96 Souls Page #4

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Come in.

Surprised I'm here, right?

In a church nave, yes.

In my home, not at all.

Well, I appreciate you getting

together on such short notice.

You know, back in my

teens, I experienced

one of the best

flavor sensations ever

to hit my tongue.

It started with a short crunch

followed by sweetness and then

a zap of slight burning.

You continued chewing.

And when the combination

moved further into the mouth,

oh, it was like a wave

of flavor breaking

on the back of my tongue.

And now, decades later, I plan

to recapture that experience.

French, Vietnamese, Italian?

Onion rings.

You know, where the onion

doesn't get lost in the ring

but still doesn't overpower it.

I think they're ready.

Right.

Now, you and I are

going to experience

a little bit of heaven

on this beautiful earth.

There.

Your meals always

give faith a good name.

Stuart, something's happened.

I can't for the

life of me explain.

There was a lab accident

that affected my eyes.

Your eyesight ok?

Yes.

I don't know how to tell

you with a straight face.

I'm seeing things.

While I'm awake,

in broad daylight.

You're serious?

I'm dead serious.

My dog just passed away.

But after the lab

accident, I saw her.

She was there, so vivid in the

room, so real it hurt my heart.

I was visiting my mother

in her nursing home.

When I left, I saw an

elderly man in another room.

Floating above him, I saw a

younger version of that man.

I was just at a

deposition today.

Sitting opposite me was an

executive I've never met.

Then a separate lurid

vision of him appears.

Maybe you have an explanation.

Or am I losing it?

Oh, I know you.

You're not crazy.

But to see something, you

have to believe in it, right?

I look over there, and I

see an onion, because I

believe it's an onion.

I don't believe in

magic or pious spirits.

Why the visions?

Maybe you need to

approach this phenomenon

in a different manner.

The onion, please.

Go ahead.

Now, forget that you know it's

a bulbous, yellowish, brown

vegetable, ok?

Try to meet it on its own terms.

It's a sphere, right?

Well, look closely.

Look at the bottom

and follow it up.

It's not really a sphere.

As a man of science

you might see

that it's actually a bloom of

linear vectors pushing upwards.

Now, peel off the outside layer.

Go ahead.

Notice how it's dry.

But how dry?

It's not of powdered dry or an

old crusty dry that crumbles.

No, it's a fresh type of dry.

In fact, compared to other

dry things in this world,

you could say its dryness

is actually exquisite.

Now, here.

Slice it open.

Go on.

Ah, look at that.

You've opened the

floodgates of being.

Life inside of death.

Now, how do we know it's alive?

Try to put the two

halves back together.

You can't.

The pieces of its being

were held under compression,

as are all living things.

Now, notice we can't

escape the aroma that

fills the air released

from its flowing juices.

Just seconds ago, there

was very little smell.

It was contained in

that exquisite dryness,

if you remember.

Sh*t, I'll never look at

an onion the same way again.

When you see one

of those visions,

forget any previous associations

that may come into your mind.

Focus your consciousness deeply.

Forget what you don't believe.

Look at what it means to you.

You're all fools.

I can get the research and read

it off to you, if you like.

Pretty exciting stuff.

Would you like me to do that?

Because if you

want me to, I will.

Was that a yes or no?

It's a f*** you.

Jury profiling begins tomorrow.

Jury selection is

around the corner.

And you, our expert

witness, leave

a deposition that could lead

to us losing the entire case.

Listen, I'm exhausted.

The pressure to produce results

has become almost unbearable.

But I just can't stress

enough the importance

of what we've stumbled

onto, especially

now, because it's

taken a new twist.

What are you

talking about, Jack?

The vision enhancements

have deviated away

from odor signatures.

What is it?

What are you talking about?

Personality traits.

Scientific results are

governed by perception.

You know this better than

anyone here, Clayton.

A drug is developed

to relieve chest pain.

It fails.

But someone looked at

that failure differently.

It turns out it inhibits

an enzyme allowing blood

to flow to the penis.

It becomes the most

successful drug in history.

Well, what we discovered

in the lab, the ability

to see the aromas a

substance gives off,

has shifted to

the ability to see

what an individual emanates.

You know how we describe someone

like, he beams confidence,

or, she has a glow about her?

There's now a way that

can actually be seen.

It can be physically observed

and described in detail.

Jack.

This is a university

biomedical research department.

We have 24 faculty Emeriti

who conduct ongoing research

into cancer, infectious

diseases, physics,

often in collaboration with

the heads of laboratories

and hospitals around the world.

They all stay in high esteem,

because they back up their work

with confirmed experiment.

You yourself... you

yourself... loudly

proclaim that magical

thinking can't solve problems.

But you continue to

make outrageous claims.

The perception is that

the university's money

and resources are being wasted.

I think this has

gotten out of hand.

You're right.

What I've experienced

has to be formalized.

I just wish you could

see it for yourself.

Redfield, what's the most

important part of a court

trial?

It's happening within

days... jury selection.

Clayton, what do you want

done with this project?

Give me some additional time.

That is no longer an option.

Your dependability has

come into question.

Can you give the baronial

attitude a rest and listen?

Just one day.

If I can't show you

something convincing

by the end of tomorrow,

I'll do whatever you want.

End the research.

Give it to someone

else to continue.

Anything.

Come on, Clayton.

24 hours.

Do you see this button here?

When you push it, it will

be similar to the burst

of air you get when an

optometrist tests for glaucoma.

Clever Medina.

Now there won't be any waste.

Thanks to Dr. Machado.

Do I have enough for

three or four applications?

Easily.

Ram added the solution to

this small capsule here.

Be sure everything is recorded.

Got it.

This enhancement in your

vision you described...

Why the sudden change?

Did something happen at home?

It's strange, ram.

I was working.

I dozed off.

I woke up.

Then I saw sunny-girl.

Sunny-girl?

Perhaps there is an

additional factor

we are not considering...

The mix of our emotions

and consciousness.

We work in the representational

world defined by formulas.

Yes, emotions can be an

obstacle to rational thought.

But we also know

extreme emotional grief

affects every part of the body.

Stress can alter

the body chemistry.

You're getting at what happens

with something like serotonin.

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