The Mind Hack

by Peter Summersby

  Tolbert stood quickly, dislodging the new creatures. The first one let go, landing gracefully amongst his hatch mates. Blood dripped down Tolbert’s arm, he ignored it. Shit that hurt. How is that possible?

  The raptors encircled him, eyeing him with revenge in their dark blue eyes. One of the raptors moved behind and ran at his ankles.

  Tolbert twisted and kicked it squarely in its diamond-shaped head. I might survive this.

  It flew across the road and thumped against a broken wall. Falling to the ground the raptor stood back up. It re-joined its hatch-mates in the circle around Tolbert. Two more jumped at Tolbert.

  He hit one with the rifle in his hand, but the other bit his leg. Tolbert screamed as the raptor’s teeth sank in. Another jumped onto him from behind unbalancing him. Tolbert crumpled to his knees before three more jumped upon him biting and tearing into his thick leather jacket.

  Tolbert’s scream elicited the attention of more raptors. Coming out of the darkness and stepping over their dead elder they joined the skirmish. Pain seared through his back, legs and arms as more continued to bite, eating him alive.

  Tolbert sat up with a start in a cold sweat, in his room with the lights off. Looking at the computer, he saw it sat off in the corner of the room, its standby light blinking. Tolbert lifted his left arms and inspected them in the light from the window. No marks just a dream. Phew. Tolbert glanced at the clock on the wall in the moonlight; it read half past twelve. Breathing a sigh of relief, and a little confused–he didn’t remember going to bed–he lay back down and was soon asleep.

  Walking down the eerily quiet street, Striker heard a faint chirping sound. Curious, he wandered over to investigate. The sound of his foot falls echoed in his ears.

  A gunshot rang out from the other side of a rubble heap.

  Striker clambered over the heap to find a bipedal reptile, dead with its head blown off, blue blood pooling around it from its decapitated head. His friend, the cowboy, was surrounded by smaller raptors. One jumped at the cowboy and was hit with the stock of the man’s rifle. Another came from behind and bit his leg.

  Striker watched. Is this real? His eyes widened in shock as the smaller raptors brought the cowboy to his knees and begin eating him alive.

  Emitting an anguished cry, Striker drew his sword and charged at the group of raptors feasting on the cowboy’s carcass. Running into the group, he slashed one, cleaving it from tail to head. It fell, hitting the ground with a thud that brought a satisfied smile to Strikers face.

  The others turned on Striker, encircling him.

  Striker moved into a ready position and as the first raptor attacked, he sliced at it; spinning, he sliced at another as it came at him. Shifting his weight, he elbowed the raptor in its face, sending it flying. Striker stopped and took stock of the remaining five raptors.

  They watched him, waiting for him to make a mistake. There was a momentary lull as both combatants watched each other.

  A bead of sweat trickled down Striker’s face. He wiped it away absently with one hand.

  Taking advantage of his distraction, two raptors charged Striker from opposite sides.

  Striker picked another direction and charged a raptor, he swung and decapitated his target.

  The raptors stopped. One raptor chirped and a repeated chirp came from the other raptors, as if a message were being passed and a plan of action decided upon.

  The raptors backed away and reformed the circle.

  Striker noticed an opening and ran for the gap.

  The raptors all charged him at once.

  Clambering up to the top of a rubble mound, Striker took a stance there. With the advantage of height Striker easily dispatched them, with quick deft strikes decapitating them all.

  Covered in sweat from his exertions, Striker walked down to where the chewed remains of Tolbert lay in a pool of his own blood. Striker put down his sword and rolled Tolbert over. Letting up a soulful wail, he mourned his friend. His legs became sticky from the pooling blood. Who is this guy? I must find out if he is okay.

  A woman in white watched from across the road, a small smile on her ruby red lips. She turned and melted into the darkness.

  Data coming in from test subject alpha.

  As expected test subject alpha fails to extract itself from the scenario, and fell into the trap set up for the subject. Alpha was able to deal with one of the raptors and acquired some points but the fact that the rest of the herd was able to kill alpha in less time than expected was a surprise. The intervention of beta, to kill the remainder of the herd, was surprising.

  Boosting of the range of the project is unfeasible at this time due to the power requirements of the projectors. Alternative methods to bring test subject into the range of the test will be needed. Scanning data on the subject. The subjects profile of gaming history and his searching history indicates that he compulsively tries to solve problems. Question: how to motivate the detective?

  Possible solution: if the detective saw something unusual … something fleeting.

  Secondary question: how to do it so that he would notice without making it seem too much of a setup?

  In the background a gentle whine started up and then dropped to silence.

  Chapter 3

  Work was slow and boring as Tolbert made the rounds through the rooms with little effort and finished on time. A low snarl rumbled behind Tolbert as he exited the building. Turning, he spied a yellow, knee high-tail disappearing into the shrubbery.

  Tolbert strolled over and checked behind the bushes. Parting the ferns, he came face to face with a bipedal reptile with mottled yellow and brown skin.

  Frozen in place, Tolbert and the raptor stared at each other. Tolbert opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out. The raptor opened its mouth and showing Tolbert several rows of razor sharp teeth, it emitted a small warble and then tilted its head, looking at him.

  “Crap, crap, crap,” Tolbert cursed under his breath, backing away from the raptor. Keeping his eyes glued to the raptor, he watched as the raptor took a step forward. A warm liquid seeped down Tolbert’s leg on the inside of his uniformed trouser. What the hell was that? It looked like a dinosaur, but they’re extinct, where did it come from?

  A loud gunshot rang out.

  Tolbert dropped to the concrete grazing his chin.

  The creature’s head turned to the left. It warbled and then dashed off towards the sound of the gunshot.

  Tolbert let out the breath he had been holding. Looking down at his trousers he felt a wave of disgust wash over him. Pissing myself because I saw a dinosaur. What a baby! Without looking at anyone he called for a taxi. Better get home quickly in case someone sees me. He quickly ordered the driver to take him home so he could change his clothes. On the drive home, he mused to himself about the dinosaur. Dinosaurs are extinct, so it can’t be a real dinosaur, what could it be? Maybe it was a dream? Like the gunshot the other day.

  “Hey, man,” Tolbert called to the driver. “Have you heard many gunshots around here in the last couple of days?”

  “Not really, man,” responded the driver, looking at him through the mirror. “You okay? Your chin is bleeding.”

  Tolbert raised a hand to his chin and came away with blood that was drying quickly.

  “I must have knocked it on my way out.” I remember hitting the ground because of the gunfire, but no one else is hearing gun fire. The chin graze is real, but the gunshot that caused it isn’t…

  Tolbert leaned back into the seat of the cab and lapsed into silence for the rest of the journey. He looked out the window at the buildings as they went past.

  Arriving home instead of Dragon Hunt, Tolbert logged into Space Traders, a game where he pilots a small space ship to make money. One close encounter with a raptor was enough for one day. Something as far from raptors as possible is called for. I don’t want my dreams to be of raptors and trolls. It’s bad enough that I am seeing them at work.

  The game screen resolved and he to
ok command of his own personal spaceship, a small cargo vessel. While docking at the space station, the station computer greeted him. Trading the goods still in his cargo bay, he replaced them with goods that would fetch a good price a couple of systems over. Fully loaded, Tolbert undocked and began to fly towards his new destination, programming the navigation computer. The darkness of space slipped by as the computer took over.

  Getting up from the pilot’s chair, he headed out the back of the cockpit and down along the corridor to the galley. His stomach growled. Tolbert fixed himself some nutrient-rich food; it had everything he needed but lacked a pleasant taste.

  While he was still eating, the lights went red and the ship shook; the sound of an impact resonated through the ship.

  Leaving the food where it landed on the steel table, Tolbert raced back to the cockpit, arriving in time to see a large asteroid in the ships flight path. Taking the control yoke, Tolbert yanked it hard towards himself.

  The ship leaped to respond the engine whirling in a high-pitched scream, but it did so sluggishly.

  Pressed into the chair by g-forces Tolbert watched as the asteroid grew larger and nearer in the view screen. Keeping the control yoke in place, Tolbert forced the ship to lift itself away from the asteroid. Sweat trickled down his brow and stung the graze on his chin as the edge of the asteroid crested into view. He breathed a sigh of relief and eased back on the throttle. Tolbert brought the ship to a complete stop with the asteroid a mere inch beneath the ship. Proximity klaxons blared in his ears.

  “Computer,” Tolbert bellowed.

  “Yes.” it responded in a balanced contralto.

  “How did that rock get there?” Tolbert demanded, checking the navigation chart.

  “It would seem that the asteroid, TA1296, was moved.”

  “By whom?” Tolbert voice went up a pitch.

  “Sensors indicate that there are two pirate cruisers five kilometres to port,” the computer sang, changing the topic.

  Tolbert opened his mouth to respond, but a sharp repeated beeping stopped him, drowning out the proximity alarms. He turned to the control panel.

  “They have a target lock on us,” the computer giggled.

  “No, really,” Tolbert growled.

  Tolbert gunned the engine. The shrill beeping went up a pitch, a missile warning sound.

  “They have fired a missile. Impact in twenty seconds,” the computer laughed.

  The engines stalled, “What?” Tolbert cursed at the console in front of him. “Why aren’t we moving?”

  “The asteroid beneath us has a gravity field that would indicate a core of more than just iron,” the computer bubbled. “Fifteen seconds till impact.”

  “Fire counter measures,” Tolbert commanded sliding under the command console and pulling open a hatch.

  “Counter measures fired,” the computer sang out.

  Tolbert pulled out a bunch of messy cords, disconnecting them and then reconnecting them into a new configuration.

  “Ten seconds till impact.”

  Swearing under his breath, Tolbert climbed back into the chair and gunned the engines to maximum. The ship jerked as a grinding sound came from the rear of the ship.

  “Five seconds to impact.”

  “Drop the cargo,” Tolbert commanded.

  “Cargo dropped,” the computer replied.

  The sound of hissing ripped through back of the cockpit. The airlock door slammed shut, sealing Tolbert in. The missile hit the counter measures and exploded. The concussive force of the explosion catapulted the cockpit back away from the asteroid.

  Gunning the command modules engines again, Tolbert broke free of the asteroid’s gravity and raced at the cruisers. Leaping from the shadow of the asteroid, Tolbert fired his two lasers. In response, the cruisers fired off five more missiles each.

  Proximity warnings shrieked, increasing in intensity. Explosions ripped the little module into a fireball.

  Tolbert sat up in a cold sweat in his darkened room. He screamed. Looking around, he noticed that he was in his room in his apartment. Breathing deeply, he calmed himself down. “Just a bad dream.” Tolbert whispered to himself and went back to sleep.

  Striker stood in the destroyed ruins of New York and searched his friends list. No Tolbert. Where was he? Was he now truly dead? No he must just not have logged onto the game today.

  The next day on Tolbert’s way to work, the subway announcer cheerfully informed the subway users of the next coming train. Tolbert ground his teeth. Something about the announcer was just set him on edge. A minute later, the announcer informed of another train arriving in the same cheerful way. Grinding his teeth, Tolbert clenched and unclenched his hands, trying to sort out his frustration.

  On arriving at work, he sighed, a sour expression fixed on his face. Tolbert’s work radio emitted a high-pitched, repeated tone, then stopped as a someone radioed in instructions. With each radioed instruction, Tolbert jumped at the high-pitched, repeated tone.

  When Tolbert headed home, the subway announcer cheerfully informed the subway commuters of the next coming train. Tolbert ground his teeth again. This announcer just seemed to bug him. A minute later, the announcer informed of another train arriving, making Tolbert grinded his teeth some more as he clenched and unclenched his hands, again trying to sort out his frustration. What is going on?

  Once at home, Tolbert turned on his computer, sighing. Relieved to be home he felt frustrations leak from him.

  Settling into his new command chair, he moved into the shadow of an asteroid and spotted the remains of a cargo ship. The cargo ship sat in the blackness of space nestled next to a large asteroid. Drawing closer to the cargo ship, Tolbert noticed dark black scoring on it. One whole module was collapsed, sparks flew from an exposed wire. The module sits listlessly in the dark of space. Tolbert docked with the cargo bay, hearing the hiss of the airlock engaging.

  “There is breathable atmosphere on the inside,” chimed the on-board computer.

  “Ah, good,” Tolbert muttered.

  Rising up from his chair, he headed to the airlock. Grabbing a laser pistol from the shelf near to the door, he strapped it to his leg for easy reach. Opening the door Tolbert grabbed a breather and a flashlight.

  As he stepped onto the cargo ship, the overhead lights flickered while his torch sweeping over the dark corridors. Tolbert coughed hacking up his lungs; pain seared his chest from the stale air. Placing the breather to his face, he took a deep breath of fresh, recycled air. The breather sealed itself to his face, freeing up his hand.

  He moved slowly down the walkway; every second light coming on flickered before burning out with a small spark. Five metres down the walkway, Tolbert arrived at a door. When he pressed the release button, the door emitted a helpful tone. The door grinded open, stopping halfway.

  Beyond the door, a soft skittering sound pulled back from the light of Tolbert’s flashlight. His light played over the floor, revealing black and red streak. Tolbert twisted his body and stepped into the room.

  Inside, containers of various sizes were stacked against the walls and in neat rows. Letting out a low whistle, Tolbert read the markings on the cargo, which revealed that they are for assorted goods, all extremely valuable. Walking amongst the stacks, Tolbert read more labels, each crate another valuable good.

  A barely heard tapping sound echoed softly in the back of the cargo bay. As he went further into the cargo room, the tapping got louder. Tolbert swept his light to the left noting that the flashlight wasn’t strong enough to pierce the darkness. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead. A third sound came from behind him. Tolbert froze.

  The sounds came again, to the right; ‘Tap, Tap, Tap.’ A simple and short sound followed by an answer deeper into the cargo bay in front, ‘Tap, Tap, Tap.’ A sliding dragging sound came from another direction.

  Tolbert’s heart began to race.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ to the right.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ in front.

 
The drag sound from behind.

  Tolbert remained frozen in place as he listened to the sound coming from around the cargo bay.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ to the right.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ in front.

  The drag sound from behind and closer.

  Spinning around, Tolbert played the flash light around him trying to locate the source of the sound, his heart still racing.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ now to his left.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ from behind.

  The drag sound now in front was closer.

  Gabbing his laser pistol, Tolbert held it out in front of him, his hands shaking.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ to the left, faster.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ behind matching the tempo.

  The drag sound from in front closer.

  A shadow came from between the crates.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ to the left, faster.

  ‘Tap, tap, tap’ behind matching the tempo.

  The drag sound from in front closer.

  The shadow streamed from behind the crates, a swarm of black bugs. They swarmed out between and over the crates and along the floor.

  Firing his laser pistol, Tolbert hit one.

  The bugs moved over their dead consuming it as they kept coming.

  Tolbert fired into the swarm rapidly as it flowed closer. Each time he hit one, the swarm devoured it and continued unchecked. The beetles were innumerable. Tolbert turned and fired blindly and hopefully behind him into the swarm, running away.

  The swarm kept coming, increasing its speed.

  Dodging through the crates, he passed crates that were black and blue and then bright green followed by more blue and black crates again. The only source of light was the flashlight bouncing between the stacks as he ran. Tolbert didn’t see the slug until it was too late.

  The slug was six feet tall and its mouth was the whole front of its body. As it opened its jaws, Tolbert ran right into it, stopping just in front of the large teeth.