Jason, The First Cyborg

Jason, The First Cyborg

An e-Book by:

Douglas Kapin

Smashwords Edition

Science Fiction at its best

Copyright © 2010 by Douglas Kapin

OneOfTheChildren@Hotmail.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Dedication:

There are two basic kinds of people in the world, 'The Givers,' and 'The Takers'. ‘The Givers’ are divided into two groups, The Real Givers, and those who wish they were Givers. ‘The Takers’ are divided into two groups, those who don't realize they are Takers, and those who know they’re Takers, and enjoy every minute of it.

This book then is dedicated to all of you. I wish to thank the real givers; you make the world a much better place to live in. Those of you who would like to be givers, give me hope for the future, may this book encourage you. To those of you who don't realize that you are takers, may you learn and become givers. To those rascals who know they are takers, and like it, be aware that we know your ways, you have been found out.

So then, when it all comes together, may you be found with the Nabbits, and not the Gotchas.

< * * * * >

Thanks:

I am really blessed; I have many really good friends. The foremost of my friends is my wife of thirty years, Linda. She put up with the long nights of my writing my first book, and she's never read it, never will. (It's really awful) When I started this book, I took the first few pages to her and she loved it. She's put up with my jabber about the various aspects of the story. My Cat, Gumball (She's ten) finally settled down on the table beside my keyboard and went to sleep. I worked fourteen hours a day for mostly ten days. They still love me.

If it weren't for my computer and Microsoft's wonderful Windows '95 and 'Word' program, and spell checker, this would have taken years to write. I would have given up around page ten. I now use Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Word 2010.

So then I give my special thanks to:

My wife Linda

My cat Gumball

My family and friends (Too many to mention)

Microsoft Corp.

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The bracketed notation as in {All those who didn't make it.} denote mental communications, (ESP) not verbal.

This story could have taken place anywhere, any time. But it actually took place in 1996 in Denver, Colorado. No one, least of all Jason, could have predicted the turn of events that would lead him on such an amazing adventure, to eventually end up in eternity. George and Lori, were just not ready for this either. They couldn’t even hope that circumstances might ever present them with such an opportunity to join with Jason in his adventure. And yes, all the pain was worth it.

Jason, The First Cyborg

Table of Contents:

Dedication:

Thanks:

Chapter 1: - Darkness

Chapter 2: - And then there was Light

Chapter 3: - Discovered

Chapter 4: - Marriage

Chapter 5: - Lori in a Box

Chapter 6: - Leea

Chapter 7: - Come out, Come out

Chapter 8: - George

Chapter 9: - Nabbit

Chapter 10: - Who’s There?

Chapter 11: - Grandma

Chapter 12: - GOD

Chapter 13: - Hawaii

Chapter 14: - Gotcha

Chapter 15: - Free at Last

Chapter 16: - More Help

Chapter 17: - Australia

Chapter 18: - A Baby

About the Author:

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Chapter 1: - Darkness: - (Go to Top)

Where am I? Its dark, the darkest dark I have ever seen. I blinked my eyes but it didn’t help. It’s quiet too, the kind of quiet that hurts. I screamed, but I couldn’t hear a thing. It’s so quiet I could have heard a cricket a mile away, except there’s never a cricket around when you really want one.

I tried licking my lips, nothing. I can’t do anything. That’s when the real shock hit me; I can’t feel anything, my hands, feet, tongue, nothing. Nothing works, nothing at all!

I’ve heard of what they call sense deprivation. That’s where they put you in a room where it’s dark and quiet. Then they put your body in a pool of water and you feel like you’re out of your body.

That’s how I feel. I can’t hear my heart beating, or my breathing. I can’t feel anything!

I’m conscious, anyway I seem to be. I could be dead I guess. No, this must be real, even my vivid imagination couldn’t make up something like this. You know how you can sort of feel a room around you? I mean, you can have your eyes closed and you can tell that there’s someone in the room. Well I can’t feel anything, nothing, nada, zip. This is like the worst dream I have ever had; only worse, I think this one is real. Will I wake up, or is this really real?

I started thinking about, about anything, just to pass the time and keep me from going crazy. What was the last thing I did? Where was I? Dinner! I had dinner with Lori. We tried that new restaurant, ‘Steaks and Stuff.’ It’s one of those Western places with the sawdust and peanut shells on the floor. The food was pretty good, but I had my eyes on Lori, this was our first date.

Lori and I met at church; she’s new in the area and doesn’t know anyone yet. I volunteered to show her around. Volunteered, right, she’s gorgeous. She’s about five foot six, blue eyes and long honey blond hair. She’s has one of those hour glass figures that makes you want to keep asking her what time it is.

We hit it off right away. I’m single, my wife died years ago, and I never remarried. My family has long since grown up and left home. I’ve been very lonesome lately. Lori is not only beautiful, but she has one of those soft personalities. I wanted to tell her everything, and she wanted to listen.

We talked all through dinner, I should say, I talked all through dinner. My steak got cold, and my drink got warm. (I wish they’d figure out how to reverse that.)

Lori knew all the right things to say. She has a very pleasant voice and an angelic face that made me feel warm all over. I talked about the family and all the places we’d gone, and all the stuff we’d done.

She wanted to know all about the kids and grandkids. It was nice to talk and not feel like I was boring her. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so comfortable and at home with anyone.

Lori and I are both computer designers and programmers. We talked about some of the places we’ve worked and schools we’ve gone to. I told her where I work now and some of the things I had done at other companies, she seemed genuinely interested in my life.

Lori is a computer programmer; she was transferred out here to Denver to work in the same field as I do, so I guess we have a lot in common. I sure didn’t give her much of a chance to talk about her life though; she didn’t seem to mind.

We had another drink or two and listened to the little band. It wasn’t much, just a keyboard, guitar, and a guy on base. They sounded good though. The guitar player sang and the girl on keyboard helped him a lot. They seemed to be getting better as the evening progressed. I’m not sure if it was the band or the drinks. I remember there was a little dance floor, but nobody was dancing to their music.

Lori is staying in a local motel. I must have been out of my naive mind but I asked her if she wanted to stay at my place in the spare bedroom. To my great surprise she sort of accepted. She said that since I work mostly out of my home, she would stop off in the morning when we are both sober. We laughed; I could tell that I’m feeling no pain.

We hung around a while longer and talked, but we switched to coffee.

Lori’s car is at her motel. So like a gentleman, I offered to take her home.

We walked out the door to go to my car. She screamed, and that’s the last thing I remember.

I slipped off into slumber-land again and dreamed of Lori.

I woke up; it’s still dark. It’s that kind of dark that makes you feel cold, and very lonely. This is definitely not a dream; it’s all too real, or is that unreal?

I slipped in and out of sleep for what seemed like eternity, no change.

I’ve been trying to get some idea of time, but I don’t even have heartbeats to count. I could have been here, where ever here is, for hours, or days. I think I’m going off my rocker. I’ve always liked having time to myself; I even like working at home alone. This is ridiculous though, I should say terrifying!

I keep seeing Lori in my mind, and running over that last night trying to figure out what had happened. I finally started going over some work I had been doing at home just to pass the time.

I keep coming back to Lori. She had screamed, she must have seen what happened.

If I could just, just, anything, but I can’t do anything. I can’t even cry, let alone scream, and I really want to scream.

Light! I saw light. It wasn’t much, just a flash, but it was something.

What’s that? A scratching sound, you have no idea how good that sounds and what a really welcome sound it is, after this cold, hard, silence.

What was that? It felt like someone poked me with a needle. There it is again, only someplace else.

This is exciting, someone is paying some attention to me, and I’m not alone!

I played a little game with myself, trying to guess where it would poke me next. It is so good to have some kind of sensation, any kind of sensation, I want to giggle or laugh; only I can’t.

I fell asleep again, but I have a smile on my face, anyway I think I do. I am alive, and more than that, someone is there doing something. I’m not sure what, but at least there is something happening.

I woke up to the sound of a clock ticking, what a wonderful sound. It’s one of those big grandfather clocks. I can almost see the pendulum swinging. It’s off to my right. No, it’s off to my left. Ah come on, leave it alone, I’m getting nauseous.

I heard a door open and close, footsteps, a man’s footsteps, slow and heavy.

Jason!

I jumped in spite of myself. He’s talking to me! His voice is strong but sensitive and concerned. I can feel the tiredness in his voice.

My name is Doctor Adams; they call me George most of the time. You’ve been in a real, real bad accident. I’m sorry that I can’t give you all the particulars right now. I’ve hooked up your hearing and I’ve got a big old clock here. It’ll chime and you can keep track of time. I can only imagine what it must be like for you. You’ve been out for almost three days now. We’re trying to get some way for you to communicate with us. Even a Yes-No would be very helpful right now. There’s a young lady here too; she’s been driving us crazy. As soon as we can give you some way to communicate, we’ll let you two talk. Please try to hang in there. We know it’s tough, but there’s a whole team of specialists here trying to help you. Just for interest it’s three AM on Friday, March the fourteenth. You are in a special hospital lab in Denver, Colorado. I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more right now, but we’ll sit down and have a nice chat pretty soon. Right now, I’m going to go get some sleep. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.

I listened to him walk across the room and I heard a squeaking sound like a bed. In a few minutes I heard him snoring. He must have been real tired to go to sleep that fast.

I never thought I would enjoy anything so much. I can hear.

I listened to the clock ticking; I can almost see the hands moving. The clock chimes on the quarter-hour and it has the most wonderful chimes on the hour and half-hour.

I laughed to myself; I always hated those big clocks. I could never sleep near one. Now it is so wonderful just to hear anything.

Three days, he said three days; it seems like a lifetime. Well if I have been in some kind of an accident, and it’s as bad as he said, then I guess it has been a lifetime.

I’ve heard of people who are trapped in their crippled bodies and their minds are still active. I used to feel sorry for them. Now I understand, it’s just so good just to be alive. I don’t want to die.

We spent a week trying to find something I could move even a little. Anything they could use for a yes or no. By the end of the week we had three fingers working well enough to satisfy them.

I can’t feel anything yet but they have my fingers hooked up to switches or something and they brought in one of those voice synthesizers. I can make eight combinations of fingers. All off, (for nothing) and then combinations of one, two, and three fingers down. They hooked up yes and no and all three down is supposed to ring the nurse or something like that. I don’t know what I’d tell a nurse if one did come in.

They finally let Lori talk to me. She’s tense; I can hear it in her voice. She’s trying to be nice and talk about how much she appreciates using my extra bedroom and stuff. She moved into my house and is paying the rent for me.

It’s impossible to ask questions, and I’ve got a million of them. I can answer questions yes or no, but unless they ask me just right, I can’t originate any kind of questions or descriptive answers.

Lori told me that a man had come out of the dark outside the restaurant and run past her and shot me with a shotgun right between the shoulders, both barrels. She said I am still pretty much a mess and they have me on major life support now.

As near as I can figure, I should be dead! I want to know how I got to a hospital fast enough. Well I’ll just have to wait till they fix up more fingers and more words I guess. No one is talking about the details at all.

Lori stayed with me for the whole weekend and then went back to the house. By Sunday night she had calmed down quite a bit.

I miss her so much. You know, that’s really amazing, we really just met, but it seems like we’ve known each other forever. I don’t need eyes right now; I can still see her clearly in my mind.

Lori is a regular visitor now. She comes in every day for lunch and then she stays most of the night, or until I go to sleep. They have some kind of thing hooked up so they can tell if I’m awake or asleep.

Lori must work someplace close by or she couldn’t come in at lunch. I’ll have to ask her about that sometime.

She said that the man who shot me got away. In the rush to save me, he just disappeared. The best they can figure, he saw us together in the restaurant and thought I was trying to take advantage of her or something.

I probably am a ‘dirty old man’ but that night; I was on my best behavior. Lori’s the kind of girl that could change a person’s life. She sure did mine. Not that the shooting was her fault, but all the same, she is sure taking good care of me now.

By the end of the second week, I had all ten fingers working, but I don’t have any feeling in them yet. They hooked me up to a kind of computer keyboard. I use my left hand to select rows of five keys for my right hand. That gives me a total of thirty-two rows of five keys each. Each key sounds the letter as it is pressed. I can sort of talk now.

I practice a lot. What else is there to do? Well that’s not really true. There are at least twenty people who come and go on a regular schedule. I’ve gotten to where I can tell them apart by their footsteps and voices. I have no idea of what they do. Probably taking care of me, and the machines that kept me alive.

There are a bunch of doctors too, and of course Doctor Adams, George. They come in whenever I am awake and try to get something else working. Right now, they are trying to get some feeling in my fingers.

I want a computer. They laughed and said they were working on it.

Lori finally admitted that she works for the company that is taking care of me. When I got shot she called them right away; they were there with a special ambulance in no time. I guess they’re only a block or two away from the restaurant.

Lori said that she can’t even drive down that street anymore. She has recurring nightmares about it.

I assured her that I don’t. I can’t remember anything but her scream.

Whenever I talk about leaving the hospital, she gets real quiet. Finally one evening she said in a real soft voice. Jason, honey, you’re never going to leave here.

Well, I wasn’t really ready for that, but I had already pretty much figured it out. I am glad to get that out in the open and over with though. I think everyone else is too.

We all sort of settled down to work after that. I want to talk. I want the rest of my senses back even if it is only limited. What I really want now is to see Lori, really see her.

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Chapter 2: - And then there was Light: - (Go to Top)

It was November when the technicians started hooking up my computer. It uses the same keyboard and it has a voice synthesizer too. I can type out a sentence and it says it for me. I’m pretty good with it and they’ve tuned up the voice quite a bit, it sounds very natural and a lot like my old voice. It took me quite a while to master ‘reading’ the screen though, I mean, I can’t see it. I have to move up and down the screen one line at a time and have the computer read it to me. It’s a hassle but it’s something to do, and I’m a big help to everyone now since I can tell them how I felt and stuff.

They finally came up with a mouse for my computer. I can move it and have it read what it is pointing to.

By January, I was a regular computer wizard. Blind, but still, I am able to actually pick up some of the work I had been doing at home.

My computer is really something. It makes my old computer seem like a toy. Every time I start running out of memory or hard disk space they upgrade it for me.

February the fourth! I’ll never forget that day. The day they started working on my eyes.

They worked round the clock for two weeks. I’d go to sleep and when I’d wake up they’d have another million questions for me. I can see, sort of, I can tell if the lights are on or off, but I can’t see any detail at all. I can see movement though; it’s like the light and dark patterns change.

Gradually they got it working. From what they said, my eyes are gone. They are trying to connect to the optic nerves like they did for my hearing.

July, I have better vision than an eagle. I can scan left-right and up-down. I can focus my eyes, and I have some really neat optics. I can read the date on a coin thirty feet away, or examine the pores on someone’s face from across the room.

Lori is just as beautiful as ever. She seems to have aged a lot from what I remember. It could be just my memory or it could be from the strain of helping me, that could age a rock, let alone someone as sensitive as Lori.

Lori’s been doing a lot of the extra work on my eyes. I can hook up to different cameras now, and they even put one on the roof for me. My computer controls which camera I use, so I am a lot more independent now.

Someone suggested a remote controlled robot for me, but someone quickly kicked him into silence.

Even with all the equipment I have, I can’t see me. I’ve tried to, but I just can’t.

The next thing they did was to hook up my computer so it is a direct input to me. I don’t have to look through a camera anymore; it’s just there. I can use my eyes and the computer at the same time. Boy! I’ll tell you, with that rig I can type up a storm. I noticed that the keyboard is absolutely silent. I can adjust my hearing to hear ants walk on the floor, but I can’t hear a sound from the keyboard.

They made me a thing to hold a book, or what have you, I can turn the pages and read by myself. With the computer hooked up to the Internet though, I can read anything in the whole library of congress. They have me hooked up so I can get into just about anything in the world. I can even read the newspapers before they go to press.

I looked back in the newspaper archives for the story of my shooting. There wasn’t anything there. I looked in all the papers and there was nothing, it was like it never happened.

I got Lori when she came in. OK, what’s the story? Why wasn’t there anything about my shooting in the papers?

She tried to sidestep my question by asking me what I had been doing while she was gone. She even made jokes about me coming on to one of the nurses. I stayed right with it. Now I know where my daughter LeAnn gets her stubbornness, from me.

Lori finally took the bull (that’s me) by the horns. Jason, you weren’t in the papers because officially, nothing happened there, there wasn’t a story. We had you out of there before anyone saw you. The ‘Center’ truck was actually in the restaurant parking lot and the team was in the restaurant with us. They were watching me. They had run a security check on you right away, but they were still watching you like a hawk. I didn’t even know they were there. I called the ‘Center’ right away; the team had you in the truck before I got off the phone. The ‘Center’ stopped the story.

How do they explain my disappearance?

You took a week’s vacation and you’ve been working from home ever since. No one knows you’re gone. You are still alive as you’ve noticed.

I had to think about that. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to stop the story and prevent any inquiry, Why? Now that I’m on a run, I might as well go for the gusto.

Lori, I want to see me! I can see everything in the ‘Center’ but me. I’ve been cooperative and everything and now you tell me that I’ve been whisked off into never-never land and I’m never going home. OK, I’m a big boy now. If I can take that, then I can take seeing a broken body. I’m more machine now than human, cameras for eyes, and who knows what for hands and ears. If you can’t show me, then get George in here.

Lori looks hurt. She’s crying and I feel bad that I am the cause of it, but I have to know, and I want to know right now!

Lori got Doctor Adams. He had a talk with some of the other doctors. Finally they all assembled in front of me.

George has a video camera; he plugged it in to my computer.

George looks a little irritated. Jason, we have hidden this from you because we’re afraid. For all intensive purposes you were dead when we got to you. That shotgun blast literally blew your head off. You were in so many pieces it was unbelievable. If our truck wouldn’t have been there . . . He shrugged his shoulders. Jason, it was a matter of seconds not minutes or hours. Our technician had your head in the truck before it would have stopped rolling. You lost your eyes and ears, there wasn’t anything left of your face at all. All they managed to save was you . . . your brain. So then, I can show you, you. I think you’re a pretty good computer guru. I also think you already have most of this figured out too.

He scanned the computer and cameras that are me. There’s a box with a bunch of hoses and stuff going in and out of it, but there is no body.

Jason, your brain is inside that apparatus. We have managed to connect to your optic nerves and your hearing. We are still hooking up the rest of your nerves to the computer. Within the next year or so we’ll have you all hooked up. The stuff you are using now is crude, but it’s the best we can do right now. By the time you are done, you will be able to communicate directly with the computer; you will actually live in the computer. Right now, you are attached to the most powerful computer in the world. It’s our gift to you; you can do anything you want to. You don’t owe us anything. What you have already done is to prove that it can be done. You’ve given hope to millions of people. People who are blind, deaf, trapped in paralyzed bodies, even some who will die.

You are the first of your kind, a Cyborg. If word of this gets out, there will be a rush of do-gooders and even medical and military people in here. They will want to debate you. Yes you! Are you alive? Are you being held captive by us against your will? What are you? The military will classify you top-secret and then you will be a captive. As it is, we are a private research center, and we don’t want the publicity, we don’t think you do either. I guess we should have discussed it with you, but as you now know, there wasn’t time for a debate.

George put a scrapbook on my reader stand. You can peruse these at your leisure. This is your life since the accident. It’s pretty gruesome, and it’s pretty emotional for most of us, but if you ask real nice, Lori might go through them with you.

I felt his words like a knife. I’ve been pretty abrasive and I’ve caused a lot of people a lot of pain, especially Lori. I left the book as is. I want to look through it, but I want to do it with Lori.

George, Lori, Ladies and Gentlemen, First, I’d like to apologize for my rudeness and attitude. We've all been stressed out here but that's no excuse for my attitude. Like George said, this is a first. This is all new for us, all of us, and that includes me. I thank you all that I am alive. I owe my very life to you, I know that. When I was in the dark and quiet, all I wanted was for the darkness and the quiet to go away, but I never wanted to die. When you gave me hearing, then I really wanted to live. I don’t want you to get the impression that I’m ungrateful. I just wanted the truth, all of it. I think it will make it a whole lot easier for everyone now, now that we all know the score. No more whispering or hiding; now we can get down to work together. Thank you, all of you, and especially Lori, who stayed with me all the way.

Lori has tears running down her face and the doctors are all wiping their faces. George is looking at ‘me’, not the monitor or the camera but at ‘me’ and he applauded. Everyone else just sort of joined in. I thought it was appropriate, after all this isn’t a wake, it’s an awake!

It’s quite a relief for me. I didn’t want a crumpled body that people came to see and feel sorry for. As it is now, I’m just me. I don’t feel any different except of course that I don’t feel. Now that I can see and hear and talk through the computer, I feel really alive again. I can’t move or travel