skonen_blades: (borg)
skonen_blades ([personal profile] skonen_blades) wrote2008-03-21 04:49 pm

Scanners

Scientific experiments have proven that a person’s perception of time does indeed slow down when that person is involved in a near-death experience.

The threatened person’s body is flooded with adrenalin. The synapses fire at over six times their regular rate. Visual stimuli is examined in detail.

All of the senses are channeled through the cerebellum and catalogued for a way out, any way out, some way to survive. A side effect of this is excellent data recording and recall.

The channel scanner management took this data and applied it to their workers. The pay was great. The scanners themselves usually didn’t last very long. In most cases, the money they made was left to their next of kin. They sacrificed their lives to give some much-needed money to their families.

A scanner was hired, put into their chair, and told to look at the bank of television sets in front of him or her. The data would spool forth on all of the television screens at once. Every monitor would flare to life, sound on, channels changing randomly.

It was an influx of data from the universe.

We were far from the only world with television. Every since the first received broadcast in 2033, the others started pouring in. Apparently, our rate of development is normal and common. There are thousands of us sprinkled throughout the galaxy and we all discovered technology at roughly similar moments. We started receiving alien broadcasts close to the same time as our broadcasts reached the nearest systems.

We’ve started receiving broadcasts from older civilizations, farther away. There were tens, then hundreds, and by the end of this year, probably millions.

Like rocks thrown into a pool, the ripples are meeting.

They’re too far away to have a two-way conversation with but we can watch their shows.

They have scientific breakthroughs that we don’t. The scanner division scans their television stations for breakthroughs in weaponry or medical science.

The needles sink into the back of the scanner’s neck and the restraints snap into place. The eyes are forced open and the scanner is sent into a mode of Deep Terror. The most mind-numbing fear that it’s possible for a human to experience is funneled into the scanner through the drips. A complex array of drugs and surgical additions keep the heart from exploding or the lungs from collapsing. Going into shock or passing out from shallow breathing is prevented.

Scanners generally last about eight weeks.

Their terrified whispers are recorded as their eyes dart from screen to screen, taking in information as fast as possible.

We get about six valuable ideas a year and once in a while, a serious society-changing breakthrough. We can only imagine that the other races on far-away planets are doing the exact same thing we are. It’s a race.



tags

[identity profile] cupofpoison.livejournal.com 2008-03-22 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
This is chilling. Perhaps the most chilling part is that ending. I love that; so much like the arms race during the cold war. And believable because it's a bit off-kilter. Sooner or later one of these executives is going to realize that it's cheaper and safer to record everything. Stockrooms and warehouses will be filled to the brim with footage waiting to be archived. They will evolve powerful super computers to sift through the material at lightning quick rates. No one will remember these early sacrifices... maybe a historian somewhere, maybe a statue of a scanner will be built in one of the large metropolises, or maybe there will be one global metropolis, and maybe it will be a virtual memorial, and...

what I mean to say is, very imaginable story fraught with possibilities and wonderful images!

[identity profile] skonen-blades.livejournal.com 2008-03-22 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
Right on. Thank you. I knew that readers would be like "Why don't they just use a computer?" but I think that only humans would be able to recognize something of importance in the images. Perhaps that's a little egotistical of me. Computers could totally narrow it down, I guess. But the shows would be so alien, y'know?

But yeah. I like your future where these primitive practices are looked back on with a tsk and a head shake but not much else. I'm also picturing a giant warehouse like the one at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark filled with data tapes of shows from the universe with a possible Holy Grail lurking somewhere deep in one of the tapes. Cheers.

[identity profile] cupofpoison.livejournal.com 2008-03-22 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, and there's always that bit of time between when people discover something and when the necessary technology is developed to further investigate. My trouble with a lot of sci fi and other such stuff is that people don't take that into account. So it was particularly awesome to see that here. For me, transitional phases are more fascinating anyway. So much room for imagination because it opens the doors to different possibilities. So, kudos!

Also, just wanted to let you know that I've replied to your comments over in my page. Sorry it took so long, but I like to think about what's said before answering. Your thoughts are really appreciated! :)

[identity profile] skonen-blades.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. It's also a little bit of the "humans can do it better than a computer!" standpoint that takes a while to erode. Even after it becomes economically feasible to use machines, it takes a while for humans to be factored out, even for something as obviously inhumane as this. I like that you've pegged it as a transitional phase. That wasn't what I had in mind when I was writing it but you're totally right.

Take all the time you need. I'm looking forward to reading them. : )

[identity profile] cupofpoison.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
Ooh, if you're still interested in doing that writing group with me, I started a tentative account here: http://community.livejournal.com/pencildowns/

Let me know what you think!

[identity profile] skonen-blades.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
Sure thing. I've been talking to my friend about it but he's sort of hemming and hawing. He has his issues with this sort of thing that are opaque to me.

I'd be proud to be a part of it. I'd basically just be posting whatever I write here but I think it's a stellar idea.

Good name, too! Pencildowns. I love it.
Edited 2008-03-23 02:11 (UTC)

[identity profile] skonen-blades.livejournal.com 2008-03-23 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
Great quote by little miss Plath there as well. Very true.