by Abhisek Basu
For a moment, the tensions in the room ceased.
“I will be going along with Natalie to Quanti Valley. I want the weapon implants on me too,” he said.
“Okay,” Dr. Jerry announced, “But we don’t think they’ll let you enter Quanti Valley, but still, we will try.”
Dr. Alice walked over to Natalie.
“Thank you for trusting us,” she said. Before Natalie could say anything, she heard a beeping sound coming from Dr. Alice’s jacket.
Dr. Alice pulled out her AR tab and pressed the projection switch on it. Words popped up on the screen it projected.
_________
Facility breach. C-68 compromised. Explosions confirmed.
_________
Dr. Alice turned around and looked at Evan.
“Is it an explosive?” he asked.
“Do you think we can afford to find out? Get me out of this and go down to the bunker. I’ll buy us time,” Evan said.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Dr. Alice said, turned the holograph screen around, and for a brief moment, Natalie glanced at her screen.
“Why do I even bother asking?” Evan said and snapped his fingers. He vanished momentarily and appeared again. His restraints were gone and as soon as it disappeared, she heard Evan whisper in her ears, “All the best at Quanti Valley. See you soon.”
She turned around instinctively towards the voice, but Evan wasn’t there.
Dr. Alice, noticing Natalie turn around, asked her, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Natalie said and stared at Evan, who winked at her. She didn’t know who to trust, but Evan hadn’t led her to something that wasn’t useful to her until then. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t know about the final quest. She would rather place her bets on him than the Feds who had no idea what they are dealing with.
Evan left, disappearing from the room.
“He’ll not get very far,” Dr. Alice said, grinding her teeth. She turned towards Dr. Jerry, and said, “Have eyes on him at all times.”
“If he’s gone from here, he’ll be gone from the building soon,” Dr. Jerry said, shaking his head.
Her uncle walked up and stood beside her as Dr. Alice kept turning around screens in the screen above her device.
“What’s happening?” her uncle asked.
Dr. Alice placed her thumb on a screen again, and the table where her uncle had kept the rifle moved apart on its own. The tiles on the floor under it went in and slid apart, revealing a stairway.
The doctors standing outside entered the room, and they seemed to wait for Dr. Alice’s instructions. Another loud explosion shook the building.
“Let’s go,” Dr. Alice announced. “We don’t have much time,” she said, and gestured at Natalie to follow her down the stairway. Natalie followed, and yet, she felt a strong desire to turn back and follow Evan. She felt like he knew a lot more than what he revealed. But she had a larger task on her hand.
As Natalie followed Dr. Alice down the stairway, she slipped her hands into Dr. Alice’s coat pocket and took out the injector. Dr. Alice immediately looked up at her, met her eyes, but she kept quiet.
Natalie waited till her uncle was near her. She stepped behind her uncle, clutching the injector in her fist, trying to hide it shyly behind her waist. It took her minute before she pressed the trigger near his neck. The syringe shot out a needle which lodged against her uncle’s neck. It took a few seconds before the effects kicked in, but those few seconds felt like the longest seconds of her life. Her uncle struggled at first, turning around and taking the syringe out. His expression changed from that of mild frustration to utter shock when he realized that it was Natalie who drove the syringe in.
“Why?” he asked, struggling to keep his eyes open.
“I’ll be okay. Don’t worry,” Natalie whispered. Her uncle’s body tipped over and was about to slump and fall over the stairs when Dr. Jerry and Natalie caught him, preventing him from falling face first on the floor. Natalie knew that it had to be done. Her uncle didn’t deserve to be dragged into all this. This was her fight, and she had no right to inflict its burden on him.
“Do you want us to keep him asleep for the time being?” Dr. Alice asked, her voice low and shaky as if she was trying to search for the right words to say.
“Yes. Until this is over, keep him in the bunker that you have,” Natalie said. She wanted to tell her about the care domes and how it is crucial that they kept a watch on him at all times, but she knew that there was no way to convey that information without revealing her true plans.
Over the next few hours, as different energy weapons were being fitted on her, Natalie had a lot of time to think. She thought about what her uncle would think of her and what her plan of action would be once she was at Quanti Valley. She knew that she was at a significant disadvantage because Josh Bones and his men were already at the pillar, and they knew what it could do and what to do with it, which Natalie was largely unaware of.
If it was true that she would get to use her powers there, the energy weapons being fitted on her would largely be ineffective. Still, she had energy blasters fitted on her nails, a grenade jacket- six energy grenades that could be launched at the flick of her wrist in specific directions, and a bulletproof vest was put beneath her jacket for added security.
By the time she was ready, they had two hours left. There was a team of people who were constantly chattering about what was going on at Quanti Valley. Men with red masks were not hurting the workers, they said. They were just being evicted from their homes and offices temporarily, but they had no idea what was happening to the ones who didn’t comply.
Dr. Alice finally called her to another room, which seemed to be an underground lab to show her something.
At the underground lab, the network screen had received footage from the recent drone feed of the Feds. It showed an aerial view of the Quanti Valley from a combat drone. As it went nearer to the center, flying sideways along the circular skyscrapers, suddenly a beam of blue light shot out from somewhere below and shot it down.
Dr. Alice rewinded the footage back to the moment the light was about to strike the drone, and she zoomed in on the source of the light. After zooming in three times and panning the camera sideways, removing the pixelation and clearing the grain, finally they could see where it had come from.
The screen showed a masked man wearing a black suit. His eyes were glowing.
Chapter 12
“Bring them out,” Josh announced. Two contractual henchmen wearing red masks rushed to the electronic van, opened the butterfly doors and brought out Travis and Ian, who were trying to resist with all their strength. They were blindfolded and their mouths were gagged, not because it was necessary, but because Josh assumed his drivers would appreciate the peace and quiet while driving to the pillar.
As they were being brought out, Josh instructed his men to remove their blindfolds. All around him, men in red masks were running around covering all ground, changing places like clockwork, keeping an eye on every lane. That was the last line of defense.
There were four other teams of masked men, each tasked with clearing the perimeter. The hands of the government were tied. If they attacked or tried to capture any of his men, Josh promised he would kill the Vice President’s daughter, and then kill the Vice President. What didn’t surprise him was the fact that they were willing to risk their chances. He got news that one of his men was captured near the south of Quanti Valley, at the edge of the border.
His men were instructed to stay quiet and only communicate with gestures, even with their own crew. Josh didn’t know whether that man opened his mouth to curse the authorities or to change sides, or whether he was forced to open his mouth, but he knew that he did because once he opened his mouth, his head spontaneously exploded because of a chip that Josh had implanted on every contractual worker.
Slowly, it seemed like the authorities were trying to defy his orders. He even saw a combat drone, dro
nes which were specifically off the list of allowed aerial objects, flying towards him from the skies.
He took care of that in the best way he could, and that not only impressed everyone in his immediate crew, but it caused Travis and Ian to stop whatever weird movements they were busy doing to get his men to free themselves. They stared at Josh in horror, unable to comprehend what they just saw.
Miss Tessa and Lewis were impressed too, but not as much as they would’ve been as someone who saw it for the first time. They had seen Josh’s powers quite a few times before, seeing him fry a man’s eyes in front of him to send a direct threat to some foreign mobster or simply scare a contractual worker threatening to expose him.
Josh ordered his men to remove the gag from Travis and Ian. As soon as he did, Ian shouted, “How did you do that? Who are you?”
“I am like you, Ian, with one exception. I won,” Josh said and laughed.
“Won what? What the hell did you win, man?”
“You’re so unbelievably dumb. I can’t see what she used to see in you,” Josh said and walked towards Travis, “You. Tell Ian what I have won. I am sure after your last movie session, you must have some clue of who I am.”
“I don’t know. You weren’t in the movie,” Travis said.
“Obviously, but you both were. How did it feel to see what a part of your consciousness went through?” Josh said and noticed that Ian didn’t have much of a change of reaction, but Travis’ face was flustered. “Yes,” Josh said, walking closer to Travis, who looked like he was slowly putting together the pieces, “You both saw yourselves, what you did is what you did when you were there. You saw who you were and what you’re capable of. Travis, you saw how you lost, despite gaining a questionable amount of power there.”
“So that wasn’t some advanced deepfake CGi? What we saw happened in the simulation?” Travis asked.
“I would never stoop so low as to go on the other side of who was good. I didn’t betray that woman! I refuse to believe this!” Ian shouted before Josh got a chance to reply.
He punched him, driving his fist across his jaw. Ian screamed, tried to move, but he was held in place by Josh’s men.
“The fact that you believe that it’s a simulation shows that you still underestimate the truth. You did all the things you saw you did, and you, Travis, you did all the things you saw yourself do. Yes, you fell in love and yes, like a warrior forced to choose between love and the lives of others, you chose others. For that, I have respect for you. You,” he said, pointing to Ian, “I have no respect for gullible scum like you.”
Josh looked at his men and raised his finger towards his mouth, demonstrating with his gesture to gag them up. They did, despite both of them protesting against it.
Josh placed his hands on the center of the pillar. A series of whirring sounds filled the vicinity as the six human-sized domes, three on each side of the pillar, grew out of the soil. Light flashed from the pillar, filling everything around him in explosive bursts, and within a few seconds, the large field at the center of Quanti Valley had transformed into an arena. Josh nodded at his men, who took the gag out of Ian and Travis’ mouth. They were too dumbstruck to speak or protest anymore. Josh’s men started dragging away the reluctant Travis and Ian towards the three domes near them. As soon as their backs touched the transparent dome, his men left them and stepped back.
The domes shifted and started pulling them in, and no matter how hard they tried to move away, they couldn’t escape. Within seconds, they were inside the dome.
“Still works like a charm,” Josh said to himself, and smiled.
“Sir, we have confirmation on Natalie White approaching the border,” Lewis said from the corner.
“Very good. We’ll hold up our end of the deal. Release the Vice President’s daughter,” Josh said.
“Whatever you’re doing, you’re not going to succeed!” Ian shouted from inside his dome.
“I sure am,” Josh said. “Look around you. Ever seen this happening?”
“Josh,” Travis shouted from his dome. Josh stared at him and saw that his nails were bleeding. Yet, he kept on his futile attempt of trying to scratch away at the transparent walls of his dome.
“This,” Travis said, still scratching away, “This wasn’t here a moment ago. It popped out of the ground and yet there aren’t any signs of damage on the ground. This arena- how the hell is this all showing up? This is not an illusion!”
“Of course, it’s not. Unfortunately, here is the only place that I can do anything like this. But fear not. Once both keys are in, the range of this pillar will cover the entire planet. Do you know what I’ll be able to do once that happens?”
“What?” Ian shouted from his dome.
“Anything I want,” Josh said and activated his lasers. Two white streams of light shot out of his eyes and struck Travis’ dome. The dome remained unaffected, but Travis had cowered back a few steps after seeing that.
“Who are those remaining 4 domes for?” Travis asked, again approaching the edge of his dome.
“One of them is to hold someone close to your friend, Natalie,” Josh said. “The other three are for my people.”
Only one dome for Natalie’s side had to be filled. He was wondering when he would get to do that. It had to be done by now.
“He doesn’t want us to scratch the domes, which means we should keep doing that man!” Ian said, staring towards Travis. Travis nodded at him. Then both of them started scratching at their domes, producing a continuous screeching sound.
“Let us out!” Ian kept on screaming.
Josh thought Travis would’ve been a sensible man, but he too had joined his friend and started shouting along with him.
He gestured at his men to cover up Ian and Travis’ domes with thick carpets that he had ordered specifically from Spain- carpets which muted most of the sound.
It was hard to concentrate with them shouting in the arena, and Josh needed to think in silence. The arena looked and felt real. The grey roads were gone from beneath his feet and the entire ground of Quanti Valley beneath his feet turned into yellow sandy soil, just like it had been in Tholos. The effect was visible all around him. The arena was tall enough to block out the skyscrapers. His men had climbed up to the top to shoot down any press drones flying near it.
They needed the press drones at the valley, but not at the arena. The only purpose of the press drones was to implicate CELIA, who were already infiltrating, defying government orders, just like Josh had expected.
Now, all he had to do was wait. He sat down on the ground, crossed his feet and closed his eyes. All the next steps were planned. Josh knew that members of the CELIA would use the hyperloop network to enter Quanti Valley. He knew the exact route that they would follow, and he instructed his men how to deal with them.
“Mr. Bones, she’s inside. We have confirmation,” Miss Tessa said. Josh nodded at her.
The government wouldn’t dare to defy any more orders. They had everything to lose if Josh killed the Vice President. The only thing that was left to do was wait for Natalie to make her way towards the arena.
He knew what to do to convince her. And he knew what to do to her if she rejected him.
Chapter 13
Natalie sat beside Dr. Alice as the self-driving police van made its way towards the entrance of Quanti Valley. Dr. Alice was busy scrolling through the news, constantly receiving calls and answering them, ending almost each conversation with “Alright,”, “On our way,” and “Okay”. So much was happening that she hardly had a moment of rest.
As the van passed through Remnate Street, Natalie saw Evan standing there in front of the old building and staring at it, like he had the last time she had seen him. He wasn’t supposed to be there, but yet, there he was- the only place he constantly showed up at. Natalie wanted to tell Dr. Alice about it, but she seemed so busy talking with the hostage team that Natalie didn’t get a chance to tell her.
It was probably for the best. They d
idn’t have much time, and Natalie had been lying to them all this while. The Feds believed they were transporting an innocent high-profile civilian to criminals in exchange for someone else. The reality was- Natalie had to be there. She pulled her map down on her screen and saw that the entrance of Quanti Valley wasn’t very far away. They would make it in time. She visually zoomed in and saw that through the entrance, she had to make her way towards the pillar, the pillar at the center of Quanti Valley, the pillar where she had to put in her key and Josh’s key after convincing him to give it to her. Her mind was racing with thoughts on how to convince him. If only he knew what he was like, or what he wanted, she would have a chance.
Three men wearing red masks walked towards the police van as it stopped near the entrance of the valley. “Try to take him out as quickly as you can. Then run back towards the entrance. I’ll try my best to figure out a way in. I know this isn’t fair to you but-” Dr. Alice said and paused, searching for words.
“It’s okay,” Natalie said and stepped out of the van. “I’ll try my best.”
In between the triangle that the masked men formed while walking, they had the Vice President’s daughter, blindfolded, who walked silently following the direction where she was gently being pushed at by the man behind her.
Natalie saw that her hands were tied with a rope, a knot that was freshly tied and unaffected, which meant that wherever she was, she was unrestrained. The masked men stopped and pointed at Natalie.
“Send her over first,” a woman on the radio of the hostage team ordered, but the men didn’t move. Dr. Alice was told something over the radio, after which she turned at Natalie and said, “Go. I’ll be here all night. Try to observe whatever you can and try to commit them to your memory. If you find anything weird, or unconventional, remember that. We can use all the information we get. And if you get the chance, take him out.”
