Between Two Minds: Revelation

by D C Wright-Hammer

  A-A scowled. “What are the risks?”

  He shook his head. “What do you mean?”

  “Can this hurt anyone?” A-A was steadfast.

  R-J turned from the hologram and shrugged. “In theory, it could assign non-compatible hosts to migrators and—”

  She waved her arms. “Absolutely not! I won’t sentence migrators to death or insanity. That’s not right.”

  R-J refused to let his discovery be squandered without a fight. “Dammit, A-A! You know why we scavenge for data. We’re normally one step behind them. With this system change, we’ll be many steps ahead of them for months. Better yet, this could lead to the single largest pool of new recruits in our history. We may never get an opportunity like this again.”

  As the seconds ticked by, C-D grew more anxious. “Whatever we do, it needs to be fast. The engagers still aren’t back, and my watch says we only have five minutes of safe time left.”

  R-J responded. “I can make the change with two minutes to spare. What’s the word, mission leader? Do we carpe the diem?”

  With so much on the line, time stood still for A-A. Instead of the routine mission she had planned for, it became the single most important mission she, or anyone she knew, had ever been on. As she frantically thought through the danger versus the payoff, she couldn’t stop her own lives, prior to her migration, from flashing before her eyes.

  Arthur had been an inspector for the EPA, and despite all the precautions he took, he’d contracted an advanced form of Spotted-Lung from years of exposure to a myriad of pollution. As fate would have it, the cure had been discovered, but it would be months before it was mass produced and distributed to the public. Without many other options, he’d felt like mind migration could give him a new lease on life. With all the money and energy he had left, he went for it. In choosing the type of host he wanted, he discovered that he had always subconsciously questioned his sexual identity, and against the wishes of his family, he chose a female host. Arthur completed the procedure, and it initially seemed like a great success. She felt like she had become the person she always thought she should have been.

  Then came the strange thoughts. The awful voices. The terrible memories. They had been shockingly real, and all the more horrific as a result. To make matters worse, all her counselors insisted that her symptoms were a normal part of the process. So, she’d tried to ignore them. But as the months went on, she stopped being able to tell the difference between her own thoughts and the ones manifesting in her head. Her family disowned her, not simply for being a woman, but for all the strange behavior she had exhibited after the migration. They were convinced it wasn’t their father in a woman’s body, but a complete imposter. With nothing left to live for, Arthur had been about to end it all by jumping off an overpass when something miraculous happened.

  “Honey! Don’t do that.”

  With tears flowing down her face, Arthur turned to a woman in a wheelchair she’d passed a few blocks back. Arthur thought the woman might be homeless and had a fleeting fear that she would be disappeared by the authorities come nightfall.

  Despite the woman’s plea, Arthur had still been firm in her decision. “Why not! I’m delusional! Or schizophrenic! Or crazy! I don’t know what I am, but I’m not me, and I can’t take it anymore!”

  The woman had scoffed. “Aren’t we all a little crazy? Look at me. Every day is a struggle to find food. Every night is a struggle to find a safe place to sleep. Do I wish things were different? Sure! But I’ll always take this over the alternative.”

  Arthur had shaken her head. “You don’t understand. I was supposed to die, and instead, I’m still here. It was a mistake. It was all a mistake!”

  The woman had shaken her head. “You ain’t the first to have survivor’s guilt. You won’t be the last. You can’t tell me that nothing good hasn’t come from the extra time you’ve gotten.”

  Arthur was surprised by the woman’s wisdom, and she hadn’t known how to handle it. “Nothing good?”

  The woman said, “I’m guessing you’ve eaten at least one delicious meal. You probably listened to your favorite song. And did you see any loved ones?”

  Arthur had conceded, “Yeah. My two sons. One got married and the other graduated from college.”

  “See! Those are moments that you only get so long as you keep livin’. You were about to wipe all those away. And for what? So, you could feel better about yourself by not feelin’ at all?”

  Arthur had shaken her head. “But that’s part of the problem. My sons disowned me, and I had to sneak into those events. You see, this isn’t my original body. I migrated into this host when I was dying. Damn Spotted-Lung. But I don’t think I’m the only one in here. I hear these voices. See these terrible memories that seem like mine, but they aren’t. It terrifies me, and it scared the hell out of my family. Worst of all, no one believes me.”

  The homeless woman’s eyebrow had shot up. “Well, I’ll be damned, darlin’. Today’s your lucky day. I know just the person who’ll believe you.”

  Then there was Amy. She had started out with a relatively normal life in a Midwest state. She had always dreamed of going to college on the east coast and had worked her tail off to make that dream a reality. But as the semesters went on and on, it seemed more and more like she was taking out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans for nothing. A friend had offered her a temporary solution. “You’re pretty cute. You could join me a couple nights a week at Boy Toys.”

  With that, Amy had taken to stripping to make a little cash, learning early on that the more she was willing to do, the more she got paid. One night it had gone too far when a John took to liking Amy and never wanted her to be with anyone else again. He’d drugged her and taken her to the basement of his house. For over a year, it was the only space Amy knew. Fortunately for her, the John had accidently messed with the wrong people and one night, a couple goons stormed the house.

  Amy had heard the commotion upstairs and was scared for what it meant for her. In a classic case of Stockholm syndrome, she was also worried about the man who’d kidnapped, imprisoned, and raped her for a year. After a few minutes, the upstairs door had opened with the brightest light that Amy had always dreaded. She’d been especially fearful on this night and scurried to the farthest corner she could find.

  “Ugh, boss. This basement is rank. Do we have to go down there?”

  “You know our orders. That bastard was in deep, so we gotta find anything to recoup the cash.” One of the men had flipped the light switch, and nothing happened.

  “Damn. We gotta do this the hard way.” They’d flicked on their flashlights and readied their weapons. With each heavy double-thud on a step, Amy’s fear had compounded. When they finally reached the concrete floor, Amy couldn’t handle the tension and let loose a faint squeal.

  “What the hell was that? A raccoon?”

  “I don’t know but watch out.”

  As the men perused the space, Amy had been certain that nothing good would come from meeting them, so she tried her damnedest to stay hidden. But it was all for naught.

  “Hey, someone’s over there.”

  “Come out or we’re going to shoot.”

  Amy knew she didn’t have any other choice, so she stepped out, shielding her eyes with her hands as the light accosted them.

  “Damn, boss. She’s in pretty bad shape. What do we do with her?”

  Amy’s damaged instincts kicked in, and she offered the only thing she thought she could. “Please don’t hurt me. I’ll do anything for you. Anything.”

  The smaller man had snickered quietly. “What do you think, boss? Should we have a go of it?”

  The larger man had smacked him upside the head. “No, you fool. Get some clothes on her. There’s other ways she can help us.”

  The men had been surprisingly gentle with Amy as they loaded her into the car. Th
ey’d even gotten her a bite to eat. She ravaged the cheeseburger as they drove out to the country. Amy had no idea what to expect. When they pulled up to a big, bright building, she was terrified at first.

  The men assured her. “They’re going to take real good care of you here, ma’am.”

  True to the men’s word, the place seemed like a safe-haven to Amy. She received the medical attention she desperately needed, and over a couple of weeks, they’d fed her back to the proper weight. She was starting to feel like a normal person again when she was called down for a routine test. She laid down on the table and let them inject something into her veins. It was the last thing Amy remembered before awakening to Arthur being in her body. She had so desperately wanted him out because he felt like just another man trying to exploit her.

  As A-A recalled the tragedies that brought her two halves together and the darkness that followed, she wondered what it would mean for a whole new generation of shifters. What if their pairings ended up as heartbreaking? What if there was no homeless woman to intervene when times were bleak? As the questions mounted, A-A also thought about her squad and their depressing stories of migration.

  But with that, something dawned on her. Looking around, she saw how it all turned out. They had all become respected members of an organization that was fighting to make the world a better place for normal folks, migrators, and hosts alike. She wouldn’t have had the opportunity had it not been for the way her migration turned out. She never would have become a whole person—equal parts Arthur and Amy—had it not been for the serendipitous meeting of their two minds.

  “Hello?!” R-J demanded. “What do we do, A-A?”

  A-A replied, resolute, “Can we get even more precise with the pairings? Anything more that might tie migrators and the organic hosts together in some way?”

  R-J gave a scowl indicating he was thinking it over and then his brow went up. “Yes. Brilliant! A string-match on the profiles of hosts and migrators. The more words match, the more likely a migrator and host will be paired.”

  “Do it!”

  R-J’s fingers were a blur as he pulled off the system changes. Then, he laughed.

  “More jokes, R-J?”

  He shook his head. “No! Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. The system change is going to periodically generate duplicate records. It’ll be a red herring that will keep them distracted for months.”

  Suddenly, an outside rumbling could be felt within the building.

  C-D knew something wasn’t right. “Uh, we gotta go.”

  R-J closed his connection, popped out his storage chip, and they all bolted out of the arena, back through the hallway. The group reached S-A, and A-A gave him an order. “With L-M and N-K out, I’ll need you and C-D to engage if it comes to that.”

  He nodded, and they all dashed toward the stairwell.

  Boom!

  An explosion from outside rocked the building, sending them all stumbling in the hallway just before the door to the stairs. The squad gathered themselves and went through the door. They flew up the steps in four big leaps and came to the building’s exit.

  A-A put her hand up to stop everyone. “The engagers will lead, followed by Me, T-D, and J-B. R-J, you’ll leave last. Whatever happens, we have to get the Gaia storage chip to HQ. Get over the fence, and don’t look back.”

  Without waiting for a response, A-A put her ear to the metal door. She couldn’t detect any noise from outside, so she grabbed the handle tightly and took a deep breath.

  Here goes nothing.

  She pushed hard, and C-D and S-A burst through with EMP wands raised. The door slammed back, and A-A waited for a moment. When she didn’t hear any obvious battle sounds, she pushed the door open again, let her two other squad mates run out, and quickly followed behind.

  Finally, R-J positioned himself by the metal door, pausing to listen for a second. Then, he pushed hard, put his head down, and dashed for the fence. True to his orders, he didn’t even look around for allies or foes. He leaped up and into the field as he’d done on the way in and hit the ground running. He was in the woods in no time. No one was waiting for him. He put his hands on his head, more nervous than out of breath, and turned back to the facility. No one was following him, but stranger yet, the whole scene was deathly quiet.

  Crack!

  A twig had snapped a little deeper in the woods, and he turned his head around immediately. Shock came over him when he saw who was standing before him.

  “You?!” He shook his head. “What the hell?”

  Chapter 15:

  Through the Looking Glass

  “What the hell?” I whispered through my teeth to Tony as I took my seat at the pub table. “Where have you been?”

  He seemed unfazed by my tone, and I was instantly aware that he was wearing denim slacks and a casual light gray shirt. It was strange to me since he’d usually dressed much more professionally. He smiled widely, and without a word, nonchalantly pointed to my pocket. He mimed using a phone.

  It was obvious what he wanted from me, so I pulled out my netphone. He motioned for me to give it to him. While a bit uneasy, I obliged. Simultaneously, he extended his other hand to me with an identical phone. I didn’t hesitate to complete the swap, but I was befuddled. I put my thumb on the ID reader of the new phone, and it immediately flashed up my holo-menu. Sure enough, all my files, contacts, and communications were there, even the call I had taken from Tony the hour prior.

  “How in the…”

  By the time I looked back at Tony, he’d pulled out a small device and placed it on the phone I had given him.

  Zip!

  “This one’s wiped and disabled.” He put it in his pocket.

  I shook my head. “Wait. What?!”

  Tony calmly placed his finger to his lips to shush me, and in my stupor, it worked. He quietly explained. “When you got arrested, the cops duplicated your phone, and kept the real one. It means they will receive any incoming messages since both phones technically share the same net address. The new one I’ve given you is another dupe, but it’s secured. Outgoing communications can’t be traced, and this phone cannot be duped again.”

  My patience for his covert antics was already wearing thin. “I don’t hear from you in months. Now, you appear out of nowhere and know more about my life than I do. What the hell is going on?”

  He took a slow, deep breath. “Much has happened since we last spoke in the gardens. The things I’ve seen, the people I’ve met…the attempt on my life…” He shook his head and quietly snickered. “The clues I had found back then…they were just the tip of the iceberg.”

  His lack of substantive responses continued to annoy me. “Cut to the chase, dammit.”

  He nodded and leaned in. “I believe you’re special, Ryan. You and Charlie began making the shift faster than any other migrator and host—mind-pairs as we call them—on record. You showed signs of cognitive recognition that, without artificial suggestion, isn’t normally exhibited for three to four months after the procedure. Your eye is already white. It’s all signs that you’re different. The people I’ve been working with are a little skeptical, but they will also have some big plans for you if we can confirm everything I’ve told them.”

  My head began to spin with all the questions I had. “Special? Making the shift? Mind-pairs? You’re still not making any sense. And I hate to break it to you, but Charlie’s been gone for months. So, the main things that matter to me now are finding out how I ended up in his body, and what it means for my future. He had some kind of condition, and it scares the hell out of me.”

  Tony seemed unfazed. “You’ll learn all of that and more. I know it’s difficult to imagine, given all the rabbit holes you’ve gone down. Even though it was shoved in my face over and over, it still took weeks for me to grasp the truth.” He nodded. “It’s probably better that I show you rather th
an tell you. This location has been compromised anyway. Let’s go.”

  Compromised?! My eyes shot around the pub, but nothing had changed since I’d arrived. There was still a drunk passed out at the end of the bar, and two people were still making out in a booth across the seating area.

  Tony got up and waved me to follow him.

  Desperate to know more about my migration, I stood up. “Where are we going?”

  He looked me in the eye sincerely. “I’m going to take you to your people, Ryan.”

  Great! More cryptic responses. I didn’t know what I expected meeting up with him, but it was getting ridiculous.

  He began walking casually toward the back exit, and as I followed, I noticed he’d given up his designer shoes for durable hiking boots. We left the building and went a couple of blocks without talking.

  When we were clear of people, I asked another question that was plaguing me, hoping for a legitimate answer. “Should I be worried about Junior?”

  Tony sighed. “He’s got a good heart, so I doubt he’ll ever harm you. But he also won’t do you any good moving forward. He’ll never be able to escape his past.”

  Good enough, I suppose.

  We turned down an alleyway and came to the rear parking lot of an office building. He pointed to a navy-blue auto-car, and we both got into the back seat. The car headed to a pre-programmed location across the city.

  A few moments into the ride, Tony attempted small talk. “How’s Helen?”

  “Don’t you already know?”

  He laughed. “I suppose I deserve that. Full disclosure, she passed the background check I ran on her, so honestly, all I know is you two are a thing. Her migration turned out well?”

  I replied without flinching. “Yes. She’s doing great.”

  “That’s good.” His expression seemed genuine.