She could hear noises, quiet at first then rising, grinding, sounding like a Counter-Punk-Heavy-Water band before returning to the sounds of a primordial forest; then the forest chorus became voices and the voices became words. All the while, she thrashed.
“Karmen, stop her from hurting herself. Max, dim the lights. Take the electrodes away,” said a garbled voice. At least it sounded garbled to Terri.
No shapes made sense. And when the lights dimmed, she could only see blurry figures that looked like an enlarged black and white television image from the twentieth century.
Then she felt pain. Stomach pains. She curled up into a foetal position, then stretched out straight making in guttural sounds. She vomited and had diarrhoea, at the same time. The projectile variety, from both ends! At least it was a smell-less yellow ooze. The contrasting tinges of blood made it looked viler than it smelt.
“Do you have a tranquilliser?” asked Karmen.
“That could kill her. Recovery should not be interrupted with medication. Not even nano-bots!” said Max.
Terri started to recognise voices.
“She's suffering,” said Karmen.
“Get her the fluid,” said Max.
“I have it here,” said Conrad.
Terri could recognise his voice now. It was no longer garbled. Karmen helped her sit up and Conrad offered the drink through a straw.
“Dddddk!” Terri uttered.
“What?” asked Conrad.
Terri waved her hand at the flask in an uncoordinated fashion. “Drink!” she was able to exclaim more understandably.
Conrad held the flask close and guided the straw to her mouth. Terri sucked up a cool sweet tasting fluid. It tasted good. It tasted like .
“Oh. Steve!” said Terri panting.
“She... well... you're ok. You're ok.,” said Max, not asking a question but not providing an adequate status report either.
Terri went back to sucking on the straw, manoeuvring her own head successfully into the right position. Conrad patted Max and Karmen on the back and then sank to a chair head in hands.
Meanwhile Karmen said reassuring platitudes, such as “There-there, there-there.”
“You bastard, Max.” Terri panted after she had finished her drink.
“What?” said Max innocently.
“You said it wouldn't hurt!”
Conrad and Karmen looked at each other worried.
Max turned to them, “We'll update her later. Let's get her to the recovery room. We need to run some tests.”
“I think the tests can wait until she's ready for them,” said Karmen uncharacteristically stern.
Terri tried to move and started to roll off the table. Karmen held her back. Conrad collected her up in his well-muscled arms and carried her from the room.
“What's going on?” Terri whined as she was carried into a room and laid onto a bed.
Karmen turned to Conrad and Max and said, “Out. I'll get her some clothes and orient her.” Conrad dragged Max from the room.
“Where am I?” asked Terri.
“You're in the club house?”
“Clubhouse?”
“The Mad-Sci-Soc Clubhouse.” Karmen helped Terri put on some baggy clothes.
“Did Max activate the matter transfer? I wasn't there before I blacked out. Did he star-trek me up town?” Terri sounded drunk.
“Star-trek you?”
“Star Trek transportation. He said he wouldn't,” said Terri feeling tired.
“Well in a manner of speaking, I guess. What do you last remember?” asked Karmen.
“I was downtown. With Max. I stepped into this big black sphere. And taking off my clothes. I had to take my clothes off.”
“And that was when?”
“A short while ago. Before the blackout and the pain,” said Terri.
“What day was that?”
“Today. Saturday,” Terri asserted.
“What month?”
“October, of course!” said Terri goofily.
“Well, today is a Friday.”
“Friday?”
“And it's January.”
“January?” said Terri sobering up suddenly.
“January, 2118.”
“But that can't be. I've just started at University... what's happened?”
“It's a long story... but I will tell you.”
“I can't remember Christmas!” said Terri with alarm.
“Think of it as amnesia,” suggested Karmen helpfully.
“It is amnesia. I can't remember anything since I walked into that ball.”
“Well technically, it isn't amnesia.”
“It's not?”
“No. Why not? I can't remember a thing.”
“Because, technically, you,” and Karmen pointed in a circular fashion at Terri, “were not there.”
“I disappeared for three months?”
“Well Terri didn't disappear but, you were not around.” Karmen repeated the circular pointing gesture again. “You were in suspension until we brought you back.”
“You mean... I've been... what? Copied?” she said, with shocking realisation. “Max has copied me! All of me!”
“He talked to you about that?”
“For healing. Not for turning me into a puddle!”
“You've seen the mice, then?” said Karmen, her voice catching.
“So, what happened?”
Karmen looked away and hung her head.
And then, as if to answer her own question, Terri understood. “I died, didn't I?”
Karmen looked back, opened and closed her mouth before stuttering, “A month ago.“ Then tears started flowing. “It was your first mission...”
“And the super powers didn't work? No invincibility?”
“There were problems.”
“Like I died!?”
“You're alive now, though,” she said through tears. Karmen was always a cup-half-full sort of girl.
“Losing three months of my life? That’s not what Max was promising.”
“No, I guess not. We didn't want this.”
“Not just any old three months. But my first term at Uni. That's a watershed three months. And I died a month ago you say? So shouldn't I be dead and buried?”
“We're on the leading, bleeding of edge of science, Terri. This has not been easy.”
“My Mom? What about her? Does she know? How can she not know? I’d be home for Christmas, wouldn’t I? Or called?”
Karmen opened and closed her mouth several more times.
“She knows I'm dead, doesn't she? She thinks I'm dead...” said Terri bursting into tears.
“This is complicated, Terri. I'm sorry. We had to tell your family, your mother and brothers. We have had your funeral.”
“That's... That's.... oh no. What do I do now? Come back? Come back from the dead? Come back after I've been buried? As a ghost?” said Terri with increasing tearfulness.
“This is harder than I thought,” said Karmen trembling.
“She thinks... I'm dead,” stuttered Terri.
“She... she... was so proud of you.”
Terri twisted her body and cried out, a cross between a wail and a scream.
Karmen hugged her. “Terri, she loved you so much.”
The two cried and continued to hug each other.
“And I love her. She's so frail... Has been since Dad died... What do I do now? Go back and explain I'm not dead after all?” sobbed Terri.
“We'll go back with you. We can help explain for you. I'm sure she'll be delighted to have you back,” reassured Karmen with her uncertain voice.
Terri's sobs cleared up and she put a braver face on, “Ok. Well, perhaps it is not so bad to be alive compared to being not alive. But the pain she must have suffered. Must still be suffering...”
“We'll sort it out,” said Karmen.
“What about college? And friends?”
“That's not a problem.”
“No?” said Te
rri with a snuffle.
“Max was pretty confident that he could recover you. So we intercepted the message telling the University. Changed it. Told them that you have been off with an illness.”
“Pretty confident?” sniffed Terri.
“Yes. We had already told your family but just as we were about to tell the University, Max said he had a plan. We knew about the mice experiment and his regeneration plan. And we, Mad-Sci-Soc, felt we'd let you down and obviously we would try anything to correct our mistake. It was our mistake, Terri. Not yours. So that is what we’ve been doing. Of course, we are in a legal minefield, bringing you back to life. But it is always easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission. What's the point of being in a Mad Scientist Society if you can't do some mad science once in a while?” she said stuttering through tears.
“I'm the back-up copy?” said Terri sarcastically.
“I don't follow...”
“It is something that Max said this morning... I mean...” Terri held her face.
“I appreciate this isn't easy for you,” consoled Karmen.
“Suppose it didn't work?”
“It didn't at first...”
“You've already tried?”
“Oh yes...”
“So you've a row of dead Terri bodies out in the corridor?” asked Terri in disbelief.
“We have had some, er... Hazardous Medical Waste problems, er... yes.”
“So how many attempts, how many bodies?”
“I've seen you die in the pool twice. I don't know how many attempts Max has tried,” said Karmen holding Terri's shoulders gently.
“This is Frankensteinian!” muttered Terri.
“We want to run some tests on you when you are up to it. Do you want to sleep first?” said Karmen.
“Yes. I'm tired. So tired,” said Terri.
“Of course. Sleep first. Sleep as long as you like. We'll be close by. There's food and hygiene facilities whenever you want them. Just call out when you're ready. Don't try to walk by yourself just yet.”
***
Sunday, January 19, 2118.
Terri arrived back at her dorm room at the University residency complex carrying a rucksack of food stuffs, mainly organic yogurts, and medications. As she traversed the biometric security, she heard a small dog barking at her. She looked down at the robo-pet that turned and scurried to a doorway. Almost instantly a head popped out from the door. It was her pal and mentor, Jenny.
“Terri, so glad you made it back. We were so worried about you,” said Jenny earnestly and in awe.
“Yeah, me too,” smiled Terri.
“How are you? How are you feeling?” Jenny came out and hugged Terri.
“Better.”
“What happened to you? Some people said you'd died.”
“Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” said Terri, quoting Mark Twain. “I had a very unusual virus and unfortunately I'm not over it completely.”
“Are you infectious?” said Jenny, stepping back, horrified.
“No. But there have been some lingering effects.”
“Oh?”
“Amnesia!”
“What?”
“I can hardly remember anything after October.”
“What can do that?”
“I know. I haven't come across anything like it either. So, apologies in advance if I behave like a complete wombat for a while. Hopefully my memory will start kicking in soon. Do come inside, Jenny. You need to tell me about what I was doing last term. Perhaps it will jog my memory. Can I get you something to drink? Tea, perhaps?”
Terri entered her room and was jarred by the minor differences in items and arrangements in the room; different supplies on the desk, a different kettle, fabricated clothes she'd never seen before were hanging on the closet. She was having the world's first flash-forward.
“Tea? That would be Jobsian, thanks,” said Jenny, sitting on the bed watching her dog sniff the room. “What do you want to know?” she asked, noticing Terri's trembling hands as she started to fuss with the kettle and packages.
“Everything. I kind of go blank after the first couple of weeks at Uni.”
“Ha! Ha! Me too.”
“No, really. I'm relying on you to fill in some blanks. It can be anything.”
“Coursework?”
“Be serious.”
“We went to an opening night on Broadway.”
“We did?”
“King Kong, The Musical. You don't remember? The terrible songs? The way the King stepped out of the giant gorilla head to sing to Wray Fay?”
“The King stepped out of his head?”
“The King, when he was a prince, had been magically made into a giant gorilla. And when he wasn't smashing up the place... great special effects by the way... he'd step outside his skull and sing a love song. It was all an allegory about bankers and oil tycoons apparently...”
“You'd have thought I would remember that.”
“You'd have thought, yes. I went with Doug; he’s always handy for making up numbers. You went with that Max guy.”
“Oh? I went with Max?”
“You don't remember going out with Max? He bought the tickets.”
“I was going out with Max?”
“Your relationship status said yes.”
“Oh, shiznit!”
“Well I guess anyone would forget a guy with such charisma vacuum.”
“Vacuum?”
“More like a black hole. All joy from the room collapsing into his event horizon.” Jenny played out the effect with a sucking sound. “Oh no, my personality is being drained!”
Terri laughed nervously.
“Surely you remember the break up with him?”
Terri hid her face in her hands. “No, I don't. What happened?” Terri asked, revealing just one eye through her fingers.
“You said that he was playing The Game.”
“The Game?”
“It's a guy thing. A seduction technique.”
“He was playing The Game... how?”
“Ok. I remember this clearly. He set you up in a comprising position...”
“Set me up?”
“Hmm. And then rescued you.”
“Go on...”
“Made himself look like a leader and made you look small...”
“Uh-huh.”
“And then he delivered the ultimate Game seduction technique...”
“What's that?”
“Chick Crack!”
“And what the GMO is that?”
“Mind reading... desire anticipation... Anybody using Chick Crack, according to this seduction technique, leaves you, the target, completely emotionally vulnerable. Nobody has any defences against that. So despite him being an utter geek... a geek's geek...”
“King of the geeks.”
“You still went out with him. Does any of this jog a memory?” asked Jenny, concerned.
“Yes. Yes, it does. What a Bar Steward. I've been played for a sucker. This is the very definition of the word incredible.”
“Defo. But you dumped him. It seemed amicable. He came over here with prezzies.”
“Presents. When?”
“Around Thanksgiving. You had Thanksgiving with me, Poochie, and the girls, by the way. Do you remember that?”
“I'm sorry Jenny. No.”
“What about Brad?”
“Brad?”
Jenny went to a cupboard door and opened it. Inside was a good looking young man. His eyes opened up.
Terri let out a squeaky scream.
“That’s Brad,” explained Jenny.
“Hey there, Terri. Are we going to hang out tonight?” said “Brad” amiably.
“It’s, it’s like Doug.”
“You remember Doug but not Brad?” said Jenny bemused.
“Apparently so. When did this thing arrive?”
“Thing? This is a top of the range replicant, with enhanced eyebrow features, dilating pupils, forearm
hair and everything. Rated for level 10 as well, not that you are interested in that feature. Since you don’t remember, I was the one that ordered it for you. It’s a generation ahead of Doug.”
“It’s not that I mean to be unappreciative but this is just too shock-jock. Sorry, I've suddenly feel so very tired.”
“Shall I come back?”
“Could we raincheck it?”
“So no tea then?”
“Here's a teabag. I'll make you a proper cup tomorrow. I'll get some digestive biscuits.”
Jenny left, after expressing more concern for Terri's well being, saying how well she looked and how good it was to see her again.
As soon as the door closed, Terri jumped onto the bed and began hitting and biting the pillow. While trashing with the pillow in her mouth, she gave a muffled shout, “Damn you Max! Damn you to hell!”
Brad wiped some dust off his hair. “So, Terri, how are you? Are we going to hang out tonight?” said the robot soberly.
Terri kicked the cupboard door shut with her foot and resumed her pillow smashing.
“So not tonight then?” came a muffled voice from the cupboard.
***
Friday, 1st February 2123.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. This is what I feel Terri had derived from that conversation.
She suspect that Max and Daemon had been working together; both working the Game to improve their chances of seducing girls. Terri imagined a deal where Dameon would find a charming, naive fresher for Max to play The Game, play the Neg, play the chick-crack and deliver a “rescue”. Emotional manipulation on steroids!
Terri assumed that Dameon and Max had used the University supercomputer to obtain personal information about Terri, breaking through all the cyber-security on her private files.
And where would Dameon learn the skills to do that? It would have been child's play for Max. Terri made the paranoid association between the two and then added further embellishments.
Max could offer “Chick Crack” by explaining Dameon's modus operandi and other insights too because They Had Planned The Whole Encounter.
By reading her social media pages using the supercomputer, Max could also identify the right art exhibition to invite her to and impress her.
Max then led her to Mad-Sci-Soc to bribe her with “superpowers” and reinforce his leadership and dominance. This was no different to Dameon bribing her with fancy clothes.
And taking a copy of her? How far did he plan ahead? If the courtship failed, had he planned to deliberately have her killed so he could start all over again with the Back Up? Max could revert to a new blank slate Terri to try to start the relationship all over again?
Terri had no proof for her theories but with some evidence and paranoia on her side, she felt it could be true... with varying degrees of certainty.