Read Someone to Remember Me: The Anniversary Edition Online

Authors: Brendan Mancilla

Tags: #action, #Adventure, #Fantasy, #Science Fiction

Someone to Remember Me: The Anniversary Edition (9 page)

BOOK: Someone to Remember Me: The Anniversary Edition
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“Are vacations an option? If so, sign me up,” Null announced herself to Seven and Twenty, stepping into view. “For what it’s worth, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, I agree with Twenty.”

“You should come to the exhibition next week. At the gallery! You could post some of your photos,” Twenty nudged him. “I told you about the exhibition, didn’t I?”

“If he hasn’t then you’re about to get bludgeoned with information,” Null warned Seven ruefully. “Don’t worry. I got my invitation. Five times,” she said to Twenty.

“Can you blame me for being thorough? Make sure you bring Nine with you,” he insisted. “I expect a full house.”

“I doubt the same can be said for tonight. I’m guessing that a quorum isn’t expected?”

“Just the five of us,” Seven nodded slowly, as if confessing to a crime.

“I absolutely dread these meetings,” Null admitted with grim resignation.

“Why? They’re always efficient,” came another woman’s factual announcement, her voice the only indicator of her presence for a few moments more. Stepping out from behind one of the neighboring statues came Ninety-Nine, her undetectable entrance made possible by her slight frame and narrow build. Though she was smaller than everyone present, she was still taller than the average citizen of Haven. Her ability to move without drawing attention made Seven envious. “The five of us are three times as likely to be more sympathetic to the plight of the rebels and we typically reach a consensus at least sixty-four percent faster than when the twelve of us are assembled for a majority vote.”

“Majority voting wasn’t meant to be subjected to secretive meetings and midnight compromises,” Null protested.

“Why not? Our methods paved the way for the truce. We five decided to convince the others to vote Seven the power to negotiate with the rebels directly. On average, we are eighty-four percent more efficient when we decide on an agenda this way and convince the others to side with us later,” Ninety-Nine concluded, so fiercely confident in the authenticity of her statistics that she willingly put her argument to rest.

“Well what’s the agenda tonight?” Null asked, her irritability on full display.

“Tonight’s agenda is the same as it was before Seven convinced the two sides to stop killing each other,” insisted Eight, the last to arrive on the scene. She must have come directly from her workplace at the University—her white laboratory coat could be seen beneath her jacket and she grumpily stomped towards the assembly. Eight gave their surroundings the slightest indication of displeasure. None of the the twelve particularly enjoyed the Round of Heroes, which made it the perfect spot to convene in secret. Nobody would bother looking for them here.

Seven, whose concerted effort not to stare at Eight was failing miserably, turned his eyes skyward. Eight’s dismissive glare had already taken him in and cast him aside. Whatever conviction had guided him into orchestrating this meeting evaporated, the usual casualty of Eight’s furnace-like hatred.

“We’ve got to find a way of ensuring permanent peace. A total end to hostilities between the two factions,” Eight announced.

“How? Ilana refuses to allow the rebels to depart the island—which is their singular demand,” Null reminded the group. “If there’s one thing that she, as the face of the government, hates more than the rebels it’s breaking with orthodoxy.”

“Too much of this city’s leadership adhere to superstitious traditions,” Eight decried.

In the span of a second the group collapsed into a bitter argument: Ninety-Nine assuring them of the statistical likelihood of a return to warfare, Twenty advocating the abdication of their responsibilities entirely, Null admonishing the others for meeting in secret at all, and Eight hurriedly poking holes in the arguments her companions presented.

“I have a plan.”

Silence rippled away from Seven across the group. Even Eight’s voice withered because Seven had spoken with an authority he rarely yielded, but that everyone knew he possessed. Surprised by the sheer force with which he had spoken, Seven nervously swallowed before continuing.

“Obviously, we can’t publicly side with one force or another,” he began.

“Haven’t we already done that?” Null seethed. “We all work for Haven in one way or another—Seven, you work for Haven’s Armed Response Militia itself!”

“Our purpose is to be impartial, to mediate, and the rebels understand that as well as we do. They appreciate us for listening when the city’s authorities refused,” he countered swiftly, in a tone that encouraged Null to keep her antagonism to herself.

“Correction: they appreciate
you
. They mostly tolerate the rest of us,” Twenty yawned.

“What’s your plan?” Eight asked, the fire gone from her voice. Curiosity had replaced it and that was enough to urge Seven onwards.

“We must become a formidable third force in this conflict. If we are going to create real, lasting change then we can’t be subject to the whims of Haven’s leaders. What happens when the truce finally breaks and Ilana decides we’re useless to her? I’ll lose my position with HARM, Eight and Ninety-Nine will lose their research funding, we’ll be banished back to—”

“We get it,” Eight interrupted. “We get the idea.”

From his pocket Seven withdrew four small squares of paper. He knew how unusual he must look, tendering physical paper to some of the most gifted scientists and mathematicians alive when digital means were much preferred. However, the contents of the papers, the words carefully inscribed upon them in Seven’s fanatically clear handwriting, could not be trusted to electronic form. In Haven, few computers were safe from the prying eyes of the government and its overwhelmingly powerful agents.

“But this is silly,” Null began. “Why do you want the radio frequencies for—”

Seven held up his hand, cutting off the argument before it progress further.

“Each of you holds your piece of my plan. I expect to see you all at Twenty’s exhibition, where you’ll bring me the information that I’ve asked for. Remember, do not use any electronics networked to the city’s digital mainframe. Do not trust their computers.”

“And you expect me to just bring this to you?” Eight asked venomously, her eyes stuck on whatever objective had been assigned to her by Seven. “You’ve asked me for something you shouldn’t even know about,” Eight managed to say without revealing whatever secret was on the tip of her tongue.

“For once in your life, yes, I expect you to do what I’ve asked you to.”

“What you want is—”

“I’m not going to argue about this with you! Do you want to spend the rest of your life wondering if Haven will tire of you? Are you prepared to watch as more people start dying again? The signs are readily apparent: rebels outside the neutral zone, city militia accidentally firing on civilians, Ilana still refusing to negotiate...”

Cowed into obedience, Eight lapsed into a mutinous silence.

“What I’ve asked each of you for is sensitive information. I know that. I wouldn’t have asked for it unless I thought it was the only way forward. We can carve out a destiny for ourselves or we can be washed away in the carnage when the truce finally breaks. I’ve made my choice. It’s time for each of you to make yours...”

 

As his mind turned away from the uncovered memory, nearly dreamlike in its hazy recollection of details, Seven considered his impending death inquisitively. What type of monster took the form of a shimmering golden-brown cloud of dust? Since when could things like that intelligently hunt prey? How could such a monster play with its food, as Seven suspected that it was, by swirling around them in such an maddened fervor?

With a bold gasp, he inhaled mouthfuls of air, sucking down gulps of dust. He coughed, gagging as the particles scraped the back of his throat and escaped through his nostrils. Though irritated and hoarse, he found that he could still breathe, that he was still alive despite the monster’s efforts to the contrary.

That Seven dared to continue breathing, that he kept living, strengthened his defiant resolve. Anything beat dying in fear. Sensing this, the monster twisted and writhed around Seven. His breathing posed a challenge that the monster found unacceptable. It roared, an angry wail more than an aggressive advance, and Seven’s whole body reverberated with its frustration.

“You’re having trouble killing me, aren’t you?” Seven shouted at the monster, his fear dissolved by his nervous courage. In the depths of the monster’s golden haze a uniform humming boomed outwards. It tuned itself to Seven’s mind, teased away those dark spots in his memory, and the illusive music returned.

“Day of wrath! Oh day of mourning,” he chanted, unable to stop himself.

“See fulfilled the Founders’ warning,” Eight continued as her voice rang aloud.

“Haven and Earth in ashes burning,” shouted Twenty.

“When from skyward we descend!” finished Null, her voice championing the song to a point right before its crescendo. There was more, Seven was sure of it, but that critical piece was missing and left the music incomplete. With the music as finished as it was likely to become, the monster’s attack buckled. Seconds later, as if with nothing more than the slightest effort, it fell away from the survivors and gathered like a thick mist at their feet.

Then, it barreled away, slithering over the edge of the platform and lurching into the shadowy streets below. Familiar grayish-white daylight supplanted the golden hue of the monster’s body and the dead city came back into overwhelming focus.

“Is everyone alive?” Eight called.

“Yes. Unfortunately,” Twenty groaned, regaining his balance and clenching his teeth shut.

Null, on Eight’s left, wordlessly nodded and she clapped her arms securely around her.

Seven could see that Eight was shaken.

“Are you okay?” Eight tried to reverse the situation, asking Seven when she saw him approach. His first reaction was to smile at her, as bewildering as she found the gesture, if only because of how ironic the question was.

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Seven replied, hoping that she would let him check up on her for once.

“It doesn’t make any sense!” she exclaimed. “I want it to make sense. I’m trying to, really, but the music? That...monster?” Eight glanced to the places on the platform where the monster had emerged from and disappeared to. “Do you see that? Nothing is damaged. I swear that I saw the monster blow a hole in it but there it is, not a scratch, just as it was before...”

“You’re not crazy. I saw it break through that spot, too.”

“Me too,” Twenty agreed.

“So the monster can make us see things?”

“We saw it demolish a whole city block. We never went back to examine the extent of the damage. I’ll bet that whole area is fine,” Eight hypothesized. “What about the music, though? It reacted to the music. As if it knew the sound.”

“A monster with a musical fetish,” Twenty leered. “Go figure.”

“Did anyone else notice that the predator that’s been pursuing us is a giant cloud of dirt?” asked Null, the impossibility of their predicament killing the last vestiges of genuine curiosity in her voice. From the way she spoke she might have been agreeing that, yes, there was a sun in the sky and that, also, a monster of wild impossibility had attacked them beneath it only moments ago.

“Did anyone else…relive something?” a hesitant Twenty asked, his voice hardly above a whisper. Dark concerns flashed across his expression and his eyes leapt to Seven and the others.

“…Yes!” Null exclaimed, her voice suddenly alive with relief. “I didn’t want to bring it up. I thought I was the only one.”

Subdued, Twenty asked, “What did you see?”

“I…I was mapping out…what I think evolved into…this city…” Null muttered. She shook her head after a silent moment. “But I’ve already established that this city, as it stands today, has been around for several hundreds of years…” she stressed. “And you?” she leveled at Twenty, who flinched from the tenacity of her demand.

“I was at an art show. In the Imperial Galleria,” Twenty’s empty voice bore no emotion.

“The Imperial Galleria?” Null inquired.

“A section of the city south of here,” he pointed beyond the buildings around them. “I saw some type of map, like a directory, in my memory. So I have an idea of where we are versus where I was in that memory,” Twenty lowered his hand, silent.

“You?” Null asked Eight.

“At a bonfire,” Eight replied. “Before the city was even built.”

“And you, Seven?” inquired Twenty, the group’s curiosity swinging towards him.

Seven blinked, muted by hesitance.

“I can hardly remember it but I met each of you,” his gravelly voice replied, quivering with uncertainty. “But maybe I was hallucinating? Your memories are spaced hundreds of years apart from the city’s founding to well into its existence. I would have guessed that mine was during its twilight, but I can’t remember what we talked about...” Seven mentally reached towards the fading memory, trying to distinguish whether it was a memory or an elaborate dream induced by the monster.

“Does anyone have a theory that doesn’t sound utterly insane?” Null asked.

“Have you looked around lately?” Twenty drawled. “This whole situation is the definition of utter insanity.”

BOOK: Someone to Remember Me: The Anniversary Edition
4.99Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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