by J. D. Cavan
There was a soft knock on her door. “You can come back in now,” she said, and Ben peeked his head in and then walked in the room.
He looked at her body and his face flushed, and then he quickly fixed his gaze down to the floor.
“You can look at me, Ben,” she said. “My dignity is already gone.”
“You have nothing to be undignified about, if that even makes sense,” he mumbled. She could tell he was struggling to keep his eyes on hers. If she broke her gaze, for just a moment, his eyes slipped down over her body. The door opened and someone else walked in.
“Dr. Myers, good to see you again,” said a tall Replica in a white medical coat and eye-shield. He had a European accent.
“Dr. Barstad,” Myers shook his hand.
“So this is the Ereb specimen?” he studied her with his gaze. “Is she docile?”
“Yes, fully cooperative,” Myers replied.
“I have to hand it to you, Dr. Myers, I never thought I’d get a chance to be this close to one.” He moved over toward her and she could feel him inspecting her. “We are going to get her in the tank. We’ll try and get the medical information, and Aion will do the Calculation,” he told Myers. It bugged her. He talked about her like she wasn’t in the room.
“Dr. Barstad, would you like to ask her some questions? Her name is Samantha,” Myers said.
He pursed his lips and glanced at her again. “No, I don’t think so. The tank will get what we need, or not. Please, Dr. Myers, bring the specimen into the tank room when you’re ready,” he finished saying before walking out.
“One of your best doctors, huh?” she said.
“Sorry about that. Anyway, are you ready?” Ben asked.
“No, but let’s get this thing over with. Do you have a robe or towel or do I have to walk around in this stupid futurist bikini?”
He waved his head. “It’s just down the hall.” She had never seen this side of Ben before. There was actually a kind of nerdy quality he had. The laboratory must bring it out in him. He usually came across as confident, but now he seemed shy.
She slid off the table and stood up. Ben took a quick and awkward step backward, almost tripping over a metal stand and sending a bunch of equipment crashing to the floor. He looked ridiculous, propping himself up in the corner and then straightening himself out. All the while trying not to look at her near-naked body.
“Can we get going please, before I change my mind,” she said.
He nodded and pulled himself together and walked out the door and down the hallway. She followed behind him past a ton of Replica lining the walls. They wore the eye-shields but she could sense them looking at her. She threw her shoulders back and took long confident strides down the hallway. General Zim stood by the door of the tank room and she just breezed by him. She wouldn’t give him the respect of a glance. She entered the tank room and up on a large platform in the empty dark room was a very large steel tank.
“I’ll be here, the entire time,” Ben said. There was a thick tempered glass window in the wall, and Dr. Barstad stood behind it at a computer panel.
She felt her breath deepen as she climbed up the steps toward the tank. The top of it was open and she peered inside. It was dark in the tank and difficult to see anything. She put one foot in and felt the lukewarm water before putting the other one in. There seemed to be no bottom, so she held the side of the tank’s steel door and tried to dip her leg in further.
“Just enter the tank and the water will support you,” she heard Dr. Barstad’s voice over an intercom. “Please rest on your back and allow the process to take place.”
She felt her heart pounding and her body tensing up. She breathed in and out but couldn’t get herself to climb into the tank. She was sure once she was in the dark water they would close the steel door and shut her in. What am I doing? The thought ran through her mind as she stayed frozen above the opening, unable to move.
“Please enter the tank now,” Dr. Barstad ordered.
This better be worth it, she said to herself as she went further into the tank. She glanced down at Ben before getting in totally. He nodded his head slightly and his eyes carried a total concern for her. It gave her some comfort as she dropped into the dark tank.
Dr. Barstad was right about one thing, the water held her up easily. She fell into the tank and went under for moment, but she didn’t panic. She allowed her body to float up to the surface. Soon she was on her back on top of the water. As she knew would happen, the giant steel door closed shut and she heard locks clicking. She was left in silence, only her breath and the sound of the water gently sloshing around her.
It was impossible to tell how time was passing, but it seemed like a good deal of it had gone by with nothing. It was peaceful after a while, quietly floating in the pitch-black before she noticed tiny multi-colored lights appearing in the darkness. It was impossible to tell where they were coming from, but the dots of color moved through the open spaces above her.
This must be Aion’s Calculation, she thought before her body involuntarily and violently jerked in the water. She clenched her teeth and prevented her head from smashing into the walls of the tank. Her breathing started to pick up and her body jerked again and then went into a violent spasm before suddenly stopping. She slowed her breathing and had no idea what was happening to her. The tiny lights continued to move around her as if they were probing her.
Then, involuntarily, memories began returning to her mind. Like someone was flipping through pages of a photo album.
She was looking up at people, nurses or doctors and other strangers—this must have been when she was born. Early images of her childhood appeared, group homes and foster houses. The images flew by quickly before stopping at a memory of Luca when she first met him. She felt the pain of his loss and gazed at his image. He was a young kid, maybe twelve years old, and they were in a park looking for food to eat. She noticed, as the picture slowly moved frame by frame and became like a video, that Luca was protecting her even back then. She was surrounded by a bunch of homeless kids and one of them had taken her slice of pizza, a real rare treat, when Luca showed up. The kids backed down and Luca got her pizza back. Aion then abruptly left that memory and kept searching.
It was clear that Aion was searching for something specific. It shot forward, into memories of her as an Ereb. Erratically, Aion raced through those memories and stopped.
It was apparent that Aion wasn’t getting the information it wanted and returned back to her early history again. They went back all the way to herself as an infant and then into darkness as if they were trying to get to embryonic or pre-birth stages. Strange images of unknown people, perhaps her parents, or her parents’ parents, appeared. The calculation continued and went back even further, into ancient places and people before suddenly her body reacted violently again, shaking and rocking wildly back and forth. She shut her eyes tightly and clenched her jaw, and at one point involuntarily punched the tank’s steel door, denting it. The tiny lights went dim and it went quiet and dark.
A light blue light appeared under the water, and she glanced down. Her body became translucent. She could actually see through herself, her skeleton and internal organs. It didn’t hurt but it was incredibly strange.
The water began to part and move as if snakes were swimming with her, but they were tiny tubes with probes on the end. One of them pricked her and was clearly taking blood. Giant flashes of light started, as if someone was clicking a camera and the flash was going off. Another probe entered her, and then another, and then she noticed tubes of all kinds sticking out of her. Her body suddenly stiffened and then became totally paralyzed. It was frightening. She couldn’t tell if it was Aion paralyzing her body or her own defenses attempting to block Aion’s Calculation. It went on for what felt like hours, and at one point it began to cause her an odd kind of pain, like her body could crack and break into a million pieces at any moment. She grunted and moaned and wondered if this was it. Either Aion was kil
ling her, or her own body would kill her trying to defend itself from Aion.
Then it stopped, and she began to move again. The probes released. She sat in the water for what felt like an eternity before her eyes started to shut. She really had no sense of anything at all. Was she exhausted, or was this Aion trying to put her asleep? She fought the sleep, but in the end lost the fight and drifted off.
Her dreams and visions were bizarre. In the first one she was living in the Replica community, but she wasn’t really there. It was like the virtual tour she had, but this time she was watching herself walk aimlessly around the town. She wandered in and out of shops and then down the street, interacting with Replica. A door opened, and in front was a steel gate. She watched herself open the gate walk onto an elevator. The elevator dropped and she realized she wasn’t in a walled community but a bunker shelter, deep underground.
In the next vision it was like she was back living homeless, but it was clearly in the future. She wore tattered clothing and was surrounded by Ereb she did not recognize. She moved through the abandoned streets that were littered with garbage and debris. The windows on the buildings were broken and boarded up. Empty military vehicles and cars littered the roads and it was dark, without lights anywhere. She had seen this destroyed city before in other future visions.
There was a commotion and the Ereb reacted, pointing and motioning to a subway entrance. There was something there, living in the subway systems that frightened them.
Then, whatever scared the Ereb emerged from underground and stood facing her. There were three of them, figures in black cloaks and hoods set low over their faces. They lifted their heads and revealed empty black eyes set against deeply pale transparent skin. She felt their evil strongly, as if it could actually reach into her body and take over her soul.
She was outside of her body, watching herself floating in the tank. She appeared peaceful at first. She moved in closer to her own image and then suddenly her eyes shot open. Her Red Star shown more brightly than she’d ever experienced. It vibrated and radiated. The rays from the star started to produce a tremendous amount heat and began to melt the tank’s steel, and then in a startled shock she came out of it.
Samantha listened to her breath rapidly pull in and out of her. It was completely black in the tank, and she was totally disoriented to the day or time. Her mind wandered and she wondered if she was even alive, or maybe had been asleep for years. For the first time since she entered the tank, she started to feel claustrophobic and was about to bang on the door before she heard locks clicking and watched the door pulling ajar.
She waited to see Ben, but the hand that came to help her from the tank was Dr. Barstad’s. Her legs were a little wobbly as she stepped onto the platform. Even though the lights were dim inside the room, they were bright for her, so she squinted as she walked down the staircase.
She searched the room for Ben, but he was nowhere to be found. Only General Zim was there, standing exactly where he had been when she climbed into the tank to begin with, god knows how long ago. She was shaking cold, and Dr. Barstad didn’t even have a towel for her or seem to take notice. She threw her arms around her body and covered tried to cover herself.
“How long was I in there?” she asked Barstad. He was reading some digital display on the side of the tank and didn’t even bother to respond or look at her. General Zim exited the room and she could see Replica outside the door lining the hallway.
“You’ll be heading back up to the compound now,” Barstad said to her, still messing with the tank. “The Order will give you the results.”
General Zim walked back into the room with a large white towel and held it out toward her. She glared at him, but took it and wrapped it around herself, drying off. He held a hanger of clothing, but it wasn’t her jeans and T-shirt—it was the black military gear of the Replica.
Dr. Barstad walked out of the room without saying a word to her, leaving her alone with Zim. It crossed her mind to try and break his neck, but she didn’t have it in her. Plus, she was how many feet below the earth with Replica all around her, and she was still wearing that horrendous latex bikini. Although at least she had the towel wrapped around her now.
“Where’s my stuff?” she asked Zim.
“You’ll wear these now.” He held out the hanger. “You need to be dressed like us.”
Like us? she thought to herself. “I’m not you.” She snatched the clothing from his hand. “Are these going to fit?” she said more to annoy him than anything.
“We have female military,” he replied. She sized up Zim again. He was one big dude. She loved that old adage, though. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
“I’ve fought them. They’re tougher then the males, you included,” she replied. Zim didn’t say anything, but she was pretty sure he smirked at her.
She looked over the clothing. One pair of black military cargo pants, plenty of pockets, one tank up and flak vest, also black.
“Excuse me,” she said to him, her eyebrows raised. She couldn’t wait to get out of the latex bands. Zim just stood there motionless. She shook her head. Could a robot be a total creep sadist? Maybe the Zim Original was, and those traits had just stuck around, replicated perfectly.
“Whatever,” she said, and dropped her towel, slipped out of the straps, and put on the Replica gear. They must have gotten her exact size, amongst other things, when she was in the tank because everything fit very well. She hated wearing anything Replica, but it was better than the swim suit.
She followed Zim and her escort of armed Replica back out of the bunker and into the compound. As she walked through the empty corridors and up the metal staircases, a slow uneasiness began to arise inside her. It boiled into a low level panic threat by the time she reached her cell.
She sat down on her cot and felt the exhaustion. It must have been the time in the tank had finally caught up with her. She felt her eyes closing but opened them and shook her head back and forth. She wanted to stay awake and alert. The Order would be calling her soon with the results of the Calculation.
The warning signs began again, however. Her synchronic sense was giving her a feeling of dread and doubt. She suddenly felt trapped in her room and she searched for an escape. Then she took a deep breath and told herself to wait—wait until she met with the Order.
21
SHE STARTLED WHEN HER door opened and Ben came rushing in.
“Listen, they’re about to take you to the Order. They are going to tell you that the Calculation was inconclusive, that they found nothing that would help.” His face was flushed.
“Nothing?” she asked, feeling the disappointment. “Sorry I couldn’t help.”
“Don’t be, I don’t trust them,” he replied, his voice hushed.
“What did they find?” she asked, honestly interested in her own physiology.
“I don’t know. They said they will share the results, but I don’t believe them.” Ben began to pace her room.
“I knew it! I shouldn’t have trusted them.” She stood up shaking the cobwebs out of her head, thinking of ways to attack and escape.
“I always wondered why Aion wasn’t interested in your biology, in studying the Ereb. All these years I tried to convince them. It doesn’t make sense unless the Order was never interested in stopping the human extinction phases to begin with.” Ben paused for an instant as if he was contemplating how devastating that idea was for him. “Aion doesn’t care about people—” he muttered, his face ashen.
“I could have told you that the first time we met, and I think I did.”
“I don’t mean it that way. I know computer programs don’t care. There’s something wrong with the system,” he continued, staring blankly off into space.
“How do I get out of here?” she asked, lowering her voice. “Aion needs to be stopped, period, and I need to find my Ereb. I’m done playing this game.”
“How do we get out of here? I’m coming with you,” Ben replied, stepping
toward her.
“We have a better chance of taking Aion down if you work from the inside and I work from the outside,” she said.
He nodded. “You’re right, and we don’t have a lot of time. The extinction phases are starting—plagues, global pandemics, and waves of massive causalities. People won’t be able to stop it. I don’t care what the Order and Aion say, it won’t be a peaceful process at all. It will be total chaos, war could break out,” he said, panic in his voice.
He doesn’t even know the half of it, she thought, but she wasn’t about to give him the even worse news of pandemic-made demons. “How do we get to Aion?”
“I’m not totally sure, but I think our best chance to destroy Aion’s main systems is through the Order, and they’re in the Great Community. It’s not far from here. I’ll give you the coordinates and we’ll meet there.”
She nodded. “Now get me outta here?” She was getting impatient.
“I can get you outside into the compound, but you’re going to have to fight your way out from there. Replica and lot of firepower are between the fence perimeters and the towers,” he told her.
“I can do it, but what about you?”
“I’ll be alright, but we have to make this look good so they won’t think I helped you.”
She knew what he meant, and she didn’t want to. She paused for a moment and then knew he was right. “Okay, where do you want it?”
“I’ll consider this a love tap, but hit me hard like love punch. Not in the nose, though. That’s my best feature.”
She moved closer to him. “I don’t know if that’s your best feature. I like your eyes,” she replied, feeling her heart rate tick up.
“It’s funny you say that. I was going to say my eyes, but what about my lips?” He leaned in and put his hands on her hips.
She couldn’t help it, and neither could he. Some powerful force drew them to each other. She nodded and let him kiss her. Her temperature shot through the roof as he pressed his body against hers. It felt like she was doing a Time Grip, because the world stopped. She lost it and opened her mouth slightly and then felt his hands on her and then he began kissing her neck. She could tell he was trying to stop himself but couldn’t, and so was she. Finally, she took a hold of his arms and he pulled away from her, breathing deep.