SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (25 page)

Concern for Megan pushed its way to the
forefront of Zak’s thoughts. Then relief as she came within his
line of sight. He checked to confirm that Mashkkha and Harry
Mathers were also there. They were. And they all seemed as
disoriented as Zak felt from the experience they had just
undergone.

“Are my eyes playing tricks on me?” Mashkkha
asked, blinking and looking again. “I think I’m seeing double.”

Zak saw it as well. The library setting
remained, although now nothing more than an afterimage that had
become superimposed upon their new surroundings. It hovered barely
within visual perception, no more obvious than the red tinged air.
Zak reached out to the faded image of the librarian’s desk, but
this time his hand continued on through the image until it came to
rest against the rough bark of a Giant Oak that now rose up through
the center of the desk.

“Zak, what is going on?” Megan’s voice was
filled with apprehension.

“I’m not sure.” Zak mumbled. He was beginning
to experience his own misgivings about this virtual world. “It
seems that there’s more than one virtual program running.”

The air began to stir once again, their
visual surroundings becoming more opaque.

And again they became lost within the
void.

T
he sudden shock of regaining his
perception was not nearly as overwhelming as the shock of what Zak
perceived. His mind struggled with the new sensory data. He, Megan,
Harry and Captain Mashkkha were sitting inside the dingy security
office in Tanner’s warehouse, sitting at the same computer
terminals where they had been before entering the virtual network.
This would not have been a problem for Zak if the virtual program
had somehow shut down, allowing them to return to the real
world.

But that was not the case.

He was currently standing at the entrance to
the security office, gazing over at himself sitting across the room
at the work station. In fact, they were all there at the entrance.
And they were all staring open-mouthed over at their respective
counterparts sitting at the work stations.

No one spoke. The others were obviously as
confused as Zak was by what they saw. Their duplicate selves sat at
the work stations, eyes closed and bodies slumped back in their
chairs. Officer Kailin Aakil sat monitoring their vital signs as he
had been when they entered virtuality. He seemed totally absorbed
in the data on the computer screen in front of him. Suddenly the
readouts on the screen began to spike, the screen flashing warnings
on each of the group’s charts and Aakil went rigid with alarm.

“What the frag!”

Captain Mashkkha’s outburst caused Officer
Aakil to turn toward the door. When he saw the group standing
there, a look of shock spread across his face. He jumped up from
his chair, nearly tripping and falling in the process. “What in the
demon’s hell!”

With that everyone became animated with
excitement, as they all began speaking at once. In the midst of the
confusion, Zak recognized the need to take control of the
situation. After several progressively louder pleas for calm,
everyone became silent once again.

In the sudden quiet, Zak glared at each of
them in turn. When he was convinced that everyone had regained some
semblance of composure, he turned toward Aakil once again. Behind
the young technician the computer monitor continued to display
rapidly flashing warnings.

“What’s all the commotion on your monitor,
Officer Aakil?” Zak asked in what he hoped was a calm voice.

Aakil turned toward the monitor as though it
was the first time he’d seen it. “They... Your vital signs are
elevated. It’s probably a reaction from... How can you be there and
here at the same time!” He stared back at them with a look of
disbelief.

“Well do something about it,” Zak said,
jerking his head toward the display screen.

Aakil gave him a questioning look, hesitating
for a moment before reaching up and turning the monitor off. When
he turned to see Zak glaring at him, he simply shrugged and slowly
sank back down on the chair he’d been sitting in.

Zak shook his head in annoyance and turned to
his companions. “Now I know this seems a little bizarre, but
there’s nothing to be alarmed about. This is obviously nothing more
than an error in the virtual program. It somehow recreated this
scene of the security office.”

“Did it?” Harry asked. His complexion was as
drained as Officer Aakil’s. “How can you be sure? It seems pretty
real to me!”

“The whole point of the virtual experience is
to appear real,” Zak replied patiently.

“Yeah, well then how do you explain the
office with us in it?” Megan asked. “Are you saying someone knew in
advance that we would all be here and wrote a program that would
bring us face to face with ourselves?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” In spite of
trying, he couldn’t keep his eyes off their duplicates sitting
across the room. He reached again for a logical explanation. “This
virtual program obviously includes a routine that imports real time
situations. It may be a part of some sort of training program. The
security office is probably being recorded and the data is
reproduced in virtuality.”

“Then where are the cameras?” Mashkkha asked,
looking around the room. “I don’t see any.”

“The program was probably written to filter
them out.”

“Zak, we searched the room,” Megan said
quietly. “There were no recording devices.”

“So, what are you saying?” Harry asked Megan.
“That our virtual selves have somehow been transferred into the
real world?”

“That’s impossible!” Zak insisted.

“And yet, here we are.” Megan raised her
eyebrows at him for effect.

“We are not in the real world!” Zak
immediately began looking for something that would verify his
statement. He examined their surroundings more closely, fighting
off a tug of doubt. He felt almost desperate to find a clue that
would reassure him that the office they were now in was not the
same office located in the real world, that it was merely some sort
of a virtual rendition of it.

Unfortunately, he could find nothing to
verify it. The room appeared remarkably as it had when they had
left. It was the same cramped and dingy space; an old Dwarf
Brothers candy bar wrapper was still on the floor where Zak
remembered seeing it earlier. The glass of the long window
overlooking the warehouse had the same crack in the corner by the
entrance. Everything looked the same. His other senses began to
kick in. He became aware of the musty smell of the building, laced
with the decay of death. Muffled sounds from the warehouse area
below filtered through the thin walls of the upper office.

Beyond the window he could see the activity
on the main floor below them. The scene was pretty much as it had
been when he passed through the area on his way to the security
office. The forensic teams continued their work, dusting for
prints, examining every little nook and cranny for evidence and
bagging nearly anything that was not attached to the building. The
small prefab office could be seen from the window as well, a faint
line of dirty red energy pulsating up above it.

Detective Sarkof stood nearby, fully animated
as he shouted orders that Zak was unable to hear. Those police
officers unfortunate enough to be under his direction stood
cowering next to him like whipped puppies, before scurrying away to
do his bidding. When Sarkof looked up and glared directly at him,
Zak turned away from the window, becoming aware of a sick feeling
that had settled in his stomach. This was impossible!

Mashkkha had walked over to his own inert
body and was now looking down at himself. “This is flat out
creepy!”

“Megan, you are an Elf,” Harry said. “Can you
tell if this forest is real or not?”

“I cannot,” Megan said. “During the early
days of virtuality, Elves were able to distinguish the real world
from the imagined. But the technology has evolved and the programs
today are much more sophisticated. Virtuality now mimics the same
harmonic vibrations as the real world. I am afraid I can no longer
tell them apart.”

“It’s not real!” Zak insisted.

Megan was watching Aakil as he huddled in his
chair. “This looks pretty real to me, Zak.”

“I’m telling you, it is computer generated!”
Zak insisted. “Look, the air has the same reddish tint to it as it
did when we went into virtuality. This has to be some sort of
real-time rendition of the security office. It’s the only
explanation possible. We can’t be in the physical world!”

“Hey, I am no rendition!” Aakil objected,
still looking as though he had seen a ghost.

“If it is as you say and this is a virtual
simulation, then how did the computer program obtain the data to
run such a detailed and accurate representation of what is
currently going on in the warehouse? I’m telling you, there were no
cameras or microphones in the office when we searched it!”

Zak’s first impulse was to allow his
frustration to turn to anger and point that anger in Megan’s
direction. She was going out of her way to be argumentative with
him. He gave her a hard look, forcing himself to remain silent.
Logic was on his side...wasn’t it? Unfortunately, Megan was right.
He hadn’t seen any recording devices in the office. The only
logical explanation for that was that they had overlooked them. At
least, he tried to convince himself that they had overlooked
them.

“There is a possible explanation of how this
could be real.” Megan met his gaze evenly, returning his glare with
a contentious smile. She bit her upper lip as she considered what
she was about to say. “I think sorcery may have been used to
somehow merge virtuality with reality.”

“You’re not serious!” Zak was incredulous.
“You
actually
think it is possible to merge virtuality and
reality using magic? A virtual world is nothing more than a bunch
of computer code and electronic circuits that have been cleverly
designed to manipulate sensory data in our heads. There is nothing
real
about it!”

“And
you
actually think that the
world, as we perceive it, is the only reality?” Megan’s tone
resonated with contempt. “How can you be an Elf and not understand
that it is the mind that constructs the world we perceive!”

“Half Elf,” Zak reminded her. “And it doesn’t
change the fact that virtuality is based upon sound
scientific...
Human
scientific principles, not Elvish
superstition!”

“How can you all be here?” Agent Aakil broke
in, looking back and forth between the two groups. He had obviously
not recovered from the shock of seeing them suddenly appear in
duplicate and was not following their conversation.

“Virtuality is scientifically based upon the
Principles of Perceptual Reality,” Zak said, ignoring the young
agent.

“For your information, Mr. Know-it-all, your
precious Principles of Perceptual Reality is, in fact, a sterilized
version of the Laws of Li’Era!

“What is Li’Era?” Mashkkha asked.

“Dragon shit!” Zak said, too caught up in his
argument with Megan to acknowledge Mashkkha’s question. “You think
you can explain everything with a bunch of Elvish mumbo-jumbo. I
deal in scientific fact, lady. The virtual neural net is based in
science, not some Elvish
secrets of the Universe
crap!”

“Check your facts, buddy!” Megan’s voice grew
louder. “Dr. Albert Sprokett, the Human who originally proposed the
principles, did so after spending ten years studying at the
University of Elenathra in Mythnol Forest. In his initial writings
he even admitted that his principles were an interpretation of the
Laws of Li’Era. His work was intended to help Humans better
understand them. He never claimed his work to be original. It was
the smug self-righteousness of his peers that discredited him. They
then rewrote his principles, transforming them into a sanitized
dissertation filled with their own cute little buzzwords and
claimed them as their own!”

What is Li’Era?” Mashkkha asked again, not
that Zak or Megan paid him any attention.

“Typical Elvish smugness,” Zak said. “Always
trying to claim responsibility for everything in existence. I
suppose you’re going to tell me that God is an Elf!”

“He sure in hell is not Human!” Megan spat
back. She turned and began to walk away, just as suddenly she
turned back toward him and said, “I do not understand how
you
can be an Elf!”

“Half Elf. And not my better half!”

“I doubt you have a better half.”

“Time out boys and girls!” Mashkkha shouted.
When they both turned to him in surprise he continued. “Now then,
could someone please tell me what this Li’Era is? I’m sorry, Ms.
Teranika, but I’m afraid that I am not a scientist, nor do I know
much about your people’s beliefs.”

“This is a waste of time...”

“Harris! Allow the lady to explain.”

Zak’s first impulse was to continue arguing
with Megan, to make another degrading remark about Elves and the
ostensible truth of their teachings, but he bit it back. Instead,
he walked over to his duplicate self and began studying it as it
sat quietly in the seat at the computer terminal. Seeing such a
perfect duplication of himself was beyond eerie, but he refused to
admit to any possibility that it was his physical body sitting
there. His double’s breathing was quicker than normal and Zak could
see that his eyes were moving rapidly behind closed lids. His body
was obviously agitated. The more Zak fought with the possible
implications of what he observed, the more agitated his other
self-seemed to become.

He suddenly felt the need to do something
about the situation. As creepy as it felt, he reached across his
other self and began working the keyboard, applying extra effort
into making it obvious that he no longer was the least bit
interested in continuing his conversation with Megan. If there was
an answer to all this, he hoped to find it somewhere within the
computer.