To the beloved teachers and students of News, Media and Technology eTwinning Project Team....
chapter 1
By Tarsus Sesim Sarpkaya Science High School/İnsel Olcaytu
Rümeysa Rana C. Ahmet Tuna Ü.
Burak B. Deniz Y.
Emine Ş. Emre Ç.
Hasan Y. Tuğba G.
Tuna Utku K. Yağmur Ceylin K.
Yasemin K.
Cover image by Gimnazija Bjelovar: Lucija P., Ljubica R., Lovro Ž.
It was a windy autumn morning, the chirping of the birds, the quiet streets, the sound of the wind, and the scent of November were like a peaceful melody. That’s why, Doc decided to walk to the university. In about twenty minutes, he arrived in the campus. The cat, which Doc started to feed when she was young, was waiting for her food there, he gave her the hot dog bun. While she was eating with appetite, Doc headed to his lab.
In the afternoon, he left the lab and went to the cemetry because of the death anniversary of his family. Doc was very sad when he recalled the old days with his family. They were a big family.
He had one sister and two brothers. Doc’s father had a book store but in time, his work got worse and worse and Doc’s dad went bankrupt. Because of the debts, his father got depressed and he was not able to work anymore. His mother was a house wife but then she started to work as a waitress and Doc and his siblings began to work to support their family. Doc’s brothers, Jonas and Michael were delivering newspapers, His sister and Doc were helping to Mr. Franklin in the bakery shop. His sister Sarah was the joy of their family and she had an angel-like heart. Mr. Franklin did not treat them well, he always insulted them and he was never satisfied with the work which they did for him with great effort.
After they finished the work at the baker’s, another challange used to start. The weather was usually cloudy or rainy in their town.
However, the problem was not just that gloomy atmosphere of their town. The real problem, of course, was the bullies. In fact, there was a bully gang that really hurt him. The head of the gang was called the Ruthless Jack. He was very cruel whenever he walked through the alley of his house, he knew that a painful beating awaited him. But maybe he would agree to be beaten for the rest of his life to prevent the unfortunate incident that happened on that unfortunate day. On that day, Sarah and Doc came home later than their brothers.
As they approached the house, they heard a big noise. They saw that two men were shooting their brothers who were trying to run away and their parents were still on the ground. Sarah and Doc began to run but while running, they shot Sarah and Doc. Sarah fell on Doc. Sarah died and Doc woke up in the hospital. Then, he found himself in the orphanage... And he made a promise to himself that he would not die until he put and end to the evil in the world. Doc was a very hardworking, ambitious, compassionate and sensitive student and he studied harder and harder and he became a successful scientist.
At last, he came very close to achieve his dream that is to exterminate the evil in the souls of people. The only way to make his dreams come true was his last invention. Doc was surprised when he noticed how long he spent time in the cemetry with his miserable memories. He got in his car and went home. Because he had a terrible headache, he went to bed immediately. He had been trying to sleep but all the things about his invention did not let him fall a sleep. He completed this wonderful chip that he had been secretly working on for 9 months.
He was sure thas chip would solve everything. Doc was striving to bring peace and well-being to the world so he had to find a guinea pig for the chip he prepared for this purpose. He hoped that he would be able to find a guinea pig at the university until the end of the holiday. The following day, Doc woke up feeling exhausted because of the memories of his family. He headed to the university. As he turned the corner, he saw Judith - a student from his classes - helping a cat which was on the tree. A few days ago, he saw her quarreling with someone on the bus. It was clear that Judith started that nonsense fight.
At that moment he noticed that Judith's good and bad sides in terms of her personality. He began to observe her during his classes and he asked himself ‘who could be the guinea pig?
CHAPTER II
Ayşe ÖZDEMİR/ Balıkesir Şehit Turgut Solak Science High School
Ahmet Arda K. Altan B.
Aleyna B. Ecem Su K.
Ali Deniz K. Emirhan B.
Asım A. Meral S.
Cover image by Gimnazija Bjelovar: Nika Ž., Josipa C.
3.5 months have passed. He was unhappy before taking a course in technical neurology.
He was still afraid that he would not find someone, which he thought was never true-even using himself as a guinea pig began to become a place in his mind, and now this situation has caused him to start blaming himself, after all, 3.5 months have passed and he still has not found a guinea pig, but he also knew he was not the only culprit, with no student showing any signs of interest.
After all, he began to think that this project was impossible, with one last hope, he was trying to prepare a great presentation for a course in technical neurology, perhaps because this course is about the brain and its functions. He could talk about the chip and find a volunteer. After working about 5-6 hours on this presentation and the subject of influencing someone, he was ready to enter the lesson, prepared notes for himself before entering the lesson, and tried to fit these notes.
It’s time for the course. He found a tactic in his own way, and as the students were bored, he decided to say that he had such a chip and was looking for guinea pig. He did as he thought in class, and when the students were bored, he brought up the subject, asking those interested to raise their hands, a girl named Judith raised a finger, but upset that she had only volunteered for a moment, there was the joy of finding at least one volunteer. Doc asked her to come to her room 15 minutes after class ended. He really thought he'd finally found it. Judith really took care of it.
Doc thought about the possibility that Judith would be afraid of risks until she arrived, and finally decided to take advice from a close friend and he called his close friend by phone. His friend said he should tell a risk of this experiment to Judith and eventually he can find guinea pig, but Doc doesn’t think so because 3,5 months passed in university, but he found guinea pig now. Doc gets excited in an instant because of Judith is knocking the door at the moment and doc start hovering around in his room.
Doc thinking about to tell risks to Judith at the moment and Judith knock the door again, he opened door this time. After greetings Doc invited Judith to his room. He decides not to tell the risk to Judith. And they started to talk. Judith asked what the effect of the chip would be, and Doc told her that it would erase evil from the world. This time, Doc asked her what she was like, because he had to be both good and bad to see the effect of the chip, and Judith answered: “I am normal, I am not bad but not good”.
Doc really decided he had the right person. Doc offered to insert the chip right now. Judith said: "Right now?". Doc told to Judith that it would take 2 or 3 minutes to place the chip and not place it in a deep place. Then they started walking to the infirmary. After arriving at the infirmary, Doc began preparing equipment. After a five-minute process, the chip was now integrated into Judith.
CHAPTER III
ÇAYCUMA TSO SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL, by
Dilek PAMİR
Harun Melih E. Rumeysa B.
Zeynep Diğdem A. İrem G.
Göktuğ E. Sena Tuanna Ç.
Berat Y.
Cover image by Gimnazija Bjelovar: Larisa J.
Professor Doc was spending most of his time working in the laboratory after he finished his lectures at the university. He was doing a lot of researches about the brain. He didn’t have many friends and he was an asocial person. After he had lost his family he was offended to the life and the people. Some people were very bad and they were affecting the good people’s lives. They were making this wonderful world a terrible place to live but this wouldn’t go on like that. He was very decisive that the evil will come up to an end when the chip in Judith’s brain succeded. Everything would be perfect and evil would be prevented by the help of this chip.
The same day he had wanted Judith to go to a hospital to learn the blood values after the chip was integrated into her brain. Judith had left home without having breakfast because she had to be hungry for the tests. She took the results from the doctor in the afternoon. She went to the laboratory where Doc was working and gave the results to him and left there immediately.
She was feeling very different after the brain chip. Her feelings were very complicated. She couldn’t understand what she was feeling exactly. She was very confused. She thought that it was maybe because of the chip. She had some problems at home. Her father was always arguing with her mum because he had some financial problems and he was generally nervous at home.
When she returned home she talked about the chip that the professor integrated into her brain. She said ‘I accepted this chip because I want evil to stop in the world and I want to help him make a peaceful and better world.’ They were having dinner and all family members were there, her father, mother and her little brother Timmy. Timmy said ‘Wow! What an interesting thing! I want a chip, too, Mum’. Only her family knew about the chip. Nobody knew about it.
The next day, she went to the campus in the morning. She met her friends as usual in the canteen. A student hit her severely while she was waiting in the queue to buy some meal. She got very angry with him and she wanted to say some insulting words but she couldn’t say any bad words.
She felt herself very different and strange. The chip had worked. She was very astonished. During the day she tried to say some bad words but she couldn’t say any. The chip was preventing her evil behaviours.
On Friday, two days before the Christmas, she went home after having an exam. She thought about the exam and she realised that she had done much better than normal in the exam although she wasn’t a brilliant student.
She set the table and there was chicken at meal. She wanted to eat something but her body didn’t give permission and her hands were locked. The chip not only made her hardworking but also made her vegetarian. Eating animals was an evil behaviour according to the coding of the chip. She went upstairs to her room and called professor Doc. They started a long conversation together…
CHAPTER 4
Çarşamba Science High School / Gonca Keskin
Sedef T. Halenur D.
Rana Ç. Zeynep B.
Esma Ç. Azra İ.
Edanur A. Sevgi T.
Arzu T.
Judith got up in the morning with a headache. Her alarm didn’t go off, moreover, she woke up later than she had expected. She was supposed to get up at 9, it was 10.13. She got up in a hurry to draw her curtains There was no fresh air in her room. Although it was slightly snowing, she opened her window and turned back to her bed. She had 2 hours left to get ready. She straightened her shoulders and began to tidy up her bed.
Today was Saturday, December 30th. She was going to meet her boyfriend, Mark and the day started 1-0, of course the 0 here was herself. They have known each other for 2-3 years,but they explained their feelings to each other in the last few months and Judith was actually feeling very excited. She had forgotten about the chip, that was in her head, and which would take over her life due to the excitement she had. The Professor hadn't told her about the effects, and Judith hadn't thought of asking him either .
She took a bath and had breakfast in a hurry to have breakfast just in an hour. Normally she was a very slow person, but when the issue was Mark couldn't stand still. During the next half an hour, she also dried her hair. She did not have to worry about what to wear as she had already decided it yesterday by struggling for 2 hours.
When she got ready to go out, Juswt as she was leaving home she came across her mother at the door . She had already told her mother about Mark , and even introduced them to each other. She gave a small kiss to his mother and left home.
CHAPTER 5
Nihal YILMAZ
Cumhurıyet Scıence Hıgh School
Beraat Efe CFl M Haktan CFL
Beste CFL M Metin CFL
Nazlı Hilal CFL Engin DEniz CFL
S Berra CFL Nehir CFL
Zeynep CFL Ceyla CFL
Since there were not many issues, Doc could start his other experiments again. He was proud of himself. How wouldn't he be? He found out the way to evilness and meaness. but sometimes he thinks about what he is doing. Is that the only way to stop the evilness and meaness?
He went to his office to have a coffee for his pleasure. As soon as he started enjoying his coffee, he heard his phone ringing. ''Here we go again'' he said. It was Judith's parents. he saw their names on his phone screen. He was getting nervous. What if something happened! What if the things didn't go as he planned!
He froze and started thinking what to do. As soon as he came back himself he realized it's been more than ten calls. He hesitated to call back first. Because he was scared about the things he could hear. But he was an emotional person. He couldn't ignore them.
Finally he prepared himself for a talk and ringed them back. As soon as he heard about what happened to Judith, he ran directly to his lab. It was definite that the chip messed Judith's body up.
He was feeling guilty about his experiment because he didn't really consider the side effects and the sensitive points that could harm an innocent young girl. He knew a few things but this wasn't enough for him to handle situation either. He started thinking about himself. What if he gets arrested and punished? Everyone knew that he was the person who created the chip and inject to her body.
He tried to find different causes fot this situation until the morning. He couldn't stay awake. He finally fell asleep at around 5 a.m. He could only find four causes at that period of time.
-Doc might have programmed the chip wrongly.
-The chip might affected from radiosional waves.
-The chip might have got hacked.
-Someone maybe sneaked in the lab and changed the chip. Maybe its aspired to do blackmail.
Later, he tried to reach Judith to talk about this four causes. He tried to reach her from different platforms but he couldn't reach her. He tried again and again... But he cant reach her.
Doc was going to freak out. He was feeling a heavy guilt on him. He couldn't know what happened to her and wasn't even sure if she alive or not.
The only choice to do was getting the clone chip and intergating to himself. He knew that it was risky for him too but there was a young girl in danger and it was just because of him. He started working on a clone chip.
CHAPTER 6
Ömer Faruk Genç
Kaya Karakaya Science High School
Elif Ceyda Berfin Zeynep Batın
Fatima Beyza Mehmet Elif B.
Efe Nisa Asel Eylül İkra
Cover image by Gimnazija Bjelovar: Karolina K.
After holiday, Judith returned to school and her exams would start. She rested along the holiday. She didn't answer the callings of the Professor and also was getting aggressive day by day. Volleyball tournaments would start before the exams and she was the captain of the team. She entered the sport hall and after a short time she started quarrelling with someone for any reason. And at the end she was rejected by the team. While quarrelling, something bumped into her head but she didn't give a reaction. And then she returned home angrily and also she picked quarrel at home. Despite the beats, she didn't feel anything. Her nervous system was changing day by day and she wasn't aware of this change. And this change was changing her life entirely.
Judith began to become insensitive to the phobias she had over time. Normally scared even when climbing the stairs, Judith no longer felt anything even while climbing the highest places. When she looked out of the plane while on vacation in the summer, she realized that she was no longer afraid. Judith started to lose her feelings as she started to lose her fears.She started to lose her human feelings such as love, respect and fear towards anyone.She did not want to see anyone, she was snapping at those who wanted to talk to her. All she did was study. Mark was starting to notice her change too.
Judith went to school for volleyball training.Everybody was waiting for Judith to come. Normally, Judith is punctual and she’s never late but she’s late today.When Judith came, the girls asked why you were late.Judith snapped.The girls understood her mood and they didn’t push forward her.When Judith was ready they were start training.Judith couldn’t stand even the minor mistake in training and she immediately got angry and started screaming.Girls knows she’s angry today so they tolerated this situations.But Judith crossed the line.Finally Judith said very bad words.The girls started to fight.The ball was last on Emily and she threw the ball at them to stop the fight. The ball hit Judith’s head severely.Suddenly the noise stopped and only the sound of the ball's bouncing was echoing on the court.Everybody was looking at Judith.Judith wasn’t reacting. Judith felt bad when everybody looked at her.She remembered the chip in her head and she said “I’m going to infirmary”.But she didn't go to the infirmary.
She went to the beach.Actually, she wanted to be calm but she couldn’t because of the chip.Judith treated many people badly while going to the beach. Finally she sat on a bench in the park. While thinking deeply, her boyfriend came ,he noticed the swelling in her head and he asked “What happened to your head?”Judith started to mistreat him,too. She snapped him .Her boyfriend was surprised by this situations.About five minutes-he didn’t move and was silent. He looked at Judith with astonishment. Judith was bored with this strange situation and said “I’d better be alone for a while” and he left.
She had training again the next day.Went early in the morning and she learned that she was rejected from the team.On the way home”no matter what they do,their action is ridiculous”she was said.Finally she was in front of the house door.As if her anger was gone.but she realized she had dropped the key at that moment.She started to get angry again.Judith took a deep breath.She thought the keys dropped on the court.They were training when she went to the field and everybody was playing perfectly.Seeing that she was the problem made her more angry.She saw her key on the ground as she accelerated to disrupt their training.Angrily took the key and left the field.
Today, Judith's mom was working, so Judith was preparing food. She cut her hand while she was chopping vegetables. But she didn't feel pain only she was looking at blood flowing from her hand. While Judith was staring at the blood flowing from her hand, she was searching for a first aid kit. While she was wrapping her hand, Judith's mom and father came. Judith's Mom happily asked '' how are you Judith''. Judith's family asked Judith what happened at her hand. Judith was surprised. She only said she just cut her hand. Judith said "everybody can cut their hand while cooking". And asked her mother "Don't you ever cut your hand?". Her mother smiled and to calm down her answered “yes, I cut my hand,too”.
While Judith was talking to her mom, her father asked "Did you apply a burn cream". Judith again surprised because hadn't seen burns". But Judith said "I was looking for burn cream". Father smiled and said okay. Judith looked at her family but she didn't understand because Judith had forgotten to smile. Judith was feeling so strange. Judith quickly passed to her room. She looked in the mirror and wanted to smile. But she didn't. She got angry and punched the mirror. Mirror has been shattered. Her mom wondered about Judith and wanted to enter her room.Her door was locked. Judith again was wrapping her hand and slept.In the morning, Judith hoped to live a new and ordinary day.
Judith didn’t talk with anyone. She didn’t leave her room either. Her parents wanted her to eat something but she didn't accept. Judith forced herself to eat but she couldn't. She had no friend anymore. Her boyfriend left her,too. She felt awful. It shouldn't have been like this. Why did chip break, wasn't it for better people? So why was this happening? Or did she have a problem? She didn't know and these questions were disgusting. She was tired of them. These questions were tiring. So she didn't think about them anymore.She was scared at the same time because she didn't understand these events.Maybe its reason was a feeling which comes from the past. And this feeling saved her. It made her survive.And its reason wasn't important. It was 9 pm at night when she decided to go to the doctor tomorrow.She thought she should go to bed now.After all, tomorrow would be as exhausting as any day.
When she got up in the morning, she didn't go down to breakfast, she felt worse around them.Her relationship with the family was very bad, and it was getting worse day by day.But she couldn't prevent it, and she didn't want to prevent it getting worse.She really didn't even want to talk to them. No,she didn't hate his family,she didn't want to talk to them like teenagers since this chip was installed.She didn't want to listen to their scolding,their criticism.Their inability to understand her upset made her even more aggressive.She put all this aside and dressed up.And she threw his backpack on his back and came out.She walked to Doc's house.She knocked on the door and found the doc in front of her, ruined and her hair tangled in her head.
Immediately, "What happened to you?" he asked with his angry attitude. I've been looking for you for days.Why don't you want to talk to me? You're not the only one on this road,concentrate your thoughts." When he said these things,Judith bowed her head with righteous regret. Doc was right, she shouldn't have done that. Seeing her sadness,her remorse, Doc's face suddenly hang with regret. He was pushing forward on Judith. He also wouldn't want that. Judith said, "I'm sorry. I can't control myself. I tend to do evil all the time,attack things. I hate it because I have no one left. My friends,all of them, moved away from me. My boyfriend broke up with me. My parents don't understand me, and they get mad at me as if what I do is for attention.But they don't understand me. They don't know. And it hurts, I feel bad."
As Judith sobbed, she took a deep breath and continued. “Before I do something bad,my mind turns to the fact that it will hurt me,but suddenly the chip leads me to do it by controlling it, just as it directs a puppet."She said it now, crying on Doc's shoulder. Doc was so upset about it, she didn't want to upset him. He saw the grief of her and told her, "Cry Judith, cry and relax.But remember, this will pass."When Judith stopped sobbing about half an hour later, she raised her head thinking she needed to get herself together and said sincerely to Doc, "Thank you, Doc. Really."
Judith;every time she sees crying,people's extravagant displays of affection,she says, "Oh, no.I hope one day I won't either.Don't exaggerate, we understand that you like crying and displays of love.It's not my style.Remembering the days, "Okay, Doc. Crying is enough.It's definitely not for me," she said, pushing Doc to the edge slightly.Doc was surprised to see her sudden mood change. He thought maybe the chip caused it., "So, Doc, What are you doing? Why is the chip causing all this? Did you find out why?"Judith's voice came up. He put on a serious expression and closed the door and walked in, and he was sitting on the couch looking at Judith and said, "Come with me." As much as Judith was really afraid of her voice and serious expression, she began to follow him without removing her reckless mood.
Doc came to the lab and put something in front of her, like a brain map that showed her parts of the brain.As Judith looked at her with empty eyes, she took a deep breath and began to tell her."Look, Judith.It's a brain map.Here are parts of the brain.The brain is not made up of a single solid substance.Brain fragments come together.We call these piecemeal sections lobe. The brain has 4 lobes; anterior lobe,parietal lobe,temporal lobe,occipital lobe.Each of these lobes performs a mission.The anterior lobe, for example, starts from our forehead, progresses to the middle parts of the brain and novices movements, intelligence Central activities-such as concentration, problem solving,planning or puzzles- it is also our center for writing and speaking while making it happen.The Parietal lobe is located in the upper parts of our brain towards the back, while the anterior lobe completes its functions.For example,feelings such as pressure,temperature, pain that someone applies to our skin.It also allows us to talk and understand what we write. And the temporal lobe memory center.Here the senses gain meaning,function.
The occipital lobe also deals with the visual events in detail.Apart from these,there are cerebellum,spinal cord, spinal cord onions, but basically there are 4 lops." She took a deep breath when he stopped a little.And Judith told him "I didn't expect you to tell me about the fashion of this summer, but wow, and I think it's necessary for me to understand what happened.Okay, go ahead." Doc nodded, looking at Judith, and continued.” I attached the chip to the sides of the temples of the right side of the head.This area is at the frontal lobe. We have a decision-making mechanism.In this mechanism, it is located in the most anterior part of the anterior lobe of the brain, called the prefrontal, and this decision process is formed by nerve cells called neurons that are located there.The problem is: the chip affects the prefrontal lobe. You know, the brain works with electricity. Every time we do an action, the brain generates electricity in a wolt, which is actually electricity, which is the signal that goes from one neuron to another.The chip works, but it works using electrical energy in the brain.Otherwise, no matter can do anything without living energy.
As far as I understand, when this chip uses this electricity, it also has some electricity. And it's too dangerous.I think that's why you have severe headaches, and that's why you can't make the right decisions.Normally, the chip can't block bad-signaling neurons, but it does its job to support good-signaling neurons. I think it's like detecting bad-signaling neurons to make them signal much. It's confusing it with bad activities.The thing is, the chip is making a mistake there. I mean, I just found this. "And this chip only affects the anterior lobe and temporal lobe? If it's Doc,...?" she asked. “No, I'm not sure about that right now.But I mean, it affects you so much, and I think it's probably affecting other parts,Judith " Doc answered. “Okay,wow.Then I'll go-looking at the clock- because it took about 2 hours",said Judith. Doc nodded, realizing that his mind was tired. Then Judith asked, " Wow,Doc.How do you keep all this in mind? I hope I didn't forget it when I got home." And Doc laughed. Doc looked at her with curious eyes, and just before she left, she said, "Now I understand.Why your head is like a wasteland." And she went home laughing and jumped into bed to get over all this.
Chapter 7
Nazan İnce
Tarsus Science High School
Cover image by Gimnazija Bjelovar: Martin V.
She just realized what was happening, the chip was broken. At home alone, she tried to self-harm and remove the chip. Finally, she gave up and went to Doc's lab, asked him to remove the chip. Doc refused, listed reasons. Judith also started a fight with Doc and threw the box with the clone chip. When Judith calmed down, Doc looked again at her blood values. They were 3 times the old ones. She tried to persuade Doc for a long time. When she calmed down, she finally succeeded. Doc agreed to remove the chip, although he knew about the side effects.
But Doc had a bad feeling. He was worried about what was going on in his mind because he knew that the negative aspects of the chip outweigh the positive ones, and what he feared the most was the permanent damage it had left to the brain. Despite everything, he decided to remove the chip. The expected day came and she had come to Judith Doc's lab.Doc was still not very willing to remove the chip because of bad feelings inside her and warned Judith one last time, but Judith was determined. She could not tolerate something that affected most activities in his life to stop further on him.
Due to some difficulties, they finally decided to remove the chip after 1 week. Judith was experiencing constant dizziness and hallucinations. At first she thought it was not something to be cared about, but when this continued for a few more days she decided to go to Doc's lab. She left the house the next day and went to Doc's lab, nervously. When the Doc asked him what had happened, her said she was experiencing dizziness and hallucinations. That's exactly what Doc was thinking about. Doc realized that the hallucinations were caused by the remains of reality created by the chip's AI.
Judithe refrained from telling this because she was aware that she would have a huge reaction against her. Instead of telling Judith about it, she said that this was quite normal and it would be alleviated when the chip was removed. Judith, on the other hand, was very worried, but Doc's words relieved her a little. Judith realized that it was late and decided to go home, and after a 1-hour bus ride, she arrived home late. He was diving in, but he did not know what awaited him.
She had a dream different than usual. When she got up in the morning, her first thing was to go to her mother without washing her hands and face because she wanted to tell her about this strange dream she had had. She told her mother that there were very unusual things in her dream, that she could control her dream, and her mother said that this could happen to anyone and that such things were normal. What her mother had said had also alleviated the fear she felt inside her. It was a short time past. These events were very boring to her.
She needed some air and travel. She called her best friend Emily, and said that he felt bad and wanted to go out with him today. Emily accepted the offer without thinking because the best friends were always with each other in difficult times. She said we could meet at 2:00 and hung up. After Judith was well prepared, she left the house 20 minutes ago and made her way to Emily's house to meet, and Emily was already waiting for her prepared. When they saw each other, they hugged each other tightly. Emily asked what happened to Judithe, who did not want to tell him this because he was afraid that he would not believe him and would think him crazy.
After some thought, she decided to tell her, after all, Emily was her best friend. She told Emily what she had gone through without skipping any details. Emily was very upset by what she heard and told her that Judith should tell her family. His family could have had a tremendous reaction to him. Emily had understood better now and was trying to comfort Judith not to be upset anymore. Judith realized that the half-human, half-artificial intelligence that remained in her brain also affected her actions. Judith is really bad and was in a desperate situation. She didn't know what to do. She asked Emily what she had to do until the chip was removed.
Emily told her it would be best for her to not leave the house and wait for the day. They hugged each other tightly again and said goodbye and returned home. Judith found it logical to say goodbye. Until the day the chip came out, he would not leave the house and tell anyone about it. There was a little time left for him to go to her.
Chapter 8
Gimnazija Bjelovar
author: Vid Đ.
consultants: Karolina K., Ema S.
Cover image by Gimnazija Bjelovar: Larisa J.
“Good evening, I'm George May with our top story tonight! Unethical neurological experiments have been reported in Tararihe City. Our senior correspondent will elaborate further. Over to you, Jerome!”
“What you can see me holding in my hand is a mind-controlling brain chip taken from the Tararihe University laboratory. According to witnesses, it has sent its bearer into violent outbursts on multiple occasions, though it was supposedly developed to
improve social conduct. However, even functioning correctly, this would be in interference with basic human rights, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The following articles are directly violated; Article 3 – the Right to Liberty, Article 19 – Freedom of Expression, and Article 24 – Right to Rest and Leisure. Measures will need to be taken to prevent this in the future, which is why I’m here with Helga Ehrenberg, PhD, the Tararihe University rector.”
“Thank you. We already have a reform underway – a committee is going to be in place responsible for the review of university projects, with special emphasis put on ethical principles. Regarding the current situation, we are glad the aforementioned chip is in our possession, the experimental subject bearing the second will hopefully be found soon. It was requested its identity remain anonymous, however, the professor conducti – “
Then, to Doc's annoyance, Judith switched channels.
“You should better hurry up,” she remarked in her chip-controlled, emotionless voice.
“Don’t worry, the implant will be out within the hour. You stay seated, I’m finished with sterilizing – everything…,” Doc responded, “It’s just that…”
“It’s just that…?”
Doc dropped the instruments, walked over to the operating table, and just sent a contemptuous gaze Judith’s way. It elicited no response, however, other than a cold stare. If the eyes are the window to the soul, now the window was frozen shut. So he spoke out in more concrete way.
“Did you tell the reporters? Did you give them the clone chip?! “
“What difference does it make?”
“What difference – we could’ve continued research! But no, you’re serving them evidence! They can take me to court because of that chip. You know why I built it?”
“Yes.”
“I built it to help you, to bloody help you! I could’ve put the clone chip in, you keep the benefits of the first chip – minus the malfunctions – no one learns about the malfunctions – I make a better chip – we eradicate conflict in world!… I mean, why? Why?”
“We went through this already; we made a deal – you’re taking the chip out. Let’s get it over wi – “ Judith’s eyes started racing left, racing right, spasmodically. The skin nearest to the chip swelled. After a moment of convulsions, she was serene again – just to immediately break down crying: “I’m sorry, really, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t’ve told anyone any one and it would’ve been fine! Dumb, dumb, dumb! I’m sorry, I felt weird and a bit bad so I told my mum – my family knows about it… Then I told my friend because – I just couldn’t… I couldn’t, couldn’t – go on…”
Doc’s eyes widened in disbelief, just to seemingly shrink again once he took off his glasses. Judith saw him trudge away from the operating table with heavy steps, his hands covering his face. On it, a sarcastic grin formed as the extent of his troubles dawned on him. All his credibility – vanquished. Him avoiding prison could be considered lucky. He collapsed into his chair, his aspirations – into non-existence. So near, and yet so far.
Since the dawn of time, society devours those spearheading progress, those innovators.
Now it rejects the chip, just like it rejected the true nature of the Solar system centuries ago. A mere five people knew of the project, and it was exposed. Someone snitched. This is the state of today’s population. Say, we put five people in charge of five nuclear plants. It turns out one of them would have his plant demolished. It’s for the sake of safety, he’d claim. False. It’s just ignorance and fear. Perhaps it’s time for the professor to join the ranks of Socrates and Galileo. To go down into history, perhaps…
But he’ll go down fighting – Doc snaps back into reality, striding towards Judith: “Don’t cry, don’t cry, we’ll be fine. I’ve got it,” he tried to calm her. His efforts were, however, undermined by his shaky voice and excited shivering. “We can still prove them wrong. I just need to get the chip to work. That’s why, now, I’ll take it with me and go into hiding. Once I have the chip fixed, I’ll reach out to you – wait here!” Moments later, after loudly rummaging his way through several lab cupboards, he was back, carrying a plastic crate. Setting it down before Judith’s heels, near the edge of the table, he started scrabbling around in it.
While he was looking, he mumbled frantically. “Well, this is useful… No, no, this? No… What’s this doing here?” The distracted professor turned to his guinea pig and cleared his throat: “Um, Judith, there is in this crate here, a flask in which there’s carborane acid; now, I know you’re not an idiot, but I’ll just warn you not to knock it over. Anyways…”
“Of course, I promise, I don’t want to break anything! I’ll be careful,” Judith still cried, rather unnaturally. Clearly not on her own accord.
“There they are! Look now, Judith, what I’m giving you is an encrypted radio receiver. Keep it close at all times, I’ll contact you when it’s time to put the chip back in. The University won’t let us back in here, so I’ll take the equipment and find some other lab, eventually – that’s why you have the receiver. In a month or so, our project should be back on track. All understood?”
“Yes,” she let out a feeble sigh.
“Alright then,” Doc exhaled. Seeking to soothe himself, he clasped his previously fidgeting hands.
In an almost bold voice, he assured Judith: “We’ve got this. We’ll show them.” He let silence permeate the room.
Judith merely nodded her head, all the while sobbing freakishly. The professor gazed once more into her troubled eyes, then took out the syringe. A glint of the needle, sharp pain in the arm. Gradually, the sobs came to halt. Blackness.
*****
Dazzlingly bright light is the last thing you want to see when waking up. It being emitted by great surgical lightheads doesn’t help either. Your first instinct may be to turn over and slumber on. Try doing that with a headache, lying on a scratchy table, all the while being illuminated like a primaballerina. Well, it is what it is. That’s life. You’ve just got to get up and kill the lights yourself, together with the oaf who’s left it on. Not literally, of course. But then, life throws you a curveball.
At the moment, Judith’s brain was being scanned by a rotating 3D-imaging device and, as she was getting up, it came around, slamming her in the side of the head. “Bloody hell!” she screamed. Running her fingers above the ear, she found a bump forming – nothing too terrible. At the forehead, however, they encountered pits, ridges, silk thread. Where had once been a bulge concealing the chip, now was a cavity. Judith’s eyes glistened: “Bloody hell? Bloody hell, I can curse! Doc, I can curse again!”
Doc, burdened by a heavy electronic microscope in his arms, was quick to scold her: “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Especially when it comes to swearing.” Narrowly clearing the doorframe, he shouted from the hallway: “Judith, if you’re feeling alright, would you mind carrying that crate over to my car? The staff and the authorities could be here any moment now!”
Judith didn’t give it much thought. She just sat at the edge of the operating table, swinging her legs, with a smile from ear to ear. The headaches were still there, and so was the bump and the scars, but it all seemed so simple now.
Beautifully simple. The world – a blank slate. She could swear, or feed the pigeons, or go eat those poor, poor turkeys. A boy struck her in the cafeteria a while back. She could go pay him a visit. Strike back. Spit in his face. See the pain in his eyes. But she could also – not. On her own accord. Her smile got just that little bit wider. Perhaps this is just spite – us demonstrating we don’t need some chip, machine or implant to make the right decisions. Ego, maybe – for we want to be the hero, resisting our base instincts. Is peace not our primary goal after all?
Before Judith there stood a sterile white table, on it a round tray, speckled with red blood. Almost as tiny as the specks of blood was the brain chip, lying amidst them. In a month that speck of metal would be running her life again. That puny little crumb. Judith sprang from her chair, plucked the chip off the tray – then stopped in her tracks. Her muscles tense, her ears pricked up. Footsteps in the hallway. Louder and louder. She clenched her fist, concealing the chip. Why would he notice it missing? It’s smaller than his fingernail. He entered, not even glancing at Judith, took the soldering iron, left.
Swiftly, Judith slipped the chip in between her forefinger and thumb and started pushing with all her might. As the ridges of the chip dug deeper and deeper into her flesh, the pain worsened. No matter. Sooner or later, the metal had to give. Outside the university, a car trunk slammed shut. Judith opened her palm; between two swollen red fingers was the chip, undamaged. After a moment of hesitation, the fist was clenched again. Judith rushed over to the plastic crate, looked through it, and there it was – a small glass flask, on it a skin corrosion warning. Carborane acid. Time to end the experiment, once and for all.
Soon, Doc was back inside the lab. The trunk was full. The only thing to do was get the chip and get going. Meanwhile, Judith sat on her table, piercing him with her gaze. “What? Are you alright?”, he wondered, perplexed, “Never mind.” Taking a few steps, he halted, sniffed, looked around. Then he marched over to Judith, eyes cast on the plastic crate: “Why is the acid flask open?” Shivers ran down his spine. He lifted his gaze, staring into the distance. Abruptly, Doc turned and leaned on the white table with full force. His eyes fixated on the tray. Empty, barring the smudged bloodstains. Smudged by human fingers.
Erratically, he searched the table. Nothing. He froze, locking his eyes with Judith’s: “You didn’t!...”
“I did.”
“Have you just gone your mind?! You agreed to the plan an hour ago!”
“You may find, Doc, that individuals with faulty implants in their brains aren’t the most accountable!”
“But you’ll be left with permanent brain damage!”
“Look, Doc, we’ve both made mistakes and those mistakes will have consequences. But this has had to end.”
“Consequences!” Doc scoffed, “Can’t you see beyond your personal problems? There will be consequences for the entire world! The chip you destroyed could’ve ended the foolish circle of violence humanity finds itself in! Who knows when the next saviour will arrive? Who knows how many will die until then? Why do this to me? To everyone?”
“Well, you can take a seat and I’ll explain it to you.”
“Yes, but why couldn’t you just look at the wider picture –“
“Or you can keep whining, if you prefer it that way.”
He kept pacing in circles, his eyes cast on the floor. He didn’t say a word. His motions were tense, his aggravated gaze could punch right through the ceramic flooring. But then, he came to a halt. His limbs slackening, he planted himself onto the table, next to Judith: “Differences should be resolved through conversation, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, let’s hear you out. What’s wrong with world peace? “
“See, Doc, war is terrible, and so is death. However, if there’s one thing people were consistently ready to die for, that’s freedom. I know it sounds dumb. Me living with the brain damage also sounds dumb. But, in my case, I just want to live with my own decisions, good or bad. To be a free person, myself. I don’t know. Maybe that’s a bit selfish, but, there. I’m only human.”
“I know. I understand. It’s just that we were so close to creati – “
“No, we weren’t. We chasing a shortcut, artificial peace. You can’t create world peace in 10 years, and
you can’t right all your wrongs within a month! It was an illusion. A fantasy. Wake up.”
The wails of police sirens snuck in through an open window. Soon they fell silent, supplanted by banging car doors and distant chatter from the car park. Every now and again, a camera flash lit up the lab ceiling.
“Here they are,” Doc noted, “It seems I’ve finally run out of shortcuts, eh?"
“Yeah,” Judith leaned against the window, “Look, that’s my parents there. I told you it wasn’t me who called the cops.”
“They were just protecting you,” Doc was lying on the table, completely still, “it was a right call.”
“I’m guessing there’ll be a trial now. Well, if they ask me to testify, I’ll at least tell them you had good intentions.”
“No, you’ll tell them exactly what happened. And what I did. I’ve made way too many mistakes.”
“In any case, things will get better,” Judith drew in a breath of fresh air, ”but there’s a long road ahead of us.”
News, Media and Technology eTwinning Project Team
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