At The Precipice Of Something New

Something Unsteady

Goodneighbour
March the 23rd, 2288
18:11

"This is madness, but sit down, the both of you, in the memory loungers."

Glory swallowed hard, and looked to Deacon, who gave her a reassuring wink before sitting down in one of the two memory loungers Amari kept in her personal office. She glanced between the two of them, trepidation rising through her chest. The memory loungers work because we translate memories and brain waves from the brain to computers and back. With Glory's synth brain being between robotic programming and a normal organic brain, it should, theoretically, be easier to manipulate and identify where she is unable to consciously recall things. If Deacon can enter her mind, he should be able to bypass whatever failsafe the Institute puts into their synths to prevent them from recalling certain information. Synths have cybernetic enhancements that interface directly with their brains, so, if this is successful, Deacon should be able to bypass the Institute's blockages in her mind...but if something goes wrong, it could leave her brain dead, living but with no cognition. If that happens...I suspect Desdemona will never forgive me. Deny it as she will, she is in love with Glory, and likely Glory with her. With a frown, Amari lowered the screens of the memory loungers on Deacon and Glory, attaching the nodules to their heads. Then, she returned to her computer, and began the process of linking the memory loungers. Glory's words still worried her, something about her desire to access the entirety of her memories feeling wrong.

I was never mind wiped! Amari, I have inside knowledge of the Institute I can't access any other way, and they're the biggest scientific secret of the Commonwealth! You need this just as much as we do!

"I'm linking you to each other's brainwaves now," Amari warned them. "Glory, I'm going to need you to keep talking to me. Any slight changes to your cognitive functions could be dire."

"Don't worry," She said, closing her eyes. "I will."

"Deacon," Amari sent him a sharp look. "As I already told the both of you, the encryption is too strong for a single mind, but, if we use two, it may be possible to bypass that encryption. I'll be running your cognitive functions in parallel, and Glory will serve as the host for your consciousness to drive through whatever memories we can find. Are the both of you ready? I won't do this without your explicit, verbal consent."

"More than ready," Glory told her. "I've been ready for years."

"Just what she said," Deacon said. "Well, just not for nearly as long as she has."

Amari sighed. "Alright. Wait just a moment. Glory..." She looked between her computer and the woman in the lounger. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," She said though it was Deacon's voice that came through. "Woah, this is weird as fuck."

"The simulation is working," She assured him. "Remember, you are experiencing these memories as Glory, which may prove disorienting. I'm linking you through the earliest memories I can find. What are you seeing?"

"Something weird," Deacon's voice said, a bit static. "I was in a room. Grey. White. Silver. Lots of metal...and machines."

"Matches what I'm seeing on my computer," Amari mused, typing quickly. "Keeping talking. I need to ensure neither of you lose consciousness."

"There's..."

Unable to see himself, Deacon meandered in circles in the room he was caught in within Glory's mind. A bit dizzy, he started towards the other end of the room where a door was, and swore when he couldn't open it. Unable to force it open, he took another look around. All around him, everything was clean. Things were organised, and the computer terminals seemed to be just about brand new. There was a quiet hum of machinery, and two couches with a coffee table in between them. The doors to the room suddenly opened, and a sign could briefly be seen. Robotics Division. A tall man in a hazmat suit came in, the hood down and his face visible. He looked somewhere between forty five and fifty five, had greying dirty blonde hair and thick eyebrows. He seemed to be in quite the good mood, and it was then he saw Glory was following closely behind him. She didn't look quite the same. She was dressed in a strange, heavy looking uniform, and her hair was dark brown and tied up in a neat bun at the top of her head. She seemed almost emotionless, exhausted. The doors slid shut behind them, but no more than a few seconds after they closed, they slid open again. A short woman in a blue and white lab coat came into the room, though, Deacon was sure, stormed would have been a more apt description. Her mostly grey black hair was styled in a neat and sophisticated bun, and something in her eyes implied a sense of authority and irritability. When Glory was sat down on one of the couches and the man on the other across from her, the woman stood near them, arms crossed.