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Some of us aren't quite human. A special few of us are alien vessels put on the Earth to study humanity in all of its glory. But we know about them, and now the watchers are being watched in turn.
"In 1941, a beer-inspired boy lost control of his car, plummeting down a hillside in central California. He died instantly while the nineteen-year-old girl beside him suffered horrific head wounds. Gladys H. lived the rest of her days inside hospitals and long-term care facilities. By right, she should have existed in a deep vegetative state. Scrambled eggs have more native intelligence than what dwelled inside her steel-plated skull. Yet the patient was known for her busy eyes and easy smile and those occasional days when nurses and attendants were treated to a runaway river of words.
"The voice was usually pure gibberish, but there were spells when Gladys sat up in bed, eyes dancing while her happy voice told everyone who passed by, 'I am watching you. I am studying you. Yes, yes, yes.'
"One nurse was intrigued enough to try conversing with the woman. Colleagues warned that it was a waste of time, the broken brain was merely spitting out phrases like a machine would. But she persisted, asking Gladys questions and taking notes about the odd responses. Then later, against hospital rules, she sneaked a tape recorder into the room, capturing hours of complex, faintly musical gibberish, and doing it for no reason except that it was fun to listen to.
"Age and inadequate care killed Gladys H. in 1967. Chance brought her severed head to a teaching hospital, the brain dissected in a class taught by a talented young neurologist. That’s when it was discovered that a spiderweb of foreign material was woven into her skull. The nanofibers were narrower than hairs and none of the residents or faculty had any idea what the fibers meant, but the neurologist recognized that the web was artificial, and not only did it encompass the entire brain, but fibers reached into the retinas and tongue and presumably to other portions of the body."
Robert Reed is a prolific science fiction writer. Best known for the Great Ship stories, Reed won a Hugo Award in 2007 for his novella, "A Billion Eves."
Genre: Science Fiction
"In 1941, a beer-inspired boy lost control of his car, plummeting down a hillside in central California. He died instantly while the nineteen-year-old girl beside him suffered horrific head wounds. Gladys H. lived the rest of her days inside hospitals and long-term care facilities. By right, she should have existed in a deep vegetative state. Scrambled eggs have more native intelligence than what dwelled inside her steel-plated skull. Yet the patient was known for her busy eyes and easy smile and those occasional days when nurses and attendants were treated to a runaway river of words.
"The voice was usually pure gibberish, but there were spells when Gladys sat up in bed, eyes dancing while her happy voice told everyone who passed by, 'I am watching you. I am studying you. Yes, yes, yes.'
"One nurse was intrigued enough to try conversing with the woman. Colleagues warned that it was a waste of time, the broken brain was merely spitting out phrases like a machine would. But she persisted, asking Gladys questions and taking notes about the odd responses. Then later, against hospital rules, she sneaked a tape recorder into the room, capturing hours of complex, faintly musical gibberish, and doing it for no reason except that it was fun to listen to.
"Age and inadequate care killed Gladys H. in 1967. Chance brought her severed head to a teaching hospital, the brain dissected in a class taught by a talented young neurologist. That’s when it was discovered that a spiderweb of foreign material was woven into her skull. The nanofibers were narrower than hairs and none of the residents or faculty had any idea what the fibers meant, but the neurologist recognized that the web was artificial, and not only did it encompass the entire brain, but fibers reached into the retinas and tongue and presumably to other portions of the body."
Robert Reed is a prolific science fiction writer. Best known for the Great Ship stories, Reed won a Hugo Award in 2007 for his novella, "A Billion Eves."
Genre: Science Fiction
Used availability for Robert Reed's Among Us