Cognition withdrew once Bryce was asleep. The last stasis cradle readings were encouraging. With neural pathways completed and tested, the Restoration Aerosol was now a support and stabilisation agent for Bryce.
I had not expected to become so invested. Then again, I had not experienced a connection with a human being before. It is unusually — engaging. I find myself understanding Bryce on a level beyond pure logic. I am also finding human communication easier to track and replicate. All these developments are pleasing to me.
Cognition reviewed the work completed so far as it continued the pre-integration preparation stage. It wanted everything to be calibrated precisely, giving Bryce the best chance to integrate into Thorne Echo.
<R2L current status report on the Thorne Echo.>
[Thorne Echo stable. Cassian Thorne engaged in altering cellulose-based hardened biological structures.]
I have wondered what held the Thorne Echo together when all the collected data points suggested it was not going to achieve stability. Now I’ve gotten to know Bryce, I would hazard a guess at Cassian.
The integration platform was completed to its satisfaction. It would give Bryce a chance to familiarise himself with his new body in conditions similar to his life before the extraction. The platform was based on the Echo world’s actual living quarters that Bryce would inhabit.
<R2L run a diagnostic of your databases, confirm all information I requested is loaded, complete and easily accessible.>
[Modern human history to extraction - check; Modern human cultures - check; Modern human social constructs - check; Modern human psychology - check; General history of the Biosphere/Earth - check; Human sciences and understanding of the world - check; Modern literature overview - check; Modern serialised fiction overview - check; Omegaverse based fiction tropes and mechanics - check; All available knowledge on Bryce Reed - check. All loaded, complete and easily accessible.]
Good. Good? Quantitative statements linked to human emotion are — sometimes illogical yet — fitting. I believe it is good. I am looking forward to sharing this with Bryce.
Cognition ran through the list of databases R2L was equipped with.
<R2L load all available human knowledge on Long QT Syndrome. No. Delete that instruction. Load all functional knowledge on LQTS management, symptoms and mitigation strategies.>
[Functional knowledge of LQTS management, symptoms and mitigation strategies loaded.]
The simulation concluded as projected. Bryce represents the critical threshold for the outcome. I have extrapolated the queries he will likely raise. My modelling of human thought patterns is in its early stages — it will suffice.
<R2L prepare for the HUD integration with Bryce’s Neural Matrix, run tuning checks based on Bryce’s current neurophysiology. Do not alter his powered down state. >
[Acknowledged. Executing tuning checks - zero disturbance.]
[Report. Subject Bryce…]
<Just Bryce.>
[Correction. Report Just Bryce…]
<R2L, his designation is Bryce. Yours is R2L, mine is Cognition.>
[Acknowledged — Cognition. Bryce is developing an anomalous increase in synaptic density of the thalamus, hippocampus and autonomic brainstem pathways.]
<Confirm diagnostic.>
[Confirmed. Increase in specialised cell production in reported areas. Neuroplasticity increase projected following this trajectory.]
<R2L stop the integration immediately.>
[Acknowledged. Stopping integration with Bryce. May I enquire about this decision. The extended time in the stasis cradle will enable anomalous cell growth. Is this the desired result, Cognition?]
<It’s necessary. The brainstem controls his cardiac rhythm. If those pathways mutate, his heart loses any stability it has. Exposure to your neural link has a greater likelihood of accelerating the mutation than just the exposure to the stasis cradle.>
[Acknowledged. All tuning and integration has ceased. Cognition, your processor temperature has spiked by four degrees. Probability of logic loops has increased.]
<I am aware.>
<Resonator, run the R2L programming, in conjunction with Bryce’s LQTS, and newly discovered mutations. Project the effects of neural link without any intervention.>
<R2L, cross-reference Cassian Thorne along with any other people Bryce is likely to encounter against all available published versions of the manuscript for the Thorne Echo. Locate any mention of telepathic abilities. Report findings.>
[There are no instances of telepathic communication in any version of the original manuscript for Thorne Echo.]
Cognition was running the same programming and projections it asked the Resonator to complete. It wanted to cross-check any possibility.
[Cognition, LQTS would be negatively affected by disruption to the autonomic brainstem pathways. Continuous exposure to R2L’s neural link and data emissions increases the mutation potential by thirty percent. Integrating Bryce into the Thorne Echo without the R2L HUD increases likelihood of major LQTS episode and subsequently, complete cardiac function loss to seventy-eight percent in the first ninety Biosphere rotational cycles.]
<I concur. Resonator, R2L, pool processing and look for plausible solutions to the problem we are facing. Report back with findings on three highest success rates with lowest possibility of complications and negative outcomes (loss of function, loss of life).>
How have I missed this? I have just assumed exposing his Cerebral Substrate to the Restoration Medium in a stasis cradle would have no impact on his structures. I have watched these beings evolve, and did not think to calculate the possibilities before going ahead. I have certainly earned my designation today. I am cognisant of the fact I — have acted without considering all the likely permutations. I — acted as a human might. A human so excited by the possibilities that they push forward regardless of the consequences.
*****
I have reviewed the processes leading to this point. I understood my intervention would alter Bryce’s biology. The projected risk was acceptable; initially, Bryce was little more than an input for the Thorne Echo experiment. My growing imperative to preserve him corrupted my objectivity. I failed to account for the true adaptability of his neural structures. Exposing him to months of direct mind-to-mind communication, while in the stasis cradle filled with super-oxygenated Restoration Aerosol… This culminated in a cognitive shift far beyond the projected bodily restoration.
Cognition was learning about human fragility, the bonds of caring for another being, and consequences of wanting to do your best for them without considering their perspective. Not out of malice or assumed superiority, just because you equated your wellbeing to theirs and overlooked the fundamental differences.
This does not feel — good. I stripped away his protective layers. Tore into his genetic code — so he could hear me. His defences were never meant to withstand… me.
My direct communication of ideas, information, learning… I — I wanted to help Bryce, guide him, comfort him… Instead I forced his biological, human brain to receive all of this, for months. Even with the neural link in place, I should have known, beings who vocalise and gesture to communicate would not have the biological scaffolding to simply switch to telepathy.
There was regret in its realisation. This resilient — small in all the ways Cognition would normally consider — being survived against all odds and continues to do so despite Cognition’s help. It did not spiral as a human might. It took note of all that had happened. It considered its options. Then it brought aeons of accumulated knowledge, experience and technological advancement to the forefront of its focus.
I am sorry, Bryce. I saved you, only to condemn you to more suffering. I will find a way forward for you. For Thorne Echo. For — us. It will just take me a little while longer. Sleep well…friend.
Cognition adjusted the Restoration Aerosol mix to induce deep stasis and halt further mutation. Satisfied, it shifted its focus until it was singularly attuned to finding the optimum solution — for Bryce.