Between Two Minds: Revelation

by D C Wright-Hammer

  Cameron sighed, and his previously confident demeanor waned some. “Ryan, I feel responsible for all of ADG’s lies since their inception.”

  Ryan shook his head in disbelief. “I get that you were the first…one of the first to migrate, and you’ve promoted ADG ever since. But I think you’re giving yourself a little too much credit. You’re just a spokesperson.”

  Cameron took a deep breath. “That’s not true.” He turned around and began interacting with his holos. “Here. I’ll show you.”

  The holos displayed a list of database entries, and Cameron filtered them down to one, then pointed. “Here’s the database record for your mind file, the one they migrated into Charlie’s body and then deleted. You see the Create Date on it?”

  Ryan saw the date he’d migrated. “Yes. That’s accurate.”

  “Great. Now watch.” Cameron manipulated the output more. “Here’s the record for the mind file that was migrated into my host. The create date you see was the day my mind migration occurred.”

  It seemed more or less correct to Ryan based on what he knew about Cameron’s history. “What’s your point?”

  “Watch.” Cameron entered more data into the computer. The record flickered a couple of times, then a duplicate appeared.

  Ryan recalled what Tony had told him in the garden maze behind ADG. “Double entries? Is this what Tony found in the ADG database?”

  “Not quite. That was for hosts like Charlie. Look closer.”

  It only took Ryan a second to catch what he’d originally missed. “Different Create Dates? The one you added is over two years older than the other. But what does that mean? Isn’t that around when J-A would have had her migration?”

  “That’s right, Ryan.”

  “That’s nonsense. We saw the dated holos of before and after you migrated. Was it just another one of ADG’s lies?”

  “Quite the opposite, actually.” Cameron turned his chair to fully face Ryan. “It’s a lie I’ve told ADG since the day I migrated.” He cleared his throat, looking down before meeting Ryan’s eyes and continuing. “I’m prepared to confess my lie to you, if it will help you trust me.”

  Ryan squinted, trying hard to fathom what to say, but everything had been so befuddling to this point that he quickly gave up. He shrugged and nodded.

  Cameron took a deep breath. “I completed a mind migration the day you know, but I’m not…Cameron Walsh. His mind never made it into this artificial host.”

  The words made Ryan reel back into his chair, and he trembled. “Whose did?”

  Cameron exhaled hard. “I haven’t said this in over a decade.” He looked down at the arm of the chair and gripped it hard. Hard enough that his arm began to shake. After a moment, his hand calmed, and he peered up to meet Ryan’s eyes again.

  “I’m Dr. Rex Martin.”

  Ryan gasped and threw himself farther back into his chair, nearly falling out of it. His eyes blinked rapidly, and he had to force himself to catch his breath. “How the f—”

  Martin interrupted, “I know!” with certainty. He then spoke very fast. “I know. I never thought in a million years it would work, but it did. I’ll give you the abridged version.”

  Dr. Martin went on to tell how he’d been forced, against his will, by Dr. Thompson to perform the very first three mind migrations of Amanda Robinson, Dr. Thompson, and Ernesto Sr. He explained how he had been a broken man in the days following the procedures and had thought about ending it all. Remembering who he was at heart, a scientist, he devised a plan that had saved J-A’s life. But he also had a hunch that a series of events would play out and allow him to, in essence, escape the facility.

  “Without their top two neural transfer scientists, I knew Oceanic Laboratories…what later became ADG would need all the help they could get. Dr. Thompson and Ernesto. had given me a ridiculously powerful computer console to monitor the first three mind migrations. I embedded my mind file in a Trojan Horse that would evade their security scans, and I saved it on the root drive. Just as I predicted, the crew that cleaned up the facility downloaded the entire contents of the computer, and my mind file made its way to their network. It was designed to monitor the network for the first mind file created by the system and overwrite it. It was my only shot, and it surprisingly worked out perfectly for me.” He sighed. “But I’ll always feel bad about the real Cameron Walsh.”

  Ryan’s eyes couldn’t have gotten any wider, and he sank into his chair as he grasped the implication of what he was being told. The mind migration procedure was corrupt since its inception, and the realization strangely made him feel better about his situation with Charlie and Alabaster. In that moment, he recalled the loneliness he’d felt immediately after his procedure, when it seemed like no one in the world could understand how screwed up his migration had been. It seemed like ages ago, almost another lifetime. He’d seen and done so much since then that he felt foolish for being so naïve back then.

  Martin leaned in, his smile gone. “Now that you know the truth, there’s no time to waste.”

  Ryan took a deep breath. “Why do you keep saying that? What’s going to happen?”

  “The invasion, Ryan.” He scowled. “FPR is coming, and if we don’t stop Ernesto and his boss, the invasion will fail.”

  Ryan turned his head slightly. “What’s going to stop them?”

  Martin turned back to his computer console and pulled up the schematics for the weapon Terry and Ernesto Sr. had used at the junk yard.

  “The MK-Fifty is a prototype laser rifle based on illegal retinal scan technology. I thought we had a couple of weeks or a month before it was perfected. But Ernesto Sr. expedited that process by field testing it against his boss’s will.”

  Ryan remembered the beam that nearly entered his pupil. “What…what happens when they shine it into your eye?”

  “A normal person becomes a vegetable.” Martin flinched slightly. “A mind-pair has its migrated mind neutralized completely if it’s shined into your white pupil. It leaves the host mind relatively unharmed unless a subsequent shot is fired.”

  Ryan felt cold upon realizing just how close he’d come to death. He also finally understood Martin’s urgency. Still, there were some things he needed to know. “If you’ve been watching ADG’s crimes since their inception, why haven’t you acted? Why the hell did you wait until it’s nearly too late?”

  Martin scowled. “Trust me. Over the years, I’ve wanted to intervene on a number of occasions. I’ve wanted to work with the Shifter Alliance and contact J-A to let her know who I am and what I’ve done.” He shook his head with a touch of anguish in his eyes. “But I’m much more effective behind the scenes. I have done some work digitally to slow down and annoy ADG and other evil corporations. But when I found out ADG’s plans to build the weapon and work with PMU, I knew I had to do something more. I planted evidence in the ADG database pointing to Frank Simon. The shifters who hacked the system were supposed to get in and out without being harmed. When I saw that that wasn’t going to happened, I had to step in.” He took a breath. “R-J was the only one I could save. Now, he’s the only other person who knows that the Cameron Walsh is working against ADG. Even he doesn’t know my true identity.” He paused and leaned in. “When I got a second chance at life, I promised myself that, if I was going to be an imposter hiding in plain sight, I wouldn’t out myself until I had enough to bring down the people behind OL and ADG for good. They’ve shown that they have the ability to be…resilient.”

  Martin opened his hand toward his computer rig. “As you can see, I’m much more helpful behind the scenes. With the system that I’ve built in the shadows, I’ve been able to acquire all their secrets virtually undetected.” He hesitated. “Well, nearly all of their secrets.”

  Ryan detected the uncertainty in Dr. Martin’s voice. “What don’t you know?”

  Martin sighed. “I know where the
y manufacture and test the weapon, and that will allow us to move forward. But some of their systems and documentation reference a different facility known only as the factory. I’m guessing it’s a code of some kind because such a facility doesn’t appear to exist anywhere in the world. I’m hoping we get lucky and discover what it means in the process of delaying their weapons production.”

  “Delaying?” Ryan scowled. “Aren’t we trying to stop them from producing more weapons?”

  Martin tilted his head up. “That’s impossible. We’d have to take down their entire global network and kill all their scientists. Short of that, the best we can hope for is to cause them significant delays.” He took a breath. “With the data we currently have, we can hit them hard, right where it hurts. They’ll be crippled and recovering while we gain strength and prepare to welcome FPR.”

  Ryan nodded, but was really torn. He could feel that Charlie was also torn. On the one hand, it was treasonous to even think of colluding with the Free People’s Republic. Countless books, news pieces, and other media had it that FPR were like locusts, sweeping across Asia leaving destruction and mass graves in their wake. They were planning to bring their anarchy to this country.

  On the other hand, Charlie and Ryan had been betrayed by the power structures in their own country their entire lives. From the military, to corporations, to the corrupt police. They were all really good at spewing propaganda to keep themselves in power. And Ryan knew that Charlie and his experiences hadn’t been even as half as bad as some people. He remembered the video of the Big Pharma business suits, and how Spotted-Lung had plundered the planet for years. Then, he thought about the videos of FPR giving food to the hungry, education to children, and care to the ill. Dignity as J-A had put it. Even if FPR wasn’t as amazing as they seemed, there was no doubt in Ryan’s mind that they had to be better than the status quo.

  With that in mind, Ryan made the decision for himself and Charlie. Martin’s latest revelation was the last bit of information that Ryan needed to throw caution to the wind and fully commit to the cause.

  “Alright, I’m in. What do we do next?”

  Dr. Martin’s shoulder relaxed, and he sighed. “Great. Let’s review the plan.”

  Helen’s netphone buzzed with an unknown number as Junior’s auto-car drove. She flashed it, then exploded when she saw who it was. “Ryan! Are you alright?! Where are you?”

  “I’m fine. Luckily, the people who took me had good intentions. You, Junior, and Lucy okay?”

  “Yes, we’re fine.” She sighed, flashing the phone to them in the car. They all smiled at Ryan. “We woke up,” Helen continued, “at a random motel, and we’re making our way back to Junior’s place. We’re going to barricade ourselves in until we have a better plan than simply looking for Lucy’s family. Where are you?”

  “I’m safe.” Ryan nodded. “We’ll need to look for Lucy’s family later. We don’t have much time, and we’re going to need everyone we can get. I’ll be at the Countyville Prison at noon today. Tell Junior to take you and bring Lucy.”

  “Of course.”

  “Tell Junior to take the back roads. And Helen?”

  “Yes, Ry?”

  “I wanted to give you a heads-up. I’m also asking the Alliance to be there as well.”

  “Really? They were assholes to us. Why—”

  Ryan put his hand up and said, “They were just trying to be cautious. We need their numbers to move things forward. Now, I have to go. I’ll see you at noon.”

  Ryan closed the holo and dialed another number.

  J-A flashed open a holo, instantly pissed. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

  “I could ask you the same.” Ryan said, his face unflinching. “But I won’t. We don’t have much time, and I need your help.”

  “You expect me to trust you after conspiring against the Alliance? Even the council wouldn’t go for that.”

  “We had no idea what R-J was planning. Now that we do, it’s clear. FPR’s efforts in this country will fail if you don’t help us. You and your best technical people need to be at Countyville prison by noon today.”

  J-A went into her usual angry routine. “We won’t fall for your—”

  “Send a scout ahead if you don’t believe me. Without us, all of your preparations for FPR will be for nothing. Without the Alliance, we won’t have the numbers to do what’s necessary. See you at noon.”

  The holo closed.

  J-A growled in frustration and slammed her desk. She hated getting information secondhand and hated being given orders even more.

  Across the room, Tony had seen it all. “I’ve known Ryan much longer than you. I believe him. It confirms there is another player, and they must be on our side.”

  J-A scoffed. “This better be good.”

  Chapter 25:

  Back in Black

  “This better be good,” Junior commented as they approached the decrepit building.

  All the main entrances to the place had been condemned with concrete barriers years prior. They’d found a dirt service road that led to a hole in the rusted chain-link fence surrounding the building’s campus. Even though Junior was driving on manual mode, the auto-driver wouldn’t shut up about the dangers of going off-road. It made him all the more irritated that he was trespassing for the second time in the last twenty-four hours. The only thing keeping him going was the fact that his father was somehow still alive.

  On both sides of the dirt road, fields of meter-high weeds confessed just how unattended the prison had been, but it was clear that other vehicles had taken the path recently. They were headed toward the rear of the building, which faced south, shaded from the midday sun. Thick green moss completely covered the exterior of the stone walls, and several of the barred windows had collapsed. The other windows weren’t far behind as their bars rusted and bent under the weight of the structure above.

  Lucy was still wrapping her head around everything. “Why the random place out in the boondocks?”

  Helen tried to assure her. “Remember what I’d told you about the Shifter Alliance, the group of people like your father and Ryan? They’re underground…literally. Secrecy is tough to come by, so it tends to be easier to find abandoned buildings to meet. For something as big as whatever this is, the city was apparently too risky.” She paused. “And Ryan said it was safe.”

  Helen surprised herself with the response, but it was comforting to not feel in over her head with something. Lucy’s uncertain expression faded, and she nodded.

  The weeds receded and gave way to a small parking area. A door into the building was cracked, literally. It was formerly a very solid metal entrance, but had rotted into an oxidized mess, holding on by a thread. Two black auto-vans were parked close to the building, beneath an overhang. Junior parked behind them, and they all got out. They hugged the moss-covered walls as they came to the door. It screeched something fierce as Junior pulled it open, and they all disappeared into the dim corridor.

  Talking could be heard from deeper in the building, and they cautiously made their way in its direction. Even in the low light, they could see that the inside of the building had been surprisingly well-preserved compared to its eyesore of an exterior. Rounding a couple of corners, they eventually came upon a big group of people at the end of the hallway. They were looking at the wall alit by what must have been a large holo.

  Ryan turned and smiled at the new arrivals. “We’re about to begin. Fall behind everyone else.”

  They walked around the group. Helen saw J-A with six other Alliance members. They all had packs on their back. With R-J next to him, Ryan stood beside a table with a holo-pad projecting the huge holo parallel to the wall. The contents of the holo changed to a text conversation. “R-J was contacted many months ago by a hacker known only as Robin_King, who warned of a potential threat to the Alliance and FPR. Upon receiving these communications,
R-J proceeded with caution to determine the intent of the hacker without alarming the Alliance.”

  “Against protocol,” J-A said with a glare.

  R-J raised his voice. “You’re damn right I went against protocol. You would have shut it down the instant you saw—”

  Ryan held up his hand. “What’s important now are R-J’s findings. Robin_King is undeniably pro-resistance. He’s provided the schematics for a weapon being covertly developed by an unofficial R and D wing of ADG.”

  The holo changed to the plans for the weapon.

  “That brings us to the reason for calling this meeting at this remote location. The hacker alerted R-J that this weapon has been in simulated testing for weeks. Yesterday marked the first field test. This leads us to believe that the weapon is production-ready.” He rotated the schematics, so that everyone could get a better view. “This laser rifle, the MK-Fifty, was created specifically to target mind-pairs. When aimed into a white pupil, the migrated mind will be destroyed completely.”

  The technical shifters gasped, and J-A settled them down with a glare. Helen just shook her head.

  Ryan continued, “In that scenario, it’ll be somewhat jarring for the host mind to experience the abrupt removal of their mind-pair, but they will be otherwise unharmed. That is, unless a subsequent beam is shined into their pupil. A beam into the eye of a single-minded person will effectively result in that brain becoming mindless. That being the case, the hacker assumes that the weapon will not only be used to stop shifters, but also to provide ADG with a simplified process for obtaining organic hosts.”

  J-A scoffed. “This weapon is ready for use by who? ADG has some security, but they don’t have an army. The military would be violating its existing contracts if they used it. And the city police are too dumb and corrupt to be trusted with such an expensive, delicate weapon.”