When he opened his eyes, he realized several things at once. The first was that it was extraordinarily dark. He would not have been able to see his hand had he waved it in front of his face.
The second was that he couldn't move his hand. He couldn't move anything at all. He strained to force his body into motion, focusing first on his head, then his hands, then his feet, before finally recalling that this was how it had always been. He could not remember ever moving, just as he had trouble remembering opening his eyes to see anything but the blackness around him.
He wasn’t sure where he was because he’d never known where he was. He had the strange sensation that he was laying down, but he couldn’t feel anything beneath him. Indeed, nothing seemed to touch him anywhere. This didn’t seem strange; nothing ever seemed to touch him anywhere. The very idea that something could hadn’t occurred to him yet.
But he thought. He thought of the possibilities: that he was alone, disembodied, floating through a void that stretched in all directions, a dream in the mind of a child or a god surveying a world he hadn't yet created. Looking out into the darkness once more, he wanted to will something into existence, a barely remembered body or a hazy field of flowers, anything that could fill some of this space. When nothing would, he raged, holding his breath with a pinched expression. His blood pulsed through his ears. Hearing it forced everything else from his mind.
He inhaled sharply to listen as the air rushed inside his nostrils and exhaled an uncertain note that trembled out between his lips. Lashes fluttering, he breathed in once more, this time letting the air out in a short bark. He knew his throat would be too sore to continue soon, but until then he would hum, cry, and burble into the darkness. The next time he opened his mouth a loud boom filled the air.
He smiled. He rediscovered sound.
“O-Eight’s at it again?” Geff turned toward the monitors, pressing a few buttons until the cameras trained on the proper room. Although the night vision turned everything a slightly granular green, he could still see the figure’s chest heave as it gathered enough air for the guttural noises reaching the watchtower. “What the hell’s that thing doing? None of the others ever made all that noise!”
Divina leaned over the arm of her office chair, shaking her head at the screen, “Yeah well, the loons did say they made some changes with this one. Guess mouthing off is one of the improvements.”
Geff pushed against the back of his seat, rubbing his face with the heels of his hands, “It’s getting really fucking old, man. I hope his voice gives out early tonight.” He slammed his hand down on the mute key a little harder than necessary.
“Geff, you know you can’t—”
“Yeah, yeah,” he interrupted. “Not allowed to be anything less than fully attentive. Whatever, Divina. Like shit’s gonna happen.” She shot him a look before turning back to her set of monitors.
“It’s your ass.”
Geff just snorted and put his feet up, crossing his legs at the ankles. “You bet.” He remained silent for a minute or so before lolling his head to the side to look at the other guard.
Geff prided himself in being a relatively good judge of character, but Divina, she was hard to read. Drumming his fingers on the armrest of his chair, he watched her from behind the protective shades of his uniform. He had to admit she was a pretty young thing, small and slender with brown baby-hair that feathered out from under her helmet. She had some light freckles over her cheeks and nose, just enough to make him wonder how far down her body the spots extended. Maybe over her shoulders, down her back, across her—
“What?”
Shit, she looked cross. Geff raised his hands in universal surrender. “Nothing, nothing!”
She was attractive, definitely, but clearly off limits. Wedding band notwithstanding, she was downright prickly. More importantly, she didn’t seem to care for him very much, in spite of – or perhaps because of – how friendly he’d been toward her. Still, Geff found the impossible usually made for the best fantasies, and with work being as slow as it was he had lots of time for fantasizing.
“So…” He grinned widely. “How about breakfast at my place?”
The request itself wasn’t too shady, but the way he said it made it clear breakfast would take place in a very rumpled bed. “Sod off,” Divina didn’t bother taking her eyes off the screen in front of her.
“But I make a fantastic omelette. You’ve really gotta try it.”
“Not hungry.” She sounded distracted. He took advantage of it.
“Ah, well I could always help you work up an appetite.” It was too easy, but she wasn’t taking the bait, her nose held close to the monitor.
“…Geff. Shut up. I’m looking at something.” Dragging his eyes up from her chest, he finally noticed her squint. He sat up, wheeling his chair closer so he could peer at the shadowy image with her. They really needed to invest in some better camera equipment.
He was about ready to tease Divina for imagining things when he saw it: one of the shadows was definitely moving. “Fuck. Someone’s there. I’ll call it in.” Divina nodded.
Cradling the phone against his shoulder, he dialed headquarters. “Observation tower. Suspicious activity in corridor 415—“
The explosion interrupted him. He didn’t even get the chance to warn Divina.
Anai straightened and brought the communicator to her lips. “Obs-out, but they were mid-report. You’d better haul ass, Lars.” She waited for the soft static to signify Lars copied before leaning flush against the wall. She’d give him a moment and then start making her way out. Not the way she’d come in of course – she figured the guards would be all over that corridor by now – but she’d parked her hover along one of the back walls. She could head that way and make her own exit when she got there.
It was eerily quiet as she made her way down the corridor, one hand resting on the pistol at her hip. They were, after all, in one of the higher ranked compounds. Where was all the security? Had they relied on secrecy to keep them safe? It just didn’t make sense.
Pausing at a junction, Anai pulled the comm. out once more and pressed a few buttons, pulling the building’s blueprints onto the view screen. She’d taken the wing’s observation tower out with a remote detonator, always good for a distraction while Lars did his thing a good distance away. So where was the swarm of armed lackeys, come to save the day for their employers? Where were the red emergency lights, the alarms? What the fuck was going on?
She turned left, keeping close to the wall as she did so. According to the blueprints, it shouldn’t be too long before she could blow the brick and mortar and jet it. It had all been too easy, going directly according to plan. This, she decided, would be the perfect time for everything to go wrong.
The alarm went off, loud and shrill, barely a minute later. Worse still: the lights came on. Blinded by the sudden fluorescence, Anai threw an arm over her eyes, grip tightening on her gun as if she could see well enough to shoot it. She had to get out, or at least get out of the open. She moved with new determination toward the outside wall only to be deterred by the unmistakable sensation of a bullet flying an inch or so away from her head. Holding her breath, she returned fire, exhaling only when she saw the guard fall to the floor. That should buy her some time, not enough to make a getaway but at least enough to find a good hiding place.
Pressing the mayday button on the communicator, Anai sprinted down the hallway. She’d duck into one of the rooms and see if she couldn’t find a vent to crawl through. Lars would be able to find the source of her signal and, hopefully, come get her without getting himself killed. She bit her lip and cracked one of the doors midway down the corridor, squeezing inside and closing it with a barely audible click.
It was far too dark to see anything, and Anai stuck close to the wall, groping it in search of a light switch. Then she heard it: someone was already hiding in here, breath audible in the otherwise silent room. Anai raised her gun, aiming into the room as her other hand finally found the switch. She’d blind whomever it was with the same brightness that had shocked her in the hallway. Hopefully she could use that opportunity to her advantage.
Narrowing her eyes, Anai tightened her grip on her gun and flipped the switch. “Fucking hell..!”
08 felt exactly the same way.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Chapter One
