“You understand why you have been chosen, my friend?”
“Yes, comrade. Because I am of the Singularity.”
So many cables and wires were strewn about, like a lazy descending web after a spring rain. Ends of them were taped to numerous areas of his body or black electrical taped to each other, but all of them terminated at monitoring stations that bleeped and blooped between their silence.
“It has been confirmed. Their attentions have been focused on one like our own—but one that defies Her.”
The uniformed officer barely paid attention to the monitors; they were there for the others. This one had the gift of decision; a person remanded the power of Task and Authority. It would be because of him that Marcus could finally leave the tube and smoke.
Marcus allowed only his eyes to move, following the officer as he paced but not bothering to lift his head from the metal slab. The gases that kept him in perpetual dream state made every muscle heavy. It took enough effort just to resist the urge to sleep from his eyelids.
“What are the rules, comrade? To overtake? To lead? Or should I join the Magis—”
The officer spun on the heel of his boot and spoke loud to interrupt the query.
“You are there to observe. Deceive those around you to avoid suspicion. None may know your true task.”
“When will you come for me?”
Endearment came from his sapphire blue eyes but not born from any sense of concern. He had been free of the bio-docks many times before; sometimes for weeks and sometimes years. It was all irrelative given the Union’s ability to bend time.
“We may never.” The officer arched an eyebrow. “Not until we discover how it is this one resists. The refugee spoke of a powerful force… of defiance given form and spirit. It is that you seek. It is this that we must understand… if we are ever to be free.”
“Refugee?” The expression of surprised curiosity beneath the unkempt mangle of black hair was genuine.
“A story for another time,” the officer replied and then looked up from the stale-grey floor. He puffed out his chest in typical Soviet fashion, the medals on his chest jingling as he prepared to finalise the order. From behind his back, the officer produced the metal death’s head mask that Marcus knew all too well.
“You are of the Singularity. You are One. As you have done before now too shall you go forward to carry out the will of the All-Union, our Grim Knight!”