Stasis (Book 1.2): Beta

by Osborne, E. W.

  “How did you get these letters?”

  “It’s really stupid, like so obvious I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. The thing in computer science called hexadecimal and…”

  Wills threw himself back onto the bed with a loud groan. “Jesus Christ. I’ve spent the last how many days reading about every code breaker in history, and you could’ve just told me this?”

  Neil bristled. “Well you are the mathematician. If either of us dropped the ball on this, it’s you.”

  “You’re the computer science major! This is literally your language!”

  “But this is shit that they just tell us about, now that we actually use. Like,” he shifted in his seat, searching for the best analogy that could cut Wills’ attitude. “You know when an abacus is but can you actually use it?”

  “Yes.”

  Neil let out his own groan of frustration. “Can we please just try and figure out what the fuck this says? This is the closest we’ve been in were sitting here…”

  Wills rapidly typed in the letters Neil had translated and projected them up on the smart wall.

  “Okay, we have four A’s…”

  Neil jumped in. “Actually, it’s three lowercase and one capitalized.” When Wills gave him a dirty look, he defended, “What? There’s a difference. In the actual code there’s a difference between the…”

  “Fine, fine. With the capital I and the A, I’m guessing the sentence starts with A.”

  Neil frowned at the wall, mentally rearranging the letters around create as many words as he could. “Why do you assume that?”

  “Because I don’t know what else to start with,” Wills huffed.

  Over the next ten minutes the pair continued to talk over one another, their voices rising. An outsider would be forgiven for thinking they were fighting. But really their excitement came from the feeling that they were getting close, dangerously close.

  When they’re over exuberance peaked, Neil leaned back and threaded his hands behind his head. “We’re assuming this is in English,” he said, thinking out loud.

  “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Wills replied. “Can we get one sentence out of this before we start bringing in every other language?”

  “There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason in the order we found them. Like, if we just write it all out from the first counter, it doesn’t make any sense.”

  Wills nodded, eyes glued to the randomizing letters on the wall. “The counter’s still going. Maybe we just don’t have enough pieces.”

  “Maybe,” he replied.

  FILL IN A LITTLE HERE

  “Wait! Go back,” Neil shouted. “I think that says…”

  “Alpha,” Wills whispered. “Okay, but that leaves a bunch of repeated letters… Holy shit, I think I’ve got…”

  He arranged the words on the screen and read them out loud.

  “I am the Alpha and the,” he said.

  Neil frowned at him. “Where do I know that from? That was in a movie, wasn’t it?”

  Wills rolled his eyes, his excitement practically deflating before Neil’s eyes. “It’s from the Bible, not a movie.”

  “Well, it could’ve been in a movie,” Neil pouted. “What does it mean?”

  Wills typed it in, the sentence finishing in auto complete. Search results popped up on the wall, coupled with archaic drawings of demons, and beams of light flowing from parting clouds.

  “It comes from the end of the world,” Wills said some disdain. He tossed his tablet on the mattress and shook his head. “It’s just some religious nut.”

  “But what’s with the counter? We still don’t know what that means. Or even the word itself,” said Neil. He could feel Wills enthusiasm draining. He couldn’t tell if he was trying to convince him or himself to keep searching.

  Neil watched him from the corner of his eye, hoping that his friend wasn’t going to abandon him just as they were getting close.

  “It could be literally anything. It could be just a random counter. For all we know, it’s cycled through the entire Bible and we’ve only just picked up the thread right at the end. Sorry,” said Wills. “Finals are coming up and…”

  “Come on, you can’t leave now! This is the furthest we’ve gotten.”

  Wills looked at him sadly. Neil could tell he didn’t want to quit but had better self control than Neil could hope for. “It’s not important. Sorry.”

  The smart wall went blank as he switched off his tablet and left. Neil stared at the empty space left, feeling deep in his gut that it might be the most important thing he’d ever do.

  Kansas City, MO

  May 31st

  Randall surveyed the crowd in front of him and felt pleased. The sun sat lazily on the horizon, providing the last rays of warmth before the chill of evening set in. The leaves and blades of grass twinkled with dew in the filtered light and Randall thoughts drifted to Eden. He could close his eyes and block out the murmur of the small crowd and imagine himself to be Adam, alone and curious in this new, fresh world. He smiled at the thought, savored it, and began to speak without opening his eyes.

  “Brothers and sisters, I thank you for coming here this beautiful spring evening.” Smile. “I know how difficult these few days have been but I can promise you,” Open eyes and look directly in the crowd, “the answers are here.” Pause.

  “I ask that we begin today with Our Heavenly Lord’s Prayer.” Look to the ground, grasp hands solemnly.

  “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from Evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory everlasting, Amen.” Lift head, smile, take deep breath, and begin.

  “I see some familiar faces and it’s good to see you. I also see a few new friends as well. Who among us new? Please raise your hand.” Scan crowd calmly, keep still expression.

  A scattering of hands tentatively rise into the air, the possessors looking around embarrassed at the exposure. Most are here because a friend or relative had come, but even with word of mouth spreading, there were nearly thirty in the crowd.

  “Welcome!” Randall called out with a wide smile. On cue the new members were embraced, kissed, and welcomed by the existing members. The embarrassment was erased and a new kinship rippled through the crowd, now turning back to the tall man commanding attention on the bench in front.

  “I wanted to begin our meeting today outside, basking in the grand gift that is our world. Take a look around, soak in the evening.”

  He allowed himself a chance to scan the audience for the first time. A few gray hairs, a bunch of frightened couples, a small family with three little ones running around. Most had the look of good, God-fearing people while others were tense with doubt.

  Their gazes snapped back to him, a hush falling over the group. “These trees, those birds, that sunset. These are God’s gifts to us. His message flows in and around us every day, but few ever take a moment to stop and listen.”

  A few nodded, their eyes downturned as if in shame. Randall gave up his own silent prayer of thanks. Praise be for the indoctrination they have all received, he thought cynically.

  Be humble. “I’m a sinner. I have done things I will regret and repent for till my last breath. So why should you believe a thing I say? Why has God chosen me?” Their eyes met his, full of expectation. “The answer is, I haven’t the foggiest.”

  Their tension came out in nervous laughter. Randall stepped down from the bench and weaved through the crowd as he spoke. He gave them kind smiles, touched their wrists, ingratiated himself on their level.

  “It’s true! I don’t know why I was chosen and I’ll admit, there are nights when I wish I hadn’t been. But who am I to question His decisions? How could I turn my back on such an important task?”

  As he preached, recycling and reusing phrases h
e’d heard all his life, the group warmed to him. He was one of them, among them, with them.

  When a chill set in the air, the last light of the day chased away by shadows, he led them inside. The church basement could hold double their numbers, but they clumped together in the middle of the room, the outer chairs empty.

  Randall hadn’t even gotten a chance to take his place at the front of the room when a woman raised her hand. Her full cheeks were already flushed, her heart probably racing at the thought of speaking out. When he nodded at her, the crimson deepened.

  “Have you seen that video online? The one of the guy in the mall?”

  A few murmured in agreement, their attention fully focused. Randall had no idea what video they were talking about, but easily rolled with the change in format. He easily read the fear on their expressions.

  “Have you all seen it?” he asked to a few nods. Others mumbled for explanation, but he pushed on. “Horrible, wasn’t it?” he replied. Those who’d seen it, nodded harder.

  He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. As if weighed down by the burden of this message, he folded at the waist and rested his elbows on both knees. The metal chairs squeaked as the group shifted to see him from this new vantage.

  “I’m not going to lie. In the coming months, you will see some terrible things. That video was but a taste of the devastation coming our way. I have seen the blood of innocents, the vacant eyes of the sinners. But what do you expect when we turn our backs on the Lord? Reject his love and ever-lasting compassion? That was a mere taste of what’s to come.”

  Randall looked up through his eyebrows. In the front row, a child wept, scared not by his words, but by the fear radiating from her mother. He showed her no more compassion than anyone else.

  “We were given a beautiful world full of beautiful things. As always, God has been honest with us. This world was never meant to last forever and that end is coming soon.” He let the weight of that promise sink deeper into their minds before adding, “But if we stick together, we’ll survive.”

  Once back at the house, Stack kept staring at him. After the third time he looked away as Randall turned to meet his gaze, he finally spoke up.

  “Where’d you learn all this stuff?”

  Randall took a sip from his non-alcoholic bottle of beer. He might’ve been on the straight and narrow, but there was nothing like the taste of a cold beer after a long day’s work.

  “What stuff?”

  “You know what stuff. You worked that crowd like a circus barker or, or…”

  “A preacher?” Randall smirked.

  Stack scuffed his shoe on the floor of the porch. A cloud of dirt rose and settled on the bushes just beyond, dusting their new leaves. Randall took pity on him and decided not to dance around his question with a game of words. It was a game Stack would never win. He didn’t need him, but it’d be good to have followers he could trust.

  “I grew up around it, is all. You know how some people learn slight-of-hand tricks? Can take your wallet off you while you’re staring right at them? It’s like that, but I use my tongue instead of my hand.”

  Stack squinted at him. “But it ain’t like that.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “The thief takes your wallet but you don’t want him to. What you’re doing… you got these people in the palm of your hand but they put themselves there.”

  Randall gave him an approving wink. “That’s right. You leave little crumbs along a path. Not everyone will scoop ‘em up, but the ones that do,” Randall chuckled. “It’s a lot easier getting a man to do something when he’s already convinced himself you’re right on his own.”

  Stack hunched over as if his whole world was falling to pieces, shooting Randall a side-long glance that was mostly betrayal.

  “Why you looking at me like that? You’re acting like you just found out the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, and Santa Claus are all one person.”

  “I guess I’m just seeing you in a different light, is all,” he pouted. Randall watched his body language peripherally, wondering how far the cogs in his brain would turn. After a minute or two, Stack asked the most obvious question. “You ever use that manipulative shit on me?”

  Randall bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, but replied swiftly. “Hell no, of course not. This stuff is for the sheep. We’re the wolves, my man. We’re the wolves,” he reassured, giving him a whack on the knee for good measure.

  Stack seemed satisfied with the answer, more comfortable to be on this side of the problem. Us versus them was a powerful equation. The melting ice cubes jingled in his glass of bourbon as he lifted it to his lips.

  “How you go about learning this stuff then? I wanna get as good as you.”

  “Then you’re in the right place to watch.”

  “But really. Why do people listen to you? I mean, no offense, but you ain’t all that special. You talk alright and that, but as far as I can tell, you aren’t that different from me.”

  Randall held his gaze for a long moment and wondered if he could read his thoughts. I’m the wolf, my friend, not you. And there’s nothing dumber than a sheep who doesn’t know he’s a sheep.

  “People are simple, really. As much as we’d like to think otherwise, we’re always looking for someone to tell us what to do, what to think, where to be. Our parents, each other, God. We never stop and ask ourselves what’s right or wrong and you know what? We wouldn’t trust ourselves even if we did.”

  Stack snorted as if he understood the truth of it, not realizing he, at that very second, was a victim of that very thing.

  The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, each soaking in their own versions of the day’s events. Right as the hum of the crickets began to lull Randall into a drowsy state, Stack spoke up.

  “You don’t believe in God?”

  He was genuinely caught off guard by his companion’s directness. As much as he thought he had his friend figured out, the man still surprised him from time to time. That kind of frankness deserved to be equally met. “I believe in myself,” he replied quietly.

  “Yeah,” Stack nodded sagely. “What I don’t get is, what’s in this for you? It’s not like you’re asking ‘em for money or anything? You ain’t squeezin’ them. So, what are you getting out of it?”

  Randall polished off his beer and stood with a forced groan. There’d been enough honesty for the night. He had to remember there wasn’t space for two at the top. “It’s been a long day. Gonna turn in for the night,” he replied, leaving Stack in a frustrated limbo.

  New York City, NY

  June 2nd

  Kristine strode into the emergency department with the confidence of a person on a righteous path. This wasn’t just about a story. This wasn’t just about making her life more comfortable. She’d found a purpose bigger than all that. All the work she’d put in remaining credible and reliable was about to pay off.

  From the night Angel called, to her dates with Sammy and then days chasing down Dr. Lal, she was ready to sink her teeth into whatever the hell was going on. She’d called the doctor so many times she started to wonder if he wouldn’t file a restraining order against her. Instead, he’d finally messaged her from a restricted number with minimal instructions.

  She spotted Dr. Lal from a distance, his back to her as she approached. Even from this angle he clearly commanded a powerful presence in the ward. Kristine slowed her pace and watched the staff react to him. It was obvious he was respected but not feared. Nurses weren’t afraid to approach him yet in the short time she watched, they were nothing but business. It wasn’t a lot to go on, but she gleaned a bit more about his personality but taking a second to just watch.

  Kristine stepped around his right and into his line of sight. When he didn’t look up immediately, she cleared her throat. “Doctor, I hope I’m not late.”

  His expression didn’t change a fraction when their eyes met. “You’re on time. I am, however, going to need you to change before I take you up
stairs.”

  Kristine frowned at her outfit. A pair of jeans, white tennis shoes, and a gray long-sleeved shirt. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

  “I’m taking you into a restricted ward sealed only to approved police and hospital staff.”

  He didn’t condescend but she instantly flushed. How could I be so dense? He’s never going to trust me if I keep making newbie mistakes like this. “Oh, of course. What would you like me to change into?”

  Kristine felt even more nervous once she’d changed into the mint green scrubs. Even hidden behind the mask of a white coat and fake ID badge, she was feeling less and less confident with every passing moment. Dr. Lal didn’t seem to notice or care, even though he was risking a lot as well.

  I have no right doing this piece. I’m gonna fuck it up and risk this guy’s career, not to mention all the trouble I could get in if…

  The doctor broke through her litany of doubt as the elevator doors closed. “Don’t speak unless spoken to. There are armed police at the front and then in front of every door. Anyone who has come in an out of there will be used to see it, so don’t react. You’re a resident assisting me, that’s all you need to know. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  As they strode down the hallway, Kristine remembered her attempt to get into the ward the first night. It hadn’t even occurred to her that the same policemen might be posted and could recognize her. The confidence that had been flying high only a few moments ago plummeted into the dirt.

  She trailed behind the doctor, wanting to run, wanting to hide. Every step felt like one more toward her inevitable capture and questioning.

  Kristine tried to affix an appearance of indifference as they approached the doors. Her heart was beating so hard she was sure someone would notice the rhythm under the skin of her neck. She busied herself with a tablet, pretending to take notes, and peered up only once. She didn’t recognize the first office but the second…