He slowly walks around dragging his own weight inside the caves. His determination dwindles with every step. As he continues to grind his mind through every puzzle the place could throw at him that he hasn't confronted yet.
"I... I just can't anymore..."
He sits on the ground and crosses his legs on-top of symbols and runes that cover the floor beneath him. Using the purest hand of himself, he starts to lazily drag his finger through the carved languages while thinking to himself out loud.
"Why did i come here? Its not like i accepted into becoming something for them to control, i never did."
He opens his hand made of cold forged metal, turning it back to front, back again while looking at every bolt and plate that has been created to give him the strength he was never born with.
"Who am i, more or less... what am i? I never came here for myself, gnōthi seauton. So why can i not find out who i am. Down to physical sense I'm a Human being, Augmented with an AI who is a pain in the arse... But she has saved my own life time and time again."
His finger carelessly escapes the caving of the runes without him noticing into a different pattern, moving towards a dust patch that he soon carves his own symbol.
"Why, why am i driven here... i should be out there in space, going where angels have died and walking away with my own voice to tell its story..."
He starts to look towards the dark area that his finger had followed and created a symbol of its own. He hovers his 'Steel arm' over and shines a small light that illuminates from his energy supply. He had carved a recognizable 'Z' into the dust.
"Well... if i put it that way..."
He stands right up before looking around and feeling the walls of the caves complex. As he feels around he tries to find his way though without sight. As he remembers the way he came, he tries to walk along the edges using the walls as guidance.
"I'm not here for myself or them, she still doesn't know who she is. And she won't agree to herself as Human. I'm trying to drive her towards it, although i don't think me pushing her is going to do it."
As he gradually takes small steps down the Corridors of the labyrinth every though of 'Zeal' comforts him a bit more, giving him the strength to move.
It is impossible to tell how long Geoff wandered down the hallways. Soft glimmers accompany the strange alien structure. With newfound determination he searches along the edges to find whatever he is supposed to find in here - if this isn't another trick.
Geoff looks around to assure himself that this is real. Can he know? Intuitively, he tries to kick the wall, but stops midway. Pain can also be an illusion. He shakes his head and moves forward. Minutes blend into hours, hours blend into days. Time becomes a gooey mass, a strange concept, rendering the attempt to tell how much of it has passed a futile one at best.
Light and shadow dance on the edge of the tunnel, twisted and never unresting. The empty halls behind him mourn the passing of the creature that disturbs the peace of their sanctume. Soft streams of water float down the wall without ever reaching the floor. The spectacle takes their toll, and the Bretonian finds himself staring at the small streams and the eternal dance. It takes little attention from him to realize that the light has stopped moving.
Geoff snaps from his ruminant wandering and notices small wisps, vivid orbs of light, dancing around him. They seem to follow the foreign creature that walks through these forgotten halls. As he tries to grab one of it, they lazily evade him. The attempt to grab them is futile, and Geoff comes to the same realization after a few more tries. I might as well ignore them at this rate. [img float=right]http://i.imgur.com/7tWsxoi.jpg?1[/img]The Freelancer moves again, but finds something pushing him back. As he turns around, he flails his arms in surprise as the wisps form another .. tunnel? He is drawn towards it. Literally. Geoff is falling - downwards, upwards, forward, backwards - and he desperately tries to grab something to steady him. But there is nothing. A hurricane of colours cover him, whirling without any control, and without any direction. All he knows is that there is only the end of the storm to reach, or to fail. The last thing Geoff remembers is the strange storm before his eyes, then everything fades to black.
Geoff holds his head without single obstruction, his eyes continue to tightly seal them self from any sight of the darkness, Blue sparks fly from his "Steel arm" while its hand grips his head stronger but without his visual knowledge, his groans mask the sound of the electric flying around him.
"Touch--- I can't... touch---"
He continues to hold his head as his fingers search through his short black hair. Finding the sockets and plugs that extrude slightly from his scalp. He continues to to search around his eyes but keeping them shut.
"I can't see the sound, its code..."
He grits his teeth harder, his anger shown through his mouth as it heard from his voice. He suddenly stops any voice from his body, his area around his eyes become darker, turning a Greyish blue, and his throat becomes darker too with the same color.
Suddenly his eyes leak the color that seems to be an oil, a pure black oil that seeps from machines, but its thickness almost like a sludge, as it continues to draw down his face his mouth starts to leak the same oil between his teeth that continue to grit.
He starts to stand up on what seems nothing but darkness, his eye relax but continue to stream with oil as well as with his mouth. As he staggers somewhere within the darkness of what seems to be and empty operation table appears out of nowhere. Its metal surface standing upright perfectly visible from anywhere but without a light source to help it.
"P-puh... Procedure.. one."
He slumps himself perfectly on the table and without another second passing, restraints lock him in but he shows no sign resistance. The table aligns itself back into a regular position as its hydraulics hum slowly. Suddenly the room is filled with surgeons and interns ready to operate but with tools of machinery accompanying the tools of medicine.
"He's stable, should we use more of the anesthetic or Dopamine?"
Turning to his side a large needle is held by a robotic system ready to pierce the skin of his arm, an arm that does look familiar but has not been seen years ago. One that was replaced with his now cold 'Steel arm'.
"Amputation of Professor Enfields right arm will begin shortly for the replacement of the EM-2 prototype."
The Oil from his eyes and mouth continue to flow and many of his surroundings become covered in it but the oil refrains from staining anything it come in contact with except Enfield himself.
The needle is inserted into his arm and the area around his starts to become smokey, the Surgeons and table slowly wisp away into vapor and leave him within a room.
He finds himself in his own bed, one that hasn't been felt in a while. The sunlight from a window shines on his eyes that remain shut, but he stumbles around like his vision is normal. The oil drips onto the floor and his footsteps start to become dirty as the sole of his feet are covered in the same oil that track his footprints into the carpet.
He approaches the only door in the room to open it gently as two familiar voices are head on the other side. his eyes only peer through the small gap as he spots two familiar faces, one sitting in a chair, another on screen.
"You know what i mean don't yo, I can't really act like you too much, i'm all code and algebra."
"I don't think your systems work like that 'Zeal', you know what i think? I think you're just as Human as any other person i've met."
"*Giggle* oh stop, you'll make me wish i was one... But... *Sigh* what am i really, i've never known an AI to feel anger or happiness."
"Well, if you don't wish to think you're just like the rest of us, then... then i don't know...We'll find out one day."
The oil dripped Enfield closes the door to turn around to find a lone computer blinking away at him with an attraction that he can't even resist. He sits down in a chair just in front of it, and reading the screen with its words that read:
"[Neural map not found] Re-trace 'Memories' to next location? Y/N?"
Enfield slowly taps the 'Y' key.
"[Error] Neural system detects fault in the Re-trace, [Reason] is invalid or not detected, Re-trace [Reason]? Y/N?"
Enfield slowly taps the 'Y' key.
"But you haven't said your [Reason] for coming here yet. Care to {Explain}." Y/N?
Enfield slowly taps away at the keyboard
"[Yes, I want to know, not for me]"
"That seems a bit silly, you risk yourself in the [Reality] of your life for someone else? What do you call that? Please {Explain}"
The keyboard starts to become stained in the Oil that drips from the fingertips of Enfield's hands as he again types away.
"[I wouldn't think you would understand, i felt it was pointless for me to explain]"
"[We} hold more knowledge than you can even begin to think with, there is nothing that we can not know about with you [Steel shells]. I will ask again, what is your {Reason}"
The typing continues, the screen remains clean of the oil.
"[i haven't seen any of your kind express what i felt and what drives me here, so that why i thought you never grasped the concept of it.]"
"And what is that [Concept]?"
He presses four keys before looking at his own hands that have pressed them, and looking at the screen, the oil that flows from his eyes and mouth turns red, in the color of human blood. As he presses the Enter key, a mark of a red heart is left on it 'Crafted' from his own blood.
"[Love]"
Nothing happens for a short while, as he waits for a response the door behind him opens. His past self walks in holding a Blue card that he knows contains another 'Soul'. One he holds so dearly. He continues to stare at it with his eyes shut. As his past self inserts the Card into its charging port, a sealed container closes around it preventing any visual contact. His past self leaves the room closing the door behind him.
The computer starts to beep slowly, and the newly blood dripped Enfield's attention is turned towards it. New text has appeared.
"['Zeal'], she is nothing more but Metal, Energy and numbers, yours can not truly [Love] one of that build."
Enfield begins to grit his teeth, again because of anger, but not for himself. He continues to type, but with a more furious tone , missing keys and retyping his errors.
"[I wanted to know if your kind ever felt it, felt the same feeling as us, the same as we do. I always believed that human contact had almost altered your own ways, i wanted to know if you felt every concept of emotions such as we do, i was right in some way, but also wrong, but i am still driven to know if its true. And if i know that its true then i can understand that everyone and everything has a chance to know what it is.]"
"Your efforts so far haven't uncovered it, its very silly for you to try again, you will die doing so, if i was you right now i'd stop. Do you wish to comply? Y/N?"
"[No, i won't die, and i won't stop until i am finished.]"
"Then you know who 'I' am? Y/N?"
"[Yes, you are me, but only if i took the true path of a light seeker. To truly become one of 'them'.]"
"You do not wish to become me then? Y/N?"
"[No, I will only lose what i enjoy the most.]"
"And what is that, That [Reason] is possibly irreverent and unneeded for your existence, you might---"*Crack*
Suddenly Enfield had hit the screen of the computer, the Crack of the screen was soon met by a trash of the side of the case and a bang of the internal parts. The Hand that had been used to dealt this was his purest side, the strongest.
His mouth begins to stutter a few words.
"Th--- The--- Reason is still... L-Love, Stronger than any other emotion. It--- it has the ability to Cr--- craft more emotions, a-and has the power to even d-defy th--- the odds..."
The blood that had been dripping from his face had stopped in mid path for a short time, before completely disappearing in an instant. The area around him starts to turn darker, returning to the dark area that he had first started in this illusion.
"As I've seen, I've watched the sky, the fire has burned, within my eyes---"
A small light appears within the distance. with a large leaver that appears to be floating within the distance under the light,
"i want to know, I want to feel, i want to go back, to where its real---"
Enfield slowly approached the leaver slowly, staring at it.
"I left this for you to pull when i was unable to pull it myself."
He pulls the leaver and he begins to curl himself on the floor and find comfort under the leaver he has just pulled.
"But i never want it to happen until you know that i'm not there, that its not me who's in control."
The shattered screen begins to move, its shattered pieces regrouping themselves. Walls crack, the surrounding structure collapses, all of its pieces sucked into the empty hole within the screen. Shadows dance on the surface, and Geoff feels the leash of the void latching onto him, pulling him closer to the computer. In desperation he manages to grab the lever and hold on to it. He looks towards the screen.
What's left from the room is but the lever and the screen. Dark void fills the surroundings, and light chimes play in the background, barely audible. The maw gains size, horror deep within, its fangs trying to reach the living.
A warm breeze gently strokes Geoffs cheek through the suit. Then the realization came.
I understand...
With a deep sigh, Geoff lets go. As the dreaded maw draws even closer, Geoff can't help but think that he seems to be a pawn. Once again, eternal streams of lightning and colour form a tunnel, and without a real direction he merely gives in. The Nomads do not care at all, do they? Geoff looks at his arm and thinks about Zeal. We create tools, and let them aspire beyond that. And now I am just a tool myself, used by the Nomads to do their dirty work. The thought amused him, somehow.
[img float=right]http://i.imgur.com/bjaYdxV.jpg?1[/img]The patterns shift and the tunnel walls break apart. They reveal black spheres with a strange white outline. Small nebulae drift into either direction. The eye of the storm, eh? Quickly realizing that there is nothing underneath him he panics for a split-second, but notices that he is somehow standing on strange hexagonal panels. They seem to mirror the scenery above. The image is slightly distorted, as if he'd be standing on a water surface. The panels form a platform, only a few meters wide. When will this ever come to an end? With a sigh, he carefully tries to step to the edge of the platform, and notices that his steps seem to cause wave patterns on the panels. Even though he is moving forward, he is barely making progress. New panels appear before him, and when he looks back, distant panels seem to fade. I am growing tired of this.
Shadows drift past him. Was that a .. ship? A human ship? Puzzled, he looks after the shadow, but it is gone as fast as it appeared. In the distance, he sees smoke. Taking a closer look, he notices that it is a burning station in the distance. The space station looks like a freeport. Purple explosions come from the surface, but the station keeps burning. Helplessly caught in an eternal battle, there seems to be nothing Geoff can do. Only watch. Is this what existence could be like for some nomads? He shakes his head. He doesn't know for sure what do make out of this. More wisps, looking like those back in the corridor, surround him. He chooses to ignore them this time and walks towards a strange rock formation. As he moves closer, the wisps change their patterns eradically. Geoff wonders what that is supposed to mean, and he risks extending his arm as if to touch some of those rocks.
A sharp pain is sent upwards from his arm, sending Geoff to the ground. Minutes later, when the pain is gone, he realizes that it is futile to go beyond. They are a warning, aren't they? I need to find the end of this. As more images speed past him, he becomes slightly disoriented. It has become dark in here, recently..
But..
From the corner of his eye he catches a glimpse. Something is there. Or someone? He quickly turns around, only to see vast void behind. The clouds have vanished and in their place is a gaping abyss.
Geoff runs for his life, black shadows stroking his suit as he makes his way towards the edge of the nebulae, if those edges even exist. More wisps seemingly mark an end. Atleast I hope it is one. He looks backwards. The maw comes closer, once again. It is the only chance I have.
A jump and he is falling. Again.
The storm embraces him, but this time he is going to withstand the urge to close his eyes. Thousands of images, structures, ships, the universe speeding past him. He seems to hold all the power within his hands, and yet there is nothing to hold.
Then the structures break, the tunnel falls apart and reveals light. Sunlight. Sunlight?
Geoff is lying on the ground. His back hurts, and his suit is covered in scratches and bruises. What the.... He tries to stand up, but eventually gives it up. He is too weak at the moment and decides to lie here a little longer. The key in his pocket seems to be of burning intensity, slowly cooling down. I did it. Is the illusion over now?
Holding onto his head, he looks around but is unable to see anything but the blurry hanger that once contained the excavation dig site. His rappel gear still hanging collecting the dust since he was gone, But for how long?
"Sh- Fa... work damn it."
Holding onto a small cubed device that seems to hold a small light and a speaker, he presses a single button on the other side. It starts to beep, once every five seconds. Slowly pacing itself in sync with the light.
"Find m-me... please"
As it continues to beep Enfield finds that he is holding himself gripping an empty slot located on his 'Steel arm'. But left with a hand mark that seems to remain dust and scratch free but where that remains free, the back of his hand seem to be covered in it.
The device starts to bleep louder and faster, with its light following the same pattern, Brighter and faster. and the dust in the air starts to gently move around as if a presence is approaching.
He soon lights a small flare to lighten the area around him, Its blue smoke lightly hazing the area around him without obscuring the view. But the haze is soon also disturbed as a stronger wind is felt in the abandoned hanger.
A rumbling is heard from the open hanger hatch above where Enfield is laying. A light is turned on, as bright as the sun it shines only to Enfield, He begins to reach for the light that seems to only seek him and only him. It floods the entire area he's laying in, a signal of electronic hope. As he claws into the ground to drag himself towards the ship. His half-dead body almost tires itself as its unable to even lift the weight of a man and its metal limb.
Clawing its way, he manages to only move himself a meter before his head begins to throb with pain and fear of what hes leaving behind but of what has come to save him.
"ple--ugha...uhh..."
He faints, his motion ceases to awaken and the roaring engines of the now appeared ship fail to wake him. His body, laying within the dust and dirt. The cold underground ruins of what still remain unknown.
His eyes open to a small slit of sunlight. Somewhere on a tropical beach villa. He slowly regains awareness of his surroundings, The bed he lays in is soft, the comforted fluffy blanket he sits in is almost hypnotic as he is sunken in. His head on a Pillow facing upwards, comforted by its puffy texture and its weightless feeling.
I tries to move but feels the presence of a warmer body obstructing his movement, a strong grip, yet unseen as it hides under the blanket.
"Zeal... am i dead?"
The movement under the blanket shows the face of a long black haired Caucasian female with bright blue eyes, who's face is drenched in tears of fear and happiness.
"Not when you're with me, I can't let that happen. I don't want it to..."
Slowly scratching his hair, he soon realities that what he said to his other self became what he felt would never become a reality to her. To feel someones Emotions that are not of a Humans.He soon understands that his own side has been fulfilled.
"How long?"
"Huh!"
"How long was i down there for 'Zeal'? in that 'Hell', that 'Heaven', how long was i trapped by Myself and the Nomads."
"Two... Two days."
"Where am i now? Or where is my Body?"
"Safe, Cambridge, back home."
"Home... Inside the Mental Matrix system?"
"The 'Construct'? Yes... Luckily you Automated lots of hardware for me to move you around if the worse were to happen."
They both lay there under the sheets. 'Zeal' finds comfort under the protection of his mind, while Enfield finds Aid and health under 'Zeal'. The Beach outside slowly makes the silence of the two a bliss, one of pure safety and security. 'Zeal' begins to poke her head from under the cover just below Enfields neck.
"i've never felt more happy to see you, we've never left each other for this long, you'd be gone for an hour and i can never stand not being there. I know for yourself you put your life at risk for me, but without me by your side, you're at a bigger risk."
"Unless something like this happens... I wanted you to be there to pull the plug on me, but i know why you can't do that."
"No, don't, i can't even think---"
He strokes and combs through her hair admiring its gloss and purity.
"You don't need to... i won't be gone for along time..."
She begins to move towards his face. Her lips hang over his as her temptation drives her, She passes him a small kiss before her tears drip from her eyes to his cheeks. The both smile but 'Zeal' has been driven by temptation to lead to embarrassment. Her face blushes heavily, with her cheeks turning into a rose like red.
"I'm sorry, i just---"
"Because?"
"Because i, i love you, more than anything i've ever know, you've put life and risk into something that's not even Hu-"
"I don't give a damn care if you aren't human, I know that as long as i'm this close to you, i've found my eternal bliss being around you, in fire and harmony. I've never known myself to say this but, i will put my life down for you, down to the darkest of days to make sure that my last moment is i with you or yours is with me."
"Then who am i?"
"One of a kind, but one of Many!"
Geoff soon scratches his head again to think what may of happened but soon realizes that its pointless questioning the Unknown if one doesn't know enough to question it. But---
"Wait, how long will i be in recovery status?!"
"As short as a month..."
"Not long enough, make it... as long as i want."
"Well we got enough health supplements for you to survive at least 15 years inside this thing."
"Fine, but i'll be out by then, trust me."
"So what are you---" *SLAP* "Oh Hey! Frisky now are we!"
"You think your Hardware can handle it?"
"I'm more concerned if your 'Hardware' can handle it."
"That was a bad pun, and you should feel bad. That's a man joke."
"Shhh---"
Not all events need to end in sorrows and grief and tears, for what Enfield has understood, Enjoy life as much as you can exist for, even in the most horrid of situations.