“Let us begin,” he announced and proceeded to offer Tara a drink from the same Goblet he’d used previously. The liquid inside was a version higher than the previous one he used. He’d isolated the chemicals in his own blood and created the first prototype, which evolved until it was this, the new elixir. Once trialled, he would begin the next stage of implementing it with a dispersal method, which Owens was working on.
Tara drank the liquid and began feeling its effects. She convulsed on the alter, her back arching so much Jacob was worried it could break, these were the side effects he was looking for so he could adjust the dosage. He moved to her side and out of view of the crowd, he injected a small amount of a relaxant into her arm. Her chest fell slightly as the drug kicked in and relaxed her muscles.
A gasp of shock from the crowd made Jacob look down to where the satin sheet lay, it was becoming marked with red blood as the limb underneath was rejected. Jacob knew the white would stain fast and was pleased the colouring had the desired effect on the crowd, making it visible to those even at the far back of the church. Tara wasn’t screaming anymore, the drugs were keeping her lucid through the procedure, Jacob was glad as the next step was a slight of hand that her lucidity would make easier.
Lifting the sheet towards the crowd allowed him to see the leg underneath. Placing a metal stand to hold the sheet in place, he looked at the mix of veins and wires where the leg was drenched in blood. He had to admit, the quality of the augmented leg was high, she’d paid a lot of credits for it. He retrieved the cloned limb and placed it next to the augmented one, then placed a hand on the augmented leg and pulled it away. The wires stretched and went taut at first before giving way, this was the first time a scream erupted from Tara’s lips ,but was only for a second. Jacob quickly swapped the cloned limb into its place, pressing it up hard against her torso for it to begin the fusion to her body. He heard the click which signified the attachment, as small claws dug into the flesh to hold it in place and fuse. A small hiss escaped, as the metal disc dissolved and allowed the bonding to complete. In one move, he dropped the augmented leg to the ground next to him and removed the sheet.
An intake of breath from the crowd, Jacob basked in the glory as the crowd watched Tara rise and stand on her own, fully fleshed legs.
CHAPTER 24
Julian
Julian was in the back of an autocab which Quartzig had arranged for him, traveling towards his apartment.
In front of him, a holographic display emanated from his PDA, showing the reports he’d received from Yuri. He was piecing together the last steps of Owens as best he could.
So far, he’d worked out that Owens had been at the CyberBio lab three hours before his death, their records were immaculate, as they registered bio-signals throughout the time anyone was within the confines of one of their buildings. Next a Transfer pod was registered for Owens to travel from the lab to MegaCity, where his credit records showed he had a meal in one of the Japanese restaurants there. The restaurant staff, who had been interviewed, said he had been there around an hour with a woman who matched the description of Ava, his wife. After leaving, there was about an hour and a half of unaccounted time before he was reported dead at his home by Ava.
Donovan, who had been investigating the case, had been updating his reports for three months before he suddenly stopped. His last entry was about the Church of Damian in BitVillage, which Donovan believed was the last place Owen’s visited during the missing time, but most of the report was redacted. That was his first lead to look into, second was to do what Yuri asked, locate the body.
The records stated that his body was processed on the 7th November, where the cause of death was undetermined, though there were several bruises around the neck and some slight trauma to the cranium. Following this, the body was due to be transferred to cold storage at the morgue, the vehicle had left the precinct on the 9th November but during the trip, something had caused its tracking beacon to stop transmitting, and it never arrived. Julian made a note of the last transmitted location.
“Hey Quartz?” Julian waited for a reply, after none came, he asked again, louder. “Quartz!”
“Oh hello, yes I’m here,” the voice replied a moment later.
“What’s going on? You busy?”
‘It’s Ally, she’s in a spot of bother and I’m just helping her out.”
Julian paused for a moment, Quartz had never taken an interest in anyone before, perhaps this was a new development in his AI.
“Is she ok?”
“I believe she will be shortly, several of the people who attacked you are now hunting her down, probably believing her to have something to do with you,” Julian could feel the accusation in his voice.
“Damn, make sure she gets some place safe.”
“I will, she’s much better at handling herself than you are, no offence.”
“Thanks, let me know when she’s ok. I’m changing my destination,” he was tapping on his PDA to access the car’s journey log.
“Where are you heading?” Quartz asked.
“BitVillage, to the church of Saint Damian, but I could do with you looking into something for me.”
“Shoot.”
“I need you to access all CCTV for the 9th November. There’s a vehicle which vanished that I need to find. I’m sending over the pictures and registration, along with its last known location.”
“Will do, might take a while, there’s a lot of cameras in the Boulevard.” Quartz replied.
“No problem, that’s what I thought, so I’ll check out the church which seems to be Owens last location before he died, and see if anything shakes lose.”
“Good Luck.”
“Thanks, tell Ally I’m sorry for getting her tied up in this.”
“I will,” Quartz replied.
Julian tapped on his PDA and checked his location, he wasn’t too far from the Church now. He could find little on the Church online, only that it used to be a popular building long before the Boulevard expanded. It closed down once development took people away from the area. Then it reopened two years back, when a new Father appeared to rejuvenate it. After that, there was no information.
The car pulled up to the side of the road and Julian looked out at the streets outside. He felt like he’d travelled to another world. The buildings were all old brick and mortar, with glass windows and hardly any of them rose over three floors, many just two. He had known that BitVillage was still very much still from the old world, but seeing it with his own eyes took him a moment to absorb. He saw a few people walking around and couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong at first. Then he realised, there were no augments or implants on anyone. He’d become so accustomed to the sight of tech, it was as much a way of life as breathing, but the absence of tech was like seeing people all wearing the same clothes, with no variation to them.
He was about to get out of the car when he caught his reflection in the car's window. His hair was dark purple and several of his augments were highly visible, not least his PDA implant on his arm. He brought it up and tapped it, changing his hair to a dull brown with a side parting of medium length, and extending the sleeves on his coat so they covered straight down his arms, and went from a short jacket to a trench-coat style. He was covered as much as possible.
He exited the car and looked around the street; the dullness was oppressing, which surprised him, as he was used to the heavy neon crowds of the MegaCity; but the lack of colour and lights made him feel nervous. He had made a mental note of the Church’s location before turning off his PDA, and made his way towards it.
He passed people who looked at him sideways as they hurried past, avoiding making eye contact with him completely. He wasn’t used to the feeling of being shunned so he pulled the coat closer to him as he walked.
“Hey tech freak, get out of here!” A shout echoed from across the road. Turning, Julian saw a group of men, all wearing similar blue jeans and brown shirts, they moved towards Julian.
“Well, you shouldn’t have come here then!” The anger was rising in the voices as they got closer.
Julian couldn’t understand how they had seen he had any tech implants at all. Then he noticed that his coat was fluctuating slightly in its length. While not the most high-tech item i,t was enough to be a huge beacon to this non-tech area.
“I'm just passing through,” he called to the men as they got closer. Julian walked quicker down the street. He knew he could probably win in a fight due to several of his augmented abilities, but he wasn’t about the chance the odds of five to one.
He turned a corner and saw the church looming up ahead. He increased his pace heading towards it, hoping the men would stop once he arrived there.
A glance back and he saw they were still following him but at a slower pace, perhaps they would just get bored and stop. Julian walked up the steps of the church and pushed the large doors open to step inside.
The church was empty and the sound of his steps echoed around throughout the hollow space.
He walked down the aisle, glancing at the stained glass windows which rose all around the sides, though little light was illuminating them. At the end several, candles were lit, the only light in the entire place. As he approached, he heard a voice.
“May I help you? I am Father Jacob and this is my church,” a voice asked from behind him.
Julian jumped at the noise but calmed as he turned to see the Father in front of him.
“Good evening, I was wondering if you could help me. I’m looking for a friend of mine who came here.”
“We have many friends in the congregation young man,” the Father stepped closer, his eyes examining Julian, clocking each bit of tech around his body.
“Of course,” Julian smiled. “His name was Maxwell Owens, I think he came here a few months ago.”
Father Jacob paused in his step for a moment, before continuing. Julian noticed the hesitation, and a strange feeling ran through him.
“Owens you say? I’m not too sure we’ve had anyone by that name here.”
“I’m pretty sure he was here on the 9th November, perhaps you have a welcome book of anyone that may have passed through?” Julian knew he was pushing it and edged away looking for a route past Jacob, should he need one.
“We have one just at the top of the alter there, feel free to take a look.” Jacob motioned behind Julian who turned to look.
“Thanks,” he tapped his PDA discreetly and opened comms with Quartzig. “I’ll just be a minute, then be on my way,” he said to Jacob.
“Take all the time you need,” Jacob approached Julian who tried to step away, before he could, Jacob leapt forward and injected Julian in the arm with a concealed needle.
“What the hell!” He spun and swung at Jacob, who had moved out of harm's way.
“Julian?” Quartzigs’ voice came through, “are you ok? You need to be careful, I traced the vehicle with Owens body in it. Its last location is at the Church you have just entered. Whoever is at the Church is the one who stole the body! Julian? Are you there?”
Julian felt his vision blur as he tried to reply to Quartzig, but he was fading. He saw Jacob standing over him as he crumpled to the ground.
“Welcome to the Church Julian, you saved me some trouble by coming here yourself.”
CHAPTER 25
Xander
Xander had lost count of the number of times he’s watched the event on the court steps replay in front of him. He had watched them from every angle now as he had walked around it. It took a few times for him to get over the shock and pain of seeing the worst day of his life repeat in front of him. He had begun to accept it and also realised that it was another construct of the prison he’d helped Donovan escape. In theory, he figured the only way he could escape would be for someone to guide him out, but he wasn't sure that anyone would even be looking for him anymore, never mind guide him.
Donovan had been the one to trap him there, but Ava had either lied about the time of Owens' death, or had some other reason for missing 3 months before coming to see him. He had no idea what the situation in the apartment was after Donovan severed the connection.
Damn, he hated technology. He longed for something to punch, something that felt real between his fingers, rather than this fake construct in front of him. He had tried to get involved in the scene playing in front of him, but when he had; the people were intangible and he could walk right through them, despite how solid they looked.
Walking around the scene, he could see all the people that were there on the day of the trial. Other than himself and Henshaw, there was also Henshaw’s lawyer looking smug behind him as Henshaw spoke to the cameras. Several news outlets with cameramen and reporters were further down the steps. A handful of MPD officers were scattered around the area, finally a few civilians who were watching the spectacle. Then there was himself, who appeared after a few moments, once he attacked Henshaw, the civilians scattered, along with some media crews, though a few continued filming. Then officers diving in to pull Xander off Henshaw, whilst his lawyer assisted Henshaw to get away from the bloodied fists.
He had watched the event play out at least fifty times before he noticed something different, something he was sure hadn’t been there on the actual day.
At the top of the steps, just inside the doors to the courthouse, a woman stood there, he hadn’t noticed before as all the action took place further down the steps; the scene beginning when Henshaw began his speech. He ran up the steps to the entrance, as he got there the woman moved away and disappeared inside the building. He followed her in, but the inside of the building wasn’t the courthouse, but his office. He hesitated before stepping in.
The room was identical to his in real life, but instead of half working lights on the door, the sign read his full name;
ALEXANDER DRAVEN PI
The construct must have come from his mind and was how he wanted it to be, rather than how it was.
He moved around his desk and sat in the chair as he normally would. As he did, Ava appeared opposite him as she had the day before, and talked about the investigation. The scene played out exactly as he remembered, from her initial lack of emotion, to the explanation of her being a synthetic who had been given the memories of the original Ava, who had died a few years previously.
They left the office and Xander was walking into the MPD precinct, asking about the case with Mike behind the counter.
Leaving the precinct, he was now in Donovan’s apartment fighting the nurse and being jacked into Donovan’s mind to help him escape.
Now in the prison, guiding Donovan through the prison and the forest.
Finally, he was watching Donovan leaving the construct and becoming trapped in it, as Donovan ripped the wires from Ava.
He blinked.
He was back at the courtroom steps again, watching Henshaw make his statement.
Xander's heart skipped a beat.
How long had he been in the construct? How could he tell the difference between the construct and the real world?
He ran up the steps and through the courtroom doors; the pattern happened all over again until he was back at the steps. He fell to the ground, his head in his hands, the pain in his mind was overwhelming as he tried to understand what was happening. He wondered if he had been in the construct the whole time.
He took several deep breaths.
When was Owens’ death? 5th November. Ava reported the case to Xander on the 10th February. Or was it, the date seemed wrong to Xander.
He cycled through the scenes until he was back at the office, sitting opposite Ava. He glanced at the computer screen in front of him; it said the 11th February, a day later than he recalled. He asked Ava.
“When did he die? In fact, just tell me all you know.” Remembering the exact words. Ava had said the murder took place on February 2nd the last time he recalled the conversation.
&nbs
p; “Can I have one of those?” Ava pointed at the cigarette in Xander's hand. He nodded and lit one before passing it to her.
“Last week, February 3rd, I returned home and found my husband laying across the hallway, covered in blood. Mutilated with his left hand missing.”
Xander froze, the date had changed, in line with the change in days he’d experienced.
Somehow, the construct was keeping up with the time and altering the information accordingly. He fought the sick feeling which formed in his stomach. Donovan has said the investigation took place on November the 15th, which meant that Xander could have been in the construct since then for all he knew. The fact made his head spin, with still no idea how to escape, he didn’t know how he could continue.
Then a thought struck him, if the construct was connected to the outside world, as it must be to alter the date according, then he might be able to send a signal out. He needed to find the connection so that he could communicate to the outside world. However, he had no idea how he would do that. His mind spun as the cycle played out once more.
This time, he looked at the woman on the steps again, he realised now it was Ava, looking slightly younger perhaps. Was she trying to guide him, and if so ,to where?
He regained his motivation and ran towards her.
CHAPTER 26
Prime
Reilly walked into the radio room where the man who had addressed him as Prime sat, speaking into a microphone. He had a scruffy beard and dreadlocked hair and a smile which radiated warmth. In front of him, a large assortment of radio equipment was connected with tangles of cables and wiring. He wore a casual shirt which looked like someone had repaired it a thousand times.
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