Digital Heretic (29 page)

Chapter 60

I have always been fascinated by knowledge, specifically how some of it is accepted, some of it is rejected, and other portions are allowed to be considered further.

 
Many believe this is not terribly interesting. They say, ‘If something works, then it is accepted; if it doesn’t, then it is not accepted.’ This is definitely not the case. A plant exists today that can be processed and refined to provide us with a myriad of benefits. The leaves and seeds bestow incredible health, allowing our bodies to fight disease and maintain optimum function. The oils pressed from the plant can be made into an efficient and clean burning fuel to replace our current system of poisonous and polluting fuels. The fibers from the plant can be formed into compounds, which are then used to make a material that is stronger than most of our current metals. All of these benefits and more can be obtained by using this plant. The other amazing fact is that processing it is very inexpensive.

A person can learn to tap into unseen energy and focus it on human cells, resulting in healing a person of most sickness and
disease, at no cost to anyone.

  These are just two
examples of knowledge that our race gained, tested, confirmed, and then denied so that the majority would never know or believe such things.

 
I have spent my life studying knowledge, and throughout our long and rich history there are thousands of examples like this. Our race

has ignored discoveries that could help us to evolve and grow. Every day we continue to ignore these types of miracles.

  Imagine if the very first cave man to discover fire had looked around and simply stamped it out before anyone else could see what he had.

 
Perhaps he did; perhaps it happened many times, until the truth could no longer be hidden.

 
Or perhaps there were fires all around early people and it never occurred to them how to use it to their advantage. Then one woman or man came along and thought differently than the others. They held raw food over the fire and the others laughed and mocked her.

 
This is the history I follow. It is both interesting and challenging to piece together.

 
Challenging because those who do not want advancement most often destroy record of the advancement, many times, until the advancement can no longer be denied.

Cara Halm
, Historian of Advancement

Shane

 
This new compute
r
fascinates me.

 
Looking at the monitor, I watch it floating lazily inside its host. At the current magnification, it looks like a regular cell as it rides the river of lifegiving blood towards its new destination. It reminds me of a similar event that occurred more than two thousand years ago with a man who designed a similar machine.

 
The current microcomputer is composed of silica and metals; the ancient one was made from modified tree cells and strings of mysterious single stranded proteins that the inventor had just discovered. He called them rNA. Both the old and the new are made from the same thing… atoms.

 
His creation was too advanced for its time, a dangerous, microscopic sentient life form. It had to be destroyed, along with him and his entire country. That’s how Atlantis ceased to exist. I annihilated all of it, then let it sink below the surface of the ocean.

 
I watch this little supercomputer float around and my instincts tell me that I should do the same thing now, destroy this whole damned continent and bury it.

 
But what if it can help get me out of this damned Game? I’m not as nice as I was back then; it’s time to be a bit more selfish and take care of myself.

 
I look away from the monitor towards the boy sitting at his computer. “What have you got for me, Seven?” I ask.

 
“I’m able to hack into its basic command structure,” he says from inside his cell, “but I’ve had no success tapping into higher command functions.”

 
“You’ve been at it for quite some time,” I say. “This is disappointing to me, Seven.”

 
He looks frightened, which is appropriate, because we both know I’m likely going to hurt him. “I’m sorry, boss,” he says. “This is the most sophisticated piece of electronics I have ever seen. If I make one wrong step, the thing disintegrates. We’ve already lost two of the copies that it sent to the other inmates.”

 
“I know this, Seven,” I say.

 
“I’m sorry
,
boss,” he whimpers again. “I’m afraid that they’re all linked together. It makes sense that they are, since they’re so small and apparently governed by quantum mechanics.”

 
I sigh and nod. It looks like I’m expecting too much from my young friend. “You are very useful, Seven. It is for that reason alone that I will accept this failure. I agree, if they are all subject to quantum entanglement, then tampering with one might cause us to lose the one in the field that does work properly.”

 
He sounds relieved. “Shall I go ahead and bring up that feed on the monitor?”

 
“Yes.” I say.

 
He types in some commands, and images appear on the screen. It’s exactly like watching the feeds from a command centre on Tygon. Her vitals are displayed on the bottom right side of the screen; the sound and my view is from a first person perspective — and it’s all being recorded.

 
“It looks like they’ve been rescued,” I say. Raphael is talking to Danielle, hugging her and making sure she’s unharmed. I can see Stephanie and the young flying girl in the background.

 
“Her vitals look good,” Seven says.

Danielle walks over to the car and gets in next to another figure.

 
“Who is that?” I ask.

The face of the person inside the car is familiar. Very familiar.

 
“This could be a problem,” I say.

 
Seven finally recognizes the other occupant in the car. “Isn’t that Three?” he asks.

 
“Yes, it would appear that it is.”

Chapter 61

 
In case you’re one of the few who stepped away from your viewers for a brief rest, get back to it now! Danielle has returned to the Game, and she has company.

 
Early updates tell us that Carl, the infernal who killed Trew and… well, I don’t have to give any of you his resume, do I? Carl is with her!

 
If you subscribe to Melissa’s channel, then you were fortunate enough to witness Danielle climbing out of a hole in the desert, Carl by her side.

 
We don’t have much to report, but this is news — big news!

  Okay
, back to the view screen for me, too. This is so exciting!

Lisa Rohansen reporting

Danielle

 
“
That’s it?
”
Raphael asks.

 
They brought us back to the estate, cleaned us up, and had a doctor give me a complete checkup to make sure I was okay. Carl came with us. Raphael looked at his eyes, and just nodded. I tried to talk a couple of times, but Raphael said to save it, that we would do a full debrief once the doctor said I was in good health. I’m not sure if Carl got medical attention. After they said I was fine, we all assembled in the main room. Then I began to tell my story. Every

once in a while
, Stephanie or Raphael would interrupt with additional questions.

 
“What do you mean, that’s it?” I ask.

 
“He’s wondering if you left anything out,” Carl says. He sits in the corner, I think it might take a few tries before he feels comfortable around the Eternals. He’s used to walking in and making threats, inviting violence or delivering terrible news. To be actually sitting here ‘on our side’ now seems to be a bit strange to him. I know it’s a lot strange for the rest of us. The Eternals don’t seem too fazed by it, though. They’ve always said that the Timeless are all Brothers and Sisters; each of them has been on both sides of the field before. I’m not so sure how it works; I’ll have to trust them. This new one, Miranda, makes me more nervous than Carl. She actually sits among us with red eyes, yet they don’t seem worried about her either.

 
“Not much happened, if that’s the entire story.” Raphael admits. “You were gone for over a month, Danni. Captured by one of the most dangerous creatures on this planet — no offense, Carl.”

 
“None taken,” Carl says. “He always made me look like a Boy Scout, but that just gave me a goal to shoot for.” His grin is old Carl to the core. I smile.

 
“And he did nothing to you?” Raphael shakes his head.

 
“He did stuff to Carl,” I say.

 
Stephanie stands up and pours a drink of water and a glass of Scotch. She carries both over to Carl, who takes the scotch and waves away the water. He takes a drink and sighs.

 
“What’s your take on it, Carl?” Raphael asks.

 
“I’m not sure why he took her,” Carl says. “He said he wanted information from her. Before she got there he told me I was to kill her when he was done, but that was a lie. He knew all along I had changed.”

 
“Yes, somehow the leaders know when it happens,” Raphael confirmed. “I tried to hide it too, but Daniel kicked me from the lair very quickly. Not even a hug and a handshake.”

 
Carl laughed. “He’s not the touchy feely type, that’s for sure. I’ve been running through the whole experience in my head, and the only explanation that fits is that he wanted me to break Danielle out.”

 
Carl talks about the torture, how it wasn’t horrible for him, but for a person like me it would have been devastating. Then Shane promised I would get exactly the treatment he’d delivered to Carl and told him when it would happen. Carl also talks about his digging, and us being left alone until he just happened to finish his work.

 
“So he took the two of you and locked you up together, just so you could escape?” Stephanie asks.

 
“May I inspect the two of you?” the Infernal asks. Her name’s Miranda. A pretty lady, although she looks sad for some reason. They are all treating her like she’s an Eternal, which doesn’t make sense after what Carl told me about a Timeless having to follow their eyes first and foremost. I trust the people in this room, though. If they feel she’s no threat, then I will bow to their wisdom.

 
“Sure ya can, darlin’,” Carl says. He stands up and closes his eyes. Miranda approaches him and does the same, entering a state of light meditation. Then she runs her hands up and down, I can feel the Reiki energy radiating from her hands.

 
After a few moments, she opens her eyes and shakes her head negatively, then moves to my side. I close my eyes and wait for her to scan me as well. A light tap on my shoulder tells me when she is done. I look at her questioningly, but she shakes her head again. “Nothing that I can detect. I thought he would plant a monitoring device on you, but I can’t sense anything.”

 
“Maybe he figured out a way to hide something?” Stephanie said.

 
“I would definitely detect it,” Miranda said.  “Even without Sparx.”

 
“What’s Sparx?” I ask.

 
“I’ll tell you later,” she says with a sad smile.

 
“Something stinks; I think we can all agree on that,” Carl said. Everyone in the room nods, including me.

 
“So what’s next?” I ask.

 
“I have no idea,” Raphael says. “Usually there’s an enemy, a crisis, something. But I don’t see anything… or is it just me?”

 
“I agree,” I say. “The movement is underground, and our members are safe from assassination.”

 
Carl grunts and laughs at the statement. I smile sweetly, knowing how much we pissed him off in the final few months of his hunt, denying him success.

 
“I’m safe and sound. Carl is… neutralized
,
for the moment, as far as we are concerned. He’s not a threat to us.” I pause and frown. “Is that true? Are we all certain that Carl is not a threat? ‘Cause maybe he’s a plant, sent here to destroy us from the inside?”

 
Everyone in the room laughs. “I can see how you might think that, Danni,” Stephanie says. Timeless are above the backstabbing and lying that so often accompanies human dramas, at least to a point. If Carl showed up with red eyes and claimed to be on our side, well, then we would be very,
very
cautious. In all likelihood we would suspect treachery.”

 
“Really?” I say, looking towards Miranda. “If an Infernal showed up, claiming to be on our side, we would suspect they were lying?”

 
Stephanie shakes her head. “No, not Miranda. She’s different.”

 
“How so?” I ask.

 
“I can’t tell you, Danni.” Steph says. “What I can tell you is that everyone in this room will vouch for Miranda. You know what our primary mission is, to protect you at all costs. I am willing to bet my entire existence, and your life, on my judgment.”

 
“Does everyone else agree with Stephanie?” I ask. I look at each Timeless in the room and one by one they nod; even Carl appears

to agree. I wonder what they all know about her that makes her safe? I shrug, knowing there’s no point in asking.

  “Okay, then,” I say. “So that leads us back to my original question. What do we do now?”

 
The room is silent.

 
“No bright ideas?” I ask.

 
“It’s your play, Danni,” Raph says. “It always has been. We are here for you.”

 
“Well, if it’s my play, I haven’t done a very good job of it since Trew left,” I admit. “I doubt anyone will be following my life at all on Tygon.”

  “Oh, yes
, you’re very boring,” Carl says sarcastically. “A flying girl who hunts professional killers and makes them look like untrained boys, as she exacts vengeance to protect her flock of hidden followers. Followers of a new religion that rivals centuries old establishments. Very boring, indeed.”

 
I laugh out loud. “When you put it that way, it doesn’t seem quite so bland.”

 
“Think of something, girl,” Carl finishes his drink. “Before I get so bored my eyes turn back to red from sitting on my ass and I have to try and kill you some more.”

 
Then it comes to me in a flash, like a jolt of lightning.

 
“Uh-oh,” Raphael says. “I see that look in your eyes, Danni. The same one you had when you were little, before you jumped off that dumpster and into traffic.”

 
I grin. “Then get ready to catch me, Raph, ‘cause I’m about to really start playing this game of life.”