Chapter 32: Chapter Thirty

With Mara’s dream stored on an external hard drive, the process of uploading it into Alex’s brain for further analysis was underway.

Alex laid down while Milo hooked up the nodes to her head.

“Be careful, Milo,” Mara said. The thought of anything bad happening to her daughter was difficult to bear.

“Don’t worry, mum, it’s completely safe,” Alex assured.

“Okay, are you ready?” Milo asked.

Alex took a deep breath and said, “Yes, I’m ready.”

“Okay, I’m beginning the extraction now.”

Milo entered a few commands and the process began. It was a bit anti-climactic to watch since it appeared as though nothing was happening at all. Nobody said a word as they patiently waited for the machine to do what it was designed to do. After a minute, Milo was getting frustrated at how long it was taking.

“Calm down, Milo, it has only been a minute,” Mara reminded him.

“A minute is a long time to wait for such a small file – especially for Alex.”

“We’re not exactly at the Facility here. This technology takes a little longer to process data. Just be patient,” Mara urged.

“How could anybody stand the processing speed of these old computers?” Milo lamented as he paced anxiously around the room.

Fed up with the sluggish processors, Milo quickly rigged up another one.

“Is that safe to do while Alex is hooked up to the machine?” Mara asked.

“Yeah, nothing could possibly go wrong.”

“Isn’t that what people say moments before something terrible happens?”

“Mara, you worry too much.”

Stretched to its limits, the computer made a succession of strange noises as the internal drives spun rapidly.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Mara said, watching on nervously.

“Relax, I’m an expert and a professional. I have everything under control.”

Alex remained still with her eyes closed as the data transferred. Images from her mother’s memory flashed through her head. Milo kept a watchful eye on Alex while he checked her vitals manually. So far everything was going smoothly.

Part way through the process, the machine suddenly started displaying problems. An error message populated on the screen and the system was making a high-pitched squeal.

“What’s happening, Milo?” Mara asked.

“I may have routed too much power to it,” he said casually in an attempt disguise his concern.

“You shouldn’t have messed with it, I told you to be patient!” Mara said anxiously.

Milo ignored her.

“Can you fix it?” Mara asked.

“I think we need another CPU, it’s trying to process too much data and it’s overheating,” Milo said, as he frantically searched through the pile of discarded rubble to find yet another processor. Once he located the equipment he needed, he quickly connected it to the machine and the horrible sounds reduced until they emitted the proper frequency – a nearly inaudible hum.

Milo wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief. Shortly after, Alex awoke. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked around in confusion.

“Oh my gosh, Alex are you okay?” Mara said as she threw her arms around her.

“Who are you people?” Alex said as she winked at Milo.

“Alex, it’s me, do you know where you are?” Mara asked frantically.

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just messing with you.”