The monkeys that had been subjects started wringing the necks of control-group monkeys. They didn’t particularly seem to hate their targets. They just wanted
The killer monkeys seemed to be able to work out that the best time to attack was while the others were asleep.
As far as monkeys went, this was abnormally aggressive, deviant behavior.
The asomniatic monkeys didn’t even bother to try threatening the other monkeys, to intimidate them into giving them more space, like a normal monkey would do to increase his territory.
The killer monkeys just
Quite how this sort of behavior was linked to sleeplessness was never explained, despite the scientists’ best efforts.
A number of monkeys had successfully undergone the operation, and they all seemed outwardly normal. Except that they showed no inclination to form any sort of pack. It was as if they deliberately wanted to cut themselves off from the world, to survive as islands unto themselves.
Just as the subject monkeys stopped feeling pain or sorrow, Boiled’s heart too was gradually filled by a vast, vague
The experimental subjects—the monkeys and Boiled—were always in good spirits and, illnesses excepted, in great health.
Body and mind unchangingly healthy. Thus there were none of the natural fluctuations in emotional states—no ups, no downs—and gradually emotion, feelings, withered away, unused.
“Oeufcoque…”
Boiled let go of the steering wheel with his right hand and stared at his palm.
The memory of the golden mouse that was once in his palm came flowing back to him—the only part that he could no longer remember was the feeling of warmth that he had felt when Oeufcoque was in his hands.
The warmth that he had definitely felt when the mouse was first in his hand—the warmth that had welled up from inside his chest and spread out across his entire body—he felt nothing of this now; he was just an empty husk, a discarded carapace of an insect.
Being so near and yet so far—remembering the contours, but none of the substance—only served to emphasize more keenly just what Boiled had lost.
“I don’t need a reason to hold you…” Boiled murmured to himself, then put his right hand back on the steering wheel. “I need you back in these hands.”
He needed to wipe the slate clean. To wipe out his failures—to drive out the flashbacks, once and for all. To annihilate his past so that he could start anew, painting a new life on a blank canvas.
“And if I can’t have you back, then all there is left to do is to destroy you…as something I never needed in the first place.”
Boiled’s car accelerated and sped into the night.
The flicker of anticipation that he’d felt earlier was crystallizing into something more definite. He knew where his quarry was now. He was sure of it.
He felt like he had left something behind and needed to hurry in order to retrieve it before it was too late.
A word floated into his mind—
Suddenly, Boiled was overflowing with curiosity. It replaced the emptiness that usually passed for emotions inside him.
Boiled raced uptown, like a shark swimming full speed ahead on the trail of blood. Toward Shell’s casino.
04
“One of the key factors that will influence our odds of winning is whether we understand clearly the difference between tactics and strategy,” the Doctor pontificated.
He was walking straight toward a certain part of the casino. As if he knew exactly where he was heading at a single glance and this was something he did on a daily basis.
“Tactics are the individual choices made in response to the situation in hand, as it develops,” the Doctor continued, index finger held aloft. “The first such choice is to stay. The choice not to draw any more cards.”
Then he raised his middle finger. “The next choice is to hit. This means choosing to add another card to your hand.” He waited until he saw Balot nod, then continued. “The third choice is to double down. With this choice you make your next card your last, and double your bet.”
Balot nodded again. She’d already had the rules beaten into her in plenty of detail. They were simple enough. But that very simplicity meant that the game demanded complex calculations from a player if they wanted to master its subtleties.
The Doctor raised his pinky. “Fourth, split. When you have two cards of the same number, you can divide them into two different hands, so you have two bets riding. To do this, you need to double your original stake.”
