Triptych Chapter 3

 Chapter 3

Candor

“How are we doing today Miss Candor?”

Lana looks up from her feet at Dr. Stein, takes in his haywire hair and friendly smile, and feels herself smile back on reflex. She’s always liked Dr. Stein better, even though he and Dr. Yates clash regularly with the psychological aspects of her enhancements.

“I’m trying to keep my distance.” She answers truthfully. “Nervousness brings out the over-analysis, and analysis doesn’t always lead to positive outcomes. Negative outcomes may lead me to – not be in optimal condition for this.”

Dr. Stein smiles in understanding. He doesn’t reprimand her for shying away from the problem, and doesn’t suggest a checkup of her inhibitor nodes. As always, he allows her to breathe. “So what are you thinking about?” he asks curiously.

Lana scans the room, and follows everyone’s focus attuned to their specific tasks before she whispers, “I’ve been wondering if I can transmute my fingers into multi-colored brushes and paint a full portrait in half the time.”

As expected, Dr Stein laughs. “But that would take the fun out of the process Miss Candor, it’ll be finished too soon.”

“Not everyone enjoys the journey more than the destination Dr Stein.” Lana teases.

 “Ever impatient Miss Candor” He gripes good-naturedly. “Ever impatient”

They’re quiet after that, just watching the crew set up. Lana meets Dr. Yates’ eyes as he loads the nanites into a syringe. She stands up slowly, turning to Dr Stein one last time. “Would you do me a favor Dr. Stein?”

Dr Stein hesitates “That – I’m afraid that depends on what you ask of me.”

“Just --” She can’t meet his eyes, almost hates herself for asking and hates herself for being weak. “Just – don’t let Dr Yates check my inhibitor. I’m afraid I won’t be able to assimilate to the upgrade without my wandering thoughts to distract me.” She walks away before he can answer. Dr Yates helps her lay down on the bed as technicians surround her, their eyes are excited and curious.

“Breathe,” Dr Yates says softly. There’s a now familiar stab of pain in her back, and the world goes black for Lana. 

 

Candor

Lana used to have strange dreams when she was younger. Her developing brain still getting used to the inhibitors and the roller coaster of frequent bio enhancements. She’d dream about going to sleep in a lab, cut open to be observed and altered, only to be found lacking and left alone. Unable to protest, to get out as the lab emptied and years passed and everyone forgot about the girl lying asleep in the old abandoned building.

Now, she’s come to welcome the sleep. The usually dormant links come alive to keep her suspended in a serene dream as the doctors work on her. Today she dreams of the annual conference, the big event at the end of the month where she’ll be presented with the last upgrade to the whole world. She can hear the applause, the awe, and curiosity of the crowd as she demonstrates modifying parts of her body according to her needs at just a thought. She feels herself smile softly at the dream. Vibrant with colors and bursting with flashes of a thousand lights, all for her.

Then she feels a presence with her, not on her stage, but inside her mind. It’s fleeting, barely there as if trying to hide in the shadowed recesses of her brain. Lana freezes, her smile disappearing. She leaves the loving crowd behind her and turns to run behind the curtain, back into the darkness.

She’s sure of it now. Someone is here and their presence isn’t tolerated like the technicians studying her brain activity. Is she really being hacked? It sounds farfetched but it’s the only explanation as they try to submerge themselves in her subconscious. No doubt to avoid detection from the neural web sensors. Lana feels vindicated and angry. As if she’d let someone steal what she’s worked her whole life for, straight from her mind while it's defenseless.

With some trepidation, Lana leaves the dream behind, and relinks to her neural web to regain control. She’s a bit more awake now, enough to hear the murmur of voices buzzing around her and feel a stabbing pain in the middle of her spine. She rears back in to pinpoint the intruder in her thoughts. They obviously like a challenge, and Lana is happy to oblige.

She pictures the lab she’s laying in, and imagines her lifeless body lying on the operating table under ogling eyes and penetrating hands. It’s an effort to keep herself detached, to not freeze up with fear herself but somehow she manages, until every conscious cell in her body is itching with discomfort but she stays there, keeps the intruder trapped in her helpless body until she’s sure they can feel her frustration and despair. Her sudden discomfort is obvious to the people surrounding her as her heart rate spikes, adrenaline levels rising as though she’s running a marathon, or having a nightmare.

And then she feels them. Clearly for the first time as they struggle to move, to escape her old nightmare. But there’s a reason Lana brought them here, she knows how this dream ends, and while Lana has built immunity against it through the years, her hacker isn’t so experienced. She feels the pull against her mind, an aggressive move to control instead of staying undetected. Panic takes over and she feels her body shudder on the table, her hand involuntarily grasping someone else’s, as hard as she can.  Her skin feels clammy with sweat as something catches fire in the dreamscape lab. Lana hardly notices, her energy focused on keeping the hacker there. They’re shockingly resilient, opting to fight this out with her instead of plugging out of her brain.

She feels a paralyzing pain in her head as she loses the mental tug of war, and hears herself whimper as the hacker takes control of the scene. She feels her body sit up, her limbs feeling heavy and lethargic as she struggles off the table a minute before it collapses under heavy machinery. The flames surround her, the smoke clogs the air and her body teeters for a moment before it finds footing on the floor. Finding no obvious way out, she turns a full circle before she spots the window, its glass already shattered through. Lana tries to pull back again, knowing the lab is too high from the ground for her to survive the fall. Yet the person holding her mind captive has no such qualms, and she can do nothing more than watch helplessly, and scream in silence as her body takes a running leap through the window to escape the fire.

 

Lana comes around the moment her head strikes the concrete below. She sits up suddenly, gasping for air as she feels steadying hands behind her back. Her body feels prickly as if a thousand nano-bots are crawling beneath her skin. She still feels a shadow of the presence in her brain, like phantom claws clutching the back of her head. She shoves the clawing hands away from her, her movements frantic as she pulls a dozen needles and sensors from her body and jumps up from the bed. She wants to make it to the washroom before she throws up, but her feet give up the minute she puts her weight on them. And she collapses right there on the floor, heaving and retching as technicians look on in shock.

“Give her some space what’s wrong with you?” A voice booms through the static in her brain. Someone crouches in front of her, and she jumps involuntarily before recognizing Dr. Stein, concern etched on his face. Lana notices the absence of overwhelming input bombarding her brain at all times and breathes a little easier. The upgrade went smoothly at least. He waits for her breathing to slow down before he speaks, his voice too calm for the situation.

“How are you feeling Miss Candor?” The question confuses her for a minute, visions of fire and smoke running across her overwrought mind before the neural web becomes functional. Lana focuses on controlling her breathing as a full diagnosis is run, finding no trace of the hacker or any malicious software patch left behind. She nods silently and Dr Stein stands, offering a hand to help her up on the table again.

She vaguely registers two men talking quietly in the corner. “You assured me she was strong enough for this.” One of them questions, his intense gaze trained on her in contempt as she accepts a glass of water from the doctor.

“She is.” Dr Yates assures him. “I’m sure there’s an explanation for this reaction. Right Miss Candor?” He approaches the operating table where she sits gingerly. Lana considers her options. She could inform them of the hacking attempt, starting a citywide cyber hunt for the hacker while she gets plugged back in for maintenance. It’s protocol in these cases even though hacking a person’s neural link is unheard of, a crime punishable by life in prison.

And yet this person risked it. Risked plugging directly into the FOCUS mainframe to hack into her. Didn’t seem to be looking for anything specific. Lana can’t detect any memory missing, biological or coded. And he got out. Whoever this person is, he got Lana out of a lifelong nightmare. Made the leap Lana can never bring herself to. It makes her curious, to say the least.

“What happened there, Lana?” Dr. Stein asks, “The upgrade went smoothly. There was no discrepancy in syncing and stabilizing until you started – you looked like you were gaining consciousness.” He says, strangely hesitant, stealing a glance at Dr Yates.

“That seems to be the problem” Lana agrees matter of fact. “I could feel the procedure. The pain was bearable but noticeable enough to activate a fight or flight response. I tried to control it but – I’m sorry.”

Dr. Stein looks thoughtful. “Maybe we ought to take another look at your inhibitors.”Dr. Yates says with a frown.

“That won’t be necessary Bill.”Dr Stein dismisses, as usual coming to her aid. “Like Lana says, she was in control the whole time. It’s the tech’s fault for being careless with the anesthetic. We’ll make sure everything is top-notch during training. You excited for that Lana?” he turns to her with a friendly grin.        

 Lana grins too, her mind still distracted with thoughts of the mysterious hacker.  

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