by Mark Russo
“You don’t talk much. Is it maybe me?”
“I doubt you’re even real, Ara. I remember we switched you off years ago. And, and on top and of all that, it happened in another plane.”
“I’m not trying to kill you, and no, I’m not the same Ara who babysat you years ago.”
We took a left and the surrounding environment changed again. We were walking in a hospital ward.
“Do you remember being here?”
“I do not. When did this happen?”
“You were ten and fell on the stairs. They had to bring you here to put your arm in a cast.”
Wow, I had no recollection at all about an arm cast. It was like opening a drawer I had forgotten even existed.
“Will I have to talk to a kid-me again? Isn’t there anything more interesting to do?”
“We’ll just have a look this time. No interaction.”
I exhaled while massaging my eyelids. “Isn’t there anything better we might do? I don’t know, have coffee?”
“I can’t drink coffee. I don’t have an esophagus. You’ll understand all of this very soon.”
We were in an almost-deserted emergency room; people who could afford this level of health care were few. As we passed the fourth medical room, we saw a terrified ten-year-old Emma sitting on a stretcher behind the door.
“Do you remember now?” Ara walked very close to me.
“Is this a form of torture? Are you Aaragul?”
“Emma, do you think this place and all those things you saw in Plane K existed before you?”
“Let’s move on. I don’t want to see myself as a kid anymore.”
We materialized in the canyon again. The deep valley had a repetitive, topographic quality that bothered me.
“So, my dear robot-nanny. Where are we headed next?” I grinned stoically.
The landscape answered my question, switching its appearance. A flat plateau extending for as far as I could see had replaced the canyon. A damp fog surrounded my newfound friend and me.
“What now? More cheap tricks?”
“I want to show you something. They won’t be happy I’m doing this.”
Did I have to be scared or relieved?
Three gleaming rock spires appeared a few steps ahead.
“And this would be, what? A riddle?”
“This is how you defeat them,” Ara whispered.
“Who am I supposed to defeat?”
“The Great Communion, Emma. Find James and Maria. You’ll pick it up from there.”
“Wait? What? Are they here? Where? How do I find them?” I looked left and right.
Ara had disappeared, and I was alone again.
15
James
The darkness partially cleared, allowing me to see an ample wasteland of scattered big rocks and grey sands. I was surfing in that seemingly uncharted area while letting the Stone Wall rotate around me. I tried and keep my guard up. A Rockjet was already loaded and ready to use at my earliest convenience.
Randomly roaming a foreign plane was not exactly a relaxing activity. Even if locating Emma was my top priority, I was not aware of my current location. Finding myself, for how ironic this sounded, would be fundamental.
After more than ten minutes of traveling, I realized I had not eaten nor slept for an entire day, but I did not feel tired or hungry. Something with Plane K must brutally slow my metabolism. I looked behind me and could no longer see the poor reproduction of my former business school.
I stopped, wanting to behold the surrounding landscape more and comprehend which direction would be better to follow. I got off the stone board, and the ground flaked and crunched as I landed. All I could see was a lot of nothingness—a deserted area. I kneeled and grabbed a stone. Touching the soil revived me. Sand, gravel, and rocks were the essence of the Path of Matter, and I was the only apprentice around.
My haptic lens was nonoperational, so I removed it and threw it in the dirt. I doubted that would be of any use soon. I mounted my board, thinking I should probably keep moving.
Something emerged and disappeared rapidly in the sands again. Probably my imagination playing tricks on me. Or had they found me already? A few seconds passed without incident.
Then a huge explosion surprised me, forcing me to the ground and scratching most of my body. I moved the Stone Wall in front of me, trading protection for vision. I lost sight of what was happening on the other side. I released the Rockjet from the Stone Wall. Firing it blindly was probably a reckless move, but I wanted to get out of my predicament quick.
The silence returned, hiding the mysterious attacker again.
I moved the Stone Board under my feet and left cover at full speed. Not even fifty meters ahead, a giant worm emerged by my side. Its thick carapace showed very intricate signs overlapping on one another. I accelerated, and the beast followed suit, looking even bigger and angrier. It appeared determined to get to me, but I was not curious to discover how that would feel. Luckily, it didn’t reveal any ranged weapons to attack me, or, at least, it hadn’t used them yet.
I imbued the board with all my remaining energy. Open-field combat with such a monster was not an option. Once again, as I brought my acceleration to its fastest level, that creature did the same. It swam through the ground like the dirt was chocolate mousse. I turned back and made eye contact with it. A few rapid maneuvers didn’t help either. It yearned to hunt me down.
I banked right and placed the biggest Stone Wall I could conjure into his trajectory. The giant worm hit it, and the impact caused a terrible noise, like a house collapsing to the ground. Silence resumed, and I thought I had gotten rid of that speeding underground Plane K version of a submarine. I left the area and proceeding straight, thinking it would eventually lead me somewhere.
I had almost forgotten that unpleasant encounter when the ground opened again, and the enormous worm appeared. Escape was no longer an option. Its glowing purple eyes stared into mine, and it boasted a small mouth for such a massive entity. It chirped, like grasshoppers in sultry summer days, while slowly approaching me. Was it trying to make me pet it, like a cat would?
I hesitated as the mastodon made those unpredictable sounds and moved even closer. Maybe I had gone crazy, but I did it. To my surprise, the close contact with this Plane K creature got me invigorated, and the anguish befuddling my thoughts ended. I laid my right hand on the worm’s forehead, and it kept chirping. I assumed it appreciated the contact. Then it stood, showing its hulking body.
My feet were back on the board, and I slowly let it slide ahead of me, tagging along on my right-hand side. I followed it for a moment, then it stopped. I did the same. Was that creature trying to tell me something?
It submerged in the ground again and moved about a hundred meters on the left, then it emerged again and remained still. It appeared he knew where to go.
And this is how I began following a giant worm from another plane headed who knows where. I probably had to reassess my decision-making skills.
To be continued…
II
Hell's Gifts, Volume 2
Mark Russo
1
Charles
The human couple looked closer into their wall computer, then the female said, “We are suing you, Mr. Sneider. You’ll have a chat with our lawyers.”
Those people were angry at me, the school, and many people and institutions. “I understand, madam. I already told you we think Maria went on a romantic getaway. She had developed a strong bond with one of the other students and—”
Maria’s father, who had been silent up to that point, moved even closer to the camera and, from behind his big nose, uttered a sentence that almost made me laugh. “You will not get away with this, Sneider. We will sue your so-called business school.”
Too bad our new blood forger delayed so much creating a proxy of that Spanish girl. For James’s and Emma’s families, on the contrary, it had been enough telling them we had enrolled them in an intensive i
nternship program for the ESA—European Space Agency. Those people, smug in hearing the news, did not question any further the fact their kids were missing. And they will never find out.
“I said, I understand your preoccupation, Mr. and Mrs. Santos. We will investigate with all our means Maria’s whereabouts. I already shared my opinion on this matter.”
They glared at me without saying anything.
If I had any type of feelings, that would have been uncomfortable. “I’ll keep you posted. I repeat, I will share with you all the information we have. By now, this is all I can do.”
They kept glaring at me.
*****
I called one guy from the research center to ask him to come to my office. I didn’t want to share such instructions through a device that would leave traces, like recordings.
A few minutes later, one of our fake humans appeared at my door, dressed in a lab coat. “Is there anything important we need to handle in private?”
I wondered if those proxies could read my mind. “That’s why I called you here. We need to handle one small issue in Spain. We must do it quickly. We will accelerate our plans to involve the general population in the conversion.”
He nodded.
It always pleased me when I could notice how complaint those people might be. “I’ll send out Shadows and update you as soon as possible.”
Sharing the details of the action telepathically was a needed precaution, just to be on the safe side.
“Great. I need it done by tomorrow at the latest.”
He nodded once more. There was a chance that issue would no longer be such soon.
*****
I moved next to their room. It was always the most important moment of the day in the new phase of the plan, given their expectations and mine.
They sat behind a line of desks, giving them an even more austere appearance. “We see you already are taking care of those humans.” Their voices spoke at once, like I was getting used to hearing. “Did you choose which one will be our new subject for the full conversion?” Their severe demeanor made their words sound clearer.
“I picked one. It’ll be Pavel, the Czech guy.”
Again, four pairs of eyes stared at me like an x-ray device would inspect a swollen articulation. “How would he serve our purposes?”
“He has a very specific past. Pavel’s been looking for direction his whole life. The guy also has the best score on our scales.”
The Great Communion laid elbows on the table, and, with an even deeper tone, asked, “Will you accomplish your task?”
I had to be careful not to think about anything.
“We know in advance when you try to cheat.”
“Consider it done. I didn’t disappoint you so far, and I won’t this time either.” I turned my back, and the heel on my left shoe clicked on the polished wooden floor.
“Don’t forget the other thing,” they added while I was almost out the door.
“I will remember that, Milords. Our plans will roll out the best of ways. You have my word on that.”
They didn’t reply, and it was a positive sign.
I walked out, raising my head. It was a good day.
*****
As soon as I left that meeting, I bumped into one of my colleagues. “Well, meeting you is a very fortunate coincidence. How are you doing, Laura?”
She crossed her arms. “Why did nobody tell me human bodies would be so uncomfortable?”
“You’ll get used to that. Have coffee, you’ll get a good invigorating sensation.” I think she appreciated the suggestion by her expression.
“Where do I get one of those?”
“Let me show you.” They had assigned me another trainer to manage. It looked like they really didn’t like Vagras. “I have a nice coffeemaker in my office. You’ll see, these human bodies might prove themselves resourceful.”
She was not talking much, probably out of respect.
They had promoted me to Master in the Path of Mind; I was sure she knew that.
Her face appeared pleased when she finally got to taste the human’s favorite hot beverage. “I get why they get addicted to this. It tastes like addiction.”
“You might like plenty of other things here. We’ll have time to chat about all of that. I’d like to review two work-related things now, okay?” I took a sip of coffee too. “Are you ready to welcome our new students in a few hours?”
“I’m more than ready, Charles. I have a few ideas for our new full conversion subject.”
Well, that was worth some further questions. “What ideas are we talking about, Laura?”
“Well, for sure we need this new subject to be fully compliant. I can be persuasive. I got this covered.” Her being this direct was great.
“I can already share that this person we are talking about will be Pavel, the Czech guy.”
Her face was not hinting to anything explicit. “I’ll approach him right after the inauguration ceremony. We’d better start off immediately.”
“We’re on the same page. Very good. Tell me about those ideas you had. I’m all ears.”
“Last year, with Emma Ricci, we kept her in the dark until the very end of her conversion. This year, we might want to do something different.”
The shadow of a doubt clouded my mind. “I’m listening.”
“My idea would be to share our plans with Pavel at an earlier stage. I was considering doing it from the very beginning.”
“Which would be the benefits of going down this road, Laura?”
She took a seat.
I really had to teach her how humans behave.
“I think we might assess directly if these creatures are of any use, or we just get rid of them.”
“Let me see if I follow. We share with our subject that we are invaders from another world. We give him two options—full compliance or death. Did I get your plans right?”
“Yes, that’s the gist of it all.”
That time she smiled.
“We tried a similar approach on our first attempt of expanding into this plane. I assume you remember how that all ended.”
“Most probably, we all do. It is true though, that Vagras had to handle it alone. This time, lots of us are here.”
It was time to sit as well. “On our first mission in Plane R, we had to send home most students before time, blaming it on a non-existent water pipe damage. That happened because James Ferguson had gained too much power, and we had to put into play drastic measures, causing us to waste a huge amount of energy.”
She nodded, her face still as marble. “Don’t you think trying this in advance would let us understand if we can use these humans at all?”
“I would say it exposes us to unnecessary risks. My decision is against this approach.”
She didn’t comment further. Her lips, though, struggled to remain close.
*****
After she left my office with an excuse, I headed for level -2, where our new blood forger was preparing to kick off his gruesome activities. They had replaced Chunk with a new guy; they didn’t share why they did that. I guess I was lucky I still had my position. I changed the secret word on the wall leading to the kill room; that was as far as my managerial scope would go.
When I entered his room, someone much different from Chunk was assembling tools I had seen at least another time before.
“It looks like you have everything already prepared. I appreciate your efforts.”
“Well, thanks a lot, Charles. It’s my first time on this plane, and I want it to be as good as possible.”
I didn’t expect him to wear a shirt and tie, to be honest, and that room was the cleanest in the building, hand on heart.
Lee stowed a long metal bar on a shelf before facing me. He was perfectly shaved.
“We will move to the next phase in two days. This means you have some more free time until then.” Was I being too courteous?
“They gave me permission to visit the upper levels mor
e often than Chunk did. I’d love to contribute actively to the colonization.”
“Yes, I asked for that. We need more of us upstairs.” I had no clue why they had chosen our blood forger to be this handsome this time. I assumed humans would find him so.
“The research center personnel will soon be part of our forces. There will be lots of us in Langren.”
I appreciated his attitude. “Would you take part in the inauguration ceremony? The next batch of humans will be here soon.”
*****
Those ten young humans all regarded what I was pointing at, whatever it was.
“Here at EIBM, we value both your virtual and non-virtual identities. You may use all this equipment for either TL or whatever other IARP you prefer.” I had learned the younger humans were all about acronyms. They needed to communicate fast when they did. Immersive augmented-reality platform was just too much for them.
“How do you manage to have this many rigs? I think they are quite costly.”
Okay, here we go again. They asked pointless questions at the wrong time, ignoring basic human interaction fundamentals. I still gently addressed the question, like I had done when Emma was part of the introductory tour.
We circled the entire building. We’d need to gauge immediately if they would be physically capable of medium intensity exercise, like a long walk.
“And this is where our walk ends. Let me invite you to our inauguration lunch. I would be more than happy to share food with you all guys.” Okay, all the charade was coming to an end.
The students took place, hesitating multiple times before finally choosing a chair.
When the food arrived, it took them less than a minute to devour everything they could lay their hands on.
“I read somewhere you have a greenhouse area here. Can we see it?”
“Of course, Monica. We have guided tours of the greenhouses. You will find all the information about this in our shared folders.”
“Are the shared folders accessible even to students who attended EIBM in the past?”