"All right then, Mr. Nihil, let's see how we're doing today, shall we?"
Exnihil shifted awkwardly in the hospital gown. One would think that after two months of coming to Medicus Two for treatment, it would get easier, but the entire clinical environment never failed to put him ill at ease.
Doctor One examined the chart in silence, but his stony expression told Ex everything he needed to know. The doctor exhaled grimly, then took a seat.
"Mr. Nihil... Ex... I'm going to be candid. I’m at a loss. As you know, I don’t normally handle cases like this. My expertise is in protistology, the study of unicellular organisms, but considering the... um... uniqueness of your case, I was called in as a specialist.
"The damage your body sustained during the attack by the Red Bee was, in itself, not that severe. In any other case, we would have expected that, by this point, the normal healing process would have addressed any tissue damage, but… to be absolutely frank... we are seeing no progress whatsoever.
"It’s almost as though your cells are not acting as an interdependent system. The behavior we’re seeing is more akin to that of, as I say, a collection of independent organisms. I realize how absurd that sounds... the Terran physiology simply does not function in this fashion. Your cellular activity appears to be in a state of complete stasis."
He paused, deciding for the moment to put aside his bedside manner and just speak frankly. "To be honest, I think whatever I'm seeing here is the same phenomenon that informs your growth patterns. You are...," looking at the chart, "...37 years old, but your body looks to be only about six or seven Terran years. Ex... there has to be something you’re not telling us. We’re trying to treat you based upon the assumption that you are human, but everything we’re seeing is saying that’s not the case."
Ex narrowed his eyes. This was pointless. He had known all along that this was a mistake coming here. He cleared his throat and, looking Doctor One in the eyes, lied, "I'm sorry, Doctor, I have no idea what you’re talking about."
Doctor One pursed his lips, such as they were, and looked back down at the chart. He sighed. "Well... it is what it is... of course, we'll keep exploring, but I don’t want to give you any false hope at this time. It's not getting any worse, but it’s definitely not getting better."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
The Medicus Two nursing staff was nothing if not annoyingly cheerful. Over the past couple months, Ex had gotten to know them on a first name basis and, given Ex's diminutive appearance most of them had taken on almost a maternal tact, treating him like he was the child that he looked like. He had never seen this nurse, though. It must be the start of a new rotation.
"Good morning," Ex barely contained his sarcasm.
"Good morning," she said sing-songedly, "and how’s our little patient today."
"Yeah… not good."
"Owww… don’t be such a grumpy Gus..."
"Grumpy Gus?" he muttered under his breath.
"...you know that Doctor One is going to make you all better," she reached around to prop his pillow, "Now sit up, I’ve got to take another sample."
"Yeah... I’m not sure about the 'all better' part, I’m pretty sure I’m almost done here," he sat up and rolled up his gown sleeve, talking really more to himself than to the nurse, "I don’t think there is anything they can do for me."
"Oh, nonsense, you’re just being hard on yourself,” she pulled out the syringe and pricked his forearm, "you just stop worrying."
"That’s easy for you to say, you don’t have to..." Ex felt a strange liquid rush in his arm. He looked down at the syringe and saw that she was depressing a plunger not drawing blood, "Hey... what the...?"
"Oh, you just relax, now. You don’t want this to hurt."
"Wait... what are you..." Ex instinctually tried to pull away, but suddenly he felt incredibly tired, "Whhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaat aaaaaaaare yoooooo..." his voice echoed in his head.
Ex tried to swing around to the side of the bed, but the floor appeared a mile away. He looked at the nurse, who was now withdrawing the syringe. She walked toward the door as Ex tried to shout, "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy..." but he heard the almost whispered words draw out in slow motion. His head fell back on the pillow as he saw the nurse opening his room door.
"He’s all yours," she said to a figure now entering. "and I assume I’ll be getting my share in short order?"
"Oh," the shadowy figure replied, "You’re getting exactly what’s coming to you." Ex tried to focus but as his consciousness waned, all he could see was a hand-held object being pulled from the figure’s coat. He heard a short zap as the nurse fell to the ground. The figure slowly approached Ex's bed.
"And now..." Ex heard as he passed out, "it’s time we get you home."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
Ex's mind slowly began to return to reality. What was going on? Though he was still in a bed, this was most decidedly not Medicus Two, . He tried to sit up, but suddenly realized he was restrained. He tried to shout, but all that came out was a garbled bellow.
"Oh, for the love of..." the voice again called from a distance. "Hold on!" Ex listened to the sounds as he tried to gather context. He heard a low hum and several rhythmic beeps, though not the familiar sounds of the hospital. He again heard the voice, almost with a robotic timbre, speaking what sounded to be not conversation, but rather commands.
"Activate course lock. 212 Mark-7 by 782 Mark-5. Thruster engaged at 70 percent power. Switching to auto. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand… done. OK, you, I’m coming back!"
Ex heard the sound of someone standing up and then the procession of footsteps on metal. Clearly, he was in a cruiser of some sort. The footsteps got closer.
"For Pete’s sake," the robotic voice spoke as it approached, "you'd think you were being tortured back here." Ex’s eyes began to clear and the figure resolved itself. Approaching him was a man dressed in what appeared to be a military field uniform. His entire garb was black, from his leather boots, to his fatigues (complete with holster, Ex was quick to note), to his full head blast helmet, the shield of which covered his face in a reflective black polymer. Ah, that explained the voice. It was being filtered through the com system, giving it a mechanical sound. Ex began to come around more quickly.
"Whe... where am I," he said, his tongue still thick in his throat.
"Right now? You’re about..." the man looked down at a small computer screen strapped to the back of his wrist, "about 3.5 light years from Legion World... and counting. But I'm guessing that’s not really the most important question on your mind."
Ex tried again to sit up, forgetting the restraints, and immediately felt the downward pressure. He began to panic, feeling slightly claustrophobic, "Ahhhh... Let me out of this, you bastard and I'll show you what’s on my mind!"
"Oh, god... just relax. The straps are just for your protection. I didn't need you flailing around during take off. Hold on one sec… now, listen, I'm going to undo these... don't do anything stupid, OK?"
Ex looked into the blankness of his captor's blaster shield and gave a slight nod.
"OK, then," He reached across Ex's prone body and pressed a small button. Immediately, the straps loosened. Before the man could even fully step back, Ex swung around and lunged at him but, unfortunately, the effect of whatever he had been injected with had not fully worn off. He lost his balance and fell to the ship floor.
"Oh, man...," the man said shaking his head, “you said you weren’t going to be stupid. Do we really have to go through this... the whole 'mistaken identity fight' thing? I’m on your side, you putz. I always have been, or don’t you remember… 'Subject X-Null'?"
Subject X-Null!
Ex's mind swum. My god, he knows!
Feeling completely physically helpless at this point, Ex decided to make the best of the situation until his strength returned. Reconciling himself to his current situation, Ex sighed from his position on the floor and asked, "What… what do you want?"
"That’s better." The man reached across to the side of his helmet and undid the chin clasp. He pulled the blast shield slightly forward and, tipping it back, pulled off the helmet. Ex looked at the face before him in astonishment.
Looking down at him was a man who, with no doubt, was a complete doppelganger of Ex himself, but 20 years older. The man continued, now in his normal voice. "What do I want? Why... I just want to bring you home... little brother."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
"Didn’t expect to see me again, did you, little brother?"
The man laughed and extended a hand to Ex. Grabbed it, Ex pulled himself upright off the floor. "Stop calling me that. I thought you were all dead."
The man smiled, "Well… you know... 'dead' is sort of a relative term when you’re talking about Möbius. But, we’ll get to that. So... how long have you been out there?"
Ex rubbed the back of his neck. His bearings were beginning to come back to normal. "Out where?"
"You know... the world?"
"What are you talking about? You know damn well, I left 20 years ago." Ex sized up his companion. "So… what are you supposed to be, then? From the looks of you, you’d be… what… 'Series K'? 'Series L,' at the latest?"
"Yeah, I'm 'L'. Subject L-107, actually. I like to call myself, 'Elliot'," he laughed, "but that kind of vanity is sort of a family trait, eh, 'Exnihil'?"
"Would you stop with the 'family' stuff, already! I’m not your brother. You’re nothing but a remnant of a failed experiment... just like me. I don’t know how you got away, but I made my peace with that a long time ago, and I'm not going back without a fight."
"Whoa, settle down there, Ex. Do you honestly think that I’d bring you back against your will?"
"Ok, then, what are we doing then?"
"We’re going back."
Ex stared at his companion blankly. Why were they all like this? "Look... 'Elliot', is it?... I don’t know what your game is... honestly, I don’t care. As soon as they see I’m missing from Medicus, there is going to be a whole cadre of LMB heroes who are going to be tracking me down. Do you really think that Möbius – a bunch of scientists, for god’s sake - are going to be able to stop that. What are you smoking?"
Elliot laughed. "Smoking! Now that is a capital idea. Another family trait, eh?" He walked back to the front of the cabin and grabbed a pack of Carggite tri-gars. He pulled one from the pack and lit it up, offering one to Ex. He begrudgingly took one. El extended a filo-match to Ex and lit him up. As he took a drag, he looked down at his smaller doppelganger and began.
"OK, Ex, here’s the deal: I am not bringing you back against your will... but I am bringing you back. Yes, the LMB might come looking for you… but they are not going to find you. How do I know this? Because it’s already happened."
Ex blinked.
El continued, "Listen, you escaped... what?... 20 years ago? Well, not from my vantage point. To me, you just ran away about a year ago. Dr. Hall was furious, but Dr. Jordan took a more practical approach. He told Hall to just wait it out, and two days later you came back... with me. So far, so good... except for the fact that I hadn’t left yet. You can’t very well have two L-107's running around in the matrix... so they had to send me out after the fact. It took a while to get me trained on piloting a cruiser but, after about nine months I was proficient, so... I left and, about three months later, I found you, and brought you with me. We’ll get home about a year ago - minus those two days, of course - and about nine months from then I’ll leave."
Ex blinked again.
"You’re completely mad."
El sighed. He looked at his watch. "Oh! Ex... wait... you have got to see this. Quick... in about ten seconds... I can’t believe I almost missed it... No, of course... I didn’t miss it... come here..." El pulled Ex over to the cabin window and directed him to look out at about 30 degrees to the left. "Watch this!"
Ex peered out at what, at first looked to be just a dot. Almost immediately it got larger, as it took on the appearance of another cruiser. No... that wasn’t it... it was... no!
El looked out the window smiling as, coming from the opposite direction, the self same cruiser as the one they were in sped by. El waved.
"I didn’t see me at the time, of course, but I’ll catch it when I review the tapes in a few hours. Space/Time curvature, eh? Fascinating stuff. So you see... you already went back and by the time you get there you will have already left... the first time, I mean."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
"Ex…," El looked at his younger doppelganger, now sitting beside him at the bridge, with a familial affection, "why did you leave Möbius?"
"What? Are you insane? Why wouldn’t I have left? What did I have to look forward to?"
"But they were only looking out for our best interest."
"Whatever... they were looking out for their own best interests. Dr. Jordan was the only one whoever treated us with anything resembling humanity. The rest of them – Dell, Halop, Punsley, and especially that bastard Hall - they treated us like we were freaks. And why not? That’s what we were. It was the happiest day of my life when I heard that he died."
El smiled, "He didn’t die, yet."
"Whatever, man. This 'Time' nonsense has given me enough trouble as it is. Ever since that business with Phineas B. Fuddle, my mind has been so scattered I can’t even keep my consciousness stable for more than a few days without it slipping back and forth through time. Yeah, it’s come in handy for doing business... very handy, I’d say," Ex smiled to himself, then shook it off, "but I’d sacrifice the whole thing to just have a week where I could stay in the present."
"Phineas B. Who?"
"Fuddl... oh, forget it! It’s just LMB stuff." Ex thought about the LMB... Cobalt, Lardy, Rocky... they had all tried so hard to help him and he just repaid them with nothing but opportunistic greed. But faced now with his past rushing headlong at him, Ex thought that perhaps he should have been more of a friend.
"Ex," El said, interrupting his reverie, "I don’t know how to tell you this... but that 'mental time travel' you’re talking about doesn’t have anything to do with this Fuddle character. It’s part of who you are... part of who we all are.”
"What are you talking about?"
"That’s just a part of the Möbius engine. It happens to all of us. I keep forgetting that you’re younger. You never had a chance to have the full explanation. They would have explained it all… in time. But you ran away."
Ex looked at his older doppelganger with interest. "Are you saying that they did this to me?"
"They didn’t do anything to you. You... we... were a willing participant in the Project. It all would have been explained if you had stayed. You younger series have no patience. It started with the 'S' series, but you "X's" are really the worst. They actually deactivated the whole batch after you left."
"Deactivated? You mean, 'killed'."
"Stop being so dramatic. There is no death."
"That’s the same line of crap they feed all of you. Why don’t you just wake up, El! We don't have go to back. You can pilot this thing? Fine! Change course. Head to... anywhere... I don’t care. But have a life. You’re more than just a cross-section of some volunteer, you’re... 'you'."
"Yep... and, so are you. And why don’t I change course? Because I didn't. By the way... we’re here."
Ex looked out the window of the cruiser. At first he saw nothing but the blackness of space, but... ever so slightly he began to see the motion. The space before him moved in a circular fashion, at first clockwise, then through some bizarre trompe l'oeil, appeared to loop back on itself and continue counterclockwise in the same space.
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
Ex leapt from his seat on the bridge and, in a movement he had been playing out in his head for the past two hours, reached out to El's holster, undid the snap, and pulled out the gun. As Ex staggered back, pointing the gun directly at El, he was almost as astounded by the fact that El didn’t look at all threatened, as by the fact that the move had actually worked. El just smiled at him.
"What are you smiling about, you freak?" Ex shouted. "I am not going back. If that means I have to use this, than so be it. You think 'there is no death'? Fine... let's put that to the test."
El just stood up and reached out his hand, "Can I have that back please? You are not going to kill me."
"And why is that? Let me guess... because I didn’t. That predestination stuff isn’t going to wash, El. I literally am prepared to do this."
El sat back down at the controls. "Do what ever you like, Ex. It won’t work."
"I saw you gun down that nurse at Medicus Two with this thing!"
"It’s a stun gun, Ex. I had to get you out of that hospital. The corruptibility of humans seemed like the best way. I told that nurse I was bounty hunter and I’d cut her in if she helped. After she did, I didn’t need her interfering, so I stunned her into unconsciousness."
"Fine, so a stun gun... it’ll still take you down."
"It only had the one charge."
"What?" Ex was rightfully incredulous. "Why on earth would I believe that? Who takes a stun gun with one charge?"
"Someone who has already informed himself of the way events played out a year prior."
Ex’s heart sank. He had been waiting until the last moment to stage his coup in the hopes that he would at least be in com distance of another civilization... but this entire plan was for naught. Ex sat down dejectedly.
"Fine, so you got me back," Ex looked at the sickening shape of Möbius drawing ever closer, "but you said that I'd go in of my own free will. Clearly that ain't happening! How do you explain that, Elliot? The infallible prediction of the great Project Möbius seems to be in error. How can you explain…"
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
Ex looked at El with an almost empty expression, still in a state of disbelief. When he finally spoke, it was as much with regret as with hope. In a near whisper, he asked, "Amelita?"
El nodded.
For 20 long years, Ex had looked back on his departure from Möbius without a single regret, save one: the loss of the only woman for whom he had ever had any affection. An assistant to the doctors of Möbius, Amelita Ward had been initially tasked with the psychological evaluation of the subjects. A weighty task, to be certain, given the sheer number of subjects that were created but, over time, her duties had been narrowed to deal with only those who had demonstrated the aptitude for longer-term continuance. Ex had been one of those few.
He still remembered that afternoon she had left as though it were yesterday.
************
Ex had come to her lab slightly early for his weekly session, but stopped outside the door as he heard shouting. It was the distinct voice of Dr. Hall.
"I don't care, Amelita! He volunteered for this and you both knew the commitment!"
"He didn't know it would be this long!"
"It will be as long as it takes. If we abandon it now, that is years of work down the drain! He wouldn't have wanted that, and I'm damn certain not going to let your misplaced sense of devotion do anything to jeopardize this..."
"Misplaced devotion?!?! You're a MONSTER!"
Ex heard Dr. Hall heading for the door, so he quickly ducked down behind a piece of equipment in the corridor. Luckily his small size made him unnoticeable as Hall strode by angrily. Waiting to make certain he no longer could hear the footsteps, he tentatively peeked into Ms. Ward's lab.
She was standing at the window, facing away, but Ex could see from the motion of her shoulders that she was crying. Trying to step backward, Ex accidentally hit a chair, which squeaked on the floor.
"Oh," she spun around, quickly rubbing her eyes. She was very obviously startled, "Oh, it's you, X-Null. I didn't expect you so soon."
"I'm sorry," Ex said, "There was an holo-drive crash in Dr. Jordan's lab, so I was released early. Shall I come back...?"
"No, no, " she said, sniffing. She straightened her coat and regained her composure, "We've got work to do."
"Have you been crying, Ms. Ward?"
She had looked at him for a moment, pausing as though she was going to say something, But then immediately burst back into tears. "I can't... I just can't do this anymore! Fifteen years already! Fifteen years like this! I'm almost an old woman... why would you ever do this?"
Ex was confused. Was she talking to him? "I... uh... Ms Ward?"
"I... I'm sorry, X... ", she said quickly, gathering her things, "I can't... I have to go..." she rushed passed him and just for a moment, Ex had the oddest sense of déjà vu.
Five days later, Ex had heard that Ms. Ward had been released from Möbius and that the psychological evaluations for subjects were no longer required. From that point on, Ex grew more and more withdrawn from the others, and before long had made up his mind that he, too, would escape this place forever.
************
Ex's memories faded, as he looked back again at El. He was still doubtful. "Why now? After all this time? Even discounting all the time I've been gone, she left almost five years before that. Why would she come back after all that time?"
El grinned, "All that time? Who said she ever left?"
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
"Hold that thought, though, Ex...," El said, just as Ex was about to demand more about information about Amelita, "We're about to cross into the threshold."
"What's the thresho...?" Ex started to ask, but before the words could escape, the shuttle suddenly lurched forward with a nauseating pitch.
"Hold on, Ex, this is going to get a bit rough."
A bit rough was, unfortunately, a very mild way for El to put it. As Ex reached out to secure the seat's restraining strap, he was alarmed to see the buckle retreating away from his hand. As he watched, it continued its backward movement at an ever-increasing rate, now appearing as though it were at least a hundred meters away. Even more disturbingly, his arm seemed to be trying to stretch the entire expanse to reach out for it.
In a panic, Ex spun around to shout to El, but the very motion of turning his head seemed only to hasten his own bodily distortion. As he turned, he felt his neck elongating on one side while it contracted to what felt like near microscopic size on the other. His face began to tilt at an impossible angle as Ex tried to scream, but only felt the air filling his throat like a balloon.
"Caaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllmmmmm dooooooooooooowwwwwnnnnnn, Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeex, iiiiiiiiiiiiiit's aaaaaaaaaalllllmoooooossssssst ooooooveeeeeerrrr!!!" El's words arrived across the increasing expanse in stomach-turning waves, like flotsam tossed in a tsunami. Even as the sounds began to register in Ex's ears, they concurrently started to retreat just as quickly.
The verbal bubble rising in Ex's throat finally gave way and popped, but the words that escaped seemed to run in reverse, "?!?Gniyas uoy era tahw?!?"
"!!!revo tsomla s'ti, Xe, nwod mlaC!!!" Ex felt El's words rushing out of his ears, trying to return to their point of origin. ".Hguor tib a teg ot gniog si siht, Xe, no dloh."
Ex grasped for anything in his reach that would still this torrent but, even before his hand could reach the strap, he felt the storm retreating into calm. His words began to issue forth again, even though he had long since stopped trying to speak them, "???...ohsereht eht s'tah...w...hat's the thresho...???"
"That was the threshold," El replied, once again calmly taking the controls of the shuttle.
"That was insanity!!!" Ex shouted. "What the hell? I never went through that when I left the first time!"
"Of course not... there's no problem leaving an area of time potentiality to one of actuality. That's what everyone does, every moment of their life. It's the other way that's the kicker. Call it a 'security system'. One that we... hold on..." El looked at his monitor, "...yep... one that we have successfully bypassed. Let me just check the coordinates... and... good... looks like we came in at the right angle. Welcome back, little brother! We have arrived back home in the Möbius engine. About a year ago for me, and about 20 years ago for you. There's the satellite, now," he pointed to a small moon-like structure in the distance. "We should reach it in no more than about twenty minutes."
"Wonderful. So what now?"
El looked at his watch. "Now... they start attacking us."
"What do you mean atta...?"
Ex never finished his question, however, as a sudden blast from the satellite tore a hole through the hull of the shuttle.
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
Jordan laughed as he tossed the bar coaster at his friend, plugging him squarely between the eyes. A raucous laugh went up among the group gathered around the table.
Gorcey laughed right along with the group, but held fast, "I'm telling you, it's true!"
"So when are they making the 'big announcement', then?" Dell asked, throwing back another SilverAle.
Gorcey grinned like the cat that ate the canary. "Tomorrow."
"Wait... you're serious?" Halop asked, the laughter beginning to die down. "They are giving you the Goldwyn Grant?"
"Serious as a heart attack, buddy. I got called in today. They liked what they've seen so far in my theoretical studies, and... god knows why with this crew... but they want the work to continue on a practical level." He paused for effect. "They actually want to build the thing."
"Whoa... whoa... whoa... hold up here," Punsley interrupted, "I know I might have drunk a little too much of 'Rimbor's Finest' here, but I could have sworn you just said, 'with this crew'."
Gorcey smiled. "That's right, boys. As part of the deal, I get to put together my own team. Well... I don't know about you guys, but I can't imagine a better team then the one we've already got. We've been working together for five years already. Let's be honest... any one of us could have taken the prize, it just worked out that 'Potentiality Partitioning' happens to be in vogue this year in the Temporal Studies world. I got lucky. But not half as lucky as I did when I met you five."
Jordan got serious, "Wow. I can't believe it. They really want to do it. I would have thought that at a bare minimum, that zoning would have made it impossible. The peripheral borders alone would have to be..."
"Huge?" Gorcey interrupted. "Yeah... that's the thing. The space they're prepared to allocate is being donated by an anonymous donor... in sector 73-19."
"Ooooh," Dell recoiled, only half-jokingly, "That is out there, man. That is definitely not a nine-to five gig. How long would they expect you to stay out there?"
"They're looking for a minimum commitment of five years... post-construction, of course. That gives me enough time to get my things in order before taking the 'big lonely'."
Punsley spoke up next, "How do they expect you to stay sane up there?"
"Oh... if it goes through, the Institute is assigning someone from the Psychology Group... you know, in a 'monitor' capacity, to keep me from going space-happy... probably some greybeard who will talk to me once a week about 'ze relationzhip wiz yor muzzer'."
"Well... I don't know about the rest of you," Halop spoke up, "but the engine is everything we've been dreaming about for five years now. This might be the SilverAle talking, and I reserve the right to deny all of this tomorrow but... Gorcey," putting his hand on his shoulder, "If you are serious about wanting me in on this... five years is nothing... I'm in."
"Well, you had me at 'Goldwyn Grant', so you know I'm in," Jordan laughed.
"I think I'd go nuts if I knew you were doing this without me, buddy," Dell said.
"I think I am nuts, but, of course I'm in," Punsley said, "and who knows... maybe we'll actually get a female Psychology aide."
"Ohhhhh!" they all laughed and flung their own coasters at Punsley.
Throughout the whole conversation, however, the sixth member of the group, Hall hadn't said a word. Gorcey had known how much the grant had meant to him but, like he said, it had just been luck of the draw which of them would get it. It was only now that it dawned on Gorcey how silent Hall had been throughout. As the laughter died down, however, it suddenly dawned on them all.
Playing the fool, Gorcey put on his best little kid voice and, grinning like an idiot, said to Hall, "Oh, please, mommy... please can I play with the big Time Travel machine?"
Hall slowly grinned back, and jokingly said to the only man he had ever truly considered a friend, "You are an absolute imbecile, Gorcey... when do we leave?"
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
Dr. Gorcey was apoplectic. It was all he could do to not simply pick up the femtoscope and throw it across the room. Five years into the project and they still were still only making baby steps.
"Would you please keep it down?" Dr. Hall called across the lab, where he was examining a Terran rat, "I'm trying to work here!"
"You think I'm not doing the same thing?"
"Listen, I know you're frustrated, but we're almost there."
"Almost there?" Gorcey left his set up and crossed the room to Hall's desk. "We've been almost there for the last five years. We were almost there on day one, for god's sake, as soon as we fired up the damn engine."
"Calm down, Gorcey, every member of this team is just as dedicated to this as you. All of them have signed up for another tour, and the replacement psychologist should be arriving today. The Institute is obviously pleased with our progress or they wouldn't have extended our funding for another five years."
"The Institute wouldn't know progress if it bit them. All they are looking for is something they can patent."
"And we've been providing that in spades, so what's the problem?"
"Trust me, Hall, we've got nothing but problems. We've been working on this for five years, but honestly, what have we learned here that we didn't already know before the first beam of inertron was ever laid in this place? The Möbius engine was a thing of beauty from the very first moment we put it down on paper. Imagine... a machine that could literally warp a subject's personal timeline such that all potential moments of his life could be physically partitioned off of one another. An entire lifetime worth of captured moments to be laid out sequentially for scrutiny!"
"Yes... I'm well aware of what it is we built."
"Are you? Because if you were, I don't think you'd be talking 'progress' while playing with a damn rat! We need to go further, Hall... and we need to do it now. We've gotten a reprieve... another five years. We've got to take the whole thing back to square one and do it our way, this time."
"The Ethics board is not going to let you turn Möbius on a human subject, so stop belaboring it. And they are certainly never even going to consider it unless we can demonstrate successful reintegration of our subjects."
"The only reason that hasn't happened... the only reason... is that they keep removing the partitions from the satellite. You know as well as I do that once we partition a subject, the individual generations lose all relational integrity.'
"Well... not all..."
"OK, fine... yes... we've proven that there is still the mental link. Their minds 'bleed' together under stress, traveling forward or backward across the subject's original timeline. But on a strictly physical level, these," Gorcey picked up the rat for emphasis, "subjects exhibit no sequential cellular activity. How could they? They don't have a next logical step to take. That step is somewhere in a different lab halfway across the satellite. Once you damage one of them, that's it for reintegration. You want to put the egg back together again, you better make sure you don't shatter the pieces. As long as they keep taking them off the satellite, we have no chance of keeping them pristine."
"So what do you want to do... hide one of the Series from the Institute? Are you insane? They own all of this, Gorcey. It might have been your idea, but it's their credits."
"They don't own it all, old buddy... not all of it."
Before Hall could respond, however, the two were disturbed as Dr. Jordan came through the lab door. "Gentleman."
"Hiya, Jordan," Gorcey sighed, as much in exasperation from the conversation with Hall, as from the relief of seeing the only one of their group who always kept a bright outlook, "what's the good word?"
"The good word," Jordan said, holding the door for another person coming in behind him, "is that we have a new member of the team. Freshly arrived from Earth, allow me to introduce our new Psychologist, Ms. Ward."
"Oh, please," Ms. Ward said, coming into the lab, as Dr. Gorcey's jaw just about dropped, and Dr. Hall's clenched, "I'll be here for the next five years... just call me Amelita."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
"Well, excuse me, Hall!" Dell shouted down, trying to turn the electron-ratchet. "I'm doing the best I can up here. I'm sorry that chrono-kymatology didn't prepare me to be a mechanic! Why the hell can't the service-droids do this?" Dell leapt down off the ladder.
Hall buried his hands into his lab-coat. "You know very well that all service droid activity is recorded and monitored by the Institute. The modifications we're making to the engine need to be kept off line for a while."
"And that's another thing," Dell grabbed a rag from the floor and began wiping the grease from his hands, "what's the big deal about this, anyway? We're expanding the range of the engine, so what? It's not the first time we've increased the power levels. Do you really think the Institute is going to care if we expand the range another meter or so. I think they've got better things to worry about the fact that we're partitioning a Xanthuan Parakat as opposed to a Venusian Hopper."
"It's a bit more involved than that."
"What then?"
"Excuse me, Dell, but the last time I checked, it was Gorcey who made the final decisions up here."
"Oh, yeah? Fine... then maybe Gorcey can pull himself out his extended sessions with Ward long enough to adjust the engine," he tossed his electron-ratchet to the floor. "I don't even know what the hell is going on here, anymore. You and Gorcey might think that you're running a fiefdom up here, but I've had about enough... and I'm not the only one."
"Who... Punsley?"
"...and Halop. We're done. It's no secret that the Institute is pulling the plug. We've got two more years up here and that's it. The two of you can waste your lives trying to prove out a decade old theory, but the rest of the Temporal Studies world is moving on. Potentiality Partitioning? Seriously, Hall? This isn't 2961 anymore. The rest of the community thinks we're a joke. It was a good idea... that failed."
"It hasn't failed."
"Really? Then where are the practical applications? Where is the great promise of time travel? You and Gorcey waste your time splitting apart animals into chronal segments... for what? It's one thing to draw the past into the present, but that's not good enough anymore. People want to go to the past, and there is nothing at all in the Möbius engine that going to make that a reality."
Hall pursed his lips. He was seething, but he replied calmly, "Well... I guess there is nothing more to say."
"Yeah...I guess not." Indignantly, Dell turned to leave.
As he headed for the door, Hall pulled his hand from his coat pocket and, pausing just a moment to take aim, fired the stun gun directly into the back of Dell's head. He then casually walked over to the com system and pressed the call button. "Gorcey... it's done."
"Dell?" Gorcey's voice crackled back across the com.
"Yes... and the others?"
"Jordan already has Halop and Punsley prepped in the chamber."
"And the woman... when does the shuttle leave?"
Nothing but silence.
Hall pressed the button again to make sure. No, the channel was still open. "Gorcey? When does Ward's shuttle leave?"
Another pause, then Gorcey replied, "She... um... she's not leaving."
Hall was furious, "What? Gorcey! This is not what we discussed. Once we fire up the engine, the threshold is going to blanket the entire sector. There's no getting back out. This is it... she leaves now, or she's in it for the duration!"
"I know... I know... she's in. Bring Dell down to the chamber... Gorcey out." The com went dead.
Hall clenched his jaw. He looked up at the Möbius engine and, placing his hand upon the housing, quietly said, "Time am I... world destroying... grown mature... engaged here in subduing the world."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
Amelita twisted her arm, freeing herself from Gorcey's grasp. Sobbing, she demanded, "Is this what we've come to? You have to force me to stay?"
Gorcey's anger almost immediately dispelled, the sight of Amelita's pain breaking his heart, "I'm so sorry, sweetheart... I didn't mean to grab you like that. You just get me so upset. We've already been through this. You know you're not a prisoner here... but it's just too risky to let you outside the threshold until we have it fully mapped."
"Fully mapped? If you had infinity and a day you couldn't get it fully mapped. I stayed because you asked me. Because I love you, and that's what people who love each other do. Sacrifice. But it's been two years since you created that thing... two years! No matter how many probes you send out you're not going to get a fraction of it mapped!"
"I... I know... Hall and I have discussed it, and our current methodology isn't enough."
"Do not mention his name. It's him that gotten you this way."
"Hall believes in me."
"I believe in you!!!" Amelita sat back down on the bed and sighed, "Why... why did it have to be this way? If you had just appealed to them two years ago... if you had told the Institute the true capability of the engine, they would have supported you."
"No... no, they wouldn't have. They were going to shut us down." Gorcey was adamant.
"But you created something amazing! The very thing that they had been looking for all along, the very reason they sent you here... time travel! I don't begin to understand what that engine is capable of... but I do know that every time I look out the window I can feel the power. You... all of you... have changed the very space around us. That's why you're so worried... you know that if I leave, I can't come back... or if I do it might be years before I ever left."
"That's why we've got to get the damned thing mapped, Amelita! The threshold that surrounds us has the capability to send a person anywhere in time, as long as you know where to cross it. And we don't know that yet! Once we find the right avenue, we can take the whole thing back to two years ago, before we ever closed it off."
Amelita stared at him, dumbfounded. "What did you just say?"
Gorcey swallowed. "That was the plan all along. Right now... that is to say, right now to them...," he pointed out the window, "I have to imagine we're all wanted criminals. The technology that we created is... well... there is no way to sidestep this... potentially the greatest weapon ever. This is far bigger than some equipment theft, Amelita, the engine has the potential to... well... I'm sure I don't have to spell it out. The only reason they haven't descended on us in droves is that the threshold stops them. Unless they cross it at exactly the right angle, they have no way of reaching us. Once we find the right avenue, we can take the whole satellite back to 2969 and go public before we closed it off."
Amelita's mind was swimming, "But... but... what about the two years that already happened?"
"They will still happen, but inside the threshold, hidden from the rest of the world. We know that they didn't find, it because they haven't found it."
"But what about us... won't we be older?"
"Yes, for us, the time we spent mapping it would still have happened, but it won't be that noticeable... it's really only a couple years."
She took a deep breath, "A couple of years. Assume... just assume for the moment... that my love for you is strong enough that I don't want to absolutely murder you for proposing that I wouldn't have any problem with being two years older than I'm supposed to be. Just how do you propose that you keep it at only two years, considering that you don't even have the threshold fully mapped."
Gorcey smiled, "What is the other function of the Möbius engine? The original function?"
Amelita squinted at him, "What... the potentiality partitioning? You split apart things into their chronal components... but how does that..." she suddenly looked at him in horror, "No... you not going to use it on a..."
"We already did."
She stood up in disbelief taking a step backward. This could not be happening. "Who?"
"Jordan was the first. He was... is... a good man. He believed in the project, but he knew the Institute would never approve it, so he volunteered, even before we enabled the threshold."
She stared at Gorcey, her eyes growing larger as he continued.
"The others... Dell... Halop... Punsley... they weren't so trusting. So Hall and I had to... convince them."
"My God! What are you saying? They were your colleagues! Your frien..."
Gorcey slammed his fist on the wall, "They were NOT my friends! They had given up. They were going to leave."
"So you forced them not to?"
"At first. But after the partitioning, Hall and I simply 'deactivated' any iterations from the point after they had lost faith. We were left with a near infinite supply of their chronal segments that were more than willing to map the threshold to help further the project."
"Slaves!"
"Stop being so dramatic, Amelita. You said yourself that we've created something amazing. It was a necessary sacrifice."
"A sacrifice that you made for them!"
"A sacrifice that anyone who believes would be willing to make." The room was silent for a moment, as she absorbed the enormity of what he had told her. Her voice quavered as she finally spoke.
"Wh... what... do you mean... anyone?"
Gorcey swallowed. "I said we had a near infinite supply. But all four of their series had to be culled to a certain point to ensure allegiance. We couldn't risk rebellion with any later partitions. The only way to finally get the threshold mapped... to cover an infinite amount of space... is to have an infinite number of people to man the probes."
She stared at him, blankly... drained. He continued.
"The only way to have an infinite number of people... the only way to have a complete partitioning without having to cull them... is to ensure that the subject believes completely. There is only one answer."
Amelita felt sick. Utterly betrayed and utterly stupid. For almost five years she had been blind to the machinations of a madman. And through it all she had loved him... and now she was going to lose him. "I... I'm sorry. I can't... I..." With all the passion of an automaton, she walked to the door and left, fully aware that she had nowhere to go.
Gorcey let her pass without saying a word. As she passed him, just for a moment, Gorcey felt the oddest sense of déjà vu. Before he could dwell upon it, though, his comlink buzzed. He tapped it to open the channel. "Yeah?"
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
Amelita looked up from her notes. Which one was this? She looked at the child waiting in the door and tried to place it. "V" series? It had the innocent look in its eyes but, perhaps, the size seemed too small. All at once she became aware that it was starting to feel awkward as she scrutinized it. "Oh, I'm sorry," she quickly recovered, "please come in."
The child smiled and advanced into her office. "Um... do I just sit here?" it asked, pointing to the sofa.
"If you like."
It hopped onto the couch and, making itself comfortable, smiled at her. You would think that she would have gotten used to it by this point... five years of seeing them ushered in, each one a bit more uncomfortable, a bit more unsure of itself... but no, each time it was as though a bit of her died. She looked at the child and, forcing a smile back at it, spoke, "So... what would you like to talk about today?"
"I... um... I don't know..." it said, scratching its arm. "I knew I was going to have to start coming here, but the others didn't really tell me what I supposed to do."
"Well," Amelita said, shifting into her comforting mode, "you can talk about whatever you like. This is your time... to get away from the others and to just talk about how you feel. Is there anything that is bothering you?"
"Bothering me? What does that mean?"
"It means... well, when something happens that you don't like. Something that doesn't make you happy."
"But... I live on the satellite with the doctors and my brothers. Why would I not be happy?"
Amelita felt that familiar lump rising in her throat. Hall had conditioned these younger ones well. They had never known anything other than the wholly unnatural environment of the satellite, so they just accepted unquestioningly that this was the normal state of affairs. She probed gently. "Do you like the doctors?"
"Oh, yes. They look out for my best interest."
She involuntarily twitched at this statement. It was the same line that she had heard from the very beginning, since the first member of the "A" series had come into her office, not recognizing her, but looking exactly like... she pushed the thought out of her head and refocused. "Do you like all of them the same?"
"Well..." it paused, thinking, "I guess I like Dr. Jordan the best. He believes in me."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Dr. Halop and Dr. Dell and Dr. Punsley can be kind of weird, sometimes. Not always, but sometimes they act like they are..." he searched for the word, "confused? Like, they do their science stuff and all but sometimes they get stuck... like they are missing something."
Amelita pursed her lips and nodded. The earlier subjects she had spoken to never mentioned that. They were more focused on the tasks that Hall handed out - on the training for their eventual exit into the threshold - but these younger ones, who likely would never be tapped for external duty - seemed more perceptive, almost as though they were able to think more clearly. They could, without even being told what had happened to the Möbius doctors, almost feel who had been culled. It was an avenue she had been pushing a bit harder with the last few series, but she had to be careful... she knew that Hall would hear if anything got too deep. She continued.
"Missing something? What would they be missing?"
"Well," the child shifted, clearly getting more comfortable with Amelita's nature, "it's like with me and my brothers. All of us are different, right? Older and stuff, but then, all of us are the same, too. When we sleep, our dreams come together, so like... I know what G-47 feels or M-13 or P-Null, but some of the doctors, like I said, not Dr. Jordan, but the others. Sometimes I think they don't feel what they are supposed to," the child knotted up its brow, thinking hard, "I don't know."
"No, no, that's fine. You have a very good way of thinking about things." Amelita shifted and self-consciously cleared her throat. She proceeded cautiously. "And... um... Dr. Hall? How do you get along with him?"
With an almost palpable shift in mood, the child responded almost robotically. "Dr. Hall looks out for my best interest."
"Yes... you said that earlier, but how do you feel about him."
"I don't know. I guess sometimes he doesn't make me happy. I wish he would let my older brothers stay here longer. They leave, but when they come back, Dr. Hall just takes them away and doesn't let them see us anymore. I know the work is important, but sometimes I miss my older brothers."
"That's perfectly normal. Everyone misses people they don't see for a long time."
"Do you miss people, Ms. Ward?" the child asked innocently.
Amelita tensed, but kept her composure. "Well... yes... sometimes. But I know that sooner or later we will see all the people we miss again."
"We will?"
Hold it together, Amelita thought. This was going in a bad direction, "Yes. Your brothers are doing important work, but... when it's done, you will all come back together again." That was a safe answer... the same direction that Hall had provided to the earlier series. He wouldn't approve of this line of discussion, but he couldn't reasonably say that she was doing anything against him.
"Oh, that's good," the child smiled. "I don't like missing things."
At that point the buzzer sounded on Amelita's com. She tapped it to open the channel, "I'm sorry, I'm in a session right now."
Dr. Jordan's voice came across the com, "I'm sorry, but the session will have to wait. Dr. Hall wants to begin the deactivation of the 'B' series and we need all the younger ones to man the coolant controls. Send Subject X-Null down to maintenance."
"Right away, Doctor." She looked at the child on the couch sadly. Someday. She had to bide her time and do her best and someday he would be back. She put on her brave face and spoke, "Well you heard the doctor... um... X-Null... time for work."
"OK," it replied, hopping down from the couch, "thank you for talking with me, Ms. Ward. I hope I get long-term continuance. You are really nice."
She watched the child exit, and quietly said to herself, "I hope so, too, X."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
"Nice... very nice... what is that you're building there, little fellow?"
Huntz looked up from the design he was making in the sand at the man standing over him. At only five years old, he was quite a shy child. He didn't want to reply at all, but he begrudgingly mumbled a, "Nuthin'," half under his breath.
The strange man sqautted down next to the sandbox and tilted his hat backward. "Nothing, eh? If I didn't know any better I'd say that's a time machine you're drawing there."
Huntz's mouth dropped.
"Yeah..." the man continued, reaching down into the sand to the figure-eight shape Huntz had been tracing, "...I'd know that shape anywhere, but you're missing a little bit of a..." he pinched the sand together at one of the bends of the shape, "...twist, right there. There you go... should run like a dream now." The man smiled at the boy.
"How do you know what I'm playing?"
"Well..." the man sat down on a bench next to the box "... I used to play the same thing, myself, when I was a little boy." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pack of Carggite tri-gars, placing one in his mouth, and lighting it up. He looked down at the boy, taking on a more serious tone, "It's not just a game though, Huntz. If you believe in it. I mean if you really believe in it, you can make it real."
Huntz was startled at the sound of the man speaking his name. He quickly looked around the playground. There was his mother on the other side of the fence talking with the other ladies. He wasn't in any danger. He leaned closer to where the man was sitting and demanded, "How do you know my name?"
"Oh... I know quite a bit about quite a bit." He grinned. "Or, at least, I used to. These days I try not to be so clever. Clever people often make other people nervous. But... you know that all too well, don't you, Huntz?"
Huntz looked down. It was true. He was much smarter than all the other kids and they often teased him about it.
"Well," the man continued, "It doesn't matter. They'll see in the end... won't they? Oh, don't look so surprised, Huntz. I know what you're thinking. I know you can't tell the grown-ups the way you feel... they wouldn't understand. They would think you're crazy, right?"
Suddenly, Huntz got very afraid. This man wasn't saying anything that wasn't true, but he was saying things that he shouldn't. He stood up and said, "OK, mister, thanks for the help... I have to g..." but before he could get the words out the man interrupted.
"Listen, boy, you think you have all the time in world... but you don't. It runs out and then you're... what?"
"Umm..." he replied very nervous, "...dead?"
"That's right. I have something to tell you, Huntz, and it's very, very important that you remember this. Someday, not very long from now, there will be another boy who will have the same kind of ideas as you. You'll like him at first, but over time, you might get jealous because he gets more attention."
"Please, mister... I don't know what you're talking about..."
"You will. It might not make any sense now, but you'll know him when you meet him. It is very important that you look out for him. No matter how weird the things are that he wants to do... no matter how much it might seem that he's hurting people or even hurting himself, it's very important that you protect him. If you do this... if you look out for his best interests, even it seems like it takes forever, then, Huntz... you'll never die."
"Huntz!!! What are you doing? Get over here, right now!" Huntz was suddenly shocked out of the near trance he had been in by his mother's shout. He quickly got up and, not saying another word to the man who was already walking away, ran over to his mother. "What did I tell you about talking to strangers?!" she yelled grabbing him by his wrist, "Sometimes, I think you don't have the brains the good lord gave you, Huntz Hall."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
"Open journal... 12 mark 11 mark 2966... playback..."
Dr. Huntz Hall sat in his private chambers. He took another sip from his scotch as his own voice issued forth from the audio system, playing the words he had spoken 20 years prior.
"It is a trial at times, lending him the support he needs. I have to believe there is a greater plan... that I am not simply deluding myself. That the half-remembered encounter of my childho..." There was an audible click, as a portion of the recording that had been erased was skipped before resuming. "He has become calmer, it is true, since the arrival of Ward... at least that much has been borne out. I had to cash in a great number of favors to get the Institute to approve the assignment of a female but, knowing him as I do, I knew the feminine influence would be well served. I wonder whether she has any idea the enormity of what lies in..."
"Journal stop..." he spoke, "...forward 15 mark 03 mark 2969. Resume playback..."
"It has worked. After eight years of doubt and wavering, that beautiful genius has done it! Forgive me, Gorcey, for having doubted your capabilities but, dammit, man, you were right all along! As long as the subjects are kept in isolation, reintegration is not simply a fantasy. I cannot imagine the strength of will that Jordan must possess... willing to lay his life on the line simply on faith. He is still in medical for observation, but all signs point to a complete recovery. There is no observable trauma whatsoever. My cynicism blames the Institute for not approving the step years ago. How much time have we lost? But, in the end, I can't help but feel that this wouldn't have even been possible had it not been for the calming influence of Ward. That woman is truly the best thing that ever happened to him. I can only speculate what goes on in Gorcey's maelstrom of a mind, but it seems like the storm has been cal..."
"Journal stop..." he spoke, "...forward 27 mark 07 mark 2969. Resume playback..."
"God, forgive me for what I've done. There is no turning back now. The threshold has been engaged and we are, for all imaginable purposes, on our own. Why... why did I agree? To see the deadened eyes of Dell and the others, I fear, no... I know... he has gone too far. Am I to be Ishmael, caught in the swell of a mad Ahab? But then, I look out the window and see the whale, itself. Is he right? Is that swirling, almost sickening shape that surrounds us the key? And the woman... god, poor Amelita. I tried to save her from this. She could have left before the wall went up... but now? Even I don't begin to know what lies beyond. Is that the price of love? Of loyalty? Of faith? And is mine that strong? God, I..."
"Journal stop..." he spoke. Hall looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes looked so tired. Forty-five years old and twenty five of them spent on this satellite. Over half his life spent in pursuit of the promise of immortality. If the irony were not so distasteful, he'd die laughing. He took another drink and spoke again. "...forward 03 mark 07 mark 2971. Resume playback..."
"Two prisoners. That's all we are now. As Jordan continues his work in almost cultish devotion, and the others walk around in their perpetual obedient daze like three revenants... I have to face the reality now that Amelita and I are in this for as long as it takes. Call it love... no... don't call it that at all. More like insanity but, now that he has gone, we are as two high stakes gamblers who have to stay pot-committed. To turn back is unfathomable... the only way out is forward, holding on to nothing but the ever-narrowing faith that he was right.
But now... he's gone. In his place we are left with the hollow echoes of the moments of his life, a never ending series of ever-younger partitions, all of which for whom I bear the responsibility. Well, I... and she. We are two tortured parents of an infinite brood; she tasked to mother them through their confused states of identity... to help them to avoid, on an individual level, the madness which affected him as a totality; and I the father, preparing my sons for their exit into the world. Gorcey... wherever you are... whenever... I hope you are laughing at the cosmic joke that you played on us. I should have stra..."
"Journal stop..." Hall stood up, as his knees creaked. This body was getting older. Was there enough time left? What was it the man had said so many years ago... 'even if it seems like it takes forever'? It did. It truly did. And now, now it was going to get even longer. He cleared his throat and spoke again, "Journal... record new entry... 19 mark 04 mark 2986...
"It is done. I pray... no... the time for praying ended long ago... I can only hope... when all of this is over, you will understand and, perhaps... forgive me. It was an act of mercy, Amelita. To see you tortured in this way... fifteen years since he left. I... I try to be strong... to have the faith necessary to see this through... but you never asked for this. It was my fault that you ever came here in the first place, through my mechanisms that you met him and became as I, a prisoner of loyalty. After our argument today, I came to the only decision that I could; the decision I should have made years ago, before you were ever sentenced to what must have been fifteen years of slow torture. To see those... faded copies... every day, each one less and less the man you knew... I... I'm so sorry. I have to believe... I really have no choice at this point... that if he had know how long it was going to be, that this is how he would have wanted it. That this is in your best interest. That I... that I... that..." He paused, the words failing him then, abruptly spoke again, "No. Journal stop... erase entry... 19 mark 04 mark 2986... journal close."
Hall pressed the com link for the medical chambers, "Jordan come in."
"Yes, Dr. Hall," Jordan's voice came across.
"Is it... is she..."
"Yes, Dr. Hall."
"Thank you, Hall out." He stood a long time at the window of his chamber, looking out into the swirling space of the threshold. Somewhere... somewhere out there it had to end.
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
Registered: Feb 2008
| IP: Logged |
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic | Subscribe To Topic
