Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

Chapter 26

Thursday, 10 March 2022 – 5:00 p.m. MST

Ramesh awoke. He was so relaxed that he didn’t feel like opening his eyes. He couldn’t remember exactly where he was, but he was comfortable. His breathing was slow, heavy. As he lay, his senses began to recover. It was a bit cool in the room, and there were unfamiliar sounds – a constant beep, beep that seemed to be getting louder. Eventually he cracked his eyelids open. He was in a bright white room. He was lying on a hospital-type bed. He remembered. He rolled his head to either side, looking for anyone.

“I’m here.” It was Valerie. She spoke softly.

“How long ... What time is it?”

“Just after five. Everything went well.”

“So, they’re implanted?”

“Yes,” Valerie said as she stepped closer and placed her hand on his chest. “But don’t worry about that now. You need to wait a bit longer. Let the anesthesia wear off. Then we’ll activate them. For now, just relax.”

Ramesh closed his eyes. He felt nothing unusual. He assumed that was a good thing. As the minutes passed, he began to feel more and more connected with his body. He noticed that his mouth was dry and there was a chemical taste or possibly a smell, very faint.

“May I have a bit of water?”

“I’ll call for the nurse.”

Valerie left, but returned almost instantly with a nurse, a cheerful young man who appeared thrilled about his work.

“How’s our patient feeling?” The nurse asked as he looked at the monitors and jotted some notes in an electronic log.

“Thirsty.”

“Well, everything looks fine here. I’d say you’re about ready to go.” The nurse took a few more notes, thoroughly checking the readings from the various monitors. “I’ll bring some water.”

“Will you activate the implants now?” Valerie asked the nurse.

“Let’s let him rest for another minute and have a drink. Maybe you can help him to the chair.” The nurse disconnected the monitors and switched them off.

Valerie stepped up beside Ramesh. She helped him to sit up and then waited as he adjusted. He actually felt much better than he was expecting. There was no nausea, no pain. He was impressed. He inched off the side of the bed and stood. He felt no dizziness, no weakness.

“Very nice,” he said as he walked to the chair. “I didn’t expect to feel so good.”

Valerie smiled. “I told you so.”

Ramesh sat in a large, comfortable chair. He stretched his arms and legs a bit as he sat. He realized that he felt more rested and more comfortable than he had all day. The nurse returned with a small bottle of water. Ramesh sipped.

“Let me know when you feel ready to activate the implants,” Valerie said.

Ramesh breathed deeply. “I suppose I am ready now.”

“Okay.” Valerie motioned to the nurse. “Let’s do it now.”

The nurse approached a panel near the bed where Ramesh had been laying. “Get ready,” he said. “This is going to feel a little strange.” He tapped on the panel.

Whoosh. A deep, intense hum roared through Ramesh’s head and a quick flash of light stunned his vision temporarily. He rocked forward in his chair and pressed his hands to his ears. In a split second, the sound was gone, but no matter where Ramesh looked, four bright flashing lights obstructed his view.

“Close your eyes.” Valerie stepped over and put her hand on Ramesh. “Close your eyes. The implants are initializing. The flashing will stop in a moment. But you’re going to feel...”

“Ow.” Ramesh reached up and grabbed at his left shoulder. “What...”

“That’s the neural control device.” Valerie gently rubbed Ramesh’s shoulders. “It will pass.”

“It hurts.”

“Only for a moment. We do that on purpose. You need to feel it before you can control it. Focus on the pain. Try to interact with it, move it. The more you force your body to interact with the new nerves, the quicker the pain will subside.”

Ramesh closed his eyes. It was such an unusual sensation. He was feeling pain, like a sore tooth, but it felt like it was coming from a point just above his left shoulder. He tried again to rub it with his right hand, but it wasn’t there.

“Not with your hand. Concentrate,” Valerie urged.

Ramesh focused. He realized that the pain had a shape. As he focused, the pain dulled. He continued. Soon the pain dissipated and was replaced with a tingling.

“Amazing,” Ramesh whispered. He noticed that as he concentrated on the tingling, the visual overlay began to change.

“It’s starting to feel better?”

“Yes. And I seem to be doing something. The display...”

“Good,” Valerie interrupted. “Your implants are currently in training mode. You’ll notice that there is a pointer moving around as you focus. There is also a target in your field of view, a small circle in a stationary position. Do you see it?”

“Yes.”

“Try to move the pointer onto the circle.”

Ramesh chuckled. “It’s all over the place.”

“You’ll get it. Just keep trying.”

Ramesh concentrated. It was amazing. As he continued focusing on the tingling, he became aware that he was actually controlling the moving pointer in his field of view. After a moment he learned how to move the pointer directly to the right or left. It took a few more moments to train himself to control the up and down motion.

“Incredible,” he whispered. Slowly the pointer moved onto the circular target. Immediately the tingling diminished again. The target moved.

“Have you done it?” Valerie asked.

“Yes.”

“Keep practicing. The more you practice, the less you will feel of the tingling and the better you’ll become at controlling it.”

Ramesh continued. He became more adept. Within minutes he was able to move the pointer at will. He smiled. “This is absolutely incredible.”

“There is so much more to learn, but we’ll go over that later. I’ll let you change into your clothes and I’ll meet you back upstairs. Keep practicing whenever you can. You’ll want it to become second nature, so you can control the implants while doing other things like walking, driving and having a conversation.” Valerie winked.

Ramesh hadn’t realized until just then that he had been so focused on his implants that he had heard almost nothing that she had said. He stood up and picked up his clothes. He tried to practice while he was changing, but he found it impossible to do. He fumbled with his clothes while concentrating on the implant. Eventually he concentrated on one task at a time. He hoped that he would soon be as adept as Valerie seemed to be.

After changing, Ramesh stopped and stared at himself in the mirror for a moment. He reached up toward his left shoulder, looking for any sign of the implants. There was nothing. He looked exactly the same as he had looked yesterday. He felt the same as he had felt yesterday. But he was different. As he looked in the mirror, the semi-transparent pointer and training target seemed to float in front of him. He was definitely different.