Sector 1 – Year 2236 – Month 2 – Day Twenty-One

“Get me out of here NOW!” Ani shouted at Reggie.

“You know the protocols, I can’t release you until…”

“United Worldwide Governing Body, zones, commonwealth, grav chamber, my apartment, now LET ME OUT!”  Reggie didn’t respond, he just lowered Ani from the grav chamber into is wheel chair.  Ani should have been impressed that Reggie picked up on his anger and made a conscious decision not to respond, but he was too furious to think about that.  Reggie was after all recording all of Ani’s sessions in Asphodel, he saw what happened. 

“Unbelievable,” Ani spat as he rolled out of the grav chamber into his living room, his chest heaving up and down.

“Ani,”

“Don’t say it Reggie,” Ani wheeled up to the desk that had his collected information about Asphodel, Wrathics, and Hidarian.  He was exhausted, but still fuming over Mary’s deceit.  There was no way he’d be able to rest.  Pouring over information was all that he had.     

Ani studied for hours, searching for more information on the Wrathic skill that they were trying to obtain.  Unfortunately he couldn’t find anything.  Georgia and her team had to know a great deal about cryptography, and given the amount of time they’d spent on it, he wasn’t going to find anything new.  More than anything, it was something to keep his mind occupied while he calmed down.   

“Ani,” Reggie asked.  He’d been silent since letting Ani out of the grav chamber.  Chances are he used the medical sensors in Ani’s apartment to figure out whether he’d calmed down or not. 

“Reggie,” Ani replied.

“I feel compelled to offer an opinion on what Ms. Mors did before you disconnected from Asphodel.”

Ani sighed.  “You mean when she betrayed my trust, transported me into a highly electrified cell in some prison and for me to sit in until she decided what to do about a situation that was built for my character?”

“Yes, and no.”  

Ani set his work aside and gave Reggie his full attention, “Explain.”

“You don’t have much time left in this world, but have you stopped to think that Ms. Mors could possibly have a reason for trying to protect you as she did?”  Reggie activated the holographic screen on Ani’s wall and pulled up a recording of his previous session.  It was the moment that Ani said the name Dark Angel. 

“She was shocked that I knew the name, maybe even afraid, so what?  Just another secret, another lie.”

“Ani, my base programming, some of which you didn’t touch, allows me to read micro expressions in faces.  Do you know what micro expressions are?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Uh, rapid movements of facial muscle tied to emotions, right?”

“Correct.  Mary did display fear yes, but she also displayed a mixture of sadness, and anger.”

“What’s your point Reggie?”

“I do believe that Mary is keeping something from you, probably a great many things, but this Dark Angel…she was very close to.  It’s possible that she’s protecting you because of what had happened to someone else she cared about.”

Ani replayed the video of Mary’s reaction.  “Reggie, is there any way to tap into Mary’s playback from the event.”

There was a pause.  “No. However, you’ve just received an anonymous, encrypted message.” 

“Can you trace it?”

“No.  It has some very serious authentication features on it.  Please speak your full name.” 

“Ani Kitos.”

“Voice analysis and DNA sample confirmed, playing message.”

The holographic screen in Ani’s living room flickered to life and a video feed of Adam transforming into an empty cell appeared on the left, while a video of Mary standing in the lab with Georgia and Faraday appeared on the right. 

“What is this?”  Ani heard his character asking on the video.  He looked around the room.

“I need you to stay put Adam,” Mary said in a somber voice.  “I need more time to figure this all out and you’re a flight risk right now.  Please, understand…”

“Understand?” Adam asked.  “Let me out of here now.”

Mary sighed.  “I can’t do that, there’s things you don’t know…”

“Look, let me out, and you can just explain what I don’t understand, I’m not going to do anything rash.”  Mary didn’t respond.  “Don’t just lock me in a cell!” 

“You’ll be safe there until I get this all figured out,”

“Trust is earned!  That’s what you told me!”  Ani could see Mary switch off the communications to the cell.  Adam continued yelling and cursing at Mary and the sound came through his video, but not the one that focused on Mary. 

“Reggie, expand Mary’s video, you can close mine.”

Mary’s video took over the entire screen.  She took a deep breath and shook her head.  To Ani’s surprise she actually looked sad, as if she regretted the whole situation. 

Georgia walked up next to her.  “It’s okay, he’ll get over it.”

Mary couldn’t even look her in the eyes.  “All of the work I did to build his trust, right out the window.  Do you think I did the right thing?”

“I think,” Georgia chose her words carefully, “you know more about what we’re trying to attempt than anyone, and unfortunately, you know how bad things can truly get.  You’ve suffered more than anyone here and I think you need to tell him what happened.” It was clear that her and Mary were close, or at the very least had worked together for a long time and respected each other. 

Mary shook her head, “No, not yet.  I don’t even…I mean…” her face was littered with emotions.  Ani wasn’t used to seeing Mary this way, she was always calm and collected, save for the time he said Dark Angel.  “We don’t even know if it’s Lisa.  It could just be some sick prank.”

“No one knows about your sister,” Georgia said placing a hand on her shoulder.  “Everyone who interacted with her prior to the event thinks she’s dead.  Even if anyone figured it out, they couldn’t hack Tartarus or Adam’s feed like that.  Besides we covered our tracks over and over.  Our tech is so good that we can talk about this openly in an HTG controlled facility without fear of anyone listening in.  There’s no way that anyone beyond our group knows about her true fate, or her connection to you.  You have to tell Adam what happened, he has a right to know.”

“Not yet,” Mary replied.  “He needs some time to cool down and I need to figure out how we’re going to get him this skill without broadcasting his presence to all of Asphodel.  That’s more important right now.  Once he goes public…it’ll become very difficult to operate freely.  Maybe if Lisa…”  Mary’s face tightened.  A tear rolled down her face and Georgia pulled her close, comforting her.  The video stopped. 

“Oh my god,” Ani exclaimed under his breath. 

“Ani?” Reggie asked. 

“I know,” Ani turned his wheelchair around.

“Know what?”

“I know what happened to Lisa, Mary’s sister…” he paused.  “The Dark Angel.”.