CONGRATULATIONS ON ACTIVATING THE MULTIPLIER SYSTEM.
Rayne sat up and looked down at the holographic screen in front of her.
She read the bold words on the screen repeatedly, as if reading them one more time would change something.
"Is this some sort of new technology?" Rayne mumbled to herself. She figured that surely, in just a year of coma, technology wouldn't have advanced so much that mobile phones were replaced with this holographic screen.
"What is a Multiplier System anyway?" Rayne questioned.
She decided to try and touch the screen. Once her finger touched the holographic display, a new screen popped up, showing new words.
Length of activation: 1 year, 3 days, 23 seconds...finalized.
Rayne froze when she saw that. Isn't that the exact length of time Dr. Henson said she'd been in a coma? Could her coma somehow be related to this system?
Before Rayne could continue her thoughts, the door to her room opened again. Nurse Judy walked in, smiling and holding a tray with food.
Rayne froze.
How would she explain this holographic screen?
But to her surprise, Nurse Judy walked over to the side of her bed and placed the tray down on the table.
She looked over at Rayne and said, "Hi, how are you feeling? I noticed that you fell asleep earlier, so I decided to plug your phone in to charge. I also brought you some porridge. I know it's a little bland, but we need to reintroduce foods slowly since you haven't eaten normally for an entire year."
Rayne looked at Nurse Judy, then down at the screen in front of her. It seemed like only she could see the screen.
Rayne looked up at Nurse Judy and smiled. "Thank you for the food and for plugging in my phone to charge."
Nurse Judy smiled in response and picked up the strawberry candy she had left on the table earlier. She handed the candy to Rayne, her hand passing through the holographic screen.
"I brought you this candy earlier. I know your food is going to be a bit bland, so maybe this sweet candy will make it more bearable." She then turned and left the room, leaving Rayne alone once again.
Rayne looked down and opened her hand, searching for the candy Nurse Judy had given her. But to her surprise, her hand was empty. The candy was gone.
She looked around the bed and under the blanket to see if it had rolled out of her hand unnoticed, but she didn't see it anywhere.
While searching, she felt a slight headache, closer to a pressure behind her eyes, but it didn't last long.
Just then, something caught her eye!
On the holographic screen, she spotted an image of the exact candy Nurse Judy had given her. She stared at the screen, her brain trying to make sense of what was happening.
Rayne slowly pressed her finger on the picture, feeling curious. As soon as her finger touched the icon, a perfectly wrapped strawberry candy appeared in her hand.
She took a second to study the newly appeared candy.
"It looks and feels exactly like the one Nurse Judy gave me," Rayne mumbled as she began unwrapping the candy.
She took a few more seconds to observe the pink candy before popping it in her mouth.
Soon, a sweet taste washed over her mouth, and she couldn't help but smile. After not being able to taste anything for over a year, her taste buds were practically jumping with joy!
She leaned back to relish the feeling, closing her eyes.
After a few blissful minutes, the candy was finished. Rayne opened her eyes, frowning slightly. Her inner foodie was not satisfied with how short-lived the sweet bliss lasted. She wanted more!
Looking back at the screen, Rayne saw that the icon of the candy was still there. She gracefully extended her index finger to the screen and pressed the candy icon.
However, she didn't stop with one click. She continued to tap the icon until there was a small pile of strawberry candies in front of her.
Rayne was thrilled. This meant that no matter where she was, she could have an unlimited supply of this strawberry candy!
As a foodie, she valued being able to have a treat on demand.
This thought led to many more. If she could store other items in this system, did that mean it would work in a similar way?
Immediately, Rayne scanned the room with her eyes, looking for her next test subject. Her eyes jumped to the black backpack beside her.
She could try using one of her drawing pencils.
Rayne opened the backpack and reached in to grab her favorite drawing pencil. It was short from all of the previous sharpenings and showed signs of wear. There were dents and small scratches all over, the eraser was worn, and the golden logo was barely visible.
She smiled, holding her trusted pencil, thinking of all the beautiful drawings and sketches she'd made with it in the past.
She looked at the pencil in her hand, thinking about how to get it stored in the system. There were no buttons or prompts on the holographic screen, only the icon for the strawberry candy.
Rayne took a moment to think. If the system was linked to her, then that meant it should respond to her commands.
She looked at the pencil in her hand, focusing really hard, and gave the mental command: store.
Rayne suddenly felt dizzy, and a dull pain spread throughout her head. It felt like the world was spinning, and soon beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
The pain lasted for only a few minutes, and soon she was able to orient herself and open her eyes.
Her eyes twinkled as she smiled at her now-empty hand. It worked!
She looked over at the holographic screen and saw a new icon next to the one for the strawberry candy. It was her pencil, looking exactly as it had in real life, with the scratches and worn-out eraser.
She clicked the new icon, and the pencil instantly materialized in her hand.
Rayne looked down at the pencil. "This is still a bit unbelievable, but also incredibly exciting," she said.
She inspected the pencil in her hand and noticed that even the dents and scratches were identical to the original.
Rayne continued to click the pencil icon until she had a small pile of identical pencils. She could hardly contain her excitement. With this new system, she could live an extremely comfortable life!
She quickly reached into her backpack once more, this time pulling out her wallet. She wasn't rich, but she should still have some cash if she remembered correctly. Rayne opened her wallet and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. Holding the paper bill in her hand, she again gave the mental command to store.
This time, there was no big headache, but she did experience some mental fatigue and dizziness. Rayne ignored it and quickly looked at the screen. Sure enough, a third icon appeared: the 20-dollar bill.
Rayne was ecstatic! Before her finger even managed to touch the icon, a 20-dollar bill appeared in her hand.
She looked closely at the 20-dollar bill and realized that perhaps the system could be used to take the stored item "out" the same way it was stored. Rayne concentrated and visualized the icon of the 20-dollar bill.
A moment later, another 20-dollar bill appeared in her hand, on top of the previous one.
Rayne was ecstatic. This was an incredible and life-changing ability.
Deep down, she knew she needed to be extra careful because this system, which could bring her wealth and good fortune, could also send her to a research lab where she would never know freedom again.
Multiplying things like this 20-dollar bill would have to be done carefully, so she wouldn't get caught. Each bill had a serial number, and it would be suspicious if someone found out there were hundreds of copies of the same exact 20-dollar bill.
After contemplating for a few minutes, Rayne concluded that storing as many things as possible would still be very beneficial, and she would consider the risks before taking anything out.
With her thoughts sorted, she lifted her head with a determined smile.
"Now, what to do with this pile of drawing pencils?" She looked at the pile of identical pencils now piled up on her lap.
"I guess I could just throw them all back into my backpack, but that could be inconvenient in the future if I accidentally took out too many of a larger item," she said to herself.
While Rayne was contemplating a solution, she glanced over at the holographic screen.
As if responding to her thoughts, a new icon appeared. This time, the icon was smaller than the others and located in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. There was also some text written under the icon in bold: Dematerialize.
Rayne's eyebrow raised at this. How interesting, and convenient.
She picked up a pencil from the pile and clicked on the "Dematerialize" icon. The pencil that was in her hand vanished, as if it had never been there!
Rayne was amazed and wondered how this system worked. It felt very magical!
She continued to delete the rest of the pencils until only one remained, then tossed the last one back into her backpack.