Cognitive Intrusion (Story) — Finale
Could something go right for once?
Previously….
As a kid, I was always fascinated by the technology around me and of the future. This interest led me to birth this idea. Now I need to make sure it works.
“Why does this place look like our base of operations,” says one of the criminals.
“Agreed. This is mad freaky.” said the other criminal. The two criminals who spoke up were the criminals who entered the OTHER criminal’s mindscape. My mind was going to have a nuclear meltdown because I wasn’t able to label who was who. I named the 2 criminals, “Bad & Ugly” in my head of course, and the other “Scarred.” Scarred gave off a “dark” vibe and he was scarred on his face. I think he may have committed arson but back to the test!
“This is everything from my point of view. The plans that…I made. The detonator I bought from.” Scarred spoke up.
General Eobard suddenly slammed the table and yelled, “Who did you buy the detonator from. Whoever will tell me will be rewarded.”
“His name is ɾoɥn poǝ.” Someone spoke up and I didn’t see who.
I realized that the General turned the project into Phase 2 out of the blue. We were just supposed to be passive.
When the mindscape nears 50 minutes use, Ugly speaks up and says, “All I’m feeling is pain. My mind feels stuck. GET ME OUT.”
“Pull the plug!”
He and Bad started screaming and I immediately shocked their bracelets. As they entered the physical plane, they seemed disoriented.
“So never stay in the mindscape for more than an hour. Otherwise, this was a success. Per the scientific method, we need to attempt several more times and if we get the same answer of success, then Phase 1 is complete.”
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
That scene kept being replayed over and over again. This is six months later. Phase 1 of determining if it was safe was successful so now Phase 2 ready for deployment. Except that the General started that phase way early on and that started to concern me. I sighed.
“No matter. It hasn’t had a lasting or a negative effect.” I said to myself.
But THE most important thing was nagging me/
If I don’t do anything, will I lose the point of my mission? I haven’t been able to make MY — I mean the medical breakthrough for the medical field whereas interrogation purposes are being favored. But I haven’t been able to do much on my end. The board and I were promised three things; results, funding, and success. I must sound like a broken record at this point because — -We haven’t found any success in that field without freedom due to our contract.
Three months later of completing Phase 1, I grew tired of being put to the side. So upon agreement with our hosts that we will go forward for the medical field, some of us including me went back to our office.
When I shook his (Eobard) hand once more, I remembered that at first, I didn’t like him. But now, I concluded that we are right in our ways. The interrogation was completely understandable because finding vital information to keep our country safe and thwart harm from the people kept our country safe. In the medical field, it can heal people around the globe.
I almost chuckled to myself. This nostalgic feeling was forcing me to contemplate on such matters that I may have never come to my mind!
It took three months to replicate the technology and if it took a day longer I would have lost my patience and sanity.
Now it was the hunt to find volunteers from the public. I reached out to all of my offices to reach out to their patients about this proposition. Only a handful of patients consented while the others didn’t do so out of fear though that’s what Phase 1 was for. -_-
Call me egotistical, but I thought that a lot more people would care and participate. Nevertheless, I went with the first one to be an Army veteran who is suffering from PTSD…
This once again was going to another matter. Murphy was going to indulge in memory lane. Seven years ago, He remembered that he was sitting in his office reading over a file of a war veteran. He was a tough case to help. After all, he was stuck in his mind because he would randomly relive a moment in the past and couldn’t get out of it. He was unable to describe the experience either. Cases like him were difficult to help because they weren’t able to open their mind to them. Because of this, his mission would start. It would be somewhat poetic if this case would be once again birthing the start of something revolutionary.
After the many visits to make sure the 55-year old was fit, we decided for him to come in for the procedure in the next two weeks.
As the narrator, I cannot emphasize even more how much Malcolm wanted to do it quickly but he had to wait until the patient would be ready.
Two weeks later…
I’m staring at the clock in my laboratory, anxiously waiting for his future to arrive. He didn’t have to wait any longer as the patient and his army pals came along finally.
I never say this to my patients because it would deter them from achieving our goal and it quite rude and hurtful to say much because I never went through what he did but when I looked at his face and his body movements, I sensed that he was stuck in a loop of pain and darkness, consuming him and his life force.
As soon as all the men were seated in the chairs in a line with the headsets on, all I had to do was turn on the headsets and the brain link would be established. I recited the dangers and risks that could happen in the mindscape and they all agreed
“It’ll be alright Lang, okay? I and Diggles are here with you.” the man to the left spoke, assuring the patient.
I pronounce, “This is your chance to break free of the pain. Then you can move on with your life in the best way. I am going to start now.”
My conscience and I have been having regular visits. Not a surprise to hear from him again. He arrived seconds before all I had to do was “press the red button” as they say in the movies.
“Is this a good idea?” My conscience asked. And I responded, “This is the future mate. Of course, it’s my time to shine and do some greatness.” I turn on all the headsets and I move away from them.
It takes a minute for all of their minds to realize then they entered the mindscape.
“This place…it…looks like our fort/base in Afghanistan,” says Seargent Lang, the patient”.
I ask, “Can you explain what you are seeing?”
He didn’t speak up so his buddies did.
“This was 11 years ago. Before…we were ambushed.” Diggles stated.
I was glad to know that this was all accurate because much wasn’t put on his file so so far so good.
“Is there anything else?” I asked once more.
Sergeant Lang spoke finally, “There’s a photo of all of us and our private and our buddy Noah.” His voice suddenly faltered. I could sense some uneasiness in his voice and I saw his eyes watering his dry skin. I had to know more to help.
“Can you tell me more about Noah and what happened? The more I know the more I can help.”
“He at the time was only a rank below us and because we had all been together for two-three years in the force since training, we all had a — bond. Noah was our anchor who always persuaded us to lighten up in the darkness we faced else we succumbed to it. He would always have the sappy yet best quotes for us. I remember one of the quotes, “What’s life if we don’t pull down our pants and slide on the ice.”
Suddenly, I felt as if he was being soothed. He even gave off a hearty chuckle when he said the line. My neurons started firing at once. I felt like he was suffering from survivor’s guilt. It’s a therapist’s job to note down everything the patient says because that is important to the patient’s life and their obstacle. He mentioned that this is before they were all ambushed. Before I could think more, I heard the distress in all of the men started to speak.
“The mindscape is shifting to something else… it’s all blurry!” Diggles and Cutler cried.
I had a developing theory that the patient could control the mindscape such as forwarding or moving back time. Now it’s not a theory but a fact.
“What is it now?” My inquisitive side spoke but for a while, they were all awfully quiet.
“Our team is saying farewell to…Noah.” Sgt. Lang’s stammered. He couldn’t vocalize what to say next until he did.
“He shouldn’t have been out there today. It was my duty to scan the perimeter, not someone like him who was a lower rank. I risked him of his life. Now….he’s dead because of me.”
The gears once again started turning in my mind. I was certain that survivor’s guilt was the diagnosis. I formulated the sentence that I hoped and believed would change Sgt. Lang’s future;
“Would Noah want you to waste the life that he saved for you and your entire team? If he were here, I guarantee you that he would say snap out of this phase and move on with life. Can you do that one favor for him?”
After his rousing success, one year later, he releases cognitive intrusion into his offices worldwide and is working with many other doctors to implement it in their practice. However, the permits and the safeguards put into place to protect this technology from being put to harm were crucial as Malcolm Murphy kept it all under lock-and-key after use. The military for the next decades was able to use this fine state-of-the-art technology for good uses for interrogation to learn of future attacks on the great nation they loved and protected. Armies and organizations throughout the whole world now attempt to train their spies to keep information hidden under cognitive intrusion. Murphy’s greatest fear is that this will be put to the reverse of the mission it was formed to accomplish and one day it will when the Earth will succumb to darkness. Malcolm Murphy goes on to be remembered as “The Man Who Shaped The Future of Healing; Therapy.”
