Taldaan
08-10-2005, 16:57
For as long as man has feared death, he has sought to prolong his life, and this shall continue until he attains immortality.
-Powell, Roger. The Force of Human Nature
The eminent Taldaani philosopher had indeed been right, although his words, hurriedly scribbled in his notepad as his life was drained away by a brain tumour, were soon to have far more impact than he had ever imagined. Man had indeed sought to cheat death, whether through healthy diets, advanced medicine, or even religion. After all, what was an afterlife but an extension of life? And, in Taldaan, one man believed that he had found the final solution.
The mosquito drone of the electric fan throbbed on, although it did almost nothing to reduce the oppressive heat. The window was wide open, but the curtains were not even twitching in the still air. Outside a group of teens were riding bicycles down the wide road, probably on their way to one of the public parks, and one the opposite side, outside the door, the insistent sucking noise of the janitor’s vacuum cleaner provided an oddly calming ambience. Parrots screeched in the tree outside the open window, bringing the young man asleep at the desk awake with a start. He cursed as his reading glasses slipped from his nose and hit the carpet with a thud. He picked them up and inspected them, relieved to see that they weren’t broken. Pushing his half-read paperback novel to the side of the desk, he pulled himself up from the chair and groaned as his muscles stretched for the first time in around two hours. Rubbing his eyes to wipe away the sleepiness, he glanced at the clock on the desk.
Three in the afternoon. Well, that explained the heat. Taldaani summer afternoons were nearly always baking hot, two months of hellfire before the fresh, purifying monsoon. And that time also held a special significance. It was time to turn off the machine. It had been three months since the start of the project, three months of sitting in the lab cut off from the world, three months of having his food passed through the door, three months of only communicating with his family and girlfriend by phone. They had been very supportive, although he was sure that they thought he was doing the wrong thing. Still, the project had to be completed.
DreamScaper. My proudest achievement. My legacy to the world.
DreamScaper, the extension strategy to end all extension strategies. The key to man’s immortality. And it was right there, in the room below the small laboratory, its thick cables stretching up through the floor. And on the pallet, a young woman lay, seemingly asleep, her chest rising and falling slowly. Her head was hidden from sight under a black plastic mask, wires emerging from it like some obscene spider. The young man shuddered- as wondrous as DreamScaper was, the mask still chilled him to the bone. He was still haunted by his memories of the first tests of primates- the fearful animal screams, the trickles of blood from the nose and mouth, the final wrenching spasms before they died. He had been terrified, knowing that he was going to link a living, breathing human to that machine. Of course, they had ironed out the kinks with the apes, but if it had killed her… His fears had been dispelled after the first three hours: the young woman’s heart rate was consistent with sleep, her brain activity normal, with occasional jolts of discovery. Her breathing was deep and even, as if she was asleep. And in a sense she was.
It was her progress that he had been tracking for all that time. Due to the nature of the machine, this meant sit back and watch numbers race upwards and vital signs stay normal.
“Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty.”
He crossed over to her, and depressed the large panel on the front of her mask. It slid in neatly and silently. The machinery had been made well. Immediately, the electronic signals rerouting her nerves cut off and the visor detached, although not before sending a jolt through her that would bring her back to the world of the living. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and blinking in the sudden light. Seeing the nervous young scientist in his creased lab coat standing over her, she smiled.
“Welcome back.”
“Good to be back. How long was I in there?”
“I told you at the start that it would be three months. And it was, almost to the second.”
“Three months? I was gone… lifetimes. I’ve been to places that you could never dream of, done things that no-one has done before.”
Her voice was wracked with emotion, and a tear had formed in her eye. The scientist, too, was feeling overwhelmed. DreamScaper had worked beyond his wildest expectations. He knew it worked, of course, but not of its true potential. This woman had lived a thousand lives in the blink of an eye, then come back to earth with no ill effects. DreamScaper was no longer a work in progress. It was a reality, a living, breathing technological revolution. And he, Zach Yann, had invented it. Taking the mask in his hands, the one that had repulsed him, he kissed it. Then laying it down gently, he flung his arms around the test subject. She was surprised, but not upset.
Immortality beckoned.
ooc: Ok, ok, blatant FTness. Still, its a plot device that confers no advantage to me. Can you forgive me?
-Powell, Roger. The Force of Human Nature
The eminent Taldaani philosopher had indeed been right, although his words, hurriedly scribbled in his notepad as his life was drained away by a brain tumour, were soon to have far more impact than he had ever imagined. Man had indeed sought to cheat death, whether through healthy diets, advanced medicine, or even religion. After all, what was an afterlife but an extension of life? And, in Taldaan, one man believed that he had found the final solution.
The mosquito drone of the electric fan throbbed on, although it did almost nothing to reduce the oppressive heat. The window was wide open, but the curtains were not even twitching in the still air. Outside a group of teens were riding bicycles down the wide road, probably on their way to one of the public parks, and one the opposite side, outside the door, the insistent sucking noise of the janitor’s vacuum cleaner provided an oddly calming ambience. Parrots screeched in the tree outside the open window, bringing the young man asleep at the desk awake with a start. He cursed as his reading glasses slipped from his nose and hit the carpet with a thud. He picked them up and inspected them, relieved to see that they weren’t broken. Pushing his half-read paperback novel to the side of the desk, he pulled himself up from the chair and groaned as his muscles stretched for the first time in around two hours. Rubbing his eyes to wipe away the sleepiness, he glanced at the clock on the desk.
Three in the afternoon. Well, that explained the heat. Taldaani summer afternoons were nearly always baking hot, two months of hellfire before the fresh, purifying monsoon. And that time also held a special significance. It was time to turn off the machine. It had been three months since the start of the project, three months of sitting in the lab cut off from the world, three months of having his food passed through the door, three months of only communicating with his family and girlfriend by phone. They had been very supportive, although he was sure that they thought he was doing the wrong thing. Still, the project had to be completed.
DreamScaper. My proudest achievement. My legacy to the world.
DreamScaper, the extension strategy to end all extension strategies. The key to man’s immortality. And it was right there, in the room below the small laboratory, its thick cables stretching up through the floor. And on the pallet, a young woman lay, seemingly asleep, her chest rising and falling slowly. Her head was hidden from sight under a black plastic mask, wires emerging from it like some obscene spider. The young man shuddered- as wondrous as DreamScaper was, the mask still chilled him to the bone. He was still haunted by his memories of the first tests of primates- the fearful animal screams, the trickles of blood from the nose and mouth, the final wrenching spasms before they died. He had been terrified, knowing that he was going to link a living, breathing human to that machine. Of course, they had ironed out the kinks with the apes, but if it had killed her… His fears had been dispelled after the first three hours: the young woman’s heart rate was consistent with sleep, her brain activity normal, with occasional jolts of discovery. Her breathing was deep and even, as if she was asleep. And in a sense she was.
It was her progress that he had been tracking for all that time. Due to the nature of the machine, this meant sit back and watch numbers race upwards and vital signs stay normal.
“Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty.”
He crossed over to her, and depressed the large panel on the front of her mask. It slid in neatly and silently. The machinery had been made well. Immediately, the electronic signals rerouting her nerves cut off and the visor detached, although not before sending a jolt through her that would bring her back to the world of the living. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and blinking in the sudden light. Seeing the nervous young scientist in his creased lab coat standing over her, she smiled.
“Welcome back.”
“Good to be back. How long was I in there?”
“I told you at the start that it would be three months. And it was, almost to the second.”
“Three months? I was gone… lifetimes. I’ve been to places that you could never dream of, done things that no-one has done before.”
Her voice was wracked with emotion, and a tear had formed in her eye. The scientist, too, was feeling overwhelmed. DreamScaper had worked beyond his wildest expectations. He knew it worked, of course, but not of its true potential. This woman had lived a thousand lives in the blink of an eye, then come back to earth with no ill effects. DreamScaper was no longer a work in progress. It was a reality, a living, breathing technological revolution. And he, Zach Yann, had invented it. Taking the mask in his hands, the one that had repulsed him, he kissed it. Then laying it down gently, he flung his arms around the test subject. She was surprised, but not upset.
Immortality beckoned.
ooc: Ok, ok, blatant FTness. Still, its a plot device that confers no advantage to me. Can you forgive me?