I could move again, it was slow and labored but I was able to lift my hand and touch Lola’s face. I was no longer mad at her. Maybe it was because I felt sorry for her loss, be it true or false and regardless of what he had done to me a part of still considered him a friend.
I heard the door to the room open again. At first I thought it was the nurse that had returned. My eyes strained to open and through blurred vision I could see a woman enter the room. Lola stood from the bed as the woman rushed over to me. She wrapped her arms around me and began to cry.
“David…” She cried. “I thought…I thought I lost you.”
The voice was not of the nurse. I could not make out who it was but her touch was familiar. She leaned over pressing her lips against mine. It was like remembering a long lost memory. As she leaned back I could make out her face, but the person I saw was not what I expected.
“We have to run tests, Mrs. Zavior.” Lola said. “But take your time.”
I gasped out her name and she nodded pleased that I remembered her. When I found Clara for the first time her name popped into my mind for just a moment and I quickly pushed it away. I felt guilty for thinking about her. The love of my life was Clara and that was who stood before me at that time, but the first person I thought of was my first love. Now, she stood before me.
13
“So this is your last visit. I think we should reflect on the past. Why don’t you tell me everything that has happened over the last two years as if we had just met?”
Doctor Silva’s office was specifically designed to bring comfort to her patients. On the seventy-fifth floor of the Destiny building her view of Lake Daily was spectacular. From the soft brown carpet to the positioning of the couches she always tried to make me feel as relaxed as possible. Above her desk were numerous degrees from all over the planet. She was the best and they would only give me the best. After all, I was their hero.
“If we just met then I wouldn’t tell you anything.” I replied with a chuckle. “Anyway, my life story is all over the global net.”
“You know that is not what this is about, David.” Doctor Silva said with a slight tone in her voice. “We’ve made all the progress we can here, but your true healing comes from out there. Your life with your wife and friends is what will continue your inner peace. You will need to continue talking and opening up to them.”
I had grown accustom to her round face with thick black eyes brows that sat just above her rimless glasses. She always wore her hair up, but once when I showed up to her home one night she answered the door and I was surprised. Her hair came all the way down to the small of her back. At the time I was not thinking about that. I thought I was relapsing again and ran from the house to the only person I thought I could trust.
She could have called the cops on me. I found her address using less than legal means. I was delusional and soaking wet from the rain. Instead she invited me in and talked me down. Her voice was so calm and kind almost like a mother’s. It made me wonder why she was single. She was an older woman, in her mid forties I would guess. Yes, she was a bit round around the edges but I thought she was very attractive. Perhaps it was just because she helped me so.
“I know.” I answered. “Believe me it hasn’t been easy, but I had to open up if I was going to make it. I owe you everything for helping me see that.”
“We owe you everything, David.” Doctor Silva said. “I wish I could say life will be easy, but with your status and fame it will not be. What is important is to know who truly loves and cares for you, who will be there in your brightest days and darkest nights. It may sound corny, but that’s what we need. Now, let’s start at the beginning.”
The beginning to Doctor Silva was different than what I perceived as the beginning. To me my beginning began when my vision cleared and I looked into the eyes of Sara. If it were not for the fact that I was still in a weakened state I would have jumped from the hospital bed. It was like being visited by the ghost of a loved one. The look in her eye was of joy over having me back. The look in my eyes was one of fear, fear that I had yet again fallen into another delusion.
It took weeks just for me to accept the position I was in. I played along wanting to know what had happened. I remembered everything that had happened to me, but their versions of events were different. All I could do is claim I did not remember so I could learn what they knew. The story they told me was incredible.
My grandparents were part of an experiment. There was a disease that tore across my country that caused human cells to decay at a rapid rate. The doctors and scientists did everything they could to reverse it, but they just did not have the technology. A year later we had lost over half of our population to the disease. It was then that a doctor from India visited the country. At that time the global war was still fought country to country and the Federation and Alliance were not yet created.
The doctor claimed he had a way to reverse the cellular decay and promised to share his research for asylum and access to continue his work. There was little debate and soon the government passed the resolution and he was allowed to conduct human trials. My grandparents were part of that initial group.
While the doctor kept most of his work a secret he was able to curse the disease, but as soon as he did he was killed and his research taken. All they had was the few initial test subjects and the cured population. As time went on the death of the doctor and loss of research was forgotten. The war continued to grow closer to our country and so all else was put to the side. When the Alliance finally came the people rose up and fought against them.
My grandparents were killed and my parents fled the country. They knew they would be hunted and so they left me with friends of the family who were too old to flee. I was eventually placed in an Alliance schooling facility. Meanwhile, my parents were being tracked. The alliance wanted my country because of its recourses and strategic value, but it was more than just that.
They knew about the doctors work and a team of scientists from twelve countries came together to find out if his research was true. They tracked his movements to Korea where they found a soldier who could heal almost instantly from injury. As they began looking into the reason why this solider had this ability and if it truly was the work of the Indian doctor they were betrayed by one of the scientists.
All the scientists and their data were destroyed. At that point the Alliance ramped up their search for the doctor and discovered he was working in my country. However, by the time they arrived the doctor had been killed and his work stolen. When they conquered my country they began testing the surviving population to see if they had any abilities. The alliance doctor, Henry Flag, was the first to discover that the original test subjects and their descendants were the only viable sources for data on the doctor’s work.
Flag and his team searched the files the alliance had taken on the remaining population and the only living family was mine. My parents had fled under my mother’s maiden name and it would be years before he discovered me.
My parents were not so lucky. The Federation had been tracking the doctor since he began his work. Originally he worked for the Chinese government on a project to create super soldiers. When the doctor was near completion he fled and had been hunted ever since. Once China joined the Federation they continued the search to destroy any evidence of the doctor’s work. They ordered the twelve scientists killed and they tracked the doctor to my country and killed him as well.
The Federation government had their own scientists who also discovered that my parents were the last source of the doctor’s work. They however were not fooled by my parent’s last name and captured them. They were tortured and tested upon until my father escaped just long enough to destroy the facility. My mother and father gave their lives to destroy the research and end the Federations plans.
By this time I was ten years old and after an extensive search Flag discovered my identity. By the time the Alliance moved in to take me I had collapsed during a boxing match
. Flag had me rerouted to Alpha Medical where he began tests on me. Up to this point much of the story matched what I had already known with a few differences. What happened after that point was completely different.
Flag was able to piece together data thanks to his father who had kept copies of his work and sent them to him before he was killed. Flag used the data and with the Alliance blessing began The Awakened Project. When he ran experiments on me he knew exactly who I was and with his new data would be able create the super soldiers for the Alliance. When he was found dead in his apartment it was assumed he was killed by the Federation, but it was soon discovered this was not the case.
Unlike the history I had come to believe I did not keep my new found abilities a secret and told my headmaster. I was promptly taken to Alliance command where they began an investigation into Flag’s death. It was discovered that Flag was keeping much of his research and results from the Alliance and soon we discovered why.
Flag’s father was approached by a colleague of his and recruited to work for the Federation military. He knew he could not just turn over data to the Federation and so gave his location to the Federation assassin and faked his own death. He had also recruited his son and sent him specific data so he could work from within the Alliance to keep tabs on their progress. Once Flag made a breakthrough on me he contacted the Federation to pull him out by faking his own death.
I was all that remained and with Flag and the Federation close to creating an army of super soldiers they asked me to subject myself to tests. By that time I had learned the truth of my family and had come to terms with it and so I volunteered. In the end they were unable to draw any useful data from me and as it appeared the Federation did not achieve their goals at age eighteen I entered the military.
It was during my time there that I met Hershel, but after a training accident I was once again without anyone that was until I was recruited into Alpha Factor. It was there I met Jonathan Kane. The military kept my ability and history a secret. All Jonathan knew was that I was determined to be the best solider in the alliance, but I had competition. Her name was Sara.
We began as rivals but over the months of special training we fell in love. When we were tasked to go on a mission together I was concerned for her safety, but she would not allow me to pull a macho routine on her. Before I was sent on the mission it was approved by General Davalos who informed me of his knowledge of my condition. I was selected for this mission because it was discovered the Flag’s were close to completing their formula.
My mission was the same as Alpha Factor’s with one difference. I was to obtain detailed information on the Federation project not just destroy it. I attempted to have Sara removed from the mission but my request was denied. Two days later Sara and I were drawing near to the Federation research facility ready to begin our mission.
The Federation kept minimal security I later learned this was because there was an organization working from within the Federation known as the Key. They were later tied to many events around the globe including the escalation of the global war. The Key, headed by Olivia Shaw, had been researching life energy long before anyone else. The Flag’s brought them the closest to their ultimate plan which unfortunately we never discovered.
They were able to keep their project under the Federations radar which made accessing the facility much easier. With Sara and I inside we found the main research laboratory, but it was not only heavily guarded but occupied by the Flag’s. We had no choice but to engage. I did not hesitate to fire on Henry Flag or his father. However, Sara hesitated and was wounded. Before Henry died he was able to set off the alarm while his father escaped.
I had the data the alliance needed and set the charges but Sara could not walk. We made it halfway to the exit when we were surrounded. The soldiers at that point did not want to take prisoners and opened fire. Sara told me my eyes began to glow a deep crimson and an aura of red energy surrounded my body and expanded out. She described it as a shield that repelled the bullets.
Sara told me she screamed out my name but it was as if I was in a trance. Then in a flash of light the energy expanded out again this time in a massive explosion. By the time Sara opened her eyes she told me there was nothing left but fire and ash. Alpha Factor confirmed an unknown blast at my exact location that had the power greater than eleven nuclear bombs. Sara and I escaped unharmed and rendezvoused with the alliance extraction team and was taken back to alliance command.
While Sara was treated for her wounds the alliance ran more tests on me. It was at that time I was introduced to the new head of Alliance scientific research a Doctor Alexander Theed. Theed was astonished that my abilities had not only returned but increased. During this time the Federation contacted the Alliance to begin peace talks. They had discovered the Key’s plan and with the destruction of their best hope of winning the war had no choice but to surrender.
The tests performed by Theed turned up nothing. Everyone was puzzled that my abilities came and went with no viable reason. They tried everything, but could not bring out the red energy or any other for that matter. With six days until the signing of the peace treaty Sara and I were allowed to leave and five days after that we were wed.
The Alliance wanted to keep both of us close and so they gave Sara and I positions at the newly redesigned Naxum Research Center. It was run by Jonathan’s wife Lola and Jonathan was head of Naxum security with I as his lieutenant. Sara returned to her scientific roots and worked alongside Lola on various project to improve human life. Sara told me everything was great until the day we found the meteor headed towards earth.
Everything was tried to stop the meteor but in the end it was an unknown blast of energy from near our moon that shattered the meteor with a devastating effect on the planet. Everyone within Naxum and the other shelters were saved, but by the time we had dug ourselves out the world was nearly destroyed by the Asher’s.
Once freed Jonathan, Lola, Sara and I were called to Alliance command. Theed had made a breakthrough discovering that the energy fired from near our moon had a similar signature to the life energy I had used to destroy the Federation research facility. The military was able to capture a weapon from the Asher’s and Theed wanted to use its energy on me to see if it would awaken my abilities.
Theed warned me of the risk, but it was our best hope to fight against the Asher’s. Sara told me she wanted to tell me not to subject myself to the energy, but she knew it was the right thing to do. She watched as Theed bombarded me with the energy and my body turned from flesh and bone to energy. I had no control over my actions, but what happened next was what changed everything.
My body becoming pure energy was set to an autopilot as Theed called it. The energy was encoded on a subatomic level to return to its source and its source was the Asher’s base ship. When this happened I overloaded their systems. Their ship was not designed to handle my modified life energy and so the feedback destroyed all of their systems. The Asher’s were also energy beings and shared a hive mind. With their base ship destroyed their containment suits ceased to function and without them their energy dissipated.
As their ships fell from the sky and their suits to the ground Theed and the rest of the global scientific community searched for any remnants of my life energy. What they did not know was that after the base ship was destroyed my life energy returned to earth and merged with the global computer network.
I was pure energy feeding off their data and there was no known way to contact them. That was until an alliance programmer named Randal Cyrus updated the global network with a new operating system codenamed Destiny. What Randal did not know was that his program had been hacked and modified by the Asher’s they wanted to be able to travel using our communication network. It would have allowed them to go anywhere with an energy outlet within seconds. The side effect was any sentient energy already in the network could also travel anywhere and with that I had my way out.
Subconsciously I entered an energy containment
unit Theed had used when running tests on me. When I did so my body returned. From energy to matter I was whole again, but something was wrong I would not awaken. After a battery of tests Theed theorized that my mind was still trapped within the network and that was keeping me in a coma. He created a special capsule to hold my body until he could find a way to awaken me.
Before Theed died of a heart attack he turned over his research and my care to Lola and Sara. It was Sara who devised a way to keep my capsule connected to the global net with the original Destiny software running in hopes that my mind would return to my body. Over the next few years the world came together and using the Asher technology rebuilt our planet to its old glory and beyond. Seven days before the celebration of the rebuilding of New Chicago I awakened from my coma.
The final report on the Asher’s where that nearly one hundred and fifty years prior an exploration vessel crash landed on our planet. It was discovered by what was then known as the United States military. What they found was an empty ship, they did not know that the beings inside were made of pure energy and had entered their own computer systems in an attempt to protect themselves. When the military began running tests on the ship the energy was transferred to their computer systems and eventually the alien energy was released into the countries network.
Across the ocean a young doctor by the name of Kanak Sarin was experimenting on himself in the hopes of finding an energy force he believed was contained within his cells. He had created a device to scan his body searching for any energy signals, but needed processing power in order to decipher any data he might have found. To do this he connected to the global net, but he was not only scanning his own body for signals he was also sending out data on his own body. It was believed the aliens intercepted that data and entered his body. They were never able to confirm if the aliens took over his body or not, but Sarin did received just enough data from his own body to continue his work.
Life-After Page 16