Vanishing Point - Marc Cerasini [48]
"Those are the electroencephalograms of the male and female Rhesus Macaque," Dr. Reed explained.
Dr. Toth jumped into the conversation, sounding like a college professor. "You see, Senator, the resulting EEG will allow us to gross correlate brain activity. Through the electrodes implanted in the monkeys skulls, we can detect changes in electrical activity in the brain very accurately — on a millisecond level, in fact."
"Power levels?" Dr. Bascomb called from behind his control station.
"Stabilized on maximum output," Tony replied.
"Then we're ready," Bascomb announced. "Prepare for two, one-second bursts at the count of ten."
"Should I brace myself or something?" Senator Palmer asked, eyeing the canvas walls nervously. "This tent isn't exactly a bomb shelter."
Megan Reed chuckled. "The microwaves are invisible, so there's nothing to feel or hear. And the beams are directed to strike the animal cages within the target perimeter." She tapped the screen with a manicured fingernail. "Only the ground inside that staked out square will be affected. Within these yellow markers you see here..."
Palmer watched Bascomb grip a switch. "Burst one," he cried, flipping the switch, then immediately turning it again.
"Second burst in ten seconds," Bascomb warned. At the count of ten he flipped the switch again — on, then off.
"Power down," Bascomb commanded. "Demonstration concluded at eighteen hundred hours, four minutes..."
Tony tapped the keys on his laptop and disengaged the power generator from the microwave emitter. Steve Sable pulled a tent flap aside and disconnected the power coupler — a move that was like throwing the safety on a handgun. There was no way the microwave emitter could discharge now — even accidentally.
The Senator only realized the demonstration was over when he found himself in the middle of a sudden crush, as everyone inside the cramped tent moved forward to peer at the images on the high definition screens. Palmer got a good look at one of the display screens — a close up shot of a Rhesus monkey. The creature's eyes were wide, but seemed unfocused — almost cross-eyed. When the primate shook its head to clear its vision, violent tremors wracked its body. Breathing became rapid, then erratic. Foam flecked the ape's pink lips and drool rolled down the side of its mouth.
Megan Reed stepped in front of the display. Blocking his view, she directed Palmer's attention to the waves running horizontally across the EEG monitor.
"You can see that the Gamma rays are off the chart," the woman said over the excited voices of her staff members. "We're seeing sharp waves, spikes... The female is especially affected. She's exhibiting the same spike-and-wave complexes we observe in cases of human epilepsy. Both primates are completely immobilized. Released from their bonds, they would be unable to stand or even sit up without support."
"What exactly happened?" Palmer asked.
"It's very simple to put in laymen's terms," Dr. Toth said. "The motor cortex is a general term that describes several regions of the cerebral cortex. The motor cortex is that part of our brains involved in the planning, control and execution of voluntary motor functions."
"Yes," Bascomb said, nodding. "The primary motor cortex is responsible for generating neural impulses that control movement. Then there's the premotor cortex and the supplementary motor area..."
"Too technical, Phillip," Toth protested. "In laymen's terms, we know that electrical impulses generated by the motor cortex control voluntary movement. What the Malignant Wave device does is scramble those electronic signals, throwing the entire brain into chaos..."
"You see, the Malignant Wave induces a kind of instantaneous multiple sclerosis in those