Axiom

by Gentry Race

  “What does that mean?” Solari asked.

  “Nprints bodies are projected continuously from Annulus tower. Your consciousness is safely backed up on this station, but if you crystalize a neural network within the head, it could trap the consciousness and enable death. I suspect this is how Elise died.”

  Solari and Elizabeth sat across from him, feeling ill from what Arthur had just said. Arthur prodded at the creature, inspecting the wounds while recording the results of the injury with a cyberized headset affixed with twelve tiny lenses.

  Elizabeth was concerned for Solari. “Are you all right, Sol? That’s some trick you can do.”

  “Yeah,” Solari said with a nod.

  “Sol, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You have a special gift,” Elizabeth said.

  “Yeah, a gift of solitude in Axiom,” Solari said, lowering her head.

  “You can learn to control it,” Elizabeth said.

  “I don’t want to control it. I want it to go away.”

  Arthur looked up at the two with obvious curiosity. “You can’t make any of this go away. This is the reality we all face. Now, tell me, what is causing these transformations?”

  “We thought it was from the caching drug, but Elise swears its Chellis’s work,” Solari explained.

  “Elise would never harm a soul,” Arthur rebutted.

  Solari shook her head. “You think this had a consciousness?”

  “Sol, it’s been shown the consciousness is, in fact, a form of energy. And all energy is only transferred or transformed,” Arthur said.

  “Sounds Mesonic,” Solari said, rolling her eyes.

  Silence fell upon the group for a moment. Arthur pondered more on what Solari said.

  “Mesonic?” Arthur shot to his feet. “I think I know how Elise weaponized it.”

  He quickly gathered his random instruments off the nearby shelf and hurried back down to his lab.

  Solari and Elizabeth watched Arthur string about, organizing equipment from beakers, inverted funnels, and Bunsen burners. He dialed instructions into his strapped-on forearm bistable and nPrinted a stand, placing the inverted funnel on top of the burner

  “What are you doing?” Solari asked.

  “Vacuum sublimation could get us a purified sample of the Azoth.”

  “Sublimation?”

  “It’s when you create a solid from a gas, skipping the liquid state.”

  Arthur tossed in a chunk of Azoth and lit the burner below, watching ores melt slowly within the funnel. He quickly nPrinted a cheesecloth screen and corked the inverted funnel at the top.

  “When I found the element of Earth, it was amalgamated with other minerals from the impact crater. Then I liquefied it.”

  “And?” Solari asked.

  “Perhaps I can make a purer form using this process.”

  Arthur watched the Azoth bubble from the heat. The temperature reached over three thousand degrees Fahrenheit, sputtering into violent convections. Solari and Elizabeth stood back, unsure of the processing. They watched the vapors rise above the inverted neck of the funnel and out through the cheesecloth screen.

  “It’s escaping,” Solari said.

  “I know,” Arthur said with a smile.

  Arthur flashed his bistable light on the neck of the inverted funnel and exposed the inside. Solari and Elizabeth now saw small sediment collecting in the neck.

  “I see it!” Solari said, her eyes focused on the experiment.

  “You see? It’s a derivative of a derivative. A concentrated form of the Azoth in a solid state.”

  The sediment grew downward in jagged, craggy shapes until the chunk of Azoth had been evaporated fully and an ore was left behind. Arthur signaled a cooling burst of air, leaving only a black metal void of all light or reflection the size of the dagger.

  28

  Arthur examined the mysterious ore with another headset he pulled from the wall that was affected with a red, a blue, and a green lense. The metal was so black all light was absorbed into its dark surface. He touched it, and the color changed from the pressure, a bright red fading to yellow then deep purple.

  “Sensitive in pressure. Almost like a black body signature of a black hole. Curious effect,” Arthur said.

  “What is it?” Solari asked.

  “Perhaps we can call it a Azothoxide.”

  Arthur picked up the pitted black ore, slashing what was left of the creature lying on the floor. Its skin split open, seared, and necrotized. He looked at Solari, wrapping the satchel cloth around the base like a handle.

  “How is your knife play?” he asked.

  He heard a low hum coming from the ground and grasped the dagger tight, positioning himself next to the window that housed the many cyber electronic devices he had stored over the years.

  Hovering drone bots swarmed on their way, the sand sputtering in trails behind them.

  “Quick, hide Solari!” he said.

  The drone bots reached the hut, flying in precise orbits around each other like figure eights. They encircled the encampment with ease, awaiting something.

  “Humans! Exit and remain calm!” the front drone said. It was crested with a blue ornament, signaling he was the alpha leader.

  Arthur grabbed his old dusty top hat he used to wear on Earth, Modded with cyber-enhanced fittings that coiled around the brim in copper. Arthur wanted to present himself in the best way possible for his guests outside.

  “Coming, young gents!” Arthur said drunkenly.

  Arthur was no stranger to the drone model hovering before him as he stepped outside. He had taken great pleasure in manufacturing one of its first generations on Earth. Although these units were smaller and equipped with a better A.I., they still were no match for Arthur’s alcoholic wit.

  Arthur spun about, whipping his coat to blind the drone’s sensors. He threw his top hat, and it spun in a flashing pulse. Electrifying arcs spewed from the hat, hitting the drones. One by one, he cunningly knocked each one of the drone bots down to the ground and caught his hat in return.

  Before he could move too far, someone grabbed hold of the back of his neck. Arthur turned his head around and saw a familiar stout man with large bandages in a raging fury only a moment before he picked him up and throw him to the ground.

  Arthur’s face hit the ground, a small rock cutting his lip. Bloodied, caked in dirt and sand, he pursed them. “Malick, so nice to see you, old chap.”

  “Arthur. I never would’ve thought I’d find you here, living off the back of Annulus,” Malick said.

  “Much better than the days I spent with you,” Arthur said, thrusting the ore at him.

  Malick guarded the assault. “Please, Arthur, save me your annotations on our past relationship. Where’s the girl?”

  Arthur tried not to look at the tent, but Malick was already one step ahead. He grabbed Arthur by the hair, dragging him along the sandy ground to the tent pod entrance.

  “Call for her,” Malick demanded. “Call for her now.”

  Elizabeth presented herself from a small hallway as she calmly looked at Malick. He let Arthur go as she spoke. “What do you want?!”

  Malick, confused at first, eyed the map on his armband. “The girl is here.”

  “There’s no one else here,” Elizabeth explained.

  Warm light shone from below on Solari’s face as she watched though the thatch-like attic that barely supported her. Stacks of papers and old boxes laid cluttered as she noticed a familiar logo that read Enconn — Annulus Mines.

  The deep voice jolted her attention from below as it threatened Arthur and Elizabeth. She wanted to help in some way, but the terror had rendered her immobile. She felt scared for the first time. She was flawed. She had begun to doubt herself.

  “I know she is here!” Malick yelled, shaking the small hut with his voice alone.

  “What has she done?” Arthur confronted him as he stood.

  Malick stepped closer, seeing the curious ore in Arthur’s hand. His
memory caught up with him. “I haven't seen an object that black since I saw you.”

  Arthur lunged forward again, but this time, he met with a bot, slicing it in half with the Azothoxide ore dagger. The metal reacted from the pressure, turning it to a bright orange-red. Malick watched as the nanites composing the bots were destroyed and necrotized.

  He kicked Arthur’s feet out from under him and stepped on his throat, snatching the dagger. “By Tau, Arthur, you have done it. Haven’t you?”

  Arthur gasped and winced at Malick’s strength.

  “You left me on that island with nothing,” Malick said.

  “Take the ore. Leave us,” Arthur clamored with what energy he had left to speak.

  “She killed a human!” Malick said. “Tell me, what justice does my son have on an nPrinted station?”

  Elizabeth stepped into view, holding the musket shotgun she gripped with anger from inside. “Let him go.”

  Malick flung Arthur’s body like a rag doll into Elizabeth’s, knocking Arthur unconscious. Solari grabbed her mouth, trying not to yell. An obviously annoyed Malick picked up Elizabeth, who was struggling to keep awake after hitting her head in the collision with her husband.

  “Where is she?” Malick said, throwing her one more time.

  Solari’s tears poured from her face. Malick adjusted a headset possessing eight lenses over his eyes. Solari recognized him now. He was the man who had choked her earlier. She wiped her face, realizing at the last moment the tears had amassed on the thatch beneath her. The thatch crackled under her weight.

  Malick eyes darted upward to see her strobing body beyond the ceiling. She struggled to escape as Malick cut the thatch, bringing down the ceiling and Solari with it. She shook her head, looking for an exit just as the man stuck a syringe into her neck. She passed out face first against the cluttered papers from the attic that read Enconn.

  “I’m sorry,” Solari said, the cruiser rocking back and forth rhythmically over the dusty sand and dirt of the Far Side. She only heard the vehicle’s hover engines rumble in response.

  Malick sat quietly in the driver’s seat. Drone bots hovered alongside as they travelled over the rocky tundra of the Far Side.

  Solari laid restrained in a specialized cart that encircled her body. These were electro mag rings. They exuded magnetic force strong enough to strangle her nanites to into submission.

  I can’t move my limbs, she thought.

  “I’m sorry about Aden,” she said honestly.

  “Quiet girl,” Malick said, his attention fixated on the new ore he held in his hand.

  Malick plucked a small bot from the air that traveled alongside them. He slowly carved into the bot, watching the nanites necrotize. “Aden will die like a true human. His mortal life is in the hands of Tau, not neo-scientists.”

  “To be nPrinted is the next stage in evolution. It’s the way we can explore the universe and not be tied to a flawless body,” Solari said as she felt a slight hint of doubt.

  “Flawless? Eradicates are the proof. The soul is flawless on the deepest level. And now these manifestations are plaguing Annulus.”

  “Consciousness,” Solari said, trying to correct him.

  Malick looked at Earth, admiring its beauty and then back at the Azothoxide. “How did you make this?”

  “I didn’t make it,” Solari said.

  “How did Arthur make it?”

  “It was the Mesons.”

  Malick snapped his head around. “Blasphemy! I destroyed them along with their Dream Farms.”

  “It’s blasphemous you allow an eradicate to hold office,” she fired back.

  Malick turned, eying the curving horizon fading upward into the distance. “What do you know about Chellis?” he asked.

  “He’s behind all of this! He’s releasing eradicates to garner sympathy from the UN.”

  “Catch and release?”

  “I think he’s creating the manifestations somehow,” Solari said.

  Malick looked at his new weapon. “I will stop them now and restore order to all of Annulus.”

  Solari closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the moment. Despite being restrained, she felt relaxed and impervious to the moment. Imperfect.

  Some time passed as the party made their way to the Lower Dregs. Fires could be seen all over.

  “By Tau,” Malick said, shaking his head. “Looks like my work has already started.”

  He looked back to check on his prisoner only to find that Solari was gone.

  29

  Solari crept though the streets of the Lower Dregs. Random fires were set ablaze as hordes of Mods pushed past her with their belongings on their back. She stopped a passerby, his lower jaw a complete cyber replacement. He pulled wires connected to a wheeled barrow that held all that he owned.

  “What happened?” Solari asked.

  “Manifestations… They are everywhere!”

  Solari ran deeper into the Dregs, recognizing some of the area from before. She came to a center square enshrined in sculptures made of bunched fiberoptic wiring and cables and done in the likeness of mythological beings from Earth. Windswept trash had collected into the corners and alleyways.

  Solari made out movement rummaging through the thick garbage. Faint grunts echoed toward her, and then she saw it. A hideous creature, black as night, with yellow puss oozing out of a tear on its back.

  The creature was manifesting. Solari’s thoughts raced. There was a connection. All the manifestations were psychological disorders, manifestations from somewhere. Had something been creating them the whole time?

  “Get down!” yelled Malick from behind her.

  The creature heard his voice, and its head shot up to look at the two. Malick jumped over Solari, lunging toward the beast followed by his bot battalion.

  The creature finished splitting the entity. The larger one reached for the bots headed towards it, ripping them in half.

  The smaller creature, faster and light on its feet, met Malick’s thrust, the ore digging deep into its chest. The smaller black creature winced in pain and cried out as its chest disintegrated.

  The larger creature saw this and let loose a loud scream as if calling for something. Malick used the moment of disorientation and swung, impaling the black ore the monster’s the screaming jaws at the side to open its head. Crystalized neurons formed within its head, allowing Malick to extinguish its life by scrambling the inside.

  Solari watched in astonishment as Malick felt his human exhaustion. He panted and felt a low rumble in the ground, growing louder.

  The eyes of twenty creatures lit up in all the dark crevices around. Malick stood guard as he heard a familiar voice.

  “Stand down, General,” Chellis said, walking into the light. He was shrouded in a drab blanket, his face even more disfigured.

  “Chellis, I hereby declare this station a new director.”

  “General, I think you misunderstand your place here.”

  “You have led this station to terror. What was humanity’s last hope is now its biggest regret.”

  “Oh no, General,” Chellis pulled back his hood. “I have led this station towards great progress.”

  “You’re an eradicate!” Solari called out.

  Chellis stepped into light, his back, bulky and large. “I am!” Chellis fired back.

  “How are you making the manifestations?”

  Chellis walked slowly towards them, his steps quivering. “I tried to hide them. I hired your incompetent sister to make the caching drug, but you see she made matters worse.” Chellis pointed to his face.

  “Chellis, by authority of Annulus, I sentence you to Axiom for your eradicate nature.”

  “You and what army?” Chellis asked with obvious amusement.

  The creatures from the shadows stepped into the light, each one carrying a distinct disorder from a scratcher to a chatter box. Each one huge in size.

  Malick raised the ore as Solari stood ground behind him. “Chellis, don’t m
ake me destroy you.”

  “Destroy me?” Chellis laughed. “If you want to face me, you must face all of me.”

  Chellis disrobed, exposing his bulbous back. An entity grew from it, ready to spout off. Its face was black, and it strangled itself with an anxious grip because of the multiple disorders Chellis had.

  “They are all a part of him!” Solari said.

  The surrounding creatures charged Solari and Malick. He swung in large sweeping arcs, cutting through the limbs of the tyrannical creatures. Solari tried to fight, maneuvering around them and effortlessly relying on her chaotic erratum to guide her.

  She dodged the creature’s blow only to be knocked off balance by another. The pain shot through her as she tumbled on the ground. I’m losing it, she thought. Once again, she felt like she was not in control.

  “What are you doing?” Malick yelled, in disappointment. “You are making matters worse, girl.”

  Malick charged Chellis, cleaving his arm off and digging the ore deep into his stomach. Chellis screamed in pain as he watched his belly deteriorate.

  Solari came to, watching four creatures charging toward her and then fall to the ground. She looked past them to see Chellis dissolving as the general twisted the black Azothoxide ore in his gut. It was over.

  A dark room was lit by a light high in the sky. Solari felt the cold blue rays that struck her leggings and illuminated her form. She tried to move but to no avail. Blackness crept about from every corner, but she knew where she was. It was her sentencing.

  Solari had always skipped those sessions as an Axiom Officer, sentencing eradicates on her own for years. But now she was the accused. She knew and did not want to hide it anymore.

  The justice system differed on Annulus from the last half of the 21st century. There was no jail or prison but only “cleansing” in Axiom. Swift and permanent. An intense surveying for the mind in which to purify the soul.

  “Consciousness,” Solari tried to correct him.