The Society Builders

by Anthony Puyo

  “Welcome, Phil. Where would you like to go this evening?” The automated voice says. Jake holds his case tight to his chest, stunned with amazement.

  I say out loud the address Phil gave me and we lift off the ground.

  Just over the horizon I see Henry Matson's rather large estate. As we get closer, I hear a gulp from Jake.

  “It’s going to be fine, Jake. If you want, you can stay in the craft. It’s bullet proof.”

  “Nah, man. I’m with you one hundred percent.”

  “Hopefully this will be peaceful. I just want to see Myra. One last time if it happens to be.”

  Jake turns in his seat. “Why do you think she stopped talking to you?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe they threatened to kill me.”

  Jake didn’t say anything. I think, like my deepest thoughts try and have me believe, Jake feels Myra just abandoned me. She didn’t. I know she didn’t. Our experience in the mainframe . . . She cares for me.

  We begin to descend onto shadowed ground. As we get closer a square forms. A landing area with blue lights as its frame.

  I don’t expect much security if any. From what Myra told me, her father doesn’t like the feel of an entourage of protection at home. He’s a man who likes the normal life as high as figure as he is.

  As we touch down, a man in a regular suit comes to meet us. I can see from the glass he’s touching his temple.

  “Who is he calling, you think?” Jake asks.

  “He probably thinks we’re with DARPA.”

  I step out to a smile from the man who seems to be a part of the help. His smile goes away when he sees the rifle pointed at him.

  I put my ball-cap on him. “Lead me to Mr. Matson.” I say.

  With his hands raised and fear across his face, he replies. “Follow me.”

  We’re led into the fabulous house that’s void of anyone.

  “Where’s everyone at?” I curiously ask, rifle barrel to his back.

  “It’s late. There is no one here but Henry, Agnes the maid, and myself. This is how Mr. Matson likes things. Could you please put down the gun? There is no need for violence.” The older gentleman says as we walk across the marble floor.

  I put down the gun. “No funny business.”

  “You have my word.”

  “Where is Myra?”

  He doesn’t say anything, so I repeat myself. He just clears his throat and says.

  “I’ll let the mister tell you. Here we are now.”

  We face two large, wooden double doors. He knocks and a moment later they open automatically.

  Across the long distance to the huge window at the end of the room, an elderly man sits at a desk. A bottle of liqueur accompanies him.

  “What’s going on here, Ely? Who are these people?” He shouts from across the room.

  I take my hat back. “Sync your mind with my friend here. If you call anyone, he’ll know, and you’ll die. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, yes.” Ely says.

  “Good now, have a sit.” I turn to Jake. “Stay with him.” He nods.

  I make my way up to the gentleman at the desk, gun to my side. “Henry?”

  The man appears awful, like he’s been on some sort of drunken binge for days. Unshaven, hair a mess, dressed in a robe.

  “Yes—it is I. You don’t appear to be with DARPA. They don’t dress that fancy. Anyway, what is your business?”

  He stretches his neck and squints his eyes towards me. I also sense the slight slur in his voice.

  “Where’s Myra?”

  Henry takes a sip of his drink, then stares out his window. You must be Jason.”

  “I am. Is she here?”

  Henry carelessly drops his glass on the floor; the ice spills out with a little of the liquid. He stares at it. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Her side. Phil Balock’s side. Are you a good man, Jason?”

  I don’t understand how to read the man’s demeanor. I’m starting to suspect a fractured relationship here.

  “I don’t know what you mean, sir. I don’t commit crimes against humanity. I care for our species. I love your daughter.”

  I see the nod of his head. “You sound like a good man. I, too, was once a good man, Jason.” He turns, collapsing in his chair with weak limbs. “I lost myself somewhere. A long time ago.”

  “It doesn’t have to be that way. I know what’s being planned. And you don’t have to go through with it.”

  He gasps a small snicker. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. You couldn’t fathom . . .” he stops, rubbing his face down with his hand. He may have forgotten his train of thought.

  “I do know, Henry. You plan on killing off most of the human race.”

  I hit something. Henry peers at me, a little more present than before.

  “How do you know?”

  “David Casper showed me. I just didn’t understand till my meeting with Phil last night.”

  I hear a gasp across the room from Jake. “Why didn’t you tell me, Jason?!”

  “I’m sorry. I thought the pressure would be less if you didn’t know.”

  Henry begins to weep. “I tried, Jason. I tried to find a better way. But all the data proved things would not have changed. The world will not sustain us all.”

  “But what gives you and your order the right to decide who lives and who dies? If there must be a choice, maybe it’s all of you who deserve to go.”

  “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps we are the wrong choice.”

  “Myra believed in your idea. She thought you were going to bring us all together as a species. And I’ll admit, I thought it could possibly work. The way she believed, it was powerful enough to affect the world.”

  The old man begins to cry more.

  “Where is she, Henry? Where is Myra?”

  He pounds the desk. “She’s here.”

  “Where?”

  “Here.”

  “Show me?”

  He opens his desk, pulling out a pistol. My eyes stretch. With his other hand, he picks something else out. He keeps it in a clenched fist.

  “Remember these words, Jason, they will help you: The wise old owl spoke, heard, lived and judged”

  “No!” I yell, reaching for him.

  Henry puts the pistol in his mouth and pulls the trigger. All of us in the room jolt. I quickly move over to Henry who’s on the floor lifeless.

  Jake comes up from behind. “Why did he do that for.”

  “I don’t kno—” then I see it. I fall on my bottom and start to cry a stream. Jake follows my vision, seeing the Thin Chip left on the desk. He puts his arms around me, consoling me as I cry out, saying her name over and over as loud as I can yell.

  20

  “Do you see what I see, Michael? Look a little harder.”

  “You killed Henry?”

  “No. He did it himself, after he gave me the mainframe password. Phil Balock has turned and he’s going to let me into the vault.”

  “Liar!”

  I stare out the office window towards Phil’s drone. Jake waves out the window making sure his face is not seen. “No. He’s waiting for me in there.”

  “You're a bullshitter. I haven’t been able to contact him. I figure you’ve killed him.”

  “No. Watch this.” I take off my cap, then put it back on. I repeat this a few times, blinking in and out of thought to Michael. “He’s got one of these on. It takes us off the grid.” His anger sends a feeling of heat towards my mind.

  “What do you want?” He asks.

  “Meet me at Matson Cybertech in a half hour. We’ll talk demands there.”

  Phil’s drone lands on top of the Matson building. I can see security detail surrounding the craft. If I could only see their faces when they see Allen, Henry’s help, in the cockpit.

  While security is busy there. We sneak up to Michael Scarp’s limousine at the street light. By pointing the rifle we’re easily let in by the driver.

  “Jake sync your mind to
them. Don’t any of you try and call for help or I’ll decommission those functioning brains.”

  “A decoy? I underestimated you.” Michael says, buttoning his coat’s bottom buttons.

  We get to the parking lot entrance. “Act normal,” I say from the back seat to the driver.

  Once security notices the driver, they give him a wave in. The windows in the back are too dark to see through.

  We park by the elevator.

  “This is what’s going to happen.” I relay to Michael. “I’m going to keep this gun pointed on you till you get me into the vault. After that, I don’t give a shit what you do. But if I get any trouble from your men, I’ll kill you.”

  Michael smirks. “You’ve become quite the killer, have you?”

  I shrug my head slightly. “Desperate times cause people to do desperate things.”

  “Tell me about it. That’s why I had to talk Henry into letting Phil kill Myra. If he only knew I did myself. He would have had a fit.”

  His callous response causes me to hit him in the mouth. Michael’s head rocks. He gathers himself by wiping the blood from his jaw.

  “Sorry. Did I say something offensive?”

  I restrain from hitting him again. I know he just wants me to lose control.

  “Let’s go.” I blurt.

  We walk down the spacious white colored hallway. I have one hand on Michael’s shoulder the other on the gun that's pointed hard against his spine.

  Jake holds his case tight in an embrace, his eyes wondrous over the scenery and the situation that he finds himself into with me.

  The few security that starts to come in from outside were not expecting to see us. They pull their weapons.

  “Back away or your boss gets it.”

  They listen with curious eyes. They are not accustomed to situations such as these. The authority would be more aggressive if they were here. And I have to assume they will be here soon as at least one of these men will alert them.

  We take the elevator down in the ground where the vault lies.

  “What do you expect to accomplish, Jason. Even if you get into the mainframe, there is no stopping what happens. None of us here have those codes. Rumor has it there was no fail safe built in it. It was meant not to be stopped.”

  “Then you should have no problem with us tinkering around in there.”

  We get to the large metal door of the vault. A green light, strobes around it. Probably the security system.

  “Let us in,” I demand to Michael.

  He places his hand on the reader and lets a laser scan both eyes, one at a time.

  The door slides open.

  “Okay. I did my part; now can I leave?”

  “How stupid do you think I am Michael. If I do that you’ll just let the authority in. So make yourself comfortable. We’ll be here for a while.”

  The door closes behind us and Michael takes a seat on one of a few leather office chairs.

  Jake is amazed at the sight of the cyber machine. It sits four feet high, in the shape of an octagon, red-orange in color, with hundreds of small vent lines around it. It radiates yellow light as it breathes. On one side of it, there is a nineteen-inch screen that’s off.

  “How do I turn it on?” I ask.

  “It’s always on. Just touch the screen.”

  I do as he says. And the screen brightens asking for a password. “What’s your password, Michael?”

  He sighs. “No. You're not getting it.”

  I glare at him. “Really?” I shoot his leg.

  “You motherfucker!”

  “Next one goes in your chest.”

  “You want it. Come get it? In here.” He says, pointing to his temple.

  I could just kill him, and let Jake do his thing, but part of me wants this.

  “Hook up and do your thing Jake. I’m going to take this bastard out. If he doesn't anything funny. Shoot him.

  I sit across from him on a leather chair, taking off my cap. We both grip the armrests and close our eyes.

  “We both have to unlock the doors to everything for this to work,” he says. “You’ve experienced the depths of love. Now experience the depths of hate. Come see the full power of the mainframe.”

  Darkness of my mind opens. Dust trails past me in a strong wind. I’m on a plane of colored dirt. I see hills in shades of faded purple and pink in this desert land far from where I am. It’s a place void of anything living, like the valleys of Mars or any other dead planet.

  A man wearing a wind scarf over his mouth and nose walks up. He carries something dangling down his hip. He throws it towards me. It’s a Katana blade. The man sits a safe down into the sand.

  “In there, Jason, is the code. Your friend can try all he wants, but he will not crack the mainframe without this. Well not before the authority makes in that door. But if you want it, you’ll have to beat me.” Michael pulls a blade from off his back. “Twenty-two years of lessons. Let’s see what’s it’s worth.”

  He comes towards me. I pick up my Katana and move out of his way. I feel the air of the miss by the crown of my head.

  He comes again in a graceful twirl slashing my shirt and the thin outer layer of my skin. I stare at the line of blood, feeling anxiety.

  “I can tell this isn’t going to last long, Jason. You’re not very good at this.” He comes for me, swinging his blade for my neck in a jump. I scream and suddenly everything slows, my neck becomes hard as steel and Michael’s blade breaks in half.

  “I didn’t think you had it in you, Jason. Let’s see how you handle water.”

  The ground beneath us turns into the open sea, and we sink beneath it. Way beneath it. I swim, bubbles release from my mouth, but I’m not drowning. I don’t see Michael. It’s dark twenty feet in front of me, green in black mixed. Out of it, a large mouth full of white triangular teeth come towards me. I panic and dive deep. This ferocious shark, the size of a yacht circles around. On its forehead, I see Michael’s face protruding out of its skin, blue and white like the beast. As it swims, Michael’s hair sways wildly like fire flames, and his eyes, piercing white, move back in fro with pupils the size of peas.

  I swim into a wrecked ship, descending towards its bottom. I think of a door for one to appear. I want to get out of this fabric of my mind and go back to the real world.

  I see a door, long and metal. There’s a lock on it. I bang it, pull it, but it won't budge.

  “Jason?” I hear echo in the water from the shark that circles. It comes from Michael’s face. “Once you’re this deep in the mainframe, you can’t get out till we both leave or one of us expires.” He laughs wickedly. “My guess is that it will be you.”

  “No!” I say, bubbles leave my mouth, floating above my stretched-out hair.

  I close my eyes tight. I picture Myra. I haven’t used the mainframe this way in a long time, since being on the run. I wanted to calm down. I hope seeing her will help me do that.

  “Jason,” she says. Her blue eyes caring for me.

  “Myra, I love yo—”

  “Someone's coming, Jason. He’s here.”

  In a flash, I find myself standing on a building in the middle of New York. The grey light has no end.

  I turn to see Myra on her knees, hands and mouth wrapped. Michael stand near her with a pistol in hand.

  “This is how it happened, Jason.” Michael shrugs in his expensive suit. “Not the same scenery, of course. But yes, it happened just like this.”

  I gaze at her. She’s crying, terrified.

  “Can you save her, Jason?” Michael turns and points the gun at her chest. He lets off a shot. In my desperate state, my mind must have taken over, because everything slows again. I move like a blur of light, pushing Myra out the way of the shot, succeeding in my effort.

  I then turn on Michael with more anger than I’ve ever felt in my lifetime. I choke him. Taking him down to the floor. He growls and chokes back. The scenery wavers like rippled water. Flames burst from the floor. The building imp
lodes, crumbling down to the city street.

  I squeeze. And squeeze. His veins show on his forehead. He chokes me back, but I don’t feel anything but the roar of anger. I want to squeeze so hard that I touch my own fingers in a fist.

  Michael stops choking and grips my wrist. I keep going, full strength now. The veins that show on Michael's forehead, neck and eyes begin to rupture out his skin. Blood spats out in a hundred places till I can’t even recognize who he is anymore. I finally notice he is no longer gripping my wrist, because his hands have fell. I stop myself. Breathing hard as I notice my surroundings.

  The surface I’m on is a dark plain. The sky is a mix of purple and blue space. Stars shine like diamonds in the near distance. I search for Myra.

  There she is.

  I run to her. She lies on her side, hands and mouth still tied. Her eyes are closed and a puddle of blood leads to her chest. I guess it didn’t matter what I did. She was always going to end up this way. Because it’s a true memory.

  Next to her sits the small safe, cracked open. I pull out a manila folder that holds a piece of paper in it. I open the folded note and see two words: You Won.

  I wake to see Michael’s corpse sitting loosely in his chair. The sound of saw like cutting machines on the other side of the door get my attention. I peer over to see Jake standing there in a panic.

  I jolt up, disregarding my sweat drenched clothes. “What’s going on?!”

  “The authority is trying to get in. Did you get the password?”

  “Yes!”

  Jake types in you won, and we enter the main screen. He then types in Myra’s father’s nursery rhyme which gives us access to the pending download of the D-code.

  The flames and sparks shoot through the doors cracks. A loud banging sound too. Any minute and the authority will break in.

  “They were right, Jason. There is no off switch.”

  “What now then?”

  “I don’t know.” Jake feebly replies.

  “You’re a hacker, hack it, Jake! Do it now, before they come in.”