by A. I. Zlato
She took advantage of her connection to the Forest, which offered her the night vision she needed to move forward. She went searching for Mossa, choosing a random trail. She walked for hours, walking among trees. Moisture in the Forest chilled her to the bone, and she was shaking. She dared not sit a moment to rest, for fear of lacking energy to resume her journey. In all directions, towering trees obscured her view. She walked straight in front of her, in the dark, surrounded by animals and branches creaking noise. That little noise she loved by the day, frightened her in the dark. Each branch falling to the ground made her jump; every hiss raced her heart.
Completely lost, not knowing which way to turn, tears of anguish rolled down her cold cheeks. She nevertheless continued trying to cheer herself up. She began to speak aloud, telling herself to move forward, to put one foot before the other, to keep the courage. All trees looked alike. Had she not passed by this strain already? Or was it another? Silence sent her back the sound of her voice, which was strange. She called Phalomera in thought, but she got no useful response. On the contrary, the presence lost her a little, pointing her to the Ocean, more clearly than ever.
Instead of the sky, she saw movements of water, threatening shadows breaking against the latter. She was frightened, and screamed for it to stop. She formulated aloud all the questions that went through her head. Why show her that other world, which was inaccessible? Why Iris, and not someone else? Had this vision already materialised before others? Why overwhelm her with concepts she did not understand? Why Space and space, why Time and time? Why ? All her questions caused the vision of the Ocean to disappear, along with her ability to see in the dark.
Phalomera had withdrawn itself, taking with it the nightmarish visions, and its vision, in short. Blind, she was about to collapse on the floor, determined to wait until sunrise, when she noticed that the Forest was becoming less dense ... and Iris entered the meadow. She had turned round! It was not possible to be so stupid! Walking for hours, so afraid, for nothing! She had been cold, had wept with fear and anguish, all this to go back to her starting point. She could not believe her stupidity; it was distressing. In addition, she had not found Mossa.
Sweaty, she tried to reason, to control that rage against herself. True, she had not found what she was seeking, but at least she could go home. With any luck, her parents would not notice her absence, and she could slip into the apartment as if nothing had happened. She took a reassured step, leaving the Forest behind.
The Machine would soon reconnect, and Iris twitched in anticipation. She hated it when the data stream found its way into her chip, which then reactivated. She walked resolutely, ready for the clash. Nothing happened. Bizarre. Iris continued, saying that if the distance to the City seemed longer to her because it was dark. It would not take long to reconnect to the Machine and see house lights. She was not good at evaluating distances; that was all.
Her foot landed in the water, and she got up immediately. She had to walk in one of the few pools present in the prairie; that was just Iris. Her shoe had had time to become wet, when she then realised she might have get even colder. She made a great stride to avoid the puddle and put her foot back.
Again, in water, this time to the ankle; Iris stepped back. She had no seen such a large puddle on her way into the Forest. She tried to break through the dark night by pivoting on herself, in search of a known form, which would allow her to move. She guessed buildings she had never seen. She was not where she thought she was ... She was out of the Forest, but had not returned exactly to her starting point. She was probably in a section of the City she did not know.
No worries; she would eventually find a rail station, which would bring her back home. It was the convenience of living in the First Circle; all tracks led to the Tower, a thirty-minute walk to her building. What was strange was that the Machine should have found her, even if she was not in the right part of the City.
She stepped forward, cautiously. In the absence of the Machine and Phalomera, she could hardly see her feet. The Machine had still not logged her on. And the buildings ... they were not the houses of the Periphery, they were ... something else. How was that possible? She had not simply strolled within the Forest ... had she crossed it? She had always imagined that the Unique Forest was infinite, as everyone else thought. Obviously, this was absurd; it was necessary that this stretch of trees end somewhere. She had just never considered the possibility of reaching another end than that by which she had entered the Forest. Where did she stand, geographically compared to the City? North, south? She had no way to find out.
She approached houses on tiptoe. Who lived here? What were these people doing so far from the City? Was it the Periphery of another City? Was there also a Machine here that governed all life? Iris feared that her chip would activate, but it did not. Not the slightest sensation, not the slightest tingle in the temple announcing digital data. She ran through the deserted alleys, without knowing exactly what she wanted. The buildings were very different from houses she had seen before.
They were much larger and extended over several dozen metres. The dwellings of the Periphery were cubes of five to seven metres wide, twice more compact. Here, the buildings were oval in shape, and the material of the walls, roof, doors and windows was unknown to her.
On the ground, covered with a thin layer of soil, was a kind of network, stretching and connecting houses. It necessarily was an artificial network, that of a Machine ... Her chip remained stubbornly silent. How could a nearby Machine not connect? Iris was perplexed. All immersed in her observation, she did not notice the shadow that followed her since entering this kind of City. When she felt a touch on her shoulder, she jumped and screamed in fright, which had the effect of waking up all the surrounding houses. Lights came on, and about a dozen people quickly surrounded her.
“What is happening here? Is there a problem? Why would you shout like that!”
“Egeon, you know her? What family are you from? What are you doing out alone at this hour?”
The so-called Egeon cast blinding light on her.
“No, she's not from here ... she came from the City.”
Murmurs percolated into the group.
“What are you doing here? Have you come to spy on us? Are you alone or are you part of an expedition? Does the City know about us? Speak!”
“I ... I ...” Iris burst into tears.
She did not know who these people were; she felt their hostility towards her. They had a strange accent, and she had trouble understanding them.
“I just wanted to see the hybrid Mossa, I ...”
“I told you he would bring us nothing but trouble! Here we are, spotted by the Machine! Can you imagine the consequences?”
“Stop blaming everything on him, Egeon. We must first know what the girl discovered.”
A beautiful woman emerged from the group. She put her hand on the man called Egeon and gently pushed him aside.
“And of course, you think she will talk if you scare her?” She queried. “Marco, activate central lighting; Sylvia, bring her the rest of tonight’s cake. With a cup of hot tea.”
The two protagonists disappeared for a few minutes. Iris appreciated the tea, which warmed her up, more than she did the odd biscuit.
“My name is Galatea, and you, how do you call yourself? How did you manage to get here?”
“I ... my name is Iris. I was born in the First Circle, but I belong to the Second. With Fighter, Eric, Aimie and Kahila, we come in the Unique Forest to get away from the Machine…”
“And are those four with you now? What is this story about getting away from the Machine? Your chip enslaves you to It!” Egeon said.
“No, they are not there, I came alone ... I ... we ... we do not want life planned by the Machine. The Forest is the only place where It cannot reach us. The first time, it made me sick, this absence, I thought I would die; but now, it is when I am in the City that I do not feel well.”
Iris regained self-confidence.
“I did not know you existed; I thought there was only one City. Is yours as big? Do you have a Machine?”
“We are the ones asking questions, my dear. I want to know whether your chip is a spy, and if the Machine, ‘your’ Machine, knows our existence”, said Egeon.
“The chip does not stay active that far”.
“Maybe, but when it reconnects, will it, I do not know, ‘copy’ memories of moments when you were outside Its influence?”
“I ... I do not think ... I ...”
“In other words, you do not know! If I let you go home, maybe the Machine will see what you saw ...”
“We must reprogram her chip. Make it a renegade.”
Everyone turned to the one who had just spoken.
“Mossa? It is you who brought her here?” Egeon asked.
“No. I met her in the Forest the other day, but I did not take her all the way here”, replied the hybrid.
“And what possessed you to reveal yourself to that girl? And ... but what were you doing in the Forest alone?”
“I was not alone; I was with Eutrope. And what I did is none of your business.”
“Are you kidding or what? Everything you do concerns me, concerns us! You can endanger our whole project. You were trying to get in touch with It, right?”
“I have no interest in the Machine of this Space. What I was doing in this Forest is not the subject of discussion at the moment. What is important to know is that I did not bring her here. I repeat that I am able to program the chip to ensure that her memories of her time outside the Machine’s influence will not be recovered. We could therefore have someone capable of receiving data, but emit only selected information.”
“I agree,” said Iris. “I want this reprogramming, I want to be free of the Machine.”
“Not quite. When you are back in the City, the chip will — as it does now — operate under Its influence and control. However, when you are in the Forest, you will be totally independent, and what you will think and do in such times will remain unknown.”
“Well, OK, let’s reprogram her; what next? What do we make of her? Her memories will not be accessible to the Machine, but that would not stop her from repeating what she had seen to all her friends, and this place will become a refuge for misfit kids”, Marco said.
“We can program this, too ...”
“That is to say?” Asked Egeon.
“To stop her from talking. Everything she will experience in the Forest and beyond, she would be unable to talk about it, lest she feel an unbearable headache.”
“But that’s barbaric ...” began Galatea.
“That’s okay with me. Proceed that way, Mossa.” Egeon said, cutting his wife out.
Iris gestured to flee, but Egeon’s grip held her back. Mossa, the hybrid that she had long sought, would impose a reprogramming on her chip, and she did not know at all what that meant. She had accepted this idea too quickly, and without thinking. She tried to cross the hybrid’s look, and to ask him to stop, but to no avail. The black plates of his arms fluttered, as if they were alive, scaring Iris further. Egeon's hand tightened further, snatching tears of pain from her. She had no choice.
Mossa put his fingers on her chip, and Iris felt a flood of data, which resembled that of the Machine. The flood deepened, and electrical impulses passed through her body. The pain was so intense that she could not even scream. Each cell vibrated under the influence of Mossa’s microprocessors; the chip was burning. A digital war, of which she was a spectator, began. The chip fought back, to prevent Mossa from making the changes. The hybrid leaned stronger and increased the intensity of the flow. Iris helplessly suffered this battle, of which she was the object. She felt torn between two opposing waves, smashed by every flow and reflow.
The components of her chip heated until complete deformation, even spreading more electricity. Reaching a paroxysm of pain, Iris detached herself from her body, entrenching herself in her mind. She could not do anything to stop the battle of which she was the unwitting epicentre.
When Mossa pulled his fingers out, she collapsed on the floor. She did not know where she was, who these people were, why the tip of her hair was charred. She wept, arms gathered around her chest, alien to the outside world.
“Iris? Iris? ... She does not answer. What did you do? Have you grilled her brain?” Egeon worried.
“No, I did the reprogramming I spoke about. It just takes time, as her body needs to adapt to the new physical characteristics of the chip.” Mossa said.
“What do you mean ? How can a reprogramming have physical consequences?”
“It would take too long to explain. She will soon recover.”
“In other words, you think I am too stupid to understand ... let's leave this for now”, muttered Egeon.
Iris gradually regained her senses and was aware that people were talking about her, without understanding the meaning of their words. Then she remembered. The other end of the Forest. Strange buildings. Another human community. Egeon, a hostile giant. Galatea, a beautiful woman with a soft voice. Other people ... And Mossa. He had performed a reprogramming of the chip, so that some of her memories would not be accessible to the Machine, and she could not tell anyone about what she saw when she was in the Forest Unique. Her chip had struggled against this reprogramming, but Mossa had succeeded.
However ... he had done something else ... she looked at him intently. He returned her gaze, but without allowing her to perceive the slightest emotion. Iris could not decipher his marble face.
She got up, and Egeon told her she could leave, she happily complied. The giant did not formally prohibit her from returning, but his silent hostility spoke volumes. Still reeling from Mossa’s intervention, Iris walked away and disappeared into the Forest.
Curiously, she knew exactly which direction to take to reach the City. Without hesitation, she veered to the left, and then walked straight ahead. Not having to worry about her way, Iris explored her mind and the changes Mossa had made. He did not simply reprogram her chip as he had told others. He had transferred her a kind message, composed of memories and reflections. Why? Had he implemented the transmission voluntarily? If so, why? Now, she had access to his memory ... all his memory. Without her wanting it, she was assailed by memories that were not hers. She saw the place where Mossa came from, Space O., as he had said. There, the City did not resemble the one she knew. The Machine was also the centre, but where there were rails here, there they had extensions of the Machine, like a star whose rays were prolonged from the centre outward, far away.
Arches originated from these rays and formed concentric circles around the Tower ... the First Circles were all physically linked to the Machine. Instead of looking like a black hand pointing to the sky, surrounded by houses, the Tower appeared to her as a sprawling body encompassing the City. Further, in the Periphery, there were tiny buildings, constructed without apparent logic. Iris, through Mossa’s mind, despised these places, which housed the half-humans, that is to say, the non-hybrids. These ‘half-people’ were ostracized, and survived thanks to the charity of people who had a respectable place in society. Fortunately, they could not move about the City, as their lack of microprocessors on the skin restricted their access to all means of transport. Iris became aware she was watching with disdain people like her ... she now knew exactly how Mossa saw her.
For him, she was an incomplete person, closer to the animal than to the hybrid, a species underdeveloped and endangered. Conversely, she watched other hybrids as equals, and followed the technological developments that allowed every generation to improve the interface between artificial ingredients and organic body. Mossa’s Space was much more technologically advanced than hers, as he had said. There were no terminals, no humans who needed access to the Tower to know their work orders ... the connection to the Machine was developed to a climax.
He considered himself both human and Machine, and saw himself as an extension of the latter. There, there was no Kandron or Forest. Th
e City covered the entire land; construction had only stopped at the sand bordering the Unique Ocean. The Ocean that Phalomera showed her ... this other Space ... It was Mossa’s Space! Phalomera had showed her the dark waters, and she thought she had an idea of what it looked like. Memories of Mossa introduced her to something else. It was the same body of water, but ... seen from the outside, stretching beyond the horizon. Iris discovered the waves; the water was rising steadily and was crashing on the shore.
Although Mossa had not assigned much importance to this view, she admired the water that was moving. It was both beautiful and scary, this unfathomable and impenetrable blue mass ... echoing the green mass of the Unique Forest. Snatching her away from this contemplation, the memory took Iris from the shore to the City, from the Machine to the Periphery, from hybrids to humans, in a whirlwind of memories. When she re-emerged, she felt the profound changes she had undergone.
She now perceived her own world both as she had always seen it, and at the same time, through the eyes of a stranger. When he was thrown into this Space, the hybrid initially did not understand what was happening. Iris saw Egeon, Galatea and the others as he had first seen them, with horror and incomprehension. She saw his first days, between despair and anger, introverted as he was unable to communicate with the others. Upon Eutrope’s arrival, he had learned the language. He especially understood that he probably would never go back into his Space, but that he could escape from here, by working on the construction of the shuttle. He might as well work on recreating a world closer to the one he had lost. The shuttle ... Iris saw, superimposed, the gigantic building that would allow humans to leave the planet. As Mossa had told her.
She also saw the Unique Forest. A symbol of freedom for her, the Forest had initially represented nothing in particular for Mossa, as he considered it as a manifestation of nature, without further interest. He, however, had changed his mind after Eutrope took him into the heart of the Forest. Among trees, its microprocessors became active, as if traversed with a thrill. He did not see it, but the Phalomera-Ocean relationship was the cause of the activation, so was Iris convinced. Without being aware of it all, he would regularly spend time among the trees, out of nostalgia for a world he would never see again, and for another reason, too ... but it was too vague for her to understand what that was.
