Revolution (31 page)

    “Lie detector?” the silhouetted figure spoke again, sounding amused. “Yeah, I guess you could call it that. It will make you tell the truth.”

    Rayne grimaced as he tried to shake off the metal pincer on his finger. It was so tight that he could feel its small metal teeth drawing blood.

    “Light him up,” the interrogator said.

    Rayne felt sweat beading on his forehead as he listened to the unknown person on his right flipping switches on the machine.

    Suddenly, Peter’s body became rigid as an intense pain surged through his right index finger and spread rapidly across his hand, arm, and body. He screamed as a searing white-hot heat burned him from the inside out as if he were being cooked in a microwave oven. The heat traveled from his internal organs to his outer skin and burned like napalm.

    His brain didn’t register the precise moment when the machine switched off and the pain subsided. His body continued to tremble violently and remnants of white-hot heat shot through his skin like sparks shooting out from a bonfire.

    “As you’ve probably realized, we’ve hooked you up to a particularly effective lie detector,” the silhouetted figure said. “It’s actually an old ground-vehicle car battery - adjusted to be applied to a human being.”

    The figure was quiet for a moment as he allowed his words to sink in. Rayne was still too shocked for the horror of his words to register.

    “Let’s see if we can help him to clear his mind,” the unknown interrogator said as he stood and walked in front of the spotlight.

    Rayne saw him reach behind the spotlight and the room suddenly went dark. Stars swam before his eyes in the blackness. Peter heard the man’s footsteps move to another corner of the room. Something clicked and faint lights came on in the ceiling, illuminating the room with a dull overhead glow.

    He could now make out more details of the silhouetted man. He was a tall, thin man wearing a dark colored business suit. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and wore gold wire-rimmed glasses like Broderick had worn in his Breechlere office. Something about his look and manner reminded Peter of Broderick. His thin, receding black hair also appeared to be slicked back like Broderick’s. A long, thin face matched his long, thin body. He had a perfectly straight nose, which looked like it had been drawn in with a pencil.

    “You might want to reconsider any further outbursts. You will speak only when asked a question. Do you understand?” the interrogator asked.

   Rayne discovered he had to concentrate to answer the question. His tongue and jaw felt numb and slow to forming words.

    “Y-yes,” Peter stammered.

    “Good. Then, we can proceed. Who are you and who sent you?”

     Rayne’s mind reeled with terror. How was he going to realistically tell the lies that Campion had drilled into him at the rebel headquarters, when they had a machine that could disrupt his entire nervous system at the push of a button?

    “My name is Peter Rayne. I’m a computer expert working for the Breechlere Corporation. I was sent to run tests on the Powerdrome’s new Artificial Intelligence system.”

    Rayne felt another sense of déjà vu as the suited man seated in front of him turned to regard his colleague standing next to the machine.

    “That’s what his wrist code says,” the man to his right spoke in a deep voice.

    Rayne used his peripheral vision to see that the second man wore a white lab coat. He was short and stocky with a bald head. A small gray fringe of hair spanned the base his skull. He looked to be in his fifties.

    “Okay, Mr. Rayne. That’s a good start. We can confirm you are telling the truth from your wrist code,” the interrogator in the suit told Rayne, enunciating his words like a pedagogue instructing a slow student. “Why were you wandering around the sub-levels of the Powerdrome?”

    “I got lost,” Peter said, wracking his brain for a realistic-sounding lie. His skin still felt numb from the electric jolt. “I was in the Powerdrome when the robots started going nuts, trying to kill everybody.”        

    “It’s true,” the man in the white lab coat interjected. “Our video surveillance cameras recorded Mr. Rayne in various areas of the Dark World attraction, which also happened to be the areas of the worst robot malfunctions. We have recorded images of him fighting for his life with some other tourists.”

    “I know that. I’ve seen the recordings,” the suited man in the chair replied, condescendingly, to his colleague, as if he was talking to an imbecile. “The problem I have is this, Mr. Rayne,” he turned slowly toward Peter. “According to your wrist code, the computer says you are supposed to commence work on the Powerdrome systems on 5/06/58. Why are you in the park on 5/05/58?”

    “That’s easy,” Rayne replied, feigning confidence. “I wanted to check out the park. I’ve never been here before. I wanted to try it out before I tested the systems.”

    Peter took the opportunity to look around the room, while he waited for the suited man to digest what he said. All he saw were plain, bare walls devoid of any interesting details. He guessed the door to the room must be somewhere behind him. His mind was finally starting to clear after receiving the electric shock. He thought he might be in a position to talk his way out of there.

    “Mr. Smith, please see if the gentleman is telling the truth,” the tall, suited man said to the man standing to Rayne’s right.

    “Sure thing,” Smith replied casually, flipping a row of switches on the machine.

    Rayne felt himself go rigid in an instant as searing heat burned into his right hand and spread through him like wildfire. This time, he gritted his teeth and tried not to scream. He could actually hear his teeth clicking with the effort of holding them shut to prevent a scream from escaping. His eyes rolled up in his head while it shook up and down, as if he was in adamant agreement with his captors. The heat enveloped his entire body and sent his nerves into a frenzy of pain.

    Again, he was unable to register the exact moment when the voltage was turned off. His teeth continued to chatter while his body trembled. His mind felt numb as he waited for the involuntary trembling to subside.

    “I’ll ask you once more, Mr. Rayne. Why were you in the park a day early?” the interrogator asked.

    “I-I told you….before….I was….I was experiencing the….the park for the first…the first time,” Rayne spoke through his chattering teeth. He thought it odd that his teeth were chattering as if he was cold, but his skin felt hot as if he had been placed next to a furnace.

    “Okay, fine. You wanted to check out the park. A natural action for someone who’s never tried it before,” the thin, suited man conceded. “We watched you on camera in the Dark World attraction. You did quite well against the AI modified robots. Why did you leave the Dark World attraction through the air duct?” the interrogator asked as he adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses like a librarian.

    “The answer is simple,” Rayne said. “I wanted to get out of the Powerdrome. Being an expert on AI programming, I knew the robots were malfunctioning. They appeared to be learning at a geometric rate. I knew I barely escaped Dark World in one piece. I felt like I had to get out of there. I hoped the air duct would lead me out.”

    “It turns out you were right to get out of there,” the interrogator said. “The robots were indeed learning at a geometric rate. Many of them learned they could make their human targets stay down permanently if they smashed their heads repeatedly, rather than letting the nerve gel do its work. Your friends found out the hard way.”

   Rayne’s mind whirled with confusion.
They had been killed? All of them?

    “Are you sure it was the group I was with?” he asked. “I saw two of them killed, but I know at least one esc-“

    “I believe I warned you before,” the government’s suited representative said as he gestured to the stocky man on Rayne’s right.

    Rayne tried to tune out his mind as he felt the third electric surge convulse his body. His mind sought refuge in a fantasy where he wasn’t sitting in a chair getting shocked by a pair of psychopaths. He imagined he was floating above the room looking down at his body as it convulsed in the chair. He pictured himself being transformed into a being of pure spirit with no links to his physical body. His new, transformed self felt detached as he looked down at himself getting shocked.

    Is this what it’s like to be dead
?
Have I been killed
?

    Rayne’s vision faded to black as a searing wave of heat flowed through him. He could feel his shoulders and arms trembling. He opened his eyes and regarded his calm tormentor.

    “You will not speak out of turn again, Mr. Rayne,” the suited man said. “Do we have an understanding?”

    “Y-yes,” Rayne said through chattering teeth.

    “Good. Then you can answer my next question. We have you on the Dark World surveillance cameras fighting the robot dragon, which is understandable considering it was trying to kill you. How were you able to find the air duct you escaped through?”

    “J-just luck….It was pure luck. I went to hide behind the stalagmite and felt a breeze blowing over my shoulder.”

    “Where did you think the air duct led?”

    “I didn’t care at that point. I was just trying to avoid being deep-fried.”

    “Where did you think you were when you found yourself in the basement of the Powerdrome?” the interrogator asked.

    “I didn’t know and I didn’t care. All I knew was I got away from the dragon. I just wanted to find a way out,” Rayne replied.

    “Why were you wandering around in the lower levels beneath the Powerdrome?”

   
“Like I said before, I wanted to find a way out. I went the other way and found myself in front of a door to a Dark World control room. I figured that wasn’t the way out, so I went the other way.”

    “Where did you think you were when you traveled down the elevator and discovered the research facilities on sub-level five?”

    “I thought I had wandered into an area I wasn’t supposed to be in. The sign said authorized personnel only. I knew I wasn’t authorized and yet somehow my wrist code worked. I just wanted to get out of there.”

    “The wrist code system was experiencing technical difficulties due to the overload to the Powerdrome’s AI computer system. It would have let anyone through,” the interrogator said. “What happened next?”

    “I was trying to find my way out of there. I knew I didn’t belong. It was some kind of secret government facility. So, I figured I might have more luck if I looked around for a way out,” Peter said.

    “And did you?”

    “At first, I ended up in some kind of operating room.”

    “What happened while you were there?”

    “I went over to a clothing rack and put on a pair of scrubs. That way, I figured I could move around the area without drawing any attention to myself. I only wanted to find a way out of there.”

    “Why did you access the cryogenic database? We have a record of you searching through it.”

    “I just wanted to find a detailed map that would show me a way out. I didn’t know I was going to find out about an elaborate cryogenics program. When I found out what was going on, I knew was in trouble. Then a guard came and pointed a gun in my face. I just wanted to get out of there, so I decked him.”

    “You decked him,” the bespectacled interrogator repeated. “A fully-trained Federal Police Officer. You decked him. Just like that. Throughout your adventures in the Powerdrome, you have showed yourself to be quite an ingenious fighter. I don’t need to tell you that is not typical behavior for a computer expert. Were you trained by the terrorists to infiltrate our facility and make it look like an accident you were here?”

    “Not at all,” Rayne answered with feigned conviction. “I just went with the flow of events. I’m a very athletic person and I work out at the gym. I also love action movies where the good guys fight the bad guys. The adrenaline took over and I knew I had to do something extraordinary to get out of there. I mean, the robots were trying to kill me. I didn’t have any choice but to fight back.”

    “No choice,” the suited man repeated, pensively. He glanced over at the short, stocky man on Rayne’s right and signaled him with his index finger.

    Peter closed his eyes as he anticipated another violent shock. He felt a searing pain and then experienced the sensation of his spirit leaving his body. He imagined his disembodied spirit staring down at his trembling body. His vision faded to black again and he opened his eyes to find himself trembling and numb.

    “Do you want to change your answer now? If you answer falsely, you will be given another shock,” the interrogator said.

    “N-no. I’m telling….telling the truth.”

   Rayne watched the interrogator glance over at his accomplice by the machine. In his peripheral vision, he saw the lackey nod at the interrogator.

    “Why did you take the guard’s pistol after you “decked him,” as you described it?”

    “To defend myself. I figured I should backtrack to the ‘drome. I thought I could shoot my way out past the robots with the gun.”