EHuman Dawn

by Nicole Sallak Anderson

As he took his first step, Edgar’s cruel laugh echoed in the room. Adam looked up and saw Edgar holding Dawn by the throat, an ElectroShock gun pointed at her Chi-Regulator.

  “So that’s what you plan to do!” Edgar laughed, “Plug into Archion? Why? Let me guess, you’re trying to gain root access to Neuro! Impossible! The MICE will kill you!”

  Adam made to take the next step. He was so close.

  “One pull of the trigger and she’s dead!” Edgar taunted.

  Adam froze.

  Dawn’s eyes were wide open, but clear. She nodded to Adam.

  “I love you,” she TeleSpoke, “You know what to do.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” Adam TeleSpoke back.

  “Silence, my son?” Edgar Prince mocked, “You’ve nothing to say? I threaten your true love and you do nothing?”

  ”Let her go,” Adam said out loud to Edgar taking a hesitant step towards the couple.

  “No!” Dawn cried, “Adam plug in!”

  He knew she was right, but he couldn’t do it. There was no way he could leave her. He loved her too much. Raising his arms above his head, he took yet another desperate step towards his father.

  “Don’t be so stupid!” cried another female voice.

  Adam turned to see Oksana flying through the air, landing directly in front of him.

  “I didn’t risk my life for her,” she said harshly.

  Oksana pushed him backwards, forcing him into the wall and plugging him in, instantly transferring his Lux into cyberspace—leaving Dawn to her fate.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  “Hold your ground!” Origen commanded.

  The Resistance fighters aimed their weapons at the hundreds of drones silently approaching from all directions. In spite of the circumstances, Origen couldn’t help but admire the elegant technology. Each drone was constructed using the lightest of materials. Their shiny black exteriors made them look like oversized bats in the dawn sky. His own drones impotently circling the sky paled in comparison.

  The WG drones arrived overhead and stopped in unison, hovering above Origen and his troops. Behind him, Origen could hear the city dwellers screaming in panic. He could only imagine the hell they were going through, each one clamoring over the other in a desperate attempt to escape. But there was no escape. They were all going to die. There was nothing he could do about it.

  Origen glared at the drone directly above him and aimed his cannon at its underside. He knew it was impossible to stop. Still, seeing one blow up before his life ended would bring him great comfort.

  “This is it, people!” he called out in a fierce voice, “This is where our story ends! On my count, let’s take a few of these motherfuckers with us!”

  In response, the troops cried out, “Yes, sir!”

  “Five!” Origen began.

  Various guns, cannons and SpiderScouts aimed at the circle of WG drones.

  “Four!” he continued.

  In a panic, the people in New Omaha started pouring out of the city and onto the prairie that separated them from the troops. They screamed their last words, demanding justice, demanding their lives.

  “Three!”

  He thought of Dawn, the only woman he had ever loved. He’d lost her, not once, but twice. First to Adam Winter, and second to Edgar Prince. She’d live on, oblivious to Origen’s demise. Certainly the WG would soon plug her in and thus erase all knowledge of him and the Resistance from her mind, as if he’d never existed.

  “Two!”

  He cocked the trigger on the cannon. Origen had outfitted his troops with firepower that could blow a drone to a million bits. Unfortunately, he only had twenty-five such cannons against more than three hundred WG drones. If he’d had any idea of the scope of the WG nuclear program, he would have invested in different technologies. But it was too late now to regret the choices he’d made. Better to go out in a blaze of glory.

  “One!”

  The Resistance loosed their firepower. It was an effective salvo, destroying a quarter of the drones in the sky. Bits of the machines flew everywhere, raining down to the ground and breaking much of the equipment that surrounded him.

  “Take cover!” Origen screamed, jumping under the canopy of his makeshift command center.

  At that moment, an amused laugh rang out, broadcasted by the remaining WG drones that held their circle overhead.

  “That’s it?” World Leader Donahi’s voice taunted the troops, “That’s all you’ve got? I expected more from you, Origen. You’ve had almost two hundred years to create an army—and this is all you can give me?”

  She continued laughing. Her voice echoed off the city walls, causing even more panic among the eHumans trapped under her drones.

  “Reload!” Origen commanded fiercely. If the bitch was going to mess with him this way, he could at least take a few more of her drones.

  “Don’t bother,” she mocked, “Game over. Fire!”

  The eHumans running from the city stopped in their tracks and stared at the drones overhead. The Resistance had failed them.

  Their long lives were finally coming to an end.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  In classical physics it’s taught that force gives objects direction and magnitude. Without force, nothing in the material world can exist. Nothing can be in relationship. Gravity often receives credit as the invisible force behind all action.

  Yet it wasn’t gravity that drove Adam to risk losing Dawn forever by plugging into Neuro with the hope of saving eHumanity. Gravity wasn’t the force that had led the pair to New Caledonia, right into the heart of Edgar Prince’s empire. Nor did gravity draw Adam Winter out of his life in New Omaha and into the unknown with Dawn in the first place.

  No, gravity didn’t govern any of his actions. The force that propelled Adam towards his destiny was a force of a different nature.

  Love was the force behind his journey.

  As a result, he was now plugged into Archion. The network spread out before him in all directions. An enormous city of lights, much larger than anything he’d seen in the New Omaha LAN, streamed on the horizon, with numbers flying by in bursts and packets. The vast, seething consciousness composed of one hundred MICE quickly surrounded him, various heads and limbs forming and reforming like flames dancing in a fire. Adam desperately searched for his sister, knowing full well that only she could prevent the cyber Guardians from issuing a Remote Shutdown.

  He began to walk the golden road before him, calling for her as his Lux drew closer to the MICE.

  “Evelyn! I’m here!”

  He couldn’t see her anywhere.

  “Evelyn!”

  Still, no response. The ominous figures of light began to stream in towards him from all sides, screaming in their eerie, binary language, issuing warnings unrecognizable to Adam. He saw an arm reach out from the massive light form. Adam turned to run, but then saw that the arm remained solid as a body began to follow it. Evelyn’s form shimmered as she parted from the seething mass.

  “Eximo Lux!” she cried.

  Instantly the MICE mass froze like a glacier off the Alaskan coast, then shattered into pieces of nothingness.

  Evelyn turned to Adam and raised her arms, enveloping him in a whirl of light and binary digits.

  “I’m downloading the code from your files right now,” she called out.

  Adam could sense the operating system as a whole slowing down and coming to a grinding halt. The city of lights went dark. He and Evelyn were the only beings left in cyberspace, their images burning like pillars of flame against a dark, starless sky. After another moment of silence that seemed like an eternity, Evelyn turned to him and smiled.

  “The software download is complete,” she informed him, “The Trojan Horse has been successful. I now have root access to Neuro—and control of every aspect of our world.”

  In an instant, Evelyn recreated the world of Neuro. The cyberspace city returned, as well as the roads. Messages began to swarm around them.

  �
��Then unplug me!” Adam demanded, “I need to get back to Dawn!”

  “As you wish, brother,” she replied.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Origen shut his eyes, waiting for the total annihilation that was about to happen.

  But the drones didn’t fire.

  Instead, the machines began to turn away from the city. When they had rotated a full 180 degrees, they began to move away in the direction from which they had come.

  The EC in Origen’s command center came alive and the face of Adam Winter graced every screen, not only in Origen’s makeshift tent, but across the city of New Omaha, and in every city in the world. Even the EC’s in Gemetria came live, regardless of any command that the Guardians across the globe issued. Adam’s face smiled at them as he began to speak.

  “eHumans of the free world! Let me introduce myself. I’m Adam Winter—and if you’re seeing this, then the battle is over and the Resistance has won!”

  Origen couldn’t believe what was happening. Adam must have completed a Newsreel before he’d left for New Caledonia. If this was streaming on every screen in the world, then that meant only one thing.

  “Adam got to Archion!” Origen screamed out, grabbing the nearest solider and hugging her, “He did it! Adam did it! Evelyn Prince must now have control of Neuro! We’re saved!”

  He jumped up and down, giddy as a child, while Adam’s voice continued to boom across the field and on every street corner in every city in the world. Where panic and terror had reigned only moments before, cheers of joy now erupted.

  “You may ask, what battle? For most of you, life has been quiet and easy. No signs of war or terror have marred your lands. But the battle that the WG has waged upon us for almost two centuries was not one fought with guns and firepower. No, the battle that we have won today is nothing less than the battle for our minds! eHumans of the world, know this: while Neuro has provided you with pleasures beyond dreaming, over the centuries those very dreams have been hacked, manipulated and erased—until now, when nothing you think is your own. This might be hard to believe, so let me show you how your government has deceived you.”

  The video feed began to display eHuman life under the WG. Pictures from Chengdu, mountains of lifeless eHuman bodies, eHumans endlessly working in factories, eHumans being plugged into Neuro against their will, eHumans falling down dead along rail tracks. Old footage of humans, in the flesh who refused to Jump, being herded to their deaths. Image after image of their enslavement, while Adam narrated the story of domination that had brought them to this point. As a finale, the Newsreel began to display a picture of each WG member, seventy in all, culminating with a picture of World Leader Donahi, arm in arm with Edgar Prince on the steps of the Golden Hall.

  “You see,” Adam’s voice boomed out, “We’ve been nothing but pawns, programmed to do the bidding of the seventy in Gemetria. But no more! Now we are free! I call on you, World Leader Donahi, to surrender—or the drones I’m sending to Gemetria as I speak will destroy the Golden Hall and all those who live within it!”

  The EC crackled and a live feed of Gemetria came into focus, displaying drones on the other side of the world, gliding in the sky towards the Golden Hall.

  Origen smiled and turned to his commanders.

  “It’s time to get back into the city and celebrate our victory with the people,” he declared.

  As his various troop leaders began to organize the march back into New Omaha, Alrisha requested him on the EC.

  “Origen! Are you there?”

  “Yes. What’s the status of Neuro? Does Evelyn Prince indeed have control of it?”

  “Evelyn’s in charge. She’s called off all drone attacks on the cities and set them instead upon the Golden Hall. Gemetria is surrounded by drones for miles in every direction! We have confirmation that all of the WG is in the building, with the exception of the World Leader. It appears she left Gemetria yesterday for New Caledonia,” Alrisha explained.

  Origen laughed, “Looks like we might have interfered with her date with Edgar Prince!”

  “You betcha!” Alrisha laughed in agreement, happy to see Origen smile once more. It had been a long time since she’d seen her leader so joyful.

  “What now, Master Origen?” she asked.

  “Bring all the cities online and under your control. Work with Evelyn Prince to have control transferred to you. What is the status from Marcus?” Origen asked, recalling their promise to Jump Evelyn into an eHuman body once she had delivered the goods.

  “Good news,” Alrisha replied, “He’s successfully Jumped one of the MICE in the New Omaha lab into an eHuman body!”

  “Excellent! I’m heading back into the city right now. In preparation for my arrival, get a HyperJet ready for flight. I think it’s time I pay the Golden Hall of Gemetria a visit.”

  “Any news from Dawn or Adam?” Alrisha asked.

  “No, but if Evelyn Prince has control of Neuro, then I expect a TeleConnect from them soon.”

  Origen disconnected from Alrisha and jumped onto the nearest transporter, eager to get to the city and try to get in touch with Dawn. To hear her voice once more would make the victory complete.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Adam was still plugged into Neuro, but his Lux had been released from the system. He hesitated for a millisecond, afraid to open his eyes. He anticipated looking down the barrel of Edgar’s ElectroShock gun, and expected to see Dawn dead and lying on the floor. In order to save humanity from evil, he’d given up the most important thing in his life.

  His only consolation was that he too would be dead in a matter of seconds.

  Adam flicked the disengage switch, opened his eyes and scanned the scene before him. Through the broken wall of glass that surrounded Archion, he could see the control room. Red-robed Guardians poured into the room, banging on the consoles, trying to gain access to their beloved Neuro.

  But there wasn’t a single gun trained on him. Nor was Dawn lying dead before him.

  Instead, it was Edgar Prince sprawled out upon the floor. The sole of Dawn’s shoe was planted firmly on his chest, the barrel of the ElectroShock gun pointed at Edgar Prince’s dejected face.

  “Dawn!” Adam exclaimed as he ran toward her.

  She held out her hand to stop him.

  “Wait,” she laughed, “I don’t want to lose my concentration and wind up like Edgar.”

  Adam took a few slow steps forward and looked down at his father. Edgar stared at him, unable to say anything. For the first time in his life, he was shocked.

  “How did this happen?” Adam asked.

  “Oksana,” she murmured, nodding her head towards the Archion machine.

  Adam turned and saw the auburn haired beauty lying on the floor, the light gone from her eyes.

  “Edgar shot at you the moment she pushed you. She shielded you from the blast—” Dawn paused, shaken by Edgar’s ruthlessness towards his lover. Shoving her boot even harder into Edgar’s chest and shaking him a bit, she continued speaking, “I took the opportunity to wrestle him for the gun before he could get a second shot in at you. Oksana provided the distraction I needed.”

  Adam stared at his father. Edgar knew Adam was judging him based on his own, small view of right and wrong. It was so easy for those who wanted to save the world to condemn his actions. Never would Adam understand the painful loneliness Edgar had to endure in order to rule the people.

  “Oksana got in my way,” Edgar said ominously, “No one survives such a fate.”

  Adam knew it was a threat and chose to ignore it. Rather he knelt down beside Oksana and took her into his arms.

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  He lay her down in the broken glass and rubble and stood to turn and face Dawn and her prisoner.

  “And what of all these Guardians?” he wondered aloud, pointing to the control room.

  “They arrived the moment you plugged in. They must have been watching the whole thing,” she explained.

  “W
hat are they doing now?”

  “Trying to log into Neuro. It appears that their authentication certificates are invalid. The entire island’s under Evelyn’s control,” Dawn answered.

  “Evelyn?” Edgar Prince moaned from under Dawn’s foot.

  She stepped on his chest yet again to remind him who was in charge.

  “Yes Edgar. Evelyn,” she taunted.

  “You mean Evelyn Prince?” he cried.

  His daughter, the one he had trained personally in the arts of computer networking and engineering? Hers was the only mind on Earth that even remotely rivaled his own. Evelyn had been his pride and joy, the one Edgar had tasked with securing Neuro. Dawn had to be lying.

  “The one and only,” Adam replied, “You didn’t know that she and I created a Trojan Horse before I Jumped, did you father? Did you know she helped Dr. Neville program the code into my eHuman database? Or did you assume she was loyal to you?”

  “Why would Evelyn have any reason to betray me like this?” he said with a genuine tone of surprise.

  “The squabbles between you and your children aren’t my problem,” Dawn said, pushing the nose of her gun into his Chi-Regulator.

  “Let me up!” Edgar demanded, “Guardians! Come and help me!”

  Several Guardians began to move towards them, their red robes swaying around their booted feet. Their footsteps crunched the broken glass.

  At that moment, a voice rang out into the room, causing the Guardians to stop dead in their tracks.

  “Go no further,” the voice boomed, “You will not harm Adam Winter or Dawn!”

  The Guardians turned in the direction of the Archion machine, which seemed to be speaking.

  “You’ve no choice but to surrender,” the voice continued, “It’s I, Evelyn Prince, who commands you now. If you value your lives, you will disregard anything Edgar Prince tells you!”

  The Guardians looked at Edgar Prince, still on the floor in supplication.

  World Leader Rosario Donahi frantically entered the room, wearing a long black dress, her golden circlet still upon her head.