Symbiotic Sentient Computer Brain
An excerpt from "Warped and Wired" by Joshua Caleb
Mlina stomped across the beach, rocks and shells scattering ahead of her.
Why? How could they lie to her all these years? Who were they? For all Mlina knew now, they could be her aunt and uncle. If that were true, Mlina wanted a new family. But her hallucination, if that meant anything, sounded like she should know who she was living with. Not one explanation she thought of made sense.
Mlina turned off the beach and beat her way into the thick jungle underbrush. After a mile of running, climbing, and crawling, Mlina reached the small crag of rock wedged into the side of the island’s volcano-turned-empty-crater. She sank against the warm rock face, pulling her knees close to her chest. The physical exertion and warm sun cooled her temper slightly. But unexplainable questions still threatened to ignite her anger once again. She loved her life on this secluded Pacific island. The weather was almost always as beautiful as the environment itself; the animals made wonderful pets, her…parents…were kind and loving. Why did everything have to be ruined?
“Why?” she asked the open air. “Why now?”
I believe I can offer some explanation.
Mlina shrieked. The sound shot across the rocks, rebounding off every corner and crag.
“Why can’t you be quiet? Why? Why? Why?” Mlina pounded her head with each word. Hallucinations could be explained. Her adoptive parents’ deceit could, somehow, be explained. This…this…hallucination, or voice, that kept talking back to her… That could not be explained.
If you’ll just be quiet for a minute, I’ll try and explain, the mechanical voice shouted.
Mlina shrank back into the cleft. Maybe if she just let this hallucination play out it would get out of her system and quit bothering her.
“All right. Talk. Who are you? Where are you?”
I am the Neural Infrastructure Computer Interface, or NICI. And I am right here, in your brain.
Mlina groaned. She already knew that. What she didn’t understand was why this hallucination was talking back to her.
The voice continued. I am part of the Neural Net Matrix installed in your brain.
“Wait,” Mlina held her hands up to stop the voice, even though no one was visible. “You’re saying I have a…computer…in my brain?”
Correct.
Wonderful. So in essence, she was talking to herself, literally. “How did it…you…get there?”
You’re father, Daven Kihd, created me and implanted the matrix within your brain.
Mlina was speechless. NICI. This thing had sent that email with the news article. Worse than that, the news article was right? Her own father had used her as a guinea pig for his experiments? The news caught her so off guard she barely could get the next word out. “W-why?”
I’m not sure. I was not fully activated when he installed the matrix into your brain. I do know however, that he made a fatal error when he made the final installation.
“What do you mean?” Mlina sat up.
I was set to operate in a virtual dormant mode until you were eighteen. I was then to completely activate, allowing you to make use of my capabilities.
“Oookaaay. So what’s the problem?”
Rather than setting to activate, my program is set to completely de-activate on your eighteenth birthday.
“So? What does that mean? I won’t have to listen to you?” Mlina asked hopefully.
I’m afraid it’s more serious than that. Since my matrix is completely integrated into your brain, a total shutdown would cause permanent mental damage. Possibly death.
It took every ounce of self-control Mlina had to not scream, cry, and beat a hole into the rock. This day had the makings of a classic disaster. Now, not only was she an orphan, with a computerized brain, that talked back to her, but she was going to die when she turned eighteen. Less than a year away. Could this day get any worse?
