Ryan Miller's cabin, soon after Ken set the bomb
"Dr. Miller, are you in here?", the soft knock on his cabin door and calming female voice roused Ryan from what had been a painful half asleep state. Ryan was fully aware of his sore ribs but at least he could take full breaths again. He was unsure how long he'd been falling in and out of consciousness.
"Ryan, I am coming in, don't be alarmed.", with that Dr. Molly Patel pushed the cabin door open from the half ajar state it had been left in and her eyes quickly found Ryan crumbled form on the floor. Her expression betrayed concern but not surprise, "come Dr. Miller, let's get you onto the bed and under some blankets, yes?"
A few moments later Molly had managed to help Ryan back into hit cot, got him wrapped in blankets with a hot drink in his hand. Ryan quickly started to feel the warmth creep back into his bones.
"Thank you", Ryan managed to get out.
"Don't mention it.", Molly was adjusting with the heater, "I'm afraid our Mr. Jones left you in quite a state. I am very sorry about that."
Ryan suddenly remembered what had transpired, "Dr. Patel, is Marcus alright? Is he being treated?"
"He's fine Ryan, do you mind if I call you Ryan? Given the circumstances the formality feels a bit much." Molly's calm voice was certainly helping defuse the stress. Ryan welcomed the moment's peace as his body started to feel something closer to normal again.
"Ryan sounds great, thank you Molly?"
She sat on the bed next to him, "Ryan," her pleasant demeanor took on a somewhat more serious tone, "under different circumstances I'd tell you to get some sleep but I am afraid time is not on our side. It's about time we talk about why you were hired, and to be clear I am talking about the real reason you are here."
A twitch of panic crossed Ryan's face before he could hide it, Molly just reassuringly placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry Ryan, I am not here reprimand you, in fact I am here to make a confession of my own. We, as in Doctor Donaghue, myself and our employers hired you to infiltrate this facility before we hired you on for the research position you have on paper."
Molly paused a moment to let that sink in. She also anticipated Ryan's next questions.
"I apologize for the manipulation. People are naturally curious and suspicious. We've found that the mysterious approach tends help us lead people where we need them to be. But I promise you from now on we will be open and honest about our intentions."
Ryan was suprised. He hadn't even considered that he was being manipulated, but that naturally led to the question, "Why? Why did you want me here?"
Molly smiled warmly, "Because you're a smart man with a skill set that could benefit our new community. That and you want to save your son. I am ashamed to say this but we used that to get you here, but we can help your son and many other like him. Not right away, but soon we'll have the manpower with the focused clarity to solve hundreds of mankinds problems. We're about to enter a new age Ryan. One easily as significant as the industrial revolution or the discovery of agriculture, but we need your help to make that a reality."
"So what are we doing here exactly? Since I've gotten here we've been poking at mice and culture samples. All very standard stuff, nothing that requires us to be in the arctic, not the start of the next industrial revolution and certainly nothing that could ever help my son.", Ryan's frustration was starting to show. "How can I even know that I can trust you?"
"For the moment, you'll need to take it on faith. Soon though they'll be no way we could lie to you. I realize I must sound like I am being evasive but I need to be sure you listen with an open mind. Ryan about 50 years ago, during the Cold War, the Russians were trying to develop new spying techniques. One of those research teams stumbled onto something that they couldn't understand at the time. They carried out their research in the most remote parts of the world, including here. Eventually, the program was abandoned but we are using their research to try to benefit mankind. The Russians wanted to develop mind reading techniques to spy on their enemies but their technology wasn't advanced enough at the time." Molly's tone grew more excited as she spoke, "But now, Ryan, we have the scientific knowledge to fully understand the rudimentary process they were using. Once we achieved the first human to human trans-neural link we were able to achieved so much in such a short time."
"You're claiming that you've achieved telepathy? That sounds extremely unlikely Molly. How do you expect me to believe that?" Ryan's healthy scientific curiosity was keeping him from making a run to the helicopter.
"We can't read your mind." she said quickly, "Not as you are, there's a rather simple procedure to undergo but once it's done we are all connected and we can sense each other's thoughts and feel each other's emotions. We can prove it you. The whole thing takes less than 5 minutes and it's quite painless."
"And then I what happens? I lose my individuality and become a Borg drone to serve the queen's will?"
"Do I look like a mindless drone Ryan? You're thinking like an unconnected being. Did computers get worse when they created the internet? No, interconnecting everything made astonishing things possible that weren't possible before? Think about the implications Ryan, as a scientist, a human being and a father. What do you think will happen to the crime rates if everyone can feel each other's pain? How long would you get stuck on a problem if you have the knowledge and creativity of millions of people to pull from? Would the world spend it's resources producing boner pills or spend its energy hating those that were slightly different if our collective happiness and pain was distributed across each individual? That's our goal, not to create mind slaves but to give humanity the ultimate form of freedom."
"That's an impressive sales pitch Molly, but assuming I believe any of this it all sounds too good to be true. What's the catch?"
Molly hesitated for a moment, closed her eyes and seemed like there was some sort of inner conflict inside her head, but after a moment it was gone, "I said we would be honest with you Ryan, and we intend to honor that. Right now our little group is too small to direct itself easily. Too few minds, too divergent mindsets, so for now there is a leader. What you called a 'queen' before. His voice is the strongest and it helps align us towards our goals."
"And I'm guessing that leader is Donaghue?"
"Yes, but this isn't some insidious Dark Lord of the Sith like you're picturing Ryan. It's more like... a father teaching you to ride a bike. He needs to hold on to get you started but once we get going our own momentum keeps us upright whether he's there or not."
Ryan still wasn't sure whether this was a fevered dream or if Molly had lost her marbles along with Marcus. But he knew that Molly seemed to really believe what she was saying and if this was true maybe they could help him after all.
"I'll talk to Donaghue BUT I want to know more about this procedure."
"That's fair," Molly answered, "we agrees, we already have a lot of materials and papers prepared that might help you understand."
With that Molly offered Ryan a hand to pick him up off the bed. Before he took her hand, a thought formed in his mind. He wasn't sure if it was born of fear but it made him hesitate. He extended the empty mug of tea to Molly instead,
"Could you put this on the table please?"
"Of course", she took the mug and turned towards the table. As she did Ryan slipped his hand between the mattress and the wall as quickly and quietly as he could and pocketed the single syringe of morphine he had hidden there for emergencies. Molly did not seem to notice and she was still all smiles when she turned back.
"Thank you Molly, I think I can manage on my own."
Ryan stood up and followed her out to medical unit B-142. During their walk Molly seemed content and slightly distracted. Maybe there was a lot of chatter going on in her head. As they approached the medical buildings Ryan's mind couldn't help but think about all the science fiction he's seen in his life. About the personal and social consequences a connection between all humans would be. Somewhere along the way he realize he believed this was real and he believed if anything could help his son, the singular focus of thousands of medical professionals would certainly have the best chances.
"We have can't wait to show you what we've done." Molly seemed genuinely excited, "There are things we wanted to share with you before. Scientifically, you will find them fascinating..."
Ryan stopped paying attention, he was taking a moment to appreciate that these might be some of his last thoughts where he was alone in his own mind. He wasn't sure how that made him feel. If this was real, would he regret it? Would he even be able to experience regret? Would all his emotions be filtered through the lens of Evan Donaghue's thoughts. Then an even worse thought occurred to him, what if in this new hive mind the needs of his son weren't a priority. What if the collective decided it was more important to cure cancer or send men to mars or anything else. Would his son be sacrificed for the greater good? Would he watch it happen and be powerless to stop it, or worse still simply be okay with leaving his son to his fate?
They came to B-142, the door opened and Donaghue was there with Marcus, who seemed to have received medical attention, as well as several others.
Dr. Donaghue stepped forward, "Thank you for hearing us out Dr. Miller. We expect you'll want a demonstration."
"No, I believe you, but before I agree to anything I want to know how this works."
"Of course," Donaghue continued, the others in the lab went about started various tasks, seemingly prepping for something, "fortunately we've simplified the process down to a single injection, through the temple. With a topical numbing agent you won't even feel it and the changes should start to take take effect immediately."
"Is it reversible?", Ryan asked.
"No." Molly answered this time, she seemed to have been designated the bearer of bad news, "Not right now anyway but in theory we could develop an inoculation if ever it became necessary. We are sure once you join us you won't feel the need to leave."
"What if I don't like being your mind slave Dr Donaghue?", Ryan saw Donaghue's sneer and each of the other men in the room tense up. For a moment he thought he was going to get jumped and strapped down on a table but the moment quickly passed.
It was Molly who spoke again, "We told you before, it's not like that. We realize it's hard to grasp as you are but going back to that isolation just doesn't make sense. It's like choosing to give up clean running water because you prefer drinking from the muddy parasite filled water from a ditch. It's senseless."
Ryan had another question he wanted to ask, but he needed to frame it in a way that wouldn't raise suspicion. If they did decide to force him there wouldn't be much he could do about it.
"What about Jones, he's an addict, if you share everything doesn't the shared link make everyone addicts too?"
"Cured." Marcus spoke for "Like magic Ryan. We are sorry about what happened before, but now that we're all together, we just don't need it anymore."
Ryan had guessed the answer would be something like that. He had a stupid plan, possibly a really stupid plan floating around in his head but it might be his only shot.
"Ok, I'll do it on one condition. Once we get this whole collective thing setup we work on a cure for my son."
Molly placed her hand of Ryan shoulder again, "Ryan, I know you care about your son and we will do our best to help him but we still have to be realistic. Once we're all collected we'll we able to fix so many of humanity's problems but not all of them will be eradicated overnight. We can't guarantee we can save him but you have our word we'll try our best."
The group nodded in unison. Ryan got the distinct feeling it was just another manipulation but at this point he was all-in.
"I guess that is all I can ask. Let's do this."
"Excellent!", if you just sit on the table, this will be done in a moment.
Ryan complied, he tried to appear calm even though his heart was racing. It was Molly that approached him the syringe filled with the unremarkable clear liquid. That wasn't what he had hoped for.
"Molly, I don't mean to be insulting and I realize you all share skills in your little cluster but I also know you've never injected a living person with a syringe in your life. I'd just feel a lot more comfortable if Dr. Donaghue performed the procedure."
"Of course, Ryan whatever makes you feel comfortable."
Without hesitation Donaghue took the syringe and began to wipe Ryan's temple with disinfectant. As he did this Ryan's hand went to his pocket. None of the others in the room seemed to take notice as Ryan gripped the syringe hidden within and popped off the cap. He glanced around, it seemed like everyone's eyes were intensely focused on Donaghue's hands. That did nothing to alleviate Ryan's doubts but it was convenient that no one was focusing on his. Ryan closed his eyes and took a deep breathe and he felt the tiny sting of the needle. His last thought as a singular being was simply, "this idea is so stupid" but he had committed and all he could do was hope for the best.
His hand slid out of his pocket and quickly jammed the needle tip into Dr. Donaghue's carotid artery. His first shared thought could be summarized as a collective, "WHAT THE FUCK!". It was truly an amazing experience, many voices speaking as one with one voice, Dr. Donaghue's, speaking the loudest, but a few moments later the Donaghue's voice numbed and faded into static. Ryan's connection to the collective wasn't fully formed for the first few moments but even he could feel the mind numbing effect of the morphine shared throughout the link. Ryan could feel each person's legs become wobbly and soon everyone but Ryan and Marcus Jones were sitting or laying on the ground, practically oblivious to the world around them. Marcus, maybe because we had formed a tolerance for the opioid was the only other clear thinking head in the bunch, but he was still confused about what had transpired as the familiar warmth of the drug coursed through him. Ryan adrenaline filled mind was able to focus on Donaghue's. With little resistance he was able to swoop into the other man's brain and read his memories like a book. It became clear what he needed to do. He leapt from the table and quickly found the alien looking statue. Ryan knew to expect the chilling sensation as he approached it. As he picked it up extra-human thoughts filled his mind at a level of consciousness he didn't know existed before that moment. It was a proposition, a Faustian bargain for and power. Ryan didn't hesitate, his answer was spoken aloud as much as over the mental connection for all to hear.
"Whatever it takes!"
No comments:
Post a Comment