by LEMPEREUR
“They’re asleep. I stayed with you tonight to watch you both sleeping and then suddenly, at around two a. m. this green light started flashing.”
“What time is it now?”
“2:15 am. I didn’t realize what it meant right away but then your brother started twitching. I alerted the medical team and they confirmed that Charlie’s brain activity was abnormal or, should I say, much too normal, as if he wasn’t connected to Victor’s brain anymore. They’re waiting for instructions from Francisco and Giuseppe. They’ve been informed and should be here any minute.”
Jacques was wide awake now. He could not take his eyes off his brother’s body, watching for the slightest sign that would show he was back among them again. He quickly noticed that Charlie was breathing much faster and more regularly than he had done for weeks. From time to time he seemed to twitch slightly and his fingers moved but Jacques could not tell if the movements were voluntary or not.
“You see? He seems to be moving.”
“Are you sure it’s not just another seizure? Maybe he’s going to have another epileptic fit.”
“No, Jacques. It’s totally different this time. He’s waking up. You should try and talk to him telepathically. He might not be fully conscious of his own state yet. It could help him to root himself more fully in reality before Francisco gives the order to disconnect him physically.”
Jacques did not reply. He was already concentrating on trying to make contact with his brother again for the first time in over two weeks. It had been two long weeks out of the total five since the beginning of the connection.
“Charlie, it’s me – Jacques! Are you okay?”
He and Mario stared fixedly at the console screen, hoping to see a line of words and sentences appear again as it had when they had made contact before, but nothing came. Jacques tried again several times, until he felt Charlie’s hand grab his arm. Jumping in fright, at first Jacques recoiled, but then he seized his brother’s hand and squeezed it with all his might. He turned to him again, taking his eyes off the screen which, despite its purpose, had symbolized their separation over the past five, long weeks of waiting. Those weeks had seemed interminable; the anxiety and fear of losing him had been so strong. Several times he had thought he would never see his brother again. They had both come close to dying here, deep in an undersea cave, surrounded by people they hardly knew. Jacques had prepared himself for the worst and had almost been ready to accept it in the end. After all, they did not have much to lose, he would sometimes tell himself, but he had never given up hope, all the same. He could not bring himself to. He, too, was physically and emotionally run down. He had lost a lot of weight and felt weaker every day, but he knew that Charlie, for his part, had fought without ever giving up, despite the repeated warning signs his exhausted body had sent him. Over these five weeks he had been feeling his way; lost but never abandoned; on the verge of madness in an elusive, immaterial world. Of course, it was Charlie who had done the hardest part, but perhaps it was not the most thankless task, after all. Five weeks of lying on a hospital bed; five weeks of anxiety, boredom and doubt; that was what Jacques had been through. He had promised to watch over Charlie and be there for him as far as he could, and so he had done.
And now Charlie was back. The white helmet that housed the neural probe was all that still separated them, until Francisco and his team could disconnect his brain from Victor’s. Then, and only then, could Jacques hope to find him as he had left him before this dark adventure began. Would he be the same or would he be scarred by the experience? Jacques knew his brother was psychologically fragile. He had been there for him in the past when he had experienced the desert. He had supported him as best he could and they had pulled through. All these thoughts jumbled around in his mind as he held Charlie’s hand firmly in his own. He tried to make contact with him again telepathically, hoping Charlie would reply using the neural probe, but the response came through slight pressure of his fingertips in the palm of Jacques’ hand. Charlie obviously could not use the neural probe anymore. Maybe it had been damaged or disconnected during the violent epileptic seizure that had nearly killed him. The fact that he was trying to answer his questions reassured Jacques, who quickly told Mario, sitting nearby with a grave face.
“He can hear me! He probably can’t use the neural probe anymore but he’s just signaled to me by moving his hand slightly.”
“Are you sure, Jacques?”
“He’s my brother, Mario!”
The two men looked at each other and Mario’s face finally relaxed in response to Jacques’ smile. He smiled back, full of compassion and fondness at the sight of Jacques’ eyes alight with happiness.
A few moments later, the door opened and Francisco hurried in. He was followed closely by Giuseppe and a crowd of technicians. Jacques and Mario watched as Francisco approached them, his expression more closed than ever. He did not meet their eyes, even briefly. He hurried to the console and began tapping away on it frantically, trying to find a rational explanation for what had just happened. It only took him a moment and then he looked up at Mario just long enough to ask him a single question: “Did you do anything?”
“No!” he replied. “He woke up on his own.”
Francisco looked down again as he turned towards Giuseppe, who had just joined them.
“Giuseppe, he’s woken up. It’s impossible but I’ve checked everything and there’s no doubt. We must remove the neural probe as quickly as possible. His brain will not be able to cope with a foreign body much longer.”
“Okay, Francisco, do what you have to do. Well, my friends, we have finally succeeded!” Giuseppe said suddenly, in the warm, reassuring tone he so liked to use. “You see, Jacques, everything worked out okay in the end. We had a few big scares, I’ll give you that, but it was all worth the risk, I can assure you. I’m sure he will be able to tell us a lot about Victor. Nobody else but you two would have been capable of such an achievement. You see, Mario! Once again, I was right to trust Francisco. He’s never wrong. He has proved himself again. You knew he would, didn’t you?”
But Mario did not answer, choosing instead to let Giuseppe hear for himself just how inappropriate this sudden, premature declaration of victory sounded. The elderly man’s smile suddenly faded, and he spoke again in a much calmer tone, looking at Jacques, who was still gripping Charlie’s hand tightly.
“Don’t worry, Jacques. He’s fine. Our technicians have already minutely examined all the information transmitted by the physiological and cerebral captors that we implanted in him. They are categorical: his brain function is not damaged. Your brother will pull through without serious harm. We just need to disconnect the neural probe and take off the helmet. Then you will be able to speak with him directly. Francisco and his team are already working on it, but it will take several hours for them to take out the neural bridge and reconnect the cranial calotte. After that, we must not rush things. Charlie will need to keep lying down for several more days while he recuperates. I know it must seem long to you and you cannot wait to get out of this bed that has held you down for over a month now, but we will make sure you do not lack anything, won’t we, Mario?” he asked, with a warning look that conveyed both suspicion and the assertiveness of a man aware of his own authority.
“Yes, of course!” replied Mario, forcing a smile to show his submission to the man who was his hierarchical superior, after all. He was a superior who, although he could seem jovial and close to his subordinates at times, was nevertheless one of the top officials on this military base.
30 DISTRUST
Since Charlie’s return, almost a week earlier, only Clementine had been allowed to visit the small medially equipped room where the twins were convalescing. Giuseppe came in once a day to make sure everything was okay but, curiously, he did not ask Charlie about his experiences in the connection. He settled for an update on his health, both physical and mental. Several times a day technicians came to perform a whole raft of examinations and
various tests of on him, checking that his sensorial and cognitive functions had not been majorly altered during the connection. This mainly worried Jacques. He badgered them with questions, trying to find out what the results of all those tests really meant. Charlie, on the other hand, did not seem concerned. He was just anxious to be done with his re-habilitation exercises so he could finally escape the physical inactivity he had endured for so long now.
Then, one morning Giuseppe did not show up at the usual time. Instead, it was Mario who came, accompanied by Clementine. Charlie was pleased to see him again and the two men hugged each other warmly. He was not at all jealous of the relationship Mario might have with Clementine anymore. Actually, he did not really know anything about it. He had not even broached the subject with Jacques over the past week, although they had done a lot of talking together. For the time being, Emma seemed to have partially eclipsed the almost obsessive fascination he had previously held for Clementine. He certainly still looked forward to her visits, but not with the same apprehension and ardor as before. Of course this sort of change did not show up on any of the tests he underwent daily, but Jacques noticed it. He had noticed several changes in Charlie’s personality after the first few hours.
For now, he was just observing him, distancing himself a little from the one he had built thirty-five years of his life with. He could not say why, but he felt distrustful toward Charlie; the sort of distrust that partners or childhood friends experience when they have been apart for too long; the fear of not being able to able to share together the way they always have, simply because one has lived a part of his life without the other. There was another entirely different feeling contributing to Jacques’ reserve: jealousy. In a way, Charlie had been living life on his own recently. His unique experience had thrust him into a privileged position. They were going to have to learn how to manage his new-found importance together, and in that respect, Jacques dreaded being reduced to playing second fiddle. The fragile balance of their relationship, that it had taken them so long to work out together, was being upset. They would now have to find a new balance, in the light of recent events.
Although Mario had seemed uptight when he entered the room, his facial expression had quickly relaxed. He seemed truly happy to see Charlie apart from lying down with his face covered by a helmet full of biotechnical and electronic technology. He could talk to him at last, even if he had been asked not to interfere with the official questioning. That was actually why he was here. His visit had been authorized only because Giuseppe thought he was the right person to take the twins to the interview. Apart from Clementine, he was the one they trusted the most. From the beginning they had established a rapport with him which had not escaped Giuseppe’s notice. If Mario had not come earlier, it was for precisely that reason. No one was allowed to speak at length with Charlie before the interview and especially not someone who knew nearly everything about the program developed by the bio-cybernetic research team. Of course it was different for Jacques, who could not be kept away anyway. Clementine, for her part, was not very talkative and Giuseppe scarcely worried about her. Perhaps he was blinded by too much self-assurance or male chauvinism, but the elderly Italian gentleman could not see the pretty young woman as a threat capable of limiting full cooperation from Charlie and his brother. Anyway, Mario’s absence would have immediately aroused the twins’ suspicion, which meant keeping him away was not a viable option.
“Ah, Mario! I was wondering where you had been all this time. If Clementine hadn’t given me news of you, I would have started to think you’d gone back to Naples,” Charlie joked.
“No, Charlie, I wouldn’t have left without saying good bye to you. You will upset me if you keep talking like that!” Mario replied, deliberately exaggerating his accent. “But never mind that. I am happy to see you looking so well, full of energy again like you were when you volunteered for the experiment,” he said in a more serious tone.
“Yes, I’m back again, as you can see. I missed you all during my long journey but I have no regrets. The experience has changed my life profoundly and it may change yours, too.”
Mario would have liked to pick up on that last remark, but he knew that everything he said was being recorded, as was anything said by the twins or anyone else who entered this room. So he pretended he had not heard and brought up the purpose of his visit, instead.
“Actually, Charlie, I have been sent to take you to Giuseppe’s office right away for an interview with the research team. Now you’re better, they can’t wait for you to tell them all the details of your extraordinary journey. They are expecting you to provide them with a lot of information about Victor.”
Charlie had known the day would come when he would have to undergo this formal interview. He had been dreading the moment, but he had begun preparing himself for it even before leaving the connection. He could remember all his experiences quite clearly, probably because of the intense level of emotion involved in all he had done in that semi-virtual world. It was this aspect that had affected Charlie most of all and that was also one of the main reasons for the fundamental changes the unique experience had worked in him. Lastly, all he had learned about Victor and the existence of a humanoid species that had lived on Earth well before the appearance of Man, was a major contributing factor, too.
But there were many other elements that were likely to have contributed to the change in Charlie. To begin with, throughout his time in the connection he had been left to himself, in a hostile and unpredictable world – a rare experience which had also taught him a lot. Nevertheless, he had never been completely alone in his adventure. Indeed, apart from a few rare exceptions, he had always been accompanied by Victor and sometimes by Jacques, too, although in a very different way to any he had known before. Without them, he would surely not have made it, at least, not completely intact, as he was today. Others before him had paid a heavy price for having to deal with an emotionally charged experience that was too intense and unstructured for their minds to cope with, utterly on their own. No, what he meant by “left to himself” was that during adventure he had been physically separated from his brother. For the first time in his life he had been free use his body on his own – as virtual and foreign as that body may have been. He had been able to express himself without having to consider or tolerate Jacques’ whims and desires. He had felt that Victor’s or Emma’s estimation of him was very different to that he was used to encountering when he and Jacques turned out in force, making social contact with all the grace of a bull in a china shop.
Lastly, there were also the effects of convergence to take into consideration. Charlie was very aware that it had significantly influenced the changes to his personality. It was convergence that had mysteriously and profoundly modified his mind, even so far as increasing his psychological potential. Convergence had also strongly interfered in his relationship with Emma. That is, if one can have a relationship with a completely fabricated, virtual personality, temporarily given life – a fictitious life, since it had only ever been the product of a clever blend of Victor’s memories, and both of their desires and projections. All these things seemed to have worked together, sometimes merging into an inseparable, interminable network with pathways that extended deep into his brain.
Anyway, in a few moments he would be faced with a barrage of questions he would be unable to avoid. He did not know exactly how he was going to manage yet. He would have to make sure he did say too much, to avoid betraying Victor and to complete the mission he had entrusted to him. His current goal was to find the hidden part of the base and its research program. He had to find Victor’s wife, now, if she was still alive. If she was not, he would have to do everything in his power to find out what had happened to her before reporting to Victor. So Mario’s announcement was rather significant and Charlie’s happy, carefree mood left. His face suddenly fell and turning to his brother, he said quietly, “My dear Jacques, I think the time has come for us to get out of this room and back to r
eal life. What awaits us will probably not be much fun. I haven’t told you about any of the important things I learned in the connection yet, and that’s deliberate. You will understand the reason why in due time but for now, I just need you to trust me. As far as possible let me do the talking.”
Jacques looked at him in surprise. He had found it strange that Charlie had not been more forthcoming, but had not wanted to rush him, preferring to simply enjoy his company again. He had realized from the start that his brother was hiding something from him but had not questioned him about it any further. He knew that Charlie would tell him about it one day and had decided to give him space, assuming correctly that he had been through some difficult experiences during the connection.
A few moments later, they took their seats in the little car that was waiting for them on the dome’s plant-lined roadway. Charlie unconsciously expected to find one of the little hover cars he had had the opportunity to ride in twice while in the connection. He had quite pleasant memories of them and compared to those futuristic vehicles, the ordinary car that was parked in front of him now was poor competition. During the trip he watched, bemused, as the scenery passed by, looking very similar to what he had seen on the way to Emma’s pavilion. He smiled at the extremely low speed at which the small car travelled down the long road crossing the huge residential area. The engine growled like a live animal as it lurched over the bumps in the road’s irregular surface.
How different things were in the connection! Everything was easier and more comfortable. The hover cars were equipped with ultra-ergonomic white synthetic leather seats. They travelled without the slightest sound or vibration, and at a phenomenal speed, too. Even the very act of walking was more difficult here. Of course he was again hindered by the weight of a body which he partially shared with Jacques, but that was not the only reason for his discomfort. In a way, in the connection he had simply been able to imagine his movements. When necessary, he had even been able to traverse another person’s body or have someone do the same to him without anyone noticing. In short, everything was a lot simpler and more convenient, at least physically. Now, his rather rough, ill-fitting clothes were extremely tight in some places while being too loose in others. He legs were heavy and every step jarred him slightly, reverberating right through his skull. He had to make a considerable effort just to walk a few meters and was soon out of breath.