Looper

by Ann Bakshis

  I’m made to walk in the middle of the group, with Garrett gripping my arm. Probably a way to make sure I don’t loop away from them. The center platform barely has enough room for the four of us and the massive workstation that sits in the middle. Lok sits in the lone chair, turns on the display, and begins typing away at the keyboard just underneath. The image on the screen changes every few seconds, almost like it’s resetting itself. Lok grumbles at every alteration. After a half-hour, Lok slams his fists on the counter.

  “I thought you could crack this?” Garrett asks, still holding onto me.

  “The programming isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before. It keeps modifying its configuration. Whenever I get close, it changes and I have to start all over again.”

  “What are you looking for?” I ask.

  “Their research files,” he responds as he starts typing again. “I need to locate what they developed, so the Patrician can gain access to it.”

  I have to bite my lip to keep from smirking.

  “You three might as well head back upstairs. This is going to take me a while,” Lok says as he rummages through his rucksack he dropped on the floor earlier.

  We go back to the lift and head to the top floor. The sun is setting, so Garrett makes dinner. Troy takes a plate down to Lok while I clean up the dirty dishes. Garrett wants to retire for the night, but when I tell him I’m not tired, it doesn’t go over well.

  “I need you rested, Max. Who knows how long it’ll take Lok to get into their systems, and when he does you have to be ready to go.”

  “Go where, Garrett?” I ask as he shoves me off the lift and into the hallway of the forty-ninth floor.

  “Home.” He takes my hand and pulls me over towards his room.

  I yank my hand away. “I am home.”

  “Don’t do this, Max,” he says, almost pleading. “The Patrician will have no option but to terminate your existence if you violate their directives.” He steps up to me, wraps his arms around my waist, and pulls me in close. “You don’t want to do that, now do you?” he asks, sweetness dripping from his tongue.

  I think back to what the Dracken said to me. I’m a Patrician leader now and should use it to my advantage. If I can get Garrett to trust me, I can manipulate him. One way to get his trust is by letting him believe I stand with him and the rest of the Patrician. I’m going to hate myself for what I’m about to do, but I need him to know he can rely on me. I take my hand and run it through his hair, pushing his head slightly backwards.

  “You’re right, Garrett,” I say, aligning my body against his. “That’s not what I want.”

  I kiss him hard on the lips, push him back against his door, and begin to remove his clothes. We’re naked before the door is even completely open. I give all the directions and Garrett obeys my every word. It’s satisfying, actually, having him practically begging for more. He soon tires and falls asleep. I stay in bed next to him, thinking my options through.

  I need to explore the building and the only safe time to do that is at night. But, where do I start? Lok mentioned there’s a directory in the lobby, so maybe that’s where I should go first. I slip out of bed, put my clothes back on, and step into the hallway. If I take the lift, it could alert Troy and Lok that I’m moving about. I can loop great distances in the open, but I doubt I can do that in a building of this size. I go towards the stairwell, open the door, and gently close it behind me.

  I begin looping down every few floors. It doesn’t take me long to reach the bottom. I exit into the lobby and try to find the directory, but I don’t see one.

  I carefully look at every pillar, display, and countertop, but find nothing. I then scan all the wall hangings, pictures from a very different time in Pentras’ history. Still, I come up empty. I plop down on one of the couches, frustrated. While seated, I look around the room, and finally notice that there are paintings every few feet apart, except in one spot. I get up, walk over to the blank section of wall, and just as I get close my wristband begins to glow yellow, and projects an image on the blank wall. A directory sparkles in front of me. Every floor carefully mapped out and labeled.

  How did the Patrician know this was here if they’ve never been inside the building? Who could possibly be helping them? Does the Dracken have a traitor in their midst?

  I try and remember as much detail as I can. Two floors interest me the most; the eighth and thirteenth. I know the eighth floor is one of the sealed floors, and it’s not shown as having an actual label on the directory. The thirteenth floor is part of the research section, and it’s the only floor that doesn’t directly connect to floors nine through twelve. I won’t be able to access the eighth floor until I can use the lift, so I’ll start with the thirteenth. I take the stairs back up and stop just outside the door to the floor, then take a deep breath and loop.

  I project myself just on the other side of the door. The lights turn on the moment I step forward revealing a crammed room filled with old work stations, broken displays, and cracked plasma tables. I have to squeeze myself between sharp edges, shattered glass, and metal shards. The door at the other end of the room is slightly ajar, but I’m forced to move some of the junk so I can open the door wide enough to get through.

  The room I enter has minimal lighting. The walls and floors are covered in a rough, dark metal that scratches the bottom of my bare feet. Hidden blue lights illuminate the outlines of immense workstations, the three lift doors on my left, and two disk shaped stands secured to the far side of the room. I carefully step over to one of the stands and realize they’re actually virtual imagers, machines that require someone or something to stand in the middle of it while an image is projected down from the upper casing. I’m not sure how I know what these machines are, since they’ve never been used in the Outer Limits, but I do know, which frightens me a bit.

  A pedestal with a small display is set to one side of the machine. I touch the surface and it springs to life. I scroll through the inventory of prototypes, finally stopping on the one for the suit. The imager lights up. I step over the small ridge that encloses the base of the machine. A shield made of pure light rises from the floor, intersects with its other half in the ceiling, and I find myself draped in an image of the suit. I can feel the material as if it was touching my skin. A menu displays in front of me on the wall of light, providing me with the description of the material that makes up the suit: highly compressed polymers that have been radiated to allow the wearer to blend into their environment. Metallic threads woven into the material allow seamless blending with all objects that come into contact with the material.

  I tap on the menu and I’m surprised that I can actually touch it. I slide my finger over various schematics about the outfit and stop when I come across a file labeled “Practical Applications”. Inside of that is what looks like a memo written by one of the researchers and marked with several red bullet points at the top.

  This new technology will not only allow our citizens to explore the worlds around us in complete safety, but if applied correctly, all devices, machines, and equipment can be synthesized using this new technology. This will allow our world to transport seamlessly across the outer rims of space without any risks.

  My eyes stop on the last two sentences and I find myself reading it again aloud.

  The Patrician don’t want the suit itself, they want the technology behind it. If they get their hands on this, there’s no stopping them from invading other worlds. Those citizens will not know they’ve been taken over until it’s too late.

  I scroll through the menu again trying to locate an inventory list. It takes me several minutes, as it’s cleverly buried under a file labeled “Maintenance Equipment”. I have to read the number a couple of times to make sure I’m seeing it correctly.

  Suits created: one.

  I press a red button on the lower portion of the screen and everything retracts. I step onto the floor and turn my attention back to the small display. A green light is flashing in
the upper corner, requesting if production should continue. My finger hesitates in pressing Accept. I tap the screen and the room is flooded by light coming from the back wall by the storage closet. Large machines sealed behind thick glass begin to dance. I’m surprised at the lack of noise being made, but thankful that it won’t alert the others to what I’m doing. I go over towards the lifts and notice a security panel next to the center lift. It’s a biometric reader. I put my palm onto the flashing panel. The device scans my hand, turns blue, and flashes lockdown commencing. The lift door opens, I step inside, and another biometric reader appears by the floor selections. I repeat the steps, only this time the device tells me the floor is secured. The reader disappears into the wall and I ascend.

  I get off on the forty-ninth floor, enter my room, strip down, and crawl under the covers. I fall asleep quickly, feeling somewhat relaxed by the notion that Lok will not find what he’s looking for, and that none of them can get to the technology without my knowledge.

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  Twenty-Five

  I know Garrett is next to me before I even open my eyes.

  “Why didn’t you stay?” he asks, pulling me into his arms.

  “I was having trouble falling asleep.” I roll over so my face is buried into his chest. “Has Lok managed to break through the system?”

  “Not yet. I sent him to bed about an hour ago.” Garrett kisses the top of my head, pulling me in closer. “I do have some good news for you, though.”

  I lift my head so I can see his face.

  “We’re going to Icarian today.”

  “Seriously?” I ask, sitting up. “How do you know?”

  “Lok has been able to lower some of the building’s security defenses, so the Patrician are able to send a stronger signal into the building. It’s still not enough to get them inside without your assistance. You just need to get dressed,” he says, caressing my bare arm. “Once we’re back at the plaza, the Patrician will loop us there.”

  “Why can’t I do it?” I ask, sounding offended. Which I am.

  “You don’t know where it is, and neither do I, so they have to be the ones to loop us.”

  I lean into him and brush my lips over his. I then swing my body over his to get out of bed, but he grabs me and wrestles me back under the covers. It takes an hour for us to finally emerge. We shower together, but get dressed separately. I put the suit on under a long sleeved beige top and my black pants from the day before. I slip on the boots as well as my sheath, securing it around my waist. The suit blends into the colors of my outfit, affirming what the Dracken told me about it being easily concealable.

  Garrett knocks on my door as I finish running my fingers through my long hair, trying to work out the knots. He hands me a hairband from my dresser so I can secure my hair behind my head. We take the lift down and find Troy lounging on one of the couches, waiting for us. I grumble at the idea of him coming with us, but Garrett tells me he has to go, so I loop us outside and towards the plaza. Troy isn’t used to looping quickly and rapidly, so he almost gets sick several times. I grin inside. The moment we’re next to the fallen statue, I remember that I wanted to ask Lok about the academy. I can’t believe I totally forgot about that, but with everything that’s happened it’s not surprising.

  We don’t stay long in the plaza when the Patrician begin looping us. The void is longer than any I’ve been in before. Just when I feel as if all the air has escaped my lungs we land on a stone-paved road. Tall grasses that line the road blow gently in the breezes as the sun shines brightly behind us, rising from its sleep. The sky is nothing like anything I’ve ever seen. It’s a translucent purple, not the normal blue in the Outer Limits, the Dead Zone, or even Tarsus. I begin to wonder if Icarian is even a part of the same world.

  Troy and Garrett begin walking, but for a few minutes I’m too caught up in the landscape to move. I go to catch up with them, but then stop.

  I wonder if my ability works here also.

  I visualize myself several feet in front of Troy and Garrett, close my eyes, and loop. I’m successful, much to their surprise.

  “What’s with the look?” I ask both of them. “If I can do it in the Dead Zone, why wouldn’t I be able to do it here?”

  Our wristbands begin to glow red. Shouts fill the air in front of us. We draw our weapons and begin to retreat. A mob rushes over the ridge at full speed towards us, their weapons drawn, but they immediately stop when the see us.

  “Who set off the censors?” a tall man with thick muscles and scraggly brown hair asks. He’s clearly the leader of the group, since everyone is now stepping back.

  “I must have,” I answer. “Why? Is there a problem?”

  “No problem, Max,” the man says. “We thought perhaps it was the Dracken finally invading.”

  “How do you know my name?” I ask, my Kopis held firmly in front of me.

  “From watching The Litarian Battles,” the man says. “We know who you all are.”

  “Well, I should fucking hope so,” Troy says, stepping towards the man. He puts his Deer Horn knives away and embraces the leader. “It’s been too long, brother.”

  The leader – introduced as Jack – hugs his brother Troy as the rest of the mob retreats to the city behind them, which sparkles in the rising sun. The buildings remind me of the ones in Tarsus, only not as opulent, nor as dark. Troy and Jack talk as they walk behind the group. Garrett slowly steps forward as he secures his bow and arrow, but I only lower my weapon – opting not to sheathe it just yet. It doesn’t take us long to enter the city proper. The buildings are tall and majestic. One striking thing is that there isn’t an inch of covering on any of the windows. You can see into every room of each structure, which is unsettling. Blue ponds with fountains, freshly cut grass, colorful flowers, pristine wood benches, and marble statues like the one in the plaza, cover much of the landscape around us.

  “I can see why they call this a utopia,” Troy says as we step onto one of the many courtyards.

  “You have no idea,” Jack says.

  He points to a window two stories up in a building by the road we came in on. A man and a woman are deep in the throes of sex. They’re visible to all who can see, and they’re drawing quite an audience.

  “Is that a common sight?” Garrett asks, his eyes not moving away from the display.

  “Very much so,” Jack responds. “There is no single mating here. It’s one of the perks of living in Icarian. You can have whomever you want and no one is permitted to judge or condemn you.”

  “What if someone gets jealous?” I ask, turning my focus solely onto Jack.

  “We have remedies for that,” Jack says, smiling.

  I both shake and grow cold at the thought of what that could possibly be as I sheathe my Kopis. I’m hoping we’re not here long. I don’t like Lok being left unguarded in Pentras Tower, nor do I want to leave the others in the Outer Limits any longer. If they’re even still alive, I remind myself.

  “This way,” Jack says, pointing towards a building at the other end of the courtyard. “Your rooms are ready for you.”

  “We’re staying here?” I almost shout in surprise.

  “Yes, Max,” Jack says, coming to an abrupt halt. “It’s part of your directive, or did you forget about it?”

  Does everyone know? What the hell? Am I missing something? What do they know that I don’t?

  Garrett takes my hand and we begin our trek again. We walk up a few steps into the building and are immediately greeted by Matrons, just like the ones in Thrace Tower. Only this time they are asking what we need in order to make our stay more pleasurable instead of ordering us around. Jack tells them we’ll need breakfast sent up in about an hour and then proceeds to give them our individual room numbers. The look on Garrett’s face is priceless. I have to stifle the lau
gh that is about to escape my throat.

  “Max and I aren’t staying together?” he asks, surprised.

  “As I said, Garrett, there isn’t any single mating here in Icarian. Everyone gets their own quarters. No one is allowed to share accommodations, as this leads to jealousy.”

  We’re not permitted to have anything of value in the Outer Limits since it could lead to vanity. Looks like similar rules apply here in Icarian. So, is this city actually Dracken-designed and not created by the Patrician? Why would the Dracken build such a place if they were focused on science and technology? What have they been keeping from me?

  The walls and floors are covered in white marble peppered with gold flecks. Sparkling pools filled with koi flow under walkways, Matrons hustle about, tending to those who have decided to spend time lounging in the lobby area. We step down into the center of the structure that houses a single lift. Jack pushes a call button and we wait a few moments before the doors open. Once inside, Jack selects several floors, the doors close, and we ascend. The first stop is the fifth floor. Jack hits the stop button and escorts Garrett from the lift. Jack returns, removes the stop, and we climb to the sixth floor. Again, he presses the stop button, but this time escorts Troy off the lift.

  It takes more than a few minutes for Jack to return. The two of us ascend to the tenth floor, the top floor of the building. The doors open and Jack directs me around the shaft for the lift to an apartment. A biometric reader sits next to the door. There isn’t a door handle, so this must be the only way to get into the apartments. Jack instructs me to place my palm on the device. It scans my hand, changes to blue, and the door slides open.