Little Lost Brain
I was feeling very pleased with myself, but then Steph burst in the door. "Sam! You have to get off, and now!"
"Just a minute. I almost have this working...."
"No, I know what your 'minute' is like. Not a minute, not ten seconds, but now. A client just showed up for his scan. I didn't know about it. He was scheduled for later this afternoon, but the front office let him reschedule and forgot to change the work order."
"Tell him you can't do it now."
"No, he writes a tech blog that's well read. We want this to go perfectly."
"All right already." I moved to comply.
Just then, I heard the sound of voices coming down the hall. Steph grabbed my arm and pushed me into the network closet, then shut me in. All I could see was my own shadow cast by the blinking blue LED lights. Something right-angled was poking into my leg. I hoped it wouldn't break the skin.
It was one of the hazards of using the consumer station to do my work, but the senior guys always had all the workstations in the research wing tied up.
Through the door, I heard Steph's voice. "Mr. Martinson, how are you today?"
Then a masculine voice. "Please, call me Carl. I'm looking forward to this. Will I feel anything?"
"No, you just lie back here and let the machine scan your brain to make the copy. It will take about twenty minutes."
"They tell me the copy may last for centuries. I'm looking forward to seeing that new world with my own eyes. Do you hear that a lot?" Mr. Martinson's voice held excitement.
"People get their scans for many different reasons. Some want a backup copy, just in case."
"A backup copy? Can you... can you put it back in the body?"
"No, we can't. Not yet."
"I wonder if I'll be conscious of my other self while it's in there."
"We just store the data. It won't be aware. Trust us." Steph's assurance penetrated into my hiding spot.
Then, a minute later, her voice again. "OK, I'm about ready. You need to be still until it's done."
Then, I heard the gentle rustle of metal against metal, the hum of machinery, the almost imperceptible sounds of Steph moving around the room.
My left foot fell asleep.
Finally, there was the gentle beeping that said the scan was successfully completed. I heard Steph get Carl up and hand him over to the orderly for escort out of the facility. Then, I heard typing on the keyboard, then a pause, tentative typing, then a longer pause, then the door of the closet flung open.
Steph was wide-eyed and on the verge of panic. "Sam, help me. I don't understand what's happening."
#
Carl had never felt anything like this, because he wasn't feeling anything at all. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't hear anything, he couldn't smell anything. Even the feelings that he didn't usually feel because they're always there were gone - the faint air motion across the little hairs on the back of his hand, the press of clothing on his shoulders, the little whooshing of air as he breathed, the faint itch of the elastic in his socks. Nothing, only a big fat emptiness.
He tried very hard to panic. He wanted desperately to panic, but he couldn't feel his heart racing, his breath hot and turbulent, no screams left his mouth.
He calmed himself. Something must have gone wrong with the scan, but he was safe and people would be working on it. Panic wouldn't help.
#
A half hour later, Steph, and Martin, who was my boss and the director of R&D, and Phil, who was the company CEO, and I were having a nice chat in the CEO's office. There was another man present whom I didn't recognize until Phil introduced him as Jerry, the company's legal counsel.
At that point, I started taking things seriously.
Jerry opened his briefcase and pulled out a yellow pad. "Let's go through this incident, step by step."
Phil nodded towards Steph. "Let's start with you."
"I'm so sorry,…
