by Ryan Burnett
He went silent again and I wanted to stomp my feet in frustration. I was so sick of only getting a fraction of the answers I needed.
There was something else I had to ask even though a part of me already knew the answer, “Did you kill Professor Engle?” I said somehow mustering up enough composure to look him in the eye as I asked him the question.
“Yes. But I did so at her own request. She exposed herself to the network in order to contact us. Susan Engle was a pacifist, she said that she would rather die than be changed into just another violent lunatic.”
“Why? Why throw away her life like that if she knew the danger?” Professor Yodson spoke again in somber reserved tones. At least he was keeping his cool. I didn't know if there was any hope left for us to figure out a way out of this fucked up situation but if there was it resided in him.
At this the guard smiled and responded, “For you of course. You probably didn't know this but you have become very valuable assets to us. Well some of you at least.” the last sentence made his smile seem perverse, like the mouth of a venus flytrap.
“So you're saying we're special or something?” Tyra asked eager for whatever answers she could possibly find.
Yes. Very special. But not as special as you will be.
The words. No the meaning of the words had burned themselves into my mind like someone had spoken them right next to me… but I was sure there had been no sound. No anything. I looked around but the only thing to see was the guard’s smug grin, the professors furrowed brow, and the frightened sadness in Tyra's eyes.
You're the only one who can hear me. Don't be afraid and don't say anything. You're not going crazy. You're almost home.
The words forced their way into my mind like bitter thoughts that could not be suppressed. I waited for something to happen. However there was nothing but silence as the van rolled on. It was another 15 minutes before the van came to a stop.
“We're here” the armed man said as the doors swung open to reveal a dark parking garage. It seemed grimier and mostly abandoned except for the few vehicles clustered around the entrance we were being marched to. Inside the entrance it almost appeared like some sort of an underground stadium. That was the closest thing I could compare it to at least, but I knew that wasn't quite right. It seemed like there was a long hallway that more than likely looped back in on itself with different side rooms all long its perimeter. I had no idea how large it was but as far as I could tell it seemed massive. We marched to the left and were led to a room with several chairs bolted to the floor inside it. Besides these bolted chairs was a man seated in a much cheaper folding chair. He was a largish man with light brown skin and Asian features and very short black hair; he was young and dressed in simple cargo shorts and an open loose fitting chromacloth shirt whose pattern was so garishly vibrant and psychedelic that it was intriguing. If he were to take it off and shake it in the wind it would almost be like watching one of the display screens back at the club. The only difference between his and the usual displays was the color palette. There was a certain tropical flare to what he was wearing, as if all of the luscious colors he showed were plucked from deep within an island paradise.
He spoke “You've done well. I had sensed there was a 4th though. Where is he?”
The same guard who had rode back with us responded by saying “We recovered him but he had sustained serious injuries before we arrived on site. He is with our medical technicians now.”
“Brain damage?”
“That is still being accessed but we are thinking at worst he sustained a concussion coupled with shock trauma. His jaw sustained the worst of the injuries.”
“Acceptable. Take the professor away, he helped us get the others here and may be useful in the future...but he was never a key part of the neuro mapping research.”
The professor's eyes widened at this. The first real show of fear I had seen from him since the men had come to take us from the university.
“Where are you taking him?!? What do you want from us?!?” Tyra screamed as the men grabbed the professor by the arms and led him from the room.
“Strap them down” the man said as the door closed and the men advanced upon us. Tyra struggled against the two men who grabbed her but was easily over powered. She was shrieking and crying; making as much noise as possible despite the fact that we were more than likely far out of earshot from anyone who would have any interest in helping us. Her shouts haunted me as they carried her out of the room.Two men grabbed me simultaneously and when they did I stomped down hard on the foot of the man to my left. If he hadn't of been wearing boots I knew I would have broken a bone but unfortunately all it was enough to do was to make him grunt as they lifted me up and strapped me into a chair one limb at a time.
“All this two abduct two young girls. You men are pathetic” I spat. Trying to mask my immense feeling of dread over what might be coming.
“Heh. We haven't done “all this” for something as base as human trafficking Miss Angela. Like I instructed my men we don't want to harm you. Relax, you're among your likeminded brothers and sisters now. You're home.” he said and beneath his shirt he pulled out a necklace with a silver circle insignia. The Photographist symbol.
“Wha---What?” I couldn't understand. Was he the voice from before? These people...were all these people Photographists? How did he know my name? I couldn't even frame any of my questions before two more men came in and set something down in front of my chair. It took me a second before I recognized the shape and design of the odd devices. It was a modified alternator. They unspooled the wires and I gasped as I felt a spike of pain at the base of my neck as the men made the connection. “What are you doing with those? You’re not going to…” Then I could feel it. A soft buzzing warmth like my VRN was activating without my permission or control.
“Downloading the current calibration program now. Enjoy yourself Angela.” the large man said
“What’s happening I don't underst...” Happiness. My vision blurred as pleasure rocketed through me. Charging and galloping through my eyes and across my fingertips, thrumming through my limbs and numbing me down to my core leaving imprints of love and desire. Traces of fulfillment and hope galloped across my synapses. I wanted to scream and sigh. I wanted to dance and feel the warmth of a body close to me. Inside of me. I wanted the world inside of me but there was no room. Everything that I was, was filled to the brim with joy. Bliss had seized me like it would never let me go...and I could never imagine wanting it to. Pure perfect happiness. A small voice somewhere inside spoke out, telling me to focus back on my surroundings and the people who seemed so far away and distant, but that voice couldn't be heard over the surging choir of ecstatic beauty that filled every corner of my mind, heart, body, and soul. The voice grew quieter than before, and then even quieter still, until eventually it fell silent.
Chapter 16
18:52:90
Marcus
Following the van wasn’t incredibly difficult. A cab like Rob’s tended to draw little attention and the grey sky had developed into a serendipitous drizzle that further masked our pursuit. The crew had no reason to suspect that they were being followed but I still wanted to be cautious. I had a bad feeling about the destination of the van's grim cargo. Any place that would be equipped to handle that many dead bodies could probably handle two more...I knew Rob and I were gambling with the assumption that the men we were following were little more than janitors cleaning up someone else's mess but Rob seemed perfectly relaxed as he deftly chased the vehicle.
Despite the fact that that our lives were at stake I found the motion of the car relaxing and so I was suppressing yawns as Rob had his eyes locked on the van ahead; straining them in order to not lose our target all while keeping our distance. The last time I had been part of a tail like this I had been somewhere in between binges of any one of the plethora of designer drugs that suffused Arc. It was a wonderfully regrettable time of odd jobs and odder hours, fast thrills and relatively
easy money. I remembered the crashes too. The long laborious recoveries in basement sanctuaries provided by altruistic hedonists. I suppose it is easy to be philanthropic when every breath felt like an exclamation of pleasure.
I wondered if things would have been like if VRN electrical amplification had been around during that phase of my life. Would I be in a slum scum excuse of an apartment? Busy zapping my emaciated brain and body into a coma? Would I have gotten too sloppy on a job and ended up in jail? Or prison? Or worse?
These thoughts forced me to the awkward realization that I was currently letting dollar signs lure me into following a trail of bodies towards...something. It was quite possible I was living out the most dangerous of all possible potential scenarios of my own free will. I guess free will was the important part though and I loved being free enough to endanger myself in any number of a myriad of ways with only my own mind as a guide. As an outsider looking in at the zap scene, no matter how tempting that feeling seemed I just couldn't see myself giving in to that addiction. Sure it was exciting and dangerous but it claimed a kind of exclusivity in the mind of its users and I could never imagine myself as a one danger type of guy.
“This should be interesting.” Rob said, his voice spitting the words out as if they were covered in glue. I refocused my attention from my thoughts and onto the road before us, of course they would immediately go for the quickest form of transportation instead of taking their time on the normal streets. The autohighway ramp loomed before us and I straightened up in my seat. With one hand Rob pulled an oddly constructed rectangular box out of his car’s central console and flipped a switch which lit a green light on its top.
The autohighways were the result of the evolution of the German Autobahn system. Cars synchronized their GPS systems with the autohighways control matrix and were autonomously navigated at top speeds towards their desired exit. It was an effortless and efficient means of travel under normal conditions but right now it was a sign that our good fortune had finally run its course. Without knowing the van’s destination we would have no way of following our target, nor would we be able to instruct the autohighways navigation system to follow the van’s course without the system querying the van’s occupants and asking them for approval. He and I both knew the only way not to blow our cover was to go full manual. It was something that Rob had been infamous for years ago, and how we had made our name with Camello and his associates. I had a knack for finding people that owed money…a lot of money. It was mostly a case of finding what their poison was, most people desperate enough to borrow from a loanshark only did so because they could no longer keep up with the price of feeding the monkey on their back…whatever that happened to be. Once the person in question was found the job was half done, but you couldn’t just grab a guy outside an opium den or shady mahjong parlor. You burnt too many bridges that way and we weren’t those kind of heavies, we preferred to work under the radar. We’d tail them home through the autohighway on manual; braving a gauntlet that most wouldn’t dare try. Once we had their home address we’d sell it to Camello and the big wigs, wash our hands of the matter, and let the chips fall where they may. It was a sweet deal for a little bit. Camello was willing to pay top dollar for the addresses, hitting a chump where he lived sent a message along the lines of “you can run but you can’t hide”. At the time, we simply didn’t think of the real possibility of ending up as a collection of burning wreckage and blood smears on the side of the road. The money came fast and above all it was fun …but we were a little too good at what we did. We started to make enemies and soon decided it was in our best interest to pursue other slightly less suicidal avenues of employment.
Rob took an unmarked pill bottle out from the same central console and took out a single white pill, which he broke in half. He promptly swallowed one side before returning the other to the cylinder and placing it back out of sight. We were gathering speed as both our car and the van neared the end of the extended on ramp. The box he had pulled out began emitting a soft beep as it sent a dummy signal to the traffic control matrix and we prepared to merge. I kissed the index and middle fingers of my left hand and gave the top of the box a firm tap for luck as we entered into the highway the speedometer of Rob’s car just ticking over the 140 mph mark. Rob’s eyes were glued to the road with preternatural focus as he merged with the shifting lanes of traffic. The light headedness of traveling at such speeds got to me a little bit as if reality itself was distorted. I could feel my pulse climb as I tried to keep track of the van in the blitz of traffic around us.
Rob steered the cab without a trace of hesitation, his hands firmly gripping the wheel in an unwavering grip even as his right leg bounced up and down like a jack rabbit. All thoughts of fatigue vanished from my mind as we maneuvered through the turbulent flow of traffic. As Rob sped up still further to keep pace with the van. Altering his trajectory to keep pace all while never staying in one place too long, intermittently opening up lanes for the crisscrossing flurry of steel that coursed around us. I was at full attention trying to stay constantly alert to call out movement in Rob’s blindspots, when suddenly it felt as if I was overcome with vertigo, or that the world around me had shifted. The swift shadows racing along the streets seemed to grow noticeably thicker and the night blackened itself all around me. I tried to clear my head and invigorate my body by giving myself a good shake but as I strained to launch myself in a spastic stretch ….I found I could barely manage a twitch. Against my will panic rumbled within me threatening to erupt and consume my senses. The thoughts “Have I breathed in an odorless chemical agent? Is this what killed those men?” repeated over and over in my consciousness like a chalk board punishment etched into my psyche. My world was growing darker. I tried desperately to move a finger and when that did not work I tried to merely blink. Even my eyelids would not obey my commands however and as the last of my sight began to vanish. I concentrated all of my will into merely being able to see again and for a few nanoseconds I was rewarded with the sight of the interior of the car in a new almost brilliant focus before that sight was undeniable snatched away from me.
There was light again but not the colored glowing of the streetlights and vehicle displays but rather the dimmed white yellow luminescence that I preferred in my virtual office. I looked around suddenly in control of my body once more. Well... sort of, I instantly knew this wasn't my actual body and immediately I tried to disengage from the VRN projection my neurons were currently accepting as reality. However as much as I tried I couldn’t. It was almost as if I could feel a mental handle to the door that would lead me back to reality but that door had somehow been dead bolted from the other side. I wonder if I was dead. If this is what limbo was like for VRN users.
“So eager to leave?” said a man suddenly sitting across from me. He was a large man more plump than muscular. He had a soft brunette skin tone and the wide Asiatic features of a pacific islander. He wore a light red suit that bordered on pink that was far too festive to be appropriate for the office setting. I tried to maintain a poker face, I hadn't authorized this interface. It shouldn't be possible.
“Who are you and how are you doing this?” I say
The man only smiles a smile that is extremely large. The type of smile that was more of a dare than anything else.
“You've been following us.” he replied.
It was a statement, not a question.
“Do you notice anything out of the ordinary?” he spoke in a care free tone. The tone of someone assured of his supremacy. He gestured towards the window that normally offered a grand view of my mental impression of Arc, however now looking out my large office window all one could see was an obscuring shroud of fog walling off the beautiful urban landscape.
“That skyline of yours, do you have any idea how your brain forms it? It pulls pieces of outside stimuli such as light, temperature, and humidity and cobbles together a representation of an environment with different conditions. The brain does this nightly while we are sleepi
ng as well. If you’re in a deep sleep when an air conditioner malfunctions you may have a dream about adventuring through the arctic. If you tried to activate your VRN during a heatwave I am sure a desert sun would be shining high above that horizon.” he said as he gestured towards the foggy window.
He got up out of the chair and began to idly pace around my office with a light skip and spin in his walk which seemed out of place and impossibly agile for such a round man.
“So what do you suppose this fog means...” he asked again this time with a bit of mocking creeping in his voice.
“I'm dying” I responded quietly
“Hahahahahahah! Don't be so morbid. If I had really wanted to kill you I would have forced the VRN connection on the person driving the car and not you. I take it you two are partners in this task? At any rate I'm just keeping you out of his hair for a little while. Y’know? You have to keep things interesting”
“Whose hair? Alex's? Do you know where he is?” I asked.
The man broke into a deep belly laugh “yes I know where he is along with many other people of interest, however our mutual friend Alex is rather a private person lately and not predisposed towards accepting uninvited guests. I on the other hand have plenty of time for new friends.”
As jovial as the plump man pretended to be I couldn't help but hating him. I tried with all my will one last time to get back to the real world but only succeeded in causing a monstrous headache to tremor through my skull.
“How the fuck are you hacking a VRN anyways?!? It’s humanely impossible! The human brain is too complex.” I scream at him losing my composure just a little bit before straightening my tie and regaining my self-control.
“Humanely impossible. How fitting. When Alex told me people would probably come looking for us at some point I didn't expect them to be anywhere near this clever or amusing. I am going to enjoy this.” he said as he plopped back down into the chair and put his feet up on my desk somehow maintaining his balance despite his ponderous bulk.