Page 36 of The Explorer
Victor ignored our groans and continued, “Since you’ve chosen to work as Explorers the logical solution would be a brain implant. That way you wouldn’t have to worry about carrying a physical device with you.”
“How would we know you wouldn’t put spyware in our heads to get intel on our thoughts and conversations?”
Victor lifted his shoulders in a small shrug. “You don’t know, and I don’t perform the operation, so maybe you should go with the next best solution.”
“Which is what?”
Pulling out a long slim device, Victor turned it in his hand. “This is a Neuro Link. I’m not claiming that it’s as good as a brain implant, but for those of us who don’t want anything implanted into our brains, it’s a damn good alternative.” Lifting the white stick, he placed one end on the top of his right ear and clicked a button on the side. The stick folded around his ear and now sat attached.
“The Neuro Link can play music and sounds using bone conduction. Others won’t be able to hear it unless you wish them to. If you get a message or a call, this tip of the stick will project an alert in front of your eyes. You can activate the service function just by thinking about it, and if you need direction, you’ll have that too.”
“We have something similar at home called Genius Glasses, but it never became the big success it was expected to be. This is like an upgraded version.”
“Glasses change how you look. The Neuro Link is more discreet. It also comes with five different color options.”
“But won’t it fall off?” I asked.
“No, it sucks itself to your ear without being painful. You’ll have to push the top button for it to release.”
Indiana reached out to touch it. “That’s like some fancy pre-war technology. Who came up with this?”
“It’s a new product that we’re testing for a company in the Motherlands. It’s not on the market yet, but Jonah connected me with the engineering team who made it. He has a friend called Shelly who developed some of it.”
“You must be talking about Shelly Summers. We know her,” I exclaimed.
Victor raised a brow. “I know. You told me so already.”
“When?” I couldn’t remember talking to him about Shelly, who was a famous genius who had once taught as an assistant teacher at the school of inclusion. “She’s married to a Northlander called Marco.”
“At the first summit, you told me that I couldn’t possibly be the person with the highest intelligence in the world, since that was Shelly Summers.”
“You remember that? Huh.” I gave a nod to signify I was impressed.
“Of course, I remember. That’s one of the curses of my intelligence. It would be nice if I could forget irrelevant things and people, but I can recall every day of my life as if it happened yesterday.”
“No way.” Indiana crossed his arms. “No one can remember every day they lived.”
“I can.”
I exchanged a looked with Indiana, silently telling him that it was just Victor exaggerating again. The man in question seemed uninterested in proving that he was telling the truth because he returned to the Neuro Link. “I’ve tested the functions myself, but unfortunately, it’s not reading non-verbal instructions a hundred percent yet. There’ve been times when I’ve had to verbalize my commands, but I like that the information appears in front of my eyes when needed and that the design isn’t as intrusive as wearing glasses at all times.”
“What other options do we have?”
“A wristband like the one you have already, or you can go with a larger pad, but that wouldn’t be practical when you go on expeditions.”
“I’m choosing the Neuro Link,” I declared.
“Yeah, me too.”
“I expected as much,” Victor said dryly and pulled out two boxes. He stayed long enough to help set up the technology and watch us navigate the options.
“Victor, I wanted to ask you something.” Indiana moved in his seat. “Have there been any threats from the Northlands because of what happened?”
“Not directly. I’ve been told that Khan spun a story that we French asked for assistance to clean up the environment and that you two bravely volunteered.”
“Good!” I squared my shoulders a little. “So at least they’re acknowledging at home that I did something heroic.”
“What is it about you Northlanders? Why are you so obsessed with being heroes?”
