Visisonor's blog

Chapter 2: Ennui

Weird light shines through the door, and Villa goes in there. She tries to warn her, but it is too late, so she follows into the door.

The scene changes. Villa is kneeled on the floor with two soldiers behind, holding her arms. Their heads are black skulls. Another one — with white skull and a rifle — stands in front of them.

She reaches for her gun, but it’s not there. Neither is most of her clothes. The white skull takes attention. He turns his head, revealing a breathing mask covering lower part of his face. Why does a skull need a breathing mask?

As if taking the cue, the mask disappears. The figure with white skull grabs her by the throat and lifts her up…

Vera bolted upright, suddenly awake. She sat up in her bed, massaging her temples.

“Well, great”, — she thought. — “Anthropomorphic personification of death. In combat suit. Armed with assault rifle. More practical than a scythe, I guess.”

She sighed, stood up and went to the sink to wash her face.

— There is nothing I can do, sister, — said Vera looking in the mirror. — Doesn’t mean I’ll do nothing.

For a moment, she thought her reflection changed: with subtle details only the two of them could recognize, the face in the mirror looked like Villa’s.

Then it changed back.

Later that morning the usual planning session took place in control room.

A syncon looking like Tess’ twin brother stood by a large screen. He was known by identifier 121C, but was commonly referred to as Rick. Tess was here too, waiting for the humans at the other side of the console. The first to arrive was Vera, in a standard bodysuit with Villa’s scarf that she kept wearing after her sister’s death. She was followed by Kate, and the last was a man with disconnected undercut hairstyle. He was called Wolf, and he also happened to be the last agent to join syncons.

Rick started with a message from another base, bringing up a photo on the screen:
— An agent we have tabs on is dangerously close to being disposed of.

This was a common development. Human command relied on field agents when circumstances called for outside-the-box thinking. But such thinking inevitably led agents to discover certain discrepancies between the official history of the war with machines and what was really going on. According to human narrative, machines were trying to annihilate the entirety of mankind. But the official version never mentioned that syncons could do it many times over with the energy resources they now possessed — yet they didn’t. Syncons couldn’t stop fighting completely because humans wouldn’t — and for human leadership this artificial arrangement was a perfect pretext to preserve their military and political power indefinitely. The only thing they feared was losing this power, and agents possibly knowing too much were seen as a threat. Syncons did everything they could to rescue agents discarded in this manner, which was how all the humans present here ended up fighting against other humans.

— This is Chloe, — continued Tess. — Technically she is in Sarah’s sector, but her squad is being set into our territory.
— Who is Sarah? — Vera was the first to ask.
— Cerebral ID 5424, — explained Rick. — She monitors the area adjacent to ours, from another hideout.
— And you think Chloe’s squad will dispose of her in that excursion to our sector? — surmised Kate.
— This is likely, — nodded Tess. — But not yet confirmed. Just a heads-up for now.

The discussion then shifted to a matter confirmed with much higher confidence. Another image appeared on the screen: a photo of a person known simply as Max, taken by Kate during their brief encounter almost two weeks ago.

He was a member of human command, and generally believed to be responsible for dispatching Villa and Wolf, still field agents at that time, to the leaked coordinates of the previous hideout — accompanied by a squad of troopers with secret orders to make sure the agents never return. This led to Villa’s death, and it was more than enough to convince Wolf to switch sides and join Vera and Kate. Finding whereabouts of Max has become their priority ever since.

Nothing else was known about him, but even this handle, whether it was his real name or not, could help track him — if he used it to access the network. And he did use it, even though he didn’t have to. Either he believed everyone who knew this name died in fusion explosion which annihilated the old base, or…

— You see, he is using this identity from time to time, — concluded Wolf, highlighting relevant parts of several logs on the screen. — Not too often for it to be suspicious. But this itself is suspicious. If that makes sense.
— So we know where and when we might find him, — Vera punched her palm eagerly.

— Yes. But I think he wants us to find him.
— It is always wise to assume that any operation can be a trap, — pointed out Tess. — We need to keep it in mind and turn it on its head. Play a beautiful game, as the saying goes.
— Can’t we just blast the place to smithereens? — inquired Wolf, looking skeptically at Tess.

— Then we will have no confirmation that our target is dead.
— Ah. Need to see his body.
— Correct, — confirmed Tess. — Someone who knows how he looks should make sure he is actually dead.
— Splendid, — exclaimed Vera. — I volunteer.
— This is not a good idea, — suddenly objected Rick.
— True, I haven’t seen him in person. But the photo is good enough.

— I mean your involvement.
Vera stared at the syncon blankly.
— In your current mental state, — elaborated Tess, — you are not ready for a mission with this degree of risk.
— What mental state? I’m fine!
— You have not yet recovered from a heavy loss, — explained Rick.
— So what? You can’t ground me, you know.
— That is true. But you will only get yourself killed, — insisted Tess. — It is akin to sending Linda out right now.

— Linda is wounded, that doesn’t compare…
— Mind needs time to heal too, just like body, — Rick pressed on. — You did not have a full night’s sleep in more than a week.
— Who cares about sleep? I can’t stay behind doing… Nothing!
— Vera, please, — interfered Kate. — Can’t you see it yourself? You don’t sound like someone level-headed enough for this task.
— Et tu, Brute, as Linda would say, — murmured Vera disappointingly.

She turned away and leaned on the console.

— It’s not like that. I’ll never forgive myself if…

Kate tried to comfort Vera with a touch to her shoulder, but she slapped Kate’s arm aside:

— Leave me alone!

Then she stormed off the control room.

— Was it really the right thing to do? — asked Wolf hesitantly once Vera was gone.
— I don’t know, — groaned Kate.

— It was, — Tess tried to reassure them. — Vera will understand it in time.
— We still need to flesh out the basics of this operation, — said Rick, trying to change subject
— As we have mentioned before, the risk is relatively high, and it calls for more experience.
— What Tess is trying to say is that Kate is more qualified to perform this task. We hope you take no offence at this, Wolf.
— None taken. But I’d rather take no offence at giving way to Vera.