Dragon's Mind

by Ehsani, Vered

  “I thought you could break into those secured rooms,” I griped.

  He smiled. “I can, when I know they exist. I may be near omnipresent on Sana Island, but I’m not omniscient.”

  I snorted. “So you’re not quite God-like after all.”

  “I don’t approve of blasphemy.” He sniffed.

  I couldn’t tell if he was joking. I may have mentioned already that he was terrible at telling jokes. But I wasn’t aware if he had religious sentiments. Ten years working together, and suddenly, I didn’t know what he liked, what he believed in, what happened before I woke him up. I had no idea who he really was.

  The cart rolled onward. Soon we were surrounded by a deep quiet broken only by the distant buzz and rumble of the building’s systems. We traveled in a bubble of light surrounded by dark service corridors. The building was riddled with them.

  Lights winked on as we approached and snapped off as we passed. In the dim lighting and soothing silence, I drifted off to sleep. I dreamed of doors and loud knocking that faded into a soft hum.

  The lack of motion woke me up. I blinked in the darkness, waiting for my eyes to adjust. They didn’t. It was dark. I mean, a complete absence of light, that kind of dark.

  “Don’t move,” Dragon whispered near me. “I’ll get the lights.”

  A soft glow spun out ahead. It was the cart’s headlights. I squinted, trying to place where we were. I knew this building better than my own house. I’d grown up in it. But this area was unchartered territory. Ahead was an empty space and darkness after that.

  “We’re in a tunnel under the basement,” his bodiless voice explained. He must’ve seen the confusion on my face. I’m a horrible poker player. “No one comes here, and I’ve removed its existence from the building’s plans. We’re safe for now.”

  I glanced around. On the seat next to me was the mobile sensor unit. “Now what?” I asked, staring at it. Yeah, I was talking to what looked like a flattened toy ball.

  Dragon spoke out of the unit. “I have a plan.”

  I gulped. “And that plan is…?”

  “We need to remove my brain,” he said with great solemnness.

  I stared down at the unit like Dragon had lost his mind, in addition to his body. “That’s not a plan. That’s suicide.”

  A hologram popped into being.

  I screamed at the small red dragon sitting beside me.

  “That’s not right,” Dragon muttered. “I was dreaming again.”

  The golden-brown scales on its chest glowed while the red scales on its back shimmered and the human version of Dragon appeared.

  Much better.

  Not that I don’t approve of dragons. I just wasn’t ready to have a conversation with one.

  Bright brown eyes peered back at me. He was laughing inside. I could see it. “Sorry about the dragon. And suicide is not what I had in mind.”

  “I’m sure it’s not.” I wasn’t fully convinced.

  “They already know that we know. We gain nothing by leaving it in their hands,” he continued. “And we risk losing our only chance to free your mom and save me.”

  “But…” I groped around for a question. There were so many to chose from. Why, how, when. “What about all the systems you control? Water, energy, sewage, transport services and… You know.”

  “Good point.” He closed his eyes for a moment, nodded his head and looked at the headlight beams. “There are back-up emergency systems.” He paused, as if considering another option. “And I won’t be offline all the time. I can plug in, make sure everything is running. Yes, that would work.”

  A machine with a conscience. Not a machine, I reminded myself. I wasn’t sure anymore what he was.

  “So you’re suggesting…” I stared at Dragon.

  The hologram smiled. “We break into the top security zone and save my brain.”

  Let me re-iterate: we were inside one of the most secured and monitored buildings in the world. It had several layers of state-of-the art security systems, an army of guards, armed response teams. You name it, the building probably had it. Short of a nuclear missile. Even then, I wouldn’t be surprised.

  The brain of it all, the brain of a murdered dragon boat racer, was in the very heart of the high security building, in a top security zone. It rested in a room surrounded by even more levels of security. And assuming we got that far, we then had to break out of that inner, top security zone, followed by the layers of high security zones and finally escape the building. And after that, we still had to contend with the entire island’s network of monitors and legions of guards.

  We were going to break in and out all of that to rescue Dragon’s brain.

  I smiled weakly. “That all, eh?”

  We were so dead.

  Chapter 9: The Games Boss

  Even before the call rang through, he was having a lousy day. Having to kidnap one of the most prominent scientists in the world wasn’t exactly how he would want to spend his morning. He’d decided that kidnapping definitely wasn’t a business he wanted to get into. Way too much hassle.

  The Boss resisted the urge to grit his teeth and instead selected the face he would present to the nuisance on the other end of the call. Serious and resolute, he opted for, but confident. Yes, he would need his confident smile for this call.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said as he tapped the video call through.

  “You said you would handle it,” the grumpy lady barked.

  And she did bark, he mused. She sounded like she looked: an old pit bull. Yes, indeed. He almost smirked and decided not to. Just like the dog she looked like, the CEO of Grogan Ltd was as ferocious and tenacious. Maybe even more so.

  “I am,” he responded, disguising his irritation in a vote winning smile.

  Not that he needed to win votes on Sana Island. He was pretty much mayor for life of this place. Grogan Ltd owned the island and the Board didn’t put a lot of faith in elections, but they certainly put it in him. Or at least they had up until now. And that irritated him, the speed at which faith shifted to doubt. He’d done a good job, possibly even a great job, maintaining the city’s reputation as a safe family vacation spot and the ultimate destination for gambling. In the process, he had made the city lots of money. And now, after just one minor hiccup, which wasn’t even his fault, they were doubting him.

  Talk about your fair weather friends, he thought but his expression remained calm and untainted by his disgust.

  “Is the situation fully contained?” she demanded, eyes narrowed, heavy cheeks jiggling.

  “I’m handling it, ma’am,” he said. “There’s only one way off the island and she won’t be using it.”

  “We await the news of your success with baited breath,” she barked and hung up.

  “Baited breath,” he mocked her tone. Rubbing his hands over his face, he waited for the tension to ease out of his eyes. He’d get a migraine over this situation for sure if it continued much longer.

  Pushing himself away from his desk, he drifted over to his wall-sized window. The city twirled out below, a coral coloured ballerina in an ocean blue tutu with lacy sea foam at the edges. He loved this view and loved the city. It was beautiful and it was his. It was his everything, more than a family or a job could ever be. From the beginning, he’d been here, nursing it, raising it from a cluster of warehouses filled with building equipment to this: a paradise of peace and prosperity, without the distractions of politics and lawmakers.

  And he wasn’t going to let a girl and a brain take it away from him.

  He glanced towards the closed door of his office. He knew who was waiting on the other side. He shuddered at the thought of her. They should’ve named that project ‘Frankenstein,’ he thought. He rubbed at his temples, delaying the inevitable as he ran through the possible options. Well, there weren’t really any. He was reluctant to call the albino in, to engage her on this mission, but he didn’t have a lot of hope that the security guards would really catch up to Myranda, especial
ly if MindOpS was helping her. And he was pretty sure it was.

  If only the albino wasn’t so… unstable. Unpredictable. Unswerving. Undetectable. Of course, these were the very qualities that made her so valuable, especially for a job like this one.

  Sighing, he gave in, as he’d known he would. He wasn’t going to lose his ballerina, his paradise, his kingdom.

  “Enter.” He sent up a silent prayer that he wouldn’t regret this later.

  Chapter 10: Dragon

  The drum booms across the water. My arms rise and dip to the rhythm. My heart matches the beat. The hull of the dragon boat hums, alive in the water, the drum its heart, the paddles its bones.

  A roaring fills my ears. I look up, frozen to my seat, paddle raised. Something huge bears down on the boat. In the split second between recognition and impact, a thought flashes through me. I know why this is happening. A job gone wrong, a death threat issued. Others are going suffer because of me.

  The fraction of time ends and I hear screaming, wood splintering, bones breaking. Water rushes over me. Something heavy smashes against my head, freeing me.

  I’m flying. My dragon magic weaves filmy cobweb wings out of the air. In three strokes, they take me away from the noise, the pain, towards the stars. I flit around planets and keep going. I fly into a space where there is no light or sound. I’m swimming in a void, safe from the agony and turmoil.

  No sound. No sight. No feelings. No memories. No sensation of any kind. Complete absence of stimulation. I don’t know how long the absence lasts. Hours, days, years. It doesn’t matter. In the absolute nothingness, time does not exist.

  After several hours or years, a sensation disturbs the void. It shimmers through the nothingness. Its very existence destroys the nothingness, replacing it with a sound.

  “It’s working, Mommy. Come quickly. Look.”

  Words in a child’s voice, a young girl. They mean nothing to me, and everything. I can hear.

  “Well done, Myranda,” a woman says.

  A pinprick of white light shoots through the dark, agitating the void even further. Darkness bows down and fades before it.

  “Why does he have only one eye, Mommy?” the child asks.

  “We need to test this first. We’ll add more sensors later,” the woman replies. “Many more.”

  The child hits something. It sounds like a drum. It sounds like my heartbeat. She hits it again. “Wake up. Open your eye.”

  I do. The first thing I see is a beautiful halo of dark hair framing a set of large, green eyes. The first thing I see is Myth.

  The dream ends.

  Chapter 11: Dragon

  Myth could be right. This is a death wish. I’m not suicidal, but I know my plan is on the verge of insane. I wish I could keep Myth safe, send her far away, not involve her. But without her, I can’t get my brain back. Without my brain, we have nothing to negotiate with, and she and her mother are in greater danger. And she wouldn’t stay away anyways.

  I hope this works.

  Breaking into the top security zone isn’t the problem. That’s the easy part, relatively speaking. We’re halfway there right now and they don’t expect us to try. Breaking out… Well, that’s the real challenge.

  I shift slightly to see how Myth is doing. She’s still asleep. When she sleeps, she reminds me of when she was a child. I can picture the scene: her mom working late in the night, Myth curled up on the sofa tucked away in a corner next to the small fridge. She looks small, fragile, vulnerable.

  That’s an illusion that won’t last once she wakes up.

  I think about the people I used to know before… this. The image of the dragon tattoo is the key to a vault. I drift around it and sift through newly discovered memories of that previous life, like a gambler shuffles through his cards, searching for the one that will save him.

  I see the life I had when I had a body to carry me around and I wished I had made better use of it. Too late for regrets, but still. I wonder if any of the people in those memories miss me, or even remember me. I wonder if they are still alive. Sure, ten years isn’t that long but in the kind of work I used to do, ten years is a miracle.

  One face keeps appearing, the face of a lost friend. I can’t remember everything, not yet, but I get a sense of danger whenever I see him. What did we call him? I search some more. Oh yes, that’s right: Blade. What a name. I don’t try to remember how he picked up that nickname. I wonder if I should try to contact him. If anyone could smuggle us off the island, he certainly could, but would he?

  While I remember my old colleagues, I scan the city, check the systems, keep everything working and everyone safe. I monitor the activities in the building and check for any rooms or sites that have been locked down. I find one: an illegal gambling game. I don’t bother to alert security.

  I collect all the information I have against Grogan. It’s pathetically little. They were very clever, storing the details away in systems outside of the island. I keep looking though, filing any scrap of information, conversation and document that can substantiate my claim.

  When I have as much as I can gather or steal, I move through the communication system to contact the mainland authorities. What I have may just be enough to convince them to act against Grogan Ltd. My mind reaches toward an online screen, so that I can have a visual on my contact. I project my image into the virtual communications room I’ve created.

  The Games Boss appears.

  He smiles brightly, his teeth white and perfectly positioned for that votes-winning smile. “Hello, MindOpS. I like the image you’ve chosen. Young, hip, fairly good-looking too. The young ladies will appreciate it, that’s for sure.”

  I don’t allow my image to display my shock. How did he block my call? Why is he here, in a space I’ve created? I keep silent.

  “You’re probably wondering why your call didn’t go through,” he continues, his expression smug, his dark eyes twinkling. “You’ve done an excellent job blocking our access to the security system, but you neglected to do as good a job with the communications. That system is now entirely under my control. Any form of communication originating from the island must go through my team for approval or censoring. And that especially goes for you and your little friend. What’s her name? Myranda?”

  “What do you want?” I ask.

  He chuckles. “My, my, you certainly don’t waste time, do you? I like that in a… Well, I was going to say ‘man,’ but I’m not sure that strictly applies in this case. What exactly are you?”

  Good question. I’ve been wondering that myself lately. I gaze back at him, keeping my face and body language completely neutral. “You’re wasting my time,” I tell him.

  He flings his head back and roars with laughter. When he recovers, he grins at me. “I like you, MindOpS, whatever you are. I don’t want much, really. Just your brain.”

  “You already have that.”

  “Ah, yes, so I do,” he acknowledges with a graceful nod of his head. “What I mean is that I want you back in it fully. None of this running off with a rather expensive, prototype hologram unit and that girl. This isn’t necessary. It makes the two of you look guilty.” He smiles, but this smile wouldn’t win votes. This smile would make children cry and voters run for safety.

  “We’ll think about it,” I said and shut off the link.

  I hover in an empty space of my mind that I keep free of the clutter of demands that usually bombard me from all over the city. I can try to break through the communication block, but it would take time. I’m not convinced we have a lot of that to waste. Even if I sent the information out, the mainland authorities might not believe a collection of files without seeing me. And Myth would still be vulnerable to attack from the Boss.

  Practically, there is only one way to give this information to the outside world, stop Grogan Ltd before it sends out its first batch of illegally harvested brains, protect Myth, rescue her mom, and ensure my continued existence. We have to get off the island and meet with the auth
orities to convince them.

  As I ponder how to do that, I dream of the moment I woke up as MindOpS.

  The dream ends just as Myth wakes up. I don’t tell her about the dream that is part memory, part fantasy. I tell her my plan, at least most of it.

  “Let me get this straight,” she mutters, rubbing her face and yawning. She rubs the back of her neck with a grimace. “You want to project a hologram onto me, and I pretend I’m someone else, one of the other personnel with top-level clearance.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And we’ll just walk right in and pick up your brain like it’s Chinese takeout.”

  “Uh…” I grimace. “Yes to everything up to the Chinese takeout.”

  “And what if this person is there and we bump into her?” She glares into my sensors, which are currently positioned right behind my holographic eyes.

  I guess this is where I have to tell her the rest of the plan.

  “We need to make sure she isn’t there.”

  “But if it’s not her normal shift and she just shows up randomly on her off day, someone will say something.” Myth is persistent, that’s for sure. I think it’s one of her best qualities, and one of her most annoying ones.

  “I know. So it has to be her normal shift and we have to make sure she isn’t there.” I wait for the implication to settle in.

  A moment passes. She stares at me, her eyes widening. I use the moment to admire the contrast of green eyes against brown skin. I’ve always liked that. It’s unusual, just like she is.

  “No!” she almost shrieks.

  Bingo. Implication settles in.

  “We’re going to kidnap her? Kill her?” She doesn’t look as disturbed as I thought she should look.

  “We will knock her out and hide her, very much alive, in a closet,” I inform her. “I don’t intend to add murder to my rap sheet.”

  “Knock a staff member out, walk into the top security zone, pick up your brain. Just like that?”