12 Minutes
Jim’s heartbeat increased, adrenaline flowed through his veins helping him remain hyper-alert. He scanned his surroundings, careful not to make a sound. His breath came and went through his nose, slowly.
With eyes wide, his forehead felt tight, and he saw with his ears as much as his eyes. Sounds and images were given equal consideration as he evaluated the present situation.
The adrenalin didn’t make him jumpy or nervous. He didn’t want to bolt and flee like a gazelle in Africa. It was a tool like any of the other senses Jim’s body utilized. He was in control and he used everything to maintain a state of alert awareness while simultaneously ready to act.
Water from rain pattered on the metal roof above. It filtered down over the eave and made a hollow pinging sound as it dripped onto a west-facing window’s aluminum sill.
10 Minutes
A cough from upstairs broke the silence. A female’s cough perhaps?
Jim maintained his posture of alertness, giving nothing away, and stayed in the moment. Not long. A few more minutes.
He would need to work quickly, but timing was crucial. Stay present, he admonished himself.
7 Minutes
The digital letters in the upper right corner of his HUD changed to 0700, flashed, and then a new line of text appeared, starting at 00:00, just below the clock. Red numbers, hard to miss in the early morning light counted upwards.
With a neural command, Jim executed a simple order, “GO”. The word now turned green, hung in stark relief in ocular 1; quadrant 3, of his SK8.
With another mental command of “clear,” all irrelevant or otherwise extraneous data in Jim’s field of view disappeared and the heads-up-display of his SK8 widened as small windows of text and images disappeared.
Jim stood up.
“Wow, you’re right. The new clear function is awesome!” He moved to touch his forehead and gazed at virtual fingers. “Someone mind helping me out of this thing? So cool that I can’t see the harness.”
Kathy, director of testing operations, called out, “that’s it, folks. End feed. George, help Mr. Kraft out of the halo.”
Wires flashed into view and Jim’s previously gloved hand was now gone.
Jim was using a beta version of a third generation SK8. Often pronounced “skate” by techies. It was a fully integrated digital HUD made possible by a series of neural sensors now glued to the skin on either side of his temples and across his forehead above his eyes.
