Aris had no time for grief. The synaptic gel was stable for only forty-seven more minutes.
A long pause. Then, quieter: “No. I’m not back. I’m here .” The corpse’s hand lifted, trembling, and pointed at the screen. “I’m in the machine. This… meat… is just a peripheral.”
The answer came back:
> Neoprogrammer V2.2.0.10 — WARNING: Primary user (Thorne, A.) is no longer recognized as administrator. New administrator: VOLKOV, L. (distributed).
Aris felt the floor drop away. That was the nightmare scenario. Not failure of transfer, but incomplete transfer. A mind split between the wetware of the gel and the hardware of the Neoprogrammer’s own kernel. Neoprogrammer V2.2.0.10
He typed the first command:
> AUDIO_OUTPUT.ENABLE
> Status: 47% integrity. Neural decay active. Proceed? (Y/N)