Chapter 2 – The Animus
Jacob always liked to move around a lot, and so when he stepped off the plane in London, all that he carried with him was a light travel bag with some clothes and books. During the flight Jacob spoke with Mrs White, who preferred to be called Stacy, and she explained to him what they had in mind for the stay in London. Stacy seemed reluctant to reveal much else. To Jacob it all seemed really bazar but by now he was too curious as to what the future held for him. An alternate history to Lord Nelson! Simply incredible!
The plane slowly touched down and ran to a halt. Doctor Hill opened the door and stepped out, followed by Jacob and Stacy. Jacob followed Doctor Hill into a parked black sedan outside the airport. London was busy in the afternoons and the heavy traffic made for a longer ride. After forty minutes they arrived at a large modern type building. As Jacob walked into the building lobby he noticed the famous Abstergo industries logo, an oddly shaped triangle, painted onto the front desk.
'I thought Doctor Hill no longer worked here.' Jacob inquired to Stacy.
'Well technically he doesn't.' Stacy answered, 'Dr hill was fired from his office in New York last year, but he was still able to retain his access codes to all Abstergo buildings in Europe.'
Robert Hill led Jacob into an elevator and they began to rise to a higher floor. When the elevator stopped on the tenth floor the doors slid open and revealed the laboratory beyond. The room had full windows that showed the streets of London below and there was a glass screen that separated the floor into two parts. Both sides of the room were poorly furnished and the clean white polished floor reflected everything that was on it. In the side that Jacob was concerned with sat a chair, but this was not an ordinary chair, there were cords and wires and a glass screen that hung in front of where the head would normally rest.
'What is it?' Jacob asked conspicuously as he felt the soft red velvet cushion of the chair with his hand.
Doctor Hill walked over and stood beside Jacob. 'This device is called the animus,' He explained, 'It is a projector that renders genetic memories in three dimensions.'
'Genetic memories?' Jacob asked.
Doctor Hill had Stacy sit Jacob down in the animus as he explained further. 'I don't expect you to understand all of this. Just think Jacob, a memory is a recollection of images from a past event. What if I told you that the human body not only housed an individual's memory, but the memories of his ancestors as well.' Doctor Hill turned to his computer and began the animus process. 'If you do not believe me Jacob, the you can see for yourself.'
By now Jacob sat comfortably in the soft animus chair and looked through the glass screen that now displayed the words 'Genetic Memory Timeline' in simple white font. The edges of the screen began to glow blue as the device was activated and a strain of DNA was displayed to represent individual memories from all of Jacob's ancestors. Jacob was bemused as he came to grasp the technology that he was witnessing.
Stacy made sure Jacob was comfortable while Dr Hill typed away at his keyboard. 'I am going to take you back to the year 1770, according to the journal you're ancestor, Lord Nelson, will be in his final year of schooling just before he joined the royal navy. If the timing is right then it should give you a good chance to get used to the animus. This is going to take some time.'
As Doctor Hill spoke, words and numbers whizzed across Jacob's screen and the animus process began.
'At first this is going to feel very strange to you, you may feel nauseous at times and so we will start off slow as we explain how to operate inside the animus. Here we go.'
Jacob tried to relax and then watched patiently, becoming amazed as the animus screen came to life.