“Welcome to S.P.A.C.E,” Taylor said and spelled out S-P-A-C-E.
“Neat, what does it stand for?” he asked.
“Nothing. They just like the acronym,” she grinned.
“What is this - Oh my god!” Q gasped.
A tall man walked up to them, smiling widely at them. He had long white hair, and regular black eyes. His face was quite triangular and pointy, like he was an elf character from a video game. Q gaped, mouth hanging open.
“Well, hello to you too,” the man smiled and turned to Carlos. “We’ve prepared a facility for the girl. The faster we begin the better.”
“Very well,” Carlos said. “We’ll be there in a bit.”
“I will go get everything ready,” and with that the man ran off.
“What just happened?” Q rubbed his eyes, not knowing whether to believe what he’d just seen or not. Maybe that guy liked dressing up as characters from Lord of the Rings? There was always the default conclusion, which was that he’d gone insane, but that was pretty impractical.
“You’re going to be confused a lot from now on,” Carlos sighed, as though he were already depressed about the hundreds of questions Q was going to ask him.
He led them along the pathway that wove between the silver skyscrapers. Beyond the buildings was a flat land with a tower taller than the rest. This one a much darker shade of grey, which contrasted well against the silver city. They walked towards the large glass door that split open for them automatically. Q noticed that there were a few words engraved into the space just above the opening.
“Do your words. Speak your actions,” he read quietly.
“That’s their motto,” Carlos said. “It means, don’t promise things you can’t do and don’t do things without thinking about them first.”
“Interesting saying,” Q acknowledged with a slight nod.
They walked into the building. The place was empty, except for the lone receptionist who sat at one of the desks.
“I’ll have to leave you two here for a while,” Carlos told them. “Take care of Taylor, Q. And both of you...Um... try not to destroy anything, will you?”
“Don’t you mean ‘touch’?” Taylor asked him.
“Destroy,” Carlos asserted. “Not touching would be good too,” he smiled and left.
“How could we destroy anything?” she asked but Carlos was already out of earshot.
“Cool Place,” Q said turning towards her. “So how come you didn’t tell me about it?”
“Stop getting chummy with me,” she said. “It’s really creeping me out.”
Oh yeah, he thought. She wouldn’t answer him even if she wanted to, because in her mind he was a stranger. What followed was an awkward period of silence that was broken by Carlos when he returned.
“I’m done with the procedures,” he said. “Now all we have to do is get to our assigned room.”
Q still couldn't get over the fact that his previously good-for-nothing brother was actually doing some proper work.
“So let’s get on with the tour,” Carlos said. “Now this is the…”
Q stopped listening. He was still processing what had happened today. There were so many questions in his mind. He felt like he’d explode if he didn't get them answered right now. He was excited. Everything was super interesting to him, from the buildings to the floor structure. Literally everything.
The masked man slipped into his thoughts once in a while too. But Carlos had told him he was just a hallucination, so he wasn’t really worried.
He had plenty of things to do and it sure was going to be a long, long day.
***
“Aliens are a myth.”
That was the first thing Carlos told Q once they’d reached Taylor’s assigned room.
“So Earth is the only planet that sustains life?”
“Not exactly.”
Q blinked a few times. That didn't make any sense at all. Taylor rolled her eyes as though she couldn’t believe he was that stupid. They helped her lay down on an inclined table in the middle of the room, and then went and sat in chairs that were attached to the wall.
“Remember early man? He didn’t just appear on earth. He arrived. The meteor that took out the dinosaurs? That was his spaceship. He was a member of a large intergalactic species and his counterparts started civilizations all over the universe.
“So, all around the universe, there are just plain old humans?”
“You’re half right. Yes, Zyxians are the only race that exist in this universe but no, they are not all the same. The different groups of Zyxians adapted to their planets by mutating their genetic code. Each planet has its own species name, just as we earthlings are called ‘humans’, but as a universal species, Zyxians, wherever they are in the universe, are simply called Zyxians.”
“So how about the animals and plants on Earth? How did they come into existence?” Q asked.
“Each planet has its own native wildlife, but so far no intelligent forms of life other than Zyxians have been discovered.”
“Last question. What is this place?”
“This? It’s a healing center of sorts.”
“An intergalactic hospital?”
“I guess you could say that.”
“Hey,” Taylor snapped at them. “Do you think you two could take a break and help me put this thing on?” she held up this device one of the staff members had given her - a metal headband with a single ruby-like jewel in the center.
“She’s getting scarier by the minute,” Q said.
“We’ll get her back soon. Don't worry.”
“You know, I’m right here in front of you.”
Carlos sighed, “Calm down Taylor. Don’t make things harder for us.”
“I don't really get why I have to have this treatment thing done anyway.”
He put the band on her head, snapping it into place, “Once you’re done you’ll be really thankful, trust me.”
The white haired man from earlier walked into the room, a large smile on his face. His hair was not the old kind of white hair. It was more of an ‘I am a young magical elf from lord of the rings’ kind of white hair, and well, he did look really magical and wise.
“Ah, I see you’re ready,” he walked over to Taylor. “Shall we get started then?”
“What exactly are you going to be doing to me?” she asked.
The man turned to Carlos, “Have you not told her?”
“Do you really think that’d be a good idea?”
“I beg your pardon. I did not understand it was that bad a situation. Personality disorder?”
Carlos nodded.
“Looks like I have my work cut out for me,” he chuckled.
A small holographic screen opened up in front of him and he typed a few symbols into it.
“My, my,” he exclaimed. “This is worse than I thought.”
“See? I told you,” Carlos sighed.
“Can you guys please explain what’s going on here?” Q asked.
“Not now, my boy,” the white haired guy said. “We’ll have all the time in the world when she goes under.”
“Under?”
“Just wait and watch.”
The man swiped his hand in the air and the holographic screen faded away. He placed his hand on the headband that Taylor wore and closed his eyes.
His hand started to glow with white light, sending a warm heat against Q’s face. The small jewel on the headband started to glow brightly and Taylor slumped, her hand dangling lifelessly along the side of the table.
“That was fairly easy,” the man said to himself as he moved Taylor’s arms to her side.
The hologram appeared once more, and this time all he did was press a holographic button.
A section on the ceiling right above the table slid open, and thin metal tentacles wriggled down.
For a second Q was reminded of the ones that he’d faced, and his body tensed up immediately. His mind was still a bit jumpy from the whole ‘the Phal
atopian wipes your memory’ incident.
The metal structures latched on to Taylor’s legs, arms, and head.
“Initiate module,” the white haired man said and walked over to them. “Now let’s listen to your questions shall we?”
“You might not want to be that willing next time,” Carlos chuckled.
“Now, now, we should indulge in his curiosity,” he turned to Q. “Tell me, what do you want to know first?”
“What’s wrong with Taylor? What’s this personality thing that you’re all talking about?”
“Those are big questions,” he said. “I shall answer them nonetheless. Your friend here was attacked by a Phalatopian, and those creatures are known for the mist they create. The mist can scramble your brain, resulting in losses in memory of certain times. Usually you lose memories of very short periods of time, perhaps a day’s worth at most, but this girl seems to have lost her entire memory of you alone. Even if she came in direct contact with the creature her case shouldn’t have become this bad. It is most intriguing.”
“But that still doesn't explain why she’s acting weird.”
“It’s all linked, my boy. She has not only lost memories of you but a few of the memories you share. Those just happen to be memories that shaped her personality. She does not realize it but she’s forgotten how she used to act. Thus the sudden change in personality.”
“But I was exposed to the same mist too.”
“I do not know the entire mechanics of the mist’s workings, but I believe you both experienced very different things that day. You were affected during the first attack but not the second, which I find very strange. There is this masked man that Carlos told me about. I believe it to be quite a vivid hallucination.”
“I’m fine though,” he said.
“I believe you are. But the girl on the other hand…”
Q looked at Taylor, whose body lay lifeless on the table, “What’s happening to her right now?”
“Think of a heart attack. Your heart stops does it not? How do you get it to start? You electrocute it to give it a jumpstart and then it remembers that it has to keep pumping. The same principle applies here. We force her to access parts of memory, and then everything comes rushing in. But it’s like an avalanche. She’ll have to bear the pain for a bit if she wants to return to normal.”
Taylor looked calm right now. Q didn't want to imagine what she’d be like when all her memories started to return. All he thought about was how she’d go back to normal once that happened, and that’s all that mattered to him. It was okay to be selfish at times like this.
“So all we do now is wait?”
Carlos nodded.
Q sat there quietly, watching the stagnant scenery around him.
And then everything changed.
***
2-1
Taylor really hated surprises.
So she didn't appreciate it when the white haired guy put her to sleep. The least he could have done was warn her before doing something that crazy.
She remembered the headband she’d put on, but everything between that and now was a complete blank, if there was anything to fill it with that is.
She figured it was quite lucky that she had the self-awareness to realize that she was in some sort of simulation. She’d hate to go through the whole thing ‘thinking it was reality’ and then realize that it was just some scene that had been projected into her mind.
But it felt uncomfortable to know that everything around her was fake. Was she really supposed to feel like this in the first place? Maybe there was some sort of glitch with the tech that the white haired guy was using. She sure hoped not. Who knew what sort of disastrous effects something like that would have on her mind?
She looked around, scanning the area. The first thing she noticed was that the scenery was a familiar one. A little too familiar to her liking. She was back in the forest from before and the Phalatopian floated in the air in front of her.
She clenched her jaw, not knowing whether to be happy or not. She’d been pretty frustrated within the last few hours and now she finally had a punching bag to play around with.
She closed her eyes and focused, feeling her body radiate with energy. Her legs picked up the pace and she rammed into the creature, her arms poised for a powerful punch.
But that plan didn't work out at all. She passed right through the Phalatopian as though it were an illusion.
What the hell? she thought. That wasn't supposed to happen.
The scene before her changed as soon as she passed through the illusion, shifting from a forest image to an urban one. She saw vibrant white houses lined up on either side of the paved street, each one with a green lawn and mailbox out front.
One of the doors opened, and a little girl ran out. Taylor took a proper glimpse at the girl when she turned back, and freaked the hell out. Where her face should have been was a smooth patch of skin, and she had absolutely no hair at all. The girl had the shape of a human, and that was where the similarities ended. Other than a small pink frock nothing else accounted for who, or rather what, she was.
The girl ran up to the house right across the street and went in.
Taylor hesitated a bit before heading into the house. It wasn’t every day you met a faceless girl and decided to follow her.
Contrary to the girl, the house seemed pretty normal. The walls seemed freshly painted which contrasted with the dull carpeting on the floor.
She heard banging coming from above her and rushed up the staircase at the end of corridor.
There were two doors right next to each other, and the small girl stood in front of the one closest to staircase. She kept knocking on the door, in a sort of ‘I will kill you if you don’t come out’ style, and not for a second did she notice that someone was watching her.
Taylor figured the simulation wasn’t going to let her interact with this scene in front of her. She didn’t know why that was happening, and this wasn’t the time to be searching for answers.
“What’s wrong?” the little girl yelled through the door, her knocking drowning her squeaky voice. Taylor was more focused on where the voice had come from than what was going on here. A faceless person talking was just outright creepy.
“Go away,” a squeakier voice yelled from inside. If it had been any squeakier Taylor would have sworn there was a talking mouse in there.
The girl paused with her knocking almost immediately and stared at the door. Her head went in a little closer and she mumbled something.
The door almost immediately creaked open, and a small head popped out of the narrow gap.
“But all the boys bully me.”
“I’ll get them to shut up,” the girl said, her voice sounding almost happy at the thought.
Despite her declaration, the door slammed shut again.
“I said I’d protect you didn’t I?” she yelled through, “Open up!”
“I don’t want you to protect me!” he said with an equally loud voice.
“Well fine, stay in there like an idiot!” the girl punched the door with her hands, and then winced in pain. She shook her hand, rushing down the staircase, probably back to her house.
Taylor wasted no more time and walked through the door, which was apparently an easy thing to do when you were a ghost in a simulation.
The room was almost dark, the ‘almost’ accounted for by a small ray of light that escaped through the gap in the curtains. The boy lay on the bed with his head in his pillow and for some reason Taylor knew he wasn’t crying.
The boy lay silent, not moving an inch. She had an urge to try to get him to roll over, but she figured seeing two faceless, emotionless kids wouldn’t help her mental state.
She scanned the room, noticing what seemed to be familiar furniture. She could swear she’d once before seen the dark wood cupboard in the corner. Both the familiarity and alienation of the room made her fidget about, until she couldn’t take it anymore and headed back downstairs.
&
nbsp; The place was still empty as before, the only difference being now it was short of a noisy little girl.
She walked out of the house and looked around. Everything seemed normal but strange. There seemed to be a silence around her that really shouldn’t have existed.
The house opposite her was the only one that had any trace of noisy life emanating from it, and she figured it was because that little girl lived there. The simulation was really making her feel disoriented.
Going into that place might not be the best thing she could do, but if the alternative were to stand in this creepy silence then she’d rather head inside the girl’s house. She passed through the door without a hint of sensation. Being a ghost seemed really helpful. The hall opened up beyond the doorway.
A lady in her forties sat on a red couch with a tiny girl by her side. She was faceless as well, which at this point put Taylor in a bit of a frenzy. Taylor instinctively touched her face, panicking more when she felt the smooth, even skin under her fingers.
SHE HAD NO FACE.
Her heart beat faster, thumping like a rock band minus the distortion effect.
What in the world is going on here? she thought. “Okay,” she muttered. “Just calm down. You’re fine. This is just a simulation.”
“Stay still!” the lady grabbed the little girl’s arm in a vice grip, and dabbed her bruised knuckles with some antiseptic. “How does a ten year old even get bruises like this?”
“I fell down in the lawn, Mom,” the girl said, trying not to squirm around while the lady looked after her bruises.
Her mother pulled out a small, thin, splinter of wood from between her fingers and held it up to the light. “Never seen this sort of stuff in the grass before.”
“The wood fairy must have put it there.”
“Next time you see a wood fairy tell her that we need some wood to fix the kitchen cabinets.”
The little girl nodded happily.
Taylor couldn’t help but notice a sort of deja vu feeling going through her. It was almost as though she’d experienced a similar scene a long time ago.
The Quest Saga Collection: Books 1 - 5 Page 6
