Interconnection - Chapter 12: The Time Traveler

Day 3130 (26th July 2020)

It's only been a day since awaking from my coma but I can already feel the life coming back into my muscles. Hopefully I'm able to leave within a few weeks because honestly I'm very curious to see how the world has changed since 2012. In my mind it feels like just yesterday I was living in 2012, the next day it was 2020. It's almost like I've traveled through time, I don't know anything that's happened in the last 8 years. Unfortunately there's no TV in my room, I guess they didn't think a person in a coma would need one.

The doctor I met after waking from my coma walks into the room and introduces himself, "Ah good to see you're already looking more lively today Adam. I don't believe I had the opportunity to properly introduce myself yesterday. I'm Dr. Carlson, I specialize in head trauma and I've seen a lot of coma patients but you're case is certainly remarkable."
"How so?" I ask with a slightly concerned tone.
"Well for one thing your brain activity while in a coma was unusual, it's like one part of your brain was still fully conscious but another part was asleep." Dr. Carlson explains.
"Hmmm... that is strange, I definitely don't remember anything from the coma except for one dream I had.", of course I knew Eve was the reason but I couldn't reveal that to anyone.
"Strange indeed. Well in any case you should be back at home in a few months if you follow this rehabilitation program we've planned out for you. I'll be back shortly for your first session, just let me know if there's anything I can get you." Dr. Carlson replies.
"Actually I wouldn't mind a phone or laptop with internet access. If possible a TV would also be nice, I'm sure a lot has changed that I need to catch up on." I reply.

The expression on the doctors face seems to suddenly become more serious, "Yes... a lot has changed recently. I didn't want to tell you this yesterday to avoid unnecessary stress, but a virus called Covid-19 has forced much of the world to shut down all non-essential businesses for the last several months. Some places are starting to lift the restrictions now but others are experiencing a second wave so we're not out of the woods yet."
"It's just my luck to wake up in the middle of a pandemic. Must be bad if the entire world went into lockdown. Is anyone in this hospital infected, how worried should I be?" I question, fearing I was in another apocalyptic scenario.
"Don't worry it's not as bad as it sounds and we keep this place very clean. All I can really say is it's one of those things where everyone has their own opinion on it. Anyway I'll see what I can do about your request. Oh and I got in contact with Sarah, she'll be visiting you later today. I'll check up on you again soon." Dr. Carlson says before leaving the room.
"Thanks doc I appreciate it."

"You must have been a real enigma for the good doctor. I also slowed down your metabolism and other bodily functions while you were in a coma so that you would age slower than normal. Every cell in your body went into a hibernation-like state, slowing the cell division process. As a result your body has only aged about 2 years instead of 8 years." Eve tells me.
"Well that's good I guess... so now you can speak to me outside of my dreams and control my body? Just how much control do you have?" I ask hesitantly.
"Don't worry you have full control now you're awake again. Your mind is the primary consciousness in this body, but while you were in a coma I had much more control. That allowed me to form a deeper integration with your brain which then enabled me to remain a part of your conscious mind when you awoke." Eve explains in her typically bland manner.

An hour later Dr. Carlson returns with a laptop, "This should automatically connect to the hospital wifi" he informs me before leaving again. The very first thing I checked was the price of Bitcoin, the majority of my assets were in the form of crypto at the time I fell into a coma. I had accumulated over 4 million dollars worth of crypto by mining with my super-computer and my botnet, along with getting paid for my hacking jobs in crypto. It had become my primary form of currency and I prayed it was still worth something.

The value of one Bitcoin was hovering around $10 USD back in August of 2012 before I went into a coma. The Crypto Market Cap website starts to load and I'm relieved to see it's still online. There are now thousands of new coins but I see Bitcoin is still the most popular crypto coin and laugh. My eyes shift across the page as I look at the current market value, then my eyes almost pop out of my skull when I see the current value is over $10,000 USD. Rubbing my eyes for a brief moment, I look back at the page to make sure I'm reading it correctly.

After checking a few more websites it becomes very clear to me that the value of my crypto has increased by more than 1000x in the time I was unconscious. After doing the math in my head I again double check it with a calculator even though I know the answer... "my god it really is 5 billion dollars". My mind is almost in a state of shock as this realization sinks in but there's still one problem, my crypto wallets are stored on my PC's back at home. However I did take some precautions, about half of my crypto was in a cold storage "brain wallet".

A brain wallet is just some words you remember in order to regenerate your private keys, and I could still remember precisely what words I used for my brain wallet. I just had to hope the remaining wallets on my PC's were still untouched. I did pay off the mortgage on my home but worried about what happens to a house when someone is in a coma for nearly a decade. My other concern was for the bunker, that bunker wasn't just a dream, it was something I bought to act as a secure base of operations and because my super-computer was driving Sarah crazy.

The bunker also allows me to expand the size of the super-computer and run experiments that would be impossible inside the house. I had only just started to move some things into the bunker before my hospitalization but the first thing I moved was the super-computer and the crypto wallets stored on its drives are probably worth around a billion dollars. The drives on all my computers are encrypted anyway, so even if someone did take them they probably wouldn't get very far unless quantum computers were invented while I was in a coma.

"Well it looks like quantum computers are still fairly useless" I conclude after doing a bit of research. I was also somewhat disappointed to see how consumer PC's had changed, they certainly have a lot more power than they did in 2012 but I expected more from 2020. Apparently Moore's law didn't quite pan out the way we thought it would. At least the GPU's seem to have advanced substantially, "these dedicated ray-tracing and AI cores will come in handy for some projects" I thought.

A few hours later I notice Sarah peaking through the door to check if she has the right room. The time we have spent apart is instantly made apparent to me by the streaks of gray running through her hair, she looks so different now but I would recognize those eyes anywhere. Sarah looks back into my eyes and I can tell she also recognizes me immediately despite my decrepit appearance. A sense of pure happiness and relief can be seen in her expression as she enters the room.

"I can't believe it, you really are awake." Sarah says with disbelief.
"I'm glad you came. First I just want to say I'm sorry, if it wasn't for my stupid experiments this wouldn't h-", Sarah stops me to interject.
"I stopped blaming you a long time ago. Some times in life things just happen that we have no control over, but we can learn from our mistakes to prevent them happening again.", there is a moment of silence as we both reflect on the words just spoken, "Anyway I could see how happy you were working on your gadgets... it's so strange looking at you now and seeing that same person from 8 years ago. You even look like you've barely aged a day."
"Guess I needed the beauty sleep." I joke.
Sarah smiles and somberly responds, "I missed you."
"Wish I could say the same but for me it doesn't feel like we've been apart." I reply.
Sarah looks to the floor before responding, "I know, I'm sorry... you were gone so long. I wish it could be different but I have commitments I can't break now."

I glance at Sarah's left hand and notice she is wearing a wedding ring. It's hard to explain the mix of sadness and happiness which hit me simultaneously in that moment. I was happy she found happiness and perhaps this was for the best. Her life was always at risk being close to me, at least this way she'll be safe and I'm free to focus all my attention on my work. It may sound cold but if I really want to continue on with my grand plans then from this point on I can't get close to anyone, there will be no more mistakes.

"So I'm guessing you moved out of my house, do you know what happened to it?" I ask casually.
"Some detective people took your gadgets and computers while investigating what happened to you but the house is fine. I made sure to go by every week to check on it, collect your mail, stuff like that." Sarah answers.
"Thanks for doing that, I was worried I wouldn't have a home to go back to when I get out of here.", there is a brief moment of awkward silence before I decide to break it by asking an awkward question, "So this new guy, what's his name?".
Sarah looks a little caught off guard but quickly responds, "Uh... his name is Julian, he's a physicist. Really smart like you. I'm sure you'd get along with him, you both have a lot in common."

The more Sarah spoke the more I could feel the distance between us. She was a completely different person, wiser is the best word to describe it. It was now clear to me that our paths had diverged, she had a new life now and it was impossible to restore what we once had. If only time machines could have been invented by now I could just go back and change it all, undo all the mistakes I made... make it so I never left Sarah. Alas I must accept the past and move forward because time flows onward.

Day 3163 (28th of August 2020)

It has only been a month but my daily exercises have paid off, I could already walk around well enough to leave the hospital. Whatever Eve did to my body while I was in a coma seems to have sped up my recovery process. I always wondered how animals could hibernate for months or even years, now I've essentially experienced it myself. I know Dr. Carlson wont like me leaving this soon but there's really no choice, I've been out of the game far too long and there's a lot of work to do.

"I'm sorry doc but I'm going home today." I tell Dr. Carlson.
"I would strongly advise against that Adam. It's very rare to be in a coma as long as you were, your body needs more time to fully recover." Dr. Carlson insists.
"I'll be fine, I feel more than well enough to go home. I appreciate everything you've done for me but I've made up my mind." I respond, refusing to concede.
Dr. Carlson sighs, "Very well... just don't push yourself too hard and come back in regularly for a check up."
"I'll take it easy don't worry. You will find my hospital bill has already been fully covered, at least one good thing came from this ordeal." I gleefully remark.
"Yes it's quite an amazing story, holding Bitcoin for 8 years while in a coma, to wake up a billionaire. Well you take care Adam, I'll see you soon."

It may seem counterproductive to reveal my newfound wealth, but in the grand scheme of things it's the most logical option. I simply can't hide the fact I'm a billionaire, the purchases I make and the business I partake in will make it very obvious. It makes more sense to pay my taxes and play the role of the unwitting coma patient who got lucky. Of course I will still keep a fraction of my crypto off the books for my projects which aren't exactly legal, but it's easy to hide those transactions among the legitimate ones.

Taking my first step outside of the hospital I take a deep breath in through my nostrils, "Ok Eve it's time to see what the future holds."