Story time: Deciphering

Rachel Lamm sat watching her daughter, Lia, playing with the snow globe after she was rudely awakened from her dream by her little angel. She had just handed Lia the snow globe called “New-Muni - a futuristic city” which she immediately realized she was dreaming about. Now Rachel rubbed her temples in mild confusion as she felt a dull headache but was no stranger to them. Rachel has a brilliant and creative mind, but her strange dream was surreal but felt so real.

Rachel was a bit shaken up. Normally her dreams are vague but now she could recall every detail. She had dreamt about volunteering along with her colleagues, Michelle, Adam and Tyler from the developers team; they were brought by flying car to a futuristic city called NewMuni. There they would test the RFID chip called SmartG which was implanted in their right thumbs. FaRe – a facial recognition system was also introduced. The systems malfunctioned when Rachel couldn’t get a cappuccino at the coffee bar. This was her daily “cup of cheer”. Shortly thereafter she couldn’t contact her husband, John and her children, her 3 colleagues neither could she leave her room. Everything worked via SmartG - so she was trapped for about 6 ½ hours. She had wracked her brain trying to figure out what to do but there was nowhere to go and nowhere to hide as cameras were continuously watching. When frustration, concern and fear were at their heights, 4 robot-like men from NewMuni’s Disciplinary Team appeared at her door. They threatened that they would handcuff her if she did not come to them. She cooperated and went outside, then one of them said to her,
“You can't out-smart SmartG.”
At that moment, Lia woke her up. Thank goodness! Now she got the heebie jeebies just recalling those words.

Rachel deduced that she had this dream because 1. her husband, John had just given Lia the snow globe and she was constantly playing with it and 2. she’d worked intensely on the beta version of SmartG with her colleagues. They were disappointed when the project was delayed. Thereafter, everything around the SmartG project became very secretive.

The next morning at work, Rachel saw her colleagues. All seemed normal although she felt odd as the dream was still vivid. While typing on the computer keyboard, Rachel paused to massage a small scar on her right thumb. It was a bit tender. Being left-handed, Rachel thought, “It’s just another battle wound”.….so were her feelings about being in the kitchen.

At lunch that day, the developers sat with a few UX designers. It was quite a large group and it was Rachel’s turn to get hot drinks after the meal; 6 black coffees, 3 expressos, 2 black teas and 1 cappuccino. As it was 12 cups, Tyler offered to help her. He would get the 6 coffees and Rachel, the rest. There were 2 machines. With Tyler’s competitive nature - he saw this as a race. He was finished when Rachel started the last cup - the cappuccino - her favorite drink. Only hot water came out of the machine - the coffee needed replenishing.

“Not again!” laughed Tyler. “Come on genius. Outsmart the system and get yourself a drink”.

“Not again - what do you mean by that?” exclaimed Rachel, while staring curiously at Tyler for a few uncomfortable seconds.

“Just teasing you. Use this machine,” placated Tyler. He then stepped aside to allow Rachel to get the cappuccino from the machine he was using.

As they walked back with the cup holders filled with the hot beverages, Rachel noticed a scar on Tyler’s right thumb - it was almost identical to hers.

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“Oh my goodness” she thought “What are the odds of that occurring.” She felt weird.

While enjoying their drinks, Tyler was his usual smart-aleck self. Rachel noticed that frequently his gaze panned over to her or maybe her sensitivities were just on high alert. Secretly, Rachel started to check the right thumbs of all her colleagues present. She noticed a similar scar only on the thumbs of Michelle and Adam – the other colleagues in her strange dream. Oh My Goodness! Now Rachel felt queasy in her stomach. This cannot be a coincidence. Instinctively, Rachel began rubbing the scar and wondered whether SmartG was really implanted in their thumbs. It didn’t seem possible. When would that have happened? The project is on hold after all. She needed to decipher this.

After lunch, Rachel could hardly concentrate on her work. She visited her closest colleague, Michelle. She would tell her if she had any unusual experiences or strange dreams - so was the nature of their friendship. Michelle was cheerful and eager to have their usual chat but noticed that her friend was not engaged.
She asked jokingly, “Rach - am I boring you?”
Rachel was too agitated for idle banter at this time,
“Of course not”, protested Rachel.
“I have a headache - sorry I have to go.”
This was an excuse but also a fact. Michelle understood as she knew of Rachel’s frequent bouts.

As Rachel walked back to her desk, Tyler’s words at the coffee machine came flooding back, “Not again! Odd choice of words.”’ thought Rachel.

In her dream on the second day at NewMuni, when she couldn’t get a cappuccino after getting one on her first day - she received this notification:
“Rachel Lamm - you’ve reached your maximum for the week.
You can't outsmart SmartG.”
Rachel and her colleagues chuckled and made a note of the malfunction.
“How would Tyler know my dreams? ….but he and the others have a scar too!”
These thoughts and more were driving Rachel crazy. She was all fired up. She was determined to figure this out. She must find Tyler.

He was not at his desk or the usual hangouts for the developers, so Rachel decided to go to the topmost floor with the board rooms. She planned to call John to tell him about her bizarre dream and the matching scars. She also wanted an x-ray to check for an implant. She needed total privacy as she would hate if anyone overheard this crazy talk. As she stepped out of the elevator, she could hear a muffled voice. She followed the sound to the second room on the floor and immediately recognized Tyler’s voice. The thick heavy wooden door was slightly ajarred. Rachel had no qualms about listening in. His call was on the speaker phone.

Tyler remarked, “I think she might remember something about NewMuni although she didn't ask many questions despite my trigger words. However, Rachel kept staring at me while she was rubbing the implant scar. “

Oh my God!! Rachel was flabbergasted. She felt discombobulated but kept her composure the best she could. At least she now knows she is not totally mad.

Then the voice on the speaker responded by saying,
“Oh sh*7@ - so like I guessed - her memory of the week might not be completely erased after the test and now we don’t know what she remembers. This is what made her a good candidate. She is so hard-headed.” laughed John.
“John, John - how the heck is this possible?” What does my software consultant husband have to do with this?”

Rachel’s heart sanked and raced but her mind started to dig deep for missed, prior – just any clues.

“She did out-smart SmartG but this is still a reportable result. Pity a moratorium was called on testing at NewMuni.” continued John.
The men then said their goodbyes whilst Rachel purposely pushed the heavy door open. As she nervously but steadily walked into the room, Tyler’s face became off-color. Rachel stared at him accusingly. She was at a loss for words but so was he.

She sat in the closest chair and muttered in disbelief , “Joh - John?”
Tyler nodded then asked Rachel what she’d heard, “Everything and now I need to know what the hell is going on. I dreamt about a place called NewMuni but clearly I was not dreaming.”

“Oh man,” lamented Tyler – who realized that there was no longer a need to hide information. “John is lead consultant for the project. We were observing you when the 4 men appeared.”

Rachel told Tyler that that was when she thought she woke up. Tyler explained that it’s most likely that her memory was only partially erased or maybe not erased at all. However, Michelle and Adam’s memories were completely erased. Rachel was happy to get that confirmation but needed to her about herself.

Tyler added, “Maybe whatever you cannot remember now, is due to trauma.”
Rachel shrieked, “Trauma?!” Her head was spinning but right now nothing more should surprise her.
Tyler then explained the rest of the grueling situation.

All systems, along with SmartG and FaRe malfunctioned because Rachel's memory wasn’t automatically downloaded via the “non-wired brain interface” upon her arrival at NewMuni. Despite being identified by the systems, the download process was not successful, so all access was denied after 36 hours. The last attempt by the system was just before Rachel tried to get a cappuccino. Let's say, the system was mad at itself as Rachel outsmarted it. This was a system and mission failure! Rachel proved to be difficult and “strong-minded” but that is the reason why she was chosen. Yes, she volunteered but she was guided/manipulated in that direction by everyone in charge including John because she would be a perfect test subject in order to upgrade the system.

Rachel listened uncomfortably but firmly demanded, “Tyler please explain the trauma!”
“Well, you were removed from your room and placed in solitary confinement for 3 days. No technique worked to break you.”
“What were they?”, probed Rachel.
“They were nasty.”
“I need to know,'' she insisted.
“Ok - I will spare you the gory details but - mind altering drugs, noise, sensory deprivation like darkness, sleep deprivation - electrical shocks etc.”
Rachel could only mutter, “John was a part of this?”
Tyler nodded, “….and you too Tyler?” scolded Rachel as Tyler hung his headed down.
Then he admitted, “I didn’t know it would be like this. The program is shut down now but I would have left anyway after seeing how Lia responded in solitary.”
“Lia?”, screamed Rachel.
“Yes, children aged 7 and older are involved – so your son John Jr. was not there.”

Rachel could not believe her ears. She was upset about Lia’s involvement and John’s betrayal. She asked why memories needed to be downloaded.
Tyler explained, “The program changed focus from ease of identification and access to creating clones and cyborgs.”

Rachel shook her head and rose from the chair.
“So what is next for you Rachel?” questioned Tyler meekly.
She was cognizant of her limitations and the confidentiality agreement that all employees sign annually.

She sighed and concluded, “Trust is so fragile. It was breached by John and our employer. My main focus will now be to protect my children and myself the best way I can. The only good news in this bizarre saga is that I did outsmart SmartG.”