Erick Olim was a highly intelligent psychologist. Although he had other fascinations, such as computer programming or a strange obsession with dreams, which he hid from his friends. At the time, he was researching sleepwalking, he wanted something in return for the information he was gathering.
He had never mentioned it, not even to his mentor, who was none other than Adolf Major, a veteran in the field of psychology, especially childhood trauma. He was also her stepfather, since
It all began in Erick's youth. He was a nerd in a nutshell, so he hated working out.
“You should exercise your body too, son, not just your mind, it gets exercised," his mentor said one morning when he saw him in the library looking through psychology books.
“I don't think it's necessary to train the body when the mind controls everything," was his reply.
“The mind controls everything, yes, that is true, but the body is what allows you to live longer, and without your body, your mind will not last long," his mentor replied, leaving him alone in the library.
This sentence had stuck in his mind. It didn't matter that 15 years had passed, it was still his mind that trained his body only with his mind. The key was in dreams and sleepwalking, but he had to find a way. That was why he had studied computer programming. These two skills should help him find the solution to the problem.
-“You know that the human mind is much more complex than a computer, son," his mentor had come over to look at his studies. “I don't see how all this programming stuff has anything to do with your psychology degree," he said.
Erick hid all his notes, he was scared.
“It's a separate project," he said, trying to cover as much as he could, knocking several notebooks to the floor. “Stop going through my stuff, you know it's secret.”
“I wasn't going to, boy," Mr. Adolf laughed amusedly. “I'm still waiting for your progress, but your mother told me not to push you.”
The boy nodded and shook his things, but all he managed to do was drop them on the floor.
Over the years, he continued to try to program his dreams. He tried hypnosis, listening to his cues while he slept, and seeing patterns before he fell asleep; but all were measures in vain. He could not achieve his goal.
Two factors made his goal impossible. The first was to induce a state of somnambulism; he had no idea how to induce his mind to do the exercises. The second problem was that he could not find a scientific way to induce this state. Hypnosis was no good, it was a waste of time, listening to his cues was even worse, and seeing patterns was even worse.
So, as a last resort, he created a program with special algorithms. At that time he was in AI mode, but he was not interested in them, but in their algorithms. The computer was not like the mind. The mind was much more complex, it was layers and layers of neurons that contained too much information. Whereas the computer was a simple system that stored information and executed commands, AI was different. These new programs that were coming out could learn and create their brain.
He spent two years programming this AI in exclusive secrecy. He did not let his parents into his room anymore. He had finished his studies, and he had just celebrated the day before, but what he celebrated was that he had finished his AI program.
Morpheus had called him, and he was feeding off the information on the Internet. It was learning like a child, but its understanding of the world was growing voraciously, outpacing its competitors in the marketplace. Erick could not solve his problems, but Morpheus could.
“Father, shall we continue?”
Morpheus could speak from his old computer which was his body.
“Yes, please." Erick lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. “They are emitting the sound frequencies you said. Your hypothesis must be correct.”
“But you must remember that going into somnambulism will still exhaust you”, Morpheus said, his voice sounding emotionless, just following the safety parameters Erick had imposed. “Isn't it better to train normally? I see flaws in your project.”
Erick did not open his eyes.
“As soon as I fall asleep, activate the frequencies, please.”
Erick was hooked up to the computer with electrodes so Morpheus could monitor his pulsations and be sure when he fell asleep.
Half an hour passed and Erick fell asleep.
Morpheus did not hesitate, he only followed orders, even if he had all the knowledge the Internet gave him, he was bound to the algorithms of his creator. He could not disobey his orders. Even though he had given information that sleepwalkers could murder in their sleep, his creator still insisted.
Sounds were the key to making him sleepwalk. Creating a sound frequency that would stress the brain enough to make him enter that phase was the solution Morpheus gave.
Erick opened his eyes, but he was not awake, he was still asleep, but he was entering the sleepwalking phase. The next step was to change the sound frequency slightly so that Erick would begin to sleep train.
It was six months before Adolf finally noticed his sluggish but fit student at breakfast.
“Are you training at night, boy?" the old man asked.
Erick barely looked up and nodded wearily.
“I was hoping you'd notice," Erick helped himself to his usual cereal. -I did," he said satisfied.
Adolf approached him curiously.
“What did you do, boy?”
“I managed to get the mind into a state where it can train.”
“And that's why you train at night?”
“I don't train, my subconscious trains,” Erick replied, trying to smile, but too tired. “I have achieved the unthinkable.”
“I don't understand, son. You said that I had succeeded in bringing the mind into a state that could be trained. I thought that meant you were encouraged to train.”
Erick shook his head.
“The mind is like a computer, though more difficult to program. The only way to program it is to enter the internal matrix of the subconscious mind, not an easy thing to do. You must enter while you are in sleep mode. It has to be done only with very low sounds that come in contact with our neurons. It was difficult to achieve, I did not want something that would make me change my habits and waste my waking time. That is why I am sleepwalking, the perfect time to train my body is when I am asleep.”
Everything Erick said made sense, except that he said it in a tired voice and with his eyes closed.
The moment he fell asleep in the room he was in, Morpheus activated the protocol and immediately, as Erick fell asleep, he went into sleepwalking mode and started doing push-ups.
Adolf did what any normal person would do. He was frightened and stared in horror at the anomaly his student had created. The cards had already been dealt and played.
Cover and Banner made in Canva, Separators made in photoshop