NICK
The approach was the most important part. I didn't go to Charles Wolfe with a plea; I went to him with a case.
Pleas are for the weak, for people like Noah who think that feeling something deeply enough makes it true.
In the world I inhabit.. the world Charles Wolfe built.. only data has weight.
I found him in the private waiting area of the hospital.
He sat there like a monument to unresolved business, his face a mask of iron.
He didn't look like a man grieving; he looked like a man waiting for a report on a damaged asset.
"There is something worth considering," I said, my voice flat and clinical.
I stood before him, delivering my opening like a surgeon presenting at a conference.
"Patient response to familiar stimuli during unconscious states. The research is consistent, Sir. Neurological response increases measurably when the subject is exposed to familiar voices and a familiar presence."
Charles listened. He didn't move a muscle, but I knew he was processing.
