by Ian Williams
“If she is then the enemy will be the ones in trouble, not her.” From inside the Sentient World Graham had been unable to see the real threat to his own, only that Isaac had some kind of plan in progress. What he now saw passing far below him was that very plan in play. And it had gone beyond just an invasion force, it was now an occupation by an entire enemy army. “It’s Isaac’s army.”
“Keep your voice down,” Sean said with a paranoid look about him. “Stephen tried to tell them about Isaac, but they just think he’s crazy. Bringing it up in front of them will get us kicked out of here, and I don’t want to go anywhere until that shield is gone.”
“So they have no idea what they’re fighting against? Christ, I was right.”
“About what?”
“If they break through the force-field they’ll just kill every enemy they see. We can’t let them do that, Sean. The army in control down in the city is made up of Isaac’s soldiers. He’s been placing Sentients inside human bodies. But the humans are still alive too.”
“Good luck trying to tell anyone that.” After a few seconds to think to himself, Sean turned in his seat to face Graham. “Wait, is that why you really came here, to convince the military not to go in?”
“I don’t know.”
“What should they do instead then, just wait up here while people are wiped out down there?”
“I’m not here to do anything, I promise, I’m not. I didn’t even want to come here. Last night I agreed to stay with my family and send you a message instead. Then the next thing I know I’m hiding in the back of a military truck with no idea how I got there.”
“You mean your black-out story is the truth?”
“Absolutely. I have no clue why you want me up here, I can’t help.”
“Yeah, well, Stephen knows you’re here now, so for the time being you’re needed. He won’t work until he sees you again. That’s the only reason you’re here. The longer he’s away from his work the longer my sister is in danger.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
Sean sighed in an exaggerated fashion, his chest seemingly trying to exorcise the pain his missing sister was causing him with one gale-force strength breath. “So if you blacked-out last night, then why do you think you came here?”
Graham was about to answer with yet another lacking response when a voice behind gave one for him instead. “You need to speak with Stephen,” it said.
Without even thinking, Graham repeated it to Sean like a parrot showing off to its master. “I need to speak to Stephen.” He knew there was no-one in the seat behind; it was his imaginary friend, back again for another little chat. This time he had nothing to talk to, just a rough direction to aim toward.
“About what?”
“I’m not sure.”
Sean turned back to face the front as their cart slowed to allow another in front to fill up with passengers. “You really are confused, aren’t you?”
The suggestion that Graham was not quite himself had come straight from his family, he knew. Even though Sean stopped short of actually saying it, it was clear he saw something wrong with his friend. There had been more to the conversation they had shared before Graham had been brought aboard the Ring.
Once again they were treating Graham like a delicate flower that would lose its petals with too harsh a word aimed at it. While inside he was scared about his situation too; Graham considered it his cross to bear alone, and he hated the idea that his family were as worried for him as he was for himself.
The black-outs were a concern made far worse by the added voice that he could often now hear in the background. For the time being this voice seemed a benevolent one; a guiding light shining through a darkness to his mind. But the moment it chose to turn against him he would become too lost to go on. At that point his coma would seem like a pleasant rest in comparison.
“At least you and Stephen share something in common,” Sean said, finishing a chat Graham had left somewhere in the middle of.
“What?”
“You’re both a little strange.”
That was not the only thing, Graham quickly realised. “No, that’s not why, is it?” he asked over his shoulder as something occurred to him.
“Are you talking to me, G?” the voice replied.
“Graham? You OK,” Sean asked, his voice suddenly more distant and getting further away still.
“Did I come here to ask Stephen about the Sentient world?”
“No, no, no, Graham, just how he managed to leave bits of himself behind. You didn’t.”
“I didn’t leave anything behind. But I’m not myself.” Graham could feel himself getting close to an answer of some kind. He was being led to it like an animal being tempted with a tasty snack. Thinking on Stephen’s failed experiment that split his mind in two, leaving half in each world to fend for itself, brought one thought to his mind: something must have gone wrong when he left the Sentient world too? So who better to understand such a thing than someone who had gone through the same himself? “Something is wrong with me.”
“There ya go, G, you got there in the end,” the voice said to him, this time as though leaning close.
Graham twisted in his seat to check behind and once again saw only an empty space where the voice emanated from. However real it sounded to him each time it happened, it had still only been inside his head, for him to hear alone. Which explained Sean’s strained look.
“Hey, keep it together, Graham,” Sean said. “Are you listening to me? I can’t let you mess this up for me. If you lose it in front of these people, we’ll all be in trouble.”
Snapping out of his daydream suddenly, Graham straightened in his seat and spoke while staring ahead. He remained distracted by his rather one-sided conversation, yet still in control enough to answer. “Don’t worry about me, Sean. I’ll be fine.”
What, nothing to add this time? Graham asked the voice in his head. He received no reply. His new friend, it seemed, did not always have a smart reply prepared in advance.
“Good, because you’ve got some explaining to do before they’ll let you see Stephen. You shouldn’t be here, after all.” The moment their cart stopped by another set of stairs to the floor below, Sean leapt up and out, adding, “Here goes then.”
They descended to the lower floor of the two-storey train. There it became a lot more cramped and ruled by thin corridors. This was where the real work was done, in tiny rooms that barely gave those inside the space to stretch. Even though the Ring was enormous it still had to allocate its inside space sparingly.
After a walk that took them past ten of the small-sized rooms on either side, they came to an abrupt stop where a much larger room was situated. Through traffic was guided around it by another set of steps to a narrow passageway that took a shortcut underneath. It all felt to Graham like it had borrowed its design from the internal setup of a submarine.
“Let me talk to them first, OK?” Sean said. He waited for a nod from Graham before he pushed the ship-style door open and stepped through, a stern look across his face as he entered.
Inside it appeared a lot roomier and more welcoming compared to the single-file walkways leading up to it. It was wide enough to have an entire section of window all to itself, and on both sides too. This was the penthouse suite of rooms.
In the centre was one long row of six-foot-long vertical screens that flashed up information for the people working on each side – some of who turned to see the civilians watching them and waiting for attention. Behind them the room continued for some way before stopping at another door. It definitely looked to Graham to be the heart of the operation.
Sean pushed his shoulders back once he and Graham had been spotted by the man in charge. “You probably shouldn’t tell them about your black-outs, or the fact that you sometimes talk to yourself, you’ll just piss them off.”
Sticking his head out from behind one of the screens further along the room was Brigadier Harrington. His green and brown fatigues
matched the others around him, all of who had rolled up and pinned back their sleeves. But the dark green beret over his cropped ginger hair and gleaming epaulettes told of a much higher rank than the rest. His steely-eyed demeanour only cemented this in Graham’s mind further.
For a short while Brigadier Harrington kept them in his sights without even a nod toward them. It seemed like he was never going to completely acknowledge their presence, until his face eventually softened. He then waved them over to join him.
Taking the lead, Sean set a quick pace to the man in charge, almost marching like any soldier would be proud of. There appeared to be an image to maintain while in such company. Graham knew he would be expected to do the same, just to keep the military from kicking them back out again.
“Is this him?” Brigadier Harrington asked without even a hello to begin with. His strong voice, with its energetic Scottish accent, carried well across the room and back again.
“Yes, sir,” Sean replied.
“Good, good. Well, Mr. Denehey, it seems we need your help. If we want Stephen back to his work, then we need you. His expertise is too valuable to waste, so too is my time. So, if you please…” Brigadier Harrington gestured toward the door at the end of the room, before heading toward it. He did not appear one to hang around for very long; a man of purpose and high professionalism.
Graham remained quiet, exactly as Sean had requested he try to be. Saying anything that could give his loose mental state away would only undermine his need to be there. He had a need now too, a greatly urgent need for some answers. If there was a chance he could end up as broken as the real-world Stephen was, then he needed to know. Whatever had happened during his own escape could explain his strange mental problems.
Unfortunately, as they walked by the row of bright screens it was clear the answer would be harder to get to than expected, as the Brigadier wanted some of his own first – Sean had predicted this accurately enough.
“Tell me, may I call you Graham?”
Only an uncertain nod from Graham to agree.
“Good. Perhaps you could explain why you were hiding in one of our vehicles.”
To Graham’s surprise the voice in his head had something to say again, this time so loudly he had to check no-one around him had heard it too. “Just lie, G. Say whatever this twat wants to hear and no more.”
I won’t make this worse by talking shit, Graham replied within his own head. He was strangely at ease with conversing with his imaginary friend, like he had always done it.
“You have to. They won’t let you near Stephen if you don’t.”
For fuck’s sake, will you just let me deal with this?
“Graham?” Sean said to prompt a more revealing response than the blank gaze he had given.
“No can do, sorry, G,” the voice went on, a noticeably sarcastic emphasis to the G. “If you won’t do what’s necessary, then I will.”
What does that mean? Graham felt a sudden anger erupt through him when he realised what his second inner voice was talking about. This was not simply another voice but another him too, one that he guessed was more than able to take control of his body. It explained exactly how he had been acting during his black-outs; he had probably seemed exactly like himself to others around him.
Don’t you dare do a thing, Graham insisted. But his refusal had been entirely futile and soon the inevitable headache returned like a fist to each temple. All he could do to fight back against it was to clamp his eyes shut and just hope it would not go on for too long. His body was giving itself over to the voice in his head, handing it control as easily as flicking a switch inside his brain. His mind seemed not only to be fractured but almost completely separated, like each lobe now acted alone.
When he eventually opened his eyes again the world had changed, exactly in the way he could feel himself becoming uncomfortably used to.
Brigadier Harrington no longer stood in front of him, blocking his entrance to the next room, but waited to the side and holding the door open. Sean now appeared a few metres away and talking quietly to a white-haired elderly man in a thick cream coloured cardigan and scruffy beige trousers, who faced away.
He recognised Stephen the moment his eyes landed on the dull and scuffed black loafers – the very same ones Stephen had worn back at Sanctuary. It was an odd situation for Graham, to see someone he had held many a conversation with in such a starkly different condition. He reminded himself that this version of Stephen had not been afforded the luxury of augmenting his damaged consciousness with Sentient code. Instead this version had been left to make do, and had greatly struggled in that endeavour.
Sean pointed toward Graham as if to prove he was not lying to the vulnerable looking Stephen. Yet neither paid him any real attention. They kept Graham staring ahead and dealing with his confusion at the world moving on behind his back again. He once again faced a new place with no memory of having brought himself there. Thankfully, the voice in his head was his own for the moment. His ‘friend’ had yet to reappear.
“Look, he’s right there, Stephen,” Sean said, trying his best to turn the timid looking Stephen around.
“No, I’m too scared. What if he’s just imaginary?” Stephen replied.
“He’s not, I promise. Now, just look behind you.”
Stephen did so with a quick flick of his head to the side, then immediately returned to focusing only on Sean’s reassuring face. But his tiny glimpse had changed his reaction completely and he turned for a much better look. For a second Graham thought he had not been recognised at all, then he got a more definitive answer in the form of a sudden hug. Stephen trotted over and slammed his fragile form against Graham’s chest, almost knocking him back in the process.
“You’re OK, my friend,” Stephen said, his eyes shut and his arms threatening to crush Graham out of existence.
“Hey,” was all Graham could give him in reply. He was slightly in shock and unsure where to place his arms. In the end he held them by his side, pinned in place by Stephen’s embrace.
Brigadier Harrington took a step through the door, edging further away but not leaving entirely until he had said what he needed. He announced that he intended to speak by clearing his throat a couple of times. The moment Graham looked his way he spoke. “I will give you all a little time to settle before we begin. Thank you Graham for your kind offer of assistance.”
What the hell did you promise him? Graham demanded an answer from his now silent and internal friend. “Sure, no problem.”
“Your input could be crucial for our counterattack, once we have that blasted force-field down.” Brigadier Harrington shot a quick look to Stephen as he finished speaking, no doubt letting everyone know that he expected success sooner rather than later. He then left the room and shut the metal door behind, which gave out a deep clank noise.
With Stephen refusing to let him go, Graham had nowhere he could go when Sean decided to lay into him. “What the fuck did you tell him that for?” he said, his face slightly red and puffed out.
“Wait, Sean, it wasn’t me…”
“Graham, you’ve really screwed-up now.”
“What did I say?”
Sean looked straight into Graham’s eyes and seemed to work out what had happened from the expression he received in return. He instantly loosened his body, which had tensed up during Brigadier Harrington’s short goodbye. It was clear by this alone that he now fully believed Graham’s black-out story. He was forced to reassess his response to Graham’s question as a result.
Taking a step to the side, Sean then placed a hand on Graham’s shoulder and grimaced. “You told the head of this military operation that you have valuable intel on the enemy,” he said. “You agreed to show them where to find Isaac too.”
“Oh thank God, that’s not too bad,” Graham said with a sense of relief. “I’ll just tell them what I know.”
“No, Graham, you don’t understand. You told them you were 100% certain you could track him down; some bu
llshit story about having expert knowledge of the relay network. But you gave them a demand of your own in return: you said you’d only show them if they let you go in too”
“What?”
“Yep,” Sean said, shaking his head a little. “You agreed to go into the city with them.”
You arsehole! Graham thought. His only hope of staying out of trouble now resided in the military’s failure to get through the purple shield over the city below, the very thing Stephen was trying his best to achieve. If the most technically minded man Graham had ever met managed to do it, it would unwittingly doom him to a fight he never had any intention of becoming involved in.
One question quickly overwhelmed all others; what on earth did the other voice inside his mind have planned? It had gotten him this far, so how much further did it need to go? He desperately needed to talk things through with Stephen. No part of him wanted to head straight into a war zone, he had no idea of the danger that would put him in. Those fighting inside the bubble were alone and caught in a war they had to be struggling to win. The resistance Sean had spoken about surely had no way of fighting back?
Going in was the last thing he wanted to do.
Chapter 6
The fallen
A small gathering, all wearing the same black fatigues and possessing a head-mounted box, stood in a neat circle around one of New Chelmsford’s brand new relays. They kept their backs to the ten-metre-high pylon, which stood much taller than the previous generation of power and data relays.
They protected the machine that, along with all the other new design relays in the city centre, kept the sky a disturbingly beautiful shade of violet. The flickering stream of energy shooting out from the tip reinforced the shield high above and guaranteed that their little war could proceed uninterrupted by outside forces.
Such a responsibility made each of the new relays a prime target for the opposition.
But the Sentients were prepared for anything the humans could throw at them. Anyone approaching who did not meet the requirements of the Sentient guards surrounding it would find themselves set upon by a small battalion of fierce and self-sacrificing soldiers. None had so far survived such an encounter. Yet some still tried.
