[Last paragraph is actually new]

Albert suddenly straightened up and went into a rather detailed lecture without missing a beat.

“I should, first of all, clarify one crucial point to the rest of you first. I’m a college student studying in the field of neuroscience- the study of the human brain- perhaps the most complex structure of the human body- no, the most complex structure in the universe. It has evolved quite significantly since the age of the Neanderthals. But we humans are different from other organisms, in our desire to learn and adapt. That's not to say other organisms don't have this instinct, or even that all humans do.” He fave a light chuckle, inviting the other two to do so as well.

“Which brings us to the question...can we ever understand the human mind? What even is human consciousness? There are divisions of science and medicine that seem to believe we can, yet we are still a long ways away from making any significant milestones in those studies. Why do humans get depressed and desire suicide when it goes against our base instinct to survive? Do vices like gambling, drug use, and criminal mischief only exist because our society has pushed us away from baser instincts? Or is there something deeper?” He gave the two a rather questioning look, especially Teddy.

“Well, now that’s exactly what I attempted to do. I made a prototype of a device. It was a rather complex device which could be attached to a person with several sections on their head. The device could read brain wave patterns…but that’s not all. It could convert thought processes…to data.”

“Now, first off, I had the subject- who was unharmed, I assure you both- perform a rather simple action- to simply eat their favourite cereals. The device converted that simple action alone into…ten million lines of code. Then I had them read a passage from A Search of Lost Time. It got converted into one hundred million lines of code. Then I pointed a fake gun at the subject- except they didn’t know it wasn’t fake. Ten billion lines of code. This data is unique to every person, and will look immeasurably different for different subjects performing the same action. This is also only the conscious level. I can't even begin to imagine how much more complex the data gets if you analyze the subconscious level.” He shook his head in a rather thoughtful manner.

“But anyway, you might be wondering- “How could this data get used if we can’t possibly ever hope to decipher it?” Well, first off, this data can technically be deciphered…just not in this lifetime. But even then, this data has a lot of theoretical uses. Let me give you an example. Imagine getting a terrible concussion that leaves you with a part of your brain damaged. Alternatively, imagine a patient developing Alzheimer's. If this theoretical patient simply had a copy of their consciousness, memories...their entire mind. All they'd need to do is upload it back in their head. And then they’d be back to normal.”

His eyes lit up, taking great excitement in reliving his particular part. “I’m sure you both can see how powerful this technology can be now. “One particular member in the audience that evening asked me whether the device could be used for learning skills. For example, if you wished to be well versed in karate or some other forms of martial arts, what if you could simply download the memories of a black belt? But, unfortunately, I believe we'd have to understand the data first. We are several generations away from that. I do not know what could happen from downloading the data of another person, but most of my research indicates the results could be...disastrous.”

He paused, taking a deep breath and then snaps his fingers. “And that’s about the entire lecture! Hopefully you managed to actually understand a little bit of that, heh heh.”

The others could see that reciting all this had resulted in a huge change in Albert’s demeanour. His stutter had vanished and he had confidently spoken on the subject with no sign of nervousness. He almost appeared… competent that way.

“Anyway, after the lecture, a representative from SkyTech came to me and asked if I was interested in selling the rights to the device. If you don’t know what that means”, he says, looking at Violet, “I would still be credited with the making of the device but further development of it would continue under SkyTech instead. And I agreed to sell it. Got 50 grand in return. I don’t know what happened with that device afterwards- mainly because SkyTech’s now responsible for everything related to it- but that’s the gist of the whole thing. And it’s most likely what that magazine over there’s talking about as well.”