#pasiv

It’s times like this when Eggsy regrets the way his mind works. Staring at the detective across from him, spouting off his record like he knows him. Loss of father at age seven, impressive scores on his A Levels despite his upbringing, enlistment to her majesty’s Royal Navy and subsequent leave, followed by petty theft, drug handling, and now… stolen vehicle taken for a joyride resulting in damage of property. Sure, yea, he could rat out his friends. But that ain’t his way.

The detective gives up, leaves him alone with the blower for his last call before being locked up. He fingers the medal at his neck. A phrase spoken to his mum. Remembers soft brown eyes looking down at him. He’d been holding onto one of the snowglobes his da gifted him with after each return abroad. Breath leaves him in an abrupt exhale, it won’t hurt to try.

A feminine voice responds from the other side of the line spouting some shite about a tailor shop and for christ’s sake, this number was how old? He should’ve known better than to ring someone after seventeen years with how the world has come to adopt new technology at the alarming rate that humans do everything. The bird is still rambling on about location and scheduling.

“Oxfords, not brogues.” He whispers it. Cringes at his idiocy before hanging up. He swipes off his cap and his other hand rubs down his face as the rest of his body loses all tension like a puppet with cut strings. His head falls back to stare at the white buzz of the lights above him. He should’ve called his mum.

“Dammit!”

---

“Lancelot, I have an extraction for you.”

“Kind of in the middle of an argument, Merlin,” a bullet collides into the wall where her head was not five seconds ago. “Might I remind you that you were the one to send me- pardon-”

Merlin watches the feed on his screen as Lancelot deftly ducks the arm that whipped out behind the hallway corner she was to pass. The video jots around as his agent incapacitates a man almost twice her size.

“-into this prick measuring feud between the Gibson brothers. Bloody skirt suits. I’m getting Excalibur to tailor me an abundance of trousers when I get back, see that I won’t.” She’s speed-walking down the corridor, glock out in front of her. “Now what are you on about an extraction? I thought Tristan’s team was handling all PASIV cases.”

“Not that kind of extraction.” Though it might actually be. His eyes glide over to the screen to his left. A photograph of a young man, details in black and green. A flag on this particular file had brought it to his attention after being opened for edits at a station in South London along with a low-voiced recording on the shop’s line. He’s done the obligatory digging, of course, after it had appeared on his screen. There was an attached video log from the CCTV of the boy finessing a bright yellow sports car through busy streets, backwards. Nose-to-nose with the yard. Although quite impressive, Merlin was more intrigued by the encrypted file from the man’s time in the Royal Navy. Classified. Detailing an unique reaction to certain training.

“He used Galahad’s code phrase for family in trouble.”

“Galahad’s M.I.A., and sir, both of us know he doesn’t have family.”

“Exactly. I’ll email you his location and your flight details. Please report to HQ by o-eight-hundred hours tomorrow morning.”

“Make it first class and I’ll have him in-tow by o-seven-hundred.”

It’s been five years, but I still have a hard time coming to terms with the relationship between the PASIV Device, Somnacin, and Shared Dreams. “Portable Autonomous Somnacin Intravenous” Device is straightforward enough -- the machine administers the Somnacin/derivatives/generics, and these drugs must theoretically do all the heavy-lifting in facilitating shared dreaming. Somehow. My pet-theory (since Christopher Nolan seems to hand-wave the entire topic) is that the fluid triggers close-range telepathy. (The PASIV’s wires are only 12-feet long, so perhaps at a distance any greater than 24-feet the telepathic connection between two sleepers becomes very tenuous or impossible?) But the PASIV is nothing more than a sexy IV drip. This ubiquitous and iconic item in the film is simply a means of keeping everyone equally drugged for the duration of the job and preventing overdose. 

The first feature listed in the official PASIV Manual is this:

“Configurable control settings for the accurate monitoring and adjustment of Somnacin dosage levels.”

It’s the ‘configurable’ bit that puzzles me. The heart of the device -- the LED timer and the synchronized injection piston -- is not explained particularly well. 

The instructions -- 

“Adjust the dosage level by pressing either of the two white buttons on either side of the LED display. Dosages are automatically converted from flow rate (mL/hr) to practical time”

-- suggest that these buttons cannot increase how many mL of fluid per hour are given, only the duration for which it will be administered. No one can get a ‘stronger dose’, they can only be kept under longer by increasing the time on the LED timer. 

There would not appear to be any means of tampering with the flow rate... except for the Synchronization Monitoring Chip (M in the diagram):

“The chip monitors and automatically adjusts flow output at registered levels. Monitoring chips can be removed and attuned off-unit.”

This chip would presumably allow Arthur a trained engineer to up the dosage by allowing more somnacin to be injected over the course of a job. The chip looks pretty stuck in there to me, as if it is installed with specific factory settings. There doesn’t seem to be a way of tampering with the settings directly on the device; one would probably have to unscrew the cover, remove the chip, and use a computer program to modify the flow amount for a specific compound.  

I can’t imagine many reasons for doing this, assuming there is a recommended flow rate for standard-issue Somnacin when it is administered in the suggested setting, i.e. reclined position, dimmed lights, quiet space and/or the use of earplugs; if one is not administering the drug in ideal conditions, strengthening the dosage might increase stability (to a degree, of course, before people start slipping into comas). With Somnacin knock-offs and derivatives, however, there is probably a greater need to fiddle with the flow rate, as these fluids might need to be administered in different amounts. 

As a side note, I love how the PASIV comes with this: 

That means there are definitely enough knock-off brands of the stuff floating around out there in the underground dreamshare world for the organization/military body which designs (designed?) PASIV devices to officially caution using them. But again, the discussion of Somnacin is for another post. 

“C” on LJ has a great post about the job potential and history of dreamshare, and I really like their theory that there are very few original PASIV devices in existence, and Arthur possesses (read: stole) one of them. I think Cobb probably has one too. As for the knockoff devices, the only thing separating them from the originals is probably something like the durable nanocomposite polymer case, which is probably really expensive and isn’t readily manufactured (but I’m no chemist) -- that and the über-cool collection value of the originals :P 

It should also be noted that removal from the PASIV does not necessarily bring a person out of the dream/back to consciousness. During the Cobol Job, Arthur does a lot of fiddling with the PASIV to keep Saito under, making the device seem unnecessarily crucial to the continuance of the shared dream -- but really Arthur could have just stabbed Saito with a syringe of somnacin to achieve the same temporary effect, assuming he knew what amount to administer safely. According to the Shooting Script, as they are ditching the train compartment: 

“Arthur: I can keep him [Saito] under for one minute — ARTHUR HITS A BUTTON — A PLUNGER DEPRESSES. COBB RIPS THE TAPE OFF SAITO’S WRISTS, ROLLS UP HIS TUBES.” 

*rolling*