PERIL (7 page)

“Rise, Doctor,” The Seeyer commands.

“Have mercy your, Eminence,” Todd begs as he slowly rises to his knees.

He keeps his gaze to the floor.

“Silence!” The Seeyer commands.

The Seeyer begin
s assessing Todd’s activity through its neuro-net.

“He’s co
mmitted heresy against doctrine, suspected treasonous behavior,” multiple voices whisper from within The Seeyer.

One of the stars within the swirling mass directs a beam of light onto Todd’s forehead. Todd feels weak and light-headed. The Seeyer is probing his memories. He tries to resist and think of memories from his childhood.

The swirling mass spins faster, forming an image of Todd as a young boy riding his hover-bike. Todd stands up in front of The Seeyer as he focuses on the memory. He remembers his father disengaging the safety support that allowed him to have more control over the bike. Then he remembers losing control of the bike and crashing to the ground. His memory flashes to his mother running out of the house and then the two of them are sitting in the kitchen. Todd can see himself as a child crying. His mother takes rubbing alcohol and a dishcloth and tends to his scrapped knee.

Todd reaches for his knee
, feeling the sting of the alcohol and the warmth of his mother’s touch. The memory is so vivid and real. A tear rolls down his cheek.

“Mother and father have long since passed Dr. Remis… Your work in the lab is what interests us,” The Seeyer says softly.

Todd’s eyes are fixed on The Seeyer as they wrestle for control of the memories.

“The lab, Dr. Remis, the lab
.”

“The lab,” Todd mumbles.

  The beam of light intensifies as it administers an intoxicating drug into his cerebral cortex. The beam is also draining his soul. The Seeyer is consuming Todd’s very being, making him apart of it; taking his memories and him along with them.

“You’re in the lab…what is it you’re working on?”

The image before him slowly blurs and changes recounting his time in the lab. Sensing his control slipping Todd tries to look away from the image. He cannot break his gaze. He then tries unsuccessfully to refocus on the childhood memory. His gaze is locked and the truth begins to unfold. Todd can no longer resist. He has to submit to the probing of his memories and the influence of the beam. The more he fights the weaker he becomes. His skull feels as if it is going to literally crack open. Confused and with no more fight left within him, he submits to the intrusion.

He feels as though he is back in the lab working on the fragment. In Todd’s mind, time has shifted from present to past. As he allows the recent memory of his work in the lab to surface, the pain eases.

“Fragment… symbols… DNA,” he mumbles. The image before him projects his activities in the lab.

“Fascinating,” The Seeyer says
with great interest. 

Eventually,
The Seeyer became aware of everything Todd knew about his work. The fragments, the symbols, DNA code, all of it is now a part of The Seeyer’s knowledge.

During the enc
ounter with The Seeyer, Todd feels the presence of many lost souls. They are the original souls that helped transform the Internet into The Seeyer.

“We are here, we are many, we are one…you are with us now,” they say to him.

The beam of light breaks off its intrusion and Todd’s body falls to the floor. Like many others before him, his mind and soul have become a part of The Seeyer.

Two weeks later
, Vanessa is still in the hospital wing of the Ares Corp. facility. She hasn’t heard from Todd since he last visited her. She is so wrapped up with her problems; dealing with the abortion, regaining her sight, and preparing for the mission she hadn’t time to visit him. Yet, it was strange that he hadn’t been by to see her. Todd never stayed away for long, so she plans to stop by the lab after her physical therapy to catch up.

She is sitting on the edge of her bed listening to the holo
graphic monitor. A news report is given to the public on the upcoming mission.

“It’s a go for the Ares Mission! An overwhelming 94% public approval vote green lights this historic event. Many citizens take to the streets in celebration,” a reporter says excitedly.

“Obviously your excited about the mission,” she asks a man outside the Ares Corporation.

“Yes, I couldn’t be happier!”

“So what do you want to say to the crew of the Ares Mission?”

“We
ll, of course, I wish, Captain Vanessa Bains, a speedy recovery and I say to the entire crew––– go with infinite knowledge!”

“Y
ou heard him, Ken, go with infinite knowledge. That seems to be the sentiment here outside of Ares Corp. and around the world. Back to you.”

Vanessa smiles and command
s the monitor to shutdown. She reaches blindly for her cane and sunglasses that are on the bed next to her. An orderly enters the room.

“Knock
, knock,” he says.

“Who’s there,” Vanessa says smiling.

“Well you seem in better spirits, Captain. Ready for your work out?”

“Well, I’m more interested in when I can take my next retina treatment. I can see some shadows now. Soon I’ll be able to see you clearly.”

“Well I told you, I’m gorgeous and available,” he jokes.

“I have no doubt about that,” she replie
s with equal sarcasm. Vanessa is escorted to the physical therapy gym down the hall. She is greeted by her physical therapist.

“Hello
, Captain.”

“Hello
, Jan.”

“We have company today. Your crew is prepping for their procedures
.”

“Oh?”
Vanessa responds apprehensively.

Vanessa feels a little uncomfortable about the crew seeing her in her weakene
d condition, but she puts on a brave face. The activity in the room seems to stop as she wanders over to her workout station with Jan her physical therapist. She uses her cane to navigate the room.  Faint whispers from the crew distract her attention. Vanessa’s pulse increases adding to her anxiety. Suddenly, Cruise drops his weights and lets out a hardy grunt. CLANK! The sound instantly breaks the silence and the activity in the gym resumes.

Vanessa take
s a deep breath and says to herself––“I can do this.”

“Alright, Vanessa we’re going start off with so
me leg strengthening exercises,” Jan, says.

Cruise looks over at Vanessa and shakes his head in disbelief. The rest of the crew continues their workout. Nickolette walks over to Cruise and picks up a couple of weights and begins to do some
arm curls.

“How is she gonna lea
d us like that?” Cruise asks Nickolette.

“They say her blindness is temporary,” Nickolette responds.

“Yeah, well I’ll believe that when I see it. Get it––see it,” the two laugh amongst themselves.

Outside
of the Ares Corporation Complex, Nyna stalks an armed guard standing in front of a huge open loading dock. A transport vehicle emerges flying off. Lying flat on a grassy hill overlooking the complex she plots her assault. She recalls a visual schematic of the facility through her optical lens then pulls up an actual display with infrared scans of her target. Several red dots display heat signatures of several guards and sentry robots. She is given a visual reading leading straight to a lab in the north corridor.

“Ny
na online,” she signals her android companions via a transmitter that is lodged in her head.

“Proceed with caution, Nyn
a,” series 097 messages back to her.

Ny
na assembles a plasma rifle with lightning speed and accuracy. Her optical lens goes into scope mode bringing the guard into view. She fires her weapon several hundred feet hitting the guard. The plasma wave knocks the guard off his feet. He is slowly incinerated. The loading dock door begins to close. With amazing speed, Nyna sprints across the field arriving at the loading dock. The door slams shut. She is too late. An access keypad catches her eye. She removes a glove from her right hand and begins to input a series of codes. None of the codes work. The pad responds, “access denied” with each failed attempt.

“Nyna
, time is of the essence,” series 097 communicates to her.

“Understood,” Nyna replies aloud, clearly annoyed.

She stands directly in front of the pad and spits out a wade of acid onto the keypad. It dissolves exposing burnt circuitry. She crosses a few wires and the huge door opens instantly. She grins and enters the building. Immediately her presence is detected by The Seeyer and an alarm set off.  Nyna quickly makes her way to a stairwell. The Seeyer dispatches guards to her location. 

In the gym
, Vanessa Bains and her crewmates stop their workout. The overhead lights change from white to red and the alarm blares across the intercom. “Unauthorized entry on Level One,” an automated voice warns.

Cruise and Nickolette rush over to the con
trol panel on the wall.

“Seeyer
, what’s up?” Cruise yells as he presses some keys on the digital pad.

“We have an intruder
. All personnel must remain at their present locations. Guards and sentry units have been deployed,” The Seeyer responds.

“Who would be bold enough to try to infiltrate this facility?” Nickolette asks.

Bains grabs her cane and makes her way over to Cruise and Nickolette. Magruder joins them.

“I bet it’s the Apollo Corporation or Aaron Enterprises.  They wanna sabotage our mission!” Cruise gripes.

“Yeah they wanna cash in on all that precious Beryllium on MV5!” Nickolette chimes in.

“This is a state of the art facility with multiple defense systems. Who ever it is won’t get
very far,” Magruder laughs as she resumes her workout. Vanessa isn’t so sure.

“Where is the intruder now?” Vanessa asks The Seeyer.

“Level Six advancing to Level Seven, and very quickly I might add. Several defense drones and guards have been incapacitated.”

“Level Seven! Todd
’s lab is on that level!” Vanessa says.

Vanessa
tries to exit the gym, however the doors won’t open.

“The complex is currently on lockdown. Please remain at your present location,” an automatic warning announces over the intercom.

Worried about Todd, Vanessa tries to contact The Seeyer, but gets no response.

Nyna is now on Level S
even. She can hear guards outside of the stairwell advancing on her position. Nyna detaches a small flat disk from her belt and tosses it into the hall. It lands a few feet away from two guards immediately releasing a blinding white flash of light and a vomit inducing gas.

One of the guards
tries to cover his face. Both of them are immediately immobilized. They puke while being unable to move. Besides temporary blindness and vomiting the energy released from the disk causes a rigor mortis-like affect on human muscle tissue. It lasts about eight to ten minutes, enough time for the android to make her way to her destination. Nyna moves quickly past the frozen guards. Her activity is closely monitored by The Seeyer’s video cameras. A scan of Nyna’s body reveals her true form to The Seeyer.

“Android
, model seven six four. State your intentions,” The Seeyer says to Nyna.

Nyna ignores The Seeyer
’s inquiry and continues down the hall. She turns a corner at the end of the hall and comes across several doors. The Seeyer immediately emits a jamming signal. Nyna’s link to the other robots is severed and her infrared schematic of the complex is disrupted.

“Now that wasn’t very sporting of you. I don’t supposed you would be willing to tell me which of these rooms holds the key,” Nyna says to The Seeyer.

“Key? Perhaps it would help if you told me what it is you’re looking for.”

Nyna grins and walks down to the end of the corridor and arrives at a room marked Lab Five: Dr. Todd Remis and Dr. Craig Pierce.

“Bingo,” Nyna says as she spits more of the acidic substance onto the keypad. The faceplate dissolves and she crosses a few wires. The door unlocks and she enters the lab.

She finds Dr. Craig Pierce holding a lab chair ready to strike. Taking notice of her he slowly lowers the chair. Nyna looks over Dr. Pierce’s hostile stance and is slightly amused, knowing that she could easily take him out.

“Where is the key?” Nyna asks.

“What key?” he asks.

“The fragment,” Nyna replies.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think you do, Doctor.”

Nyna slowly approaches him. Dr. Pierce instinctively raises the chair and Nyna grabs it. She hurls it across the room.  She grabs him by the collar with one arm and lifts him into the air.

“I could snap your neck without much effort, human.”