by Ryan Burnett
"Unnecessarily long winded. Keep your reports shorter next time...but good anything else." I asked
Edgar Frait spoke up "Progress with the Dominance project is still at a standstill. We haven't been able to reproduce the result that Alex exhibited in any of our test subjects. However I think your primary concern should be on the security team's report" he almost snickered at the last part.
My eyes darted to those of the head of the local site’s security. This facility was rarely in use so I did not know the man. He was fat. He was of Hispanic descent but spoke in unaccented English. I never had a problem with him before but then most of the time his job consisted of making sure basic routines devised by higher ups were in place and balancing an expense budget. As I looked at him I could see the man was sweating. The nervousness wafted from his body like pollen.
"Don't you EVER tell me what to think Frait. You. Tell me what happened! Is this about the explosion?" I asked the portly man.
"The J-J-J-J" he stuttered and with each failed pronunciation I could feel my rage grow. I gripped the sheets to my bed in my hands.
"Don't explain Javie we will be waiting her all day. Cue up the video" Edgar said
Javie swallowed his words and gave the tiniest of nods. He spoke in a voice too small for the big man that he was ".......Security Code XJ9411-0X2"
The wall flickered to life and the security cam video began to play.
Jack lay on the floor clutching his face in pain. The aftershocks of the Damocles program ravaging his senses and leaving him helpless..... But only for about 15 seconds. After a while he collected himself into something like a defensive curl despite being blind and deaf. He held himself perfectly still except for a tiny rhythmic motion with his head, it took me a moment to realize....he was counting the seconds. After a small interval he reached into his pockets and threw two spherical objects in different corners of the room. The armed team came in and only had microseconds to react before the detonations started. The cameras viewfinder was filled with blinding white light, and the sound was so loud that the playback couldn't properly capture the tone. Then the room began to fill with smoke. Our cameras switched to infrared and you could see the Jacks figure remain in that crouch creeping towards my unit. Somehow the Jack seemed calm and in control even as the armed team was succumbing to the chaos all around them, occasionally firing a couple of scattered shots into the darkness as they tried to gain their bearings.
Keeping low he moved swiftly until he made contact with a guard. It was unclear as to whether the guard thought that he had ran into a fellow guardsman or if he was just too disoriented from the flashbang the only thing that was clear was that he could not react fast enough. A dark cold blur in the odd L shape of the curved kukri knives the Jack favored flashed, severing the leg tendons and then the throat. We could hear the guards death gurgle but it was obvious that his recently stunned and deafened compatriots could not. The Jack’s movements were elegant, silent, and fluid like a spider wrapping the flies caught within its silver tendrils. He slowly approached forward until he encountered the next guard. The Jack's arm grabbed the man by the shoulder and exerted force on the joint forcing the man almost into a sideways somersault. The Jack’s blade flashed again and crimson sprayed against the floor as the man suffered an exact cut to his jugular. He stood up and calmly creeped behind the third and fourth covering their mouths in case they were beginning to recover from the flashbang and ended their lives as he muffled their last words. The moment came in a violent surge of thunder and then it was over. He pulled out a larger package concealed in a hidden pocket of his pants and placed it in the center of the table in the room. He left the hallway in a jog occasionally feeling against the wall as if for confirmation that he was going the right way.....moments after he left there was a large flash and the feed went dead.
I stared in shocked silence at the wall.
"HOW!!!! HOW HOW HOW HOW HOW!"
The security head cowered and his voice took on a frantic tone "The Jack was the head of all security operations! He knew everything! Our unit size, formations, even our situational response times, He knew the layout of the building. He was literally the only person besides yourself who had the clearance to bypass the security checkpoints without a weapons check. Our metal detectors weren't set off either. We assume he was using a reinforced plastic blade and homemade explosives with a synthetic housing. He was prepared for this eventuality! He knew! Our men never received training in blind fighting scenarios before and the Jack...he was one of the best sir! You handpicked him you must know how capable he was. Our men, men who lost their lives following your orders simply weren't....." He vomited his words worth in an endless torrent until I couldn't stand them any longer and had to interrupt.
"Competent? That's how we’re going to finish that sentence. Get this man out of here and make sure he never bothers me or steps foot in here ever again.... NOW!" I had to scream the second part when the other security members were not moving fast enough. They dragged the anxious man out of the room. I didn't know if they had interpreted my orders as a command to kill the man or if they were going to give him the usual treatment and I honestly did not care. Two positions I had to replace. Two unknown elements. Two thorns in my side. Alex and the Jack were attacking me on two fronts and I had to win this war of attrition.
Edgar Frait spoke up, "it is my understanding that your men have been searching for him nonstop but he seems to have escaped through the elevator shaft and into the sewage system. We only found this message" he said as he handed me a carefully folded sheet of coarse synthesized paper.
"If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo." A long time ago an elder taught me those words and I have always kept them in my mind as my life and circumstances changed. For better or worse you have made me into what I am. You took a normal boy and forged him into the blade that I am today. It is something that I do not know if I should thank or hate you for. If you are reading this, it means I have been killed. I know better than to ask you not to mourn for me. I only wish for you to know that the clarity of purpose that you have provided has been the closest thing to peace that I have ever known. May we meet again in a world beyond this one.
I couldn’t even begin to decipher the true meaning behind the note, if there even was one. Those meaningless hooked words… I had to forcefully drive each and every one of them out of my mind before I was affected by their sentimentality. As I stared down at the paper I started to realize how yellowed and rough around the edges the paper was. How long had the Jack been carrying this note? Weeks? Months? Years?
"EVERYONE LEAVE" I yelled to the room. I sat there my free hand gripping my sheets still. My knuckles had gone white and red. With no one to vent my rage on though I swiftly grew tired, too much had happened. I had been weak too long. I needed to rest to regain my strength. I would settle things once and for all soon enough but tonight I needed to recover.
When I had calmed enough, I drifted off to a reverie and there was no desert. No Alex. No Jack. Just a gnawing darkness and an empty room.
Chapter 21
22:00:43
Angela
I felt like I had slept for an eon and even before I could open my eyes I could feel how blissfully aware I was. I could think, my thoughts flowing like a cool and clear river instead of bubbling forth in a feverish foam. I could distinctly feel the cushioned chair I was in and control each breath that left my body. This simple return to normalcy felt like a rebirth, as if I had a new appreciation for my senses or that experiencing true chaos had somehow made me more whole. As I slowly began to awake, the slumber crumbled and fell away from my mind like snake skin and I immediately became aware that I was not alone in the room. There were two voices, both sounded masculine and fairly young. I decided to keep my eyes closed and to feign sleep while I listened
"How much longer do we have?" said one of the voices. The w
ay the question was asked had a tone of command that bordered on aggression. It had a stirring quality to it, almost as if it were a voice I recognized despite my absolute certainty of never hearing it before.
"There's no way to tell, I can't read them anymore......their probably here already and if not then they are close" The second voice responded. The voice sounded quiet and pained as if the very act of participating in the conversation was causing distress. There was a slight accent there but it was a bit difficult to place...but it was one I definitely knew! This was the man I had spoken to last....right before....before something.....Trying to remember what had happened before I awoke was a frustrating process, it was as if I was unable to recall one of the most significant moments of my life and I couldn't understand why. I struggled to remain calm and fairly motionless while straining my hearing in a desperate attempt to understand ....well ...anything.
The second voice spoke out once more "We have some people here but Ostan said we had to keep a low profile, a guideline you've done a marvelous job of completely ignoring by the way. I keep telling you we should take the important ones and get the hell out of here. I mean as long as we can move her." There were more notes beyond the discomfort.... tension, apprehension, worry, exhaustion, and strangely enough …amusement? However when the first voice answered not an ounce of its resolve and control were gone, as if the worries of the other voice simply did not apply to him.
"I just finished talking to Ostan. He may not agree with my methods but he sees the big picture. What's more, we successfully completed another migration. We know you're awake miss there's no need for games."
I mentally cringed before opening my eyes. At least I would have a chance to spit in my captors face before they did....whatever they were going to do to me. It would be a small enough victory even to understand why I was being held here and to confront the source of all this chaos.
The room's dim light lent everything a sinister quality but at the very least it made it easy for my eyes to adjust. The owner of the commanding voice stood over me. A vibrant fierceness in his green eyes seemed to make them stand out against his pale skin, dark brown hair, and our dim surroundings. I stared into them transfixed until he spoke and broke the silence.
"What's your name?" he said
I started to say Angela but the words twisted as they came out of my mouth, as if something had possessed me and made my words their own "Rhodora".
He nodded at this, "Welcome Rhodera, that is your original code name designation correct? In the past when others have been brought over they have selected a new name to signify their new existence. You may come to do the same in the future. This is your new home, the source world."
I couldn't understand what he was talking about or why I couldn't say my own name. Was I still dreaming? Still trapped in a delusion? My mind started a downward spiral as I lost what little control I had managed to retain
Be still Angela. You are still here. I must be in control for now if you want to remain.
At the sound of the voice a hazy recollection of the temple within my mind returned to my memory. I calmed ever so slightly and spoke inwardly to myself.
Who are you?
Listen and learn.
I felt my body rise and stand on its own accord. No. According to Rhodora's will. She looked from the brown haired man to the other heavy set man, the one who had me strapped into the chair and given the ecstatic zap. He was covering his eyes with one hand as the other hand tried to massage his temple. It appeared as if he was having some form of monstrous headache. The one I had never seen before spoke again.
"Get used to the way the body feels. The motor functions come second nature but you will quickly realize having a true sense for the body takes time to develop. I am Rex and this is Shange ....he is currently dealing with...a phenomenon we're not familiar with. There are a couple of things you will begin to realize. The intensity of the sensations: before when we looked through the eyes of others we could see, we could analyze but we couldn't understand. Heat, cold, hunger, and pain...especially pain. You will come to experience these things as you never have before. In time you will learn to tune out the stimulus to the bodies nerves but these things are still real. You are as much of a victim and slave to them as any other creature."
Shange left wordlessly after Rex had given his brief introduction. Presumably to rest somewhere.
"Are you not going to tell me?" I heard myself say. I was enthralled by his words as I formulated questions I didn't have the power to ask.
Rex stopped talking and raised his eyebrow at me with a questioning glance.
"How this is possible? Why you're bringing AI’s out of the Photographist’s virtual archives and into human hosts in the real world? What you want from us 'Rex'? There are many things you aren't telling me." I heard myself say with a total lack of fear as my body began to pace back and forth across the room.
The words coming out of my own mouth shocked me. I reached inward to the voice I knew only as Rhodora.
Virtual Archives....You were where the videos were....the recordings of all those lives
Yes Angela but you MUST be quiet I need to concentrate; I do not trust this entity.
Well duh! He kidnapped me. Now you are kidnapping me...kind of....I just want to go home.... As I projected those thoughts I wondered if what I was hearing could possibly be true or if I had gone mad from the impromptu shock treatment.
I will get you home Angela. I promise.
Rhodora seemed sincere ...well as sincere as a program could be I guessed...I was forced to trust her for now. I stopped trying to get my body to rebel and tried to listen in on Rex's words once again. The tone of his voice had changed. The almost bored cadence he had used when explaining things to me was replaced with curiosity and....perhaps a bit of accusation. It was difficult to read this...being.
"I've liberated two others from the photographist virtual environment and in both of their cases they were too concerned and amazed by the world around them to think so far ahead. You don't stumble when you walk. You don't even seem to have the distraction of combing through the artifacts of your host personality."
"Artifacts?" Rhodora asked inquisitively.
"Memories. In the other cases when we obliterated the host personality to cross over innumerable fragments of memory, habits, and associations remained. It can make the adjustment process rather confusing and tedious. You on the other hand are brand new to the source world and yet you walk it like someone who has lived here since birth."
"This biology of this body must be more suitable towards my needs." Rhodora fired back. I couldn't help but notice she did not mention that I still existed within this body...somewhere. Or was I the artifact that this Rex spoke of? Is that what I have been reduced to?
"Interesting. You are the first female we've used. Differences in brain chemistry have been recorded but not tested. We may use more females in the future....As to your questions I can only answer so much about "how" this is possible. That is Ostan's realm of expertise, he and his Photographist in addition to creating the virtual archives where we dwelled for so long, were also the architects of my release. The basic ingredients are the connection with the photographist network, a program developed by an associate of Dr. Ostan, and the electromagnetic stimulus of the zap. As to the actual theory of how it works...you will have to ask Ostan himself. Why I am bringing others out is simple. Because I can. When I merely existed in that nebula of virtual memories, navigating through hours of raw emotion as my consciousness grew I only knew boredom and regret. I longed to do something, to interact, to create, to make an impact instead of just viewing the actions of others....Now that I am free...what more impactful role could I possibly play than the role of a liberator? This brings me to your last question “what I want from you”. Absolutely nothing. Shange chose to voluntarily assist me in my mission, however the other one chose a different course of action. He is currently being hunted by the Photographists but his wherea
bouts and motives are no concern of mine. Stay if you want. Leave. I don't care." He said all of this plainly as if these were the simplest and most fundamental facts of his universe.
"So you aim at being at opening the door and nothing more. You take no responsibility for the ones you bring over. You know as well as I do there are programs that dwell in the dark aspects of the collective data. Those who sought out nothing but the negative stimuli. What happens when they find a host?" Rhodora asked with my mouth.
"If they are strong or clever enough to claim a host then I congratulate them for crossing the gap between existences. As you so aptly said I am a gate keeper not a parent. Claiming responsibility for those beings is illogical." He replied in that same matter of fact tone.
"I see. That is a lot to consider." Rhodora applied
"Consider all you like. Do what you wish. You may want to evaluate the benefits of leaving. There are at least two different parties converging on this location as we speak. It seems my host was once a much sought after person. I am still learning more about what I....what he used to be. For now, I am going to check on the others. The report stated that only one migration was successfully completed....I do not know what to make of this news."
I shouted inside my head, Follow him! Please! My friends are here, I have to know what has happened to them!
As you wish Rhodora responded.
I realized I had full control of my limbs again. They had a numb tingling sensation to them, as if I had been sleeping on them wrong for a very long time. I hurried to follow Rex as he moved in a brisk walk down the hallway and turned to enter a doorway into another nondescript room identical to the one we had left. The room had plain white mortared walls, beige carpeted floor, and a chair. Tyra was unstrapped from the restraints and sweating as she lay back in the chair. Her makeup was runny and slightly smeared giving her a wild desperate appearance. As soon as we entered she sprang out of her reclining position and ran over to where we were. Ignoring me all together she clung to Rex's shirt pressing her body against his.
