Michelle Maddox - Countdown

"Humans are essentially a weak species who are too concerned with destroying their world and each other to appreciate all that has been given to them by a greater power."

I frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"There is a wonder in being human," he breathed. "Organic matter that thinks and breathes and reproduces. And these organic creatures in turn created computers to help them. Now the cycle shall fold back upon itself and the computers will use the organics to help them. But the psychic element… that is a wild card in the mix."

"Get your hands off her," Rogan growled from his side of the room.

"I could crush her windpipe so easily." His fingers played along my throat. "But it's such a waste if her death can't be shown on The Countdown. You will die on camera. I can promise you that. But not just yet."

"What do you want from me?" I managed, feeling sickened by his touch but too afraid to pull away.

"I want you to read me." He grabbed my hand and brought it up to his face. "I dismissed your abilities before, but now I'm wondering if you may be more powerful than I originally thought. Read me. I want to know for certain that I have a soul. That I am truly the first of an evolved species."

"Tainted artificial intelligence programming doesn't have a soul," Rogan said. "You're just a computer virus with the ability to think."

Gareth whirled around to face him. "No, I'm much more, and soon everyone will see that."

"Gareth!" Rogan yelled, his face and neck showing the strain of trying to move when his body wouldn't let him. "If you're in there somewhere, you have to fight. You have to help us."

"Your brother is gone forever," Gareth said. 'Think of me as the improved model." He turned back to me. "Will you read me?"

I shook my head. Why would I give him anything he wanted? He'd just said he was going to kill me anyhow.

His jaw tensed and he pressed a button on the remote, holding it down.

Rogan yelled out in pain and kept yelling.

"This will kill him if I continue," he said. "You will kill him."

"Please … don't-" I began.

"Don't?" He didn't let go of that button.

"Fine! I'll read you."

He finally let go of the button and Rogan went silent. His eyes were closed, and his chest went in and out with labored breathing.

Gareth grabbed my hand and put it to the side of his throat. "I'm waiting. Tell me what you see."

I glanced at Rogan, who was still recovering from the torture of his implant. And then I looked up at Gareth.

It felt almost like an intimate stance, standing this close to Gareth, one hand on his neck, the other braced against his firm chest. He was the same height and the same build as Rogan. Even his blue-green eyes were similar.

But he couldn't have felt more different to me if he'd tried.

I closed my eyes, tried like hell to concentrate, and flexed.

I frowned as the pain began to seep into my brain. "I see nothing. I'm getting nothing."

"Keep trying."

I shook my head, slid my hands to a slightly different position on Gareth's body, and waded farther down into his mind. My head began to ache. "No, it's like a universe of darkness. So cold and empty and-"

:::::::::Fear

Pain::::::::

:::::::::Sadness

Then I heard something so quiet that it was like a radio turned on in another room. I strained to make out the thoughts deep inside the darkness.

Kira… don't give up. … You're so close…. Kill me. … Kill my body…. You must do it…. There's no other choice…. I can't live like this… so much pain…. It's the only way…. Take care of my brother…. Don't let this happen to him…. I love him. …

My eyes snapped open. I grabbed my head, which felt as if it were splitting open. Gareth clutched my hand.

"You saw something else. What is it? Did you see my soul? What did it look like? Was it beautiful?"

I licked my lips. "I… I did see something. It was very faint for a while, but there was something-"

"What? What was it?" His words were filled with eagerness and naked hope.

"Your… your soul was like a bright light in the middle of the darkness. It was very beautiful."

The lie sounded incredibly unnatural leaving my mouth, but it was obviously what he wanted to hear.

He nodded. "I never should have doubted it. This proves what I have been saying all along, that I am the first in the next evolution of mankind. The true mixture of man and machine, and now, Kira, you will help me be even more than that."

I raised my eyebrows. My help? What the hell was he talking about?

He stalked back to the telephone and picked it up. "Yes, change of plans. I want to have the girl taken to the eighteenth floor for further testing." He hung up without saying another word.

When he turned back to me his expression was very pleasant. "I will be testing your psi abilities to find out what makes you different from an average human. Whatever it is, I will reproduce it on a digital level and add it to my programming."

The phone rang and he moved toward it.

I exchanged a look with Rogan. His eyes were open again, but his expression was as tense as I'd ever seen it.

Don't give up hope. We 're not dead yet.

Gareth turned his back to me as he spoke with whomever was on the other end of the line. The gun Rogan had dropped was by his feet.

"Give us a few more minutes," he said into the receiver. "And then send security down here."

What was he going to do for a few more minutes? Get me to read him again? Torture Rogan more?

Did he even know why we were in this room? He'd taken the disk away from Rogan, but did he have any idea what was on it?

And did he realize that I'd stolen it back from him when I'd been reading his mind?

He hadn't felt me slip a hand into his inner jacket pocket. He may have noticed when I'd stolen his wallet on the streets, but he hadn't even flinched this time.

Well, I had picked a few pockets in my time. Practice made perfect.

I clenched the minidisk so tightly in the palm of my hand I was sure it would leave a permanent impression, and hissed out a long breath through my teeth. Only one shot. I was betting it all. Both Rogan's and my lives. Betting it all on a faint hope.

With a last look at Rogan I moved quickly to the display screen, frantically searching the side of it for a slot to put the disk into. My hands were sweating.

I found it. I slid it in.

Gareth hung up the telephone and turned back to look at me.

The image of the palm tree was gone. Instead there was a black screen with a blinking cursor at the end of the words: EXECUTE PROGRAM.

Since there was no keyboard, the screen showed a touchpad, and the enter key was right there, only an arm's reach away. I put my hand up to it.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gareth asked.

"What does it look like?"

He smiled. "It looks like someone who has no history of using computers is trying to act smart."

I tried to slow my breathing. "Is that what it looks like to you?"

"Yes. And keep in mind that I said 'trying' to act smart. Not succeeding. I assume you took that disk from me? Once a criminal, always a criminal." He shook his head. "What program is that?"

"Just a little antivirus one." My hand hovered just above the enter button.

His expression didn't change. "And who exactly gave you that?"

"Somebody who isn't thrilled with your programming selections."

He blinked slowly and then looked at Rogan. "Was this your idea?"

"Actually," Rogan said, "I was thinking about killing you and being done with it, but Kira's a lot nicer than me, I guess."

Gareth smiled thinly and turned back to me. "And why have you put an antivirus program on my Zen screen?" His gaze was steady.