Collective Mind (27 page)

“Twelve
kilowatts. Go!”

Isaac
slapped Pascal on the cheeks and he woke up, staring wildly. Everyone expected
crackling and sparks, heat discharge, groans and convulsions, but it was all
quiet. No sound followed as the energy finally smoothly went in. As everything
was done, or, at least, it seemed so, Pascal immediately fell unconscious
again.

Trying
to subdue his jitters, Redbeard dashed to put back the car battery. Isaac
carefully removed the helmet and Bikie stuck some ammonia under Pascal’s nose.
Pascal opened his eyes and looked at the people staring at him out of breath,
his gaze gradually focusing.

“Pascal,
how are you?” asked Isaac, trying to give him a drink of water.

“Isaac,
is that you?”

“Yes,
yes, it’s me. How are you?”

“My
head hurts… and I feel dizzy. My whole body’s tingling and I can’t move.”

“I’m
sorry, Pascal, you’re tied down.”

“What
for? What’s happening to me? Where are we anyway? My head’s itching! On the
inside. As if insects have got into it.”

His
mouth was dry and his tongue wouldn’t obey him. “What rubbish,” Pascal thought,
“Your head can’t itch on the inside.” Focusing his attention on the other
people leaning down over him, Pascal made out an elderly man with a beard whom
Pascal had never met before but the face seemed vaguely familiar. And a
peculiar face it was! Its expression kept changing all the time, from attentive
and tense to bursting with delight. The man lit up a cigar, glancing at Pascal
with an impish smile.

“Seems
like it worked then?” another stranger enquired. “Did you get that quip about
insects?”

Pascal
turned his gaze to this man, a young, unshaven lout covered in tattoos.
Although his head was still spinning, Pascal realized that, other than Isaac,
these were people he didn’t know.

Intent
eyes studied Pascal’s pupils, the elderly man’s fingers tapped at his cheeks
and then took his pulse. Pascal felt these touches and they left behind a trail
of pinpoint prickling.

“Pinpoint
prickling. What a strange term, what could it mean.” Pascal said to himself.

“He
seems to have come round,” the unshaven guy said.

Pascal
heard that absolutely distinctly. His head felt as if it was filling up. If it
was a kettle, then this was would probably be the sensation of the water coming
under pressure from the tap, roaring down, seething and glittering, gradually
filling the empty space.

“Tell
me, Pascal, can you picture a pink sunset on a sandy beach?” Isaac asked.

“What
a strange question,” Pascal thought.

“Come
on, Pascal, try and concentrate. Can you?” Isaac insisted.

Pascal
nodded. The three men in the truck broke into jubilant exclamations, hugging
and congratulating each other.

“What
are you gaping at? Congratulations, you are not a dumbo any longer!” The lout
rubbed his hands together, took his gloves off and slapped Pascal on the
shoulder.

“You
can get up gently. I’ll untie you now,” the elderly man said with a broad smile.

“What’s
happening to me and where am I?” Pascal’s own voice mumbled feebly.

“Your
old friend will tell you all about that. He’s bursting with impatience already.
There, look for yourself,” said the lout, gesturing indefinitely to one side.

Pascal
tried to turn in the direction indicated, but he felt a prick and sank back
into sleep.

“Let
him sleep for a while. His brain is overstressed. He needs a rest now. Bikie,
help to untie him. If we get stopped, God forbid, we’ll have a hard time
explaining why we have someone tied up to the seat in the van.

“OK,
one moment,” said Bikie, deftly unfastening the straps.

“I’ll
sit with him for a while, and you drive,” said Isaac, moving his friend’s head
to a more comfortable position. “How long will he be sleeping?”

“About
three or four hours,” Link replied. “Half the way there. Then you’ll have time
to fill him in on what’s happening.”

It
was preferable to get back before the administrator became seriously concerned.
The risk wasn’t very great, but the less time she searched for Pascal, the
better. It would be good if she didn’t call the police. Pascal’s mobile phone
was here, charged. If she called, Pascal would say he was all right.

After
a sleepless night and the nervous strain, the monotonous journey exhausted Isaac
and he fell asleep. He was woken by someone tugging on his sleeve. It was
Pascal.

“Isaac,
where are we?” he asked.

“Are
you awake? Well, thank God. In principle, you ought to be as quick-witted as
you were before. You just need to rouse yourself a bit, have a coffee. Right
now it’s like you’ve woke from a dream, plus you’re reacclimatizing.”

“Who
are these people?”

“This
is Bikie. And there’s Professor Link himself,” Isaac said with a smile. “We’ve
brought you back from being a Happy.”

“From
where?”

“Have
you forgotten? You became a Happy. Now you’re normal again,” said Isaac,
beaming. “My God, Pascal, I can’t believe it’s you again.”

“Isaac,
I don’t remember how I got here. Where are we going, and just what has
happened?”

“It’s
hard to explain. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I
remember going to the Agency. And where’s Eva? Why isn’t she here?”

Isaac
went silent, bewildered. Those questions sounded a bit strange, especially the
one about Eva.

“Pascal,
do you remember your swanky house?”

“What
house? You mean the apartment?”

“Hang
on a moment, I’ll explain everything.”

This
was troubling. Could it be from the sleep? Or the download operation? Isaac
shook Link awake and shared his ideas with him. Link frowned and sat down
beside Pascal.

“Pascal,
I’m Professor Link. Yes, yes, that professor. You were a Happy. Yesterday
evening we transferred your OE back into you. Do you remember what year it is,
or the date?”

“Of
course, I do.” Pascal confidently named the date when he parted from his
creativity. “I downloaded my creativity yesterday. You don’t forget that kind
of thing.”

“Hmm,
I see. You have amnesia, Pascal… Isaac, stay with him, I want to check a few
things.”

Isaac
didn’t know what to say or how to behave with someone who had lost his memory.
Maybe if Pascal wasn’t a Happy any longer, and could think clearly, it was best
to tell him exactly how things were? He would have to learn the truth anyway.

“Pascal,
its two years since that happened.”

“Two
years since what happened?”

“Since
the day you went to the Agency.”

“What?
Are you making fun of me?”

“Hang
on, let me tell you everything in the right order. I’ve got a bottle of old
whisky ready. Will you have some?” Isaac pulled the bottle out from under the
seat.

Pascal
nodded.

“If
you are up for a drink, you’re definitely not a Veggie anymore. It looks like
we’re in for a very long conversation,” Isaac said with a sad smile.

The
conversation ahead would prove a lot more difficult than expected. Two years of
amnesia is no joke. Isaac had to try to jolt Pascal into remembering something.
And it was really important to figure out the reason for his loss of memory.

Link
sat down beside them. He was holding a downloading helmet, which as they now
knew, could also be used for re-inputting OE. A few new little wires had
appeared on it.

“Pascal,
I need to take a tomographic image of your brain. To see if there’s any damage,
tumors or any other anomalies. We have to find out the reason for your
amnesia.”

The
professor put the helmet on Pascal’s head and attached various sensors to it.

“Try
to move as little as possible. That way the image will be sharper.”

Link
ran various tests, took notes and compared diagrams. Half an hour later he had
finished and disconnected all the wires.

“There’s
good news, very good news and bad news. Which shall I begin with?”

“The
bad news,” said Pascal, alarmed.

“I
don’t think we can call your loss of memory amnesia. You won’t recall anything,
because… because you don’t have any memories of the last two years. The good
news is that your brain couldn’t be in a better shape. It’s absolutely fine. We
didn’t damage it during the input process. The right hemisphere, left
hemisphere, and cerebellum – they’re all perfect. And the very good news is
that your level of creativity has not changed, you got back everything that you
had before.”

“What’s
the conclusion?”

“There
are several. As far as you’re concerned, you’re absolutely healthy. The input
process works magnificently. But you don’t have any memories from your period
as a Happy as if you’d been in a deep sleep. You could say – and I congratulate
you – that you have emerged from a long-term coma. Since the brain is fine, I’m
sure the loss of memory is a consequence of being a Veggie.” The professor
started pondering. “I’ll have to make sense of that myself.”

“But
what about the two years?”

“Forget
them for now. But then, you don’t remember them anyway. It’s strange, of
course. You should just live and enjoy life and be thankful we’ve pulled you
out,” said the professor, glancing at Isaac in concern.

“Be
thankful to you? You’re the one who invented all this! It’s all because of
you.”

“Pascal,
please, calm down. The professor’s a member of our team. That’s why he’s here.
And our common objective is to put things right,” said Isaac, also trying to
assimilate what had happened to Pascal.

“But
I lost two years!”

“Some
people have lost seven. And they will lose even more if we don’t intervene.
We’re acting illegally. No one forced you to download in the first place. And
you were paid a whole heap of money. What’s important now is that you are well.
Consider that you’ve been reborn. Or survived a global catastrophe.”

“Have
some whisky, you’ll feel better,” said Isaac, handing Pascal a plastic cup.

“Thanks.”
Pascal sipped the whisky and winced, the taste was so unfamiliar now. But the
atmosphere warmed up a bit.

Isaac
really wanted to discuss their discovery with the professor and Bikie. But he
talked to Pascal all the way back, telling him what had happened during his
effective absence. About how the world had changed even more, how it was still
averaging down and getting more boring. Pascal listened in silence. The longer
Isaac spoke, the gloomier Pascal became, as he realized how much time had
really flown by.

“I’m
sorry, but you’ve missed a lot. Everything’s averaging down, total
globalization is continuing. The main obstacle – the language barrier – has
almost been erased. There’s a modern electronic interpreter far classier than
the ones that used to exist. You stick a wireless earpiece in your ear, and
away you go. No problems. Go to Japan if you like. Go to Peru.

“There
are plenty of different pluses but problems have come up too.

“Veggies’
children are born without any OE, for example. The most terrible thing is that
the Agency doesn’t have any opposition. There are individual dissidents, but
until yesterday evening, no one had a single proof”

Isaac
told Pascal about how he had gone to download his own OE, but, in the end, had
not done it. How he got to know Bikie and how they had found Link. Pascal
listened attentively. He didn’t remember anything and he was horrified. Two
years cancelled out of his life. Isaac told Pascal how he behaved when he was a
Veggie. Calm, polite, always smiling and not interested in anything. He showed
Pascal the video taken with the web camera.

“And
where’s Eva?” Pascal asked warily.” He had obviously wanted to ask that for a
long time, but couldn’t bring himself to.

“I’m
sorry, Pascal. But Eva left you ages ago.”

“Left
me? What does that mean? But when? You mean, she… dumped me?”

“No,
she just left. I’m sorry.” Isaac was still apologizing as if he were to blame
for something. “You haven’t been together for a long time.”

“What
about me? Did I try to do anything? Stop her?”

“No.
Nothing bothered you. Absolutely nothing! My Vicky needed an operation and I
was flat broke. You told me to take a walk.”

“Vicky
needed an operation? What’s wrong with her?” Pascal asked in alarm.

“Yes,
Pascal, she did. And she still needs it badly now. It was because of her I went
to the Agency to download. But before that I came to you, a millionaire and you
gave me nothing. Your contract said you weren’t supposed to, you see.”

Isaac
finally poured out everything to Pascal. Everything that had seethed up inside.
He ran through all his unsuccessful attempts to persuade Pascal. He told his
dumbstruck friend about his resentment, all the sore points and he had
accumulated a lot of emotions.