The Individuality Gene

by G Sauvé

  It has no official name, but I refer to it as a mega sentinel.

  The name sounds appropriate, so I decide to adopt it.

  “Okay,” I say. “What’s it doing here?”

  It’s guarding the teleportation dais.

  Sure enough, the mega sentinel circles around the small platform, guarding it with its hulking frame and oversized arm gun.

  “That’s not what I meant. Why is it here? Why bother guarding the teleportation dais when there’s only one destination?”

  Our leader is paranoid, explains A’lara. It’s why she lives in the centre of the sun and is the only one with a teleportation device. It’s also why she has commissioned this one-of-a-kind bodyguard.

  “How do we get rid of it?”

  We don’t.

  “What does that mean?”

  This is your mission, reminds A’lara. Shouldn’t you be the one with a plan?

  She’s right. My older self made it clear I’m the only one capable of making things right. If that means battling a giant robot, then so be it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to come up with a strategy that doesn’t involve being blasted to smithereens by an oversized sentinel.

  “How does the teleportation dais work?” I ask. I have an inkling of a plan, but I need more information before deciding whether or not to pursue it.

  It activates as soon as you step on it.

  That’s good. Really good.

  “What if we shimmer?” I ask. “We could sneak past the mega sentinel and—”

  It was programmed to detect shimmering Kra’lors, interrupts A’lara. Also, you no longer have your cloaking device.

  “Damn!” I take a moment to come up with another plan. “Maybe we could—”

  There’s only one solution. We must make a run for it.

  “Will that work?”

  If we time it right, we should be able to reach the dais before the mega sentinel sees us.

  “What if we don’t make it?”

  That’s not an option.

  She’s right. This will never work unless we’re fully committed.

  “All right,” I say. “When should we go?”

  We will wait until the robot is facing away from us, then make a run for the dais. Would you like to go first?

  “First? Can’t we both go at the same time?”

  A’lara shakes her head.

  The teleportation dais can only transport one of us at a time. We will have to take turns.

  Of course. Why make something simple when it can be complex?

  “I’ll go first,” I say.

  Are you sure?

  I nod. “You have done more than enough already. If I don’t make it, promise me you won’t try to save me.”

  A’lara nods.

  “Okay,” I say. “Let’s do this.”

  I sneak forward until I’m hiding behind the last row of pillars. Peeking every few seconds, I wait until the mega sentinel turns away from me. As soon as he does, I leap out of cover and sprint toward the dais. The pounding of my feet hitting the ground fills the air. I’m afraid the robot will hear, but it’s too late to turn back. I keep going, pumping my legs for all they’ve got. The distance is short, but I’m out of breath by the time I near my destination.

  Just a few more steps, I think as I charge on. Moments before I reach the dais, the mega sentinel whips around and grabs me.

  I didn’t make it.

  Memory 75

  I struggle to escape the mega sentinel’s grasp, but his massive hand is wrapped so tightly around my waist I can barely move. I hammer away at its chest with my fists, but all I end up doing is hurting myself. Not that it matters. Who cares about a few busted knuckles when death is knocking at your door? My only hope lies in my back pocket in the shape of a glove gun, but the weapon remains just out of reach.

  In other words, I’m screwed.

  The mega sentinel’s massive fist constricts around me until it feels as though my bones are going to shatter. Breathing has now become impossible. So has logical thought. All I can do now is hope my death is quick and painless. So far, it’s not looking good.

  I’m about to pass out from the pain when the mega sentinel releases me. I soar through the air and slam into a pillar. While painful, the impact is of no consequence. All that matters is that I’m still alive.

  I scramble into a seated potion, only to see a massive fist come flying toward me. I duck just in time. The metallic hand whistles past and slams into the column. Stone fragments rain down upon me, and I roll out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed to death.

  I right myself and scan my surroundings. The robot stands mere metres away, readying another attack. I dodge it with surprising ease and duck behind the nearest pillar. It provides sufficient protection for me to formulate a plan but explodes into a million tiny pieces before I can put it into action. Diving out of the way, I once again dodge death by a hair.

  I scramble to my feet and navigate my way across the field of columns. Every few seconds one of the stone pillars explodes, courtesy of my pursuer’s arm gun. The sheer force of the explosions is enough to disorient me. This, combined with the adrenaline pumping through my veins and my animalistic desire to stay alive, makes it nearly impossible to orient myself. All I can do is keep going and hope for the best.

  It takes a while, but I finally emerge from the stone forest. Instead of a city, I find a small clearing with a teleportation dais and scattered stone fragments. I don’t know how I ended up back here, but it doesn’t matter. Now that I am, reaching the dais should be easy. Or so I think until a blast of yellow energy lights up the column to my right.

  The explosion sends me flying, and I once again find myself sprawled on the ground with a giant robot standing over me. I consider trying to escape, but the sight of the glowing arm cannon that hovers above me convinces me it would be futile. Still, I scan my surroundings in search of an escape route, but all I see is a slight shimmer.

  I stare at the barrel of the weapon as it grows brighter. I’m just about to close my eyes when the glow inexplicably dies out. The light that once illuminated the mega sentinel’s chest has also faded. Even its eyes are dark.

  “What the hell?” I mutter. I wave my hand, but the automaton remains unresponsive. It stands before me, still as a statue.

  I look around, expecting to find another robot sneaking up on me, but all I find is a shimmer.

  “I don’t know what you did,” I say as I pry myself off the ground, “but you saved my life. Thank you.”

  It was nothing, says A’lara as she appears before me.

  “How did you do it?”

  I suspected we wouldn’t be able to reach the teleportation dais without being spotted. That’s why I let you go first. I needed someone to distract the mega sentinel while I snuck up on it and deactivated it.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  I was afraid you wouldn’t agree to act as bait.

  I’m hurt by her lack of faith, but I can’t blame her. Though I have gotten to know her during my first visit to this time, she has only known me for a few hours. Still, I can’t help feeling betrayed by her lack of trust. Not that it matters. Now that the mega sentinel has been incapacitated, completing the mission should be easy.

  “Let’s go,” I say. We approach the teleportation dais until we’re within stepping distance.

  “I think you should go first,” I say.

  A’lara nods and hops onto the platform. At first, nothing happens, but then her body starts to deteriorate. Her scales vanish one by one until none remain.

  I hesitate for a moment, then step onto the dais. I watch in a mixture of fear and excitement as my arms and legs vanish. Soon, only my eyes remain. Then they also vanish, and the world fades to black.

  Memory 76

  T he world comes into focus to reveal a home the likes of which I have never seen. Devoid of both walls and ceiling, the spherical dwelling is reminiscent of the world that lies beyond it. The
furniture that adorns its edgeless floor is pulled outward by the inverted gravity, causing my acrophobia to go haywire. The mere act of looking up causes my head to spin and my vision to blur. Desperate for a distraction, I focus on my immediate surroundings.

  I find dozens of sculptures of all shapes and sizes. One depicts a female Kra’lor standing atop a mass of human bodies. Another shows the same alien blasting a human with a glove gun. Yet another portrays her brandishing a severed human head. Each new piece is more disturbing than the last, and they all have one very distinct characteristic in common.

  They’re all anti-human.

  I haven’t met the leader of the Kra’lors—and I hope I never do—yet I feel as though I know her. The sight of such violence leaves no doubt in my mind that she despises humans. I don’t know why, but it’s obvious her entire life revolves around making their existence miserable.

  I take in a few more statues before the goriness forces me to look away. The rest of the furniture is simple and utilitarian. I spot a couch and a table before noticing A’lara. She stands nearby, unimpressed by the artistic violence that surrounds us.

  “Are we alone?” I ask.

  She nods.

  “Where’s the computer?”

  Follow me.

  She leads me across the dwelling until we reach the far side of the sphere. One quick glance at the inverted world that lies above me confirms the teleportation dais now stands directly above our heads. I look away before my fear of heights is triggered and focus on my new surroundings.

  “What is this place?” I ask as I study the island of emptiness within which A’lara and I stand. It’s devoid of both furniture and artwork. The ‘tals that light the rest of the residence are also missing.

  The Kra’lor doesn’t answer. She approaches the edge of the island and presses her palm to the floor. As soon as she steps back, the surface opens and a massive screen rises from its depths. Flickering to life, it shows what looks like a dozen live camera feeds. Most display working humans, but a few depict different views of the alien city. The images change every few seconds, but the landscape remains constant.

  “Is it live?” I ask.

  A’lara nods.

  We can now see everything the sentinels see, she explains. Like I said, our leader is paranoid. Only she has access to this footage.

  That’s odd. I clearly remember Avalon mentioning her infiltration of the sentinel command hub in one of her letters. I guess she lied. Either that or the Kra’lor whose appearance she replicated was their leader. It would explain why we haven’t seen her.

  “Can you shut them down?” I ask.

  A’lara nods.

  She approaches the giant screen and presses her palm to the section of the floor that stands directly before it. It opens, and a minimalist lectern sprouts from the hole. Its surface is narrow and reminiscent of a keyboard. The dozen or so keys that make it up seem inadequate given the apparent complexity of the software, but A’lara starts typing, her fingers flying from key to key with such speed they begin to blur.

  I focus on the screen just as the video feeds vanish. A series of odd-looking symbols take their places and replicate at an accelerated rate. Within seconds, they fill the entire screen.

  “Is that normal?” I ask.

  Yes, says A’lara. I’m bypassing the computer’s security system. Once I’m done, I will activate the built-in self-destruct feature. It was included in case we lost control of the sentinels. Once activated, it will disrupt their command system and force them to go offline.

  “Can it be reversed?”

  The self-destruct feature will fry their brains. Repairing them would require manually reprogramming them. By the time that can be done, the humans will be long gone.

  “Can’t we just destroy the computer?” I ask.

  A’lara shakes her head.

  Destroying the computer would keep new commands from being sent, but the sentinels would remain active. They would continue acting out their last set of commands until a new computer could be built.

  Wow. I had no idea she was this knowledgeable. I can’t help wondering why she didn’t mention any of this before, but I brush the thought aside and thank my lucky stars she’s on my side.

  “How long before—”

  I’m done, interrupts A’lara. One more keystroke and the countdown will begin.

  “Countdown?”

  A’lara nods.

  The self-destruct sequence has a built-in countdown feature to keep us from accidentally destroying the sentinels.

  “How long?”

  The command will be broadcast fifteen minutes after the sequence is activated.

  This is it. The moment I’ve been waiting for ever since I first appeared in this time. One press of a button, one single tap, and history will return to its intended course.

  Would you like to do the honours? asks A’lara.

  I nod and step forward.

  Press that button—she points to the large key that stands at the very centre of the keyboard—and the countdown will begin.

  I reach out with a trembling hand, hesitate for a moment, then press the button. Moments later, a countdown appears on the screen. I’m not sure why, but I’m able to decipher the meaning of the symbols. Perhaps my ability to understand languages stretches to the written word. It would explain why I’m able to read the holo tracker even though it displays Atlantean numbers. But I forget all about that when I’m hit with a realization.

  It’s over.

  The countdown has begun, and soon the humans will be free. Once they are, they will become true individuals, and history will—

  A’lara starts laughing. Her powerful cackles echo throughout my mind, distracting me in my moment of victory.

  “What’s so funny?” I ask.

  It takes a while, but the laughter finally fades.

  You actually think you saved the humans, don’t you?

  A sense of unease creeps up my spine.

  “Wh-What do you mean?” I ask, but I’m afraid I already know the answer.

  The self-destruct will do more than fry the sentinels’ brains. It will overload their entire system, causing the ‘tals that power them to detonate. And we both know what happens when Ros’tal crystals explode.

  A heavy silence settles between us. It takes a while, but I muster the strength to speak.

  “What are you saying?” I ask, but I already know the answer. We both do.

  A’lara laughs once more, her chuckles now brutal and sadistic.

  You didn’t save the humans, she says. You doomed them.

  I’m stunned, but not by the news. What shocks me is the revelation that accompanies it.

  A’lara is evil.

  Memory 77

  A ’lara is evil. It seems impossible, yet it’s undeniable. She’s been manipulating me all along, lulling me into a false sense of safety in anticipation of this moment.

  “Why?” I ask.

  She glares at me.

  You know why.

  I don’t. As hard as I try, I can’t seem to figure out why she would betray me.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t—

  You killed my father! she snaps.

  A heavy silence follows her accusation.

  “No,” I say. “He sacrificed himself to save me.”

  Liar! My father was a great Kra’lor. He would never have given his life to save a filthy human.

  The venom infused into the words forces me to rethink all that I once believed to be true. The resulting restructuring causes multiple pieces of the puzzle that is A’lara to fall into place. The first is so blatantly obvious I can’t believe it took me so long to figure it out.

  A’lara is the leader of the Kra’lors. That’s how she knew where the computer controlling the sentinels was located. It’s also how she was able to deactivate the mega sentinel. Her status also allowed her to keep me safe from the alien military when they raided the HLG safe house. Many more instances of my former friend
’s duplicity emerge from my subconscious, but I brush them aside to focus on the second—and far more revealing—piece of the puzzle.

  A’lara hates humans. She blames me for the death of her father and used that anger to fuel her revenge. Now more than ever, I feel responsible for all that has happened. Avalon may have manipulated me, but it was my decision to keep R’ha’s illness a secret. I thought I was honouring my friend’s memory, but all I did was doom the humans.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I never meant—”

  SHUT UP! Her voice explodes inside my head. Her arms leave her sides and rise into the air. My body follows, ensnared by her telekinetic ability. I struggle to break free, but I’m trapped in her invisible web.

  I believed you once, admits A’lara, back when I was young and foolish. But then I grew up, and I realized my mistake. Humans are disgusting, filthy beings. My father would never have sacrificed himself for such a lowly creature.

  “Please,” I beg, but she isn’t listening.

  You lied to me. You killed my father and spun a web of lies to cover your crime.

  “No. That’s not what happened. I—”

  SHUT UP! She reaches out and mimics wrapping her fingers around my throat. Though feigned, the gesture causes my neck to constrict, leaving but a narrow gap between the walls of my trachea for me to breathe. Within seconds, I start to wheeze.

  My mother and I left Earth shortly after you came to visit us, but it wasn’t until many years later that I realized the truth about my father’s death. By then, I was an adult. I got a job working for the Ros’tal Corporation and returned to Earth, determined to seek vengeance for my father’s murder. You were long gone, so I made it my life’s purpose to punish the humans for your misdeeds. I rose through the ranks and reached the top. Once there, I used my newfound power to create the sentinels and enslave the humans.

  I can’t believe it. Avalon isn’t to blame for what happened. Nor is A’lara.

  I am.

  Had I told A’lara the truth, none of this would have happened. She wouldn’t have grown up hating the humans. She wouldn’t have enslaved them. The Kra’lors would still have taken control of Earth, and countless humans would have died because of the resulting ice age, but they would have been free to evolve. History would have been altered, but in the grand scheme of things, very little would have changed. The humans would have evolved, and life would have gone on. But it didn’t, and it’s all my fault.