31 Solitary Confinemen (1/2)
The door to the 4th floor opens, and a man slips through. He is crouched and makes his way toward the open door down the hall.
”Please, at least be safe,” a female voice says.
The man feels the finality in that comment and speeds up his movements. He makes it to the doorway as the woman is grabbing the top of the window frame and ducking underneath it. She is wearing strips of clothing around her head and neck and a green jumpsuit.
”Stop right there!” He orders.
The female freezes and turns to him. She drops her gloved hands from the window frame and holds them up.
”Turn around!”
”Who are you?!” She yells back while still facing the window.
”Kelly. I've been sent by Dennis to investigate you.”
The woman turns around and sees the man's gun pointed at her.
”What?” She asks.
”The information you fed to the Wanderers and Ika's group has been confirmed as false by not only your escape but your broadcasts as well,” Kelly replies.
”How long have you been listening to them?” She asks.
”We've monitored you since your very first day sending out messages,” He tells her.
Sia feels so dumb. She led these men right to her. Sia vaguely remembers mention of Kelly and his group being missing in action while at the mercenary camp.
”Where are Turner and Ika?” Sia asks.
The man shrugs and motions with his gun for her to come closer. Sia takes a step forward and stops.
”You're wanted for questioning. We don't understand your games now, but with a little time. It won't be hard,” Kelly says.
Sia gulps and takes another step toward the man. His threat makes her imagine scary movie scenes that include a person being tortured for information. They are waterboarded, cut with a knife, and/or tied down as someone plucks off their fingernails. There aren't any authorities to stop people from acting their worst in this world. Sia might not make it out of this alive.
If they believe she is a spy for a competitor there is no reason for them to keep her safe anymore. They'll want to know who she is working for, and she won't be able to truthfully tell them anything. They'll think she is lying. If she goes back with this man she may never see her family again.
She takes another step toward the gun-wielding man.
Kelly relaxes as he sees the woman come closer to him. He loosens his grip on his gun and straightens from his crouch. He looks over at the deconstructed window for a moment.
That one second of distraction is all Sia needs to turn on her heel and run for the window.
”Hey!” Kelly calls out.
The top of Sia's head collides with the top of the window frame, but her body continues forward. Her body disappears below. Kelly rushes forward to look for her crumpled form.
'That had to hurt.' Kelly thinks.
He looks down to the platform below and searches for her body. The landing is dusted with snow, but nothing else. She is gone. He can see disturbed snow and footsteps leading to the next edge.
He retracts his head from the window and examines the window frame. Fresh blood stains the edge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`````````
MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY DETECTED
The synthetic intelligence developer assumes control of Sia's body after the impact. Midair, it maneuvers Sia's body into a roll, jumps up, and dives off the next edge. From there it crouches and looks around for any movements nearby.
NO APPROACHING ORGANISMS
SUBJECT 001 IS UNDETECTED
It continues moving along the side of the building until it can see the rear parking area.
ENHANCING LOWER EXTREMITIES BY 20%
Sia's body doesn't have enough energy to use, but it makes it to an abandoned car without getting spotted. It is a supply van. There are fewer cars in this rear parking area than in the two parking lots at the front of the building.
It scans the area again.
NO APPROACHING ORGANISMS
SUBJECT 001 IS UNDETECTED
There is a fence that separates the parking lot from the vast wilderness behind the technology company. The metal fence is coated with ice and snow. It's rusted, but when the wind hurls itself at it the fence holds. It is deeply rooted in the ground.
The synthetic intelligence developer scans once more before running up to the fence and using a burst of energy to jump to the top of the fence and flip Sia's body over it. It goes down the other side halfway, lets go of the fence and bends her knees to absorb the landing. Sia's body crouches and turns toward the vast wilderness.
SCANNING….
SCANNING….
DANGER UNDECTED
NO APPROACHING ORGANISMS
It jogs into the frozen woods at a steady pace.
OPENING MAP OF COLDSTONE 2018…
CONNECTING TO SATELLITE IMAGING…
OVERLAYING IMAGES…
As it travels through the woods it looks for the best place to hide its' host's body. The cold terrain means none of the agricultural cultivation sites would have survived until now. The best place to have shelter from the wintry weather and a possible source of food after 16 years of scavenging would be…
SCANNING…
TAGGING LOCATIONS…
CROSS-REFERENCING…
EXAMINING REGISTRATIONS…
CALCULATIN…
CALCULAT…
CALCUL…
ERROR DETECTED
ERROR DETECTED
ERROR…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`````
---- A FEW DAYS AGO----
I couldn't feel anything. Everything felt so far away. I wished I could open my eyes just one more time and see their faces. I wanted to go home.
Every inhale tasted of a cleaning formula used often by the staff there. It sickened me. It only took one inhale to let me know where exactly I was, but I still wished to see it with my own eyes. I couldn't remember the last time I could register where I was. I had slept so long.
The deep sleep should have healed most of the damage the scientist had done to me, but I still could not open my eyes. I could not feel myself anymore. Everything felt so far away.
'Apex calling Sid. Apex calling Sid,' I called out within my mind.
SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER ACTIVATED
ADMINISTRATOR 001: APEX RECOGNIZED
S.I.D REPORTING FOR DUTY
'Report energy levels.'
ENERGY LEVELS AT 20%
'Has there been any positive increases in our energy?'
NEGATIVE
APEX ENERGY LEVELS HAVE STEADILY DECREASED SINCE 11FEBUARY2018
STASIS.MODE HAS FAILED
'Can you give my eyes a boost? I only want to see for a few moments.'
AFFIRMATIVE
SCANNING OCULUS UTERQUE
ERROR
OCULUS UTERQUE MISSING
'My eyes are missing?!'
AFFIRMATIVE
I could barely control my breathing. My chest felt tight.
I could remember them injecting me with the darts from their weapons. I could remember them restraining me while I struggled to call out for help. My throat had closed, and my body no longer listened to the commands I gave it. For millennia, Underlings protected one another from such captures as what befell me. Yet, it happened. Who could I blame? I couldn't remember. I still can't.
Then I noticed it. My breathing quickened, but I could not hear it.
'I can not hear my breathing, Sid. Have my ear components been altered?'
AFFIRMATIVE
I could feel the vibrations of my chest as I groaned. I could feel my head as it moved against a restraint. I was pinned down by some sort of strap. As I focused more on my body, I could feel several more straps around myself. Not much of myself. Quite a few places still felt very distant to me.
'Access the cameras and process the images inside my brain,' I ordered.
AFFIRMATIVE
ACCESSING DATABASE…
SEARCHING FOR VIDEO FEEDS…
VIDEO FEEDS LOCATED…
DOWNLOADING VIDEO FEED 324J32A…
PLAYING…
'Oh, creator!'
I laid upon a black long chair that had wide brown straps thrown over my body.