Digital Heretic (27 page)

Chapter 56

Carl

 
I have t
o
hand it to him, the man sure does know how to dish out pain.

 
He’s had me in this small room for the past… I don’t know, maybe two hours. He started with small physical stimulation, nothing too invasive. I’m not bleeding or missing limbs or appendages. Nothing seems to be broken, but he does know how to bend the body to the most painful extremes.

 
Then he started in with the psychic pain.

 
It’s always amazed me how sensitive our energy fields are when manipulated. Even a no-talent, fully dull human will weep and beg like a baby when you start to manipulate their aura.

 
Yeah, Shane’s a master, all right.

 
He should be. The man’s had over five thousand years to practice and hone his talents.

 
I try to think of other things as he tortures me. He must be happy to see that I turned; I know he boasts that he never has. I think it’s because his eyes don’t denote one clear side or the other, but his actions always lean towards Infernal. Over the centuries, Shane always seemed perturbed that I’d been an Infernal for so long. Well, that ship officially sailed. I’m a goody two shoes at the moment, which is painful enough on its own.

 
Ahh, there he goes, turning up the dial a bit. Still, nothing I can’t handle. On a scale of 1 to 10, for a normal person this would be a 12. I cry out and scream and sweat and weep. That’s all involuntary; there’s not much I can do to stop these reactions. It’s actually a waste of energy to try. Let the body do its thing to eliminate the excess misery, allowing me to focus on keeping my core sane spark intact. The real goal of the master torturer is to make you lose control, to splinter your mind into so many pieces that your sanity flees. That’s when the interrogator wins, after that they just take their time to pick up the pieces, asking you whatever they want because you no longer possess the strength to resist them.

 
It’s been a long time since I broke. I was young and had no idea what was happening. I learned a lot. There aren’t many on Earth who could succeed in doing it to me now.

 
Unfortunately, I’m lying on the table of the most skilled master in the world.

 
“That’s it for today, old friend,” Shane says. He walks to the table across the room and pours a glass of water, then brings it back to me and holds it to my lips. I drink greedily, not sure what his angle is. Never one to mince words, I come straight out and ask.

 
“What do you mean, that’s it? I expected to be here for a lot longer. You can dish out more than this, I’ve had novices get lucky and make me twitch more.”

 
Shane chuckles at the insult. We both know I’m lying.

 
“I didn’t bring you here to torture you,” he says. “I simply wanted to show you what the first session is going to be like.”

 
Oh, crap. I hope I’m not understanding him correctly.

 
He smiles and nods his head. “That’s right, Carl. This will be Danielle’s first session on the table. You did fine; how do you think she will fare?”

 
“You’re insane,” I say. “If you put her through this on her first session, she won’t make it to a second.”

 
Shane looks at me and frowns. “Oh, I’m sure she will. I’m very good at this, Carl. She will spend days with me — weeks, even. Each day will be just a bit worse than the last. Eventually I’ll break her, but before I do she will suffer more than anyone I’ve ever had on my table.”

 
I look at him blankly. If he sees how much this upsets me, then he’ll be able to use it against me. “It’s your show,” I say. “You want to break her like that, no one can stop you.”

 
“That’s right, no one can.” Shane says. “I’ll come for her sometime after the sixth meal has been delivered. I’m looking forward to it.”

 
“We done here, then?” I ask.

 
He smiles at me for a few moments, then nods. He goes to the door and opens it. An inmate shuffles in and removes me from the table, slinging me over his shoulder. Shane says nothing more as the inmate takes me through the shadow doorway back to my cell.

***

  Shane went to the sink, removed his gloves and threw them into the garbage, then washed his hands methodically. He dried them with a towel and walked over to a nearby monitor hanging on the wall.

 
The screen came on, displaying Seven in his cell. “Feedback indicates everything went well, Master.” Seven said.

 
“Excellent,” Shane nodded. “Let’s hope we’ve given him proper incentive.”

***

  She looks concerned as the inmate dumps me onto my cot. I lay there quietly as he shuffles out, locks the door, and disappears down the hall.

 
“You okay?” she asks.

 
“I’ve been better,” I say.

 
“What did they do to you?” I can hear the fear in her voice.

 
“They tried to get information out of me,” I lie.

 
“How bad was it?” she asks.

 
“I’ve experienced worse,”

 
“Will they come for me next?”

 
There’s no way she can handle what Shane just did to me. She shouldn’t have to. 

 
Maybe me being an Eternal is a good thing after all.

 
“Not if I can help it, Danni,” I say. Six meals. The idiot told me that to try and hurt me. What he really did was give me a time limit. I’m ready now, anyway.

 
“I need some rest,” I say. “You have plans after our dinner meal tomorrow?”

 
She laughs. “Not really. What did you have in mind?”

 
“The roast that I’ve been working on in the back of my cell.” The hole there, carefully dug away to remove the metal lining behind the stone wall.

 
“It’s finally ready?” she asks.

 
“Yeah. It’s time to get you out of here, Danni.”

Chapter 57

Trew

 
“
Where are w
e
going?”

 
“Out.”

 
“That’s a little vague.” Trew watched Brandon in the mirror of the elevator. “Danni's missing and there’s a ton of problems happening inside the Game right now. We can’t afford to leave.”

 
“We can’t help with any aspect of the Game at this point in time,” Brandon pointed out. We may as well get out for a few hours and take care of something on Tygon that needs to be done. You haven’t left the building since you were ejected from the Game, Trew. An hour out will do you good.”

 
“I don’t like it,” Trew said.

 
“Noted,” Brandon said. “Now come on. The rules have changed for someone and he needs to hear it.”

 
“Who?” Trew asks.

 
“You’ll see in a few minutes.”

 
The two men arrived in the main lobby and walked towards the exit. When they reached the doors, Brandon stopped. “Okay, walk outside by yourself. I won’t be far behind.”

 
“Is it safe?” Trew was aware that people wanted him dead. He didn’t know exactly who yet, but it was obvious from the failed attempt of a few hours ago.

 
“Of course not,” Brandon said. “Now go out and wait for me at the main gate.”

 
Trew could tell from Brandon’s look that things were under control, Brandon wasn’t going to knowingly put Trew in danger. He nodded and walked out the door.

 
He’d taken two steps when he felt a slight hum and a presence beside him. “What the hell is he doing letting you go out by yourself?” Cooper asked angrily.

 
“Where did you just come from?” Trew asked.

 
“From the place I disappeared to earlier,” Cooper said. “Where ya going, Leader Man?”

 
Trew laughed. Cooper had a way of sounding angry and playful at the same time. He was guessing that the man was both lethal and gentle in equal portions, and he didn’t want to be on the wrong end of that spectrum. “I was instructed to walk to the gate and wait for Brandon,” Trew said.

 
“He’s close by?” Cooper asked. When Trew nodded, Cooper shook his head in disgust. “Bloody waste of a summon, then, when Brandon is near, you’re as safe as you can be with me.”

 
“I needed you to appear, jackass!” Brandon shouted from the front door. As soon as Cooper heard him he began to move his fingers, summoning the doorway back into the light that he came from. “Hold on, don’t

go anywhere
!” Brandon held up his hands. Cooper reluctantly dropped his hands to his sides and waited beside Trew as Brandon approached.

 
“What. In. The. Hell. Do you think you’re doing?” Cooper appeared extremely angry with Brandon, which made Trew want to ask why. The tension was thick, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

 
“Trying to get your attention,” Brandon said. “Do you know how difficult you are to contact once you’re in the field?”

 
“Yes, boy.” Cooper’s jaw was clenched together very tightly. He didn’t appear to be angry at Brandon, but he was certainly angry

about something. “I know
exactly
how difficult I am to contact. That is one hundred percent the point. Did you hit your head, Brandon? Are you ready for the repercussions that will be caused by this?”

 
“Of course I am,” Brandon said.

 
The answer seemed to startle Cooper. His mouth snapped shut with an audible click and his look changed from anger to sadness. “Don’t, boy. I am good at what I do; I’ll disappear and pretend we didn’t talk. I can make that a reality, but I need to go now.” He started to make hand gestures again, summoning bright whiteness around him.

 
“It’s already done, Cooper. Price negotiated and agreed upon. The next phase has been initiated.”

 
Cooper’s hands dropped limply to his sides, his shoulders slouched slightly, and he looked first at Brandon, then at Trew. He appeared disappointed.

 
“There’s that little time left, then?” he asked.

 
“Time’s running out,” Brandon said with a nod of his head.

 
Cooper nodded, looked around, then pointed to a nearby stone table. “May I?” he asked.

 
“Sure,” Brandon said.

 
Cooper sighed and walked over to the table. “Where’s he going?” Trew asked.

 
“To vent.” Brandon said.

Cooper screamed loudly and struck the table with his right fist. There was a loud thud as his fist met the stone surface
. Trew was sure he must have broken his hand. The table began to shiver and make a whining sound. In the space of a couple heartbeats, it quickly dissolved into a fine powder and began to blow away in the wind like a bag of flour had just been thrown upwards. Cooper walked back to join the two men.

  “Okay
,” he said to Brandon, “give me the rundown.”

 
“You’re here full-time, with Trew whenever I’m not. Level one security. Any problems, you kill first, ask questions as a third or fourth option.”

 
“That it?”

 
“No,” Brandon said. “Trew gets the full package.”

 
“Why?” Cooper asked. “It’s a waste of time.”

 
“He gets it, and lose the attitude. It’s not a waste of time.”

 
“What’s the full package?” Trew asked.

 
“It’s complicated and you wouldn’t understand it if I told you,” Brandon said. “You will learn in small snippets what it means. You need to walk before you learn to run.”

 
“It looked like Lohkam would be first to this stage, Brandon.” Cooper said. “He’s going to be pissed.”

 
“Please,” Brandon snorted. “Lohkam was never any good. If you put money on him, that was a fool’s bet.”

 
Cooper chuckled. “Oh, I put my money on you
,
boy. I was just telling you what it looked like up until a few moments ago.”

 
Trew glanced from one man to the other in confusion. “I have no idea what you two are talking about.”

 
“That’s fine,” Cooper said. “We shouldn’t be talking about this right now, anyway. Okay, Trew, you heard the man. I’m with you as much as I need to be.” He looked at Brandon. “Are we going to see him now?”

 
“Yes, it’s as good a time as any,” Brandon said. “There’s a brief lull in the Game so we can afford to be away for one hour, perhaps two.”

 
Cooper nodded. “Let’s go, then.”

 
“Go where?” Trew asked.

 
“You’ve got a real live flier on Tygon, kid. Let’s go meet him.”