by Kal Spriggs
They'd formed up, ready to move when the first screams began.
***
The pilot held the shuttle in a hover just over the horizon from the city. She licked her lips. She knew the importance of her passengers, and the thought that she had to fly them made her stomach churn.
She almost jumped out of her seat when a woman's hand fell on her shoulder, but her hands didn't so much as quiver on the control yoke.
“The mission is aborted,” the woman said.
The pilot winced, “Yes, my Lady. Our teams?”
“Caught in a crossfire. SIGIL will not forget them or their sacrifice. There are several factions fighting there. At least one group intended to intercept us.” The pilot frowned, that bespoke more coordination and knowledge than they'd hoped the enemy had. “This will require an appropriate response.”
“Very well, my Lady, I'll bring us back to base.”
***
A shifting, tortured landscape stretched out in every direction. A kaleidoscope of scenes, sensations, and scents flashed through and over Shaden. He could find no point of reference, no way to measure each experience as pleasure or pain. Each flitted through him faster than he could feel, faster than he could comprehend and each eroded a bit more of him away.
The insanity withdrew, hovered just out of reach. Before him stood a man.
"Hello, John," Officer Green spoke. His eyes were different here, not the eye sockets of the automaton. They were worse, for Shaden felt that he somehow saw Officer Green as he had come to be. Here his eyes were twin pits into a private view of hell.
"What's... what happened to you?" As Shaden spoke he felt a sudden weight in his mind. This was no delicate feeler like he had sensed before, it was more like a battering ram. Had he possessed a body in this world he would have collapsed to his knees.
The oppressive presence withdrew, and Green shook his head, "I'm sorry. I've no finesse, especially since I'm barely holding on to control of myself." A range of emotions flashed over his face, too fast for Shaden to put a label to any one of them. "I... only just came to myself, and I'm not sure whether to thank you or wish I'd killed you before you recognized me."
"So... I take it I'm not dead?" Shaden asked.
"I temporarily merged my psyche with yours." Green's eyes went to the flitting shards of memory that lurked around the edges of their consciousness. "We're both pretty messed up in that department, so we ended up with a little of you and a lot of me, and all of it crazy as a box of ferrets on crack."
"What did they do to... us?" Shaden asked.
Green's face twitched, and his once-mentor clenched his jaw as if he tried to bottle up the words that would come out. As his face calmed, he let out a breath. "This is... dangerous. My emotions are like live wires and the little bit of logic I've got here barely keeps me in check from... doing bad things." His dark eyes met those of Shaden, "I was a test, part of Project... Kraken. Probably came before what they did to you, I don't know, time is... hard to follow when you're in the state I was."
The flitting shards of memory seemed to contract slightly. Green looked around. "Look, we don't have much time. I won't be able to focus like this for very long. I'm not really much more than a ghost right now, possessing the shell of my mind. Most of what was there is... well, gone. I know you, but only because you triggered a suppressed memory, one you arranged to have hidden within me."
"I... Did I have something to do with this?" Shaden asked. The spinning images sped suddenly faster.
"It's... complicated. You didn't do this to me, or to yourself... not directly, but we could have avoided it. The consequences of that were unimaginable. I can't tell you how bad, because that's gone too. There's only one thing I can give you, and that will require most of the time we have left." Green stepped closer, put his hands on either side of Shaden's head. "Don't fight this, please. I don't know how... how long I can control myself if I feel your pain. There's a part of me that feeds on that."
Shaden gazed into Green's dark eyes and let the tortured landscape of their minds withdraw into memory.
***
Tommy King led his team into the maze of cubicles, toward the loudest screams. As they rounded the last corner he slipped as his boots lost purchase with the slick liquid that covered the tile floor.
His momentum slid him up against the wall, just as a muted series of explosion erupted behind him.
He recognized the red stain of body fluids that seemed to evenly coat the walls, floors and ceiling of the room ahead. Tommy's eyes focused on the overweight woman who stood there, the only immaculate object in the room. His rifle sights leveled on her face even as her eyes went from where he had stood to where he now lay.
A three round burst permanently erased the twisted expression off her face even as he wished he could wipe the image of her face out of his mind.
A pair of hands helped Tommy to his feet, and he looked, back, startled to see Specialist Carter instead of Sergeant Bailey, a quick flick of his eyes revealed no sign of his number two man. "Status?" The remainder of his team were as gore-drenched as the hallway.
Carter looked away, "Bailey's... down, sir."
Mendoza held up a twisted bit of metal that might have once been Bailey's M12 carbine. "KIA, sir, non-retrievable."
King's gaze went to the patina of stains and a part of him recoiled from the knowledge of just how close he'd come to being one more bit of spatter. Death by bullet was one thing, this... this he found far more horrific. He saw a mirror of that knowledge on the faces of his team.
Tommy cleared his throat, "Dead's dead, men. Bailey's down, but so is the bitch that did him. We clear the rest of the area and we search for survivors. After that, we hole up and wait for reinforcements."
If this was the work of rogue psychics, Tommy King didn't expect they'd find many survivors.
***
Chapter 29
Every time I come across some clue to my past, I wonder if it was forethought by that earlier me… or if it’s just happenstance. The concept of fate wars with coincidence. The danger, of course, is to see meaning in everything. Yet how can I not? Even if John Mira didn’t see the future perfectly, that doesn’t negate the possibility that some higher power doesn’t involve itself. God is the machine… things will work out in the end. Hope wins out eternal. These sayings come from the root of what it is to be human: to face the darkness and to refuse to submit. I will find a way or make one.
--Memoirs of Shaden Mira
The strongest fruits of Project Archon are the heightened abilities it continues to bestow upon me. When I began my first experiments, long before my involvement with ESPSec, I was a pathetic thing, barely able to project thoughts. Now, I am nearly as powerful on my own as the products of Project Kraken. With what I have learned and continue to learn from Archon, I will be more powerful than ever. I am becoming as powerful as the ancient gods of old, and with Archon I have even created life in my own image…
--Dr. Jonathan Halving, Project Archon Notes
Lawrence Green sipped at the bitter coffee and nodded in thanks to the waitress as she turned away from the counter. A moment later, someone took the stool next to him.
He gave a quick glance over and then choked on his coffee.
"Nice to see you too, Lieutenant Green." John Mira said.
Lawrence dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. He needed the time to look him over. The boy looked good. Tired and worn, but confident, aware of his surroundings and himself in a way that said he'd come to terms with himself and his powers.
Whatever lay ahead for Lawrence, he'd done the world some good in saving the kid, at least.
"Nice to see you too, how's your mother?"
John shook his head, "You'd know if you'd followed my advice. You and she would both be safe. Instead..."
"So I assume that what you warned me of is coming to pass?" Lawrence said. He kept his words even and his expression calm even as the coffee roiled in his gut. Had the last year been
worth the cost he'd pay?
"Sergeant Boyce is going to Captain Marsden tomorrow." John said. He looked away out the window. "It's not too late to run, you know. With my help..."
"You'd be implicated, and so would whatever connections helped you." Lawrence shook his head. "You could probably escape that, but are you powerful enough to help everyone who helped me to avoid what would result?" Lawrence shook his head, "ESPSec will overturn every rock looking for me, it would be a huge blemish on their reputation not catching me for three decades, letting me make Lieutenant, even in a local police department... They'll hunt for me until they know they got me."
"I know. But there's a good chance I could save you." John met his gaze. "I've grown more powerful... I can see not just my future, but the future of those related to me by blood, and the futures of the people nearby."
John jerked his chin at the waitress. "Sally there's been serving you coffee here for fifteen years. She has two children, five and seven." He closed his eyes, "She's going to die in a robbery of the diner in a week, at a time you would normally be sitting here able to prevent it."
Lawrence gritted his teeth, "Is that supposed to make it easier for me to run?"
"No, it's supposed to remind you of how terrible this world will be without you," John answered.
Lawrence took a sip of his coffee, he needed a moment to clear his head and think. He resisted the impulse to look into John's mind to find the answer to the questions roiling through his head. Instead he took a long moment to think the situation through. It was his deductive abilities more than his ability to read minds that had made him such a successful cop.
"You knew exactly how this conversation would go long before you stepped into this diner," Lawrence said. "If it were possible to convince me to run, you've probably seen the consequences of every possible argument you could think of, and if there were a way to talk me into running, you'd do that. Failing that, there's no reason to reveal yourself, to put yourself in jeopardy when they start wondering who my contacts were."
Lawrence put down his coffee and turned his stool to face the boy he'd thought of as the son he never had. "So why are you here?"
John turned away. "I've grown more and more powerful, like I said. Ten years ago, when I left home, I could see decades ahead. I have told you before about the future. In fifty years, we'll be accepted in society, considered equals, and the bastards who hunted us will be hunted themselves as criminals and murderers."
"In that future you'll be canonized as a saint by the catholic church. There'll be a cathedral erected not five blocks away to commemorate your life and all the people whose lives you saved." John snorted, "Your sister will go there every week, and you know how she feels about the Church."
"She said she wouldn't piss on a preacher if one was on fire," Lawrence smiled slightly. "So... it's nice to think I've made a difference. Are you here to tell me that?"
John looked away, "A decade after that cathedral goes up... humanity loses its last war. It's an attack by a species called the Balor. They kill everyone. Men, women, children, every last human is hunted down and killed."
Lawrence closed his eyes. "Why tell me this?"
"For the past decade I've looked for a way to stop that, to avoid it, to win that war, or even to prevent it." John pulled a hip flask out with hands that trembled slightly and took a long swig. Lawrence could smell the smoky scent of whiskey. "I've lived through a thousand different lives and a hundred thousand choices. I've agonized over what words to use when I pay off a cab driver..." John closed his eyes, "I've only found one course of action that can prevent the extinction of the entire human race."
Lawrence let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Tell me."
"There is a future where billions die, where psychics are reviled for the next hundred years, where Amalgamated Worlds falls to a mixture of civil war and terrorism. There's a future where you and I will be forgotten except by a handful of people... but we'll be responsible for having saved the human race... and most importantly the people we love."
"What do you want?" Lawrence asked. He'd planned and prepared for his own death for a long time. He'd known for the past year that it would come at the hands of ESPSec rather than the bullet or knife of a criminal. Lawrence had no qualms at being another gear in a cog. He helped people, not for recognition, but because it was what he wanted to do.
A part of him realized that John Mira was using him, like Lawrence might use a car to drive to work. That didn't really bother him, cars were built to be driven, and he was built to help those in need.
"You remember Kaylee?" John asked.
Lawrence smiled, "Yeah, how is she?"
"She's pissed at what I'm asking her to do. She's going to erase the memories of the people you helped and make it impossible for ESPSec's pet psychics to get anything out of you. Then she's going to scrub just about everything you know about me except this conversation... which she’ll bury so deep in your mind no one will ever find it. When the time comes, you'll remember this, and you'll know what to do."
Lawrence sat back on his stool. One hand absently stirred the spoon in his coffee cup. "That's it?"
"I can arrange a lot of the... other things. What you'll go through will be horrific. I can't describe how terrible. Not just torture for the sake of pain. They'll do things that I wish I couldn't see. They'll hurt you to the point that you'll lose everything about who you are... except this memory which you won't even know is there."
"Well... now that you mention it, Saint Green does have a nice ring to it." Lawrence said. "Though I suppose the result for me is the same in the end." He sighed, "Well, you knew what my answer would be the moment you stepped in here. Might as well tell me where to meet Kaylee."
"She's taking care of it as we talk. By the time you walk out of here, you'll know you made a difference, but you won't remember a single face of the people you helped." John wiped at his suddenly red eyes. "Dammit I wish I was wrong."
"I always thought these gifts had a price, boy." Lawrence said. "You got one hell of a burden but thank God you're man enough to accept it."
"I won't see you ever again," John said. He held out his hand. "And after this, you won't remember me until this memory is triggered."
"Been wonderful not-knowing you, John." Lawrence took his hand.
***
Shaden snapped out of the memory and pushed himself off the dust-covered floor. Lawrence Green's ravaged figure had already turned away. Without a word, he stumbled off, back in the direction he'd come.
Shaden shook his head, what he'd learned only left him with more questions. The tragedy of what had happened to Lawrence Green overwhelmed him. Shaden wanted to curl up in a corner and make the world go away. He wanted someone there to explain everything and say that it would all turn out alright. Instead he rose to his feet and followed after Green.
The path was easy enough to find. In his earlier state, Green had ripped open doors and walls often without need, in a direct line. Here and there Shaden stumbled past ruined messes of blood and bone. He tried to keep his eyes on Green's back and did his best not to see the wreckage of those unlucky enough to have crossed Green's path earlier.
Shaden tried not to wonder whether there was a switch buried inside his own mind that would make him into a similar mindless tool of destruction. Even worse, if he'd already been used as such and only had the memories erased.
Green's path turned as they passed a massive vault door, twisted and bent upon the floor. Shaden followed the older man down multiple corridors until they arrived at another reinforced steel door. Green paused, his body seemed to sway as if caught between two desires. Finally the man shuddered and turned away. I cannot stay here. I'm going to find Halving and kill him.
A ten foot section of the corridor's ceiling peeled downwards and Green staggered up the makeshift ramp. Shaden looked between the ramp and the open door. He heard sobbing and whimpering coming from the open door.
Th
at made the decision for him. If someone needed his help, he would give what aid he could.
***
Chapter 30
Tonight is the last entry in this journal. I’ve kept it as much to prove that I existed as to center my thoughts. What happens next is anyone’s guess. Perhaps I’ll discover who I really was and in a way, Shaden will cease to exist. Perhaps I’ll fail and that will be the end. Maybe this is just a new beginning, the first step into something new.
--Memoirs of Shaden Mira
The progression of all of my subjects is something I find fascinating. The guards refer to my final two subjects as survivors… and in that they are not far wrong. I’ll admit that towards the end of their testing I pushed them, harder than I might otherwise had… in part because I wanted to see what they were capable of… and in part because I wanted to strengthen them for this harsh world. In many ways, they are like my children, crafted in months of hard labor, gifted with every ability that I could give them. Should all else fail, knowing that I have brought something new into this world brings me some hope for humanity’s future.
--Dr. Jonathan Halving, Project Archon Notes
Shaden recognized Kandergain as he came through the door. He didn't recognize the woman with her. Kandergain had curled up, knees tucked under her chin, while she rocked and sobbed. The other woman lay on the floor, holding her head in her hands and twitching.
The woman on the floor wore a security force uniform and Shaden recognized the ESP patch on her shoulder.
"Did you do this?" Shaden asked.
Kandergain looked up and ceased her rocking. "No," she said. Her eyes focused on the woman on the floor. "She... she did this to me!"
Kandergain exploded to her feet and extended her hands. The ESPSec officer slammed into the wall and went limp. "I'll kill her!"