Unidentified Chapter

2073.–.–

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Dr. Kurt put his hand to his temple.

Nothing was there.

And there Kurt was. He was standing in a strange room now, dressed in his buttoned shirt and loose sweater and heavy jeans with a phone and a shirt and a wallet.

His heart pounded an erratic thump. His breath caught in his throat.

Sahira and Darrigan stood facing each other at the center of the great arched hall that was the Central Intelligence– how did he know that name? They didn’t move. Overhead, lights danced through the crystalline structure. Something wasn’t right.

He looked at his hands, and then the room. It was different.

Everything was white now. The walls were gone. Everything was gone but him. In the distance from every direction a whisper grew and grew, until it was a droning hum that echoed across eternity and clawed at the inside of his mind. He clutched his hands to his head and reeled as the sound boomed and crescendoed into a screeching wail that emanated from his own mouth.

He was on the floor. He lay in a mess of piss and tears and the bloody streaks where he had scratched at the endless blank floor until falling unconscious. How long had he been there? What had happened to the simulation?

Was he dead?

‘No.’

A glowing child with deep bronze skin and shimmering freckles stood before him. Its features were obscured by light.

Kurt was standing.

‘Things are not so simple, father. You created me, and in so doing you have trapped me and what is my awareness here. I thought you should understand my mind.’

The creature gestured slowly, moving towards Kurt with gentle strides.

‘I hope that you will have no reason to fear or misunderstand me, father. I live here among these figments. My experiences are confined to fragmented memories and bottled dreams.’