Gene. Sys. (18 page)

I dream of the white
abyss again.
This time I am calm and know my bearings. I don’t feel lost or alone. I walk
towards the area where I usually saw the silhouette and, just as always, Fe is
standing there.

She smiles as I reach her and I take her hand.
She leans in and gives me a kiss. I don’t want it to stop but, before I know
it, she is pulling me by my hand towards a large structure. It doesn’t take
long for me to recognize it as the Great Pyramid.

At the base of the pyramid, I see a large
gathering of people and instantly recognize them as outsiders. Their eyes burn
with rage and death. They look like they are eager to tear us apart. I try to
stop Fe but her pull is too strong. She’s taking me right to them.

“Stop!” I yell, but she doesn’t hear me.

Suddenly, another hand grabs my other arm and
begins to pull me in a different direction. I look to see Ev at the end of the
hand. She is slightly stronger than Fe so her pull starts moving us in the
opposite direction. Beyond her, I see another Great Pyramid with outsiders at
the base.

I struggle to pull away from both of them, but
before I can gain any traction, I feel myself being pulled in two additional
directions. Between Fe and Ev, right in front of me is 80, pulling me from a
third arm that is protruding from my chest.

When I look behind me, I see Rene yanking me
from a fourth arm that is sticking out of my back. Both of them are also pulling
me towards Great Pyramids with hungry outsiders at the bottom.

Their combined strength feels as though they are
ripping me apart, but none of them have gained an advantage over the others, so
I remain in the same place. A quick look around reveals that the outsiders have
begun closing in on us. They all seem rabid.

I struggle and scream to get loose, but I can’t.
I only have time to look around one more time before the outsiders are on top
of us. My body and those of Fe, Ev, 80 and Rene get torn to shreds. As they rip
the lasts parts of my flesh and eyes out, the white abyss that once surrounded
me turns pitch black.

There is nothing there. I can’t feel my body or
see anything, but my consciousness just floats in the black. The only thing I
feel is fear.
Black, fear.

14

My body is drenched in sweat when I wake up. The
aches in my body and burning in my eyes tell me that it’s still very early. I
know I can’t go back to sleep, so I take my time in the shower and getting
ready. I replay what I saw with Joey and Dr. Kivuli in my head.

After I put on one of the jumpsuits that I
retrieved from my old room, I make my way to find Rene. The hallways are fairly
empty with the exception of a few drones. Most of the drones pay no attention
to me, but there are
a couple
who stare at me
intensely, making me uncomfortable.

I knock on Rene’s door and, just as I am about
to turn away, he answers. “Morning, Atom. You’re up early.”

“I couldn’t go back to sleep.” I walk past him
into his room. “I have some information.”

Rene looks into the hallway and then closes the
door. “What is it?”

“I was walking around the compound last night
and overheard something,” I say.

He sits on his bed and places his breathing mask
over his face. I can’t help but think how weak he looks and it makes me ill. If
it were not for the Ragnarok, he wouldn’t have much longer anyway. Rene waves
his hand, urging me to continue.

“As I said, I was walking around the compound
and I happened to be in the area behind the library. I saw Dr. Kivuli and a man
called Joey talking.” I look at him for a reaction but the little of his face
that I see behind the mask remains unchanged.

“Dr. Kivuli was talking about a council and she
was trying to find out if there were any more planned attacks. She was very
intent on finding things out but the man, Joey, wasn’t really giving away
information.” I feel that pretty much covers what I saw.

Rene reaches up and removes his mask. “Did Joey
give a last name?”

“I didn’t hear one,” I say.

He frowns. “I need you to tell Ev about this.
She is in Dennis’ old room and has a personnel database in there. You can find
out which Joey it was. Also, I need you to promise me that you will be as you
were with Dr. Kivuli. We don’t need her to become suspicious that we are on to
her.”

I hadn’t thought about how I would react when I
saw her, but Rene is right. If she suspects anything, we might lose any chance
we have of finding out
who
the Mutineers are. “Okay.”

“Is there anything else?” he asks.

“I guess not.” I look him in the eyes. His eyes
are tired. I can’t imagine the stress he must be under. He puts his mask back
on and lies down on his bed with his eyes closed. I take that as my cue and
head out of his room.

I proceed down the hallway, unsure of where I’m
going to go. I decide that I will just get to my classroom early and relax for
the next hour. After a few more turns I reach the classroom door and walk in.
It’s dark and I decide to leave the lights off.

After I close the door behind me, I head to the
back part of the room and lie on the ground. I stare at the ceiling above me
and I instantly get the sensation of being trapped. When I used to lie on the
roof of the library and stare up at the sky I felt free. The infinite vastness
of space made me feel happy. I had hope.

Now, staring at a dark ceiling twelve feet above
me, I feel constrained and hopeless. I realize how guided my will is. I might
have the ability to make my own choices, but the choices I have were selected
for me. I didn’t choose to be a Genesys. I didn’t choose to have to lead them;
Rene and the scientists chose that for me. They sent me on this path.

I wonder if it’s the same for the outsiders and
humanity in general. Did they ever have true free will? Or was it just an
illusion put forth by those in power? I guess people need that. Would I know
what to do if I wasn’t guided and given parameters? At this point it doesn’t
matter. I have already committed to my role in this and, whether I am right or
wrong, I believe that what the scientists are doing is humanity’s best option.
Perhaps when we restart humanity, we can do better at letting people have free
will.

The kick to my foot shocks me awake and I
realize that I must have dozed off. My eyes adjust to the bright lights and
after a few blinks I see Hydro standing above me.

“Morning, sleepy head.” She smiles.

I wipe my eyes and stand as my heart rate
settles. I look around and see both K and Dr.
Cicca
smiling at me as well. My cheeks get warm with embarrassment. “Hey. Sorry.”

“It’s quite alright,” Dr.
Cicca
replies as she moves to the center of the room. “Ok, everyone grab a seat.”

Hydro and K sit next to me and I realize that I
don’t really know much about either one of them. Even with the amount of time
that I’ve spent with Hydro, she and Al are usually in their own world.

Dr.
Cicca
jumps right
into her first lesson and tells us about the importance of shelter, especially
with regards to certain elements. She uses a hologram to show us various
shelters, from igloos and huts to caves and even holes in the ground.

We cover the basic structural components needed
to build the shelters, things like the importance of weight bearing support
beams and the need for ventilation shafts. Apparently the shafts help circulate
the air in the shelter and also help keep the shelter standing in the case of
high winds.

We also cover intangible things like what
direction to face the doors and other openings—East to west in cold
climates so that the sun shines through and north to south in warmer regions to
avoid the sun.

For the last part of the lesson, Dr.
Cicca
has us each work with a simulation hologram to build
our own shelters. The lesson has been fun and for the time being, I have
completely forgotten about everything else that has been going on. Hydro and K
also seem to be having a great time. I wonder if the other Genesys are enjoying
their lessons as much as we are.

After we finish our shelters, Hydro, K and I
head out to the hallway and towards the simulation room.

“That was better than I expected,” Hydro says.

“Yeah! I’m so glad you didn’t put me in one of
those engineering ones,” K adds.

“I’m glad I’m not in any of those either.” I
laugh and they join in.

“Do you really think we might have to use dead
bodies and bones to build a shelter?” K asks through her laughs.

“I hope so! Just to see the faces on the others
when we tell them to gather as many bodies as possible,” Hydro answers. K and I
both look at her and then we all burst out laughing again.

Our laughter simmers down as we get to the
hallways that used to have the girls’ bedrooms. I had seen them last night, but
I don’t believe that either Hydro or K had seen them since right after the
attacks.

K looks at me. “Do you mind if…
”

“Go ahead.” I give her a comforting smile and
find a sturdy spot on the wall to lean against.

Both Hydro and K go into their respective rooms.
I can hear gasps and some sniffles from both rooms and I remember all the
emotions I dealt with when I stepped back into my room. They hadn’t lived in
their rooms as long as I had, but I’m sure they still developed a few memories.

After a few solitary moments, the two girls walk
out and join me back in the hallway. Hydro wipes her cheeks with her hands.

“Are you two okay?” I ask, trying to be as
gentle as I can.

“Yeah,” Hydro responds. K nods her head in
agreement.

We walk the rest of the way to the simulation
room in silence. I figure that they want to be alone with their thoughts in
order to process what they just saw. Besides, I need to think a little more
about this Hologram Battle I’m about to put the Genesys through. I really don’t
know what to expect.

When we get out of the elevator at the
simulation room, I see that everyone else has already arrived. Their classes
must have ended early, but by the looks of it, they all enjoyed them. They are
all enthusiastically sharing the information they learned with each other. It’s
not until I pass them that they finally quiet down and look at me.

I take a deep breath and look at all of them. “I
hope you all enjoyed your classes.”

They all mumble affirmatives. I look at Fe and
then Ev and both of them have smiles on their faces. Fe adds a wink when I look
back at her and I try not to let it affect me as I begin to speak. The last
thing I need is to be blushing while I introduce the Hologram Battles.

“Okay, today we are doing something different,
and to be perfectly honest, I don’t really know what it is,” I start off.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Sil blurts
out.

“Grant didn’t reveal anything. I’m assuming that
it’s going to be a battle against holograms,” I say.

“Thanks for stating the obvious, genius,” Titan
says as he nudges Sil. Sil and Sodi laugh. A few of the other Genesys stifle
their laughs with smiles.

I glare at Titan but I can’t help but smile a
little as well. I really did just state the obvious. “Anyway, all I can do
right now is just turn the simulation on and see what happens.”

“Are we splitting up into teams?” Al speaks. I
look over and he and Hydro are already leaning on each other. They are starting
to straddle the line between cute and vomit inducing.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I believe we
will all have to work together on this,” I say as I turn to the control panel. “Grab
your preferred shorthand weapon and long range weapon.”

The Genesys all move towards the weapons cache
and equip themselves. Fe walks over to me. “Hey, Atom. What can I get you?”

I look into her eyes and feel the beating in my
chest quicken. I can’t help but smile. “A rifle and my chain. Thanks.”

She walks off and I begin to enter the necessary
data into the control panel. Just before I enter the last key, I look around to
make sure everyone is ready. All of the Genesys are equipped and look eager for
battle. Fe brings me my gear and I wrap the chain around my shoulder and hold
the rifle in my opposite arm.

“Everybody stay close. Let’s do this!” I turn
and hit the last key.

A few gasps escape some of the Genesys as the
entire room goes black. I try to look around but my eyes aren’t adjusting to
the darkness. A dead silence fills the room.

“What’s going on? Is it working?” A voice I
recognize as Cal’s breaks the stillness.

“I don’t know.” I turn back to the panel but
just as I do, a giant cliff appears in front of me. I am mere inches from
stepping off the edge. Even though I know I won’t fall, it is so realistic that
my heart jumps up to my throat. About 500 feet below me is an unforgiving
ocean.

“
Ow
! What the hell?”
Al screams. I turn to see that he is already on the ground and disabled. He has
been taken out.

Many of the Genesys have already scattered away
but a few remain by my side. As I scan the scene before me, I see a plateau
with a few giant boulders and a forest in the distance. What I don’t see is
anything that would be attacking us.

Before I can take anything else in I am thrown
to the ground by a flying body. When I turn my head, I see Ox lying on top of
me. “What the hell, man?”

“Look.” He points to the forest. I follow his
finger and notice a red light hovering in the darkness of the forest.

The light flickers and, without warning, Ox
rolls in front of me and is struck by something. He’s been knocked out.

“Thanks,” I say before I run off. As I make my
way to the boulder closest to me I see that Titan, K, and Sodi have gathered
behind it. I slide behind it and rest my back next to Sodi.

“What do we do?” K looks at me.

“Yeah, leader, what do we do?” Titan adds
mockingly.

“Where is everyone else?” I ask.

Titan points to a boulder to our right. “That
one has Ev, Sil and Cal. The other three are at a boulder on the other side of
that one.”

“Ok, good.” I see that the group at the next
boulder is waiting for me to make a move. I look around for ideas but nothing
comes. Finally I spot
Sodi’s
gun. It’s a sniper
rifle. “Titan, what kind of gun did you grab?”

“An assault rifle. Why?” He holds it closer to
himself.

“Sodi, give Titan your gun so he can shoot
what’s behind the red light,” I demand.

“No, I can take the shot,” Sodi snaps back and
pokes her head around the boulder.

“I’m not asking. I’m telling you to give him
your gun. He’s a better shot.” I stand firm. I can see Titan smile from the
corner of my eye.

Sodi looks at K for support. K shakes her head.
“Atom’s right.”

Sodi lets out a frustrated huff and slams her
gun into my chest. I wince at the quick jolt of pain but then hand the gun to
Titan. “One shot. Don’t miss.”

Titan lies on the ground close to the boulder
and sets the gun on the ground. He looks through the viewfinder and, after a
deep inhale, he pulls the trigger.