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Part 55
"Someone's coming!" Dylan suddenly announced only moments after Harper had slumped from his connection to the console, and the control room seemed suddenly smaller and more confined.
"He said he wouldn't be completely connected, he looks completely connected!" Beka fussed as she looked at Harper laying prone on the floor, and oblivious to Dylan's warning.
Zal put an arm around Beka protectively, as they became more aware of people approaching. Without a word, Beka, Zal, Dylan and Junia formed a wall in front of Harper, standing between him and the door that abruptly opened.
"Pallu!" Zal exclaimed, as the arrogant man strode inside without a care. "Would you believe it if we don't act surprised?" he cockily grinned.
Pallu briefly smiled towards Zal before assessing the situation, he craned his neck to see Harper slumped on the floor, but obviously connected to the system as his men filed into the room around their leader.
"Ethan!" Zal then recognised his brother, and this time was surprised, as Ethan only stared back at him with disdain.
Weapons were then drawn by Pallu's men, and Dylan knew they had little to fight back with and glanced at Beka who sighed in defeat, knowing they were outnumbered and unarmed.
"Take them," Pallu ordered, as selected men moved forward and with force took the four captive.
"Pallu, don't do this!" Zal begged, and then turned to his brother. "Ethan, you're not Gilad, this man has brainwashed you, Ethan you have to listen to me, to your brother!"
"Ethan, love, deal with your baby brother for me," Pallu requested, his words laced with sarcasm and without a word Ethan moved to his brother being restrained by a guard and before anyone could react, Ethan brought his fist back and threw a powerful right hook across his brother's jaw, instantly knocking Zal out as he slumped in his guards arms.
"Zal!" Beka and Junia almost cried in unison, and both began to struggle against the hold the guards had on them.
"Silence!" Pallu ordered, as he moved forward towards Harper. "So the power has finally connected with his destiny, it's about time."
"You couldn't have stopped this, the power will always win," Junia stressed.
Pallu turned to her with a smile. "Who said I wanted to stop this?" he asked. "This is all I wanted."
"You've done everything to rid this city of our faith and beliefs, but you didn't brainwash me!" Junia raged with venom. "You didn't want this and you've failed!" she stressed defiantly.
"How wrong you are, child, you are the very person I did brainwash, aren't we both here?" Pallu asked. "You shared my house, my time; do you really think I just wanted the company when I asked you, your sister and Buz to stay with me and Ethan, and Zal?"
Junia stood uneasily for a moment and glanced at Beka and Dylan, before her eyes settled on another figure moving from behind Pallu. "Tarah," Junia then spoke with resentment.
"You did well, sister," Tarah then smiled.
"No, no way," Junia backed away, as much as she could with a guard still holding her. "You did not plan this, you did not make me do this, and you didn't want Harper to reach this control room! I defied you!"
Pallu and Tarah just smiled. "You taking a liking to the power was your first and only mistake, that we then abused," Pallu gestured to the prone human still oblivious to proceedings as he remained connected. "And now we must do what we came here to do, the time has come for the power to become truly at one with Edenia."
"What?" Beka spoke up.
"Harper has already connected so you're too late for any dramatics!" Dylan stressed.
"We're on time, and now must proceed," Pallu dismissed, and gestured to Tarah, who then moved forward to kneel beside Harper. "The time has come for mind and body to separate, to complete the transition."
Beka glanced at Dylan with renewed fear, as Junia yelled at her sister to stay away from Harper, but Tarah only teased her sister by getting closer to the unconscious human, her touch caressing his face.
Harper blinked and then grimaced as he completed the connection, realising instantly that he was completely in the system and no longer conscious in his own mind. He looked around seeing the artificial landscape was golden yellow much like Edenia itself, and its stability was intermittent. It didn't take Harper long to realise that his faulty port was preventing him having a good connection, but he knew this was something he'd have to work around. The break up in signal was easy to adjust too, but as Harper made to move he realised that he couldn't.
"What the hell?" he spoke, finding himself completely frozen. "Damn port," he snapped, considering that the problem lay with his faulty port but then as he tried to return to his body, he discovered there was no means to do so. "This isn't right, fail safes, where are the fail safes!" he demanded to himself, not expecting an answer.
Before he knew what was happening he was suddenly surrounded by four conscious beings. Fear struck Harper, unable to move and now unable to process thought as he numbly stared at the four beings that he wasn't expecting to meet. They were human in appearance and seemed real, but something wasn't right about them, and he felt fear in their presence.
"Seamus Harper, we've been expecting you," the oldest man of the group stepped forward. "My name is Captain Stuart McKenzie, Earth Space Agency Corp," he offered his hand and then seemed to remember that Harper was immobile.
"Who, who," Harper stuttered, unable to process the words he'd heard. "Who are you?"
"I just said didn't I?" McKenzie turned to his fellow men and laughed, before turning back to Harper. "So tell me your name and rank with ESAC."
Harper hesitated, and tried to move again but it was useless, he was trapped within the system. "Seamus Harper," he offered. "But I'm not ESAC, I'm Commonwealth, listen you have to understand," Harper began but was soon cut off by McKenzie who didn't appear interested in anything Harper had to say.
"Commonwealth, eh?" McKenzie offered. "Well of course you are! I guess at some point ESAC just decided to finally swallow their pride and sign up, right? We must have missed that bulletin, but then we appear to have missed quite a few lately, in fact we haven't had an update from Earth based operations in some time," McKenzie offered distractedly. "I guess we've just been forgotten, that's why the natives sending your captain, and the Commonwealth, that message was welcomed by us, and then once we determined you were a part of the mission, we knew things would be ok for us and Edenia, that you had come to relieve us."
"You really don't know what's going on do you?" Harper checked unsure.
"Don't know what, son?" McKenzie asked brightly, as if intrigued by the new face and fellow human now as he slowly walked around Harper.
"About Earth, you have just assumed," Harper continued.
"Sir, I think we should re-evaluate this candidate's mental state, I'm not as confident about this choice as before," One of the other consciousnesses spoke.
"Ridiculous, this is the first and only candidate we have and none of us are getting any younger!" McKenzie partially snapped.
Harper looked at the four of them, none of them seemed a day over thirty but the way they spoke, suggested they were older and Harper began to suspect they were the original team sent to Edenia. "You've never left, have you?" Harper spoke to confirm his gut feelings. "You're the original team that installed this stuff, but you never left."
"That's right son," McKenzie stated proudly.
"That means you've been in this system for nearly three hundred and seventy years!" Harper exclaimed.
"I'm sure you'd agree we're due some retirement and rest," McKenzie simply joked, turning to his colleagues as he did so. "We wish to leave now; our time has come to rest and be at peace."
"But where are your bodies, they couldn't have survived?" Harper questioned.
"We disposed of the need for a body ages ago, some natives that we trusted took care of those," McKenzie explained. "Edenia is quite capable of sustaining our consciousness within its system; it's really beyond belief what this matrix is capable of."
"That's beyond anything anyone has done," Harper stressed. "Biological life has never been able to survive beyond a few hours connected to a system if their body dies," he stated unsure.
"Do we look like we've only been here a few hours?" McKenzie asked. "Do we look like we're dying?"
"The tech here is ground breaking if that's the case, it's more than just the shield and how its unable to be penetrated, it's a system able to support biological life without physically needing to be connected, this is amazing stuff," Harper enthused. "And you're humans, you're from Earth and no one knows we did this! Man, this would blow the Persieds minds if they knew!" he stressed, with pride and then some anger. "And Dylan wants to keep this quiet!" he added with annoyance.
"I'm sure technology on Earth has far advanced anything we have done here," McKenzie dismissed with a laugh.
"No," Harper spoke before thinking, then saw the confused looks he received in return. "Earth isn't what you remember," he finally spoke with sadness and was going to continue until McKenzie cut him off.
"Well, why don't we just start proceedings, it looks like things are starting to happen at the other end," McKenzie offered brightly.
"What?" Harper checked.
"Its time to initialise you with the system," the other man spoke up.
"But, no," Harper panicked now. "I don't want to be initialised, I just want to lower the shields, and I'm not staying!" he stressed.
"I'm sorry, but you've been chosen and prepared and now its time to join, to become Edenia, so that we may finally rest in peace," McKenzie spoke, and his tone took an altogether more sinister air.
"No!" Harper tried to move but once again failed.
"Leave him alone!" Beka now yelled, struggling against the guard holding her.
Tarah and another guard manoeuvred the unconscious form of Harper so he was lying on his back, still connected to the system.
"Step aside so I can prepare him for the final stage," Pallu ordered, and Tarah moved to one side as the older Edenian drew a knife from his belt and despite the vocal protests from Beka and Junia, he sliced the front of Harper's shirt and pushed the fabric aside before looking upwards. "The power bears the marks of his mortality to you, the bruises, the hunger, and all the pain is clear for you to see," Pallu spoke with authority, gesturing to Harper's beaten form.
"What is this?" Dylan demanded. "It sounds like you're making him a sacrifice," he stressed.
"Silence!" Pallu snapped.
Beka and Junia glanced at each other with concern, seeing the many marks of Harper's stay on Edenia now on show and the visible weight loss.
"Speak to me and acknowledge that this body is no longer needed by the power!" Pallu demanded. "This body has been tested and survived, and now its time for this body to rest so its spirit may live on inside Edenia."
Dylan frowned towards Beka, unsure of what was going to happen. The words and demands seemed like something of myth and legend, and felt unreal until suddenly they heard a voice, and they saw Junia fall to her knees, with her head bowed in respect.
"We have judged that the body is no longer required and the spirit is worthy, proceed," the voice, sounding unimpressed by the presentation, and a lot like McKenzie, spoke.
"The voices," Junia whispered so Beka and Dylan could hear. "That's one of the voices of the power in Edenia, the spirit of Edenia is now speaking to us all and Harper is being accepted into their embrace."
"Harper doesn't want this," Beka hissed, and with desperation could only look on, as Pallu put on some protective gloves and then covered his mouth and nose with a mask.
"To make the transition easier, I grant the power lying before me freedom," Pallu then announced, and he placed leaves of the bantra plant on Harper's chest.
"That will overwhelm him," Junia stated quietly. "If he didn't want this his protests will be nothing more than jumbled drug induced words, they weaken him further."
"Harper!" Beka cried out, but she knew there was little she could do to stop what was happening.
Harper closed his eyes as he felt his mind beginning to go fuzzy. He could hear the other beings speaking, but he focused on the system. His determination to remain within his body, and not become a part of the system was strong and it was the only strength he had left. Working against the system, Harper used his mind to access more of the core programming, ignoring what was going on around him and forgetting about his own presence.
It worked, as Harper found himself interacting mentally with the sub-systems gateway, whilst the others were distracted with their silly games of power and it seemed like rituals, that he cared little about. With thought alone he waded through the many sub routines, his mind grew heavier with disorientation, and he felt the influence of something trying to cloud his thoughts, but he persisted and finally he found what he was looking for and with a last gasp effort he effortlessly deactivated the force field around Edenia before succumbing to the effects of what ever was trying to influence his thoughts.
"His mind is ready," the voice then announced to those present in the room.
Beka couldn't hold onto her emotions any longer, and she glanced at Dylan with tear filled eyes, unable to hold back as she waited for the inevitable. "I'm sorry, Harper, I'm sorry," she managed with regret at what she was about to witness.
Pallu knelt over Harper's body now, and was joined by Tarah, masked and gloved like Pallu to protect them from the toxic plant, they stayed on their knees either side of the prone human.
"Sacrificing his mortality for the sake of Edenia, we allow the power within this shell to enter our heart and protect our city from within until such a time another power will relieve him," Pallu declared, before he moved more of the bantra leaves to cover Harper's face.
"Overdose," Junia realised. "They are causing him to overdose on the toxins of the bantra plant," she stressed. "No, this is wrong!" she became suddenly animated.
"Hush!" Pallu ordered and the guard holding Junia swiftly covered her mouth, but she continued her muffled protests.
In the distraction Junia caused no one heard anyone approaching until suddenly the door swung open and shots were fired. In the confusion, Beka and Dylan found themselves free, and before Dylan could register what was going on a force lance was pressed into his hand.
"Captain."
"Andromeda," Dylan realised, looking up and seeing the android form greeting him but instinctively he took out the guard holding Junia and then aimed at Pallu. "Move away from Harper!"
Pallu hesitated and in a blink of an eye Dylan fired, and Pallu was sent sprawling across the floor with a wounded shoulder, squirming in agony. He fired of a couple more warning shots and with ease, he had secured the room and the Commonwealth soldiers took up position to ensure Pallu, and his men remained in check.
"Tarah, move away," Dylan ordered towards Tarah, who quickly moved away from Harper. "You keep picking the wrong people to side with don't you?" he smirked, as Rommie quickly moved to Harper's side and immediately removed all the plant leaves from his chest and face. "How's he doing?" Dylan asked with concern, as Beka and Junia joined them, the enemy defeated.
"Slight burns and irritation to his chest and face from the toxins of the plant, but his body is still alive, the nose bleed is superficial," Rommie announced. "But he is still with us, just," she stated efficiently.
"Let me see," Trance's voice arrived into the room, followed by Rhade and some more Commonwealth soldiers who took on defensive positions around the room. "He's weak, we need to get him back to Andromeda," Trance stressed.
"He's still connected," Beka reminded them.
"There are people inside that system, I think," Dylan stated unsure. "We heard voices."
"The voices, they have been around Edenia for as long as the place itself, but before now only certain people have heard them," Junia informed them.
"I will enter the system, and free Harper's consciousness," Rommie decided and no one objected, as she pressed her hand against the panel, moments later she felt herself being pushed into the system.
"Who are you?"
Rommie focused on four humanoid looking men, but her concern was for Harper who was standing unmoving in front of them. She moved to his side and put her hand to his temple.
"Stop this, who are you!" one of the men persisted.
"Harper," Rommie continued to ignore the man demanding her attention and she offered the briefest of electrical charges where her hand connected with Harper.
Harper jerked and then appeared to wake; blinking his eyes as he focused on Rommie, but his focus was unsteady.
"Rommie?" Harper panicked suddenly, as his senses caught up with him but he was still unfocused.
"You must leave, we are about to complete the disconnection!"
"There will be no disconnection!" Rommie finally acknowledged the man who now stood beside her.
"But there must, we are tired and we wish to rest but we can not leave our posts, or Edenia, this system needs us to maintain it!"
Harper wearily began to focus on McKenzie and frowned. "I'm not the guy you're looking for," he stressed, still trapped by the systems hold on him. "I don't want to be a part of this damn city, I want out and to be far, far away!" he added.
"Sir," another of the beings spoke. "The shield is down!"
"What?" McKenzie demanded and looked at Rommie. "You did this, how?"
"I did nothing," Rommie countered, but with a brief smile.
Harper smirked now. "You were so preoccupied with trying to disconnect me, you didn't notice my mind wandering, it does that, it's always wandering, I can't stop it myself sometimes," he smiled lazily, losing strength rapidly as Rommie took some of his conscious weight as he appeared to move slightly.
"Harper we have to disconnect you, you in need of urgent medical attention," Rommie stressed.
"We can't just leave these guys," Harper protested lightly, feeling some ounce of humanity for the four beings. "Sure they suck but they've been in here for over three hundred and fifty years, more even," he stated, as he tried to stop his virtual head rolling.
"We haven't got time to help them," Rommie determined.
"We do," Harper dismissed and pushed himself out of Rommie's hold, and finding himself free from the hold the system had previously had on him.
"How'd he do that?" McKenzie now looked at his fellow team. "Why are we losing control?" he asked looking around with confusion.
"You were about to make me a part of the system," Harper explained wearily, his movement laboured as he adjusted to his surroundings. "I took what I wanted of that arrangement, the control but you can keep the whole detachment from your body thing, as puny as it is, I like my body and I wish to stay attached to it," he idly spoke as he manipulated the environment around him.
"You're changing the command relays," Rommie then figured, as she examined Harper's work as he continued.
"Who are you?" McKenzie demanded of Harper. "How did you pick this system up so quickly? It should take you days, weeks to get around it not mere minutes!" he added with wonder, as he glanced around seeing the changes and upgrades as he spoke.
"This city is not Earth's property," Harper simply said. "Earth is nothing now but that doesn't mean Edenia should suffer because of it, so I'm giving it back to its people," Harper explained with some sadness behind his words.
"What?" McKenzie asked.
"Earth is dead!" Harper snapped. "It's not what you remember, it's a slave planet now and Edenia shouldn't be a slave too because of it," Harper explained with passion. "Even if I connected to this system, I would never be relieved and trust me, my boredom factor would go sky high in here and I wouldn't wish a bored Harper on anyone, especially not a whole city!" Harper then gestured to Rommie. "Just ask my beautiful assistant, she could tell many a story of what a board Harper does when he's let lose in a mainframe," he smiled with a hint of mischief to which Rommie could only nod knowingly.
"Harper is right, and I know it pains him to do this but Earth has no rights on Edenia in its current state, it is a slave itself now, and by maintaining the link Edenia will only suffer because of it, Earth can't support you, or Edenia as originally intended," Rommie stated assuredly.
"Earth is a slave planet?" McKenzie asked softly, the words almost caught in his throat.
"Nietzscheans," Harper simply answered with bitterness, trying to keep his emotions in check as he severed Earths connections to the mainframe to give Edenians control, removing all the elements that prevented Edenian's from taking control before. Harper then turned to the beings. "Look, you did great, man, you've made me proud to be from Earth, and that's a first," he smirked. "What you achieved is amazing stuff, truly amazing, but its time to let go, what you did belongs to the past, and to the history databases, and I'll make sure somehow, somewhere your efforts are not forgotten," he stressed with passion. "You want to rest in peace, well, I'm not stopping you."
"We have lost control," another of the beings suddenly realised.
"He has released us," the other spoke with joy.
"You have changed the system, it will no longer be run internally but externally," McKenzie realised. "But the Edenians are not ready to take control, they do not have the know how! They are but children," McKenzie stressed.
"That, my friend, is no longer your problem," Harper smiled warmly. "It's time your children were allowed to come of age, let them go," he shrugged and glance at Rommie who looked on approvingly. "Maybe I haven't become a part of this system, but I'm taking responsibility for it, I'll keep an eye on it from afar, I promise," Harper offered as a compromise. "Its no longer your concern so go, be at peace, play golf or whatever else it is you want to do with your retirement, you're free and trust me, not many humans from Earth get to hear that nowadays, so enjoy it."
"Thank you," McKenzie spoke for the others, before he turned to his friends and they offered no form of protest to Harper's actions.
Rommie took a hold of Harper's hand and squeezed it gently, as one by one the beings disappeared, and blinked out of existence, finally free.
"You did well, Harper," Rommie finally spoke. "You made me proud."
"I don't feel too good," Harper then wavered, and Rommie saw him flicker slightly.
"Harper," Rommie turned her attention to him.
"My port, it's starting to hurt, this is new, it must be the connection, I've overdone it," Harper grimaced as his consciousness began to fade, then he turned to Rommie with determination. "Asa, Rommie, tell Dylan to choose Asa, he's the only one I trust, I chose Asa," he stressed before screaming out in pain and seemed to collapse.
"Return, Harper, return to your body, you can do that now, go!" Rommie ordered with fear, and couldn't help her panic as she saw Harper disappear before her eyes, just as the four beings had moments before.
TBC