CHAPTER 4.

I froze, my pulse pounding, my vision slowly dimming to red. It was like my blood was filled with lead and I was unable to think through the rage as comprehension of his last words slowly reached me. Rage filled my mind and all I could see was red.

I launched myself off the chair, struggling to reach the bastard who just confessed to killing my parents and coincidentally leaving me all alone in the world. But I was strapped to the chair and no matter how much I tried, I could not escape the restraints. The malicious smile on Avery’s handsome face grew as he watched my manic struggling.

I screamed, "You bastard, Why? You crazy fucking bastard. I'm going to fucking kill you."

Avery looked down at me, the sneer on his face filled with contempt. The look on his face told me he had taken my measure and found me lacking.

"But unlike your parents, I'll not sing sweet nothings in your ear." He shook his head solemnly. "No, there will be no promises of wealth and power for you. You will tell me what I want to know or by the time I'm done with you, you'll be begging me to kill you."

He pulled out a small quartz like crystal from his pocket, a look of awe and worship on his face. "The crystal your father and I discovered; made from complex unknown nanoparticles that generated energy via advanced piezoelectric processes that till date my people have been unable to replicate.

This small crystal-like implant was created by your father based on that crystal and with the knowledge he received from the original one. This small crystal can generate enough power to light up an entire city block.

Avery's eyes remained on the crystal in his hand; a worshipful look on his face.

"The benefactors used the one we found in Nigeria merely for communication, 4000 years ago!". Can you imagine what feats of science they must have achieved since then. In their war with the enemy, they crushed the gods of myth and freed sapience from the tyranny of magic. Our group used that crystal to further our understanding of piezoelectric processes on the quantum level."

"Before your father disappeared, he'd made a breakthrough. He'd invented an implant that was compatible with the human body using highly advanced nano-machines that link seamlessly with the human brain. This self repairing and regulating implant interfaces and adapts with the human neural structure perfectly and is powered by the body's piezoelectric potential. Till date we have been unable to replicate a lot of it’s functions especially the self repair function and the near limitless quantum storage capacity of the nanotech within the device"

"But your father; the traitorous snake that he was, took the only prototype with him. When we found him and extracted the implant from his corpse, we tried to reverse engineer the implant but without your father and his insight, it would take us twelve years to create a version of our own using a synthetic adaptive quartz capable of storing data in five dimensions. But the first designs were prohibitively expensive and it would be another five years before we figured out how to reduce the cost of producing our implants"

"Why didn't you ask your Veldar buddies to make you the implant instead of slogging for over a decade to make one." I said with a smirk on my face. "I sense trouble in paradise."

"I'm sure an abomination like you would think like that. That filthy magi blood corrupting your thinking." He said, wiping the smirk off my face.

"The Veldar do not give out unearned advancement. They provide guidance and demand intelligence and ingenuity from their partners.

"The Veldar grants us answers to complex scientific questions that plague humanity, long life and our physical attributes, but no more." He looked down at me, the hatred and contempt he felt for me clearly evident in his eyes."

"But, we were never able to completely replicate the original and even our access to it was limited to simple commands. But that's why you are here. Because inside this small crystal is stored a compendium of your father's memories since he installed the implant. Before he died he sought the heart of essence; something that would allow our side to definitively win the war, a tool that would allow us to gain control over essence." His eyes flashed with hunger and greed as he spoke of the heart.

"Just imagine, if I found the heart; whatever it may be, the Veldar, overcome with gratitude, would gladly take me off the worthless rock, and I, Avery Roddenberry Lodge, would be the first human to join the Veldar as an equal, ruling the universe with them."

This guy was batshit bonkers. He didn't even know what the heart was, but somehow he was going to find it, give it to alien overlords in some distant galaxy and assume complete dominion over the rest of the universe as his reward.

"Listen dickwad, I don't care about your self-fellating dream to rule the universe, let's just fast forward to the part where you make your outlandish demands and I tell you to go fuck yourself."

He looked at me with that empty smile plastered on his face and shrugged. "Maybe you do not know the location of the heart of essence, but your father knew something. And one way or another, I'm going to get the truth out of you even if it requires breaking your mind"

He took an implant gun on the tray and placed the implant inside. I struggled futilely in my seat as he moved behind me and injected the implant into my neck; below the base of my skull.

Suddenly hot fire lanced through my head and I began to scream as I felt sharp needles moving through my brain.

"Relax, the implant is simply unpacking itself and making the necessary connections to your brain. I suspect your father placed genetic restrictions on the implant to ensure only you or either of your parents would be able to use the implant."

"You see I've been watching you for a while, we've kept our distance in hopes that the rest of the resistance would come to you or that you would one day lead us to the heart of essence. But now that our work on the implant is complete. I no longer need to wait, I'll get all the answers I want in a few minutes."

"Soon, the implant will begin to extract your memories. I suggest you do not fight the process or it would become extremely unpleasant. Once the extraction of your memories is complete, you will follow my instructions and grant me access to the implant. If you do as instructed, you will be returned back to your life unharmed."

I thought about everything Avery had told me since he walked into the room. Right up to his threats and commands. I knew instinctively that if I gave this asshole what he wanted, the only way I'd be leaving this place would be in a body bag.

But somehow I already knew he was aware I had come to this conclusion and simply didn't care. Whether I resisted or not, one way or the other this implant was going to extract my memories and there was nothing I could do about it. I could already feel the alien object borrowing into my head. Pain filled me each time I tried to resist and soon blood began leaking from my eyes and nose.

"Stop fighting it, you'll only make it worse. The process is almost over."

I wanted to choke the smug grin off that bastard's face as my vision began to dim. Just as I was about to pass out, the pain receded and I felt a jolt move through me. At the back of my mind, I saw information being processed like the implant was calibrating itself to my neural pattern.

Wait, how do I know that? I also knew the room's dimensions to the last meter and the exact temperature of the space we were in. I received barometric readings, longitude and latitude and electro-magnetic information for that enclosed space."

"Amazing isn't it, all that knowledge flowing through your mind, the ability to interface seamlessly with the internet within your own augmented neural framework in a way and access all of humanity that does not interfere with your external senses, its unlimited capacity for data storage and near instantaneous processing speed. This implant, when I have access to all its secrets, will change the world. But your father wanted to keep it from everyone. He was always so selfish and he paid the ultimate price for his self-serving ways."

"Maybe he deserved to keep the work in his hands. It seems to me from everything you've told me that my father was the brains behind your operation and that you're just a leech riding on his coattails. Maybe the Veldar chose him because he was the one with the brains and all you ever were was his sidekick."

I must have touched a nerve because he back-handed me so hard that I felt some of my tooth loosen and the taste of blood filled my mouth.

"Now that the extraction is complete Mr Izu, kindly grant me; Avery Roddenberry Lodge, administrator access to your implant. I've transferred my neural patterns and other biometric information to you for validation."

In the back of my mind I received a request for administrator access and Rodenberry's neural pattern to validate the process. I chuckled, feeling smug now that I had the upper hand for the first time since I was taken.

"No, and also go fuck yourself." I said with a wide shit eating grin plastered on my face.

He smiled like he'd expected my answer. "Very well, but I had to ask in the name of civility. No matter what you may think of me William, I am not a monster. But since you have proven unwilling to cooperate, I will have to take more extreme measures to persuade you."

He stepped towards the tray of sharp instruments that I had totally forgotten about and horror filled me as I suddenly had an idea of how he was going to compel me to grant him access. I began to struggle in earnest, certain of the pain that I was about to suffer. Avery picked up a scalpel on the table and began to work me over. I would love to say that I held out until the end and took it like a man, that I didn't give the evil bastard shit. But that would be far from the truth.