The chimpanzee walked into the laboratory and took a seat in the chair at the middle of the room. Mal Dravyn watched as a lab technician approached the chimp and began restraining it to the chair with reinforced straps. He was amazed that the chimp didn’t resist.

After securing the primate to the chair, the technician blinked a command to his smart lenses, and a projection of what he was seeing appeared on the glass that separated the observation room and the laboratory. The animal’s vital signs showed in one window, and three others showed separate video angles from inside the room. The first time they had done one of these experiments, Mal had been inside the room with the subject and the technician. That hand’t gone too well, the tech inside the chimp had some kind of malfunction, and it went berserk, nearly killing everyone in the room. Mal had escaped with little more than his pride damaged, but the ferocity of the animal had scared him witless.

In the observation room with him were three other lab techs, each specializing in a different area of the project. They would be here in case something went wrong. Standing next to Mal was Dr. Dahak Kurian, his head of elite projects. Kurian had been with the company since its founding, and had proven to be one of the only people Mal felt he could completely trust. That’s why he had placed him over this project.

“Kiki has proven to be quite the test subject.” Dr Kurian said. His voice was husky when he spoke.

“Kiki?” Mal responded with a slight smile forming at the corners of his lips.

Dr. Kurian shrugged slightly the replied, “My son named him. He would be very upset if he knew we were experimenting on her. Fortunately for him, I am confident none of this will harm her.”

Dr. Kurian assured him that they had ironed out nearly all of the kinks, and that the likelihood of them experiencing another dangerous glitch like before was highly unlikely. Mal had still decided that he would play it safe this time. No need to risk his safety during a demonstration.

“Out of curiosity,” Mal asked “What was the last chimp’s name?”

Dr. Kurian bowed his head slightly and began to softly laugh at the question.

“That would be Prometheus.” Kurian replied.

“Did your son name him as well?” asked Mal.

Kurian looked at him, a hint of amusement in his eyes as he replied, “No. That would be me.”

Prometheus had been one of the more strong-willed apes being used in the experiment. They had initially thought that would need to be a factor in using the new tech, but had quickly realized that to be a mistake.

The technician pulled up a live image of the Kiki’s brain into a window significantly larger than the others. It was clear that this was where he wanted them to focus. Mal had seen brain scans before, but didn’t really know what he was looking at. Certain regions inside the image lit up green with others red.

The technician, Sitaram Aadekar was in his early 30s and had been working for Dravyn, Inc. for five years now. Mal had only talked with him a couple of times, but it became immediately apparent to him that he was one of the most intelligent people he had ever met.

“The green areas on the scan are latent areas inside the subject’s brain.” Aadekar said from inside the laboratory, a subtle hint of an Indian accent present as he spoke. His voice came through the observation speakers so clearly, that Mal couldn’t tell there was a separation between them.

“The red areas” Aadekar continued, “are the part that she is currently using. These are currently out of our reach.”

Aadekar walked over to a silver tray on the far side of the room, and removed a long cylindrical medical device and walked back to stand next to the chimp. He turned his body so he was facing the glass partition, then continued his speech, “For this first part of the procedure, I will be injecting a solution of silicon dioxide and graphene particles directly into the subject’s cerebral cortex.”

He walked behind the chimpanzee, placed the cylinder at the base of its neck and pressed the contact on it, releasing its contents into the ape’s head. The chimp’s whole body began to convulse and thrash against the restraints, sending the brain image into a parade of red and green lights. Mal flinched at the sight of it, memories of his last experience flooding back to him. But, where the first chimpanzee had continued on its rampage, this one was only violent for a few seconds, then it’s entire body went limp and it’s eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling. Mal would have thought it was dead if the screens hadn’t been showing its vitals. It’s heart rate had slowed exponentially, and the red blotches around the brain image slowly faded until the only color present was green.

Aadekar walked back across the room, and slid on a pair of black gloves with silver wiring highlighting the shape of his hands. He then walked back over to the chimpanzee and undid its restraints, leaning the chair further back so it’s limp body didn’t slump onto the floor. Then, keeping one hand placed on the back of the chimp’s head, he turned back to the glass and said, “By manipulating multiple frequencies through the control gloves, we are able to synchronize with the particles in the solution, and with the proper connection, we can control it.”

As he spoke, he pulled both hands back quickly, and the brain scan jumped to life in areas that had been inactive, filling them with the color green. Then, Aadekar slowly raised his hands as though controlling a marionette. As he did, the chimpanzee jerked into motion, awkwardly raising itself out of the chair, and onto the floor. Aadekar proceeded to dance the chimp around the laboratory, finishing with a very intentional bow, then guided it back to the chair and restrained it again before removing the gloves.

“We need to begin human testing as soon as possible.” Mal said to Dr. Kurian.

Dr. Kurian shot Mal a shocked look and replied, “The technology is still unstable Mr. Dravyn. As similar as you may think a chimpanzee is to a human, their physiology is quite different from our own. The human brain is marvelously more complex.” He gestured toward the glass divider, and a variety of different brain scans appeared on it.

“These are brain scans of human children.” said Dr. Kurian. He flicked through several of the images, and brought one to the forefront. “Do you understand what this means Mr. Dravyn?”

The question made Mal feel uncomfortable. Of course he didn’t know what this meant, he barely understood any of these technical readouts, this one specifically looked no different.

Apparently seeing Mal’s answer on his face, Dr Kurian continued, “This scan is of a four year old mentally handicapped child’s brain. It is millions of times more complex and to put it in layman’s terms, exponentially more powerful than even the smartest chimpanzee. We are years away from understanding how this technology could interface with it.”

Mal felt a knot form in his stomach. He hated when people told him something couldn’t be done. The board had been waiting for months for results from this project, and all Mal had been able to tell them was “We’re doing experiments. We should have something to show soon.” They were getting impatient.

He wanted to scream at Kurian, to tell him to make it work no matter the cost, no matter the effort. Instead, he just nodded in approval. This connection they had made would hold incredible benefits for all kinds of people from those medically handicapped to restraint systems for highly dangerous prisoners. This technology could potentially affect millions. It was exactly what Mal had been looking for to solidify the company’s value, he had just been hoping for more. He had to take what was given to him and do his best with it. It was all he could do.

The Press release was scheduled for two days later. Mal wanted to give the research team enough time get all of their ducks in a row ahead of time, and he figured 48 hours should do it. He called a car and it pulled up a minute later, he stepped in and told it to take him to his cabin in the mountains, pressing his watch against it’s panel to give it the coordinates with strict instructions to not share this information with anyone. He needed to be alone between now and then. The door quietly slid closed and he sunk back into his seat as it sped away.

The board would be expecting answers. He could only keep this secret for a little longer, and he was growing concerned that they would take action and try to get the information using their own means. But, he figured he had a small window of time. He needed to get away from all of the madness. Needed to clear his head. He fired off a quick message to his assistant Isabella to let her know he was going off grid for a day or two, then gave her explicit instructions not to contact him unless it was a dire emergency. He had been criticized for hiring his cousin into the job, but she was family and family could be trusted.

The trip took two hours, half of which he slept through. A quiet alarm had begun to sound inside the car to wake him and alert him of their approach. He was about to silence it, when he noticed a notification underneath the alarm interface. A red marker flagged it with the  word URGENT!! flashing beneath it. 

He thought for a moment about ignoring it, then decided against it, remembering his instructions to his assistant.

“This had better be good.” he said under his breath as he opened the connection, and his stomach dropped when he read the contents:

Emergency Board Meeting called. Discussing you. Return immediately!

He stared at the message for what seemed like an eternity, his emotions running through the full spectrum from confused to frustrated to infuriated. He had been operating under their instruction, within their parameters, why would they be discussing him? It only took him a moment to figure it out.

There board had been incredibly divisive for some time regarding his ability to lead, and in spite of his attempts to reach out to them so he could convince them to think reasonably, he had mostly failed. Sure, he had convinced one or two of them that no one else could do what he was doing, but he still questioned whether or not they were truly on his side.

He opened the car door and stepped outside. The cool mountain air hit his face, and he could feel his muscles relax. Everything up here was like therapy to him from the smell of the pine trees to the sound of the gravel crunching beneath his feet and the absolute absence of city noise. When he had built this cabin, he had intended to spend at least two weekends out of the month here. He had even thought about reversing that, making this his main home, and spending two weekends in the city, traveling down only for important meetings. He didn’t have to be there for most of them anyway. He had the best people on the job, they didn't need him to micromanage, which admittedly he had been a bit guilty of.

He walked over to the front porch and sat down on the bench, took a deep breath and opened a secure line to Isabella on his private mesh-network. It rang once, then her face appeared in the air in front of him, projected through his smart lenses. She looked tired, frustrated and a whole other list of emotions Mal couldn’t even begin to understand.

“Mal!” she said, nearly shouting the words, “I sent you that message nearly three hours ago. Why are you only getting back to me now? Do you understand how crucial this is? The last of the board members got here over an hour ago —“

“Slow down!” Mal said forcefully. She was talking so fast he could barely put together what she was saying. “Why are they meeting?”

“I told you in that message, they’re talking about you.” she replied.

“About me? Be more specific please.”

“All I know is that slime bag Lind was able to get everyone together on their day off. I passed Dutta and Kovac in the hallway on their way to the boardroom, and they were talking passionately about your inability to lead.” she replied.

“Wait, Dutta and Kovac were actually talking? This can’t be good.” Mal replied. “Who else did you see?”

“Most of them were already in the boardroom by the time I got there. The message for them to meet must have been sent privately and you weren’t included. I think they’d been waiting for you to leave.”

Mal cursed under his breath. He knew exactly what this meant. They would be in that room voting on whether or not to have him removed as CEO of his own company. They had been waiting for the opportune time, and he had handed it right to them. So foolish of him. Had he not been so exhausted from losing sleep over this project, he would have seen the signs of this. He would have noticed before they had the chance to move. Now, he didn’t know what would happen.

“Izzi, is anyone else there?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” she replied.

“Anyone unusual?”

There was a long pause as she was going through something on her tablet then, she got a confused look on her face. “Yeah, there are a few unusual people at the building this morning.”

She flicked through what Mal assumed was the building sign in list, then she shared it with Mal. A roster of names and who they had been there to see. None of the meetings had been private, so the information was available to any of the executive assistants. He read through the list and saw Senator Boyle’s name on it. He had been a strong advocate for stronger regulations on business. If he had his way, corporations would have to be run directly through the government making private business a thing of the past. Mal had poured millions into the opposition campaign. Even though he would more than likely be safe under that kind of regulation, something about Boyle made him uncomfortable.

“I didn’t realize Boyle was going to be here this morning,” Izzi said, “That’s a little strange.”

“Not too surprising actually, he’s been trying to get someone at the company to listen to him for some time.” Mal replied. “Did anyone arrive at the building who isn’t on this list?”

Izzi flicked around on her tablet for a few seconds, then her face went pale.

“What is it?” Mal asked, feeling his stomach turn.

“Look” she replied, then a video of a man stepping out of a black car was playing in the air next to her. Mal recognized him immediately. 

Gavin Symon was the head of Symon Technologies Dravyn’s main rival. Reports from inside the company said the man was a brutal tyrant who demanded perfection from everyone beneath him. Anyone who failed to meet his standards wasn’t only let go from the company, he had somehow managed to permanently taint their reputations to the point where they would never be able to be hired at a major corporation for the remainder of their life. Symon’s presence at Dravyn this morning was not a good sign.

“Izzi,” Mal said, a tone of urgency in his voice. “I need you to get out of the building.”

“What?” She replied, a look of confusion on her face, “Why?”

“If Symon is there, it can’t be good. I have a really bad feeling about this.”

Izzi just stared at him then nodded her head. Mal knew she trusted him; if he asked her to get out, she would do it. She tapped something into her tablet. Then her face turned from concern to disbelief

“They just voted.” she said, “Gavin Symon is Dravyn, Inc’s new CEO.”

From: dlind@dravyn.co

To: g@symontec.net

Subject: CEO

Welcome aboard. The media backlash isn’t as bad as I had expected.

Mal is still nowhere to be found. We have our top people searching for him. He can’t stay in hiding forever.

D

———

From: g@symontec.net

To: dlind@dravyn.co

Subject: Re: CEO

Just handle it. I will take care of the rest.