After that came a barrage of information on the Mindscape, on the stats display, how to carry out a holistic repair of one's own body to prevent aging, how to speed up mental processing speed from the mindscape, levitating and other mental manipulations of the physical world. It felt like my mind was going to explode. I certainly didn’t feel like I was absorbing any of the information shown anymore. It was just an impossible stream of nonsense by the time it came to an end. I was slumped in the chair inside my mind when Fiekela appeared.
“Well done, Vakuna. That is all you should learn for today. We must give your mind some time to process everything. Please come out of your Mindscape.”
I nodded numbly, doing as I was told. Fiekela was not alone when I reentered Normal-State. Someone else hovered over me, and I could feel they were doing something to my raw, exhausted body. I never found out who, as I passed out.
Chapter 6
Float like a Butterbean
The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a bed. Looking around, I saw that the bed was in the house I’d seen yesterday. A woman sat asleep in a chair next to my bed. As soon as I moved, she sat bolt upright.
“Good morning, Vakuna! How are you today? Are you feeling okay?” She asked a barrage of questions, putting me on edge.
“I'm honestly not sure,” I answered truthfully after a moment of reflection, “I feel strange. Not in any pain, surprisingly, considering how I felt when I came out of the Mindscape yesterday.”
“That is extremely good to hear. I am glad my ministrations have worked.”
“They must have, but my mind is in turmoil.” I sighed. “It’s a hard sensation to describe, like everything I learned yesterday is in there, but all disjointed and meaningless. It also compounds how little I know about myself. I don’t know much but I know this is a horrifying experience.”
“I am sure it will all come flooding back,” she said, laying a soft hand on mine that caused me to shiver from the touch, only now noticing how beautiful she was. “I have faith in you, Vakuna.”
I felt surprisingly better after she spoke, but promptly realized I had no idea who she was, or why she was here, other than something about ministrations.
“Thank you for that confidence, but I’ve no idea who you are either.”
“Oh dear!” She laughed. It was a lovely sound that made me want to get to know her more than I wanted to know myself.
“I quite forgot that you would not remember me. I am Ialos. We have met before your… memory loss.” Her face darkened slightly as she said it, barely noticeable really. If I hadn’t been staring at her so intently for reasons I barely understood, I would have missed it.
“I am responsible for your wellbeing throughout this training experiment. I am Accre’s physician.” She smiled. But that word, experiment. It set me on edge, just as Fiekela’s calling me a blank state had. I needed to watch these people very closely. Especially Ialos, but there were other reasons for that. I chuckled to myself.
“What do you mean by experiment?” I inquired.
“Only that we are attempting to increase the levels within your Cerebral Interface at a greater speed than has ever been tried out before.”
“Is that safe? It doesn’t sound very safe.”
“Honestly, yes. It should be given the level of support and supervision you have available.”
“Well, I suppose you seem pretty trustworthy, but I’m not exactly in a position to do anything other than what you all say. So what happens from here? More training?”
“If you are fit enough to train, Fiekela requested I return you to the facility as soon as possible. There is so much you must learn.”
The last thing I wanted was to train. Part of my mind rebelled fiercely against it, while the other part accepted the benefits it would bring. Ialos was waiting for an answer.
“I wouldn’t have a clue how to get there on my own, so by all means, lead the way,'' I said, rolling out of the bed. I appeared to have no clothes on, other than a pair of tiny white shorts.
Ialos laughed, covering her mouth. “You might wish to clean and dress first.”
“Nah. I’ll skip the cleaning, thanks. I’m sure I’ll be leaving the training lab a sweaty mess.”
“Perhaps, yet cleanliness is next to godliness. Try, even if only for a few hours, to maintain hygiene standards.”
“Whatever.” I shrugged indifferently. “Hopefully you all don’t make me pass out when we finish today, and I can get cleaned then too,” I said as I headed to the bathroom. It hit me on the way, that if I could recall the basic routine of getting washed and ready, why did everything else about myself remain such a mystery?
Ialos shouted after me as I reached the bathroom door, “You will need clean clothes.” Then she hurled a folded pile of white clothing in my direction.
I caught most of them, stooping to snatch the underwear from the floor. “Seriously. I could have just come back and took them.”
“We’re in a hurry.” She smiled, then turned and walked out of sight. I watched her go. So far, I’d felt absolutely no connection to the others I’d met, other than a compulsion to do as they asked. In the few moments I’d spent with Ialos, I’d warmed considerably to her. She seemed to have a natural positivity and a slight smile on her face at all times. I found myself wanting to impress her. A strange feeling, but a strong one, nonetheless. Snapping out of my haze, I headed into the bathroom and approached the shower. Again, I had a sense of what it was, despite having no idea how it turned on. As I stepped into the cubicle looking for more clues, it turned itself on automatically. I probably should have taken the shorts off first.
The sensation of the shower was so far the most amazing experience of my known life. Far better than experiencing the entire history of the Apochros and Fystr being crammed into my head. Thinking about the Fystr brought a wave of depressing images into my head. I felt a deep anger and hatred well up in my chest, followed by a wave of unexplained sadness. Swiftly followed by a knock at the door.
“Are you alright in there, Vakuna. You have been an awfully long time,” Ialos’s voice sounded in my head, causing me to jump in surprise, then slip in the shower. In response to the fall, a stream of unsavory words flowed through my mind. Thankfully, the shower turned itself off as I lay on the floor, and saved me that indignity at least. I had to calm myself before I responded to Ialos.
“Please don’t do that again,” I responded in her mind and heard a chuckle from behind the door, before she told me to hurry up and meet her outside of the house. I finished up quickly in the shower, and got into my fresh training robes before heading out to meet her.
She was sitting on a bench enjoying the warm sunlight, smoothly getting to her feet as I approached. The sight evoked feelings of exhilaration in me but I could not find any words to say to her. I was more than a little disoriented by the six-inch height difference she had over me. I didn't know why it mattered, but it just felt unsettling somehow.
At the training facility, Ialos had to assist my descent down through the opening in the floor, since I had not yet mastered the finer arts of levitation despite all of the knowledge I was pumped full of yesterday. Fiekela was there, waiting and ready for my arrival. “Good morning, Vakuna!” he greeted me exuberantly. “It is marvelous to see you looking in such fine health. Are you ready for another day of maximum growth?”
His overly enthusiastic words gave me a strong sense of being patronized, but I held my tongue and replied as positively as I could. “It is the path that I’m on, for good or ill. Yesterday wasn’t pleasant, but I can do it again,” I replied with certainty.
“Excellent, and what a path it is. I wonder just how far we can take you, and how quickly. This really is all extremely fascinating. The first item on our agenda is to peruse your Interface. I would like to ascertain the improvements derived from the six-hour regimen you completed yesterday. It should hopefully provide us with some data. Enough to start plotting your growth,” he said, so happily
I had a strong urge to do him physical harm, despite knowing it was a terrible idea.
Without further ado, I was speedily strapped back into the training apparatus. “Okay, Vakuna. I suggest going to your Mindscape. I think you know why,” Fiekela suggested with a smile playing on his lips.
I nodded solemnly, not feeling like returning his smile. I wasn’t experiencing the same kind of excitement he clearly did from all of this. Perhaps that would change. I might even grow to like it. Especially if I was working closely with Ialos.
I moved into my Mindscape before the pain started and was immediately joined by Fiekela. “So, young man! Let us assess your growth,” he instructed, leading the way to the Cerebral Interface. I followed, moving to stand alongside him, curious about this aspect myself. Looking at my Cerebral Interface was about as close to an identity as I could get.
Name: Vakuna
Age: 31 GY
Transcendence Level: 121
Strength: 225/1000
Agility: 80/1000
Speed: 112/1000
Intelligence: 60/1000
Constitution: 240/1000
Wisdom: 8/1000
Mental Resilience: 122/1000
Mental Clarity: 99%
Potential: 99%
“Marvelous!” Fiekela clapped by my side. “A 12 point increase in overall level. Unheard of for such a short timeframe. How do you feel about this? Are you impressed, Vakuna?”
I wasn’t. Not really. Overall, it didn’t mean much to me. Maybe knowing the specific details would shed light. “How did my speed go up? I didn’t move,” I asked.
“Despite not moving, we still activated your muscle fibers using a range of different stimuli. Stretching, compressing, and applying electrical impulses.”
“Okay, that sounds plausible. Why has my intelligence increased substantially, but my wisdom remains extremely low?”
“You have an inquisitive mind, Vakuna. An admirable trait. While your intelligence is a measure of your knowledge and application of that knowledge, wisdom is a little harder to pin down. It is the ability to use your intelligence in the correct way depending on the circumstances. For instance, if you find yourself in a position where you are hungry and you find a vegetable. You know what type of vegetable it is, and you know that it is edible, so you eat the vegetable. Demonstrating knowledge and its application. This displays intelligence. Not long after, you become unwell. It is from the dirt and bacteria on the vegetable. If you used wisdom, you would have hungered a little longer and washed the vegetable. If you were perhaps even wiser, you might have checked the vegetable for signs of rot after you washed it. You might have even found a way to cook it, releasing more calories and nutrients, and ensuring risk of infection was reduced dramatically. While that is not to say you cannot eat food directly from the soil, it is a risk that a person with high wisdom would assess and potentially not take.”
Even though I had asked the question, I’d lost complete interest a quarter of the way through his extended explanation about vegetables. I put it down to my low wisdom. When he looked at me for acknowledgement, I hoped I affected an expression of thoughtful contemplation rather than abject boredom. He seemed to be pleased with my general demeanor and continued talking. “Is there anything else you’d like to know?”
I shook my head in response, which was all the impetus he needed.
“Wonderful! So today, we will be working on increasing your processing speed. Bring you up to speed if you like.” He chuckled.
I died a little more inside, but managed to hold back the torrent of alien and unacceptable responses that surged in my mind.
While I wandered down a path of abstract thought, Fiekela continued, “After that, developing your other attributes will be much less time-consuming.”
“Whatever you think best, Fiekela,” I replied. What other answer was there? I was here because I literally had nowhere else to be.
“The first thing you must do is sit in your control center chair again. I need you to concentrate on the bond that connects you with your body.”
“That sounds doable,” I agreed, taking the seat. I closed my eyes, to try and find what he was talking about. It only took a second. I kinda knew what he meant anyway, be it from my past life, or the information that had been installed in my mind.
I heard him speak while I surveyed the thick smokey-grey bond that I knew attached me to my body. “Have you found it, Vakuna?”
“Yes, I believe I have. What would you like me to do now?”
“I want you to imagine this bond lengthening, stretching out if you like.”
I did as I was told, and the thick grey band began to thin, ever so subtly at first but with increasing speed as I came to terms with it. Whether Fiekela was aware of my success I did not know. As it thinned, I sensed it was becoming weaker too. It made me feel uncomfortable, so I stopped the process. “Okay, Fiekela. I’ve lengthened the connection substantially. I fear that continuing will weaken it further.”
“It is strange to have such concerns. How much narrower would you say the bond is from when you began?”
“It’s about a quarter of the original thickness.”
“My, my, Vakuna. Impressive, you appear to have a natural affinity for much of this. I wonder how much that has to do with your Potential. Do you think it could have stretched it much further if you wished?”
I felt some apprehension in answering his question for some reason, but decided to be open. “Yes. I stopped because it was dangerous to continue. I’ve no doubt I could stretch the bond into nothingness.”
“Hmm, unusual and unexpected. Not to worry, you did the right thing. Nonetheless, I may need to keep a closer eye on your innate abilities,” he said.
“That sounds sensible,” I said without feeling.
“Now you’ve successfully completed the process of creating disparity between the normal interaction of your body and your mind. The whole process took a great deal less time than I expected, so we will use this opportunity to work on telekinesis drills,” he said with finality, before regaling me in all that was telekinesis.
It was tough for me, because when I looked through my External Interface screen, I felt a little of the physical pain that was being inflicted on my body. I persevered as best I could. There was even a part of me glad to feel some small proportion of the pain and the struggle that my body was going through. It gave me a strange desire to succeed.
In front of me there was a table of objects set up for me to manipulate. My instinct was to send them flying wildly around, but Fiekela instructed me to raise and move them slowly, under painstaking control. Unexpectedly asking for slight adjustments in direction, always preventing me from any kind of free-flowing movements. It was beyond frustrating, and extremely difficult to maintain concentration. Endless hours of telekinesis went by, to the point that I just stopped.
“What is wrong, Vakuna?”
“What do you mean?”
“You have stopped.”
“Oh, right, yeah. Sorry, isn’t it bedtime yet? We’ve been at this for hours.”
“We have only been training for two hours,” Fiekela replied, confused.
“No way! It's been all day. I’m exhausted.”
“I see. Perhaps we should make some adjustments to your program, it seems I’ve failed to sufficiently compensate for your mental fatigue. We have time for an hour of free training, given your remarkable ability to locate and stretch out your bond. It will also be an opportunity to master your levitation skills. Let us return to Normal-State.”
With that, we moved back out of the Mindscape, and the pain hit like a wave. I felt like I’d been torn to shreds and put back together again. I screamed involuntarily, my whole body rigid and locked up from the machine. Within seconds the pain began to die off and I regained some semblance of myself, enough to feel the cool healing waves coming from Ialos, who was now standing in front of me, gently pressing her hands on each side of my head. Once I was coherent, Ia
los slowly removed her hands, then spoke angrily to Fiekela. “Why would you bring him back without warning me first? He should never have to suffer like that. Is this not already bad enough!”
“It was a simple mistake. I can assure you, it won’t happen again, Ialos. I was merely eager to continue with our training.”
“Make sure it does not happen again,” she demanded. “That pain would have been near unbearable,” she continued with her attention falling back on me. Her expression was sad. “I am so sorry you had to endure that, Vakuna.”
“I’m fine now. Even so, I’d like that to never happen again. In future, I guarantee I won’t be leaving the Mindscape until I’m sure that this torturous training equipment is completely off.”
“Good.” Fiekela clapped his hands. “I am glad we all took something from that lesson. Now, shall we continue our work?”
“That's what I’m here for,” I replied. “Though I’d like to avoid any more agony today, if you don't mind.”
“No more suffering, I assure you. Apart from if you fall practicing levitation, but Ialos can have you fixed up quickly if anything were to happen.”
“Great,” I said, a little anxiety in the pit of my stomach, “that's just about acceptable.”
“Before we begin, I need you to do a small thing. If you would keep your eyes open, but to try to imagine an overlay of what you can see through your External Interface screen over your own vision.”
I tried to do as instructed, but nothing happened immediately. As I concentrated, I did become aware of that smokey-grey link between Normal-State and Mindscape. I reached for it with my mind and it reacted to my interest, somehow becoming more substantial. I felt rather than saw it solidify, and the viewing screen I was also thinking of suddenly popped into place over my normal vision. It was disconcerting at first as my vision increased to take in 360 degrees. I tried to narrow the focus, to make it less intense for myself, and my vision began to narrow back to a normal level. Relief flooded me, as I didn’t think I could have operated with my sight expanded like that. On a whim, without turning, I tried to look at Ialos who stood to the side of me. My vision impressively changed, to now encompass her. I took a second to admire her, then switched back to a more normal range.
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