Written in 365 Parts: 165: Missing Parts

It was difficult to say what the first sensation was when you awoke in a new body. The brain is not as separate from the physical form it inhabits as one would hope. It wasn’t evolved to be. The limitations of senses, reactions and capabilities were important in how the brain interprets and understands the world. Changing the physical form, in an immediate manner, was a shock to the cognitive capabilities and emotional nature.

Under normal circumstances an organic who wanted to undergo a body transfer, taking their collected self and having it transferred into a clone. With a brain grown in a similar way, but a body that could be dissimilar, would undergo a certain process. There would be treatment to reduce the dissociation: medical evaluation and intervention; virtual therapy to slowly condition the transition. Changes would be allowed to take shape in a virtual world, so that you would sense the transformation while being observed to ensure that the minimal amount of distress was caused. Being suddenly awoken in a new body was only done in the most drastic circumstances and was rarely medically advised.

The Officer jerked upright and resisted the urge to scream. Their body was shaking and a dry retching was heard more than felt. They could feel, but all of their nerve endings were jangling in unison so it was hard to focus on any one sensation. They were pushed back onto the recovery couch and someone was speaking to them. It was hard to make out words, or sights, as the sensory feedback was so new. A sharp pressure on their neck and a sudden cold dullness swept across their body.

It was a few moments before the drugs fully took effect. But as they did the sensory information reduced, and implants started to relay information to a confused conscious. They had been pulled immediately out of the growth tanks. The body was complete, and had been in waiting for them, needing only the three week period in their schedule to complete a steady transfer with full recovery. The internal monitor said they had been downloaded in an hour, then immediately brought out of the medically induced coma. Something was desperately wrong.

“What happened?” Their voice felt strange. Internally it sounded like them but the sounds that came from the larynx via the internal echo chamber of their skull wasn’t theirs. Before a mild panic settled they quelled their fear. A new body, they had a new body, that was all. 

“Please try to relax your body. We were instructed to bring you immediately to consciousness,” a medic with an ident band declaring them as a specialist was checking monitors at their side. They had probably been the one who had completed the download of the self. “The process has been greatly accelerated and so you will feel some discomfort and confusion. I have given you a course of medication and instructed your implants to aid with transition. We are routing some of your body’s sensory information, and pre-processing it on a remote location, before feeding it to your consciousness. There should be no visible lag to your perception, but you may find it a little otherworldly.”

“Who by? Who told you to bring me out like this?”

“Your immediate superiors on the Board of Directors.”

“Why?”

“There has been some incident and they are looking for answers I imagine. I was told to allow you to immediately access all your records so you could refresh yourself and fill in any missing parts.”

“Missing parts? What does that mean? Was there an issue with the transfer?”

“No. It was completely successful. You are even responding better than expected with the transition into a different body form. I am afraid that not all your records were available.”

“Tell me the full details.”

“I do not have the full details. I know that what we placed into this organic shell was from your last full backup. All data since then, that was stored on your company’s servers, is not available. Your organisation is saying little. They have fully locked down all internal speculation since the assault.”

“What assault?”

“As I said, you need to let your physical body adjust, so you may as well scan through the data files. Your implants are connected to the secure system. You will be able to absorb as much data as we have, which is very little.”