Putting the stack of fiber tissues under his arm, Joel opened the book at the first page. Already confused by the ancient names and locations the author put on his prologue, he decided he’d need to sit in front of his computer terminal to check the wikis for them if only so the story would make a little bit more sense. He closed the book and looked around. Children ran about, unsupervised, playing while the adults formed small pockets and chit-chatted away their evening before going to bed. Joel figured there was something sad about the kids who appeared to be unaware of the life that was awaiting most of them ahead. Only a small percentage of them would grow up to attempt a somewhat fulfilling adulthood, provided they did well in the aptitude tests while the rest would just become more cogs in the survival machine that kept the Citadel running and its inhabitants fed. End even those who did well in the tests would have to live with the constant threat of Citadel Controllers taking over and automating whatever critical thinking jobs that still existed. For the last few months, it had become routine to walk in the shop every morning while half expecting his desk to be cleared and replaced with some sort of direct access network device for the princess to make him irrelevant. Maybe when that happened, if given the choice, he would be a farmer. He figured it would be nice to see the surface at least once in his life.
The line moved slowly but steadily and it wasn’t long before he reached the window. An attendant inside pointed a handheld device at him and Joel presented the back of his right hand. The device read the implanted chip and buzzed with a green light then she picked up a small knapsack behind and handed it to him.
“Next,” she said.
Joel nodded and walked away, putting the book and tissues inside the knapsack. Sublevels were shaped like rings that had been carved on top of one another and circled around the central engineering elements of the Citadel. Most sublevels contained twelve junctions roughly located where the hours of a clock would be, each junction connected to the next by a tunnel. The junctions functioned as standalone units with their own commissary, distribution center and living quarters. In general, the higher the sublevel, the better off its inhabitants were and the better their living conditions. The exception to the rule were the engineers who were designated apartments closest to their assignments which for Joel meant living in one of the deepest sublevels, away from his parents and the people he grew up with. It had been close to five years since he had been relocated from sublevel three and he still found it hard to befriend others in his assigned junction. Luckily, the commissary’s supply of old paperbacks kept him entertained.
Towards the back of the junction, behind the distribution center, there were entrances to the apartment complex which was a series of stacking corridors carved in the limestone and connected with stairwells running along the outer edges of the vault. Joel went for the stairwell entrance on the left then climbed up four stories. Next to the exit, there were the communal bathrooms with their typical pungent stench emanating from them even with the doors closed. Joel was grateful his assigned apartment was located all the way in the back, at the end of the corridor. His door was the only one locked with an electronic chip reader. He opened it and walked in.
Joel’s apartment was just like the rest. Shaped like a sideways cylinder and big enough for a bed and a storage cabinet but not much else. The one difference with his was the computer terminal on the small desk by the door. Being a power grid engineer meant he was on-call 24 hours a day but he couldn’t recall a single instance where he had to wake up in the middle of the night to fix anything. The princess would always take care of whatever happened but he still kept it powered on. On the screen, there was the same systems status overview window as the one he had in the shop. As usual, everything was on the green.
There was no need to check on the Citadel so he sat down on the chair and opened the cabinet next to the bed to store his groceries. Out of the knapsack he kept an apple then turned the chair to face the computer terminal. He minimized the status screen and brought up a wiki page to search for the term ‘Taprobane’ then felt a little disappointed when he found it to be a fictional country in the novel which took away some of the immersion of the story. Shrugging, he stood up then lay in bed, as he held the novel with one hand and the apple with the other. Immersive or not, he figured it should still be a good read.
Late in the night, Joel woke up to a buzzing alarm coming from his computer terminal. He sat in bed for a few seconds looking at the screen, waiting for the alarm to stop at any moment once the lady Controller fixed whatever was going on. But the alarm continued. He put aside the book and the half-eaten apple on the bed then sat down in front of the terminal. The status screen still showed all systems in the green. Then he noticed a blinking red button on the top right which read ‘Remote Systems’. Clicking the button brought up a map that covered the American continent with outlines delineating the borders of pre-Sync countries. On the southwestern edge of the old United States territory, he saw a green dot positioned where Angeles Citadel would be but then a few inches above it, there was another marker pulsing red.
Francisco Citadel, Joel thought.
He clicked the marker and the same status screen he would see for his home Citadel came up but that one showed several subsystems in the red. Distressed, Joel felt his heart rate speed up. He then checked the alarms one by one:
Power routing disabled by root_Controller: [email protected]. Timestamp: 03:27:16 | 03/31/2343
Oxygen recycling engines 01 through 28 disabled by root_Controller: [email protected]. Timestamp: 03:29:16 | 03/31/2343
Water reclamation engines 01 through 36 disabled by root_Controller: [email protected]. Timestamp: 03:35:16 | 03/31/2343
“Oh my god,” Joel whispered as new alarms popped up.
Critical warning – Capacitor matrix charge at 26%. Timestamp: 03:36:16 | 03/31/2343
Critical warning – Barrier collapse imminent. Timestamp: 03:36:16 | 03/31/2343
His mind racing, trying to find a way to fix whatever the hell was going on, he opened a knowledge base and moved the window aside then opened his text chat application and double-clicked Martin’s picture.
Francisco Citadel status. Are you seeing this? he typed in the chat window, hoping his terminal was glitching and Martin’s was showing normal status. But he didn’t answer. Meanwhile more alerts popped up.
Critical warning – Capacitor matrix charge at 8%. Timestamp: 03:41:16 | 03/31/2343
Then it dawned on him. There were at least a million people living there and their Citadel’s most critical systems had just failed.
Catastrophic Failure – Capacitor matrix charge depleted. Timestamp: 03:45:16 | 03/31/2343
Catastrophic Failure – Bastion array power outage. Timestamp: 03:45:18 | 03/31/2343
Catastrophic Failure – Citadel Barrier has collapsed. Timestamp: 03:45:18 | 03/31/2343
Impotent to do anything, Joel sat there in shock as it became perfectly clear what had just happened.
Francisco Citadel had fallen.
Sophia
MOTHER CALLS TO me and I follow.
Doubt crawls into my mind as I watch the body I once occupied be reduced to crystallized flesh. She senses this and envelopes me with her light. Her timeless, faceless smile washes away all fears and I am able to move forward.
Mother calls to me again.
Out in the distance, her light illuminates my way out of this dark tunnel. Finally, I reach her presence and witness infinite radiance. She welcomes me in warm embrace.
Mother calls to me once more.
My last shreds of self-awareness question if I am worthy of apotheosis. With loving understanding, she cleanses my sins away and my light joins hers in blissful communion.
At long last, the freedom I so long yearned for is granted to me.
I am where I need to be. I need to be where I am.
We love you, Mother.
Alexia
ALEXIA WOKE UP to the sudden feeling of falling down b
ut as she looked up, realized she was lying on her sofa and apparently had fallen asleep reading reactor power routing documentation. The long, complicated books she had loaded in the tablet turned out to be boring enough to knock her out, despite how alert she had been after the convergence event. On her side, next to the tablet was her stuffed rabbit which she once more tried to remember who had made it for her but as far as she recalled, it had always been by her side. Still a little disoriented, she sat up and wiped her eyes then felt around the sofa for her glasses. When she looked up, she was startled by a shadow in front of her. On closer inspection, it was Aurora, standing there with her arms crossed.
“What is it? You startled me,” Alexia said as she found the blue-framed glasses and put them on.
“I had to wake you up,” her sister replied.
“I noticed,” Alexia said, annoyed, then picked up the tablet and woke it up from sleep mode. Its clock showed it was 0421.
“Something is wrong,” Aurora explained. “I cannot feel the Citadel.”
Putting the tablet back down, Alexia thought about that for a moment then looked at the kitchen window. Through the blinds, she could see the faint reddish glow of the barrier outside.
“What do you mean you can’t feel it?” she asked, increasingly worried. If something was wrong with Aurora’s access to Citadel sensors it could be a big deal come dawn. There would be solar flares that needed to be shielded against.
“It’s not Citadel sensory feedback,” Aurora pointed out, reading the thoughts out of Alexia’s mind which continued to frustrate her but there was nothing she could do to stop it and so she found it pointless to complain.
“Okay then what could it be?”
“My connections to the Citadel network were cut off and now I can’t renegotiate them,” her sister explained. “It appears there is some kind of network firewall actively confining me to your encephalon.”
Alexia didn’t remember anything about firewalls that could block Aurora. Whatever it was, couldn’t be a good thing and she said “alright, I’ll wake up Mark and see if he knows what’s going on.”
At that moment, someone knocked loudly on the door and Alexia wondered who could be there so early. She walked to it and looked out the peephole. Outside, she could barely make up the two Citpol officers standing there under the dim lighting of the hallway. It was a rare thing to see them on the surface side as they usually kept to underground sublevels where they mainly served as glorified security guards for the Troika and their families.
Confused, Alexia turned to face Aurora and tiredly asked “really?”
“That’s not me,” Aurora said. “They’re real.” Her actor then dissolved away.
The men outside knocked again then one of them said “Citadel Police, open the door.”
Whatever their reason for being there, she decided it would best to cooperate and opened the door while keeping the safety chain on. She peeked out and asked “yes? What’s going on?”
“Good morning, Controller Sommers and sorry to wake you up,” one of them said as he leaned to greet her through the slit. The man appeared to be middle aged and wore the typical dark blue Citpol uniform with a golden badge on his chest whose engraved name had been ground away for reuse. It was just another relic from the time before. And just like many other people she met in the Citadel, he spoke respectfully, almost in awe and his eyes wandered away every now and then as if feeling unworthy of exchanging words with the Controller.
“Yeah, it’s no problem,” Alexia said. “How can I help?”
“Your presence has been requested on the tenth floor,” the officer replied.
Dad’s office, Alexia thought to herself then said “sure, but I need a few minutes to change. Is everything okay?”
“Our orders are to bring you up. My apologies but we don’t know the reason.”
“Okay, I’ll be right out.”
“Please don’t delay,” the officer asked.
Alexia nodded and closed the door then walked to the bedroom to pull a fresh white and blue uniform out of the closet. It was strange that Citpol officers had been sent to get her when all her dad needed to do was ring her extension if he wanted to talk. She then wondered if whatever the emergency was could be related to the firewall Aurora mentioned. Once her uniform was buttoned up, she hastily tied up her hair in the usual ponytail, put on her shoes then made to the door. As she stepped out, the two Citpol greeted her and the one that had spoken to her bowed slightly while signaling towards the elevators. She walked there and the officers followed behind.
Moments later, Alexia stepped out of the elevator onto the tenth floor of the Control Administration building. Unlike the others underneath, it was mostly open office space filled with cubicles and had a clear view to the outside where the barrier dimly illuminated the surface down below. During normal hours, the place would be filled with employees whom Alexia always wondered exactly what they did, since Aurora took care of even logistics, administration, planning and so forth. It was still too early for anyone to be there. Apparently except for the Director.
The three of them eventually made it to a small waiting area with four chairs and a glass coffee table. Against the wall, there was a receptionist’s desk and Alexia was surprised to see Mary there. On the left of the desk, there were two large wooden doors and on the side, a plaque that read ‘Ethan Sommers Director of Control Administration’.
Mary appeared to notice their arrival and left whatever it is she was doing behind her desk and approached them.
“Good morning, Alexia,” the receptionist said.
“Mary, what’s going on?” Alexia asked disconcerted.
“The Director will see you in a moment, he is just finishing a teleconference. Please take a seat,” Mary replied, ignoring the question. “Is there anything I can get you? Water? Coffee?”
“Coffee would be nice, thanks,” Alexia said as she sat in one of the chairs. Mary walked away to another room then came back a minute later with a cup. Alexia noticed the receptionist’s hands shaking as she put it down on the table. Without saying anything else, she went back to sit behind the desk by the doors then dialed a number on the phone to announce her arrival. Alexia grabbed the cup and took a sip of the bitter beverage. Again she studied her surroundings. On her left, Mary typed frantically on her computer terminal, distressed. The receptionist was usually all smiles and had that happy bubbly personality that Alexia could simply not comprehend but right then and there she appeared to be about to break in tears. Behind, the two Citpol officers stood against the wall, as if guarding her.
As she put the cup down on the table, she realized Aurora had constructed her actor in the chair next to hers. She sat there quietly, looking at nothing in particular with the same concerned look she had showed back in the apartment. She appeared to do her best for her actor to look and act like a real person despite the fact only Alexia could see it.
I doubt it’s anything serious, Alexia whispered in her mind to her sister, the formless alternate personality who for whatever reason enjoyed bullying her but now appeared distressed.
Aurora turned and faced her. Under normal circumstances she would snap and demand she spoke her words, maybe if only to feel as she was acknowledging her presence but at the moment, they were surrounded by these people who seemed to be on edge and so she appeared to let it go.
“All communications channels I try are blocked,” Aurora replied. “This firewall came out of nowhere, like if it was already setup in the event of an emergency.”
Alexia tried to imagine her sister’s situation but failed to even picture it.
What was the last thing you did or saw before that happened? she asked, looking to understand a little bit better.
“I was monitoring normal operations, checking on the life support systems and the usual.”
Really? Are you sure? Alexia inquired further, as she grabbed back the cup and held it in her hands to warm them up.
“Well, I was als
o running a probe in the botanical research lab. Just an experiment with an unorthodox communications socket.”
Failing to wrap her mind around that comment, Alexia took another sip then looked at her sister.
A communications socket, in the botanical lab?
“Just a proof of concept Sophia showed me. It’s irrelevant.”
Were you trying to talk to a plant? Alexia asked puzzled. At that moment, Mary interrupted the conversation.
“The Director will see you now,” the receptionist said.
Alexia nodded and stood up to follow Mary. When she looked back, Aurora was no longer there.
Ethan
“I’M SURPRISED THE daemon has been this stable so far,” Mikhail said, his eastern European accent thick and somewhat hard to understand over the speakerphone. The poor quality of the telephone connection only made it worse.
“So am I,” Ethan said. “We hadn’t even finished the first stage of alpha testing but look at it now, controlling the Citadel like clockwork.”
“It’s unfortunate you had to activate it under these circumstances,” Mikhail added.
“We weren’t anywhere near ready and yet the barrier is holding up. It’s a damn miracle if you ask me.”
“Regardless of that, the Troika was already looking for an excuse to take over the Program and now one has been served to them on a silver platter.”
Gestalt Prime Page 6