Closed Eyes

[bzarcher]

I haven’t actually opened my eyes in three years.The nanotech put screens over my corneas and plugged them into my optic nerves. Grew some jacks at the base of my neck. Routed a power cell into my stomach cavity. It hurts like a bitch for the first few days. That’s why they keep you as sedated as they can. But once it’s done…I can’t even describe it. You can’t, unless you’re talking to someone who’s been through it.

I was dreaming about this before it happened, and I woke up to something beyond what I was dreaming. I can move through data as fast as I can think about it, and see in spectra they don’t have names for, yet. I can switch the rig to detect fiber optic lines and watch this entire city become a burning web of gossamer as the data pulses out. I can see satellite transmissions cascading down to ground. I can switch to millimeter wave and see every piece of alloy, composite, or ceramic for twenty miles, and know what each one is.

I haven’t opened my eyes, because I don’t need them, anymore. You’d never think about having it done, or you wouldn’t have had to ask me what it’s like. You’d be in a clinic, and you’d see for yourself.