Chapter 32 – (Vyvani)

In the days following my procedure, Sabina allows me to rest without the need to partake in any additional experiments for the time being. I find it endearing that she treats me as if I am human, with such compassion and care. Perhaps it is due to the emotion code injected into my system…but, it feels good to be cared for.

That contentment, however, was soon overshadowed by gloom. I had felt the hero for saving a single child in my battle with the Kargu member, during the contest of our wills and consciousness. I soon realized how stupid that was.

The district of Royang has been almost wholly razed to the ground. Hundreds are dead. Acts of savagery, too gruesome to display, are recounted by the residents. When I browse through censored archives…corpses, piled on high, body parts scattered, weapons impaled in unspeakable places—that humans can be capable of such cruelty is hard to believe.

Yet the politicians of the city, the councilors and representatives and district senators, all of them remain silent. What the media reports is only half the truth, a scratching of the surface, blaming the destruction on the Joryoku and arson. It is reported as lightly as a traffic disturbance, outshined by the approaching Andaka Tech Expo.

From additional research, I discover that Shampai Group is quick to act in the aftermath, snapping up land and increasing their holdings. Building contracts are awarded with unbelievable speed, to transform former Royang into a pleasure district.

And as much as I search through the holoViewers in the database city, I can find no trace of Kazin, of Jin, or of Ghost.

Sabina notices my glumness as we walk through the streets.

“What’s wrong, Vyvani?” she asks, her brow wrinkled in concern.

I shake my head. How can I tell her anything? Of the things I have experienced, the things I have done? What will she think when I tell her that I have invaded another human being’s mind and controlled him as if I were some brain-consuming parasite?

After helping one child, I was too exhausted, and went to sleep in my own bed, while countless others like her are sure to have suffered as their homes were burned and destroyed. I am ashamed that I felt such accomplishment.

Sabina takes me by the arm and leads me to a bench in the middle of a park. Shafts of sunlight shine through glimmering leaves and cast the grass a golden hue. Even a slight breeze blows through the air, setting the leaves to whispering.

“Is the code making you feel strange?” Sabina asks.

“Maybe,” I offer reluctantly.

Sabina watches me for a short while. Then, suddenly, she lifts her arm and wraps it around my shoulders. She holds me close in a sheltering embrace.

I am overwhelmed. The tears begin to fall. I am suddenly swept into a torrent of memory. They roll over me like an avalanche, as I think upon all I have lost. My father, my mother. Aya and Milara. I even feel a spark of emotion for Kazin. We had never been friends during our time in school. Yet, now when I draw the memories in my mind, I feel an inexplicable happiness at having seen him in the flesh, in the outside world. A familiar face has made me feel as if I were my old self again.

I lose all hold on my restraint for the next ten minutes or so. When I have finished, Sabina is holding me tight, patting my head, offering soft and quiet comfort.

“At least we know the emotion code works,” I say through the hiccups of my sobs.

Sabina chuckles. When I look at her, I realize she has been crying as well. She takes off her techSpects and fingers away her tears.

“I feel like a failure,” I say to Sabina.

“What? Why?” Sabina asks in surprise. Her eyes widen, and there is the genuine shine of puzzlement within them.

“I just…” I hesitate. “All I’ve done is sit through experiments. I haven’t done anything tangible. I haven’t made an impact.” The crying child of Royang once again makes its presence known in my mind. I think of hundreds like it, cold and dead and gone due to my inability.

“Vyvani,” Sabina says. “You don’t know how impactful you have been for my work here. You’re everything I could have wished for, and more. It was due to your hard work that we were able to develop the code for emotion and inspiration. I have so much more planned for you.”

Her eyes are brimming with tears as she says this. For a brief moment, she reminds me of my own mother. Suddenly, I feel an urge to relay to her everything I know of the database city. I realize that I trust her. It is a strange thing to feel after so long—it reminds me of my time with Councilor Shora.

“Sabina,” I say. “Can we meet at Byanza Quarter tomorrow?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Hm?” She cocks her head. “Of course. Why?”

“I want to show you something,” I explain. I nearly stutter out of nervousness. “There’s a speakeasy…It would be better if I just showed you.”

Sabina nods. “Okay.”

After she leaves, I am filled with the uplifting spirit of inspiration. Over time, after I had been uploaded into the system, I had realized that I was losing these human sides of me, slowly adapting—or perhaps becoming trapped—within my prison of circuits and processors and cores. But now I am regaining that spark of human spirit. It feels good. I feel like my old self again.

The next day, I teleport with Sabina into the hotel. I lead her through the speakeasy. At the doors which lead to the database city, I pause.

“What is it, Vyvani?” Sabina says with a playful laugh. “Even my son has never cared to take me out like this.”

I swallow. “Are you ready?”

Sabina frowns at the somberness of my tone. “Sure.”

I open the door and lead her inside. The everlasting blue sky streaks far overhead.

“This…” Sabina’s brow creases. “This is similar to the place where Ten and I pushed the emotion code into your system.”

“Yeah,” I reply softly. She follows as I continue on. I step through the first tower I had ever entered.

As we pass the aisles of holoViewers, Sabina remains deathly silent. After what seems like an eternity of observing, Sabina purses her lips.

“What is this place?” she asks me in a voice taut with anger.

“I think…” I wonder if I should implicate Tenzo. What I carry within me are, after all, mere suspicions. But perhaps they warrant investigation, and that is something that only Sabina can do at the moment, in the outside and physical world. “I think Tenzo was involved in its creation," I begin reluctantly. "And I think a corporation is involved. B.Ridge.” I remember seeing Sangsum inside the Factory. “Maybe Shampai Group as well.”

And so, I at last reveal my secrets to my creator. As my story unfolds, the creases on Sabina’s brow grow ever deeper. I relay to her everything—the Joryoku battles I witnessed, the uploading of their memories. I explain to her my ability to enter the minds of these subjects, and the subsequent expelling of my presence following the invasion of the virus of unknown origins. I recount the atrocities I witnessed in Royang that day, and the trivial amount of aid I was able to offer.

Sabina’s knees begin to buckle, and she sits upon the ground. I join her. I can sense the tremor in her mind as she attempts to make sense of all I have told her. Or perhaps, she already knows the truth of it all, and that is what scares her.

“I’m sorry, Sabina,” I say. “I should have told you earlier.”

“It’s good you told me,” Sabina answers. “At least I know now.” She rubs at her temple. “Why would Tenzo…”

“None of this makes sense to me, Sabina. I don’t understand.”

“Only your friends can ever betray you,” Sabina whispers. Sorrow glimmers softly in her eyes. “You may have been right, Vyvani. Maybe a vetting process of my team would have been better. For the project. For all of us.”

I begin to feel a bit of guilt. I am unable to wear a brazen mask, however. Not for Sabina. I wait patiently for her to explain. She soon looks up at me.

“Can you set up a protective field around us? A firewall, to keep us isolated and alone, free from potential surveillance.”

The thought had never crossed my mind. “Of course. Yeah, sure.”

When I have done so, Sabina continues speaking. “First, you should know why I joined the project in the first place.” She purses her lips. “I told you before, of the principle of Freethink, yes?”

I nod. “You did. Freedom from algorithmic determinism.”

She pixelates a cigarette into her fingers and puffs at it. “This project was meant to develop the weapon beforehand in order to control it—just like how nuclear apocalypse was avoided because a few superpowers generally committed to its prevention had all the biggest guns. Algorithms, like all technology, did not begin with the intent to harm. But with all progress comes weaponized forms of it. And this”—she waves her hand around the room—“is a recently developed technology. The ability to copy minds into a database. The ability to connect the human consciousness into circuits and chips and memory. I knew that before long, corporations would inevitably develop this technology as well, especially those with deep pockets and many politicians on their payroll.”

She gazes at the holoViewers with unease, as if each were some specter looming over her.

“What seems to be happening here, is that B.Ridge, with Tenzo’s help, has already begun their own forms of human experimentation. Perhaps they don’t have access to all of the technology, but it does appear as if they have managed to successfully connect the human brain to computerized systems.”

“To what end?” I ask.

“You said you were thrown out of this man’s mind,” Sabina says. For the first time, I sense great dread in her voice. A coldness begins crawling its way up my spine, digging its claws deep into my mind. “I can think of only one reason why. Tenzo has given away our code. The Inspiration Code. He likes to call it the Incentive Factor or the Catalyst Code. Imagine what someone could do with something like that, if you could provide inspiration to someone, but for the wrong things. If you could spur them to commit acts which they never would have done otherwise.

“These Kargu have commit crimes in Royang which have been perpetrated throughout history by those which it deems fanatics. It often takes a cataclysm and several years, decades even, of fallout, to cultivate fanaticism and hatred of such terrible degrees—the hatred required to be so cruel in such…novel and unorthodox ways, for lack of a better term. Imagine, if you could do that instantaneously to a subject.”

It dawns on me then, the horrors of this project, and the potential dangers of its completion, if it were to fall into the wrong hands.

“And not only would they have the ability to inspire…” I stammer.

“Yes,” Sabina grimaces. “They would have the ability to control and direct entire populaces, sifting through their thoughts, disposing of the ones you deem inappropriate, allowing them to keep the ones you approve of, and prodding them into directions you wish. You can create fanatical armies at will. The one who can do all these things would become an omniscient god.”

“What can we do?” I ask hopelessly.

“If there is one small shred of hope, it is that Kargu members were already indoctrinated and inclined towards hatred and violence to some degree. You also mentioned that not all of the civilian-types were headed towards Royang that night. It would imply that the Catalyst Code is not effective on everyone, unless they have a predisposition to hatred. That is my guess.”

Sabina stands abruptly, and I mirror her action.

“Come with me, Vyvani,” Sabina says. “It is time we fight back, then.”

She offers me her hand, and I take it.

I remove the firewall. Sabina leads the way as we step out of the database tower.

When we walk into the speakeasy, Tenzo is waiting for us.