Hired Goons by Mas Guerrero

In 2016, a focus group conducted by TrysterexCorp subjected 8 volunteers to a series of tests, disclosing the experimental procedures would “augment brain activity and optimize work efficiency by means of artificial, expedited neuroplasticity.” The tests would partake over the span of two years, promising shelter and handsome compensation once completed. A minor trepanation was required to insert the probe containing a small, chipped vial of the bioengineered chemical codenamed “Elixir 12”, which after studies of its effects on cockroaches revealed it eliminates the need for sleep, hunger, nullified acting upon any primal urges and could commandeer a digital hive mind to neurally transmit specific objectives, thus overriding free will of the body and mind. After the surgeries, they were lead to their quarters in the basement of TrysterexCorp’s headquarters and activated the vials for their first dosage. The chip distributed only 0.00001 cc of the serum daily at the stroke of midnight and the results were immediate. First few tests were simple, observing vitals and reactions to stimuli and only giving them a tube of nutrient slurry pumping through their veins to keep them healthy. Little did the subjects know they were coaxed by a clause in their lengthy contracts reading the tasks they would accomplish was in conjunction with BrainEngine Inc, an internet marketing company interested in targeting advertisements via telepathy; all they needed were human subjects as mediums to create a subliminal archive of every human desire that could be capitalized on and stored away in a ersatz brain codenamed “The Geek.” The subjects were nicknamed “the martyrs” and deemed expendable and necessary for the progress of human experience. Placed in front of a screen, forced to search the most desolate, sordid corners of the internet, all to record the subconscious reaction of being exposed to an endless slew of information. However, due to a glitch in the chip’s dosage reader left over from the beta testing, the dose suddenly leaped exponentially to 0.0001 cc, then 0.001, etc, causing gradual, rollercoaster cognitive dissonances over the span of a few days. Sometimes there would be strong abject to information once seen as pleasurable and magnetic attractions to nefarious things, interchanging indeterminately within the span of seconds. The researchers were baffled by their sudden onslaught of petrifying terror counteracted with hysterical laughter but physical inability to stop scrolling and unglue their eyes from the screen. Finally, the entire vial injected the two year supply of Elixir 12 into their brains and the overdose created grand hallucinations. Visions of God, creation, death and cybernetic beings (angel/demon hybrids) began to manifest itself into their hiveminds and caused their bodies to move ecstatically, sporadically in perfect synchronization. An unexpected side effect to say the least. The dichotomy of the digital realm and physical realm began to meld and have no discernible difference. They envisioned Heaven, which was a gated neighborhood they called the “Etherplace” and only obtainable to those who sacrifice their physical beings to their designated cause, a sandbox landscape unlimited potential for creation. They also envisioned Hell, dubbed “Babylonline” for those who give in to Earthly temptation and sloth, sitting in a cubicle of the infinity office and forced to sift through corrupted data and reassemble the digital debris pixel by pixel for all eternity. Visitations of the cybernetic beings exposing them both mercy and complete moral deterioration with no discernable reasoning deterred their path to ultimate knowledge. God was the hub of the internet, giver of content, creator of the digital realm. They loved and feared it, screamed when they saw its face in their visions. The worship of binary, good and evil, light and dark, making up the fabric of their universe, all things they rambled on about in their neverending religious frenzy. All flashing and creating life from a primordial soup and killing it with the heat death of the universe infinite times in their milliseconds long waking dreams within dreams, relentless but entirely lucid in the glow of the screen. Because of this unexpected turn, the researchers realized the liability, societal scrutiny and scorn they would receive if the experiment was ever made public. So they decided to build a brick wall in the entrance to the basement and have the religiously galvanized, overstimulated subjects ride out their God delusions until they die. Brains too ill to ever lead a normal life. The files were burned and any outside evidence of Elixir 12 was disposed of. BrainEngine Inc ended their contract and continued with their routine brain scans on dogs watching YouTube playlists as test subjects. With the lack of supervision and a dire need for morale, they used discarded, industrial lab equipment, obsolete sound cards, Soulseek sample packs and cracked MIDI software to create primitive, Neanderthal-like musical pieces praising this God, warning of Hell and the desire to someday be raptured from their laboratory prison into the Etherplace. These are their hymns. The hymns of the Hired Goons.

Cave dweller

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