Encompassing

by Richard Lord

  Renfield begins running. Brady and Angela move quickly to the truck and pull away. Illumna clicks into position and waits. She starts counting in her head. She sees her father move past her but she focuses on her count. Then she sees Solstice on the ground for a moment and watches her disappear again. She counts. She gets to her count time, looks around the tree she is standing under and doesn’t even see headlights. She begins to worry, but then she sees a glimmer in the dark. Instinctively she begins counting again to calm herself. It’s either good news or bad, but she knows to remain calm either way. Then she see’s the logo on the side of the truck as it moves quickly past her and she begins the second count. She hears her father in her head. “Your accuracy, Illumna. Just wait until they’re there.” She hears her mother think to her, which is a new thing. “We’ve got this Illumna. Just focus on your part. Then she hears Solstice in her head, “Beginning now.” She hears Brady scream out at them, “Not in position!” Then she hears Solstice think, “Already begun. Get my models to me, Brady!” The cacophony almost makes Illumna lose her count, but she concentrates. She adds 10 seconds to the second count knowing Brady could not get the truck up to the speed they had all planned on. Then she clicks to her second positon as Brady pulls up. Brady and Angela jump out to grab the doors but Illumna already has them open and she clicks into one of the models and bursts out of the back of the truck seconds before Solstice does the same.

  Brady looks at Angela and laughs, “Yeah, strange family!” They chuckle then, in consonance to the rhythm, he taps her and they jump back into the truck to move it to the second position with the remaining models. A soon as they hit the X on the map they drew out, they jump back out, open the door and most of the remaining models jump out.

  Brady hears Solstice in his head, “Thanks, I’ve got them from here. Move to position three. Illumna’s going to need that next one pretty quickly.”

  Angela and Brady jump back in the truck and Brady smashes the pedal hard. Angela looks at him. “I’m still not used to it.” She mentions. “You’re like a walkie-talkie I can’t hear.”

  Brady smiles and with his eyes focused on the terrain ahead he replies, “Yeah, it’s not as fun as you think. Glad you’re with me on the ride, but the next part gets ugly.”

  Angela taps the pistol on her hip and the assault rifle between her legs. “That’s the part where I get to show off for my boy!”

  Renfield moves faster. He’s aware that something has triggered an alarm of some sort by now. He has to figure out which building they are most likely to send them out of. He moves fast around them all then yells out in his head to his daughter, “Solstice, what is the current reading on the device?”

  Solstice thinks back, “I can’t check right now, but I know where they are coming from first, considering I’m engaged at the moment. Sara, what does the meter say now?”

  Sara looks down at her wrist and thinks back, “I’m tracking Adam’s movement right now. Northeast of him. I’m coming up from him due south so that means you should look at the building at you’re 8. That’s where they powered up. Adam, keep moving the way you are going, let Solstice and me handle that. Illumna, clicks to Solstice and takes over engagement there. “Brady, stay on the outside for now. Let Angela pick them off, you handle anything that comes close.”

  Renfield grins. “Thanks, dear! Christina?”

  Sara replies immediately, “She’s in position. 180 from Angela’s. I’m headed in.”

  Illumna turns to smile at her sister as Solstice moves to the position specified by Sara. Illumna clicks around quickly, enjoying the sensation of the body and then clicks out of it. Standing in the truck in a different model, she quickly clicks back into position.

  Renfield turns as Sara approaches and motions to her to get down. He’s taking heavy fire and there aren’t enough cover positions. Sara cusses, but continues to work her way to where he wants her to be as the three models show up and begin blasting the enemy. Renfield clicks to a different position that quickly provides an advantage while the enemy forces are distracted by the three models he chose. He thinks quickly to Sara, “Move now!”

  Sara stalls and thinks back to him, “Christina is moving in. I thought she wasn’t supposed to advance yet?”

  Renfield grunts loudly in her head, “No, she wasn’t supposed to. Orient me, I’ll cover her.”

  Sara thinks back at Renfield, “Your two, duck!” Then she stands and moves right past him.

  Renfield surprised thinks, “Okay, well that wasn’t supposed to happen either.” Then he concentrates hard on his daughters as he moves towards Christina. “Do NOT act like your mothers! We have one shot at this and it’s well planned!”

  Brady thinks to them, “He’s right. They’re both being emotional. Don’t go down that road!” As Brady finishes his thought to Solstice and Illumna one of the soldiers rounds the corner and aims at Angela. He fires quickly then puts an arm around Angela. “We have to get to the next positon, NOW!”

  Sara turns to Renfield and holds up a non-friendly finger. Then she pulls at something and holds up a piece of equipment and huffs at him.

  “Ok, target acquired. Everyone else get to work on extraction. I’ll leave Sara to her mother. Illumna, how many models have you gone through yet?”

  She thinks back to her father, “Four so far. I need another and I’ll click to Grandmother’s position. I can hear her. She moving towards Sara and vice versa, but she’s taking fire.”

  Solstice thinks in. “I’ve found and destroyed a lot of their models, but I’ve yet to find actual bio. I can’t leave yet.”

  Renfield thinks to himself, “Damn!” He then thinks back to Solstice, “Understood.” Then he is standing beside her. He scans the view for threats. Seeing none he looks up at his daughter and says, “Glad you weren’t in that model, back in the desert.” Then Renfield grins at his daughter.

  Solstice smiles, proud of her creation. Then she yells back at him, “It’s got to be that building or that one. They don’t give a damn about your timeline, Dad. Choose quickly or this is all for naught.”

  “Sara!” Renfield thinks out. Facing northwest, two or ten?” Renfield stares at both options. Then he hears Sara’s thought and clicks to her, grabs her by the legs and pushes her back up. He clicks above her and looks down. How long were you going to stay quiet about that?” With her feet back on solid ground she replies, “I didn’t want to distract you.” Looks at her wrist and then says, “Ren, I think.”

  Renfield clicks next to Solstice and screams, “I’m going into the one at our ten. Stay here and keep as many of them off me as you can, but as soon as it’s too many, get the hell out of here. You have to pick up your son and Persistence!”

  Solstice looks at him briefly. She realizes it may be the last time, but she also understands that it is up to her to get the children if Renfield doesn’t make it. Renfield disappears.

  CHAPTER 69

  “Love for the father is designed in us all. Love for the mother comes from years of watching her suffer from her love of the father.” – from the book of Brian

  Time dilation is a strange thing. It’s useful, but to the person in the dilation everything else seems to move at slow motion while to everyone else it appears that person is moving at speeds that defy logic. This is relativity at work. If you have ever been in a car and watched the wheels of another car beside you leave a red light, at some point the wheels on that tire begin to go from looking like they are moving forward to looking like they are moving backward. The human eyes and visual cortex is the most complex of all beings on earth. We evolved to stand up right and use vision as a means of survival instead of relying on our olfactory senses. Other mammals still gather most of their information about their environment through smell and therefore prefer to be able to easily sniff the ground. However, as humans we stood up and we evolved to have a lumbar curve so we could see further. This was our advantage in the savannah. See through the grass and you can see what is coming towar
ds you from downwind. It is what made us different. Then we spread our diet by seeing more things to eat. That made us taste bad to other animals and probably the only true reason we survived as a species. It’s easier to avoid threats if nothing wants to eat you. Unless it’s really hungry.

  Renfield moves fast to his 10, but immediately takes on heavy fire. He avoids most of the shots, but with so many the odds dictate what he knows. He simply has to hope none hit him squarely in the head. That would put him down. Every bullet he can see as if it’s traveling at him slowly, but there are too many to avoid all of them. Renfield is aware the tactic being used against him is a basic strafe maneuver, but also realizes it’s damned effective, given the scenario.

  Renfield realizes as soon as he gets to the hangar door he will be slowed by trying to open it. He also realizes this will make him a semi-stationary target for too many seconds and he continually tries to envision the best strategy when he gets to it. He draws a blank at any other concept than simply trying to push that door open hard and fast, which he realizes probably won’t be hard and fast enough. He begins calming his mind and starts counting the meters between him and that door. When he gets to 10 meters he begins to focus only on what he has to do on the other side of that door. There is no other choice. Renfield considers clicking inside, but he has no frame of reference to make that a viable option. He realizes he simply has to focus on something other than his moment of weakness. As he approaches, the door begins to open itself. His face grows a strange look and he sees the model inside. Illumna steps out and lays down her own cover fire as Renfield leaps inside and thinks to Solstice, “Click now!” Get the kids!”. He turns and looks at Illumna. Half-angry that she took the risk, half-thankful that she did. “I’ll assume everyone else is together?” As he speaks he is struck just below the place where his rib was shattered a year ago. The pain is intense and he turns. What he sees takes his breath a second time. Renfield immediately thinks to everyone else, “I’m in the right place!” He grins and turns to move quickly while thinking loudly to Illumna, “Go! Get them out of here!”

  Illumna knows the plan. If they hear from him soon, Solstice will click in and get him home. If they don’t, they are to change the plan for the next target to adjust for him not being there. She runs ahead of Renfield instead and thinks back at him, “I’ll do some damage before I click.”

  Renfield watches his daughter’s model begin clicking around with extreme accuracy and destroying both the guards and the macabre beings the guards are there to protect. However, the beings begin to move and click around her. Adam yells out, “Go, NOW!”

  Illumna thinks at her father, “I can help!”

  Renfield thinks to his daughter, “Right now you are more of a distraction! Go! You understand!”

  At that, Illumna clicks back and looks up at her mother. Then she sheds the model and they all head for the truck. Brady jumps into the driver’s seat and pushes the pedal hard then eases off realizing he doesn’t want the truck to get stuck in the soft soil. Once he has the truck up to cruising speed, he pushes his foot hard on the pedal. They had planned the terrain so he’s happy that the rest of this is all downhill. The truck picks up extreme momentum and at some point he doesn’t even feel likes he’s driving. Brady simply feels like he’s on a ride out of his own control and holding on while trying his best to steer. Then he considers that if he, with a steering wheel to hold on to, can barely keep in his seat, what the bumps must be doing to the others in the back. He realizes he can’t brake fast, but he knows he has to begin slowing the speed. He glances over at Angela, who is holding on tightly to the straps. The look on her face intensifies his resolve to get the truck back under control. His face cringes at the thought of what must be happening in the back of the truck. He eases his foot onto the brake but the bouncing of the truck keeps causing his foot to either leave the pedal or push too hard.

  Brady tries to concentrate but instead he hears Renfield yelling in his head. “Count!” Brady realizes the thought being sent out so loudly isn’t meant for him, but he takes the advice anyway. His mind slows and he focuses on his leg and foot. The truck slowly comes to a halt and he eases into moving again. Brady is fairly certain they are far enough away but he wants more distance. He knows what Renfield is dealing with can’t click to them without the hardware that Sara is holding. Those beings are no longer human, they are a bastardization of Solstice’s concept. As he drives, he can’t help but wonder if she will ever see her father again. He turns to Angela, puts a hand on her knee and smiles.

  Angela understanding the gesture turns to smile at Brady. “I assume you want me to change the topic? Have you ever thought about horses?” Brady looks at her and smiles and she continues, “They have big butts, but they can be fun to ride!” Brady laughs.

  CHAPTER 70

  “I will go to my grave before I become a slave. I’m aware of what I am, but every fiber of my soul rejects what was done to my body.” – from the book of Phillip

  “Thank you, Solstice. I had a good time, albeit brief, with the grandchildren.” Renfield_2 said. “I know your father doesn’t completely trust me. I am glad that the sanctity of being in nothing forced him to consider me worthy of spending this time with them.”

  Solstice thought about that statement. “You are him separated only by a year of different experiences. Yours were hyper-non-intense, which is intense for you to go through. His were hyper-intense, which was comforting to him. He knows your mental struggle to a greater degree than you think. When he and you conceived of this ‘experiment’ you both knew it wouldn’t be easy. You’ve adapted. You’re like him. But he knows that you two no longer have the same goals. He knew it would happen. You’re now, in his mind, the ‘other’ part of him.”

  “I understand, Solstice, it was good to talk with you. Goodbye.” Renfield_2 comments.

  Solstice pauses. She begins to ask a question of her own. Then she realizes her thought was already heard. At the lack of receiving a reply, she mentions, “I have to come back one more time. I’m not leaving Brian without a mother!” Then she clicks. A few moments later she is back again. She listens for Renfield_2 to answer her question, but he doesn’t. She grabs Brian and clicks away again.

  Brady turns as Solstice appears in the hotel room. Christina looks at her daughter and feels relief. Snifalotapus runs to Christina and brushes his back against her leg for comfort. Christina kicks him, hard then moves, eyes forward, to indicate she’s listening and steps on it’s head to keep it from distracting her again. Everyone ignores the cruel gesture, with other more pressing matters at hand. Angela, however, laughs uncomfortably. Illumna looks at her sister and thinks to her, “I’m blocked right now, but you can guess what I am thinking.”

  One by one, Solstice clicks them all back home. Then she pauses as Illumna grabs her arm. “You’re not going without me!” Illumna is firm. Solstice understands. The silence has been deafening to all of them.

  Solstice turns to her older sister. At that Solstice clicks her to the house and then both click apart, back to the center of the lab. She and Illumna hear deafening racket. They both scrunch their faces. “How could it be possible Renfield is still fighting?”, they both wonder.

  Solstice nods to Illumna. “Guess he was right about that too!” Illumna remembers the lesson. When noise, light, emotions, or any other stimuli is too much, begin storing the energy. The common theme is to release emotion, turn off light, get away from sound. But there are two phases, according to Renfield, storage and release. Storage is mastery. Release is for those not yet strong enough to store. If one stores the free energy, one can learn to release it at will. Over such a long lifetime, Renfield has stored up much of that. It was time for him to release when it was beneficial for the whole.

  Both of the girls move into models they had left in the lab. Solstice grabs Illumna and clicks. Illumna moves first. She does what she does best. She uses her model as a knockdown tool first. Solstice begins to move but she notic
es how fast the ‘zombies’ are clicking around Illumna. She begins to regret brining her sister here and considers grabbing her, clicking her out and leaving this to Renfield whom she realizes has more tricks up his sleeve than he let on in all of the time she’s known her father. Then it comes to her what the issues is and she thinks to her sister quickly, “Close your mind Illumna!”

  Illumna thinks back, “I keep thinking Dad said I was a distraction, which means you are too. How can we co-ordinate if we can’t communicate?”

  Solstice thinks in response to her sister, “We just have to trust that we all know and understand each other well enough.”

  “Nice speech, sis. There are far more of these things than I imagined! I can’t keep up and I have the fastest pace.” Illumna thinks to her sister.

  “Turn off Illumna! They are using your mind to focus on your movements. They might not be as fast as you, but there are too many for you to let them get a clue as to what you are doing next.” Solstice pleads in her mind with her sister.

  “You haven’t shut off and I’ve seen how many you’ve taken out.” Illumna quips back, in her mind.

  “I don’t want to block until you do. Please do it now, Illumna. We’re not even working together. I can see Dad from up here and he looks pretty angry. I’m guessing it’s more at you and I than at these ‘zombies’!” Solstice replies in thought and then turns as two more come at her. Then she thinks out to her sister, “These are not models and different from my AI units. These were people. They remember how to think, even if they are on remote control. They can anticipate our moves in different ways than my AI does and you’re giving them the advantage of tapping into your thoughts, Illumna. Go into block mode.”

  Illumna thinks one last thought back to Solstice, “Are we really going to go with ‘zombies’ for what we call them?” Then Illumna goes silent and Solstice can tell she’s put her mind unavailable.