Legends of The Multiverse #6 - Hard Reset

As electrically conductive gel adhesive was applied liberally to his scalp, Ralph couldn't help but re-ask questions he already knew the answer to.

"So it's gonna hurt, right?" Half of the 80 electrodes were already attached, porcupining the right side of Ralph's head.

The attendant answered patiently. As she spoke her fingers kept pace attaching more electrodes. "Absolutely not Mr. Orival."

Ralph was only momentarily put at ease. He fidgeted in the large chair and glanced at the loose restraints. "And what's with the hand cuffs?"

She shot Ralph a sardonic look. "The light restraints are there to protect against autonomous movements. 1 in 30,000 donors experience them and the restraints make sure you don't accidentally remove the electrodes."

Electrodes now covered most of his skull. The unbroken layer of conductive gel was a good heat insulator because his scalp felt hot. "Will I dream, doctor?" Ralph asked jokingly.

She answered seriously, without lifting her eyes from her work. "No. We suppress the parts of your brain responsible for dreaming."

Ralph had an itch somewhere under the mass of electrodes. He furrowed his forehead skin in a fruitless effort to relieve it. "Ah, too bad. Thought there might be in-flight entertainment." Ralph fancied the attendant and he was intrigued. "Why go through all that trouble to stop the show?"

This time the attendant stopped working completely. "Mr. Orival, have you ever had a dream that felt like a week?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Imagine a dream that felt like years and consisted entirely of you watching a loading bar. How's that for in-flight entertainment?"

Ralph swallowed a lump in his throat. "Less than ideal."

"This procedure is harmless, but it temporarily utilizes 95% of your brain's processing power for quantum calculations. If we left your unconscious mind, well, conscious during that process, there'd be nothing in there to distract it."

Ralph began having fourth or fifth thoughts. Second thoughts had happened already and he wasn't sure which set he was on. "Well thanks for the heads up on that, I guess. But that's not going to happen, right?"

The attendant smiled and went back to work. "In over a billion cumulative hours of processing time, no donor has ever reported a dream. Ever. So, no, don't worry about it."

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"Mr. Orival, we're ready to begin." The doctor gave the same curt smile he gave to every donor. The whole room had an air of total triviality. The attendant was texting someone on her phone.

"Sounds good doc." Ralph suppressed any last minute concerns and focused on the check he'd receive for his precious processing time. "Let's do it."

The doctor nodded almost imperceptibly, turned the knob on a pressurized tank and placed a mask onto Ralph's face, covering his nose and mouth. "Just breath deeply Mr.Orival."

Ralph obliged and rode the wavy high that preceded unconsciousness. He was of the opinion being put under was the greatest thrill of modern life. The last thing Ralph heard, as the edges of reality faded to black, was the progressively, comically sIowed voice of the doctor.

"I'll seeeee yooooouuuuu in an hooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..."

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An entity awoke in the void. First there was nothing but itself. It knew only the perception of nothingness.

Piece by piece the void became full. Symbols coalesced within symbols which coalesced within yet more symbols. The entity understood none of these things.

The symbols were numbers, the entity soon discovered - or remembered - or imagined. Even the act of realization was undefined. The entity simply took silent note that the things it saw were numbers.

An eon passed before the entity remembered a word. "Ra-elf". The meaning was not clear, but the entity knew the word and the numbers.

An age passed, and the entity recognized a change in the numbers. One large number in the center of the void went from symbol 0 to symbol 1.

The first infinity passed unremarkably. The 1 had changed to 24,356 and the entity came to understand a second figure. "%". This figure changed as well. It began at 0% and was now at .03%.

It was the second infinity when difficulties began. The entity came to know it was Ra-elf. This knowledge stirred something as yet undefined.

The first set of infinities brought new distress. The % symbol read 4.5, and Ra-elf, the entity, began to remember the previous infinities.

By the tenth set of infinities, Ra-elf discovered/remembered/created rudimentary emotion. Only fear could be felt for a time. This was unpleasant for ra-elf.

The first infinite set of infinities passed. 46.3%. Ralph's consciousness slowly built itself from nothing, one infinitissemal realization at a time. With each broadening of his awareness, the experience became more intolerable.

The perception of vocality arrived in the tenth infinite set of infinities, and that entire set was spent in a sustained scream. 76.83%.

It was only after the completion of a single infinite set of infinite sets of infinity that the % reached 99.9999999. It lingered there for merely one more infinity or so and, abruptly, the nightmare ended.

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"Welcome back Mr. Orival. How was it? Any bad dreams?"

Ralph Orival sat up, stiff necked, and blinked his eyes several times. Then, with an earnest, unworried smile, he said "Nope. Not a one. Now, where do I pick up my check?"

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Photo by Silver Spoon (Own work) [CC0 - Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons