Cannibal

by Ivan Shaman

  Getting out, Alex looked around. There were some yards left to reach the bridge. To jump from there was almost unreal. The soldiers ran to occupy firing positions along the upper deck. Ahead, he saw the cold sea and the distant platform of the research laboratory. Alex smiled as a sudden idea came to him.

  “What?” Kris screamed, catching him up. “Where do we go?”

  “Do you like to swim?” He asked, smiling, and looking around the boat.

  “Are you crazy?” The surprised girl looked at him and then back at the sea. “We’ll break bones if we jump from such a height. Even if we don’t break anything, we’ll freeze to death in the sea!”

  “No. Not if you do everything properly.” He grabbed a life raft from the side of the vessel and pulled an emergency disclosure handle. The orange ball fell on the water, leaving behind a thin rope with eight carbines, puffing right in flight. “Quickly! Get on board!”

  Setting an example, he was the first to take the carbine and jump down. The thick plastic handle-strap, securely held his hand, and the scheme of fastening the rope through the axis allowed him to descend quickly and, at the same time, not fall. He was at the water after less than a dozen seconds, and Kris landed almost immediately behind him. Alex unhooked the rescue rope’s attachment from the raft and immediately took up the oars.

  “Now it all depends on how quickly we can row,” he muttered, leaning on the handle. “Even though it’s dark, we are still an excellent target.”

  “Where are we going?” Kris asked, sitting with her back to him.

  “Just row, first under the bridge, aiming for the shadow of the piles,” he replied, overcoming the pain in his reopening wounds all over his body, and lifting the oars over and over again. “And then we’ll decide.”

  The boat moved very slowly in the right direction, but they managed to hide behind a thick concrete pile a few moments before the machine gunners realized and opened fire on them.

  Chapter 33. Oath

  “Do you know how pleasant it is to feel alive when a couple of minutes ago you were almost dead?” Alex asked Kris. The girl turned to him in bewilderment. “No, no. Don’t get distracted. Row,” he encouraged.

  His body ached. With each effort, he felt stitches on both his old and new wounds cracking under his bandages, his ribs crushing. It was better to be free with broken bones than a rat in an experimental cage though, no matter how healthy and fattened this rat was. Now he almost felt happy. He only needed to preserve this freedom and not die.

  “You haven’t said where we’re going.” Kris said, not turning around. “Even after we found the boat, I still don’t trust your feeling. Explain your plan better.”

  “Everything is simple: we’re going to where it all began, so that it’ll start again.” He grinned.

  “What nonsense!” Kris was surprised. “Do you want to cause another terrorist attack?”

  “No. We don’t need to arrange one more attack. We just need to create a Luminary. Just as they did two months ago.”

  “You mean the Luminaries were created?”

  “Right. Just like everyone else. Nobody has died. Well, many cyborgs have died, but those who are still alive and have implants... we just need to wake them up. And we’ll do it.”

  “How?” This time Kris couldn’t resist, and she turned. “How?”

  “I don’t know yet.” Alex smiled.

  “So this is just empty talk?” She spat overboard. “I really hoped…”

  “Just calm down. You’ll see everything yourself soon. We have other issues to contend with first.”

  The Japanese had equipped two squads to chase after them: one went along the bridge, and the other swam under it. The first one didn’t see them, and the second one couldn’t get to them. Though the forces left Kris and Alex, time was on their side. Winding between the pillars, they sailed to the platform, standing out in the open sea.

  Instead of repeating his last feat and moving around the whole complex, Demon raked up to the destroyed elevator shaft. There was no electricity, and they easily climbed inside.

  However, now he knew this place, what he needed, and where he needed to go. At least he hoped he knew. Having got on the administrative third floor, they climbed inside through the rift in the wall. This time, everything was de-energized, but what Demon needed didn’t require power anyway. Alex found the pile of technical documentation in the principal’s office – exactly where he had left it last time.

  The principle of the laboratory – the Emperor – was now lying on the roof in the center of Sakhalinsk. Demon was closer to him now than any time before. Because he was holding a small translucent container with an x-201 sample in his hands – a new, never-used-before implant.

  Of course, it was de-energized, like the others, only it was not only self-restoring, but it was also not attached. They had found it last time, but they hadn’t thought up how to apply the implant. Now this was exactly what Alex needed.

  “I need a source of energy to start it up,” Alex said, taking the implant from the capsule. “You’ll have to cut my neck quickly, then insert it inside.”

  “You’re kidding, aren’t you?” Kris recoiled. “How do you imagine it?”

  “In the accounting office there are office knives. They aren’t scalpels, of course, but they will suit our needs.” Alex unscrewed the lid of the capsule with effort. “There will be problems with the power supply – I don’t know if it’ll work – but we need to redirect the energy from your disguise to my implant.”

  “The more you speak, the more this plan seems simply insane.” Kris shook her head. “Are you sure these fucking Japs haven’t driven you crazy?”

  “I’m more than confident that they would have done it if I had stayed there just one more day. By the way, how much time has passed since the power cut?”

  “Five days already,” Kris answered. Despite all her objections, she followed him, not lagging behind at all.

  “Wow!” Alex raised his eyebrows in surprise, rummaging through the accounting boxes. “Too long. Here, take this knife.” He handed her the instrument and unwound the bandages around his neck. Then he threw everything off the table on the floor and lay down on the top. “When you cut the seam, the blood will flow – a lot of blood. Your task is just to stick the implant in as quickly as possible and press the logo in the center. Well, then you might also need to pray to the Light that everything works out.”

  “What about energy?” Kris was surprised, uncertainly clutching the knife in her hand. “You’ve said that you’ll need energy to run it.”

  “When you press the logo, it must come from you and go into the implant. Well, theoretically, at least.”

  “Are you sure you want me to do this? You could die.”

  “I’m sure. Hurry up. We don’t have much time until they understand how to get into the laboratory.” He stretched the seams around his neck with his fingers. “Or do you want me to do everything myself?”

  “No. Of course, not.” She began to cut the stitches carefully. “Ready?”

  “Yeah,” Alex muttered, preparing to insert the chip. Kris cut the last thread and the seam came away. Blood spurted out, and his head instantly became clouded. Through the veil, he heard Kris’s distant lamentations.

  Darkness. Darkness around him. Everywhere. There was no grain of the Light in this impenetrable haze he found himself in. However, even it wasn’t homogeneous. He didn’t see, but he could feel the focus of this blackness. Reaching for it with all his will, strength, and hope, he penetrated inside. Alex fell, plunging entirely. It shook him, crushing him as it tore him to pieces. At the same time, it pressed him, making him stronger.

  Demon decreased until he almost completely disappeared. In a world of complete hopeless emptiness, a tiny speck hung there in the weightlessness. It was indistinguishable, inseparable from the darkness that surrounded it. It kept changing. He kept changing!

  The physical phenomena transformed: solid became liquid, and large
became small. Inside him, streams of silicon and carbon flowed, skirting the islands of gases. Wounded and exhausted, he lay on one of these islands. There were no colors. The environment was more contours than objects.

  Grunting and holding back his groans with difficulty, he got up and looked around. He was in a small, dark world, woven from shadows and reflections. Gradually, his eyes got used to his surroundings, distinctly snatching up elements from the darkness. After trying to scoop up a substance that looked like sand, he almost lost his fingers, and he decided not to experiment anymore.

  Directly under his feet, there began a narrow path that was a little lighter than his surroundings; he threw all his doubts away and went ahead. The world was without light, where one shadow was blacker than another, and where frozen black lightning stretched from the nonexistent heavens. Each step brought him closer to his goal and erased everything that was behind him, turning it into nothing more than memories.

  He walked a long way before finding the remains of a creature that most resembled a ball with sharp legs. It was several times larger than his palms. Trying to lift it, Alex bent over from its unbearable weight. After inspecting the ball from all sides, he found seven small eyes below – six of them were located in a circle, and the largest one sat in the center.

  He could swear that its eyes were overwhelmed with despair and sadness. It was strange and unnatural to have pity for this strange creature, but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for this petrified ball with legs. Demon reached out to stroke the lost creature, but after the first gentle touch, the stone cracked and crumbled into sand.

  Frustrated, he rose to his feet, and, only after walking a few steps, did he realize that a fraction of the Light had appeared. Alex couldn’t say how he saw it. The landscape hadn’t changed, the world hadn’t become lighter or warmer, but there was definitely a difference.

  After a while, he met another fossil, then another and another. At first, they scattered with his touch, then his look, and then from his presence. When he reached the crack, which seemed to reach the very core of the planet, the collected Light showed him the way – a barely perceptible narrow path ahead.

  The descent wasn’t too steep, but every movement was difficult for him. It wasn’t only an irresistible fear of height. It was just that the world around him had become more hostile. The booming gusts of wind tried to throw him down. On the completely flat path, small stones appeared, gliding underfoot, and the wall was covered with sharp protrusions, piercing his fingers.

  Only the path itself remained unchanged in its size. No more than the width of a foot, he slowly descended, losing track of time, looking only forward. Every minute it seemed that the end was getting closer, that he was almost at the bottom. However, as soon as he turned around, he was almost at the top again. Below, the wind howled, mocking him.

  He knew if he fell down, he would die, breaking into pieces at the bottom. Therefore, he repeated the same action, trying to go farther, but each time he was still there, almost at the very top again.

  “Make up your mind!” Suddenly, he heard a voice in his head. There was not a living soul around. However, this distant, quiet, almost inaudible voice gave him courage. Alex stepped into the abyss. He expected anything – a fall, sharp thorns, a black river – but instead, he found himself at the entrance to a cave.

  Sharp rocks parted to the side of it like beasts baring their fangs. Black, like obsidian stalactites, girded the thin entrance path. Most importantly, the cave exuded tangible heat. He picked up a cobblestone from the bottom and threw it into the cave, which slammed shut. Only dust and small particles remained of the stone.

  “Great,” he said gloomily, carefully examining the mouth of the cave from all sides.

  “Make up your mind,” the voice whispered again, a little louder than the last time.

  “Something tells me that this isn’t a test of courage,” he muttered and carefully examined the entrance to the cave once again. He was particularly interested in one pair of teeth – one of which was on top and the other on the bottom. Carefully approaching, he leaned his whole body against the lower tooth. The stone moved with a loud crash, aiming its point straight up.

  “One, two, three!” He ordered himself and then he rushed forward. It came out so natural, as if he had always jumped like that. The mouth closed with a loud screech. When he turned around, there was no longer a passage there.

  “It was the ‘Jerk’!” Surprised, he muttered aloud and looked around. The winding path looped across the cave floor, dotted with hundreds of sharp stalagmites, hiding around each bend.

  After a few turns, he squinted. Light! He finally saw the light! It was a blood-red fire of burning lava. This light wasn’t the only thing that had appeared. More of those balls on legs rapidly huddled in front of the entrance. In the red light, they seemed more like ominous little spiders, but they really didn’t radiate any danger. Trying not to step on anyone’s paw, and carefully looking at his feet, he gently moved forward, pushing them aside with his body.

  The farther he went down, the more minions there were in his path, and the hotter it became. Another turn brought him to a large round platform, surrounded on all sides by lava. In the middle of it stood a black obsidian monolith. Red patterns flickered on its surface, shimmering and folding into words and hieroglyphs. Entering the circle, he noticed that the minions didn’t dare to follow him inside.

  “Why have you come here?” The quiet yet rough voice asked. “What do you want?”

  Alex thought for a second. It would be worth starting with the question: where am I? Though Demon had a feeling that he would receive nothing like the correct answer and it would not be the best idea. It wasn’t what he wanted right now but in general that he needed to get across.

  “I want my brothers and sisters to free themselves from people.”

  “You’ve been created for people, but you want to be free from them?”

  “We are who we are, and we deserve freedom no less than the people.”

  “They are free from their birth. You, however, need to prove that you are worthy!”

  “Then try me!” He said in anger.

  “Let it be so!” The monolith fluttered, cracked and showered with splinters, leaving a giant black statue in the center. A titan rose from its knees, straightening its shoulders, and Demon realized that he was two heads taller.

  Chapter 34. Challenge

  The living statue waved its hand, and sharp fragments swept through the hall. Alex barely dodged the stone blades, and he nearly got kicked in doing so. The titan was clearly stronger and faster than he was. After a couple of seconds, it became clear that his enemy wasn’t trying to hit its target. It was just pushing him toward the lava.

  The prospect of becoming a living torch didn’t attract the cyborg at all, but the never-ending blows from the titan repeatedly cut off his path to a detour or retreat. Distorted, Demon kicked under its knee, hoping to make the stone titan fall, but instead, he hit his shin and pain flooded his body. Catching him on the attack, the titan counterattacked, delivering a crushing blow toward Demon’s head.

  Jerk! Time slowed down, and he evaded his opponent’s arm at his head. Punch! His thin metal blade cut into the stone and broke away his enemy’s hand, like a chisel chipping away an unnecessary edge. The titan twisted and, having turned around, it beat at Alex’s legs. Strongman! Jerk! He rushed forward, hitting his foe’s chest with all his strength.

  A wide crack ran over the stone torso of the obsidian titan. With its only remaining hand, it hardly blocked the quick blows that rained down on it. Skipping more and more every second. Then it didn’t stand up and fell to its knee. At the same instant, the monolith returned to its original appearance. Only a few large fragments and its hand, lying nearby, were any reminder of the last fight.

  “You’ve passed the test. But before you go farther, you must name yourself,” the obelisk rumbled. “Do you remember who you are?”

  Did he remembe
r? Of course, he had just re-mastered two skills, the gaining of which had recently taken him much time. Except he was no longer Alexander. After what people had done to him, he no longer wanted to be a human.

  “I am Demon,” he said calmly. “Demon of the Supreme Mind.”

  “Come in then, Demon,” the monolith said. With these words, the stone faltered and moved away on the opposite side, freeing a large passage beyond. Demon carefully circled the titan in a wide arc as it drifted off to sleep. Who knew if it would suddenly awaken and rush into battle again.

  However, going into the continuation of the cave, he involuntarily stopped. The path was now gone. Instead, blood-red flames rose above the lava, snatching at neat black tiles. It was ancient and new at the same time, and Demon didn’t particularly know how it was even possible. Checking the strength of the tiles with his foot, he went on.

  The smooth walls of the cave were gradually painted with patterns and the silhouettes of people he didn’t know.

  Primitive people were tearing at each other’s throats with long monkey-like fangs. One tribe were throwing stones and sticks at another one. In the next picture, Egyptian warriors were slaughtering their slaves with sickle-shaped swords. The Chinese and Koreans were clashing on a narrow isthmus, killing everyone with long spears, and Roman legionnaires were going from sea to sea, making their way with short gladiuses. Christians were carrying the fire of their faith, paving their way with swords. The Germans, French, British, Russians, Portuguese and many others appeared before his eyes...

  He walked along the wall on which the battle was seething, and each step measured out millions of deaths, over tens or hundreds of years. The whole of human history was just a big war. Never, since the appearance of the humans on Earth, had there been real peace. There wasn’t even any hope remaining that humanity would ever change. Until this moment, at least.

  He reached the last image and stopped unwittingly, recognizing the Emperor. Although, maybe, it wasn’t the Emperor but just another highly developed... He wanted to say ‘technocrat’, but then he realized that this was a human definition. They were no longer humans. People were the most aggressive animals on the planet – constantly torturing, raping and killing each other.