Page 41 - Tales Apocalyptic and Dystopian

The Browser

Thea sat in it and the hierocoms adjusted the back and arms; the
previous tenant had evidently been taller.
After they had attached electrodes to her scalp, they lowered the
light level and instructed her to relax.
“You are being attached to the principal technophant. Your
awareness will slowly expand into this supplemental memory. In this
first session, you need only verify the access connection by asking
this time-honored question: who is the vice president of research and
development? The answer, which we know, will confirm your basic
capacity to retrieve and retain information from a technophant brain.
Now, we shall retire from the room. Signal us when you are done,
using the call button on the arm of your chair. Good luck, and God
be with you.”
And Thea was alone—but not for long.
“Who,” she repeated verbatim in her mind, “is the vice president
of research and development?”
Instead of a faint sound or wispy image revealing a name, a loud
voice rang in her head: “I am! Who wants to know? What
happened to Peter?”
She blinked, thought: “Why did that occur to me?”
“It didn’t! Now, answer me: where is Peter?”
Thea groped for the call button. “Something is wrong,” she told
herself. “I’d better get out of here.”
“No! Don’t move: your life depends on it!”
She froze.
“If you don’t give them the answer they will kill you and find
someone else to talk with us. All right. I’m sorry. We have no way of
knowing a browser is gone until the next one suddenly turns up. I’ll
get used to it. What is your name?”
“Thea. Thea Reiser.” It came out involuntarily. “I must be going
mad. They kidnapped me out of bed in the middle of the night,
carried me across the country in a plane, then told me I was a
hierocom who would have to dig information out of pickled brain
tissue. This is too much!”
“Ah, yes, you sound like a very sensitive person, Thea.” The
disembodied voice seemed much less threatening. “You will have to
excuse me. I had gotten used to Peter, who had a rather different sort
of personality. He must have had a stroke. Last time we talked he

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