"James, what did you last remember? Please say something, anything." The middle-aged woman begged James. "Is that my name? James?" James asked questionably. He tried to remember what happened to him, but it was all drawing blank.
The middle-aged woman sighed and retreated to her chair. "Okay take a deep breath and calm down. Now take your mind back to what happened about a week ago." She insisted.
"Nope, still blank".
The woman was slightly frustrated, so she brought a toy robot and asked, "Do you remember when this was given to you?" she asked.
When James saw the toy robot, his mind began making painful flashes. His head began to throb again. "Argh please take this away from me", he exclaimed faintly, prompting the woman to keep it back to her bag.
"Mom, someone with amnesia would not be able to remember for at least a week. He needs time for his mind to heal." The older girl said.
"Two weeks" James corrected. 'Huh, how did I know that?' he wondered.
The woman was surprised as she asked "Wait, you remember what you learn in school?". When James nodded, the woman became slightly satisfied. "Alright then, you should be able to remember who always said these words, hold on," she asked, as she brought a jotter which was written "My diary". Just looking at that book made his headache a little.
"Alright James, who said these words, 'I hate basketballs, it's so tiring", and just like that, his brain went in a frenzy. Flashes upon flashes began to pressure his brain. He began to remember a faint explosion, then an echo of someone who was screaming something. He screamed, prompting the nurse to rush into the room.
"What happened?" The nurse asked the middle-aged woman. "I tried to invoke his memory to see if he can remember something. I did not know it would make him react like that. I'm sorry James!" the woman shakily replied, as she stood up from her chair and gently held and rubbed James head in an attempt to comfort him.
"Why did you do that for heaven's sake? I informed you that you should not try anything that would bring back his memories. What is wrong with you?" the nurse asked, agitated. "Please leave the room while I attend with the patient. I want to stabilize him. Please leave!" the nurse practically shoved them out of the hospital room.
She then placed James on an anaesthetic, which made him fall asleep quickly. Then James heard that weird voice again.
"Running boot sequence… boot successfully…
Initiating Graphical User Interface [GUI] for user's interaction…. build successful…
Collecting logs... storing as mnemonic data format… log saved…
James woke up once again, but this time, he didn't wake up in reality. It looked like he was in a dream, a way too realistic surrounding to call a dream.
"Where am I?" James asked. "He observed at his surroundings. He was in some sort of dimension because he could see grid lines all over him, with the light green illumination shining brightly, but for some reason, the light was not blinding his eyes.
"Hello James, my name is AI, and I'm your assistant. I would guide you as we begin the tutorials on your newly installed system" a voice said.
James was startled. He looked around for the source of the sound but could find no one. "Who are you, and how did you know my name?" he asked apprehensively. "It appeared that you are still confused. Switching voice data to [friendly]. The woman's voice then changed to a young man's voice, then a figure materialized like an avatar in a game. "What's up bro!".
As James wondered where he was, or who the man was, the man approached him, promptly causing James to back off. "Relax bro, I don't bite okay? I'm AI, and I would guide you as you explore your newfound capabilities, at least that's how I would explain it."
"First off, who are you, AND WHAT THE HECK IS THIS? What happened to me please" he begged, wondering why no one could answer his most dire question. He could not remember where he saw this person, but he seemed familiar.
The young man then looked at James and said "In the simplest form, you are currently in a neural space, you hit your head hard a week ago due to an explosion, but before the incident, the chip your dad planted into during your minor surgery activated before you went unconscious, thereby saving your life.
"You were saved, but it came at a cost of your memory. I would still run system diagnostics to determine if I can recover all your memories down to the last bit, don't worry. For now, let me show you what you can do…"
The AI kept rambling as he showed James his new abilities. He was telepathic, his IQ was increased to 311, he could manually control his body cells, and some he could not understand. But there was something the AI said troubled him.
Explosion and his dad. Was his dad killed in an explosion? What about his mom? What happened to him before he was knocked out? All these questions kept circling his head as he followed the AI to sections of the dimension he was in.
"Do not worry, all your questions would be answered in the future, don't worry. But for now, the system cannot bring up your memories, it stresses out your mind, so for now, try to heal your body manually." The AI turned and replied to his thoughts.
"You can hear my thoughts? Are you telepathic?" He asked, wondering.
"Oh no, I am not. I can access all your mnemonic data, meaning I know what you are thinking and what you are doing all the time." the AI explained. "Oh".
"You are a very special person James, that was why you survived the installation of this operating system to your brain. Not everyone would be able to survive this."
"What do you mean 'survive"? I could have died because of a chip?" James queried. "No James, I meant due to your original IQ rating 144, your brain synapse was fast enough to bear the pressure during the installation. Think of it as a computer processor. The faster the processor, the more powerful the computer is, as for your case, you have the fastest brain alive" the AI seemed happy.
James wanted to say something, but the AI interrupted him.
"You are about to recover from the anaesthesia, so when you wake up, we would display all your stats, info, and things you want to do to your eyes. Don't worry, it would not distract you. Simply thinking them would bring them or minimize them.
"Okay," James nodded. Then his surroundings became blurry, soon though, he gained consciousness. The pain he felt before had disappeared again. He was not even tired at all. He sat up from the bed and thought about what that AI just said.
If what he said was true, why would his dad chip him on his surgery? Who was he? Was he a mafia, or a CIA, or what? Why was there an explosion in the house? He wondered, but the answers were not coming at all.
The doctor came into the room, and seeing him wide awake, she smiled. "You are awake, that's great. Okay let me adjust your drip", she said. James watched her as she removed the tube that was in his hands throughout his stay at the hospital, giving him an injection, then placing the tube back to his hands.
'What a weird kid'.
"What was that," James asked. The doctor was startled. "Huh? Oh, I did not say anything James, please lay back to the bed, you might be hallucinating." The doctor explained, pondering.
James wasn't hallucinating! He heard the doctor call him weird. Could he be overthinking this? To answer his question, the doctor seemed to say something, but her mouth was not moving. 'Damn I thought he could read my mind', the doctor thought.
Oh my god, he could hear what people think. He was telepathic! But how? How could he be able to capture people's thoughts? 'Hey AI, give me an explanation.
Then something popped up in his eyes like a game screen. He could see the stats of his body in a 3D diagram, all of his organs function like his heartbeat rate, some switches he could toggle, and a terminal shell.
'Wow!' he exclaimed. 'AI I would need an explanation.
'Alright, I'll explain to you right away.