Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 69: Aurum

Scared Scilla run away from that factory. She of course returned to Iris that was working on the generator. Her fear was visible on her face, so much that even Iris notice that something was wrong.

“Scilla are you feeling alright? You don’t look good at all, almost as if you have seen a ghost or something”

“yeah. No. I’m. I’m fine. Just wanted to run… and I hit a wall so I’m kinda out cause of that”

“oh… if you say so. You sure it has nothing to do with the HBE side effects?”

“yep. Totally totally fine. Except the hitting the wall thing”

“well you know you can tell me anything related to the HBE. Well you can tell me anything in general even if you have issue… with… with… how do I say it politely… fecal matter? But I would prefer not”

In normal conditions Scilla would be laughing but now she couldn’t stop wondering if what she was seeing was really Iris. Slowly she was realizing the danger of a shapeshifter. She couldn’t trust her eyes because appearance meant nothing to a creature that could build her own face. However Scilla didn’t take in consideration the collar that Iris was forced to wear. With that active all she could do was partially change her basic body. So all she was seeing was indeed the “core” of Iris 608, or in the worst case a slightly altered version of it. Yet few could blame her emotional behavior, she was an emotional creature after all.

With her brain in constant overdrive she excused herself and returned to the new house near the station. She decided to avoid Iris for the rest of the day, even if it was not particularly hard. Iris returned only in the late evening after having successfully started back the second generator. She was able to put it back on in just one day because now she had computers on her side to speed up the process.

So the 8 days started with a new train travel to a different location and to the third generator. During their journey Iris informed Scilla that they would stay put in this new location for about 3 days. It was a rational decision due to her fatigue and sleep deprivation that impairing her cognitive abilities. Scilla noticed as well that Iris was a lot slower in her reactions and a lot calmer. She had massive dark circles under her eyes and she surely wasn’t feeling that good about not sleeping.

As soon as they settled in the new place Iris took off to the generator and Scilla to her exploration. She wanted to get away from Iris and to some degrees, answers or maybe just more fears. All she knew was that she needed to do something away from Iris.

Her exploration started calmly but soon evolved in a mix of surreal experiences and hallucinations. While walking around aimlessly Scilla found herself inside a cafeteria. However it had a striking difference with the rest of the places she saw so far. The cafeteria was an absolute mess. The place had been destroy and upon closer inspection Scilla saw bullet holes.

I remember something like this… it was a vision about the Idras’ rebellion or something like that. Considering that all visions seems to spawn randomly maybe this is one of many places where something happened.

“you are not supposed to be here”. A male voice broke the silence.

Scilla startled turned around to see a male figure wearing a long coat and an eyeless mask on the face that didn’t seem to have anything to support it. His voice made him identifiable as the Founder. It was clearly a vision of some sort, so Scilla stood aside.

Now on the other side of the room she could see a different man. He was black and younger, maybe between 20 to 26 not older. The look on his face was one of horror and fear. Yet he tried to speak back.

“I… I was told to get…”

“you were not. This place is off limits for everybody.”

“fuck than I must have mistaken the place…”

“did you find what you were looking for?”

“well no… it’s not here of course wrong place and all…” the youngling was trying to pass it off as a mistake.

“you had such a brilliant future, what made you change so much Hadi?”

“did… did we meet before?”

“yes we did. Don’t you remember your old teacher?”

The Founder took off his mask. He was emotionless, just staring at the black guy with a flat smile.

“NO. this can’t be… why are you doing this? You are the one who taught me… to never bend to the wrongs. To oppose lies at all costs. Why? WHY!?”

“because I’m the one going down the path of truth. You are not. Sit Hadi and tell me why are you opposing me?”

“I’m not…”

“what makes you think that you can lie to me? You never succeed as a kid, why should you now? I won’t hurt you”

“you killed my sister for fuck’s sake!”

“oh. I’m unaware of that. What happened?”

“Riots happened. That’s what happened and you cause them”

“as far as I remember only few ended with violence. Can’t say the same for rioters invading others homes. But something tells me that’s not the case.”

“she went to jail. Got raped and then killed herself”

“oh. We didn’t lost anything of value. Your sister choose her life long ago. Don’t let her mistakes ruin your life as well.”

“she wanted to protect people from your massacres”

“people… what a word to describe a tumor. Hadi. You are worth more than this shit. Join me. Protect humanity from itself and The Enemy… or leave. I won’t stop you. But if you do so… we will be enemies forever”

The Founder sit on a crate that appeared out of thin air. Hadi however didn’t choose him. He instead run for the door behind him. As soon as he passed the door frame something from the side hit him tossing him against the side wall. The impact was loud and devastating. Hadi was on the ground bleeding from his mouth and having trouble breathing. Beside him Elvira stood silently. Her cybernetic arm was extended to behave like and hammer. The punch from her broke Hadi’s ribs and punctured his lungs.

“you... promised... me…” said Hadi

“I did. In fact I didn’t harm you. I never said that my wife couldn’t. I bet you would have become friends if only you would have listened”

Then Elvira stomped on his neck breaking it and definitely killing the guy.

“you never talked to me about him. What’s his story?”

“the first years of work I was in Franca while helping an international military program. They were my neighbors in the condominium. One day they had nobody to babysit them. I accepted. Hadi was a brilliant kid. I taught him everything I knew. From photosynthesis to Rayleigh scattering. We fall apart cause I refused his sister. Not my type and also too young, barely legal at the time. She accused me of trying to rape her. It didn’t work and we fall apart. I guess she never learned from her mistakes. He wasted his life to help the same scumbags that raped his sister. There was nothing we could have done to help him”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I’m sorry. It must be difficult. Maybe I should have not killed him”

“you did a good job. We couldn’t let him go. You helped me keep my promise”

“should we…”

“no. Let cleaners fix it. We have a race of traitors to burn”

The vision disappear leaving as sense of uneasiness in Scilla that promptly decided to walk away.

While leaving the zone Scilla spotted a corridor with a different lighting. She went in and soon after reached a small cramped living zone with all you would need to survive. The place didn’t had the now usual sterile feeling. It was colorful and messy.

Someone must have lived here. Someone that’s probably not Iris.

She was right. Scilla tried to used the computer but it was blocked. However the tablet beside it was not. With her tablet she was able to translated the one she just found so she started reading the file that was left open. It contained partial documentation, almost as if it had been recovered somehow.

-Subject code: Idra 608 IS-98-ULm Weeping Sky

-Subject name: Iris Aurum Fermi

Wait… did they know about Iris’ mother? Was 511 also an Aurum?

ISAG knew far more than anybody else both about Idras and Weeping Sky. Its documentations and recordings were the best but kept secret from all others as those were its orders.

-Affiliation: Unknown

-Species: Leermorf variant Leeresterian type unknown

-Substrate: Confirmed

the fuck is that?

-Behaviour: Subject 608 is uniquely peaceful. The subject do not show typical aggressive behaviour associated with Idras prototypes. Subject 608 is capable of harm and should be considered a threat if angered... (no data)

-Substrate behaviour: Subject 608 substrate manifest tendencies akin to predictions... (no data)

-Capabilities: Subject 608 has both Leermorf’s shifting capabilities and Esterian’s molecular production capabilities. Subject can execute silent communication as long as it is for making promises... (no data)

-Notes: Subject 608 has a unique way of making promises. It’s unknown the origin of such gesturally. Wording used during a pact… (no data)

Someone was… studying 608. now what is a substrate and this silent communication… seems to be referring to her way of making promises. Did she used it with me?

Scilla looked back in her memory to see the moment they made their promise. Only now she noticed that something was missing. Iris was not in sync with her words. And it was a huge discrepancy of more than half a second.

Fuck… she did… has she done something to me?.. maybe there are more answers inside this thing

Scilla started to click around until she reached a corrupted document on Iris’s alien mother. This had a different writer.

-Aru Ar Aurum is the only known Leermorf that existed or may still be alive. Little is known and less is understandable. What appear to be critical however is the behaviour of her society around a Leermorf. Instead of using the Leermorf as weapons, it seems the Morfians feared the Leermorfs. From the little we know it seems that Morfians believed Leermorfs to be space invaders. They apparently thought that Leermorf were a species of interspace alien monsters that kidnapped newborn and replaced them with shapeshifters. It’s plausible as being certain of their aspect is not possible. They could be hybridize to have a core body akin to the spices that they want to invade. However as a theory it seems more plausible that Leermorfs ar just a natural occurring inside the Morfian species.”

No answers for me I guess. What do I do now? Can I really trust Iris?. Everything I read is not that promising.

Without many options Scilla returned and tried to go on with her day as “usual”.

The 9th days started with nocking on Scilla’s door. She opened just enough to see. On the other side Iris looked terrible. She was exhausted. Her eyes wanted to close but couldn’t and her speech became slower.

“I’m… I’m going. If you need…”

Iris yawed for at least 10 seconds before resuming her sentence.

“you have your tablet… bye”

“bye Iris”

As Iris went away Scilla prepared herself for more exploration and went for it. This time she went in a different direction and after some searching she got into a familiar small room. In the middle a machine was coming down from the ceiling. It was an ISAG interface. The room around looked like a kindergarten but lacked in toys. Below the dead machine a different tablet and a lot of dried flower sealed between layers of transparent plastic. Touching the machine a new vision started. It was depicting the end of ISAG and beside it Iris 608. she had her helmet off and was crying.

“I'm sorry daughter. I failed you”

“NO!”

“my end is inevitable. I just never thought it would hurt so much”

“MUM!”

“my daughter. My only child. It’s only natural that parents meet their ends before their children. I have only one regret. I couldn’t free you from this desolate world. I decoded all I could. I just hope you will find them. Iris. You must promise me, if once you turn 30 you are still stuck here. Then used the HBE and be free. Promise me”

“promise”

“No. Not that kind of shallow promise. This kind of promise”

The machine opened to pulled out a mechanical arm with something that looked like and hand. Iris put her fingers exactly as she did with Scilla during their promise. No sound was exchanged but Iris’ lips moved and Scilla understood the message

“eyes to seek light in the deepest void. Shall the darkness consume the traitor. Shall the truth guide the right”

the same words she used with her. Words totally out of character for Iris as at the time she clearly replied with mostly one word sentences. As the promise was completed the vision disappeared. Scilla looked around for a some time before returning to her home. She was a bit shocked as everything was collapsing down on her. ISAG was the traitor. A machine that become alive and identified 608 as its own child. The period of time given by Iris of 3 years was related to her promise to ISAG.

As the evening approached and Iris returned, Scilla was not feeling good at all. Her movements became sluggish and her body felt heavier. Iris noticed and insisted on being allowed to verify her conditions but it required a closer inspection. Iris’s insistence even during dinner made Scilla snap.

“I don’t understand. I may lack a piece of paper but I’m as capable as any other medic if not better. What’s your issue…”

“SHUT UP! You are not my friend. You lied to me about your nature. You are something else and as far as I know you could be the reason of my illness. Maybe it’s not even an illness and you just poisoned me.”

“Scilla I don’t know what got into you, but if you feel ill it’s even more important to allow me to examine you. Your body is not used to this planet lifeforms. You could be in dan(danger)”

Scilla stood up in a rush of anger.

“I don’t care about your opinion. You are a monster who is wearing the face of the girl I loved!”

Scilla started couching and then collapsed on the floor.

She woke up some time later sweating in her bed. Her body hurt like hell, she felt cold but not excessively cold. Her head was throbbing and it hurt each time. She didn’t woke up naturally but it was Iris’s doing. She had a glass in her hand that contained something more alike to saliva than water.

“drink it”

“I…”

“I.SAID.DRINK.IT” Iris was enraged and as she looked at her in the eyes Scilla notice that they were different. Idra had a triangular pupil inserted in a smaller circle that cut the yellow iris of her eyes. From the side of the triangle curved spikes came out. Those spikes grew first in length until they met the circle in the iris and then in width to adapt at the incoming light.

“I fucking told you to stay away from organic sacks but I guess you had to find one. If you don’t drink this then you are on your own. If you accept my help you will live. What do you say?”

“what… is… that?”

“I don’t have medicines at hand. Especially I don’t have anything that will not also kill you. So I made a cure inside my body. Be grateful that it’s just saliva mixed with water”

Scilla accepted and drunk the mysterious warm fluid.

“I’ll make you a second dose for later and then I’ll be on my way”

Soon after she was back in her sleeps.

She woke up the next day with the tablet alarm. She felt way better but still a bit uneasy while remembering the cold stare of Iris.

Beside her a 2L bottle containing the same mixture and the beeping tablet. She turned off the alarm and unlocked it to be welcomed by a message.

-drink the bottle throughout 2 days. It’s not necessary but better be safe than sorry.

She stood still for a moment and reflected on her actions. So far Iris 608 didn’t really harm her, she did the opposite. So she wondered if she overreacted and wanted to talk with Iris with a less stressed mind.

“Iris are you there?” she asked as the door of her room was partially open.

“Iris?”

No reply. So she stood up and looked around. There was no trace of her. In a moment of panic Scilla looked at the map where she could usually see Iris’s position. It was empty. The last record Iris’s position was 2 hours before at the train station, than nothing. Iris left her alone.