The Claire Project

Chapter 10

The work that Veldin showed him in his lab truly was revolutionary. It had the potential to change the entire human race for the better, and of course Will saw the value of this. And that was probably why he chose not to ponder what exactly what Claire was and how exactly Veldin had managed to create her in the first place. Of course, Dr. Veldin, as respected as he was, must have known exactly what he was doing with the brain model and Will trusted in that. Veldin sent him back to his lab with some new experiments to run, and Will was very excited to begin them, so he thought no more of it.

And in the weeks that followed, Veldin made sure Will grew even more immersed in the research they were doing with Claire. But it wasn't until one afternoon that Will really saw the full potential of all the work they were doing, and he finally understood why Veldin and Dr. Weiss were interested in his own personal research.

Veldin had started the conversation casually, simply asking Will how his latest experiment was progressing, nodding attentively as Will explained his most recent challenges. "Ah, yes," Veldin said, "But, Will, have you considered what leaps and bounds of progress your studies might show if you were able to replicate them in vivo?"

Will blinked at him, astonished. "You mean...with Claire?" He had never considered it before. Never even fathomed trying his method on a real, living human brain.

"Yes," Veldin affirmed, his eyes alight with the excitement of it. The implications of it were almost incomprehensible.

"We could have the first human brain capable of astounding learning capabilities, superhuman intelligence, with cells that never show signs of age or decline. Memory loss, Alzheimer's, all of it would be eradicated. It would be the pinnacle of humanity. Extraordinary," Will thought out loud in wonderment. Hearing himself speak the words, it still seemed impossible, but yet here he was seeing this groundbreaking research being accomplished firsthand.

He told Claire all about how important this work was as he went into her room to check her vitals and record them in his log. Lately, he had gotten in the habit of talking to her absentmindedly while he worked. He had talked to hamsters and other rodents in his lab throughout graduate school too, so it really wasn't such a strange thing for him. And just like the lab animals, Claire never replied, she only watched him with her large doe-like eyes and compliantly handed her delicate wrist to him when he asked for it so that he could check her pulse rate and record it in his lab notes.

It was a bit all-consuming, the weight of what he was working on at Zenrad, and it preoccupied his thoughts almost all of the time. Will was putting in long hours at the lab and doing little else. In fact, he had managed to meet up with Connie only once to play tennis so far because he simply couldn't find any free time.

Dr. Veldin had asked him about this by way of conversation. "Connie, she's a nice girl, right? Have you two seen much more of each other?"

"Yeah, she is. We played tennis once," Will replied noncommittally.

Veldin was watching him inquisitively, suddenly a little too interested in Will's personal life. "I think there's a men's tennis club on campus too. I could give them your name, and you could, you know, meet some of the guys."

"Thanks, but I really don't have the time," Will told him, eager to drop the subject and get back to science. He wasn't at all interested in meeting anyone else and he simply didn't have the time for recreational things like tennis right now, and if he did, he knew where to find Connie.