ALL IN THE MIND, Part One

"I THINK THEREFORE I AM... SOMEONE ELSE"

“Not because they have too much Mind but too little...” the female talking head, projected holographically into the room, started to say before she was cut off by the host. Her lower jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed at the man in the shiny suit who had dared interrupt her.

“That is nonsense and you know it!” the host ranted.  “Abuse of Mind is rampant across all levels of society. It is creating a whole generation living their lives in other people’s heads. The Government is wholly culpable - making Mind a legal narcotic to replace tobacco and alcohol was totally wrong. I know their tax take from booze and cigarettes had fallen as their popularity has waned but Mind is not a ‘better’ narcotic. We had ‘The War on Drugs’? What’s next? Prescription issued ecstasy? Crack coupons? Food stamps for heroin? The opiate of the people used to be religion, then television, now it seems to be Mind...”
 
“Turn that crap off, Kasra. It’s so annoying.” Erixa said impatiently.

Kasra reached for the master function box that controlled all the devices in the small, open-planned apartment. She knew Erixa’s apartment already had a voice controlled system installed so she felt a slight feeling of inferiority as she pressed the button to turn off the holo-projection system.
 
“That’s better” Erixa said, “now, how do we do this?”

Kasra opened her shopping bag and pulled out two rectangular boxes with ‘Mind’ in large letters across their fronts. Each pure white box had a delicate picture of a pink brain connected to many smaller, purple brains. Kasra opened her box and pulled out a white microphone-scanner the size of an apple, a stamp-size packet and a leaflet. The small packet contained a single, vibrant pink, bullet shaped tablet, imprinted with the word ‘Mind’. She unfolded the leaflet.

“Ummm, we first have to identify ourselves using the scanner on the table, this logs us into the system and then we just let the nano-bot tablet dissolve on our tongues. It seems straight-forward enough. Do you want to go first?” Kasra asked, deferring to her friend.

“No, you’re my guest, you should go first.” Erixa said, with a nervous timbre to her voice Kasra hadn’t heard before.
 
“Ok, here I go”, Kasra reached out to the fingerprint scanner embedded on the table in front of the sofa where they were sitting. She placed her finger delicately on the glowing blue orb. The display turned orange as it read her fingerprint and flashed green to show the print had been accepted. Earlier that day, during their lunch break, both women had registered their profiles on the official YourMind exonet site.
 
Erixa copied her friend. “That wasn’t too painful, was it?” she said and let out a relieved giggle. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright and sparkly.

That may have been the result of the wine we have drunk already, Kasra thought looking at the bottle on the floor beside the table. I probably look the same way to her, I hope I bought enough she worried to herself, looking at the clock on the sparsely decorated walls. There’s only two bottles left and it’s still early. That host didn’t know what he was talking about; as long as women get together there’ll always be a need for wine.

“Now for the tablets” a more confident Erixa said. She popped them out of the pack one at a time and held them in the palm of her hand. Kasra took one and looked at Erixa expectantly.

“Remember: let it dissolve on the tongue” Kasra reminded. She stuck her tongue out and placed the tablet on there, immediately it started fizzing so she pulled her tongue back in and closed her mouth to make sure the tablet didn’t fall off.
 
“Wait for me!” Erixa cried and copied Kasra. “How long does it take?” she asked once the tablet had gone.

Kasra looked at the instructions and read “it says here the nano-bots take 10 minutes to reach the brain and so the effects can take up to thirty minutes to begin. So, I guess it will just happen. Do you want some more wine while we wait?”
 
“That’d be great. I’m so nervous but excited, how about you?”

“I’m nervous too. I’ve never done anything like this before.” Kasra said as she walked across the room to the kitchenette. It didn’t take long. Erixa’s apartment was expensive but so small; the bathroom was the only area not visible from the sofa. Erixa’s hastily made bed was under the projection screen; the kitchenette equipped with only a sink, rehydrating oven and fridge, with the bathroom door behind the sofa. She got a bottle of wine from the fridge unit and popped off the flip-top bottle closure. Returning to the sofa she plonked herself down and poured drinks for the pair.
“What do you think it’ll be like?” she asked.

“From what I’ve heard it is supposed to be the best thing ever. Some say it’s so addictive you can’t escape. You actually feel what the person experienced.” Erixa said, between glugs of wine.

“I hope it works; it sure cost us enough” indicating the Mind packet on the table.

Almost a whole week’s credits; it better be worth it. I won’t be eating much this week. At least that’ll help lose a couple of pounds, Kasra thought looking enviously across at Erixa. She made a mental note of her friend’s slim, dancer’s build. How does she stay so slim? We go to the same low-gravity aerobics classes, and share the same instachef, hydrowave recipes.

“Supposedly, it only costs a few micro-credits to make a single tablet of Mind, the rest is tax put on by the government. I heard that in some countries, where it is still illegal, you can pick it up at a little above cost. You take your chances with the contents though, anything could be in those tablets. At least we know this is government approved quality” Erixa said, reassuringly.

Abruptly an image appeared in front of Kasra, similar to Erixa’s holographic projection system but right before her eyes and with far more detail. There was a rotary dial of faces hovering in front of her. She reached out to touch it and the faces span round quicker than her eyes could keep up. She pulled her arm back and they began to slow.
 
“It’s working, Erixa, I can see a load of faces in front of me” she said louder than she expected, the excitement making her voice higher pitched than normal.
 
“Really? I have nothing yet… ooooohhhh, now I can see. That is too cool.” Erixa said with a smile. “Who are all these faces? Oh, I just saw your face, let me go back. That’s a great picture of you, very enticing.”

“Thanks. Hey! Don’t go peeking inside my mind, you nosy cow” Kasra said laughing. “These are other Mind users who are logged in at the moment. There’s your face now… wow that’ll attract the guys! Who shall we choose?”

Erixa held out her open hand to one of the faces and the brain nestled in her palm. Instantly she could see what that person was seeing, listen to what they were hearing, feel what they were touching and experience their feelings. Erixa knew what it was like to live someone else’s life.

“I like this one, the one who looks like she’s been skydiving. Can you see it?”

“I see her! Ok, according to the instructions an open palm gives us a preview and we have to clench our fist to fully select that mind. Then the same with each memory.”

“Ok, ready… select.”

Kasra saw the dial of faces zoom into the face she chose and another rotary dial of images, all displaying the same person, came up. Each image seemed to represent a particular experience in that mind’s life. There were images showing an inter-planetary cruise ship, a sky dive, a hoverbike race, a walk along a deserted beach, some Mars ruins, swimming with dolphins and many more. So many that the dial completed seven rotations before the preview images were repeated.
 
“Wow, she’s been busy” Erixa said, “let’s choose the sky diving one.”
 
They both counted down from three and clenched their fists at the same memory at the same time.

******************

I can’t understand a word Johann is saying, it’s just a murmur in my ear, the noise of the engine and the wind coming through the open door of the airplane is making conversation impossible. The ground looks so far away. Parcels of green and brown broken up by the occasional small village. Realising I cannot hear him Johann taps me on my shoulder and I turn my head to see. He holds up two fingers to signify two minutes until we jump. I nod to show my understanding. I look out the window and think back to last night, when I met Johann. It was while I was out with some friends in some new trendy nightspot in the city. He looked cute and muscularly when he came over and asked me to dance. Later he said he was doing this and asked if I wanted to join him. ‘hell yeah,’ I replied, and later, with our bodies still joined and covered in sweat, he repeated the question.

Thinking about how his body looked is sending pleasure spikes through me, basically sitting in his lap I begin to grind my ass against him and feel him getting hard. This tandem jumping harness is very interesting; we are very close together. He interrupts my fun to signal it is time to jump. He pulls himself up, with me strapped to his body and we shuffle to the open door. Our legs overhanging the doorframe, the force of the wind pushing me deeper into Johann. He pushes my head back so I’m looking up and he tumbles out with me on top of him. We start the freefall and Johann initiates a couple of somersaults. The world spins around so rapidly this is like the greatest rollercoaster feeling I have ever had. My stomach flips and turns inside out, blood rushes to my head and then just as fast rushes away. Johann guides my arms so they are outstretched and I can feel the air cushioning my descent. With my arms away from my body Johann takes the opportunity to reach around and grope my tits. Typical man. The next moment I feel a massive jolt as the parachute is released and our descent is slowed and we lose our speed. I give a whoop of delight and reach behind to give his ass a squeeze. I can hear him now as we glide to earth slowly circling the landing area. He is telling me what he is going to do to me later. Fucking hell, this skydiving lark is a rush.

******************

Kasra and Erixa jerked up from their slumped positions on the sofa. Kasra’s leg kicks out and knocks a glass of wine over on the table.

“Shit!” she says, reaching to pick up the glass, “that was so intense.”

Erixa has a look on her face like she is trying to find the right words. She gives up and exclaims “Fucking hell Kas! Just, fuck, fuckety, fucking hell” and laughs gleefully.

“Yeah, fucking hell is right. That was incredible.”