Further than Before- Pathway to the Stars

by Matthew Opdyke

  “You are correct, Vesha. We are at the Pathway Campuses, but I didn’t tell you that we are deep within the Earth, about fifty miles down, but as safe as can be. I also didn’t tell you I am currently the Leader and President of Pathway since Eliza is serving in the Senate. She is the leader of the Universal Party and is still connected with us via her neural link. She would visit us right now, but she is currently in deliberation at the Senate. Even though it is a holiday and two years exactly from the day you passed away. Eliza wanted to be here, but the Senate had some work that needed to be done, regardless, so her link is on but dampened right now. She honestly would have been here if she could have helped it, but I am here, plus I am sure you know by now that I, like she, was just as excited to see my dear and brilliant friend!

  “We’d been working with your physiological and neurological aspects for a long time, to the point of which we had on multiple occasions triggered every possible and conceivable physiological response before waking you, and when all responses seemed to ensure perfection, we activated your mind. We also did so with you in a replica of your domicile at the Princeton Assisted Living center, with quite a few minor adjustments to get you thinking, which you did, and successfully I might add. As you began to awake, I started knocking on your door. Remember the neuro-transceivers and software applications we installed on all of our phones at Pathway several years ago?”

  “Oh, yes, I do recall that now. It’s coming back to me. Since I’m new to the neuro nanos, my guess is that I get a little confused as they are running and linking my newly-discovered abilities and use them.” Vesha then explained with the newfound clarity her gifted mind had bequeathed her with, “You were able to gather my final moments, all of my brain activity, and even capture my sense of self, using what Eliza’s technology had been set up to do, with Pathway’s crew of scientists?”

  Impressed with Vesha’s returning sense of short-term memory, navigating away from the signs of dementia that had taken her away from the world, and pleased with her increasing abilities toward critical thinking, as her nanos clearly indicated, Yesha continued for Vesha and went into more detail, “In fact we did.

  “The moment you passed away we were all notified via our neural links, and at the same time your last moments of thought, as well as the rest of your physiological and neurological information, were backed up and automatically sent to Pathway’s Twelve Database Moons. As this happened, the Twelve Database Moons essentially sounded off like an alarm in our minds, and we received all of your final and complete bits of information—your thoughts, your memories, your hopes, your dreams, your knowledge, your biological construct, your wisdom, and of course your moments with Sky.

  “We then synced all of your information, including your actual consciousness, to a lifeless mold of you that we had synthesized based upon an optimized form of your own DNA, similar to the way in which we each had previously data-based our DNA when we began Pathway eight years ago.

  “The body you are in now, not long ago, while we were working on you, had been imbued with nano-technology and was constantly checked, optimized, and improved upon in an anesthetized and “off” state, save for the cells themselves which communicated their necessary functions. Just as we had previously agreed upon, we were able to complete every aspect of you in two years.

  “Knowing how this is done now, we will now be able to do this for anyone else in a matter of a few minutes. Since you were the first to be reawakened after passing away, we took our time, ran every diagnostic, and did every check. We developed a systematic set of procedures for this same sort of resurrection in the future, depending on how all of this goes through.

  “When everything was ready, we activated the opsin-nano-neural-links and turned you on. Thus far, everything has gone splendidly.” Yesha smiled, noticing Vesha’s mind was grasping all that she was explaining, “I’m proud of you, Vesha. You are understanding and picking up everything quicker than the rest of us did,” she continued, “You woke up with full control of your body. You also have naturally expected and automated responses, like breathing, which is no longer necessary, but we still use that function to keep the public from suspecting such, or getting creeped out, among other things. For you, a second had passed as if nothing had happened, for us it’d been exactly two years.

  “Even though Eliza had just become a US Congressional Representative for our beloved state of Massachusetts, she, who had been very close, and I worked to optimize you and bring you back for quite some time. For a couple of years, to be exact, and together with Amber Blythe, Erin Carter, Najem Grace, Jasmine Belle, James Cooper, and other dear friends of Pathway, to include Eliza and me, we were able to optimize your DNA, and now you have these results, right before your eyes.

  “Eliza would have been here too, today, but as you already know, she is currently dealing with pressing issues in the Senate, as well as with the Press and the established scientific communities. Everything seems to be pretty well locked-down though. Everyone that can be here, who was involved with this entire process or any part of it, is here now, but out of view—since we didn’t want to overwhelm you with too many changes or oddities at once. I was unanimously voted to awaken you, but of course, you know I already wanted to. Nevertheless, the Pathway community is observing our interactions and has been working closely with us tracking your progress intently and so far, you are doing phenomenally.

  “This is your body, and as I have already suggested, and you seem to understand, you have both neuro and bio nanos roaming throughout your system. They are continually taking free radicals, bio-waste, dead cells, and harmful debris and converting them into useful proteins, cellular constructs, optimized organisms, max-capacity neurons, and providing the ideal fluctuation of energy for optimal use of your mind and body. They stand at the ready, should anything catastrophic ever occur, to heal you to complete and full health and memory.

  “Your corpus callosum, prefrontal cortex, as well as all of your other cortices and deep brain regions, are actually interfaced by using your neuro-nanos to act as a transceiver. This allows your mind to send thoughts, ideas, dreams, memories, the whole gamut, wirelessly between every aspect of you and our Twelve Database Moons, enabling you to communicate and so much more with anyone you wish to link with, if they have been optimized and trained in the Virtual Universe.

  “Since you recently reawakened, I currently have complete access to your neural activity, until you have completed your training for the sake of the safety and security of all involved including yourself. With so much going on, we didn’t want to risk serious anomalies.”

  When Vesha heard this, she was slightly alarmed, yet she didn’t feel too embarrassed. She examined the thoughts she had allowed to pass through her mind and sensed that all was okay with everyone and even Yesha.

  “Don’t worry, you’re quite okay, and the feelings of gratitude are mutual in every sense. Get used to being flirted with it though, since we’ll both have an ultra-attractive effect on people for the foreseeable future, and it is a nice perk,” Yesha continued, to put her at ease. Every word she said flourished with purity.

  “Encrypted within your unique neural code is the ability to control what you share with others, it also serves to allow us to currently monitor you with your own unique identification since you were only recently revived. This also provides Pathway your vital signs, all while it actually protects your privacy. It gives you access to the locations within our organization and throughout the solar system using jump gates and teleportation, as well as to the different matrices within the Virtual Universe. It allows you to learn as much as you’d like, to gain associated experience and upgrade—as upgrades become available.

  “When you’re ready, we can sync up to the Matrices and go to the Virtual Universe. From there we can share a journey through Eliza’s life as well as the lives and experiences of a few other individuals critical to the growth of Pathway. We’ll do this so you can have a more complete understanding of
what it is that has happened while you were otherwise engaged and away. You’ll learn what led to all of this in the first place, as well as what is planned for the future.”

  Vesha thought about all that Yesha had explained for a few brief seconds, and she approved of every aspect of her transition, had no problem if James or other scientists caught a glimpse during the process, and accepted her new reality. Vesha was excited to explore the Virtual Universe. First, however, she was curious about the possibilities of exploring the real world in her new body, “Would you be bothered if we went for a stroll out in public, first? You know, to stretch the muscles and capture the sites and the sounds? Unless you have objections or other plans, I wouldn’t mind showing off.”

  Yesha smiled, was proud of her newfound confidence, then stood, looked down, tapped her foot, and waited for Vesha’s next response.

  Vesha was willing to follow Yesha’s guidance, and Yesha knew it. Vesha considered everything. Yesha was probably already well-versed on what was going on and had conveyed this in more ways than one.

  The advancements, the legalities, the so-called ethical concerns prevalent in society and governance, which had nothing to do with ethics whatsoever, and well, she had essentially just resurrected her after all. It was most likely that all of this was still covert, but legitimate, so she was willing to press on with her request. Plus, she kind of looked at Yesha as sort of her own young and beautiful guardian angel with an additionally kindred spirit-like overtone. “I understand, Yesha. When can we go to the Virtual Universe for my training?”

  “Follow me,” said Yesha, with a pleasant sense of approval and happiness. Then Vesha felt something in her mind, and knew it was Yesha who seemed to say, “Open.”

  Yesha led her down the hallway of her home to a door that she hadn’t realized was there before—the corridor had pretty much been a dead end beyond her bedroom and bathroom, and then the door became unsealed and visible. Like that, it opened right before her eyes to reveal a very fascinating view of a room with a gentle white glow and another set of doors.

  Okay,” said Vesha, “I know that one of the additional optimizations we have is telepathy, if figured it out, you explained it when I forgot again, and then I recalled it all after my neuro nanos finished updating my capacities as it related to my upgrades, but it appears we also have telekinesis. I’m still trying to grasp the reality of it.” Vesha thought for a second, felt the upgrade work its way through her system, and then continued, “Sweet deal! I suppose we only have telekinesis, for now, with things that are programmed to pick up our neural identification and then our telepathic orders. You and Eliza had a lot more figured out than I realized, I mean, look at you… you are mind-numbingly gorgeous and ultra-intelligent!”

  “Yes, Vesha, I was optimized, or we, I and Eliza, optimized ourselves the day we were one-hundred percent sure this technology was spot on. We didn’t want to take the risk that would have come with the loss of the technology, nor did we want to be weak in the face of any of those who might suggest we do otherwise. She set hers ten years ago to maintain a static age of twenty-two, even though she is currently thirty-eight, but she did so in a way that wouldn’t be obvious, and I have been a static age for quite a few years. People still haven’t caught on to the fact that we’re no spring chickens, per-say, but I still look like I did when I was twenty-five, and I’m forty-one.” Yesha noticed that Vesha was still kind of looking around with a bemused air of wonder, her ears and neck cocked to pick up the audio transmission sent by voice, but she was catching on quickly, and she smiled.

  Despite Vesha’s disbelief, Yesha could tell that she was capable of perceiving what she was telling her mentally. That ability took many others quite a bit longer to practice and achieve. In many cases, a few hours of practice in the Virtual Universe was almost required, and Vesha hadn’t even been there yet—she was actually pretty quick, all things considered.

  “Were you able to hear me?” asked Yesha, “I know you were going to ask. I know there has been a lot loaded upon you all at once. Even with an optimized mind, things take practice, study, and more practice to perfect and retain. Yes, I can actually link up wirelessly to your mind as we stand or walk or even chat, and I can pick up on a few other things; as per our Pathway honorary member contract, once we’ve each been optimized we can link up to each other and converse—as you say, telepathically. I was telling you that earlier. Do you believe me now?”

  “Yes, of course, I believe you, Yesha. So, how do I talk to you like that?” asked Vesha.

  “Well, you actually have on three occasions already, and I’m sure you’ll recall that soon enough. But, it will be easier to show you more clearly once we have entered the Virtual Universe or the matrices—and don’t worry, Eliza had to show me in the Virtual Universe too.

  “No one thus far has picked up on telepathy near as fast as you have. Everyone else found out how to, well after they were in the matrices, and we’re just getting ready to go there. That said, it is okay that they took longer because it takes a while to consciously connect with those regions of the brain, but again, you are unique in a wonderful way,” said Yesha.

  “Okay,” Yesha pointed down the hallway, “Open,” and she continued through the other set of doors, after the final set opened before her, “This smart door, right here, activates when we issue the command ‘open,’ within our minds. It takes a while to be familiar with all of the commands and how to control the different areas of the brain. In this case, we use the prefrontal cortex at a subconscious level, which is said to be virtually impossible. That’s why we need to go into the Virtual Universe via the biopods, which are located in that room, for training.

  “The reprogrammable matter technology within the infrastructure of the Pathway Melrose Campuses allows the doors to become visible as we interact with our neuro nanos. Our neural activity and the security system transceivers near the doors open when we issue the command, ‘open.’ We do that subconsciously while directing our thoughts to the door, which is designed with smart technology, and when we do, they will open upon instant neural identification recognition.”

  Yesha continued, “Through these doors are our biopods. This is your Earth domicile, and we each have several biopods in our homes. These biopods allow us to be in a sleep-like state, while we’re synced-in with the matrices in the Virtual Universe. Having a few of them in our home affords a few friends to come along with us for a shared experience. A biopod gives any individual within them an added set of safety, security, and protection protocols while we are ‘away’ or ‘out’ and they also give our physiology a bit of a break.

  “We can link to the Matrices standing, walking, or traveling in any manner as well, but it is safest to use the biopods, so we don’t run into things or make spectacles of ourselves. Furthermore, our biopods interact with our nanos, stimulate our senses and tactile responses, and give us a real sense of doing what we do there and being where we are, virtually giving us muscle memory, all the while keeping us optimized both physiologically and neurologically. In a beautiful sense of difference to the surreal nature and residual forgetting of a dream before our neurological and physiological optimizations, now that we are enhanced we will be able to remember everything.”

  Vesha finally grasped what she had been through during her awakening, began to understand in-depth what she was seeing, and quickly made sense of what she was hearing. Her neuro nanos were kicking into high gear with their seamless processes of optimizing her mind, and everything seemed to have a profound ability to make sense on so many levels.

  Finally finding her mind give way to a new sense of clarity of her past, Vesha spoke, “I remember now like it was yesterday. Eliza talked about all of this when she was giving her first Pathway Industries convention speech in 2012, and she said something about how each of these technologies was involved in one way or another.

  “I don’t think that I was part of Pathway for very long after that before my dementia started kicking into
high gear. But, I do recall you were at my dear Jillian’s funeral. You paid your respects and offered me consolation, so I thank you for that.” Vesha paused in thought for a small moment, “All of those technologies were actually developed by you and Eliza. They were confirmed and improved through Pathway, and they are currently ready for proliferation worldwide yet remain on standby and only in use by Pathway members until legalities are right. These are the biopods, right here—each of which works as a secure Virtual Universe interface?”

  Vesha looked at what she saw with awe and then continued, but this time she seemed to discover that it was easy to mentally flex her neural cortices and grasped how to telepathically speak to Yesha, “I’ve got this Yesha. The two white beds with hard-shelled covers that are spacious enough to lie on, and have doors that can be brought down manually, or most likely using a mental command to enclose them, help to provide our physiology and neurology additional optimizations, safety, and security while our minds are interfaced elsewhere.”

  “Oh yes, and so much more,” Yesha responded, while actually quite impressed. “Here, take a seat and lay down. Once you are comfortably settled in and ready for the cover to enclose you, pull the cover down and think the words, Link 1, 2, 3.” Vesha heard Yesha’s command as clear as day but in her mind. After issuing that command, the hardcover closed over her. She knew that Yesha had telepathically commanded her biopod cover to shut, and that had registered to her own mind from within Yesha’s. Just as Yesha had explained before, she had temporary control over Vesha’s neural links because she was in training. Vesha then concentrated, focused on her mind again, her mouth, her words, and felt them all unite.

  “Can you hear me, Yesha?”

  “Yes, I can,” Yesha thought, with a smile of approval on her face, unseen by Vesha’s physical eyes, but seen as plain as day within her mind, plus she could hear the assuring, gracious, giddy, and comforting tone of her mental voice. “You’re a quick learner, Vesha. No one has learned this fast, well, except Eliza. She showed me how to in the Matrices.