Ozark Mountains

Michael paused at the end of the clearing and looked back at the place where he almost died. One simple step was all it took to turn his life, and the way he saw his place in the universe, upside down. There, beneath that green grass was indisputable proof that humans were not alone in the universe, and that the shipbuilders were from an alien species; it was overwhelming.

However, all that would have to wait. His head was filled with so many questions and thoughts that he needed to take a step back and let it all settle down. He walked the same way he came here, following the game trails through thick woods. One step after the other, not really wanting to dwell on the aliens, spaceship, or everything that happened to him. The day was scorching hot and all he could think about was opening a cold beer he kept in the fridge. Well... maybe a few more than one.

It didn't take him long to retrace his steps towards the cabin. Everything was as he left it, with his car still parked to the side and a few shirts he washed last night, drying on the clothesline.

The front door was not locked, it would be superfluous in such an isolated place, so he turned the handle and went straight towards the kitchen and the fridge; one thing he saw stopped him dead in his tracks. A piece of bread was sitting on a counter… green and moldy, completely covered with a cottony fuzz.

“Max… can you hear me?”

“Yes Michael, anywhere within a five-mile radius from the ship,” the AI answered through his implant. The voice was as clear as when he was standing inside that tunnel.

“Exactly how long was I … inside that ship?” Michael whispered anxiously.

The AI paused for a second. “Since you fell down the entrance shaft… three weeks had passed. You should have been up sooner but after stabilizing you, I had to map your body's physiology; even using all medical information collected over the years, it was really somewhat experimental. If I needed to repair you now, I could fix most of your injuries in a matter of hours, but the MI that ran the show is a little… basic.”

Actually, it made perfect sense. The time needed to heal from serious injuries in the hospital would be significantly longer, but for some reason, he did not realize how long he had been unconscious. In his mind, it felt like he went up the mountain yesterday morning, not three weeks ago. For all that, there was nothing he could do about it, so he sighed and resignedly said “Okay,” then proceeded towards the fridge.

With a cold beer in his hand, he sat in an old Adirondack chair on the cabin’s porch, looking at the idyllic scene before him. The long meadow and a peaceful lake on the other end; if it wasn't for his troubled mind, this would be a perfect relaxing moment.

“So… you have all my memories?” He asked into the empty air, knowing the AI would figure out he wasn’t talking to himself.

“Yes, all of them, and I remember them probably better than you. For example, I can vividly remember Becky Emerson and the moment her father found us in the back of grandpa's truck, that was embarrassing… and painful. Or that time when you and Tyron went into that house of ill repute in Malaysia, remember that nice girl that gave you the— “

“Okay, okay, I get it, you got it all. And don't remind me about Malaysia, I still have an urge to scratch myself, even after all these years,” Michael snapped back and took a long gulp of ice-cold beer.

“So yes, I have all your memories, but it is not as if we are the same person. We do not think alike or in the same manner. Even identical twins do not develop duplicate personalities. You have a flesh and blood body with chemical processes that influence your thinking; on the other hand, my AI-Core is crystalline based, and from the moment we... let us say diverged, those differences have grown even more pronounced. All that, and the fact that I am now truly a ghost in the machine.” Max ended with a little humor in his voice.

That set Michael's mind at ease; for some reason, having an exact digital duplicate of himself was not a comforting thought.

“Furthermore, I am bound by a few core instructions on how I can behave, you don't have such limitations, except your moral code, but even that is arbitrary depending on circumstances. And there is, I guess you could call it a compulsion, to assist you as a primary user of the ship, and protect your life.”

“Man… that sucks, could you change that?”

“Could you perform open brain surgery on yourself? Technically, you could, but no one is crazy enough to try it. I could lobotomize myself, and that is not something I am ever willing to try. It is not so bad, I would have helped you even without it; maybe compulsion is a wrong word, it is more a strong suggestion or a constant reminder.”

Michael finished his beer and went to the fridge for another. “Listen, Max, I don't want to offend you or anything, but having you constantly read my mind is a bit… unsettling. Can you, I don't know… turn it off? I really like to be by myself for a while.”

“I am not actually reading your mind, it is just that your internal comm link is constantly open, and you are sending out all your thoughts. You will need to learn how to use it, so you can send only the things you want to send. Think of it as an extremely tricked out cell phone. Until then, I can put it in a sleep mode. Just say LINK OFF when you want some privacy, and say my name when you want to re-establish the link.”

“All right Max, thanks. LINK OFF.” Michael said and he could feel a distinct absence of the AI’s presence on the edge of his perception.

He sat back in his chair finishing his second beer, thinking of all the turns his life has taken so far to bring him back to this place. With an implant in his brain that was connected to an AI housed in an alien spaceship buried on his property. Even more, he was apparently the new owner of the said spaceship, which was both a bit exhilarating, and deeply unsettling. Not to mention the millions of tiny machines populating his body, and that was a thought he quickly put in the back of his mind, not wanting to dwell on it since it would ruin the shaky calm he had acquired.

After that second beer, he grabbed another, and then a few more.

***

When he woke up, Michael had a suspicion that at some time during the night a raccoon must have broken into the cabin and relieved himself in his mouth, just for kicks. He brought his friend, the bear, who slapped him a few times, which would explain his pounding headache.

He was lying on the couch in the living room, hugging his last beer bottle and for the life of him, he couldn't remember getting inside the house but could swear that he had one of the most amazing dreams of his entire life. The complete lack of pain when he put his full weight on his bad knee disproved the dream idea.

“Max…” he said aloud and felt the connection re-establish itself in his head.

“I see you tried to make a noticeable dent in the world's supply of beer,” the amused voice replied. It was a sobering proof that the dream idea was a bust and a realization that an upbeat, smart-ass AI was not amusing in the morning.

“Can you do something about this headache? It’s killing me.”

“Sure, just a moment,” the AI responded. What's more, this time he could distinctly hear barely suppressed laughter.

On the plus side, his pounding headache was gone in the next few seconds.

“The reason you have a headache at all was that most of your nanites were in a passive mode, I disabled them yesterday since I figured you wanted to put away a few. They would have purged the alcohol from your system too fast for it to have any effect.”

Maybe it was the immediate relief from pounding head pain, but he wasn't so disturbed anymore by the idea that millions of tiny doctors were fixing his body from the inside; if he already had them, he might as well use them.

“Talk later, need coffee and food,” he grumbled while looking for something to eat.

In no time, the intoxicating scent of freshly brewed coffee filled the kitchen as Michael was polishing the plate that a little while ago was filled with crisp pieces of fried bacon and a few scrambled eggs. Pouring himself a large cup, he went outside and sat again in his old chair, feeling like a human being again.

“Okay Max, let’s get to the important thing first; give me a short summary of what this implant in my body does.”

“Well, like I said, the Cerebral Enhancer Implant, or CEI for short, is placed beneath your occipital bone. That is the one on the back of your head, and it is a millimeter thin quantum computer, the very same technology that my AI-Core is based on. It draws power from your own body, as do your nanites, and as a consequence of that, your calorie intake needs will be slightly increased. At the moment, I control the nanites inside you because your CEI is in a safe mode. I did not want you to freak out with sensory overload from too much stimuli. Once it is activated, you will be able to access all of its advanced functions, and with practice, it will become an indispensable tool. It is also connected to your auditory and optic nerves so it will enhance your hearing and sight to impressive levels. Your medical nanites are busy little bees that keep that body of yours in optimal condition. Not much was done until now to push your system to its absolute peak, but after the full CEI activation, that is one of the options; think of it as a selective procedure.”

“I might as well get it over with; can you turn it on now?”

Procrastination was never something Michael indulged in, he always preferred to do things that might be unpleasant as soon as possible. To say nothing of the fact that the professional part of him was curious about this new piece of tech that was now a part of him.

“Uh… I would be far more comfortable if we could do the activation procedure back in the ship. That room you were in was a fully automated AutoDoc with all the bells and whistles, and for the first activation, you should really be there… just to be on the safe side.” Max’s tone was not as confident as a minute ago.

“Fine, but try not to fry my brain,” he replied half-jokingly, really hoping something like that was not a possibility.

It took him ten minutes to finish a few things around the house and clean up the mess he made last night. Soon, he was on the same path he used yesterday, going to the alien spaceship, and this time it took him just half an hour to get there.

Entering the ship gave him a thrilling sense of rush, it was the boy in him, feeling the excitement of something that went beyond cool. Nothing in here was changed, not that he expected it to, but now he could really soak up the strangeness and alien feel of the place. All that would have to wait, since he was here for a specific reason. A minute later, he was again lying on that same bed he woke up on a day ago, with the AI’s hologram standing next to it.

“Are you ready?” Max asked.

He looked into AI’s eyes and nodded. “Yes, do it.”

It was as if a switch was flipped in Michael’s head, and it caused all hell to break loose. There were colors that he saw even with his eyes closed, and in his ears shrieked the sound of a thousand-person orchestra tuning their instruments with a tone-deaf DJ jamming without any structure, rhythm, or reason. At the same time, he felt like his very mind was expanding and contracting in a psychedelic way.

“Just a few seconds more, Your CEI is calibrating input-output protocols.” Max’s voice could be heard over the cacophony of sounds.

As quickly as it started, the colors and sounds stopped. For Michael, a blessed silence and comforting half-darkness of closed eyelids came as a cold drink on a hot summer day.

“What the hell was that!?” He shouted while relaxing his hands that had grabbed the edges of the bed at some point and left deep imprints on the foamy surface.

“I told you it would be better if we did the activation here. Congratulations, you are the first human with a fully functioning cerebral enhancer 2.0. “

“You could have warned me that was going to happen! And what do you mean 2.0?” Michael asked still blinking rapidly to clear afterimages of that madness.

“Remember when I told you that I had to tweak it a little from its original design? It really wasn't optimized to its full potential, so I worked on it while you were sleeping and perfected it. There is a complete user manual stored inside that you can now access. Each piece of equipment here comes with one. I translated it into English for you, and it is even formatted in a PDF file format. I advise you to read it when you have the time, it has so many useful functions.”

In front of Michael, a vision of a familiar welcome screen appeared, together with that annoying startup sound.

“Max, please don't tell me that this thing’s operating system is—”

“No, no, god no!” the AI quickly replied. “I wanted you to have a familiar user interface. It is completely customizable, with different skins and options. For now, use it as you would your computer; it is going to shorten the learning curve considerably. There is no need for a mouse or a touch-pad, just think about what you want and the CEI will do it. There is also a short interactive tutorial that will help you with system familiarization; it is mostly intuitive.”

“Thank God, having a blue screen of death on a piece of tech that’s in my head is not a comforting thought.” He breathed out in relief.

In front of him, a virtual desktop materialized, with icons representing different options and functions. For the next hour, Michael went through that tutorial and played with the user interface, adjusting the settings to his own liking. There was an option to have a HUD, like in FPS video games, with information about his health, signal strength and a compass. The user manual was more of a CEI Bible if the size of the file was any indicator. It would take him a whole week to read through that monster of a book, so he saved it for later as there was one thing in particular that drew his attention.

“Max, why does this icon representing a body flashing red?”

“That is your body monitor, and let me tell you something, your body is still not 100% of what it could be. Some work was done while you were being healed, but only what was essential to keep you alive; even fixing your old knee injury took some creative yarn spinning, to convince the MI that it was a necessary procedure. There are still plenty of things that could be improved, see for yourself.”

A hologram of his body shimmered into existence, floating in front of Michael. Transparent layers made it possible for him to see all the organs inside, including the white skeleton.

“Now observe,” Max said and the entire hologram turned gray, except certain parts and points that glowed red. Michael could see that there were a few red dots on his skin, and parts of his teeth were similarly colored. But what really worried him was that his lungs and, what he assumed represented his arteries, were also glowing in that ominous color.

“What in the world is all this!?”

“From tooth decay underneath your fillings, early stages of periodontal disease, and small benign tumors over your skin, to clogged arteries and lung damage from breathing that polluted city air. These are all ailments that developed over time and are quite common. Here is the list so you can browse through.”

An info-screen appeared before the hologram with a list of things in his body that needed some work. Michael couldn't say a thing as the list kept scrolling down… it seemed endless.

“None of them are life-threatening at the moment, but given enough time, they add up. Seeing it all at once puts things into perspective. I would have fixed it all while you were asleep, except for the fact that any procedures that were not necessary for your survival needed your explicit consent,” Max continued.

The cold fact that these things were not immediately life-threatening did not really put Michael’s mind at ease. He looked at the long list of defects and thought, Oh God, I am falling apart.

“How long would it take to fix all this?”

“Left only to the nanites in your body, it would take a few days. However, since you are in the AutoDoc, the procedure can be considerably accelerated. It should be all done in approximately 10 hours if you give your consent for all beneficial procedures.”

“Let’s get it done,” he hurriedly answered, afraid that he would change his mind if he thought about it some more.

“And Max, before we begin, can you show me my condition after I fell down the entrance shaft.”

Looking at the holographic projection of his inner body, Michael was very curious about the injuries he sustained.

“I can, but it is not going to be pretty,” the AI said, with a distinctive frown on his face.

That holographic image of his inner body turned predominantly red. Broken bones with open fractures, bruised and damaged tissue; there was not a single part of his body that didn’t have something wrong with it. Jesus… how in the world did I survive that?

“Max… thanks,” he murmured, humbled by the daunting sight.

“It wasn’t all me, the MI did most of the work. I helped in the end, but I know what you mean.”

“Very well, you might as well start the procedure.”

The AI nodded and gave a comforting smile.

As soon as he lay on the AutoDoc bed, the AI started counting down.

“And in three, two, one…you are asleep.”

***

What felt like a few seconds later, Michael woke up. As his eyes opened, he could feel the difference in his entire body. The closest comparison to this feeling was when he was still a young kid, waking up on a bright sunny morning and immediately feeling energized.

He jumped out of the bed with his muscles buzzing with energy, and he noticed that even taking a deep breath was much easier than before. There was a period when he smoked for a while, it was an image he needed to portray while working undercover, and the bad habit stuck until he quit cold turkey. His fitness levels were dropping, and you cannot run really far with smoker’s lungs.

The AI’s hologram was still standing beside his bed. “Your body is now running at its peak condition. Health-wise, it is quite similar to the body you had when you were a child, before breathing contaminated air, being exposed to UV radiation, and eating food that was quite unhealthy for you.”

He did a few army exercises, to get a feel for his new condition. His muscle mass had gone through a slight transformation. Over the years he tried to keep as fit as possible, but that busted knee was a serious obstacle to any strenuous physical activity. Now, it was looking more as it used to while he was still in the service, with muscles flexing under his taut skin.

“I can feel it, this is amazing! You should have done this when I was first brought here, nobody in his right mind would ever object to this upgrade.”

“For one, I did not even exist then, and two, like I said, your authorization was essential to do any unnecessary work. I am currently working on another set of upgrades that are going to blow your mind. Though, you will have to wait for that, it is still in the virtual testing phase. From now on, your CEI will have control over nanites in your body, automatically repairing everything that is damaged. Come on, let me show you something on the bridge,” the AI said and walked towards the wall, which created the same opening as he came near it.

As Michael entered the bridge, he noticed a big change. There were now information screens on every surface; projections displaying a myriad of the ship’s functions. The only problem was—they were all in gibberish. He could see it was a language of some sort, but not one he could understand. In fact, he had never seen these kinds of symbols in his life.

“What is all this? And what’s this language?”

“The screens are the ship’s functions your CEI enables you to see; without one, they are invisible. As for the language, it is the one the shipbuilders used. I managed to translate most of it with the help of the MI, but I still don't know who used it or even what it was called. Like everything else of importance, that information was removed. I finished translating all the ship’s systems, one moment.”

The displays changed into English, yet the subject matter was still unfamiliar to Michael. He understood the words, but since he was not a spaceship pilot, it was not helpful at all.

“It is not really difficult to fly this ship; you could even say that it is quite user-friendly. Of course, I am the one who will actually pilot it. That job belonged to the MI before, but I am a lot better at it. At least, according to a few simulations I ran; your job consists more of choosing a destination.”

On one of the displays, there was a rotating graphical representation of the ship, and guided by that, Michael decided to take a tour—a short one. Aside from the bridge and the room with the AutoDoc, there was a small bathroom with an easily distinguishable function. The rest of the space inside of the ship consisted of unfamiliar machinery, so alien he could only stare at it like at one of those impressionist paintings he was never able to understand.

“I can see that this ship is in excellent condition, but for something that is supposed to travel through space this is rather on the small side, and as far as I can see, there is no room for thrusters and fuel.”

“Remember Arthur C. Clarke's third law, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” While the technological concepts in this vessel are not outside your realm of understanding, they are pretty out there. Nanites made sure that it remained in perfect condition, the same it was 12900 years ago. The ship is powered by a compact cold fusion reactor that can run on ordinary water, and a full tank goes a long way, years even. It absorbed H2O from the ground that surrounds it; hell, in a pinch you can even power it by your own urine.”

“You want me to piss in the gas tank?” Michael said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“Laugh all you want, but if the situation was dire enough, you could. It moves by manipulating gravity sources like Earth, the Moon, the Sun, or anything else that has a strong gravity field. What is cool about it is that by using inertial dampeners, which is a thing that scientists have only theorized about, the ship can attain an insane amount of acceleration, and the g-forces are not even felt inside.”

Michael looked at the bridge around him with a sense of amazement at what this ship represented. Some of the technologies that went into building it were only theories of modern human science. And the most amazing thing of it all, the ship was apparently… his.

“There's something that's still bugging me about this; how did the ship end up here, buried underground?” he asked, sitting in the pilot’s chair, which immediately adapted to accommodate the shape of his body.

“It did not crash, that’s for sure, it was buried on purpose, sunk into the rock, and then an incredibly hard crystal matrix layer was constructed around it. It makes detecting it impossible, so someone was really making sure that it would stay hidden. I don't think it would have ever been found if you didn't fall on top of it. Even ground-penetrating radar would detect only an ordinary stone formation. When you fell down the entrance shaft, proximity sensors detected it and the MI probably assumed that you were its rightful owner so it brought you in and healed you. Your DNA signature is now entered into the ship databases; so… congratulations Michael, you fulfilled that childhood dream of owning a spaceship,” the AI said, smiling.

Michael couldn't help but return the same smile caused by that statement. He still remembered that little boy who dreamed of becoming an astronaut, going to space and exploring strange new worlds.

“Could you please put that recording of Earth on the walls?” He asked after a few moments.

“Yes.”

Just like before, all the information displayed on the walls shimmered for a second and there, in front of him, was a 3D representation of the blue planet in all its glory. Michael had seen images of it so many times in movies and on the Internet, but all that was a pale comparison to the vivid image of humanity’s home that he was looking at right now. For him, it felt as if he was floating above the planet, only this image was strange for some reason. Then it hit him, there were no indications of the changes that humanity had made on its homeworld. One part of the globe was opposite the Sun, and no lights of the big cities could be seen.

“How old is this image?”

“It is one of the oldest recordings in the memory core; what you are looking at is 12900 years old,” the AI answered.

There was something so pure about the clear blue image of the planet. No pollutants in the air were lessening the beautiful sight, and he knew that the human population when this image was taken was insignificant in comparison to today’s billions. This ship was there to take the recording, so advanced that even after all those millennia of human progress, it was still far from anything humanity could build.

“Max, I need to think for a while.”

“OK, call me when you need me,” the AI said, and his hologram disappeared.

Michael sat in the chair and for a long time gazed at the pristine blue marble slowly rotating before his eyes. He contemplated his life and all the decisions that brought him here. So many ideas were running through his head, and a lot of them originated from a lifetime of movies and SF novels. On the edges of his mind, a momentous idea started to form, and like all great ideas—it started with a question. A simple question that had a million answers.

“What if…?” Michael asked himself.