Domino

9 Interface

"What is that?" Sarah asked with genuine concern in her voice as Praia approached her bedside with a hypo-syringe. 

The young girl had been summoned back to the recovery room by the digital personality called Alyssa, under the reasoning that her expertise in creating stable virtual realms within the computer core and interfacing conscious thought processes into the digital construct were second to none.

Sarah couldn't help but feel a little dubious due to the girl's youthful appearance and age, but Horatio had done his best to lay her fears to rest with a lengthy explanation of Praia's combined understanding of the technology from her own unique interface with her peers amongst the returned colonists.

"These are modified nano-meds," Praia carefully explained, unintentionally slowing her speech as if she were explaining a detailed process to a dullard, but in truth she simply did not want her words to be misconstrued or her explanation to be misunderstood. "They are designed to attach themselves around key intervals of your cerebrum to record your higher brain functions and transmit these impulses to this monitor," she paused to hold up a small rectangular device, "which is attached to the nape of your neck in the location of the medulla oblongata. This monitor is the active interface with the computer core, taking all the impulses fired by your brain and thus transferring them to the computer for processing, but also receiving data back from the computer which is then passed into your brain by the nano-meds by micro-stimuli."

Sarah kept her gaze fixed on Praia for a moment, smiling diplomatically at her as she addressed her most trusted advocate in the room.

"Doc? Do you understand what these little things do?"

"They zap your thoughts into the computer and at the same time they allow you to imagine what you can see inside the computer core. Much like a dream where you can control the direction and actions of yourself in the sequence. That's my understanding of the technology at the very least," Horatio explained calmly as he continued with his preparatory work.

"So I'm a lab rat for this new technology then?" Sarah asked, allowing Praia to quickly swab her neck whilst casting nervous sideways glances towards the young girl.

"On our colony the adult members of the crew devised this to provide their combined experiences to the artificial intelligence shortly before they died..."

"Not helping!" Sarah exclaimed, suddenly very alarmed and pulling away slightly.

"No, no, no! It was the computer which killed them by turning off their life support, not the nano-meds. In fact Captain Maddox had these injected into him when he first arrived and some of my peers, under the control of the computer, tried to extract his up to date memories of the core words by force, but he escaped with my help and didn't show any signs of anything untoward happening as a result," Praia quickly tried to explain, and then shook her head slightly. "These are much refined nano-meds which have been developed with the advanced technology your doctor has provided us with, and both he and Alyssa will be monitoring you closely on the outside as will I on the inside."

"Okay," replied Sarah slowly and deliberately, settling back into her original position on the bed. "I suppose nothing ventured, nothing gained? Go on, let's do this."

After a short while, Horatio appeared by Sarah's bedside and cast her a friendly smile, casting a quick backwards glance to his two companions in the room.

"We've persuaded your digital self to comply and take part in the process," he remarked with a certain level of amusement. "It took Praia some time to convince her that it was in you best interests, but I would take heed my dear. That version of you inside the computer core is you but without the reservations and conscience which you possess presently. Concentrate on the memories you encounter, but don't trust her. There's something distinctly unsettling about her behaviour up to this point and I could not clearly vouch that she's not without some agenda."