Tes watched as the hands tried to juggle. She focused harder, trying to control them better. The four hands could not coordinate with each other. The balls would fly up in the air in random arcs. If they did not completely miss the hand that was suppose to catch them, they would be bounced about on fingers with all the dexterity of a drunk having a seizure.
With a defeated sigh, Tes turned off two of the four floating robotic hands. With less to focus on she could easily direct the two remaining hands to juggle with no problem. They would respond as well as her flesh and blood hands if she focused them on a task. She set the robotic hands to picking up the dropped balls while she used the ones she was born with to make a few notes.
"I think you are getting a bit better with four of the neurolink hands. I can barely manage one," said Tes's lab assistant, Brandon. To emphasize his point he made the one hand floating by his shoulder wave at her.
"Maybe, but I need better results. The neurolink hands will never be anything more than a novelty if I can't figure out a way to make them more easy to control," she replied. She adjusted her glasses in agitation. She had been fine tuning the controls on the neurolink hands for over a month now with little success in increasing the number that could be controlled effectively.
Tes had first had the idea for the neurohands almost a year back. She had been working on a prototype robot for an asteroid mining project and found herself wishing that she had an extra set of hands to help with the work. Throughout the millennium of people that have had that same wish, Tes decided to make it a reality. She started a small side project of creating a cybernetic hand. Working in her free time, Tes slowly developed the invention that she hoped would now mark her crowning achievement.
The neurolink hands looked for the most part like a human hand cut off at the wrist. The finely tuned servos and microgears allowed for the same level of manipulation as a human hand with all of the control. They were covered in soft, gray synthetic skin. The synthetic skin was designed to allow for precise measurement of pressure, heat, cold, and other sensations. A small gravity field generator provided locomotion for the unattached appendage along with the strength to lift any item grasped. It was the control that made the neurohands impressive. Tes had created a neurotransmiter that sent messages directly from her neuroimplant to the neurolink hands. She had modified the neurolink to take signals from the motor control centers of the brain so that the hands were directly controlled by her thoughts. They possessed no processors of their own, reacting as though they were a flesh and blood hand.
The mind seemed to be hardwired for only the use of two hands however.
"I think that calling them a 'novelty' is selling short what you've done. I mean, come on, everyone is going to want an extra set of hand," Brandon told her in that cheery voice he used when he wanted someone to look on the bright side, "The ability to do four things at once is something people have dreamed of for ages."
"It may seem like they are a big help, but if you have to focus on them then you might as well use your own hands," Tes replied a bit tersely. She had been working long hours on this project and felt frustrated to her limit with the wall she seemed to have hit. Having someone tell her that she had done something great when she knew all she had really done was find a creative use for largely existing technologies added insult to injury. She directed a hand to bring her a cup of coffee from across the room.
Brandon held up his hands in defeat. He knew better than to get in an extended argument with a perfectionist. He gave a glance down at his watch, "Its pretty late. Jenna is probably already on her way to pick me up. What do you say we call it a day?"
"I suppose," Tes said as she leaned back in her chair and looked at the ceiling. As an after thought she added, "Go on, I'll take care of cleaning up. I still have a few more things to work on, but you have a bit more to do with your life than compile facts and figures."
"Thanks," said Brandon as he picked up a few personal items. As he headed for the door he turned to tell Tessa, "Relax a little, Doc. It might help. I mean, its not like you can just will the hands to do what you want," then headed out the door.
***
Brandon walked into the office with a yawn. He had stayed up later with his girlfriend than he probably should have with the early mornings expected at the lab. He had needed the relaxation, though. Lab work could be stressful enough, but literally trying to control extra hands with your brain could provide its own special level of stress. Headaches were becoming more common, so he hoped that this morning Tessa would want to work on one of the other projects so that they could both refresh. He knew she needed the break as much or more so than him, but less interested in it by far.
The lab was a fairly consistent place. Everything was kept in order. Tools were kept in the same place, returned there constantly after use. Every project had a designated area and heaven help anyone that mixed up components. Even the chaotic jumble of notes and papers had a kind of mad order; at the very least, they had to remain confined to their respective desks. Tessa liked a clean lab and allowed for little decoration and personalization. It was because of this expectation of order that Brandon was left with his jaw hanging open when he saw the chaos that seemed to have descended onto his workspace.
Half a dozen or more hands were engaged in a complicated juggling act that took up the entire lab. Cups, screwdrivers, safety glasses, and other assorted bric-a-brac arced through the air from one hand to another before being launched to yet another. Rolling around under it all, directing it like some great orchestra was a quite disheveled looking Tessa. Her chestnut hair was down and a bit of a flowing mess, so unlike the usual meticulous bun she usually kept it in for work. She was still wearing the same cloths from the day before. Given her habit of working through the night that was not so unusual, but she usually made a point to straighten them up before anyone arrived. Most unusual of all was the fact that Tessa was laughing with all the glee of kid in a candy store.
"I thought you would never show up!" Tes said jovially. She wheeled her chair over towards him, spinning around as she went. Her feet never touched the floor. Instead, a neurolink hand pushed her. Two more hands brought steaming cups of coffee along behind her. She took a drink from one, not bothering to take it from the cybernetic hand, while the other was offered up to Brandon. Smirking she said, "I finally had the big breakthrough last night."
"I can see," Brandon said, gawking at the sight. He took the offered coffee and drank deeply, "How did you do it? You've completely broken through the control barrier?"
"Kinetic reflex," she replied in a matter-o-fact tone. When he stared back blankly she elaborated, "The brain can process massive amounts of information. When you catch a ball thrown to you, thousands of calculations have to happen. You have to adjust for speed, wind direction, and relative position. You don't do it consciously. Your mind and body just respond to it naturally. The calculations occur in the preconscious mind and then your arm moves to do what it has to. The only conscious thought is willing it all to happen."
