Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

Chapter 24

Thursday, 10 March 2022 – 12:00 p.m. MST

Ramesh sat. He held his head in his hands and massaged his temples.

“Ramesh, are you okay?” Valerie asked, breaking the silence. There was a deep and honest concern in her voice.

Ramesh shook his head. His thoughts, his emotions and his senses were blurred. There was so much to process. “No.” He looked up. His dark eyes appeared deep and weary. “I just need a moment.”

“Take as long as you need.”

Quinn watched. He tried to think of anything more he could do or say. He usually liked to break tension with a self-deprecating comment, but he judged this silence as too deep for any triviality. He cracked his knuckles. “Excuse me,” he whispered as he stood. “Restroom.”

Ramesh slumped back in the chair. “Valerie, can I ask you something?” His voice was direct, much stronger.

“Sure.”

“How did you feel about all of this ... when you learned?”

“Shock initially. Disbelief. I think I didn’t examine the implications as much as you have. And I didn’t have any ... well, I don’t think there was any personal history for me or my family. You know. I didn’t have to deal with any emotions really. It was just there.” Valerie stared off at nothing.

Her right hand twisted her hair and a faint smile appeared as she continued. “I was gratified by the trust. Quinn’s never told anyone else. There were just the three who helped build the company and Quinn. Then me. Now you. Honestly I don’t think I really appreciated the depth of it all until much later.” She paused. She touched her lips. “He’s never told Laura.”

Ramesh pulled his hands back behind his head. He wasn’t sure how to react. Somehow he had expected that Valerie would have been much more affected than she seemed. He had hoped that she was still struggling with the ethical opposition in working for a company founded on deceit. He didn’t sense that. He was disappointed.

“What do you think I should do?” Ramesh asked. It was more of a probe into Valerie’s beliefs than a question he expected her to answer.

“He needs your help.” Valerie focused on Ramesh. “He doesn’t often ask for help. He must think you can do something ... something that no one else can do.”

“Or will do.”

“I suppose. He does also worry about Brad. Honestly. It’s bothered him for years ... you know Brad. You are uniquely qualified to go warn him.”

“You think I should help.”

Valerie smiled warmly. “What I think really doesn’t matter. But yes. If you can help, I think you should.”

Ramesh sighed. He felt that he could help – at least to warn Brad. At the same time he sensed an inherent wrongness in participating. Something indistinct gnawed in the back of his thoughts. Then he thought of Laura. She had been a lifeline after Padumi had died. Laura had supported him personally. She had also been a strong advocate of his writing, providing him with contacts and opportunities that established the foothold he needed to launch his small freelance writing business. If anything he did could help Laura, he wanted to do it.

Quinn emerged from the hallway. The room was as quiet as when he had left. He sat and awkwardly smiled at Ramesh searching for any indication that progress had been made. Quinn was not accustomed to waiting. His business meetings were typically short and direct. He was used to having the upper hand in any negotiation owing to his unique perspective on the future. The silence in the room was overwhelming, but Quinn forced himself to breath, to relax.

“Okay,” Ramesh broke the silence. “I’ll go warn Brad.” Ramesh was speaking, but not directly to either Quinn or Valerie. His eyes were closed. He heard his voice agreeing to help, but he felt disconnected from it.

Quinn relaxed immediately. His face lightened and a smile overcame him. “Thank you. Thanks Ram.”

“I am not doing this for you, Quinn.” Ramesh still had not opened his eyes. “I just want you to know that. I will help, but it is for Laura and for Brad. And I do not agree with what you have done here.” He opened his eyes. His heart pounded in his chest. Quinn had been a friend and Ramesh was not a confrontational person, but he felt sick about what Quinn had done to build a business and he didn’t want Quinn to assume that he approved.

Quinn’s elation fell a bit. Very few people spoke with such directness to him. “Understood,” Quinn said. “Val, do you mind explaining to Ram the types of help we can provide for him? I really need to meet with Laura this afternoon ... I’m late. Again.” Quinn winked at Valerie as he left. He thanked Ramesh again as he disappeared into the elevator.

“Are you sure about this?” Valerie asked. It was clear that Ramesh was still struggling with his decision.

“No.” Ramesh stood and walked to the window. “But refusing to help accomplishes nothing. And truthfully I really would like to see Brad again. Perhaps he can help me understand all of this.”

From the window Ramesh saw the northern edge of the sprawling Q-Morrow campus. Further to the north, the Salt River trickled – an unusual event in the area, but the winter had been especially wet. Beyond that he could see the Papago Park and mountain area. He had spent so much time there with Padumi. She had loved the gentle hikes and the desert flora.

Ramesh turned. “What type of help was Quinn suggesting?”

“Well,” Valerie smiled coyly. “Take a look at this.” She pointed at the view screens on the opposite wall. Two video displays appeared. On the left a newscast played. On the right, security feeds. Valerie continued, “And this.” The right hand display split into four screens, each showing a different view of the Q-Morrow building or campus. The left display faded to a still image of the Q-Morrow logo. Valerie looked directly at Ramesh.

“And this,” she continued as she raised her arms. The lights in the room faded, the window panes darkened, phones and pagers buzzed, computer screens flashed information, doors closed and re-opened.

“How?” Ramesh asked, aware that Quinn’s company manufactured some bio-electronic devices for the military, but the exact details were not public.

“Bionics and bio-neurological implants.” Valerie relaxed. The room returned to normal. “I have multiple implants. One is a wireless transceiver. It is the connection point between my other implants and any network connected device. One is a processing unit, basically the central core that processes information. One is an ocular implant. It interacts with my optical nerves to provide visual information. I also have an auditory implant to provide audible information.”

Ramesh leaned forward in his chair. His interest was piqued.

“The most impressive implant, technically speaking, is the input and control system. It’s basically a whole new set of human nerve endings connected to a microprocessor.” Valerie was excited when she spoke. Her words were rushed – like a child explaining to a parent a fascinating new toy or game. “It’s like having another limb – a hand – but with no physical manifestation. I can feel it and I can control it, but I can’t touch it or see it.”

“That is impossible. Our understanding of the nervous system – to integrate in such a way – is at least ...”

“A decade away?” Valerie grinned. “Some of the things we find in the future are absolutely unbelievable by today’s standards. In this case, we’ve been planning this implant for a very long time. Quinn was fascinated by it the first time he ran across it in the futurestream. But at that time we didn’t have all of the background – we didn’t have all of the foundation to proceed. It has taken almost a decade to build up our understanding, to build up the framework to make this possible. We’ve only had these implants for about six months. Quinn and I are the only ones outside of the military.”

Ramesh was intrigued. Had he stayed active in his professional field, he might have been more prepared to learn the details of the technology, but as it was, he was simply fascinated that Quinn’s company had been able to achieve it.

“What does it feel like?” he asked.

“Make a fist.” Valerie instructed. Ramesh did. “What does that feel like?” she asked.

Ramesh smiled. He understood. “In order for me to explain the feeling, I have to assume that you have a hand, so we have a common frame of reference to build from.”

“Right,” she answered. “I’d love to tell you what it feels like, but you don’t have the appendage as a frame of reference. The best I can say is that it’s like having something else attached to your body, but sometimes it’s hard to identify where it is. I’ve become so accustomed to using it that I don’t think about it. It’s as common to me to turn off the lights in this room – the room darkened instantly – as it is to rub my nose or blink my eyelids.” The room illuminated.

“And how can your implants help me?” Ramesh asked. He sat perched on the edge of his seat, excited to learn more.

“Not mine. Yours.”

Ramesh rocked back in his chair. It was so obvious that Valerie had been leading to that point, but Ramesh had completely missed it. Surgery, especially elective surgery, was near the bottom of Ramesh’s personal list of favorite activities. It fell far lower on the list than flying. And he truly hated flying.

“As intrigued as I am by the concept, I should prefer to continue without the implants.” Ramesh shuddered.

“It really is quite simple. We have staff on-site for the whole procedure. If we started now, you’d be finished before dinner today. The only thing we would have to delay for is if you’ve had any food or drink this morning.”

“No, just tea at breakfast, and water here this morning.” Ramesh now wished that he had taken a larger breakfast.

“Black tea, or did you have cream and sugar?”

“Black.”

Valerie smiled. “Then you should be fine with the anesthesia.”

“General anesthetic or local?” Ramesh had a personal fear of general anesthesia.

“General.”

Ramesh winced.

“Before you say no, try to understand the benefits. First, you would be able to communicate with Quinn or me at any time and in any place. We would be able to track your location to ensure your safety. You would have access to the entire network – data, maps, entertainment – and you would have access to the futurestream.” Valerie motioned toward the view screens on the wall again. A section illuminated. Ramesh could see headlines and news clippings from various national and international news sources each describing the events of tomorrow. “Giving you an eye to the future is the best safety we can provide.”

Ramesh leaned forward and massaged his temples again. There was almost nothing about this day that he had expected. Things seemed to be progressively getting worse. He realized that the trend was not positive and laughed in spite of his fear considering what the next few days might bring.

“Did you have any negative ... I mean, how was it for you? The surgery. Adjusting to the implants.” Ramesh sounded resigned. He was emotionally exhausted.

“It’s a strange sensation at first. And the ocular implant can create some dizziness. It passes quickly. But the benefits are incredible.” Valerie pointed at the displays on the wall again. “This is essentially what I am seeing right now.” The display contained text, arranged at the edges of the view, leaving the center of the screen clear. “Well, what you’re seeing is just the overlay information. Of course I still see all of the background – you, the room and everything. But this information is overlaid. In the top left you see a brief outline of my upcoming schedule. In the upper right I have current building and security information. This keeps me up to date on all of the notable systems in the Q-Morrow companies. If there were a security breach or a network outage, I would know about it instantly.”

“Can you change what you see?” Ramesh was obviously interested. The possibilities of this technology were immense.

“Definitely.” The information on the screen flashed. “Here’s my full calendar for the week.” The information changed again. “Here’s all of the personnel updates at the company. Did you happen to notice when we toured the building how much information I had about the employees?” A picture of Quinn appeared on the screen. To the right of the picture, vital statistics and personal information also appeared. “I have full access to the human resources database here. I’m terrible with names. But with this, I can remember birthdays, names of spouses and children – everything.”

Ramesh pondered the possibilities. “You have access to the net?”

“Yes.” The view screen flashed again. Stock information, news feeds, images, and video flashed in rapid succession. “And don’t forget the futurestream.” The display continued flashing images. Ramesh saw contemporary events intermixed with future ones, news headlines and video reporting events that would not occur for weeks, months or years.

“Overwhelming.” Ramesh appeared more than overwhelmed. His eyes were red. The lines on his forehead seemed more pronounced than they had earlier. The emotional extremes had taken a toll.

“For what it’s worth, Ramesh, I wouldn’t recommend going to South Africa without them. You’ll need all the help you can get. And I’d feel better knowing we can stay in touch,” Valerie said with genuine concern.

Ramesh smiled. He had truly come to feel a connection with Valerie. While he didn’t understand her position on the ethics of her work, he felt that he could trust her personally. There was no hint of malice in her demeanor. In fact, Ramesh felt more comfortable talking to Valerie than he did with Quinn.

“Okay.” Ramesh was tentative. “But, I should prefer not to vomit again today.” He smiled.

Valerie laughed. “You’ll be fine.” She stood and reached out to help Ramesh up. She sensed his apprehension. He took her hand. He felt a tinge of excitement. His spirits lifted. It will be fine, he urged himself.