(Thank you, Mr. Whedon, for this pleasure.)

[He paraded the men and women into the room.

“Ladies and gentleman, what you see here is our greatest achievement.”

Nervous cough, and he proceeded with confidence he did not quite feel.

“What you know of the Academy’s research is mere surface-level. What I have done with my efforts in this room will amaze you.”

He snapped his fingers and a light shone on the girl in the chair. She was calm as her hands—which usually gripped the armrests in terror—lay flat. No wide eyes or screams. He felt it was remarkable, for she never had succumbed to the medications so fully. But the government officials who lined the wall exuded only a faint interest.

He leaned to whisper in the girl’s ear. “Do me proud.”

One of the assistants flicked a switch on the Holoimager and reclined the chair. A hologram of her brain popped up and glowed above the girl’s head. She closed her eyes.

“As you see in the hologram, the subject’s brain is still pliable and usable. We have done many tests—the latest procedure being an experiment on how she senses and reacts. Our observations are ongoing, but”--he grasped the hologram with both hands and rotated it slightly—“you see here that our incisions are few and her brain is healthy.”

He righted the chair and turned off the hologram.

“What of this latest procedure you mentioned?” asked a stocky man in a red sash—a lord of something. The man was impatient.

“We’ve removed a portion of her brain to try and improve her reflexes. River has an innate sense of perception. She’s more gifted in movement and capacity to learn than any other--”

“What does removing her brain do to help that?” The lord interrupted.

“Our reports show River to perceive more by almost 90% since the procedure. It will take a bit of recovery before we know the full improvement of her ability.”

The members of Parliament were appeased, he saw with relief. He could not divulge any more, and he hated being so vague. Now he could garner the recognition and his name w