A Quantum Memories Tale: Those Who Escaped

A Quantum Memories Tale: Reprogrammed

I dip my fingers into the half-full bucket but quickly recoil when I hear a hiss. As soon as I pulled my fingers out it stopped. It sounded like the hiss you hear when you throw sparklers or fireworks into a bucket of water. I study my shaking fingers and realize a tingling pain in the tips where they hit the water. Strange.

I pinch the coin-sized device between my thumb and pointer finger and admire it with a smile. This little chip is going to change the world, but first it's going to change me. I gently press the activation button in Sol's center and sigh as it whirrs to life with a soft red glow. I lift it to the center of my forehead and press it into place. I feel the many barbs pierce the thin layer of skin before burrowing into the frontal bone of my skull. I keep my facial features neutral as blood begins to run down between my eyes. I finally clench my jaw as Sol injects an acid to dissolve the calcium in the bone and soften it enough to drill through to my brain. I sit down in the corner of my makeshift lab and fold my hands on my knees. I focus on the future as Sol makes its way through my head excruciatingly slowly. Perfection takes time.

I watched the bright, dancing eyes of a real human turned into the emotionless, dead-eyed stare of a flawlessly crafted machine, and I truly realized that perfection can only be achieved if you are void of a soul. You cannot be a perfect human, for the core of a human is not pure. We all have flaws-those flaws are what make us, by definition, human. You take the flaws away-you take the humanity away-and you are left with the shell of a being. A machine. That makes this "reformatory" a factory. Imperfections just so happen to be rooted in emotions. If there is no thirst for revenge or pride, there will be no wars. If there is no compassion or sympathy, there will be no illogical decisions. If there is no love or envy, there will be no heartache. If there is no humanity, there will be no imperfections.