Despite all of the staff’s run-through efforts, trial and error testing, their myopic devotion and reverence for the equipment, the team of which Vreloran was the bottom-moving part had precisely nothing to show for their efforts.

Oh, by all accounts and every measure that could reasonably be applied, everything worked precisely as the development team intended. No one above the special team level had as yet authorised human testing, and so the staff wiled away their time by testing, re-testing, occasional changes, cleaning exercises and repeat anew.

The real truth was that anything close to absolute power carried with it the option of convenience: there really was no one standing in the way of those holding power; if they felt any given person was a threat, there were quicker and more final ways to deal with that person.

This experimental equipment was tasked to work on a sub-cellular level, targeting and eviscerating individual genes within each chromosome, changing their function in programmed ways. And it would do this simultaneously to all cells within a body if so programmed.

When the system was used on a living being, the limitless permutations on output inherent in the equipment could be programmed to produce unimaginable and excruciating pain, rearranging the functioning within a cell to produce a slow and agonising death. It was theoretically possible to have each nerve ending in a body signal intense pain to the dutifully gathering and processing brain.

This insidious equipment was the ‘brain child’ of Dr. G’skhar Wrehsx, a self proclaimed brilliant molecular biologist who also happened to be psychopathic. Anyone who came close enough to the doctor to decipher his mental pathology and who showed signs of awareness in this regard faced a marked decrease in life expectancy – this doctor could and did kill.

Vreloran was not aware of Dr. Wrehsx’ mental instability; he was much too concerned with his own personal survival and the welfare of his family. If told to do, Vreloran followed the instruction, so long as he was otherwise employed and left alone he would do what was asked of him or so that was the prevailing opinion of the doctor and his closest associates.

There were a few other staffers – there were 20 on the team in all – who suspected or even knew the truth, but as with Vreloran, they were out to advance or protect their own self interests, and so they dutifully followed instructions and carried out work as instructed.

The system had been fully functional for a full year; behind the scenes, Dr Wrehsx begged the Minister of Internal Security for test subjects. The doctor was not fussy, anyone given over to him would do. He wished to see how the hideous creation of his warped mind could play god and rearrange a human being while causing limitless pain and destruction of their mental capacity. Programmed death finally ended the process, but the death element was not out of some mercy for the victim; it was for autopsy purposes, to study the results.

On this day, the doctor was once again begging the MIS for a live victim. “It is essential that we test the efficacy of the equipment on a human, or else when we truly must carry out orders to process someone, we will have no idea if we can in fact deliver the intended results.

While the Minister supported this programme, he also found it a very unpleasant subject. He had seen the test reports on animals, and the first had caused him to empty his stomach into a restroom toilet; he barely made it in there in time.

“Patience, doctor” The Minister coached, his job continued to be placate the doctor, keeping him interested and productive but in his place. “We will have a suitable subject for you before too long, and in fact, I have some idea as to who this person will be. When the time comes, you will be expected to follow our instructions to the letter, without question, and immediately.”

The doctor smiled at the thought of proving the theory and seeing to the practical application of his equipment. “Yes, I fully understand. It is my honour to serve Brellian and all he intends to accomplish!”

After the doctor left, presumably now thrilled at the prospect of some live being to torture, the Minister turned his thoughts toward the victim. On one level he greatly admired her courage and her ability, on the other he well recognised all he and Brellian believed in and were working toward could be jeopardised if she were allowed to continue agitating for change.

The Minister was unsure when they would act – it might be years – but the time would come when the fearless musician would learn a final lesson about challenging Arrhazonan institutionalised patriarchy.