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Simple Human V. 1
Chapter 1
“Eleven, twelve, thirteen…” the child’s tiny voice echoed in the room filled with computer equipment as she counted the buttons on one panel.
“Very good, Cassie,” her mother said. “But I need you to be a little quieter. Mommy and Daddy are talking to the techs right now, and it’s very important.”
Cassie frowned. She didn’t want Mommy and Daddy to talk to the techs, because that meant they were going away to join The Collective. Oh, they said she’d get to see them again, and probably even touch them and hug them just like she did now, but it wouldn’t be the same. Not at all. She’d be living with Grammy, not Mommy and Daddy, and she did not like that one bit.
Grammy was weird. She didn’t like computers, she thought they were bad. The kids in Grammy’s neighborhood called Grammy a “simple.” Cassie didn’t know what a “simple” was, but she knew it wasn’t good. Some of the kids even said that maybe Cassie was a simple too, since her Grammy was.
She continued counting the buttons, getting up to thirty-one before she heard a tech say her name. “Cassandra may be too young to properly interface with the VR environment that would allow her to fully interact with you once you join The Collective,” he said. “We’ve had people as old as 21 unable to fully interface, simply because the brain is still developing the neural pathways that allow full use of the system.” Cassie zoned out. She had no idea what any of that meant. And she didn’t really want to know either. She just knew it meant Mommy and Daddy were going away.
~
“Cassie,” Mommy said, peeking her head in through the door to Cassie’s bedroom. Cassie looked up from the game that she was playing. She had a monitor in her room, just like everyone else. She was playing checkers against one of her teachers, a member of The Collective.
“I beat Miss Rivers!” Cassie said excitedly. It was the first time she’d ever won, and she kind of wondered if Miss Rivers hadn’t let her win on purpose.
Mommy came in the room. “That’s great!” she said. “Are you done playing? We need to get ready to go for your scan tests to see if your brain is ready for the VR interface.”
Cassie looked at the monitor. “Miss Rivers,” she said, “I have to go now. Can we play again tomorrow?”
The image on the screen smiled. “We have to do some work tomorrow, but if you get your assignments done, we’ll play another game of checkers. And soon, I’ll teach you to start playing chess. I think you’re ready for it. Bye, Cassie, have a good time and good luck on your scan tests.” The monitor went blank as the system automatically shut-down, sensing that the member of The Collective had gone elsewhere.
~
“Mommy, I’m scared.” Cassie was looking at the chair where she’d have to spend the next several hours being tested to see if her brain patterns were developed enough to interface with the VR environment in which members of The Collective lived. There were hundreds of wires connected to what looked like a giant helmet, and Cassie knew that was going to have to go on her head.
Mommy hugged her. Cassie loved the smell of Mommy, so soothing. Daddy came up behind her. “Don’t worry sweetheart. It’s not really scary at all. In fact, during the tests, they’ll play all sorts of fun pictures through your head so that you don’t feel like anything is happening at all.”
Cassie sniffed. “What kind of pictures?”
Mommy laughed. “Kind of like the old time movie pictures, but you’ll get to be in the pictures yourself. And sometimes, it’ll even feel like you’re right there. That’s what their testing for, to see just how real the pictures feel to you.”
Cassie couldn’t imagine actually being in the movies that she liked to watch. She knew it was true though. Many of the older children were already interfacing with The Collective through the VR, and they talked about it often. She knew her Mommy and Daddy interfaced with The Collective that way, too.
“Don’t worry, baby, you won’t feel a thing,” Mommy said. “Now scoot up into the chair so the tech can start getting you hooked up.”
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Chapter 2
Cassie woke with a start. She’d been dreaming of her first scan, again, a traumatic experience that still haunted to her. She wiped the crust from her eyes and ran a hand through her tangled, curly hair. She wanted to talk to her mother. The dream always reminded her how much she missed her parents.
She walked over to the desk where her bedroom monitor was. Her husband, John, had always laughed about that. It would have been a simple matter to place the monitor right into the wall, just like in every other room and every other house, but a side effect of being raised by her grandmother was a love of antiques, including that desk which dated back to the 20th Century.
“Connect, Collective, Marian Rhodes,” she spoke into the voice detectors. The monitor came to life, showing a small room with two chairs. A tall, thin woman entered the room.
“This is Marian, how may I… Oh, hi, Cassie! It’s pretty early in the morning for you! What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, mom, just had that dream again. The one about my first scan. It made me miss you.”
Marian sighed, “I’m so sorry, baby. I wish things had worked out differently. I miss you, too.”
A tear came to Cassie’s eye, and she wiped it away. “And we didn’t make the fertility lottery again this year, so we have to wait until next year.”
“Oh, sweetheart. How’s John taking that?”
“The same way he always does. Throwing himself into his research. I see him less and less as time goes by.”
“You still haven’t told him, have you?” Marian sighed.
Cassie could see the frown on Marian’s face. These interactions always unsettled Cassie. She knew that it was her mother in all the important ways, but that didn’t change the fact that the image before her was a reproduction, a simulation created by the computer. It was her mother talking to her, just as if she were physically there, but she wasn’t physically there. Her body was long dead and gone, buried over twenty years before. It was her mind, her consciousness that she was interacting with, living within the Virtual Reality world of The Collective. The fact that Cassie was unable to properly interface with the VR environment made it that much worse for her. Everyone around her could. Even her husband could. She was alone, and being that much different from those around her emphasized the loneliness, made the isolation that much harder to bear.
“No,” Cassie said, “I haven’t told him. How can I? How can I tell him, after eight years of marriage, that I’m a Simple?”
“Cassie, he’s going to find out someday. You know he is. You can’t hide it forever. What happens when it’s your time to be scanned?”
“I don’t know. I’ll figure that out then. Right now, he thinks I don’t do VR at home because of Grammy’s habits, and I want to keep it that way.”
“Well, you know I won’t tell him,” Marian said. “But I really think you should tell him. Soon.”
“I have to go, mom. Class starts soon, and the kids will be expecting me. Love you.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.” The monitor went black, and Cassie turned to get ready for her day.
~
“Cassandra,” John ran into the room, breathless, the excitement in his voice obvious. John was the only one close to her that called her Cassandra. It had irritated her when she’d first met him, but it had grown on her over time. “I have amazing news!”
Cassie wasn’t even dressed yet when he’d come in. Her hair was still dripping from her shower, and she only had her underpants on. “What?” she said, a bit of panic twisting in her stomach. She pushed it down. Panic was not reasonable, John was excited, and that must be good.
“I’ve been chosen for early scanning.”
Cassie’s stomach crashed to the floor. Her mother had been right, she should have told him years ago. She had no choice but to tell him now. How, though? How would she tell him that she’d hidden something so important from him for so many years? She swallowed, suppressing the fear and panic that was trying to overwhelm her. This was great news for John, and it was a huge honor to be chosen to join The Collective so early.
“That’s amazing,” she said. “I’m so proud of you. When will you be scanned?” She tried to hard to keep pushing the panic down, out of her mind. John would understand, it would be okay.
“We have six months before scanning. The techs have multiple tests to do to prepare us for it.”
“Us?” Cassie squeaked, though she wasn’t really surprised. She knew that John being scanned meant that she was obligated to be scanned as well. It wasn’t absolutely required. She could turn it down, but she would essentially be an outcast if she did so. Not that it would matter. She couldn’t be scanned. Not now, not ever.
“Of course, us, silly,” John laughed. “You know it’s tradition. When a person is scanned, their spouse is scanned. That’s what happened with your parents, after all.”
“I know,” Cassie said, her words barely a whisper. “I’m just surprised is all. I wasn’t expecting this, and it’ll take a bit of time to get used to.”
“That’s why their giving us six months. Also, since you don’t do the VR interface as often as most other people, they’ll need to do a few more tests on you to prep for it.” He walked over to Cassie, and pulled her into his arms. “I love you,” he said. “This will be great.” He kissed her, running his fingers along the back of her neck in that way that always made her melt.
“I love you, too,” she said, sighing as he led her to the bed.
Chapter 3
The machine dwarfed Cassie’s tiny 4-year-old body. The monitor helmet was entirely too big for her head, and she had a difficult time keeping balanced with it on. “I don’t like this,” she said, pouting. “Mommy, why do I have to do this?”
Mommy smiled, stroking Cassie’s hand. “It’ll be okay, baby. Before long, you’ll be hooked in, interfacing like a pro, and you’ll wonder what you did without it.
“Are we ready?” the tech said, standing next to a bank of monitors.
“No,” Cassie said, at the same time that her mother and father said, “Yes.”
“Cassie,” her Daddy said, “It’ll be okay. The sooner you start, the sooner it will be done, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.”
The tech started manipulating buttons on the screen, shifting images and looking at different data tables. “Now, Cassandra,” he said, “You might feel a little buzzing when things get started, but it shouldn’t hurt at all.”
“My name is Cassie,” she said, firmly. She hated it when people called her Cassandra. That was her in trouble name, the name her Mommy used when she did something wrong.
The tech smiled. “Okay, Cassie. Get ready, we’re going to begin the tests.” He moved his fingers over the monitor, and Cassie could hear a slight buzz starting far away. It got closer and closer, and Cassie began clenching the arms of the chair.
“I’m scared,” she whispered, not wanting to be there. The buzz got louder and closer, and suddenly everything went black.
“Help me,” she heard a voice say, and then she saw light flashes that made her dizzy.
“Mommy,” Cassie screamed, her little voice frail and scared. “Mommy, help. Help. I don’t want to be here. Mommy, Daddy, please.” And then everything went black again.
She heard faint whispers, and they sounded so very far away. It was Mommy. “What happened?” the whisper said. “What went wrong? I don’t understand. Why did it disconnect her?”
Cassie felt the helmet coming off of her head, all the wires that had been glued to her head being slowly pulled off.
“I don’t know,” she heard the tech say. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
~
