The Spare

The Assignment - Part 2

Bliss took the tablet and sat on the coffee table in front of Max, in very much the same way Helix had done on his first day... her knees touching his in the small space. The proximity made him feel as uncomfortable now, as it did then, and he squirmed with a rising sense of déjà vu.  Bliss took no notice. She tapped the tablet a few times and a new image was projected on the wall—of a different brain with a biosynthetic implant.

"That's my neural-lace," she explained. Max stared at it in awe, in spite of himself. The combination of organic neurons and implanted electrodes looked familiar, yet different. Some areas seemed more ornate, more complex, while others were sparser, almost elegant in their simplicity. "Looking at yours gave me some exciting ideas. Though our networks have evolved separately, there's still an encouraging amount of similarity. I've been working on something I'd like to try..."

With that, Bliss tapped the tablet—and the two images were paired together.

Max gasped. The feeling was as if he had stepped into an electrical field or a wired suit of some kind. His entire mind and body tingled with the sensation of this "second skin," only instead of a skin he was able to wear and control, this one seemed to be controlling him.

"I... I—can't... I can't move," he mumbled, struggling with the effort to speak.

"It's okay," said Bliss, putting a hand on his thigh. His body and mind instantly tingled as his nerves tried to process both the sensation of her touch, as well as the feeling of her own hand... touching him. On the projection, he could see both neural-laces lighting up like a Christmas tree. "See that? It means you're paired with me now, and I'm controlling you."

"What?!" Panic coursed through Max's mind.  Using the neural-lace connection for control was strictly prohibited. Abuse of that power had been the entire basis for the Separation.  They wouldn't dare...

"Shhh, here," Bliss pressed the chem tracker on his wrist, and a fresh wave of chemicals slowed his breathing and calmed the terrified thoughts racing through his brain. "This test will only last a few moments, I promise. Now... pick up that water bottle, please."

The command struck Max's elbow like a reflex hammer—as his arm lurched out to the right, without his control.

"Slowly..." she instructed. Max's arm caught itself, and gently closed its fingers around the water bottle. "Good."

Bliss and Helix both laughed in delight, but Max wasn't amused. He felt nauseous.

"Now, let's see if you can understand this one," said Bliss. Without a word, Max's hand released the water bottle and reached out to touch Bliss's face. "Wonderful."

"The connection is holding up well," remarked Helix. "We're getting tons of data, and the tracker is pairing nicely too."

Tracker? Max thought, looking down at the device on his wrist. Was it recording data as well? Was it somehow a part of this new pairing system? Before he could ruminate on those thoughts, however, his hand was moving again—down to Bliss's chest.

He tried desperately to regain control, to stop the experiment before it became even more humiliating, but it was impossible. Bliss laughed in amusement as Max reached down and touched her left breast.

"My, my, Max. How friendly you've become."

"Stop it," he managed to say. "Now."

"We're nearly done," said Bliss, releasing control of his arm and pressing the button on his chem tracker once more. Max looked away, embarrassed, and kept his arms to his sides as he felt his body relax into the chemicals once more. But his eyes soon moved back to Bliss's, against his will, as she prepared one more test.

"Now, for this last test, I'm just going to approach you very slowly. You have the freedom to leave whenever you wish... if you can."

Bliss leaned forward, her hands on both thighs, as she slowly brushed her lips against his. Max sat still, paralyzed; unable to tell whether he was frozen by the neural pairing, or by his own fear and shock in the moment. Bliss let her lips linger lightly, not pushing, just... staying. Just when Max was convinced he had no control over the situation, the vice-grip on his mind seemed to release, and he sprang upwards away from Bliss all at once with only one word, "No!"

"Interesting," said Bliss. There was no offense or anger in her voice, only curiosity. Helix, meanwhile, had moved swiftly towards Max, pressing his chem tracker one final time and patting him on the back. He flinched at her touch.

"Thank you, Max. You did well, quite well," she soothed. "This was the longest pairing we've ever achieved since the Separation. It was an extremely important step."

"For what?" he asked, his voice strained with anger. He'd thought the goal of his research was to better enable humans and synthetics to work together, to connect their minds and mutually benefit from their strengths. If this was a step, it was in the wrong direction.

"You'll see. I'd like you to continue working with Bliss once a week."

The panic in his voice, and the step back he took, convinced Max he was finally in control of his own mind and body again. "Once a week?"

"Don't worry, the sessions won't all be like this. We had to start off dramatically to prove the connection could work. You'll only be paired a few minutes at a time—maximum. We sure as hell don't want to trigger a cascade failure of your neural-lace. That's why long term pairing isn't an option for the future, at least, not like this. We're running these sessions for an entirely different purpose."

"What purpose is that?"

"One thing at a time," said Helix, with her familiar condescension. "There's still a lot of things you're not privy to yet, so you wouldn't understand." Seeing his expression, she laughed. "Christ, Max, lighten up. It's not illegal or immoral... it's just science. Remember: we're breaking down boundaries here. That's going to be uncomfortable at first. But your research and involvement are invaluable to us. We do see it and appreciate it."

At last, Max heard a hint of respect in her voice. The one thing he had longed for. But, was it genuine? Or was she just manipulating him so he would continue the experiment? In that moment, he had an overwhelming urge to press the chem tracker one more time. To silence the doubt and anxiety surging through him, even though the pairing between him and Bliss was now over. But he resisted.

"So? Same time next week?" asked Bliss, cheerily.

Max slowly removed the chem tracker, placing it back on the coffee table. He wanted to walk out of that office and never come back. He wanted to tell these two "geniuses" to go fuck themselves. Instead, the removal of the tracker was where his free will seemed to end, as he heard his voice say:

"Sure, same time next week." 

****

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you're enjoying The Spare so far! If so, please consider leaving a vote or comment below. I would love to hear from you! I'm also curious to know:  Do you believe Helix's motives are for the greater good?  Should Max return next week?