Höllenbadt: Book two of the Torus Saga

by Berg, Michael

  “Off you go now,” Steve said as he sent bolt after bolt at the Agent, whilst the other men did the same with their rifles. And off he went, taking to the sky in a sudden thrust by engaging the Ionic drive in his ship. All on the ground had not accounted for this, so the ionic thrust wash sent them scurrying. Fortunately, even the Agent knew that to engage full Ionic thrust inside the atmosphere, would be catastrophic for the spaceship and its occupant, which meant he was only capable of engaging less than five percent of its full capacity. This resulted in a number of spot fires in trees around the buildings, and some deep scorch marks in the ground, without any other real damage.

  “Oh Steve honey. I’m going to give you a big kiss. You were so brave.” Kerry Ann embraced Steve as the others who had remained out of sight, emerged from behind the steam engine.

  “You did a great job,” Lyle said slapping Steve on the shoulder.

  “Yes mate. Bravo!” Pablo added.

  “We have all done well. I was surprised at how you were able to so effectively destabilise the Agent, Steve. And Jenna, your calculations were ideal.”

  “It was a bit of fun Chan. I don’t really know where it all came from. It seemed to flow…”

  “Yes. Flow is important. Let it out and release. It is so very good for our intentions to be channelled in such a way. But we must be certain for the Agent will return.”

  “Well, I’ll call for a celebration, but first, we need to put these fires out,” Lolita said, reminding them there were a few fires about to be extinguished before they caused more damage.

  The Agent had not destroyed the main house, but the barn where the others were staying, along with a machinery shed, were gone. Kerry Ann and Steve were in the mill house grinding, when Lolita called them to the main house for dinner. They had not been making flour, but considered the interruption appropriate given the circumstances of the day.

  “A big cheers for Steve and for Jenna,” Juan proposed as they all sat around the large table.

  “Indeed,” Carmel seconded the notion.

  “To us all,” Chan said after the first toast. “To us all.”

  The absence of John and Tobias fell upon them, quelling their celebration as the night wore on.

  “We must remain as vigilant as ever for their safety and their intentions. They are both strong men and they are progressive. We must not hold fear for them, but remain strong,” Chan offered, but he could see a few looks of worry, and he too deep inside, had a degree of concern. If the authorities had captured them and if they sought to extract the information on flux mechanics from John, which they no doubt would do, then difficult circumstances would arise in the coming times.

  Chapter 33

  Tobias was far removed from any place he considered worthwhile as he sat alone in a cell in the same facility deep beneath New York City, where Eric Gunter worked and lived. He had been separated from John when the scouter robot transport vessel had taken them directly to the great eastern seaboard city. Over the past six weeks since incarceration, he had been given food once per day only, and was made to just remain in the cell without any form of entertainment or information. The authorities had avoided just killing him outright, instead choosing just to isolate him until he could be of use to them. Most disconcerting aside from the isolation, were his thoughts of John, and of what they authorities had in store for him.

  Day after day, and now week after week, he was left to sit alone where all he could do was run through all manner of ideas and memories in his mind. His words when he had agreed to accompany John for retrieval of the HyperJet at Arequipa, still rang true for him for he felt as if there was somewhere he had to go in order to fulfil the questions in his heart – questions he was entirely sure of in nature, therefore, even more remote in answer. He had seen a few of the new trans-human types working at this facility, and in each instance, he felt repulsion when he had looked into their eyes and found nothing. His only fear was if they transformed John in the same way, but unfortunately, they had done precisely what he feared.

  John did not have the eyes of Eric, nor did he now have nearly as much of the internal nano mechanics operating his physical systems, but he did have the implants designed to direct his thoughts. On the first day after arriving, he was taken immediately to the experimental nano mechanics laboratory for the process to begin. The authorities were determined to obtain flux mechanics as soon as possible, to then for an offensive in dispensing with the Agent, and then further as a means to enforce their grip on power for the new type of machine world they envisioned. Their first task was to influence John’s thoughts so he would eventually provide them with the information they sought.

  At the time of implant, John did his best to resist, requiring four officers of the authorities to restrain him as a fifth fitted restraints attached to the implant chair. Everything inside him was rejecting the concept, rejecting the idea, and rejecting the cause – but he could not fight. Unlike his strong determined character, he was forced to give in to their treatments. John never gave in, and he never settled for anything remotely akin to relinquishing his will, but he was simply unable to stop them, and so he was forced into the new type of trans-humanism.

  Affects from the implants were subtle yet recognisable – unmistakable, and far stronger than the device implanted in his mind years before during imprisonment at the facility near San Francisco. He could feel them probe into his free will, and still deeper into his psyche of self. They probed his thoughts at a level where his thoughts originated, rather than the manipulations he had experienced previously. For a time, John felt as if the implants were making inroads into his soul intentions as they began to mask his own perspectives and push him into channels of compliance. Then as if in climax, he could sense they went no further and he knew instantly of their limits.

  John’s mind was unique in perception and unique in character. He was able to decipher information for translation into feasible progressive solutions to problems with an element of intuition absent from most people’s abilities. Given the opportunity to undergo capacity testing, the results would likely declare him in the genius category. Except John was different. He could process logic and delve into theory for use in problem solving and the invention of ideas as yet, unfounded or proven through science, and he did this with an essence of lateral awareness, normally not found in the minds of scientists. It was if John possessed the intuition as a natural element of connection – he was a leader in cognition, at the frontier of awareness.

  At the completion of the implant process, the holographic restraints were released and he was taken to a holding cell, nowhere near the cell containing Tobias. Eric Gunter provided him with an insight into confirmation of his own insight, as the holographic cells bars were engaged.

  “We will be testing your internal neural mechanics first thing tomorrow, where will then immediately confirm successful implant for commencement of information extraction. Do you have any questions?”

  “Yeah…just one. What does it feel like for you?”

  “It feels good, nothing more and nothing less. Any notion of any other type of feeling is simply irrelevant. My personal feelings are for efficient compliance.”

  “Is that all? What about you…your ambitions?”

  “That is another two questions, but in response, I can only say that my personal ambitions contain only one more word to my previous answer, and that is to develop efficient compliance.”

  “I get it. As a scientist you want to keep working on developing this rubbish you implanted in me.”

  “As I am, you too will be part of the machine.”

  “You are a machine.”

  “In part and with yet more to be so. Until tomorrow then.”

  After successful results had displayed through every test channel on Eric’s holographic bank, he confirmed it was now time to engage synaptic manipulation for retrieval of information inside John’s mind. Every facet of his resistance played against the nano implants coursing
through his brain on their way to re-shaping his thoughts towards the dynamics of flux mechanics. There was no delay as Eric stimulated the implants to go straight for the logical processing to obtain useful information from John. But John knew one thing that was a glitch or shortcoming of the technology working inside him. He had flux mechanics and they did not, and without it, there would always be a means of avoiding what they saw as inevitable.

  John concentrated with all his organic might, on one simply point. He knew they would obtain most of the material they required, if not all, but in his mind, he was thinking of flux mechanics with one small changed detail. One of the key algorithms required to complete the entire flux concept and retain it in stability, was the one he was doing his best to think of incorrectly.

  Eric could see the resistance John made to the implants on the readout displays, and considered it was due to the confrontation he was now experiencing. After seven minutes of analysis with no new details showing, Eric concluded the session, called the escorting officers in, and then he left to report the results to his superior. He had formulated an automatic compilation of the results whilst the quantum computer carried out analysis as an efficient development Eric thought would impress them. His remaining sense of ambition, diluted by the nano mechanics as it was, sought to restore his credibility after the recent previous failures at the hand of the Agent.

  “This report does a lot to assist us in the production of flux mechanics Gunter. You have done well. What do you propose we do with this information next? We need to test it.”

  “I agree sir. I think we should proceed with development on two fronts sir.”

  “I am listening.”

  “First is the most obvious, and as you know, has been a plan in the making for some time now.”

  “Tectonics?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “And the second?”

  “Well, as you know sir, we have significant resources being deployed to the Moon for the re-building of the Luna Base, but at this time, adjacent to the mining site close to the southern pole.”

  “I am aware of this. I did authorise the deployment.”

  “Yes I know sir. Considering we are making use of the two space craft sent from the Mars base unfortunately too late to prevent the Agent’s damage, I have come up with a plan to test the flux mechanics through the creation of what some would call a spatial anomaly.”

  “But we were going to try this here on Earth.”

  “Yes I know sir. My recommendation is that we proceed with a plan to try it in space. That way, we can inject a high volume of flux dynamics into the vortex and…um, push the technology to its limits. If we test the vortex here on Earth, we will only be able to create a limited result as the vortex could only remain in place for a short time before it would have to be dispersed.”

  “I see.”

  “In contrast sir, if we test the vortex in space, then we can leave it open for an indeterminate amount of time – there will be no constraints brought on through atmospheric conductivity and the potential destabilising factors created through aberrations when cosmic energies are filtered through the ionosphere sir.”

  “You present a good case Gunter. Wait a moment.” Eric’s superior contacted the head of the Department of Developmental Sciences – just a few positions away from the head of all authoritarian departments and just a few more from the leader above all. He spoke softly advising the departmental head of Eric’s proposal for a few minutes, and then when he had concluded, he turned to Eric and advised that approval had been given to proceed with the spatial anomaly.

  “You must provide daily reports to me Gunter, without fail. I want information on this every step of the way. I want to know of any issues or problems you come up against, and of anything you need. They will be watching me, so I will be watching you.”

  “I understand sir…and the tectonics?”

  “Ah yes, proceed with as planned. We need to create an Earth bound test – it will carry significant weight and influence. Are you sure you have all the flux mechanics information from John Matheson?”

  “The nano mechanics did conclude the readout sir. There is nothing else we can glean from this man.”

  “Keep me posted…and keep Matheson alive. We will probably need further advice from him as we proceed.”

  “What of his associate, Tobias Engelmann sir? He is ex-service.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “He could be of use sir. He has the intellectual capacity to be an efficient recipient of the nano mechanical implants.”

  “Then make it so. This Engelmann might be a good operative for us on these projects.”

  “Understood sir. And thank you sir.”

  “Do not thank me Gunter, just report…success.”

  “Understood sir.”

  John sat alone in the cell three levels from Tobias inside a complex equipped with two hundred cells in all. As the only two detainees present, the entire complex was devoid of sound, and contained an eerie atmosphere, devoid of humanity. There were no guards, no holographic projectors with incessant messages of propaganda as it had been eight years ago at the facility – it was silent, and so it would remain. Each cell was fitted with holographic bars designed to contain both the inmate inside, and any sounds they made, via an audio blocking and containment field. Once full or even mostly empty as they were now, the authorities were determined to lull the senses of all who were contained in this solitary confinement, depriving them of any communication between cells, and depriving them of any contact with the world outside.

  But John was never alone – not even when he lived in the riverside house all those years ago in the Alaskan wilderness. He always had his thoughts and his determination to explore, either physically or mentally, and experience new concepts, new worlds, and new frontiers. The concepts he endured at present with the perpetual influence coming from the nano mechanics were to him, yet another challenge to overcome. As he considered his options, for a moment, satisfaction arose within him from the work he had already successfully done, in overcoming the latest obstacle. When he had been watching the algorithms and sequences show on Eric’s holographic array readout, he had noticed this one small success. It had been the only thing he was looking for amongst the data, and when he saw it, he knew then he had defeated the machines inside his brain. One key algorithm for maintaining the stability of flux mechanics was all it would take to undo what the authorities were about to test. And within this algorithm, John had made certain this error would not arise until he had enough time, in his opinion, to form a plan of escape from this binding. All then that would remain would be to design an algorithm to neutralise his nano mechanics to some extent, and hopefully find a method to extract them.

  Tobias whilst determined in his own way, was unable to fight against the nano mechanics as John had – for he received more implants as an experimental measure by the authorities. Aside from the neural infusion, he was given muscular, nervous systems, and endocrine implants to service him as an operative of enhanced physical endurance. He was becoming the new type of soldier and enforcer the authorities would soon deploy once they had rid themselves free of the Agent.

  Instantaneously, the enormous load on his self, transformed him as a person. He cried to himself as the anguish of this loss, coursed through him, and then, he was silent…until Eric Gunter spoke.

  “How do you feel Tobias?”

  “Electric.”

  “Hmm, interesting response. How ‘electric’ do you feel?”

  “Um, not an inspired type of electric, more violated.”

  “It does take a little getting used to.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “I do in fact, and I will also say this – you will become more and more aligned with the mechanics in a very short time. I would give it a day or so, and by then, you may change your perspective on how you feel.”

  “How? I know what you have done. You stole my…my soul. You stole my sense of s
elf. How dare you!”

  “Indeed I have dared. I have dared myself as I too have what you now have, and yet more.”

  “Those eyes.”

  “Yes Tobias, these eyes.”

  “Are you going to mutilate me with them?”

  “Perhaps. As yet I am unsure. Such a procedure is far more complicated than these simple implants.”

  “What if I don’t want them?”

  “What you want will soon become irrelevant Tobias. You will only serve.”

  “Fat chance.”

  “If you put it that way, you may well be correct, if I may assume ‘fat’ means substantial, relating to large.”

  “You’ll never win.”

  “But I already have. The capture of both you and Matheson, and the subsequent successful retrieval of the flux mechanics data has served me well in the view of my superiors.”

  “Is that all that entertains you?”

  “Mostly yes. However, I am also looking to develop more efficient methods for the authorities. Why can’t you see this as a good thing Tobias? After all, the human experience has been so fraught with faults and shortcomings over the centuries.”

  “But that is it – the human experience. This is not human. It is machine. Machines do not feel and love.”

  “But they can…or will very soon when the flux mechanics are developed into working human specimens.”

  “Specimens. Is that how you see people?”

  “Mostly, except for my superiors. They are superiors.”

  “What makes you different from the Agent? He sees people the same way…as expendable, as mere intrusions to his own objective.”

  “Ah, there is much to be different from the Agent. To begin with, I nor my superiors are not crazed maniacs.”