WHAT LIES BEYOND
Chapter 10- Me
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Three, Two, One
Reality's the plague, we're the medication
A new manipulation, oversaturation
Take advantage of what you deny
So step right up and see the possibilities
We are everything you wanted
"ULTRAnumb" by Blue Stahli
Reality's the plague, we're the medication
A new manipulation, oversaturation
Take advantage of what you deny
So step right up and see the possibilities
We are everything you wanted
"ULTRAnumb" by Blue Stahli
Adam pinched his temple, still trying to beat past the sleepy cloud over his mind. He was overjoyed at the news of Kai's discovery, but at the same time, he had very little patience to wait through Kai's explanation of how he'd made that discovery. His head was a mess and Kai just kept talking.
"So the biggest problem I had was trying to get past that virus, right? So I wrote this program that can dig in and figure out the kind of coding the virus was made with... and then when that was done I wrote another program that could bypass the firewall and finally start to dig up some information for us without me ever lifting a finger! Which wasn't easy and it took me a couple weeks to get it all up and running but---"
"Cut to the chase, Kai," Adam grumbled, folding his arms.
Kai snorted. "I just wanted to tell you how I---"
"I don't want to know the gory details," Adam snapped back. "What did you find?" He could feel Mira's what the heck look, even if he couldn't see her from where he stood.
Kai brought up the main menu. "Dunno. Haven't checked yet." He gave Adam a snarky frown that screamed offense. "Care to pick a category, O Wise Leader?"
All right, so maybe he'd been a bit rude to his friend. Adam sighed. "Sorry for snapping at you, dude; I'm tired. Pick what you want."
"All righty then... one 'AARC Info' tab comin' right up!"
It was an underwhelming result at first. One file now existed in the directory--- "Advertisement.MP4". Kai selected it. A new window opened, and after a few seconds of buffering, the video began to play. A woman with short, spiked, ruddy brown hair, thick-rimmed glasses and a white labcoat appeared onscreen. She had a friendly smile on her face. Kai tensed.
"Hello!" said the woman, "I'm Anna Abrams. Have you or someone you know suffered from chronic disease or head trauma? Physical restrictions, inhibitions, mental disorders or mental illnesses?" The view switched to a shot of the familiar hallways and doors--- only now, staff in sterile white scrubs moved up and down the corridors.
"Weird," Adam remarked under his breath.
The ad continued, showing other familiar, now-populated locations throughout the narration. "Find relief at Anna Abrams Restoration Center--- your place of refuge. Far away from society and supplied with the latest in virtual escape technology, our state-of-the-art facility is fully equipped to help you or your loved one rediscover what it is to live freely again, unencumbered by sickness and pain. Register today!"
The advertisement wrapped up as a shot of the lookout deck faded to white, the blue AARC logo, and an audio notation about contacting the company helpline for information and reservations. Adam had no idea what to make of the ad.
"So..." Mira sounded as unsure as Adam felt. "Does that mean we're... sick?"
"I don't think so," said Adam. "I don't feel sick."
"But we've all felt off since we got here... right?" asked Mira. "And look at Skeet. He's blind. I mean... it makes sense."
"We aren't sick," Adam insisted, harsher than he'd intended. He softened his tone. "Not physically, anyway. I mean.... maybe the Hollow did something to our heads, and that's why we can't remember how we got here."
"Maybe the Hollow wasn't even a real game," said Mira. "Like, what if... what if it was just part of the Engage system? We might not even know each other outside of it. What if they just... randomly stuck us and the other kids in the same rooms and that machine's the only reason we know each other right now?"
"I..." Adam shook his head, crestfallen and confused. "I don't know what to think." For once, he didn't have a ready answer for his friend. Could she be right? Was all he thought he knew a lie? What was real? What was true? Which memories could he trust and which ones were false?
They stood in silence for a few moments. Adam's thoughts continued to spiral out of control, further and further, deeper and deeper into a pitch black abyss--- a cyclone. Adam's heartbeat had never been louder. A cloud of anger obscured his thoughts--- an anger with nobody in mind. He was just angry. Angry at this impossible situation? He didn't know. His thoughts and frustrations were a pit of quicksand sucking at his feet... his knees... up to his hips now... He could feel himself sinking deeper into the mire, no hope of return in sight...
"It's her."
Kai's voice sucked Adam back to the surface. He and Mira turned toward their unkempt friend, who sat still with a pensive pinch in his brow.
"Anna Abrams."
Mira narrowed her eyes. "What about her?"
Kai shifted. "OK, guys. This is gonna sound really weird, and... I know we're all confused enough as it is, but---"
"Just spit it out," Adam growled.
"I was getting to it!" Kai snapped. He regained his composure, yet still glared at Adam. "I swear I've heard her name before and I know I've heard her voice before. She was..." He swallowed, hesitant. "I've had a couple dreams. Nightmares, really. And her voice was in both of them. Neither time was good." He folded his arms and glanced aside, a cloud of fear in his sky blue eyes.
Mira bit her lip. "Let's look at something else," she suggested.
Kai spun back around and returned to the main menu. He selected "Patient Info". A list of six very familiar names appeared. "Hey... we really are the only people here."
Adam leaned in closer. "So those are our last names."
"Yeah," said Mira. "I... didn't even realize until now that I didn't remember mine."
"I feel like I know mine," said Kai. "Kairos Stevens. Has a nice ring to it." He began reading off the other names. "Adam Delacruz. Vanessa Masters. Skeet Bronson. Reeve Wallace. And Mira... Sayto?"
"Sah-to," Mira corrected him. "I'm pretty sure that's how you say it."
"Mira Sato." Kai chuckled. "I knew that."
"Can you click on them?" asked Adam. "See if there's any more info about us or why we're here?"
"Let's see. Uuuuhhhh..." When Kai clicked Adam's name, the page changed. "Yes!" It was Adam's very own information page, complete with an unflattering profile picture. Adam read through his information with a tired frown and eye shadows dark enough to match the image on screen.
ADAM DELACRUZ
Age: 16
Height: 183cm
Weight: 62kg
Check-In Date: August 28, 2048
Admitted for: Brain Damage
Notes: Patient was irascible but cooperative.
"Brain damage, huh?" Kai released a shaky sigh. "I don't like the sound of that."
Neither did Adam.
"Let's see the rest," said Mira.
MIRA SATO
Age: 16
Height: 160cm
Weight: 55kg
Check-In Date: August 28, 2048
Admitted for: Brain Damage
Notes: Patient was confused and regularly lost focus.
KAIROS STEVENS
Age: 15
Height: 158cm
Weight: 54kg
Check-In Date: August 28, 2048
Admitted for: Brain Damage
Notes: Patient was highly uncooperative.
Kai barked a breathy chuckle. "Highly uncooperative. That's me, all right." He scratched his arm nervously.
A deep-rooted pang of discomfort began to burn in Adam's belly. "There's not enough information here," he growled.
"It's enough to give us some idea," said Mira. "Apparently we were all checked in on the same day with brain damage. That can't be a coincidence. That means we have to know each other." She paused. "Maybe."
"But it doesn't say what kind of brain damage!" Adam snapped, throwing up his arms. "What gave us the brain damage? Why isn't there any staff here anymore?"
"Adam..." breathed Mira. She set a hand on his arm, meant to calm him down. It didn't work.
Adam nudged her hand away and stormed toward Kai. "I hope you find more information fast, Kai." Adam struggled to keep his voice level. He could feel the blood pulsing through his skull, threatening to turn his sight red.
"I'm working as fast as I can, dude," said Kai.
"Work faster," Adam demanded. "With any luck we can find a way out before the other kids do."
"Why do you care if they find a way out first or not?" Kai scoffed. "We're all in the same boat. Err, ark. If they find a way out, we all do."
"Really, Kai?" Adam steamed. "Do you really think those guys would tell us if they found a way off this thing?"
Kai thought about it. "Well, um..." he shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."
Adam's eyes narrowed to slits. "We can't trust them to get us out of here. We can only trust each other. Remember?"
Mira folded her arms, dubious. "I don't remember ever agreeing to that sentiment, but OK."
Adam softened his voice. "Just trust me, OK?" He sighed. "I'm just asking you guys to consider what's best for us." Mira's eyes burned into his neck.
"Yeah... I guess you're right," said Kai. "I'm working as fast as I can. You'll be the first to know if I uncover anything else."
Adam smiled and clapped Kai's shoulder. "Attaboy. I'll hold you to that." He breathed an exhausted sigh, stretched, and headed for the door. "I'm gonna go lie down. Keep on doing what you're doing."
Mira stormed after Adam, silently glaring into the back of his head. One half of her was officially very angry with him and wanted to scold him for being so rude. The other half was just plain worried and wanted to scold him for not sleeping last night. Either way, one-hundred percent of her was set on scolding Adam.
"Adam!"
Adam shot a glance back, then released a tired sigh. He muttered something under his breath--- something along the lines of "Here we go again."
"What has gotten into you?" Mira caught up to him. He turned his face aside, refusing to meet her eyes. "You've been insufferable, and... unreasonable all day. Barking orders and acting so... above-it-all. That's no way to treat your friends. Kai is doing the best he can with what he has. You and I both know that." Adam didn't respond. Mira bit back another surge of anger. We can talk this through, she reassured herself. Her harsh tone softened. "If there's something wrong, just tell me."
"There's nothing wrong," Adam snapped. He seemed to flinch at the sound of his own voice. His shoulders loosened, as if to relax, but the muscle was still taut beneath them. "I'm just having a bad day."
Mira's eyes narrowed. "That's not an excuse."
"So what if it's not?" Adam muttered darkly. "I don't know what else to say. It's a bad day."
"How much sleep did you get last night?" asked Mira. Adam responded with a lame shrug, silent. Mira's eyebrow twitched downward. "Adam. How much?"
"I dunno. I kept wakin' up so I just stayed up after a while of tryin' to get back to sleep." His voice, his stance, his attitude... everything screamed exhaustion.
Slowly, yet surely, Mira's heart for Adam began to soften. She set her hand on his shoulder. He flinched, but didn't pull away. He just stood there, staring at his feet, without a word. "OK. I believe you." She sighed and let her hand slip from his shoulder. "Don't just go lie down. Get some real sleep, OK?"
A small but grateful smile slipped onto Adam's face. He nodded. "I'll try."
Mira smiled back, then watched him as he headed down the hall. The smile faded from her lips the further away he got. He'll be fine, she convinced herself, turning and walking back toward the control room. After a good night's sleep, he'll be back to normal. Then maybe they could have a normal conversation.
Kai had been in the control room way past 9:30, rolling through the new information over and over, trying to make sense of it. It was a lot for his one brain cell to take in. This new information, plus these weird dreams he'd been having about... apparently, the founder of this place. What could it all mean?
Thoughts like that should have kept him awake, but at some point he had dozed off, lulled to sleep by the familiar hum of the dimly-lit control room. Now Kai stirred back to life, feeling decidedly... light-headed. He blinked open his eyes. The control room seemed to rock back and forth--- sickeningly, like on a boat.
Kai hated boats.
He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, which somehow only made the rocking sensation worse. Kai swallowed back the nausea. If he'd known that falling asleep sitting up would screw him up this badly, he wouldn't have done it. He keeled over, hugging his stomach. That helped for a few seconds, but the seasick feeling came right back. So he leaned all the way back instead, eyes still shut. He groaned. What was that thing Ma used to complain about? Vertigo?
An electronic buzzing noise prompted Kai to re-open his eyes. To his horror, all the computer screens had fritzed out; they now all displayed the same greenish static. A very... familiar... greenish static. Kai gasped.
Before he could even grasp his thought, the closest screen lit bright green and shot out an energy pulse which struck Kai square in the chest, sending him and his chair flying backwards. Kai screamed. Every ounce of his body now burned with a white-hot pain--- seized him; paralyzed him. What was happening? Why couldn't he move? How could he make it stop hurting?!
Kai looked down at himself--- at his bare arms. They pixelated. His heart skipped several beats. Or maybe it sped up by several beats. He couldn't tell!
"Kai!"
He heard Adam and Mira call from nearby. Nearby, but... somehow still so distant. As if the room around him was starting to fade away. Their voices clanged like cymbals and faded in and out, warped. He wanted to answer, but he was still in shock--- and everything hurt too bad.
"Kai, are you OK?" That was Mira, whom he still didn't see. In fact, the entire world had gone black. "Kai, speak to us!"
Kai managed to draw a breath through the pain, forcing out an answer. "It... IT HURTS!"
All at once, the pain and the voices vanished. Kai caught his breath and slowly--- carefully--- opened his eyes. The world was still here. He was the only one here. And the computers were fine. And he was fine. He could move again! And the nausea was gone, too. Well... maybe he still felt a teeny bit lightheaded. Kai leaned back and set a hand on his forehead. He wasn't sick, was he? He didn't feel like he had a fever, but that was the second freaky dream he'd had in the past 24 hours.
Kai drew another shaky breath and leaned forward in the chair. Was all that just a dream? Because so help him, if this was another one of his knowledge things, he didn't know what to think. All he knew was that that dream felt scary real. Maybe he had low blood sugar or something. Did that even cause nightmares?
Ma always seemed to think it did. A flash of a childhood memory--- him, sitting on Ma's knee and sharing a sweet snack with her after they'd both woken up from bad dreams. On her lap, telling her about his monster, his face buried in her chest as she held him through those fears...
A lone tear formed in his eye. He missed her. He missed her a lot.
With another deep breath, Kai recollected himself and shut down his programs. He needed to get back downstairs and sleep properly. Then he wanted to take the day off. Despite Adam's need for speed, Kai deserved some R&R, especially after the night he'd just had. He was sure his friend would understand.
Maybe it wasn't just Kai. Maybe Adam and Mira were having strange dreams too.
Adam was patrolling the hall by night. He didn't know why he was patrolling the hall, yet here he was. He must have heard something that roused him from his sleep (however little he'd gotten anyway), but for the life of him he couldn't remember how he'd gotten here.
It wasn't long before a moving shadow caught Adam's eye.
He whipped to the side. It hadn't been his imagination--- sure enough, there was a figure standing there. Tall and lithe, with a confident stance, leaning against the wall with his chin tilted upward and his hands shoved into his pockets. He wore dark jeans and a black hoodie. The hood cast a shadow over his face and obscured his features.
Adam narrowed his eyes at the intruder. "Who are you?" he asked cautiously.
The stranger's lip turned upward into a challenging smirk.
Adam's brow furrowed. He stepped toward the figure with his hand outstretched. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want---"
Before Adam could even finish his sentence, the figure darted away.
"No! Wait!" Adam sped after the stranger, his anger rising. "I just want to know who you are!"
Adam ran faster and faster, in hot pursuit of the leaping shadow. The maze of hallways seemed to twist and turn out of shape and beyond recognition. Sideways, upside down, and back again, all the while bringing him closer and closer to the hooded stranger.
With a grunt and a powerful lunge forward, Adam grabbed the stranger by the shoulders and tackled him to the floor. The stranger wriggled beneath Adam's grasp, but stilled himself when his struggle bore no fruit. "Who are you?" Adam demanded. "Where did you come from?" The stranger didn't reply. Furious, Adam forced him over and pinned him down again. His jaw dropped open in disbelief when the hood fell from the stranger's forehead. It was... "You're..."
Me? How could that be? The other Adam didn't reply. He only smiled back up at Adam with a dangerous sparkle in his dark eyes. Then he slithered right through Adam's fingers like the shadow he was.
Adam tore his eyes open into the waking world. It was still dark in the room--- still night. He let his eyes slip shut again. Sighing, he rubbed his forehead.
What a nightmare.
Either there had been something bad in those beans they'd had for supper, or this place was finally starting to get into his head. He pinched his temple. Perhaps it was some combination of both. After all, it had been Mira's turn to cook.
Adam hopped out of the pod and slipped into his shoes; this was nothing a quick midnight walk couldn't fix. A quick midnight walk and a sip of water, and he should be ready to sleep again.
Sure as his shadow on the wall.
"So the biggest problem I had was trying to get past that virus, right? So I wrote this program that can dig in and figure out the kind of coding the virus was made with... and then when that was done I wrote another program that could bypass the firewall and finally start to dig up some information for us without me ever lifting a finger! Which wasn't easy and it took me a couple weeks to get it all up and running but---"
"Cut to the chase, Kai," Adam grumbled, folding his arms.
Kai snorted. "I just wanted to tell you how I---"
"I don't want to know the gory details," Adam snapped back. "What did you find?" He could feel Mira's what the heck look, even if he couldn't see her from where he stood.
Kai brought up the main menu. "Dunno. Haven't checked yet." He gave Adam a snarky frown that screamed offense. "Care to pick a category, O Wise Leader?"
All right, so maybe he'd been a bit rude to his friend. Adam sighed. "Sorry for snapping at you, dude; I'm tired. Pick what you want."
"All righty then... one 'AARC Info' tab comin' right up!"
It was an underwhelming result at first. One file now existed in the directory--- "Advertisement.MP4". Kai selected it. A new window opened, and after a few seconds of buffering, the video began to play. A woman with short, spiked, ruddy brown hair, thick-rimmed glasses and a white labcoat appeared onscreen. She had a friendly smile on her face. Kai tensed.
"Hello!" said the woman, "I'm Anna Abrams. Have you or someone you know suffered from chronic disease or head trauma? Physical restrictions, inhibitions, mental disorders or mental illnesses?" The view switched to a shot of the familiar hallways and doors--- only now, staff in sterile white scrubs moved up and down the corridors.
"Weird," Adam remarked under his breath.
The ad continued, showing other familiar, now-populated locations throughout the narration. "Find relief at Anna Abrams Restoration Center--- your place of refuge. Far away from society and supplied with the latest in virtual escape technology, our state-of-the-art facility is fully equipped to help you or your loved one rediscover what it is to live freely again, unencumbered by sickness and pain. Register today!"
The advertisement wrapped up as a shot of the lookout deck faded to white, the blue AARC logo, and an audio notation about contacting the company helpline for information and reservations. Adam had no idea what to make of the ad.
"So..." Mira sounded as unsure as Adam felt. "Does that mean we're... sick?"
"I don't think so," said Adam. "I don't feel sick."
"But we've all felt off since we got here... right?" asked Mira. "And look at Skeet. He's blind. I mean... it makes sense."
"We aren't sick," Adam insisted, harsher than he'd intended. He softened his tone. "Not physically, anyway. I mean.... maybe the Hollow did something to our heads, and that's why we can't remember how we got here."
"Maybe the Hollow wasn't even a real game," said Mira. "Like, what if... what if it was just part of the Engage system? We might not even know each other outside of it. What if they just... randomly stuck us and the other kids in the same rooms and that machine's the only reason we know each other right now?"
"I..." Adam shook his head, crestfallen and confused. "I don't know what to think." For once, he didn't have a ready answer for his friend. Could she be right? Was all he thought he knew a lie? What was real? What was true? Which memories could he trust and which ones were false?
They stood in silence for a few moments. Adam's thoughts continued to spiral out of control, further and further, deeper and deeper into a pitch black abyss--- a cyclone. Adam's heartbeat had never been louder. A cloud of anger obscured his thoughts--- an anger with nobody in mind. He was just angry. Angry at this impossible situation? He didn't know. His thoughts and frustrations were a pit of quicksand sucking at his feet... his knees... up to his hips now... He could feel himself sinking deeper into the mire, no hope of return in sight...
"It's her."
Kai's voice sucked Adam back to the surface. He and Mira turned toward their unkempt friend, who sat still with a pensive pinch in his brow.
"Anna Abrams."
Mira narrowed her eyes. "What about her?"
Kai shifted. "OK, guys. This is gonna sound really weird, and... I know we're all confused enough as it is, but---"
"Just spit it out," Adam growled.
"I was getting to it!" Kai snapped. He regained his composure, yet still glared at Adam. "I swear I've heard her name before and I know I've heard her voice before. She was..." He swallowed, hesitant. "I've had a couple dreams. Nightmares, really. And her voice was in both of them. Neither time was good." He folded his arms and glanced aside, a cloud of fear in his sky blue eyes.
Mira bit her lip. "Let's look at something else," she suggested.
Kai spun back around and returned to the main menu. He selected "Patient Info". A list of six very familiar names appeared. "Hey... we really are the only people here."
Adam leaned in closer. "So those are our last names."
"Yeah," said Mira. "I... didn't even realize until now that I didn't remember mine."
"I feel like I know mine," said Kai. "Kairos Stevens. Has a nice ring to it." He began reading off the other names. "Adam Delacruz. Vanessa Masters. Skeet Bronson. Reeve Wallace. And Mira... Sayto?"
"Sah-to," Mira corrected him. "I'm pretty sure that's how you say it."
"Mira Sato." Kai chuckled. "I knew that."
"Can you click on them?" asked Adam. "See if there's any more info about us or why we're here?"
"Let's see. Uuuuhhhh..." When Kai clicked Adam's name, the page changed. "Yes!" It was Adam's very own information page, complete with an unflattering profile picture. Adam read through his information with a tired frown and eye shadows dark enough to match the image on screen.
ADAM DELACRUZ
Age: 16
Height: 183cm
Weight: 62kg
Check-In Date: August 28, 2048
Admitted for: Brain Damage
Notes: Patient was irascible but cooperative.
"Brain damage, huh?" Kai released a shaky sigh. "I don't like the sound of that."
Neither did Adam.
"Let's see the rest," said Mira.
MIRA SATO
Age: 16
Height: 160cm
Weight: 55kg
Check-In Date: August 28, 2048
Admitted for: Brain Damage
Notes: Patient was confused and regularly lost focus.
KAIROS STEVENS
Age: 15
Height: 158cm
Weight: 54kg
Check-In Date: August 28, 2048
Admitted for: Brain Damage
Notes: Patient was highly uncooperative.
Kai barked a breathy chuckle. "Highly uncooperative. That's me, all right." He scratched his arm nervously.
A deep-rooted pang of discomfort began to burn in Adam's belly. "There's not enough information here," he growled.
"It's enough to give us some idea," said Mira. "Apparently we were all checked in on the same day with brain damage. That can't be a coincidence. That means we have to know each other." She paused. "Maybe."
"But it doesn't say what kind of brain damage!" Adam snapped, throwing up his arms. "What gave us the brain damage? Why isn't there any staff here anymore?"
"Adam..." breathed Mira. She set a hand on his arm, meant to calm him down. It didn't work.
Adam nudged her hand away and stormed toward Kai. "I hope you find more information fast, Kai." Adam struggled to keep his voice level. He could feel the blood pulsing through his skull, threatening to turn his sight red.
"I'm working as fast as I can, dude," said Kai.
"Work faster," Adam demanded. "With any luck we can find a way out before the other kids do."
"Why do you care if they find a way out first or not?" Kai scoffed. "We're all in the same boat. Err, ark. If they find a way out, we all do."
"Really, Kai?" Adam steamed. "Do you really think those guys would tell us if they found a way off this thing?"
Kai thought about it. "Well, um..." he shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."
Adam's eyes narrowed to slits. "We can't trust them to get us out of here. We can only trust each other. Remember?"
Mira folded her arms, dubious. "I don't remember ever agreeing to that sentiment, but OK."
Adam softened his voice. "Just trust me, OK?" He sighed. "I'm just asking you guys to consider what's best for us." Mira's eyes burned into his neck.
"Yeah... I guess you're right," said Kai. "I'm working as fast as I can. You'll be the first to know if I uncover anything else."
Adam smiled and clapped Kai's shoulder. "Attaboy. I'll hold you to that." He breathed an exhausted sigh, stretched, and headed for the door. "I'm gonna go lie down. Keep on doing what you're doing."
Mira stormed after Adam, silently glaring into the back of his head. One half of her was officially very angry with him and wanted to scold him for being so rude. The other half was just plain worried and wanted to scold him for not sleeping last night. Either way, one-hundred percent of her was set on scolding Adam.
"Adam!"
Adam shot a glance back, then released a tired sigh. He muttered something under his breath--- something along the lines of "Here we go again."
"What has gotten into you?" Mira caught up to him. He turned his face aside, refusing to meet her eyes. "You've been insufferable, and... unreasonable all day. Barking orders and acting so... above-it-all. That's no way to treat your friends. Kai is doing the best he can with what he has. You and I both know that." Adam didn't respond. Mira bit back another surge of anger. We can talk this through, she reassured herself. Her harsh tone softened. "If there's something wrong, just tell me."
"There's nothing wrong," Adam snapped. He seemed to flinch at the sound of his own voice. His shoulders loosened, as if to relax, but the muscle was still taut beneath them. "I'm just having a bad day."
Mira's eyes narrowed. "That's not an excuse."
"So what if it's not?" Adam muttered darkly. "I don't know what else to say. It's a bad day."
"How much sleep did you get last night?" asked Mira. Adam responded with a lame shrug, silent. Mira's eyebrow twitched downward. "Adam. How much?"
"I dunno. I kept wakin' up so I just stayed up after a while of tryin' to get back to sleep." His voice, his stance, his attitude... everything screamed exhaustion.
Slowly, yet surely, Mira's heart for Adam began to soften. She set her hand on his shoulder. He flinched, but didn't pull away. He just stood there, staring at his feet, without a word. "OK. I believe you." She sighed and let her hand slip from his shoulder. "Don't just go lie down. Get some real sleep, OK?"
A small but grateful smile slipped onto Adam's face. He nodded. "I'll try."
Mira smiled back, then watched him as he headed down the hall. The smile faded from her lips the further away he got. He'll be fine, she convinced herself, turning and walking back toward the control room. After a good night's sleep, he'll be back to normal. Then maybe they could have a normal conversation.
Kai had been in the control room way past 9:30, rolling through the new information over and over, trying to make sense of it. It was a lot for his one brain cell to take in. This new information, plus these weird dreams he'd been having about... apparently, the founder of this place. What could it all mean?
Thoughts like that should have kept him awake, but at some point he had dozed off, lulled to sleep by the familiar hum of the dimly-lit control room. Now Kai stirred back to life, feeling decidedly... light-headed. He blinked open his eyes. The control room seemed to rock back and forth--- sickeningly, like on a boat.
Kai hated boats.
He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, which somehow only made the rocking sensation worse. Kai swallowed back the nausea. If he'd known that falling asleep sitting up would screw him up this badly, he wouldn't have done it. He keeled over, hugging his stomach. That helped for a few seconds, but the seasick feeling came right back. So he leaned all the way back instead, eyes still shut. He groaned. What was that thing Ma used to complain about? Vertigo?
An electronic buzzing noise prompted Kai to re-open his eyes. To his horror, all the computer screens had fritzed out; they now all displayed the same greenish static. A very... familiar... greenish static. Kai gasped.
Before he could even grasp his thought, the closest screen lit bright green and shot out an energy pulse which struck Kai square in the chest, sending him and his chair flying backwards. Kai screamed. Every ounce of his body now burned with a white-hot pain--- seized him; paralyzed him. What was happening? Why couldn't he move? How could he make it stop hurting?!
Kai looked down at himself--- at his bare arms. They pixelated. His heart skipped several beats. Or maybe it sped up by several beats. He couldn't tell!
"Kai!"
He heard Adam and Mira call from nearby. Nearby, but... somehow still so distant. As if the room around him was starting to fade away. Their voices clanged like cymbals and faded in and out, warped. He wanted to answer, but he was still in shock--- and everything hurt too bad.
"Kai, are you OK?" That was Mira, whom he still didn't see. In fact, the entire world had gone black. "Kai, speak to us!"
Kai managed to draw a breath through the pain, forcing out an answer. "It... IT HURTS!"
All at once, the pain and the voices vanished. Kai caught his breath and slowly--- carefully--- opened his eyes. The world was still here. He was the only one here. And the computers were fine. And he was fine. He could move again! And the nausea was gone, too. Well... maybe he still felt a teeny bit lightheaded. Kai leaned back and set a hand on his forehead. He wasn't sick, was he? He didn't feel like he had a fever, but that was the second freaky dream he'd had in the past 24 hours.
Kai drew another shaky breath and leaned forward in the chair. Was all that just a dream? Because so help him, if this was another one of his knowledge things, he didn't know what to think. All he knew was that that dream felt scary real. Maybe he had low blood sugar or something. Did that even cause nightmares?
Ma always seemed to think it did. A flash of a childhood memory--- him, sitting on Ma's knee and sharing a sweet snack with her after they'd both woken up from bad dreams. On her lap, telling her about his monster, his face buried in her chest as she held him through those fears...
A lone tear formed in his eye. He missed her. He missed her a lot.
With another deep breath, Kai recollected himself and shut down his programs. He needed to get back downstairs and sleep properly. Then he wanted to take the day off. Despite Adam's need for speed, Kai deserved some R&R, especially after the night he'd just had. He was sure his friend would understand.
Maybe it wasn't just Kai. Maybe Adam and Mira were having strange dreams too.
Adam was patrolling the hall by night. He didn't know why he was patrolling the hall, yet here he was. He must have heard something that roused him from his sleep (however little he'd gotten anyway), but for the life of him he couldn't remember how he'd gotten here.
It wasn't long before a moving shadow caught Adam's eye.
He whipped to the side. It hadn't been his imagination--- sure enough, there was a figure standing there. Tall and lithe, with a confident stance, leaning against the wall with his chin tilted upward and his hands shoved into his pockets. He wore dark jeans and a black hoodie. The hood cast a shadow over his face and obscured his features.
Adam narrowed his eyes at the intruder. "Who are you?" he asked cautiously.
The stranger's lip turned upward into a challenging smirk.
Adam's brow furrowed. He stepped toward the figure with his hand outstretched. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want---"
Before Adam could even finish his sentence, the figure darted away.
"No! Wait!" Adam sped after the stranger, his anger rising. "I just want to know who you are!"
Adam ran faster and faster, in hot pursuit of the leaping shadow. The maze of hallways seemed to twist and turn out of shape and beyond recognition. Sideways, upside down, and back again, all the while bringing him closer and closer to the hooded stranger.
With a grunt and a powerful lunge forward, Adam grabbed the stranger by the shoulders and tackled him to the floor. The stranger wriggled beneath Adam's grasp, but stilled himself when his struggle bore no fruit. "Who are you?" Adam demanded. "Where did you come from?" The stranger didn't reply. Furious, Adam forced him over and pinned him down again. His jaw dropped open in disbelief when the hood fell from the stranger's forehead. It was... "You're..."
Me? How could that be? The other Adam didn't reply. He only smiled back up at Adam with a dangerous sparkle in his dark eyes. Then he slithered right through Adam's fingers like the shadow he was.
Adam tore his eyes open into the waking world. It was still dark in the room--- still night. He let his eyes slip shut again. Sighing, he rubbed his forehead.
What a nightmare.
Either there had been something bad in those beans they'd had for supper, or this place was finally starting to get into his head. He pinched his temple. Perhaps it was some combination of both. After all, it had been Mira's turn to cook.
Adam hopped out of the pod and slipped into his shoes; this was nothing a quick midnight walk couldn't fix. A quick midnight walk and a sip of water, and he should be ready to sleep again.
Sure as his shadow on the wall.