I am so glad you are keeping up with my story. It is great to have someone know what is going on since the beginning, Thank you so much for all the suggestions, they are all very valid pointers that I will surely use. I just posted chapter 12 if you are interested. Thanks again.
Sci Fi & Fantasy / Beyond The Dreams - Chapter 11
Sfax had been the first to arrive. He took an ID crystal out of his pants pocket, centering it on the rectangular wooden table. He sat the furthest away from the door, one of the two spots of the table’s width. The first of them came only few seconds later; then one by one they each took a seat, nodding to one another. When every seat was occupied, Sfax stood, thumb printing the crystal’s surface. The previously translucent surface turned green, authenticating Sfax as of the veteran members of Death Team #7. Each stood in turn, repeating the same process. Their expressions were serious, nothing of old friendship. They had been brothers at one point, but it had been too long ago. They each fulfilled a different role in the System, and time as well as competition had quickly crashed that useless notion. They kept in contact in case of emergency, in the memory of their shared past in the Last Stand on LZ9963, the Magnetic Field planet. They had all called, at one point or another, to each other’s help. Their reciprocal usage of each other was the only interest now linking them.
Sfax had been the initiator of the present meeting. He had chosen the place and the time. For security reasons, the meetings were planned in ever-changing solar systems. He expected things to go smoothly and quickly. He needed their help to locate Axia and his son so that he could close the AIC Project forever. Then, in a few weeks’ time, he would start the conception of a new descendant. He would not make the same mistake as the first time. This one would not be created by the Laboratory. Sfax would take care of the gene combination himself, creating a being worthy of his father.
#
“Listen Axia. I was not going to kill you. I know you probably don’t believe me after what you have heard me say but…you need to understand that I would never hurt you intentionally. I had to tell him those things so that we could have some time to escape.” Erin paused. “My father has a lot of power. I know now why he wanted to kill you. Malit explained everything to me. I thought he was only following his ego after you proved him wrong, but it is obviously deeper than that.”
Axia did not make any sign that she was listening. He went on:
“I must respect him, which is the rule. He was counting on me; I am his genetic vessel after all. I should have listened to him and killed you…as any other son would have…”He paused as Axia winked, “But I couldn’t. I think I have always known since he first asked me to. I just couldn’t kill you.”
“You can trust him, don’t you still at least trust me?” Malit cut in.
Axia nodded but her tone was defiant:
“I trust your judgment Malit but how can you be sure about him?” She asked, nodding in Erin’s direction.
“You know that I would have never put you in this situation without being sure you would be safe. Even though Erin needed some soul searching, the simple fact that he helped you during your self-mutilation proved his allegiance. There are some things that Erin has shared with me that you do not need to know right now.” He stopped her, hand in midair. “It is nothing for you to worry about, only useless details as to why he has been helping you. It is more about him than about you really.” He said, dismissive.
Axia wiggled on her chair, uncomfortable. She felt ashamed for not having told Malit about Erin’s help, but Erin had obviously taken care of that fact.
Malit stood.
“Ok, we must hurry.” He slid a pass out of his jacket zipper, handing the silver slide to Erin.
“This is the only key to my house on the Mezj Lake. It is isolated enough for you to accomplish what needs to be done. No one should look for you there. I doubt they will think you hiding past the Renegade Territories. Use the public transports. Personal Communix are too easily traceable. Go and hide, at least until things pan out here. Sfax will end up giving up sooner or later. Once Axia has a real notion of life –and Erin this is what you need to teach her, and quick- she can build a position in the System. She will be untouchable from there on. Sfax cannot take the risk of being exposed. But right now, you’re in limbo. No one knows you exist, you are very easily expendable.”
“Hold on a second,” Erin interjected, “There is no need for us to run. Axia was legally released. There is no reason why…”
“Don’t you know your father better than that Erin? You know he has not reached his position without being a little…resourceful. And he is, believe me…he really is. He will not forget your betrayal that soon. He will want revenge for your treason. As for Axia, he made it clear that he wants to bury her, and with her, the AIC Project.”
#
“What were you thinking?” Flanix exclaimed.
He stood up from his chair, iced eyes staring at Sfax across the table.
The yellow orbits were hooked on him, eyes Sfax hated as they always sheltered arrogant hints, condescending, and self-sufficiency.
“That is besides the point Flanix,” Sfax answered, patronizingly, “this is not the reason why we have met today. I am sharing my past mistake with you because she is currently alive.” Gasps were heard around the table. “Worst, she has been freed. I need to neutralize her. She is the undeniable proof of the AIC Project.”
“Come on Sfax, even if she was discovered, there is no way for anyone to link her to you, nor to the project. The only one that could ID you would be her old Master. And he does not seem to have made the connection at all.”
“I am telling you that she must die!” There he was, ruthless. “She perverted my son. She is with him as we speak. I don’t know how but she made him betray me…and him, that traitor, he must be punished with her!” A drop of saliva was at the corner of his mouth, his eyes wide, maddened. “He was supposed to be her guide after the freedom fight. Taking the excuse of destabilization, he would have killed her, blaming self-defense against a boundless beast.” His voice progressively died as he looked down to the table, ashamed. “And that’s what they all are, beasts…”
The frowns had deepened on his comrades features. They all understood now. Their progenitor was the most important thing in their lives, the perpetuation of their genes. Silence stretched. Another veteran spoke, one of the oldest:
“We will help you, but not the way that you may have imagined…we will do better than that. We will revive the AIC Project.”
In one nod, all agreed to the decision. Sfax nodded back. She would be punished, maybe not trough death…because after all death was too sweet.
#
Malit detailed the slide between his thumb and forefinger. Everything that was left resided on this reflecting slit of glass. He gathered it in his palm, looking at his Computaplex screen now empty. Once, one last time, he had viewed her file, data covering her whole conception. He had peaked briefly at her tracing aura, brief glimpse at her position on the globe. He could have found her anywhere with it.
Hopefully Erin and she would soon be to safety.
#
As she slowly left the tender sleep relaxing her features, Axia became more and more conscious of the surrounding noises. Behind her closed lids, she could see the alternating seconds of light and shadow. She realized her head was leaning against something soft, she opened her eyes. It took her several moments before understanding where she was. She moved her head, scanning around her; she was laying half way on the grey bench, her head previously resting on Erin’s shoulder. That scared her a little and shook off any remainder of sleep.
Erin, who had felt her move, turned to her. Axia, on his right, half raised off her flank, looked back at him, fawnlike. This had been her first night as a free being. He smiled to her; she relaxed a little, awkwardly trying to smile back. She remembered now: the external world.
“Feeling better?” He asked.
Axia sat up all the way, mumbling a vague approbation. She was too busy examining the taxi with eager eyes. They were being propelled forward in a capsule entirely made of one-way glass, allowing them to spy on the outside without being seen. Between round and oval, it sheltered a two-seater bench and a keyboard. The anti gravitational mechanism maintained the hull a few inches off the ground, saving them from the disagreement of the bumpy roads ran through the Primitive’s lands, leading them to the Renegade Territories.
Erin had purchased a prepaid credit chip from a local stand, paying their way to the lake. He had traded his usual black uniform for a silver blouse and black buttoned up pants. He had not pinned the insignia of his school on his chest, sign of his condition. Every citizen was required to wear some kind of identification showing their position in the System at all times. But where they were going, no one would be there to check.
Her eyes were now on the outside. He answered her apprehension:
“We are almost there. What you see around us…not many have seen. This part of this planet is hardly ever travelled by any citizen. At least not by ground.”
“The people are so different here. They are not as elegant as the ones I saw on the streets. Why is that? They are grey, and sad. They look angry and scared… they look… afraid of us?” She had turned to him, questioning, puzzled.
Erin frowned.
“It is complicated. It all resides in the hierarchy of the System. “
“Please Erin, explain this to me, I want to know.”
“The System is per say, a generalized way of life. Two main classes are found: the Dominants, and the Primitive’s. The world of the arena, the City, the Precursor…all that is part of the Dominants’ world. The Primitive’s usually live on the outskirts of Cities, like this one.”
“What makes someone a Primitive’s over a Dominants?”
“Well, there are four types of individuals within those crowds out there. Most of them are descendents. Hardly any of them have any hope of getting out of this type of life. They were born in it and will die in it. They owe their fate to their fathers.”
“What have their parents done?”
“Some were rejected by the System because of their ideology. When the System was introduced, many found it barbaric, dictatorial and did not want to surrender. Their revolt was heard all too well and their anarchic voices banished them.
You also have the –IQ. Their ancestors had for only fault to be born with an intellectual quotient lower than 120. They were considered too average and thus not worthy of the System. Tests were performed and the selection was made. But, they do have a gleam of hope. They can, and only once in a lifetime, take the Test. If their score is judge good enough then they can be re-introduced to the System after a long rehabilitation.
Some planets have also the X’s, but not all of them. The newest conquest do not as the genetic manipulation has been perfected by now. Those people don’t really have a life. They are part of a ghost group with no particular identity. They were chosen randomly for most of them, among the autochotne people of the planet. Those ancient members are the results of the first genetic and physical changes with the aim of producing slave races.
Nowadays, new X’s are not created. Every changes made on a race is studied and planned perfectly before being implanted. The new slaves created are terminal not experimental.
Those people have not had much of a civilized way of life. They are the masters or their own world, without any organization or rules.”
“Why are they so scared of us?”
“They know that if they get too close to this module, they will be shot automatically. Not many Dominants get out of the City nowadays. A few have secondary housing beyond this territory, in another gated domain geared more to nature and relaxation. Those places are few and far between as most of the green has been traded for the infrastructures of the City. Malit is very lucky to have sent us there. That would be the last place on the globe that anyone would be looking for someone.”
Axia did not add anything. She kept her eyes on the outside spectacle, detailing the few ragged beings wondering by the dirt road, wondering what she would have seen through their eyes.
#
They came at night. They were three including Sfax. It was nothing of a commando assault and more of a swift infiltration.
Sfax bent over the relaxed shape, smiling internally:
“Boo!” He whispered in the sleeper’s ear.
Malit jumped out of his skin, dazzled:
“Lights on!” He instinctively exclaimed, but a strong hand was already on his mouth, a forearm against his throat, preventing him from speaking. Malit tried to free himself from the grasp, but the heavy man on top of him pinned him to the mattress. Darkness remained around him.
“Now now my dear Master, let’s get a hold of ourselves. I call the shots, not you.”
The hand released his mouth but the pressure on his trachea remained tight.
“Sfax?” Malit croaked.
“Lights on!” Sfax chanted. The room became bright, forcing Malit to blink, creases at the corner of his eyes. A pudgy man’s face he had never seen before blocked his view, crazy eyes, and drooping cheeks.
“W…” The hand was back on his mouth.
“What did I just say Malit?” Voice stern, “I call the shots that includes the questions.” Sfax smiled tolerantly.
He turned around walking a few steps around the bed, hands twirling like a symphony maestro.
“I also control all that was your own, thanks to my dear genius over there.” Sfax pointed over his shoulder to the second man in the room. Malit looked at the corner of his eyes to the man silently standing on the right of his bed. Scrawny, tall, the somber figure nodded slightly in Malit’s direction.
Sfax clasped his hands together.
“Now Malit, will you be reasonable if I give you a little more freedom?”
His mouth was freed.
“Y...yes.” Malit answered, throat hurting.
“Good good good. You can let him go R.” Sfax said, nodding. “Don’t let appearances fool you Master, R. may look…bulky, but he would give your slave a run for her money. Very agile and also very effective I should say.”
The fat man named R released Malit’s throat, rolling dexterously off the bed. Malit sat up, facing Sfax, rubbing his sore neck.
“Let’s cut to the chase shall we? Where is she?”
Malit glared at Sfax, silent.
“It is in your best interest to cooperate.”
“The third time is not the charm for you Precursor.” Malit grinned ironically.
Sfax’s face hardened, eyes squinted, mouth pursed. Right hand flat, parallel to the ground, quick left to right movement, minute, almost imperceptible to the untrained eye; the pudgy man’s fist slammed in Sfax’s left cheek before he could process the secret gesture. His lips met his teeth. Blood started pearling on the open slit, iron taste spreading on his tongue. Malit did not say anything. Calmly, he wiped the growing drop of blood from his lower lip. He looked at his soiled finger before bringing his eyes back to Sfax.
“You won’t find her!”
“Oh that is what you wish, but we both know that it will go otherwise.”
Another hand signal, different this time and Malit found himself on the floor, being dragged by his hair to Sfax’s feet. R. then grabbed him by his sleeping tunic, forcing him to sit on his heels, facing Sfax, hands tied in his back by his iron grasp. Plunging his hand in his side pocket, Sfax extirpated a hand size black case. He opened it, uncovering two white patches, and a slim filmsheet.
“Do you recognize this?” He asked Malit, showing him the box’s content.
Malit shook his head negatively.
“Then let me enlighten you. Those two little electrodes right here are the latest technology in cortical-retinal recognition. Our filmsheet here will help me find what I am looking for. It will show me the latest image imprinted on your retina of a certain object; and I know you have guessed what I am looking for.” He illustrated his words poking at Malit’s forehead with his index finger.
“L., his head please. It’s time.” Sfax’s tone was now serious, commanding.
The scrawny man, until then immobile, moved to Malit’s side. His knotted hands grabbed each side of Malit’s face. Malit moved his head back and forth, trying to shake the hands off. L. suddenly grabbed his hair, pulling his head back, exposing Malit’s face. His other hand appeared in front of Malit, forcing him to intuitively to close his eyes, but the fingers dug, forcing his eyelids open. The air hit Malit’s sclera, stinging as he was unable to blink. Joyfully, like an artist adding finishing touches to a painting, Sfax grabbed one electrode between his index and his thumb, dabbing it on the open eye; he operated the same procedure on the other eye. Each electrode softened up at the touch of the moistened surface, covering perfectly the orbit, sticking to the tissue as tightly as a suction-cup. L. released his hair but his hands were still firmly held behind his back.
“Now Malit, just sit back and relax. Let me just enter the search criteria and it should be over pretty shortly” He tapped on the filmsheet. “Here we go.”
Malit heard a beep. The electrical current ran trough him, burning his eyes, melting through his optical nerves. Another beep.
“Perfect, I love this thing!” Sfax giggled.
He studied the tiny screen, thoughtful.
“Did you really take that little precautions Master? Even I would have thought you more careful by now. I thought all along that you may have destroyed it but I guess you couldn’t after all.”
“What…are you talking about?” Malit finally asked.
Sfax looked taken aback, genuinely surprised by Malit’s ignorance:
“But well Master, the slide containing her tracing aura of course.” He looked at R.”You can let him go now. I know where he hid it.”
The grasp around his hand was gone. Impulsively, Malit brought his hands to his eyes. His eyes felt as if they were going to come out of their orbits but the seal finally broke as he peeled the electrodes off. He touched his eyelids, waved his hands in front of him. That was then that Sfax had laughed:
“The blindness in temporary I assure you. They still have to perfect that tiny detail…but where you will be going, you won’t have to worry about that.”
If Malit had been able to see, he would have witnessed a third type of signal. The prick in the back of his neck was no bigger than a bee-sting he had experienced as a young child; then came the unconsciousness from which he would never rise.
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FrakKevin reviewed Version 1 -
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When it comes to creating new technology…you’re good with it. I like how you describe Sfax setting up the little patches. I really liked this chapter..and how everybody has kind of come together. It’s much easier to follow because of the stories being so closely connected now.
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oknapp reviewed Version 1 -
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Can you describe the meeting place in the solar system?
“He paused as Axia winked.” Why did Axia wink? i know this is probably a dumb question.
“Sfax will end up giving up sooner or later” In the end,Sfax will give up.
!” A drop of saliva was at the corner of his mouth..” A fleck of spittle dotted the corner of his mouth.
The frowns had deepened on his comrades features” Something is wrong with this sentence. The frown deepend on rake out comrades and name him.
Where did Axia go while this conversation was taking place?
“exposing Malit’s face.” i would take this out.
love this thing!” Sfax giggled.” You could change to, he chortled, he laughed, he grinned. Giggle reminds me of a girl and i think its too feminine.
This is very well written. The characters are well drawn. As the story moves along it becomes more interesting. The reader wonders if Axia will be found and of course what will happen to Malit. Axia ’s new makeover is interesting. One wonders how she will adjust. I suggested some things above. Keep me posted.
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