by Bruce Burk
CHAPTER 27 - FRAY
Sophia hadn’t given up on Elizabeth. She wrote another letter to her hoping that there was still even a microscopic hint of rebellion in her, “Dear Elizabeth, I miss you. I pray every day for your safety. The rebellion is growing strong. The people have seen the natural law now. They are realizing they have been lied to, manipulated, and deprived of knowledge and their freedoms. The Old Republics are going to be restored and the One State is going to be brought down. The people are going to be free again. Please join us. Please stop giving into the easy path. They tell you we can only be free in a world with complete tyranny and control. Freedom does not equal security. In many ways, they are opposites. To be free is to accept risk. But that’s ok. It is always better to live in a world, knowing you are not completely safe but free. I know there is still good in you. I know deep down you despise Eidolon and everything he has done. The rebellion is not the indoctrinated terrorist killers that the OS Media has portrayed us as. I love you. Please join us. Don’t give into their lies. If you want to join us, walk along the shore of the bay at night. And we will pick you up. Signed, Sophia.”
Sophia waited for days in the Triton, hoping for Elizabeth to come. But her efforts were in vain. She tried day after day to use soul speak. Asking her through the channels of nature and the universe to come to their side. She would not accept failure. Sophia held group sessions of soul speak with John and the other members of the rebellion. They reached out to Elizabeth. But she never reached back.
Elizabeth spent her days staring out the glass-pained window of the One State capital. Every so often a pigeon would come and bring letters to her window. She would wait until the guards would leave to slide open the glass and take the small message from the bird. Much of what Sophia said to her fell on deaf ears. For she was still consumed by the feeling of safety being within the capital gave her. Her views, like the views of most people, are tied into their neurological programing. As a child, her father would play fortress with her. She tossed and turned in her sleep to the sound of nightmares. She felt like the world was trying to tell her something, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to listen. The OSS would come and beat her, have their way with her. But she felt nothing; an apathetic tumbleweed being whisked away by the wind.
Sophia and John sat in a room surrounded by ocean life on all sides. The rebellion had grown significantly in numbers. With the help of the black markets and Dr. Verne, they had created a sizable armada underwater. Eidolon’s ships and submarines tried to locate them in the Atlantic but nature provided them a hidden oasis. Sophia seemed uneasy. She was painting in her room, watching the fish swim by. “It’s beautiful,” John said, commenting on her work. She had painted the tree where they had put together each of the branches in a gorgeous color. “You will hang it in your office when you lead the new American Republic,” John said. Sophia laughed, “And what makes you think I’d want to be in charge?” John stood and looked at two fish swimming together through coral. “Because when this is all over, there is no country on Earth that I will be able to lead. You know this,” John said. “So you’ll just disappear … huh? Just like that?” Sophia said in the sarcastic way a woman speaks when she abhors what is being said. “I have to preserve the integrity of the Order. I can’t both run a nation-state and be the head of the Order. It’s impossible. You are the hope for America. People remember you. They will support you. They believe in you,” he said. “I can’t do it without you,” she said. “Do you really think that I would ever leave you? That I would ever let anything happen to you?” Sophia just stared back into John eyes. Sometimes, love speaks in silence. “I need you to stay here when we head for the capital tomorrow. If something should happen to us, you must lead the army. They will die for you,” John said. John gave Sophia the Book of Remembering. “If I can trade my life to watch the One State fall, then that is what I must do,” John said resolutely. “Your grandfather would be so proud if he could see you now,” Sophia said. John stared into the water. “With your love I could take on the One State myself,” John said smiling. And their bodies became one. The two fish swam off into the coral reef in pure bliss.
Sophia woke to find an empty bed. She ran into the center of the of the rebel base. “Where is he!?” she asked Dr. Verne. “The Knights are gone. They are already on their way to the capital,” said Dr. Verne in a worried voice. “Well don’t just stand their … send a battalion of troops with them!” she ordered. “I’m sorry Miss Nomani, it was their request that they travel alone,” he said. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye,” she replied. The rebels pulled into the bay. The cyber-controlled OSS lurked through the facility. John, Clark and Gavin swam up to the steel docks where several smaller military boats were resting. One officer was patrolling across the dock. He would scratch himself and gaze his red eyes of despair on the water. Gavin shot up from the water and dragged him in, drowning him. His frail body sunk into the water. John and Clark repeated this action with several other guards. Their dark grey robes dripped as they emerged from the moonlit water. They climbed a set of nearby trees and waited as patrol came by. “All navy units departing in 15:00,” one officer said. But they let them pass. A transport car approached from up ahead. Clark quickly shut off the engine. The driver’s throat was slit and the other guards were quickly killed and thrown from the vehicle.
The rebels entered the capital area holding the driver’s eye open to a scanner at the gate. The rebels entered the capital building through the window. The bodies of the guards outside lay in pools of their own cold blood. They passed through thin, translucent window shades in the moonlight. “The core of the Universal Database should be upstairs,” said Clark. “Split up. Gavin, take Clark down the right side of the building and I’ll take the left,” John said. John cut open a vent with his matter sword and entered into the ventilation shafts. He inched his way through the small, grey passageway. The metal was sharp sensation on his elbows and palms.
He began to hear moans of pain and what sounded like whips so he inched forward closer, coming to a hole in the vents. Through the small holes in the metal, he saw a large room of Asian prisoners. He could tell by the eight spokes tattooed onto their palms. They had the red eyes of the guards, only they seemed even less intelligent then the guards. He could see programmers with a switch on the wall. The Asian man was chiseling some concrete blocks. The man seemed to be doing ok. He finished chopping the concrete block and asked, “I’m finished now?” he asked. The officer at the switch turned down the switch to the second setting. The man’s head seemed to hurt and his eyes grew a shade of darker read. They put another cement block and he proceeded to chip away at it. When he was done, he said, “I am tired.” The man turned to the third setting. His eyes grew even redder. He chopped through another block. They continued to change the settings until he worked through even his own pain. No questions asked. Nothing. He became and complete mindless slave. They turned the machine all the way down. The officer handed a blaster to the man.
“Shoot yourself,” the officer commanded. The man slowly lifted the gun to his head. Without hesitation, he blew his head off and fell to the floor. The guards laughed and applauded. “Bring in the next sample,” the guard said. Several Indian women walked in and began to hammer away at the blocks. “That’s it!” John said, removing his matter sword. He cut through the shaft and stabbed through the chest of the guard at the lever. The other officers drew their weapons and fired at John, but he absorbed each of the blasts and sent them flying into the torsos of the guards. They hit the wall and slid down as they faded off into unconsciousness. John removed the shackles from the Indian women and told them to flee. John moved forward.
Meanwhile, Gavin and Clark proceeded through the hallways. Calling where they were a capital was somewhat of a stretch. It was more a palace of homage to the world’s emperor. Clark assured that any potential observers watching through the cameras would not disturb their visit. Several OSS guards spotted them from across th
e hall. “Sick’em boys,” one of the guards shouted, unleashing several genetically modified dogs. They were hideous creatures, mutated and sick looking savage beasts. They charged towards Gavin and Clark. They came within a couple feet of Gavin as he raised his hand, as if to ask the dogs to stop. The dogs looked into Gavin’s eyes and stopped dead in their tracks. “Well don’t just stand there,” the guards said, “Sick’em!” Yet, the dogs sat, refusing to attack their guardian. They could sense that Gavin was a Knight of the Living Earth and bowed in obedience to their master. Gavin turned the dogs around and sent them back at the OSS officers, who were torn to shreds by their own genetic creations.
John headed up the stairs to find the living quarters of the capital building. He passed several doors until he heard a woman screaming. He burst into the room to see several OSS officers beating and mocking a young woman. John leaped into the room, quickly decapitating all three men. They didn’t stand a chance. “Are you ok?” John said. “I’m fine!” the girl said, “Now just leave me alone!” “My name is John Shepard. I’m here to set you free!” he said. “I don’t desire to be free,” said Elizabeth. “I’m fine where I am now,” she said. “You’re the girl that Sophia has been writing to. Come with me! I can take you to her.” She sat there in silence. “No,” she said defiantly. “Elizabeth! I order you to come with me!” John could hear a large group of guards heading towards him. “You better leave before they find you,” Elizabeth said. John quickly jumped out the window and disappeared. “Where did he go?” the OSS asked. Elizabeth just sat there like she was standing in sandpit of apathy, with no desire to fight.
John found his friends in a hallway after climbing through a window. “Nice to see you again,” Gavin said. “Alright, the central hub of the Universal Database should be right behind those doors,” Clark said. A large group of dark marines burst through a large set of doors in front of them. John threw his matter sword and took out the leader. He leaped into the air dodging several laser blasts and removed his sword, right before catching a blast and returning to a guard across the room. The three rebels stood side by side sending all the blaster fire back to their opponents. Soon, the dark marines gave up on shooting the rebels and charged them with their own swords. John clashed against one of them being sent through the large doors. He struggled to find his footing on the conveyor belt that he landed on. Near his feet were hundreds … thousands of tiny flies. Gavin slowly inched backwards dueling with two dark marines at once.
One dark marine jumped toward John chasing him down a conveyor belt. He swung to John’s left and John blocked. Him swung to John’s right and he blocked him again. The guard knocked the sword from John’s hands and kicked him onto his back. The dark marine laughed as he swung his sword high into the air. But John quickly extended his arm and blasted the guard, who fell off the conveyor belt. Several a specialized dark marines leaped onto the conveyor belt with John. He had a golden outline on his uniform. He smiled at John as he walked toward him. Suddenly, twenty dark marines rushed toward Gavin from all sides. He sheathed his sword and extended his arms in both directions, blasting a guard on each side. He turned to extend his arms again, taking out two more guards. He dove through their blasts at him, ducking to his knees and taking out the guards who fired at him. He spun in a circle, blasting several guards, before ducking and extending his back to dodge several swords that flew his way.
Clark clashed swords with two dark marines, kicking one away so he could deal with the other. The dark marine swung to Clark’s left and then to his right as he dodged both blows. The dark elbowed Clark in the jaw before knocking him to the ground. The dark leaped into the air and swung his matter sword for Clark’s head but he rolled out of the way.
John fired several blaster shots at the golden marked dark marine. He sent them back at John. John seemed to know where each blast was coming before it was even fired. He dodged to the left then the right. He ducked and took out his matter sword, rushing toward his enemy. John swung his sword at him and the large, tall dark marine grabbed John by the throat and threw him onto another conveyor belt. John knocked many flies off of the belt, which was now thirty feet above the air. The dark jumped toward him. John rushed to his feet. The dark punched John in the face. John blasted the dark with his wrist-mounted lasers, but they were useless on him. His eyes glowed a like a dark red. John kicked the dark marine, who tripped and struggled to find his footing. “John!” Clark yelled, throwing John’s matter sword back to him. The dark clashed swords with him as Clark ran through the last of his two enemies. John leaped through the machines that were coming down onto the conveyor belt, capable of crushing him. John fired several more blasts into the dark, aiming for his eyes to no avail.
Gavin danced around the dark marines, slicing them through their torsos. Clark threw his disks up into the air, bouncing his laser blasts up into them and striking the darks in their eyes, killing them. The dark caught up with John swinging heavily into John’s matter sword. The conveyor belt they were on was heading quickly for a furnace. John attempted to leap away but the dark grabbed John’s robe and held him down against the ground. John fired several more shots but the dark grabbed him by his wrists. John could feel the warmth of the furnace on his skin. Suddenly, Gavin aimed with amazing precision and blasted the dark in the eye. John quickly rolled off of the conveyor belt. The dark was set aflame by the furnace. His horrid screams filled the room until the reds of eyes burnt out. “Thanks,” John said, catching his breath. The rebels looked at all the piles of bodies around the floor. The exited the room and headed up the stairs. The walked passed a large ceremonial chamber. There were human sized cages and blood on the alter. “I don’t even want to know what sick things to do here,” John said. John found and pressed a button the desk of the alter which opened large doors. Finally, they walked through the doors in front of them. They saw a large room filled with holo-screens.
“Wow,” Clark said. “This must be it. Look … you can see people entering things into the database now.” Clark pointed to streams of data running down the walls and across holo-screens. The rebels could see many citizens entering in their personal information, status updates, and search queries. They saw one screen called X-Keystroke. Clark went up to use the computer and saw that he could search for anyone’s information at any time. The public was under complete and total surveillance. “It’s a sad day when you cannot do or say anything without the eye of government watching over you,” Gavin said. “The founders of my country would never have allowed this to happen. Then they saw a media upload terminal. “It looks like the OSS can come to this terminal and instantly tell the media what to report,” Clark said. “Or they simply just upload information to the database directly into the feeds of all citizens of the world,” Clark added. “Tyranny by information,” John said. “You only know what they want you to know.” They heard slow clapping sounds in the back of the room. A dark figure sat in a large leather chair and began to turn around.
“Very good Shepard. Very good,” Aiden said. “I was beginning to think you’d never come!” “It’s all over for you Aiden!” John said. “I don’t think so.” Elizabeth came into the room at the hands of one of the guards. “Drop your weapons or the girl dies,” Aiden commanded as many dark marines surrounded the Knights. “Go ahead. She means nothing to us,” Gavin said. “No! Wait. We’ll do as you ask,” John said, lowing his matter sword. Gavin and Clark also lowered their swords to the ground. Gavin raised his hand to shoot Aiden from his wrist-mounted blaster. Gavin fired three blasts toward Aiden. The world seemed to slow down. The red laser blast flew through the air and stopped right in the middle of the room. “What … the …” Gavin said. “Hahahahaha!” Aiden laughed, coming out from his chair. The guard threw Elizabeth to the side. “You can’t kill me! I am immortal!” Aiden said. Hundreds of guards ran into the room and put the three rebels at blaster point. “What have you done, Aiden?” John yelled. Then, the guards arrested them.
“There is a fo
rce field around me and around this room,” Aiden said. Eidolon has provided us with the technology to manipulate matter and to make the universe conform to our will. You and your little rebellion have made trouble for us with your hacking,” Aiden said, tapping Clark’s check as a sign of disrespect. “But we are hacking the universe itself, we are going to rebuild it to create a truly ordered and … sustainable future,” Aiden said. “You’re playing God Aiden, don’t do this. You’ll kill everyone!” John said. Elizabeth just watched in sorrow. A tiny tear fell from here eye. “Take them away!” Aiden commanded. “We will let Eidolon deal with them.”
CHAPTER 28 - BOB
It was a bright, sunny day at the One State Gladiator Coliseum. At least … as bright as the sky would allow with the dark clouds still floating in the sky. This gladiator arena put the old Roman coliseums to shame, holding up to three hundred thousand people. The One state knew the power of speaking directly to the populous through sports to enflame the passionate adherence to sports teams. This made the populous much more docile and easy to control because it made them much more willing to cheer for the government of wherever they lived. The citizens of the one state swiped their hands and walked through scanning machines to gain entrance. “Ice cold beer! Get your ice-cold beer here! Only 20 Bancors!” said the salesman, walking through the stands.
Several Christians and Indians were fighting dark marines and OSS officers in the arena in a pre-show battle. “I’ll have a soft pretzel,” said Bob Loyalist, placing his order at the concession stand. Wearing his polo and khaki shorts, he took his food and drink and walked through the doorway to find his section. He walked down several sets of steps and got this row. The crowd roared with applause as the dark marines ran through another terrorist. Bob scooted through the seats, facing his rear end to those who were already sitting. “Excuse me. Pardon me,” he said to the others. Finally, he found his seat. He glanced at the incredibly large amount of people. In the sky, he could see the black clouds covering up the strange green writing. He had seen it a while before, but really couldn’t recall what it said. They looked like some sort of laws, but his memory failed him. Loud men sat to both of his sides, waiving their fists in the air. The crowd on the opposite side of the arena was so massive and far away, they just looked like ants in front of him. The last Christian was knocked onto his knees on the floor. The dark marine circled him while signaling to the crowd if his life should be spared or not. The two men on each side of Bob rose to their feet, “Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Kill the terrorist! Cut off his head!” they said. The whole stadium rose in a thunderous applause requesting the death of the vile Christian terrorist. The dark looked up to a booth near the top of the stadium. There, Aiden sat with other members of the ruling party. Aiden held out his hand with his thumb held sideways. It swayed for a few seconds before he gave the thumbs up. The crowd cheered. Bob felt distanced from the crowd. He had been to a few fights before but recently, he thought they were to barbaric. Something inside him didn’t like the things that crowd said. But he still went, because it was the thing to do. The dark cut off the Christian’s head which rolled onto the dusty ground.