The White Singularity: A Choose Your Own Adventure

Chapter 19. Changes

You rise to consciousness slowly.  You remember being ensconced in a cocoon designed to enhance your physical and mental capabilities.  You feel peculiar, as if you've been resting for a century.  You've had the strangest dreams, mainly that you'd changed your mind and fled back to the surface with the Atlanteans in hot pursuit.  The dreams probably mean you're not as resolute about this decision as you thought.  

You were vaguely aware of prickling and stretching sensations from all over your body the whole time you were under.  There was no pain, as Eco had promised.  For some reason, it seemed as if you were feeling everything from a distance--almost like your mind had detached temporarily from your body.  The whole experience is difficult to explain.  

You open your eyes, and as if sensing your wakefulness, your surroundings brighten. You instinctively know that even if the lights had turned on instantly, your eyes would have adapted without issue.  Your entire being feels suffused with incredible energy as if you're a battery that has somehow been charged 200 percent.  

The lid of the bed peels back, revealing Eco and the Atlantean doctors surrounding you, their faces filled with expectation.  You sit up and blink at them, realizing your eyesight has been greatly enhanced.  You can see everything more clearly and detect colors you don't even have names for, hues that exist beyond the spectrum of human perception. Even the farthest details in the room stand out as clearly as things just a foot away.  

How do you feel? Eco asks, smiling knowingly.  You probably look like a toddler who has just visited Disneyland for the first time.  

You start as you realize that her mouth hasn't moved.  You just heard her voice in her head!

Can you hear me?  You ask silently, looking at her.  

She laughs.  Yes.  Now, you have the gift of telepathy, too. 

This is amazing.  You meet the eyes of the doctors, and they greet you one by one.  

"You should try to stand up now," Shein  says out loud, his tone encouraging. 

Even your hearing has been enhanced, you realize. You can hear every note and nuance in his voice, plus the susurration of his breathing and the scrape of cloth as he shifts his weight from one foot to another.  It's hard not to be distracted by the flood of information bombarding your senses.  

"You'll get used to it," Eco laughs.  "Get up now so you can help us welcome your wife."

The mention of Zell galvanizes you.  You swing your legs over the edge of the bed and stand up cautiously.  The first thing you notice now that you're upright is that you're much taller--almost a foot, so you're now eye-level with everyone else.  The second is that your limbs are more toned and muscled than they ever were before.  You can practically feel inhuman strength thrumming through them.  You feel like you could crush rock with your bare hands.  

"This is incredible," you mumble, flexing your arms.  "Are you all like this?"

"Yes," Mira  volunteers.  "And if ever any of us are born with any defects, it's a simple matter to correct them in infancy or even while still in the womb."

You sadly wish you could go back to the surface with the knowledge to do this for everyone, but you know that's impossible.  You look down absently at yourself and realize that your clothes are now much too small for you and have already ripped in places.  Even your feet now feel tight and cramped inside your too-small shoes.  

"Whoops," you say, reddening.  

Shein grins and hands you a bundle of metallic fabric.  He points to a door on one side.  "There's a changing room there."

You grab the bundle and rush into the small changing room before more of your clothing rips in revealing places.  You divest yourself of the rags and spend a few minutes examining every inch you can see.  You marvel at your smooth, flawless skin, devoid of any scars you might have accumulated from childhood.  You put on the clothes given to you, which turns out to be a one-piece blue-and-silver jumpsuit that resembles a baby's loose onesie. You initially think that the doctor gave you the wrong size.  However, the cloth suddenly tightens around you in all the right places, and the areas around your feet and ankles harden and thicken to a rubbery consistency so it appears that you're wearing boots. There's a full-length mirror on one wall, and you stand before it.  

The reflection takes your breath away.  You still look like yourself, except much taller and more handsome.  Every part of you is perfectly proportioned.  Another significant change is that your eyes and hair are now silver, like Eco and the others.  

You are truly Atlantean now.  A rush of joy and pride fills your chest. 

You walk out slowly, chin up.  Eco looks you over approvingly.  

"Perfect," she declares.  "And now, for your wife."

The Atlanteans surround the other cocoon, and you join them.  

"She went in before me," you comment. "I thought she'd finish before me, too."

"Yes, that should have been the case," Cal says.  "But remember, she is pregnant.  Her machine has more to do."

Oh yes, you'd forgotten about that.  You peer at the panel on her cocoon.  You still don't understand the symbols scrolling on them, but what stands out is that several are turning red.  They were mostly green before.  Does the change in color mean something?

You notice that the doctors are now frowning slightly and jabbing repeatedly at the panel.

"Is something wrong?" you ask worriedly.  

Eco confers with the doctors silently, which is not a good sign.  After a tense minute, she turns to you with a solemn expression.  

"There's a problem." 

TURN TO CHAPTER 20.