Ben did not do much when he got home last night, as he was extremely exhausted from what has transpired and what will occur in his future. As a result, the night and the next morning was relatively uneventful. He promptly went to work, arriving at the agency's lab directed by Matt's instructions. Upon arrival, he is greeted by Matt, who has a more traditional lab attire on.
"Good morning, Ben. Would you like some refreshments?" Matt said, gesturing at a small coffee table filled with cookies and doughnuts. "We would always purchase quite a handful to start our days. And today would be a long day for the both of us."
"Thanks, but I already ate breakfast this morning. I'm not that hungry right now."
"Oh, is that so? Well, it's good that you are one step ahead. Let me grab a quick bite, and then I'll show you around."
As Matt grabs a glazed donut and some coffee, Ben looks around the lab facility. This is his first time in the lab, as employees who don't have business here are not allowed to enter. Surprisingly, it looks like any standard laboratory, although some of the equipment looks more sophisticated. Given the stories and project announcements he has heard, Ben expected more interesting setups.
Matt quickly finishes his meal, and ushers Ben toward a small room in the back corner of the lab. Once Matt turns on the lights, Ben sees a large machine that looks like an MRI machine, as well as lab benches filled in various bottles of reagents and tools. Matt exclaims as he points to the machine, "So this big machine here will be used to extract and replace your consciousness, where it will be stored in these nanoparticles here." Matt shows Ben the nanoparticles in a bottle. Because the particles are very small, Ben could hardly see them, only barely making out their color, which is a gold hue. Matt continues to explain, "The machine will dispense the encoded coDNA here, and a lab technician will properly encapsulate it in these nanoparticles. After running a few tests, the nanoparticles will be inserted into a 'surrogate subject', where it serves as your preliminary step before hijacking. That will be conducted on the surgical bed here. Meanwhile, your body will be transferred into a stasis chamber next door, where it will be maintained until your return."
"What do you mean by 'surrogate subject'?"
"Ah yes. I guess I forgot to explain this yesterday. When your consciousness is first transferred to these nanoparticles, they have to undergo a 'priming step' to reach their fully functional state. The 'surrogate subjects', from previously deceased subjects, contain the necessary mechanisms to prime the sensors, coDNA processes, and metabolic functions for future hijacking and transference. The previously deceased subjects were actually our first human test subjects for this project. They were terminally ill, so they were more accepting of undergoing tests such as these. While some survived to give us feedback, some didn't make it back, and we were given consent to modify the body for research purposes should this happen, which we did to install those priming mechanisms I mentioned before. So yes, 'surrogate subjects' are not ideal bodies to inhabit, but you would only need to be in them for an hour before transferring. Also, it allows you to pick a suitable first host in upcoming missions."
Ben nods during the explanation. While he cringes at the thought of using and modifying human subjects, the fact that they were terminally ill makes him feel a little better. As an investigator, he has vowed to bring peace and justice to everyone, as he has always liked to help people since a young age. While leaving subjects to die goes against his vow, he supposes that this is a necessary sacrifice for the project, and the drawbacks are at least not substantial.
"Let me check if Mr. Darcy has arrived at the lab. He is supposed to give you a briefing on your first mission."
Moments later, Mr. Darcy comes into the room. After an exchange of greeting, Mr. Darcy states, "Here is your first mission. Since we are just starting out, this will be a relatively easy one. Your objective is to scout and identify the personnel and location for their software department. We chose to start here because the software seems to be more involved in the cases. Unfortunately, we don't have much information of the company's infrastructure, so the scouting could be extensive. In the end, I want you to summarize information you have gathered as well as some of the company's employees who could serve as good "entry points" for our project. You are actually our first investigator in this step of our project, so you are essentially serving as our scout and guinea pig for our eventual infiltration. Understand everything from the mission to the workings of the nanoparticles?"
"Yes, I understand. Although I still have one more question. What happens if something malfunctions and I am stuck in nanoparticle form? I can't exactly do anything if I am stuck in that form."
Matt replies, "Good question. The nanoparticles emit a special wavelength that will constantly be in communication with our servers, so we can track your locations at all times. If we sense that you are in trouble, we will try to dispatch other investigators to retrieve you. However, depending on your location, it might take some time to reach there, so you might have to wait a while. We have tested the mechanisms many times, so the nanoparticles should work with great consistency. The main thing is just making sure transference is successful. Any other questions?"
Ben only shakes his head. He supposes that this will be all the information he can work with right now. He would figure about the rest as time goes on.
"Ok then. Will you be ready to conduct the transference to nanoparticles today? Once you are transferred, we won't be able to return you for several days or even several weeks." Receiving a yes from Ben, who mentally prepared himself for this last night. He lives alone, so he didn't need to speak to anyone about his mysterious disappearance during this process.
"Got it. Let's get you settled on the machine. We should get you changed into a hospital gown first."
Mr. Darcy makes his way out of the room. As he is leaving, he says, "Well good luck, Ben. Remember that we will always be assisting you in our facility. I'll catch you later!"
Once Mr. Darcy left the room, Ben quickly gets changed. He then lays himself on the bed of the big machine as Matt begins setting up the machine settings. After seeing Ben all settled, Matt covers him with a blanket and injects anesthesia into his arm. "Alright Ben, I'm putting you to deep twilight sleep now. When you wake up, you will feel disoriented, but don't freak out and just let yourself calm down as you regain your senses.
Ben slowly nods as he felt himself slowly sedated as the procedure continues...