Spliced: A Story of Rapture

Chapter Four

April 1956

Something was wrong with Lillian. Roland knew he should be more attracted to her than ever. She’d gone for several treatments in the past few months with Dr. Steinman. Her breasts were bigger, her face more symmetrical, her wrinkles almost non-existent. But there was something wrong, something off. When she would sidle up next to him and try to entice him into ravishing her, he would feel repulsed. She smelled weird, or something. It was an odd thought to have because she wore the same perfume she’d always worn, and if he got down to it and really sniffed her, that was all he smelled, consciously at least. There was some weird undertone though that he found disgusting.

Additionally, the brain boost had seemed to create in him the ability to be so singularly dedicated to his work that he had a hell of a time focusing on anything else. Most of the time, all he wanted to do was plow through his research, spend hours on discovery, and float alone at the murky bottom of the ocean in his bathysphere. The few times he did attempt intimacy with Lillian, he found that he could think of nothing but fish. It was hard to hold an erection when visions of piscine genetic code were dancing through his head. His wife may as well have been an anglerfish for all the sexual response she elicited in him these days. And that smell. He wished he knew what it was, but if there were anything in the world more capable of rendering him flaccid, he wasn’t aware of it. He could tell that this lack of intimacy hurt his wife, but he couldn’t seem to muster the resolve to rectify it. He felt terrible, but he couldn’t force what wasn’t there, and, after all, he did have an obligation to society and Andrew Ryan to be the best scientist he could be. So he kept his mouth shut, and their relationship floundered.

On the other hand, his work really was going splendidly. Once he’d invested in the Brain Boost, he’d finished his bioluminescence plasmid in a matter of weeks. Once completed, it had earned high praise from Andrew Ryan himself, and had led to several other projects, the most notable of which was a dental tonic developed from shark DNA. The tonic, which rendered teeth extraordinarily resistant to cavities, would be available to all of Rapture’s dentists soon. Roland was proud. He’d never have imagined in a million years that his career would take him here, and allow him to help people so profoundly. He had never seen himself as pursuing a career in any field of human interest. Certainly, he’d studied fish because he’d always found them more interesting than humans (well, most humans at least.) It felt good to contribute, though, and now that he had the Brain Boost, his contributions were viewed by the people of Rapture as no less than extraordinary.

Lillian would have been much more upset about Roland’s poor response to her recent improvements if it weren’t for her own career. Roland’s inventions had taken off and were making Ryan a rich man. Roland and Lillian’s subsequent economic success was nothing to sneeze at. They’d been able to purchase a newer, nicer apartment in Athena’s Glory, and there was no end to the parade of extravagances that they were now able to afford.

Also, as a consequence of her husband’s newfound notoriety, Lillian herself had gained the attention of the industrialist Frank Fontaine, who was in the plasmid business like Andrew Ryan. Once he’d researched the new power couple’s background, he contacted Lillian for a meeting. She acquiesced, even though she suspected he would, as Ryan’s competitor, try to tease information about her husband’s projects out of her, or ask her to spy outright. She was surprised when he didn’t. He talked about her research topside, about all of her work with the gorillas and other primates. She was thrilled to be able to talk about her work again, and Fontaine seemed happy to listen. He then had a pitch for her: He would bring apes to Rapture for her if she would work for him developing plasmids using their DNA.

Lillian was shocked and thrilled by his offer. Her initial reaction, once she confirmed that she would not be asked to physically harm the beasts, was decisive. Of course she would work for him if it meant resuming her research. She told him she would think about it, though, as she wasn’t sure it was proper for her to work for her husband’s boss’s economic rival, at least without warning Roland first. Fontaine said he understood, and gave her a week to decide.

Roland had seemed sulky with his reply, but it was still affirmative, and that was all Lillian was looking for. If she found out later that he resented her for going back to work, she would deal with that then. For now, she posted an enthusiastic “YES!” to Fontaine through the pneumo and prepared for the arrival of her test subjects.

The day that her primates arrived, Fontaine contacted Lillian and asked her to meet him at the Tea Garden in Arcadia to discuss the final details of her employment. She left the apartment giddy, in a new dress and with her face newly smoothed by an application of ReJuvena. She arrived at the Tea Garden precisely on time, and found Fontaine already waiting for her on a park bench by the water. He patted the seat next to him and smiled at her.

“Well don’t you look lovely today, Mrs. Bishop,” he said, his eyes twinkling. Lillian thanked him curtly as she sat, but her practiced nonchalance served as a poor cover for the inner fire his compliment engendered in her. She blushed. Roland hadn’t complimented her in months, and she’d missed it.

“I’ve brought my lunch,” Fontaine continued. “I’m afraid I’m a busy man, and rarely have time for the pleasure of a dedicated meal. Often, I eat while I work.” He pulled a picnic basket out from under the bench and opened it up, revealing two sandwiches, a bottle of wine, and two glasses, carefully wrapped in linen napkins. “I learned my lesson as a schoolboy, though,” he said, grinning. “Don’t bring food if you don’t have enough for the class. I hope you like egg salad.”

Lillian graciously accepted–she was hungry– and the two sat on the bench eating sandwiches and sipping wine, making small talk at first. Fontaine informed her of some of the relatively recent news-worthy events topside. Lillian enjoyed his account of events, as he was a wonderfully engaging orator, and given the general lack of access to topside newspapers in Rapture, she was finding that she was woefully uninformed.

She was particularly interested to hear about the death of a group of missionaries at the hands of the Waodani people of Ecuador. Operation Auca, as it was called, had happened months ago, in January, but this was the first Lillian had heard of it. She felt torn. On the one hand, it was sad that these men had been brutally speared to death when they were only trying to be kind and, from their perspective, save the Waodani from damnation. On the other hand, Lillian viewed missionary activity with the thinly veiled unkindness of an avowed atheist and armchair anthropologist. The stated goal may not necessarily be to Westernize the people, but that was almost always what ended up happening in these types of missions. In a way, Lillian felt relieved that the men had been killed. Better three men than an entire culture.

Once the pair had finished their sandwiches, they began discussing business. The test subjects, Fontaine said, were housed in a private corner of Arcadia, uncaged, but in a locked room that only she would have the key code to. He had tried, within reason, to give the gorillas an appealing environment, though he regretted that he could not obtain for them a larger space. Lillian said she understood, and with that, Fontaine handed her the key code. Lillian unfolded the little piece of paper reverently. 8-4-9-2, it read. She looked up at Fontaine, the excitement growing within her.

“Don’t tell anyone the code,” he said, gravely.