A Paradox in Retrograde (38 page)

An interminable echo seemed to ring within his head as his
consciousness again arose as if from a sea of dream. Through
the portals of his eyes Ananda looked out on to this new and
unrecognizable world. Still bound to his bed he looked around
to find himself surrounded by the pristine white walls the color
of chalk. There were people there too. Before him stood two
figures dressed also in that same sterile tone. Slowly their
words from a formless jumble began to register as ones he
could understand. Though fully conscious he staredblankly at
them pretending to be unconscious as he listened intently to
their conversation. There he recognized upon their faces that
same specter of fear that he himself had so long ago abandoned.
The cloud of heavy dream suppressing sedation under which he
was imprisoned, had on cue begun now to show signs of waning.
Though his senses told him it was morning, he could not be truly
sure. For he could not recall the last time he had laid his eyes
upon the sun. He was beginning to slowly realize that he may
soon have to accept the fact that this was not a dream. Hector
was again awake. As the only patient there within the makeshift
hospital, he again had found himself alone and bound to his bed
in a set of tough leather manacles. The offending sound that
jarred him from his sleep was no more than the gentle whirring
sound of the air conditioning unit that penetrated the wall of his
holding cell. It was one of only five discernable objects in the
room. There was the bed in which he lay, a side table, a bedside
chair, the door and of course the air conditioner. Each of these
items was colored in an identical shade of ivory white. Every
five minutes the unit on the wall would automatically blow a
measured volume of cool, stale sterile air for exactly thirty seconds. Counting the intervening seconds had for him become an
uncontrollable obsession. After having wasted several days there
sequestered within the bland and featureless observation room it
had become obvious that this now was his ever present reality.
He recognized the insidious conditioning technique for what it
was; a subtle softening of his mind was underway. He had to admit that despite this foreknowledge, it was working. For this
treatment combined with a pharmacopeia of drugs hehad received against his will made him realize he would soon lose everything.

There was a stirring on the periphery of his vision. There was a
change in the light and the air pressure. He now had the sudden a
sense that he was not alone. Through a haze his encrusted eyes
scanned the gleaming white room until he came upon what appeared to be a seated yet indistinct figure. Beingunsure of the
nature to this intrusion, his tear filled eyes struggled to bring it
into clear focus. In frustration he called out to the silent figure.
"Who are you? Where am I, and how long have I been in this
place?" With his eyes squinting he began to focus enough to
make out a face. Sitting there before him was a brown skinned
man with dark hair and eyes. As this figure began to speak in
response, his face grew into sharper focus; "Hello, my name is
Robert Amida. Though you do not remember it we have met
right here in this room. I'm sorry that our meeting again had to
be under such circumstances as these, but this of course could
not be helped. To answer your other question, you are in a hospital. It is a special hospital to be sure, but a hospital nonetheless." He leaned in closer. "I guess what you really want to
know is, why are you here. The answer to this question, considering your condition may be difficult for you to accept, but I
shall do my best.

"What condition would that be? From my perspective I have
been somehow brought here under false pretenses."
"What is the last thing you remember?"

Hector closed his eyes as the flood of images passed before his
mind. The images he saw there were a jumble, a mix of seemingly unrelated events. There was the one memory that he knew
deep in his heart, that was not his own. Robert observed as a
horrible expression of fear came over Hectors face. "What is it,
what do you see there?" Hector shook his head violently back
and forth and then he spoke, "Samantha, my wife, I saw her
die. I watched it unfold before my eyes. I was there as a man
who looked incredibly like myself, murdered her."

"And what about before that, where were you?

 

"I've been through this a dozen times. I don't see the point in
doing it again."

"Forgive me for the intrusive nature of my questions, but I am
truly trying to understand. If what you are saying is true then
there should be a means to get there from here. AmI right?"
"Well, yes I suppose so."

"Why then if you believe in it so whole heartedly, do you resist
my attempts to help you?"

 

Hector closed his eyes and a strained look came over his face
before he responded. "I was beginning to doubt it myself."

"That's to be expected after what you've been through. However
I'm not as concerned as you are about its validity as I am about
its meaning. Look Hector, I want to learn more about this world
of yours. I feel there in could lay some answers. So then if you
would please just humor me."

"Very well I will tell you, but I doubt it will make much of a difference. I told you, I was within the temple complex at the citadel, I was accessing the captured memories held there within the
crystal room." Tears rolled down his face as he began to recount
what had happened next. "That is where I first saw what was
happening. I rushed forward to stop it. As simple as walking
through a doorway I found myself here." When first I came
through, I was in some strange place. It was then that I stood paralyzed, unable to move. I tried to help her, but I could not
move." Hector now was visibly shaken as a flood of suppressed
emotions rolled over him like a tidal wave.

Robert watched on a set of monitors as the sensor implants registered Hector's reactions in his brain wave patterns in a graphical
representation. There was something decidedly different about
these patterns. Algorithmic anomalies there also appeared as
ghostlike shadows. These regions were unknown and could not
be easily reconciled with any previous data. Thesehe thought
could perhaps be artifacts of some hidden consciousness. As fascinated as he was about these data potential meaning, he was
equally concerned that the formulas may prove to be faulty. A
moment later the anomalies were gone. Their signalhad subsided back into the background noise. He reached out to him, putting his hand upon Hector's shoulder.
"How would you feel if I told you that you have been telling
this same story for over two years?"

"I wouldn't believe it."

"That's right it is impossible for you to do so. It's not your fault;
you are suffering from a suite of neurological conditions that
make it impossible. What if I were to tell you that there may be
a way to unburden you from these black holes in your memory?
What if there was a way to make you whole again; would you
accept it?"

"Considering the state I now find myself in, do I really have a
choice?"

"Yes and no, you are a convicted murderer and as such I've
been given the authority to do as I please with you, for your life
has been deemed forfeit under the law. I on the other hand, I
have an aversion to such draconian methods, so I would not do
such a thing without your consent. I can however tell you that
regardless to how much you remember; in six months’ time
your sentence shall be carried out and you will be executed. On
the other hand if you were to allow us to go forth you may be
given or granted a stay of execution. There are no guarantees of
course and much is dependent upon the results we find, but my
word has some influence in these quarters. I ask you to think
about it. At the very least it may help you put the pieces of this
mystery of yours into sharper focus."

"Leave me now; I shall give you my answer in the morning."
"Well alright then, I'll give you some time to mull it over. In
the mean time I'll have someone bring you a proper meal."
"Thank you."

Robert rose from his bedside seat and said, "Until tomorrow
then." After providing this feeble gesture he exited the clean
room. Following the path through the maze of polyethylene
barriers, he made his way toward his onsite office. As he walked
he thought of how exciting it was that now he may after these
weeks of preparation soon begin to discover this technologies
full potential. It had been the first time he had found his subject
lucid and he wasn't quite sure how well their interaction had
gone. He took consolation in the fact that tomorrow he would
know for sure one way or the other.

Just then he turned the corner into his office to find he was not
alone. There behind his desk was a sullen face Jamison. Robert
spoke catching him off guard. "Hello Freddie what brings you
down to my neck of the woods?" A startled Jamison responded,
"Good heavens you scared the life out of me."

"I'm afraid you haven't seen half of what's in stall for you. I've
just spoken to the subject. He seems as if he may be coming to
an understanding of what we need from him. He is not opposed
to moving forward. I should have an answer from him by tomorrow."

"That's the best news I've heard all day. Robert, please take a
seat. I’m sorry I know these things are important to you but there
is other more important business that we must discuss." Robert
evoked a response equal to Freddie’s ominous tone, and so quietly took his seat across the desk and Jamison gesturing for him to
continue. "There have been some developments concerning the
hospital board of governors that you need to be made aware of. It
seems we may be running into a bit of difficulty ona point of
ethics."

Robert responded, "On what issue in particular doesthe board
find difficult?"

"One member is raising the issue that a condemned prisoner cannot adequately give consent especially when there are questions
of documented mental illness involved."

Robert’s face twisted angrily with emotion as he responded. "So
let me get this straight. The state has deemed fit to execute a
man who by any definition of the word is insane, but the hospital deems that he may not be sane enough to be afforded an opportunity to seek treatment."

"The key word here is experimental treatment."

 

"If the board needs evidence, we can supply that. He can use
his own words. That will convince them."

 

"If you think he's ready to handle such a thing then I will arrange it."

The following day at Jamison's request an emergency meeting
of the hospital board of governors was convened. It was hoped
that any fears relating to the projects ethics could be assuaged.
Gathered there were about the conference room table, a dozen
members of the board including Jamison himself. Jamison introduced himself to those assembled there. Shortly thereafter,
upon an adjacent holoscreen a graphical animation describing
the procedure began to play. To which Jamison gladly played
the role of narrator. Looking out on to his audience, from his
vantage he could see that their interest in the details was quickly waning.

They were there after all for only one purpose, todecide the
fate of Hector Ananda. So as the presentation ended, Jamison
then was pleased to make the next introduction. Before them on
the holoscreen a live video feed now played showing Hector
with Robert sitting side by side in an ill lit room. Hector still
wore the chains of a prisoner though his new found cooperation
had brought him to the table. Doctor Jamison beganthis portion
of the meeting by introducing them to the board. "Members if I
may I would like to bring your attention back to the view
screen so I can introduce you to the subject of our study and
our chief scientist on the project. Firstly this is our patient a Mr.
Hector Ananda, and there seated we have Doctor Robert Amida." Each of them nodded in turn. "Please Doctor Amida would
you like to address the board?"

"Yes thank you. I would like to start by thanking you all for being here this morning. I hope this presentation will help you to
gain insight into what we are trying to accomplish here. Let me
start by giving you all a primer on this technology and what we
hope it can do now and in the future. Many of you may be familiar with my work in artificial intelligence. About a decade
ago we succeeded in creating the very first quantum mind analogues. Though initially limited in scope we have since not only
revolutionized the capabilities of artificial intelligence, we have
also learned much of what we call the seat of mind. At first our
findings surprised us then there came that eureka moment. What
we discovered was that the seat of human consciousness existed
not only within the boney confines of the brain, but also within
the vast fields of energy that exist all around us. I know what
some of you may be thinking, that this is some kind of spooky
new age mumbo jumbo. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
What we have found is solid factual evidence that suggests that
on the most basic existential level that our patterns of thought are
mirrored multi dimensionally. This means our consciousness is
dependent upon its entangled counterparts spread throughout a
quantum spectrum. For the very first time our models have begun to map the patterns of these entanglements. As exciting as
these findings have been, our experiments have been very limited. Though to this point we have gleaned enormous amounts of
data, we have barely begun to scratch the surface.That's where
Hector comes in. Our goal with Hector is twofold.Though we
hope to examine this technologies full potential wealso want to
establish a yardstick through which we discover where in space
and time the coronel of the mind exists. The secondgoal with
Hector is to discover what benefits could be gleaned from such
data toward the ultimate goal of curing mental illnesses. We
hope that by examining and mapping Hectors mind patterns we
may one day revolutionize the current state of treatment and thus
raise the standard of care to new heights."
One of the board members, Doctor Richard Hendrix until now
had politely bided his time listening for an appropriate break in
the conversation. Sensing now his opportunity he spoke to raise
a question. "Doctor Amida, it is doctor, is it not?"