Path of the Tiger

by J M Hemmings

  ‘No, of course not.’

  ‘It is the same with our DNI,’ Ms Fang said. ‘The brain has to effectively enter a sleep state for the DNI to become active.’

  Mr Wang frowned.

  ‘That seems less than practical. People want to be constantly connected to their social media. They want it all the time! It has to be a constant stream of ever-changing information. That’s what enables the addiction and keeps the psyche hungering for more, surely?’

  ‘Don’t worry sir, we’ve taken that into consideration. That’s where the new MANMNO-M Condor smartphone comes in. This device is able to connect directly with the DNI chip on the brain. It does everything any other phone does, but it also has one unique and incredible function – which of course is also connected to the chip attached to the brain.’

  ‘And what function is that?’ Mr Wang asked.

  ‘When the user feels like entering the social network, the user can induce an immediate sleep state for a predetermined length of time. All they have to do is set up the “nap” function on the Condor device, decide how long they wish to enter the sleep state for, and that’s it. The Condor sends a signal to the chip, which activates the area of the brain which induces sleep, and then the user’s body enters a sleep state immediately, for two minutes or ten hours – the time is almost infinitely customisable – while their mind travels into the virtual realm. Inside this social media network, there is no typing and no clicking. Every person who registers on the social network does so by using a special app on their Condor smartphone, which takes a three-dimensional holographic body and head scan. This is then stored in the central database, and when a user logs on to the social network, the absolutely lifelike representations of their friends are projected directly into their brains. It will be like walking down the street, or strolling through a park, or on a tropical beach – as if you are in a dream, in which you technically are – except that all of your friends are there with you, looking exactly as they do in real life, speaking as they do in real life, sharing via holographic projection within the dream. If they share a music video for example, if you so wished, you could take their hand and step inside the video … and for all intents and purposes, if will feel as if you were actually there.’

  ‘The computer will generate it and send it to their brain?’

  ‘Exactly. If the setting is, for example, a concert video of the American band Nirvana, who ceased to exist in 1994, well sir, the fact that the band no longer exists is not even a factor to be considered anymore. The software we are currently developing for this network will be fused with the most advanced artificial intelligence-based neural networks, and will be capable of rendering the entire experience as realistically as if it were real life, inside the social media network – saturating the subject’s mind with accurately replicated sights, sounds, textures, tastes and smells, while simultaneously manipulating the subject’s brain into creating the experience.’

  ‘You are saying that with these chips in my brain, I could close my eyes and essentially travel back in time and watch a Nirvana concert?’

  ‘Physically it would just be a dream, but yes, inside your head it would feel exactly as if you were doing that.’

  Mr Wang leaned back in his chair, balled his right hand into a fist and pressed the foremost knuckle of his fist into his lower lip, contemplating this for a few moments.

  ‘Incredible…’ he eventually murmured, floored by the revelation of what this technology would mean for humankind and global profits. ‘Absolutely incredible…’ He remained silent, biting on his knuckles as a riot of thoughts careened at mad speed through the corridors of his mind. After some time he spoke again. ‘I must say, I do have a concern: what of all the sleeping the consumers will be doing? Surely this may severely affect their productivity, and bring about all sorts of issues with insomnia and disrupted sleep patterns?’

  ‘This is, unfortunately, a side effect that we have noticed,’ Ms Fang admitted, although her collected demeanour made it apparent that this was not an unexpected question. ‘We do have an idea on how to remedy this. Huntsmen Inc also owns a soft drink company, does it not?’

  ‘It does, along with various other companies.’

  ‘We believe that with the right marketing, an ultra-powerful energy drink could be subtly linked to the marketing and distribution of our product. The energy drink, which would ideally provide an immense caffeine boost, coupled with certain chemical agents that would provide a prolonged high and a slow-tapering energy spike, could be marketed as “D-Immz Fuel”, or something similar. A slogan such as, and let me switch to English quickly, “fuel to get you from InDream to OutDream at hyperspeed!”, would be quite effective. Of course, like I said, it would not be necessary for the subjects to always enter a dream state to access the social network; it would be, as current social networks are, available with a constant stream of updates, on all mobile devices, computers and smartwatches. The dream state would only need to be entered when the subject really wanted to have a completely immersive experience. We predict, though, that with the addiction factor they are going to be activating the “InDream” sleep mode very, very often.’

  Mr Ma, who had been observing this whole exchange in calm silence the whole while, abruptly nodded and then stood up, tottering slightly on his spindly legs. When he had steadied himself, he began to clap slowly and deliberately. With his liver-spotted hands he then made a few enthusiastic sign language gestures, after which he sat down, still grinning, as Mr Wang interpreted for him.

  ‘Ms Fang, Mr Ma is incredibly impressed, and is in awe of the technological breakthroughs your team has made. He would like you to personally oversee a team from Cobalt Fresh, the soft drink company owned by Huntsmen Inc, in terms of developing the right kind of energy drink to be marketed in conjunction with the ‘D-Immz’ product. What is more, he feels so blown away by this work that every member of the team is to receive a substantial cash bonus at the end of this week, and in addition he will throw your team a suitably lavish banquet.’

  A murmur of excitement rippled through the researchers. Mr Ma heaved his insubstantial frame to his feet again and bowed to the team members. He then made a brief gesture in sign language before sitting down again.

  ‘Mr Ma says you are all free to leave now,’ Mr Wang announced. ‘Take the rest of the day off and celebrate your success.’

  Everyone stood up and began gathering their things and leaving the room, the formerly sombre and almost leaden atmosphere of the boardroom now buoyant and sprightly. As Ms Fang moved to leave, though, Mr Wang sidled over to her and subtly gripped her forearm.

  ‘No, not you,’ he whispered. ‘Come back here in five minutes when you’re sure everyone else has left. Don’t let any other members of the team see you.’

  Ms Fang’s face remained blank and emotionless, and without turning to look at anyone she strode out of the meeting room. After everyone had left, Mr Ma and Mr Wang sat together in the still-darkened room; two hunched, shadowy figures blanketed with an aura of dark menace. Mr Ma conversed with his assistant in sign language, while Mr Wang responded in hushed verbal tones. After a few minutes they heard the clacking of high heels on the marble floor that announced the return of Ms Fang. Mr Wang wasted no time in getting started.

  ‘You’ve done an excellent job, Ms Fang. This technology your team has developed is going to revolutionise everything about the way global society communicates and participates in the social media universe. However, as I’m sure you may have guessed, Mr Ma and I are interested in certain aspects of your technology which we would prefer to keep more … secret, shall we say. Obviously, the ability to link a person’s brain directly to a computer could be used for some very interesting ends.’

  Ms Fang nodded, her small eyes cold and her mouth drawn tight.

  ‘I think I have an idea of the possible applications that you are talking about. Tell me, sirs, would you like to see our product in action in the human test subjects?’


  Mr Wang smiled and nodded.

  ‘That is exactly what we were going to ask you about, Ms Fang.’

  ‘I will take you there. I assume secrecy is paramount?’

  ‘Your assumption is correct.’

  ‘Would a visit in the early hours of the morning suit you, then?’

  ‘We can do that, yes,’ Mr Wang answered. ‘I must stress once again that absolutely no member of your team can know about this. We do not trust anyone on that team besides yourself.’

  ‘I understand.’

  She took a small notebook from her handbag and tore out a piece of paper from it, upon which she scribbled some numbers.

  ‘These are the GPS co-ordinates of the facility. It’s just outside a small fishing village about one-hundred-and-thirty kilometres from here. There is a helipad eight kilometres from the site. That’s located at the second set of GPS coordinates that I’ve written down. If you can land there at around two in the morning tomorrow, I can pick you up from the helipad and take you directly to the facility myself.’

  ‘Excellent, Ms Fang. We will see you then.’

  ***

  MANMO-M Technologies Testing Facility B-24

  ‘Thank you for driving us here,’ Mr Wang said as he helped Mr Ma out of the back seat of Ms Wang’s Mercedes S-Class sedan.

  ‘It is my pleasure, sirs. Come, let me take you straight to the human subjects.’

  Fifteen minutes later they were several metres underground, deep within the bowels of the top-secret institution. They passed through a room of orang-utans, all housed in cages only just large enough to accommodate their bodies. Some stared out from behind the bars with eyes that were pools of abject sadness within their leathery faces. Others rocked compulsively back and forth, their minds utterly obliterated, victims of the terrible insanity that spreads the choking tendrils of its malady through the brains of all wild creatures confined to the hell of a caged life.

  One young orang-utan reached an emaciated arm through the bars, trying to touch Ms Fang as she strutted past in a desperate attempt to fulfil its need for physical contact, longing to feel warmth through its all-too-human fingertips. Ms Fang stepped deftly to the side, coldly avoiding the grasping limb and staring blankly ahead, with Mr Wang and Mr Ma following close behind her. Mr Wang peered expressionlessly at the apes while Mr Ma glared at them with blatant disgust oozing from his milky eyes, like tears of sulphuric acid. They reached a heavy steel door, and Ms Fang had to scan her retina and fingertips to gain access.

  ‘In here sirs,’ she said.

  Once they were inside, she locked the door behind them, plunging them momentarily into tar-thick blackness before she hit a light switch. A row of icy fluorescent globes flickered to life, revealing a long, narrow passage stretching down to the end of the room. On either side of the corridor were rows of steel doors, each fitted with a small one-way glass window. Ms Fang flicked on another switch, and lights in each of the cells came on.

  ‘It’s one-way glass on the door windows,’ she said. ‘We can see inside the cells, but the subjects can’t see us. Come, follow me.’ The men strolled along the corridor behind Ms Fang, listening to her speak as they glanced into each cell they passed. ‘All of these subjects have successfully undergone the procedure. Their brains are equipped with fully functioning D-Immz chips, which are connected to our fledgling network.’

  Ms Fang stopped in front of one particular cell and beckoned the men over to the door. Mr Wang and Mr Ma walked over to the cell and took turns to peer through the window. What they saw was a small, bare concrete cell, unfurnished aside from a toilet and a sink in the farthest corner. Upon a grubby straw mattress on the floor a thin, balding man in his late thirties was sprawled out. He was naked aside from a pair of grubby underpants, and his body was inked with black, poorly done tattoos from head to toe. The light was rousing him from his slumber; he was beginning to stir.

  ‘This one,’ said Mr Wang, pointing a finger at the sleeping man, ‘who is he?’

  ‘He’s a low-ranking triad member and a convicted murderer,’ Ms Fang replied flatly. ‘One of the many death row prisoners we have been using for our human trials. Shall I show you what our device is capable of?’

  ‘Please do.’

  She reached over to the wall next to the door and opened a small panel, revealing a control panel. With a quickly suppressed flicker in her eyes, which could have been some sort of sadistic delight, she pressed a button. Sprinklers in the ceiling started spraying the man with cold water. He jumped up and scrambled to his feet, yelling and cursing with anger and surprise as he retreated to a corner of his cell.

  ‘The subject is now fully awake,’ Ms Wang announced, shutting off the water.

  The man peered up at the ceiling, his eyes wide with fright, and he crept back against the wall, cowering like a hunted creature, his eyes darting wildly from side to side.

  ‘Now that he’s awake, I’ll show you what the MANMO-M Condor smartphone can do in conjunction with the chip in his brain.’ She unlocked another panel on the wall and took out a MANMO-M Condor phone. ‘This phone is calibrated to this man’s chip, and his chip only. Every phone and every chip are calibrated with a unique sequence, so they cannot be used on anyone but their owners.’ She booted up the phone, and, when it was ready, she showed the men the app that was used to control the sleep function. ‘I’ll set his sleep period for five minutes. And … done. I just sent a signal to the chips to stimulate the part of the brain that will induce a state of sleep.’

  Despite the man’s obvious state of fear and paranoia, as soon as Ms Fang hit the button he yawned and began to look visibly calmer. He shuffled over to his straw mattress and lay down, and within a few seconds he was snoring.

  ‘Sleep is typically activated in less than a minute for almost all subjects,’ Ms Fang said, speaking with clinical coldness.

  Mr Wang nodded, clearly impressed. Mr Ma simply stared intently at the prisoner, his face set in a stony and almost brutal expression of masochistic intensity.

  ‘At this point,’ Ms Fang said, ‘the network is only in its embryonic stage. We’ve been able to connect all of the human subjects on a small proto-network, but, of course, functionality is very limited. Each man in this lab is able to communicate with and interact with the other subjects in this facility in their dreams. This occurs in perceived real time, simply in terms of saving and then replaying messages when a subject enters the “InDream” state. Mostly, however, these men seem to dislike communicating with each other. They all come from different prisons, and most are quite antisocial, and are generally not predisposed towards making new friends.’

  ‘The point we are most impressed with is that you’ve got the system working smoothly. That in itself is an utter marvel.’

  If Ms Fang was flattered at all by this compliment, it did not register on her marble-cool face.

  ‘Let me show you what our current network is capable of. We have decided to focus on two main areas for the purpose of this element, two extremely primal areas: sex and violence. We’ve created one network in which our programmers have holographically captured popular pornographic film actors and actresses’ bodies, in addition to their mannerisms, vocalisations and patterns of movement. The programmers have also mapped out the actors’ skin tones, hair textures and eye colours, and have classified their skin and breath scents on a scale that is graded on increments of a few hundred thousand, while the exact tones of their voices have been digi-captured from—’

  ‘Excuse me for interrupting,’ Mr Wang said, ‘but are you saying you’ve essentially replicated the porn stars exactly as they are in real life, to enable these convicts to interact with them in their dreams?’

  ‘That is exactly what we’ve done, yes. Because it is an immense task to program an entire person into the system this way, we only have three at the moment – two female porn stars and one male. Inside the subjects’ dreams, with the aid of our D-Immz chip, the subjects feel as if they are having re
al-life sexual intercourse with the actors, who are, of course, merely virtual beings we have replicated from reality and conjured up in this realm. In the subjects’ minds, however, these simulated people seem as real and tangible as you and I here in this room.’

  Mr Wang stroked his chin appreciatively, while Mr Ma nodded, his wrinkled face remaining a mask of expressionless blankness.

  ‘Astonishing,’ Mr Wang remarked after a while.

  ‘They seem to quite enjoy it,’ Ms Fang replied with a subtle grin.

  ‘No doubt they do.’

  ‘What is more, we can actually see the dreams we’ve conjured up playing out on a screen.’

  Mr Wang beamed a broad and enthusiastic smile at Ms Fang.

  ‘Amazing! And this will be true for anyone who installs the chip?’

  ‘Yes. Right now all we’re able to see is the virtual world we create, and how they interact with our creations … but with further research, we believe that we will soon be able to start accessing their dreams, and then, later, their memories. Furthermore, and this is something I think you’ll be very intrigued to hear about, we may soon be able to start manipulating their thoughts, desires and decisions.’

  ‘If you could achieve that,’ Mr Wang murmured, ‘the possibilities would be beyond endless.’

  Mr Ma, who had been listening closely to this conversation, finally registered emotion on his face, and began gesticulating enthusiastically in sign language, grunting with his twisted mouth as he did so in his eagerness to get his message across. Mr Wang interpreted his gestures for Ms Fang.

  ‘Mr Ma says that this is the day he has been waiting for his entire life. He says that you have brought a dream of his – a dream he has had since the days of his youth – to fruition. With this product installed in the brains of the general population, we will have absolutely complete and incontestable control. We can provide the masses with any pleasure, any addiction they wish, and it will all be virtual; not even existing in the real world. We can sell millions of products that need no raw materials, no factory production, no freighting, no shop space, nothing … nothing but a team of software engineers to create and sales agents to sell. The consumers will be so saturated, so hopelessly lost in their addictions that they will do anything – nay, buy anything – that we want them to. They will live only to feed their addictions. They will be utterly powerless – a race of slaves who will gladly shackle the manacles around their own limbs and throats! This, Mr Ma says, this is the essence of absolute power, distilled to its base element. Uncontested control, which the subject will not only never try to resist, but actively beg for.’