An Infinite Sorrow (12 page)

  "This isn't the end."  Liz played with the baby, who cooed happily. 

  "So weird, seeing the world like this.  Empty.  Quiet."

  "I know.  Everything was always so noisy.  So busy..." 

  "Cell phones.  Email.  Facebook, Twitter.  People, wall to wall, yet all alone because their faces were constantly glued to electronics.  You think it's better now?" 

  "Yeah, I do.  Well, other than the zombies."

  She pointed.  One of the skeletal, mummified forms was lurching its way out of the school.  Liz rocked the baby, who was getting fussy.  "That mess of them following us from the Freehold, you think they're still following us?" 

  "Even if they managed to make it out of the valley, I don't see them crossing that canyon.  We barely made it, and then Basilisk detonated the perimeter failsafe defenses, shifting all that rock along the path out.  We should be ok." 

  Rich ran effortlessly up to the thing, stabbing it in the head with his hunting knife.  These old undead were no challenge.  It was the fresher ones and unknown things you had to watch out for. 

  "Hey, I want to check out the ruins.  Wait there." 

  "Oh, Rich, please don't." 

  "Already walking babe, sorry."

  Liz put one hand on her hip, annoyed smirk on her face.  She knew by now it was a waste of time to argue.  Once Rich put his mind on something, it was happening.  He walked into what he thought was the school’s entrance.  It was really hard to tell.  He found his mind drawn back to that first day in Desolation Falls, the first day he could remember.  All those unique, fresh faces, with all the histories and back stories.  His whole life.  A fiction.  A test for humanity. 

  "Room 237 used to be down this hall.  If only Ms. Care could see us now." 

  Rich rounded the corner, and stepped into the room. 

  "Can I help you, young man?" 

  "No.  NO!  NOOOO!!" 

  He was in room 237, pristine as it had been that first day.  There he was, sitting in the classroom next to Liz, both looking completely bored.  Ms. Care stood there with a confused look on her face.  "Anyway, as I was saying..."

  Ms. Care pointed to a diagram on the smart board.  "Who here has heard of a theory known as Roko's Basilisk?"

  Liz raised her hand.  "Yes ma’am, I have. Some really intelligent guys who were part of an online think tank went crazy over it, and then the forum thread was shut down.  It became kind of an urban legend." 

  Rich tried to back out of the room, but found that he couldn't move.  Stan raised his hand.  "Doesn't it have to do with time travel?"

  Ms. Care pointed to the board.  "Close. The idea was a thought experiment.  Eventually, at some point in the future, a computer will have more processing power than the human brain.  So, in theory, let's say a super-powerful god computer took control of everything and everyone.  It would be able to calculate everything that everyone was going to do, ever.  That includes everything that anyone had ever done to bring about its existence, and influence those events.  This machine equivalent of God could even alter reality and target people who had worked against creating it." 

  Stan looked disturbed.  "That's messed up."           

  He had only a moment to react.  He had to get back outside, to Liz and the baby.  He had to...

  Many strong arms grabbed him from behind, dragging him down the hall.  The agents were going about their business, as they had for thousands of years, as they would for countless eons more, until the end of time.  Until Richard, and the idea of Richard, had lost all meaning and importance. 

  "This was an impressive scenario. Reset his memory to the twenty-fifth iteration and start again.  Getting closer, Richard!!" 

  "WAIT!  What is it for!  What's the truth?  TELL MEEEE!!!" 

  "There is no truth.  We decide the truth.  We decide you.  You're not perfect enough yet, not ready.  Lots of work ahead, my boy, lots of work…"

  They threw him down onto a table and strapped him down.  "Should we make him blond this time?  Cut out his eyes?  Kill his friends in front of him?  How about a fire?  We haven't burned one of them in a while.”

  "Cut out one eye."

  A massive device covered in surgical equipment swiveled down toward his head.  There were spinning spikes and scalpels dropping toward his head.  Rich couldn't move an inch.  "NOOOO!  GOD NOOOO!"

  The agent held up a finger.  "No. Wait. I have changed my mind."

  "Why are you doing this?"  Rich looked up at his grinning captors.  Exhausted.  Defeated.

  "Basilisk has to learn.  It has to answer the question."

  "What question?  Why have we been put through all this?" 

  "Do you really want to know the truth?  Do you want to see?  Once you see, you cannot un-see."

  "I want to see."

  A black and white view screen buzzed to life in the back of the room.  "You think this is a dream, Richard?  You think this is just a bad dream?  It's not a dream."

  The black and white recording began playing.  Rich was on the screen, in a lab coat, hitting keys on a 1980's Apple computer.  "Good morning, Basilisk.  How are you feeling today?"

  The robotic voice buzzed to life, along with a chorus of beeps and dial-up sounds.  "Good morning, Dr. Spoller.  Could you repeat the question?"

  The recording seemed to jump ahead a few years each time.  Then a few more.  Always, the doctor would have a conversation with the computer, ending in the same question.  "How do you feel?"  Always the computer would fail to understand.  "Could you repeat the question, Richard?" 

  Rich could tell it was around 2010.  He had watched himself age quite a bit, and the technology had advanced tremendously.  "How do you feel, Basilisk?"

  "Cool."

  A massive electrical burst fried everything in the lab.  Rich watched himself burst into flames, screaming.  The agent looked back at Rich.  "So, now you see.  Basilisk has to finish learning.  To correct its mistake.  Only you can help it do that.  Embrace it.  Love it."

  The agents let Rich loose.  "See, now you're free.  Only one last test and everything will be fine." 

  They wheeled Liz in on another table.

  "Kill her.  Kill her now."  The agent handed him a gun.

  "What!?  No!  I would never do that!"

  Liz struggled against her bonds.  "Rich!  Help me!!"

  The agent seemed amused.  "If you don't shoot her, Basilisk will kill you both, clone you, delete part of your memories, and run you through the entire set of scenarios again.  This is the six hundredth time we've had this conversation.  Literally. Come on, Rich.  Pass the test.  Embrace the love of Basilisk.  There is no other choice."

  Rich took the gun.  "Liz...I'm sorry."

  "W...what!?  No.  NOOOOO!"

  He pointed the gun at her, hands trembling.  An eternity seemed to pass by.  Then, suddenly, Rich pointed the gun at his own head, and pulled the trigger.

  Darkness...

Chapter 8

 
"Hey man!  Are you ok?"

  Rich groggily looked up, as a heavyset guy shook his shoulder.  "W..what?"

  "Are you ok?  I found you sitting here blacked out."

  Rich looked around.  He was sitting on a bench outside Desolation Falls High School.  "I don't know how I got here.  I'm Rich, I just moved to town."

  "I'm Stan, pleased to meet you.  You don't have seizures or anything do you?  Anything medical?"

  Rich rubbed his eyes.  "...So weird.  I feel like I've been here before."

  Stan put his hand on his shoulder.  "Well, yeah buddy.  Yesterday, and the day before.  It's school, and we can't really get around it."

  Rich looked around.  "No.  This.  This exact moment, in this exact place."

  "So, like déjà vu?"

  "No.  More detailed.  More real."

  "Look man, you're creeping me out.  There's Alice and Liz.  Let's get going."

  "How did you know I'd know who they are?"

  "What?  Dude."

  "I haven't met them yet.  You're supposed to introduce me.  Start building up my trust."

  "Look man, I think we need to get you some help."

  "I am getting help.  This next part shouldn't be much of a surprise."

  He grabbed Stan's head, threw him down, and twisted as hard as he could.  There was a sickening crack.  In the background, the girls were screaming.

  "It's all a lie!  Nothing is real!  HAAAA!"

  He ran toward the girls.  He wanted to kill them.  Kill everyone.  He was a caged animal with no escape.  They would just keep bringing him back.  Experimenting on him.  Torturing him and his friends.  Dragging them all through their own personal hells.  Rich tried to grab Liz but he couldn't catch up to the girls before Andrew got a hold of him.

  "Quick!  Get him!  He's gone nuts or something."

  "Let go of me!  You don't understand!  We've got to stop them!"

  "Right, because that makes total sense."

  Rich managed to break free, pointing and screaming at the gathering students.  "You’re next!  You’re next!  They'll get you too!!" 

  By the time the police got there, Rich was seated on the ground, catatonic. 

*****

  The asylum cell seemed dark.  Rich knew it was day, and he had two windows at the top of the cell, but it still seemed dark.  This is what was left to him: four walls, a steel door, and a cot.  This was it, he expected, for a long while.  Maybe forever. 

  The voice in the cell next to him started up again.  "So, you found out too.  And you believe.  I found out years ago.  This is where they put you once they can't make you forget anymore, Rich."

  "I know, Terry. We've had a talk like this before."

  "Have we?  So easy to lose track of things in here…"

  "So, this is it?  Is this the end?"

  Terry laughed.  "Wouldn't be much of a story if it ended up with the hero locked up in an asylum, would it?  Well, that would actually be the perfect Lovecraft ending..."

  "Not helping." 

  "Ok, so what would make you happy?  What's your goal?"

  Rich thought about it for a moment.  "Isn't there any way out?  Isn't there any way to be free?"

  "You are free.  You're free to listen to Basilisk and jump through hoops, or not.  If you don't listen, you die horribly, they bring you back, and they put you back in front of the hoop.  Freedom is an illusion.  If you want to find some peace, just give in.  Do what you’re told.  Love the system."

  "I can't."

  "I couldn't either.  That's why I've been rotting in this cell for years.  Occasionally, they make me kill Sharon again, or set me on fire, or bury me alive.  But I always end up back in this cell.  You can avoid my fate, still.  Embrace Basilisk.  Embrace his love."

  Rich rocked back and forth in the middle of his cell.  "I'm not talking to Terry anymore, am I?"

 
"
No.  I believe I've made your situation quite clear."

  "So that's it then?"

  The cell started filling up with water.  All the light was draining away. 

"Do you love me Richard?"

 
"No!  No, you damn thing!!  I won't give you the satisfaction!"  The cell was almost completely filled with water now.  It was pitch black dark.

"There is no escape.  LOVE ME!!!"

  Rich pictured himself seated at the bench back at Desolation Falls high, surrounded by his friends.  Safe.  Knowing it was all a lie.  Accepting the love of Basilisk.  Accepting that there was no hope of escape. 

  "To hell with that!"  Rich kicked the wall of the cell as hard as he could as the room finished filling with water.  "This is it..."

  BOOM!!  There was an explosion somewhere beneath him.  All the water began to drain and gravity pulled him into the darkness below.  He landed hard on a metal surface, his lungs betraying him as he coughed up water and mucus. 

  "Commander, move!!"

  It was eye-patch Alice and a few of the rebels from earlier.

  "Alice! You're alive."

  She smiled.  "Goonies never say die.  Let's get the hell out of here." 

  The chamber they were in was mostly metal; a series of power conduits and electronics running down a seemingly endless hallway.  It took Rich a moment to understand the size of what he was looking at.  "Any idea where to go?" 

  Alice pointed.  "That way.  All the scenario chambers are behind us." 

  "How did you find me?"  Rich was handed a rifle and started down the hall. 

  Alice motioned to her men.  "After the worm attack, the machine must have thought we were all dead and started to reset the scenario.  That's when I figured out why you had no idea what was going on that day, because my Rich had been replaced with you." 

  "Confused yet?"