Mardock Scramble

“Not in the sense of controlling his thought processes directly, but I’d say there was a good chance they were artificially stimulating his pleasure centers, making it far more likely for him to follow orders with blind devotion.”

–How?

“Well, for example, they could make it so that every time he hears the OctoberCorp name or sees its symbol, a dopamine shot is released inside his brain, and he feels just that little bit better. Reinforced tens, hundreds of times, it becomes an unbreakable habit, absolute.”

–I think that all Shell really wanted to do was escape. From his own life.

Oeufcoque interjected for the first time in the conversation. “And what OctoberCorp did was provide him with an escape route. The ultimate inducement into temptation.”

Balot nodded. She started to remember what it felt like when she was watching Shell’s memories.

–Shell seemed to think that working for OctoberCorp was just like a fish returning upstream to spawn. He considered himself as no more than a little fish, placed deliberately in the river.

Then Balot turned straight to the Doctor to look at him and ask him a question.

–The case that they want to try and settle—is it my case too?

The Doctor was about to nod, but Oeufcoque interrupted him. “You’ve already solved your own case. There’s no need for you to put yourself in danger’s way anymore.”

“Hey, wait a minute, Oeufcoque. Her case leads to the mother lode. All that’s happened so far is that Shell has temporarily lost his liberty. As yet, OctoberCorp is still untouched and untroubled. In any case, she’s already been officially recognized as a co-opted civilian aide to this case. As your user, we do really need her.”

Oeufcoque was unconvinced—and not only that, he was now uncharacteristically raising his voice. “Are you saying that we are the ones who get to choose whether Balot gets burnt out in the process?”

The Doctor appeared to falter, but he had a rejoinder. “I don’t know if you noticed, but at the trial just now, Balot’s Life Preservation Program was extended indefinitely. You know why, don’t you? Because the Broilerhouse recognizes that she’s still in danger. We don’t know what Boiled’s got up his sleeve, and depending on how these negotiations go, we may find that both Shell and Balot end up targets of OctoberCorp…”

–Half-baked little Oeufcoque…

Balot spoke quietly. The Doctor swallowed his words. Oeufcoque also was silent.

–Thank you so much for trying to protect me from ending up even more burnt out.

Just as Oeufcoque could now sniff out Balot’s innermost feelings, Balot was attuned to Oeufcoque’s emotional state. She knew full well that he blamed himself for not being able to protect her from the worst excesses of Shell’s corrupted memories while she was in her dream state.

–This is what I’ve chosen, though. I want to use you constructively. If you want to protect me, the best way to do that is to guide me.

“Even if, as a result, you end up facing something deeply unpleasant?”

–Bell Wing called you my guardian angel. Guardian angels are strict but kind. If I run away from everything that’s unpleasant, I’ll end up just like Shell messing with his own mind in order to try and find peace.

Why me? She still wanted more answers to this question. She was the Concerned Party in this case, and she wanted to find out what that really meant…

She wanted to determine with her own eyes what exactly it was that lay beyond the depths that she and Shell had fallen into.

She wanted to be able to feel with conviction that her own life was somehow meaningful.

She touched the choker on her neck, gently transmitting these feelings to Oeufcoque, like a prayer.

–This is our case. Yours and mine. All three of us. Won’t you please show me your way of resolving it?

Oeufcoque stayed silent for a while. Then, wordlessly, he agreed to bring Balot out. To take her away from her safe place and into the maelstrom.

“We need to solve the second case, and as such I’d like Balot to use me,” Oeufcoque said eventually.