep )
Sugar low
( Beep Beep )
This time it was to remind him that his blood sugar or glucose level was at a low level. It suggested that he should fill his stomach, as it started to sing. But this project could be done with some more adjustments and optimizations on the chemical bondings and other parameters. He looked at his watch, it was still 30 minutes before the canteen opened. The screen flared as he opened, molecular structures spinning in sharp 3D.
Oxytocin variants materialized first, their bonds tweaked to bend trust into submission. Estrogen derivatives followed, crafted to sharpen emotional edges. progesterone analogs loaded last, raw and volatile, promising unchecked force. These were some typical examples of how hormones determine our emotions.
These compounds and others weren't mere chemicals; they were tools to shape the mind and the behavior, to dictate will with precision.
Given optimal proportions, one can dictate a human's anger, fear, affections, and others as easily as pressing a remote control.
His fingers moved steadily, entering commands to test their interplay.
The screen displayed a 3D image of chemical compounds floating around. Upon his commands, they were bonding, repulsing, …, back and forth. The screen kept displaying a big red warning
"WARNING: Unstable!"
…
"WARNING: Unstable!"
….
The molecular structure of PX-19 substances was still unstable and could not be synthesized.
( Beep x 3 )
Very low sugar
( Beep x 3 )
This time, the notifications were louder. He kept the program running, searching for a stable molecular structure for PX-19. His hands stopped typing. Grabbed his jacket and went out to the middle section of the building where the canteen was. His stomach was aching, craving for Calamari.
( Door closed )
( on the screen )
…
" Success! "
" Ready to synthesize (Y/N) "