by Taya DeVere
Bill falls on the floor. He crawls on all fours until he collapses, motionless, against the yellow tiles.
Luna’s knees give out. When she crumples to the floor, she hears dull thumps upstairs, as the Unchipped people, hiding in the kitchen above, crash down unconscious.
Doctor Solomon’s laughter seems to come from under water. Her words slur in Luna’s ears. She gives in and lies down on the floor, still watching Mrs. Salonen’s face. The woman’s hand twitches, and her head moves an inch under the helmet.
“See my dears? This so-called war was never yours to win. Because how can you win a war in a reality where you don’t even exist? Sure, I can’t access the failing chips in your heads, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t know a thing or two about the Unchipped brain. It’s amazing what you can do with a lab full of test subjects such as yourself. That high pitch sound you hear? Might not be the loveliest sensation, I’m sure, but don’t you worry… this audio frequency is known to turn the Unchipped mind right off. And it’s going to happen right about… now.”
Just before she closes her eyes, Luna sees the capsule door open. A bare foot steps down. A yellow tile lights up.
CHAPTER 5 — MRS. SALONEN
The tile floor feels cold under my bare feet. I stand, supporting my drenched frame on my own invention as I pull the various tubes, needles, and catheters from my body. Piece after piece, it all comes back to me.
Suicides.
Mass shootings.
People spitting in each other’s faces.
Vans driven into crowds of protesters.
A healing helmet. A healing capsule. A healing program. A hope for happiness.
Legs wobbling under my body weight, I let go of the capsule. Carefully, one inch at a time, I turn and stare at what has been my prison for… how many years have I lost? One? Ten? Fifty?
The chipping helmet rests lopsided inside the pod. A faint layer of condensation covers the glass walls beside it. From my breath. I never died, though my head and body feel too light and thin to be alive. I take a step closer. My hand shaking, I reach for the glass door. It closes with a faint click.
In the dim yellow light, I look around the room. The air is cold against my naked body. A hint of embarrassment crosses my mind, but I reject that worry. Feeling embarrassed is a luxury I can’t afford at this moment. There are more pressing things to consider now. I know this, but my mind refuses to let it all flow back into my consciousness. It’s too much to take in.
I blink and see lifeless bodies lying on the floor. The man’s face is covered with long, blood-stained dreadlocks. The girl, delicate but clearly strong, rests next to him, collapsed in a pool of blood and a device I faintly recognize. A few feet away, another girl. This one even younger.
“Hmm.” My throat refuses anything more. Everything aches. Even my fingernails, my hair. My body screams for water.
I take a step to turn around. A few feet away from my prison, a young man with unnaturally blue eyes stares at me, locked inside a capsule identical to mine. An android? The rest of him doesn’t look like a robot, just his neon eyes. He’s not wearing a chipping helmet, though. And the pod is wrapped with multiple layers of rope.
“Mm.”
Left foot, right foot. The wobble gets worse. Pause and wait. I regard him, a beautiful man with wild hair. Why does he have clothes on? Is he a prisoner here, like me?
I turn slowly, taking in the room. Empty capsules are all around. Then, next to mine, three more pods with ropes around them. A low humming fills the air, finally reaching my ears and entering my mind. Reality seems blurry. So fragile. If I snapped my fingers it would all shatter and crash down in front of me. Like a thin glass with too much weight on top.
The silhouettes inside the capsules are too blurred for me to recognize. But the long black hair is familiar. So is the bushy beard, and finally the strong jawline.
“Ah.”
The founders. Not all of us, but a few. What brings us together today? Here. Underground and banished. Turned off like yesterday’s technology or a medical research site without government funding. Turnips. Rotten potatoes.
What brings us together?
Right foot. Left foot. Right. Pause. I’m almost at the girl’s side, the one with a face so sharp you can’t miss her intelligence. A young mind. Hope. Love. Everything that humanity needs, if it hopes to recover from…
My mind blocks the thought before I can hold onto it.
What is this? Why am I here? Naked. Wilted. Muddled.
As I lower my body down, I prepare to feel a sharp pain travel from my left hip to my right.
But the pain never arrives.
Physical discomfort is suddenly just a memory from yesterday. Or last year? I close my mind and hang onto the memory. First, all I hear is a low hum. Then my ears start ringing. Breathing steadily, calming my shaking body, I push deeper into the past.
A thunder of galloping hooves.
A doodle. A chicken without an egg.
A meeting room with a round table.
And a woman, with a blonde ponytail. No, not a woman. Just a girl. My Laura.
My eyes fly open, and I stare at the CS-key under the fallen girl. Slowly moving closer to her in the yellow light, I reach to try her pulse. Slow. But she’s alive.
I pull the computer from underneath her. The screen flickers with purple light, numbers and letters flashing by. I push a button in the middle. A purple light appears, streaming out of the CS-key. I hold it, my hands shaking and my breath shallow.
Lab shoes.
A white coat.
Sharp eyes—the same shade as mine.
I stare at the hologram that is my daughter. She tilts her head, listening. Waiting.
The words get stuck in my throat. Swallowing hurts but clears my throat enough for me to wheeze the words out.
“What have you done?”
Her chin lifts several inches. The sharpness of her eyes becomes clearer. Laura’s serious face stares right at me, without seeing a thing. But she doesn’t have to see me. She’d recognize my voice even with her eyes shut. The voice that once sang her lullabies and spoke comforting words.
But when she talks, I hardly recognize her. Her voice is too cold. Lost. Too machine-like to be my baby girl.
“Hello, mother.”
***
Shoot! Book 5 of the Unchipped story is at a close. But don’t worry, you can find out what happens next in Book 6 in the Unchipped series, UNCHIPPED: LAURA available on Amazon.
***
My dearest reader,
You are simply amazing! Thank you so much for your support and readership! I can’t tell you how much you reading this book means to me. I’m humbled and honored that you’ve dedicated your valuable time to experience the Unchipped universe with me. I’m still a newbie author, so if you were to leave me a review on Amazon it would be a huge help! Short or long, doesn’t matter. Reviews are the best way to help other readers find the Unchipped Series.
Want to stay in touch? I would love it if you’d subscribe to my newsletter @ www.TayaDeVere.com/HappinessProgram Starting in August 2020, newsletter subscribers will receive free, exclusive early access to in-universe short stories from the Unchipped series a week before each book comes out. That’s every eighteen days so be sure to sign up to get first crack at the series!
You can also find me on:
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Gratefully yours,
Taya DeVere
***
THE END
About the Author
Taya is a Finnish-American author, writing contemporary fiction and dystopian sci-fi. After living and traveling in America for seven years, she now lives in Finland with her husband Chris, their dog Seamus, three bunny-boys (Ronin, Baby, Loki), and her horse of a lifetime, Arabella.
Best things in life: friends & family, memories made, and mistakes to learn from. Ta
ya also loves licorice ice cream, secondhand clothes and things, bunny sneezes, salmiakki, and sauna.
Dislikes: clowns, the Muppets, Moomin trolls, dolls (especially porcelain dolls), human size mascots and celery.
Taya's writing is inspired by the works of authors like Margaret Atwood, Peter Heller, Hugh Howey, and C.M. Martens.
Final Thanks
When I tell someone I write books for a living, people tend to ask me two questions.
1. How do you come up with story ideas?
2. Are your characters based on real people?
I guess the answer to both questions is the same.
All my stories are more or less inspired by people I’ve met in real life. I’ve always been fascinated by different kinds of personalities, even before I left Finland and moved to the United Kingdom and later on to America. Especially people who are somewhat odd and don’t seem to fit in tickle my imagination.
And therefore, I would like to thank my friends, who are the true fuel behind my storytelling. Plots, scenes, characters… At the end of the day, it’s all based on real life—real people. Even those whom I’ve lost touch with, or only enjoy a cup of coffee once a year (or ten years), I value my tribe more than anything else.
So, thank you; Sonja, Suvi, Heikki, Johanna, Minja, Niina, Outi, Piritta, Luna, Sari, Jackie, Kate, Andrea, Jason, Pippa, Shannon, Eero, and Sybille. You make my world (the real one, and the ones I create) go round.
The Unchipped series – Release schedule 2020
UNCHIPPED: KAARINA - 8/31/2020
UNCHIPPED: WILLIAM - 9/18/2020
UNCHIPPED: ENYD - 10/6/2020
UNCHIPPED: LUNA - 10/24/2020
UNCHIPPED: THE RESORT - 11/11/2020
UNCHIPPED: LAURA - 11/30/2020
UNCHIPPED: DENNIS - 12/18/2020
