CHAPTER 4: Interface

　　"Holy shit." I sputtered out. I could tell that my eyes were wide in amazement at what now had captured my attention. I was practically frozen there as I remained seated but didn`t know what to do next. Though the few people who I had interacted with upon my awakening had told me that this had all occurred before, to me it was as if this was the first time.

　　I looked into Brian`s eyes, who was fixated on every detail I portrayed outwardly. "What? What is it?" Brian leaned towards me with his hand partially outstretched in concern.

　　"I see some dots, they`re tiny. So small that I can hardly make them out, but& there is no doubt something there." My head reared back as something else immediately appeared next to the dots. "A new icon just appeared. It looks like a camera. One of those video call icon things."

　　"Oh my god!" Brian shifted in his seat and was practically on edge and paused as his eyes launched into a thousand yard stair but immediately returned to quickly guide me through the process. "Someone is calling you! That`s great! This just means that our shock worked! The chip is back online, and working!" Brian`s face was beaming with excitement and his broad smile didn`t look like it could get any larger on his face.

　　"Who would be calling me?" I asked.

　　"I don`t know B2, but if you answer the call, we can find out now, can`t we?" The sarcasm in Brian`s voice was clear as he laid it on thick.

　　I glared over at him with a deadpan expression, but he was right. Brian shifted his face into a grin as he took a puff from his vape pen.

　　"Alright smart guy, how the fuck do I answer the call?"

　　He lifted his hands up and moved them about as he spoke, "So this is gonna feel weird, but& basically image your mind has an invisible mouse pointer of a computer. So mentally just imagine clicking on the icon."

　　It was certainly a weird concept for me to think about. I figured there was no better place to try and work this shit out than here and now. It was certainly helpful to have Brian sitting with me and able to assist and guide me through the entire process.

　　It took me a little bit to mentally get my mind to engage itself and do what it was that Brian had instructed. There was a weight lifted off my shoulders in relief from the effort when I finally accomplished it. A black screen arrived within my vision as a circular loading screen appeared within the center of the display window.

　　In less than a few seconds a video loaded showing a middle-aged woman sitting at a work desk. She had blond hair and blue eyes with small metal framed glasses on her face. She had a slightly pale shade to her skin which left me the impression that she didn`t get outdoors much. The room she was sitting in had black painted walls and was filled with an enormous collection of culture posters, action figures, and plush toys.

　　"Holy shit it`s really you!" She said with excitement as her warm voice greeted me.

　　"Uhhh& hi?"

　　Brian looked over at me with a curious look on his face. "Who is it?" But as soon as he asked the question his expression changed and he realized how dumb of a question that actually was. It was then my time to roll my eyes at him.

　　"Who is there with you?" The woman on the other end of my video asked me. Her voice was a little higher pitched than both Arabella`s and Samantha`s, but it leapt with excitement and joy.

　　"Brian& uhh, Brian is with me."

　　"Awww. My two favorites, hey Brian!" She sounded playful and bubbly, her hand came up and propped her chin up as her elbow rested on the desk in front of her.

　　I glanced over to Brian and he still maintained the curious expression, "She says hi&"

　　"Here`s a thought B2, I dunno if this sounds like an option, but you could ask her who she is?" His Irish accent was heavy as if it would somehow help the situation, but it certainly did not.

　　I gritted my teeth as I had to eat the crow of embarrassment. "Uhh sorry but, who& are you?"

　　I was pretty sure that she would be upset that I had to ask the question. Especially since she clearly knew who I was, but I was at a loss. To my surprise, however, her face was filled with empathy and shock at the same time. "Oh my god! The rumor is true! Do you not remember anything?" She started to tap her fingers on her chin and her eyes slightly widened. I felt like she was now the one analyzing me, listening intently to what I was going to say next.

　　"Umm, no& I don`t"

　　She smiled and sat back in her chair. "Well& let me re-introduce myself then. I`m Terra!" She said with a giant smile. "I have been your remote assistant since you started with us. I am your right hand once you get back out and into the field."

　　"Ohh, okay." I had shifted my gaze and had been staring out into the center of the room. The video feed was covering the majority of my view. I then glanced back to Brian but had to adjust so I could still see him out of the corner of my eye, "It`s Terra." I shared.

　　"Oh, that makes sense." A giant smile appeared on his face, "She is totally one of my favorites. Tell her I say hello." Brian smiled as he took another sip from his vape pen.

　　It felt so weird to me. The video call centered in my direct vision was a hard and weird adjustment to say the least. I just looked back out into the center of the room, not knowing where else to look, "He says hi."

　　A broad smile crested on her face, "Aww, yay!" She seemed to beam with happiness, but that was practically erased as her eyes drooped back down and she exhaled with frustration heavy on her breath. "Damn it! Nate is calling me. I gotta go and take this. Sorry B2, but I am so glad to see you and this is the best news to know you`re back with us. We`ll talk again soon!"

　　The screen went black as Terra ended the call. The display window magically zoomed out of my view and the camera icon had disappeared. My vision returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

　　Brian could tell something had changed and titled his head with a slight nod, "What is it, she hang up?"

　　"Uhh yeah, something about Nate calling?"

　　His eyes rolled, "Uhh, Nate& great guy, just no chill when it comes to meeting deadlines with all the paperwork required to make this bullshit run smooth."

　　"I wouldn`t know." I said with a smug expression on my face.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

　　He gave me a deadpan look in return, "Well, there is something to celebrate. The video feed is working. That is one less item we must verify before you can get back out and in the field. Okay. Now let`s check your levels!" I could see he was starting to get excited again. He leaned in closer towards me and awaited my response.

　　The one I gave him though was of my eyebrow arched upwards. "My levels?"

　　He let out a sigh as he rocked in his chair, "Okay, well I mean, it makes sense that we have to start all over again with me having to explain all of this. Bloody hell, where do we start. Keep in mind I will try to explain this in the simplest way possible."

　　He looked at me as if he was trying to go over a thesis size paper while talking to me. His demeanor told me he was also trying desperately hard to simplify the technical data down into stick figures drawn out in crayon. His eyes squinted and danced around multiple times while his fingers and hands contorted into weird shapes while he mentally went over the data before sharing.

　　"You know how in video games there are characters that can level up their skills, abilities, or even physical features?"

　　"Uhm& sure."

　　"You can see this in a lot in games that are role playing in nature. But there are also games that allow you to upgrade weapon systems, or combative performance."

　　"Okay, I think I am tracking with what you`re getting at." I said.

　　"What I have come to discover is that the brain works to record, and utilizes knowledge and experience in a very similar way that we can actually tap into and preserve. The more you perform these tasks and objectives, the more your brain automatically applies that experience, or we could even say it could be commonly defined as applied proficiency.

　　The neurochip allows us to tap into the brain, and instead of the brain deciding where it should enhance certain attribute points, so to speak, you can actually alter some of these, where as you get to decide how to improve oneself. You can quiet literally completely change your mental, physiological, and, quite literally, your physical attributes. All by tapping into your brains neuro network."

　　There must have been a super confused look on my face because Brian just stared back at me. The quiet pause between us filled with two people each giving the other a blank stare in response. Brian finally cleared his throat and continued, but on a different route. "You know how you can work out for a long time, gain a bunch of muscle size and bulk, tone up even, but you miss the gym for two weeks and flatten back out and lose all the definition you worked so hard towards?"

　　I furled my lip and nodded, as that example really connected with me. "Sure."

　　"Excellent, now imagine what it would be like to have the ability where, once you get your chest, or arms to a point in strength or size, that you can lock them in place and keep them that way forever."

　　My head rolled in disbelief, "That would be fucking awesome." I chuckled. I looked down at my arms and realized that they looked pathetic. Deflated and completely flat of any muscle definition.

　　"Okay. So that is how the neurochip works! The more you train, and experience during missions, fuck& even life, you can upgrade your skills and then they get locked into place." He said.

　　"H-o-l-y S-h-i-t!" I was blown away with what I was hearing. Though I realized Brian was going over the basic stuff that with me. I was beginning to actually latch onto what he was saying. I could see how powerful and why this chip was such a big deal. I realized my mouth was open and imagined I had an appearance of having my mind blown. But I couldn`t help myself. "Dude this is big."

　　Brian`s face beamed at the compliment. He tilted his head back and looked ready for his portrait photo to be taken and printed on magazine covers worldwide. "I know! I fucking made it!"

　　"So, what do we try next?"

　　He seemed to come back to the reality of things and guided me through the next set of steps. "You know how you clicked on the video icon mentally?"

　　"Yeah"

　　"Perfect, now click on the three dotted icon which should still be in the corner of your vision."

　　It took me a couple of tries to work on the whole, mentally clicking aspect of my HUD. I finally accomplished the task with a sigh of relief as I felt a bead of sweat fall down my forehead. "Got it!" My expression cued Brian into the fact that something must not have been right. The result seemed to be pretty basic and simple in nature. It certainly wasn`t what I expected after hearing Brian describe everything.

　　Brian nodded towards me, inquiring as to what the problem was. I looked at the small flag banner that appeared to the left of the system icon. I was embarrassed to admit what it said. It didn`t seem accurate at all, at least with everything he had shared with me and where I assumed I should be at this point. I stopped the awkward hesitation though and finally shared with him what it read. "It says, Novice, Level 1."

　　<<

　　He dropped his vape pen as he blinked rapidly. The device crashed on the floor and was the only sound I heard for a few seconds. Brian`s eyes shifted back and forth as the rest of his body remained frozen in time and space. "Oh dear, that was what I feared."

　　I started to get worried. It didn`t take long before my anxiety started to take hold of me while Brian maintained his paralyzed status. I finally couldn`t take the dead silence anymore and tried to get him reengaged with me. "What is it, Brian? Fuck! Say something will you?"

　　He slowly bent over and retrieved the vape pen from the highly polished tile floor. Wiping it against his shirt to clean off any dirt or dust it had picked up. He then took another long drag from the device. "It would appear." He blew the vapor out in a long billowing cloud. "That your chip, did take some damage, or something to that effect." He didn`t look at me at first, but continued to dash back and forth with his eyes as he pondered the situation further.

　　"Well why would you say that? What does this all mean?"

　　"Because, last I remember&you were past level 23. Far past it if I recall, when you were on your last mission. It means that we, well, you, have to start all over with your training! Your chip, and even your brain I would assume, are acting as if your past time with Scalpel didn`t even take place. That would also explain why your body physically changed during your coma and you lost your muscle mass. I was hoping that only a portion of the chip had reverted back. A precautionary effect to help stabilize you within your deep sleep state&but this, this is nothing I was fully prepared for."

　　"Shit&" I sighed.

　　"That is one way to put it." Brian lifted his hand and ran it back and across his black hair. He stretched it back, flattening it in place until he exhaled and released the tension. His hair naturally flowed back into place. He then looked at me with a serious face, "Does it even show you your weapon skills?"

　　I blankly stared back at him, as if what I had just fucking said wasn`t actually good enough the first time around. The whole statement for some reason just didn`t even register with him. "N-o-p-e." I dragged it out heavily to ensure it really resonated. To which he still shook his head as he leaned back in his chair slightly.

　　"Sorry B2& it just looks like you`re going to have to start all over again, as if it`s day one. Sucks for you." He crossed his arms as he said it.

　　I narrowed my gaze and accepted my fate, "And& when exactly do we start all this, re-training?"

　　Brian`s eyes widened as he looked down and peered through the new vapor cloud he just exhaled. "I mean& we should probably wait for another day. It would be best to run some more tests, make sure your vitals are looking good. But, in another day or two, we might be able to get you crawling again. I can certainly reach out and see if Bill and Jack are down in the training grounds, and I have no doubt they can squeeze you into the schedule."

　　"First thing is first. I need a damn shower, a new set of clothes, and a fucking meal. I am starving now that I think about it." My stomach churned in a bulging knot as soon as I said it, both of us could audibly hear the noise it was making.

　　The light bulb appeared to come on inside Brian`s head once it did. "Shit! You havn`t had yourself a proper meal in over a year. Alright, let`s get you over to the cafeteria where you can get as much food as you want."

　　"Thanks Doc." I said.

　　Brian chuckled, "Also, I am not a doctor, at all. Brian is fine."

　　"But, the lab coat, the whole designing this neurochip thing& You really mean to tell me your not a doctor?" I asked.

　　"Nope, prodigy is the simplest way to put it." Brian replied.

　　I shook my head in amazement as this whole entity continued to take one weird turn after the other.