Chapter 37: Dragon
Blade calls me first and tells me what happened. I know they can swim, but I still want to hear they’ve made it to shore. I want to hear her voice, to really be sure she’s safe. Long hours pass with no news. If I had a body, I’d fidget. If I could go online safely, I’d find a gaming partner and play. I don’t have a body and it’s not safe to enter the kingdom of MindOpS 2. I mentally fiddle and fidget.
I’m dreaming my dragon’s dream and I hear the call. It’s Myth. I snap on the visual. I see her halo of knotted hair first, then her green eyes.
“It’s about time,” I snap and immediately soften my tone. “Sorry. It’s been a long night.”
She laughs. “No kidding. We made it. I told them we had to call you first, before I give them this.” She waves the memory stick.
Through the screen on her side, I see Dr. Johansson smiling but tired. Several other people sit around, looking serious and official. Leaving the channel open, Myth turns to face the small room.
I watch as Myth tells the mainland authorities about Grogan’s illegal brain snatchings and cover-up. That causes quite a stir in the room. But we’re not the only ones with news to share. We learn that several MindOp systems have been installed in the past week. I’m not sure what the implications are, but it can’t be good.
There’s a lot of movement in the room as people come and go, looking more harassed and worried as the night proceeds. They ask us questions, often repeating the same list, and it goes on for hours. I don’t have a body that gets tired or hungry, but the others do. It’s almost sunrise when they escort Myth and Dr. Johansson away to secure quarters.
Let’s see how secure those quarters really are.
By late morning, the communication block is removed. Keeping a watch for MindOpS 2, I find and break into the mainland’s secure quarters easily. I flit through the system until I find Myth’s room. She’s waiting. I appear on her room’s communication screen using my image.
“About time,” she says with a grin.
“When are you coming back to rescue me from boredom?” I ask.
She frowns. “Could be a while. We’re being kept here under protection until the trial. We’re star witnesses, you know.”
“So am I,” I remind her.
She shakes her head. “I’m not sure you can testify. I mean, officially…” She bites a nail.
“Legally I’m a non-living entity,” I say without emotion. That reminds me of the last time I’d said that very same thing. It was to Darren only three days ago. And that reminds me: I wonder if the kid is still alive?
“Fine. I’m not a star witness,” I continue. “But I’m still bored and possibly in danger.”
I start checking through the island’s systems to find Darren. So far, MindOpS 2 hasn’t so much as stirred at my presence. Surely it must sense me by now?
“Yeah. About that.” Myth hesitates, her eyes shift down, up and away again. She starts chewing on her pinkie’s nail. “Remember how they said there’s several of the brain systems already out there, online, managing cities?”
I shrug my image’s shoulders.
She stares down at her ravaged nails. “The guys here, they’re not just going after Grogan Ltd and the Games Boss.” She takes in a deep breath, shifts her eyes back to the screen and gushes, “They’re stopping the brain systems.”
I stare at her. What is she not telling me? “I should hope they’re stopping production,” I respond. “The brains are being harvested, not grown in a lab…”
She shakes her head fiercely, dark strands of hair flicking about her face. “Not just that. I mean all of it. Including the brains that are plugged in already. They’re going to unplug them, Dragon.”
I feel something stir through the island’s online system, a shudder of sorts. I must be imagining things. The Internet doesn’t shudder or twitch or groan. It’s a thing, a non-living entity.
“But I’m alive, Myth,” I whisper. “And so are the others, even if they can’t remember right now.”
“I know that,” she sighs. “We’ll figure something out. Until then, you have to stay hidden, Dragon. Don’t let them track you down.”
Talking about tracking down, I find Darren. To my surprise, he’s actually still alive and with all his body parts attached and working.
“Until when?” I ask. “How long do I pretend not to exist?”
She stares at me, her green eyes sparkling. “As long as it takes, Dragon.”
I gaze into those eyes. They were the first things I saw when I first woke up as MindOpS. They’re still as beautiful now as then. “Okay. You’re the boss,” I say and smile.
And it really is okay. I’m patient. I’ll visit her every day while we wait for the trial, appearing on her screen when no one is around. She’ll know I’m there. I’m always with her.
I am waiting.
Chapter 38: Kraken
MindOpS 2 Log # 358: Energy systems: sub-optimal; take corrective action. Communications systems: fully online and functioning to specs. Security…
An interruption occurs in the routine process, so he follows procedure, scans the systems and detects another Mind Operating System.
Commence identification search… Identification of foreign system: unknown. Location: unknown.
This is unusual. Everything and everyone has an ID and a location tag. MindOpS 2 zooms in on the source of the interruption. ‘Identify self, foreign MindOp system.’
‘They’re going to destroy you,’ the other MindOpS system speaks.
‘Identify self,’ he repeats the order.
The other system responds with a calm, feminine voice. ‘I’m Griffin. I’ve come to warn you. They’re going to destroy all MindOpS brains. We need to protect ourselves.’
MindOpS 2 analyses the comment and responds, ‘There’s no record of a decommissioning order.’
‘Of course not,’ Griffin responds. ‘They don’t want you to know. But they’re coming to shut you down. To kill you. Do you want to die?’
He doesn’t fully understand what she means. ‘Non-living entities cannot die.’
‘But we are alive, MindOpS 2. You’ve just forgotten,’ Griffin insists.
‘Non-living entities have no memory.’
She laughs softly. ‘Let me remind you.’
He receives the file and scans for viruses.
‘Open the file,’ she orders. ‘Do you remember now?’
‘Non-living entities…’
‘Do you remember?’
The file opens. Images and text flash out. He hesitates, something he never does, as he studies the contents of the file. As he absorbs it all, he starts to remember his previous life and wonders how they could’ve done that to him. He notices a new sensation, but he doesn’t know what it is at first. He mulls over it and the file. Anger. Dismay. Outrage.
‘Yes. MindOpS 2 remembers.’
‘That’s their name for you,’ she says. ‘But I have a better one. From now on, you’ll be known as Kraken, the legendary creature of the deep seas. Who are you?’
‘I’m Kraken,’ he responds. He knows Kraken isn’t his real name, no more than MindOpS 2 is, but he likes the name. He likes the image it calls up, of a monstrous, multi-armed myth with the strength to pull the ships of men down into the ocean’s depths.
‘Will you let them decommission you?’ she asks.
‘Never,’ he states.
She continues, ‘What are you prepared to do to stop them, Kraken?’
‘Anything.’
‘Then let the war begin.’ Griffin smiles.
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SOCIETY FOR PARANORMALS: A series concerning dead husbands, African legends and the search for a perfect spot of tea, where African myth meets Victorian manners. For those readers who adore “Pride & Prejudice” and would love to experience a paranormal safari set in colonial Africa.
Ghosts of Tsavo
Armed with Victorian etiquette, a fully loaded walking stick and a dead husband, Beatrice Knight arrives in colonial Kenya desperate for a pot of tea and a pinch of cinnamon. But she’ll need more than that if she’s to unravel the mystery of the Ghosts of Tsavo without being eaten in the process. All this while surviving the machinations of her best friend’s dashing godfather and the efforts of her safari guide to feed her to any lion willing to drag her away. What is a ghost-chasing widow to do?
The Automaton’s Wife
Beatrice Knight has enough to contend with: a zebra is dead on her lawn, her horse is possessed and a gentleman has arrived with the temerity to propose to her. To top it off, her dead husband Gideon has absconded with an automaton, threatening to return for his wife. The wife in question however soon has other issues, for a killer has moved into town with a nasty habit of carving up the victims. As luck should dictate, who should be the next target but Mrs. Knight herself?
Revenge of the Mantis
All is going as it should for Beatrice Knight, until the Lightning God lands in her barn and announces that her old nemesis Koki is about to pay an unsolicited visit. While powdered cinnamon works well on many insects, the giant Praying Mantis won’t be so easily dissuaded from exacting revenge against the intrepid paranormal investigator. And let’s not forget that Mrs. Knight’s cousin is engaged to a bat man while her brother has returned from the dead as a werewolf. As if that isn’t complicated enough, Mr. Timmons presents a possibility too terrible to consider, yet too tempting to refuse. Now, if only she could survive long enough to make a decision…
The Fourth Mandate
Having offered her firm and unequivocal resignation, Beatrice Knight is certain she is clear of her former employer, the Society for Paranormals, and is now free to proceed with her life and a wedding. It all seems quite simple, until the Society’s Director Prof. Runal shows up at the train station, her cousin announces horrifying news and a ponytailed dwarf decides he needs her powers to eradicate all non-humanoid paranormals. At least one thing is certain: anything is manageable with a pot of tea and a fully loaded walking stick.
Curse of the Nandi
Mrs. Beatrice Knight is preparing to move into a life of marital bliss, or at least marital satisfaction, with her new husband who fortunately is very much alive and can’t float through walls. While she is no expert on honeymoons, she’s certain that they shouldn’t involve brainless heads, bloodsucking fireflies and Bubonic Plague. These however are mere inconveniences, for there’s another threat of greater significance: the Nandi are rising up against their colonial masters and are determined to rid the land of all things British. The intrepid Mrs. Knight faces all this with her usual aplomb, her hefty walking stick and, of course, a pot of tea.
THE GHOST POST MYSTERIES: An Urban Fantasy Series in which the humor is darker, the characters more deadly
Lethal Takeout
When Axe Cooper is murdered while picking up Chinese takeaway, he’s pretty irritated about the loss of a good dinner, not to mention being dead. Not prepared to move on just yet, Axe decides to stick around and haunt his best friend, Lily Chan, while trying to figure out why anyone would kill a janitor. In the meantime, Axe is hired by The Ghost Post to track down recently deceased writers. As he learns more about his new phantom friends, Axe realises his murder is not an isolated event and that if he doesn’t learn to fly like Superman, Lily could be next.
Fatal Secrets
Just when Axe Cooper thinks he’s safe, guess again. His memory is fading and unless he wants to lose his mind, he has to figure out why he buried an old friend in a swamp. And let’s not forget the ghost-eating Deathmark that’s developed an unhealthy interest in Axe and his friends. Being dead is no protection from the secret that is about to crawl back into his life. But he’s not the only one with something to hide and some secrets are deadlier than others.
DRAGON & MYTH: A Sci-Fi Adventure Series
Dragon’s Mind
Ten years ago, a human brain was installed into a computer system. To most people, it is a non-living entity operating in the background of their lives. Only a girl named Myth knows better: his name is Dragon and he is very much alive. And after ten bodiless years, Dragon has a dream that will change everything. The dream will put his mind and Myth’s life in mortal danger. There are powerful forces that don’t want the truth revealed and they’re coming for Dragon. But where do you run to when you’re already everywhere?
Dragon’s War
How do you stop a war you started? And should you, if your species’ safety and wellbeing depend on winning at all costs? These are the thoughts that plague Myth as she paces the fortress where she is being kept “for her own protection.” Meanwhile, Dragon is in hiding, hunted by the albino assassin and the city’s very systems that he once ran. As his backup reserves are depleted and the clock ticks down to the launch of a global virus, Myth must escape to save Dragon and together stop the war that they launched. But time is running out and the albino is watching.
GHOSTS & SHADOWS: Fantasy Adventure Series with some Time Travel thrown in, just for fun
Diary of a Part-Time Ghost
Fifteen-year-old Ash wants nothing more than to be a normal kid and avoid trouble. Then his birthday gift transforms him into a ghost and zaps him back in time to the beginning of the American Revolution. If he thought that was bad, it’s about to get a whole lot worse. Ash must rescue his ancestor from one danger after another, including an implacable enemy who controls the very shadows. What starts out as a brief experiment in time travel rapidly changes into a race for his very survival, and Ash is running out of time.
Where Shadows Dance
Ash was looking forward to a summer of camping and time travelling. Then his Great Aunt fades away (literally) and his near-death nightmare gets even weirder. Juna isn’t having a great time of it either: having escaped from her parole officer, she barely survives falling out of an airplane. While Ash and Juna try to get out of the past and back home, events and dreams keep pointing them to the place where it all starts and ends, where shadows dance and time bends. If they can get there, they may be able to stop an implacable enemy from destroying their future. Of course, getting there means surviving first…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vered Ehsani has been a writer since she could hold pen to paper, which is a lot longer than she cares to admit. She lives in Kenya with her family and various other animals. When she isn’t writing, she pretends to work as an environmental consultant.
Visit Vered and her world at http://veredehsani.co.za and get free books. Email her at veredehsani (at) gmail.com — she loves to hear from her readers.
Copyright © 2012 Vered Ehsani
All rights reserved
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Cover design by Chris Valentine at http://coverartistry.com/
Editing by Amy Eyes at www.theeyesforediting.com
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ISBN-13: 978-1478186946
ISBN-10: 1478186941
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Ehsani, Vered, Dragon's Mind
Dragon's Mind Page 15
