Unison (The Spheral) (45 page)

Flora stepped outside a few seconds later. “You’re good, but not that good.”

“If I wasn’t, you’d have shot me by now.”

“Confidence can mask insanity.”

“Confidence
is
insanity—and I say this from personal experience.”

I turned to face Flora, who had her plazer aimed at me. I slowly stood and extended my arms to the side. “Go right ahead. I’m dying of boredom anyway.” I slowly walked up the stairs. “You can’t imagine what it’s like when hardly anything scares you.” I stopped centimeters in front of the barrel of Flora’s plazer. “I’ve died so many times that if it happened to me right now, I’d thank you for ending our overplayed exchange.”

Flora lowered her plazer and gazed at me with a hint of sympathy. “You don’t mean what you’re saying. After reintegration, you’ll be able to return to your previous life.”

“If what they’re accusing me of is true, they’d never let me keep my sleeve. They’ll blame it on my inferior genetic profile and use me as an example for anyone who wants to challenge their own color.”

“Reintegration will help return you to what you used to be. Don’t let the scourge destroy you and everything you’ve accomplished.”

“You don’t know how much I wish your words were true.”

“They can be.”

“If I could destroy what I’ve accomplished in Unity, I’d finally be free.”

“From what?”

I peered at Flora, and answered silently.
From your death, from Wade’s death, and from every other Unitian who will die because of Harmony.

“I read through your file,” Flora said. “You accomplished so much. Kai told me you were on your way to becoming a Chosen because of Harmony.”

“That I regret inventing.”

“It’s helping so many Unitians. Why would you want to take that away from them?”

“Did you get the upgrade?” I asked.

“I don’t discuss anything personal with someone I’m about to apprehend.”

“Then we’ll pause right here and continue after you answer my question. In the meantime, we should get going; Kai will be here shortly.”

“If you’re right, we should head back to Unity before he gets here.”

It was obvious Flora was stalling me, and I was about to pack up and leave without her until I remembered a conversation I had with Tyrus in my last incarnation. I grabbed both of flora’s forearms. “You must listen to me. I think your mind has been altered in reintegration.”

Flora pulled herself away. “I haven’t been to reintegration in over a—”

“They take you when you’re not aware. At first they only did it to candidates nominated to purple sleeve to test their loyalty. Now they’re doing it to dissidents, except the only difference is their session doesn’t end with a promotion.”

“Something like that could never go on undetected.”

“Have you ever experienced any missing time?”

Flora’s eyes widened, and she quickly shifted her gaze away from me.

“You remember something?”

“Three weeks ago—my implant malfunctioned. I felt this intense pain in my head—worse than any stun I ever received. I blacked out and woke up in the hospital three days later.”

“What did they tell you was the cause of the malfunction?”

Tears emerged from Flora’s eyes, and she went to walk away.

I grabbed her arm. “I’m telling you the truth.”

“When you were a psychological engineer, what would you have said if someone came to you with your story?”

“I’d say he was suffering from the scourge because I didn’t know any better back then. But you’re different. You don’t believe in the Corporate Hierarchy or anything it stands for. You don’t think the Overseer is better than you, and you know you’re capable of achieving beyond your color.”

Flora’s tears now spilled freely, and I slowly circled around her.

“You like to spend your free nights at the observatory, and you dreamed of being an astronomer when you were a child.” I stopped in front of her. “Tyrus used to call you a rare gem, and when you grew up you joined the Strikers.”

Flora jammed her plazer against my stomach. “Who told you?”

“You did…in your journal.”

GODS BY DESIGN

F
lora gaped at me as I paraphrased an entry from her journal. “Kai reassigned a colleague of yours for failing to catch a Striker. He went against protocol by transferring him without a letter of intent, and you were overheard discussing your disapproval at a satiation center. Kai called you to his office for a reprimand and then tortured you further with one of his stories. Can’t remember which one, but after he was finished, he handed you a list of exemptions available only to the Corporate Hierarchy; they can reassign anyone if there’s a personnel shortage elsewhere, and there’s always a shortage in the sewers. Life as a waste cleaner doesn’t equate to a lengthy lifespan.” I cleared my throat and did my best impersonation of Kai. “You may think you know all there is to know, Flora, but in the end you really don’t know anything. Understand this, and you won’t be returning for another reprimand.”

Flora stepped back, keeping her plazer aimed towards me. “You hacked into my journal.”

“Not until after you died in my first incarnation, and you’ll be dead again if you don’t leave with me.”

Flora looked around nervously. “Am I in reintegration now?”

“I’ve asked myself the same question throughout all six of my incarnations, and I’ve yet to come up with a convincing answer, but I can at least assure you that you’re really here with me, and we must leave if you want to survive.”

“Even if I believed you, I wouldn’t leave with you.”

“Why?”

“The Strikers are counting on me.”

“They were counting on me as well…I’m the conductor.”

Flora lowered her plazer. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You arrested me, shot my dog, and killed me. All very good reasons for my silence. But now that I’m leaving, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll no longer be around to conduct, which means no passenger can be moved until my appointer finds a replacement. If he can’t, Freedomline will have to be on hold until it’s safe for me to return.” I glanced at my holologue. “It’s nearly ten. In about forty-five minutes, Kai will be here.” I held out my binoculars. “See with your own eyes. He should be making his way down from the middle ridge right about now.”

Flora hesitated and then took the binoculars. She walked to the edge of the porch and stared into the eyepiece. “I don’t see any—”She turned to face me. “Kai’s on his way down.”

“A hand-drawn map is in the top drawer of my desk. I’ll meet you at the first clearing, and keep a lookout for dogs and boars.”

“Are you going to kill Kai?”

“After all he’s done, death would be a just payment for him, but I’m not a murderer. There are a few things I need to discuss with him.” I clutched my plazer grip. “When I get my answers, I would like nothing better than for Kai to provoke me so that I can kill him in self-defense…again.”

I sat calmly on the front porch steps and watched Kai approach with his plazer pointed towards me. When he neared the steps, I pulled out my own plazer and aimed it at him. “You should ease up on the berry ale, Kai. Your midsection looks rounder than I last remembered.”

"And you look more like an apeman.” Kai took a few steps forward and stopped. “A wildcat wanders through the woods in search of shelter from a storm. He happens upon two caves, one of which has an exit on the back side of the mountain. The wildcat chooses the one with no other way out but from his point of entry. The storm is fierce and brings in a flood of water from the neighboring sea. He tries to escape the surge, but he hits the dead end and is swallowed up by the water. Had he taken a moment to look up, he would’ve seen an overhead ledge that he could’ve climbed on to and saved himself.”

“The man who doesn’t keep an eye out for all possibilities risks failure,” I said.

“You were an attentive student.”

“But I was never a good follower.”

“Which is why you’re an Outsider.”

“When current theories aren’t routinely tested, they become dogma.”

Master Kai smiled reflectively. “I said that to you, when we were considering your entry into University. You had such promise back then, but I was wrong about you. You lack the strength to stand by your convictions.”

“What convictions are those? To transmit Harmony to the public against their will? To make Unitians worship all those in the Corporate Hierarchy as gods?”

“The founders of Unity understood the masses needed gods to lead them, and we were created to perform that role. We watch over the Unitians’ safety and welfare like gods, we exact control over their life and death like gods, and thanks to you, we now control almost all of their emotions. You, Damon 1300-333-1M, acted like a god when you invented Harmony, so don’t get all pious with—”

I fired a beam of plasma inches away from Kai’s head. “I believed what we were doing was for the good of all…until I realized I was deluding myself. Since leaving Unity I found truth while you, the Overseer, and the rest of the Corporate Hierarchy remain locked in a unified psychosis.”

“Aspiring towards Unity is born from compassion, and we were given the authority to make it a reality. Only a madman would try to stop us.”

“Curious. Do you sound convincing to yourself?” I asked.

“Why should I need to convince myself when our destiny is by design? We emerged from the tanks ordained to rule over the inferior colors.”

“How does that bring about unity?”

“Once everyone knows their place, they won’t desire more than they have. Jealousy, greed, and personal dissatisfaction will be eradicated by default. A septic tank cleaner will be as content as a psychological engi—”

Kai’s eyes widened and a plazer blast pierced his chest. He fell to the ground.

“Did you get your answers?”

I turned to Flora, who still had her plazer aimed towards the spot where Kai once stood. “I barely got past my first.”

“If our lives were planned since our emergence, all my hopes and dreams were meaningless.” Flora aimed her plazer at me. “Did you know about this?”

“I had my suspicions.”

“Is that why you left?” Fresh tears trailed down Flora’s face.

“It wasn’t for anything that noble. The first time I left Unity was because of you.”

“I don’t know you.”

“But I’ve known you…for many lifetimes. You forced me to answer to my own conscience. Besides my friend Wade, no one else had that effect on me in Unity.”

I dragged Kai’s body to the backyard and performed the sacred burning ceremony. As the fires burned Kai’s flesh, I wondered if he realized—as I had in my own previous last moments—that he died a slave to an ideal.

Flora gazed emptily into the flames. She appeared as lost as on the day she took her life in my last incarnation. I doubted if she had the strength to pull through this incarnation either. The reintegration programming done to her would be difficult to resist. If Flora was to survive, she had to regain her strength on her own.

LOOKING IN

I
groomed myself back to a civilized appearance and then fetched some eggs from the coop. My culinary talent improved, but as I scrutinized the muck in the pan that was supposed to be a lentil omelet, I was almost embarrassed to present it to Flora.