by Craig Boldy
“That’s the face I remember from my dream!”
“It wasn’t actually a dream. You had somehow managed to access the tech in your brain and had taken over control. Let me introduce you to Private Jeremy Hanson; US Army Marine Core." Sutton stopped the nurse pushing the table and pulled it closer as he gestured towards the man. "Officially he died in a car accident a few weeks ago, but unofficially he is our test volunteer. We have to keep him alive with the ventilator, as he is essentially brain dead. He is going to be our test subject while we bring you up to speed."
"Isn't that a bit immoral?" I asked.
"Not at all! You have a perfectly good brain without the use of your body, and he has a perfectly good body but no use of the brain.” Sutton made it sound like he was playing with dolls; one had a broken part, so all he had to do was take it from another. "I have to admit I thought it would take weeks for you to be capable of taking control of the host. I had a full regimen of tests and games designed to tune your brain to the technology. All a little bit pointless now, oh well, C'est la vie."
He looked a little downhearted, and Filch filled the momentary silence, "We didn’t think that you would be able to take control without being hooked up to the amplifier; however it seems that close proximity affords you the ability to forego the amplifier. It’s amazing the things the human brain can accomplish.”
“Don’t worry,” said Wilson, “We are going to do our first real test in a moment. We will get you hooked up to the machine and take you through the necessary steps to take control of Private Hanson. We need to calibrate the signals to make sure your fine motor skills and reflexes are as sharp as if it were your own body.”
"Hold on a second. You’ve taken all this time to explain everything to me, but nobody has mentioned what happens with my memories. When I 'took control', as you call it, I could remember things that had never happened to me."
"That is one of the unintended. . ." Filch started.
"But great!" Wilson cut in.
Filch cut him a look for interrupting her. "Consequence of the technology. You actually had access to the memories and experiences of the host’s brain. You can’t remember them now because you will only retain what is in the short term memory of the host. To make sure it stays undetected the nanotech makes the host’s brain incapable of turning short-term memories into long-term memories, thereby stopping the host from being able to remember anything that has happened once you take control.
As part of this process, it gives you access to the host’s long-term memories without actually affecting them. You don’t retain this information as the transmitter in your brain has a minimal ability to receive information and the long-term memories contain just too much data, so all you retain, when you come back, is the short-term memory of the host.”
Despite the explanations provided, I was still struggling to comprehend the vast amount of science and technology required to pull off what they were capable of.
They continued to wheel me up to the structure and onto a small elevator. I heard the click of the brakes being put on my bed just as we started to ascend. As smooth as the elevator was, the bed still shook slightly. Once at the top, we wheeled over to the centre of the platform, directly under the cone. From up close it reminded me of a shuttlecock, albeit a huge one.
Filch was standing at one of the consoles at the side of the platform, tablet in one hand while she tapped on the control screen with the other, probably making last minute adjustments. She seemed to nod in satisfaction and then turned to walk over to me. “We don’t know exactly what the process of you transferring will feel like for you. We know it won’t be painful as there are no pain receptors in the brain, but that being said, we don’t know exactly how the host body will react to the intrusion. A strong mind might fight back. We have only been able to test it on Hanson, and he isn’t capable of fighting back. However, you will feel everything the host body feels as if it is your own body. Take care to remember that.”
“Thanks for the warning. I had pain in my head, or at least his head when I took control before. Is that going to happen again?”
“No. That was due to the way in which you took control. Without the amplifier, the signal was so weak that the nanotech was overworking to detect the signal. They overheat if worked too hard. It makes the brain swell up. It would have killed him if we hadn’t realised what was going on and managed to sever the connection.”
Had I been capable I would have shuddered at that thought; millions of microscopic robots generating their own heat inside a human brain to the point where it just goes pop. At this point, I was glad I had the transmitter in my head rather than the nanotech receivers.
“OK, we think that the best way for you to be able to access the technology is to go into a meditative state. We’ve got a few mental exercises which should put your brain into the necessary state.”
They talked me through the meditation exercises as they applied the various different electrodes to my body. I expected something more invasive, but the proximity to the machine was enough. It took me a few attempts to get into the right frame of mind. The process was almost like trying to fall asleep. I laid there with my eyes closed for what felt like a long time before I found that I was just drifting on the edge of sleep. I heard the electric hum of the junction boxes underneath me begin to grow, and suddenly I felt something; right on the edge. I don’t know whether it was my brain providing me with a way to interact with the technology or whether this was what was supposed to happen.
I could hear Filch’s voice, low and steady, telling me to imagine an empty corridor, to hold onto that image in my mind. That would be the interaction point between the network and me. The corridor would act as a mental 'no man's land'. I concentrated on the image as the darkness began to grow lighter as if a dim bulb were growing brighter and brighter.
Eventually, the light grew brilliant, hurting my eyes, except they were not my eyes. I tried to look down at my body, but as my perspective changed, all I could see was the floor. I looked left and right as the corridor Filch had mentioned started to take form, appearing from nothing and fading from hazy, transparency into solid walls. After a few moments, I saw a fully formed corridor; a blank wall behind me and a series of doors in front. To either side, the corridor disappeared into the distance, as if it extended forever.
I concentrated, and it seemed as if I took a step closer to the door, except I didn’t know whether I had moved closer to the door or the door had moved closer to me. It seemed to be made of a dull, brushed metal; those on either side were the same except the door in front was the only one with a handle. I attempted to reach out my hand to open it but the door opened on its own as soon as the thought had occurred.
It was dark inside the door. I had no perception of space in this place, and there was no sound to give me a clue as to whether the room beyond was cavernous or tiny.
A force I couldn’t see began to pull me towards the door and over the threshold. The door closed behind me as soundlessly as it opened, blocking off the light of the corridor and leaving me plunged in darkness. I wondered why I wasn’t afraid. I felt nothing, no fear, no excitement, no worry. As I waited, I could just make out on the very cusp of hearing a voice saying ‘system activated’.
A strange sensation filled me; I was getting bigger, expanding into the space around me. Small sounds I didn’t recognise surrounded me and I felt cool, not cold but not overly warm either. I could feel something cold and hard pressing uncomfortably against my back. Parts of my shoulder blades began to go numb.
I seemed to shift in space. In an instant, vertical became horizontal, and I realised the coldness pressing against my back was a metal table, and it was gravity’s constant relentlessness pushing my body weight onto it.
The first sensation I felt was the discomfort of the breathing tube being removed from my throat and the few small involuntary coughs which followed. I put the feeling aside as I revelled in the joy of being able to feel my
own body again.
I could feel my heartbeat and the gentle rhythm of my chest expanding and pulling air into my lungs and then compressing, expelling the air once again. I could feel my whole body, from the top of my scalp to the tips of my toes, even the slight throb of pain where I had stubbed it previously.
I took a chance and opened my eyes. They stung as they adjusted a little too slowly to the bright lights above. I tried to block out the light with my arms but felt them catch. I tilted my head forward to see what was stopping them and saw my arms and legs strapped to the table.
Then I noticed the leads and the machines around me, and the people in long white lab coats. “Just keep calm. You are strapped in to keep you safe while you adjust. Give us a few minutes to run some tests, and we will let you up.” I didn’t recognise the voice, but I gave up pulling on the restraints and began to tense muscles for the sheer thrill of it. I started with wiggling my toes. It felt great to be able to feel my toes again. My ankles came next; I flattened my feet and then lifted them again, rotated them a few times and then moved upwards. I squeezed my quads and buttocks before moving up and squeezing my stomach muscles. I took joy in each small movement.
One of the lab coats stepped up to the table and began to undo the restraints holding my right arm. Once it was free, I leaned across and undid those holding my left arm. I sat up to undo my feet and realised I could sit up unaided. I just bent in the middle, a perfect sit-up.
Once my legs were free, I swung them off the side of the table and stretched. God, it felt good to be able to stretch again. I tried to stand, but the doctor who had undone my first restraint put his hand on my shoulder to stop me and asked me to be patient a little while longer. He began to pop off the connections from my bare chest, each one pulling at the skin underneath. I shuddered a little at the small stings of the adhesive ripping hairs out and revelled in each one.
One of the medical team passed me a shirt, and I put it on clumsily, something else I had not done for a while. I sat for a few moments longer, swinging my legs at the edge of the table and looked around, watching the medical personnel as they buzzed around me. Once they all seemed appeased, one of them beckoned me towards the door. I stood up, a little unsteadily, and walked out of the medical bay, eager to begin.
∆∆∆
Chapter Four
We walked out of the medical bay and into another sectioned off area next-door and for the better part of two hours, they did reflex tests, shined lights in my eyes and had me hold my arms out and then bring each one back to touch my nose. I spent a large proportion of it throwing and catching various different sizes and shapes of objects to test my depth perception. I struggled a little at first, grasping either too early, too late or even missing altogether, but with each miss, they shouted numbers up to the platform. I guessed they were calibrating the machine; each time they threw the next object, it became easier to catch until eventually, I was catching more than I was dropping even if I still had to concentrate to move when I wanted. It wasn’t like being in my old body, before the accident, that is. Moving did not have the ease of second nature yet. Possibly, it was because I was out of practice or it was some side effect of the technology.
Wilson came over to me once the tests had finished, always with that half smile on his face. “You’ve done very well for your first official day, I know it won’t feel quite right yet, but they tell me that once you get used to the tech, you will feel like you are in full control and it won’t take as much concentration to get stuff done. That being said, I think the med bods have all the data they need for today, so I thought we could give you an hour or so to get used to the body on your own terms. Feel free to use any of the facilities on site but please remember we can’t let you out into the world yet.”
Possibilities overcame me. I had assumed once the tests were over I would just be going back to my own body to wait for the next round of tests. “I want to run. And swim. And eat.”
“OK, steady on now. Come with me, and we’ll get you set up in the gym.”
He put his hand on my shoulder to guide me out of the room, and we walked together out of the main room and along the corridors. He chattered small talk at me as we walked. I tuned him out as I concentrated on not falling flat on my face. I almost laughed when I remembered how easy it had been when I thought it was a dream. Now, in the cold light of day, I had to think about placing one foot in front of the other. It was surprising how quickly I had forgotten the nuances of how to walk.
The gym was not a substantial room but was certainly fit for purpose. A thin, single lane pool ran the width of the gym at the far end of the room; machines of various types filled the rest of the space. I spent most of that time split between running on the treadmill and swimming. I was amazed at how much I had missed swimming. The water was the perfect temperature and gave off that slightly chemically smell of chlorinated pools. I spent a little time floating on the surface, listening to the water gurgle in my ears before starting to swim; the feeling of moving through the water was bliss.
I was just getting ready to climb out of the pool for a final run when I saw Wilson through the large windows lining one wall of the pool. He knocked on the glass, pointed to his watch, and then made knife and fork eating actions at me through the glass. I couldn’t help but let out a short chortle at his actions, but I was certainly hungry. I dried myself off, threw on some clothes and joined him outside the gym. We walked to the cafeteria in relative silence as I enjoyed the feeling of the endorphins washing over me.
It was a simple affair, reminiscent of an office cafe; clean wooden tables with either two or four chairs next to them. The food counters were all along one wall, starting with a couple of chilled units sporting today’s selection of sandwiches, wraps and bottled drinks. Further along was a hot counter where great smelling food sat in tureens, ready for portioning out to those waiting in line. I breathed deep and took in those smells before taking a few steps towards the counter, my mouth watering the whole time.
I started with mashed potatoes. I could tell from the way they landed on my plate that they would be creamy and full of butter. I ladled over them copious amounts of beef stew, thick gravy and large chunks of meat and vegetables rolled down the mountain of mash like a small erupting volcano until the plate almost overran with food.
Wilson grabbed a sandwich and paid for both our trays before guiding me over to the table where Sutton and Filch sat. Their plates were stacked neatly to one side, ready for collection; from the smears of gravy remaining on the top plate, I could see that at least one of them ate the stew. I took the empty plate as a good review of the food and placed my own tray on the table. They were having a discussion over something, possibly me, which we interrupted as we sat down.
I tucked into the food while they discussed things with Wilson, grateful for the fact that I could eat without having to stop every few minutes to answer a question.
It didn’t take me long to finish my meal. Afterwards, I sat back in the chair and gave out an involuntary belch. I apologised immediately and sat there in a kind of happy food stupor for a few moments before they inevitably drew me into the conversation.
“I need to tell you about something serious.” Filch started, “There are a few rules you need to be made aware of. Firstly, there are two ways to get out of the body you are controlling, the easiest and most covert way would be to activate the return procedure. You need to feel at the back of your head. The nanotech’s programming is to set up a kind of off switch at the base of your host’s skull.” My hands immediately flew up to the back of my head, “Start at the bottom of your hairline and work upwards a few finger widths, just as you get to the skull you will feel a small bump, almost like cartilage. Press that and bingo, the tech shuts down, and you will be back in your own body.”
“Sounds simple enough. What’s the other way?” I said as I felt my stomach go to work on its contents.
“The death or destruction of your host body” Wilson c
ut in as he got up to go back to the counters.
“Ah,” It was obvious if you thought about it. “What happens if I get injured?”
“The host body will react exactly the same as you would expect your own body to react to things. You will feel the pain, however extreme that might be until you return to your own body.” Sutton said as he pulled an apple out of a bag he must have had on the floor and proceeded to cut it into segments
“And should the host be killed, you will return to your own body.” Filch cut in.
“Tell him the gruesome bit,” Wilson said as he returned with two bars of chocolate, putting one in front of me as he sat down.
“I was getting to that. There has been evidence to suggest that the nanotech in the host body can run the body independently of the brain.”
I looked at them confused for a moment until I realised what they meant, “Are you telling me that if my host body gets shot in the head, I can keep going? That’s cool, and disgusting at the same time.”
“I can only imagine how it would feel for that to happen, but yes. Hypothetically, you could retain control of a host for as much as two minutes after the death of the host’s brain. I wouldn’t recommend it, and there are caveats. If the brain is totally destroyed or enough of the nanotech is damaged, then it wouldn’t work.”
Wilson’s watch began to beep as they chatted a little more and he shot me an apologetic look. “Sorry about this but your time’s up. We don’t want to put too much strain on the machines or your body for the first day. We will ramp it up to operational levels over the next few days and then do some real testing.”
I was intrigued but also very reluctant to go back to the prison of my own body. We strolled back to the main room, and I glanced up at my body on its bed on the platform. The machines gave no outward sign of what they were performing other than the low, gentle hum of the capacitors. I had to admit to myself that I was a little disappointed; I'd had visions of those old Frankenstein movies where there would be electricity jumping from place to place and a few people laughing maniacally in the background.