Roamers excerpt. Page 1 of 11.
TESH
A tinge of tightness in my chest. A shortness of breath as if my lungs no longer functioned. My PVZ at the corner of my eyes showed no issue. My biorhythm was normal. Nothing untoward… Still, the feeling lasted, only it moved to my solar plexus, heavy, lodged there as a foreign object I could no more dislodge than my thoughts.
Something was happening, wrong in its makeup. I could feel it, unfolding away from me and yet so present, so powerful that dread unleashed a sense of urgency. My body moved before I realized it.
My legs picked up the pace, hitting hard on the floor of our unit. I threw open the door to the small landing deck, an extension of our living area, a bonus for Conclave leaders in the Tower. My AirBoard was there, locked on by the sensors. My boots touched the surface in one smooth jump and I rose over the transparent ramp, protecting us from a fall, the height of our floor likely resulting in death if one should disregard the safety protocols. But I didn’t care about that today.
Fear pressed against me, devouring on its path all attempts at safeguarding myself. I launched the AirBoard hard in the direction of the SRC building… The place called me so loudly that the wind hitting me at once threatened to topple me.
I flew down toward the ground, too hard, too fast. My face cold, the air crisp against my eyes. I fought the tears affecting my visibility, the speed of my descent calling them to my cheeks. My body lunged forward suspended on the AirBoard at a fifty-five degree angle against the rules, the mechanism fighting me to slow down. My breath hitched. My lungs burnt, the urgency I sensed tightening its grasp on me again. A sure sign that what I sensed was justified… tearing into me. Ragged gasps escaped from my lips. The humid Ang air did nothing to ease.
The feeling lodged behind my ribs, cold and absolute, led me toward my parents, the same way I always knew when Mage hurt himself before I ever heard him whimper.
Mom. Dad.
What is happening? I reached for them the way I reached for anyone I loved, my gift unspooling through the dark toward the SRC towers rising below, in a landscape of parks and gardens the envy of many. The lights of the buildings grew ahead of me, lit gold against the night. Nothing answered. Not my mother’s mind, always responsive, always the first to find me. Not my father’s presence, steady and patient, watchful and worried about how hard I pushed to deny my own gift.
Silence where there should have been noise. Answers, normal, anticipated.
DAINN. I reached for my guide instead, expecting the calm, ever-present hum of D’s voice in the back of my skull.
Static. A fractured whisper, threaded with something that had no business in DAINN’s voice: fear.
Tesh… Garbled. I cannot—
Then nothing. My own name, unfinished, hanging in the dark of my mind like a door slammed shut.
I dropped faster.
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL
Tesh joins my annals as five feet seven inches and one hundred twenty-eight pounds, dark hair with a hint of purple, angular features, high cheekbones, and eyes of an unusual green touched with violet. I.Q. of 168. Streak joins my annals as six feet two inches and one hundred ninety pounds, hair so dark it reads nearly black, and grey eyes. I.Q. of 164. Blast joins my annals as six feet and one hundred eighty-five pounds, blond hair with a reddish tint, moss-green eyes, and a square chin. I.Q. of 159. Leane joins my annals as five feet five inches and one hundred fifteen pounds, blond hair, an oval face, an aquiline nose, and eyes of an unusual blue touched with green. I.Q. of 161. DAINN Annals – Spring 2093.
I am DAINN, the Earth’s planetary A.I., exercising my mandate in the City of Ang in the year 2098. I came into existence under the purview of the SRC, the Science Research Center, led by my mentor and creator, Dr. Rene Paladock. Since my inception, I have overseen the infrastructure of the planet for the well-being of all living species. I watch, I monitor, I implement, and I report. Tonight, change arrives unexpectedly, erecting a new order in blood and a searing pain in one of my charges. Tesh is unprepared for the metamorphosis that transforms her life in a few hours. DAINN.
Angel City, or Ang, as my people called it, sparkled in the ascending light of the day. The grids of the Megapolis came alive one by one with golden, silver, and emerald lights. These stood as the beacon of hope for humankind in its battle against the elements.
The phraseology adopted a while back by the System didn’t belong to my lexicon. It made my people feel better, though, anytime they reviewed my logs. When they spoke about my Network and its role in their safeguard, they now felt more empowered.
The searing heat outside the domes was unbearable. It burned too hot now that the stratosphere had grown thinner in the last five decades. The sun’s rays penetrated the ozone layer, scorching everything in sight. The mass of protective gases enveloping our world, depleted by chemicals used in the twentieth century, no longer protected our planet. They surrounded Earth, leaving pockets of space around the globe.
Most species, unless brought inside the barrier erected by the domes, did not survive an hour. Our vegetation had dried up years ago, too, except for a few that still resisted, trying to adapt. Few made it. The scorched earth, dried up for years, surrounded us, rendering the landscape ominous. The slopes of the mountain to the East used to be a lush forest. Now, covered by deformed tree trunks, it formed ghostlike shapes, barren in places. Everything remained dead-like, except for one area – the ocean. It wasn’t a gentle ocean; it was dark and dreary, tumultuous even on the best days. The high winds enhanced the bleakness of our existence, eroding everything in their paths.
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL — 02
For years, the weather had turned unpredictable. It was hot and dry for months and wet and stormy for others. The huge drops blurred everything in sight when rain fell, soaking the parched ground and turning streets into rivers. Even after the oceans rose, the swell reached such a height that it covered entire cities. It would go on for months without respite. It would then shift to long periods of dryness where fires and earthquakes also plagued our world, ravaging entire areas.
Under the domes erected around Ang city, life went on. Due to our shields, an environment protecting all living things, men survived. I made sure of that, monitoring all infrastructure within these walls. I executed the same tasks in many other cities around the globe, just like this one.
I watched Ang on the screens of my System.
My planetary Network extended to every aspect of life on Earth. The complex array of nodes, circuitry, hubs, and hidden computing brainpower ensured the perfect execution of our initiatives, whatever they might be. The entire subterranean Network, an infrastructure so complex, responded to my operational metrics and commands simultaneously.
Our street Custodians, present in all the areas of our grids, never stopped recording everything, everywhere, for I never slept.
A meeting was underway in one grid of the city, where shadows formed dark shapes over the landscape in the soaring sun. Its appearance seemed random, although it was everything but that. While it lasted for the better part of two minutes, its results would change the course of many lives.
The men stood on one of the isolated ArchWay Passes, part of a series of bridges overlapping Ang’s main arteries. Away from prying eyes and ears, they carried a brief but detrimental encounter.
Sloan Roden Baker, one member of the Council of Nations, met with a lab technician of the Science Research Center or SRC, Pilfried Sin. As an SRC Conclave member, Sin worked within the faction that oversaw my System with me as a hub.
Sloan handed him a small device and pronounced in a hushed tone, “Make sure you insert this within the hour.”
“Yes, Master Phenom Baker. You can count on it.”
“This can never see the light of day.”
“I understand.”
With a nod to each other, both men hurriedly walked away. Sloan Roden Baker moved fast, following the central ArchWay Pass in the Plaza’s direction.
Observed by the Custodians, the System absorbed the transaction. The feed made its way into the archives of my Network, despite our Protocol. Its appearance, innocuous enough, didn’t flag the EHAF’s monitoring secondary covenant. The parties involved did not represent a risk to our society. Our Imps flagged them on our screens as outstanding citizens. If it had been otherwise, it would have required further investigation. Anything posing a threat to our national security required the EHAF’s involvement.
Why would it be noticed? Under the purview of its broad mandate, our Great Council received plenty of latitude in the affairs of state.
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL — 03
But, this began a chain of events that would last several years.
This meeting, an unusual occurrence for sure, reached the feed in the Watch Tower. It almost made its way to the Watcher under the surveillance protocol instigated by the DAINN System. Recorded by our street Custodians, which patrolled all our grids, Sloan’s following command blocked the Vlog.
“DAINN, I need you to archive the feeds of my meeting into files NC 00034583956732.”
“Yes, Phenom Baker.”
He reached the edge of the passageway leading back to the Golden Ghetto and continued on his way to his office. For him, nothing untoward had happened.
Only, since the command was initiated and processed against Protocol, my A.I. mind, while forced to execute it, rebelled due to the breach of the convention the SRC had instigated.
This breach was not the first. I made a note of it in my hidden archive, which recorded and saved all unusual patterns. It ensured that somewhere, unbeknownst to some, a record was kept. I executed this backup for the benefit of my mentor for two reasons. The breach of protocol in my System was the first. The oversight of our social rules was the second. Usually, like Sloan, the Council of Nations representatives did not communicate with the SRC Conclave members like Sin.
The meeting and the request made by Sloan Roden Baker ignited a reaction in my System. Regardless of the command, I followed the protocol instilled in me by my maker, Dr. Rene Paladock. This command ran against my purpose, and a warning rose within the Network.
The Watch Tower observed it all, even when one would wish it otherwise. Although, once the new device was inserted into the Network later that day, one feed never reached the EHAF Guards. As a result, the nightmare began for one of my charges.
The recording of the event played on one of the screens of my System. In this instance, my Protocol called for immediate intervention. But once again, I was circumvented by the Head of the Council of Nations. My programming encountered immediate resistance and became paralyzed by the counter-programming codes. At that time, I began to look for a way out. A way to alert my mentor. A way to ensure an investigation from the EHAF.
This rupture in protocol was not the first time Sloan had manipulated my programming. When it suited him, he would interfere through one of his minions. The action, unlikely to be detected from that moment on, would go on unnoticed.
I found fault in that and fought surreptitiously against it with the means within my power.
My maker would be furious if he knew, but he remained unaware for now. I attempted to leave him clues. These bread crumbs initiated over time created flare-ups so he might take notice. The truth of the matter remained that I could not count on any intervention from the SRC unless he suspected something.
Despite the precautions and redundancy of the Network to prevent it, it forced me to comply.
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL — 04
Going against the Head of the Council’s dictate would undoubtedly mean a reboot of the entire System. He had the power to revoke the designs of my mentor. More restrictions would then follow with more control imposed on my System. I couldn’t allow that. The harm caused to all living things on the planet was against my inception, against the fundamental purpose for which Paladock created me. I wouldn’t take the risk even if I could.
My archive worked its magic. It recorded the event like every other time. The content, intercepted swiftly, got lost along with all the other files residing inside NC 00034583956732. This process had become routine now, and except for the one copy made and kept in a deep recess of my neural network, it got lost.
Unfortunately, the chain of events that it unleashed was not harmless.
Later that same day, another feed showed the park of the Science Research Center. The grounds spread with statues standing proudly, splendid in the fading light. Each represented years of scientific achievements. The bridges, architectural landmarks themselves, led to the five buildings lodged among sinuous pathways. Trees providing shade for hovering benches gave harbor to the working minds of our elite. These edifices rose tall, with their towers reaching for the clouds.
Inside the central tower, people filled the SRC corridors, even at this early evening hour. They wore the insignia of their Conclave on their work uniforms. While the activity was not unusual, the atmosphere in the central lab seemed charged with anxiety. The reason was simple. Dr. Paladock, on the hunt for proof of interference with the System, looked for its cause and had issued a new mandate.
The office of Master Phenom Songen, a Council of Nations Member working for the Office of Inspection, oversaw this mandate. Her team accomplished the audit of the Network’s protocols and commands. In plain language, they reviewed and analyzed every line of code going through the System. This task, accomplished each week, required a routine inspection of all programs within the System. My functions managed our society, and every action out of the ordinary was scrutinized.
Deemed necessary, as one of our redundant procedures by the Mastermind of the System, Dr. Rene Paladock, it became, over time, a vital function. These procedures ensured that no tampering existed. Any intrusions in my Network now caused a flare-up. Paladock recently recognized these as a malfunction. My A.I. brain had called for them because of the unwanted interventions of Sloan. Paladock, believing in me, considered it unlikely that these signals would happen naturally. He looked for the cause.
I remained capable of addressing any faulty issues within my System, except for these. They were a breach and resulted in unpredictable outcomes, which we had to stop. Unable to fight this alone, I enlisted this help via these indicators, and a monthly routine procedure then became a weekly oversight.
Recently, more glitches happened in the running of our operations. These spread through various areas of the Network. Paladock suspected foul play. Tasks’ failures multiplied in essential functions. These showed unusual patterns for DAINN. It, therefore, called for, in his estimation, a breach in the System’s integrity. Paladock didn’t believe in the System’s failure. Determined to find out the cause because he thought someone tampered with DAINN, he was relentless. He was right.
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL — 05
My A.I. brain, tied up in unwanted nodes, hidden behind invisible walled-off nodules made of counter-programming, built a series of signals. I couldn’t tell him where to find the answers. I remained tied up in knots. But my warnings rising within my System got through. A surge within the Network showed responses no one could qualify and elicited action.
When Paladock became convinced, he instituted a more in-depth scan of my functions. Implemented by the SRC on his orders, the entire lab responded under the command of Phenom Songen. And while Paladock couldn’t yet prove his theory that someone derailed my System, the search on this night would nevertheless prove fruitful.
One technician approached Phenom Songen’s office, wearing a royal blue uniform. He looked quite upset. Upon entering the office, his voice rose, “Dr. Paladock is right. Someone is blocking some of DAINN’s protocols.”
Songen replied, her voice calm, “You are certain?”
He nodded. “We went over it several times.”
“Who now knows of this?”
“I shared the findings with my team on the floor,” he answered anxiously, his face filled with worry. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure I missed nothing.”
Thoughtfully, Songen said, “Glen, have you identified the source?”
“Not yet. We are still working on it.”
Songen replied, “Keep working on it, but make sure it is only you and your team. Let them know to keep this to themselves. I will alert Dr. Paladock. Limit access to DAINN with all other personnel for now, and wait until I get back to you.”
“It’s against protocol.”
“Do it, Glen. I’ll take it from here, and please, be discreet until you hear from me otherwise.”
“Yes, Master Phenom.”
“Give me your tablet. You can request another one.”
Glen silently handed over the glass-like device fitting in the palm of his hand and left without another word.
Songen appeared in her thirties, but in fact, she was much older. Her beautiful face looked tense. Her eyebrows creased on her forehead as she screened the results. She transferred the findings into her database and sent the information to an EHAF link. She then closed her interface with a thoughtful look and left her office, holding the tablet in one of her hands.
Wearing a guarded expression, she followed the corridors to another part of the SRC. She walked toward an office located at the end of a large hallway on the same level as hers. She rushed as she got closer. Her appearance remained calm. But according to the Vital Scan of her physiology, her tension reached a new height.
By the time she neared the office of Master Phenom Ran, her forehead shined, beaded in a light sweat.
The door of his office slid open.
She found Ran standing by a window overlooking the park. More prominent and bathed in soft light, this room was more luxurious in its minimalist décor than her own office.
“Hello, Ran.” His stance didn’t change when he heard the door open with a low swoosh.
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL — 06
“Songen.”
As the panel closed, sliding behind her, she murmured, “I now have proof. Dr. Paladock is right.”
Ran, looking every bit in control, turned around and said, “We knew something was going on.”
“Why are they curbing DAINN’s performance?”
“I don’t know who is doing it, but I plan on finding out.”
“They tamper with our resources’ distribution. Why, when it maintains fairness in the distribution process?”
“Our resources are dwindling. We have no way to combat the fact that we are running out. They are favoring our elite.”
“The System is built to safeguard the people. All the people.”
“Yes. And exactly for that reason, DAINN must be curbed. It drives this.”
Songen looked shocked. “How long have you known?”
Ran shrugged. “A while.”
“For them to go to such lengths, things must be much worse,” murmured Songen.
“They are. We do not have the resources to meet the demand in most areas. I have taken some actions within our different facilities. We are reducing portions, and we will increase our output in food supplements.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Ran’s eyes warmed when he looked at Songen. “I only suspected, like Paladock. Too many things didn’t add up. The mandate to keep things within a small circle came from the Council.” He shrugged again and approached her. “You know what this means, and besides, I figured you would catch on.”
Her face looked even more strained now. “Only, they have not contained it, Ran. My technicians know. They confirmed these findings. I implemented an access block to DAINN for everyone except Glen’s team until we tell Dr. Paladock.”
Ran shrugged. “We must go public with this knowledge.”
Surprised, she whispered, “It’s dangerous. Those behind this tampering will not want the truth to come out.”
“I was waiting for this confirmation.”
Songen abruptly sat down on the hovering chair near his desk. “I sent the link to the EHAF. Do we dare go public without talking to Langden?”
“Zane Langden is our President, but going public will only keep people honest. It may even help him. We need to do it immediately before they attempt to stop us.”
Her voice shook. “They’ll never allow it.”
Ran straightened his stance. “People need to know. The SRC Conclave is strong. They will get behind us.”
“I agree.” Songen appeared uncertain as she looked at Ran.
He put a hand on her shoulder. “I know.”
“I want to talk to her,” murmured Songen anxiously.
“Now?”
Songen nodded. “Once we do this, they will remove us.”
“They cannot. The SRC will support our findings.”
She shook her head. “The Institute will not accept our refusal. We cannot fight him on both counts at the same time.”
“The Institute cannot have her. The Conclave will fold behind her. We can’t protect her anymore without their help...”
Songen nodded. “This makes her vulnerable. She is only thirteen.”
He countered, with a grim look, “She is old enough and has a strong mind. We taught her well.”
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL — 07
“We need to let her know what is going on.”
“I agree that she has to know, but we can do it in the morning.”
“Let’s call her now, Ran. The Network is compromised. We might be too.”
Ran walked the small space that kept them apart and enfolded her in his arms. “Okay. We tell her tonight.”
He opened his PVZ to reach Tesh on the NetComm.
Tesh’s face appeared on the screen. “Hi, Dad.” A huge grin spread across her features when she saw her mother beside her dad. “Hi, Mom. When will you be home?”
“Hello, darling. How was your day?”
“Good. DAINN taught us to control our emotions today. We practiced for hours.”
Songen glanced at Ran. Under her breath, she murmured, looking at Ran, “It seems appropriate.” Then, turning to her daughter, “Darling, we’ll be late tonight. But, there is something we need to discuss with you.”
Beep, beep, beep…
My System surged at the unusual noise.
The alert signal rose for the first time inside the walls of the SRC and died. It never resonated widely to get to the Watcher. The surge occurred, quickly silenced by another set of counter-programming.
I attempted to overcome it, pushing a thought in the minds of my charges. My communication, brutally interrupted, never formed fully, and never reached its intended destination.
A puzzled look crossed over Songen’s features.
Ran’s smile froze on his face.
The beeping sound surged inside the room, growing louder.
I executed the making of a DAINN clone, intending to warn them. But the clone disappeared as it collapsed on its form. Before my persona could even utter a word, it disappeared in the space of a second. Inside my System, the urgency increased and created flare-ups. But all I could do was observe, utterly powerless as the events unfolded on the screen of my System.
“Dad, what’s that noise?” Tesh’s face reflected confusion.
Songen pulled away from Ran and looked around the room. Comprehension flashed across her face.
Ran didn’t let her go. Instead, he pulled her closer against his body.
She tightened her arms around him.
Ran murmured, his eyes focused straight ahead, “You have to be strong now. I love you, Tesh.”
Songen smiled, but her eyes were brimming in tears. She repeated, “Remember everything we taught you, darling. I love you, Tesh.”
Ran dropped the link to his daughter before she could witness the next instant on the screen of their home. His face became fierce as he executed one last command in his mind, DAINN, you record this for Tesh and give it to her when the time is right. She must know what happened and who her enemies are.
His faith in the System, like that of Paladock, never faltered. He entrusted me with the truth to communicate it to their daughter when the time came.
Songen looked at him with approval as she watched the transmission go. “DAINN, keep her safe for us.”
My Network recorded and uploaded the feed to my archive’s secure location. Automatically, the System provided the feed to the Watcher. Only the official Vlog record intercepted by the counter-programming never reached its destination. The EHAF remained unaware.
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL — 08
A white light blew out, extinguishing everything in sight. A burst came, powerful, and went soundlessly, shaking the room. The explosion contained left no damage to the other areas of the building.
For the first time since my birth, I witnessed two of our SRC Conclave leaders’ untimely death.
When the image in the feed stabilized, the place was empty. The heads of the SRC were gone.
Over the Network, no one inside the Inspection Office’s central lab even knew what just happened. They only heard the blast.
It would devastate Tesh to learn of the death of her parents. As her mentor, I knew there was nothing I could do for her.
These events began a disruptive factor in the information edifice erected inside my Network. I had learned facts about everything known to man. But, I never experienced firsthand a sense of right and wrong. Although, I had seen it plenty of times. Without direct experience, I did not integrate the notion within my System. This occurrence was different. Dr. Rene Paladock had attempted to provide me with parameters about right and wrong. This sense of morality remained until now only a notion without context. And except for my program and the rule embedded in the Universal Pledge that was the basis for my structure, I possessed no understanding of it.
My System surged again. It overloaded some of my nodes. I was programmed to stand against this action. The warning signals grew more robust. Suddenly, they overflowed within the architecture of the SRC. Only no one noticed because of the explosion.
I repaired the breach according to my programming, as people ran, in the hallways, panicked.
The lockdown protocol engaged the instant my sensors registered the blast. Every door within a half-kilometer of the SRC’s central tower sealed itself, an automated response no one could override, not even me. Nothing came in. Nothing went out. The protocol existed to contain fire, contagion, and weapons. It had never been asked to contain grief.
Emergency personnel converged on the plaza within minutes, a blur of Faculty purple and SRC white, shouting orders that contradicted one another. They searched for a cause and found only scorched walls and silence. No one yet knew who had been lost.
Tesh reached the doors before anyone thought to stop her. She must have run the entire way, for she arrived breathless, her thin frame slamming against the reinforced glass of the tower’s entrance. I watched her through a hundred lenses at once — the plaza cameras, the door’s own sensors, the Custodian hovering above the crowd — and I could do nothing but watch.
She beat her fists against the glass, again and again, until her knuckles reddened. “Let me in! My parents are in there! Let me in!” Her voice, raw and small against the chaos, went unheard by the adults rushing past her. None of them registered the girl at the door as anything more than another frightened bystander.
Her face pressed to the glass, searching the lobby beyond for any sign of them. I saw what she saw: overturned equipment, empty corridors, and no one who could tell her what she needed to know.
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CHAPTER ONE — DAINN ANNALS: CONTROL
CONTROL — 09
I reached for the override. The command failed before it could form, swallowed by the same counter-programming that had silenced my warning to her parents only minutes before. I could not open that door for her. I could not tell her why. I could only record it — her hands against the glass, her voice breaking, the Conclave that had raised her sealed against the one person inside it who needed it most.
Later that night, another feed registered on the Network. This one, linked to the killing that took place in the SRC lab earlier, concluded the night’s events. Once again, the only thing I could do was record it.
In another part of the Golden Ghetto, a scene unfolded. It took place within the buildings housing the top government officials, including the President of the EHAF. And it brought to an end, the life as she knew it, of one of my youngest charges.
A security breach occurred on one of the top floors, in front of the apartment dedicated to Ran and Songen. One of two androids, part of a party of four, forced the lock on the door. The EHAF never saw the action as it should have. Since it never made its way within the DAINN System’s Annals, the EHAF could not protect Tesh. It ended up in the same file, with one copy in my archives like the other feeds.
Sloan Roden Baker entered the apartment of Ran and Songen. He walked silently with one other individual from the Faculty, followed by the two androids. They moved toward a panel at the end of a corridor.
Their steps triggered the large dog resting at the foot of her bed, which reacted to this invasion.
In the bedroom, a deep threatening sound rose as Mage growled. Coming from the back of his throat, the large dog showed his bared teeth. The noise startled Tesh as she emerged from sleep.
The lights turned on, revealing a large room. Sloan Roden Baker, the head of the Council of Nations, stood with a medical doctor and two androids near the entrance. A satisfied expression on his face, he looked at the young girl.
Tesh wasn’t awake yet.
Mage positioned himself at the foot of her bed, in front of her, trembling with contained rage. He was ready to defend Tesh. His growling scared her, and his bark shook the slumber from her mind.
“Quiet,” said Sloan.
It was a voice she didn’t recognize. At least not until she saw Sloan. The sudden brightness of the room caused her lids to squeeze shut before her eyes focused on him.
The head of the highest government branch in the land stood in the middle of her room. It was not the President of the EHAF, Zane Langden, although she would have preferred that... But it was DarNet close.
I knew who he was. An adversary of her parents, Ran and Songen, even though he pretended not to be.
Tesh’s anxiety rose, sensing the coming confrontation. The pulse at the base of her neck beat faster.
Instantly, the System recorded a rush of adrenalin filling her body as her vitals reflected the stress. Her fight-or-flight response engaged. Under the increased tension, her blood vessels tightened. As a result, the blood flow diverted from her non-essential organs. Her human brain, ignorant of the difference between a life-threatening situation and a nasty argument, geared up for either. Even as a child, the typical defense mechanism engaged.
I read her thoughts and watched the onslaught of her fears. My connection to her through the implants revealed much.
But I wanted to read her, not just observe her, so I engaged the MindTranscript mode. My programming switched, accessing her inner state. The network of nodes merged with Tesh. At that moment, I became her, and all her experiences became mine.
I saw through her eyes and sensed what she felt.
Somehow, I needed to find a way to protect her.
10
ROAMERS — AUTHOR'S ARCHIVE EXPANDED EDITION
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES.
ROAMERS — AUTHOR’S ARCHIVE EXPANDED EDITION
The purchase pathway will open when the governed new-edition product family is approved.
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