Dr. Elfa seemed to truly enjoy mulling the concept over in her head. “Fascinating,” she said. “How would this be implemented?”
“With a modest patch in the sensory code we’ve already developed for sight and sound,” Karl explained. “After those changes, the host would take a round of hormone stimulators to allow the programming to access these two new senses. The pills come with extremely mild side-effects, all of which are easily treated with over-the-counter medication.”
There was a bit of murmuring around the crowd. The psychologist could tell from the body language and tone of his audience that they were intrigued—and even a little excited. A smirk spread across Karl’s face. He locked eyes with Stewart, who seemed a little disappointed.
That’s right, Karl mused. You’ve got some competition.
“When will a prototype be ready?” Dr. Elfa asked.
“It already is,” Karl replied. He reached into his front pocket and retrieved a small bottle of pills.
Most people gasped, and even a few laughed at the reveal of Karl’s drugs.
I’ve really got them in the palm of my hand, he realized.
“These hormone stimulators have already been approved by the government for human testing, and the code to pair the pills with is in its last stage of development. In fact,” he said, turning coy eyes to Dr. Elfa, “I was hoping to finish the final testing with the help of an I.I.; I would be more than happy to be the first human subject.”
Everyone was floored. Some people had expressions of surprise and discomfort. Others were beaming as they contemplated Karl’s vision becoming reality.
“Well, I must say, that is very impressive,” Dr. Elfa commented, a bit of surprise saturated into her face as well. “We will certainly be in touch.”
“Thank you,” Karl said, then left the floor.
Stewart caught his eye as Karl returned to the herd of scientists. There was almost an imprint of hurt, or maybe mistrust, that was stamped on his brow and his eyes. Karl maintained a straight face, but took satisfaction in the expression internally. It was only once he was in the back of the crowd, where no one could see his face, that he remembered the message from last night. He had nearly forgotten.
“Hey, man, it seems like it went really well,” Stewart told Karl once the meeting had let out and they met up in the hallway outside. A few people bled past them, returning to their offices or heading back to the parking lot to go home.
“Thanks, yours too,” Karl lied. “Listen, there’s something I want to talk to you about. Do you have time?”
“Of course,” Stewart replied. “Nothing much left to do with the day as it is.”
Karl led his colleague down a couple doors until they were in Stewart’s office. The engineer wore a confused countenance as he closed the door behind them. He didn’t prod with any questions, but his furrowed brow asked them nonetheless.
“Last night, I received a strange message through my cerebral computer,” Karl began. “I think someone hacked into me.”
Surprise tugged at the skin under Stewart’s eyes. His lips parted as he processed what his associate had said.
“You’re serious?” he asked.
“Why would I joke about that?” Karl asked.
“What did it say?”
” ‘Human minds are to be separate from digital ones,’ ” the psychologist answered. “Then it threatened me, should we continue our work.”
Stewart’s surprise remained at maximum for so long, it started to worry Karl. The psychologist cleared his throat, as it now seemed that the engineer was in trance.
“I got the same message last night,” Stewart said.
“What?” Karl was incredulous. He started to get a creeping sensation over his skin, like the hackers were casting a physical shadow over him, freezing the air.
“Not only that, but I’ve heard rumors of other scientists in the lab getting threatened.”
“All last night?”
“All last night.”
“What the hell?” Karl said.
The engineer seemed almost pained with contemplation. “Could be extremists?” he mused aloud.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Karl said. “Some sort of anti-I.I. hacker. A good one, too.”
“Do you think their threat is legitimate?”
“How can I know? Would you gamble on it?”
“So what should we do?”
“I dunno,” Karl replied. “That’s why I wanted to ask for your help. Is there any way one of your code guys could sift through the logs from the hack and see if they’re able to learn anything?”
“Possibly,” Stewart said. “Isn’t this something better handled by the police, though?”
“You know we can’t do that,” Karl started.
Stewart pursed his lips. “You’re right,” he said. “Our work is too sensitive. Too many prying eyes.”
“You know as well as I that this story would blow up if anyone caught wind of it,” Karl said. “That’s why I need you to keep this between you, me, and your coder. Tell him as little as possible for him to do what he needs to.”
“Okay,” was the only reply.
“Thanks.” Karl sighed with an air of relief. “Now let’s get on with the day, what do you say?”
Stewart nodded.
Just as Karl was about to step out the door, Stewart stopped him.
“Hey Karl,” he began.
The psychologist turned around.
“Be careful.”
Mindshare
Clammy hands guided the vehicle’s controls as Karl sped along the freeway. He hadn’t been able to sit quite still since he’d received the news that morning. Continually fluctuating between chills and heat waves, the psychologist had almost worked himself up into a panic attack earlier. It had taken him two tries just to pour cereal into a bowl, because his fingers refused to stop trembling.
Karl was selected to have an installed intelligence implanted in his brain. He was going to be the first man with two minds.
He had been speechless when Dr. Elfa called to tell
