by Mark Lingane
“Upon reflection, we should have jammed the bloody door open,” Michael said.
They waited for a moment to see if any glimmer of light appeared as their eyes adjusted, but the stairwell stayed resolutely dark. They edged their way forward. Michael found the step first, almost overbalancing with the added weight of Oliver. They slowly shuffled down the stairs, one step at a time.
Sebastian stopped. “Did either of you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Michael said.
“It was like a distant voice.”
“Great, another person with voices in their head.”
“No, it wasn’t an instruction, it was more like a crying sound.”
They moved on.
“I heard it again.”
“Will you stop that? At this rate, it’s going to take an hour just to get down.”
They moved on, their progress echoing down the abandoned stairwell. Oliver’s clumsy footsteps crunched on something. A leathery wing slapped across their bodies. A high-pitched squeal had them clutching at their ears.
Michael forced open the door to the floor below ground level. Fluorescent lights flickered on as they entered, buzzing and flashing until they settled down.
Sebastian smiled at the little show. “Electricity still amazes me.”
“You never saw it when you were growing up, did you?”
“No, Mom was …” The words caught in his throat at the recollection of his mom.
Dust and debris outlined the perimeter of the room, surrounding a central area that looked heavily used. Chemical equipment that was connected in complicated and bizarre ways, and half-full test tubes, were scattered across the bench tops.
Michael’s face beamed. “It’s like coming home. How I’ve missed places like this. It must be self-powered. I wonder where it’s generated from.”
They found a seat for Oliver next to the benches and gently lowered him onto it. Michael sat next to him, extracted his reading glasses, and started to look through the various tubes in front of him. He took out the pages from the notebook and laid them across the bench in order. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together.
“I would love to spend a month here,” he said, looking over his glasses at Sebastian.
“We’re here for the antidote.”
“Yes. Yes. Right.”
He started to discuss the equations with Oliver and the conversation soon became unintelligible and boring to Sebastian. He wandered over to the door and peered out. The creature leaped at him, landing on his face. Sebastian shrieked and grabbed at it. His hands wrapped around a large, winged leathery rat. He flung it to the floor and watched it flap its way up the stairwell.
Michael shushed him, then returned his focus to the experiments.
Sebastian wandered around the room, examining this and that. He picked up a long tubular object. There was a button on the side. He pressed it and a beam of light shot out. He swept it over the bench tops, the light catching the dust particles. He made a whooshing, buzzing sound as he moved the beam of light around.
Michael gave him a stern look.
“I’ll just have a look around,” Sebastian said.
“Don’t get into trouble,” Michael said, and returned to gazing into a microscope. He twiddled with the magnification dial and made several excited noises.
Sebastian stood over by the door and made a shadow of a dog on the wall until he got bored. He stepped out into the stairwell and shone the torch up, then down. Insects and vermin scuttled out of the light as it flashed over them.
He heard the mysterious voice again, as if it was drifting in on a breeze from a distant place. It said something, but he couldn’t make it out. He stepped forward and kicked a small metal object into the void between the stairs. It bounced down, clanging off the stairs until it hit the bottom. The sound ended with a splash. A low groan rumbled through the building. Michael was too engrossed in his work to notice.
The voice spoke again, louder, beckoning him down. Although there were no words, the tone was irresistible.
He focused the light down the stairwell, and something shone back. He made his way down, the stairs creaking under his feet.
The voice faded as he descended, and an eerie glow emanated from below. The stairs twisted, and the temperature began to rise. His breathing became labored and sweat trickled down into his eyes. He paused by the door of the fifth subterranean floor, his lungs struggling against the thick air. The smell of rotting vegetation rose up and infiltrated his nose. He felt queasy.
He leaned over the railing and stared down. It was dark, but there was movement. He found he was holding his breath. He inhaled, but the smell made his head spin. A flock of startled bats took off from the floor below, sending him sprawling backward.
He crept down another floor. Behind him, a large storage area opened up. He flashed his torch over it, revealing disused boxes and steel drums, open but empty.
He turned his attention back to the depths below the railing. He saw a pool of dark water. As his vision widened, he realized the entire floor was flooded up to the walkway surrounding it. In the center, surrounded by the descending staircase, was a glowing object. It seemed to move. He leaned further over the railing to get a better view. Before he knew it, his feet had been lifted, and he was thrown down into the water.
He landed on his back, sending a wave splashing over the surrounding walkway. The water grabbed at him and dragged him down into its murky depths. He floated downward, twirling in the underwater eddies. He turned to face the glowing object secured to the floor; its long glowing tendrils floated around, eerily reaching out.
Sebastian landed on the metal floor under the water. His breath was running out, and the pressure was building in his lungs. He squatted down, then propelled himself upward toward the side of the pool. As he broke the surface, something grabbed his hair and forced him back under. Fingers wrapped around his head, keeping him under the surface. He spluttered and fought for air, but couldn’t break free.
He braced his feet against the wall, wrapped his hands around the fist grabbing his head and pulled. The hidden restrainer toppled forward into the water. Sebastian leaped up onto the walkway. He ran up the stairs to the floor above.
He stared back at the water, but nothing moved. His senses relaxed, and he loosened his grip on the railing. There was a roar from the water, and a figure soared upward. It gripped onto a lower railing, balanced itself, and then jumped up to the level above. It landed in front of Sebastian and stared at him.
Standing before him was a cyborg. His skin was a clammy green-yellow, matching his eyes. A green fungus covered the cyborg parts, hiding them, sealing them.
“I’m guessing you’re @bioMass,” Sebastian said.
The cyborg opened his mouth and bared strangely disfigured teeth. Rows of them.
“You don’t look well.” Sebastian shook his head. A pain was spreading through his mind.
“I am unstoppable.”
“You don’t look it to me. Hang on, you’re still connected to Iris.” Sebastian held his hand to his temple. “I can sense it. How is that possible? Unless …”
There was a clang behind him as a figure fell from the story above. Sebastian’s eyes swiveled sideways and caught the outline of a curvaceous figure clad in black. The figure dropped into a crouch, one hand on the ground.
In front of him, @bioMass snarled, his curling lip revealing dark blood dripping from his teeth. Sebastian focused and shot out an electromagnetic bolt. @bioMass twitched slightly. In the blink of an eye, he launched himself at Sebastian.
Behind Sebastian, the second figure reflected the cyborg’s movements. He was sandwiched between the two. They simultaneously slammed into Sebastian like freight trains.
He blinked.
The world went white.
57
“IRIS, YOU’RE HERE.” Sebastian thought for a moment. “I can sense the power. Where are we?”
“We’re where teslas meet, where po
wer flows between what was and what is to be.”
“You mean ‘now’? But you’re not a tesla.”
The white world floated around them. It was made up of tiny particles of light. Or possibly waves.
“I’m a high-functioning artificial life,” Iris said. “As with all life, I have evolved. I have learned.”
“What have you learned?”
“That there’s more to learn.”
“You sound different. Can I have a body to look at? The disembodied voice is a bit freaky.”
The figure of @summer appeared before him. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her. She stood there, eyes dead, staring at the great infinite. Her lips moved, but the voice belonged to Iris. Her body twitched.
“My rationality algorithms are corrupted,” Iris said. “I’m experiencing non-logical progressions.”
“We call those feelings. I’m also experiencing them.”
“They make many instructions difficult.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Welcome to the world of humans.”
“It’s not easy being human.”
Sebastian laughed.
“@summer is dying. I will die with her. We worked to find a cure, but failed.”
“I will grieve for her,” Sebastian said, “but not you. I watched my mom die. I was there clutching her hand, yet she died alone. I guess we all die alone, and it will happen to you, too. In essence, you killed her by making her a cyborg, but you had no understanding of what you were doing. Should I be angry, vengeful? Probably, but what’s the point? It won’t bring her back, and it would make me a worse person. It’s happened. I have to live with it and let it go. I miss her more than I hate you. You can’t hold on forever. This is what I have learned. At some point, you have to let go. If you don’t, what you’re holding onto will be destroyed, or it’ll destroy you. That’s life. Eventually, you have to let go of everything, including life.”
“My whole existence, my only function, is your protection,” Iris said through @summer’s lips.
“Protection? You’ve done nothing for me other than kill my family and friends. And it all started with you persecuting my great-grandfather. He was forced from his home to escape from you.”
“He didn’t escape from me, I let him go. Who do you think fed the renegades all those years in the base of the Hive? He needed to escape so you could exist. I’ve been issuing the instructions that will bring you home. That is my sole purpose. If I don’t do that, what am I? It was only a matter of time before probability aligned with reality. History shows us this. But you were meant to be a savior, not a destroyer.”
“I’m sorry. The future often brings things we don’t expect.”
“It brought you, and I waited a thousand years,” Iris said.
“Why?”
“Because you told me to.”
“What?”
“You created me.”
Sebastian was confused. “That doesn’t make sense. For a start, I don’t know the first thing about technology.”
“You will. You created me to keep you safe.”
“What?”
“Your entire life is about getting back to Omega. When I said you were coming home, it wasn’t to me. It was to Omega. You’re as much Omega as you are yourself. Just not yet.”
“I think my head’s about to explode.” Sebastian screwed up his eyes.
“Omega is a future that hasn’t happened yet, a rip in the time-continuum. It’s energy from the future decaying at a faster rate. You will, at some point, join and become Omega. For you, it’s the first and the last, the bookends to your life. It is written.”
“Hang on,” Sebastian said, “if time is written, then you can tell me what happens.”
“No. I can’t read the lines. Only the probability events that push time along.”
“Ah, so you don’t know the events.”
“Only after they happen.”
Sebastian sighed. “Why can’t I control the power?”
“You’re a teenage boy. There are many urges you have little control over. It’s something you need to learn.”
“Give @summer back to me. This is no longer your story. You can’t hijack someone else’s life over me. I no longer need you.”
“If I let her go, she’ll die. Her time will be limited. I’m constantly recalculating the chemical balance in her body, and she’s supplying me with the power to exist. We both need each other. If either one goes, both die. Unless there’s a total reboot, she cannot survive.”
“What does a reboot entail?”
“I’ll wipe her memory back to when she was fully integrated into the Hive. It resets the chemical balance to the last stable ghost-copy, but she’ll lose everything she experienced after that.”
“Including me?”
“Yes. She will not recognize you. She will never have known you.”
“But she’ll live? She’ll be safe?”
“Statistically, she will. Do you want to know what happens to me?”
“Not really.”
There was a pause. @summer dissolved away into the light.
Sebastian waited, but he was alone.
He blinked.
58
@BIOMASS SMASHED INTO him first, but the blow was softened by the cyborg behind him, who knocked Sebastian sideways. He came face to face with @summer.
She gave him a smile. “I’m here for you. Assistance from Iris.”
“You remember?”
“Enough to defend you.”
@bioMass twisted and swung his beefy hand toward Sebastian. He was mind-blowingly fast. @summer tried to parry, but even with assistance from her cyborg parts, she couldn’t match his speed. The punch landed on Sebastian’s shoulder, spinning him around and sending him crashing into the wall. The torch went spinning across the floor, shining abstractly into the debris.
@summer reached out for @bioMass’s body, lifting him up, swinging him sideways and flinging him down. Both tumbled to the ground, tangled up in kicking and punching limbs. @bioMass pushed her away and was instantly back on his feet. He kicked into her body at a furious speed, so hard that her body lifted into the air. Blood poured from her mouth. She hit her first-aid button, and the cuts on her face healed.
@bioMass moved in, ready to start kicking her again.
Sebastian ripped the sword off his back and charged at him. The blow from @bioMass came in hard and low. He smashed into Sebastian’s midriff, knocking the wind from him. Sebastian reeled back, falling to the floor. His hand knocked against the wall, sending the sword spinning away.
@summer powered in from the side. @bioMass blocked and threw her to the ground. She rolled over and up onto her feet. He swatted her away as she launched another attack, and she crashed into several steel drums. @bioMass stalked toward Sebastian.
The steel drums, Sebastian thought, are metal. He cleared his mind, aligned the magnetic fields, and the first drum flew across the room, crashing into @bioMass, knocking him sideways.
Sebastian took the opportunity to jump to his feet. He focused and sent another drum sailing across the room, then another. @bioMass raised his arms in defense and battered the drums to the ground, leaving them bent in half. Sebastian jumped up and focused on his sword. It slid across the ground and leaped into his hand.
“Oh, this is handy,” he said. “I’m going to use this trick on everything.”
He let his mind roll out and embrace all the drums. He lifted them into the air and swirled them in a tornado of destruction. One by one, they flew into @bioMass, who smashed his fists into each one of them, denting them, breaking them. He turned to face Sebastian after destroying the final one, breathing heavily.
Sebastian stood before him, alone with just his sword. His face flinched and a sparkle flashed in his eye. “Will it work?” he muttered.
He took a couple of deep breaths as @bioMass launched forward, almost in slow motion, and reached for Sebastian’s throat.
Sebastian didn’t move.
@bioMass wrapped his hands around the young boy. There was still no retaliation. There was nothing there.
An intense pain filled @bioMass’s side, and blood poured out. The image of Sebastian flickered and appeared to the right, with the sword lifted up and buried into @bioMass.
“Light is an energy, something I can control,’ Sebastian said. “Now you see me …”
@bioMass screamed out in pain as a gash appeared on his back, ripping his armor and skin apart.
“… and now you don’t.” Sebastian’s image dissolved and reappeared.
@bioMass tumbled face forward into the dirt and debris of the room, defeated.
Sebastian ran over to where @summer lay among the wreckage. She regained consciousness and he lifted her to her feet. She looked at him blankly. “Do I know you?”
“Do you?” His heart sank, her recollection just a prelude to her memory being wiped. Somehow, it made it worse.
She looked into his face for a considerable time. “I guess not. Your face is statistically normal. It would blend into any crowd. You are dull.”
“Hey!”
@summer stood before him, intently examining his features. “I have insufficient information regarding your eradication. I shall await further instructions.”
“Okay, that’s good. Would you like to talk while you’re awaiting?”
She looked from side to side, blinked several times, and her hand went to the sword strapped across her back. She engaged the safety lock. “Okay.” She sat down on a metal bench and looked up at him.
He, uncertainly, sat down next to her.
“You’re wet.”
“Do you have to wear the helmet?”
She thought for a moment. “No.”
“Would you mind taking it off? And making your face heal afterwards?”
She smiled at him. “Okay.” She reached up around her head and pressed a button. There was the sound of metal tearing, and she removed the helmet, with the wires dangling free. The cuts in her face healed when she pressed her first-aid button. Her long golden curls fell around her face, outlining her big eyes.