Mind Cell BEyond YOU

A boy unable to get his life on track turns to a company who will take it over for him.

Unprecedented Growth

Donald Jackson sixteen years old, virgin. Withdrawn and shy. He had in the months after his fifteenth birthday ‘really made an effort’ eating more healthily, exercising  a little every single day. In one way this all worked and he lost a lot of weight but his problem wasn’t contained in the fat of his belly but in the grey matter of his skull. There being significantly less of him didn’t bring him out of his shell, it didn’t suddenly fix his social fears. After as before his days were filled with school and wasting time alone at home. Films, tv shows, video games, scrolling around on the internet and not much else.

His life had been this way for as long as he could remember and might continue in such a manner till its end. It was in a particularly deep hole of self loathing and depression that he saw an advert              for BEyoud YOU there logo a frame of a leaf containing a scrunched up oat tree.  

The words in the advertisement seemed tailored just for him at just that moment. It talked about the impossibility of people changing, about how everyone has different limits and that fighting against these facts is a fruitless task. It motivated him to seek them out, though like in most things he did this came after months of procrastination. Beyond YOU had a simple offer mixed with amazing technology.

A free consultation would take place, there the potential client outlines the life they want. The job they would be happy to do till retirement, the man or woman they are infatuated with and many smaller details. Then the consultant would, if needed, temper the list then finalize it.

The next step was a big one. The client would allow their consensus to be pushed deep back into the mind, giving up themselves to a pilot who would then become them. Building the life outlined in the contract.

Then after some years the life is given back to the client and from then on ten percent of anything they earn is given to BEyond YOU.

Donald saw it as an amazing deal. Without this help he would be lucky getting work at a supermarket, with the help he could be the dentist he wants to be. He could even be married to Lisa, a girl one year above him who was polite enough to talk to him once and accidentally gotten him somewhat obsessed with her.

BEyond YOU’s center was a giant skyscraper, the leaf motif seen in the curves meeting to a point at the top as well as the shape and pattern of the windows. Donald’s consultant was a middle aged woman, her body bulging asymmetrically out of a suit that still managed to look stylish.

She had come out of one of dozens of  consultation rooms and invited Donald who was one of dozens of people waiting, all lined up on soft pale green seats.

She listened as he outlined the most outlandish desires he had for his future. The things that he felt a life needed to be worth it. He didn’t hold back, he expected some of the things to be consulted out of the list and was happy to drop some of the less obtainable goals. In the end not one item was denied or whittled back. Everything was within their ability to get for him.

He signed then and there, a date four months out was set.

Those four months were as uneventful as the hundred and ninety five that preceded them.

Then the day came. From school it was two buses and a train to the BEyond YOU center. Once there he met up with a new employee and had to sign many documents all saying very similar things. After that he was told a little about the doctor who was going to carry out the procedure. Him being a very tall Welsh man was the only thing Donald took in from the talk. Details like hospitals worked at or universities studied at or grounds broken ect just didn’t stick. After the tall Welsh man came shorter men talking about anesthesia, allergies and other things that much like the details of the doctor’s life Donald couldn't retain.  

One person from this line up did stand out though, the most important person but also the one not there in-person. The Pilot, Norman Kent.

Norman Kent, Mid fifties, Divorced. He loved his wife, when she confessed to having a long term affair behind his back he actually felt happy for her. The infidelity started one year into a four year contract. The day he got home was the day she told him and the day they agreed to a divorce. Pilots often said you can’t fix other people's lives and have one of your own. He felt happy for her because without that fling she would have had no-one, and he as part of his job was required to get the client with one of the potential partners on their list. How could he hold f*****g around on Katie when he did it as part of his job.

That last contract was a lucrative one, having to take a man from a prison term for manslaughter upto owning a franchise of a fastfood chain. Fixing a relationship with two sons and their mother. The normal half a percent wasn’t the draw, the triple upfront pay from BY was. It was more than enough to pay off his mortgage, to a home he now lived alone in.

The Jackson job was a cakewalk, with a low expected yearly making his half a percent a joke and there was no special bonus upfront. Before he would have refused the job without a second thought but now his life had changed and the forced post-SVTP six months holiday burned. Day after day of seeking a way out of the loneliness; online dating, calling up nearly forgotten friends, trying to get a temporary job to hold him over till he could pilot again. The seven year job had left his own life barren and another the same length would likely see it to conclusion. The conscious-less body of a pilot during a SVTP ages slower than normal, thanks to the care BY take of the husk that along with no chance of wrinkling the skin with emotions or sun light. The body was as well cared for as a priceless artifact in a museum though it did still weaken. Even a short job would see him to the edge of sixty.

The Jackson job was indeed easy and he had offered himself for it, but he wasn’t going to fulfill it. Not entirely; he would get the girl, he might even get the qualifications for the job but he wasn’t going to had it all back over. This time what he built he was going to keep.     

The operation team had gotten their signature making sure nothing could be pinned on them if they were to scrabble the kid's brain and now was time for the face to face with pilot and vehicle, though it was unprofessional to use those terms in front of the vehicle.

“Hello Dan.”

“Hi.” Pilots used these meetings as a way of seeing how the clients responded, the wrong name greeting was always a winner. Some would bring it up and joke around with the ‘slip of the tongue’ some would be angered by it, or even begin to dismiss the pilot for not doing the research they should have. Donald's response of having no response was one of the harder reactions to read. It could be extreme shyness wanting to keep as far away from any awkwardness and conflict of any kind or it could he poor hearing. Norman hoped for the former since he was going to have to spend the rest of his life listening through those ears.  

“Did the others tell you anything about this?” Norman knew they hadn't, like everything else with this test it wasn’t the answers that were important.

“Nah.” Monosyllabic.

“That’s fine. This is just so I can get a few answers, nothing big, favorite color sort of stuff.”

“That’s fine...” Repeating words of the person he’s talking to and trailing off.

“Glad to hear, let's start with that one then; Favorite color?”

“Bl… blue.” A stutter?

“Mine too.” It wasn’t but pretending to have a bond helped with the SVTP.

“What do you do with your spare time?”

“Hang out with friends and stuff.”  A generic answer obviously veiling the truth.

“By the end of today I’m going to have to pretend to be you.” Norman purposely ended the sentence open seeing how Donald would start it up again.

“And?” Another one word response.

“‘And’ I need to pass for you. The one person you shouldn’t lie to is me.” To make sure the switch works out BY always carried out surveillance on prospective clients. If anyone bothered to read the dozens of pages of small print they might object, “Everyone knows about BEyond YOU, that makes my job harder. If I get things wrong the people in your life will work out that you came to us and then I can’t do my job and fix your life. Do you understand?”

“Yeah.”

“Free time?”

“Watching TV and playing video games. Couple of times a week I go over to Scott’s house after school.” Don’s eyes looked down at his hands on the table top.

“Anything else?”

“No.”

“Good. Those are the answers I need.” He pretended to look through his papers, even though he made up the questions as he went. He decided to pull out a special one, “What would you do if archaeologists discovered Atlantis?”

“Wha… I would… I don’t… ” Donald stopped even trying to talk and just looked Norman in the eyes for the first time.

“It’s OK if you haven’t got an answer.” Norman loved this one, stupid meaningless and impossible to prepare for. It was a great way to see an example of how the vehicle deals with confusion and shock. You couldn't simply ask how they deal with befuddlement. Better to simply befuddle.

The ‘test’ went on for another few minutes and then it was time for the Self Vector Transition Procedure.

Donald was laying on the operation table, the ceiling above had projected images of a room, blueprints and photos. Quite large, one exit door with a large curved window the other side. Empty save for an old television, simple bed and a single wardrobe. After anesthetic administers both orally then via a vein Donald was out and there SVTP could begin.  

Norman watched on as the vehicle’s body was covered in dozens of sensors. Knowing that if successful his body was going to be left in a similar state for awhile. The idea of running off on a contract had been around but only as a myth. If there were guidelines on what to do with the pilot's remains they never let people like him see them.  

Against a black sky Donald saw an ocean, the ocean became a river, the river became a floating cube of water, then the cube started to hollow. A void forming at the center and expanding outwards until reaching the outer layer at which point it solidified into wood, mortar, paste, paper, metal and all the other elements a room is made out of he saw it in tiny details and then realized he wasn’t just a perspective but was actually in the space. He was now in the room, the room from the pictures on the ceiling, the room that would be his home for the next two years.

The window across from the door wasn’t a window at all, it was in fact the back of his eye. Slightly curved and when he blinked the room was shot into a moment of darkness. Donald watched as Norman controlled his body, there was obvious pain just in the time taken to sit up in the bed. Norman rose the arms up flexing the fingers  the sight of his stolen limbs moving without his say so  rattled Donald enough that he took to mimicking the movements. Even though it was a complete reversal of the normal way the impulses, nerves and muscles work it still felt better than watching motionless.

The pain of watching someone else move his limbs was a prelude to the other subtle horrors he would witness.

Donald had managed to hide the four days needed for the procedure from his parents by pretending there was a trip with school friends to a camping site. This left Norman with just a few days to test ride the body. Hearing and seeing samples is one thing but no pilot would ever pretend to know how to be someone without first jumping into them. Some people’s gates were crafted over a lifetime to get around joint pain. Some people’s mouths dry out quicker than normal. Some people get pain in their jaw if them chew gum.

How a person seems from the outside is often a mix of issues they have and workarounds they didn’t even realize they had developed.

Exciting New Partnerships

The old Television inside the room worked, or would if it was plugged in. Donald had seen large microwave shaped TVs before but only being shown on flat, wide style ones. Setting it up, fiddling with the dials and the rabbit ear antenna took days to get right and his reward was a mess of half remembered shows, movies and actual memories. One of the memories was of a dog his family had when he was young, he smiled and recalled a walk by a canal they once all took, the TV showed him a grainy black and white version of it. He saw his mother, he stopped smiling , then the image changed and changed again and again and he turned it off. Promising himself to never turn it on again.  

Nothing not already in his mind could be generated here.  It was feeding him back to himself. This realization made him happy for the window of his bodies eye. It was the only chance for new input, to save him from turning over the same limited thoughts.     

Norman returned as Donald to Donald’s family home, even with weeks of training before the procedure and afterwards he still hadn't quite gotten Donald’s speech inflections correct. The trick was to not be too consistent. Donald would sometimes drop the g at the end of ing sometimes would even put a k in there. The same word on different days could sound completely different.

Norman covered his shortcoming with the pretense of a cold. This was a common trick to mask a take over and one that worked a treat.

Donald watched through the eye as Norman took him to his school, talking with his friends, being funnier than he ever was with them. In just a few days expanding his group from an anemic number into something respectable.

Attempts by bullies to humiliate and denigrate were turned around on them and even those who seemed to revel in his misery became part of his social landscape.

This was far more than Doland asked for and even wanted. He was happy with a small group of friends, he just wanted a few more and a girlfriend.  

While irksome he wasn’t going to complain but in thinking of that he realized, he couldn’t complain, he had been left with no way to commune with the outside world.

In the months after Norman did everything required by the contract between BEyond YOU and Donald but also did things that were completely unrelated. Even though he would play the piano very well in  private he signed up for expensive entry level tuition. There he would mash and hit the wrong keys. With both the competent and pretense of incompetence Donald sat in his inner room miming along. The teacher, a Miss Simmons, was middle aged average height, carried herself with tall elegance.

Before each lesson Norman would spend a good while outside her house, watching the coming and goings.

He had not asked for musical training and felt uneasy every lesson day.   

The years passed and Norman did as he was supposed to and achieved high grades at A Level, made plans to attend a school of dentistry and most importantly of all entered into, maintained and deepened an exclusive relationship with Lisa Mollen. This led to a dental internship in Greenland and with an amazing oratory skills convinced Lisa to not marry him but follow him to Greenland.

Donald had never mentioned moving to Greenland as an ambition and also saw that the weekly reports to BY made no mention of either of these events. Not only was Norman planning to steal his life, he already had. A panic took him over for the first time since entering the room he felt claustrophobic.  

Tightening his hands as small as they would go he hurl them repeatedly at the eye window, beat after beat, he hoped it hurt Norman even half as much as it did his hands. Increased blinking sending the room into the dark red of a closed eyelid was proof he was having some effect but not enough. Exhausted and with fingers unwilling to remain curled up he slumped back against the eye. Then looked right at the door, before the procedure he was told that door was dangerous, that it was a safety measure if all else fails.

It needed a key that was in a frame on the wall, he stood on the bed took down the frame and removed the key, used it, beyond the door was a ocean of bright sinew bridges of seemingly infinite length gutting outwards at normally unseen angles, they moved, rotated, rubbed against one another some even collided to rubble. A storm of water, lighting and rope swirled above it all.

He slammed the door, unwilling to see anymore of himself.

Norman’s plan went of without a hitch, a final report was sent off from his home PC then on the smartphone he bought second hand off of a friend he finalized the light tickets and travel to the airport.

Seven years into the two year contract Norman had married

Lisa and only practiced as a dentist in between other jobs. He was careful, changing his surname to Jopson, being highly selective of people he spent time with. He knew just how much was at risk, Lisa however didn’t, she would often ignore his pleas and would complain about the incorrect spelling on documents and this was enough. A digital trail leading BY directly to them.

They decided to take Norman after he stopped to get some things from a convenience store after work, the poorly lit car park minimized chance of eye witnesses and right before the take they sprayed the lens of the cameras with black paint. Not subtle but also not something that would be spotted till morning.

Donald had to wait many tortuous hours before Norman opened his eyes. Spotlights blasted him to a squint.

“Who are you?” The voice came from between the two center spotlights.

“Donald Jopson.”

“Oh, my mistake… we were looking for Donald Jackson, well, actually Norman Kent. It’s complicated.”

“I am Donald Jackson.”    

“Tell me your name.”

“Donald Jackson.”

“Tell me your name!”

“I’m Donald Jackson.” Norman had to believe the lie, it was his only chance.

“Hi in there.” Speaking past Norman the man moved closer, out of the glare he looked like a textbook middle manager. He bent over and looked directly through the window, “Sorry about all this. I don’t enjoy being lied to, so I’ll talk directly to you- I know you can’t talk back but that doesn’t matter.” He cleared his throat, “WE at Beyond You are very sorry for the breach of contract that one of our life fixers perpetrated against you. We take these things very seriously and he will be reprimanded… we’re going to kill him. So, you get justice, know that. Unfortunately we can’t be convinced of your discretion and as such you will also have to die, we’ll do this in the most painless and clean way possible. Norman will be flushed out and a new pilo- life fixer will take over, this is the point where you stop existing as well, after that he will live out a year or two of your until we put his mind back in its rightful body and fake your death. Lisa will get a lump sum and everyone’s happy.”   

“You’re gonna be the one to die!” Norman spat.

“No… I… I just explained. I said it was to Donald but since you were right there-”

“Smug prick!”  

“Whatever.” That man stood, looked to someone out of sight, “Get our men in there and yet these two out.”

Held down by thick buckled straps Norman could do nothing but scream an ever more pathetic plea as he succumb to the anesthesia.

Donald was in near darkness as loud pops came from behind the door, he resisted looking until they intensified to the point where they were a constant rumble. On oping he saw the same pale pink threads of sinew, crumbling bridges but the mass of clouds were now shown to be projections on a ceiling thanks to the many still burning holes that had been blasted into it. Ropes dangling down and a small rapelling down. Donald took a few shaky steps into his mind. The floor was an island of slate. Like one of the many craggy towers that rose high into the air much like the bridges.

“Oh God!?” Donald said somehow staying on his feet.

“It isn’t as bad as it looks.” The voice was from somewhere behind him, it was Norman, “I can save us both.”

exciting opportunities

“Go to hell you arsehole!” This Donald hadn’t aged, at least not ’physically’, to Norman it was as if talking to the early reflections of this contract.

“Look at this place, pretty much there already.” Norman spoke as softly as he could.

“You stole my life!”

“That out there isn’t your life, I made it.”

“I’ll hand you over to them!” The storm intensified, the rain, rope and dog leashed pleted the sinew and architecture.

“This weather proves you know that won’t work. We can beat them, this is all about PR. This is all about public image you could leave a trail to… what I did as an employee of Beyond You. Sit die, it once they need your body alive they need to fight in your mind and this, this is you.”

“So?”

“I can help you control this, the sea… the rain. You could make this whatever you want it to be, chance the battlefield around their feet.”

“After that?”

“You put me back in charge, I’ll kill that b*****d out there then carry out a SVTP putting me in his body and you will be left with this one.”

“That easy?”

“No. It’ll be a lot of work, but what else do we do? they have a army in here.” He took out a pair of binoculars and scouted the intruders.

“Where’d you get that?” Donald said.

“These? They’re standard stuff when piloting.” He realized just how confusing this would be to someone who hadn’t lived with it for a decade and decided to explain i from starters, “Before I was put under and… put in your head I made sure to visualize a rucksack full of tools, so when I manifested in here they were with me.” He pocketed the binoculars and stood, “I could only control who I was when I entered here, the tools were part of that but since this is your mind you can do that whenever you want.”

“I want to do it now, I want you all gone.”

“With training… if we had enough time this mess could be made into anything but at some point BY will jump to a fake accidental death.”

“What?”

“I’m saying we have time to get you to manipulate all this s**t, not to replace it with order.”     

They agreed the entrance to the room would be a point of interest to the invaders and so traveled through the dull grey shale mountains, as here like everywhere else in place of water was strings of human sinew. Of all the minds Norman had traversed this was the least ordered. Confronting Donald about it would only cause a setback in his plans, instead he tried to ignore it; the dead eyeless baby birds that strewn on the floor, the giant skeleton arms reaching out of the sinew, he moved passed them all. As they went he trained Donald on the basics of meditation, on controlled breathing and on its importance even when there was no real air.

They had destination simply the need to be far from the invaders, they would stop every few hours for practice. Donald being tasked with moving things around them, for two whole days he failed on the third he managed to control the tide of the sinew.

Under better circumstances it would have been a start, here and now it was going to have to be enough.   

Out of the box

Norman and Donald looped back towards the invading force, the trek was hastened thanks to Donald’s control of the tides. What would have been insurmountable mountains were pulled down into the paleness to be stepping stones.

Anytime the two came across the opposing force the landscape would be recrafted pushing the attackers towards a single location.  

After hours of this the job was done, Donald was tired his head throbbing but all the BY staff were on an island of debris held together by the force of the sinew. They were trapped. Norman requested a tower to observe from to be safe from gun fire. Standing out among the armour and guns was a man dressed much like Norman.

“See the guy there without a helmet.” Norman pointed.

“Yeah.”

“That’s my replacement. Was all them all away and we can search for an exit.”

“I… I’m not going to kill them.”

“Don’t worry. They aren't really here, you can’t kill them. If they die they'll just become… like one of your faded memories. They came to kill you, really kill you. They deserve it.”

“But--”

“Just make sure to not lose track of the new pilot’s bag. In there should be an exit line. I had to use mine gettin’ down here.”

“I don’t wanna kill them.”

“Them or you.”

“Thou--”

“You will never see Lisa again! They will fake your death and she will never know what really happened!”

“Please.” Donald whimpered. Above the sky projected onto the broken ceiling dimmed to an onyx black, waves of light grey flashing across it.

“Kill them!” Norman

The light gray mass the invaders on was revealed to be a spike as the sinew rolled itself into a vortex revealing more of the structures.  

The flashing monotone of the ceiling intensified and then the void of the sinew filled in large heavily crashes, one after another the invaders were dashed from the spire till at the very end the only one left was the second pilot.  

“Now him, end it!” Norman grabbed Donald tightly on the shoulder.

“Not yet.” With that he rose the spire equal to his own perch, “What are you doing?”

The pilot’s fingers were dug into the crags at the peak of the spike. Trembling he replied, “I was told to come here, replace him.” With both hands busy clutching all he could do was nod over to Norman.

“And me? What about me?”

“I wasn’t going to do anything to you, I swear!”

Norman moved in front of Donald before he could respond.

“And that is as good as killing you. Replacing me and letting them pull him out and fake your death. Your self would have lost.”

“Move out my way.” After a pause Norman did, “I believe you, I’ll let you go if you tell me what the guy out there is planning.”

“I can’t! Plea--” The pilot was silenced by a wave of sinew crashing inches away from him, “Ahh! Fine fine fine, the plan if for me to replace him take over, then go home--”

“Home?”

“To your home… as you.”

“Before that?”

“What!?”

“How would he know it isn’t just Norman back in control?”

“He’d know.”

“Is there a password?” The question was accompanied by strings of lighting and thunder.

“You promise to let me back in my own body!?”

“If you tell me the password I’ll treat you like Norman.”

Norman for the first time addressed his peer, “This is the best you can hope for, tell him.”

“‘Weekend’ I say that and he knows it's done.”

“Thank you” As he said it Donald released control of the sinew around the spire sending it tumbling down, the sinew enveloped the sire and the pilot in an instant.

“The bag!” Norman shouted.

“I know.” Gently he lowered the mountain they were on till it was just above the sinew. The bag held aloft on a hardened mass, “So how do we escape?”

“Easy.” Norman said as he steadfastly strode across and grabbed the gab, flipping it open and looking inside, “Those holes they blew in the sky.” He pointed up “We go up there and there will be a mass of pipes, one of us plugs that across our face and that’s it we are in control of the body.”

“I didn’t lie to him.”

“Who?”

“The second fixer, I treated him like I’ll treat you.” The sinew softened and Norman began to sink into it.

“Narrrr!” He screamed and clawed at the almost liquid around him, “You can’t do this, you're not a killer!”  

“A few days ago… but now you're one of a dozen.”

“Please, please don’t!” He was waist deep in the pink mess, “I can still help you… let me be a voice in your ear… let me help you.”

“No.” Donald watched unblinkingly.

“I made that life, you don't know it. It will all fall apart without me.” It was touching his chin.

“Maybe, but I would rather fail myself than watch on as others succeed in my place.”

A moment later Norman was completely taken by the sea. Only the bag was left in his place.