The Mortal Coil – Chapter 2

Bob crouched over the body again still wondering how he could have let someone get the best of him, I wonder if I just keep making the same mistake he thought. “send those images to my office when you finish up” he barked to a crime scene tech who was snapping away with his camera, “will do” the tech replied, trying to act like this whole situation wasn’t strange beyond all reason. Bob pushed on his knees and slowly stretch back to an upright position, “I think I am going to get back to headquarters and see if I can sort through my thoughts and figure out my next move” he said to the captain while still staring at the body, “ok” the captain replied “we will keep you posted on anything we find” “thanks” said Bob, throwing his hand up to say goodbye as he walked away.

At headquarters, Bob entered through the large glass doors opening up into a lobby, immediately to the left was a security desk where visitors would check in and get there temporary access badges, Bob threw a wave to the man behind the desk as he walked towards the series of key card readers and saloon like automatic doors which reached all the way to the floor and were made of a thick glass that had a deep red luminescent tint. Pinching the clip which secured his access badge to his belt he held it up to the reader, the automatic doors changed from red to green and swung open, providing access to 4 elevator doors. Bob pushed the "up" button and waited for the familiar *ding* sound letting him know that his lift had arrived. 

The elevator doors slid open and Bob was greatful that there were no occupants, he hated the looks that he got from his colleagues, even though he could understand them, but their looks were nothing compared to the scientists and computer nerds from the lower levels that actually made his being here possible. Stepping inside he hit the button for the 8th floor followed by the "close the doors" button, which never seemed to respond as quickly as he would like. Arriving at the 8th floor the doors opened to a hallway of office doors, Bob turned right down the hall and waved his key card again at the reader in front of office number 803, after a confirming beep he opened the door, walked to the desk a sat down in the black leather office chair.

Bob's office phone ringing jarred him awake, after rubbing his eyes and looking down at his watch oh good, I only dozed off for an hour he thought. He put the phone to his ear "Hello?" he said, trying not to sound like he was just asleep, 

"Bob!" an excited voice which could only be that of Toby Williams, the man in charge of the memory server and uploading Bob's stored memories to the cloan blank "you gotta get down here!" 

"why? what's up?" replied Bob, not really wanting to visit the lower levels 

"I think we may have made a breakthrough," Toby replied "well actually several breakthroughs, just get down here!" 

"Alright Toby, just cool your jets, I'm on my way".

Anyone who was to come into the agency headquarters lobby off the street would see that it is a high security building, but no more so than the lobby of an elite apartment complex. It's also a tall building, but not the tallest in the city. What you can't tell from the outside and the lobby is that the building actually has as many floors below the lobby as it does above. Access to the lower levels is also not obvious from the elevators where you have to place an approved access badge in front of the concealed reader in order to change the buttons that would normally take you up, into buttons that take you down.

Bob flashes his badge at the mirrored surface just above the elevator buttons, which then change from black numbers on a white background to white numbers on a black background and the number order is reversed. He presses the second to last button labeled 39, and the elevator begins it's non stop decent.

"Ok, so what are these breakthroughs that I have to see?" Bob asks, as he walks through the automatic sliding glass doors which lead to a room lined with servers, in the middle of the room is a black chair that resembles a dentist chair but has a clear sheild that arches over the headrest. 

"Well" says Toby, trying to sound less excited and more intellectual "I believe I have found a way to speed up the re-imaging process. You see, currently we have to take a blank that has had zero knowledge or face time because you can't overwrite an existing brain imprint. The problem is that we have to keep the blanks in a tank until they can be activated, and once a blank is activated it takes time for the muscles, and senses to adjust to being used for the first time." 

"Yeah, I know. I've been through it a few times if you remember" Bob says, walking over to the chair 

"Right" continues Toby "but never again, because I have found a way to add multiple imprints to the brain and then switch them on or off" 

"And that means?..." Bob asks, implying that Toby use the english non-geek version

"That means, I can activate a blank or multiple blanks with a base imprint, basically it would be like a child, but, it would be able to get excersise, eat, drink, sleep, all of the prep work that a body needs to function. Then when and if we need to put it into service we can just add your most recent imprint and then tell the brain to use that imprint instead of the base" 

"Well that is facinating" Bob replies, still checking out the chair "but it really doesn't concern me just the next blank, right?" 

Toby gets a look on his face like Bob just asked the question he was waiting for and says "See, that's what I thought at first. But thats where my second and third breakthroughs come in, I discovered that I can activate an imprint remotely via an audible signal. So, we could add situation specific imprints to your brain, each with unique activation tones, you could be anything at anytime." 

"You mean, I could know Kung Fu?" Bob said sarcastically 

"Actually, yes." says Toby pridefully

"What is the third breakthrough?" Bob asks

"The child imprint itself," Toby responds "I thought about using a complete imprint of a child's mind, but I quickly realized that I don't really want a full grown man going doodie in his underoos. In fact I don't even really want a child I just want an imprint that would yeild a completely obedient, completely trusting, person that will be easy to manage until needed. Basically I just want to be able to pick and choose characteristics and create my own hybrid imprint, which I thought was impossible but actually it is quite possible. We are storing your imprint digitally, and anything that is digital can be modified, I just had to discover how to do it and not create holes in the imprint. In fact it is the only way that multiple imprints would work for you because I need the alternate imprints to still be you, I can activate an expert hacker imprint that isn't actually you with hacker abilities."

"Wow, that's a lot to process" Bob says, shaking his head.

"Well you have time. Like I said I still have some kinks to workout. I will call you when it is complete"

"You do that, I think I am going to get some rest" Bob says as he heads towards the door.