Cyber Dreams 2.25 - GIPEL

Here's Friday's installment. I think the response to the current "situation" is mostly positive, but I know some people are concerned with Juliet becoming too OP, too fast. I want this to be a fun story, with some drama and some downturns, but overall fun. I do have some checks and balances planned for her, but yeah, let me know if you're hating things; I've been wrong before, and I do listen to feedback.

-Plum

When Juliet came back to consciousness, she was in a room very similar to the one where Vance and Violet had done the procedure. In fact, after she’d taken a groggy look around, she thought it might be the same one, but with the portable surgical array removed. “Am I alone?” she subvocalized.

“Yes. Are you feeling better? Your vitals seem fine.” Angel’s voice was calm, though Juliet thought she could detect a definite note of concern.

“I feel okay. My head’s a little woozy.” She glanced to the corner where a camera and built-in scanner array placidly stared at her and wondered how many people were watching her wake up. “Angel,” she subvocalized, “if they figure out what I can do, they’ll never let me go. We need to start working on breaching their closed networks. I want you to start actively looking for vulnerabilities.”

“I will, but so far, everything on this level has been hardened. The cameras and scanners, for instance, don’t have wireless ports.”

“I know, I know, just be on the lookout for opportunity.” She’d barely finished forming the words in the back of her throat when a tap at the door sounded. Two seconds later, it opened.

“Lydia,” Violet said, stepping into the room. “You had us a bit worried there. Are you feeling better? I’ve administered another round of electrolytes and some NSAIDs. Your fever dropped pretty rapidly; we’re quite sure you’re not suffering from an infection or adverse reaction to the bio-silver.”

“Bio-silver?”

“Uh . . .” Violet glanced at the cameras and cleared her throat, then said, “I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that yet. Doctor Vance will go over all of that with you after we manage to complete some assessments.”

Juliet grimaced, licking her dry lips, and then said, “More assessments? Really?”

“Well, just one tonight, but yes. We’re going to be a bit more careful this time, though. Doctor Vance is printing up a special cap for you to wear; it should be able to monitor the work the nanites did in your head a bit more accurately than the scanners.” She gestured to the corner of the room where the array of lenses and antennae lurked, almost like a big plasteel spider.

“Okay. Can I use the bathroom?”

“Of course,” Violet said, shifting toward the foot of her bed so the path to the bathroom door was wide open. Violet seemed jumpy to Juliet, so she offered a somewhat sheepish half-smile.

“Man, whatever you guys gave me really has my bladder filling up!”

“It’s the nanites being processed out of your system and the copious amount of saline and electrolytes. Doctor Vance was worried you weren’t processing the inert material, so he insisted I push a lot through your IV.”

“Ah, that explains it.” Juliet stood up, a bit wobbly at first, then made her way to the restroom. She hadn’t been exaggerating; her bladder felt like it was going to explode. “Angel,” she subvocalized after she’d closed the door, “did they put the IV in my right arm? How did the implant handle that? I thought it was a closed loop.”

“It’s closed, but it has a valve, remember? The valve allows more of your blood in, but if left open, it allows IV fluids out. I’m in control of it.”

“Right. Thanks.” She sat down on the toilet and relieved her tremendous bladder pressure, then asked, “How long was I out this time?”

“Less than an hour. While you were unconscious, I listened to them as they administered your IV; Vance theorized that your kidneys were overburdened by the inert nanites. I don’t believe they suspect that the array in your head was overheating; you may be the first test subject to exhibit that reaction.”

“Yeah, no shit. I don’t think they were expecting me to be reading everyones’ damn minds. I need to think of a way to keep that from happening, or I’m fucked. It started when I concentrated on the test, on seeing what Violet saw, as though I was opening myself up to it.” She sighed and rubbed at her head, then said, “I still feel like this is all a delusion. Hang on.” She closed her eyes and concentrated on Violet, picturing her deep, glittering, amber eyes.

God, I’m tired. Why can’t Vance put this off until tomorrow? Are the execs so wound up? Are they still watching? Don’t look at the camera. Don’t look at the camera.

“Okay, this shit’s crazy. Did my temp increase?”

“Not noticeably, but activity along the latticework spiked.”

“So, focusing on one person seems to be okay? It’s when I start to pick up other stuff going on, other thoughts. Yeah, hearing the thoughts combined with seeing what Violet saw . . . how the hell do I filter it, though? How do I keep from getting overwhelmed?”

“I have a suggestion,” Angel said.

“I’m listening!” Juliet hissed, then stood up to flush and lean over the sink, splashing water on her bleary eyes.

“Well, I haven’t had a good chance to speak with you yet, but I’m assuming when you ‘see’ the color, you’re making a connection somehow to Violet? You’re seeing through her eyes?”

“It feels like that, yeah.”

“You should try keeping the connection brief. Note the color, then wait a few seconds and repeat it; the colors seem to shift every few seconds.”

“Hey,” Juliet subvocalized, “that might work! I didn’t start hearing what people were thinking until I’d watched Violet’s screen for a while. Right now, for instance—I’m not thinking about Violet’s thoughts, I’m not concentrating, and nothing’s coming through.” She dried her hands and then continued, “I don’t want them to know how well it works, though. I need to make them think I’m trying, but it’s barely a success.”

“Agreed. If you feign complete failure, there’s a chance they’ll become suspicious.”

“Well, they’re corpo assholes; their default setting is suspicious, but I know what you mean.” Juliet opened the door, nodded to Violet, then said, “Much better! Uh, my pee was a disturbing shade of gray . . .”

“That will continue for a day or so; don’t be alarmed, it’s just the solution we injected clearing your system. It’s good that you saw it in your urine!”

Juliet wanted to slap her, wanted to vent her frustration, and give her a taste of the violation she and Vance had visited upon her, but she choked it down and didn’t make eye contact with Violet until she could force a neutral expression. “I’d really like a hot shower and my own bed. How long do you think I’ll need to stay down here?”

“If it were up to me, you’d be home sleeping right now!” Violet chuckled, if a bit nervously, and then continued, “It’s going to be midnight in a couple of hours, and I think we’re all a bit tired.”

“Heh,” Juliet said and looked down before the other woman spotted the fury in her eyes.

“The doctor just messaged me; he’s ready. Shall we?” Violet turned to the door, and Juliet felt it was a good sign that she turned her back to her. Maybe her friendly act was more convincing than she thought. Her doubts resurfaced when she stepped into the hallway to see four fully-geared-up corpo-sec guards still standing there, two along each wall. She wondered if it was the same ones or if they’d changed shifts.

She ducked her head, feeling like a prisoner being perp-walked, and followed Violet back to the assessment room. Vance was waiting, and he held a plastic mesh cap out to her when she stepped in. It had a long cable attached to the datapad on the table, and he said, “This might give us an idea of what’s going wrong if you feel sick again.”

“Just put it on my head?” Juliet took it and sat down in the same seat as before.

“Mmhmm, go ahead.” Vance seemed almost dismissive, and Juliet quickly glanced at him and saw that his gaze was focused on blank space; he was doing something on his AUI. She pulled the cap on. To her, it seemed like a hairnet made out of plastic and wires. Violet sat down across from her and touched something on her data pad.

“I’m seeing readings for temp and activ . . .”

“Private message, dolt,” Vance said, shaking his head and sitting down.

“Somebody’s grumpy . . .” Juliet said before she could catch herself.

Vance frowned, then looked at Violet and said, “I’m sorry. I let my stress get the better of me.” Violet nodded quickly, and he turned back to Juliet, “It’s been a long day, and I have a lot of people very interested in my progress with this program and about a half dozen other projects. I’m sure you’re exhausted, too. Shall we try to wrap this up so you can get some rest?”

“Some rest and some explanations? I don’t know why I passed out, but I didn’t like it!” Juliet tried to walk the line between belligerent and too easygoing.

“Naturally. Violet will debrief you when we’re done.” Juliet saw Violet stiffen and almost smiled at the woman’s irritation. She knew her hostility toward Violet was justified, but she still felt a twinge of shame for taking pleasure in her unhappiness.

When she caught herself having that sympathetic thought toward Violet, she began to frown and had to force a placid expression as she mentally slapped herself—that woman had tied her to a bed and forcefully injected some experimental shit into her brain. Whether she’d been calling the shots or not, that was some messed up behavior, and Juliet wasn’t anywhere close to letting it slide.

“Are we ready?” Vance was asking Violet when Juliet managed to focus on her present predicament again.

“Yes, let me just get the assessment loaded . . . there we are.”

“Lydia?” Vance asked, turning to Juliet.

“Ready.”

“Begin post-procedure assessment A214.2,” Vance said.

“The first color will appear in three . . . two . . . one . . . begin,” Violet said, and Juliet closed her eyes, concentrating on an image of Violet, just as before.

Even more quickly than before, she saw, in the darkness of her closed eyes, an image take shape, like a slightly blurry window, in which appeared Violet’s data pad display, the way she must see it in front of her. Juliet didn’t spend time reading through the spreadsheet or looking at the readout for the cap she was wearing; she just noted the color, said, “Blue,” and then opened her eyes, letting her concentration drop.

Juliet had thought about how many she should get correct and decided to match the highest score she’d seen on the spreadsheet the last time—that Masingil fellow had gotten nine correct, and she figured it would be safe to do the same. While she paused, giving the color time to change, she subvocalized to Angel, “Did you notice anything just now?”

“Yes, the currents through the lattice spiked for a few seconds. It’s back to normal now.”

“Perfect,” Juliet said, then she closed her eyes and repeated the process. She supposed it was possible she was suffering from delusions; she could be totally insane. There was a chance she was hearing imaginary voices and seeing some imaginary view of Violet’s screen—some kind of subconsciously generated image of what her delusional mind thought she wanted to see. Considering Vance and Violet weren’t likely to share the results with her, she doubted she’d know anytime soon.

Despite those unsettling thoughts, Juliet carefully repeated the process of guessing the colors nineteen more times, announcing them one by one and being sure to say the correct answer only nine times. When Violet proclaimed that the test was over, she reached up, rubbed at her head, and offered a bright smile to the two scientists, finding it easy to show cheerfulness when she took in their glum, reserved faces.

“Thank you, Lydia. Violet, follow the same debriefing protocol as subject forty-three.” Vance stood, nodded briefly, and then left the room.

“He didn’t seem happy. Did I fail?”

“No. Not at all. You did quite well, in fact. I believe he and I had some unreasonable expectations,” Violet sighed.

“Really? Why?”

“Just a moment,” Violet said, unplugging the cable that led to the cap Juliet was wearing. “Please go ahead and remove the sensor net; we didn’t note anything alarming during the assessment.” When Juliet pulled it off and handed it to her, Violet wrapped the cable around it and then set it on the table. “Okay, let’s see here,” she looked at her tablet screen and then said, “I have a sort of script I have to follow; then, if you have any questions, I can try to answer them.”

“All right.”

“Ahem,” Violet cleared her throat and then read from her screen, “Test subject Roman, you’ve been equipped with a prototype Grave Industries Psionic Enhancement Lattice, hereafter referred to as a GIPEL.”

“A what now?”

“Please,” Violet held up her hand, “let me finish.” When Juliet nodded, she continued, “The GIPEL is intended to improve the latent abilities of humans with regard to sensing the intent and emotive behavior in other humans and, tangentially, other thinking and feeling beings.” Violet paused and took a breath, glancing briefly at Juliet, who’d done her best to affect an expression of disbelief.

“The GIPEL has shown great promise but has varying levels of efficacy. You can rest assured that the device is not harmful in any way, and regardless of its effectiveness, you won’t suffer any adverse reactions. That being said, it’s imperative that you remember you are part of a critical and highly classified Grave Industries program. There are protocols you’ll need to follow.” Again, Violet paused, and this time she locked eyes with Juliet and said, “Please make sure your PAI takes note of the next section.”

“Okay.”

“You are to resume your normal duties, but you must file a report with GARD every twenty-four hours. Your watchdog will have the template for you to complete, but it’s crucial that you take note of any of the following: pain that you would describe as an abnormal headache, hearing voices that do not have an apparent origin, noting out-of-place images that might seem like hallucinations, having ‘intrusive’ thoughts, feelings that you would describe as strong ‘gut’ reactions, especially when they prove to be accurate, finally, anything else that you would describe as unusual or beyond the scope of your lived experience up to this point.”

“What the hell?” Juliet said, but Violet ignored her and kept reading.

“You will likely be called to GARD for further testing, and it’s imperative that you report immediately. GARD has top priority in your immediate chain of command, and only Executive Three or higher Grave employees can countermand a GARD request for your presence. Under no circumstances are you to divulge any knowledge of this GARD program to any individual not employed by Grave or any Grave employee ranked below Executive Three. Do you have any questions?”

“I sure as hell do,” Juliet said, feeling she could let some of her “play nice” attitude drop now that she knew they were going to put her back into her usual employment routine.

“Go ahead; I’ll answer what I’m allowed to.”

“So, what . . . you guys are trying to make me psychic? Why did you have ‘high hopes’ for me?”

“You did really well on the pre-op assessments, especially the shape categorization; while you labeled those shapes, we had a control subject doing the same in the next room—you labeled the same as he did to a non-standard degree.”

“And the psychic nonsense?”

“Humans have exhibited anecdotal tendencies in that area for our entire natural history. We believe we’ve isolated the parts of the brain responsible for those behaviors, and the nanites built a latticework within your cerebral matter that amplifies and connects them. Well, that’s the goal, and you may doubt it, but your tests indicate some improvement. Of course, this sample is minuscule—just a new baseline, and we’ll need to run more tests and gather data—the reports you have to fill out—to make a proper assessment, but we’re still hopeful.”

“And it won’t hurt me?” Juliet reached up a hand to rub at her forehead—she’d noticed a weird, fuzzy tingling there while she’d done the color test and now while she’d been concentrating on listening to Violet.

“No! The nanites themselves were risky, though with your compatibility test, only slightly. The latticework is a new material that Grave designed. I can tell you it’s called bio-silver—a Grave patent—and its two primary ingredients are silver, of course, and your own biological matter. There’s minimal risk of rejection, and it’s flexible and thoroughly attached—grown, really—to your cerebral matter.”

“And you’ve done long-term studies on its safety?”

“Certainly. On hyper-aged, anatomically similar mammals.”

Juliet frowned; she recognized bullshit when she heard it, and, on a whim, she allowed her eyes to close and then focused on an image of Violet.

Will this day ever end? Accept it; you’re a lab rat now.

Juliet almost said, “So I’m a lab rat now?” but she caught herself. Instead, she said, “How often am I going to have to come in for tests? This whole thing seems like bullshit, to be honest.”

Violet frowned and glanced at the cameras, “I wish you wouldn’t say that. Others felt that way, even some with worse results on their baseline, and they’re starting to believe. We’ll have you in every few days for tests, but for now, you should go home and get some rest. I bet you’re exhausted.”

“All right. And I’m free to go about my business? Will I get a new assignment for tomorrow?”

“Yes. Keep an eye on your watchdog. By the way, its perimeter setting has been adjusted to the building; for now, we’d rather you didn’t leave the tower unless you’re on assignment. Will that be a problem?”

“Uh, yeah.” Juliet frowned. “What if I want to meet a friend or go to eat or something when I’m off duty?”

“It’s just for now, Lydia. The perimeter will be relaxed as we gather more and more data.”

Juliet frowned, stood up from her seat, and then turned to the door. “Can I leave? Or do you need to cuff me first or something?”

“No, you’re free to go. Please remember your daily reports. The watchdog will . . .”

“Remind me—I get it.” Juliet opened the door and stepped out. She strode down the long, quiet hallway, noting that only one guard remained and didn’t follow her. She wondered why he’d stuck around, then figured they wanted to give Violet some backup in case Juliet had gone ballistic when she heard the disclosure and the answers to her questions.

“We’ll have no trouble bypassing the watchdog’s new restrictions,” Angel said as she neared the elevators.

“I know, Angel. Imagine if they found out what I can really do, though. I don’t even know everything I can do, but if they knew what I’d seen already . . . Jesus, they’d have me locked away so deep . . .”

“We could leave now. I can start your implants changing to a new identity. You could be on a shuttle off-world in a couple of days . . .”

“Not a chance, Angel. Not yet. We’re going to ride this out a while to learn more, and you and I are going to gain access to Grave’s secure nets. I want to know how many people are like me, and I want to know how much Vance and his team know. More than that, I want to put a stop to it—imagine if they sold this tech to WBD or Cybergen or some other asshole, no, evil corp. We’re going to burn it down before we leave.”