Storymania - Claustrum Chap. 3 by Mathew Hamm

Claustrum Chap. 3
Mathew Hamm

The Procedure

Judge Oslim appeared out of a side door, waved off the guard and said “I’ll take care of him from here, my self.”
The guard nodded, turned and walked back the way he had come. The fact that John and the Judge were good friends was known by all the guards in the facility.
They walked into a room that resembled a train station, a single track could be seen. Shortly after a small cart that looked like a modified golf cart appeared. The Judge asked John to climb into the cart, followed by him self, he then said “proceed” the cart began to move at a great speed, over the rail that it hovered on.
“Have you seen the VPS facilities before, John?” the Judge asked.
“No, not really. All I know is that is a virtual prison.”
“Virtual Prison Systems to be exact” the Judge commented. “and its more than that John, its….” and he paused thinking of the best way to describe the prison, “… it’s a rebirth!”
At the comment turned to look at the Judge, he raised and eyebrow looking at the Judge as if he had gone mad “Rebirth?” he asked.
“Yes, you will understand, once you are jacked in the new world of Claustrom. Meanwhile let me show you the hive.” As the Judge finished speaking, the cart came into a large dome room and quickly came to a stop.
John was astonished. He looked up and down, left and right, and everywhere he looked, he saw what to him looked as if cocoons, they were place side by side on top and on bottom of each other.
“There you have our prisoners” said the Judge as he made a hand gesture pointing at the whole place.
They reached a circular platform in the large dome room. In the center of the platform was a small pulpit like table, no bigger than a square foot. They climbed out of the cart and walked to the center of the platform. Just then another cart arrived two man walked out of the cart then they pulled one of those cocoon looking bags, hanging from a temporary moving device.
As they rolled the cart in, John noticed the form of a female. Even do, the bag was full of a yellowish liquid John could see within it. The woman was kept from sinking to the bottom of the bag by two rings under her arm pits which were attached to the top of the bag. Also there were clear flexible tubes or catheters, that came out of every cavity and sometimes out of incisions which had been made through the woman’s body.
“What are all the tubes and catheters for?” John asked.
“Feeding, drinking, and doing your personal business,” was the reply.
Johnathan, chuckle at the comment. “You mean to tell me that with all the technology, one still needs to take a crap?” he asked.
“Well, if we were to go in for a matter of days we could just use serums. But because these people are here for years we need to feed them solid food, liquids and medications,” he answered.
“I see, spare me the details, old man” John said.
The two man pulled the cocoon towards the pulpit like table in the center of the platform and type in a code. The platform descended about fifty feet and stopped, then a row of cocoons came forth and began rotating back away from the two man, like clothing racks at those places where they do your laundry. It finally came to a stop at an empty slot.
The two guards pushed the mobile unit into the slot and pressed a button. The cocoon was raised about a foot, then the cling of metal against metal was heard. One of the men reached over and pressed a second button. A hiss of air was heard and then lights came on within the bag, brightening it.
One of the guards walked over to the pulpit and typed in another code, all of a sudden the eyes of the woman opened wide as if in shock.
“What the hell?” John asked concerned.
“She was just connected into Claustrum,” the Judge explained “that usually happens when you get jacked in”.
“So all this time she was there, she was not connected?” John asked.
“Nope, she has been asleep, and breathing on her own through one of those tubes, for no more than an hour. Nothing going in her body and nothing coming out, well… except for the sedatives we gave her.”
The whole process reminded John that too will be going through the same thing, he had never like hospitals or anything of sorts that resembled one, and here he was going to go through all this.
“What are the wires that are coming out of the side of her head?” he asked.
“Those wires are connected to the optic nerve and the Incus, this allows inmates that are jacked into Claustrum to hear, feel and see the virtual world”
Johnathan walked up to the woman and waved his hand near her face, she looked as if she could see and hear them.
“You are wasting your time, she cannot see, once we jack into the optic nerve and the Incus, it cuts of all sight and sound from the real world, and connects you to the virtual one” he explained.
Johnathan walked back over to the Judge, the two guards continued working and within a moment the bag disappeared into the row of cocoons. The platform went down even further yet, after a short time it came to a stop, the guard typed with the tablet and again the cocoons zoomed by in the same manner for a little while. The bags then stopped, and the two guards walked over and pulled a man of the hanging line.
“His time is up?” John asked.
“Actually John, he died within the prison” the Judge responded.
“Nonsense, he does not look dead” John exclaimed.
“If you die within Claustrum, your mind rends you as dead. There is nothing that we can do about it. We can keep forcing food, but they will never recover”
“So they are veggies?”
“I guess you can say so, but once they are extracted from Claustrum, they stop breathing all on their on and die shortly after” the Judge explained.
“That’s just murder,” John cried out, “how can anyone allow this?”
“John, you may think it’s murder, but actually prison deaths have declined since Claustrum was put on line,” he explained. “Furthermore, even though we are crowded here, life within the virtual world is much easier than real life for many”.
John looked up and all around him where cocoons. The room was like a giant stadium, with the platform in the center and all hanging cocoons ending there. From this point, one could have visual access to every single row of the cocoons within the facility.
Again the two guards, pulled another cocoon, John looked at it expecting the man to be dead, but this inmate was not dead, his time had just been served. They were pulling him out to return him to real life, the life he was born to.
The Judge called John over. “Come, come John, we must get going, we need to get you ready”.
Both man jumped back on another cart and soon it was to hovering away, as it did John looked back at the whole place and the rows and rows of cocoons.
“How many inmates are Claustrum?” John asked.
“In Claustrum, I don’t know, I suppose millions, since everyone from around the world is in the same place, we have close to two hundred thousand inmates in this facility alone. This is the only one in New York, but there are over five hundred facilities world wide. So you can imagine what the population is within Claustrum,” the Judge replied.
Jhon knew that the number of inmates would be much greater if the law held smaller crimes accountable, but as always there was to many to stay on top and not enough resources to keep them all.
“How many can one facility hold?” he asked.
“We can probably hold up to a million inmates, depending on resources you know. It takes a lot of solids and liquids to keep that many people alive!”
The cart left the giant room and soon began to slow down, they climbed out and began walking down a hallway. At one point they passed what seemed to be a large gym, and John paused to look through the window. Men and woman were everywhere, doing some sort of exercise.
The Judge walked up next to John and said “They just came out of Claustrum”
“How can they move, after such a long time in a state of unconsciousness? I’d figure your muscles would be as stiff as a board” John asked.
“Well once you are jacked into the Claustrum, the liquid within the cocoons sends shock waves throughout your body, depending upon what part of the body you use most within Claustrum. So lets say that you are walking a lot, so the liquid stimulates every muscle in your body that you require to move. This is done by means of either electricity, heat or cold waves. In this manner your body muscles will be responsive once you leave the prison” the Judge answered.
“Then why exercise now, I don't see a point to it?”
“Well, once you are out of the virtual world, you can more than likely walk, with some trouble, but that’s about it. You need a week or so to get accustomed to your muscles again, and exercising is the best way to do it” he explained.
The Judge began to walk again and John followed.
“We are almost to the place where you will begin preparations to go into Claustrum, John. So let me tell you a couple of things that you need to know”.
John glanced over to the Judge as they walked even further down the hall. They walked into a large circular room, on the walls there were monitors, three hundred of them, John glanced back and forth, some showed whole cities others individuals.
“Claustrum?” John asked.
“yeap, that’s it” the Judge replied.
“And I presume that is some sort of surveillance?” John asked.
“Yes,” answered the Judge “Each prison counts with three hundred video monitoring devices. We can monitor, search and record anything and everyone within Claustrum”
“Well why not search for your man this way” John asked.
“Easier said than done! If we knew where to start we could just follow someone until we find out, but most inmates change their names and appearance, so that we cant tell who is who. In order for us to search for an individual we have to have the head of another facility come here, or me go there, then we both put in our passwords, only then can we search for an individual.” he answered. “Come, I have one more place I want to show you”
They walked into another room, two man sat. They stared into a monitor screen, working on different projects.
“These man are programmers within Claustrum or Gods as the inmates like to call them” the Judge said jokingly.
John walked behind them, “They are responsible for finding glitches within the system and repairing them. They make sure that everything is working in its proper way”
“That’s not all, they can make you any way that you want or they want. As strong as a giant or as fast as you want to be! They can make you into the ruler of the whole world of Claustrum if we chose to” as he said that the Judge let out with a loud laugh.
“You could even fly if we wanted you to” the judge finished.
“Does everyone look alike or have the same traits?”
“Of course not. You will look like yourself, but you can change the way you look, once in the world, with very little limitations. This is done to make life a little easier within Claustrum, as far as strength goes. Everyone starts out the same, but depending on what you do within, you will gain more and more of the trait that you most need. For example, if you use a sword within the prison, your agility and dexterity will increase. But if you use heavy weapons like a two handed Axe or lift boulders, your strength will increase,”he explained.
“Why would you do such a thing?” John thought the whole idea was ridiculous.
“There are quite a few reasons; but most important, it gives a goal to every inmate and when they have something to do, there is more cooperation from them and better yet, less fighting or killings” he answered.
“Yes, but I am sure there is a limit to the strength they can obtain?”
“How can you put limits on such stuff?” asked the Judge.
“Humph,” chuckled John.
“Now lets get started, if you don’t mind John?” said the Judge as he showed the way.
“Walk into that room and remove all your clothing,” the Judge pointed through t an opened door that lead into a small room.
John walked into the small room that was about three feet square and about seven feet in height. He took off all his clothing, someone reached through a small window and received them. The small door shut tight and warm water began to flow out of small holes in every square in of the wall, spraying John all over his body. Soon after a misty substance sprayed, filling the room, and after a few minutes or so, another spray rinsed off his body. Finally, air began to blow out of the small holes and within a few minutes John was totally dry.
The door opened and John was asked to step out of the small room, a man guided him to a glass bed and asked him to lay upon it. Once he did, a cover made from the same material came down on top of him, resting about six inches from his body.
Simultaneously on both the top and bottom a blue light came on on top of his head and began scanning Johns body from head to toe. The top of the bed opened back up and John sat up, as he did, he noticed that his whole body was dark brown, as if he had received a tan from th machine.
“What’s going on? Why am I this color?” John asked.
“It kills any germs that you may have, which prevents you from getting sick, while jacked in” the man explained.
After a few moments the monitor showed the scanned image of John on a near by screen, and there he stood, an exact replica of himself.
The Judge walked in the room and stood next to John. The other man sat down on touched the screen and began altering Johns scanned image Traits.
“Anything that you want to change John?” the Judge asked.
“Not that I can think of” he answered.
“Well let me help you out, We are going to increase your strength, agility and dexterity, this should help you out in your mission”
“I’d rather you not” replied John.
“We need to help you out, one way or the other!” exclaimed the Judge. Meaning that he would do it even if John chose not to.
John eventually agreed to a small increase so as to give him just slight advantage over all the other men that were within the prison. But he did not want to make it to obvious that he was stronger than most new inmates. After all he was an officer on a mission, and people would become suspicious.
Soon after John was asked to step within a circle, a glass tube came down over him, and a metallic power began to flow within the tube covering his entire body.
“Close your eyes and hold your breath” Herd John.
After a few seconds the flowing stopped and the tube raised, John stepped out to find that his entire body looked chrome like.
“and what is this stuff for?” he asked.
“It helps conduct heat, cold and electricity when you are in the cocoon, that is besides the jacking into your nervous system” the Judge replied.
John rubbed his forearms as if trying to wipe the stuff of, but with out success.
“And there you stand John, ready to be jacked in,.” laughed the Judge as he pointed towards the monitor.
“You mean that, once I am jacked in, I will be that character you have there?” he asked.
“But of course” replied the Judge.
“Do I need eat in Claustrum?” John asked.
“Oh yea, if you don’t eat there, your feeding tube will not feed you, your will be explained everything once you are jacked in”.
“How about currency, is there such thing within the virtual prison?” John asked.
“Yes, there is currency is from silver all the way to platinum coins,” answered the Judge.
Now there was a way that he could be aided, money always helps in missions “Could I get a nice… lets say inheritance?”
“That should not be a problem, we can give you plenty. I’m sure you will move a little faster if you have coin to start you out with,” answered the Judge.
Johnathan thought about the programmers, for upon them depended the life of many prisoners. They could alter and rearrange the way many of the people who lived within Claustrum. The life of everyone within the prison depended on these man. “Can the programmers help me out in the virtual prison?” He asked.
“No, no one but you and I know of this mission, not even they know what you are up to, I am sure that they suspect something but they doe not know” Said the Judge as he pointed at the man sitting by the monitor.
“How long before I am Jacked into the Claustrum?”
“Within a couple of minutes.” Replied the Judge.
This was everything that John needed to know., He and the Judge talked a little longer, shook hands and the Judge went on his way.
The man stood from the chair and walked over to another section of the room and pressed a button. From the wall came out a metal bed. Then he was asked to lay on it.
John glanced at the table then back at the man. The thing looked cold, and sure enough it was. Once he was settled in the man walked up to him and started checking his vital signs.
“Don’t start sticking tubes in me until I am passed out,” he mumbled as the man walked to a desk.
The man laughed and answered “Don’t worry young man, you will be sleep in a few minutes, and when you wake up you will be in Claustrum”
The man than returned and gave John a cup of bright blue liquid and asked him to drink it all up.
“What is it?” he asked.
“This will kill any bacteria that is harmful to your body, and it will ready your stomach for the solid that you will receive during the time you are in Claustrum,” the man answered.
John took the drink, and swallowed it in one shot.
“It also puts you to sleep” the old man chuckled as he walked away from John.
Sure enough, after a few minutes John began to feel drowsy, and his body felt numb. The room began to spin and the thought of vomiting entered his head. At this the old man stood by his side again, this time holding a bucket which he handing it to him. John could barely grab the bucket, when he felt that his whole stomach come up his throat, however it was all over in a minute or so.
“Told´ya that it would clean your stomach” the old man said.
Johnathan looked up at him, his eyes watering and his face red, he spit into the bucket. “You said it would kill germs” he mumbled.
“Ahh, yes that too!” the old man walked away with the bucket.
John laid back on the table, he looked towards the ceiling, his eyes, began to feel heavy. A glance here and a glance there, and he saw the old man return and place some items next to the table.
“I…I.. am.. not.. sleep...yet…” he could barely finish talking, as he dosed off. He was asleep.