Lines - A Transhuman Sci-Fi Novel by Joshua L.A. Jones 

Chapter 6: Plus or minus two-thousand.

In the Medical Monitoring gallery, moored to the central arcade, the iron-willed nurse Epiphia Brevis deliberates upon the symptoms that remind her of another case. She calls in her favorite underling and poses a question, “Penelope, do you remember the Worthington case?”

“Certainly Epiphia, let me recall. He awoke from dormancy thinking it was 2020. I believe his subconscious learning program on Greek history had an integration issue. To say the last, there were problems when he arose.”

“That was preceded with Nepenthe withdraw, correct?”

“Correct but the LSD delusions were extremely pronounced with elaborate memories and perfect recollections of history based on the idea that the Industrial Revolution took place 2000 years before it actually happened,” Penelope says and Epiphia raises a single eyebrow. 

“Indeed. He thought that ancient Greek society took hold of the world after Heron’s invention of the steam engine. Instead of Heron continuing to make such creations just for amusement, he went on to apply his engine. Steam-powered vehicles and weapons went on to dominate the ancient world. All of his past memories were replaced with Greek names and a Greek dominant history.  In his recollections, Rome was just a colony and never came to power. There was no such thing as Judaism, Christianity or Islam and no world wars. Even the old USA became the UHS, United Hellenic States. It was a perfect delusion all the way up to the rise of the Great Houses.  He even changed the names of the planets. He called this a station of Zeus. 

The most curious detail of the Worthington case was how he talked about the Greek philosophers, especially Democritus, as the architects of the world. He never stopped talking about Greek fire and the advent of the internal combustion engine in the year 100.  Such confabulations! Thank goodness that we have been able to upgrade the diagnostics to detect such schisms since then, but nothing is perfect. I bring this up because today I have seen the same brain activity with the two new Awakees. Luckily, they are stable and not speaking in Greek, but the symptoms exist, and I think we should keep them in quarantine for at least a month. I do need another to sign off though.”

“I will sign. There have been so many lawsuits, so please proceed with caution. People tend to forget what happened to those inflicted with LSD. Nothing but sadness.”

“Thank you, Penelope.”

…

Dee and Leon recline on their beds and try to focus their blurred vision as the holographic interface comes on-line and asks, “Any more questions today or shall I await your queries tomorrow?”

Dee scoots up, points her finger at the console, and whispers, “Yes, hold on.”

Leon twists over onto his side to look at Dee and positions his arm behind his head so he can prop himself up. His left eyebrow raises, he bites the inside of his cheek and says, “I don’t want to be on my back anymore.” She rotates over and rolls her eyes and releases a shallow sigh.

“I love the fact that we almost went blind from the unfreezing process and yes, I want to get on my feet, but we’d better rest and not cause any undue stress. Relax and just ask the computer questions. Also, I think we should send a formal grievance considering our food had freezer burn,” she says with a wink.

“Perhaps we can get a refund. You are quite a lark, my dear. You are right though. Time to relax,” he says and flips over. Emotions swirl as a turbulent pool below the surface as he thinks of his father’s noble face but the flood he fears will flow forth as tears is held back, dammed, by the knowledge that anyone could be watching. 

“Anything I can do?” she asks.

“No, I’m fine. Go ahead with the questions.”

“Resume,” Dee says. 

The walls become a light forest green and the chamber is filled with the sounds of recorded waves crashing on a beach. The ventilation system pumps in the scent of citrus fruits. Leon begins to doze off until the rhythm of the waves causes a realization. 

“Stop the ambient sounds,” he says. 

Dee gives a glance with widening glistening eyes. The waves top crashing.

“It’s the recording. The place I took it is probably a sheet of radioactive glass where sterile waves break on dead shores.”

“I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?” she asks.

“Nothing, the sounds are gone. I hope the citadel in Canada is still safe.” 

“I’m sure it is. Computer, news network, Earth channels, and scan for the present status of the TDC church,” she says and the androgynous form begins.

“The ban on groups protesting the global population initiatives went into effect three months and two days after you gloriously joined the effort to combat the population problem.  Therefore, they are illegal. There is, however, evidence that some of these illegal cadres have gone underground in the reclaimed jungles of South America and colonies across the solar system. Anyone proven to be a member will go to trial to receive natural-life on Earth. Any further queries?”

“No. Go into standby mode thank you,” Dee says and continues, “I know what you are thinking about those extremists. We’ll investigate when we get back.”

“If I find out they instigated the war like I suspect, I will hunt the zealots to the end of the galactic ring.” 

Hours later, the chamber door rings with a flat buzz.

“Come in,” Leon says over the buzzing and the door is absorbed into the walls.

Two pallid genetically sifted men cross the threshold with round blank faces like clean plates. One wearing a black Victorian suit, a white scarf wrapped around his supple neck, stares with hard sparkling eyes.  Dee and Leon relax. The other man crops his hair as the hallway draught ruffles his gray pants as he thinks, Holding more people after every minor glitch is stupid and a waste of funds. The man with the scarf turns his head to the serious man. Leon rises, wobbles, and regains his balance as he stands erect with his hands behind his back.

“Hello, I am Seiro Tsihlin your Coordinator and this is your Acclimator Rjinn Boethius. I am sorry to say that due to your reaction, you two must remain on the station for a minimum of one month, Earth time. I’m here to discuss the terms of your stay and the unique cryo-station regulations you need to follow. I’m going to start. Do you mind if I sit down this might take a bit?” Seiro asks.  He goes to Leon’s side of the room and walks to his work console. He sends an ICI prompt to the station AI and the computer asks, “Your command Seiro?” 

“A seat fitted to my dimensions here. A meter high will suffice.” 

The interlocking cells of the compartment begin to form the chair that rises out of the floor.  Leon thinks, I guess this place is as solid to the extent that anything can be in the universe?  I can’t believe I must stay here that long.

“Why must we stay?” Dee asks as she stands and puts her hands on her hips.

“We just had a little trouble getting up this morning,” Leon says, waits for a laugh that doesn’t come and inspects the man in the Victorian suit with eyes that reveal that he just discovered something hidden.

“So Rjinn, what does an Acclimator do exactly? Perhaps you create a climate of calm or maybe you simply adjust emotions?” Leon asks.

“I see you found me out, Mr. Mercurio. A formidable cognitive process you have even after years in stasis,” Rjinn says and smiles.

“You’re a T.E.M.P aren’t you?” Leon asks.

“Yes, I am a Tele-Empathic Modified Person with other, new augmentations. I am a true bio-organic. I had my wetware implants removed a few years ago,” Rjinn says. He closes his eyes and imparts an image of a Mantis Orchid blooming out to their minds. Dee turns to Leon whose left eyebrow lifts in curiosity.

“An orchid,” Leon says. 

“That’s remarkable but isn’t sending images outside the Hyper-net still illegal?” Dee asks and wonders if he can hear her thoughts as well as project them without the digital signals.

“Not in my case, you see the signals are not digital and thusly have been granted leniency. I know what you are asking without reading your mind. People can easily clutter thoughts with random images and it must be mutual to be successful. As for how, certain areas of my temporal and occipital lobes have been altered, and because I have few more folds in my frontal lobe, I can send and receive thoughts, not unlike the eyes interpreting the light spectrum. I can tune into the low-levels of energy of thoughts and have a sort of internal wave interpreter like the implants that do the same for the synthetic signals. My signals are organic and thus legal,” he says and goes out the door. 

Through the white synthetic light of the hallway, he says, “I will be back later, I must discuss your case with the Prime Administer. Plus, Seiro has lots of protocols to talk about. He loves protocol.”  The door reforms like a cloud of fog that freezes as it flows. Seiro gets up and presses his finger to the door. It turns a gaunt orange. “No visitors for an hour,” he commands.

After squirming in his seat, adjusting his tie and clearing his throat, a rictus grin that unnerves Dee, turns on Seiro’s face.

“First, with the protocols, I love so much. One, you must attend to a regular physical every day at the designated time. This is not optional, your nannites and implants are not transmitting clearly. Two, you both must report to the security bay and get the bio-tags, so you can be tracked on the station. Three, restricted areas are what they state, restricted,” Seiro says. 

“You are kidding right?” Leon asks.

“No, fourth and most important is that you both report any unusual thoughts or feelings to Rjinn. And don’t use your ICI’s for storing files or sending or receiving messages. Use the memory allotted to you in your work consoles as you still haven’t reached operating capacity,” Seiro says. A bead of sweat runs down his left cheek and a small blue vein bulges in his forehead.

“Why are we being held?” Dee asks

“You are being held because of a minor neurological reaction that has been a problem in the past. Do not be worried, it is not LSD it’s just a mind tremor so to say. After the shock of such a long sleep waking up is sometimes hard to do because some parts of the mind want to stay in the dormant condition. Follow the precautions but otherwise feel free to roam the station. Now, here is the list of emergency protocols.” 

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