Höllenbadt: Book two of the Torus Saga

by Berg, Michael

  George Smyth was reminded of his name, and of his self through this event, as he realised his mania would not suffice for the conquering of nothing he so ardently sought. In effect, when such a mania is tantalised and teased to emerge from within its darkest reaches, it erupts like the vomit from the mouths of those afflicted by viruses trying to ingest the flesh of others, as they grasped their last moments of manifestation before yielding to the maws of oblivion scattered throughout their bodies. The utter disturbance of alignment for these people was a reflection of the inward nature of the Agent, and so in response, he unleashed his retaliation, and it too, would be an exploration into the furthest depravity imaginable to any human concept and beyond.

  At first, he was unsure of how to act, for acting was the element of his intentions upon which his mania depended. It was always a show, an ingenuity born from awareness of nothing, hence it lead to nothing. Then, with the recoiling of the strands of his manic self wound tightly, he boarded his spaceship for a trip to no place – not space within or without. He was bound to nowhere, and from this, he set out on a flight, not of fancy, but of vengeance. He was a maniac now facing demise, and this was entirely unacceptable to a megalomaniac – one who believed in a false sense of importance. From his own place, so very near to the state of flux of mechanics, his new round of viruses were as devastating as his last, in the least. The authorities could not yet stop him, and so he remained their adversary for a time, as he unwound the living in almost an instant, firing viruses from his laser canons. Those who he struck were not so fortunate as to have any sense of hope, but were sent to utter despair of futility with their last gasping breath, before their essence and their being was transfigured and drawn into the Agent. He was now an Agent who fed upon them like some wild beast starved so long that it would lose any sense of composure, as it tore at flesh, barely able to even chew or swallow. He drew them into him, and with each person, and with each soul, he heaved and pulsed in utter rejection, but he was a maniac, and so this served as an act of deprivation of himself. George Smyth was still a human being in foundation, but this was all, for his mind was of a beast of beasts, one enticing nothing, where it would be the nemesis of even the worst monster of myth. And...his heart, if ever such a thing existed beyond that which served to course the tainted blood through his veins, was...was simply closed to anything other than this purpose. He had never felt what a heart could feel, and thus he had nothing to give him something by which to guide recollection of this most energetic aspect of self for a human being.

  Chapter 35

  As they huddled together for comfort amongst the upturned buildings and fields, Chan, Carmel, Lolita, and all the others, sought solace from each other. The earthquake had devastated their farm where all lay in ruin, except for their laser canon driven by steam, and Carmel’s little steam engine. It gave them the only light, in an otherwise darkened hour – its’ connection to the array of lights built by John, their hope, and their guidance. Chan had done what he could to bring them in and to focus on the light as a reflection of what lay inside each of them, what lay within their intentions, and of the connection to their hearts.

  His vision was theirs in confidence of determination to overcome this suppression of light, which he offered to build through recollection of what they always had and could never lose. Four horses had joined them, with Frieda staying close to Carmel. They had bolted when the earthquake came, for such is the way for horses and their tendency as flighty animals. But, they had all given chase to rein them in, so they could join them there amongst the ruins of the barn, on that cold autumn night.

  “There is an air that is very much darkened and distant from the light. We are aware of our connections and on this, we must focus. Dark as it may seem, these times are a test if you will, for us to gather more than we could have imagined, so abrupt this incursion into peace has been here at the farm.”

  “No doubt, these quakes are something the authorities have brought on. Those people who passed by the entrance to the valley when Jake and I went to look at the damage beyond this place, told us they had heard of quakes in many nations via a news broadcast in Arequipa. A lot of that city has damage.”

  “You are likely to be correct with this Raynie. Our realisations lead us to consider that John and Tobias have been apprehended by the authorities, for it is not like them to be absent so long after the time they told us they would return.”

  “Yeah, those fishing trips only last four weeks at this time of year,” Juan added.

  “And so the authorities are likely to have begun their quest for dominance again knowing the Agent is much weaker now.”

  “Do you think he will…”?

  “Yes Jenna. Chan and I have discussed this and what we could do when the Agent returns here. He will return and he will have looked at overcoming our weapon.”

  “I can re-build it.”

  “I think that is wise Juan.”

  “I’ll help with the configuration.”

  “Yes Jenna. We are fortunate to have your knowledge of such things, and we are fortunate that nobody here has any technology implants the Agent could affect us through.”

  Whilst they talked, the Agent was working on the algorithm to ensure his energy shields could repel any fire from their steam driven laser canon. The work took him seven days to complete and when he was satisfied he had the right calculations, he installed them before deciding to depart the facility at San Francisco, on a heading directly to the valley near Arequipa.

  But Jenna and the others had anticipated his return and his attempt to overcome their weapon. Whilst Jenna constructed algorithms to modulate the frequency output of their cannon, the others re-built what they could as living quarters and for housing the horses and equipment. Kerry Ann and Steve helped Juan repair the mill house and its steam driven stone, and Carmel along with the others who had been rescued from the Agent’s lair, focused their energies on enhancing their vibrational resonances within. This, Chan had told them, would be a method of sub-conscious defence against the subtle underlying energies associated with the Agent’s mania, helping them to build intuition at each encounter.

  On that cold misty morning in late May, the Agent touched down at the farm with the intent of staying until he had what he came for. He threatened them with his weapon as he asked for the Torus, but they resisted and he soon came to realise how. His weapon was useless against the superior algorithm Jenna had built, and their canon could affect his craft, though only slightly. In effect it was a standoff where neither party really had the upper hand. But essentially, Chan and the others were able to retain the Torus of Eternity within their grasp for the time being, and in doing so, were able to halt the Agent’s desires to build a new amplifier and return to his dominant status.

  Over the coming months, the Agent did return again and again from his facility near San Francisco, to attempt overcoming those he saw as standing in the way of realising his true mania. Between bouts of destruction wrought upon those in the western sector, and upon the authorities who continued to struggle at times with his localised viruses, he threatened them with his presence – often staying for a few days at a time. His spaceship would just sit there with him inside, mostly out of sight, then only seen when he returned to the control cabin to fire his weapon that each time would fail to make inroads against the shield Jenna had made. His main obstacle in these times was the fact that he was still an organic human being who required sustenance, and so he would have to leave to find food, which he would then collect as much of as he could, so he could return to stay at the farm once more.

  The authorities in Arequipa were aware of his presence and whilst they were often successful in repelling him from incursion into the city, they were not interested in tracking him to the location in the hidden valley, where he so often stayed. Their energy was mainly focused enforcing the compliance of the United States authorities, meaning they focused controlling the people and preparing them for the new trans-humani
sm to come.

  Chapter 36

  John was left to himself for months in the cellblock. Fortunately for him, Eric Gunter was far too busy to consider infusing John with all of the nano mechanics he had given Tobias. John was simply left to consider himself, his situation, and in his mind, a means to escape. The intrusion into him brought on by the neural mechanics was a daily battle, requiring much more determination than the device years ago. This time it was directing his thought – not just reading them. He retained some imagination, which gave rise to his capacity to still consider escape and eventual termination of the tiny robots inside his brain. But as time wore on, he knew the struggle would get more and more difficult as the mechanics learned from him whilst they tried to shape him. Just one thing remained as his main hope, and this caused him to wish Eric Gunter would come and try it on him. The one faulty algorithm he had delivered during that session would be the key to undoing the nano mechanics. It would eventually arise from within the flux of matter as a stream of rogue tacheons John had designed that Eric would see as a small anomaly in the data. But it would grow exponentially until it rendered all flux mechanical systems inoperable – so John hoped.

  Eric Gunter knew nothing of this as his mind continued to evolve towards efficiency only. His personal drive was being replaced by the mechanical logistics of drive based on upon machine operations. He worked endlessly studying the spatial anomaly and testing scenario after scenario for the sake for developing more and more advances in technology. Successes came in a flow of instances where deployment of robotics, new construction methods, and autonomous reorganisation of matter at the atomic level for construction of any machine programmed into the flux interface, soon became reality.

  He even began to plan an entirely new type of spacecraft for an experiment that would bring about the penultimate success of flux mechanics for the authorities. Eric spent most nights after work, calculating the dynamics of sending a spacecraft into the vortex created with flux, for both destination, and return. He was unable to determine where the craft would go as he did not have the answers to where the vortex lead, and so on the last night of collating these calculations as a report for recommendation to his superiors, Eric decided the best way to proceed, would be to build the craft and send it into the vortex with a trans-human pilot.

  When he did present the report, he was given an immediate authorisation to proceed, and so he was flown to Mars Station for the construction phase of the project. Eric supervised the construction of a flux probe and the ship, by programming the nano robotics to convert atoms into components, and then into the entire machine, with the entire process taking twenty-seven days instead of the months required to build spacecraft in the past. When completed, the newly designed spaceship was born through the enormous airlock at the construction building within the Mars complex, and then flown directly to the lagrangian point at the far side of the Moon.

  Eric was not to be its pilot – they had chosen a new trans-human military officer for the role. He sat in the older craft half a mile away from the new ship now positioned directly in front of the anomaly opening.

  “We are almost ready to proceed with spacecraft insertion sir.”

  “Good,” Eric replied to his subordinate. “Is the flux probe ready.”

  “On standby sir.”

  “Proceed then.”

  The subordinate entered the sequence to engage the flux probe and send it into the anomaly prior to the full spacecraft test.

  “All systems aboard the probe are working sir. I am sending it into the anomaly now.” As the probe moved effortlessly towards the anomaly using flux drive, it was the first ever instance where Eric had been able to witness the new propulsion system in action during a real event. At the frontier between normal space and flux space, the probe appeared to waver for a moment, as if it had been engulfed in fluctuating waves of light. Then, when it reached the heart of the anomaly, it disappeared entirely from view as it was transformed into matter beyond light speed.

  “Readings are coming in from the probe sir. It appears to be stable.”

  “Give it a minute further and then we will send the spacecraft in.”

  Fifty eight seconds later, Eric gave the order to proceed with manned flight into the anomaly. Unknown to the pilot, whose nano mechanics deprived him of all senses concerning apprehension about the test, his flight was to be the first attempt at sending organic matter into flux. As it was with the probe, the spaceship disappeared from view when it reached the anomaly.

  Somewhere in the depths of space in continuum, both craft and the pilot were relocated. Not even Eric Gunter knew where that was, but someone did, and they were aware this experiment was destabilising. It was not conducive to alignment, and therefore they had to respond.

  So ends book two of the Torus Trilogy – Höllenbadt

  Book Three is titled

  2101: Awakening