Biff takes a tour of The 8th Floor

Caroline Macy walked me through The 8th Floor Social Media headquarters showing me the many  departments  of the 8th Floor search engine and all that owning such an engine implied.

At the end of day Caroline took me  into to the basement of the building 

A low lit cavernous area she called "Ground Control"

There I saw men and women in helmets ,and headsets wires coming out visors  ,goggles ,body suits
like astronauts,like strange insects
all of them 

in front of computer screen which contained words and ever changing spikes an valleys of heart rate 
respiration
skin temperature 
upon another computer screen larger than the rest 

and constantly shifting images that went black every so often
the point of view was odd
i noticed every now and than the side of a nose ..an eyelash 

"The Tele-Operators think to the subject who are dummied up with Merge brand neural prosthetics

and upon those screens they see what the Proxy sees and thinks about what was "thunk" to them"

I looked over the shoulder of what Caroline referred to as -a Mandler

seeing the back of someone's head in a supermarket

On the screen was a digital display of what I suppose was the owner of the eyes point of view 
a too long for comfort gaze 

 at someone's rather badly dyed bob
even for that brief period of time I felt like yelling at the subject to shift his or her angle 
LOOK AT THE DAMN CANDY DISPLAY I WNT TO SEE SOME COLOR
I couldn't help but think 'what type of sicko looks for that long at the back of someone else;s head
I could not help thinking how long a normal person might hold that gaze

sensing for one horrible moment it was my gaze time being monitored remotely
-the chips you know are so small you can breath them in..-I recalled Caroline saying
I look downed at my shoes rather than at the screen

next sensing Carolien was watching me watch
I once more focused on the computer screen
watching a 3-D rendering of what I supposed was the subject's working brain  /'Brain Map"
at least in the context of 

-impatience at grocery store

all bright purple and green

Changing

To yellow

When the Proxy 's captured gaze realized

"Mine turn"

/////..idiot  cashier thinks some idiot smile is gonna to make up for how fukin'slow she is ////

I read upon the screen while seeing presumably the Proxy's hand begin

place a bottle of coconut water on the converter belt "

"..and How are we doing today ." I hear from one of the computer speakers

And next the words both on the customer  as text and out through a speaker I supposed was 'a close approximation' of the subject's voice ,in a tone that did not go at all with his inner now - now outwardly to the "Mandlers" computer "Fine .And how are you today."

Caroline tapped the' Mandler 'on the shoulder and I saw him visibly flinch

as if he had been woken

from  a dream

Taking off his his headset and his see googles 

he looked at me with something of a

glare ,as if  angry I interrupted his show

Caroline Macy said "This is Biff Corliss who will be working in public relations. Biff ,I'd like you to meet Curtis Figer"

Through some kind of glove Curtis shook my hand and Caroline continued the tour ,whispering "It's not all so remedial Let me show you"

I followed Caroline through the dozens and dozens of Mandlers dressed in headsets and bound to wires

Thinking for a moment that the subjects dosed with biotech were lucky they weren't so encumbered

In a section of "control room" partitioned separate from the others I saw a man dressed as the others in headset with his fingers on his temples .A  strained look upon his face of that appeared both amused and cruel .On his computer was an image of a ceiling fixture swirling with a animated pink elephants that next became scorpions Than bugs than pink elephants again .

Biff I'd like you meet Evan Rainy

and that guy in the box there is a guy we just call Dumbo..Most of the subjects we just read ...the subject completely unaware of the intrusion but some of them  we make a point of  letting our presence be known 

"You want to talk to it...I mean him ..Dumbo" Evan Rainy said taking off his headset and handing it to me "

"If I put this on will this Dumbo get inside me .." I said holding the headset like a set grenande.

"we have buffers for that kind of thing .He does not ...The words and pictures sent to the subjects mean nothing without a transmitted signal of emotion..not really....before you put it on..think of someone who really hurt you ,really let you down ...someone who wronged you ...someone in your life you 'd love to get back at ...hurt badly" Evan said smiling

Caroline Macy looked at me ..watched me hesitate,"Oh c'mon Biff.. I do it all the time ...it's therpauetic ...like screaming as loud as you can under a train track...the little scumbag desrves it .."

"What did he do?" I asked

"What did he do ?...what did he do?Your're asking me to share his personal data ?"

'Really Biff ," Caroline said ,taking the headset from my hand .