CHAPTER TWELVE
"There is more to life than increasing its speed."- Mohandas K. Gandhi
"You're pretty safe out here as long as you don't make contact with Cyber. Or anything Cyber touch. Once you've done that, the cyberts are all alerted to report your presence. Before you know it you have a Cyber security death squad coming after you. They're worse than any of the Shadow People, believe me."
"A death squad!"
"That's the polite way of putting it. For a while, they just interrogate you after your SensaVision link is disabled. If that doesn't make you give up your friends, they take you to the next step. That's where they take the incorrigibles, the troublemakers who are upsetting this fine social experiment called PerSoc."
"Where?"
"I thought I was smart, too, playing the percentages. I told myself I could handle the cyberts Outside. After all, I was reasonably bright Bio and Cyber savvy, you know—Cyber smart. When you're a rogue, a roamer—that's what Makr calls you when you live free in the City—you're reasonably safe until there's direct contact. As long as you don't directly interfere with His efficient operation, no problem, but if you do..."
"Isolation Cell?"
She looked at him, puzzled, wondering how he knows, and nodded.
"I actually don't know why I know that.”
"Right. Cyberts put you in—and not gently. I'd rather not talk about it..."
Harry was aghast. "You mean, you were in one? Were you really?"
She nodded and studied his face. Not adventurous. Curious though. That's something.
"Did you bring someone from Inside...like me?"
He's quick. Her face was immobile. "He wouldn't listen. Stubborn. He was convinced he could talk his way out of anything with the Cyber security, too. We both learned. I lived. He didn't. Cyber security had instructions to interrogate. Believe me, finesse is a Bio quality."
"How?"
"Well, Cyber aren't allowed to physically torture us. Don't really know why. Could be it goes back to a hidden instruction in the original Program; thank the true Makr for that. But they can torture us mentally. You know what I mean?"
Harry did. "Bad experience?"
"Yeah, pretty bad. I had plenty of information that would help them clear up the Bio "infestation," as they call it, Outside when they caught me."
"What happened?"
"Nothing at first really. I wouldn't volunteer anything. That's when they put me in the cell. They'd get all the information that way. Everything in my brain."
"That sounds awful."
"It is. I'll never forget what it looked like, or the feeling."
"What did you do to deserve a fate so terrible?"
"I extracted someone—from Cyber Match Central as I did with you."
"They didn't hurt you?"
"No, but they killed who I was. If they beat you physically, it would be better. Instead they wipe your mind clean. They make you do it to yourself. Total immersion in Self. No contact with sensations of any kind—not even gravity. The thoughts are totally your own, but suddenly there's no selective memory, no editing the bad experiences, disappointments or fears, and no dreams. No illusions or healthy delusions."
"Delusions?"
"Ever tell yourself a lie like how smart or strong or how important you think you are—especially when you don't feel like it? Some call it ego."
"I suppose so."
"Everyone does. It's not healthy for us to be negative about ourselves—even when it's true. It's not good for our psyche. Those delusions are key defense mechanisms."
"I never thought of it that way."
"Most people don't think about it at all. That's why people are so accepting of SensaVision illusions."
"I'm trying hard not to be."
"Good for you. If you were too accepting of Makr's reality you wouldn't be here."
"You mean I'd be safe Inside." This made her smile. "But, why are we so vulnerable to Makr's will?"
"Well, we asked for it, didn't we? Makr just takes our weaknesses and applies them to a Cyber advantage. One of the reasons Bios naturally don't remember every piece of information, every emotion or every sensation we ever felt, is that we have limited capacity to relate what's there in our brain. We can't process it all. If we try, we'll lose our minds. When that happens, Makr recycles the data supplied by our memories—our minds, or what's left of them."
"How? Why?"
"How? I don't know how exactly. That's science and technology. I'm not even sure I know the difference between the two. All I know is they begin by sealing you in a skin-like cocoon that lets your body breathe, but stops you from feeling anything. It's so much like real skin, your body doesn't know it isn't. Even your mouth and nose are covered, but oxygen still reaches your brain and other vital organs. All external sensation is blocked so all that's left to experience is your mind to the fullest with no protection."
She stopped talking and walking abruptly, took a couple deep breaths, and then began again, as if just talking about the subject took her own breath away.
"Then they immerse your body in a gelatinous substance in the cell. That's how they drain your identity, your life."
Telling this tale was hard for her, harder than she had imagined. Too recently close to home. Re-telling it made her re-live the mental anguish.
"Why did Makr do this to you?"
"For the information in my brain, I suppose? I'm not sure. I don't know how long I was in the cell. Time is irrelevant, too, but I was in that cell long enough to learn how hard it is to think without SensaVision. No thoughts are shielded. Somehow the gel blocks our natural inhibitors. Conscious, unconscious and subconscious minds combine—collide really. No subconscious urges to suppress. No defense mechanisms. You begin to think. Everything is crystal clear at first, everything in your biosystem is comprehensible, then the thoughts build in volume and frequency until your mind seems to cave in on itself.
"I knew I was going down fast. My head was spinning and splitting with pain. I could hear my internal organs working—and not just my heart that seemed to be pounding in concert with the throbbing in my head. I could hear my liver, kidneys, and pancreas—digestive, respiratory and lymphatic systems sifting nutrients and chemicals, separating what's good for the body from what's bad, making the electro-chemical changes..."
"Once you get over the physical eavesdropping, your mind seems incredibly clear. The experience is actually pleasant at first. Exciting even. Then the fireworks begin. Downloads of information. So much information you can't..."
She saw the incredulous look on Harry's face...
"The last thing I remember is having the worst headache I ever thought possible. I couldn't stop the thoughts from coming in all at once.
"Then, there was an explosion, a big one that ripped out most of the back wall. The explosion also broke the vat...and someone...I don't know who...ripped open the inner cocoon of my vat. I was unconscious, but if this person hadn't been there I would have suffocated from my own thoughts to be sure.
"My friend from Inside wasn't so lucky. He couldn't take it. He was dead within minutes of floating in that gel. I heard him scream. I think his mind burst—if that's possible. All that energy..."
Harry was quiet now. He had heard of these centers. Makr made them seem different somehow--called them Reconditioning Centers. If what Desiree said was true, then his worst nightmare could be waiting around the corner. In fact, this could have already happened to me in the past, I just don't remember it. It would explain my memory gap. He shook off the negative feelings that were of no value now.
"Are you alright now?" he asked.
"Sure, fine. Oh, you mean did it wreck my mind?" She laughed. "Probably, but can't undo it." She winked, "Self-deprecating humor is also a defense mechanism."
Harry's blank look tells her he doesn't get the joke or the wink so she continued her monologue, "Best I can tell...I have lost some memories—lots of memories actually. No point worrying now. Can't get them back. Yeah, I'
m sure Makr got all the answers directly from my mind."
"I had no idea..."
"I gave away friends to Makr's Cyber security goons."
"You didn't do that. Makr did."
"Look, what happened to me is sad. I got over it, and you shouldn't worry it. If you want to survive Outside, you can't trust the Cyber, and there are damn few humans, Bios, as you call them, who you can trust."
.
She heard a sound! Her ears seem to perk up as the tiny hairs rose up on the back of neck, her eyes intense, and her muscles taut. Adrenaline rush! A barely audible buzzing sound. At first, she thought it's just a street cleaner cybert going about its business of ridding the streets of unwanted debris that could adversely affect cybert operations, nothing more.
She is wrong. While Harry was totally unaware of the threat, she's used to listening for any change in her environment. Anything overlooked means death or worse out here. It is a good thing Harry didn't know all that was going on.
The buzzing grew louder. Harry was startled at first when he finally heard it. It was not a sound he would have heard normally Inside. He knew this sound though! He remembered seeing bees and locusts in his vid collection of ancient movies. In the vids, people were attacked and terrified by insects. Intellectually he knew there was a positive side to these insects, but this was not the time to look for the balance in nature. Instead he focused on the sounds he was hearing to be sure they were truly bees.
If they were truly bees, their wrath seemed to be focused on the two travelers, flying at their faces from time to time. As the chorus cacophony became louder, the swarm's harassment increased in kind. While Desiree accepted these bees as a part of nature something strange was happening to Harry. For him, the convincing natural music took on a surreal quality, losing its buzz and replaced it with the sound of vibrating violin string blades. The natural music became unreal, too, Harry thought, and familiar. He’d heard this music before in his collection. "The Flight of the Bumble Bee?"
Makr was telling him the bees weren't real. Why?
True bees were thought to be extinct. Harry knew that they had become extinct in the last few decades when the Bio-polluted atmosphere prevented many flowering plants from attracting their biggest pollinator—bees. Eventually, the flowers adapted, producing an even stronger fragrance, but not soon enough. Both the flora and insects died out, but flowers weren't the problem now.
Harry thought, maybe they’d bounced back. It happened before when a species was thought to be wiped out was not outside reality. It only takes a few hardy individuals re-start the population. There could have been some hardy individuals that survived. Like Desiree, he smiled. But something is definitely not right with these bees. If they aren't real, they are a big threat!
The symphony crescendos and the swarm of bees dart in and out, continued assailing the two Bios; some harassed and retreated, while others seemed to be hovering just slightly out of reach.
"Bees!" Harry picked up his pace. "Very large bees."
"I can see that!" Desiree snapped back as she bats as many away from her as she can. "What do they want? Why are they following us?" She increased the speed of her gait while thrashing her arms about to keep them at a safe distance.
"I don't know," Harry said, taking her cue and flailing his arms as well. "Wait a minute..." His thought-blink confirmed what he already knew. They weren't bees at all, but tiny flying cyberts! "Makr knows we're here."
"How do you know that, Harry? Have you seen these before?"
"No, but I can see them as they really are. What do you see?"
"I see what you see!" With a wide-eyed, puzzled look, she answers him as she keeps trying to wave the bees away! "Bees!"
"Not bees! Not bees! Cyberts! Tiny cyberts!" Harry froze, powerless to wave or slap at the tiny attackers now that he saw them as flying metal insects. Something held him back. Fear. Sadness. He stopped thought-blinking and saw bees again. Bio bees. He could swing at them now, even batted a few to the ground. They kept bouncing back after he knocked them to the ground. The few that fell were stunned and seconds later crept away unhurt and unnoticed.
"Whatever you're doing, Harry, is working." Desiree was gaining respect for this ordinary Bio as he kept battling the swarm of "bees" to the ground. Together, they pelted the bees with their hands, slamming them hard to the ground. More were staying on the ground while others keep flying back at them.
"Gotcha!" Harry exclaimed as he knocked two at once to the ground. As he tried to step on them, they suddenly became metal again. He froze again, unable to crush them under his feet.
A flicker of bright light, a low audible roar and both Harry and Desiree sensed the ground shake. Harry saw his picture of the world change slightly for an instant; for a second, he saw a dreary gray reality in his mind's eye. It left him feeling uneasy. He was positive Desiree had not noticed it. Why didn't she notice the shaking, the shudder of their reality? Makr!
The cyberts were bees again. While they were bees, he was happy he was able to knock them down; however, this time, he didn't dare try to crush them. Some of the bees appeared dead on the ground. At that moment, the rest of the swarm shifted position, moving up and away from them as if withdrawing. The swarm hovered for a moment as if to take one last look before heading away from the duo to the north across the city skyline. Neither Harry nor Desiree saw two of the "bees" that had fallen to the ground and were pretending to be immobilized. These "bees" waited for Harry and Desiree to continue their journey before they flew upward and followed them, staying several yards behind.
While it wasn't the "Attack of the Killer Bees" that bothered Harry so much, it was the fact that he was powerless to fight them as cyberts—tiny or otherwise, and yet he could fight them if he saw them as Bio creatures. Does that mean he was capable of destroying his fellow man—or woman and not a machine? Not even a toaster. The idea is preposterous but the evidence was overwhelming. Rather than sounding foolish he decided not to share this insight with Desiree. She might send him back Inside and he wasn't ready for that yet. Not even if he was one of Makr’s pawns.
.
Harry's orientation to life Outside continued as she explained her theories about Bio survival.
"Makr sees us as biological machines that can procreate without outside materials. That's about the only advantage to being Bio that Makr sees. Cyber can't just plant a seed and make a baby. Even that comes with a price. While Bios take years to become useful, Makr can manipulate our behaviors faster and easier than creating another cybert. That means shop time, Cyber hours, before you get a fully functional machine. Other than that, cyberts are superior—smarter, stronger, more knowledgeable, and efficient. Makr gave us the name Bios; we didn't give it to ourselves. Using His definition, we became part of his cluster of machines; less efficient, more vulnerable, but necessary to help perpetuate Cyber existence for the time being."
"So why am I here?" Harry asked.
"It's complicated. I don't know for sure. Most of the Bios I 'gather' have information we need to do what we have to do."
"So, what is it you have to do?"
"Change the world," she said rather matter-of-factly.
He started to laugh but Desiree's unmovable features tell him she's utterly serious.
"What? I mean, how?" He was filled with curiosity, fear and awe all rolled into one.
Trying to change this almost perfect world into something with less Makr control was outrageous, still...he had to ask, "How much do you intend to change it—the world that is?"
"We'll need to control all the Cyber." She paused for effect and then she added, "Control, not destroy."
"Why? If you change the world, won't that also destroy the peace and safety we enjoy now?" That sounds programmed, Harry thought, and she's right.
"Interesting choice of a word: 'enjoy.' Do you 'enjoy' your life, Harry?"
"Yes." Pause. "I...I don't know. Maybe. Not exactly, but I have a feeling what you're talking about can ge
t you reconditioned."
Harry recognized the danger of his own words. He practically screeches when he realized she and her people weren't just talking about anarchy.
"That's treason! That's criminal!"
"Exactly. I've already been there. Remember? Besides, it's no more criminal than you being here, Harry. It's only treason if you're on the side that loses. We aren't going to destroy without building. Which side are you on, Harry? Are you a destroyer or builder?"
Silence.
"We are the builders, Harry. We don't make war. You'll see that when we get to where we're going. We are learning everything we can about the world before Makr. As an amateur historian, you ought to be able to appreciate the significance of studying the past."
Harry didn't really consider himself an amateur historian. But how did she know enough about him to even call him one? The label seemed to fit but with two major differences: the historians he knew told Makr's version of the truth. And he was fairly certain they couldn’t thoughtblink.
Desiree drank in Harry's reaction. That's the hook. Mission accomplished. She had achieved the necessary shock value.
"We're hoping you'll become one of us."
He stared at her in disbelief. He had only been Outside for a couple hours! He's already trapped in the middle of a revolution!
"Don't worry," she laughed. "You can say, 'no.' You don't know enough to hurt anyone..." Her smile broadened as she finished, "...but yourself."
No answer came from Harry. He is obviously was not the least bit amused by the irony of his rebellious youth in conflict with his adult present.
"You can leave any time you like," she said, throwing up her hands. "You can go home now if you wish. Go home, Harry! We'll muddle through this revolution without you...somehow." Her smile was gone.
He stopped abruptly in his tracks. Desiree turned slightly, and waved more dismissively than a farewell.
Harry looked around without his blinders on truly for the first time, although in reality he had not had them on the entire time. He felt abandoned in the shadows of a world he didn't understand at all, and it was dark…darker than he had ever seen it. Ironically, this was the world he had yearned for—where reality is truth.
"Wait!" He called after Desiree who had just rounded a corner and disappeared. He was too late. Stunned, he sat on the ground path where he had been walking, puts his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees, and tries to think of a way out. How could he be so stupid? He should have stayed at home. Not sneak out to hide in the shadows. I'm not one of them! Take me home, Makr! Take me home!
He was alone...truly alone. His blood pressure was rising. He nearly retched as he felt his stomach in his throat. He reached for the blinders he usually kept on his belt. They weren't there! She must have taken them. The blinders! Where are they? Gone! No SensaVision. No escape. Alone! A hand touched his shoulder.
"Aieee!" He jumped up so quickly he nearly fainted as the blood rushed from his head, his breathing so rapid he can barely stand it.
"Hey, hey, hey, take it easy. I'm not the enemy here. You said 'wait' so here I am."
He was glad...in a way. She smiled and took his hand. Something about the smile melted all apprehension. He had to stick it out—revolution or not.