Vita Aeterna

by Jay Allan Storey

Minutes later, a new SecureCorp vehicle showed up. My captors unchained me from the post and shoved me inside. The vehicle took off. I peered through the tinted window of the vehicle’s cab. The envelope with the card and phone lay on the seat. The soldier sitting beside it was completely oblivious to what was going on.

  About a half hour later, Gene routed through a new text from Bailey.

  There’s a new urgency now, he said, with your news about the factory.

  The Rebels had confirmed Gene’s claims about ‘Ultimate Solution’, and, with the Dead Shift’s help, located the factory that was to produce the toxin. Their tech guys had managed to hack the blueprints for the building, and had come up a plan to destroy it. But the plan required high explosives, and the factory was heavily guarded. They’d need a major diversion in order to gain access.

  I told him about Gene’s ability to control the gate. That would be fantastic! he answered. The open gate would be the ultimate diversion. Any idea when this could happen?

  I called to Gene. His image appeared, now brighter with the closer proximity of the crypted phone. “Obviously you can open the gate,” I said, “but will you — if I ask?”

  I explained Bailey’s idea of using the open gate as a diversion to draw off soldiers from the factory.

  Gene answered. “Article four of the SecureCorp mandate states: Protect the lives and well-being of citizens. The elimination of large segments of the population is clearly contrary to this goal. Opening the gate would facilitate the factory’s destruction. However, it would have to be done in the next twenty minutes.”

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “Because,” Gene answered, “we are about to reach our destination. Chances are that the crypted phone will be removed from my proximity.”

  I relayed Gene’s answer to Bailey. After a long pause, he signed off, saying he wanted to discuss what had been said with the other Rebels, and with Connor.

  We kept driving, past lush gardens, spraying fountains, and glittering towers of glass and steel. I hoped I’d hear from Bailey soon. I had a feeling we were almost where we were going.

  Bailey finally texted back. We’re gathering all our forces as we speak. We’ve got our two stealth vehicles and the motorcycles, and we can steal RoboTaxis and other vehicles along the way.

  The plan is to split into two groups. One will head for the gate immediately. If it’s open we’ll fight our way in and mount an attack on SecureCorp headquarters. That’s guaranteed to freak out the Elite and occupy a huge number of SecureCorp soldiers. The other group will break into a SecureCorp armaments warehouse not far from the factory, which we hope will be thinly guarded by then, and steal the explosives we need.

  Ask your friend to wait as long as possible, then open the gate. We’ll be there as soon as we can.

  I closed my eyes. Would Gene really open the gate, or was it some trick by SecureCorp? Vita Aeterna already had me. If Gene was lying, they could ambush both the Dead Shift and the Rebels, and eliminate their only opposition.

  But what if Gene was telling the truth? I’d already blown my one chance to kill Wickham. I’d never get another one without major help — help that even the Dead Shift and Rebels combined couldn’t give me. I looked ahead at my future, either caught and experimented on until I wasted away like Walter, or running scared for the rest of my incredibly long life like Zack.

  I swallowed. Gene had convinced me that he could lock and unlock doors, and even open the forbidden gate. What I couldn’t be sure of was why was he doing it.

  I might be leading the people who’d helped me and taken care of me, who trusted me, into a trap. Worse than that, if the Dead Shift and Rebels were wiped out, there’d be nobody left to change anything.

  But this might be the one chance we had to make a difference.

  CHAPTER 37

  Wickham

  About twenty minutes later, the vehicle rolled to a stop. My captors opened the sliding door and hauled me out. Straight ahead was a massive, open concourse with trees and spraying fountains. At its center loomed a gigantic, ultra-modern structure — a palace of mirrored glass deep inside the First Circle. I called for Gene, but there was no answer. Far in the distance, a soldier carrying the envelope headed for the building’s entrance.

  For a few seconds I stood frozen, gaping up at the incredible structure, like nothing I’d ever seen before. A single guard appeared at the front, then several others. They patrolled around the massive plate glass facade, beneath the giant, black ‘SecureCorp’ sign above the entrance — SecureCorp headquarters. My captors dragged me forward. As we approached the huge glass doors a light on a security panel flicked green, and they swung open.

  The lobby must have been a hundred meters across, and the ceiling was another thirty meters above my head. The furniture and fixtures were luxurious in the extreme: plush leather couches, polished wooden tables and chairs, carpets so thick it felt like I was walking on air.

  Soon we were joined by Brickhead. I noticed that he now walked with a limp. He rubbed his bad leg and sneered at me. We headed for a row of gleaming, stainless-steel elevators on the east wall. Brickhead pressed the Up button for the closest one. When it arrived, my original handlers took off, and Brickhead and I entered it alone. He pressed the button for the tenth floor, and we sped upwards.

  It stopped, and we stepped out into a long hallway. There was nobody around. It was creepy. At the end, to our right, one door was open; a bent rectangle of light spilled out into the corridor. Brickhead prodded me toward it.

  When we reached the open door, he gave me one last kick and I stumbled inside. There, sitting in a high-backed leather chair by a massive plate-glass window, framed by a stunning view of the glittering lights of the First Circle, was the man I’d sworn to kill — Charles Wickham.

  He swiveled to face me and smiled. “Hello, Alex. We finally meet.”

  He nodded at my handcuffed wrists, and Brickhead reluctantly bent down and removed them.

  Wickham ignored me for a few seconds, while he talked to somebody on his HUD. I wondered whether the feed for his HUD was the same as mine. No way. His body twitched. I smiled. There was stuff going on he didn’t understand any more than I did.

  I just stood staring at him. The call might have been about the open gate. I wondered if he knew about the gathering Rebel force, or the melded card, or that it had said it wanted him dead. I wasn’t sure if I believed that myself.

  Wickham composed himself and smile broadened. “Our tracking of your movements implies that you’ve been looking for me. Now that you’ve found me, what are you planning to do?”

  “Give me a gun and find out.”

  He laughed. “You have a lot of rage inside you for one so young.”

  “Maybe that has something to do with you ruining my life and killing everybody I ever cared about.”

  He shrugged. “That’s the way of the world — nothing personal. A week from now, most of the people you ‘cared about’, as you say, would have been gone in any case. By that time there will only be three Corps,” he continued, a smug expression on his face. He rose from his chair and strolled across the room, absently glancing out the floor to ceiling windows.

  I had to laugh. “Three Corps? I thought you guys were supposed to be big on competition.”

  He stopped and turned to face me. “Well, you know how it is with competition. Somebody loses and somebody wins.” He smiled. “When I’ve finally won against all my competitors — and I will win — there will only be one Corp, and I will be at its head. After all, that’s the ultimate intent of all competition, isn’t it — to produce a single winner? In order for that to happen, all the other competitors have to be eliminated.”

  I scanned around the room for some kind of weapon. Brickhead seemed to have disappeared. As far as I could tell Wickham and I were alone. It was my one chance. He was old, but he was still a lot bigger than me, and he looked in good shape. There was no way I could overpower him by myself.

 
; He paused, getting some communication on his HUD.

  “What!” he yelled. “Still! Well close them for God’s sake!”

  He looked really rattled. I liked that look on him.

  He turned away and contacted somebody else. Minutes later, Brickhead and another goon appeared behind me. Each of them grabbed one of my arms, and they dragged me toward the elevators.

  ☼

  A half hour later I lay on a bed in a room one floor down, my heart sinking into my gut. It was like déjà vu, like I’d never escaped the first time. The room was just like the one Chuck had kept me in before. I was back in a hospital gown, and my feet were bare. I had no idea what had happened to the crypted phone, the money, the melded card — and Gene. And again my HUD was no longer working.

  A few minutes later, the door opened, and Wickham appeared again, flanked by Brickhead and the other thug. The two grabbed my arms.

  Wickham was smiling, but he still had that look like somebody had punched him in the gut. Something was screwing with his world. Tough break for him.

  “You know,” he said, glancing around the room, “it’s ironic. You have the potential to live for another four hundred years.” His fists clenched as he said it.

  He turned his head and glared at me. “But you can die as quickly as anybody else.”

  I struggled, but I couldn’t break free. I had nowhere to go anyway.

  “You know what I can’t stand?” Wickham said.

  I just sneered at him.

  He took a step toward me. “That worthless little shits like you and your miserable uncle, who have never accomplished anything, never dedicated their lives to anything, never pursued anything, and above all else,” he turned again and stared out the window, “never sacrificed anything…” he turned back and brought his face up so close I could smell his breath, “have been blessed with this miraculous gift, while fine, ambitious, visionary people are cursed with early death.”

  “Life’s a bitch,” I said. “Get over it.”

  He drew back his arm and back-handed me across the face. “I never asked for your opinion.”

  He turned and strolled toward a tiny window in the west wall. “You should be grateful. Thanks to me, you may actually contribute something to society. Who knows, the tests we perform on you may lead to the breakthrough that allows the Appraisal to be controlled, to be enhanced for those who truly deserve it. Of course, it’s possible, even likely, that you will suffer, and possibly die, in the process, but you will be able to rest easy knowing how you have helped the cause.”

  “Yeah, that gives me a warm feeling inside,” I said.

  The light above struck his face at a weird angle. The wrinkles on his skin stood out like river valleys on some ancient map.

  “By the way,” I asked, “what was your Appraisal?”

  He stiffened and started shaking, like there was some kind of storm whipping up inside him. He strode over to me and punched me in the gut — so hard that it took my breath away. I collapsed. The two thugs had to hold me up.

  “Proceed with the tests,” he said, and marched out of the room.

  CHAPTER 38

  The Final Solution

  Brickhead called somebody on his HUD, and a few minutes later a guy in a white lab coat showed up and took my blood pressure and checked my heart rate right there in the room. As he left I overheard him say that the tests were scheduled for tomorrow morning.

  Eventually they all took off and I was left alone. I collapsed on the bed and clamped my eyes shut. I no longer had contact with Gene, but from the way Wickham was acting, I guessed that the gate was still open.

  I passed out. I must have been exhausted, because when I woke up and checked my HUD, several hours had passed. Something had woken me — a sound. I listened and heard it again. A garbled, digitized voice that was barely audible.

  A faded, grainy image of Gene’s avatar appeared and spoke, a little more clearly this time. “Are you receiving my transmission?”

  “Gene,” I said.

  “I’ve tapped into the building’s communication system,” the avatar said. “That has allowed me to amplify my signal, but I don’t know where I am. You must locate me so that I can help you.”

  I laughed. “Hey, no problem. Just get me out of here and I’ll get right on that.”

  I heard a click. I jumped off the bed and went to the door. It was open.

  “What the hell are you?” I whispered.

  “I can detect your proximity through the building’s security system,” Gene answered. “Just start walking and I’ll direct you to me. I believe I’m on the same floor as you.”

  I wasn’t sure how far I was going to get skulking around the hallways with my bare ass hanging out, but I didn’t have too many other options. I opened the door a crack and checked the hallway. There was nobody around.

  I left the room and started walking.

  “Wrong direction,” Gene said. “Go the other way.”

  I could see this was going to be a lot of fun. I turned back, keeping an eye out for Brickhead or the other thug. I got to the intersection of two corridors.

  “Now what?” I said.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Gene said. “Start moving, and I’ll let you know.”

  I continued like that for almost an hour, weaving back and forth through hallways, with Gene telling me if I was getting ‘warmer’ or ‘colder’. His image on my HUD gradually intensified and came into focus. I turned down a hallway and Gene said I was very close. There were doors all along it. About halfway down, one of them was open, and the lights were on.

  “You’ve arrived,” Gene said in my HUD.

  I jumped when I saw a shadow move inside. I snuck in closer and tiptoed into the center of the hall for a better look. Finally I saw the full silhouette on the wall, the squarish head, the pumped-up arms and torso, and I knew whose office this was.

  Of course, I thought, clenching my fists. That’s just great.

  ☼

  I was about to back away when a familiar voice echoed from inside the room. It was Wickham. I moved back against the closest wall. I could only catch snippets of what he was saying.

  “… never seen it before,” Wickham said. “…it’s like a Vita Aeterna card, but…”

  “…they should never have messed around with that nanotechnology shit,” Brickhead’s voice answered.

  “…still open…,” Wickham said. “…Rebel mobs marching…First Circle. SecureCorp…conflicting information.”

  I’d been edging closer and closer to the door, trying to hear what they were saying.

  “I’ll get rid of the damned thing,” Brickhead said. I heard the click of his gun being primed.

  “Not that way,” Wickham said. “And not yet. Before we restart testing, we need to find out from the kid what the hell else this thing’s been doing. I’ve got a card shredder in my office. In fact, I don’t know if that would be enough. We might have to incinerate.”

  I was almost at the door opening. Suddenly an arm reached out and grabbed my wrist, dragging me inside. Brickhead was squeezing so hard I thought my wrist would break, and his gun was pressed against my forehead. Wickham stood beside a desk. The melded card lay on it in front of him. Gene — it was close enough for me to reach out and touch it.

  “Don’t kill him,” Wickham said.

  “This won’t kill him,” Brickhead snarled, hauling back to club me with the butt of his gun.

  “Gene — do something!” I yelled.

  The room lights went out and I ducked. I heard the whoosh of air from Brickhead’s blow pass over my head. It was pitch black. Gene must have done all the lights in the building. I pictured where Brickhead had been standing, and kicked as hard as I could at a point I figured would be between his legs. He screamed and let go of my arm. His gun went off, but it missed me.

  I jumped toward the desk and groped desperately for the card lying there. My fingers finally touched it, but other fingers grabbed my wrist. I closed my hand
on the card, twisted my arm away and started running. It was still totally black. I bashed sideways into the right-hand wall and veered away. I had no idea where I was going. I glanced back and saw Brickhead’s image lit up as he fired his gun into the darkness.

  “Don’t shoot!” Wickham yelled.

  “Fuck you!” Brickhead yelled back.

  I tried to do a serpentine thing as I ran. Brickhead kept firing, but none of the shots hit me. I used the light from the gunfire to follow the wall to an intersection with another hallway. As soon as I turned the corner, the card started to glow, enough for me to see where I was going. I held it up in front of me like a beacon as I ran. I turned another corner.

  Gene’s avatar appeared in my HUD. “Next left,” he said.

  We snaked through a maze of hallways, Gene directing me. The lights started flicking on in each hallway when I entered, and off again as soon as I left. We finally reached one that looked familiar. I realized it was where I’d escaped from earlier. As I ran by, the locks on every door I passed clicked open. From one or two of them people emerged, stunned, dressed in gowns like me. Most looked young, a couple were ancient and withered like Walter.

  I heard a shot and a bullet whizzed by my head. I looked back and froze. Brickhead was standing at the far end of the hall behind me with a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. He raised his arm to fire.

  A gowned woman from a doorway nearby pointed at him and screamed: “It’s him!”

  She dove at him. He turned and shot her, but she kept coming, grabbing his gun hand. Several of the other gowned people joined in. He managed to shoot one or two of them but by now there were a least a dozen. They pulled him down and his screams echoed through the hallway as they tore him apart.

  “We must go,” Gene said, shocking me back to the present.

  ☼

  He directed me to a storeroom, where I found my clothes and put them on. On a shelf above them sat the crypted phone. I grabbed it, and Gene led me through another series of hallways.