Chapter One

It’s Monday

Leading a Cryogenics project was all time consuming but worth every minute.  I spent most of my time hidden away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life in a research establishment, cleverly built into the side of a mountain in northern Wales, UK.  My team viewed me as Cryogenics guru but I was just enthusiastic about my work and had gathered together a talented group with a similar outlook.

Driving to the laboratory through some of the worst weather conditions I’d ever experienced made me think about why I was doing this.  Monday as the first working day of the week had never inspired me to jump out of bed, but I was committed to my current preoccupation, so I made the effort.  It made no difference that I was pathological about finishing the project, the house was empty and there was nobody else to worry about.  I’d not ventured into the high maintenance luxury of marriage again and there wasn’t a current girlfriend.  Pulling into the Research Centre’s car park I noticed the excessive amount of water gushing off the mountain’s rock face around the building, was actually forming waterfalls cascading into the car park!  Something I’d not seen before and its significance didn’t register at the time. 

The research team wasn’t large as the mechanics of cryogenics is confined to just a few sciences.  I’d spent months trawling universities and research projects for the right people to cope with my exacting demands and sometimes short fuse, but I made sure the sign on my office door didn’t make me unapproachable.  It read ‘Professor Mika Gerey – Research Centre Director’.   

Out in the general office I walked over to the youngest in our team.  He sat at his desktop workstation and looked up from his screen with a grin on his face. 

‘When are we testing it for real, boss?’

John easily held his own with the more senior team members, a semi-serious nineteen year old with a mischievous tendency but a lot of talent and a bright future in front of him. 

‘You pushing me boy?’  I smiled to make sure he didn’t misconstrue my reaction and he refocused on his workstation’s screen.  ‘The government’s Technology Department don’t appreciate being rushed and will withdraw funding if we make too much progress.  It’s not good for future budget proposals.’  He looked up at me with a puzzled frown.  ‘Not your worry my son, least not today anyway.’  I grasped his head and faced him back to the screen.  This was a government sponsored project, attached to the European Space Agency.  Some bright sparks in their organisation had visions of travelling further than Mars and it needed Cryogenics for the astronauts.

 ‘Weather’s bad out there!’  My senior assistant, Daniel Eden, had been monitoring the forecasts on his workstation.  ‘A very nasty system is creeping up on us from the western Atlantic,’ he informed me and began biting his bottom lip.  He’d neglected the schedule of checks I’d asked him to complete in favour of watching the storm’s progress.   The climatic changes, predicted by scientists since the nineteen eighties, were becoming a reality.  The storms we got in 2020 were scary stuff but I preferred to believe that we were relatively safe here, tucked under this mountain.  Governments worldwide struggled with an increasing pressure from the electorate to maintain the status quo whilst tackling climate change, an impossible objective.  There had been riots in many capital cities, but they made no sense as it was far too late and governments were helpless to avoid the effects of dramatic changes in the planet’s climate.  I left the lab and made for the Centre’s entrance foyer. 

The reception guard looked at me and then through the plate glass frontage of the building at the gathering storm. 

‘I wouldn’t go out there Professor Gerey!’  He shook his head as he said it. 

I raised my hand in acknowledgement.  ‘Don’t worry George, I’ve no intention of doing so but I need to know if I can risk sending the team home.’ 

He shrugged his shoulders.  ‘Hard to say but if you’re going to you need to do it soon, it’s getting worse by the minute.’

On the way back to the lab I decided they needed to go, but there was one more task I wanted completed before they left.  Back in the lab I popped my head around the main office door.

‘Jem, come and help me calibrate the Cryo’s gas release, please.’ 

Jemma, a Cryogenics PhD had contributed extensively to the set-up of the chamber. 

‘On my way, Mika.’  Very attractive, tall and leggy, I’d always thought she could make a success in modelling.  She’d have been devastated if I’d ever admitted it.    We were making final adjustments to a Cryogenic chamber, powered by a new technology I’d perfected, after finding a way to tap the energy in our planet’s gravitational field.  It was low level power but it was inexhaustible, I’d named it Magnacell.  The concept was new.  I’d developed a system of life support that supplied nutrients to the occupant, albeit in very small quantities and only when it detected a life threatening level in the occupant’s body.  We didn’t know how long this would keep a human alive, but tests had easily reached a five year duration period with minimal depletion of supplies.  The chamber had been proven using small animals and we were waiting on the volunteer human guinea pig, who’d agreed to some short term testing. I was disappointed that he’d not turned up as arranged but we had a fall-back plan.  We had a second volunteer, but there was some extensive environmental testing to complete first.

The racket outside made my thoughts wander back to the climatic chaos raging overhead as I considered the options.  It’s a strong building but what would I do if the Research Centre couldn’t take it?  I glanced around the lab.  There’s not much here.., the cryo chamber, maybe?  A rumble from somewhere overhead made my thoughts switch to how my sister and brother-in-law were coping with the extreme conditions we’d created by our abuse of the planet.  My sister was married to an electrical engineer, with whom I’d had numerous debates on life, politics, the universe and my house wiring.  I had a lot of confidence in his judgement to keep them both safe and made a mental note to call when this storm had passed over.  

Watching Daniel it was obvious that his nervous system was in overload.  He was fixated by global news reports, which were telling of mass fatalities as weather conditions exceeded all known limits and were simply cleansing areas of the planet’s surface of human habitation.  The weather reports on his workstation were recording climatic conditions humans hadn’t seen before.  Rainfall no longer adequately described the amounts of water being moved around by winds of two hundred mph plus.  The Ice Cap melt along with an accelerated release of methane from ocean warming, plus the defrosting tundra, was completing the sequence of events that scientists had predicted. Nothing we did now would stop this dramatic change in our planet’s climate. I shuddered at the thought that this was just the beginning of what lay in the future, and again drew a small comfort from the knowledge that we were partly protected by the mountain above us... little did I know.  I’d told everyone to go home except Dan and Elizabeth.  They were the team’s expertise on human physiology and were both highly qualified medical scientists working on the effects of stasis on human tissue.  I’d always found it slightly strange to see people with significantly different physical attributes make it in a successful relationship. With Liz at about five feet four and Dan topping out at six feet three I couldn’t help smiling to myself whenever they entered the room together.  Evenso, I wouldn’t have wanted to lose either of them from the team.  They acknowledged my concern and agreed to leave.

A couple of hours later the barometer was almost bursting its tubes and pressures were actually causing the building to vibrate.   

Daniel shouted above the roar outside.  ‘They’re saying that this storm system is huge and covers most of Europe and part of North Africa.  Reports are estimating over two million have already been wiped out by this, there’s something bad happening out there.’  Although I’d earlier dismissed the team and insisted they go home, Daniel had wanted to stay.  I’d suspected that he’d been afraid to venture outside and right now, I felt the same.  I tried to ignore the chaos by concentrating on our project tasks.  It was now late afternoon and the vibrations had increased and were causing laboratory equipment to collapse.  Windows began shattering.  The building was a strong construction but I was watching the ceiling crack.  Daniel saw it too and was panicking.

‘Get out!’ I screeched at him.  ‘If this place collapses we certainly won’t survive.’  He shot a questioning glance at me.  ‘Now, get out now!’  We both ran for the door but Daniel disappeared under a large section of ceiling that had detached from the roof.  

‘No!  Oh my god, no!’  He couldn’t have stood a chance.  For a few seconds I stood frozen, staring at the large slab of concrete that hid Daniel.   Mixed with the rising fear in me, was a gut wrenching nausea.  He was a good friend as well as colleague. My despair was overridden by an earth shaking vibration, accompanied by a low frequency rumble.  The lights were failing and more of the ceiling was falling to the floor.  Large cracks were snaking down the walls and water supplies had ruptured, pouring a fountain into the middle of the room.  

It flashed through my mind.  If this is an earthquake, this could be it, I won’t survive in here.  I shot a glance around the lab, looking for a way out, feeling totally helpless but hopeful of some miracle then I remembered the Cryo chamber.  It wasn’t a small device and as a space saving measure, had been sighted in a natural alcove in the rock face of the mountain.  If this was my destiny then so be it, but there might be a chance that it would offer some protection. This was no time to get choosey.  I’d have to chance that I’d be found later.  I clambered over the large chunks of ceiling now strewn across the floor, climbed into the Cryo chamber and closed the lid.  Closing the lid sealed the chamber and activated the Cryogenic system.  I knew this but could see no alternative apart from a painful and traumatic death.  After I’d attached the sensing and minerals feed to my arm the chamber began its cooling phase and the anaesthetic gas made me drowsy.  I’d often wondered what the sensation would be like.  The computer enhancement calculated my body mass and adjusted the conditions to suit.  As I’d set no time parameter it assumed infinity.  During the last few seconds of consciousness I watched the destruction of the laboratory through the chamber’s inspection portal.  As consciousness slipped away I had visions of Daniel’s last moments and shivered thinking will I see blue sky again?  A strange reaction but maybe it equates to a survival instinct? 

 I opened my eyes and attempted to focus, no detail only patches of light and dark but I could just make out the silhouette of someone standing next to me. 

He spoke.  ‘How are you feeling?’ 

I tried to respond but my lungs could only produce wisps of breath across my lips which carried no sound.  I can’t speak!   Panic rose in me. 

‘Don’t worry, this will put that right.’  He placed a small metal disc on my neck and another on my chest.  I tried to focus on his face but didn’t yet have sufficient control over my eyes.  Evenso, it was obvious that he was studying me for a reaction.  Is he a doctor?  Half an hour later my vision had improved some and his shoulder length blonde hair and medium build became obvious.  Somewhere around his mid-late thirties I guessed.  He responded to my probing stare through weakened eyes. 

‘You...er, you’ve been asleep for a while.’ 

Even with a fog in my head I could sense that he was a bit uneasy.  My throat was feeling warm and prompted a coughing fit.  When it subsided I had a voice, well, more like a toad with laryngitis, actually.  ‘Where am I?  Is this the UK Research Centre?’  My voice crackled like an ancient valve radio reception.  ‘Has the storm subsided?’  

He drew a long breath.  ‘No, you’re not in the UK.’  He watched closely for my reaction and I could just make out his facial features produce a deep frown, which would become very familiar to me in time.  ‘Please don’t be concerned, you are quite safe here.’ 

Some hours later I opened my eyes and became aware of softly spoken questions.

‘Are you awake?  How do you feel?’  My companion was leaning over me and had placed another disc on my forehead.  My throat felt less sore and I was more able to form some words and my vision was sharper.

‘I feel a bit stronger; did the storm do much damage?’ 

He raised his eyebrows in a questioning expression.  ‘I’m not sure what storm you mean, can you expand on that?’

‘The storms created by the changes in climate that were predicted.’ 

He looked confused.  ‘What year are we talking about?’ 

Is he kidding?  ‘2020 of course.’  I couldn’t reconcile his apparent confusion. 

He caught his breath.  ‘Oh my god, I think I know what you mean.  Do you feel strong enough to cope with some difficult news?’ 

What could be more difficult than the catastrophe that’s just happened? It occurred to me as I nodded.  

‘The storm you experienced was just the beginning.  The building you were in was mostly buried by a partial collapse of the mountain.  Ironically, it actually protected you from the changing climatic conditions.  They increased in ferocity until, by around 2048, they had killed around a third of the human global population and destroyed large areas of civilisation.’ 

What’s he talking about?  ‘2048..., killed a third..., what’s going on?’  I was lying on my back and tried to raise myself from..., there’s nothing underneath me, but I can feel a couch or something.  

He could see my confusion and gently pressed me back into a prone position.  ‘Please, you must allow your body to recover slowly’.

I must have lost consciousness again because the next time I opened my eyes I was alone, feeling more awake and a little stronger but I still couldn’t stand.  A cursory sweep of my surroundings told me, something isn’t right!  More oddities became apparent as I scanned around the room.  There were no sharp angles where the walls met the ceiling and I couldn’t locate any doors.  No obvious lighting fixtures but the ceiling appeared to be emitting a light as bright as day.  An absence of furniture, except for the transparent bed I was lying on, gave the room a clinical atmosphere.  Everything was one colour...white.  Even more strange!  Next to me and exactly mirroring my body and movements, was a sort of holographic projection.  It lay prone as I did and showed all my bodily functions through a transparent skin, including my beating heart.  There were numerical values next to vital areas, which changed in rhythm with my pulse and breathing.  This doesn’t look like any hospital I know.  ‘Where the hell am I?’  I shouted as loudly as my voice would allow.  ‘That’s not possible!’  The guy looking after me had just walked through a wall.  My brain fought with what my eyes were telling it.  ‘This can’t be real, who are you, what is this place?’  I was in panic mode again. 

He put a hand on my shoulder.  ‘It’s alright, calm down and I’ll explain’. 

I didn’t have the strength to do anything else. 

He checked the readings on the hologram next to me.  ‘Do you want to talk?’ 

I nodded.  It was still easier than talking. 

‘I’m Jodi Anderson, I live here and you are in my house as my guest.’ 

My face contorted as I squinted in an effort to focus.  ‘I just imagined you walking through a wall, what have you done to make me hallucinate?’ 

He again put a hand on my shoulder in a gesture of reassurance.  ‘You’re not hallucinating, what you saw is a reality.  The explanation is simple but you’ll find it difficult to accept at first.’ 

 Find it difficult? He’s got to be kidding after what has just happened.  I again tried to sit up.  He attached another small disc to my right temple and the room faded.

Sometime later I woke up to find myself still in this fantasy world, maybe it wasn’t a dream?

‘I’m sorry, I had to sedate you.  You were experiencing a metabolic overload, how do you feel now?’

‘Mmm...I’m better,’ I croaked.  My voice was still pretty rough.  ‘Who did you say you are?

He smiled momentarily.  ‘I’m a research scientist specialising in human biotics or put another way, I research the advancement of human capabilities through technology.’ 

I interrupted.  ‘But there’s no such thing.’ 

His smile returned.  ‘There is now.  You are in what used to be central Europe, now known as Ecee, which I believe is a corruption of the old European Community name.’  He hesitated and raised his eyebrows.  ‘I can’t delay this any longer.  Nothing will make sense if you’re not told.’

‘Told what?’  I queried.  

He drew a deep breath and stretched his lips across his teeth in a grimace.  ‘This will seem impossible but in time you are in what was your future, the year....... is 2150!’ 

I croaked and choked because I couldn’t scream. 

He was anticipating my reaction and repeated the hand on shoulder reassurance gesture.  ‘Don’t worry, you’re ok, really you’re ok and in amazingly good shape considering you have been in stasis for one hundred and thirty years.’ 

Even with my head in a fog his words pierced my mind like a laser and made me choke again as I tried to rationalise what he’d said. My brain functions were slowly recovering and he was right, I couldn’t accept it.  A hundred and thirty years in stasis, how is that possible? 

I laid there with my mind searching for something familiar but my memory was fragmented.  Vague flashes of images here and there, but I understood his words.  Confusion reigned and the new reality made the blood drain from my face. 

He noticed this.  ‘You may not have all your memories.  Stasis can preserve biological tissue but it’s not clear what happens to the brain’s electromagnetic energy over such a long period.  Nobody has ever survived that length of time before.’  His expression lightened to a smile.  ‘Even so, you are recovering well.’ 

I don’t understand.  I didn’t have enough awareness to be truly shocked by what he was saying. 

He continued.  ‘You were found by one of our archaeological teams, who were excavating a site in the old UK.  They found you in the remains of what appears to have been a research centre.  That Cryogenic Chamber saved your life.  Luckily for you, the power system on the chamber was a prototype Magnacell.  This technology was the prime reason you survived when the centre disappeared under a gigantic land slide during one of the super storms of that time.  Fortune was really smiling on you.  The Magnacell was still functioning when we dug you out, but I’m struggling to make sense of how we found you... in a Cryogenic Chamber.  Can you remember anything of those moments?  What were you doing, experimenting on yourself?’

I tried hard to recall the circumstances that had saved my life.  Substitute...I remembered!

I coughed, choked and croaked.  ‘Substitute, I remember substitute.’

‘What, you filled in for somebody?’ 

I nodded and did another toad impression.  ‘Didn’t turn up, bad storm, but I jumped into the Cryo Chamber because there was nowhere else to go.’  

Jodi was excited at the prospect that I might have retained full recall.  ‘That’s excellent!  Very promising, it’s looking like your memory is still intact.’  He grinned.  ‘Well, whoever it was did you the biggest favour they possibly could.  In any event, it’s a great privilege and very exciting to be your host.  Your presence here is not yet widely known but when it is there will be many people wanting to meet you.’  

I suddenly had a flash of the laboratory being destroyed and Daniel’s fate.  I struggled to control my saliva again.  ‘Did they find another body in the wreckage?’  

His expression dulled.  ‘They found skeletal remains not more than twenty feet from where you were in the Cryo chamber.’ 

We sat quietly for a short while before Jodi broke the silence.  His enthusiasm was obvious as he explained his reasons for being by my side when I’d gained consciousness. 

‘I’m charged with looking after your needs and bringing you up to date with life in the twenty second century.  What’s your name?’

‘Er…er...it’s...Mika, Mika Gerey’.  That was difficult.  I certainly had some way to go yet.

Jodi recognised my difficulty and suggested I relaxed quietly and took time to consider what he’d told me.  ‘I’ll be fascinated to hear about life that far back, when you’re ready.’  His words faded. 

‘Yeah, ok.’  I turned my head to face him but he’d gone. 

My mind was clearing, which enabled me to try and order my thoughts and make rational sense of what he’d said but I still wasn’t able to accept the reality.  His words kept repeating ‘You have been in stasis for one hundred and thirty years.’  

My body was still weak and I must have dropped back into unconsciousness for some while because darkness now filled the space outside the windows.  I scanned the room again to find Jodi, sitting at a sort of breakfast table arrangement, protruding from one wall. 

He smiled with eyebrows raised.  ‘Hi Mika, how are you feeling?’ 

I was able to sit up and let my legs hang over the edge of the couch or whatever.  My voice had improved a tad.  

‘What have I been lying on?  I can feel it but not see it.’ 

 Jodi smiled.  ‘You are being supported by an anti-gravity field.  It’s preferable to a solid surface, kinder on the body.’ 

Our previous conversation suddenly gushed back into my mind. 

‘I just can’t get my head around this.  You said this is 2150...one hundred and thirty years in the future?’ 

His smile faded.  ‘I did say that Mika and it’s true.  You might remember the Magnacell that powered your chamber?’ 

I nodded and smiled to myself.  I hadn’t yet told him it was my invention.  I again inwardly smiled at the realisation that I’d remembered another snippet from a hundred and thirty years ago. 

‘Well, it was able to maintain minimal conditions, which gave us enough to work with and successfully bring you out of stasis.’ 

The words, ‘which gave us enough to work with,’ sort of registered but I was later to learn the mind blowing truth of what these words meant. 

His voice was beginning to echo.  I had to lie down again or fall off the antigravity couch.

Two days later and more conversations with Jodi, plus help from some unfamiliar medical techniques, my strength was building and I was beginning to come to terms with my situation and gaining more memories.  Jodi had explained how my burial must have been presumed fatal.  The dominant preoccupation would have been survival and the rebuilding of the centres of civilisation. 

I was now strong enough to walk about the room and question what I was seeing.  Where’s the door?  My mind was recovering a keen edge and I was taking more note of the detail of my surroundings. 

Jodi was sat at his breakfast table.  There were no joints!  It was as if the wall had reached out and formed a breakfast table from its own material.  How do they do that? I couldn’t reconcile the technique.  

My host was enjoying a coffee...I drew a breath. Mmm, that smells good.  ‘How do I make a coffee, Jodi? 

He swung around and grinned.  ‘This might be interesting,’ he said with a glint of mischief in his eye.  He pointed to a wall position which contained a recess.  ‘Go to the recess in the wall by the window and simply say coffee’. 

As I approached the recess it morphed into what looked something like the dispensing aperture in a coffee machine that I would recognise.  The phenomenon startled me and made me hesitate.  

Jodi chuckled.  ‘It’s ok, go on, order a coffee.’ 

I spoke to it and a coffee materialised out of nowhere and sat steaming on the dispensing grill.

‘What...’ 

Jodi interrupted me.  ‘It’s a Molecular Replicator; we call them Shapers because they can reproduce anything and everything.  It’s a product of the convergence of computing, molecular scanning, nano-engineering and human ingenuity.  You won’t get a better coffee.’  I wasn’t completely ignorant of the technologies he’d mentioned but to see them put together like this was science fiction.  I was beginning to cope with the fantastic I had to, it was all around me.  I cupped the coffee in my hands and felt relaxed for the first time.

’What day is it?’  I enquired. 

‘It’s Monday, evening to be precise,’ he replied.

‘Oh right, the start of another week’s labour,’ I complained with a false intent. 

He smiled at my reaction.  ‘Considering Monday as the first day of the working week hasn’t been relevant since the twenty first of March 2080 when the work ethic was officially mothballed.’ 

This is another confirmation of my move through time.  It ran through my mind as he spoke.

‘Mothballed, how come?’  I asked.

‘The requirement to work was eliminated by the introduction of Shapers.  This application of Nanotechnology provides us with everything we need and has been a catalyst for major change in human society.’ 

I glanced back at the ‘coffee machine’.  There was nothing there, apart from the recess in the wall.  It had become patently obvious that Jodi was telling the truth, which rekindled a sense of unease and panic in me.  I listened in silence whilst making mental notes about my host.  A one-piece garment, like a jump suit but there were no zips or studs. A blue colour which made me question if colour indicated status. He was clean shaven.  Maybe the wrong words now?  About five feet ten inches tall and carrying a well profiled muscular system.  Pumps iron?  A girlfriend, maybe?   It occurred to me, one hundred and thirty years on and apart from his clothing, Jodi isn’t any different to my generation. 

I tuned back into what he was saying. 

‘Not surprisingly, money became meaningless and quickly disappeared.  An item’s value is measured by its usefulness.’ 

‘Are you telling me that everything is now sweetness and light?’  

He grinned.  ‘Not exactly, the darker side of the human psyche is still evident.  There are pockets of individuals who are not content with everything ‘on a plate’ and employ pirated Shaper patterns, which produce objects, such as weapons and explosives.  It has proven difficult to eliminate this criminal element but it’s a fraction of what it was historically.  It’s interesting to speculate on why they still want to buck the system, but another time, maybe?’

I was fascinated.  This had always been the stuff of my dreams and now it was reality.  Jodi’s voice, again, captured my attention. 

‘Domestic Shapers are loaded with a vast selection of patterns that cover all aspects of life.  The traditional causes of crime for profit have been eliminated.’ 

Although I was becoming reconciled with my apparent time travel, his claims were seemingly exaggerated.  I challenged his account of life in 2150.  ‘Doesn’t all this just encourage people to become lazy?  How do they motivate themselves to achieve anything?’  His reply was surprising.  ‘That’s a reasonable assumption, but it’s not so.  Living on the edge of life during the super storms really shook up the collective psyche.  For a long time every human on the planet lived with the possibility that they might not be alive the next day.  The preoccupations with greed and wealth became unimportant, survival was the priority.  Replication has meant new opportunities and has released human energy for research and learning.  It has enabled humanity to remodel itself and changed the focus.  It fostered higher objectives and self analysis.  The preoccupation with survival and the accumulation of material wealth is no longer present.  Hunger, poverty and degradation have been eradicated.’

Jodi appeared to realise he was on a soapbox and shot a quick glance at me.  If he was checking my attention level he needn’t, I was fully awake and highly motivated by the thought of what was in store. 

He closed his latest bulletin.  ‘Life is relaxed.  The pressures to achieve have been eliminated.  We now consider ourselves to be one global race.  Humanity’s relentless curiosity is now the primary force driving us forward.’

My mind had cleared and renewed the need to clarify how this apparent Utopia worked. 

‘So who looks after the essentials?’  I thought this would be the Achilles Heel in his idyllic world, but I was wrong. 

He was enjoying revealing the spectacular advances that had taken place in one hundred and thirty years.  ‘The physical activities of building, maintenance and providing services are performed by artificial life forms or AI’s.  These are also heavily employed in research and development but humans occupy all the management functions at the present time.  We will talk more on the subject of artificial life form technology.  It has become a very interesting and important aspect of human culture.’ 

There was so much I wanted to know. 

‘I’m guessing that education is no longer confined to the earlier part of life now?’  

He grinned again.  ‘Why would it be?  It’s on tap, whenever you need it.  He mentioned that he was currently taking in quantum physics.

‘Are you serious?’ I said without thinking.

‘Why wouldn’t I be serious?’ he responded. 

It was the first time I had detected some irritation in his tone and he took the opportunity to reinforce the point. 

‘Learning isn’t about burying your head in books or sitting in lectures halls any more. It’s an electro-biological process, during which, information is committed to memory via an interface implant, placed in our brain at birth.  Connection to an educational database can save years of study.  The instant nature of learning now means the data is all cutting edge.

I was getting itchy feet.  I’d been cocooned in this room for over four days now and despite the windows, had little idea of what things looked like on the outside.  I wanted to ask how I would leave this room, as there were no doors and I didn’t possess the ability to walk through walls, but Jodi wouldn’t be diverted. 

‘Mika, we have all the time you want to go wandering about and I’m guessing you may be interested in what I was going to say next.’

‘Ok...Ok.  I give in, you carry on.’

‘I was going to suggest that it may be possible to fit you with an implant!’ 

This revelation really fired my imagination.  ‘Now that would be impressive, what is this interface implant? 

He smiled.  ‘It’s a Biomech interface.  That means it’s a combination of human tissue and molecular circuitry that is positioned adjacent to the Cerebellum and Hippocampus.  It makes primary connections with these two brain elements, but with all the other functional elements, too.  Once established it can communicate with external sources and becomes an omni-directional data highway into the brain.’ 

‘Does it mean that I would be able to bone up on today’s knowledge as well?’ 

‘I’m not sure, he mused.’ 

I couldn’t have known at the time that he was considering my physiology might not be capable of accepting the implant. 

‘We will have to consult the Biotechs.’

‘Consult the what?’ 

‘The Biotechs,’ he repeated with a hint of irritation. 

I detected he was becoming just a little frustrated with the lengthy explanations needed for what he considered everyday terminology. 

‘The AI’s I told you about earlier, artificial intelligence, cybernetic beings, if you will.  In this century they have replaced the human medical profession and others.  A Biotech will assess your brains ability to take an implant.’ 

I had to ask as I didn’t relish remaining a Twentieth Century ignoramus.  ‘What if it can’t?’ 

‘Just wait and see there may be other options.’  Jodi bit his lip and screwed his nose up as he finished the sentence, he’d said more than he had intended.