Tyson tightened the rope belt that held his trousers up; he didn’t know what was happening. “Why are they killing themselves?” he asked, stepping slightly away from the warmth of the fire.
“Don’t you feel it.” Eyeless turned to him. “Don’t you feel their sadness?”
“No, only occasional chemical disruptions and thought spikes, but I purge these with the logical order of things.”
“Purge? You mean flush your brain with serotonin? Make everything eternally happy?”
“You make it sound like that is a bad thing?”
“In a way it is.” She leant back against the desk. “Why do you think Strange-ers don’t feel strong emotion? Actually why do you think you are having difficulty keeping check of emotions?”
“What’s this got to do with the thought?”
“Maybe nothing...”
“What is it?”
“Not now, I don’t know enough and I hate guessing. And speaking of guessing, what is your name?”
“Don’t you know everything?”
“Now isn’t the time to be standing up for yourself. Your name, please?”
“Tyson, I’m a Tyson 732.”
“Well Tyson 732, I’m a Helena 219 but of course you can call me Eyeless.”
She stood, got some blankets out of the box she’d taken the clothes from and gave them to Tyson.
“Get some sleep, tomorrow things will happen and I might need you alert.” It was time to lay low for a while.
With the blanket wrapped about him he settled on the floor near the fire. Eyeless knew far, far more than she was telling and it made Tyson nervous, he felt frightened, an unusual feeling. Racing heart, sweating and his mind running scenarios of him getting his eyes cut out, his data casing ripped from the back of his skull. He didn’t like the feeling and he didn’t like how they were becoming more the norm over the last few hours. Had water gotten into his system? He pulled a disk
from his wallet, and slipped it into the reader in his neck. The blue sky of la Strange filled his mind, the gardens, the low white and yellow buildings, the glass towers that reached to the stars and the people, all the people in their blue uniforms, or green worker jumpsuits going about their day in unison.
He could see the steam vents, the massive copper tubes that ringed the outer rim of the sky city; they belched white, clean steam from the massive boilers beneath the pavement. Flywheels as big as buildings created electricity to power the world and support life above the clouds. A great silver-grey battery factory covered ten square kilometres, made power cells to run the devices that made life easier and made currency the under-damp could understand. This was what Tyson needed to see, to remember his home, the place away from the smells, the water and filth. He looked to the unbroken blue above, sighed and felt release. A shadow moved across his sight. A black cloud blotted the sun.
Tyson opened his eyes. What was wrong?
“I don't understand.” Tyson sat with his back near the fire, his shoulder ached from the hard floor, his eyes stung with tiredness.
“The Thoughtless seem to be flocking to the thought, it could ruin everything.” Eyeless was blur of agitation. “How do you feel about it? How does this make you feel?”
“It’s just a thought.” Tyson felt unease.
She shrugged. “Well it isn’t just a thought, is it? There is a reason for it to be down here.” She stopped pacing a shifted like a flash of light to stand over him. “Don’t you feel anything because of the deaths?”
“I think I feel sad.” He didn’t know for sure. “My inducers aren’t overriding the gloom I feel like they should. I don’t feel happy that these Thoughtless are killing themselves.”
“Good, good, just what I was hoping to hear.” Dragging on her now-dry coat she smiled. “How about we see if we can stop them killing themselves and get the thought back?”
“That would make me feel better than I do at the moment.”
She turned the fire down, warm air quickly fled, the smell of damp clothing and mould soon seeped back into the room; he hadn’t realised how much of the mustiness warm air hid.
Eyeless grabbed a handful of weapons from a square steel chest in the corner. She passed him a hand gun. A small weapon with a short barrel.
“The Thoughtless aren’t far from here.” Eyeless selected two chromed hand guns, sporting thick and lengthy magazines. In moments she had the holster across her shoulders. “You and I might have to fight for the thought. You ready for that?”
“What are we going to do?”
“Something you will have difficulty with, but I think you of all la Strang-ers are ready for it.” She picked up a browned cylinder about the size of her little finger nail from the mess on her desk. “This is a neurotransmitter inducer, my inducer. Without it I can do what is necessary. You, on the other hand, will have to manually adjust yours if you want to stay alive. There isn’t time for me to cut it out.”
She looked menacing with the white grips of the guns sticking out of her shoulder holsters. “Do what I do and don't get killed, you are too valuable.” She stepped out of the room. “The Thoughtless aren’t smart but when they do work something out and find it has value they can be pretty tenacious.”She stood in the green luminescence of the corridor, rubbing her hand over the wall's surface, causing the light to glow brighter. “You can either help me, Strange-er...” She drew one of the guns, “or I shoot you.”
She had a point. The idea of dying didn’t appeal to him. He found he actually wanted to live, felt like he had to stay alive.
They moved swiftly down the corridor to the hatch. Eyeless went first, one gun in her hand. The hatch opened and rain rushed in. In moments they were gleaming with the sheen of water. Tyson pulled his own weapon and climbed out into the downpour. Eyeless slid the tower back in place and pointed to the edge of the building. A rail and the question mark of a ladder could just be seen through the grey.
“See the light?” she yelled over the drumming.
In the distance he could see the white glow of tower lights. The tightness in his gut told him that was where they were going. Eyeless ducked into the greyer shadows and emerged with two hand grips. They were going to use the cables again. Tyson tucked his weapon into his inside coat pocket, took the guide wheel and followed Eyeless to the edge of the building and the myriad of overhead wires – all sparking under the constant downpour.
He couldn’t even see the other buildings.
Like before, he stepped off into the gloom. This time when he heard her yell, he let go.
Eyeless ran through puddles across the wide expanse of the second roof; she was silhouetted by the light spraying from the towers above. Grey shadows turned to black pits.
“Stay here,” she yelled, diving over the side of the building. Tyson froze. She’d flung herself into the brightness. He stood alone on the roof top.
The sound of gun fire cried out, a popping over the thrumming of rain on metal. Then came the loud crack, as if someone had smashed two panes of glass together. Eyeless’ guns. He drew his weapon and ran to the edge looking down into a pool of whiteness. The ground was only a single storey down, brown and moss coloured. Thoughtless darted about, seeking shelter in hatchways, hand held torches blinked abouyt the shadows. Two men lay prone in the alleyway. He couldn’t see Eyeless.
He thought about climbing down the ladder and joining her but he couldn’t. He was afraid. It didn't make sense. Why was he afraid? He felt something hard press into his neck. A gun? A hand reached past him and removed the weapon from his grip. The pressure on his neck released.
“Stand.” The voice was barely audible over the rain. “Hands up.”
He stood, arms raised. Slowly he turned to face who had captured him.
“Tyson.”
“Shana?”
She stood before him in brown sodden clothing, looking more like an old seafarer than the woman he remembered. Her fair hair was dark and plastered over her face; eyes, bright green even i
n the gloom, stared at him. He lowered his arms and she the gun.
“I saw your body,” he yelled over the noise.
“I’m sorry Tyson, it had to be done. You had to think I was dead.” Shana stepped closer, put her left hand on his chest and gazed up into his face, water causing her to blink rapidly. “How do you feel?”
There was still shooting below, still the occasional scream of someone dying. He didn’t know how he felt, or didn’t want to know how he felt. Why was she asking? He shook his head, it wasn’t logical, it wasn’t right.
Shana handed him a disk and stepped back. He could see something in her face, he didn’t understand. He looked at the disk, a small promise on his finger tip, she wanted him to see it; he wanted to see what was killing the Thoughtless. Struggling against the water falling over him he slid the disk into the reader. There was a crackle in his mind as the drive sizzled off the moisture on the disk.
“Oh no, no, no,” he cried dropping to his knees. “No. It can’t be. It can’t be.” He could almost hear the chemicals in his brain struggling with the vision in his mind. Darkness; pure darkness.
Shana knelt in the puddle in front of him, putting her hands either side of his face. “This is what I found.”
“Strange-er,” came Eyeless’ voice over the rain. “Tyson!”
Shana nodded, but he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t think. Didn’t want to think. His heart ached with despair at what could have been, what he thought had happened to her.
“He’s here!” Shana yelled.
“Has he used it.” Eyeless sounded short of breath. Her voice loud over the rain.
“Yes, he has seen it.” The sound of her voice the only thing holding him back from the gaping, black abyss before him.
Silence.
“I’ll be there shortly. Stay where you are.”
Tyson studied Shana’s face and saw, truly saw what she was seeing. The absolute darkness of loss. He felt it, the emptiness crashed through his mind as a hot wind. It soaked up his will like a cloth soaks up moisture. He held on tight to Shana, felt her strength as his slid away. How far could he fall into this dark well? His inducer was overwhelmed; he could almost hear the dendrite dying. He couldn’t look at her any longer, he closed his eyes and let the rain, the ever present rain pound him as he tried to block cellular activity. It didn’t work, nothing in his systems worked. What had she done to him?
“What do you feel?” Shana whispered in his ear. “Tyson, tell me. What do you feel?”
“Pain!” he cried out. “Pain and emptiness.”
“Open your eyes, Tyson. Look at me.”
The world was a blur, a vision through tears, a vision drowning. Again she cupped his face, pressed her lips against his, a kiss, but a kiss like he had never felt before. He felt it, truly felt it.
“It’s not pain, it’s not the end, my sweet Tyson. It is love.” She kissed him again, her arms tight about him, protecting yet freeing him at the same time.
Tyson tried to search the feeling, search the thoughts, the darkness they brought. The thought of losing Shana to death, the thoughts of her murder and what was done to her, rushed at him, threatened to swallow him. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe... couldn’t breathe
Eyeless sat at her desk, a drink in hand and an expression of contentment. Tyson rested with his back against the wall, a blanket wrapped about him and a cup of stinking broth clenched in his fingers. The thought had been removed but the effects remained – he had been changed. He couldn’t order his mind, purge the darkness or the sense of loss, nor could he suppress the overwhelming elation of being with Shana, and knowing he wanted to be with no one else. If this was the effect of love then he understood why the emotion, the thought of darkness had been locked away. Was this the programming equivalent of having his neurotransmitters over-ridden?
Shana paced the room. Her great coat lay on the floor in front of the fire, steam rising, her boots squelched as she walked.
“You recovered?” Eyeless asked.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to recover.” He gulped down a mouthful of broth, thankful for its salty distraction.
“I can see the feelings you have for each other. Shana was right to choose you.”
Shana turned on Eyeless. “What happens now?”
“More of your research.” Eyeless laughed. “But you can’t go back to the tower.”
“You know each other?” Tyson shivered, the cold holding tight to his bones. “On the roof...”
“I’m sorry Tyson, I had to get you here. You were the only one I found.” Shana hugged herself.
“Only one what? What do you mean brought me down here? You planned all this?” His shout rang around the walls.
“You have natural emotional abilities, not quite what humans have but with time you will develop.” Shana squatted before him, one hand on his knee. “I was researching la Strange, looking for someone who had developed outside of the protocols.”
“But you’re...”
“I’m part human, Tyson. I infiltrated la Strange two years ago.”
“The thought. What about the thought?” He felt ill.
“I tried to introduce it into the data lines but the security measures in place made it impossible, so I faked a though theft after setting up the unity with you. I knew they would send you, a punishment for letting me get inside the vault.” Shana’s eyes softened and her grip on his knee firmed. “It was the only way to get you down here safely.”
“The who was giving the orders to find you?” He looked to Eyeless who tapped her ear shell and smiled.
“And I wouldn’t be claiming safety just yet. I picked something up when I nabbed him from the tavern.” Eyeless placed her hand against the listening device and turned away from them for a moment. He fingers of the right hand played over the key pad. Screens flickered.
“Why me, Shana, why all this for me?”
“I felt you could override the chemical inducers but Eyeless wanted to see if it was possible to make sure we weren’t just getting false responses. The last test was to see if you could take the thought and unlock the strongest of human emotions, love.” She looked back at Eyeless. “Unfortunately to stay alive long enough here I set up a cult for suicide and enlightenment, that is why the Thoughtless wanted to try the thought.” She lowered her eyes to the decking. “I knew they couldn’t take the data stream, it was either let them try or die.”
“They could have just killed you and taken it.” Anger was now finding its way through the cold. “I don’t believe you, either of you.” .
“They knew Eyeless watched over me, it kept me safe to a point.”
Eyeless raised one of her gleaming guns, her intention obvious. Shana moved slowly to Tyson, they both stood before the woman He couldn’t rush her, couldn’t break for the hatch, it was closed. Eyeless moved to the drying cabinet and took out his leather clothes, signalling him to put them on. While Shana turned her back, Eyeless watched, her face set hard, lips thin with determination.
“This has to be the way, I’m afraid.” Eyeless’ voice was low. “I’m sorry but my future depends on this and there isn’t time for convincing you of anything.”
“Are you going to kill me, us?” Shana took his hand, squeezed and let out a short sigh of resignation. Eyeless shook her head.
Tyson jumped, startled by a pounding on the hatch.
“Open the hatch.”
Tyson didn’t move. He wasn’t going to be the one to let in his own captors. She pointed her gun at Tyson. Shana obeyed and spun the wheel. The door opened and in stepped two humans, their clean look undeniable, their perfect shaped green eyes. Tyson looked to Eyeless who offered no response. Shana gasped. The two men wore tight-fitting grey suits that shimmered yet didn’t appear wet.
“Why?” Tyson stared at the men, their faces smooth. “What use am I to you?”
“You cannot interrupt the balance.” One man stepped forward. “You must com
e with us.”
Tyson hadn’t ever heard humans speak before. The sound was not unlike his own voice. Both men looked strong and moved with calculated efficiency, something they had never displayed in any of the trading missions recorded by la Strange’s security. He looked to Eyeless, hoping to see some kind of reaction, some key that would explain things. Nothing.
“Submarine?” Eyeless said.
“Yes, a vessel for the five of us.” The other man offered.
Shana glanced at Tyson and back to Eyeless. The woman had holstered her weapon but remained fixed on the two humans who seemed to be examining the room in amusement; both had the faintest hint of a smile.
“Please, we are docked at the end of the corridor, it is time to go.” The first man stared at Eyeless. “The thought is secured I take it?” Eyeless held up the disk. “No copies?” A shake of the head.
Tyson wanted to fight, only he knew Eyeless would shoot him dead before he even had a chance to raise a fist. He felt deep desire for Shana but it was tainted with the seeping of distrust and betrayal. His chest tightened, breathing shortened and he felt like sinking to his knees and sobbing for all the loss that was dropping around him.
“Just tell me what is going on.”
Both humans exchanged glances before the second one spoke. “You were in possession of something you shouldn’t have been...”
“Enough,” Eyeless said moving between the humans and Tyson. “Let’s go.”
“The Thoughtless are la Strange’s rejects,” Shana said, “though the humans might have different names for them. The humans created the tower city; they made the organic and machine beings, they made you, Tyson.”
Why didn’t she say us? Tyson looked at the men, Eyeless, the demeanour of Shana. He could feel tension in the room, see the strain around Shana’s human eyes, for she was part human after all.
“You are a misaligned clone with failing technological additions.” The first man seemed unimpressed. “Now, please, we really must go.”
“The thought?” Tyson asked. “What of the thought?”
“We have it now. All will be as it should be.”
9 Tales From Elsewhere 4 Page 13
