Seymroe

by Phoenix-sol

Don't mistake this as a sequel for 'Wings of gold' it isn't, I just used part of the plot for this new story, and the part I used was the outcome of Virtual Aspects, since I hadn't wrote anymore about it than just a little chapter.

SEYMROE

No. None know. At least that was what I told him when he asked. And what he asked was this;

"If you had a choice between never existing and actually existing what would you chose."

And I said, None know.

And when he asked, "If I could grant you one wish what would you want it to be?"

And I said three more wishes.

Then he stares at me and says, "If I told you that we have something living inside you that shouldn't be. You would believe it?"

And I said, we all have something living inside us that shouldn't be.

He asks, "What is?"

And I said us.

He gives me another one of his looks and says, "Do you understand what it is to be crazy?"

And I said, all of us are crazy.

And he says, "Why do you say that?"

My answer to this was that we are willing to be alive.

So he says, "Isn't it a nice thing to be alive?"

And I say only if you think crazy.

He gives me that look again and says, "I'll see you tomorrow."

And I say to him not to bother.

He only gives me another one of his looks and leaves.

My name is Seymroe. And I live in a what…? What did Wendy say? A loony bin. I once asked her what it meant but I never understood what she means by it, so I call it home. I've been here for six years. But I've only been living for sixteen years so you can see that I've managed to find a home earlier that the others.

Wendy is older than me, she's around twenty, and according to her, she has lived for ten dynasties. Whatever that means, it got to do with…with somewhere around the world. Some other place, what was it? China? Whatever she means by it.

But I don't like Wendy, she's bossy, my friend is called Captain Scot. Skipper he wants me to call him, and he bites every other persons head if they call him Skipper, he says it's only me who gets to call him that because only I am allowed with him on the bridge.

I don't know why he calls his bed a bridge, I can see the similarities but I get confused when he yells at me to 'give it another few knots' I never understood what it means so that was the end of that expedition.

If I remember correctly he said that it was to investigate whether or not Chris had his 'cap the right way round' and had actually seen that the world is round and not flat.

Chris is Skipper's best ever friend, then he says I come next. I'd love to meet Chris, although I could never find him and Skipper says he's a special person who is a well-known sailor and that he met him in Spain- that's where Christopher lives by the way. He met him at the date, what was it? He wrote in his logbook –all Captains need one- 1451-1506. And I ask Skipper if you met the guy at 1451 why did you write 1506? And he says what? And then he clarifies that this was when Chris sailed over the edge of the world and flew to heaven.

And I said what?

I have another friend. His name is Oscar. And that's all of what I know about the guy.

He's a new friend, but my best so far. I don't mind his company.

Evidently, Oscar is a therapist who has 'flipped'. I understand flipped is when a person falls head over heals but what is a therapist?

I turned to the other side of my bed and yawned, wished Wendy would stop singing and Skipper will stop yanking me out of bed and yelling 'Man aboard!'

He'd then run out of my tiny room and stand by the door, throw his pillow at me-which is tied to a twisted blanket-rope he made. And he yells grab on. And of course I have to play on or he'd send Chris to save me. Last time that happened it was a nightmare.

So I'd sleep, of course sleeping isn't voluntary anymore; the man in white named Tyke would give me a bunch of sleeping pills.

Wendy says you can never sleep if you don't get them, she says that if you don't take them you'll sleep forever.

I said that's good because that would be like dying.

And she said no. You live your life in dark dreams; she says the pills are the things that wake you up in the morning.

She said the men in white like Tyke don't take the pills; they have the super human ability of waking up whenever they felt like it.

Her theory doesn't make sense. Because six years ago, the only time I took a pill was if my head were hurting, it would make it go away.

Not my head you idiot, the pain.

But isn't it related? Sleeping and headaches? I didn't know.

I wafted into a soundless dreamless sleep that lasted only a moment. My eyes popped themselves open and like magic the sun was shinning out of my window again.

Did you know that the Aztecs thought that if they stopped their human scarifies then the sun wouldn't come out again and their god whatever his or her name is would be angry and would make the Aztecs live in darkness for eternity.

I wondered what were the Aztec's reactions when they were conquered by the Cortés wondered if Chris was there. Wondered what was their reaction when the sun did come up again without the human scarifies.

Someone must have opened the window blinds for the sun's light was coming into my room. Tyke of course, yes that would make sense; the super human, otherwise no sunlight would have found the tiny room I lived in.

I got out of bed, got myself ready and dressed- Wendy doesn't do that by the way and nor does Skipper. He says that a sixty-five year old man could do whatever pleases him and that he's captain and no one can say he's not.

Anyway, I got to the lunchroom sat on the one of the tables and waited for the food to arrive.

Food wasn't the first thing to arrive, not that it surprised me, Oscar wondered into the room looking like he was lost.

I waved at him and he sat beside me, while he made his way to me I saw the Skipper too had waked up and joined us.

"So. Oscar." Skipper says, "What brings a guy like you to a place like this?"

And he says. "I don't really know what happened, but I…they said that I have a job here."

"A job! Hah, to do what? Act like a generally insane daft idiot of a man?" Wend was standing by the door way, she made her way towards us and sat down beside me, "I tell you what Daffy said when she came here?"

And I said that I knew and didn't want to hear it again, but Wendy of course took no notice of me, she flicked her long brown hair behind her back, "She said she was here to clean the place and leave, temporary job they told her."

Daffy is a confused girl who still doesn't understand why she is here. And she still goes around cleaning things, says her mommy always tells her off if she doesn't work hard, she also says it's because of all of the blood in the hallways.

Personally I don't see any blood, in fact I hardly remember what the color red looks like, ever since I was here every thing changed to white.

One of the reasons was of course, Daffy. It is why we don't get ketchup or tomatoes to eat, at least not in front of her, red drives Daffy crazy. She starts screaming and wailing and making these horrible animal noises….

I know this because once, that man that talks to me almost every day twice, the one with the gray hair, black beady eyes and the golden framed specs, he's the one that asks funny questions like do you know your name or what is it that you like best. Yeah, him, he got so fed up with Daffy that he locked her in a room that had one of the walls painted red, and he's scream at her to tell him what she was seeing but Daffy only curls up in a tight ball, hands over ears and screams and screams and screams…

I like Daffy, but I never told her that, she's fifteen, only a year younger than me; I like Daffy because she's a nice girl when she's not cleaning walls or screaming, and actually she's almost normal.

Daffy has these big dark brown eyes and long dark hair and small pink lips and I like it when she smiles, I like the way her eyes light up when she does.

There's another kind of light that shines out of Daffy's eyes when she's screaming, and I don't like it when it does.

Wendy says Daffy got more than the usual five senses, she says that she has the six sense and that if I knew any better I'd stay away from the devil that's inside her making her look through the eyes of the living and grasp their ending or something like that, I can't be expected to remember everything that Wendy babbles on about.

"Look, its for real…" Oscar fumbled through his pocket and went on mumbling, "This guy, he said he wanted me to look at this…thing…that he made, virtual…virtual…I can't remember what he called it…but I got his card…in here somewhere-" He brought something out of his hand and I leaned forward to see what it was, Wendy left us to go talk to Tyke on something that she discovered. I could see her standing just outside the room wasting poor Tyke's time with pure prattle.

"Ahah! Here it is," Oscar brandished the card at the air-or where Wendy had been seated. Looked blankly at the empty seat. Skipper yanked the card out of Oscars fist.

"Says so." Skipper murmured, "Look at that."

He tossed the card on the table and yelled at Wendy to come over here for a second.

I glanced at the card. It was a sort of business card, white printed with black. I read out the first part to myself.

Virtual Aspects has chosen you to become one of the first users of this fascinatingly new era of games that-

The card was yanked from the table before I had a chance to finish reading it.

Wendy held it close to her eyes and examined it, as if it were an object. She then read it and said, "Well, it doesn't make any sense, Oscar, if you are here to try out this product wouldn't you be like, somewhere else?"

Oscar said nothing.

I said maybe he is going to be with us? Maybe Virtual Aspects firm is going to do him a favor and giving him a home to live in, maybe…

"What I mean is that, if they're going to pay him plenty then what is he doing in the bughouse?"

No one had an answer, Oscar looked at the ground and Skipper looked thoughtfully at the breakfast they just put in front of him.

Scrambled eggs.

I hate eggs.

I mean, for all you know they could be scrambled eyes!

Wait. That's something Daffy said once.

After breakfast I sat and played around with Skipper, we faced another one of his storms, I drowned three times and died twice, and at around one I was called.

That man again, the one with funny questions, his name is Doctor Thomason. I dunno why his mother decided that he should be called 'Doctor Thomason' when he was born, there has to be some talent behind a mother that knows whether or not her son is going to grow up to be a doctor.

"Seymroe." He says, "What was your first thoughts when you got up from bed this morning?"

My first thoughts? Well I was recalling this thing about the Aztecs and how they thought that human scarifies would keep it -the sun- popping up again in the morning.

And he says "Ah."

He said, "Do you still talk to Scot and…what's her name?"

I laughed and said that Skipper and Daffy was who I always talked to, I said, they are my best friends ever.

And he says, "Yes, I see."

I looked at his old eyes and caught something unusual about them, I said, what's wrong?

And he says, "Seymroe."

I said, what?

He says, "Listen lad, today, there will be a man over here, he's going to get you to play this…game he has. Whatever you do, do not make him mad and just…cooperate."

And I said, why?

He says, "Because he will kill you."

I laughed and said, Wendy tells me that every time I go to sleep.

He says, "Watch out for your friends. He is an evil man."

I said, how do you know?

He said, "It's this feeling I have, there is something quite wrong about this guy. Somehow, I don't believe his story."

And I said, okay.

I didn't bother asking him what was the man's 'story' I looked up at him and flashed him a smile.

He said. "Go on then."

And I said, where?

And he said, "To your friends. The man came."

And I said, how do you know?

He said, "I know."

So I skip out of his office and found the rest in the common room, they were all huddled in a little circle talking in excited squeaks. I came up to them, tapped Skipper's back, Hallo.

"Hallo to you," He replied, the others looked at him as if he was daft. Daffy looked up at me and smiled; I sat down beside her, on the ground.

What is up?

"You said Oscar was taken by that man?" Wendy was saying skeptically, "Who is 'that man'?"

"The man in that suit with the bad attitude." Skipper snipped, "He said that it would be my turn next."

"What do you think its like?"

"Don't know."

What are you talking about?

"Said its like dreaming." Daffy said with a dreamy smile, "No, he said it's like anything you want it to be."

Where is Oscar now?

"Look, here he comes." Skipper said, "Lefts ask him again...no wait, the men from outside are with him, let it wait for later."

I sighed inwardly as I saw another one of the 'patients' enter, I recognized who it was, it would have been hard not to.

It was Tala. The girl with the severe case of…what did they call it? Couldn't remember, it was like the opposite of claustrophobia, she fears open spaces and people. She would do anything to avoid both, she is terrified of going outside to the garden, and spends most of her time in her room, alone, sometimes I visit her but mostly I don't bother.

Actually the only reason I visit her is because Daffy is her best friend, the two understand each other in a certain level. That and because Daffy wouldn't like it if I grew ignorant of her best friend, she says that its important to her, I don't know why.

Tala froze at the door way and looked as if she were a cat caught in the headlights, she backed away hastily to avoid us, Daffy looked upset and started to call for her, knowing how hopeless it would be, Daffy got up to catch up to her friend.

But she didn't need to. I saw Tala back into the common room reluctantly, walking backwards, she tripped over a tossed rag and fell, she dragged herself to a corner and huddled.

Daffy looked puzzled, she reached out to her friend who shrugged her away.

I noticed a man standing in the room, he must have come in while I was too busy watching Tala and Daffy.

Six more men entered and amongst them I saw Tyke, Doctor Thomason and Fredrick, another one of the men in white.

They call them nurses by the way, although they don't act like nurses. At least not like the ones in the hospitals, they don't flash an automatic smile. Not if they were passing you on the hallway or something. They'd smile only if they were trying to get you to do something you didn't want to do.

I didn't recognise any of the other three. "Scot." Doctor Thomason said, "You now."

Skipper whined, Fredrick give him a you-better-do-what-we-tell-you-or-else look, still he refused.

Doctor looked at me expectantly and I walked to Skipper and urged him forward.

I whispered in his ear; I'll go with you.

"But I don't want to go." He murmured, his eyes searched for Oscar, he didn't find him.

I don't think you have a choice. I hissed in his ear.

Skipper walked forward reluctantly, Fredrick grabbed him firmly by the arm, Tyke did not follow.

Most of the people who lived here with me know Tyke is a good person to have around, however, Fredrick was unpopular.

He usually embarrassed people, especially the older ones; he had no patience and often snaps at anyone who happens to be in his way.

Wendy usually complains that if Fredrick didn't like his job then she couldn't see why he was here.

Oh, and another thing, Fredrick is the head of the nurses or whatever you want to call them, there are more of them around but most are on holiday and right now we had only three. Fredrick, Tyke and Joan.

We always called them by there first name although Fredrick gets annoyed when you do that, so people call him 'Head' or 'Mathews' and to annoy him 'Fredrick' and to really, really annoy him; 'Freddy'.

I followed unnoticed by the men as they pushed Skipper into a room, it had all these fancy gadgets and lots of shiny stuff. Doctor Thomason and one of their men were not with us, actually, they were outside of the room heading somewhere.

One of the men faced a headset on Skipper's head. Skipper gulped as he found himself seated in a chair with an electronic headgear stuck to his skull.

The headset was manly this weird looking deep violet tinted sunglasses. I saw no visible computer nearby.

"What am I supposed to do?" Skipper asked nervously.

"We're booting up, Visser." One of the men said ignoring Skipper.

"Good, this better work." He growled, "I have better things on mind than this."

The Visser, his name maybe, sat on one of the posh looking black leather chairs and leaned back, he watched what was happening as if he was far away.

I stood at a side, not wanting to be detected.

The walls of the room moved suddenly, I almost yelped in surprise, they moved backwards sliding to revel a large screen that was concealed behind it.

The words; Virtual Aspects flashed in bright red with a red line being drawn underneath the words. A red dot with a sort of black squiggle appeared in black background. The company's symbol?

A footnote appeared in white, it said that the Company; known as Virtual Visions was associated with The Sharing.

Whoever they were.

Everything on the screen went black suddenly, and I realized that this was what Skipper was seeing.

Slowly scenery appeared, revealing a beautiful blue ocean, and part of a boat, Christiana. It was called.

A gentle breeze ran across the sea and ruffled the sails. Seagulls flew lazily around. Something stirred at the edge of the screen, and in response the eye camera or whatever it was was aimed towards it.

No. Skipper had turned his head, and with it, I saw what had stirred, it was a woman, she had on a warm smile and her long brown hair was lose, tossed around by the breeze.

One of the men cleared his throat, he said, "Are you with us Scot?"

Skipper didn't answer at first. He had gone ridged.

"Scot?"

"That's Caption Scot to you." Skipper said, but he sounded distracted. A teenaged boy was heading towards him in the screen I supposed that this was what he was seeing.

The man who had been talking to him shook his head and walked up to Skipper, he did something to the headset.

The screen went black.

"Hey-" Skipper started. His voice had a weird quality to it.

The walls slid back to their place.

The man called Visser looked up at one of the men that sat behind a computer, again, I had no idea where it came from. "Visser. Our results were above our expectations. The human brain responded to it as if it were a real place. The results with the middle-aged man and the young girl were also startling, especially in the young one." The man paused.

"And?"

"Visser we may be able to confuse past and future, reality and fantasy in humans using this, after we have exposed it to a large number we maybe able to confuse the humans in a worldwide range, that is, if we target enough customers and if we get Black Virus to a large amount of humans." He stopped.

"And if your…Black Virus… fails? You would expose our alien presence, our true nature, and our invasion."

"It will not fail." The man said confidently, "Human brains are complex and very emotional. Once Black Virus is launched it cannot be stopped, and it lasts several days. It will distort the humans."

"I hope it will work. Visser Thirteen" Visser laughed, "For your sake."

Then they left. Took their stuff and said that they may come back later. I noticed the Doctor Thomson did not look so pleased, but he was keeping it to himself.

I was left to wonder about what I had heard about. What was all this about anyway?

I decided to sleep on it. Literally. It was time to go to bed, after all of the excitement of the day Fredrick decided to get us off to bed early.

Tyke passed my room and left my pills on the table beside my bed. I took them and sleep after ten minutes later.

And woke up a few hours later on the sound of knocking on my bedroom door, I glanced at the windows. No it was still dark outside, who could this be?

I opened the room and Daffy came in.

Her eyes were red and swollen like she had been crying; she looked at me and said. "They're here, they're here."

I said, who?

"Them. Whoever they are, the evil." She whimpered, "I had a dream, I dreamt." She took a deep breath, "I dreamt that…I don't understand what it meant…I was walking round in streets but no one was there and it was dark and I was feeling lonely and scared…"

Go on.

She sniffed, "There was this boy, he was yelling and screaming for someone to help him but no one was there and I notice this crowd of people who are behind bars…they just stare at him and he's yelling and screaming and begging for someone to help him…to help him to…for…"

She took another deep breath and said, "Then he rushes over to me, he sees I'm the only one that's not caged and when he comes close I see that his face is all bloody and he has a big bird in his arms. He wanted someone to help him save its life."

What did you do?

"But… But I backed away! I didn't help him and I ran away and he followed me and wouldn't leave me alone so I run into this alley and out into another street and he's still following me, and then I see…" She looked up at me trembling, "And I see humans standing you know like an army? But they were like separated? A few yards off at either side of each soldier so they're not so near each other. Like a force between them, dividing them, separating them."

What do they do?

"They did nothing! You can't understand what…I mean they…. they stared at me, stared behind me, looked into my eyes and past me and then there was blood and the boy was waling behind me and I turn around but he's no longer human he's…"

She stopped and wiped her eyes, calmer now, "He's no longer human." She repeated, her eyes welled up in tears, "He's a bird, and he's flying away and the other bird is at the ground and there was blood every were, blood, do you understand? Blood everywhere, and he was crying in my head, and I remembered his eyes…"

She stopped; she didn't look at me again.

It's okay. I said helpfully.

It will go away.

"Not it's not okay." She whispered, "And it wouldn't go away. Ever. The blood, their eyes, the look on their faces, the look on his face, and his pain." She shook her head, "And then it was all faint, the crying, but the wings? I could hear them flapping…"

I didn't know what to say. So I was quite for a moment.

We could tell Wendy, She knows what do. I said.

She nodded to herself.

But tomorrow we ask, Fredrick walks the corridors you know that, and you know the penalty for wondering around at night. I reminded.

She nodded again and left.

I went to sleep again. This time troubled and very worried. Who were those people? And why did Daffy have that dream? Did it mean anything?

Or was it just…

No way to know, just have to wait and find out. I fell to a sleep wondering about the next days surprises when…

My eyes opened, I jerked out of bed. I woke up!

Even after taking the pills, waking up and sleeping again, Wendy was wrong! You could wake up if you didn't take the pills!

I felt like…like the Aztecs, only stupider. After all, the Aztecs were an old backwards bunch.

I headed to the lunch room, to my surprise, Skipper was there, he was chewing on something and looking far away.

Hey. I said. What are you eating?

He looked down at what he was eating, shoved the plate away uninterestedly, "You want it? Take it."

He fell silent.

What's wrong?

He shrugged.

I'm your friend. I offered.

He sighed, "You know, the other day…"

What?

"You saw what I saw right…?"

Yeah… I don't understand why it's a game. I understand the ship part but…

"No it is not a game." He said quietly, "It was real."

What?

"I was there." His eyes looked lost, "On the ship, with the cool breeze blowing around and the smell of sea water around, I heard the seagulls and…" He looked at me, "The boat? Christiana. She's mine."

I shook my head. No. Skipper it's a game-

"And the people on board?" He turned away, looked at the ground, "My wife and Jason, my son."

No. I said, It couldn't be.

"It was." His eyes looked clouded.

I left Skipper alone. Maybe he needed time to figure things out, maybe something had happened to his family that resulted him being here, I didn't know, Skipper never talked about his family and already I was missing his warm smile and his morning expeditions.

I felt confused, nothing was making sense anymore, why were the others so withdrawn?

All of them but Tala and Wendy, they were the only two who had not tried out the game.

I went back to my bedroom without eating breakfast. My heart wasn't into it.

I just sat and stared at nothing in particular, thinking about Daffy, about Skipper.

What did Oscar do anyway? I realised that Daffy too never talked about what she saw in the game.

Hey. Listen up.

My head jerked up.

Who said that?

Its me, the talking cockroach-don't stomp me.

Where are you?

Down here.

I located the bug and grabbed it. There were another two bugs.

Hey!

I placed it on the bed.

Who are you? I asked.

I told you. I'm a talking transforming cockroach, look, can you lock the door or something?

I glanced at the closed door.

No locks on doors. I said. Fredrick says it's for emergency reasons.

Um, I see. Look. It's going to get a little weird okay? Don't scream or anything -what's your name?

Seymroe.

Okay Seymroe. Like I said, no screaming.

What are you going to do?

Seymroe, I am going to become a human.

I didn't say anything just watched.

And just as he said, he became human.

I still didn't say anything, although the weird mutating shapes in between the process were rather 'disturbing' to me.

I stared at the boy who sat at the bed across of me, he was about my age, or looked like it. He had dark eyes and dark hair…Hispanic?

"Ah, hi. I'm Marco." He said brightly, stuck out his hand for me. I shook my head.

I said to him; what are you doing here?

"Not so easy going are you?" He said with a nervous laugh, he looked around uneasily.

These days, a lot of weird things are happening. I confessed, and you have just been added to all this.

"You think I'm weird?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Then you're not crazy?"

All of those who live outside and are willing to continue with life are crazy. Here? Everything is okay at least not until a few days ago.

"Really? What happened?" The boy looked interested.

There was knocking at the door. The roach-boy jerked in alarm and scanned the room for a place to hide. He found no place, not even underneath the bed, too small a distance above the floor, even though he was short.

Come in. I called out.

Joan opened the door and stuck her head in, "Hey Seymroe, the others are…" She trailed off stared at me then at roach-boy.

My friend. I said.

"How did he come in here?" She asked wiping her nose with a handkerchief she had in her hand. Her nose was blocked so her voice was funny.

When you were off with the flu.

"Funny, Mathews didn't tell me that we had a new patient." She said looking at me.

I said; Fredrick said he's staying for a few days only and that no one should bother.

"Ah." She said. "Okay look, breakfast is on the table and if you need anything-"-she sniffed-"You just…"-she sniffed again-"…call me- Accchhooo!"

She sighed; then muttered to herself, "I really should not have came here again."

"Bye-bye." Roach-boy said brightly. Waving. Joan stared at him for a few more moments then left.

When she left Roach-boy leaned forward. "Now tell me what it is that is abnormal round here."

I said, My friends, you should meet them.

"Uhuh, but first tell me-"

Over breakfast. I said.

"Okay I'll wait here-"

No, come.

So he did, I lead him to the lunchroom were the others were all huddled round a table, except Tala who was sitting farther off.

Wendy watched my approach cautiously. Oscar looked up and raised an eyebrow. Roach-boy grabbed a chair and sat beside Daffy.

"Hi, all." He said brightly, "I'm here to join you for a day."

"And you are?" Wendy questioned.

"Mar-"

Roach-boy. I interrupted.

Wendy laughed, "Great. Welcome to the loony bin. So, Roach-boy, why are you here?"

"I'm not Roach-boy." He said sounding annoyed, "My name is Marco."

"Roach-boy." Skipper mused, then he turned serious. "You'll be in charge of the navigation equipment, Seymroe could use a hand, but watch out, storm's brewing off in the North, so we have to head south, only that would mean that we have to watch out for the rock-bed. Shallow water you know."

"What?"

I'll haul the anchor. I said.

Wendy leaned forward and slapped Skipper at the back of his head, "Welcome back on land Captain Scot. Wouldn't you want to introduce our new…shipmate…to the rest of the crew?"

Skipper coughed loudly, "That over there is Oscar, and the big mouthed lass; Wendy. Beside you is Daffy, and Seymroe here is second in command."

He paused then said. "Tala way over there."-Roach-boy turned to look at her, she just shifted and looked away continuing her breakfast-"And you may address me as Captain Scot-only."

"Okay, Roach-boy." Wendy said, "What did you do?"

"I'm not Roach-boy. I resent Roaches. Please."

He turned into one. I said.

He turned to me, "Will you shut-up?"

"Don't take it personally," Skipper said grinning, "Wendy is not Wendy's real name that's just what we call her, it's kind of like being christened, only it's the bughouse thing, you keeping up boy?"

I drew out my fist and dumped three roaches on the table.

"I've been looking for those." Roach-boy murmured. He held his hand low and the roaches scuttled over to him.

"And Tala's real name is Jenny, and-" Skipper continued.

He talked in my head. I said looking at Oscar.

Oscar didn't seem to notice me, he was mesmerized by the cockroaches. Roach-boy shifted uncomfortably, "Ah, I have a special power."

And your brother/sister roaches? I asked.

"My friends, yeah they too."

"Hah." Wendy said. "I may be crazy but I'm not stupid. You have to prove that."

Look we just came here to get a few questions answered. A voice said, in my head.

"Wow," Wendy said.

Oscar just stared at the cockroaches as if they were monsters.

"It's the voice in my dream." Daffy whispered.

"And then you have Daffy." Skipper continued as if everything was normal. "That's what we call her, but its not her real name, her name is Madra-"

Madra? Is that a common human name? A voice interrupted.

"Not really," Skipper answered looking thoughtfully at the Roaches.

"Why is it important?" Roach-boy asked sounding impatient, "Look I'm here for answers not-"

Madra is the name of the Yeerk home moon.

Marco rolled his eyes, "Give me a break Ax, this facility is run by Yeerks what would you expect?"

"Huh, What are Yeerks?" Wendy said.

But he said that Madra is her real name, it is not possible that her parents have called her that even if they are controllers.

"And then we get to call the nurses anything we want, well, not all of them-" Skipper went on.

"Who cares?" Roach-boy hissed. "Look someone is going to come to check if I really belong here."

No fear of that. A voice muttered.

"Haha, Tobias, very funny. Rachel will approve."

"It's the voice." whispered Daffy again, her eyes looked tearfully at me. "Seymroe."

What? I said.

No, I'm just saying that this is a very unlikely coincidence, Marco.

"The voice, it was in my dream!" Daffy gasped out louder, this time Wendy heard her; unfortunately she was not very impressed. "Honey, tell them about your dream…later."

"…That's Joan for you. Then Fredrick, yeah, we all hate him, he's head nurse and I must say that he is unbelievably grumpy." Skipper looked thoughtfully around, "What have I missed? Hey, are you listening to me?"

"I want the questions answered." Roach-boy said as calmly as he could.

"Madra wasn't born here you know." Oscar said speaking up at last. "That was her name before she came her."

Ah! See what I mean?

It doesn't mean anything.

"The blood, the screaming," Daffy moaned, "No…" She put her head in her arms.

Hey is she alright? The one called Tobias asked.

"She'll get over it." Wendy said.

"No I'm not." Came Daffy's muffled reply a bit too late.

Then how would you explain it? I would not have thought that a human would have been named after a Yeerk moon.

"Ah, I forgot to tell you, there used to be this boy." Skipper continued, "And he always…are you listening to me?"

"Ahhh!" Marco yelled, "Stop, stop, stop! You're driving me crazy! I just came here to get a few lousy answers so we can get ourselves in a lousy battle to get my lousy-self killed!"

Everyone fell silent. Wendy muttered in a low voice, "I can see why he's here."

"Don't you start." Roach-boy warned, "Now, I wanted to ask-" He looked confused, "What was my question?"

What is abnormal around here? I said helpfully.

"Yeah that's it" Marco said, and then he looked around at us.

Suddenly no one was keen on sharing anything, they just sort of stared at the table.

"Nervous?" Roach-boy said, "Well I'll give you a head start. You were asked to test something, a game?"

"Yes." Oscar said, "A game."

"It's not a game." Skipper said quietly. "It's more serious than that."

"No, it's a game," Oscar said, "It virtual, I got to meet people over this place that looked remarkable like it could have been in an alien desert."

"I saw the past." Skipper said, he had the lost confused look at his eyes.

"No. I told you it's a game-"

"I have an idea." Roach-boy interrupted before anyone else could join the argument, "Since you bunch don't understand the rules of conversation we're doing it this my way. I'm going to hear what each one of you have to say and after that, we start talking about what other people said. Got that?"

We nodded.

"Good." Roach-boy said, "You start Oscar."

Oscar said, "I already told you, the game was an opportunity to meet real life people-or at least ones that look really real, but are virtual- and here's the thing; an area is chosen for you depending on what it is you fancy-"

"And you fancied an alien desert?" Wendy said sceptically.

Roach-boy said, "Hey, remember what I said."

Oscar went on, "And then as you go on in this area you meet people, either by chance or lets say you chose to be in a city, you look for people to meet."

"What do you think is behind all this? " Roach-boy asked, "I mean, would people be…addicted to it?"

Osacr hesitated, "I wouldn't use addicted…maybe, but I'll tell you this, the things that you do seem absolutely real, the people are absolutely real with different characters. And there is a part that disturbed me."

"Wait, you mean the graphics look real?" Roach-boy asked.

"Absolutely, they don't have that 3-D quality usual games have, it's like living in a movie or something."

"What was it that disturbed you?"

Oscar looked hesitant, "You have the ability to inflict pain on other 'human beings' this may not seem much to you, but I tell you that there are a lot of sad, mentally ill people out there who would love the chance."

Roach-boy was quiet for a few seconds; he seemed to be listening to something, but what? "You next." He said nodding at Skipper.

Skipper looked uncomfortable, "I was able to see my past again, not as the old man I am but as a middle-aged man who was living with his wife and son on a boat I used to own."

He looked at him in a distant way, then he turned to Oscar. "Can you explain that?"

"Yes, I can." He replied, "I think this part may benefit the old or people who generally lost everything they had or something important in their lives like their parents or home." He paused, "They could escape their sadness by reliving the times sent with their families or whatever it is they lost as if it was happening know."

Skipper said, "The temptation could be overwhelming."

"I understand." He muttered, I realised that his eyes were cold and his fists were clenched, maybe he had once lost something? "And what about you?" He asked Wendy.

"Oh I didn't try it." Wendy smiled, "I was an 'unfit specimen ' as I recalled that man say."

"What man?"

"I don't know they called him Visser."

Roach-boy inhaled sharply, he cast a look around and hissed, "Not so loudly."

"Okay." Wendy said looking taken back by his attitude.

"What about her?" Roach-boy said, "Glancing at Talal."

"Same with me, she too was unfit." Wendy snorted.

"And you?" He asked Daffy, only Daffy was still sitting with her head in her arms.

He looked up at us. As if saying, will you please help me out.

Daffy. I said. Tell them about the voice.

"What voice?" Wendy asked.

Daffy pulled her head back and said, "It was in my dream."

"What dream?"

And she told them, after that all was silent.

I hope this dream wouldn't become real. The one called Tobias said nervously.

"No." Daffy said sadly, looking at the cockroach, "It will not become real, but within it is a terrible meaning."

"Here we go again." Wendy groaned, "Listen to me kid, she's not worth it. I've heard babble like this for over two years."

"Someone is coming." Oscar said. I jumped up, headed for the door and peaked out, it was Fredrick and Joan, heading this way.

You have to go! I said. Joan told Fredrick that you are here.

Roach-boy cursed, "Can you hold the door? I have to go back to being a roach."

"Sure." Wendy said, "Come along you people. Let's help the fellow. Eh?"

We stood behind the door so that Fredrick and Joan couldn't be able to come in. Tala was the only one who was not helping.

She was staring at the beautiful sight of flesh going hard and turning brown.

THUD-thud!

"Hey! Open the door!"

Open the window for us! I heard roach-boy yell in my head.

"Tala!" I yelled, "Open it! We can't let go of the door!"

But Tala wasn't moving at all. She was staring at the transformed roaches.

THUD-thud!

"OPEN IT!" I heard Fredrick roar.

"TALA!" Wendy screamed, "Come on!"

Still she did not move.

THUD-thud!

"Call security!" Fredrick yelled.

"Tala, we haven't got time for this! Open the freaking window! The air wouldn't bite you!"

Open the window before they get in!

THUD-thud!

"OPEN THE DOOR!" Fredrick roared again.

Tala stood frozen, unable to move, terrified with all of the noise. She crouched into a ball and moaned.

I ran to the window and yanked it open.

GO! I yelled.

We'll come back later!The cockroaches fluttered outside. I slammed the window shut.

The rest moved away from the door.

The door slammed open wide hitting the wall and bounced back at Fredrick, he collapsed, seemingly unconscious.

Wendy ran up to Tala and grabbed her by the arm, shook her hard, "Are you out of your mind?"

Tala started to sob.

"Oh, Lord." Wendy snapped and she shoved Tala away.

The rest sat down at the table while Tala continued to sob quietly to herself at a corner.

We continued our breakfast.

Joan ran in with security. She stared at us, "What happened?"

We all shrugged.

And that was how we finished breakfast off. Not all days are exciting as this one so I had the feeling that all of the rest were enjoying it. With the exception of Tala, Daffy who was withdrawn and me who is still confused.

What did all of that mean?

It had to wait; I had another sitting with Doctor Thomason.

Twenty minutes later I was at his office, sprawled over a long chair that may have been a bed, doing nothing more than staring at the ceiling.

"Seymroe." Doctor Thomson said.

And I said, what?

"You are not yourself today."

So I answered, no.

"Why is that?"

I am confused, I confessed.

"About?"

I can't tell you.

"I see."

What?

"What?"

What do you see?

"Nothing much."

Oh.

I fell silent again, I would have pushed the matter further as I usually did but I didn't. Doctor Thomson was right; I was not my usual self.

"Had there been some changes in your life?"

No.

"Changes in the way that you think?"

Not really.

"Then what is it?"

My prospective about this world, I said sadly, It's distorted.

"What caused this distortion?"

I was quite. I didn't say anything.

"Was it the arrival of something new?"

Perhaps.

"I see." He sounded disappointed.

We sat in silence for the rest of the time, I didn't say anything and he didn't ask anything.

It was a weird silence, I had this feeling that he was deep in thought.

What are you thinking? I asked finally.

"Ah, finally you noticed."

Noticed what?

"The silence."

What does that mean?

"It means that you are still aware that you are with me in this room, usually, when I do this, you just leave and don't look at me again, I think I see progress."

Why should there be progress?

"Never mind."

I can go now?

"Yes."

I left and my I still felt confused, now even more confused actually.

Instead of heading to the common room I headed for my bedroom, I laid back and stared at space.

I successfully stayed like that right up to dinnertime. Tyke peeked in, "What are you waiting for?"

I shrugged.

"Come on." He said kindly, "You've been in here all day. The others are already eating."

I got up and followed him, I sat at a table in the lunchroom even though I haven't got the appetite.

Tyke left, "I'll be back later."

I watched Wendy, Oscar and Daffy eat at a table nearby. They didn't seem to notice me. I looked at the seat opposite to mine.

Hey Tala. I said cheerfully.

She ignored me at first.

"Why do you want to eat dinner with me?" She asked shrewdly.

I'm not eating.

"Then what do you want to do?"

Watch you.

She stopped eating, placed her fork down and looked at me with icy blue eyes.

"Go away."

I'm not.

Suddenly I was angry, why did she act like this? It wasn't like I was dying to sit with her; Tala had always been lousy company.

"I said go away. You're not wanted."

Well, that's fine. I snarled.

But I didn't move, I didn't leave, she just went ahead eating, totally ignoring me.

Hey, I'm not a dead wall. I growled.

I wanted to provoke her, intimidate her. I felt a tidal wave of anger rear up inside me, I wanted to grab her and throw her at the wall. Why was she ignoring me?

And why were the others-Wendy, Oscar and Skipper- ignoring me as well?

LOOK AT ME! I screamed.

No one did.

I grabbed Tala's metal fork from her hand and stabbed the back of her hand against the table with the fork. Hard.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The others turned around, "What's going on?"

I lunged at Tala overturning the table. The plastic dishware splattered at the ground, I jerked forward and pinned Tala against a wall.

"Stop it Seymroe!" Daffy shrieked, "Stop it, Why are you hurting Tala?!"

I was holding Tala by her throat against the wall, choking her; her feet no longer touched the ground.

I brought my other hand into action and punched her in the stomach, she made a stuttering gasping sound and sagged, only I was still holding her, she had nothing to sag against aside from the wall.

She kicked weakly and she clawed at my face with her fingernails, I felt her scratch my skin and hot blood ran down my face, I still didn't let go.

Now, everyone was screaming, everyone but me.

I didn't see Fredrick and Tyke rush into the room. I didn't see Tyke's startled expression; all I saw was Tala's eyes going misty.

Her kicks faded, her hands which had been clasped against mine dropped, her arms hung lose, her eyes fluttered.

Strong arms yanked me back, I struggled and fought but Fredrick managed to pin me to the ground, I started to holler.

Fredrick yanked me up off the ground and both Tyke and him dragged me out, I glimpsed Joan at the floor beside Tala, I didn't care.

I saw Skipper and Wendy watch me wide eyed. I didn't care.

Daffy looked shocked. I didn't care.

Ralph and Sam, another two nurses who must have called in today took me over. Fredrick and Tyke headed back to the lunchroom to restore order, I could hear my friends shouting at each other.

I didn't care.

Sam and Ralph pulled me into a room, I knew what was coming next, I struggled and tossed and tried to throw them off.

But Sam and Ralph were strong very strong I couldn't get free. They strapped me down on a bed, in a room that had soundproof walls, I knew that the dark window was actually an observation window, I could see nothing but anyone outside in the adjacent room could.

I howled and screamed for the time between it took Ralph to prepare a shot -probably loaded with something that would sedate me- and the time it took him to empty it in my blood stream. I didn't care.

I didn't care at all.

He released my arm, even though I couldn't move any part of my body, and I still screamed, and raged and tried to free myself.

I didn't know what wore me out, the screaming, the constant struggling or maybe the shot. Whatever it was I felt myself drain of energy.

Slowly, I stopped struggling; my throat was raw from all of the screaming.

I felt exhausted, my eyelids felt heavy and I felt myself sink into a heavy, drugged, sleep.

I woke up with the sound of ringing in my head, I still felt tired, and very, very thirsty, like I was dehydrated, I didn't know maybe I was.

My vision cleared slowly and I saw Doctor Thomson standing beside the bed, he was talking to Fredrick and a man I didn't know.

"What happened to you lad?" Doctor Thomason said, "I thought we decided that you made progress. What happened?"

I stared at the ceiling.

"Aren't you going to talk to me?"

I kept on staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Never mind then." He said kindly enough, "I hope you snap out of it, it was one hell of a job making you talk again. From when we got you."

Images flashed through my eyes, I took no notice of him.

"I hope you wouldn't spend another five years in silence Seymroe. You know how much fun was your six-year here? With your friends? Daffy, Skipper, Wendy and Oscar? "

"Can you hear me boy?"

More images, more violence, all irrelevant, no one understood. No one cared, all of them ignored, like that thing that lived in my head…

"I assure you doctor, his hearing is fine." The man I didn't know said.

"Will you write to me Seymroe?" Doctor Thomason asked gently, "Like you did in your fourth year here? Remember the steps? First we held eye contact, only for seconds first, then for longer. Remember?"

I gave him no answer so he went on.

"Then there was more progress? And you actual looked at me as if I were a person, and you registered who I was, do you remember? After that you actually stopped looking distant and then I gave you a notepad to write on, you remember don't you?"

We're all crazy, for being alive. And what was there that was living inside us that was wrong?

Us.

He made me believe it.

"You remember what you wrote down once, Seymroe?" Doctor Thomason asked, his voice a near whisperer, "'When all is lost, then the memories are what we have for our selves. And when our brain's privacy is invaded, the past is what we turn to, and we live in that.' Remember?"

His name was Mroe. My name was Sey.

"Do you remember boy?"

Our name is Seymroe.

Me and him.

The living part Mroe.

The dead, irrelevant part, Sey.

And for all my life, that was what I had known. And he made me believe it. He made me believe that Sey could not live without Mroe. That Sey is no more alive than…

"What did you mean human?"

…than…me?

And what was it that we all have living inside us that shouldn't be? Us? Sey?

Sey the human.

And Mroe?

Who was he?

The door burst open, something that moved with liquid grace entered, and then there was bellowing, shouting and screaming, and then more.

I heard a wolf's lonely howl and a tiger's awesome roar. I heard a bear bellow and saw a gorilla swing his arms.

And I saw more.

I saw dancing nightmares, blades singing in the wind.

And I saw a blue centaur. But a strange one at that, he had a long scythe, it whistled at the air.

I saw more as well, I saw guns whose muzzles glinted like the black eyes of a rat. I heard explosions, some near others far.

I also saw red flashes, and a sound that went TESSWW.

I almost laughed, it sounded all wrong, what was happening to me?

All around me a battle that I could not comprehend raged. Even though it was right here in the broken room, strapped to a bed, I felt although I was far away.

When the blue centaur came beside me, he cut off the bonds that held me, only after glancing in my eyes. But then he only did it for a few seconds, and used one of his four eyes. Then he was gone, swept by the battle.

The gorilla filled his place, a black rubber faced monster, reddish brown eyes and thick coarse black hair.

He carried me out, with the brown bear charging at whoever followed us.

I lost track of who was running along or beside me, I let the flow of the battle go. Lost in its tidal current, dropped here, grabbed there, hastily shoved away.

And I was dumped outside suddenly, I smelt fresh air, but my head did not clear; I sat stunned at the ground.

The gorilla lifted me he placed me at a horse's back, and as one, galloped away into…where were we going?

For a while I caught flashed of the city, roads, cars, crowds. Listened as the horse's hooves clicked hard on asphalt.

It went on for a while, and then, the industrial jungle gave way to green forest, wildflowers and a blue even sky.

The horse's hard clicks turned to thuds as it ran on ground. I could feel it's muscles as it galloped, and I could feel it gasping at the air, exhausted, but there was a power there.

Alongside us ran a tiger, a gorilla, an elephant and the centaur galloped with us as well. A glance upwards revealed some sort of bird flying.

My vision blurred, but not before I saw the girl riding on the elephant's back, after that, I fell off, and rolled on the ground.

Strangely I did not black out, I was still awake, but stunned.

The group of animals came, the girl slide off the back of the elephant, she ran towards me.

"Seymroe." She breathed, "I thought you were dead."

"Daffy?" I was confused.

"Seymroe it was them!"

"What?"

"The boy in my dream, the other bird." Her eyes were bright, "The evil. It's all clear, it's all gone."

"What did it mean?"

"Nothing much, or at least, maybe its still to come, I don't know…" She stopped and looked at me, "You're alive at least."

I tried to get up. Fell back to the ground, on my second attempt I rose. I stood as if drunk, swaying slightly, "What happened?"

"We're outside. Seymroe, we made it out." She smiled, "Just like you promised."

"I promised what?"

"Don't you remember?" She asked, she looked at me worried, "You said that to me when I was feeling sick of the place, you promised me that you'd get me away…and you did."

"I did?" I was really confused now.

"What's wrong?" She asked, "Don't you remember?"

I was baffled completely.

Do not worry, he may not remember everything of what had been happening to him. A voice said, I realized it was the four-eyed centaur.

"What happened to me?" I asked. I clutched the side of my head, pulled at my short messy blonde hair.

You were an experiment. Another voice said quietly, the voice was strained, An experiment for them. They wanted to see the effect of enslavement on a human being from an early age, you…

You were the host chosen, but then, according to the Yeerk files, you and the Yeerk were lost. They did not know where you were. Either of you, five years later you appeared in a part of the city, you were taken and, well, you were what remained, he was dead and somehow they couldn't re-infest you.

"Do what?" My brain felt like it was exploding.

It will come to him one day.

"Tell me," Daffy said, "Your real name Seymroe, maybe we'll know something about you, like how I knew a little something about myself."

"Seymroe. Sey, really."

Is that what your mother called you?

"I don't have a mother. I mean, maybe I did, but I don't know her."

Then who called you that?

"Mroe."

Who is that?

"I am a part of him," I explained, "He was the one that controlled what I was to do, he was the one who thought about everything, and Sey did nothing more than watch. It was all I was allowed to do."

You? A part of him? Said a voice sadly. The horse lowered its head.

"Yes. I would have died if he left me for more than three days."

But he's dead, Mroe, and guess what? You're not dead. A strong voice said, I think it was the elephant.

"No. I had died."

You look like you're alive to me. The gorilla said, walking up to me.

"It's why you didn't talk to us. Was that why you were silent?" Daffy said slowly. "When you first joined us Peter said something about trying to get you to talk."

"Peter?" I asked.

"Doctor Thomason." She explained, "He told me to call him that."

"Mroe is not dead." I said slowly, "He is still alive."

No, he is dead, the Yeerks were sure of that. The blue deer said.

"You are wrong." I said loudly, "Mroe is alive. He's still there-"

But you move on your own don't you? You could do things that you weren't allowed to. The horse nudged me gently.

"No." I felt at lost. The horse was right, I could move on my own, at my will I could raise my hand…and I did. I looked at it.

Me. Sey was doing that, Sey had decided that Seymroe's hand was an interesting item to look at and I did it. Because I wanted to, no reason behind it, I just felt like doing that.

But that was wrong. Mroe was…he…

He died. Sey. The tiger said. You're free.

"Free?" I repeated, "I don't understand, free from what? Where is Mroe?"

They were silent; they left me to figure it out alone, like there was nothing they could possibly do.

Daffy reached out for my arm but I stepped away, I shook my head, "Mroe never left my head," I said to myself, "He was with me, for two weeks. He didn't leave me. Usually he would have left me every three days to have a larger place to move around in but he'd come back so I wouldn't die. Always. He's still there."

Sey. Mroe is a Yeerk, they infest sentient creatures' brains, they take away there free will, they take complete control, you couldn't move your arm at will, you couldn't look at what you want to look at, they walk for you, the eat for you. They do everything for you. And the only thing you would have is your brain; you sit there crouching in a corner unable to do anything. The Horse said.

The blue deer continued for her, But they are not without weaknesses, the Yeerk must leave its host every three days to soak up life giving Kandrona rays.

"So…I'm not dead?" I was unsure; I kept on expecting them to burst into laughter and disappear or something.

The blue deer shook its head slowly.

"So, during the week I was away from the pool. Lost in he forest. Mroe couldn't go there, to the pool so he could live which means that…that Mroe is dead?"

Yes.

I sat down suddenly. "He said he was in pain, he never told me what was happing to him, he laughed at times, at me. He said that he would never leave me, even though I was a stupid little human, he said that…" I trailed off, I sucked in a deep breath and said, "He swore that he wouldn't leave me…he was lying."

"It's okay." Daffy said, trying to be helpful.

"After all the years we were together." I whispered, "Why didn't' he tell me the truth?"

You were not suppose to know. It was the whole point of the experiment.

I looked up at Daffy, "Daffy?" I asked weakly.

"Madra." She said, "It's my name."

I looked up at her again, "Madra?"

"Yes…" She looked down at me, "What should we call you? I don't think you want to hear the name Seymroe again."

"Cal me…" I stopped, I wanted a significant name, something that would remind me of a happy time.

I knew the time, but it had something to do with More, it was, as he said, the first thing he saw ever.

"Fine." She said, "I'll make up a name."

"No." I said, "Call me Iris."

"Okay Iris, you had something to say."

"Daff…Madra?"

"Yes?"

"I fell like an Aztec."

A voice and six voices in my head said, What?

Of course, if Mroe was here he would have been the only one to understand. And what he would have said was this.

I'm sure you do human, I'm sure you do.