TU Delft researcher Chris Duif wrote a thriller about a megalomaniac research lab

‘Commuters usually shuffle from the train to their front door like zombies. Most seem to have mastered the art of non-interaction with their fellow passengers.’ That’s what journalist Eline thinks as she spies on a contact in the train. By this point, readers are in chapter 10 of ‘Scheuren in de Toekomst’ (Cracks in the Future), and the web of intrigue among the characters is tightening.

Reactor Institute Delft (RID) researcher Chris Duif (1958) has written a hefty thriller set in and around the private Starlab research institute, which is housed in a castle-like former hospital in a Brussels park. Duif himself worked there for seven months before moving to TU Delft in June 2001.

“It was a megalomaniac project,” Duif recalls. “Walter de Brouwer, the Belgian serial entrepreneur, had made a fortune with magazines and IT companies. He sold them in 1996 and used the proceeds to launch Starlab, a revolutionary private research lab. At its peak, it had 130 researchers from 36 different nationalities.”

The research agenda was broad, to say the least. I-Wear – clothing with built-in sensors – was a major topic, attracting investment from Adidas, Philips, and British Telecom. Biotechnology was also on the agenda, alongside neuroscience. The lab even recruited Russian physicist Serguei Krasnikov, who was researching time travel. One of his colleagues, Dick Bierman, later appeared on television (in Dutch) with his studies on premonition. Duif himself mainly worked on developing computer programmes to support research.

‘Some people will definitely recognise the characters’

The eccentric lab in its green surroundings is the setting for Duif’s thriller, in which young scientists and artists find themselves up against a criminal organisation – and the American secret service. The carefree lives of the Starlabbers come to an abrupt end when their colleague and hacker, Dario, disappears after a short holiday. He manages to reach them with coded messages – a desperate cry for help.

‘He was still gasping for breath when the steel door of his cell crashed open so hard it felt like his brain was splitting in two. A strip of light penetrated the room, burning his retinas. Eyes streaming, he looked up and saw the Slavic bodybuilder with the piggy eyes step into the light. The man stared down at him with a disgusted sneer.’ (Scheuren in de Toekomst, p.12)

“Some people will definitely recognise the characters,” Duif admits. “Take Norris Combs – a former staff member – will know exactly who that’s based on. And there’s someone else I turned into a real villain, but with a different name and nationality.”

Duif spent around 12 years working on his literary debut. At first the script had too many characters and not enough plot – restructuring it took time and focus. The Covid pandemic turned out to be the perfect opportunity to finish it.

Now, he’s tirelessly working on a sequel, featuring some of the same characters but set a few years later. “A different era, because it’s after 9/11,” he says.