Gray Matter
25 Jan 2016Ryan Murdoc
"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." Epictetus "Commander Coragon, can you hear me?" Commander, are you understanding what i say? Please, if you do, open your eyes..."
The voice was female, dark, soothing. If I wouldn't have had what felt like a Mining laser working itself through my skull, I could've almost declared it beautiful. Slowly opening my eyes, I closed them again moments after due to the intense light piercing into them. I moaned something incomprehensible, and heard a
"Oh, i am sorry, give me a moment please..." followed by a click sound and some curtains closing themselves swiftly.
"Much better...though my head still feels as if it would split open any given moment" I got out, still sounding drunk, and slowly opened the eyes once more.
After getting accustomed to the dimmed light in the room, those eyes of mine made out a woman sitting next to my bed. She was dressed in a white uniform, and after a look around I was pretty certain that this was a kind of medicinal facility.
"Where am I?" I said, focusing on the woman again.
"You're in the best hands, that's where you are! My name's Jennifer, and i am glad to see you awake and well Sir" she said with a smile, and showed the pearliest white teeth I had ever seen. Also the rest of her appearance wouldn't fit the stereoptypical image of a nurse or even a female doctor. Her skin was a darker brown tone, eyes glowing like liquid emeralds, and her lips were full and sporting something only describable as crimson ruby. Not to mention that her uniform was barely able to contain her female curves, making my eyes stop and stare at her cleavage.
Smirking and seeming not to mind that I succumbed to my Neanderthal behaviour, she continued to tell me that a woman with blue and purple hair had gotten me here - Nova. Shortly after doing so she departed but said that she'd expect me to contact her as soon as possible once I'd recover again. Some pressing matters of some sort, but she'd be back soon to check on me.
That was two days ago - the amount of time i was out cold, still on Carpini Terminal in the Qa'Wakana System. My Credit balance was yet again working to my favor as Jennifer continued to tell me, flashing me over and over with those white teeth of hers. "Once you are feeling well enough, Professor Reber would like to have a personal talk with you before you leave us. It seems our cerebral scans have revealed something very strange and fascinating, yet what exactly is beyond my knowledge. Even the Professor seemed genuinely surprised..."
"Alright, thank you Jennifer, i'll do so immediately...i mean, could you get me something to drink first ? I feel thirsty to no end..."
"Certainly Commander, what you'd prefer ?"
"Oh, just some water would be fine, thank you"
"I'll be right back..oh, and, maybe you'd like to dress up before meeting Professor Reber...but if you like a last thorough inspection, i'd be happy to do so..." she said, smiling impishly and turning around, walking away towards the door and disappearing through it. Leaving me with the revelation that I had been lying in a well-tempered room with only so much as a loin cloth on my body to cover the intimate parts.
Grinning myself, I was instantly reminded that even though my lower body was working perfectly, the upper part was messed up to no end, and the pain soaring through my head left me with no intent to have some fun with Jennifer. After locating my Suit nearby, which was as pristine as when I bought it, I dressed up and waited for her to return. She did, and I couldn't help but notice a gleam of disappointment in her eye as she found me fully dressed. Handing me the glass of water and a pill that would soothe my headache. Then she told me to follow her to meet up with the Professor.
Leading me through the facility, in which we encountered only the most perfect looking male and female persons a human mind could imagine, we finally arrived at the bureau of Professor Reber. Upon entering I would've expected some elderly looking man with antique binoculars, instead I laid eyes upon a healthy looking man that could've been only as old as maybe 25 to 30 years. Dark, full hair, gleaming dark blue eyes and everything else as perfect looking as the rest here made me realize that this had to be either a place for enhanced plastic surgery or for the more basic desires of the human body, located south of a persons belly...
Shaking hands, the Professor then gestured towards a chair before his expensive looking desk and waited until I sat down. Jennifer went over to a old and thus also expensive coffee machine, poured a cup for him and placed it on his desk, then walked past me with a smile and went outside, closing the door without a sound. The Professor just sat there and looked at me, for about a minute or longer, and just as I was getting impatient enough to lash out verbally at him he started to speak in a soft yet compelling voice.
"Commander Coragon, you are a conundrum to me. Tell me, what do you know about the human brain ?"
"Well...it is a Supercomputer of sorts, right ? Able to store memories, scents, pictures...but even though your lovely Ms. Jennifer gave me a pill my computer up there still feels like after a severe Harddrive crash, so to speak...she said you came across something strange up there in my head....mind telling me what you found ?"
"Yes, i found...something. And nothing...but before you get completely confused, let me tell you about the human brain and the ability to store memories, or data if you will....the human brain consists of about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. If each neuron could only help store a single memory, running out of space would be a problem. You might have only a few gigabytes of storage space, similar to the space in an ancient iPod or a USB flash drive. Yet neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). For comparison, if your brain worked like a old digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage. The brain’s exact storage capacity for memories is difficult to calculate. First, we do not know how to measure the size of a memory. Second, certain memories involve more details and thus take up more space; other memories are forgotten and thus free up space. Additionally, some information is just not worth remembering in the first place...."
"Ok, good, i got that now, there's much empty space up there..." I got out, finally halting his speech. "But what is it that you found ?"
"Well, Commander, quite the opposite is true. That empty space of yours has been filled up. Not completely but to a level that I've yet to find anywhere else in the known Universe. Our neural scans have given us results that go beyond anything ever measured, and believe me that the human body has evolved and been enhanced over the last 3000 years to a degree that nobody would've been able to fathom, ever. Yet, your brain is working at a rate that seems rather unhealthy, as you might undoubtebly noticed yourself. Adding to that is the fact that even though you should be able to access this memory, there has been somekind of biological barrier installed within the regions where this data resides. Whoever did this is using you as biological battery for the information contained within. You're a walking Backup so to speak, or at least that be my conclusion so far..."
I stared at Professor Reber, blinking in disbelief, while he was taking a sip of his coffee. The very next moment, i noticed him staring at me, eyes wide. He grabbed his throat, trying to stand up. Anyone who would've watched the scene would've thought of me trying to help, to do anything at all, like calling for help. But to my own horror, i simply sat there, unable to move as the Professor died before my very eyes.
Cause of death: Poison. Standby mode: activated my brain concluded in a cold and sterile manner, completely bereft of any human emotion.
Sitting there for a unknown amount of time. Minutes, hours, I couldn't tell. I could however make out faint bump sounds, coming from outside the room, down the hallway from where Jennifer and i entered. And something that sounded like screams...my own body screamed at me to stand up, but I had no control. Finally i was able to move again, just as if someone would've flipped a switch in my head.
Standby Mode: deactivated. Resuming regular protocol i could hear in my head, my thoughts and yet not mine at all. I wanted to just run out the door and out of this place, hiding from the unknown. But even though my primal instincts told me so, i stood and inspected the dead Professor instead, or what was left of him. Whatever was used to poison the man, it destroyed him on a molecular level, leaving nothing but a faint layer of dust behind.
Search Mode activated: collect possible Backup on Project: Victis Honor. Proceed to safe exit after was said, the next moment i found myself rummaging through the clothing of the Professor and the whole apartment for copies of what they discovered about me. Unable to control myself, being a guest in my own body, helplessly watching.
After looking through the whole place inch by inch, me or more like it discovered the data on the computer of the Professor and downloaded the information on a memory stick which was lying on the now deceased man's desk. Once having thoroughly deleted everything in the computer itself, it walked out of the room and down the hallway.
The room of the Professor must've been sporting extra layers of soundproof material, the reason i didn't hear anything that had happened out here. The formerly clean and sterile place was covered in blood, bodies of employees everywhere. Some looked like they were killed by a shot in the head, others had their throats slit or their necks broken. I didn't count the bodies, and my current self wasn't having any pity or remorse stepping over their unmoving remains. My body led me to the rear entrance of the facility. The room was clean and sterile, a mockery of the bloodbath that I was moved through to get here.
And there stood Jennifer...
Her once bright white uniform covered in blood, yet everything else being untainted. She smiled at me as I walked up to her, still unable to do anything by myself. I didn't spot no weapon on her or nearby, yet I was sure that she killed all those people back there. Nobody with a conscience would stand around and just smirk at me whilst being soaked in blood.
"We meet again, sweetheart...you miss me? I sure missed you..." she whispered, and planted a long kiss on my lips. Before I found out about her being a cold blooded killer I would've welcomed that, but after what I've seen, the state I was in, the whole situation...I just wanted to scream at her to leave me be, or kill me too to make it all stop! I couldn't take it anymore!
"Oh, silly me, I almost soiled your expensive suit with my dirty, dirty clothes....here, let me take them off for you...." she said in a raunchy voice and proceeded to peel herself out of the bloodied uniform, with almost inhumanly fluent moves. "Well, do you like what you see ? Your body surely didn't dislike what we did the last two days when nobody was near....mmmhmm.....you do have the proper tool to please a woman, my dear..."
Did she just confess that she raped me while i was unconscious ?!?
Sweat started to flow from my temples and forehead as i frantically tried to battle myself, trying to gain control over my body. Rage consumed me, I wanted to ram my fists into that perfect looking face, until every last of those impossible white teeth were gone. I wanted to slam her head against the wall, crush her windpipe under the heel of my shoe, gouge her eyes out - any inhuman thing possible I wanted to do to her. For what she did, to me and all the others in here!
"Oh honey, don't look at me like that, you see, it's nothing personal. It's just that you're not supposed to have your little head inspected by others...If your cute Lady friend wouldn't have taken you here, none of this would've happened....they all would still live on happily...but oh well, it can't be helped now, can it ?" she said, whilst putting herself into a leathery outfit that complimented her attractive body. From where she got those clothes all of a sudden I couldn't tell, she probably had them placed here for after her deed was done.
Walking over, she kissed me once more and let her hands roam freely over my body. "It would be such a waste to have you killed my precious, i must admit that I don't want to let you go, but I have to. For now...but when everything goes according to plan, I'll have you back, and we can have all sorts of fun then. Though i don't know if you'll remember me, could be you end up as a lobotomized piece of meat...but even then you'd be able to satisfy my needs..." she said and smirked, licking her lips. She turned and was about to leave, as she stopped for one more time, looking back at me. "Almost forgot the most important thing baby...don't talk to nobody about what you heard from the Professor. Normally what's in your head should prevent that anyways, but just in case you'd find a way around it, the price will be high. Starting with Miss Nova Cassidy. You know, i am loving men as much as i do women...but i don't like competition. And even if she doesn't want you...well, I give her a good time before i blow her lights out...so, bye bye for now sexy, I'll think of you when I'm lonely" Holding up the data stick that she had removed from one my pockets, she blew me a kiss and giggled...and then was gone.
Resuming regular protocol
I screamed, ran out of the door, looking around for Jennifer. Nothing but a dark, smelly backstreet greeted me as I fell to my knees, sweat dripping on the ground. Tilting my exhausted frame backwards against the wall, breathing heavily, trying to not go completely insane. I had to get out of here, and fast. Nobody to trust anymore, too. Great. Just great.
To be continued...