NLI-10 (11 page)

“It was a sleep study?” asked Pete, a hazy memory forming in front of his mind's eye.

“Indeed. And you all did a marvellous job of it. Why don't you go get yourself some dinner...” she held the door open for the subjects, as all seven of them left the room.

Sitting round a table in the mess hall, none of them felt like eating.

'It's so weird.'
said Alex.
'I don't remember a thing about the test. I don't even remember falling asleep.'

'I guess that means we're great at sleep studies, huh?'
said Pete.

'Do you feel like you slept? I feel like shit.'
said Farah.

'I wouldn't worry about it, sure we'll get a great night's sleep tonight.'
said Liam.
The others were compelled to agree.

Marion Whark watched on her terminal as her subjects sat around their table and conversed through the Network, as if Liam had been with them from the beginning. Installing him in the group meant that she  was no longer able to keep track of the content of their discussions, but it didn't matter. The re-education was a success, and they had accepted him as one of their own with no immediate adverse side effects. If there was any further dissent, he would act as a calming influence, bring order to the group.

As she watched them shuffle through the hallway to the living quarters, she couldn't wait to take her toys out the box as the weeks went on, and fuck up their memories a little more.

Micah couldn't sleep. Even when he altered neurotransmitter levels to flood his brain with dopamine, it wasn't effective. He felt as if something in his subconscious was fighting the desire for rest. He double-checked hormone levels, projecting an article he had read years previous about the biological functions of sleep, and proceeded to regulate melatonin in the hope it might entrain his circadian rhythm as the paper described. When that didn't work, he started manually altering his blood pressure, to no avail. After hours of trying to fall asleep and failing, he gave up rewiring his biochemistry, and spent the night staring at the red LED shining out in the darkness under the A-Eye camera. Watching it as it watched him, waiting for the room lights to come on to signal a new day had dawned.

After a shower, the group sat around the table in the mess hall, all in good spirits. Micah was exhausted, but didn't want to display symptoms to his peers. He duplicated the neurotransmitter release from his memory of taking modafinil. As he knocked a coffee back, blocking the effects of the caffeine so as to not interfere with his biological tinkering, he was finally starting to feel awake again, and involved himself in the Network chatter that he had pushed to the background.

“How are we feeling this morning?' asked Whark, as she walked past the orderlies at the door, a genuine smile on her face.

“Fantastic!” said Liam. “Best sleep I've had since I got here. That firmware update worked a charm!”

The others concurred.

“I'm very glad to hear it. How do you feel about another day outside?”

“Sounds great!” said Alex. “I can't tell y'how much I've missed the sun on my skin.”

“This is Scotland, Ms Hartley.” Whark sneered. “You'll be lucky if you see a ray amongst the clouds. Do please finish up and follow the orderlies out as soon as you can.” she turned and headed to the door before the last word left her lips.

She didn't care for her toys up close, only wishing to play with them from the overpriced-yet-incredibly-comfortable chair in her office.

Twenty minutes later, the group were lined up above ground in the main stretch of the camp, where an army-style assault course had been created for them. They looked out over the tyres, barbed wire, mud pits and walls ahead whilst the nurse gave them instructions and a time limit. They had three minutes to get through the quarter-mile of obstacles. Without instruction, they oxygenated their blood to its fullest extent, and launched themselves at the course one by one. The targeting system put every foot down exactly at the centre of each tyre, and a macro had them crawling under the barbed wire with ease. At the wall, they redirected blood flow, increased strength in their legs to jump and kick off the wall to clamber up the ten foot peak. It was all coming so naturally to them, and as with their run down Buchanan Street, it felt like a joy to be operating their modifications at full speed. Next was a thirty foot rope that had to be climbed up to a tower of scaffolding, which further blood flow redirection and re-prioritising of strength had them climbing with their arms alone. Once at the top, they clambered down the other side of the tower to a forty foot long patch of sand. As they stepped onto it, hairs pricked up on the back of their necks, haptic feedback in their feet telling them where it was safe to step, as if a sixth sense was predicting buried objects in the ground. After the minefield, was a deep scaffolding tower that led to the finish line. Below were tree stumps laid out every ten feet, a scaffolding pole every five feet above them. They jumped to the first tree stump, then up to the bar and swung to the second stump, leaping again to the next bar along, sending their priorities of strength and agility back and forth between arms and legs.

By the time they had all arrived at the finish line it was obvious that three minutes was more than enough time, and they were sent through again with a time limit of two minutes. This time, they automated the entire path, recycled the experience of their first run through the obstacles to beat their previous times, and arrived just on the two minute mark. The nurse congratulated them, even though she knew they had all cheated.

“It's time for the stakes to be raised...” she said.

Now they would have ninety seconds, and new obstacles to avoid. She tapped her watch and the automated door on one of the cylindrical buildings opened of its own accord. A hum emanated from deep inside, that became a high pitched buzz, and in moments, twenty A-Eye drones flew out of the building, each taking up a place along the course.

“You have ninety seconds. Alex, you're up first... Go!”
Alex burst on to the track, reliving the second run, but forcing her body to move faster, increasing the automation speed. In her periphery, she saw a drone flying towards her from the left. While the macro was in control of her movements, she switched to hypersight. The drone's path became clear, as if moving in slow motion whilst darting through the course in real time. Taking control of her body, Alex leaped as it flew for her feet. Looking around for her next assailant, she concentrated on the sounds around her, siphoning out the noise of the world, the sounds of her own footsteps and breath hard in her chest, to hear just the buzzing. She dropped back down the wall as a drone flew right for her head, missing by only inches. A running jump had her back on course, reaching the top of the wall and coming off the other side when an impact came from behind, knocking her to the floor.

“You're out!” shouted the nurse, turning to the remaining six. “Always remember to keep an eye on your behinds, ok?”

They nodded.

“Pete, your turn. Go!”
Pete launched himself at the assault course, automation set as fast as it could go, whilst he looked around in hypersight for drones. The first came towards his head whilst he was at the tyres, and he assumed control, ducking before pouncing at the wall. He climbed up and peeked over, one hundred and sixty-five degrees of vision all in pinpoint clarity, two drones were coming towards him, but there was a sound from behind. He threw himself over the wall just as a drone flew towards him, reactivating automation and speeding past the two coming from the front. As he made his way up the rope, he resumed manual functions, swinging it left and right to avoid drones coming for his body, reaching the top of the scaffolding tower and avoiding a further two drones coming for his head from either side, only to be hit in the gut by another that had been hiding its presence amongst the noise of its brothers. Recovering from the collision, he rejoined the others.

“Pete learnt from Alex's mistakes, but made one of his own... Now remember, you're a team. If you work together, nothing can stop you! Liam, you're up!”
Liam pounced into the tyres, hypersight flaring. Whispers from the rest of the Network gave him intel on when to duck and weave out of the path of  oncoming assailants. Kicking up the wall, he rolled over it as a drone flew towards him, missing him by a hair's breadth. As he climbed up the rope, the drones swooped for him. Alex whispered through his mind, advising to use his feet to grab the rope beneath and swing it in the direction of his pursuers, knocking them out of the sky. He reached the peak and climbed down, obeying the guiding voices of his teammates to swing left and right on the scaffolding bars, pull his body up or drop to the level below as the drones became agitated and more aggressive. Landing at the minefield, he took over from the automation and projected a map for safe footfall, the rest of the group connecting to it and adding their observations. He jumped across it, grabbing handfuls of sand and throwing it at oncoming assailants his Network warned him of, gumming up their propellers and forcing them to crash or land. The final hurdle was ahead, he jumped and swung across the scaffolding, from stump to stump, kicking drones out of the sky until he landed at the finish line to cheers and applause from the group.

'Fuck yeah!'
Alex screamed across the Network.

'I could've done that...'
said Pete.

'You'll do it next time, buddy!'
said Liam, reassuringly.

“Well done everyone!” said the nurse. “Record time, Liam! Rob, think you can beat it?”
Rob said nothing, looking anxiously at the track ahead.

“Come on Rob, it's your turn.” she said, as he pursed his lips.

“I'm not feeling so good...” he said.

“Get the blood pumping, c'mon, you can do it!” she said.
He wasn't convinced.

'Come on Rob.
' said Liam, his words whispering through Rob's head.
'You can do this. It's not a competition, we're all a team! The best time of one of us is the best time for all of us. It's not about who's the winner, it's about kicking flying robots in the face!'
Rob tried to ignore that as Liam spoke, each word was accompanied by a thumping in his head, pain starting to wash across his brain as the whispers penetrated his thoughts.
The others all chipped in with similar words of enthusiasm, and reluctantly, Rob took his place at the starting line.

“Are you ready?” asked the nurse.
Rob nodded.

“Go!”
He darted through the tyres manually, struggling to find the automation settings and activate them.

'Watch out behind you!'
whispered Liam through his thoughts, sending a spike of agony through Rob's skull. 

He stopped and leant over, holding his head, the drone missing him by sheer luck. Regaining his composure, he found the automation controls and got through the rest of the tyres and barbed wire, kicking against the wall and hurtling himself over it.

'Two 'o' clock!'
whispered Pete. 

'It's coming for your legs!'
Farah added.
Rob turned and saw the drone heading towards him, flying low against the ground. He leaped over it and started climbing the rope.

'Do like Alex told me! Grab the rope with your feet and swat the fuckers!'
Liam's whisper rumbled through Rob's head, he lost his grasp and started falling, hurtling towards the ground. The automation kicked in, a survival mechanism, his hand shooting out to grab the rope. Taking a moment to recover, he pulled himself back up to the top of the tower.

'Are you ok?'
Sarah asked.

'Yeah... I think...'
he replied, as he started to climb down the scaffolding.

'Are you sure?'
asked Liam.

The question sent a surge of neurons misfiring.
Robs fingers seized up, refusing to hold his weight in their grasp. He fell. Head ricocheting off the next bar down, arms at legs clattering off the bars at the sides, hurtling to the ground, taking out a drone as he collapsed at the foot of the tower.

The group rushed over to him as his seizure continued, sending queries through the Network as they ran, asking if he was okay. The messages all bounced back around their own skulls like an echo. They stood over him, Farah holding them back, ordering them not to interfere whilst the seizure continued, his body quivering, eyes absent.

Whark watched the spectacle from her terminal, instructing the drones to move around and zoom in so she could see his reactions from every angle. She grimaced as the seizure came to an end, and before he passed out, read a word on his lips.

“Leah.”
She stormed out of her office and down the hallway, shrieking at the doctors.

“Prepare a fucking room for a full medical work-up, I want to know why this piece of shit had a fucking seizure out of fucking nowhere.”
Coming to the entrance of the facility she saw the orderlies standing guard at the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Get a fucking gurney and take that shaking cunt to the doctor. Then prepare the re-education room again. We need to make sure the new memories fucking stuck.”
They cowered at her shrieks and did as they were ordered whilst Whark strutted to the obstacle course to evaluate the patient for herself.

'Who's Leah?'
asked Farah, as she cradled Rob's head, holding her sleeve to his bleeding skull.

'Must be some old girlfriend, I guess?'
said Liam. 
'Never heard him mention her before.'

'You think remembering her made him seize?'
asked Pete.
'I best not remember any of my exes then... God I don't even
want
to remember any of my exes!'

'Not the fucking time, Pete.'
said Alex.
Micah listened to the conversation, but didn't participate. He slowly stepped closer to Sarah whilst the others talked amongst themselves. Gingerly, he reached his hand towards her, slipping his fingers under the back of her shirt, and as he made skin-to-skin contact with the small of her back, fired up a subroutine he had found. In an instant, the world around them froze.

Sarah looked around at the scene. Rob lying on the ground, his head in Farah's lap, the rest of the group around him as worried as she was. She turned to make eye contact with Micah, but couldn't feel her body move. There was no twist of the head, no sensation of muscles stretching and relaxing with the turn, and yet she saw him straight-on. A projected rotation of her viewpoint, like wading through an underwater dream.