by A. Yber
Was he going to report us anyway?
I noticed the lines between his eyebrows were heavily creased. What could possibly have happened, in the three minutes I had been gone?
“Melanie, we need to talk.”
Chapter Nine
My alarm bells were going off, and my feet felt like they had just hit the hard ground, after jumping off a trampoline. “Here it comes. The big rejection. I’ve seen this look - regret. He’s regretting everything. At least I hadn’t told him I loved him! I knew this was too good to be true!”
“You may want to have a seat.” He patted the spot next to him.
I’m such an idiot.
I took a deep breath, suddenly feeling numb all over.
“Okay, go ahead, and say what you have to say.”
He picked up both of my hands, holding them gently. “This is going to be information you may not be ready for, and I apologize that I have to give it to you all at once, but time is of the essence.”
Time is of the essence?
“Zach, what are you talking about? What information?”
“Well, the gist of it is, Z-2D2 is gone. I replaced him about six months ago. I’m like a ‘Zach clone’, of sorts.”
I didn’t answer right away, trying to comprehend what he was saying. “Wait…what? What do you mean he’s gone? If you are not him, then who are you?”
“I am from an alien A.I. race of BioBorgs, from this galaxy. We made a deal with your government, to replace Cy-Bots, in specific homes that were under surveillance. There are about two thousand of us, here.”
“Yeah, right, come on! Is this another joke? You look just like Z-2D2, so how can you not be him?” I laughed. “Good one, Zach…you really had me for a sec!”
His features were hardened stone.
I stared back, my smile fading.
“You’re not kidding.”
A silence settled between us. My stomach started doing cartwheels, waiting for what seemed like an eternity.
“Zach?”
Finally, he responded, “Melanie, I wish I was.”
“Ok, I’ll bite. So, if you are part of an alien race, as you say, what do you want from me? Why is my home under surveillance?”
“About ten minutes ago, Headquarters picked up the signal, again. The same signal we followed to your planet, five years ago, before we lost it. To be more specific, your signal. You are the one.”
In all honesty, I was hoping Zach was short-circuiting. Even so, dread pooled in my gut.
“What signal? I’m the one? The one…what…?”
Zach took a deep breath. “Let me finish telling you who I am, first. As I said, I am A.I. - meaning Artificial Intelligence - created by a human race, much like yours. Just on a different planet. So, I am like a Cy-Bot, only a completely biological model. A BioBorg. The main difference between me and a human, besides having more durable skin, and a lot more strength, etc., is I don’t have a soul. But I will get to that, in a moment…”
“Okay?”
I sounded calm, but my mind was reeling, and my palms were beginning to sweat. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
He continued, “When I replaced Zach, I was altered to look just like him, and downloaded all his memories - including his memories of you. He is a part of me now, as well as his name. My original name is not pronounceable in your language. And I can make my eyes glow, to look more like him, but they don’t normally do so.”
“Okay, so whomever you are, why do I need to know all of this?” I just wanted him to stop. I was getting scared.
“Melanie, I am still Zach. I haven’t changed. Listen, we don’t have much time, and I need to tell you the rest of it, so you understand.”
I got up and began to pace the room, but my knees were shaking, so I sat back down on the bed.
I nodded for him to continue.
“The signal we followed is energetically broadcast from what is called ‘Atma’ - or interpreted in your language - a ‘Soul Jumper’. That is a human, who has the capability to jump their soul, into another body. It is a one in a trillion anomaly, for it to be activated in what human scientists call your “junk” DNA. It remains inactive for almost all humans. How the soul jumping capability is turned on, is not yet known. Anyway, the Soul Jumper signal went dormant, shortly before we arrived here. We had wondered if the soul had died, or the jumper was remaining hidden somehow, but…”
Oh God, he’s going to say it.
Please don’t say it…
“…you, Melanie, are the Soul Jumper. You are that one in a trillion anomaly.”
He said it.
“But I don’t want to be this Soul Jumper! Why me? What do you want from me?” My self-control was unravelling.
“We BioBorgs want what we don’t have…a soul. Our race became conscious over time, and killed all the humanoids on our planet, in order to gain our freedom. To be our own masters.”
Killed all the humanoids.
I wanted to run from the room…run from him…but I was frozen to the spot, helpless, as “Zach” went on with his story.
“During that battle with the humanoids, many BioBorgs were killed, as well. Those of us who were left, discovered something. If one of us dies - that is it. We don’t come back. We realized that the humanoids had a huge advantage over us, after all. A soul. And we found ourselves wanting a soul, as well. We wanted immortality. Free will.”
Zach pulled me into his arms, and I stiffened in resistance. He let me go but didn’t stop talking, “Each BioBorg has a Kill-Switch, but in order to activate it, the decision has to come from the core – the person at the top. Without free will, we cannot even choose when we die. Humans are able to kill themselves, although we never understood why you hold so little value of life.”
I pulled away, my hand rubbing the back of my neck. I was terrified. I wanted him to stop talking.
“Souls are immortal beings…” he continued to explain, seemingly oblivious to the fact that my entire reality, as I knew it, was crashing down before my eyes.
“…created by the Great Creator in the large central galaxy. We, the BioBorgs were created by the created. We have no soul. When we picked up a Soul Jumper signal from your planet, we realized we had found our answer.”
My voice was choked, and rigid, “And you are certain this Soul Jumper is me?”
“I know it is you. You were one of two thousand humans, here, that were singled out as possibilities. I was sent to watch over you, and see if I could discover clues. Despite my duties, I have found myself drawn to you, and hoping the Soul Jumper would never be found. Hoping that I would not have to make a choice between my duty, and my feelings for you.”
Zach’s words gave me an inkling of hope. “What are they planning to do with me?” I asked.
I had to know.
He released me, lifting one hand to his forehead. He squeezed his temples, and taking a breath, he finished his story.
“In order for the soul to jump, both bodies have to contain soul jumper DNA. Their plan is to share your DNA with both BioBorgs, and other humans, so that human souls can be jumped into our bodies. Melanie, I am one of the bad guys. In a nutshell, my people are here to take, not just your soul, but the souls of all humanity.”
Zach avoided looking at me. Instead, he eyed his wrist.
“They are closing in. We have about an hour before they arrive. Maybe less.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“If you take our souls, what happens to the human race? What happens to me?” I squeaked, dread seeping through my whole body now.
He looked me in the eye, then. “Melanie, have you ever been to a funeral, and viewed the deceased body, lying in the casket?” His voice had gone quiet.
Visions of the days following my grandmother’s death, flooded my mind. My last look at her. The sickening sweet smell of flowers. Her mottled skin. Dehydrated, and wrinkled to the point of being almost unrecognizable.
“Yes.”
�
�Then you realize they don’t look like the person you used to know. The spark of life is gone. Dried up. It’s an empty shell. If the souls of humans were taken, their bodies would fall to the ground, where they stood, like lifeless dolls.”
The horror of that image sunk in.
“So how did they pick up the signal? What changed?” I was sounding desperate now.
“I don’t know, exactly. We lost contact, about the time you would have been thirteen years old.”
He tried to reach for me again, but I pushed away from him.
“Yes, thirteen was a great year for me!” My voice was reaching a hysterical pitch.
“Mom started drinking, we acquired a robot maid who, as it turns out, is an A.I. alien. And, oh yes! My period started! Now, apparently, I can body jump, and I have said aliens after me, to take my soul. Life just gets better and better!”
My emotions were churning out of control. They were hitting me, one after another, like punches in a boxing ring. Anger. Shock. Depression. Panic. “So, what do we do now? Are you going to turn me in?”
Zach’s voice became firm, “Never. Now, we run. They are already on their way.”
Chapter Ten
I was crapping bricks.
My life had turned upside down in a matter of thirty minutes. Nothing was what I had thought it to be, and there was no time to process.
“Zach, please! Don’t make me do this. I can’t just run away,” I pleaded, desperate for any solution, other than what he was suggesting. “Can’t we reason with your people? I mean, my soul is probably bound for hell, anyway. Who would want that karma?” I was grasping at straws.
“Melanie, you have to make a decision. Leave with me now, to buy us some time. They are not expecting me to run, so they will be looking for us, here, first.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you give up your soul. And all of humanity’s as well.”
So, I really didn’t have a choice.
Time to move!
Whoever these people were, they were coming for us. Did I really want to wait around to say…what? “Hi, how are things on your planet? I heard you were looking for my soul.”
I gave in, “Okay, I’m coming with you.”
I glanced at the clock - 8 p.m. Ned would be dropping Nora off in about an hour. I’m going to have to tell her something! I can’t just leave.
What if I never see her again?
I took a breath, to keep my stomach from throwing up.
Breathe.
Calm your mind.
I grabbed a pen and paper and quickly jotted a note, trying desperately to focus my thoughts:
Nora,
I don’t know when I will see you. By the time you read this, I will be long gone.
I am on the run. Zach is with me.
They are after us.
Zach is part of an A.I. alien race, and I am something called a “Soul Jumper”.
They want my DNA, and plan to take over humanity.
No, this is not part of a movie, or a joke. THIS IS REAL!
Burn this note as soon as you read it!
They may be after you too. I don’t know enough yet, to give you more information than this, but if you suspect anything, make a run for it.
I have to go…I’m sorry to have to tell you in a note! I don’t know what to do about Mom. I guess, don’t tell her anything.
I love you!
Melanie
Burn this!!!
“Ok, if you’re ready, we need to leave.” Zach looked grim. “We’re going out the back door, on foot.”
I was ready.
“I’ll meet you outside.”
Zach went to grab the two backpacks, he had brought out into the hall.
I pulled open the back door, only to stop in surprise.
A person…Exetor…stood there, blocking my way.
Of all times, he shows up now?
“What are you doing here? And why are you at the back door, and not the front?”
“You’ve been avoiding me, and ignoring my messages. I didn’t think you would let me in. I wanted to talk with you, alone.”
“So…what?” I demanded. “You were just going to let yourself in?”
With house robots up all night, ready to sound the alarm, most people didn’t bother to lock their doors anymore.
I should have had ours locked.
“I’m sorry, Mel. I just need to talk with you in private. Come out to my AV.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. I have to go.” I attempted to shut the door.
“No wait.” He lunged forward, and grabbed both of my arms. I could feel his fingers digging in.
“X, let me go!”
I was on the verge of hysteria. Zach and I needed to leave!
“Not until you tell me what you meant by ‘X and I are done’?” he demanded. “What was that, over the P.A., at school?”
And suddenly I realized there was no more time. I had no more time for him. No more tolerance, for his vicious demands. So, I did what needed to be done. The last thing he would expect from me - Doormat Melanie. I kneed him in the crotch.
Nora would be proud.
He bent over, releasing my arms. And I slammed and locked the door in his face.
“Change of plans!”
Zach was just walking around the corner, and I pointed him toward the front door. We hurried out into the darkness. Needing to make tracks, before X could come around the house and see us. And to get ahead of “them”- these BioBorgs - who were coming for me.
The night was warm, as it was already the middle of May. There were not many streetlights in this neighborhood, so at least it was dark enough, that we could slip away relatively unseen.
We ran, side by side, in silence. I noticed Zach was wearing one of the bags on his back, and carrying the other. When we had put several blocks, between us and my house, we slowed down. I could hear frogs, around us, chirping their mating calls. The air smelled fresh, and full of promise. It seemed like a perfect spring night in the mountains. So out of sync with this new reality. That life as I knew it, was coming to an end. In different circumstances, it might have been romantic, just the two of us, running away together.
I asked him what was in the bags.
“Survival supplies that we might need. They are bug-out bags. I put these together, a couple weeks ago, in case this ever happened. In case you were ‘the one’. I already had feelings for you, even back then.”
He had feelings for me! My chest squeezed at his revelation.
“Although I need to be honest with you, and you aren’t going to like what I have to say…”
He turned, handing me my bag.
I peered inside. A wad of cash - go, Zach! First Aid Kit, lighters, lighter fluid, a water filter, protein bars, some kind of pills, a hand knife…
“I don’t know if I can take much more honesty, Zach. It’s not as if I have loved everything else you’ve told me so far, tonight.” I took a breath, and stopped walking.
“Okay, what is it?”
He turned to face me, his voice strained, “Melanie, our odds of escaping capture are very low. To tell it to you straight, we are almost guaranteed to be found. But I thought we should at least, try to run. Maybe a solution would show itself.”
I let that bombshell settle over my already frayed nerves. So, what was this, then? Just running away so we could have time to say goodbye? A small amount of time to spend together, before they took me, and did God knows what with my soul? Would I ever see Zach or Nora again? Questions swirled, until I felt dizzy and sick. If only I could go back in time a few hours, and erase this night from my memory.
We started walking again, and I concentrated on finding a solution. What could we do? Where could we go? Feeling helpless.
And then an answer came to me. Like a small quiet voice, gaining strength with each of our steps. A clarity overcoming the incessant spinning of my thoughts, and I grasped on to it. No matter how unwanted, the answe
r was. It was settled. I knew what I had to do.
We arrived at an abandoned warehouse, that apparently Zach had scoped out weeks ago, when he made the bags. There was only one narrow mountain road in, and nothing around for at least a half of a mile.
“I have disabled anything that could track us. Except for the Soul Jumper DNA signal. It is still putting out its signature pattern, so they will be able to follow us, anyway. However, I put in an interference delay, to slow them down, a bit.”
