First Light: Book one of the Torus Saga

by Berg, Michael

  “Um, Canada actually.”

  “I have never been there. What’s it like?”

  “Pretty nice. Um, what do you do?”

  “Oh just things. I just moved here.”

  “Where from?”

  “Where you are going.”

  “San Francisco?”

  “Yeah well that is it. I became sick of the city. It is nice in places,” she thought of her day after quitting. “But I want to feel this…this real life, away from what the city is becoming.”

  “What did you do in San Francisco?”

  “I was an officer in the services…” it pained her a little to recall this.

  The Fixture was suspicious, “Um…what about, um, maybe I will go.”

  “No don’t go Tim. Sit down please. You have nothing to worry about. I have left it behind for good. I don’t hate anything, but the services sure come close.”

  He sat back down and gradually felt more at ease. He had been impressed with her the first moment they had spoken and a great part of him was telling him to talk to her now.

  Carmel took his hand, and her touch electrified him for a moment like a pulse had shot through him, but a warm and pleasant pulse…like a heartbeat. “Please don’t worry. OK?” Carmel looked him in the eyes and he felt a sense of being able to trust her. Gradually he was aligning with her – he could relax.

  “Alright, but you can understand why. It’s not like I am guilty of anything. I just have my suspicions about officials.”

  “Me too, that’s one of the reasons why I left.”

  “Why else…did you leave?”

  “I couldn’t stand it. Something inside me was making me feel, making me think, and then I thought about what the authorities are actually up to and …” she trailed off thinking about the events inside the Facility.

  “What?”

  “Um, what was, is…happening to people.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Carmel was still wary about the lengths her ex-employer might go to for listening in, “Um, just being forced to comply.”

  “Comply to what?”

  “To what they see as efficient, for the sake for them growing stronger in power and efficiency.”

  “Sounds pretty bland.”

  “It was.” Inside she was experiencing a little turmoil about what she had witnessed being done to some to people at the deep underground complex. The nerve burning nano technology, the needles rendering them unconscious, the itching…the itching was bad, and how they were now taking people to places near death and mind manipulating them with images of misery. That was disgusting.

  “What is it? You look upset.”

  “Oh, just how people were being treated.”

  “I know people who were arrested. Most of them are never seen again, and some they release with the chip after what they call rehabilitation, but only those they see can be efficient in the authorities meetings their goals…whatever they are.”

  “Do you have a chip Tim?”

  “Yes,” he was lying – he only had a device John had built.

  “I do too. I don’t know what is to become of me with it inside my arm, but I’m determined not to lose the life I have now…that I left the life I really did not want.”

  He was struggling internally as he could help Carmel with her chip, but he could only get a device if John helped. She noticed his thinking, “What is it?”

  “Just worried about the chips.”

  “Try not to. I’m not letting it get to me.”

  “Oh, it’s not really that.” The waiter arrived at that moment with his breakfast, and Carmel asked if she could have a coffee.

  “There are uncertain times coming Tim.”

  “Yeah. I saw something I wish I had not seen.”

  “What was it?”

  “A robot. It was about twenty feet tall.”

  “I have heard of those. They are used by Agents mostly, to round people up who don’t have the chip.”

  “But what about when everyone has a chip Carmel? What will they do then?”

  “Who knows, but it won’t be good.”

  “I’m not feeling good about them at all. They are going to be a lot more than just police robots for chipping people.”

  “I don’t really know – I don’t think I want to.” She was again reminded of the potential of a lot of suffering being forced onto people. She kept speaking as he ate, “I love it here Tim. I want to enjoy this place while I can. But I do know why I came here. It is to feel the way I do. I feel free Tim.”

  “But you have a chip.”

  “Yes I do. Perhaps freedom has a price. Perhaps it will not be that bad. People will still have to live, to be at home and to do things to even be balanced enough to remain efficient as workers. It cannot all be too bad.”

  “I guess that is true. It is just their focus. Working so hard for status. What does it mean anyway?”

  “Not very much. I have tried it, and then I walked away. This is the way for me now Tim. I could never go back to the high-rise.”

  “You were in the high rise?”

  “Yeah, all official staff live in the high-rise. There are members of the public too, the wealthiest ones. The rest are comfortable in the lower buildings, and others…they live on the fringes.”

  “I live in the lower buildings. Does that bother you?”

  “Not at all. Look how low my house is. It is all at ground level.” He thought about this for a moment, his trust of Carmel growing.

  “Yes it is. A nice house too.”

  “I like it, but it is not everything. Life is what is important. Wherever you go you must have life. Buildings are not much without life.”

  “Plenty of life in the high-rise.”

  “Really? I think there is plenty of life forms, but not much life.”

  “I have never been inside one. What do people do?”

  “They link up to their nano maintenance chairs, they watch holographic vision, they walk in parks in the middle of the buildings, and sometimes they go away and visit a restaurant, or take a planned trip to a tourist destination. Not much else. That is why I like it here Tim. It is real and not artificial.”

  “Like a holiday every day.”

  “You could say that. There is work here, but working in these places is not so difficult I believe. I don’t work Tim, not yet. I just arrived here.”

  He finished his meal and enjoyed a coffee with Carmel. They talked more about what life is like in the high-rise and on what could be lost when the authorities clamp down even harder. As they talked, he felt more and more at ease with Carmel. She had an effect on him nobody else ever had. There were plenty of good friends around him in Vancouver and in other places, but he felt something with her that was beyond this.

  “Are you leaving soon Tim?”

  ‘Um, yeah. I was planning to go at eleven.”

  “You could stay longer. I could show you around the town. It’s a nice town.” He listened to his gut instincts, at this time making him almost feel hungry despite having just finished a cooked breakfast.

  “OK, I’ll take you up on that.”

  They enjoyed each other’s company for the remainder of the day, and as time passed by they both felt calm and at peace. By early evening Tim had agreed to stay the night with Carmel, as it would be too risky to drive to San Francisco with the curfew in place. Even though Tim still had time, any delay would not be considered as an excuse and so if he was caught out after nine, he would be arrested.

  Carmel went about her house lighting candles as the sun began to set over the low hills to the west. She loved their flickering flames dancing on the gentle breezes that eddied and flowed through the house. It was a cool summer evening and she took it all in – embracing her senses, so often deprived of such simple pleasures in the past. Tim was relaxing and watching her as she danced around showing him her vibrancy. He wondered how an official of the authorities could have ever been this woman, and how much she must have ch
anged or simply released in her life. She was remarkable to him. Her effervescence was obvious in such a striking way he could not put word to it in his mind, but he could in his heart.

  Sure, he admitted she was attractive, but the sense he was learning with her, was something beyond lust. She was compassionate, she loved simple forms as did he, and she loved to project and express herself. It was these forms, these patterns that spoke to him.

  He smiled to her when she smiled to him. For a second they averted each other’s eyes, but then they returned for a second longer. They were speaking without words. They were feeling without trying. They began to know without asking. Then she left and went to the garden outside. He did not know what to do. Should he stay there or should he go out? Then she returned with some fresh herbs, and he felt a little silly.

  “Take these for me please Tim,” she was handing him the bunch of herbs. “Smell them. Feel them, aren’t they great? Taste them.”

  “So fresh,” he said chewing on a basil leaf – it was a bit strong.

  “And alive! Here!” she held her hand out wanting them back. He gave them to her and they touched for an instant. She quickly then went to the kitchen, and he waited, and he waited, and he waited, and then she returned. “Aren’t you going to help me cook?”

  Chapter 47

  The house was found without anyone inside knowing, though Chan had felt uneasy all that day. Now the five of them stood in the kitchen confronted by the leader of the dark sect. He was not angry, appearing calm, yet resolute, “We know it is here. We have tracked it. You should have thought a bit wiser old man,” he was looking at Chan. “I know you have been deceiving us for some time now, but your deception is over…ha, and ours is to begin. So if you please, give us the Torus and it will be so much easier for all of you. But…if you make it difficult, it will not only be a futile measure on your part, it will also cause us to become…upset. Yes, upset is how best I can describe it for now. But that is now. Who knows how upset we might be later.”

  “And…oh, we know it has been activated, otherwise our amplifier would not have detected it. And I am sorry, but despite your good intentions, I am afraid it is going to be used for our bad intentions. I understand its function well enough to know it can be used in this way. I think you do as well, otherwise I am certain you would have not been eager to put us off your trail, would you?”

  “You can never…” Chan began.

  “Don’t utter ‘never’ to me. I will do what it takes to please the wishes of my…um, let us say motivations. I know you old man - you will know what it is I speak of. You will ‘feel’ it as you call it, but it is not a feeling. No. It is a knowing. A knowing that our ways are the ways.”

  “That sounds like nonsense.”

  “And how do you reach such a conclusion?”

  “Your ways. Your ways are nothing to do with anything but your ego quest for power. A ‘knowing’ you say – you know nothing.”

  “Oh contraire old man, we know very much and soon you will too.”

  “I am not scared. You cannot feed on fear from me. Your dark ways are just silly games. There are no dark ways - there are just the ways. You speak nonsense as I said. I suppose you believe in evil versus good too. Ha! I knew you would.”

  “Oh, but such things exist old man and they are near.”

  “Near to what. To your flimsy imagination? To your ridiculous icon worship temples? To your unbalanced minds of hatred and anger? I do not accept you and neither do the others here.” They nodded in agreement.

  “But you will accept us. We can force you.”

  “I find that hard to believe. You are essentially powerless with or without your precious object.”

  “We are never powerless old man.”

  “Ha. How can you say that? I know of your rituals, your anger sending viruses out to the world, and your intentions.”

  “What are they?”

  “Out of alignment and out of balance.”

  “Now you speak rubbish old man. We are never out of balance. We have the beast, our Torus are ready, and we will prevail.”

  “Prevail against what? What is there to prevail against, your own imagined state of awareness? Your own imagined power struggle for status or supremacy? Supremacy over what? It is all in your head.”

  “There is nothing you can say or do to make any changes to this old man. It is the way. We must have the Torus. Don’t test my patience please. I do take ever so long to calm down again after raging.”

  Chan knew he was powerless to stop them taking the Torus. They had no weapons and the sect weapons looked dangerous. He was testing them, trying to get them to think, but it was not working much, if at all. The sect was bent on obtaining the Torus and powering up their vortex amplifier. This part concerned him greatly, for a vortex amplifier could do a lot of damage if in the hands of those who really could not control it properly, or if they had bad intentions – Chan felt the latter was likely.

  “So what of us?”

  “You will come with us. We cannot have you running around out here. You will be treated amicably so long as you behave that way. Otherwise you will not like what we have in store with our type of crack down. Those stupid authorities don’t even know we exist…well, at least not to the extend we do. They too will soon see how powerful we can be. We want power more than them – they are just too hell bent on efficiency. We already have that and more. So tell me where it is!” He was becoming impatient.

  They looked at each other and resigned this as to be the next progress of the Torus – they could not resist and they did not want to be tortured. “I have it,” Jenna said taking it out of her pocket.

  The sect leader did not grab for the Torus. He just stared at for a few moments looking at the pink hue.

  “So lovely,” he said. “And thank you,” he smiled as he gently took it from her hand. He held it up close to his eye to look into it, but then changed his mind and put it in a pocket in his long black coat. “Well, let’s get going shall we. And see, we indeed have decorum, for we are not monsters.” He indicated to one of the sect members, “Please make sure you lock up the house. We don’t want to leave it open for just anyone.”

  **********

  Agent Eight watched as the other ship had overtaken the transport vessel and then continued onto Mars. He knew his arrival at the base was only a few days away and then he would act. He no longer had any of his babbling sessions, and so Steve and the others who watched him during the off shift hours, were taking no interest in him. All those aboard the ship were longing for the five days of respite on Mars, before departing again for their destination in the asteroids. He also knew there were three hundred and forty personnel at the base, and this figure was important to him.

  He had secretly hacked into the systems on the transport and was able to access details on those who were stationed at the base. Although it lacked military specifics, Agent Eight knew he could use the remaining data. He had already made his choice of who and where. It was now just a matter of when. The thought of exile at a far-flung asteroid cluster left a bad taste in his mouth. He always considered himself as having good taste in everything he did, so he became ever more determined to make his plan succeed. After all his efforts, he had begun to feel sleepy and so left it to himself to fall asleep and enjoy the remainder of the ride with no need for the sleep interruptions as he had done previously. He lulled into sleep, a deep sleep and dreamed of the places Superior Officer One could never go.

  He dreamed of his status beyond reach of almost everyone, and he dreamed of how he would bring it about. The authorities although his employer, earned no measure of respect from him – they were merely a means to an ends, his ends. And when he arrived back on Earth, it would be a very different place to when he left, and this played right into his hands. He could imagine the ease by which he could institute his brand of change, his brand of pain. And in his dreams he laughed out loud. When he awoke after fifteen hours of sleep, arrival at Mars Sec
tor One base was less than two days away.

  Steve was feeling better, along with the crew. They were all only twenty-seven hours way from Mars now and soon they could get out of the tin can. The planet loomed large in the forward view as Steve stood on the bridge with the captain and the pilot. It was an impressive sight. He had seen large holographic images previously, but here now in space, it was real and Steve’s dreams of space came back to him. They stood looking at Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the entire solar system around fifteen miles high. It appeared to rise as a great spot from the planet, dwarfing the similar volcano in Hawaii. Then he saw the great canyon cutting a huge swathe out of the planet and many times the size of the Grand Canyon on Earth. It was remarkable, and alien. He had never been on another planet, and now so close to Mars, he thought of this for the first time.

  On approach to the base, he first saw it appear when they flew over the hills to the west, its lights the first sign of human beings for millions and millions of miles. As they grew larger, the contrast between sunlight shining on the base, and the powerful blinking landing lights, again brought a sense of alienation. He had only ever seen sunlit sky at day, with the view bound by the sky and no view to space beyond. Then the vessel came to a landing with a soft thud, and for the first time in weeks, he was not flying in a ship, but on the surface of a planet.

  “OK Steve. You know what to do,” the captain brought him around from his dreamy state.

  “Sure. I’ll take care of escorting our prisoner to the holding cells inside the base immediately.” He was relieved because for the next five days, he would not have to watch Agent Eight. As he escorted the Agent through the long tube leading directly to the control building, he noticed the three spaceships standing on other landing pads. They were all the same, including the one that had rendezvoused far back in space. Agent Eight noticed them too – one of them was his ride back to Earth.

  **********

  For Tim to have stayed with Carmel these last few days, he knew there must have been a connection worth pursuing. He was not given to casually being with someone from out of loneliness - he had spent many times alone over the years. ‘No, I think I am onto something here,’ he thought on the third evening at Carmel’s’ house. He was not thinking of an affair – there had been no sex. He was thinking of something more long term and they were building a friendship. From there, it would be elemental to them both on where it may go, or flow.