1000 YEARS - Book 1 - Awakening

3. Journey into the Mind*

DAY 4:
The new day began like the one before: she startled awake to the assembly of her caregivers around her bed. The doctors to her sides and Seth at the foot end. And immediately she registered that she was once again on top of her bed covers, dressed in that same black body suite she had worn the previous day — sans gloves, she noted.

"Good morning!" Nakamura's childlike voice piped, "was your night restful?" The doctor was once more staring at the void above her bed.
"Good morning," she replied grumpily. Irritated by this recurring ill-mannered conversation practice she abruptly sat up in bed. — All eyes flipped towards her then.

— There, that did it!
You want me to answer your questions? You can damn well look at me!

While she groused internally, she felt her bed shift under her. It adjust itself perfectly to the contours of her new body position, and it also lowered itself a bit to keep her own head from towering too high above those of the diminutive doctors.

— Another instance of this confounding technology! How much of this was there?

"I rested... well, I suppose," she ground out, "though I don't seem to be in control of how or when I sleep? It seems to happen rather abruptly, both falling asleep and waking up?"
"That is nothing to worry about!" Nakamura rushed in a most patronizing tone.

— Nothing to worry about!? Why don't YOU try it then!

"Do you remember your name, this morning?" Phelps softly asked, eyebrows raised hopefully.
"No," she said flatly, "but the avatar in the simulation called me 'Alfafor' twice. ...Not sure where that came from!?"
"— 'A' Zero Four, or 'Alpha Four'. This is your medical case file identifier, your 'Jane Doe' designation until it can be replaced with your real name," Nakamura cut in.

"Oh!"

— 'Alpha Four'! ...She had an identity!
Even if it was not her real one, at least she was not some nameless 'hey you'!
There was some comfort in that.

"You performed very well yesterday," Nakamura said, now making eye contact. "We are most pleased with how well you recovered your motor abilities and your walking skills. Your core strength is much improved today."
She felt a flutter of pride at those accolades and stole a glance at Seth.

"We will continue to build on that today. — Now aside from your physical improvements, did the experiences bring back any memories? ...any impressions?"
She thought for a long moment.
"No. — I still can't remember anything concrete. Though I... I don't believe that I have ever been to either of the places in the simulation, they didn't seem familiar. — But they did seem very real!"

Phelps looked up at her then. "Did anything in the scenes seem strange or out of place?"
She pondered.
"No. Other than the completely immersive nature of the simulations, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. — Though... I was surprised to see turtles, and so many of them."
"You recognized turtles, and... that recognition was instantaneous?"
"Yes...!?" She had no idea where Phelps was going with that question.
"You did not have to search your mind for the word 'turtle'?"
"No. I knew right away."
Phelps smiled then and looked quite pleased. Nakamura was staring at the ceiling again, and Seth's eyes seemed to cycle between them all. He, too, was periodically glancing up, though he seemed more interested in her exchange with Phelps.

"Were there other things you saw that you could name immediately?"
"You mean like crabs, and shells and jellyfish? And like the seagulls in Scotland?"
"Yes!" Phelps looked enthusiastic.
"Yes, of course; everything was familiar in that respect." It seemed like an odd question.
"So, within the simulations you encountered nothing that you had to think about before you recognized it or could name it?"
"No," she shrugged.
"That is excellent!" Phelps exclaimed. "It means that your context association has not been affected by your... memory loss. — Your brain still recognizes the world it sees!" Phelps beamed.
"Except..." she stopped short.
"Except?" Phelps' eyebrows shot up, and all eyes were once more on her.
"Except,... there are things here," she said in a low, cautious voice, "here in this room, that my mind does not seem to recognize."