Solipsis: Escape from the Comatorium (20 page)

“
But
who?” Mirror-Renee asks.

“
If
we could figure out who it was,” Renee says, “and then we
somehow got them to leave or give up their status, then admin
privileges would revert to the original moderators.”

“
But
there's no way of knowing who it is, who's in charge,”
Mirror-Renee responds sullenly. “It's not Lazarus or any of the
cult guys, none of them would ever be vivisected.”

“
We
might be able to figure it out, if they're collaborating, they're
probably not in hell.”

“
Even
if we could figure out who it was, they would have to give up admin
privileges
by
choice
,”
Mirror-Renee replies.

“
We
could make them,” Renee says.

“
Torture?”
Mirror-Renee asks.

Renee
smiles. She finally has a glimmer of hope. “Let's do it.”
She stands up and discovers her twin has vanished. She searches the
dead angel, removing his armor and strapping it on herself, but the
angel carried no weapons.

Renee
carries on.

Renee
stumbles through the desert. As she crosses a ridge, she finds
dozens of people strapped into stockades. She spots the group as she
crosses a ridge, finding them in a small valley. Renee gets down low,
surveying the situation.
There's
probably some angels guarding nearby. I don't know that I can break
anyone out of those things.
Renee
watches them, taking in information, plotting. Then a group of twenty
or so people run into the valley, sprinting towards the prisoners.
Some of them carry those blue flaming swords that the angels carry.

Renee
gets up and hobbles, running as best as she can, shrinking her
clubbed foot with every destructive step. She rushes to help as they
begin to cut into the stockades. Three angels fly toward them. The
group immediately retreats, leaving many prisoners behind. “Wait!”
Renee shouts, not wanting to abandon the prisoners, but she has no
choice. She runs with the herd of survivors back over the hill. Renee
looks back and finds the angels aren't chasing. She slows down,
hobbling on her rocky foot.

“
Come
on,” a survivor shouts back to Renee. He comes back to help
her. “Must go faster,” he says as they start running
again. A terrible screech echoes through the valley. A dragon flies
over the ridge, zeroing in on the two of them as they make it toward
the safety of the cave. Two survivors standing guard at the entrance
beckon Renee and her new friend to hurry. The dragon unleashes a
fireball. They run past bodies of dead angels and leap into the cave,
just as the fireball hits the mouth of the cave. A vortex of fire
shoots down the cavern, but disappears in an instant, harming no one.

“
There's
some water down there,” the man says. There are many survivors
deep in this vein.

“
Thanks,”
Renee says to her savior as she starts down into the cave. “I
don't even know your name. But thanks.”

“
It's
Cedric, and no problem,” he replies. He has the appearance of a
twenty-five year old man, a picture of fitness, but could be a ninety
year old woman for all Renee knew, the display system had been long
since shut off.

Renee
treads carefully on the sharp descending rocks going into this cave.
There's a make-shift water collector made out of bits of angel armor,
powered by a man peddling. A fan takes in air, a series of pumps and
tubes effectively draw water right out of the air and it collects,
dripping very slowly into a basin. The new rescues crowd around it,
too many of them try to drink at the same time. Renee stands back, in
no hurry whatsoever.

Renee
finally gets her turn as the crowd disperses. She partially fills a
cup made of hammered out metal and takes a drink. She finds Cedric
sitting not far away and goes to sit by him. “So is there some
kind of plan?”

“
We're
trying to find some girl,” Cedric replies, “she's our
only hope.”

“
What
girl?” Renee asks.

“
I
don't know, I just overheard some guys talking about it,”
Cedric replies.

“
Well,
why is she our only hope? Who is she?”

“
I
don't know her name,” Cedric replies, “for some reason
she's the only person that can get back to Earth. Something about the
neural net. I don't really know what they were talking about.”

“
I
think they were talking about me,” Renee says, wide-eyed.

“
Yeah
right, I'm sure you're the big savior.”

“
When
the attack started, where were you?” Renee asks.

“
I
was stuck in the loading program, just like everybody else,” he
replies.

“
I
wasn't. I was in Solipsis while everyone else was frozen. I think it
has something to do with that. Who was talking about it?”

“
They're
probably just down there,” Cedric replies. “Look for the
bear.”

“
Medved!”
Renee shouts excitedly, jumping to her feet and heading deeper into
the cave. She spots Medved, heading towards him. In the dark, she
spots Percival and Gwen too, along with several other survivors she
recognizes.

“
Mom!
Dad! Medved!” Renee shouts. The entire group, even the people
Renee doesn't know, all jump to their feet, their body language
changes from defeated to ecstatic.

“
We've
been looking for you for days!” Percival says, elated. Renee is
bombarded with hugs all around. Gwen will not let go.

“
Thank
god, thank god,” Gwen's eyes well up.

“
We
need to get moving,” Percival says. Gwen tries to take Renee
deeper into the cave, away from Percival. They sit together and hold
each other close.
“
Get
ready everyone, we're moving out,” Percival shouts. Percival's
feet crunch toward Renee and Gwen on the fresh igneous rock. “Come
on Renee, we've gotta go.”

“
Where
are we going?” Renee asks.

“
We're
breaking out of hell,” Percival replies, putting on the helmet
from a fallen angel. Other survivors crowd around. Gwen tries to
shield her daughter from them.

“
And
then what?” Renee asks excitedly.

“
Wait,
doesn't she know?” an excited survivor asks.

“
Know
what?” Renee asks.

“
She
doesn't know?” another survivor asks, “You're the only
one that can get to Earth.”

“
She
doesn't need to know!” Percival shouts angrily, interrupting.

“
What
the hell are you guys talking about?” Renee pleads. Nobody
offers a word of explanation. Gwen stands up and pulls Renee with
her, deeper into the cavern, away from the crowd.

“
No!
Don't tell her!” Percival shouts.

“
She
needs to know!” Gwen insists, pushing on deeper into the cave.
Percival rushes after them, grabbing Gwen, yanking her away from
Renee. “Renee!”

“
Get
her out of here,” Percival shouts. Survivors grab Renee and
take her back toward the cave entrance while Percival holds Gwen,
covering her mouth.

“
What
are you doing!?” Renee demands. She's taken nearly back to the
mouth of the cave.

“
Let
her go!” Cedric shouts to the survivors, holding out a sword
threateningly. They let go, retreating back down the cave, but
keeping her from rushing right back to Gwen. “What was that
about, you making trouble already?”

“
There's
something they don't want me to know,” Renee responds.

“
What
is it?”

“
It's
something about me. Somehow I'm the only one that can get back to
Earth,” Renee replies, “I'm the one they were looking
for.”

“
It's
you?” Cedric asks, taken-aback. “I never would have
suspected.”

“
Suspected
what?”

“
You're
the only that can get back to Earth because...well, you're-”

Renee's
animatron bolts upright in bed. She's completely shocked, totally
unaware of her surroundings. She's in her animatron, on Earth, naked.
“What the hell is going on?” Renee covers herself up
quickly. There's a teenage boy, 16, sickly, sitting not far from the
bed, fiddling with some electronics. “Who are you?”

“
Are
you serious?” the boy asks.

“
I'm
on Earth? How did I get here?” Renee asks, spinning in bed,
putting her bare feet on the cold floor.

“
What
the hell?” the boy says.

“
We
have to get the administrator,” Renee says quickly.

“
We
just talked about this...We made a plan and everything. You don't
remember any of that?”

“
Who
are you?” Renee demands. The boy is in shock.

“
Seth,”
he says, bewildered.

“
I
need to know where I am and what is going on right now.”

“
We
don't have time for that!” he insists, “We need to go
plant this bomb right now.” He holds up a small charge.

“
Plant
it where?” Renee asks.

“
In
the Comatorium! It was your idea. You really don't remember?”

“
Why
would we put a bomb in the Comatorium?” Renee asks. Then she
remembers a sliver of data: “In case we fail, everyone will die
rather than suffering forever.”

A
sealed door opens, and Renee-bot and the boy slowly enter the
Comatorium. “I've never been in here before,” Renee
whispers.

“
Shh,
guards up ahead.” His voice becomes incredibly low pitched.
Xenon is much heavier than air and deepens your voice in the same way
helium makes it higher pitched. The effect is not just opposite, but
stronger too. They sneak between brain vats. The Comatorium is
extremely humid. Water condenses on the walls of all the vats, and a
misty haze lingers near the floor. The entire place glows a soft
purplish blue. Two cult members sit in the brightly lit control room.
The white room stands out, reflecting through the thousands of vats.

“
Are
you sure this will do the job?” Seth whispers in his almost
comically low-pitched voice.