Calvin, currently serving time in prison, was the second person to receive a Neural Implant.
As a unique individual suspected of possessing precognitive abilities, Calvin was especially sensitive when it came to his own life and death.
He hesitated for a long time before agreeing to the experiment, trying to envision his own future. Finding no sense of impending danger and even foreseeing some strange benefits, he ultimately signed the surgical consent form.
Outside the operating room, one of the medical experts was speaking animatedly to Jason.
"Our current sample size is still too small. If you approve, Captain, my team and I are willing to undergo the surgery ourselves to prove its safety."
The speaker was Hilton, a native-born second-generation citizen of the colony.
Forty years had passed since the Deep Space project began. The theoretical development of the Neural Implant was incredibly mature, at least in the eyes of these experts.
"Captain Jason, we have developed a comprehensive algorithm that can map and calculate various brain structures to determine the absolute optimal implantation site."
"The entire surgery is performed fully automatically by a surgical drone. The Neural Implant is grafted onto the surface of the cerebral cortex with a precision of 0.01 micrometers. The failure rate is roughly one in a million, which is well within the acceptable safety threshold."
"Even in the event of a failure, we can safely extract the implant. Our advanced stem cell therapy can repair the resulting neurological damage. It absolutely will not result in a vegetative state."
In short, he was arguing that the surgical risks were completely manageable and that Neural Implants should be widely rolled out.
However, no matter how eloquently the expert pitched the idea, Jason remained calm and unmoved.
He firmly believed that a much longer testing period was required to guarantee absolute safety.
It wasn’t that he was being overly conservative; long-term security was always his primary concern. If these implants became widely available to the public and suddenly started malfunctioning after a year or two or even a decade or two, the consequences would be catastrophic!
Standing outside the operating room, several high-ranking Federation officials were discussing the situation in hushed tones, not just about the Neural Implant, but about Calvin himself.
"So, Calvin is going to be released soon after serving his sentence?" Jason asked, somewhat surprised by a remark Austin had just made.
Evaluating Calvin’s ultimate impact was a complicated matter.
Looking at the historical record, he had actually accomplished some vital things. He was directly responsible for assassinating the former tyrant of the Lunar Base and single-handedly paving the way for Jason to take power.
However, his extremist methods had triggered a massive wave of riots among the death row inmates, which negatively impacted a large number of innocent civilians.
Therefore, his merits couldn’t simply erase his crimes, and he had remained imprisoned ever since.
But Jason knew perfectly well that Calvin’s presence had actually saved him a lot of trouble over the years. Despite his radical methods, Calvin could ultimately be considered "one of their own."
The Federation had both a bright and a dark side.
What were they supposed to do with the truly unruly prisoners? The irredeemable troublemakers? Release them to disrupt social stability? Of course not!
One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.
Therefore, it was much more efficient to just let Calvin brainwash them.
As for what actually happened behind the prison walls... Jason preferred not to ask too many questions.
He didn’t know how, but the former religious cult leader truly possessed a brainwashing ability on par with a pyramid scheme mastermind. After spending some time with him, even the most violent prisoners began to behave themselves.
Well, whatever twisted doctrine he was feeding them, it was better than them committing violent crimes.
"Yes. According to our laws, he’s been imprisoned for fifty years now. Factoring in his sentence commutations for good behavior, his time is officially served," Austin replied.
Austin pulled up a digital document on his datapad, glanced at it, and nodded. "It’s not just him. Several other inmates are also scheduled for release."
"How should we handle their reintegration? They’ve been completely out of touch with mainstream society for decades."
Jason frowned. "How is their general behavior? Aren’t they prone to causing trouble?"
"No, that shouldn’t be an issue. They all have exemplary behavioral records, which is exactly why they received sentence reductions in the first place."
Jason pondered this for a moment. These individuals were about to be released, and dumping them straight into the colony would be jarring. They needed a transition period.
"Maybe they could join the military?"
Hearing this, Austin and Marcus exchanged bewildered glances.
Former inmates serving in the military right after their release? That was obviously highly inappropriate. The military was supposed to be a symbol of absolute security and trust for the public!
Jason quickly realized his gaffe and corrected himself. "Uh... what exactly do they do for work in the prison?"
"They are actually responsible for producing entertainment media!" Marcus replied with a wry smile. "...Programming video games, writing novels, directing movies... that sort of thing. But it’s all heavily geared toward promoting your glorious, towering image as a leader."
Marcus wasn’t mocking Jason; as a fellow fervent supporter of the Captain, he simply thought Calvin and his followers were incredibly clever.
The current societal climate was built entirely on a foundation of hard science. It was no longer possible to openly preach about the Cult of the Void or the Son of God.
So, this group of lunatics had begun subtly exporting their religious culture through entertainment media instead. The Security Department basically turned a blind eye to it. After all, media that fanatically supported Jason helped maintain political stability, which was highly beneficial for the colony’s smooth operation.
Jason frowned, shaking his head. He didn’t even know what to say to that.
It was truly unbelievable that the prison system had somehow morphed into a breeding ground for state-sponsored entertainment.
"Once they get out, let them start a business and continue their media work. The economy is affluent enough now that we can’t afford to have able-bodied people idling about. Also, have the Department of Public Relations tighten their review of cultural productions. They shouldn’t just be releasing random propaganda unchecked."
As they were talking, several scientists emerged from the operating room, beaming with joy.
Dr. Roman, the lead surgeon, grinned from ear to ear. "The surgery was a complete success. Perfect execution. We’ve already run a battery of cognitive tests on him, and we’ll be comparing his baseline data against Professor Nakamura’s."
"His arithmetic processing speed has increased by an average of 320 million times! This has indirectly boosted his logical reasoning, pattern recognition, and memory retention by 10% to 40%. Of course, the Neural Implant has other functions as well, such as emitting localized electromagnetic waves to interface directly with external computer systems."
Jason nodded. Such a massive leap in raw computational power was expected. The subsequent improvements in general cognitive functions were likely a natural byproduct of the brain no longer being bogged down by heavy calculations.
Marcus suddenly asked in surprise, "Wait, if the implant can emit electromagnetic waves, doesn’t that mean we can communicate telepathically via brainwaves? We won’t even need to speak anymore?"
"No!" Dr. Roman shook his head firmly. "For strict safety reasons, the biological human brain must remain the primary receiver. The Neural Implant is strictly an auxiliary processor; it cannot bypass the brain’s natural sensory organs to directly download or receive external information into the consciousness."