Videodrome: Days of O'Blivion by Lee McGeorge Read Free Book Online

The more primitive part of the human mind. If we want
to test the Veraceo signal we do not want to colour the results by
introducing bad language. Swearing is part of the primitive
mind.”
    “How do you know that?”
Fluorite asked. “How could you know that swearing is based in the
primitive part of the human mind?”
    “There is a link
between ailments like Tourette’s syndrome, dementia and stroke,
right back to our childhood development as babies. Young children
will scratch and bite and kick when they’re angry. They do this
until they learn a few swear words. Once they can swear there is a
way to externalise their rage and frustrations through language. If
you’ve ever seen a stroke patient when they lose language skills,
they often have no problem swearing. I once saw a man who had lost
almost all power of speech except for the words ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’.
His higher mind was destroyed, but those deep, basal and primitive
parts of the mind always function. This is the part of the brain
Veraceo seems to work on.”
     
    ----- X -----
     
    Machines hummed and a
dozen workers in brown coveralls worked at a row of lens grinding
stations. Barry Convex watched them from his office. It was still
the old manufacturing base, but now they were investing heavily
into engineering R&D. Cheap spectacles for the Third World
meant an expensive investment. They had to combine all of these
machines into a single, reliable unit. If an optometrist got to a
village in Kenya, they would need to grind the lens at the same
time. In addition, the end product needed to be a fiftieth of the
cost here in Canada. It was tricky and he realised now that whether
he succeeded or failed didn’t matter to Consec. The money came from
the United Nations and they didn’t expect it back. All the same it
would be nice to succeed. It would be nice to have a legacy. He
would like to be remembered as Barry Convex, the man who brought
sight to the world. His ambition and ego liked that title.
    He waved to Brian.
“How’s it going, Partner. Enjoying your lab?”
    “The lab is wonderful,”
Brian said. “How are things here?”
    “Spectacular Optical is
spectacular indeed. A lot of big things are happening.”
    Brian nodded. “I’ve
just learned that we’re about to start making some kind of smutty
TV showcase for Veraceo. I’ve also just learned that you speak with
Peter Fluorite almost every day.”
    “Yes, of course. Is
something wrong?”
    “Why are you talking to
him and not me?”
    “Oh… I’m sorry, Brian.
If you wanted me you only needed to pick up the phone. I didn’t
want to disturb you and thought it best to let you get on with
things, you know, bury yourself in research and enjoy discovering.
To be honest, I thought you would get annoyed if I called you every
day for an update. What do you need to know?”
    “Tell me about this
video production. That would be a good start.”
    “Sure. Well, when Peter
explained the V-Test results to me I relayed this back to Consec
who threw me a half million bucks as a budget and gave us a
specialised TV studio in Pittsburgh. I was planning on flying down
there this weekend. We can go together. There’s a Consec Partner
down there arranging everything. They’ve got a director and a set
designer; they’re working with the psychologist about set design
and costumes at the moment.”
    “Set design?”
    Barry nodded. “Yeah.
The psychologist wants to try it with different coloured sets.
Apparently he thinks colour could be important in how Veraceo
impacts the brain.”
    Brian shook his head.
“It’s not the colour that concerns me, it’s the content. What Peter
tells me is we’re going to start making sex movies. This is not an
avenue I’m comfortable with.”
    “They’re actors.
They’re paid for what they do.”
    “You don’t have a
daughter, Barry. I see this a little differently to you.”
    Barry laughed. “Is
Bianca still reading those Germaine Greer books? I thought