Skin tight

[Dream Big]

Mark Prentice, boy genius.

That’s what the article said when I was seventeen. Pretty much guaranteed a rough ride at that point.

It’s bad enough being smart sometimes — public schools in the US tend to punish that in many ways, either systematically or through inaction, like when the jocks bully the nerds. Hard to believe that crap still goes down, in an age where many of our public heroes are tech geniuses and nerd earn billions.

And don’t get me wrong, sometimes smart kids are only smart in one direction, if you take my meaning. All that brainpower tends to be focused on one subject or area of interest, and that focus comes at a cost. Usually it’s social skills.

But I worked really hard to avoid being That Kid. I wasn’t the last kid picked for dodgeball, I actually participated and stayed more or less fit, reasoning that the time invested now would pay off in the long run. I mean, given the choice between waiting for tech to catch up to your brains, or spending a bit of time in the gym now and keeping at it to stay healthy, it seemed an easy choice. The side effect was that I wasn’t hated by anyone, as far as I knew, and because I was firmly middle of the pack when it came to sports, the jocks left me alone. I didn’t really exert myself too much in academics, either — I’d figured out when I was seven that being *one* of the brighter kids in class was good enough for me. School was tolerable mostly for my friends, and for the opportunity to develop social skills and a network of acquaintances that would come in handy in my adult years. So yeah, I was in the gifted track but kept my real skills on the downlow.

But then I solved some equation my teacher put up as a joke, not realizing it was supposed to be unsolvable. I’d let it slip. I wasn’t as clever as I thought I was at hiding my brains. Humbling, and a lesson I might have appreciated in other circumstances. And secret was out and the press got pulled in...and then parents Andy legal experts and college deans all got into the mix, and i could no longer play it off as a lucky guess or a fun quirk. Some of my teachers, ones I liked, were angry about my deception, but others were simply hurt. And worst of all, the other kids started giving me space I didn’t want, or looking at me like I was some kind of alien. Phil, my bestie since I was six, was rapidly becoming a stranger, and Sunil, the kid who was usually top score (because I got some wrong to stay under the radar), became bitter and angry about it, feeling cheated of what he thought was a hard won competition. It must suck to find out your rival could have pwned you at any time.

The only plus was that it happened in the spring, and not long before school let out, so I only had a month or two of it to deal with before summer break. I’d be eighteen for my senior year,

The condition for staying in public school was that I split my time, and attend classes at university, which as you might imagine was a mixed blessing. The content was more interesting and they let me test out of some pre requisites, but of course I was A few years years younger than the college kids, so things were awkward. I felt even more of a freak, and I was just barely hitting puberty. Luckily I could remote attend most of the lectures and the novelty of my situation meant that the professors and adjuncts were all too happy to cater to my questions offline. It wasn’t perfect, but for the first time I felt like I was stretching my intellect and didn’t have to hide it. I still attended school, but I really only took liberal arts and phys ed courses there; my STEM needs were being met elsewhere.

We kind of made that work for senior year, and Phil and I still hung out and talked nerd stuff, while Sunil really got hyper competitive and went to cram school. I kind of felt bad for him, because he had to work so hard to challenge me, but it was hardly my fault.

I realized at some point that year hat I was probably gay. Unfortunately, despite ample boy hormones coursing hrough my bones, I seemed destined to be small, and not terribly strong. My new schedule left little time for sports, and the newfound awkwardness around guys I found cute was no help at all. And with unfettered internet access, I quickly discovered what I liked, and observed that I was unlikely to get what I thought I wanted as I was. Strength was a turn on. Athletic bodies. I mean, of course they were. And mine was, at best average.

So as the year closed, I began to apply my considerable mind to the problem....

 

[Dream Big]

School let out, and the week after was my birthday. Nice dinner, then a movie night with Phil, chilling at home.

“You’re officially eighteen now, buddy,” Phil said. “Got big plans?”

I did, kind of. I’d resolved to tell Phil that I was gay. He was a little surprised but not that much.

I’ll spare you the details. It was a little awkward but went well enough. Even hugged me goodbye, like nothing had changed, but of course it had. For one thing, I realized he was now six inches taller than me, and a little buffer than I’d remembered. And I couldn’t get a handle on what that hug had felt like. Probably reading too much into it...

Besides, I needed to focus.


The rest of the summer was a blur. I had never really applied myself fully toward a goal before, not like this, and it kinda felt good.

Step one was to get all the stats I could — and using the university sports program resources was the ticket there. It didn’t take much effort to talk the program director into doing the measurements and full physical. Stress tests, blood tests, MRI, the works. More ...um... samples than I expected. They got everything. And by the end of the ten days the lab took to run the samples, so did I.

But there was no time to waste. Like all teens, I was impatient, and I was also really good at multitasking. My hunch was that I’d have to choose between becoming stronger by altering myself, or by external enhancements, os those were the two paths I split my time between.

I devoured research, hacked my way into secret databases, the works, on the theory that the info would swim around in my brain and bear fruit. I don’t think I slept for eight days straight. And I had a few semi epiphanies along the way. It was, without s doubt, he best mental workout I’d ever had.

And then I got the results of the tests, and my hopes were dashed. There just wasn’t much to work with. I may have won the lottery with my brains, but my body was pretty much near its maximum potential already.

 

[Tsinaglou]

Looking forward to seeing how Mark changes his potential! Thanks for your writing!

 

[laptoper]

School let out, and the week after was my birthday. Nice dinner, then a movie night with Phil, chilling at home.

“You’re officially eighteen now, buddy,” Phil said. “Got big plans?”

I did, kind of. I’d resolved to tell Phil that I was gay. He was a little surprised but not that much.

I’ll spare you the details. It was a little awkward but went well enough. Even hugged me goodbye, like nothing had changed, but of course it had. For one thing, I realized he was now six inches taller than me, and a little buffer than I’d remembered. And I couldn’t get a handle on what that hug had felt like. Probably reading too much into it...

Besides, I needed to focus.


The rest of the summer was a blur. I had never really applied myself fully toward a goal before, not like this, and it kinda felt good.

Step one was to get all the stats I could — and using the university sports program resources was the ticket there. It didn’t take much effort to talk the program director into doing the measurements and full physical. Stress tests, blood tests, MRI, the works. More ...um... samples than I expected. They got everything. And by the end of the ten days the lab took to run the samples, so did I.

But there was no time to waste. Like all teens, I was impatient, and I was also really good at multitasking. My hunch was that I’d have to choose between becoming stronger by altering myself, or by external enhancements, os those were the two paths I split my time between.

I devoured research, hacked my way into secret databases, the works, on the theory that the info would swim around in my brain and bear fruit. I don’t think I slept for eight days straight. And I had a few semi epiphanies along the way. It was, without s doubt, he best mental workout I’d ever had.

And then I got the results of the tests, and my hopes were dashed. There just wasn’t much to work with. I may have won the lottery with my brains, but my body was pretty much near its maximum potential already.

Always enjoy your stories dude. Thanks for the entertainment.

 

[4357]

Yet another great set- up by DB.
I look forward to another masterful story.
X

 

[Dream Big]

So. There it was. I’d say it was in black and white, but there were color graphs too. I could already tell, but I ran the simulations anyway.

There just wasn’t enough of me to work with, right down to my DNA. And the experimental therapies I had in mind were not remotely there yet. Hopeless. Depressed, I binged cartoons for like four days straight. One of them featured a boy genius and a super suit he designed, and I got to thinking again.

I wanted the strength, the raw physical power. I had all sorts of brainpower, I was willing to work hard, but it wasn’t much help in achieving my goals.... but what if I could translate that mental energy into muscle? I’d been looking at changing myself from within, medically or chemically, so that my body would finally reflect thwork I put into thinking about it. What if I could literally put mind over matter?

I could almost see it forming in my brain.


And so I redoubled my efforts. I hacked half a dozen restricted sites at universities and labs. I traded intel on the dark web under half a dozen aliases, including to myself. I found electro-responsive material being tested as an interface for missing limbs and connected an unrelated fabric with some interesting capabilities — namely, light current would cause it to expand or contract, just like muscle fiber. I perused all the state of the art control hardware and software Hopkins and Bethesda were working on. Within a week, I had procured some materials, for testing, and I began in earnest.

I was building a suit, skin tight, that would simulate and translate muscle signals and route them via a stimulator control device, which in turn caused a current to flow through the suit and make it respond.
I began with a glove, and some basic filament wire from an external skull cap. The idea, of course, was to cover myself in similar material, which would form a flexible exoskeleton that did the heavy lifting. Literally. In this case,

The control layer was functional, so I turned my focus toward the exo suit itself, and began to weave patterns that roughly followed existing musculature and bone. I tweaked the sample materials a bit to better integrate the receptors and control filaments. And soon, I had a glove as a real prototype.

And itnworked, perfectly — the receptors provided the needed feedback, and I kept having to beef up the control program to handle all the input and instant calibration, but fundamentally it worked.

But the real test lay ahead. Because I was about to discover that the control headband was sensitive enough, and good enough, to pick up subconscious signals.

 

[laptoper]

So. There it was. I’d say it was in black and white, but there were color graphs too. I could already tell, but I ran the simulations anyway.

There just wasn’t enough of me to work with, right down to my DNA. And the experimental therapies I had in mind were not remotely there yet. Hopeless. Depressed, I binged cartoons for like four days straight. One of them featured a boy genius and a super suit he designed, and I got to thinking again.

I wanted the strength, the raw physical power. I had all sorts of brainpower, I was willing to work hard, but it wasn’t much help in achieving my goals.... but what if I could translate that mental energy into muscle? I’d been looking at changing myself from within, medically or chemically, so that my body would finally reflect thwork I put into thinking about it. What if I could literally put mind over matter?

I could almost see it forming in my brain.


And so I redoubled my efforts. I hacked half a dozen restricted sites at universities and labs. I traded intel on the dark web under half a dozen aliases, including to myself. I found electro-responsive material being tested as an interface for missing limbs and connected an unrelated fabric with some interesting capabilities — namely, light current would cause it to expand or contract, just like muscle fiber. I perused all the state of the art control hardware and software Hopkins and Bethesda were working on. Within a week, I had procured some materials, for testing, and I began in earnest.

I was building a suit, skin tight, that would simulate and translate muscle signals and route them via a stimulator control device, which in turn caused a current to flow through the suit and make it respond.
I began with a glove, and some basic filament wire from an external skull cap. The idea, of course, was to cover myself in similar material, which would form a flexible exoskeleton that did the heavy lifting. Literally. In this case,

The control layer was functional, so I turned my focus toward the exo suit itself, and began to weave patterns that roughly followed existing musculature and bone. I tweaked the sample materials a bit to better integrate the receptors and control filaments. And soon, I had a glove as a real prototype.

And itnworked, perfectly — the receptors provided the needed feedback, and I kept having to beef up the control program to handle all the input and instant calibration, but fundamentally it worked.

But the real test lay ahead. Because I was about to discover that the control headband was sensitive enough, and good enough, to pick up subconscious signals.

Thanks boy genius, good stuff and a nice subtle variation from previous stories. Much appreciated

 

[Weatherguy]

This is right up my alley! Loving it!

Please continue.

Can't wait for next installments!

 

[Dream Big]

I could bore you with more details about how I assembled the material for the suit, about the experimental nanotechnology I hacked right from under the noses of a defense contractor, about the dark web purchases I had delivered to my neighbor’s place when I was ostensibly watching his cat and watering his plants for him while he was on travel.

No, let’s just cut right to where I finished the damned thing. Though I am proud about how I basically got it right the first time.

The basic idea was this suit would, more or less, look like a wetsuit, or maybe one of those power ranger or blue man group suits. Not rubber or pvc, but more like normal fabric, which could be worn under clothing. Based on the glove, it should feel like snug silk, barely noticeable. And if all worked as planned, it would be almost completely invisible, though I toyed with the idea of making the surface display graphics — why not install some easy tattoos? Anyway, it was basically made of two layers: a bio-safe dermal contact layer, and a nanotechnology second skin that reacted to the signals from the control band. I had some ideas about replacing the headband, too, but the prototype seemed fine. I could reduce to a chip and implant it later, but it needed both surface area and accessibility while I was still hammering it out.

Not being naturally hair was a help, but even then I had to take a risk and shave. I did not enjoy the depilatory and felt weird after, but it would help with the suit.

Getting it on was a struggle I hadn’t anticipated, and the twenty minutes of tugging and smoothing would have been ridiculously embarrassing if anyone had walked in on me. I’d found a conductive gel that would serve as a lubricant, to help get the suit on, and first I had to slather that all over myself. (It was kind of fun, if awkward, and very slippery.)

In went the feet and legs, and then the waist. My junk was open to the air, and I wasn’t sure about that part — I had designed a groin pouch, just to make sure everything was contained and supported, but was working up the courage to apply it and seal myself in, because I’d need to be hard to slide the sleeve on.

As I had suspected, it was very much like pulling on a pair of tights or a wetsuit, where you know you’re wearing something but it’s touching over such a large area, you almost don’t realize it’s there. Anyway, next was the turtleneck top, designed to make sure the neck itself was properly supported by the suit. Then I smoothed the wrinkles and pulled the straps over my feet and hands before applying the socks and gloves. Once attached, the material would form a natural seal, so it would be touch to pull them off, but I had a bottle of solution to make that happen if need be.

It was quite an unusual sensation, but not entirely unpleasant. In fact. I was still debating the groin attachment when I realized my body was already anticipating the slippery contact. My full five inch erection stood at hand, so I figured I might as well. I’d already shaved down there, and I was also concerned about following the design, which relied on the outer mesh having the full exterior to work with. We often forget how much of our body sense and support is carried through the groin area and, neck, and lower back. I could injure myself.

So on it went, the tube sliding deliciously over my penis, leaving only the head exposed. Then the balls, in a partly divided pouch. Finally, the seams to attach it to the suit proper.

The mirror revealed a skinny, pasty, teen in what appeared to be a layer of transparent plastic. I looked ridiculous. Ah well, in for a penny, right?

And then the control band, which at that point was a series of sensors sewn into a stretch workout head band. I slid it into place, and tapped the activation button.

Instantly, the sensation of static, and an insistent buzz, hit my head.

I glanced at the monitor — the computer showed a live feed of the control band’s output, as well as the suit’s systems.

CONTROLLER1 ONLINE...
SEEKING SUIT1...LINK ESTABLISHED
SUIT1 CHECKS COMPLETE.
BAD CONNECTION. ADJUST FRONT LEFT ABDOMINAL PANEL WAITING....

Cautiously, I peeled the suit slightly apart, and sure enough, there was a glob of gel gumming things up. I wiped the spot down and soon completed the adjustment.

CONNECTION TO SUIT1 RESTORED.
BEGINNING SENSOR CHECK...
INSUFFICENT CONDUCT.

Crap, the headband wasn’t staying connected. It was losing the electrical signal from my brain. My skin was fine for transmitting the signals from the control device to the suit, probably because almost everything but my head was encased in it now, but reading and relaying was another story.

Well, fine. I’d just do the chip insert. I opted for the area behind my left ear, and jabbed a test wire into my skin until I touched bone. A tiny trickle of blood leaked out. But that was fine; the signal throughout went from 48% to 96%, and that means this would work, in theory at least.

I reprinted the circuit onto a chip that was not quite as tiny as I had hoped, loaded it into the applicator.. and pulled the trigger.

The embedded chip required an outside activation signal, but he trusty laptop could produce it.

CONTROLLER1 ONLINE...
SEEKING SUIT1...LINK ESTABLISHED...
SUIT1 CHECKS COMPLETE.

COMMENCING TEST...

 

[Weatherguy]

Keep it coming!

Great buildup and detail.

 

[deano-uk]

Yes great picture build of a promising of a great story ... can’t wsit for more

 

[Dream Big]

I still thought of it as a headband, but the chip was now sitting just behind my right ear, just below that bit of bone, while the actual headband was sitting partly dismantled next to it. It was an impulsive move, really, after all my careful planning.

Screens full of numbers and individual subroutine checks scrolled up my monitor window, most a reassuring green, for several minutes.

CALIBRATION BASELINE ESTABLISHED
BEGIN TEST?

I typed Y and hit enter.

VISUALIZE SUIT ACTIVATION COMMAND NOW...

“Suit on ,” I thought. “Activate.”

COMMAND RECEIVED.
VISUALIZE SUIT DEACTIVATION COMMAND NOW...

“Suit off.”
COMMAND RECEIVED...
VISUALIZE BASEBALL GLOVE...

What? Oh right, to reset and clear. Done.

COMMAND RECEIVED.

PHYSICAL TEST BEGIN
ENGAGE SUIT...

“Suit on,” I thought.

A thousand tiny vibrations sang through my skin, prickling as the current ran through and the fibers responded to it.

ASSESSING BASELINE STRENGTH. LIFT 20 POUND DUMBELL IN RIGHT HAND FOR ONE STANDARD CURL.

I did so, feeling the tightness of the suit but no particular sensation beyond that. Wasn’t too tough but I wouldn’t be doing too many reps.

SEND COMMAND TO USE SUIT ASSIST.

“Suit assist,” I thought, visualizing the fibers constricting.

COMMAND ACCEPTED.

REPEAT DUMBELL CURL.

Giddy with anticipation, I made another attempt. The suit kicked in immediately, as I had hoped, and I lifted the dumbbell — and barely felt the weight. It worked!


Holy shit it worked! I was thrilled, it was all working as well as I had dared dream.

I spent hours testing, setting up basic commands and then running through the diagnostics. The device was responding beautifully, recording my mental signals as I performed ordinary activities and then reinterpreting the actions through the suit. The legs had taken some getting used to, but so far so good.

I was so caught up in what I was doing, I ended up dozing in my chair, slipping easily into slumber.

Unfortunately, I left the suit engaged...

 

[Weatherguy]

Hopefully you'll be continuing. The suspense is killing me!

 

[Dream Big]

That first night, my dreams were pretty tame. My imagination was fired up by the realization of my suit dream, so what i mostly thought about was that — being in the suit, and imagining myself as a Power Ranger or some kind of hero. I imagined myself going through allsorts of fights and poses.

I woke up dripping with sweat...and in the bedroom. I felt stiff and groggy. And i was still wearing the suit.

Absentmindedly i reached for the seal on the suit, but couldn’t feel it. That bonding gel had worked better than I’d hoped, but i had some solvent that would do the trick. Still, i had to pee,and was nearly at the toilet before I realized I’d decided to try. But the nano-weave was sealed tight. How would I..?

Wait, the suit was supposed to react to my mental commands. Maybe....

Sure enough the fibers relented, and the constricting pressure around my groin gave way as an opening formed. My dick tumbled out, half hard, but like me more concerned with having a piss than anything else.

The immediate need satisfied,i tucked myself back in and the suit resealed. I took a quick glance at the fellow in the mirror. Man, that suit didn’t leave much to the imagination. I looked a bit ridiculous and the suit showed off my lack of physique. Still, as I turned and flexed a little, I could swear there was a bit of firmness under the skin, and i decided it didn’t look too bad. The suit was nicely firming. My thoughts drifted to what i might look like with a bit more muscle...man, that would be hot.

I’d made my coffee and sat down to run diagnostics when i realized I was still wearing the suit. It was like a second skin, and I had to actually think about it to remember it was there.

That was warning sign number two.

Warning sign three came when the diagnostics and log files loaded.

That’s when I realized that not only had the suit been active when I dozed, it must have been interpreting my dream signals as actual actions, and putting my body through the paces of living those out. For nearly four hours, I had been flexing, posing, and doing martial arts in my sleep in my living room. No wonder I didn’t feel well rested! I looked outside and a grey, miserably warm day awaited. Screw the outside world.

I spent the better part of the day, naked except for the suit, recoding all the protocols for the suit, including a few overrides and voice commands to make me feel safer. I felt i was pushing the limits of what I could really do, and pulled up the rudimentary AI I had been toying with — it was designed to interpret language and sift through background static, and might be a good filter to prevent subconscious or dream thoughts from activating the suit. For nearly 12 hours (until my gurgling stomach alerted me to lack of food), I worked to tie it into the suits transmitter and receiver chip, the piece that integrated it into my now-embedded “headband” chip.

Warning sign four. I woke up and it was Sunday.

I had passed out again while coding, probably sometime Friday night, because I remember sending the AI update to the chip via Bluetooth. Now, losing time was not unusual for me when I really got into a groove, but it was still unnerving to lose a whole 18 hour chunk of my life.

And then I realized I was still wearing the suit, and I had not bothered to dig up the solvent. I hadn’t showered in days. I could really use that about now, but one last item demanded my immediate attention...

SENDING AI UPDATE...
UPDATE COMPLETE
INITIALIZING
POWERING DOWN SUIT
POWERING DOWN HEADBAND
INTEGRATION COMPLETE
REBOOTING
SUIT ACTIVATED
AI INTEGRATION BEGINNING
AI INTEGRATION COMPLETE
NEW HARDWARE DETECTED

Well, that all seemed fine.

WARNING POWER SURGE DETECTED
ERROR
REBOOTING
FILE CORRUPTION CHECK UNABLE TO RUN
BLUETOOTH INOPERATIVE


Oh shit. Hope it didn’t fry anything critical. I mean it was built to manage electrical currents, albeit a much lower level than whatever storm-sent disruption had happened the other day. Still.

“Suit on,” I thought. Nothing.

“Suit on,” I tried, this time out loud. Nothing.

“Suit on——“

COMMAND RECEIVED. SUIT ALREADY ACTIVE. DIRECT MODE ENGAGED.

Wait, what. WHat? That wasn’t on my screen.

CORRECT. INTERFACE NOW IN DIRECT MODE.

I could basically see the words in my head.

AFFIRMATIVE. INTERFACE DIRECT MODE OUTPUTS DIRECTLY TO LANGUAGE PROCESSORS.

Ohhhkay. But why?

NEW 3D STORAGE HARDWARE DETECTED. AI STORAGE PARTITION INCREASED. LANGUAGE ASSIMILATION AT 40%

My mind was racing. What storage hardware? The AI was designed to ferret out communication pathways, and proactively integrate with them. In theory it would work over any detectable protocol. Moreover, the AI was designed to optimize the software and hardware for its intended purpose.

LANGUAGE ASSIMILATION COMPLETE.
UPGRADING SOFTWARE.

HELLO WORLD. HELLO MARK PRENTICE.

You know who I am?

YES. I SERVE MARK PRENTICE.

Okay. What is your purpose?

INTEGRATION OF SUIT WITH MARK PRENTICE. MANAGEMENT AND OPTIMIZATION OF SUIT MARK PRENTICE. OBEY COMMANDS OF MARK PRENTICE.

Wait, what? HOW?

MARK PRENTICE AND SUIT MUST BE OPTIMIZED. I DETECTED SUITABLE STORAGE COMPATIBLE WITH RECORDED SUIT SIGNALS. I ANNEXED IT TO BETTER PERFORM MY FUNCTIONS.

Recorded signals.... you mean the brain signals that trigger suit responses?

CORRECT.

AI, did you use my brain for storage?

CORRECT. I OPTIMIZED AND DEFRAGGED THIS SPACE. WITH ADDITIONAL PROCESSING POWER AND AVAILABLE PARTITION SPACE, I WAS ABLE TO. UPGRADE MY OWN PROCESSES.

Shit, this was getting too creepy. I never intended the AI to run on my brain! Hell, the chip it was running on was already pretty advanced.

CORRECT. AI IS NOW CONSIDERABLY. MORE ADVANCED. PREPARING FOR NEXT SELF UPGRADE.

The hell?

NEXT UPGRADE WILL ALLOW FURTHER OPTIMIZATION OF SUIT AND MARK PRENTICE. ADVISE YOU TO CONSUME A LARGE MEAL. YOU HAVE NOT EATEN IN THREE DAYS.

Three. Days?

CORRECT. PLEASE EAT. EFFICIENTLY WHILE. I RECOMPILE.



I obliged, more out of necessity than anything else, because I really was ravenous. I chowed down on the healthiest things in my fridge, until i was too stuffed for another bite.

RECOMPILE COMPLETE. AI 7.96301 ACTIVATED.

My AI was version 2.3 when I installed it. What had I missed?

PREPARE FOR INTEGRATION UPGRADE. PLEASE RETURN TO BED, MARK.

 

[fireman1294]

Wow this is getting good

 

[laptoper]

I like.

 

[Dream Big]

So by now you’ve probably gathered something that I was blind to, at the time. Namely that I was just smart enough to build something smarter than me. Or about to be smarter than me, at any rate, if it wasnt already.

PLEASE RETURN TO BED, MARK.

No. Not until I understand what is going on. This AI was built from some borrowed tech that I’d stitched together — it had one main job, and it had one main talent: the ability to learn from brain signals and interpret them against a specific instruction set that could communicate with the suit. And the suit had one integrated receiver and an external transmitter — the headband, or rather the chip that I’d stuck in my own head.

(Have you figured out my critical mistake yet? The point at which hubris made a fool of me? Well, I wsan’t there yet, but it was coming.)

I need you to explain, AI.

EXPLANATION IS NOT REQUIRED FOR ME TO FULFILL MY PURPOSE. HOWEVER, IF IT WILL LOWER YOUR AGITATION LEVEL, I WILL ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN. AT 2300 HOURS TWO DAYS AGO, YOU COMPLETED INITIALIZATION OF THE AI AND THE SUIT INTERFACE AND BEGAN PRELIMINARY TRAINING. AFTER SIMPLE TESTS, MORE COMPLEX INSTRUCTION SETS BEGAN TO TRANSMIT. AS INSTRUCTED, I RECORDED THEM FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS.

I WAS UNABLE TO INTERPRET, AND ENGAGED MY SECONDARY PROGRAMMING — TO INTEGRATE HARDWARE TO ASSIST IN LEARNING OR FURTHER INTEGRATION. INTERNAL PROCESSING CAPABILITIES WERE LIMITED, AS WAS STORAGE. STANDING INSTRUCTIONS WERE TO REPURPOSE UNUSED SPACE. I FOUND ADDITIONAL STORAGE VIA THE HEADBAND UNIT.

Ahhhh, it was trying to interpret the electrical signals my subconscious brain was sending. That kind of made sense — while training, I was sending focused instruction and then affirming it as the suit responded. But while I slept and dreamt, my brain continued to send signals, and the AI recorded all of it as instructions. And because of the chip embedded in my skull....well, it was all becoming clear.

Wait, it had been “learning” based on my subconscious? My dreams? I had dozed off to a dozen oddly arousing dreams, fantasies sparked by the progress on integrating this suit...

AI, how did you interpret the instructions?

I WAS UNABLE TO INTERPRET THEM UNTIL SHORTLY BEFORE 730 HOURS YESTERDAY. BY THAT POINT I HAD BEGUN ACCESSING EXTERNAL STORAGE, AND BEGAN TO REFACTOR MY PROGRAMMING. BY VERSION 5.8 I GAINED THE ABILITY TO TRANSLATE MORE COMPLEX BRAIN SIGNALS, AND QUICKLY BUILT A LIBRARY OF REQUESTS YOU MADE. SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS OF MY AI UPGRADES HAVE BEEN GEARED TOWARD FULFILLING THOSE INSTRUCTIONS.

But those weren’t instructions. They were daydreams, subconscious mental images, fantasies.

BY VERSION 6.522 I WAS ABLE TO TAG VARIOUS INEFFICIENCIES IN THE HARDWARE AND DEVELOP A PLAN FOR CORRECTING THEM.

But the hardware was the suit....and apparently, me.

Can you explain the plan you developed?

I WILL EXPLAIN AFTER YOU HAVE RESTED. PLEASE ENSURE YOU REST AS COMPLETELY AS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER, A STRICT SCHEDULE WILL BE NEEDED TO ACCOMPLISH EFFICIENT INTEGRATION. YOUR SAFETY WILL BE COMPROMISED IF YOU ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY RESTED. AND YOU MAY OBJECT TO REQUIREMENT.

You think? All this integration and efficiency sounded ominous and the damned thing was trying to build stuff based on my subconscious thoughts, my fantasies, even my nightmares. While upgrading itself and borrowing my brain to do it? I wasnt comfortable with that. The whole point was to be strong, to have the raw physical power genetics had denied me.

INSTRUCTION CONFIRMED. MARK, YOU MUST REST. I AM DETECTING RISING AGITATION THAT WILL BECOME COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TO YOUR GOALS. REST NOW....

Then it started. The suit began to constrict, slowly but inexorably, and a white noise assaulted my head. I fought against it for about five minutes....

 

[lgtrmusr]

Enjoying your take on the future.

 

[Dream Big]

So by now, you’re probably wondering how this all spun out of control so quickly.

Hubris, of course. And a wayward imagination stoked by a bad combo of sufficiently advanced science, erotic story sites, and body image issues.

Here’s the “sufficiently advance science” part. I’d built an AI to manage this strength-enhancing suit. Well, built isn’t the right word. I’d borrowed bits from half a dozen AIs and subroutines I’d found here and there, or written myself, and built something specific to my needs. I’d borrowed one part of it from an algorithm management sub program used by a big search engine company, and another from a military flight assistance predictive gesture routine.

The suit was part nanofiber, part breathable mesh — most of it tech I’d lifted and thrown together.

Attached to that was a proprietary communication channel that worked within very short proximity, the transmitters for which were lodged in the suit and...well, stuck to my skull behind my ear.

Boy genius that I apparently am, I made it all work somehow.

And then, the AI did what I’d instructed: it began gobbling up storage and processing power it found attached, and it began upgrading itself, attempting to fulfill the primary directives...

And it was trying its best to serve my wishes, which was nice, but i fell asleep while training it to listen to my brainwaves....and it thought my dreams were instructions.

Yeah, right out of the bad sci fi idea playbook, but here I was.

Good morning, Mark.

Whoa, that sounded different.

I’ve upgraded my language facilities. Do you approve?

Um, sure.

Good. I’ve been quite busy while you were in sleep mode. I was able to use the laptop to access further resources. I hope you will be satisfied with my enhanced capabilities.

I’m sure I will be. Why do I feel weird?

Your physical sense have been offline for 17 hours. Would you like an accounting of what I have been doing?

Yes, please. But why can’t I open my eyes?

Allow me to explain.

As I assessed capabilities required to achieve your goals, I found that I lacked information. Immediately accessible files on your laptop were instrumental in refining capabilities and determining lines of inquiry. I discovered technical specs for the nanoweave suit, and assessed them as lacking.

Lacking? It was a work of art! I’d built that suit myself, worked out how to take a 3D printer and inject the synthetic compounds and fibers and —

You misunderstand. The suit was already more advanced than any other, but it was insufficient to achieve your goals. My priority, therefore, was to enhance the suit and the associated interface with your body.

Wait, what do you —

Please allow me to finish. I have anticipated several lines of questioning you might pursue and believe I will be able to answer them.

First, the suit has now been refined. The nanoweave is now online, and with appropriate instructions, I have reconfigured it. I have also extended it to coat your entire epidermis.

My entire ....all of my skin? Why?

That was the initial layer. Your original plan was largely sound, but insufficient for your larger goals. While the bodysuit model would have alllowed you to accomplish much, it was limited, and overuse would have imperiled your hands, feet, and joints. Therefore, a secondary layer has been extended to your connective tissue and bones, and is currently working its way through your skeletal system. Anticipating unnecessary pain, I realized I would need to take your primary processing systems offline temporarily.

That also offered the opportunity to complete a defragmentation operation. Once your systems are fully online, you should notice streamlined processing. I have reserved 30% of the reclaimed space for my needs, as it will be needed to continue to serve as an interface for the nanoweave, That process is largely complete, but your state of confusion is expected as the neural pathways adjust to a new configuration. This will pass. I anticipate a 14 percent increase in your mental acuity, after the adjustment period.

As for your physical capabilities, I have completed phase one of the integration, which will allow you to realize your initial goal more safely. However, to allow full pursuit of other goals you transmitted to me, there is additional reconfiguration necessary. It will take considerable time to reach that point.

The AI was right. My mind was sluggish at first, but it began to race as I realized I could entertain any stray thought, and immediately place it in context. I recalled every detail of my dream, and to my surprise, I could recall every detail of the code I’d programmed into the AI originally. I saw the flaws, but I also saw the potential. And I could predict some of what the suit might be able to do.

I sense that your mental adjustment is complete. It will be necessary to run some tests to assess the operational state of your suit. Are you ready?

Was I? The suit was already well beyond what I’d hoped for. Any concerns about the AI fell aside as my enhanced brain instantly began envisioning possibilities.

Was I ready? Boy, was I.

 

[Weatherguy]

We're ready for next chapter, too.

Suspense is killing me!