Wake Me In The Future (38 page)

Authors: Alex Oldham

BOOK: Wake Me In The Future

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‘I don't think that sort of thing is an issue anymore, surely? said Rachel.

‘I am afraid that debate will have to wait for another time,’ I said, putting my arm around her and saying, ‘I think we need to get back and have an early night, we’ve got a long day tomorrow, and who knows what surprises it might have in store for us.’

‘Yes,’ she said in a resigned fashion, looking up coyly at our friends, ‘I guess we need to face the truth,’ and looking back at the others said, ‘we’ll finish this conversation another time, goodnight everyone.’

I looked at her then, and a wave of guilt washed through me, because although she now knew what Jon had told me about Helen, and that there was a chance that she could somehow still be alive, I’d not mentioned anything about Jane. I’d been dreading this; I knew very soon it seemed that I’d have to act on the choice I’d finally made. I just wanted it all to be over, I’d need all the courage I could muster and I’d even considered if death would be preferable to the life of guilt I felt sure I was facing.

Jon had informed us earlier that we'd been given full access to the system from the following day and access had been arranged through the terminals at the library. We both had our own ideas and fears over what we might be about to find out.

When we arrived home we both went quietly to Jane’s room to look in on our daughter before we retired; something we always did after we'd been out for the evening. As we slipped through the door, as quietly as we could, so as not to wake her, my attention was attracted to the object standing on her bedside cabinet.

My stomach turned over again and I slowly closed my eyes as if I could shut out reality’s attack on my sanity. With the sickening feeling I was becoming so familiar with I said, ‘Where did they come from?’ and pointed across the room.

‘They’re what Jane brought back from the surface today, do you like them,’ Rachel whispered.

‘They’re wild flowers called Dandelions.’

Chapter 41
– An End to the Beginning

I snuck out of our apartment early the following morning. I can only say it was because I couldn't face being with Rachel when I accessed the records about Jane. I knew I just wouldn’t be able to cope, and besides I needed some time to let the awful truth sink in when it was finally confirmed. I wished now, that I’d asked Ramoon about Jane when he was telling me about having Helen killed. But there’d not been time and now it was too late.
How am I going to tell Rachel…?

The message I'd left her simply said that I'd gone to Ankit’s and I’d meet her at the library at 10.30am. It didn't give me a lot of time, but then it didn't really matter how long I'd got; it would never be enough time to come to terms with the mess my life was in. I wished I could run away.

I’d had all this time and I was still confused. But I did know one thing for sure. I had to at least discover the truth about how Jane had been reborn from Helen, and why? Then I’d have all the facts so I could talk it through with my wife and daughter and let them make whatever decisions they wanted for us all. Just like Jon advised. It was only right to let them decide where we went from here.

As I walked down the library corridor I remembered the very first time I’d walked along it with my friends. It only seemed like yesterday. And as I approached the librarian’s station I had to struggle to keep my eyes in their sockets.

As large as life, the librarian was sitting in her seat!!

I looked at her as if seeing a ghost. ‘What are you doing here?’ you're supposed to be dead.’

‘Ah, you must be one of Nicole’s friends?’

‘I don’t know - who’s Nicole?’

‘She was the person who worked at this station before me.’ She was still looking for recognition from me but I was totally confused. ‘And you’re wondering why I look identical to her?’

‘Of course,’ I said relaxing, ‘twins?’

But before I could begin to offer my condolences to what I thought was the identical sibling of one of Ramoon’s victims, she said ‘No, I never even met her. When I started this job they told me her template was up for grabs, so I took it.’ And she added flatly, ‘Never liked my old body anyway. Can I help you?’

I slowly closed my gaping mouth; I didn’t want to know any more about it. It all seemed wrong, but this was a new society altogether.

‘I’ve got the room at the end of the corridor booked out for the morning, my name is Richard Green.’

I had to consciously stop thinking about what the librarian had just told me; the only way I was going to get by, was to think that everything was possible.

As I sat at the vid-screen I took a deep breath and moved my hand forward to make the connection and bring up all the records on Jane. I expected it to lead me directly to Helen’s fate but to my amazement the records revealed her to have been a dancer who’d lived on Venus for the last 300 years with her life partner. He’d died in a similar manner to Rachel’s parents, and broken hearted; she’d decided she couldn’t go on either. To escape the heartbreak she’d decided to end her life as she knew it, and erase the heartache she’d never get over.

As I listened to the priority message that Jane's earlier self had left, I wondered if Jane would take any notice of this plea for her not to re-integrate.

'How do I know you're not an elaborate fake to deter Jane from re-integrating Helen,' I said to the image floating before me.

But then that didn’t make sense either, because this information was of the highest classification. Only Jane and a few of the very highest officials could normally access this. No, it must be true, which means I was back to square one. But it was good news, at least, that Jane wasn't Helen. I sat back on the floor; I wasn’t sure what to think. I’d have to look for information held on myself and Helen to see if that got me anywhere.

But before I had chance a voice behind me gave me a shock. ‘I thought you were going to wait for me?’ Rachel asked.

I jumped guiltily, ‘I am sorry, I got here early so I thought I’d have a quick look.’

She gave me a disappointed look, ‘Richard you promised me, please tell me you haven’t searched for Helen before I got here.’

I held out my hand and clasped hers, ‘No I haven’t, I promise, but come here and sit down. I need to tell you something important. First of all I haven’t searched for Helen yet, because I needed to be certain about Jane.’

‘Jane! Why?’

She stared at me as I told her about my suspicions over Jane’s origins, about the ring and the dandelions in our daughter’s room.

But as I was telling her all this, her face was moving from confused concern to shocked recognition, and finally she said to me in a slow and faltering voice.

‘Richard, that ring is mine, I gave it to Jane….it's what my mother gave me. And she picked those dandelions while we were at our picnic because I told her how much I loved them.’

‘I don’t understand you’re a Manooran you can’t possibly be-’ but we were both looking into each others eyes now, and I was praying with all my heart,
oh please let it be, please let it be. I know things normally never have a happy ending, but let this be different. Please.

Then Rachel said slowly, as if trying to put things together in her head, ‘where are the records from my parents.’

While I was trying to locate Maya and Mazood’s records I could hear her, quietly talking to herself in the background, putting two and two together. ‘And I couldn’t access the files at Ankit’s, which we originally thought had been blocked to all Cryogens.’ Bits of the jigsaw puzzle that had been my life since I’d been revived were beginning to fall into place.

We both looked at each other and turned our heads at the same time to look at the Vid screen. I thought I’d located a file of Maya’s that fit the bill; it was simply entitled
Helen Green
.

Rachel held my hand as her other one activated the screen.

Maya’s distraught face looked out at us.

‘I couldn’t do it. That poor woman was staring at me, but Ramoon had told me to kill her. I saw the strength in her eyes, the humanity and history. She never begged me for anything but her accusing eyes defeated me as surely as if she’d knocked the gun out of my hand and turned it against me.

So I told her I wouldn’t destroy her entirely, but I’d have to get rid of her body, and that I’d arrange for her to be reborn and give her the chance to live again in the future. She never closed her eyes when I pulled the trigger, just carried on staring into mine until she was gone, saying ‘I love you Richard, I love you.’ And afterwards I took her Brain Pod and hid it for two years until I could arrange for it to be reborn.

Those accusing eyes have haunted my dreams every night since then.

If this record is being accessed then my husband and I must be dead, so this is my confession. And if you’re listening to this Rachel, then you’ve probably guessed that you were that woman. We adopted you and vowed to protect you to repay what I’d done. I am sorry we had to pretend not to like Richard, but anything less than the way we reacted to him could have raised Ramoon’s suspicions. We always wanted you to be re-united with him, but we had to keep up our pretence. And if you’re still together now, please accept this knowledge as our final wedding gift. You’ll find the information about your previous life attached to these records. We love you, both. Goodbye.’

We could hardly see each other through our tears, but as our feelings reached out across the tiny gap between us, a thousand years dissolved.

For me, it was the answer to all the prayers I'd meant to make. A solution my mind had never dared to dream. And to Rachel, a buried fear had been unearthed and found to be a treasure. Her subconscious mind and
the
worries
it suppressed,
now proved wrong by s
uch a fortunate twist of fate
.

Eventually, she looked at me and holding my hands said, ‘come on Richard – I think its time for me to re-integrate with my past, and for us both to go out there, and meet our future.’

And fate, which didn't normally favour such happy endings, looked on, and as we walked out of that room and into our future, it continued to shuffle its cards...

The End

A note from the Author:

If you enjoyed reading this novel as much as I enjoyed writing it then you might want to read book 2 of the Cryogen Chronicles entitled ‘Rise of the Biologs’. It follows Helen and Richard forward another thousand years when friction between the expanded population of ‘Biologs’ and the ‘Artificials’ is threatening to destabilise the human race. And some new characters appear, along with a new and more dangerous threat, from a very strange life form that lurks in the hidden depths of another dimension.

Visit
www.alexoldham.com
to find out how to download the book, or get a hard copy. Or look me up on Amazon.com.

I appreciate any feedback from readers so if you feel you’d like to send me any comments please email me at
[email protected]
– Although I hope you won’t be too critical if you’ve found any mistakes or discrepancies.

I may not be able to reply to everyone if I receive a lot of comments, so please don’t be annoyed at me if I don’t respond. I do promise, however, to read and consider everything sent to me.

Thank you again

Alex

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All the views expressed in this book are attributed to the characters contained in it. They are not necessarily the views of the Author. This is a work of fiction and all characters, names, incidents, organisations and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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I’d like to say thank you to my ‘reader number one’. Without who, this book would be full of spelling mistakes – Janet I’ll always be grateful.

I wrote this book for my wonderful and wacky family – but most of all for you Mum and Dad – thank you for my life x

Table of Contents

Prologue – Betrayed and Forgotten

Chapter 01 - Awake

Chapter 02 – First Goodbye

Chapter 03 – Assessment

Chapter 04 – A Stranger Visits

Chapter 05 – School

Chapter 06 – Which Society

Chapter 07 – Where’s My Robot