NLI-10 by Lee Isserow Page A

itself in with 'unemployed'.
    “Why are you here?” she asked Leah. “You've never talked about why... you know, how you're a devout Catholic and yet you're in a medical trial... isn't that against the rules?”
Leah didn't respond. Her body was becoming overwhelmed with emotion, and before Sarah could leave her seat to comfort her, tears were already flowing. The others stopped firing questions back and forth to join Leah in her chair, attempting to help stop her tears.
    “My father...” she snivelled. “He has a genetic disorder... but the only doctor that will treat him is in America, and... it's so expensive... this was the only way I could get the money...”
The group put arms around her, stroked her hair, told her she had nothing to cry about, and that she was doing a good thing. Rob told her God would understand, that she was willing to sacrifice herself for the good of her father. She took solace in that, and hugged him, whilst everyone else tried to ignore that their profile for Leah was updating with all the information she had just given them.
    Whark watched the display of emotions and was unphased, waiting for a suitable amount of time to pass before ordering the group back in their seats to continue the day's work.
    The rest of the morning was spent testing out the basic apps built into the OS.  Next they were given a series of ten objects to remember. They were shown them for ten seconds and made to write down a list, which most of the group were accurate at recalling. The objects were brought back with a further five, then another ten, then twenty, at which point all of them were forgetting even the first ones. 
    “In the grid you'll see a menu for peripheral apps. Amongst them is a 'notes' option.” said Whark, waiting a moment for them all to find it before bringing the thirty items out again.
The group looked at the objects and the note-taking app filled with words as they thought about them. She had the objects taken away, and waited a minute before instructing the group to write them down, this time they were all correct.
    “Well done.” said Whark. “That's enough for today, let's get you all some well-earned rest.”
    She left the room before the group could respond, the Balderlies waiting at the door to march them through to the mess hall for lunch, before taking them back to the living quarters.
    As they lay in bed, the lights dimming around them, each of them had yet more questions burning in the back of their minds.
    “What do you think the applications of this are?” Rob asked.
    “Think about what Hololens and Magic Leap are used for, then take away the need for hardware...” said Micah.
    “Games, recreation, medical, therapeutic, military, the list goes on... said Alex, half-asleep.
None of them liked that 'military' sat amongst her suggestions, but all of them were too exhausted to say so. The conversation died, and they all passed out. The operating system's user interface still hung in their mind's eye, even in sleep. Infiltrating their dreams, analysing data as their conscious minds lay fallow, filling with more content as the room tones hummed and whirred through the night.

7
     
     
    APEX PROJECT AP_NLI-10
    Marion Whark Daily Report #21
 
    Subjects continue to act and respond favourably as the functions of the OS are explored and tested.
    Closed tests will be carried out for the forthcoming week, with a live fire scheduled for day 28.
Bearing in mind that we are already beyond observed breaking points of the early trials, I am confident that the staggered installation of the NeuroLoader Infrastructure has contributed to the patients' continuing stable mental health. That said, we are monitoring subjects closely in case of outliers, but all parameters appear to be within acceptable levels at time of reporting.
    Side effects continue to be minimal to none. After the findings of the 09 trial, addition of peripheral applications are being staggered, as was installation,