Anamnesis ©
Chapter Twenty-Four
By Fiction Writer #13
(nosex, sci-fi, paranormal)

The lobby was choked, every inch of available space squeezed out, bodies pressed so tightly together that breathing was made difficult at best.  Those that could still fill their lungs used the extra air to scream out for help, pleas that went unheard or ignored.  If the pressure wasn’t relieved soon, fatalities would be assured.  The soldiers barring the lobby doors had long since moved outside the building and were only able to hold back the rising tide of human flesh by erecting force feedback barriers that extended from one corner of the building to the other.  The invisible fields kept the doors from opening and the windows from shattering, but even they were being pressed well past the recommended levels of stress.

“Four minute warning,” an electronic voice crackled within their helmets. “Dispersal in four minutes.”

Soldier 22139 checked a touch screen display on the six foot tall pylon he’d erected. “I hope the field holds up until then.”

“Boys, you’re cutting it close,” Qian’s voice cut in over the helmet’s other communications chatter. “If you’re not in position when…”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head.” Willis grinned behind the darkened shield. “We’ll be there.”

“You’d better be.  We only get one shot at this.”

Russo waited until Qian switched off before voicing his concern to Willis. “I don’t think we’re going to make it.”

“Sure we will.  We just have to step up our pace.”

“Easy for you to say,” Russo huffed. “I’m not used to all this running around bullshit.”

“Almost there, suck it up and stop acting like a little bitch.”

“Va te faire enculer.”

“That’s the spirit,” Willis laughed.

The ashtray in Nick’s car was stuffed with the remains of so many butts he’d taken to snuffing his cigarettes out on the heel of his shoe.  His tattoos itched worse than they had in years.  Things were getting hairy on the street.  Too many soldiers walking around, one of them was bound to notice him parked there despite the distraction spell surrounding his vehicle.  He’d had a close call already with one of the patrols, and when a Gythreal, of all things, had fallen from the sky not ten feet from him he’d nearly peeled wheels out of there.

“Gotta stay,” he argued with himself. “Told the kid I’d help him if he needed it.  Just gotta figure out how’n the hell I’m supposed to do that.”

Nick’s left eye twitched slightly and he winced.

“If you don’t have anything constructive to add,” he snarled to no one, “then keep your fucking mouth shut.  I’m tired of your constant bullshit.  Just you wait, you little bastard, you’re gonna get yours.  I’ll be rid of you for good this time.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know…” Nick grinned wickedly as he lit yet another cigarette. “Fuck you too.”

A few had left, but more had come.  The room swelled beyond its safe capacity.  Something strange was happening in Ballroom B, and for a group of conspiracists, that was something to be witnessed first hand.

The man at the podium checked to make sure his microphone was switched off before he raised his voice over the din. “As we sit here, Project Phoenix has infiltrated this building.  They have all of the exits sealed, the phone lines redirected, internet traffic halted, and even your cell phones have been disabled.”

He watched as those gathered in the ballroom quickly pulled out their phones to prove him wrong.  It only took a moment before the room erupted into chattering.  Laptops came out next as they sought out the hotel’s free Wi-Fi connection.  When no one could connect, not even through their own ISP’s, the idle chatter turned more serious.

“Right now, you are all being held against your will, trapped within this building.”

“Bullshit!” an anonymous male voice called from somewhere.

“Go see for yourself,” Marcus challenged. “Go check the lobby, then come back here and tell everyone what you’ve seen.  Be careful though, these people don’t care about you or your rights.”

A group of five guys exited the ballroom only to return moments later, with one less.

“He’s telling the truth!” one of scouting party called out. “They… they are blocking the doors and holding everyone at gunpoint.  They got Bob!”

“Why are they here?  What do they want?” The questions came fast now.

“They are hunting for someone, someone very important to them, and they will stop at nothing until he has been captured.”

Someone in the crowd called out, a moment Professor Rosenberg had been waiting for. “Who are they looking for?”

“They are searching for a sixteen year old boy, a boy who grew up not too far from here.  He, like many of you, was abducted and used for testing by Project Phoenix.  The difference between you and him, is that after decades of searching, they found what they’d been looking for in him.  He is the key to everything Phoenix has been working towards.”

Another person in the crowd called out. “So why don’t we find him and give him over to these Phoenix guys.”

“Because that would be bad… very, very bad.  Phoenix isn’t what it was before.  It began as a way to save us all from what can only be described as the apocalypse.  However, it now seems that those who guided Phoenix toward that noble goal have been usurped in a coup.  Phoenix, as it stands now, may be in league with those who are working towards bringing about the apocalypse.  As I’ve stated, this boy is very important.  Should anything happen to him it could mean the end of us all.”

A strange silence fell over the audience when a young woman’s voice echoed out through the room. “So, what are we supposed to do?”

Rosenberg narrowed his eyes. “We fight back.”

“That preposterous!” one of the men who’d scouted the foyer yelled. “They have guns, what have we got?”

“We have something much stronger than guns.” He smiled wickedly. “We have numbers.”

“Do we have to talk about this now?” Tiff sounded exasperated.

“Yeah, I think we should,” Kay pressed on.

“Really.  Now?  With all of this going on you want to discuss whether or not all of what happened to us as kids was a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Look, who knows if we’re going to get another chance.  I’ve been going through hell for years, dying inside because I wasn’t sure if I was nuts, suppressing memories of something that really happened, or living in some kind of fantasy world I’d constructed because I was too chicken shit to admit that, ‘a’ I was gay, and ‘b’ I was in love with my best friend.  So yes, I do think we should talk about this.”

“Kay…” Tiff looked to the ceiling of the elevator for guidance. “Just because I had those… feelings for you then, doesn’t mean I still do.  I mean, I love you, but…”

“But?”

“But, I’m not gay.”

Kay made a dismissive face, as if that small fact didn’t mean anything.

“I’m married.”

Kay’s face fell. “What?”

“Have been for close to ten years.”

“Well…” Kay looked stunned. “But… you don’t even have a wedding ring on.”

“We’re, we’ve been… we’re separated.” Tiff noticed a glimmer of hope appear in Kay’s eyes, one that needed to be extinguished quickly. “It’s just temporary.  We’re going to work it out.”

“Right!” Kay smirked.

Through all of this Rob remained silent.  His eyes watched as the numbers slowly ticked down above the elevator door, his heart thumping in his chest.  For a while now the little voice in his mind that told him what to do next had been silent as well.  It was as if someone had flipped a switch off in his head, just when he needed it the most.  The two women bickering behind him needed his help to get out of this mess, but it seemed like wherever they went they only found more trouble.  He knew what he had to do, what had to be done if any of them had a chance, but he wasn’t sure if he actually could do it.  It felt wrong, but he had to do it.  There wasn’t any other way.

He waited until the argument behind him flared up again before pushing the button for the next floor.  The doors opened and as he exited he quickly hit the button to close the doors behind him.

It took a moment for Kay to realize the doors were closing. “Rob wait!  What are you…?”

“I’m sorry.” Rob spoke quickly as the doors slid closed. “It’s the only way.”

Kay tried to get her fingers into the gap before it sealed but she wasn’t fast enough.  Tiff slapped the button to open the doors but it was too late, the elevator was already continuing down.

“Why?” Kay was stunned. “Why would he do that?”

Tiff shook her head but then closed her eyes and sighed. “He’s giving us a chance to slip out of the hotel.  They’re looking for him, not us.”

“That little son of a bitch,” Kay growled angrily. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Kay, let him go.” Tiff put a hand on Kay’s shoulder. “He’s done all he could to help us, now he has to help himself.”

Kay slammed the bottom of her fist against the cold metal doors.

‘It’s all falling apart,’ she thought to herself. ‘Everyone is leaving me… again.’

Tiff’s hand pulled Kay away from the door and into an embrace. “He’ll be okay.”

The embrace of the girl she’d loved for so long should have been more comforting, but it felt empty to her. ‘After all these years hoping… and she doesn’t still love me.’

Tears came quickly to her eyes as a lump wedged into her throat.  Tiff held her tight as the elevator continued it’s decent.

The soldiers crept through the empty office like panthers on the prowl.  Silently they moved, every step bring them closer to their prey.  The maze of cubicles, water coolers, and copy machines did nothing to impede their progress, though the booby traps gave them pause.  It wasn’t the traps they could see that concerned them, those were meant to be seen, to distract.  The true traps, the ones they couldn’t spot, those were the real problem, but one they could overcome so long as they stayed vigilant.

They’d found the body of 37496 stuffed under a desk, a victim of an amplified sonic blast.  Her corpse had been rigged, wired with enough explosives to take out anyone foolish enough to move their fallen comrade.  It was an old trick, one that only worked with soldiers who had emotional bonds with one another.  These soldiers, however, held no such feelings, and were able to avoid the trap entirely.

One thing that did concern them, other than the unseen, was the fact that 37496’s telemetry still indicated that she was alive and well, despite the evidence to the contrary.  Someone had figured out a way to make the system lie, and if they could get it to lie about life and death, what else was it capable of lying about?  Their technology was no longer to be believed, and that made things more difficult, but not impossible.

They continued on, inching closer and closer towards where the imposter sniper had taken position.  Trip wire, thinner than a baby’s hair, lay like a spider web at their feet.  Infrared beams crisscrossed the air all around them, and yet they continued on, dodging ducking and slithering through where they could.

Soldier 98098 was the first to reach their goal, and for his eagerness, he earned a quick death.

“Jesus Christ!” Nick jumped in his seat when the explosion rocked his car. “Shit!”

Shards of glass landed on the roof like hail in a summer storm.  Moments later sheets of burning paper drifted down to the street below.

Nick twisted himself in a way that would make his back ache in the morning, but he had to see for himself, he had to look up through the windshield and see what had just happened.  Far above him smoke drifted from a scar of shatter windows on the exterior of the office building.

“Peeping Tom, this is Guardian Angel.” Stewart coughed as the oily black smoke filled his lungs. “My position was compromised, had to wipe.  I’ve lost the target.  Last known position was on the service elevator heading down.”

“Roger that, Guardian.  Get out of there.”

Already a second team of soldiers had begun searching the office, even as it burned.  The green beams of their targeting lasers sliced through the smoke.  There were more this time, and Stewart’s bag of tricks had run dry.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

When the elevator doors opened, Kay and Tiff found themselves staring down the barrel of a rifle.

“Out of the elevator, NOW!” the soldier growled at them.

The women parted from their embrace and raised their hands in surrender, Kay pausing only to wipe away her tears.

They emerged from the elevator to find themselves in a large kitchen area.  Pots sat unattended on the stoves as their contents bubble over and spilled on the burners.  Dirty dishes from the earlier banquets lay piled up by dishwashers with no one to clean them.  Long tables and cutting blocks created a small maze in the center of the room, their surfaces covered with the implements of cooking.  A dozen other solders stood nearby, their weapons leveled at the kitchen staff who looked thoroughly pissed off at being detained well past their clock out time.

“Get over there with them, and don’t even think about trying anything.”

Kay glanced at Tiff who gave a little nod in return.  Without saying a word to one another they complied with the soldier’s order.

“Welcome to the party.  You can put your arms down now,” a rather large man with curly red hair wearing a marinara stained chef’s coat whispered as they arrived. “Glad to see some new faces around here.”

“What’s going on?” Kay whispered to the man, feigning ignorance of the situation.

“These guys?  They ain’t sayin’ nothing.” He shrugged. “Somethin’ got they’re panties in a bunch, probably not shown any love as children.”

One of the soldiers pointed his gun at him. “Shut up over there.”

“Fuck you, GI Joe.” The man pointed towards the bubbling pots. “The soup stock is burning, at least let me turn off the burner.”

“You’ll stay put until I say otherwise.  Now remain silent or we’ll take action to make you stay quiet.”

“Yeah, like to see you try it numb nuts.” The man trailed off into a whisper, but his comment got a chuckle out of the other kitchen staff.

Tiff pulled Kay gently away from the burly man and whispered to her. “What do we do now?  I don’t like the mood in here.”

“I don’t like it either.  These guys are fixing for a fight, but at least they didn’t recognize us.” Kay sighed. “We stay put and wait it out.”

Neither of the women paid much attention to the hearing aid worn by the disgruntled cook, nor had the soldiers when they found him ‘sleeping’ in one of the kitchen’s walk-in refrigerators.  The normal hotel staffers hadn’t recognized him as one of their own, but he’d been quick to share his smokes and jokes so they’d kept their mouths shut.

A voice only he could hear chirped in his earpiece. “Peeping Tom to Julia Childs, still with us?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Burke responded like he was clearing his throat.

“Do you have a visual on our lost lamb?”

“Nnn-Uh.”

“Damn it.  He should have arrived right where you are.  Did anyone get out of the elevator?”

“Ya-hmm.” Burke turned away from the soldiers who’d taken notice of him clearing his throat so loudly.  He raised his arm and coughed into the crook of his elbow before whispering, “Two women.”

“Our lamb was traveling with two women.  Make contact and find out where he is.  And do it quick, time’s running out.”

“Easy for you to say,” Burke made a show of wiping his mouth on the sleeve of the already filthy chef’s coat before making his way over to where the two women had segregated themselves.

Rob found himself in a well lit service hallway.  On one side the wall was lined with stacks of chairs, a number of doorways lined the opposite side.  Some of the hotel’s employees had gathered around and were smoking despite the strict ban on such an activity.  They paid little attention to him as he walked by; they didn’t even seem all that surprised to see him there.

“I wouldn’t go that way,” a woman dressed in business attire called to him. “That corridor takes you to the escalators leading to the lobby.  They’ve set up a checkpoint there.”

Rob stopped in his tracks and turned around. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” She smiled nervously as she lit another cigarette off the one she had just smoked down to the filter. “Picked a bad week to quit these, huh?”

Rob returned her smile. “Is there any other way out of here?”

She shook her head. “Tried the loading dock and the emergency exits…”

“Trapped like rats,” one of the housemen interrupted. “They got us all locked up tight.  Jerome here says he heard one of ‘em talking about gas’n us.  Gonna make us all go beddy byes real soon, so I say smoke ‘em if ya’ got ‘em.”

The other housemen laughed as they passed around what Rob now saw was a joint and not a cigarette like the woman was smoking.

At the mention of gas the woman grew visibly paler. “This isn’t right.  They used sleeping gas in Russia a few years back during a hostage standoff; a lot of them people didn’t wake up again.  Little kids died.  This just isn’t right.”

Rob left the group of hotel employees to their smoke and moved down another corridor.  This one was almost exactly like the last one, only instead of chairs lining one wall it was folded tables.

Further down the hall he could hear murmurings, a large crowd had gathered.  He headed in that direction until he was certain that the doors he stood by would open where all those people were.  They sounded anxious, voices building in intensity and excitement.  He could feel it… they were planning something, something big, and there were a lot of them.

Rob took a deep breath before pushing against the aluminum bar that opened the doors.

“Dispersal in ten seconds,” the computer voiced warning broadcast on all channels, “nine…”

“Professor,” For the first time all night, the voice in his ear sounded anxious, “time is ticking away.”

“Eight… seven…”

“Professor?  Are you there?”

Sweat dripped from his brow as he ignored the voice, choosing instead to continue directing the men to the duties he’d assigned them.  Duties he’d been instructed to give by the very man calling to him like an annoying gnat buzzing in his ear.

“Six… five…”

“Damn it, Professor.  Answer me!”

“Almost got it,” he finally acknowledged, “Just need a few more…”

“Four… three…”

“Sorry Professor…”

“Two…”

“…time’s up.”

“One…

Priority alert all channels, sleep agent dispersal in progress.”

Rob stood in the doorway, his jaw hanging open as he watched dumbfounded.

“Got it!” a man shouted out for joy as the pyre they’d been building in the center of the room ignited with orange-yellow flames.

Grey smoke rolled across the ceiling, spreading out from the center of the room, seeking escape through any opening it could find.  Rob’s eyes followed a particularly dark undulating coil of smoke as it drove itself into an air vent, only to be driven back a moment later by the hotel’s ventilation system which seemed to have suddenly been cranked up to its highest setting.

The pyre grew in intensity as those gathered around it continued feeding it with whatever fuel they could readily find.  As the fire burst into new heights a cheer went up from the crowd, even as some of their numbers began to slump to the floor, eyes fluttering closed.  Rob’s own eyes grew heavy and his knees weakened.  The little voice which had warned him of trouble in the past suddenly screamed in his mind to stay on his feet, an order he found almost impossible to follow.

Alarm bells screeched.  At first he believed them only to be in his mind, a distant warning, until strobe lights positioned over the exits blazed to life.  His legs buckled and he fell to the carpeted floor.

‘Hold on,’ Sarah’s voice called to him from some far off place. ‘Hold on just a little longer.’

Those trapped in the lobby felt grateful when the hotel’s air conditioner began to spew forth fresh cool air.  By the time any of them realized something was amiss, that the gift they’d received was only another cruel joke, it was too late for them to do anything about it.  Being packed as tightly as they were, with no room even to fall, they began to drift to sleep on their feet.

“Shit!” Boulanger muttered to himself as he quickly made his way over to the two women, neither of whom looked too happy about his visit.

“Listen, don’t talk.” He spoke gruffly as he pulled a small foil packet from his pocket. “I only brought one set of these for myself, and one for the boy if I ran into him.  Take it.”

Tiff pulled her hand away from the offering. “No thanks.”

Boulanger looked pleadingly towards Kay, “Take this, open it, and stuff one up your nose and one up hers.”

Kay took the packet but made no move to do as she was told. “I don’t know what…”

“Do it now,” he growled deeply as he opened his own little packet, emptied what looked like two foam earplugs into his meaty hand, and then proceed to slide one up each of his flaring nostrils, “or the gas will knock you out.”

Kay opened the packet she held. “What gas?”

“The gas these soldiers have just released into the ventilation system.”

Kay was about to argue further with the strange man when Tiff stumbled against her, her eyes drooping.  Without another word Kay took one of the little things and inserted it into Tiff’s nose before administering to herself.

“Good.” Boulanger nodded. “Pinch your other nostril closed, and only inhale through your nose.”

Both Kay and Tiff did as they were told.  It was difficult to pull in enough air through the filter, but the sudden urge to take a nap dissipated quickly.

“Follow my lead,” the man whispered as he slowly slumped to the floor.

Tiff followed him down and noticed on the way that everyone else in the kitchen, except for the helmeted soldiers, were also descending towards the ground.

Marcus lay on the floor where he’d fallen.  The heat from the flames burned his skin and scorched his dress slacks, but try as he might he couldn’t will himself to move away.

“ON YOUR FEET PROFESSOR!”

The shout in his head startled him out of his stupor.

“YOUR MISSION ISN’T OVER YET!  GET YOUR ASS UP!”

His body didn’t feel like his own.  It moved seemingly all by itself, as if he were a puppet dangling by strings.  He dragged himself over the pile of people which littered the floor all around him.  Closer and closer he inched towards the podium, one of the few remaining pieces of furniture not thrown to the fire.  He reached the edge of the stage and decided he’d come far enough.  His head drooped to his chest.

“MOVE IT!  MOVE IT!”

Boulanger took advantage of the din raised by the confused kitchen staff as they began to pass out to speak openly with the women.

“Where is the boy?”

“What boy?” Kay tried to lie but the fear in her eyes gave her away.

“This isn’t the time to be coy.” Boulanger laid his head down on the black rubber honey comb mats used to prevent the staff from slipping on the tile floor. “He’s in grave danger, and we’re here to rescue him.  I know he was on that elevator with you before you arrived here.  Where is he?”

Tiff curled up as if she were going to sleep. “Who are you?”

“I’m not one of them, if that’s what you’re concerned about.” Boulanger rolled onto his side, shielding both women from the gaze of the soldiers with his bulk. “If you care about him, and for yourselves for that matter, then you need to tell me where the hell he went before the shit hits the fan.”

Kay tried not to chuckle nervously. “This isn’t the shit?”

“No Ma’am.” Boulanger’s eyes moved to the ceiling where they fixed upon a sprinkler head. “But soon it will be.”

“Dispersal has achieved forty-five percent saturation of the hotel,” Technician 7589 called out to his supervisor within the Mobile Command Center. “Estimated time until total saturation, one minute twelve seconds.”

“Very good, keep monitoring the system.”

“Yes Sir.”

Several monitors in the truck began to flash red warnings.

“Fire alarms, Sir.  Ballroom B.”

“Lock out the sprinkler system.” The supervisor reacted quickly. “They’re trying to dilute the gas.  Should have guessed that was their plan on along.  Report on our hacker situation.”

Tech 7275’s fingers felt numb from pounding away on her keyboard. “Still poking around in the system, Sir.  I don’t know how they’re doing it, but they’ve been able to avoid our Daemons.  Sir, permission to direct connect?”

The Supervisor gnashed his teeth together.  Plugging directly into the system would give her an advantage, but it could also pose a big risk of losing even more data should she be overrun.  After a moment of inner debate he snapped, “Granted.”

7275 wasted no time after gaining approval.  She typed one last command on the keyboard before opening a small panel located on the headrest of her seat.  From the panel she pulled a Zero Impedance Cable out as far as its length would allow.  With her free hand she felt around the back of her head until she located the data port located at the base of her skull.  The diamond pins of the cable lined up perfectly with the inputs of her port and after a firm push and a click, the system came online.  She managed to seat herself comfortably before her consciousness slipped out of her flesh and into the digital world.

“Peeping Tom to Lone Wolf, our mutual friend is on route to pay you a visit.  ETA two minutes.”

Qian’s eyes darted back and forth between the dozen monitors and panels covering every inch of her view.

“Peeping Tom to Loki, the rats are coming back for more cheese.  Better escort the town crier out of their crosshairs.”

Keeping an eye on all aspects of the mission was pushing her to her very limits, but so far she’d managed to keep everything under control.

“Peeping Tom to Julia Childs, I need that Intel, ASAP.”

The pieces of the puzzle were in constant motion.

“Peeping Tom to Guardian Angel, status report.”

Players exited and entered the game as needed.

“Roger that, moving Racer X into position for extraction.  Good luck.”

So long as she stayed just a few moves ahead of her competition there was a chance.

“Peeping Tom to Racer X, sending you coordinates for Guardian Angel’s extraction.  He stayed too long at the party and the hosts are escorting him to the door, so be ready.”

But even super soldiers have their limits.

“Peeping Tom to Alley…” Qian cut the com link. “Oh shit.”

A new competitor had entered the arena, one she was ill prepared to defend against in her current situation.

“Damn it.  Fuck.  Shit.”

This new player was fast, faster and far more dangerous that she could handle on her own.  She was being hunted through the system.  The programs she’d put in place to distract, defend and deter were being dismantled faster than she could upload replacements.

“Peeping Tom to Lone Wolf, I’ve… shit… I’ve got a big problem here.”

Her report went unheard as she’d failed to reestablish the com.  For the first time since the mission had begun she could feel control slipping from her grasp.  When the backdoor she’d opened to access the fire suppression system slammed shut she knew the endgame was going to her opponent.

“No-no-no-no…”

“If you want answers, Professor, I suggest you get up off your ass and start moving!”

Marcus was trying, but his muscles weren’t responding.  The ‘sleep’ gas was in reality a nerve gas which worked by attacking its victim’s nervous system, tricking the brain into producing large amounts of adenosine, inducing sleep.  There was only so much that Marcus could do as his brain ordered him to shut down.

“I’m offering you everything, the whole truth… all you have to do is MOVE!”

There was no way he would be able to get up on the stage again.  Standing was not an option.  His fingers twitched as his arm moved like he was shoulder deep in molasses.  At last he made contact with the quarter inch thick black cable he’d been searching for.  One end of the cable ran under the stage until connecting to a special socket mounted on the wall.  The other end went up the podium where it connected to the one thing he wanted even more than closing his eyes.  He pulled as hard as his body would allow.

It wasn’t much, but the angle in which he pulled was enough to teeter the podium.  It crashed to the floor, landing on his leg with a sickening crack.  Had he been able to feel anything, he’d have screamed in agony.  Though numbed, his body reacted to the bone breaking by releasing adrenalin, and by doing so gave Marcus Rosenberg just enough energy to switch on the microphone and speak one last time over the sound system before the gas put him down for good.

“Robert Davis… the boy’s name is… Robert… Davis…”