CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Everything can be taken from a man but the last of human freedoms, the right to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances—the right to choose one's own way." - Dr.Viktor Frankl (1905-97), Austrian-born Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry; Holocaust survivor.
"We're no better off than when we started," Sergeant Gray commented. Lieutenant O'Shea's group, like Carlos', was in the factory, but trapped by illusion—trapped by what they couldn't determine to be real.
"That sounds positive, Gray. Want to spread the word to the rest of the group that what we're doing here is for nothing?"
"Sorry, Lieutenant. But answer me this: 'How can we fight an enemy we can't see?'"
"We can't. I agree with you to a point. We have never been able to see our true enemy. We've fought cyberts, but not Makr. Until now we've only annoyed the main Cyber bastard."
"So, what do we do, quit and find some other place to hide?"
"You don't strike me as someone who'd run and hide from anything."
"How could we be so stupid to think we could beat an enemy that can change our reality?"
"We thought we could stop Makr's power of illusion in our early salvos. Now that I think of it, the idea sounds rather ludicrous. Makr is the most evolved sentient being to ever 'walk the earth' so to speak, and we think a few explosions are going to do Him in?"
"That still doesn't answer my question. How...?"
That was it! She met his challenge head on, but whispered it through clenched teeth close to his face so he could feel the uncomfortable intimacy.
"We push and we keep pushing ahead. We have to...we have no choice." Her voice was tight and harsh.
He didn't back down. "Yes, I know that, but..."
"Shut up, Gray. Shut up and think. I need your help here. I can't think for everyone. I might be wrong. Let's work together on this problem, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am."
At that response, she gave him a disapproving look, then a smile.
"I'll do my best, Lieutenant," he promised.
Kieran looked around at the others. They were tired and scared, and tired of feeling trapped. Soon they'd be at each other. Won't take long for total chaos to ensue. We haven't gotten very far; can't even get out of the damn building! What is beyond those walls of steel?
Then she saw the all-important flicker.
A flicker. Another flicker. Flash. The room had changed. She found herself in a laboratory alone—at least for the moment. Where were her soldiers? Then, as in a dream, she forgot about them completely... All she knew was the here and now of here and now. There was no battle, no war. All she knew is that she was compelled to go.
The lab smelled of formaldehyde and other chemicals. She observed various laboratory paraphernalia, numerous tubes, flasks, and other receptacles, and clear containers of various sizes containing biological materials suspended in a colorless liquid. Human parts in the larger containers, she concluded. Clone storage?
The lab's intense lights and the room's bright white walls and floors hurt her eyes, while the stainless steel sinks and apparatus left her feeling cold. Cold.
Have to keep moving, she thought. A door. A way out? Or a way in? To where? As she crossed the threshold, the scene in front of her changed. What was strange was that she had seen it change. Why would Makr want to tell her it was illusion? Then she saw something she had never wanted to see.
Clones. Rows of entire cloned bodies, thousands of them, suspended in amber hexagon-shaped vessels, lined a huge hall.
At first glance, the sight of the images in these containers made her recoil, but it was too much a mystery to solve, too much a challenge so she fought her fear. She had never turned down any challenge—even those made by very strong Shadows—so why should this be any different?
No longer white with fear, no longer emotionally cold, she was determined to see this to the end for two more obvious reasons. One, there was no immediate escape she could figure out, and two; she sensed there was a message here for her. Once that message was presented, she'd return to where she was previously. But where was she? She forced herself to walk through row after row, seeing full grown human bodies, some still children or adolescents looking more like fetuses in artificial amber wombs. Not all were complete. Some had parts missing. Apparently, the DNA owners had lost parts they had been born with, just as she had done with her eyes.
Each step she took became more and more tentative. Her heart pounded with fearful anticipation. From her pores, rivulets of moisture ran the length of her body.
They aren't sentient. The clones were not aware, she told herself. They were held in stasis until needed for transplant. Then, it occurred to her...
These were Shadow clones. Not Insider. Insider clones are not specialized or individualized like Shadow clones, instead, they had generic application, universal acceptance. Shadow clones are specialized to make any replaced parts at least as good, often better in some ways, than before.
What had she stepped into? This was Makr's illusion! The locations of Shadow clones were one of her people's most closely-guarded secrets. But Makr knows? Makr knows! Is Makr telling her nothing has been a secret? Nothing? But why? And why now?
She kept moving. Flash. Flicker. Scene changed. Still in a Bio cloning lab, she walked onward with courage. Had she seen the worst? Probably not, she answered herself. Be prepared, she told herself, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next.
Isolation cells. Had to be. Receptacles large enough for a Bio to be totally submerged. Different than cloning cells. By their very purpose, more sinister. She had only heard of them. Not many Shadows she knew had actually shared their experience with others. Most of the time if they recalled anything, it was minimal. Enough to let them know they had been reconditioned.
What are the isolation cells doing next to a cloning facility? She wondered. There were hundreds of them now—rows upon rows as far as she could see.
Where was this place? What purpose did it serve? So much for an answer. She had more questions and so she kept moving, frequently looking in the vats or cells to see if they were occupied. Many were. Blank faces behind the bluish green gel. Why blank faces? Who are these people? What had they done to cause Makr to recondition them? Now she was getting nervous. Was she about to be re-conditioned?
She walked faster and faster even though she knows it wouldn't make any difference. If Makr wanted her here, she'd be here. She was running. The images flashed by her. She was moving, but going nowhere. As she moved faster, the door in front of her stayed just out of reach. Exhausted and frustrated, she slowed and stopped, bending and taking deep breaths.
As she stood, she witnesses yet another laboratory scene. Similar to the first one, except this included metal parts lying side-by-side with Bio appendages and other body parts suspended in some kind of green liquid. Symbiosis? Is this what Makr intends? This? Her head started swimming and she was suddenly very nauseous. Using a table as a brace, she leaned over and vomited, her body jerking violently, trying to resist the involuntary convulsion. As the disgusting mess hit the floor, its color changed to match it, then dissolved, and was absorbed into it. Why was her reaction, her vomit, part of the illusion as well?
She pulled herself together mentally and continued the journey. This time the doorway co-operated and stayed put. Upon reaching it, she turned back quickly to see only a white background—no illusion.
She opened the door, gasped for breath and fainted. Later, she couldn't remember what had made her black out. As she lay on her back, she looked up to see the amber vessel hanging above her. She could make out a human figure, a woman's figure. She pulled herself up to get a better look. It was her! Without eyes! This wasn't her clone, though! This looked like it had been alive once. But now, flesh, bones, organs and blood were imprisoned in a tube, a huge cylindrical test tube. Everything, except the giant test tube, grew dim, then completely dark. The test tube hung in mid-air with an eerie glow for a moment, t
hen faded like a ghost slowly into the darkness.
"Lieutenant, are you all right?" She heard a voice. Who? What? She awoke to a groggy reality. "Lieutenant O'Shea, wake up." The voice, a male voice, was gentler now as if trying to awaken a baby without making it cry. "Wake up, Kieran. Wake up." It was Sergeant Gray.
She was back. She sat up fast, almost too fast. She remembered the experience totally, which surprised her, but maybe it would be useful.
"I'm okay, Sergeant. How long?"
"A couple of minutes. You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I think Makr was trying to tell me something. I wish I knew what."