Mimic
Part 2
-1-
Time.
There was just not enough time. Everything I had learned in training about emergencies and being prepared was going out of the window.
We couldn’t remain calm—we were dying, we couldn’t usher people to their exits-- we could barely speak and the passengers were all but rioting outside the cockpit doors,anyway.
I felt like I had tunnel vision, I couldn’t see anything that was going on near or around me. I was standing at the window, right next to me was the emergency preparedness kit, I recall ripping it open right before the fatal crash.
I don’t remember putting the parachute on but, I must have at some point because it was lying next to me. I blacked out just before we touched earth and all I really know of those last few seconds is feeling like I was engulfed by a fiery pain.
And then I woke up.
I had survived.
I opened my eyes to what could have only been the hell in my imagination. Day was breaking in the open empty desert---- I had either been unconsious all day or only a few moments. In the distance I could see others lying in the ground like me and even farther I saw the wreckage of our plane. My head was throbbing but, I tested my legs and I could still walk.
“Hey !” I shouted, “Anyone ?!”
As I approached the groups of lying people none of them responded.
“Hello! “ I shouted.
As I got closer I saw they were all clearly dead.
I walked through the field of mangled and dead bodies, I should feel absolutely horrified but, for now I needed to know I wasn’t alone. I put my hand to my ear and saw Syndicate was completely busted. If I didn’t get help I was going to die out here.
The crashed plane was in the distance and I went to see if there was any kind of communication equipment still functioning inside. The first piece I came across was the cabin, it was mostly empty a few bodies had been pinned inside. I checked them over but most of their Syndicates had been destroyed.
A few feet away was the nose of the plane, it has pushed into the ground and still smoldering with smoke.
“Hello !,” I shouted again.
I ran to the where the nose of the plan was, the entire main board had been melted in the fire. I looked around to where the cock pit and cabin had separated to see if the black box was near but, I saw nothing but more damage.
Feeling defeated, I sat down and felt a moment of weakness coming on, I began to cry.
They never prepared us for this, I didn’t know what to do. I’m sure somebody would come for me but, how long would that take.
The captain had called in the coordinates of the crash, right ?
“This can’t be happening,” I sobbed to myself.
After a few moments I heard some movement from behind me. It was coming from the wreckage, it sounded like a man breathing hard.
“Hello ? Hey !,” I called running over,” Hey---,”
I was taken back by what saw. It was the strangest sight.
There was a woman crouched on the nose of the plane, her hand was reaching down inside the ditch the nose of the plane had made with it crashed. She was holding on to a man’s hand, like she was helping him out of the ground. They turned their heads at the exact same time to see me.
They were both wearing what looked like white hospital scrubs and didn’t look like anyone I had seen on the plane. I slowly came a little bit closer to them and they remained in a non-defensive calm demeanor. They appeared more afraid of me than I was of them.
“Um, w-w-were you guys on the plane ?,” I asked while I was still a considerable distance from them.
They looked at each other and then shook their heads.
The man pulled himself out of the hole and crouched behind the woman, I stepped back.
“Were you . . . in this plane ?,” he asked
I nodded my head and came closer.
“We just crashed, I think everyone else is dead. Can you help me ? I need your help,” I pleaded.
“Are you a human ? Only a human can help us.” the woman said.
Her words made no sense to me.
“What ? I mean, yes, of course I’m human,” I said,” Are you not human ?,”
They shook their heads again and my eyes took in every inch of them. From where I was standing they both looked just like normal people, they were rather thin and appeared weak so I walked up to them to further see what they were about.
As I got closer to the ditch the woman had helped the man out of, I saw a large broken glass box that had been unearthed by the nose of the plane.
“Okay, if you aren’t human what are you ?,” I asked
“Are you dangerous ?,” the man asked.
“No, are you ?,” I responded.
“No.” he said
“ Can we move into the
shade ?,” the woman asked.
I nodded my head and lead the way. We sat in the shade of the broken plane face to face. Everything about their faces looked perfectly human.
“I am Elle,” the woman said,”And you ?,”
“Kristopher.”
“And I am Milo,” the man said,” We are mimics.”
They stared at me like they expected me to have some kind of understanding.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what that means,” I said
“Of course you don’t,” Milo said, “ We are a prototype of an advanced artificial intelligence and robotic technology built to perfectly mimic human beings,”
“Okay . . .how did you get here ?,” I asked
“Research like ours is highly unethical and illegal,” Milo continued, “ We were built by a private firm in secrecy, as couple. The head of the team, our creator was going to take us to an exhibition at the Life Summit but, he got nervous someone was trying to rat him out to the government. Until things cooled off, we had to be hidden. He sealed us in the tomb with a promise to come back.”
“That can’t be right,” I said, “ The last Life Summit was like 20 years ago. They found out a lot of illegal activity was going on and banned them. If you mimic humans then, how is it possible you have survived all this time?,”
“The chamber is sealed with a gas, commonly referred to by the cybernetic community as spice mélange,” Milo explained, “It preserves our skin and bodies while leaving us in an unconscious state. Once the seal is broken we become active. When we are active our life functions are created and controlled by our creator. It is a careful process, we need to get back to the one who created us or we will die. His company is in the Eastern States in South Atlantic , we must get there. ”
“I’m sorry but, I can’t really help you. I need help myself. If you are machines do you have any kind of communication capabilities ?,” I asked
“No.” Elle said ,”We were meant to mimic humans not be any better than you. We can’t do anything you can’t.”
“Except, if you guys start walking you might make it there. I will die out here.”
“They will think we are fugitives,” Milo said, “We will never get past the militarized border.”
“Border ? They got rid of that in the late 80’s,” I explained.
“What do you mean ? How do they keep people out ?,” Elle questioned
“There was a war, The Republican Liberation war, it was a while ago. It only lasted 3 years but, when it was over they broke down all the barriers between the two countries. You can travel freely in between now.”
“That is good news,” Milo said,” We are very smart pieces of intelligence as well as compassionate. We will help you and we will go together. It is near night time now and we won’t be able see the sun so I don’t think we should travel just yet--,”
“We can’t leave here.” I said,” I mean, not yet, we should wait a few days, the mission control may come.”
“That is fine,” Milo said,” If we stay out here, the night will get very cold. Elle and I will make a fire and find some food. We should find a better location in case there is any dangerous toxins leaking from the plane’s engine.”
It was the best plan I heard so I nodded my head and we
headed for an area that was farther from the wreckage. As we walked Elle and Milo picked up things
here and there and carried them with us. When we found a spot they used the
items to quickly work together and build a fire, just as the desert chill set in.
Elle had taken a woman’s purse from the wreckage and when she opened it there were bottles of sparkling water inside, she handed me one.
“How did you know there was water in there ?,” I asked
“The poor body I found it near did not smell of alcohol, it was the only one,” she explained,” I deduced she didn’t drink and must be carrying her own water.”
I cracked the bottle of water open and practically inhaled it, I hadn’t realized how dehydrated I was. When I set it down I saw Elle and Milo’s bottles were empty as well.
“How long do you think we should wait for air control ?,” Elle asked
Theoretically it was supposed to be 3 days to a week but, that seemed too long.
“Maybe a night or two and if nothing happens we can start walking,” I said.
They nodded their heads and we sat in silence. They didn’t seem to have anything to talk about between themselves and after waiting nearly 20 years I was sure they were content with waiting a couple of days. Before I could think of a question to ask, Elle broke the silence.
“Kris ?,” she asked,” I know you must be from the West---,”
“You can tell ?,” I asked
“I deduced,” she said,” The East was kind of our home I can only imagine how it looks now. Have you ever seen it ? Is it still a nice place ?,”
I thought.
“Yes, I’ve seen it.” I said, “ I mean I live there now, well go to school there anyway. It’s an amazing place still”
“I imagine going there for the first time was quite a shock for you.”
“Um, kind of.” I said.
------
-2-
I was 11 years old the first time I visited the Eastern States. Before then I had lived my life in Mojave a place that was surrounded by nothing but desert.
It was an unexpected trip in late Fall that brought me there.
I remember the day before I left I was sitting on the train from Mojave to the LOLA sprawl with my family. I had somehow found a way to sit between Mom and Luce who was 22 at the time. Mom had 5 year old Twyla in her lap close to her.
My mom has a good relationship with her children when they are kids I learned. She knows kids are people she has to protect no matter what. Then, once, they became someone with opinions that she could teach to kill she had no idea how to relate anymore.
We had plenty of cars at home but, for some reason we usually took the train places if we could.
The only other passenger on the train was sitting across from us, she was a plainly normal girl, she kept looking up in our direction every now and then.
“That girl. She is staring.” Luce whispered to my mom.
“Well, she’s not staring at me,” Mom said,” You were cursed
with your father’s looks.”
She smiled and he was non-responsive.
The train stopped early and we were told to get off because of derailments and remodeling going on. Instead of waiting for a transfer Mom said we were going to walk the rest of the way. She put her dark shades on and we began the 14 block walk. I remember mom stopped in front of an abandoned lot where crowds of homeless people and squatters were milling around.
“Do you remember this place, Luce ?” she asked, “We used to live there with the Dorys.”
“No,” he said.
I think she looked dejected, it was hard to tell with the shades on.
“Not even a little ?,” she asked
He was quiet, at that point I was surprised he had spoken that much today. Luce was extremely silent and would go days at a time without feeling the need to speak or interact with us.
“Yes, I do,” he said, “The rain hurt.”
“ So you lied to me before when you said no ?,” Mom frowned, “Why did you lie to me ?,”
“I’m sorry,” he said
“It’s okay.” She sighed ,”Let’s go.”
We walked past the abandon lot and up 12 more blocks until we made it to the 9th floor of the loft. Mom knocked on the door once and Alan quickly opened it. We walked inside and I saw Uncle Jean lying on the floor with his eyes closed, empty syringes surrounding his body.
Mom quickly took a blanket off the couch and attempted to cover him with it so Twyla (and maybe I) wouldn’t see. Uncle Jean woke with a start before she could get it all the way over him. He immediately popped up and stood in front of us with bloodshot eyes.
“My,my,what a graceful site to wake up to !,” he quipped.
I saw my mom cut her eyes at him.
“Alright,” Mom said to Alan, “Luce and I are going. All I need you to do is watch Twyla and Kris,”
“I can’t.” Alan said.
“What do you mean you can’t ? We talked about this. It’s only for the weekend.” she said and then lowered her voice,” Is something wrong with Minnie ?”
“What is wrong with her ?,” Uncle Jean asked.
“Nothing. She is fine.” Alan said and then sighed, “My father died. ”
“Your father ? How do you know ? You haven’t spoken to him in a while,” Uncle Jean challenged
“I just got the notice. They got in contact with me from my prisons records. The funeral is this weekend. I have to go.”
“Why ?,” Mom asked
“I just do,” he said,” I’m sure as hell not going alone. Jean you are coming with me.”
“Oh, of course, brother. ”
“Well fine,” Mom said, “ I guess Minnie can watch them. Right ?”
Alan nodded his head.
“Problem solved,” Mom said
“I want to go,” I said, “Mom, can I go to the East with them ?,”
There were always commercials going on about travel packages to the Eastern States and how compared to here it was like the city of the future. I had never left my home and was itching to go someplace else. I knew my mom had issues with the East and I was waiting for her no but, she surprised me.
“ I don’t care,” she said
She picked up Twyla and went in the other room to say hello and talk with Aunt Minnie and then she left me there with Uncle Jean and Alan who had started making funeral jokes.
***
-3-
The trip to the East was my first plane ride. I can’t really say it was at that moment I knew I wanted to be a pilot for sure but I was amazed, I literally couldn’t stop looking out the window.
Uncle Jean and Alan had had a long good bye with Aunt Minnie before we left and they both seemed less than enthused on the plane. That was before Aunt Minnie could really use the legs so, Alan had asked a neighbor to look on her occasionally.
As we approached the Eastern States, we weren’t high enough to really see the entire geodome that covered it, like I had imagined. I was sure it was going to be like flying into a snowglobe but, all we did was fly through a tunnel to get into the city.
The initial difference I saw was the sky was a bit dimmer, the sprawl was very clean and how amazingly tall all the buildings were. They weren’t just black and silver buildings but some were stark white structures and even a few deep red and brown buildings. Some of them even had architecture that looked like castles or buildings from a history book.
There was also a lot of aesthetic things around.
When we got out of the airport and to the city streets the first thing I saw was a piece of shaded twisted metal in the middle of the streets doing nothing.
“What is that for ?,” I asked
“Nothing. It’s just art.” Alan said
The screens that lined the streets here were larger and crisper and unlike the ones at home. The streets were less crowded and all of the people were striking. It appeared to be mostly families and couples, I doubted we would come across an abandoned lot for homeless people while we were here. I could not stop staring at what was going on around me. I was feeling sad we would be leaving the next day.
We hailed a cab and I saw the ‘driver’ was in fact a machine. We drove into a neighborhood of tall darker buildings, and finally the cab pulled up in front of a tall black building, there were black roses lining the edges of the entry way.
I touched one and saw it was holographic I had never seen a hologram so crisp and clear. I couldn’t wait to see what was inside but, Alan and Uncle Jean stopped at the entrance.
“What’s wrong ?,” Uncle Jean asked rubbing Alan’s shoulder.
“This is wrong. I can’t do this,” Alan said, “It’s like a bad high school reunion. Everyone is going to be looking at me.”
“This isn’t about them. We will just get in and get out brother.”
Alan stood in front of the door, I could hear him breathing hard.
“Just don’t leave in the trunk of a car,” Uncle Jean said.
Alan laughed and then went inside, I followed closely behind.
There was a woman in black handing out programs as we entered.
“Thank you for com-,” she said
“Allison,” Alan said.
“Al & Al back together,” Uncle Jean smiled.
She stared at him for a second with a smile even I knew was fake and turned to Alan.
“You brought company,” she said
“Well, it was you who invited me,”
“Yes. You.” She said.
Alan put his hand on my shoulder
“Well, Kris, this is Ms. Kyto--,”
“Copenhagen.” She said, she showed him a wedding ring.
“Ah, yes. A funeral invite, but no wedding invite.” He sighed
She handed us a program and we walked in. I had never been to a funeral before and I am sure I will never go to one like that one. In the West they buried most people in cemeteries not in big mausoleums.
Of course at the time, I didn’t grasp all of the emotions going on or pay attention to what was going on around me. I later learned, Mr. Gray had died of a fall in his home, he lived alone and his Syndicate broke in the fall. He died in 20 minutes from internal bleeding. If someone had been home with him he would have survived.
They showed pictures of Alan’s dad—Henry Gray. He looked
just like Alan but, a few years older and dark haired, they had the same face
shape and emotions. I think they would have been identical if not for the emaciated look Alan developed over the years.
There was a reception afterwards and we sat with Mrs. Copenhagen and Mr. Copenhagen. The entire time Alan wouldn’t take his eyes off her.
“Um, so, Allison.” Uncle Jean said,” I have to ask. When we came back in ’83 you were gone. What happened ?,”
She gave Jean a look like she was having a bad memory and then looked over at her husband, he put a comforting arm around her.
“I just left. I ran right to the nearest Eastern military base and they helped me get home. No questions asked.”
“How did you get to a military base ?,” Alan asked,
“I guess I owe you 900$,” she said.
Uncle Jean laughed at the comment but, no one else at the table did.
“Those were dark times for all of us.” Uncle Jean said, he was running his hands through the candle on the table, ” I suppose you would want to forget. Things are better now I would say. What do you do now ?,”
“We work for Tempus.” She said through pursed lips.
“Um, and you ?,” Mr. Copenhagen asked.
“Well, I work in securities and Alan works in cybernetic medical field,” Uncle Jean said.
“Wow, Mr. Gray that is an emerging field--,” Mr. Copenhagen said
“Let’s not talk about work,” Mrs. Copenhagen interrupted.
The conversation lulled and Alan snuck away from the reception taking me with him.
We walked back into the empty mausoleum, where Mr. Gray had his own tomb. It was a small room decorated with images of him, his body was sealed in the wall across from the entrance. The room was lined with pedestals where others had left dozens of flowers.
Alan reached into his pocket, took out single wilting flower and put it on the a pedestal next to the others.
“That’s a small flower,” I said
“Well, look.” He said. He moved his hands through a bouquet of roses, they were a hologram. He gently ripped apart a daisy and I saw it was made of plastic.
“Do you like the East?,” Alan asked me
“It’s really cool,” I said
“Yes, I guess it is. But you see it’s all so artificial. Very little of it is real, it’s a constant façade and keeping that façade up is a lot pressure. That is why I like where we live. You can be whoever the hell you want and nobody gives a shit.”
After the reception, we walked around the city a bit before going to the hotel and the next morning we were gone.
I was left wanting more and I guess my curiosity never stopped.
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