Vernon didn’t like the sound of that at all. He was sure this guy was crazy smart. Or just crazy. Not that those aren’t exclusive, but sometimes it takes a little crazy to be smart enough to run a research and development department.
“Alright, what have you got in mind?”
“First questions, then it will take a few days for me to make you want the questions lead me to. This will determine what weapon is best suited for you, like an aptitude test.”
“What about all the time I’ve spent with swords and guns?”
“Training. Since this is you first true weapon, it needs to be yours, and needs to be something made for you. In every aspect.”
“Sure, why not. What’s the questions?”
Mark began to ask the questions, and each was fairly pedestrian to Vernon. Who do you protect, why, how, and things of the nature. There were fifteen in all, and the whole ordeal left Vernon confused as to how that would determine anything. After Mark finishes, Vernon just thinks to himself, more crazy than smart.
“So that all?”
“Yes that will suffice, and an unexpected result to be sure.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I never tell until it’s complete. I will start working on it today. It takes about a day for the delorium within the bone here to become malleable.”
“Delorium? Is that what’s in the bones?”
“Yes? Didn’t you know, I thought that was why you brought it to me?”
“No, but I do now, and that makes since. Thanks Mark.”
“Yes, well, I do have work to do. Your wife is still waiting in the hallway?”
“Think so?”
“Good, have her download the last forty-eight hours off your HaLO, and then tell her to come to me with it. She’s going to go through the data in that and help me out today.”
Vernon nods. “Thanks again Mark, looking forward to hearing from you.”
“I bet you are, and same to you. Oh and one last thing, your jacket, its damaged. Take the one off the shelf over there. Can’t have you going around with broken protection.”
Vernon thanks him again, grabbing the new jacket and walks out of the room. Marie is pacing back and forth in the hallway. She looks stressed, bitting her fingernails, and running her fingers through her hair. Vernon smiles, and walks over to her.
“So, seems I’m giving you some extra work today.”
“Oh yea, how so.”
Vernon tells her what happened with Mark, and the requests he made of her. She nods, understanding what to do, and leads him to a room down the hall. He was wondering what a download entailed, since he has never heard of anything like it. He knew that Knights could pull the name, location, and banking information off a person’s HaLO, but he didn’t think anything else was stored there. The HaLO is always been advertised as THE connection device. It is the virtual interface allowing digital information into the brain. Everything in Astrum was connected to the HVN. It wasn’t supposed to hold anything that might take away a person’s freedom, or be used against them in a crime.
The room Marie lead him into was a small one, with what looked like a dive chair. A black leather chair, with a black plastic dome on a hinge at the head, and a HaLO wrap. It looked identical to the ones they used on their honeymoon just a few weeks ago. Memories flooded back in of Dray-Gon, the conversation, him and Marie together alone.
Marie says, “I just learned about this yesterday, but it’s pretty simple.”
“Is it, freaks me out a little.”
“Oh, really. Why’s that?”
“Privacy, I know we are living in an unprecedented age of wonders, or that’s what my dad says. I just don’t like that someone can look to see what I’ve done over the last few days.”
“It doesn’t work exactly like that, you have to come here and get it downloaded. The program takes all the data from the last two days and puts together a cluster of video and memories. This is very close to what happened. Things like the color of a rock or wallpaper might be different, but the events are the same as they happened.”
“Oh. So why do you know all about this?”
“I’m going to be the new technician for this position. It’s a rotating thing, I scrubbed three guys yesterday, after watching six of them.”
“What are you doing with all of that?”
“Lab notes mainly. It’s also a great way to keep everything super fresh on what you were thinking and doing at the time of something. Since I’m still in training, they don’t want me to experience it just yet. They said it’s a privilege thing, or something.”
Vernon thinks about all the bad things this technology could be used for. If it were something that anyone could get their hands on, no one would be able to keep things private. On the reverse, it shouldn’t matter. Intimate moments aside, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about if someone sees his boring normal days. It’s the exciting ones he’s worried about, like yesterday.
“So are you going to go through this yourself?”
“Then can you pass over when I went to the cave yesterday. It was labeled as classified, and I shouldn’t even be talking about this at all with you now.”
Marie face showed she realized what he was talking about. “I have a sudden need to throw up.”
“Don’t do that. Look, just delete or erase whatever you can.” Vernon replays the events in his mind, not wanting anyone else to see what he had to go through in the caves. It dawns on him that he might not have to worry about that at all. “Oh, yea, I guess my HaLO was off for a few hours there, does that still pull up.”
“No, thank god. It has to use the HaLO to pull it. If I see anything I’ll delete it though. Also this conversation.”
“One last thing.”
“God, what.”
“Don’t get mad at me for what you see.”
Vernon blinks his eyes open, smacking his lips. His mouth feels dry, with a metallic taste to it. He looks around the room, and can see Marie at a desk, typing something on a physical display. Her lips curl into a smile, and she mouths something he can’t hear. He can faintly hear himself say, what?
She rolls her eyes, and walks over. Reaching up beside his head, pulling off the headphones. He feels a relief of pressure he didn’t realize was there until it was gone.
“That better?” She asks.
“Yes actually, what just happened?”
“The scan, I had to put you to sleep. It was only for a minute.”
Vernon scowls up at her.
“Vernon?” She asks.
“Yeah, what is it.”
“Let’s have kids.”
The thought hit Vernon like a truck. He wasn’t even sure if he was ready for kids, hell he still felt like one himself. They just recently got married, and now this? There was silence that filled the room. Marie’s eyes stayed on Vernon. Her legs were crossed, and foot was twitching back and forth with anticipation of what he was going to say. He stares, because there is no right answer to this.
“I’m not sure, I know I said something about it a few weeks ago. I just don’t know if we’re ready. Do you?”
“Blu and Ignis have shown me that I do. I really do. They can talk, and I want a little us that will do that too.”
“I talked to them this morning too. It’s crazy. Let me think about it, I’ll get back to you later today. Promise.”
She smiled at this, and kisses him on the lips. “Good.”
A message indicator comes into Vernon’s view. He slides it over while still sitting there in the modified dive chair. Duke Keragus was Vernon’s best friend. They had grown very close over the four years in high school they spent together. The bond was not broken either when he went off to the Paladin Academy for the last four year. He was there at his graduation of the academy, and then three weeks later, he stood next to him as the best man of his wedding. The message was from him. He had been in an accident, and was in the hospital. He was fine, but he needed to talk to him
. There were a couple of Knights asking him questions, and a Paladin was required to be there for it. The Paladin was Tyler, who knew Duke. He told Duke to send him the message to get to the hospital. Vernon stands up, noticing that his duster is missing, and finds it on the back of Marie’s chair. He grabs it and puts it on.
“Looks like I’m headed to the hospital.”
“Oh, why’s that?”
“Duke’s there for some reason with Tyler and a couple of Knights. So I have no idea. I’ll tell you once I go find out.”
12
New Atlantis Medical was at the heart of the dome. It had been some time since Vernon had been to a hospital like this one. Most of the time he got scratched or banged up, he would have gotten healed by a friend or the nearby clinic. In Saint Anthony dome, where he and Marie had lived, there was a clinic a few streets away. He walks in the building, though large automatic doors, into a waiting room. Everything smelt very clean, and he remembers the smell well. It was a chemical type of clean, something you don’t just get with just soap. A handful of people are waiting in the chairs which are placed around the entrance. Toward the right wall there was a reception kiosk. Vernon walks over to it to find where Duke was located.
A virtual assistant appears over the kiosk as Vernon gets close. It was see through, and had the same silhouette as a human, but its skin was made to look like red and blue computer circuits. It smiles at Vernon.
“Welcome Paladin Boch. Are you in need of medical care.” It’s tone was robotic, yet calming.
“No I’m not in need of medical care, I’m looking for a friend, and My name is Vernon Douglas.”
“I am sorry, your HaLO is registering as Baxter Boch. Have you applied for a name change form?”
“I never changed my name, and I don’t need the form no.” Vernon rubs at the bridge of his nose. There was no need to argue with a virtual assistant. “Where is Duke Keragus located?”
“Yes Paladin Boch, the patient is located in room 1215, please take the elevator on your left through the doors. Once you reach the twelfth floor, turn left and walk to the end of the hall.”
“Thanks, that is all.”
With that, the virtual assistant nods and returns to being a kiosk. He was going to have to spend time today to figure out why his HaLO had the wrong information on it, or he might regret it later. He follow the directions and as he exits the elevator. He can see there are two Knights in uniform standing at the end of the hall. They turn their heads to him, and stay there. Vernon waves at them, and one goes inside the room, returning shortly with Tyler. Vernon goes to meet Tyler, who also starts walking in his direction.
“Vernon.” Tyler says, “You got here fast?”
“I was at Mech talking with Mark Holt, what happened here?”
“Duke is fine, just hit his head. There is something I need to talk to you about in regards to this.”
“Alright.”
“Don’t ask for his help. He ran into Hood on his way out, don’t tell him too much. He is not a witness to anything other than a vandalism. Also, don’t try to pull him into this one. This is for you to learn, and he has already been through this himself.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a consultant for the Paladins now. There are a lot of Sage’s that do that. Since they are so heavily focus on magical research, we run into things that even we don’t know what’s going on. Just know that he doesn’t need to be tangled up in your training, ok.”
“I got it.”
“Good. Now go see your friend, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind having a friend around.”
Tyler beckons the Knights with a gesture, and they head his way, both looking displeased at the way they had just been called. Another reason Knights probably didn’t like Paladins. Vernon just watched as they went by, giving him the same dirty look as they gave Tyler, only to his face. The door was slightly open, and large enough to fit a queen sized bed through. Curtains were half pulled around a hospital bed, and there laid his friend Duke. His dirty blond hair was unkempt, next to a large bruise across his forehead. His blue eyes opened slowly, and noticed Vernon standing there. He smiled.
“Imagine my surprise to end up in here, and you weren’t even the cause of it.”
Vernon laughed. “About that, I actually might have had something to do with it.”
“Tyler told me. Wrong place and time I guess.”
“Yea, you ok.”
“Yea, I’m good. I was on my way to see you, when that white robed guy showed up.”
“I kind of made him run. Well not made, more like he was beating me and Tyler’s ass, and took off.”
“Yikes. Was he really going after Tyler?”
“Don’t know, but once Tyler started his offensive he bolted, so maybe not.”
“Tyler told me to stay out of this one, and I guess he told you the same.”
“Yea, something about this being training for myself.”
Duke closes his eyes for a second, and then grunts. “Then I guess I’ll stay out.”
“Oh. Ok, that’s cool. Since your all banged up I thought you were still going to try to force it.”
The door swings open, and a woman backs into the room, brown hair up in a bun. She was angrily mumbling something under her breath. There was a large machine she rolled into the room before speaking, the door swinging shut behind her.
“I still can’t believe you. How did you get yourself into this?”
Vernon recognized the voice immediately, it was Duke’s girlfriend and Marie’s good friend from high school. Ashley Ardieds, who was a talented healer and friend. Duke smiles, shaking his head slowly.
“You know there are other people in the room Ash?”
She turns around quickly, color in her cheeks. She recognizes Vernon, and lets out a breath of relief. “Oh, it’s just you.”
“Just me huh.” Vernon says.
“You know what I mean, if this all-mighty sage here would just keep his nose out of things.” She takes a deep breath. “Sorry, It’s good to see you.” She walks over and hugs him.
“Good to see you too. I didn’t know you worked here.”
“Just happened a few days ago. I got my healers license, and now I get to put it to practice.”
“That’s great. I’m sure that Marie will be happy about that.”
“It will be good to get back in touch with her, haven’t seen her since the wedding, and longer before that.”
“Yea, we all did go separate directions after high school huh.”
Duke laughs. “That is an understatement.”
Ashley laughs, “We stayed together, didn’t we Duke.”
Duke nods quickly, then his face contorts with pain. “We did.”
She shakes her head, walks over to him, then slaps him in the forehead. Duke clenches his teeth, reeling back from the blow. Her hands glow green, and start to rub the spot she hit.
Duke says, “You could be a bit more gentle.”
“And you could be a bit more thankful I’m not chewing your ass out right now.”
Duke stays silent.
Vernon chuckles.
Ashley shoots him a look. “This has something to do with you doesn’t it? He only woke up ten minutes ago, and you’re already here.”
“It does, kind of. I didn’t do anything directly, but I might have forced a still on the run drug lord to leave his stash of drugs.”
Her face fills with surprise. “You caused that explosion last night?”
“No he did that, I was just there to witness it up close. I even got the cuts to prove it.”
She mumbles, “It’s always something with this one.”
“Don’t worry, Duke and I already agreed, he was staying out of it.”
“Of course he is, this is Paladin business.”
“Well,” Duke says, “I could if I wanted to, but I don’t.”
She turns her head back to Duke. “You accepted the job. I thought we were going to talk about this more f
irst.”
“We were, and then Tyler made a really good offer.”
“It better have been.”
There was a knock on the door, and everyone’s head turned to see the door open. A man walked into the room, with a white suit. His eyes were a soft brown color, and he had a bright smile on his face that filled the room with warmth.
Duke says, “Master Mativ, how are you doing?”
“I should be asking that of you dear boy. Do you have any injuries that I need to be concerned about?”
“I’m fine, the car’s safety features saved me from anything more than this bump on my head, which Ashley here is taking care of right now.”
“That is a relief to hear. I rushed down here the moment I got the message you had been administered into the hospital. They wouldn’t let me up until just now.”
Ashley asks, “Why were you notified he got administered. That’s only for parents, guardians, or spouses.”
Duke answers, “He’s still listed as my guardian I suppose.”
“He is?”
“He’s like a father to me.”
Mativ says, “Yes, that is right. I am to assume you’re Ashley. Duke has told me a lot about you. My name is Selief Mativ, I am the master sage at the moment.”
Ashley says, “Yes, I am. It’s good to meet you. Duke hasn’t talked about you much.” She glares at him.
“Yes, well, the boy does like to be on his own as much as possible. There are a lot of people who didn’t want to associate with him because of me. I am a figurehead of sorts. He didn’t want people to treat him differently is all.”
“Oh,” She says, “I didn’t know.”
“Perfectly alright, no harm done.” Selief turns to Vernon. “You must be Vernon then?”
Vernon says, “I am, nice to meet you.” He extends out his hand, and Selief meets it. His grip is strong, yet doesn’t overpower. There are two HaLOs on his wrist. One is snug tight to his skin, like it should be, and the other is loose.
“As is you. You have been a great friend to my adopted son, and for that I thank you.”
“I have heard a great many things about his master, but I didn’t know he meant you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Cypher Theorem Series Box Set: Books 1-3, The Zero Class, Shadow Moon, Dragon Fire: A Science Fiction Fantasy Page 47