Joseph Trance

Time Back Trips Technololgy..Beginnings

     It was the first time, again.

“You are fearfully and wonderfully made.”  The small group of investors shifted uneasily in their seats and stared at him.  He stared back.  No, not Psalms.  He thought about Jesus when he preached.  He thought about how he loved people and how he preached to them.  Then he thought about the apostle Paul in 1st. Corinthians.    He relaxed and began again.

“There are places in the brain where memories are stored, physical places.”  There was a palpable shift in the atmosphere as the investors relaxed.  They all had done their research, and they had all been briefed by their advisors.  Some of them even had neurology training.  He needed to show them he could talk their talk.  Paul.

 “Depending on the type of memory, different parts of the brain are activated.”

As he said it, Mike Denton, pushed the button on the remote control that brought up the brain dissection slide.  He could feel his body pulsing with power as the slide came into focus. His heart felt as if it was going to come through his chest as his excitement built.   He breathed in slowly and got control over his body.   He directed the red laser light at the power point presentation, and continued in teacher mode. 

 "Short-term memory is supported by transient patterns of neuronal communication, dependent on region of the frontal lobe, here, and the parietal lobe, here." Denton made the light do circles around the two areas of the brain. 

"Long-term memories, on the other hand, are maintained by more stable and permanent changes in neural connections widely spread throughout the brain. The hippocampus is essential (for learning new information) to the consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory, although it does not seem to store information itself."  Denton directed the light to circle that part of the brain.  He scanned the faces of his audiences as they watched the light go ‘round and round, round and round.  He continued,

  “In the 1940s Penfield, a Canadian brain surgeon, stimulated areas of the brains of his patients while they were opened up for epileptic surgery. He found that electrical stimulation of the temporal lobes produced memories in some of his patients.  Long term Memories are created by the continued exposure to experience.  Repetition is key in the development of long term memories.     The more the experience occurs, the more the memory is embedded.  Episodic and autobiographical memory according to the work of Anderson in 1976,  is stored in different parts of the brain.  Time Backs Trips uses the results of this research, and connects it to a myriad of computers and sensory enhancers, and has the client literally experience the past."  

 The small group of investors shifted in their seats as Denton brought up the next slide that showed one of the Time Back Trips rooms.  It was filled with computers that connected to a variety of sensory enhancer equipment.

“Think of it ladies and gentlemen, you can go back into the past without leaving your seats.  Any ‘when’ that you want, just as long as there are memories of that time.”  The slide morphed to a room with two wall screens. The word Vacations flashed over the first screen.  A man sitting in a chair connected to a Time Backs Helmet sat in front of the screen with his eyes closed.  The screen wet though a variety of scene changes; a hotel on a sunny beach, a ski resort with snow covered mountains, and a cabin in the woods surrounded by lakes and trees.  Each scene depicted the client in the various vacation spots;  jet-skiing and swimming,  riding a ski-lift and zigzagging down a slope,  catching very big trout and pedal-boating.

“Maybe memories of a more personal nature are more to the client’s liking.”  The words Birthday, Graduation and Wedding  flashed across the second screen.   Again a client, female this time , sat with a helmet in front of the screen.  The investors sat glassy eyed and smiled as they saw the woman blowing out birthday candles, receiving her diploma, and taking her vows, as the screen morphed though those life events.

“These types of memories can be very therapeutic.   Everyone could use an emotional lift every now and then.    No matter how successful we have been, we are all subject to feelings of depression and dissatisfaction.”  Heads nodded in agreement.    “These memories can change the mood of person especially when they are feeling depressed, unworthy and even suicidal.   And with our enhanced sensory inputs, they can feel those memories.    Every sight, touch, smell, sound and even taste, just like it was yesterday.    Imagine the power that these memories can have; reconnecting someone to happier times in their life. They could be life-saving.   Lights.”

The power point faded, the wall screen went up and the room lights went on.  Denton took a long pause, and made eye contact with each one of them.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, that’s it.  What do you think?  Is Time Back Trips a project worthy of your financial backing?”  A short silence followed as Denton scanned their faces.  Then the best part; a burst of applause and then they rushed him, slapping him on the back, words of congratulations, and then the check writing.  The smallest investor shoved a check at him for five million dollars.  Denton stared at the checks in his hand.   He slowly rubbed them between sensory enhanced fingers.  Success.  Now, the part he added two days ago:   His hand holding the checks became a closed fist and he crumpled the checks into a tight ball.  He threw the ball down to the floor and watched as it slowly unraveled.

“Off.”  The scene faded.  Darkness.  Denton slowly raised his hands and reached for the helmet.

He gently lifted it off his head and placed it on the nearby table.  He rubbed his closed eyes between the index finger and thumb of his right hand.  He opened his eyes and looked at the table to his right, the .45 and half empty bottle of vodka were still there.

He got up slowly and pushed the table aside. 

“No.”

He slowly walked to his desk, sat down and reached for the Bible.  He opened it and it automatically opened to the passage of scripture he had read so many times.

“I will never leave you or forsake you.” 

 It was the scripture he didn’t need a memory helmet for. It had been part of his past, his present, and he knew, his future.  His future.  But there were things he needed to change if he was going to have one, things that he needed to fix.  He looked over at the .45 and half-empty bottle.  He With a few minor adjustments he could…  He looked at the Bible that lay open before him.   He could add so much to the existing Time-Backs Technology.  He took a long deep breath and let it out slowly.  He felt a peace he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.  Then the words, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made,” resounded in his head.  And then, “For I know the plans I have for you.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and future.”    Denton closed his eyes and whispered, “ Jeremiah 29:11.”  He glanced at the memory helmet he had taken off and then back at Bible. He thought about the addition he had added to his own memory.      A peace flooded his body and he felt a vibration pulse through him that he had not felt since…“Yes, Lord,” he said.   Life was going to change…for a lot of people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



If the 'past' is always on your mind...is it really..the 'past'?
(Oh..if we could only change the reality of the memories that plague us...
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Alle Rechte an diesem Beitrag liegen beim Autoren. Der Beitrag wurde auf e-Stories.org vom Autor eingeschickt Joseph Trance.
Veröffentlicht auf e-Stories.org am 28.03.2009.

 
 

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