Charoux's fist didn't hurt enough. He punched the armory locker again, but it didn't matter. The memory of a young, battlefield-toughened woman, made obvious his physical weakness with her curt accusation of "Pipsqueak!". Charoux anguished for a moment over whether his failure to contain this technological outrage was a result of his physical weakness. In spite of his inadequate certainty, he steadfastly reminded himself that the universe consisted of a myriad of complex phenomena, and one man could never truly control any of them; one could only make do with influencing that which chance granted the opportunity to. Colonel Robertson was stunned by the normally composed and reticent Darrian emoting for once. Concerned, he asked, "Charoux, what's the matter? Do you know something about this?". Charoux winced at the realization that he had failed his training to not let his emotions slip out. Charoux nodded, and said, "Yes, I think so; I believe I've dealt with this before, although we'll need the Doctor to confirm some things to be sure.". Charoux tapped on the spyware in his sunglasses, activating his comm; "Charoux to Dr. Barek; please don a biohazard suit, and bring the following equipment with you to the Armory...". The list sounded like a train-wreck of neurodiagnostics equipment and other medical gear; and when the opened cases started lining the sides of the hallway, it was. Dr. Barek took one look at the ringlets on the heads of the sardine-packed Darrians and said, "Charoux, is that...", before Charoux quickly cut her off with, "Yes, I believe so; please confirm it.". Dr. Barek paused to test that the Armory and nearby compartments were clear of hazardous agents before fulfilling Charoux's urgent request. Charoux and the doctor began a series of medical and technical scans, gave each other serious looks with the nodding and shaking of heads, and quietly gibbered back and forth in all-too-scientific jargon. Among the few comprehensible things they said was Charoux failing to contain his volume as he said, "Memory wiping?", and the doctor using the words "identical", "fraternal", "X", "Y", and "Chromosome" a lot. Eventually, after the Doctor took a slew of samples, she ordered that they be confined to secured quarters under sedation. After some additional discussion with Charoux about how to proceed, she took off to her lab do more analysis. Colonel Robertson looked at Charoux with an impatient expression on his face; clearly, he did not enjoy being left in the dark for this long, in spite of the complex scientific variables at play. Charoux offered his initial conclusions. "The circlets on their heads are a variation on a technology known as 'Slavers' Bands'. The exact variation seems to be a previously unknown type, and will require considerable testing to determine the extent of its differences from those of my personal experience. The bands appear to be wiping the long, medium, and short-term memories of the victims, but leaving their brains apparently otherwise unaltered, leaving them as capable as any completely untrained person can be. Simply removing the bands to preserve whatever memory they have left is not an option, for reasons that are very complicated to explain. The clones, if they are clones, appear to be mostly Darrian with some Vilani and some Asian Solomani characteristics. They appear to be identical across the same gender and at least fraternal between genders; so the men are identical to each other, and the women are identical to each other, and the men are at least fraternal to the women and vice-versa. We don't yet know the extent to which the genders are identical to each other, or whether all the X and the Y chromosomes come from the same or different sources; that will require extensive testing which will take some time with Dr. Barek's current equipment. And that's about all Dr. Barek and I can tell you right now. We'll both have more to say, but not right now; there's a lot of testing to do, and I have to read everyone into the original cases as much as I can... but it's going to take me a full day to... to figure out just how much to redact." Colonel Robertson wasn't satisfied with the explanation, but was satisfied that Charoux and the Doctor were doing the best they could; "Take your full day, and brief the key personnel tomorrow evening after dinner. I want to be prepared for all contingencies by the time we leave jump-space.". Charoux nodded in agreement, and settled in for a long, tedious session of dredging through memories not far enough from his mind. Charoux spent the next day elaborately modifying the permissions of files in between harrying the doctor for updates she didn't have. Ultimately, Dr. Barek threw her hands up and said, "Charoux, get out of my lab and quit fussing me. I will let you know when I have something.". Charoux had to go to considerable effort not to vex her again, in spite of her not having genetic results in time for the briefing. Charoux continued working on his presentation through dinner, resisting the urge to add another informative file here and there he didn't have the chance to properly redact with all the prying eyes around him. He barely had time to get through dessert, much less enjoy it, when the Colonel said, "Pencils down, Charoux; what do you have?". Charoux was initially confused, not knowing what a pencil was. The Colonel just rolled his eyes at the Darrian's high-tech upbringing, and told him to get on with the briefing. Charoux stepped up to the briefing table in a confused state, but when he turned around to face the crowd, he was his completely professional self again. "There has been no single case in my career with Darrian Intelligence that has been as long-lived, as frustrating, as hazardous, or as costly as those involving slavers' bands. Imagine, if you would, a technological drug that produces an addictive biological and emotional state of ecstasy in return for obedience, and insurmountable torment for disobedience. It produces a state in its victims in which continued obedience is the only preferable, desireable, reasonable, and actionable choice. Victims who have had their slavers' bands removed, whether they were unawares or unwilling, have spontaneously died with no apparent cause, although predominant theories conclude that the victim simply wills themselves to death upon the realization that their greatest source of pleasure has been permanantly taken away, and that there will be no end to the suffering from their guilt over what they have done under its influence. For this reason, I recommend that we use extreme caution when these bands are removed, and only under Dr. Barek's orders, unless no less than the ship's safety is at risk. I have here results from some experiments that have been conducted in long-term rehabilitation of slavers' bands victims. Rates of independence from band exposure are improving, but it is a long road to complete recovery. The slavers' bands do not operate independetly; they rely on a single control crown that identifies the person the victims are to obey, and the extent to which their obedience is satisfactory, and to be rewarded. While a victim with a slavers' band is subject to a control crown, they are capable of anything they are physically capable of. The moment our victims are within range of a control crown, they are a threat that must be contained. Many cases on Darrian started with a crooked haverdasher who hid slavers' bands in an exclusive and fashionable hat, offered it to women who said it would compliment their exquisite beauty, and then video of the human trafficker with the control crown directed them to where they would be serruptitiously picked up.
