Unison (The Spheral) (27 page)

Flora spoke softly. “We are one in Unity. You’re lost because you forgot the meaning behind the Sacred Oath.”

I retreated from Flora’s seemingly incurable devotion. She’d have to succumb to her misguided loyalty on her own. With my foreknowledge, I had the advantage. I wasn’t going to waste another second waiting for Kai to kill me. Unity Forces would eventually give up their search for me, and I’d be able to return to the cabin. A fact that isn’t known beyond the Corporate Hierarchy is that if a fugitive isn’t captured within a year, the case is closed. Unity doesn’t have the resources to continue a longer search. The founding Overseer created a mythology to keep Unitians from knowing this truth.

“The Prime Wisdom has shown me that if my children are claimed by the outside, I shouldn’t feel guilty or responsible for not being able to bring them back home. Healing them isn’t possible because they’ve become corrupted beyond repair. Even reintegration can’t save them. I ask all of you to pray for your lost brothers and sisters. Outsiders are savages. They’ll continue to kill each other until none of them is left. For them, death isn’t salvation. Their diseased essences will be rejected by the Prime Wisdom, and they’ll be cast into an eternal nothingness from which there’s no escape.” The Overseer shed a few tears and then widened his eyes as though he was in the midst of a big revelation. All the cameramen zoomed in for a closeup, and he cupped his hand behind his ear. “The Prime Wisdom is transmitting a vision to me.” He gasped. “I see Earth, and how She’ll be after the cleansing. She’s healed! The poison from the Great Cataclysm is gone!” He clutched the podium and quieted his voice. “The land will one day be fertile and ready for us to plant our Unity upon it. That’s what the Prime Wisdom showed me, and so it shall be.”

The audience applauded, cried and chanted, “We are one in Unity.” The speech was rebroadcasted every year on Unity’s day of founding and elicited the same fervor. The reaction was understandable considering every Unitian dreamed of settling outside the dome like their ancestors.

I contacted Roth to inform him of what happened. The transports would have to be postponed until my return. Since the comnet was down, I had to head to high ground to deliver the message.

I loaded my plazer with a freshly charged power supply and put a spare in my backpack. New Athenia was the only known city with electricity on the other side of the tunnel, and I couldn’t return there. I’d have to find another way to defend myself when the power ran dry.

“On my allegiance to the Overseer, I won’t tell anyone I found you if you let me go,” Flora said.

“I would’ve believed you more if you swore allegiance to the stars. Do you still go to the observatory to contemplate?”

“How can you know that?” Flora asked quietly.

“Not answering that one. You wouldn’t believe me if I—wait, why not? No reason to censor myself anymore.” I pulled my desk chair in front of Flora and sat. “We were close in my first incarnation.” I leaned forward and smiled. “
Very
close. We met in PC1332, at Kai’s emergence party. You created quite a ruckus by slapping a maroon sleeve and not addressing him by his title. Kai then slapped you for your insubordination. I felt sorry for you and offered to take you home, as it was clear to me you didn’t want to be alone. We ended up at the observatory where we gazed at the stars and—” I crossed my arms and smiled at Flora, who seemed to anticipate the closing of my narrative. “If we had more time, we’d finish this discussion over a plate of spaghetti. I grow fresh tomatoes which would’ve been perfect for your marinara—”

Flora thrust herself forward. “Let me go…I won’t tell anyone about this cabin.”

“They’ve known about it for years.” I glanced out the window thinking how much I was going to miss this view. “You never would have found me if Kai didn’t tell you where I was. The only question that remains is what made Unity Forces take interest in this cabin again? All the electronics in here are imperceptible to Unitian scanners.” I looked at Flora. “Even your locator signal is blocked in here.”

Flora seemed to be waiting for an explanation, which told me I made some progress since my last incarnation. She was listening.

“Every Unitian is monitored from the moment they’re removed from the tanks.”

Flora twisted and shifted around to free herself. “You’ll say anything to confuse me.”

“I don’t need to say anything. You’re already confused.”

“You can have your life back if you return to Unity with me.”

“Give it to someone else. I like my new life better.”

“Wouldn’t you like to return to those who love you?”

“Love is smothered by coercion in Unity,” I said.

“You only say that because you forgot what it is.”

I stopped and gazed at Flora. “Love isn’t something you forget; it’s part of who you are. You don’t have the slightest understanding of love because you forgot who you are.”

“When we’re connected in Unity, love is the feeling of union we experience. Each of us is one small part of the totality that is Unity. Come back with me, and you’ll reconnect.”

“What connects you to Unity?”

“Love.”

I laughed. “You’ll never see what’s outside your circle if you believe that.” I peered into Flora’s eyes, searching for anything familiar. I found nothing. “You used to be independent. How did you end up like this?” It was a question directed more to myself. If Flora could regress, what was to stop it from happening to me? Before today, I had no knowledge of my past incarnations, and my ignorance of them terrified me. I was powerless to change what was happening and since I left Unity, ceding control had become an anathema to me. With freedom exposed as an illusion, I had to accept my eternal bondage. It was a life sentence of the most horrific, unimaginable kind.
What if it never ends?

“Independence confuses the mind,” Flora said. “As long as you think you’re separate from us, you’ll never be able to find your way back home. You’ll be alone and scared until the scourge kills you.”

I glanced at the picture of Wade and me, recalling our encounter with the boar hunter. The memory helped lighten my mood. “An Outsider once told me being scared and curious is a hell of a lot more fun.”

“Was he right?”

“More often than he was wrong.” I untied Flora. “Kai will soon be here, and I’m not his only—”

Flora punched my face and ran towards the door. I went after her and pinned her against the wall. “I’ve been reliving the same life, and my memory returns when I see you. I know how nonsensical it sounds, but there’s not enough time to ease you into this. You must trust me, or you’ll die again.”

“And you must trust me,” Flora said. “I can help you through this. When you’re detached from Unity, your mind can’t make sense of what’s happening around you.”

“I’d rather be shot by Kai’s plazer than return to Dome Dungeon.”

Flora appeared startled.

“Do you remember?” I asked

“Remember what?”

The cuckoo clock chimed and I glanced at it.
Kai came after ten chimes, but how long after? Three minutes? Thirty minutes? I can’t remember, and I’m still not completely convinced all this is happening. Am I here, reliving my life, or am I being reintegrated?”

“Only reintegration can give you the calm pulse of reality,” Flora said as though reading my mind.

Her expression brought me back to the night she took her life. “We can’t stay here. Kai arrived here shortly after the ten chimes.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because he killed you in my last two incarnations.”

The creases on Flora’s forehead told me she still didn’t give credence to my story. It was understandable, but I didn’t have time to convince her.

I let go of Flora. “I believe you when you tell me you want to help me. I’m asking you to do the same. If you believe me, you’ll be okay. If you don’t, your life will end today.” I walked over to the door and opened it. “The decision is yours to make.” I walked to the desk, looked at Flora’s reflection in the window, and was relieved she hadn’t left. I grabbed her plazer, removing the power supply. “I’m leaving now, and I advise you to come with me.” I handed Flora her plazer.

“I’m going back to Unity,” she said.

“Then you must kill Kai when you meet up with him on the way back.” I secured my backpack. “If you don’t, he’ll kill you. You’re an unessential to him.”

“How am I supposed to fire this?”

A critical choice was forced upon me. Did I want to head to the old tunnel and let Flora and Kai fight it out amongst themselves, or did I want to find out why Kai had taken a sudden interest in me? As I was mulling over my decision, another question came to me that needed an answer.

“I’ll leave the power supply behind the big rock on the eastern side of the waterfall.”

I hid behind a thick cluster of bushes. When Kai came into view, I forced him to the ground and struck his head with my plazer.

“Who killed the Overseer?”

“You did,” he said.

“Tell me now, or this will be the last hike you ever go on.”

“You killed the Overseer, Damon. There were witnesses.”

“How is that possible? I haven’t been to Unity in four years.”

“The scourge has confused your memory.”

“My memory is more complete than you can imagine. Why did you follow Flora here?”

“She’s my best guard. I wanted to make sure she was okay. Did you hurt her?”

“No, but I know you want her dead, and I want to know why.”

I placed my free hand around Kai’s neck and started to choke him. “I won’t let you kill her again.”

“Cease your action, 1300-33-1M!” Flora approached with her plazer pointed towards me, just as I expected. She must have run all the way up the path as she was out of breath.

Shisa approached her, growling.

I loosened my grip on Kai, cursed myself for making another bad decision, and then spoke calmly to Shisa. I didn’t want her to get shot again. “I’m okay, Shisa. Go home.”

Shisa stayed where she was.

“Go home now!” I yelled.

Shisa whimpered and walked away. I stared up at Flora. “He’ll kill you if I let him go.”

“Lay down your weapon now. He’s in no position to harm anyone.”

I could’ve killed Kai, and I wanted to. It took all my effort not to pull the trigger, but I needed to know the answer to my question more. I had to know if Flora was the same woman I fell in love with in my first incarnation. My desire for truth was stronger than my desire to live. I moved my plazer away from Kai’s head but kept my hand on the grip.

Kai smiled at Flora, “You’re an exceptional guard. Don’t forget your duty. Unity is justice, and you’re its deliverer.”

“Last warning, Damon. Move away from Master Kai,” Flora said.

I didn’t move. Nothing else mattered to me but knowing how far Flora would go for Kai. “You must kill him.”

“Now!”

“It’s the only way this will—” I heard an explosion followed by a sharp sting on my back.
Question answered
.

Flora stepped on my arm and as she grabbed my plazer, I heard Shisa growl.

“I told you to go home! Go home now!”

A loud blast rung in my ears. Shisa yelped, and the grievous silence that followed exposed her fate.

Flora helped Kai up. “Forgive me, Master Kai, for letting him get so close to you.”

Kai took Flora’s plazer and then aimed it at her. Flora staggered backwards.

“You should’ve listened to Damon,” Kai said.

“I’m only loyal to you. Didn’t I just prove that?”

“You’ve done nothing but disrespect me since you began your assignment. One action isn’t enough to absolve all the reprimands you’ve acquired through the years.”

“When we return to Unity, I’ll prove my loyalty to you. I’ll give you what you asked of me.”

Kai spat in her face. “Had I known all it took to get you to submit was to wave a plazer in front of your face, I would’ve agreed with Master Avery’s decision to assign you as a crailer.”

“I know you still want us to be together.” Flora’s voice softened. “I can see it in your eyes, hear it in your voice.”

I couldn’t tell if the wave of nausea that overtook me came from my wound or from the lustful way Kai looked at Flora.

Kai positioned himself behind Flora and cupped her hand that was holding the plazer. “Shoot him—then I’ll know you speak the truth.” He lifted Flora’s hand and aimed the plazer at me. “Prove to me that your're loyal." Kai kissed the side of her neck, and her eyes swelled with tears.

“You’re not going to escape this.” I looked down at Shisa and then back at Flora. “That’s justice.”

“And I’m its deliverer.” Flora squeezed her eyes shut, and Kai pushed her arm away as she pulled the trigger.

Kai shoved Flora to the ground, and I was angry because he would have the pleasure of killing her. I never felt so much hatred towards someone than in that instant.

Flora got on to her knees. “I did what you asked. Why did you stop me?”

“If you’re willing to kill to save yourself, how can I know you wouldn’t do the same to me? I demand complete loyalty from my proteges.”

Flora looked at me pleadingly. “I’m sorry, Damon. I had to do it…I had no other choice.”