Ben struggled to open his eyes as his whole body felt sore and stiff. He was laying down on a familiar chair. Though it didn’t bring him comfort. He could feel needles sticking into his arms but he felt frail and weak. It was like when he accidentally spent longer than intended as Laura, and woke up the next morning, though this felt way worse.



The last thing he remembered is he was sitting at his dining room table, sitting across from Laura and Lauren. The two had become individuals and were discussing his role in Laura’s creation. He felt they were making good progress when Lauren realized something terrible. Then Laura panicked looking for Lauren. After that Laura had gone back to sleep.



Ben had no idea what to do. The two people he cared about the most in the world, seemed to be in trouble and he was powerless to help them. Lauren had been kidnapped overseas by the very people she worked for and he couldn’t wake Laura without plugging himself into the chair, which put him at risk.



There was an option to go to the authorities but he didn’t know if they’d believe him. More importantly he didn’t know if they’d be able to save Lauren. Then what would they do about Laura? She was an illegal AI. He didn’t want her to be destroyed. He also didn’t know the first thing about reporting this sort of thing or how long it could take to resolve.



Lauren was the first priority. Even if he wasn’t believed, he could find the number for Interpol and report her kidnapping. They’d at least need to do a welfare check on her, surely. He just didn’t know how Interpol worked or where Lauren was. Though it was better than doing nothing.



Moving as fast as he could, Ben ran up to grab his phone and looked for the information he needed. Though his phone wouldn’t turn on. Next he tried his computer, and it came on but the screens were black. None of the devices in the house worked and he realized why.



The company had used their signal booster that allowed Laura to travel further, to black out every device in his home. He wondered if the neighbors were also affected by this outage. He went downstairs and opened the front door. That’s when he saw two moving trucks approaching his house. They shouldn’t have been able to make it past the gates without being buzzed in.



Of course if they had control over Ben’s electronics, which they did, they could buzz themselves in. There was nowhere for Ben to run or hide. The trucks parked in his driveway and two worker Dolls got out. Ben tried to barricade the door as he thought of anything he could do, but due to their mechanic might they overpowered him. One of them grabbed him, lifting him off the ground as the other placed a neurolink on his head. That’s when everything went dark.



Now Ben didn’t know where he was or how long he had been out for. If it weren’t for the pain and fatigue he was feeling, he could’ve also been in a Doll. He slowly managed to open his eyes but couldn’t talk due to the breathing tubes down his throat. Though even with his eyes now open his vision was extremely blurry. Ben just laid there barely able to see, looking at the ceiling, unable to move due to all the medical devices inserted in him.

“The patient is awake!” He heard a shocked woman speak. “Get the doctor.”



So Ben was in a hospital that only explained the IVs, breathing tubes and the catheter that did quite feel right. He didn’t know why he was in a neurochair instead of a hospital bed or how he got here. He was kidnapped by Dolls, so why was he in hospital? He tried to think of the scenarios that could have landed him in this situation but his mind was fuzzy. It was like trying to start a car that had been sitting unused for too long.



“Lauren, can you hear me?” A female voice asked as a flashlight was aimed into Ben’s eyes. Ben couldn’t believe it, Lauren was in the room with him. In his excitement he tried to sit up and turn his head to see where she was.



“Please stay still,” the doctor asked him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been asleep for a long time.” She was calm and nurturing. “Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.”



Despite the reassurance, Ben was still anxious to see Lauren. Though he was too tired to do anything at the moment so he laid back down and closed his eyes.



“Very good, just rest for now” The doctor gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. “You’ve been through quite the ordeal, best not to rush things.”



“I still can’t believe the procedure worked…” the nurse said thinking Ben was asleep again. “I mean who knew that the neurolink could do such a thing?”



“The benefits of modern technology,” the doctor said. “This is truly the start of a new age in medicine.”



Ben could barely stay awake as he wondered what procedure he had been through. Also what made it groundbreaking. He had only a faint idea of what the ordeal he had been through was, but everything else was blank.



While Ben was half asleep, one of the nurses had come to visit him, taking out the breathing tubes and replacing them with a much more bearable oxygen mask. They also changed out the IVs and other bags. She didn’t say much while she did it, other than saying what she was doing. They had been used to Ben being asleep that they didn’t consider that he was now half awake.



It didn’t help that despite no longer having the tubes down his throat, he wasn’t able to talk. At least not very well. The tubes had irritated his throat, so it’d be a few days before he could talk. He also wasn’t given any food to eat either, still relying on the IVs for his nutrients. While he slowly recovered the one thing that didn’t go away was his blurry vision.



“How are you feeling today, Lauren?” the doctor asked when they returned. Ben was confused, as he was alert enough now to know that he was the only one in the room. “Hmm,” the doctor pondered as she wrote down some notes.



“This must be hard for you,” the doctor reassured Ben. “You were in an accident,” she began to explain as she grabbed Ben’s hand. “It left you brain dead, there was no sign of activity.” She gave Ben’s hand a squeeze. “Fortunately the company you worked for was able to save your consciousness using the Doll you were testing. We had to use that same technology to upload your mind to your body.”



Ben tried to say something as he realized what was going on.



“Your name is Lauren Jane Smith, born August nineteenth, nineteen ninety-eight.” The doctor informed Ben. “There’s no easy way to say this but you’ve been in a coma for three hundred and eighty-two days. It is currently August seventh, twenty thirty-one.”