“Open your eyes, Harry.”
The noise wakes me up, and I open my eyes. The light from the room floods my eyes, and then I begin to make sense of my bearings, remembering with a jolt where I am. Has the experiment worked? I see Dr. Chet looking at me intently, jotting down notes, with the rest of the bright white room filled with medical equipment and books. I look down and see my body covered by a blanket, and try to move my legs – they move, but something feels slightly off.
“Did it work, Doctor?” I ask.
“Yes, we’ve completed the simulation. How do you feel?”
The strange feeling from my legs has begun to spread, but I’m not sure the best way of vocalizing it. It almost feels like something else is moving my legs in response to my thoughts, as the timing and movements are slightly different than desired. Maybe it’s an after-effect of the sedative?
“I feel fine, although my body seems a big laggy from the drugs,” I answer. “When can I see the result?”
It’s been three long years leading up to this moment, and while still drowsy and disoriented (this damn feeling keeps getting worse!), my mind has fully switched gears towards the experimental results. The last two attempts were disappointing failures – HR1’s executive functions were improperly encoded, and HR2’s unconscious essentially shut down due to rejection of the sense instruments. Had we finally done it? All tests had pointed to high chances of success, but we needed more than just high chances – a failure here might spell an end to funding.
“In a few minutes – things look promising, but we need a few minutes to verify success. The sedative should wear off quickly, let me know as you start to feel more clear headed.”
“It actually seems to be getting worse,” I answer. “Is there anything you can give me for it? Just feeling a bit disconnected – may be a bad reaction.”
Dr. Chet’s demeanor instantly shifts – he frowns, then lets out a large sigh and rolls his chair to the nearby control panel. He hits a few buttons without looking at me, then says into the mic, “Experiment HR3 a failure – error from HR2 appears to have persisted.”
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