Understand - a novelette by Ted Chiang

He came so close to drowning, but they reached him just in time. It's the first time the hospital has ever tried their new drug on someone with so much brain damage. Does it work? Does it work too well...?

I'm in the middle of retouching a holograph when the phone rings. I waver between the phone and the console, and reluctantly opt for the phone. I'd normally have the answering machine take any calls when I'm editing, but I need to let people know I'm working again. I lost a lot of business when I was in the hospital: one of the risks of being a freelancer. I touch the phone and say, "Greco Holographics, Leon Greco speaking." "Hey Leon, it's Jerry." "Hi Jerry. What's up?" I'm still studying the image on the screen: it's a pair of helical gears, intermeshed. A trite metaphor for cooperative…

saved by

• Amir
• Karthik Suresh
• Jirat C
• Christian Neisler
• Devin Plumb
• Gaurav Tyagi

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