Try, try again “Did it work?” asked Jerome. He was sure it had done, he had the memories. It was strange looking back into a live he hadn’t lived, seeing a choice he hadn’t made and feeling it integrate into him somehow. He’d never dated a woman called Laurie but the memories were there, and the more he looked at them the more he understood why her cheating had been such a big deal and why he’d signed up two weeks after finding out. He shuddered. That was also five days after she went missing, and he could remember where the body was buried now. And that the police had never found it. “Wait, I don’t know what the procedure is for yet. Do I?” Memories swarmed like bees over honeycomb and he tried to sort them out. Some seemed easier to identify than others, as though they were marked somehow. Different width stripes, or different shades of yellow maybe. He delved, hunting for ones that seemed most like his own, but they were blurring and merging even as he tried to sort them. “We want to provide new soldier with the memories of veterans,” said Doctor Robert. He was leaning forward watching Jerome intently. “So that they can go into battle knowing what not to do and when not to do it. Holding back, striking only at the right moment, learning from the mistakes of others as though they were their own. Better than computers telling them what to do.” “The AIs,” said Jerome. “Yes, they think they know better and they don’t think at human speeds.” “They don’t think in human ways,” said Doctor Robert. “If we’re going to turn them off, we need to outthink them, and that means using the opposite of logic. We need intuition, luck and all the things that make a man a man.” “Why not a woman a woman?” asked Jerome and finally a memory swam into place. “Oh.” He remembered the Purge, when the AIs somehow managed to selectively poison all the women. There were only men left. There had only been men left for twenty years. If they didn’t stop the AIs and find a way to bring a woman back the planet was doomed. A clever play by machine intelligences, but… who would keep the machines running when all the humans were gone? “Yes,” said Doctor Robert. “Oh.” Another memory fell into place. “This isn’t the first time I’ve done this?” He remember waking up with a head full of memories that weren’t his own and seeing Doctor Robert staring down at him. A young woman with brown hair was standing next to him. “Amy!” Doctor Robert sighed. “You keep seeing Amy,” he said. “Did you see her again when you woke up?” Jerome nodded. “She was surprised I knew her name.” Doctor Robert stood up and approached Jerome. He tried to move and found that his arms were strapped down. As he puzzled over that more memories swamped him and he could barely see Doctor Robert injecting him with a hypodermic syringe. “Try, try again,” said Doctor Robert.
2 comments:
Continuing on from where we left off, I think:
Try, try again
“Did it work?” asked Jerome. He was sure it had done, he had the memories. It was strange looking back into a live he hadn’t lived, seeing a choice he hadn’t made and feeling it integrate into him somehow. He’d never dated a woman called Laurie but the memories were there, and the more he looked at them the more he understood why her cheating had been such a big deal and why he’d signed up two weeks after finding out. He shuddered. That was also five days after she went missing, and he could remember where the body was buried now. And that the police had never found it. “Wait, I don’t know what the procedure is for yet. Do I?”
Memories swarmed like bees over honeycomb and he tried to sort them out. Some seemed easier to identify than others, as though they were marked somehow. Different width stripes, or different shades of yellow maybe. He delved, hunting for ones that seemed most like his own, but they were blurring and merging even as he tried to sort them.
“We want to provide new soldier with the memories of veterans,” said Doctor Robert. He was leaning forward watching Jerome intently. “So that they can go into battle knowing what not to do and when not to do it. Holding back, striking only at the right moment, learning from the mistakes of others as though they were their own. Better than computers telling them what to do.”
“The AIs,” said Jerome. “Yes, they think they know better and they don’t think at human speeds.”
“They don’t think in human ways,” said Doctor Robert. “If we’re going to turn them off, we need to outthink them, and that means using the opposite of logic. We need intuition, luck and all the things that make a man a man.”
“Why not a woman a woman?” asked Jerome and finally a memory swam into place. “Oh.”
He remembered the Purge, when the AIs somehow managed to selectively poison all the women. There were only men left. There had only been men left for twenty years. If they didn’t stop the AIs and find a way to bring a woman back the planet was doomed. A clever play by machine intelligences, but… who would keep the machines running when all the humans were gone?
“Yes,” said Doctor Robert. “Oh.”
Another memory fell into place. “This isn’t the first time I’ve done this?” He remember waking up with a head full of memories that weren’t his own and seeing Doctor Robert staring down at him. A young woman with brown hair was standing next to him. “Amy!”
Doctor Robert sighed. “You keep seeing Amy,” he said. “Did you see her again when you woke up?”
Jerome nodded. “She was surprised I knew her name.”
Doctor Robert stood up and approached Jerome. He tried to move and found that his arms were strapped down. As he puzzled over that more memories swamped him and he could barely see Doctor Robert injecting him with a hypodermic syringe.
“Try, try again,” said Doctor Robert.
Greg - hah, thanks for continuing this long before I managed to ask for it! :)
Dang it, you did it again with the prompt. I literally just read you do that last time and you still managed to surprise me with it on this one.
Well played.
Also: ... more? (hey, it worked last time)
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