Finding Self

[Boss]

As Chuck took his place on the Rack, Sandy worked through her checklist as the technicians strapped him in. She reached the end and stopped, then looked up at Chuck. “You sure you’re ready?” He just glared at her. Sandy smothered a laugh and made her way to her console in the control room. The mission commander placed his eye to the retinal scanner, his thumb on the biometric reader, and motioned with his free hand for Sandy to do the same at her station. She did so, and several lights blinked green across the board. Most of the lights were now green, but not all of them. One light stubbornly stayed yellow. Tim Kercher, a technician with a permanent half-scowl on his face ran his fingers through his fiery red hair glared at the light. He shoved his chair over to that part of the board and checked it. A small label read: “Sysop II”. Tim rolled back to his station and verified his identity in the same manner as the others before him, and then the light went green. Triple redundancy, the wave of the future.

At a nod from the MC, the tech flipped a switch and booted the sim computer. As it warmed up, Sandy took the time to snatch a quick drink from her coffee. The computer models were one thing, but this? This was real, and they were really doing it. They were placing a human’s consciousness inside a computer. Sandy took a deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, and then let it out in a rush. The MC glanced over and quirked his lips in a little smile. “Nerves getting to you?” Sandy just nodded, pursed her lips, and booted the communications protocol on her terminal. An automated voice rang out through the lab, giving the countdown to project activation.