Love in the Time of Technology 1

by Veramu, Joseph

  The blow and the kick came simultaneously that Roan fell unceremoniously to the sand. They both drew their weapons. Their hands were trembling with deep emotions. Then Roan came to his senses and realized that he had allowed his anger to consume him with hate. He put down his gun and covered his face with his hands. “I can’t believe what I said! Oh what have I done?” He trembled as he gasped.”Mario, please forgive me.”

  Mario relaxed and put away his weapon but he stood standing looking sadly at the sea.

  “I don’t know what came over me,” he sobbed as he hugged Mario.

  “You made me feel so unloved.”

  They were treading on sensitive ground.

  As Mario walked back to the house he turned to him and said, “Has it ever occurred to you that I have feelings for you?”

  Chapter 11: Getting Ready For The Mission

  Wolf’s most pleasant experience was sitting in a boat in the ocean warmed by the sun. He did this almost every day. One day feeling quite drowsy he fell into a lucid dream and then a powerful insight came upon him. He was always searching for inner peace in Genetica but it always eluded him. Here he found that this inner peace came and filled the empty unspoken spaces which not even the most powerful super-machine or clone could access.

  For the first time in his life, he felt different. He was not sure whether it was because of his new diet of fish and organic foods or because he was in love or both. In any case he liked his new life without his daily intake of smart pills and gm foods. He enjoyed the authentic climate. He had to get used to the warm sun, the rain and the insects although they often recoiled on contact with him.

  “I think if you mixed some of your saliva with water and poured them around, it would act as a repellant,” Lilydeen had joked.

  “I’ll rub you down with it so they don’t attack you,” he said as he grabbed hold of her legs pretending to lick it.

  His body reacted well to life in the Fringes and he liked his suntan.

  His most enjoyable times were floating on a boat in the sea. He could never get enough of the experience of bobbing and rolling with the waves.

  He was looking at the horizon when he heard the voice again.

  “You’re enjoying life.” It was Zugovsky.

  “I never realized that life could be so wonderful.”

  “At some point all good things must come to an end,” he said sadly.

  “Why do you say that?” Wolf said sharply.

  “Wolf, you were designed for a purpose. Complex algorithms were used to prepare the most advanced simulation we could develop of your future. Your time is drawing near.”

  “Is Roneel okay?”

  “Sometimes too much information can be dangerous.”

  “I just want to say sorry to him. I feel torn that I may have rattled his name in the neuron check.”

  “Roneel and I and indeed all others who came into your life were all designed to help you fulfill your purpose.”

  “Where are you guys?” he asked in great curiosity.

  “Too much information is dangerous,” but then Zugovsky relented. “We are underground in Genetica. There is a thriving community under the city using old channels. Robot, clones and Fringe friends helped us to build it.”

  He suddenly realized why the underground tunnels they had gone through had been well kept. It suddenly made sense that when disgruntled clones and obsolete robots were earmarked for permanent suspension they were smuggled into underground Genetica. This was probably how Mario was smuggled out. “Don’t they suspect anything?”

  “We have wired the place with explosives which is why they’re taking time to configure it. We don’t have much time.”

  “Where do I fit in?”

  “We want to change the way things are run, make it more democratic and also link up to everyone in the planet. You have a role to play,” he said cryptically

  “I am ready,” he said.

  “The key is the paint brush.”

  “What about it?”

  “It’s like God’s wand. You can create anything.”

  “Dr Mengele has this?”

  “He is linked to the super-machine.”

  “What has this to do with me?”

  “You had dreams so you’ll know what to do when the time comes,” Zugovsky paused delicately. “She loves you very much!”

  “I love her too. What is Dr Mengele’s relationship to me,” he asked bluntly.

  Zugovsky sighed. He had been avoiding this delicate discussion. “Wolf, from evil comes great good.”

  “Don’t treat me like a child. Is he my father? Am I his clone?”

  Zugovsky sighed again, “Wolf don’t force me.”

  “I must know,” he shouted.

  “You will soon know,” he said with so much feeling. “We have always loved you Wolf and nothing is going to change that.” he paused.

  He was bobbing in the ocean with the sun warming his body. The cool breeze made him sleepy. Then he heard it, the unmistakable rotors hovering above him. He looked up calmly at the smirking faces of the robots holding on to their weapons. He just wanted to die. He hated Dr Mengele even if he was his father.

  For all their super intelligence, these robots and those who controlled them did not seem to have learnt their earlier lessons; that the Resistance had a sophisticated radar system.

  He waved pleasantly at the robots who seemed exasperated by his lack of concern. The heliship had come around for a perfect shot when it happened. Three rocket propelled weapons hit it. It exploded in fiery orange flames. It fell with a hiss in the calm waters and then sunk quickly as if nothing had happened. Only the three robots manning it bobbed up and down in the water like badly designed mannequins, with their burnt and exposed polymer body tissue and metal.

  +++++++

  Wolf was sobbing and inconsolable.

  Lilydeen came over and held him gently. He felt bitter and angry, “I just found out that the genius who dreamt up Genetica could be my father.”

  “From evil comes great good,” she said.

  “Oh please stop patronizing me. He is a monster. I don’t deserve to be loved. I even caused death here.”

  “Stop talking like that!” she screamed. “I believed in you and risked everything to bring you here.” She was in tears. They hugged each other. “Be strong for me and the mission ahead.”

  He resolved to forget the past and to move forward. What mattered now was that they loved each other. “I will be strong for you. I will finish my mission.”

  +++++

  It was evening and Mario lay on the sand listening to the rolling waves. He had never felt so lonely in his life. He was overwhelmed by the great power he had as the conduit for the Oracle, and his bitter past as someone who had been unwanted and unloved in Genetica. Then someone had smuggled him out to fulfill a mission. No one cared about his personal feelings. He was just a pawn doing a job and once it was finished he would be discarded. He had looked up to Roan as a friend. Yet he had rejected him. He held his weapon and toyed with the idea of ending it all there.

  He heard Roan coming towards him.

  He stood above Mario. He was truly remorseful and Mario could see he had been crying. “You can shoot me if you want but I’m not leaving you.” He lay down next to Mario. There was great peace amongst them as they looked at the stars. As sleep overcame them, they huddled close to each other.

  “Can I be honest with you?”

  “Sure,” Roan said.

  “I know you have those ripped muscles and biceps and you feel great about yourself but it’s always good to think first before you say anything to me or Wolf.”

  “Okay I get the message.”

  “You’ve got so much energy and it’ll be great if you channel it wisely.”

  “I’m still going through my journey of discovery, just like you.”

  “Yeah right,”

  Early in the morning Mario woke up suddenly feeling tense.

  Roan woke up too
feeling embarrassed that he was huddled up close to him. Perhaps he had been too cozy and had insulted him.

  Mario seemed to sense what he was thinking because he said cryptically, “When I know you better I’ll tell you something.”

  “Why not tell me now?”

  “You’d probably hate me. By the way, whenever I feel tense with you it’s because something has come up so please relax.”

  Roan playfully held on to his hand.

  “Let go or I’ll shoot it,” he playfully pointed his weapon at his hand.

  “Please don’t die on me,” Roan said in a feigned pleading voice.

  “I’ll kick you if you don’t let go,” Mario laughed. He knew that this was only a brief respite from the dangerous mission. He also sensed that there were a few more battles with Roan because he was temperamental and had strong positions on various issues. But that probably made life interesting; that people were unpredictable and machines often had a hard time simulating what was best for humankind.

  Mario walked up to the house to where Lilydeen and Wolf lay. They were awake exchanging pleasantries. He came close to the bed and looked down at them touched by how much they loved each other,

  “Don’t mind him. He sometimes forgets his manners,” Lilydeen laughed.

  Mario stumbled over the bed and kissed her on the cheek and still in that position he looked at Wolf and said, “We will have to leave soon on the mission. About 10 heliships and a swarm of robots will be here shortly to burn up this place and we need to move to our rendezvous point.

  “Don’t they ever give up?”

  “This time they seem to have the edge. They are able to neutralize our defense system,” Mario said, “But not for long.”

  Roan came in armed and ready. There was a tense moment as he walked up. He still had not accepted Wolf and was trying to be civil.

  They started moving away at a brisk pace. Hidden in the undergrowth and forests, they saw the house explode and heavily armed robots slinging down from 10 heliships. They were racing towards them.

  “Are we running or engaging them?” Wolf asked.

  Mario looked calm and battle ready as he held up his tab.

  “We’ll draw them closer. We wired up the place so there’ll be an almighty fireworks. All those heliships are going to explode.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “The drones will do that for us and of course the Resistance.”

  Wolf shook his head. The Resistance had apparently put forward a decoy simulator about their neutralized defense system. They were very much in control.

  They dived for the ground seconds before a series of ground explosions reverberated around them.

  “Roan and Wolf, you two go on ahead. Lilydeen, you stay with me,” Mario commanded.

  There were secondary explosions to take out the robots that had not been immobilized in the initial explosions.

  “You must release him when he takes the tech brush. The decision must be his. The Oracle program can only do so much. Beyond a certain point the decision he makes will affect us all.”

  “From great evil come good,” she said absentmindedly. “I did not love him out of pity.”

  “I know. That is why I am pleading with you to release him from emotional baggage so that his decision is one that we will not regret,” he said cryptically.

  “And of the other one?”

  “Wolf is the chosen one. Lazer being his clone brother will fill the vacuum if there are complications. That’s how Dr Mengele configured it.”

  “Where do I fit in the equation?”

  “You are the last link as they configure humankind’s integration with them. The plan is to phase us all out with a new species.”

  “What are you trying to say?” she gasped.

  “You were also smuggled out from Genetica like me. That is why we are compatible with their system and can go in and out. But I’m sure you sensed that too.”

  “I always suspected it.”

  They were too numb to raise the issue that if Lazer had accessed her information from Genetica records of rejected clones then she was definitely compromised. But the Oracle thought in a different way from them.

  “You’re linked in some way to Chloe, the girl he broke up with.”

  “Why is the Oracle releasing this flood of information?”

  “We are going in so it’s best to know now rather than later.”

  “And what of Lazer?”

  “You will have to deal with him as you see fit. He will shortly make contact and tell you that he loves you. You will know what to say. You may meet up in the dome,” he said vaguely.

  Then they walked resolutely towards Genetica. The heliships had all been downed and the robots had all been immobilized.

  They had a mission to accomplish.