Our guide suddenly rolls up in front of me and says, “The Director needs you now. Follow me.”
I look at Rachel, she says, “You might as well go and see what the Director wants, we are not going anywhere.” Rachel rinses out the cloth again and resumes mopping Anile’s face.
Our guide had rolled back through the doorway and was waiting for me in the corridor. As I step through the door frame the door slides shut.
~~o~~o~~
The Director asks, “Can you make the journey to your arrival place without the zwei?”
I am as anxious to get back to the tunnel as the Director is for us to supposedly confirm with the people who sent these machines here in the first place, that all is ready. The thought however of leaving Rachel and Anile here at the mercy of these machines… Even if I get back to the tunnel I will not be able to return through it. So what is the point of me going back alone?
“No, they will expect all three of us to be able to talk to them or there will be no trust.”
The Director is silent for a considerable time. Then suddenly there is a great deal of activity around us as several machines depart, all heading in one direction. The Director announces, “Just so, I will make it möglich for the drei of you to go to the arrival place.”
“What are you planning to do?” I ask.
The Director replies, “I make möglich for the drei of you to go to the arrival place.”
“But how will you do this?”
“Mine to do, yours to see. Now go you.”
With that my guide invites, “Follow me.”
I obediently follow my guide back to Anile’s room. The door slides open as we approach, but there is no-one inside. The bowl and cloth are on the floor, there is a pool of water around the bowl.
As we approach the bed, I can see something on the floor just behind the cabinet. As I get closer, I can see it is Anile. He has several cuts across his face and arms. There is a pool of what at first looks like a dark blue liquid on the floor. As I get closer I realise that it looks like foam, just like on the video that we had seen earlier, in the arena.
I am torn between wanting to see if Anile has any life signs and avoiding touching him, in-case what has happened to him could in some way infect me. I stand in silence for a moment watching to see if there are any signs of movement, but nothing. I call out, “Anile, can you hear me?” I wait to see if there is any response, but nothing.
My guide asks, “What has happened? Has this one been damaged?”
I reply, “Yes it would appear that he is dead.”
“Can this damage be repaired?”
“No.”
“What did this?”
“I do not know.”
“Did the other one do this damage?”
“I do not know, but I do not think so.” I question myself on this one, was it self-defence, in Anile’s state of delirium had he tried to attack Rachel and she defended herself? Defended herself with what though, the cuts look pretty substantial, inflicted by a sharp weapon.
I recall Rachel cutting herself on the room decore last night and wonder if somehow she had used a piece of the decore to defend herself. I walk carefully around the room looking for any evidence of damage to the decore, but can find none, it all looks in-tact.
My guide asks, “What are you doing? Should we not find the other one, before more damage is done?”
Having seen enough and been reminded that Rachel was out there somewhere probably frightened out of her wits and possibly trying to find me, I decide that my guide is right at least about finding Rachel.
~~0~~0~~
The Director whilst unemotional about the news of Anile’s death and the fact that Rachel is missing, repeatedly asks me questions as to why Rachel is “behaving with no prediction” as the Director puts it. Fed up with the repeated questioning and not being able to conjure up any answers I insist that I need to find Rachel and make sure she is safe. The Director assures me, “I am looking already to safe return of the drei one.”
“Oh you mean Rachel the third one?” I ask.
“Just so.”
“I need to look for Rachel also, if she is afraid she will hide and may not trust anyone apart from me.”
“What means afraid and hide?”
“Fear and stay out of sight.”
“She might replicate?”
“Good heavens no. She might just avoid being seen.” I wish I knew enough words to translate properly for the Director, on this occasion however the Director will have to make do with the little explanation that I can offer.
I start to walk away.
“Where are you going?” The Director asks.
“To find Rachel.”
“For your protection.” The Director replies and two of the machines glide towards me.
I fear that their purpose is to restrain me so I head off at speed towards the passageway that heads towards the bedrooms. The machines steadily glide after me, not attempting to overtake me, but just to keep up with me.
My earlier thoughts that Rachel would try and find me were most likely to be incorrect, instead she probably headed away from the hub of machines to the inner quieter areas, hoping to find somewhere to hide.
~~0~~0~~0~~
Chapter 15 – Where are you?
Phil looks up from his notes as Gavin walks in yawning, “Get some shut eye then?”
“Some,” Gavin replies.
“Enough to check the circuit over?” Phil asks.
“Hey give me a chance I haven’t had my cuppa yet.”
“You and your tea!” Phil smiles.
“Well was the maths right?” Asks Gavin after putting the kettle on and examining a mug.
“Yeah, spot on the money, I washed those out earlier.”
“Now I am going to collapse, you wash the mugs up, you must have been bored.”
“OK you look at the circuit boards and check them over I’ll read out the schematic.”
“Don’t you want your tea first?”
~~0~~0~~
The Director says, “I have not been able to find Rachel either. Her trust must be really bad.”
I am feeling so tired, having searched this place high and low, on a now very empty stomach, I am shaking I am that hungry. “I just cannot think where she must have gone, we have been everywhere I could possibly think she would or even could go.”
The Director asks, “Are you damaged?”
“Er no, why do you ask that, am I bleeding?”
“What is meaning bleeding?”
“Er bodily fluids leaking?”
“You are schütteln.”
“Oh, Shaking. That’s because I am so hungry. I need to essen.”
One of my guides says, “Follow me.”
I protest, “But the food is contaminated, I cannot eat it.”
The Director says, “Not now, I had the protection removed.”
“Thank you.” I obediently follow the guide.
We soon arrive at the canteen, it seems even more soulless sitting here and eating alone, wondering where Rachel is and if she is alright. If I am feeling this weak, she must also be in a similar state, as she has not eaten either.
As I eat, my mind runs over all the places that I and the machines had searched, trying to find Rachel. I replay in my mind every detail of the search, just in-case I had missed any possible hiding place, but nothing comes to me.
I am glad when the shaking stops and my growling stomach has calmed once again.
The thought crosses my mind, am I being too trusting of these machines? Were they the ones who killed Anile and have either locked Rachel away or killed her.
Locked… the phrase, like the pulling of a gun’s trigger, sets off a chain of thoughts in my mind. Locked… the doors in this place can’t be locked! Rachel had seen to that, with her software change, unless these machines had detected Rachel’s change and had reversed it. Perhaps that is why the Director was delay
ed. If however, Rachel’s software change is still in place, then we would not be the only ones who can open locked doors, our Alien friend may have also been able to get out of his room. Had he escaped and found his way to Rachel and Anile?
I have three suspects in terms of what happened to Anile. Anile himself may have tried to attack Rachel and she defended herself; These machines may have decided to attack Anile and Rachel; or the Alien may have attacked Anile and possibly captured Rachel, taking her as a hostage, in the hope that he can use her as a bargaining chip, to escape this place.
Of the three scenarios, given the behaviours of the machines to date, the middle one seems the least likely, their aim seems to be, that they want to get a positive message back home. What good would killing Anile and abducting or killing Rachel do for them? If the Alien is loose, the machines either know nothing about it, or they are staying incredibly calm on the surface of things.
If Anile had attacked Rachel, what good would she be doing, continuing to hide from myself and the machines? She knows I will be worried sick about her and the machines are unlikely to punish her for an act of self-defence, so whilst I cannot discount this option altogether, the Alien escape version seems to have the greatest logic. Where would the Alien hide himself and Rachel though?
Locked! It suddenly hits me like a bolt of lightning. Not only are the interior doors unlocked but the exterior ones are two. Chances are there is some rear exit to this place. The Alien and Rachel probably left this complex hours ago! How stupid could I have been, to stubbornly search the interior, without even considering the fact that Rachel may be outside!
Chapter 16 – Teamwork
The Director does not answer my question.
I insist, “It is important, that you answer me, surely you do not want any further harm to come to us? Without us you will not be able to confirm that you have succeeded and are ready for the other iols to come here and complete your mission. Now is there an exit at the back of this structure?”
“You speak with bedacht.”
“Sorry I do not understand, what is bedacht?”
“Egal, there are many exits.”
“Can you show me the exit near to our rooms.”
“I do not understand near, is it Nähe?”
“Yes that sounds right, naya and near.”
“I must tell you that the other iol is not in the room.”
I ask “Which room? Oh you mean the OTHER iol and their own room? Where is it?”
“I do not understand, what is their own.”
“Ear-a, their, um what is own? Oh I know, the room of the iol.”
“I understand, the other iol’s room is in that Konstrukt. Do you want to look?”
I ponder the question a moment and answer, “No, I do not think anything will gained from looking there. You have looked already?”
“Yes the room is empty.”
“Right, can you take me to the exit near our rooms?”
My guide moves in the direction of the corridor leading to our rooms and says, “Follow me.”
We pass the still open door, I can just see Anile’s body. I can not help but feel remorse at what lead to his death and the fact that if we had not come here it would not have happened. Furthermore I still have the nagging doubts about how it happened and guilt over how to reach a conclusion as to who or what did this. We were good friends, my loyalties are challenged, if Rachel did this, there would be only one reason and that would be self-defence, I just cannot imagine she would do it for any other reason. This is the crux of the challenge to my loyalties, if Rachel felt under threat, it would have been Anile who was the cause of that threat. Were I in the room at the time, it could have easily been me who caused Anile’s death, in defending Rachel.
What a dilemma.
I must put it out of my mind I can do nothing for Anile now. Nothing except find out the truth as to what happened, to do that I must find Rachel and if he is with her, the Alien. That must be my focus.
We divert down a side corridor and my mind races as I try to think through the scenario of Rachel and the Alien racing to get away, “Wait!” I exclaim.
My guide continues ahead of me.
“Halt!”
The machine stops and spins round, “Why?” It asks.
“Because I do not believe they would have taken this corridor.”
My guide asks, “What means, because I do not believe?”
“Vial nicht glowber, I think that’s right.”
“Just so.” The machine responds then goes silent.
“Is there another exit near here?”
“Yes.” The machine answers and sets off up the main corridor.
I follow, feeling more confident that this would be the route they used.
After a while we reach a junction where the corridor splits and my gut feeling is that Rachel and the Alien would have taken the left fork. I am delighted when my guide takes that fork.
After a while the corridor bends to the right, as we emerge from the bend, ahead of us, I can see a doorway and to my relief I note it is open.
My guide unexpectedly stops. It asks me, “Why would the exit be open?”
“Because they escaped through it, but did not feel they had the time to close it again.” Then as an afterthought I add, “Or maybe they could not close it?”
By this time I have overtaken my guide and am now at the door, I can see footprints in the sandy soil that has drifted into the airlock area. I say footprints, there are actually one set of footprints, presumably Rachel’s, beside these are rivulets in the sandy soil, that probably result from the way in which he Alien moves. So it is highly likely that the Alien has taken Rachel as a hostage. I cannot imagine Rachel voluntarily wanting to go off with the Alien. This adds greater credence to the version of events where the Alien was guilty of Anile’s death. Whilst this makes me feel a bit more comfortable, I am not comfortable with the fact that my Rachel is at the mercy of this Alien, it has killed once, what is to stop it repeating the event? Especially now, that it has its freedom.
I emerge from the exit looking for more signs as to the direction that Rachel and the Alien have taken. For a stretch their tracks are quite evident, even though they seem to be crossing each other, as if they are staggering to and fro.
Possibly it had been windy, which would explain the sand in the airlock. Come to that the airlock seems strange, at least in comparison with the one we had originally entered by, this one seems to have a solid floor, yet the one we came through had a sort of mesh floor. I can remember the floor shaking the sand off of us and the machine that we had arrived on.
My guide protests, “I can not go out, I am not of the Bau.”
I haven’t a clue what it means by ‘Bow’ but I get the sense that the machine means it is not built to go outside. I reply, “OK you stay here and I will quickly explore to see if I can find out where they went, but they definitely came through here.”
“How can Wissen sie das?” the machine innocently asks.
“Er, oh I see, how do I know, see the footprints in the sand here.”
“Just so.”
“They head off in this direction. I won’t be long.”
My guide says nothing, but equally does nothing to stop me.
I follow the tracks for a bit, they get weaker and weaker, ascribing more and more to my windy event theory. They get so faint that I am no longer able to follow them. Darn it, just when we were getting somewhere!
Following the trend that the tracks are taking I surmise the direction they must have been heading. It is a path parallel to the line of the mountains or hills behind us. Away from our tunnel, so my thinking is that the Alien possibly has a craft that it arrived in and it is heading for that, in the hope that it can escape.
I return to the airlock and quiz my guide, “Rachel, the iol that came with me, appears to be with the other iol guest that you had, did that other iol arrive here in a craft that is near
here?”
My guide replies, “I do not understand you. What means Rachel, appears, guest, arrive, craft?”
A question or two, too many, how can I answer this? Yet to get the information I need, I must try somehow. “Drei, three iols, Bill, Anile and Rachel.” I point to myself and at two invisible people as I announce the names.
My guide is silent for a moment then responds, “I understand.”
I then point three fingers towards the ground, repeating, “Three iols.” Then with my other hand I point one finger to the ground and say, “Another iol, the guest.”
The machine repeats, “I understand.”
“How did the guest get here?”
The machine replies, “Yes, I understand. Mach in ein dreiundzwanzig militares.”
I ask, “Which direction?”
“I do not understand.”
“which, er, which Rechtung?”
“Mean you ‘Richtung?’” the machine asks.
As it sounds almost exactly what I said I reply, “Yes”
One of the machine’s arms raises and points in the direction that I had assumed that Rachel and Alien had travelled. “That’s it then.” I excitedly declare, “That is where they have gone, to the guest’s machine.”
“Just so, machine.”
Just then, I hear another machine motoring its way up the corridor. I glance back down the corridor and to my relief realise that the Director has send me a machine that is the same as the one that we arrived on, for all I know it could even be the same one.
When the new machine is close enough it slows and stops then announces, “Climb on to it.”
“Thank you.” I reply and before I know it we are heading off at speed it the direction that my guide had pointed.
~~0~~0~~0~~
Chapter 17 – In search of the unknown
Phil looks up from the circuit board and announces, “Good work Gavin, I can’t find owt wrong wid that at all. Let’s hope as I have us maths right and this device works properly.”
Gavin leans forward in an exaggerated motion and looks at the laptop screen, then says, “Well according to this about 38 hours have passed now, so the team should be back at the tunnel and if the transfer of the comms device was successful, also if it works, we should be able to contact them.”
“Ey, but us thought ‘as come to mind, what if they don’t turn the blighter on, ‘cause there’s no tunnel as to communicate through?”