The Seraphim Sequence

Chapter 8-1

Chapter Eight

Sophia climbed into her cot. She didn’t bother undressing. A hand appeared from the cot below. Nasira’s. She was holding Sophia’s childhood cassette player and pocket-sized German-English dictionary rolled in papers. They were the only real possessions she had left.

‘I grabbed them from your quarters before we rescued you,’ Nasira whispered.

Sophia took them. ‘Thank you.’

She held the bundle on her chest and closed her eyes. She was tired, but that didn’t count for much because her brain wasn’t switching off. She drew her curtain and turned on the bunk’s reading light. Her thoughts went to her parents, her sister, her brother. They were nothing now. Erased. As far as anyone else in this submarine was concerned, they’d never existed. They were her imaginary family, conjured long ago.

As a qualified and satisfactorily programmed operative, Sophia had been assigned her first operation: to assassinate a terrorist cell. This terrorist cell just happened to be her entire family. In the mind of her handler, Denton, it was some sick way of authenticating her programming and her loyalty. If she could be convinced beyond reason that her family were the enemy and she needed to kill them, and did it, she could kill anyone. She was fit for service.

Anger sparked inside her again. She pushed it down and looked at what Nasira had handed her. The papers … she’d forgotten about them. Scanned photocopies of Adamicz’s diary that she’d attached to a string of draft emails while in Belize and later printed.

Half in Polish and half in German, the diary documented the events throughout Project GATE that had led to Adamicz, Cecilia and Benito defecting to the Akhana. Benito had remained undercover while Cecilia faked her own death. Adamicz, somewhat less dramatically, had simply retired. Adamicz’s diary entries detailed their orchestration of Sophia’s kidnapping and deprogramming.

Adamicz’s last entry had been made not long before his death, but it was the earlier pages that had interested her, the German ones. She’d translated those using the German-English dictionary. Benito had suggested she just scan the pages, use character-recognition software to convert the handwritten words to text and then pump them into Google Translate. While it was tempting, she had never trusted the computers under Dolph’s control. Besides, she doubted the software would recognize one word of Adamicz’s skewed, tight writing.

This was the first time she’d read the diary entries in months. She arranged the photocopies from the beginning and found where she was up to: Adamicz’s first project with the Fifth Column. She placed her pocket dictionary on standby and got to work transcribing to her notepad.

June 4, 1958

Phase 1 volunteer subjects for Project Seraphim consist of thirty-two healthy, non-pregnant, pre-menopausal women and ten healthy men. Male and female participants are randomly divided into three groups. Each of the groups undergo electroencephalogram monitoring, and blood and urine sampling for two weeks (period 1—pre-exposure) before beginning exposure. When exposure begins (period 2—exposure), group 1 (n = 12 women, 2 men) and so forth are admitted to four weeks of testing.

Exposure of subjects commences with one week of sine waves, square waves and triangle waves. Subjects are exposed to range of frequencies between 5.2 and 9.6 hertz. Results indicate sine waves produce entrainment more successfully. Following this, three weeks exclusively of sine-wave field exposure. The sine-wave output produces a rotating magnetic field where there is gradual build-up, collapse and reversal of field intensity.

Some subjects demonstrate entrainment over wide frequency range, while others remain resistant to many frequencies. Entrainment occurs rapidly, within a quarter of second in most cases. If entrainment does not occur inside of one second, it does not at all. During entrainment, amplitude of subjects’ brain waves nearly doubles in size.

Entrainment above 8.6 hertz is consistent, whereas below 8.6 occurs in bursts. The subjects’ brains appear to fight the frequency to maintain own frequency. I record the brain generating low-amplitude beta frequencies in the range of 15 to 20 hertz during this fight phase. The lower the exposed frequency, the more often the subjects’ brains fight the frequency. By 5.2 hertz, there is almost zero success rate of entrainment.

Frequency range is successful in eliciting array of emotion that scales from complacency, depression and paranoia on lower end to uneasiness, frustration and agitation in mid-range, and anxiety, fear and anger on higher end. At the highest end of spectrum, a manic, uncontrollable rage is observed.

Interestingly, subjects are unaware of any mood change. They are also unaware of the ELF field itself, whether it is active or inactive, when field is terminated or initiated. Despite lack of awareness, subjects describe a variety of symptoms during exposure. Between 6 and 7 hertz, subjects report occasional ringing in ears, flushed face, fatigue, experience of tightened chest and increased pulse. And between 8.6 and 9.6 hertz, subjects report tingling sensation in fingers, arms, legs, teeth and roof of mouth. Three subjects report a metallic feeling in their mouth. One subject reports tightness in both chest and stomach.

Monitoring follows exposure for one week (period 3—post-exposure) and subjects are closely observed and interviewed. Effects from exposure are observed as non-residual and do not remain in effect. A later phase will see long-term testing and analysis of residual effects.

Phase 1 has demonstrated that it is possible to alter change in subject’s brain-wave frequency and thereby alter mood and emotional state without subject becoming suspicious or concerned with the cause of alteration. I can make subjects feel relaxed with ELF exposure and I can make them feel scared with ELF exposure. Denton is satisfied with the results of phase 1 and has authorized proceeding with phase 2: transmission of coded messages through field. If successful, I will be able to make subjects believe they want to drink orange juice instead of apple.