The Tracker of Goliath

Chapter 8

Declan clicked down each step, the staircase taking him someplace unfamiliar to him. Unbelievable, there wasn't a square foot of this world that Declan hadn't stood on, and yet, he descended into a dark, deep passage.

The previously blinding light that shown behind him was now a speck, each stepped made he did out of muscle memory rather than sight, if the next step lead to an infinite black hole, Declan wouldn't have the faintest clue.

After five minutes, he tripped up. The surface flattened, stairs had ceased and he stood in the centre of a pitch black room.

Declan jumped when the wall in front of him lit up with a pixilated screen, sound cracks bouncing off the walls in sync with each over-exposed digital block.

"Declan?" said a voice.

It was one that the man immediately identified as not organic, then again, technically, neither was he.

"Yes, I am Declan," he replied.

"You have requested to be transferred into council space."

Declan was no singer, but he couldn't help but be surprised by the artificial voice to be so… lifeless. VA's were monotone and spoke very technically, but this being went far beyond that.

"I requested that both my sister, Ira, and I be transferred, if it's possible. It's been fourteen years and we still haven't been selected by chance."

"This is why you have contacted me."

"Yes."

Declan stared helplessly at the flickering screen, unable to identify anything from it. Perhaps it was done simply as way to confuse the person in contact with Goliath, it worked.

"You're species selection is unfair, Declan. Mine is honorable, but that does not mean you will be selected to accompany this legion."

"What do you mean?" questioned Declan, slowly.

"I am putting myself and everyone that works for me at risk by providing this service for your people. As far as the citizens of Citadel station are aware, your people only arrive here with written permission by the Council. I am running fifteen programs, across eight networks with multiple forms of encryption, just to have this conversation, Declan. Therefore, I need something in return."

"Such as?"

"Services of your own. What have you accomplished in your virtual reality?"

Declan's mind locked up, he didn't expect a career evaluation. His panic leveled when his rational took control, just as his species was known for.

"My first registration took place on the 99th year since our virtual world's creation. I helped constructed the first roads, offices and megastructures that stood. All three major business of our world have enrolled me and I spent two and half thousand years working confidently for each. My qualifications are unsurpassed in the field of architecture and forging. From what little I know of this world you come from, it has enough of what I know for my skills to be applied trustfully."

Declan paused for breath only when he finished, his brain taxed itself to list everything he's done.

"What about your sister?"

" … "

Declan's heart sank.

He stood outside of his home, one that he would soon, no longer call "home."

The door opened automatically when he neared the sensor's proximity, giving him less time to think of his explanation. Hoping that Ira was fast asleep upstairs, like she had been for so much of her life here.

She stood in the centre of the room, her 5'5 stature appearing much taller than it normally did. Her face was innocent, excited, hopeful.

"Well?" she asked.

Declan thought back to the days when he was innocent, excited and hopeful, but scared. That's where his sister came in, Ira the big girl who took charge and showed Declan the ideal VA. Calm, intelligent, but loving.

More than ever, he missed those days.

"I'm going," said Declan.

Her sister smiled, but before she could jump and hug him affectionately, he had to interrupt.

"Just me."

Ira's face didn't change for twenty agonizing seconds. Her happiness was frozen in time while she processed what her brother, her loving brother just said to her.

Ira hit Declan, his face rippled, feet left the ground, bones broke and Declan's cheeks hit the floor equally as hard as Ira's punch. He hadn't know what it was like to be hit, and he never would've thought the first blow would come from his sister.

Collapsed on the floor, shocked and out of mind, Declan struggled to get back to his feet, the shame kept his knees to the ground. The culpability of his words was the double whammy, the inner guilt that made Ira's fist feel more like a dagger.

He turned as his knees were off the floor. Ira bawled more than her husband's abandonment, more than her child's arrival at the orphanage, more than her child's birth. All for a single but valid reason, it was him.

He abandoned her.

"Leave." She cried.

Declan looked at her, begging for forgiveness.

"Leave." She cried again. "Don't look at me, don't talk to me, don't ever come back to me; here, or out there."

With his sister in ruins, he left, doing as she commanded.

The door closed, as did his eyes.

Was it worth it?

Now it has to be.