Solipsis: Escape from the Comatorium (21 page)

“
Up
here,” Renee says. She peels back a rubber panel embedded in
the floor, revealing a series of Oxygen and Xenon tanks. Flashlights
shines towards them, refracting through the vats, casting
nervous-system-shaped shadows.

“
They're
on to us,” he whispers. Renee jams the bomb inside the control
panel, pressed up against O
₂
valves.
She hits the button to start the clock. It ticks down from twelve
hours. They try to cover the bomb back up with the rubber covering,
but it won't seal all the way, bulging obviously. A sealed door
opens, hissing with the release of pressurized air.

“
Guards
coming,” Renee whispers. Her voice isn't pitch-shifted since
it's made by a speaker and not vocal cords. They struggle to press
the rubber panel down harder.

“
Who's
there?” a guard's deepened voice booms through the Comatorium.

“
Hey!”
another guard shouts. They frantically try to cram the rubber
covering back into place. The guards approach. Renee and Seth duck
behind a different row of vats and peer around the corner as the
guards meet up with each other, standing over the bomb and the
bulging panel, oblivious.

“
Let's
just run for it,” Seth whispers. They get ready to run for the
door, but footsteps come from that direction, there's another guard
out there. They slink towards the exit, staying low. Then suddenly a
guard steps out in front of them holding a flashlight, but he has an
assault rifle slung under his arm.

“
Don't
move,” he says, his shaking hands reach for his gun. Renee sees
him in slow motion as he slings up the assault rifle to bear. Time
stands still for her.

“
Do
no harm,” Percival says in a far-off memory in Renee's brain
that's somewhere in this room. Renee sprints towards the guard,
hydraulic legs accelerate her metal frame. He raises the gun toward
her, flips the safety off. She leaps at him, slamming into his chest
before he gets the gun up. He squeezes off a few rounds into the
steel-grated floor. Renee's mechanical body smashes into him like he
was hit by a car. Her steel-alloy shoulders crack into his ribs. She
drives him into the ground, snapping bones like twigs. Renee jumps to
her feet, grabbing the gun and reaching for his spare ammo
instinctively, just as she had done in first-person-shooters
thousands of times before. She stops in her tracks, stunned by the
sight of the maimed guard.

She's
in shock, having crushed his bones, sending him surely to his
imminent death. There's blood everywhere. Seth stops at her side,
staring at the guard. Shouts follow in their direction.

“
Come
on!” Renee says, grabbing Seth's arm. He follows as they run
for the exit. The other guards give chase, but stop when they find
their friend laying on the floor, his jaw flaps open grotesquely.

“
Jesus
Christ,” a guard whispers. The incapacitated guard can only
gurgle in response.

They
flee up the stairs, getting off on the next floor up. A sign says
“Simulation Floor.” Guards run up from below. Renee and
Seth run down the hall and duck around a corner, hoping the guards
won't get off on this floor. The door swings open and guards
frantically start searching. “Shit,” Seth mutters. They
look for a room to hide in, the guards approach the corner.

Hiding
in a server room, the place where Solipsis is simulated, Renee asks,
“What do we do now?”

“
We're
going at midnight on the dot,” he replies. A clock reads 11:08.

“
Going
where?”

“
You
really don't remember?...To turn the neural net back on.”

“
How?”

“
In
the control room. Once we do that, the televators will work again.”

“
But
they took all the televators,” Renee replies.

“
Which
is why we're going back in to bring them down,” he replies.

“
And
if we fail, the bomb will free them from hell.”

“
Right.
There's something we need to do before we go,” he says.

“
What?”
she asks.

“
I
need to put you in a different body,” he says.

“
Why?”
she asks.

“
They
know you're in the real world now. They can disconnect you from this
body. We need to put you in animatron that's off the grid.”

They
slink down a corridor on the simulation floor. Renee follows into a
room and he shuts the door quietly behind them. There's an animatron
hanging from a docking station that's been crudely hooked up. The
animatron is a flesh-bot, a slender blonde with exaggerated features.

“
You
need to put me in
that
body?” Renee asks.

“
They
won't be able to track you,” he replies. Renee looks at him
suspiciously. Then Renee notices something on a bank of displays next
to the docking station. A display reads:
SCP1
.
That rings a bell.

“
What
is this?” Renee tries to push him aside. He won't budge.
“Move!”

“
You
don't want to see this,” he says.

“
I
do!” She shoves him aside. Her jaw drops in shock. This is the
secret that has eluded her for her whole life.

Hundreds
of swift, light footsteps clamor across volcanic rock. The whole pack
of survivors moves quietly, staying low. The group keeps Renee
protected in the center. The mountains loom ominously over them.
Renee hobbles along, the rock encasing her foot erodes a little bit
with each step. Percival motions and they all lay down to get cover.
A face looks up at Renee, trapped in the volcanic ground.

“
Help,”
the imprisoned face chokes out.

“
I'm
trying,” Renee responds. Percival motions and they start
running again. They find themselves moving through a giant line of
stockades. The stockades are empty, but the sheer number is
overwhelming. They keep moving until they find a section of fully
stocked with people. Unlike regular stockades, these don't close
around the neck and wrists, but around the armpits, tightly. The
trapped people see them coming and all beg to be helped, making a
commotion.

“
Shhhh,”
Percival pleads as he leads the way. An angel stands guard in a tower
not far away. Percival keeps the group moving, not helping.

“
Wait!”
Renee says as she's pushed on by the survivors trying to protect her,
“Help them!”

“
We
don't have time,” Percival says. Renee ignores him and starts
prying open a stockade. “We can only save them by getting you
out of here.” Renee ignores him. The rest of the survivors
follow Renee's lead and start helping those trapped. Renee and Medved
rip the top of a stockade off, freeing a young man. Through the chaos
Renee and Percival's eyes meet, she doesn't look away, defiant.
Dozens are freed and they immediately start helping, creating an
exponentially growing work force. Percival looks to the guard tower
and sees commotion. The biblical monsters are headed this way.
Percival shouts to Medved, getting his attention. “Get her!”
Medved plucks Renee from the crowd and runs with her to Percival.
“We'll save them in the end, you can't be so short-sighted!”

The
ground shakes as a behemoth stomps this way. Renee, Percival, and
Medved have no time to discuss it, they head for the mountains. Some
of the pack keep up with them, but the rest of the survivors scatter
like ants, panicked, paralyzed, terrified. Renee hobbles, pulled
along at great speed through the stockades. They must ignore the
cries of the damned, their mission is more important than temporary
suffering. Angels with blue glowing swords swoop in and attack the
fleeing survivors, slicing many of them in half with ease. Renee
turns back. “Mom!” Renee spots Gwen, in the grasp of an
angel, being captured. Renee pulls away from Medved and Percival, but
they are stronger and keep hold of her. The angel shoves Gwen into an
open stockade, sealing it shut with a swipe of his flaming sword,
welding the joint, then moves on to attack others.

“
We
don't have time,” Percival says. Renee pulls harder, but his
grip is stronger.

“
Help!”
Gwen shouts from the stockade. She sees Percival and Medved keeping
Renee from coming to her help. Renee struggles harder, her hands slip
free. She rushes toward her mother. Percival and Medved run after to
protect her.

Renee
starts pulling on the stockade. Percival and Medved arrive, straining
to rip the stockade apart. An angel swoops in. His blue flaming-sword
slices through Percival like butter, cutting him in half from one
shoulder to the opposite hip. Then the angel swings at Medved but he
ducks out of the way, falling backwards on the volcanic rock. The
angel turns back to Renee, swinging at her. She dives out of the way,
he stabs his sword down into the rock, just missing her. As his stab
follows through, the sword effortlessly goes into the rock, slamming
all the way until the hilt enters the liquid rock. He tries to pull
the sword out, but the viscous lava clings to the hilt, creating a
vacuum beneath it. He tugs fruitlessly on the sword. Renee, kicks at
the angel's ankle with her rocky club of a foot. The volcanic rock
smashes his ankle, breaking it. His lower leg shoots through the side
of his foot. He falls sideways, going over backwards. Renee reaches
for the hilt of the sword. The angel, in no pain, crawls toward her.
She pulls it at an angle, getting one corner out in the open, the
vacuum seal is broken and the sword comes out. The angel lunges at
her. Renee slashes across the angel's chest, cutting through his
armor like it isn't even there. The two halves of the angel land on
the ground on either side of Renee.

Medved
grabs each half of the angel and throws them in opposite directions.
Percival lays in shock, he's a one-armed half of a torso. Renee uses
the sword to carefully unweld the stockade to free her mother. She
tries to cut a little too fast and her mother screams as molten steel
drips onto her ribcage. Renee slows down, being very deliberate.
Medved picks up Percival's torso.

“
Must
go now!” Medved shouts.

“
Just
go,” Renee says to Medved without looking away from the
delicate operation.

“
We
have to protect you!” Medved shouts. Percival loops his one arm
around Medved's neck and hangs on.

“
Then
you get her out,” Renee says. Medved takes the sword from
Renee.

“
Run!”
Medved shouts, starting to open the stockade. Renee runs for the
mountains.

“
Leave
her,” Percival's torso says to Medved.

“
What?”
Gwen shouts. “Get me out of here!”

“
Leave
her,” Percival says coldly. “Renee must get out!”

“
Sorry
Gwen,” Medved says, patting her on the head. With angels
bearing down on them, Medved takes off running toward Renee.

The
angels fly over Medved and Percival, ignoring them, going after their
real target, Renee.

“
Hey,
get back here and fight someone your own size!” Medved shouts.

The
two angels fly low, poised to tackle or land on Renee. A huge
volcanic rock comes out of nowhere, slamming into one of the angels.
He crashes to the ground in an instant. Medved howls as he throws
another rock at the other angel. The angel cuts Renee off, landing in
her way. He approaches quickly, swinging the blazing hot blue flame
at her. She ducks, rolling out of the way.

“
Renee!”
Medved shouts. He throws his blue-flaming sword toward her. It lands
blade first in the rock, cutting effortlessly into the rock until the
hilt hits the ground and sticks. Renee dives, dodging a fiery swipe
of the sword from her pursuer. She grabs the sword from the ground
and stands up. She raises the sword, ready for a duel. The angel
seems unfazed. He swings his sword at her. Renee has plenty of
experience with sword and light-saber fights from first-person-games
and is quite good. She goes to block the angel's attack, but his
sword passes right through hers, leaving a vortex in her fiery sword.
Renee jumps back, just barely getting out of the way of the attack.