Had something gone wrong in the memory lounger? Did part of his brain get left behind in the computer?
Okay, that was extreme, obviously, but things just didn’t look… right. Oh sure, the colors looked fine and he could still see but… his vision seemed a bit sharper waking up. And… his nose? Looked like it was the wrong shape?
There was a buzzer noise, like the noise when someone hit the abort button on a compacter, and Carlos’ memory pod suddenly opened. He was confused, but he just shrugged slightly and started to sit up… only to realize that he wasn’t wearing his own clothes.
He became aware that his body didn’t…. well it just didn’t feel right.
“What the hell…?” he asked aloud, and he was shaken when he didn’t hear his own voice come out of his throat.
Grimacing sort of sympathetically at the noise, aRMA winces, pulling back immediately with a soft frown. Their throat works, something like a bone bobbing in it, and it feels entirely too crowded, as if there’s just too much neck there and not enough space for air or breathing.
“…Yeah, that is. That’s…Just don’t try to swallow too much. The mechanism for it is kinda rusted and doesn’t work. I…I guess this is worse for you cause you’re made out of meat, huh? You’re not…interchangeable. You live your whole life in one meat shell and can’t imagine being not meat…”
The voice warbles oddly, as if they’re getting used to the feel of vocal chords, wincing at the sensation of it. Everything is sensation all the time, and the sheer amount of information flooding their consciousness is…Too much.
Eventually, aRMA wobbles awkwardly on Carlos’s legs as they manage to wobble back towards the memory pod, kneading fingers at their own brow, looking panicked and overwhelmed until eventually their eyes roll back and flutter, entire form going limp and flopping comically into the pod as they…pass out?
Carlos was immediately worried and without
thinking he started to stand up. And wow, even that felt wrong. Just – wrong.
Parts of his body felt entirely too light while at the same time he just didn’t
really have feeling anymore. He nearly stumbled and fell right over, but he
managed to do some quick shuffling-type steps before he was at the other pod.“What – what’s wrong, are they –“ He paused a
moment to let his throat work, trying to get out a mechanical hitch, but to no
avail. Guess he was living with that forever now. “Are they alright? What
happened?” He reached out automatically with his right hand to take his arm,
but stopped – startled by the metal skeletal limb. That’s – that’s attached to him now and it can hurt someone
if he wasn’t careful!Eventually Dr Amari trots in with six more pages of notes, scribbling furiously.
“Ahlright so. All I vhould need to dho is…Repeat zhe experiment, but add individual markers for vhich of you belonzhs where into zhe programming. It’s simple enouzh, but it vhould require…Vhahd I miss? Vhe need both parties to be conszchious for this…”
Huffing inpatiently, the doctor pokes Carlos’s body with the sharp point of her pencil, the motion causing it to jerk violently awake.
“YAAHAHAHAOW! What’d ya do that for, Amari? S’not every day I get jolted through my own memories…Wait.”
He looks at his fingers, then at the scientist, then at…
“…Shit. This isn’t a flashback. How the fuck…Carlos, are you alright? Geez, this is so fucked…Hey, is aRMA with you in there…? Or… No, aRMA wouldn’t have…How would that even work…? Doc…?”
Doctor Amari holds up her hands defensively, shaking her head. Clearly she doesn’t want to have to come up with a scientific explanation for this basket of shit.
Carlos just looked at… his own face a little
worriedly, afraid to touch. “I… I think you have aRMA,” he said. “I’ve… It’s
just me here. I hope. I…” He looked down at his own hands. He… his sense of
feeling was so dull now. A little like
that dead moment when your foot falls asleep.
Carlos groaned. Or, his throat did as
machinery moved together. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this and he
wanted to be back in his own body. He was this
close to having a freak-out.
The Perfect Scientist 