Hello, World

Hello, World
by Dovin Melhee
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    The future.

    "Hello."

    Suddenly,  Jed hears the muffled greetings,  and sees the blurry image of two people in a small room.  They seem to be trying to talk to him.  He hears their voices but he feels strange.... in a fog.  He feels no motivation to respond.  The people seem somehow distant and unreal.
    "Hello Jed.  Can you hear anything?  Can you see us?"  A man with a gray beard is waving his hand in front of him.
    A woman with long black hair examines images displayed on a large screen covering a wall.  She compares the images with a smaller screen the size of a clipboard in her hand.
    "Foo, pause neural filter display," she speaks towards the large screen,  and then turns to the bearded man.  "I can't account for it Doctor,  there's still a high level of abnormalities that won't filter out.  However, the neural readings are showing a definite response, both audio and optic stimuli are registering."
    Jeds thoughts ooze forward, faint memories seep in, there was an accident, must be in the hospital.  An eerie lack of sensation...  stillness... emptiness... detachment...  is it medication? 
    He tries to speak but it doesn't feel right.  Then he realizes he can't move, or even feel his body.
    "Aaah cccahhnnttt," Jed forces the words out, "mmmuh vvvvoohhssss."  He doesn't sound like himself -- his voice has a freakish resonance.
    Both people turn quickly toward him.
    "Yes, Jed.  Everything's OK, you're doing fine", the bearded man says.  "How do you feel?" 
    "III cccan't feel my body, nothing.  Ww wh where...i", Jed asks.  He can't feel his mouth move as he speaks.
    "I know you must have many questions," the man says. "My name is Dr. Dahveesor Tahvass and this is my assistant Ubi Won.  We apologize that we could not greet you with a more welcoming environment -- our meager lab works on limited funding.  We just barely scraped together all the equipment needed to bring you to consciousness."

    Jed looks around the room.  It seems the only part of his body he can move is his eyes, and as they move he hears a dull whirring sound.
    He can just make out a dim reflection of the room in a glass cabinet across the lab.  He sees the Doctor surrounded by an array of machinery, tangled wires, video and audio equipment.  The Doctor stares at what looks to be two small lens mounted together about three inches apart.  Also,  on the table, and at many places around the room, there are screens of various sizes.  Jed isn't sure, but it look like a large yellow smiley face is displayed on several of the screens.  It's mouth appears to move as Jed speaks.
    "W w what do you mean?  Why am I in a lab?  Shouldn't I be in a hospital?", asked Jed.
    "Well you see, you have been revived in an automated state,"  answers the doctor.  "It probably feels a little odd right now,  but given time I believe you will find it far superior to your previous existence.  Indeed, as you will learn, you are virtually immortal in this state."
    "I don't understand.  You mean I'm on some sort of life support?"
    "Oh no, that would be much too expensive.  Your automation is complete.  Our records indicate you studied some neurological programming at the university.  The field has now advanced to the point that we can read the neural values of a human brain, and load them into a model on our photonic lab computer.  You exist as an electronic clone of your original self, your mind is completely computerized -- primarily just the neurons from your cerebral cortex, particularly the frontal lobes.  Most peripheral brain functions are now replaced with standardized software routines and open source functions, but we can discuss these details later...."
    "I, I c c can't beeelieve i it.....",  Jed's voice breaks off.  His mind races, spins, it's too much to comprehend, he can't speak.  His gaze is locked on the reflection in the glass... a reflection of machinery.  Is he inside this?  Is this him?  The video equipment allowing him to see, the audio,  to speak and hear, and his thinking processes, his mind,  located on a vast array of processors.... on, what had to be,  a massive computer or computer network.  It's too much to accept.  His visions starts to blur, fade,  the room going out of focus.
    "Jed, can you still hear me?  Jed, are you still with us?"
    "Doctor,"  Ubi interrupts, "I don't think he's going to respond.  There is a rapid pattern of repeating activity spreading through all his neural readings…  some sort of looping pattern.  The oscillations have crossed the saturation threshold.  I think he's in shock."
    "Hmm, Alright."  Dr. Tahvass looks disappointed. "I'm befuddled.  Let's shut him down."
    Ubi speaks up, "I think we should remember that this poor man has been frozen for over a century and in his time electronic cloning was purely theoretical.  He has no experience or knowledge of actual neural cloning procedures.  It has to be a traumatic experience to just wake up without a body.  Maybe we should try a virtual environment instead.".
    "Perhaps you're right.  But he was one of the top students in neuro-computing when he lived.  That's why we selected him.  I read the draft of his thesis.  The terminology is dated of course,  but he certainly had a theoretical understanding of the technology.  And his psychological profile is perfectly compatible as well."
                                              _________

    The Doctor steps to a desk in one corner of the room and begins clearing items from the desktop as he talks.  Once cleared, he proceeds to lay down, flat on top of the desk.
    "Excuse me Doctor, are we stopping now?"  asks Ubi looking puzzled.
    "No,  why do you ask?  Are you tired?"  The Doctors eyes begin to look distant as he continues to talk,  "Let's try another test.  I'll swap places.  I'm going to upload to the lab computer myself.  Then we can reload Jed into my body and try to boot him from here."
    "Great idea.  This is very generous of you Doctor."
    "Well it's just temporary.... a brief loan.  I think it may be easier for him to accept being revived this way -- in a body with actual physical feedback."
    "Yes, I agree," Ubi said as she begins to touch controls on the screens.  "Oh, should we save the state of this last test?"
    The Doctors body goes stiff on top of the desk, a large high resolution rendering of his head appears on the flat screen covering the wall in front of Ubi.
    "No," the Doctor's head responds from the screen, "let's just go back to the beginning and start from a fresh copy.  Reload him from his original scan.  It's better if we erase his memory of these events.  Even if the last run is still viable, it would be an enormous task to debug him."
    Ubi speaks the commands to the lab computer, "Foo, load scan Jed_0001,"  She checks some figures from her hand held screen, and then stretches her back and moans.
    "So inefficient," the Doctor's giant face smiles as it comments from the wall screen, "the human body.  Even a young lady as yourself has aches and pains,  after a mere 12 straight hours in the lab."
    "Don't rub it in," Ubi grimaces, "I'm really tired, and hungry too."

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excerpt from nSpace by Dovin Melhee

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copyright © 2009 by Dovin Melhee
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