SYNOPSIS 

"Bu-but, I can't feel anything! I can't even look down to see myself!! Hell, I can't see anything but 0's and 1's! How is this possible?" He was so confused. This damned woman kept telling him to stay calm, but how could he? He knew something was wrong and she wouldn't tell him what.

"Please Dr. Bourgeois, it is important that you stay calm. I need to make sure that you're uploading correctly, and your panicking is not allowing me to read the scan efficiently!" The female Doctor dressed in white scrubs walked back to the computer after checking the monitor, sat down and began typing.

Dr. Bourgeois began yelling again, demanding that she tell him what was happening to him. The woman, Dr. Stroud, swiveled on her stool to face another screen before taking in a slow deep breath and blowing it out. She leaned over to rest her elbows upon her knees and rubbed her face with the palm of her hands. She had been up for 32 hours straight and counting. She was exhausted, but this was a priority.

She looked up, fatigue consuming her facial features. Fed up, she spoke matter-of-factly, "Okay Dr. Bourgeois! You want to know what's going on? If you'd only let the program finish uploading, you'd know, but since you're so adamant about knowing this instant, I'll tell you." she stood up from her stool and began to pace the laboratory as she continued, "Because I know you can't remember, first, I must tell you what happened 10 days ago." She took a deep breath, "Sir, you died by suicide."

She squeezed her eyes closed, expecting a burst of rage to come from the monitor, but got nothing, except the sound of him trying to catch what would be a breath. She opened her eyes and went on, "The thing is, 5 years prior to your," she gave a pregnant pause, "well, what you did to yourself, you were one of the top scientists and physicists of our generation. Things started to take a turn for the worse though since your last invention. No matter how many times or how many different ways you would pitch your research or findings, no one in the scientific community wanted to touch you." Dr. Stroud took her seat again. "Well, they turned them against you," She looked off to the right at nothing in particular, "after everything, all of your works, research..." she trailed off, throwing her hands up and letting them fall to her sides in defeat, "just, everything you worked for was discredited, and they portrayed you as crazy.

"You asked for volunteers to test your invention, but no one wanted to try it." She hesitated, and Dr. Bourgeois spoke up, his voice laced with anger and confusion, "Who turn who against me?! What the hell invention are you tal-"

She cut him off, "Dr., if you would just- PLEASE SIR!"

He apologized, "Please continue."

"Sir, you also released a statement- a very long statement, in fact, 10 days ago. Not only did you out a lot of the people in high positions, exposing their corruption and plans to create a new world order that would enslave masses around the world, but you also made what I would describe as a suicide speech. Right before your demise, you created a program that would allow people to upload their consciousness to a network."

Dr. Stroud could hear Dr. Bourgeois talking to himself, trying to make sense of it all. She ignored his rambling, took a sigh and turned to her screen, pulling up a video file and pressing play. 

Dr. Bourgeois immediately stopped talking as he could hear his own voice over the monitor speakers. He sounded frantic to himself; in a way, kind of psychotic. He listened as his former-self hurriedly explained how the people he worked for were trying to steal and abuse his idea on keeping the human consciousness alive, long after the body expires, and how they planned to use it to make a two-status world: rulers and slaves. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! He went on to tell how no one would take him seriously, and that since there was no one to test his invention, that he would do it himself. The video ended.

"You see sir," said Dr. Stroud with sympathy. "You didn't know, but there were a few of us out there who actually believed you." She looked down at her lap and played with the lonely thread that hung from the hem of her left pant-leg. "I'm one of them." She looked up at the monitor that contained Dr. Bourgeois, as if he were sitting right in front of her, "There are many of us.

"Dr. Bourgeois, my team has been uploading your consciousness to, " she paused a moment to think, "-well, you can call it a thumb drive of some sort. Sir, it's been, "she looked at her watch, "17 hours since we began, and we have no more time to waste. Every second counts because you are the only one that can set things right again. The longer you fuss, the longer it will take for your mind to become whole, so please, I beg you to stay calm." She began to softly cry and with defeat in her voice, she said, "The water, the oil, the food; they've taken over everything, just like you said. We need you Dr. Bourgeois. The world is depending on you!"