Lightning burst from the dark clouds above the city. Jagged blades of light flashed downward, and for a heartbeat, it illuminated the nearby skyscrapers. Even in the gloom, the tall towers of carefully shaped concrete and glass looked tastefully modern. Some of the buildings were dark, but others still contained glowing lights that shone like beacons in the moments of darkness between lightning strikes. Off in the distance, the rest of the city was full of movement and light. Cars were still zooming through the streets, despite the storm raging overhead. Buffeted by the wind, a light drizzle splashed against the glass wall that stood between the man and the forces of nature outside. He was silent as he studied the metropolis below him from within the shelter offered by the tallest of the skyscrapers in the city. When the sky was dark, his reflection could be seen staring back at himself in the glass.
He was a tall man in a dark suit and tie, with short black hair and a neatly trimmed beard, although bits of grey showed in his hair. Combined with his dark and intense gaze, his appearance gave him a stern and imposing aura, an aura that was not unearned. Despite the lines of grey hair and hints of wrinkles around his eyes, he did not seem old or frail at all. Instead, he projected untouchable power, even as the storm raged outside.
A chime rang across the dark room behind him, and he turned and saw the door in the far wall open. A man in a lab coat stepped into sight and nodded at everyone else there. There were two other men in business suits sitting on expensive-looking personal sofas in the middle of the room. An intimate little round table sat between them, with two more empty seats around it. On one wall hung a huge television screen, and the other was covered by a long bar. Rows of glasses and bottles of alcohol stood behind it on a shelf.
“I’m sorry for arriving late,” the man in the lab coat told the others as he walked toward the chairs. “I was running through some last-minute upgrades to the software in the hopes that they would improve the binding process, and I decided to test it out before coming here since we are approaching launch and I need to nail down the final version.”
“We had begun to think something had happened to you, and you were preparing to flee the country,” one of the men sitting in the chairs replied in a half-joking tone. He was slightly older than his colleague, and he had a noticeable paunch.
“How did this last-minute test of yours go, Doctor?” the man sitting across from him asked politely.
The doctor sighed as he slumped into a seat. He sounded tired and defeated. “It was a complete failure. The poor young man died soon after the upload. I will spare you the gruesome details, but he immediately began screaming and yelling about hungry shadows. This was followed by catatonia and then a complete brain shutdown.”
The overweight man leaned forward and gave the doctor an empathic look. “He was a volunteer from the church. You shouldn’t blame yourself too much. You did what we all know is necessary, including that young man. He knew what he was getting into.”
The doctor grimaced. “So did I, but I plugged him in anyway, Carl. I’m here to help people, not murder them. This sort of abuse is what I joined you to fight!”
“The hard thing is sometimes the right thing,” the man at the window replied as he finally stepped away from it. He didn’t take a seat. Instead, he remained standing next to the empty chair. “You can’t run from the harsh truths of life. They simply grow more dangerous the more you ignore them. It is a lesson that has cost me dearly to learn.”
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“None of us would be here if we hadn’t also learned that lesson, Victor,” the youngest man present replied. He had short blond hair and light blue eyes. Despite his firm speech and expensive suit, he couldn’t hide his nervousness.
There was a clear crystal bottle and several glasses on the table. For a few moments, no one spoke as Carl poured them all drinks.
“How go all of your responsibilities?” Victor asked as he looked at the others with his hands clasped behind his back. He made no move to reach for the drink that had been poured for him.
“The physical hardware and the altered machinery were all shipped out weeks ago,” Carl replied with a shrug. “They will do what they were designed for.”
“I haven’t seen a hint of suspicion among any of my contacts. As far as the government is concerned, it’s just a game, even if it is the most popular one ever,” the blond man said. “Some of them even told me they plan on playing it.”
The doctor grimaced. “You already have my latest reports on the binding software. I have nothing to add to them, but are we really going to go through with this now? I think more time might be necessary.”
Victor shook his head. “We can wait no longer. The agreed upon time has come. We made promises, and the other factions won’t accept excuses. They are an unruly alliance whose interest barely aligns with our own.”
The doctor opened his mouth. “But—”
Victor cut him off. “No, I’m sorry. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that we will be discovered. Despite our best efforts to blind or suborn it, the Bureau of Economic Harmony is far from neutralized. Their incredible size and the massive power they wield more than makes up for their inefficiency and corruption. If we are betrayed or if any of our test subjects are discovered, they will crush us.”
The blond man nodded in reluctant agreement. “Even worse, the day we all fear may come sooner than expected. I had a meeting with a senator in the capital yesterday. Without a doubt, he was sounding out my stance on extralegal use of some of the most dangerous technologies available.”
“It’s the same in business circles,” Victor said with obvious sadness. “No one says anything aloud in public, but behind closed doors, people have begun to whisper and conspire. If asked, they will say it’s nothing but theoretical musings, but it’s just a matter of time until they convince themselves to use the technology to manipulate and control, for the good of society of course. These are good people. Many of them are my friends, but I don’t think any of them will stand against what is coming.”
“The fools! Can’t they see where this will lead?” Carl growled angrily as he put down his glass and clenched his fists.
A look of deep regret appeared on Victor’s usually stiff face. “They are blinded by their insecurities. We have spent so long stifling change that we have grown terrified of freedom.”
The doctor shuffled nervously in his seat. “I’m not sure I can support this. When I joined you, I had been hoping to perfect the binding process, or at least greatly increase the survival rate. Many people will die if we go ahead now. We still have only a single successful full integration, and she may well be a special case! Especially considering what happened to her.”
A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky outside, its light illuminating the dim room for a second. As darkness returned, Victor walked back to the window and looked down at the city again.
“We knew when we began this work that it would lead to death and destruction on a massive scale,” he told the others as the light from outside reflected in his eyes. “We knew the blood of the innocent and guilty alike would be on our hands. Nothing has changed. We go ahead. The launch will happen on schedule, and we will simply have to pray our greatest fears do not come to pass. Is that not what this has all been about? Clinging to one last speck of hope as the end closes in?”