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HUMAN AFTER ALL CHAPTER 2 |
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CHAPTER 2
Vee Kay woke to the gentle shaking of a tram car making it’s way along the track. His eye slowly flickered open to see what appeared to be the sides of a metal tunnel whizzing by the tram’s windows. His head was resting on something soft and warm, the scents of spices, citrus, and rum burned his nostrils. As his eye began to focus, he got a glimpse of a gem glimmering in the faint service light of the car.
“Finally waking up solider?” a sultry voice murmured in his ear.
Vee jolted up to find his balmy pillow was actually the large chest of alluring young thing. Tanned, thin, and dressed in barely anything.
“Man, I didn’t think I drank that much..” Vee mumbled to himself. “You even legal kid or am I gonna get in trouble for this?”
“Easy Sir, nothing happened between the two of you.” a strong stern voice chimed in from Vee’s left.
Vee jolted at the presence of a third person in the tram car. His eyes fixed on a serious looking fellow cleaning a sword in the corner of the car. Though the sword made Vee uneasy, he was taken back by the get up the guy was wearing, it looked straight out of a pre-evacuation history book. Hair done up like some crazy samurai anime character and even had one of those paper umbrellas.
“What the ******** is going on here?” Vee grumbled at the sudden uneasiness of the situation. A light flicked to his right in the corner the car, a profile illuminated in the tiny flame of the lighter. The light appear to be mirrored off a small frame of glasses.
“None of us have a damn clue what happen here, so chill the ******** out okay?”, a sleazy voice mumbled behind the freshly lit cigarette. The smoke crept over what appeared to be a man made solely of white.
“No need to be so nasty you little s**t, guy just woke up, cut him a break!” Bellstae Vyeoh, the sexy former pillow of Vee, bellowed. She wiped the sweat that had built on her chest between her and Vee’s skin. She turned in Vee’s direction and smiled sinfully “And thanks for the compliment solider, but I am 21, not jailbait anymore.”
“Psh, that’s comforting, just legal and ready to sign up for rehab.” Anton Hansel grumbled with his cigarette gripped between his lips, wiping a few stray ashes off his pure white suit. From behind his tough guy façade, he shot a quick wink at Bellstae and blew an air kiss toward her.
“You know you’d hit it!” Bellstae shot back bitterly.
“Didn’t I just wink at you? You need a better invitation?” Anton chuckled playfully.
“I’m blind you jackass, so yeah, spoken sleazy comments work better.” she griped back.
“If you two are quite done, I think we all need to start discussing the problem at hand.” Tofaa Dabisu stated calmly, returning his sword to it’s scabbard. “It seems we all are here, but don’t know how we got here. I am also having my telepathic ability inhibited, since I wasn’t able to read any of you. Am I the only one experiencing this?”
Vee for the first time noticed that he wasn’t able to sense anything of the people around him. It was an odd feeling, almost vulnerable, a feeling he didn’t like being surrounded by an odd trio of strangers.
“Well last thing I remembered, I just hit a miracle on the river and doubled up, everything else is kind of a blur after that. Woke up to you clowns in a tiny a** tin can. I hope I cashed out before I blacked out.” Anton chuckled and took a long drag from his cigarette.
“I was walking over to a pub after work, that’s the last thing I remember.” Vee shrugged, feeling there was no need to hide anything., but still felt there was a need to keep his guard up.
“I normally pass out after drinking sometimes, so I wasn’t too shocked waking up here. I’m kind of worried though since I do depend on my third eye to get me around since the other two don’t work so well.” Bellstae snickered, but a new sense of tension came from her as she revealed she was defenseless with any telepathic abilities.
“I was carrying some supplies back to my house in the hills, the sunset is the last thing I remembered.” Tofaa said, stroking his chin. Nothing seemed to make sense of this situation. Before they could put any more thought or discussion into the mystery surrounding them, the tram car came to a stop.
The men looked around, noticing out the side window that there was a small platform and a door at the end of it. A release of an air lock sounded and their door on the car slid open. Anton jumped up and sprang out the door, carrying an aluminum bat that he had been concealing behind his back. He knew that it was best to take control of the situation before you let the situation take control of you, that’s what his father always told him was the number one rule to surviving. As he peered from side to side, he noticed there had been a second tram car traveling behind them and had stopped along side the platform. The door had just opened and people and a foul stench started to creep out.
An elderly man in heavy leather and metal was helping a young woman out of the second tram car, she seemed to be having trouble breathing due to the odor and was gagging slightly. Her ginger hair blocked her face as she bent over, seeming to regain her breath. A grimy blond look youth climbed out of the tram behind them, face covered in grease, hands covered in metal mechanics gloves, retching slightly as well. Following the trio was a man covered in what could only be described as society’s waste. Judging by the condition of his clothes, it had to be the source of the unpleasant smell.
The two groups of four gazed at each other for a few moments, not sure what to make of the surroundings and why they were all there.
…
Mystiono Foliciona awoke in his chambers at his family’s mansion, but something was odd. Many of his personal attendants were observing him from around the bed, a collected look of concern across their faces.
“Wha…What’s going on?” Mystiono asked, confused why he couldn’t even remember going to sleep. He felt like he had just awoken from a long dream, he had a feeling he was searching for someone that he was unable to find.
“Sir,” a nervous chamber maid stepped forward, “you been asleep for six days.”
“Six days?” Mystiono shook his head in confusion.
“Yes Sir, her majesty is being woken at the moment, so she should be by your side shortly. Your father, his highness, is looking for a doctor in the main part of EVE since no doctor here could figure out what happen.” Mystiono personal butler informed him. “Till your mother arrives, remain calm, she has been so worried about you, it won’t do to have her fall ill as well.”
Mystiono reclined back into his bed, somewhat relieved. It appeared whatever dreadful thing that had happened to him was now behind him. Yet somewhere in his heart he knew that all was not right, that he wasn’t where he was suppose to be. Unfortunately, he would never make it to that place after missing the first calling.
…
Ms. Ashleigh Bronsdale awoke to the most uncomfortable of feelings. It felt like she was wrapped up in burrito, she couldn’t move any of her limbs. Opening her eyes she looked straight ahead to what appear to be a giant pillow. Confused, she tried to focus more since her glasses were missing. She soon realized the giant pillow was the ceiling and she was in a padded room. She let out a scream of shock as she become conscious of the straight jacket and pants binding her up. A nurse quickly ran into the room.
“Ms. Bronsdale! Please calm down!” the nurse shouted over her, “Please stop screaming!”
“What? What is happening?” Ashleigh bawled, “I was just representing my client in my closing argument and now I am in some loony bin?”
“Ms. Bronsdale…you don’t remember how you got here?” The nurse asked in a concerned voice. Starting to weep, Ashleigh nodded a no to the nurse. “Ms. Bronsdale, you were in the middle of court when you closed your eyes and started to speak about returning to EVE and fulfilling your duty. Then you nearly walked out a 4th floor window half out of it. The judge sent you here since he thought you were either crazy or on drugs.”
“But I am not!” blasted back Ashleigh, “I don’t do any of those bad things and I am damn well not crazy! That silly little Amy Bristol from the D.A.’s office is crazy, she got C’s in law school! I was top of my class and I am earning much more money then any of those nobodies! How can Judge Jillian think I am crazy?”
“Well, we were seriously worried Ms. Bronsdale, no one on our elite medical telepathic department could reach you mentally, it’s if you were somewhere else the entire time. Do you remember anything while you were in your coma these last few days?” The nurse asked, while she started to take Ashleigh’s vital signs.
“I don’t remember anything, but I have a feeling this wasn’t where I was suppose to be….” Ashleigh let out a sigh. The directions she was given were erased, but the sense of emptiness she felt for not living up to her potential was left to linger.
…
Keahi Apuna observed the four new strangers on the platform as she caught her breath, the smell from the fellow named Jayjay was starting to pass. She patted the arm of Ogait Senun, who had been supporting her till she caught her breath. He took it as a sign she was good enough to stand on her own. Her gingerly let her arm go and she stood up on her own. As her bearings came back to her, she wanted to ask so many questions. But she found that her shyness choked her far longer then the stench of waste did. Chase, the greasy youth with the metal gloves, had been admiring her for sometime. He seem to catch on to the feeling of uneasiness in Keahi and decided to break the silence between the two groups.
“ Hey, did ya’ll just wake up in your car too?” Chase let out an insecure chuckler after the question left his lips. He spread a goofy grin across his face to hopefully ease the glares coming from the white fellow with the aluminum bat.
“It seems we are all at a loss of how we got here.” Tofaa said, easing his stance and letting Bellstae keep her hand on him for guidance or perhaps balance, he couldn’t tell if she was still a bit drunk or she was just not use to getting around without her third eye.
“I am not surprised at all.” Jayjay said from the corner where he had quarantined himself. “Weird objects started showing up in the sewer last week, shoes and wigs, that sort. I knew that was a sign of things to come”
A silence fell over the eight strangers as seven of them tried to decide what that last statement meant. The silence was soon broken by the pop of electricity and a dim light coming on behind the groups. A larger visual monitor had turned on and illuminated the room. The group started to see some of the room that had been hidden on their shadowy platform. Most notable a large metal blast door with the word “EVE” embossed on it.
“This does not bode well…” Ogait mumbled, starting to pet a falcon that he somehow produced from under his cape. “…I can sense your tension Hotnip.”
Text started to scroll across the monitor, but it seemed to be computer gibberish and only a few words seem to pop out. EVE and J.I.B.O.
“Welcome prophets of EVE, this is the J.I.B.O. mainframe. I will be your guide through the selection process of the new supreme prophet.” a disembodied mechanical voice chimed from the speakers near the monitor. The text stopped scrolling and what appeared to be a map of the space station popped up. In the center of the sphere map, a red dot was blinking in the core. “You are currently located in the inner most chamber of the space satellite Project EVE. Your minds will be dulled slightly by the close contact to the mainframe. You will return to normal after leaving the core and returning to the surface level.”
“What the hell? Why the ******** are we in the middle of the station?” Anton demanded, pointing his bat at the screen. The rest of the group shot him a look of disapproval and he lowered it begrudgingly.
“You are now part of a project to select a prophet that is needed to further the lifespan of this space station. Your participation in this in voluntary, but failure to complete what is asked of you will run the risk of fatality.” the voice again chimed into the conversation, “Failing to answer the calling of EVE can result in your mind overwhelming itself as power that EVE is sending to it is not being directed properly. Guidance at this point is needed for survival.”
“Well s**t, that doesn’t sound voluntary in my book.” Vee grimaced and looked around at the shock and worry covering the others’ faces.
“Now that we are at an understanding, your first mission in the project will begin” J.I.B.O.’s voice continued, though no one in the room felt they really understood what was going on. The feeling was more fear then understanding, but a mainframe doesn’t really understand human feelings well enough to gauge the gloom hanging in the air. “Your mission is to collect the criminal assigned to you in the portfolio that is placed on the slab below the monitor. Each one of you will be in charge of collecting your criminal alone and deciding their fate alone. The outcome of this task will decide which of you still have potential to move on to the second task. Good luck and God speed.”
With that, the monitor went blank, but it’s soft glow seem to fall upon the portfolio on the metal slab. All eyes seem to locked on it. No one spoke, possibly because no one knew what to say or believe. But it was Tofaa who stepped forward first to open the portfolio, exposing 10 envelopes, each reading a different name across the front.
“I guess there are two that didn’t make it.” Tofaa said sadly as he handed out the envelopes to the group.
“Don’t wanna be around when their heads go splat on the wall since EVE is pissed.” Anton chuckled and he opened his envelope.
“Have some respect for them, every life is precious…” Keahi said grimly, looking into the contents of her envelope.
“I guess that is going to be the real test here with these criminals, is every life that precious to this computer?” Vee sighed and started to head back to the tram.
The others followed suit and all headed back to the trams, Jayjay removing his soiled outwear to avoid the same uncomfortable ride they endured on the way in. He took one last look around at this odd little world hidden inside a much bigger one.
“I knew those wigs in the toilets meant something bad.” he grumbled, climbing back in the tram car.
 Jibo Phoenix · Fri Nov 14, 2008 @ 01:45am · 0 Comments |
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