"What were your parents like?"

  "I don't remember."

  "That's horrible!"

  "They probably weren't very good parents. At least that is what I tell myself, I feel less guilty that way."

  Alfonso was having a normal decent day, after all, he practically ruled the world! Over eighty percent of the world's countries were his influence, one way or another. Soon the rest as well. He would unite the human race and lead them into a new era of prosperity. That end justified any means in his book.

  Alfonso felt his pocket buzz. He took out his phone and checked the caller ID. It was an unfamiliar number, very unusual. With something of an ominous feeling he answered the cell phone. "Hello, this is Alfonso."

  "Hey Alfy! Long time no see! Or hear! Did you forget about me?" Alfonso got dizzy and sat down, he knew that voice. Only one person dared to call him Alfy.

  "Joshua! When did you escape the Pact? Are you alright? Where are you?" Did Joshua know he betrayed him?

  "Cut the crap Alfy, I know you betrayed me." Not good, maybe the situation can still be salvaged.

  "Are you sure about that Joshua?" I need to start a trace on this phone call now! Alfonso signaled his secretary to start the tracing program.

  "Yes Alfy, I'm sure."

  ". . . . Well if you're sure, then I guess I did it." Alfonso knew all about Edit, so he knew Joshua wasn't going to budge. Even if Joshua was wrong, his power would Edit the world to make him right.

  "Yes, and no offense to you, there has to be consequences for that." Alfonso's hands went white knuckled. This was dangerous, he had to use Edit against Joshua. If he can bluff Joshua so well that he believes the lie, it will become the truth.

  "You are lucky Joshua that I've let you roam unhindered this long. Now you want to challenge me? I know your weaknesses better than anyone alive. I could have you locked up for the rest of eternity in the blink of an eye if I so chose to do so." Alfonso sounded confident and commanding, a very believable voice.

  "Nice try Alfy, I know what you are trying to do and it is not that easy. By the way, I took the liberty of helping myself to all your personal information." The cyber attack alarms began going off. What!? This is not good. And the trace came back undefined. What does that even mean? But that's fine, Alfonso was a winner, thus he knew he would win.

  "Looks like you've learned some new tricks Joshua, not that it surprises me. You have declared war on us, onme, I hope you know what you have started. I'm coming for you with everything we've got, and that's a lot. Things were actually getting a bit boring around here."

  "Same here Alfy, I hope you know this isn't personal. Just an issue of policy. I've made the first move, your turn. Click." Joshua hung up.

  Alfonso put the phone down, silenced the alarms, and summoned his computer specialists. The technicians began swarming into his office swearing, sweating, and in some cases, crying.

  "What has happened!" Roared Alfonso. "Where did this attack originate and what is the damage report!?" A thin man stepped forward to speak for the assembly.

  "We lost everything, this attack was completely out of the blue and the hacker anticipated every defense program we have. All of our defenses were useless. Everything online in this building is just smoking junk now. We have hard copies of everything important in offline storage so nothing was permanently lost but this was a big blow."

  "Good, I knew those would come in handy. What about the origins of the attack? I want to know where, who, and why." There was no way Alfonso was letting them know Joshua was behind this. There were still some here more loyal to him than to Alfonso.

  "Because of the nature of our protection programs, any information removed will leave a trail back to the hacker. In this case the hacker must have known this as he left viruses that have destroyed all our equipment. After we get new equipment up and running we can discover where the information went. Also, we will be able to analyze the hacker's attack which may shed some light on his identity. For now we only know that he is on par with John Sterling, something not many people are. We should have everything up and running again in three days." The thin man finished his report and stepped back into the huddled masses.

  "Very good, we will survive the attack of the enemy as we always have, and then crush them! We will continue to build the empire for Supreme Master Joshua, so that when he is freed his throne will be worthy of all acceptation. Then humanity will be prospered under his Glorious reign forever!" Alfonso finished his speech grandly, he was a masterful orator, philosopher, and debater. He knew how to act too, all in all, a politician. Or in other words, a snake.

  The reason he had all these skills was because Joshua taught him. Joshua was the true master, something Alfonso didn't like to remember. But there comes a time when every good student surpasses his teacher, Alfonso thought he accomplished that bit when he betrayed Joshua. But now he knew, that was just him issuing the challenge.

-----------------------------------------

  "Did you get it all John?" I asked. From what I could observe, I think John was hugely successful.

  "Yes, complete success. My viruses worked too! That should give us some time before they discover my identity." John leaned back in his chair and gave a sigh of relief. I knew it, he had been worried.

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  "How much time do we have till they know?"

  "Probably two or three days, no longer. They just need to replace all their hardware and reinstall everything. What are we going to do when they come to get us?"

  "I'm not sure yet, it depends on what the information says. We may utterly cripple the Historians, or I might just punch Alfonso a couple good ones." I've decided Alfonso needs to be punished, but I'm still not sure exactly how, what, where, or when. "Take a day off John, I will study the data for the rest of the night and come up with a plan. Tomorrow we will still go to school as per usual, after that we will begin preparations for I don't know what yet."

  "Sounds good to me. I'll make sure my wife Marsha is here before school ends. Right now she is 'negotiating' an oil rights contract with a certain sheik in Saudi Arabia. Have a good night." John left me alone with the machines and went to bed.

  Me alone with all these machines. The pale cold light from the many screens and monitors filled the room. One day when everything else is gone, I thought to myself, I will probably be in this same situation. Alone with only mechanical creations for company, it was a rather macabre glimpse of the future. I have contemplated this end before of course. I didn't like it then either.

  But enough of that, there is work to be done. The amount of information John had gathered was much too much to be studied in one night. For a normal person that is. I have dedicated centuries of time to learning, my brain is specialized in it. The first step is to write a neat little program that will sort and display different segments and subjects on the various monitors.

  I finished the program and took a deep breath. I don't like this part. I closed my eyes, are you ready for this? “Only if we are.” Okay then, I'm ready too. Now take it away. “My pleasure.” I faded away, becoming an observer. Another part of me was in charge. I pressed start. The screens and monitors began filling with boxes of scrolling information. Lots of them. I read them all.

  Many people have heard about the subconscious, but I know mine on a more intimate personal level. His name is Subconscious. It's amazing the things you learn about yourself through intense self reflection over the centuries. Subconscious is not a multiple personality disorder, he is just another pattern of thought. My same soul expressed through a different media of mind. The main difference being that the subconscious thinks of everything at the same time. Parallel thinking as it were. The consciousness focuses on only one subject.

  Our bodies are mostly designed to do one thing at a time, that is why the conscious is in control. The subconscious can't handle being limited to one thing. The role of the subconscious is to think through and calculate actions in theoretical situations, sort through all the input from the senses, sending pertinent information to the conscious, control the body to perform vital functions, and manage memory. Together the subconsciousness and the consciousness deal with the really tough task of living life.

  I learned how to build another path of communication between them. I can speak subconsciously consciously. It's like talking with another version of you that happens to be thinking, on one level or another, everything simultaneously. Once this is accomplished one can switch the roles of the conscious and the subconscious to a certain extent, resulting in an astounding level of multitasking ability. In reality the practical applications of this skill are limited, but still worth it. This is how I can read and comprehend all of these monitors at once.

  I developed this skill in hopes of getting better control over Edit as the subconscious is in direct control over it. No success on that point yet. Subconsciousnesses can't lie and self deception is just a conscious thing.

  I sat and read for roughly four hours before it finished. “I'm done, let's go back.” Yes, let's do that. I fell back into my normal conscious role. My best friend, me, sank deep beneath my mind. Becoming once again the foundation for conscious thought.

  “Sleep, we need to sleep”. Yes, Subconscious has all the information but he needs time to sort it and give me the pertinent facts. Sleep is when he works best.

  Alright, two hours of sleep then. After that, I need to plan. Joshua leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and slept.

  "Welcome back." Said Subconscious. I opened my eyes. I was in white room with no doors or furniture or any features in general, except for one. I saw me waving at me. Then all of the memories I've accumulated here rushed to me. I remember. I remember a lot, every time I sleep I come here instead of dreaming. I never remember this place or anything about it when I'm not here, but it all comes back when I return.

  "Hello Subconscious, you have a busy night ahead of you."

  "It won't affect our conversation, I can handle a lot more than this. Talking with myself doesn't use up much of our concentration."

  "Gee, thanks. You know, every time I get here it is always sooo boring Sub! Why the white walls? Let's get some chairs. Do you remember that one time we saw a triple rainbow from an Irish cliff? Let's go there." Rules are rather flexible here.

  "Of course I remember, it is a rather magnificent view isn't it?" Said Sub as he leaned back in a recliner and took in the triple rainbow over the sea.

  "Yes it is, thanks Sub. So tell me, what do you think we should do with Alfonso?"

  "We could kill him."

  "Rejected."

  "You know I can't just tell you." Said Sub. "If you don't know, then I'm not sure yet. Or you don't really want me to tell you. In which case I won't tell you."

  "Yeah, yeah. So tell me, what has Alfonso become?"

  "I'll make sure you know when you wake up. We should be discussing Bill/Ted instead. Were we right in dragging him into our world?

  "Right? I don't know about that. It is sure interesting though. It alleviates my chronic boredom."

  "You know we really aren't as selfish as you try to seem, or be. But you're right of course, except you are not bored. You're lonely."

  "Yeah you're right. Why argue with myself? But I'm not cruel. Bill/Ted does have the potential to make it. He has great spirit. I will help him be whatever he wants to be."

  "If you say so. But remember, if anything bad happens to Bill/Ted I will eat you up."

  "That's your job isn't it? But you have plenty of other past mistakes to torture me with. One more wouldn't change much."

  "True, but why add to the pile? And it's not like I enjoy haunting you with your mistakes, it only happens because I'm being haunted. I can't forget them and move on, they become a part of me, a part of you. If we aren't careful with our actions I will become a monster too, then we will be in some real trouble."

  "'Too' huh? So I'm a monster? I guess you have a right to say that, after all, you're the most human part of me Sub."

  "Yes, and I'd like to stay that way. You are waking up now."

  I woke up with some semblance of a plan, but nothing needs to come together until after school today. So I'll just keep enjoying myself normally for now. Besides this isn't really that big of a deal, Alfonso hasn't changed at all. Now, what to do? I'm bored.

  . . . . Let's go play with Erin! Right now it is about 5 AM, so if Erin keeps to her daily schedule she should be training in the gym. I rode the elevator out of the secret basement and headed toward the gym.