Chapter Nine "One Shattered Mirror"

Simon stared down at the body. His body. His copy that sat at the edge overlooking the Abyss. Structure Gel leaked out the wrists and the jagged metal shard plunged into his robotic heart. His glass visor was shattered and his optics were in pieces.

"I don't believe it," Simon said as he and Ross stared at the body, "he actually did it. I didn't think that he-that I-"

"He isn't you. This person gave up." Ross wasn't great at comforting him over the dead copy. He tried at least.

His copy was gone. It should have comforted him but it left him uneasy. Simon chose to keep him alive. He could have given him mercy so he wouldn't know they left him behind. They left him alone and afraid. He woke up. He freaked out. Where could he go? Everything he did got this Simon, him, to complete the mission while he stayed. While he was left behind like a useless tool. It was too much. He couldn't go on.

Here he was.

Here Simon was.

One gave up.

One kept going.

They were truly different.

"Let's get inside, we need to get started," Ross told Simon and they went back inside. He won't tell Catherine. Would he? He wasn't sure it was the best idea. Hopefully Astocles didn't find him. The Cabal would lose his mind. Whatever he saw or told the WAU shut him up. It unnerved Simon.

Ahab and Abel helped Ross carry in the tools and crates of supplies from some of the nearby rooms. Robot Girl was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she was hiding in the Power Room again. He just hopes that he doesn't have to go back in there again. Last time was more than enough.

"Simon, I'll need you to stay here so I can make adjustments to match your suit. Astocles, I need you to head over to the labs to grab Structure Gel if you could find some, or a body to suffice, if you would. Ahab, go find a Power Suit in a storage room that should be sealed shut. Abel, go see if there's drone parts in the lower level," Ross instructed them.

They left the Dive Room and headed off to find the parts. Ross pulled up the old camera feeds and science stuff Catherine used.

"What do you plan to do?" Ross asked as Simon sat in the old chair.

"What do you mean?"

"If we are successful, what do you want to do? Go back to the surface? Stay down here in Pathos-II?"

Simon thought for a moment.

"Fix up Pathos. Maybe we can do something for the people in the mind coral at Theta. Live there for what's left of the world. The sun's going to explode, right? Eventually? Back in Toronto I used to freak out about that. Just knowing that made things feel empty. That no matter what we do none of it matters in a thousand years or so when everything will be gone. Where we are buried, where we grew up, the impact we had, whatever we and what other generations do won't matter. Everything will be gone. Jesse said we should colonize a new planet. Then what? Wait til' that one falls apart? Its extinction on hold. We'll die out eventually. Now...now we have. His idea doesn't seem bad now.

I used to be so worried that I wouldn't do much. Too much to do and not enough time to do it. Maybe pick up and instrument, learn how to swim, fly a plane, to do everything there is but to learn I can't. It's not possible. Even if I did, by the time I was 80' or so there would be more to master. Now I have the time. Most of the world's gone so the list is shorter. Might write poetry or a book for the audience of me, you, Catherine, Ahab, Abel, and heck, even Astocles. 'The Man Out of Time'?"

The Man Out of Time

Simon Jarret

"What will you do, Ross? What do you want to do?"

"Continue Glasser's work. Fix Tau. Fix all of Pathos-II, if I can. Then, after all that, I'll see the surface again. Find what's left of our burned world and restore what I can. There has to be something left out there. The WAU could make more scans. More life. We have the...bodies and the suits. Oh. The scan's complete. Now let me see-wait, what's that?"

Ross looked over at the monitors. He saw a Power Suit out in the main entrance sitting alone. "Ahab, investigate the main entrance. Tell me what you see." The Cabal did as he was instructed. With the lockdown lifted they could access the front again.

Ahab tapped on the suit.

It fell over. On the side he noticed a strange substance left on the shoulder. This was the suit Simon had found at Omega. But how did it get here? He left it at the crashed submarine. What did Ahab see on the suit?

The camera went dark.

"Ahab? AHAB? I can't see you. Report."

The Cabal didn't respond. A request to enter came in. Ross pressed the button then radioed the others. "Come back to the Dive Room. Come back! COME BACK!"

Static.

"Shhhh…..it's time to sleep," Ahab's radio answered. It wasn't the Cabal.

Akers.

"Oh god." Ross stepped back from the monitor. "What have I done?"

Akers. Akers...AKERS!

Simon slammed his fist down.

"FUCK YOU, AKERS!" he yelled and stormed off. Ross sealed the door shut behind him. Simon had to find Astocles and Abel. This nightmare had to end now. He had an idea.

Simon rushed to the science labs. "Astocles," he whispered, "where are you?"

Nothing.

He heard the contortions and gurgling from Akers upstairs. Each footstep echoed throughout Omicron. Simon's was louder, he had to go slower to avoid being a bright neon sign that said: KILL ME. He searched the labs through and through but he did not find Astocles.

Something touched his shoulder.

He swung around, ready to throw a punch when he saw Abel standing there shhhing him. "Thank god you're alive; have you seen Astocles?" he whispered to the Cabal.

He shook his head. "Not since that abomination stepped in. He...he held Ahab's head, ripped from the body. I have failed my brother." The Cabal, if they could cry, sounded on the verge of tears.

"Hey, hey, hey, you're going to be ok. We just need to find Astocles and get back to Ross. Then we'll deal with Akers."

Abel nodded.

"There's a Power Room across the intersection. We need to go there and see if Astocles hid there and if not we'll use the vents to get around," Simon explained.

"Monster knows the vents. Crying inside the hall room downstairs. Could be Astocles or not," Abel added.

"There's no use hiding," their suits' echoed Askers' broadcast. "You're trapped with me. I rid the sleepless girl into a beautiful dream. You will see it too. You won't leave this place. You won't bring life to a dead world! It's useless! Pointless! Dream an endless dream! The WAU will take care of you. I won't let you ever have a nightmare. Theta sleeps! You must too!"

"Find Astocles, I'll distract Akers," Simon told Abel. He ran out into the intersection, making as much noise as possible, and yelled, "AKERS! YOU COME DOWN HERE! COME ON!" He ran down the steps to the lower Dive Room. Akers howled and gave chase. The tall monstrosity followed the noise, followed the restless dreamer, past the WAU's mercy and into the room.

"Outside, Akers. Come on, let's get this over with. I'm ready. I want to sleep," Simon taunted him through Ahab's radio. Akers threw the helmet against the lockers. He stormed out into the sea. The satellite wreck crushed one of the fisheries close to Omicron's entrance.

"So that's what screwed me over," Simon remarked as he turned to face Akers. Somehow the monster was aquatic by strange means. This was it. This idea wasn't his brightest but it was all he had. It could work. The odds were a coin toss. He hoped it was in his favor. He backed up to the wreck.

"Shhhh...it's over. Rest. Rest…" Akers hissed as he got closer.

Coin toss.

Coin toss.

Heads.

Tails.

Heads.

Tails.

"There's nothing like a coin toss, Akers? I hope that Catherine never scanned you," Simon still taunted him. Here he was again. At the end of the road with a hard choice. A hard toss. Win or lose. Somewhere in the cosmos the ARK stayed indefinitely. Paradise among the stars. He couldn't stop thinking about everything he wanted to do once this was all over. Paradise in the stars. Paradise on Earth. Coin toss. Coin toss. The WAU would do anything to protect itself, right?

"Hey Akers," Simon said after Akers grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Don't you shush? What has you restless?"

Simon looked over at his scared arm. Structure Gel was leaking onto the satellite. The WAU could hear it. The WAU sensed a possible threat inside the satellite. The Gel could interfere with its task. Its one goal.

It shrieked.

"NO! NOOOO-" Akers' head exploded when the blackbox burst.

Simon dropped to the ground.

"Oh god...it worked! Yeah! Woooo! Hell yeah!"

He won the coin toss.

He won the coin toss.