Gemini [WIP]

Chapter X

neopronouns are difficult to write with in the moment so forgive any i missed...

Screaming, Rowan ripped the halo off of xer head and doubled over, holding xer left eye. Xe stood in front of the mirror, expecting to see a gaping, bloody cavern, but was startled to see xer own light brown eyes looking back from an unblemished face. Xe ran xer hands over her head and closely-cropped scalp, looking for blood, burns, cuts, anything, but xe was intact, externally. Thick, swarthy brows furrowed, xe met xer own eyes in the mirror and they were the same scared child's eyes xe'd seen in the memory dives. Xer search was interrupted by the door banging open, two nurses entering the room and bringing the lights to full brightness. Rowan squinted against the sudden harsh light.

"Rowan, is everything OK? We heard the screams..." the tall, presumably male nurse asked, setting down a handful of individually wrapped medical supplies on the table near the door. The shorter nurse, hair tied back in a ponytail and face fully tattooed, came over and began inspecting Rowan's face, shining a light in xer eyes. Rowan waved her away, irritated.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just got taken out. I need a minute. Could you bring me some water?" Xe sat down in a unfolded jump seat in the corner and held xer head in shaking hands, breathing deeply. Xe could still feel the strange prickling heat of ...whatever that thing the woman had aimed at xer was, the feeling of the inside of xer skull melting, functions blacking out randomly, and then the man, eyes crazed and jaw clenched, face splattered with blood, repeatedly bringing the rock down on xer face, over and over until xe blacked out and the system disconnected. Xe could hear the nurses talking quietly:

"Do you think xe's ok? I didn't see any injury, but I didn't get a good look"

"I had a mate that used to do dronework, crashed once while in senso. He wasn't hurt, physically, but he walked with a limp for a few months. Totally psychosomatic, but when you're crossed over like that the brain doesn't know the difference. I'll clean up in here, you mind grabbing that water?"

"Sure, be right back."

Rowan knew it wasn't really xer face that had been caved in, of course. Xe'd been a drone pilot for a decade at this point, xe was very familiar with riding drones with limited sensorium override. Early pilots had only been able, initially, only to navigate visually, via mounted cameras on the device. This worked fairly well, but inexperienced pilots would often find themselves caught up in invisible air currents, dashing their craft into buildings or getting thrown into bodies of water. Attempts were made to represent the wind data with visual dials, overlays, and indicators, but they proved more distracting than helpful. With the advent of the Neuralink (the inventor's name had been lost to the Schism), it was possible to connect the human mind to computers for the first time in a 1:1 interface. By adding a tactile sensor net to the skin of a drone, human pilots were able to intuitively sense air temperature, movement and pressure, the same way they felt the wind on their skin and could tell which way it was blowing.

Most of the drones Rowan piloted were small patrol drones. When Grant had offered her the chance to go on a field trip, and fly some state of the art hardware as a reprieve from the memory dive sessions, xe'd jumped at the chance. The smaller drones xe was familiar with had a fairly simple sensorium - xe could feel the air movement around the craft, the temperature, the thrill of speed, but that was about it. It was better than just a pair of video goggles, to be sure, but xe was still always aware xe was sitting in an articulated chair with a neuralink halo on her head.

The support unit, though, was as far a leap beyond the patrol drones as a jet was to a biplane. Xe was completely unaware of xer physical body when in full sensory override ("senso", to the initiated) with this new drone. Functions xe was unfamiliar with were mapped across her sensorium - Low fuel levels translated to a full bladder, for instance. Xer arms had become the unit's forward guns, and running, walking, leaping, crouching, controlled its movements. Xer eyes had become multifaceted, strange, collecting light in foreign wavelengths, painting scenes in colors xe couldn't name. Xer ears heard radio, microwave clicks, the eldritch crackle of the cosmic background radiation.
Pain, of course, remained the same. The high keening screams of the damage alerts of the dying craft had ripped through xer as flashing agonies. The pitiful wails of the internal armatures dying had felt like xer skull sutures coming undone, the camera lens' destruction like xer eyes boiling out of their sockets and running down xer cheeks.

Xe needed a minute. Ignoring the nurses' protestations, xe found a benzo inhaler in xer backpack and stumbled out of the command trailer and into the incongruous warmth of the sun. Xe sat against one of the honeycomb tires and let the afternoon sunlight dapple the insides of xer eyelids red, the gentle breeze kissing xer cheeks with a motherly affection. Xe sucked greedily at the inhaler, breathing in artificial fruit flavors. The onset of the drug cocktail inside was immediate, a weighted blanket of calm descending onto xer shoulders.

Rowan heard the crunching of approaching footsteps and looked up to see a stout young officer in a flight suit coming to crouch next to her. Their lapel insignia identified them as the staff MHO - mental health officer.
"Rowan? We saw what happened. They're still running telemetry to figure out exactly what took the drone out."
Rowan noticed the officer was careful to say "the drone", and not "you".

"Some kind of gun. The woman had to aim it."

"I can't speak for the others, but I've never seen anything like that before. That's not what's important though. Have you had a senso injury in the past?"

The final moments of xer flight passed through xer mind, the narrow maw of the woman's weapon drawing her in like a cat's pupil, and xe was lost, falling, nothing but blackness and stuttering creeping flames invisibly eating her skin in unbearable waves...

"Rowan? Rowan!!"

The officer's voice was distant, unimportant. Xe had more pressing matters at hand. At hand, and at foot, and the back of xer neck, xer arms, xer face, everywhere, everything was on black fire, and xer hands were missing.

--

When xe awoke, sometime later, the agony was gone. There was nothing but a bottomless warmth inside xer, and a gentle, dimensionless whiteness surrounding xer. Xe moved xer head around, surprised that nothing hurt. The calm white of xer surroundings was at once solid and yet insubstantial, and when xe raised xer hands to probe it, they dripped translucent whitish water. Xe tasted salt. Xer arms, extended fully, seemed to brush a cloudy nothingness, barely tangible. Xe had to look down at xer body to confirm it existed, as xe was lying down, seemingly unsupported. Xe reached down, looking for what was supporting xer body, but realized xe was floating on a surface of cloudy water, perfectly matched to xer body temperature so that xer body felt borderless.

Despite the strangeness of finding xerself in some kind of heavenly womb, xe didn't panic. Couldn't panic, somehow. Every time xe tried to recall the preceding events that led to xer arrival here, the thoughts seemed to drift away, subsumed by the same white mist that surrounded xer, as if it penetrated xer mind as well. This might have normally worried xer, but now, it didn't seem important. Xe was overcome with an irresistible urge to close xer eyes and relax into the feeling, successive waves of pleasant tingles radiating from the crown of xer head, down xer spine and legs.

After an interminable period, there was a sound, almost subliminal at first, but quickly rising to gentle audibility. The tone of a singing bowl radiated pleasantly through the space, its resonance causing another involuntary wave of sparkling pleasure to radiate from the top of xer head and suffuse itself through her body, invigorating xer mind and bringing xer up from the peaceful depths.

"Rowan?"

The voice came from everywhere. It took a moment to remember that was xer name. Another to remember how to speak.

"Yes?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Nice."

"Good. Do you want to get up?"

"I guess, sure."

The water began to drain out and xe felt gravity return, xer body coming to rest on a padded surface. A line appeared in the roof above her and grew, bisecting the space above. It widened and the walls fell smoothly away to either side, revealing a medical suite and a nurse standing to her left. Some distant part of xer mind alerted xer to the fact xe was nude in front of a stranger but the pleasant white cloudiness persisting in xer mind quieted it. A pressure at xer upper back brought xer to a sitting position and xe saw that xe was seated on the lower half of an egg-shaped plinth set in the middle of an antiseptically clean room.

"You were in there for a while, do you know where you are?"

Rowan flexed xer hands experimentally and rubbed xer fingers together. They felt pruny and slimy now that the water was gone.

"A hospital, I think." The air from the vent overhead was cool and xer skin broke out in goosebumps. "I'm cold, could I have some clothes?"

"Of course." The nurse turned towards a rack Rowan hadn't noticed until now. Xe took the opportunity and looked around the room. The lights were dim and the curtains drawn but didn't let in any light around the edges. A suite of machinery behind her gently beeped rhythmically, displaying sine waves and numerical data on various screens, around which wires and hoses were wound like vines.

"Here you go." The nurse laid a warm towel over her. "Let's get you dried off first. Can you stand?"
"I think so." Rowan turned and put xer feet on the cold tiles of the floor and took xer weight experimentally. Xer knees were shaky and protested a little, but held as xe rose. The nurse gently scrubbed xer with the towel before reaching back to the rack and retrieving a hospital gown.

"What was that thing I was in?" Rowan asked, looking over xer shoulder to see the that the egg-shaped platform was actually an ovoid pod, now lying open, standing on a squat pedestal. The chirping and humming devices fed their innumerable tubes and leads into the machine.

"It's a psychomedical trauma recovery unit. You went catatonic after the incident at the field camp. Here, drink this." She handed Rowan a bottle of water and Rowan drank, washing the salt taste out of her mouth. As the cool water settled into xer stomach, xe felt the mind fog lift and regretted its departure for a moment. "We're going to run a few tests, make sure you're all right, and then the officers want to debrief you. Follow me through here."

After the nurse had taken some blood, scanned her body with a humming wand, and shined a light in her eyes while consulting a computer in the other room, Rowan had been allowed to change into normal clothes - a set of leggings and a baggy sweatshirt. They'd brought xer a light meal and some pills to take, which lifted the final cobwebs from the corners of xer mind. Xe was then led to a windowless room somewhere in the core of the medical building, and was surprised to find Grant there waiting for her with a trio of officers wearing insignia Rowan didn't recognize seated around a circular conference table. Grant gestured to the empty seat beside him, and xe sat, feeling underdressed compared to the uniformed officers and Grant's tailored suit. He spoke first.

"You were under for over a week, how are you feeling?"

"I'm not sure if my fingers will ever return to normal," Rowan said, displaying xer hands. "Other than that, I think I'm okay. I can't remember anything that happened after sitting in the flight chair though."

"That's to be expected. The treatment they gave you blocked the traumatic memories. You went through something similar after you were brought in as a child, but you wouldn't remember that either." The officers shared a meaningful glance with each other that Rowan couldn't parse.

"Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble?"

Grant chuckled good naturedly and the officers smiled sympathetically.

"No, no, quite the opposite. The drone you were piloting was KIA, but you acquired some incredibly valuable intel in the process. Your mental state is still fragile, so I don't want to share the exact details, but the footage from the final moments of your flight revealed the existence of someone we've been hunting for years. Someone very important to our society. To tell you the truth, we were near giving up. Your discovery has brought fresh vigor to our search."
The officer directly across the table from xer, a dark-skinned woman (her insignia read she/her) with her hair drawn back into tight braids, spoke up. "Rowan, my name is Captain Latoya Jones. I work for the Central Intelligence Service. To my left is Tad Marbury, Lead Field Investigator." The bushily bearded, ruddy-skinned man nodded. "To my right is Agent Kim Otowan, head of Cyber Investigations." Rowan made eye contact with the almond eyed, dark haired woman, and felt her stomach flutter. She was very attractive and Rowan tried to suppress a blush. Kim smiled warmly, which only made it worse. "Together, we head up a very discreet unit that has one directive. Finding this man."

Latoya tapped the table and a ghostly image rose from the center, a man's head rotating slowly. Well-groomed, radiating a sense of confidence that suggested wealth and influence. Rowan was nonplussed until it turned to face xer and xe saw the eyes. The treatments suppressed the emotional reaction, but xe knew those eyes. Xe'd last seen them, hateful, bloodshot, driving a rock into xer face. Rowan swallowed, feeling unnaturally calm as the face rotated away.

"That's the man that smashed my drone after the woman shot it down."
Dismissing the image with another gesture of her hand across the table, Latoya nodded. "Correct. His name is Phillip Adams. Prior to the war, his twin brother Calvin ran one of the most influential and cutting edge biotechnology firms in the world. The company rose to prominence after the COVID pandemic in the early 20s by creating the prototype of the neuralink technology we use today."

Latoya tapped the table again, and a skyscraper appeared over the table. Rowan was confused for a moment before realizing it was the elongated pyramid now occupied by Central, the crown jewel of the megacity skyline.

"This building, the one we are in now -" Grant coughed. "Oh, does xe not...?" Grant nodded. "Damn. Um, well, pretend you didn't hear that, I guess. Anyway, the, ah, building displayed here was originally their headquarters. Phillip, unbeknownst to the world, had made some incredible leaps toward the holy grail of mind-computer interface in his personal research. Namely, transcribing the brain and uploading a living mind to a computer."

"Wait, I'm sorry to interrupt," Rowan cut in. "If Calvin is the genius computer guy, why are we looking for his brother?"

"I was just getting to that part. Actually, Tad, do you want to take it? You were on the ground there."
"Sure." Tad cleared his throat. "At the time, late 20s, I was a homicide detective with the SFPD. San Francisco Police Department," he clarified, seeing Rowan's blank look. "Cleaning staff reported that a body had been found in one of the labs in the building's basement, along with a lot of blood leading from an elevator. We were as shocked as anyone to discover that it was Calvin. When we pulled the security tapes, we found that a man had come in the night before seemingly at Calvin's invitation, since Calvin let him in the door, for some kind of discussion. In our research, we found out that the man was his brother, Phillip, that they were estranged, and that Phillip had recently gotten out of prison in South America for some kind of digital currency fraud. We don't know exactly what happened between them, as Calvin had turned off the security cameras in his office and laboratory. But we did get footage of them fighting in the hallway outside before, and then Phillip leaving afterwards."

Tad brought up a grainy 2D video panel and set it against the far wall of the room, which showed two men grappling and chasing each other through the halls of an office building, cutting between different cameras as they fought through offices and corridors.

"We think Phillip must have seen an opportunity and pushed Calvin down the elevator shaft, which had been left open for maintenance, then taken his body into the lab for some reason. Our suspicion was that Phillip stole something there, but it was Calvin's personal lab, where there were no cameras, and no records of its contents, so we couldn't tell. Either way, Phillip was wanted for murder and questioning, but he eluded our best efforts to find him. San Francisco had a huge population of unhoused persons at the time, so it was easy for him to go off-grid and disappear."

Latoya spoke up. "Thanks Tad. Here's a later picture of Phillip." She called up another image, this one a still photo taken from a high angle, and near the camera's zoom limit, judging by the graininess. But it showed the same man with the same eyes, albeit a little worse for the wear.

"Predictably, the murder of such a high-profile individual was quickly discovered by the media, and a nationwide manhunt ensued. But shortly after that the water crisis got bad, which precipitated the decent into the Schism, blah blah, we've all taken history class. Phillip disappeared into the fog of war and we lost track of him. He'd pop up on a facial recognition scan now and again, but there weren't resources to keep up the hunt. After the dust settled, Latoya brought me on to continue the work. The last time we got close was when a drone picked him up in Provo with a Mormon contingent that was forming there, but our raid wasn't successful in picking him up."
"I'm sorry to interrupt again, but what's so important about this guy that you'd keep looking for him after the Schism? High-profile or not, it's just a murder, right?"

"We're not chasing him for justice's sake. Kim?"

"I can take it from here." Kim spoke up, her voice surprisingly husky for a woman of her size. Something inside Rowan purred and xe willed it to stop. "We aren't sure why Phillip didn't take it when he broke into the lab, but Calvin had been working on something incredible." Kim took over the presenter and put up an image of an obelisk, crossed at random by innumerable spines. It looked like someone had thrown a handful of sticks into the air and somehow froze it in a crystal. "This is the digital storage substrate Calvin had designed and invented. It's both stable enough and dense enough to contain the massive amount of data needed to run the human mind. We also found a hotwired MRI machine that he had made some major modifications to that we think he must have used to scan the brain.

Unfortunately, his documents and programs are locked behind biometric security, wired to an EMP device. He was evidently very paranoid about corporate espionage. If someone besides himself tries to get into his system, the EMP goes off and destroys everything. As it stands, we can't risk touching this without losing everything, and the manufacturing capability to reverse engineer his substrate simply doesn't exist anymore. If we could get inside it, see how he built it, we might be able to replicate it in a few years, but without being able to look under the hood it's likely to stay out of our reach for decades until we can rebuild the world to pre-Schism levels."

Rowan leaned back in her chair and looked at Grant. "Ok, let me see if I've pieced this together. In the basement of this very building -" Grant shrugged. "- is a hard drive capable of containing a live human mind. But it's locked behind the biometric security of dead man, with a gun to its head. Luckily for you, the dead man had a twin brother, which you only know because he's the one who murdered him. So you're hunting the twin brother hoping his biometrics match up so you can unlock this thing. Is that about right?"

"Not bad, Rowan. They were really wasting your talents as a glorified traffic cop." Grant looked pleased.
"Okay, but you know that's not how biometrics work, right? Twins still have different irises and fingerprints most of the time. Plus, it's been 20 years, even if Calvin were alive, his prints wouldn't match."

Grant smiled a Cheshire cat grin. "Oh, ye of little faith. The biometrics here weren't anything so primitive as fingerprint or iris scanners. Remember, Calvin was head of a bleeding edge tech company. His locks sample the users DNA directly from a finger prick blood sample."

"So, you mean -"

"Yes, Phillip, as Calvin's identical twin, can open the vault. But we had lost his trail for years and with it, our hope. Until you found him."

"Huh. All right, one last question. What's so important about this technology? Why do you want it so badly?"
Grant sat back and steepled his fingers. "I'd have thought that was obvious." He paused for a moment and twisted his mouth in thought before continuing. "What ethic, what value, Rowan, would you say, lies at the heart of the Central Democratic Union? What are we striving towards?"

"Well, total equality, right? Emancipation from discrimination?"

"Exactly. Would you say we've achieved our goals? Built an equal society, where every individual has their needs met and has equal access to the fruits thereof?"

"I mean, as much as possible, I think. There's always some obstacles to true equality - aging, limited resources, untreatable illnesses, et cetera."

"My thoughts exactly. That's why this technology is so crucial for our mission - it's the gateway to true liberation. Emancipation from material want, real-world limitations. Imagine if we could digitize our entire society! A truly level playing field where each individual is free to live their life as they wish. The digitized soul is endlessly malleable, and requires no real-world resources other than the electricity needed to run the computers, which is a trivial matter."

Somewhere, Rowan felt like xe should push back on the idea. But xe couldn't find a point to disagree on. The logical conclusion of a truly equal society had to be transcendence beyond material needs, but that had seemed like such an impossible goal that it wasn't worth considering. Now that the key to unlocking that impossible dream, humanity's liberation lay within their grasp, was literally in the building, Rowan couldn't disagree.

"Okay, so how do we find Phillip?" xe asked.

Grant smiled that Cheshire cat grin again.