by Toker, Dor
Adam did not wait to see his pursuers shatter the door he had locked just seconds ago, but jumped into the imprint of the darkened city and disappeared into its alleys.
The three pursuers spread between the city streets, covering equal sized areas. They advanced in a systematical and orderly manner so that nothing would elude their senses. Whenever one of them reached an intersection, he turned away from the group. In that way, they were able to spread out simultaneously in a fan-like formation across several alleys while distancing themselves from one another. The right-hand pursuer advanced slowly down a darkened alley. His eyes, which were in tactical mode, identified movement. Statistical data, target size, and distance estimations appeared on his eyepiece screen. He continued to advance slowly toward the living body that was apparently standing motionless. When he reached a distance of six feet from the target, he lunged toward it and caught his prey. To his surprise, an oversized alley cat fought him and scratched his cheek. He emitted a high-pitched scream and pushed the cat away from him. Before he was able to stand up, a well-aimed blow to his throat knocked him on his knees and blocked his windpipe. The image of Adam could momentarily be discerned in the shadows, then the pursuer’s mind clouded and he fell on his side. Adam hurried to return to the darkness and quickly distanced himself from the body lying on the ground. He knew this wasn’t a training game and every mistake would be accompanied not only by painful punishment, but with certain death. He waited below an iron staircase and watched the place from which he estimated another pursuer might come to the aid of his friend, following the scream he emitted just before he’d been neutralized. He stood still and tried to appear as small as possible. Only the rustling sound of the wind accompanying the blow that was aimed at him had saved his life and he managed to evade the hand that attempted to kill him. He rolled aside, spraining his shoulder during the evasive maneuver, attempting to spring toward the darkness, but hands sent from somewhere forcefully grabbed his neck and attempted to strangle him. He tried to release himself in spite of the waves of pain his shoulder was sending down his hand. The nanocells began to operate in the damaged area and he felt their itch. He forcefully stepped on the attacker’s leg who groaned with pain, then bit the hand that’d grabbed him. The man released his hold and jumped back, but clung to Adam’s shirt. Adam lost his footing and that gave the man an opportunity to regain his balance and grab him while hitting his face. Adam protected himself as well as he could from the blows and tried to release himself, but a stronger blow to his head stunned him. At the same moment, an unusual sensation began to pass through him. Electrical heat waves washed his body, which toughened and filled with energy. The attacker was stunned. His prey’s body became larger and wider in front of his eyes. In the darkness, Adam’s eyes glittered with unnatural light, and the man recoiled, feeling the young man looking at him, through him, around him, penetrating his body and seeing straight into his soul. He felt his soul tear from his body and draw into the eyes of his rival. For a moment, he loosened his hold on Adam before regaining his composure and resuming his attack. This inch of hesitation was all that Adam needed. All at once, his mind had cleared and ordered the rest of his body to act brutally. With a swift and smooth motion, beyond human capabilities, Adam twisted his wrists and released himself from his enemy. He rose to his feet, lifted his attacker with his healthy hand and threw him against the wall of the nearest house. The thrown attacker hit the wall, his head bent unnaturally and he fell down. Adam approached him, checked, just as he was instructed during his training in the foglet simulator and discovered that the man was dead. A part of him was stunned and frightened by the deed he had done for the second time – he killed a man, took the life of someone who was alive a moment ago and was now lying motionless at his feet, while another part kept analyzing the situation and seeking escape routes. Possible solutions with a higher probability for a successful outcome appeared as data on his eye-screens.
Suddenly, the light turned on and the urban reality melted in front of his eyes. Through the fading fog, the walls of the large training chamber were revealed and Adam saw Elizabeth with an armed group of her men. She hurried to him and embraced him. He yielded to her embrace for a moment, then disentangled himself and sprung on the first attacker who tried to evade him behind Elizabeth. The cancelation of the foglet simulation had caught him unprepared, and he was exposed standing about fifteen feet from them, hurrying toward the foglet chamber’s exit. Adam jumped toward him but missed him by a few inches and the pursuer evaded him and disappeared through the shattered chamber door. Elizabeth held Adam’s arm and immediately diverted her hand, startled. His skin was burning and he appeared to be shining. Looking into his eyes, she realized at once, what had happened. The brain implant became prematurely active, probably because of the situation the boy had found himself in. His body, which gave the implant distress signals, had caused it to tense, solidify and grow all at once. Adam returned to examine the dead attacker. The implant, which protected him from involuntary responses, released measured quantities of stabilizing substances while analyzing the experience he had just now undergone. He recalled the first time he’d hit one of the agents chasing him. It had been different that time and with the aid of a stun gun, this time he had killed a man with his bare hands. He discovered the feeling it aroused in him was different but just as unpleasant.
“Come on,” Elizabeth commanded her subordinates, “this place has been exposed. Clear everything and evacuate according to escape plan sixteen C.”
“What should I do with the bodies?” asked the commander of the force. They did not delay to check if the first attacker was dead or alive. One of them had shot at the enemy’s head and then they continued to come to Adam’s aid.
“Leave them where they are. And Sergeant Clay…” she hesitated for a moment and her voice became tinged with sadness. “We’ll cremate Sergeant Clay’s body in a quick ceremony. I would like to say a few words in the crematorium.”
The crew obeyed Elizabeth, leaving her and Adam by themselves.
“What’s going on with me?” asked Adam. He did not ask about the attack, after all, he was trained for that from the moment he had reached the Amsterdam Company. If he was intimidated by the changes in his brain, Elizabeth couldn’t sense it. He merely sounded curious to her.
“It’s the brain implant,” she said, “it became prematurely active. You will discover that your capabilities will improve with its aid. The first time, it turns itself off immediately. Next time it becomes operative, you will feel its full strength, and then it will continue to operate for good.”
“Interesting,” said Adam, “who do you think turned me in?” Elizabeth was unable to answer this question.
“Most of the time it’s one of our people the corporation managed to capture or threaten his family. Remember that evil is inside us. It comes from us, from you too,” she added quietly. Adam nodded and kept silent when Elizabeth explained she must hide him. She suggested a solution with a high probability of success, smuggling him outside the Earth, perhaps to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. He merely nodded again and allowed her to lead him to the rescue hovercraft.
Elizabeth clearly remembered the day in which the implant had become operative in her head. She discovered, for the first time, the destiny her parents had in mind for her when they’d purchased the appropriate implant. Out of the list presented them at the hospital, they could afford to purchase a lawyer or teacher implant, but her father, without her mother’s knowledge, had borrowed money from his uncle, Richard Wright, so that he could afford a more expensive implant and secure his daughter’s future as a military commander. The teenage Elizabeth, unaware of the drama that had taken place upon her birth, grew up with a sense that she was destined for more than life and society had dictated to her. Her father snuck strange elements to her training and studies, elements that did not fit what she thought of as her designated profession. ‘Why do I need hand-to-hand combat training if I’ll be a lawyer when
I grow up?’ she asked her father who woke her up again one winter morning and urged her to face him in the ring for a Jujutsu training session. Her father did not answer and aimed a short punch toward his daughter’s shoulder. Who could have known that her father’s time was limited and once she would become fifteen, he would leave her by herself. He died along with five hundred other people in a train accident that had taken place as a result of a cruel chase, conducted by corporation agents, of an employee that’d betrayed them and revealed secrets to their competitors. The train accident and the large amount of money paid to the victims’ family members had been just another small line on the corporation’s list of expenses, but it could never compensate those who were left behind for the loss of lives or for their sorrow.
Elizabeth’s mother was unable to continue to function following her husband’s death. She neglected herself and her daughter and could not even rise from her bed. Two years later, she put an end to her own life, leaving seventeen-year-old Elizabeth all alone in the world. Ignoring the recommendation of the Designation Office that had suggested she continue with her law studies, Elizabeth enrolled in the army.
When her brain implant became operative, Elizabeth was deployed to the southern border of the European Union and the Western Nation, commanding a warrior squad on the front. All at once, the young Elizabeth understood what she should do. In her heart, she thanked her father for the legal training her status had earned her, but mainly for the secret lessons in military tactics and combat training he had forced her to undertake. That very same night, she left her unit and permanently disappeared from humanity’s official records.
The young Elizabeth may have immediately realized what her destiny was, but Adam’s brain implant was activated too soon, and she assumed he must be confused and flooded with emotions. In spite of her curiosity, Ellie chose not to interrogate Adam and allow him time and personal space for self-discovery. “It’s just like being allergic to bee stings,” she offered an explanation without being asked, “the second sting is the lethal one.”
Chapter 13
Adam followed Elizabeth down the lower corridors of the Australian Prime Minister’s offices in the Earth Spaceport complex. His thoughts wandered repeatedly to the implant in his brain. He tried to avoid operating it independently because Elizabeth had claimed it acted automatically, but mainly because he recalled the analytical chill that had blown inside his mind while he’d been connected to it, the speed of his reactions, the excitement that clung to him when he had recognized his growing powers. He was afraid he might drown within this excitement. Elizabeth had to wait for him time and again so that he wouldn’t lose his way down the maze of corridors. She felt his confusion ever since she had evacuated him from the training camp, but knew that eventually he would have to confront the changes he was undergoing. She could not help him with that, so she decided to let him be. Elizabeth did not want to use the elevators, as she suspected they were connected to a control center that was monitored and operated, in one way or another, by the corporation. Even in the most secure center on the face of the Earth, the Skil Corporation had human agents and technological means that provided it with constant reports. Therefore, they climbed an ancient winding staircase. At its end, a young soldier waited for them. He led them to a small empty side room. Once he had made sure they were inside the room, the soldier closed the door and disappeared. The wall facing the door slid soundlessly and a narrow opening appeared in it. Elizabeth and Adam passed through the small opening into a larger and furnished room. Chapalcharie was there to welcome them. He gave Elizabeth a warm hug and firmly shook Adam’s hand. “So this is your new diamond?” he asked Elizabeth.
“Yes,” she answered, “he’s definitely a diamond, but he’s not mine. Actually, I would love to continue and polish him up, but as you know, there are those who seek him out.”
“And you plan on flying him to Europa?”
“Yes,” said Elizabeth, “I hope he’ll be safer there. It will take them time to locate him in Europa.”
“Good,” said the prime minister and his face did not betray his doubts regarding the validity of Elizabeth’s claim. He knew as well as she did that the best they could do was to delay the corporation agents, definitely not to stop them. He turned to Adam. “So far, I’ve heard all about what everyone wants from you. I’m much more interested in what you want.”
Adam hesitated before he answered: “I want to be left alone,” he finally said. “I want everyone to leave me alone.”
Chapalcharie smiled. “You don’t have that privilege,” he said.
“I know,” said Adam. “I assume in principle I agree with Elizabeth.”
The prime minister gave Elizabeth a signal and she nodded in response. “You still have some time before you have to board the shuttle,” he added following another moment of silence, “why won’t you stay here with me in the meantime.”
“As if I have a choice,” Adam murmured. He would much rather spend more time with Elizabeth. He knew he’d miss her wherever he’d be and wherever he’ll fly to. Elizabeth sensed his hesitation and calmed him: “I’ll meet you before you board the shuttle.” Adam nodded and followed his teacher, instructor, friend with his eyes as she left the room.
“Do you know who I am?” asked Chapalcharie and returned Adam’s attention to him.
“You’re the Prime Minister,” answered the boy, “at least that’s what Elizabeth said.”
“Right,” smiled Chapalcharie, “I really am a Prime Minister, but that’s just a title. Who am I really?” Adam thought for a moment before replying. He was tempted to try to discover the answer with the information located in his brain implant’s added memory, but the memory of the sensations the previous usage of the microchip had brought with it discouraged him from doing so. Chapalcharie felt his hesitation and laughed. “I’m The First among the Dreamers,” he explained, “we people of the fifth continent, are the dreamers of reality in the ‘Dream Time’.”
Adam wasn’t sure he understood Chapalcharie’s intention. “What is the Dream Time?” he asked.
“Oh, that depends on who you’re asking,” the prime minister answered, “when the white man began researching the ‘Real People’, that’s how we are called in our own language, or ‘People of the Dream’ as I prefer to be called, he found it difficult to decipher the special meaning we relate to as the tribal dream. What the white people did not understand was that what they referred to as dream, was reality for us. The easiest way for me to explain it is that it’s an additional dimension that exists alongside known reality, but this definition fails to accurately describe our conception of it as well.”
“I never dream,” Adam fired.
“I think you should try to avoid such bold statements,” Chapalcharie instructed him, “of course you dream, we all dream.”
“Well,” Adam answered, “maybe that’s true, but I can never remember my dreams.”
“Your body remembers,” explained Chapalcharie, “and so does your heart.”
Adam thought about the words of his interlocutor, and then asked, “So you’re what? The commander of the dreamers?”
Chapalcharie burst out laughing again, but his laughter did not contain scorn or ridicule, Adam felt his intentions were good. “I serve as a hand in the dreamers’ time clock. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that I serve as the guardian of the tiny hole through which matter flows in the dream clock from side to side.” Adam still didn’t get it but decided to it let go for the time being. “I would like to give you an offer that carries a certain risk with it,” Chapalcharie added, “you may, of course, turn it down, but I have a feeling you won’t.” Adam was silent and waited for the prime minister to detail his offer. “Would you like to dream with me?”
Adam was surprised. “To dream with you?” he asked.
“Yes,” answered Chapalcharie, “to dream the way the dream people do.”
“I won’t be able to fall asleep now,” said the youth, and C
hapalcharie erupted in a hearty laugh.
“There are all sorts of dreaming,” he said and immediately added, “let’s try. I’ll help you.” He guided Adam to a small niche at the side of the room and held the carrier stick (Carrier Stick ©), an ancient object that had passed from generation to generation in the Chapalcharie family. Chapalcharie himself called it ‘The Dream Gate’. He handed it to Adam and both men held the stick with their hands. “Close your eyes,” Chapalcharie instructed and when Adam obeyed, he continued to speak with a measured voice: “I’ll count to ten now and once I’m done you will open your eyes.” Adam nodded, his eyes closed, and Chapalcharie began to count. “One, two, three…” he continued to count to ten. Adam opened his eyes and was amazed to discover they were standing on the edge of a wide cliff and in front of them, way below and spreading in every direction, as far as the eye could see, a breathtaking view could be seen; a colorful and bright view of mountains and valleys, rivers and waterfalls, forests and deserts.
‘We’re facing the rest of the world,’ the recognition passed through Adam’s mind.
“Exactly,” said Chapalcharie, “we’re facing the world, or more exactly, you are facing it.”
Adam wasn’t surprised by the fact the Prime Minister was reading his thoughts within the dream, he was surprised by the fact he did not find it to be surprising. He opened his mouth to speak, but Chapalcharie began to speak first: “You don’t need to speak with your mouth in the dream,” he said.