As they ate, Dan had a clear view of the street outside and the wall beyond through the window he sat next to. It wasn\u2019t long before he found himself, food finished, staring out of the window, only dimly aware of Gideon and the others talking around him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He became so absorbed in the soldiers passing by just outside the window, the people moving back and forth across the street, and the occasional squadrons of kyrie flying across the sky, that he didn\u2019t notice when Sharwin got up and left. Trela and Jaseff soon followed, accompanied by Ana. Soon, Dan was left sitting by himself at the table, completely unaware that he was alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSteve?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan reluctantly turned his gaze from the window. The voice had come from nearby, inside the building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSteve?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan quickly spotted the owner of the voice. It was a man, possibly a few years older than Dan, the dark stubble of an unintentional beard clouding his otherwise tanned face. He wore the same armor as Dan, although he seemed to carry a rifle slung across his back in addition to a pistol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSteve? That you?\u201d The man was looking at him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan glanced around, but there was no one else nearby. He realized everyone else had left. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not Steve,\u201d Dan said, facing the man again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man leaned closer, scrutinizing Dan\u2019s face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAh, sorry,\u201d he said. \u201cYou were in the shadow. It\u2019s your arms. I have a friend called Steve who has arms exactly like those. For a moment there, I thought\u2026\u201d He let his voice trail off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re Mariedian?\u201d Dan asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man nodded. \u201cIsadoran, actually. Never been to the mother planet; too dangerous. My name\u2019s Bern. You?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMariedian,\u201d Dan said, a hint of excitement rushing through him. He turned in his chair to fully face the man. \u201cVydar summoned me right out of a soulborg prison block. I\u2019ve only seen the surface of Isadora once.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cReally?\u201d Bern said, leaning forwards. \u201cWere you captured and sent there?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan shook his head. \u201cBorn there,\u201d he replied. \u201cI got out once though. The Senry attacked and blasted a hole right in the roof of my cell.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDid they now?\u201d Bern said, his voice echoing some of Dan\u2019s excitement. \u201cDid you escape?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was too young to realize what was going on,\u201d Dan said, \u201cbut two Mariedians came through the hole and got me out. The soulborgs recaptured me pretty quickly though\u2026 I don\u2019t know what happened to the Mariedians.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure they were fine,\u201d Bern said, waving his hand dismissively. \u201cWe know how to hide from soulborg scanners. That\u2019s a pretty bold move though, raiding a soulborg complex directly. There aren\u2019t too many divisions which could pull that off. You wouldn\u2019t happen to know which one it was?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan shook his head. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a chance to learn much of anything,\u201d he said. \u201cI was only out for about ten minutes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHmm. Oh,\u201d Bern said, realizing something, \u201cwhat did it look like? When you got out, I mean. Were you on the coast?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Dan said. \u201cThere was sand everywhere. Lots and lots of sand dunes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHa!\u201d Bern shouted, making a nearby trio of kyrie jump. They scowled at him and returned to their meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my division,\u201d Bern said. \u201cThere\u2019s only three divisions which would have the resources to do that, and only one is in a desert. Hey, I wonder if I know the guys who got you out. Did you ever hear their names?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of them,\u201d Dan said. \u201cHe was called Darren.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDarren\u2026\u201d Bern let the name roll off his tongue, thinking. \u201cKnow two or three\u2026 wait a minute. I went with a Darren on a raid once. It was a long time ago, mind you; back when I was young. Come to think of it, we blasted a hole in a prison complex, just as you described. Got a fair few prisoners out, too. At least seven before the soulborgs shut us down. I wonder if it\u2019s the same one. What\u2019s your name?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDan,\u201d Dan said, getting truly excited now. Darren was the one who had shown him the horizon in the first place, the one who had started everything. \u201cI don\u2019t think he ever asked me what my name was, though,\u201d Dan said. \u201cAll I know is that I got out, and Darren put me on some sort of flying machine. We took off, were shot down, he told me to run\u2026 the soulborgs must have caught up with me at that point, because I never could remember what had happened after that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bern sat up straighter. \u201cThat is<\/em> Darren,\u201d he said. \u201cI<\/em> was on that raid. Darren got in a craft with the first kid we got out, but was shot down. He\u2019s fine, by the way,\u201d he added. \u201cMade it back to the extraction point in one piece. Said they got the kid though\u2026 that must have been you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan could hardly believe his good luck. He had never dreamed that here, on Valhalla, he would meet someone so close to his past. It almost made him feel closer to Heleer. \u201cTell me more,\u201d he said. \u201cThe others; did they get out?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome of them,\u201d Bern nodded. \u201cMost of them. The last three got nabbed by the soulborgs as we were getting them out. Pulled them right back in through the hole we had blasted. Don\u2019t know why the soulborgs bothered though. They were already halfway out. They had seen us. They had seen Isadora.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy would that matter?\u201d Dan asked, confused. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight,\u201d Bern said, \u201cSorry. I forgot you\u2019d been born there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d like to know,\u201d Dan said. He had no intention of letting what Bern knew go to waste: he had to learn everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you know about the soulborgs?\u201d Bern asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot much,\u201d Dan admitted. \u201cI don\u2019t even know why they imprisoned me,\u201d he added, suddenly realizing that fact. Why hadn\u2019t he asked NT9 about that? He supposed he had still thought he was in SR at that point\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell the problem with the soulborgs,\u201d Bern said, \u201cis that they\u2019re unnatural. They\u2019re a Mariedian\u2019s mind and thoughts and emotions, plugged into a metal machine. The machine can be repaired and replaced indefinitely, but the mind cannot. Mariedians were never meant to exist forever; the soulborgs start going mad after a few hundred years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey tried to fix it with programming, you know, replace the brain with a computer, become machine entirely. Never worked. They couldn\u2019t replicate the mind. They couldn\u2019t replicate free will or creativity. They could mimic<\/em> it, but never on the scale of an actual brain. So that\u2019s why they have prison blocks.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan was still confused. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s hundreds of cells in each block,\u201d Bern explained, \u201cand anywhere from one to six Mariedians in each cell. Every single one of those Mariedians spends every day of their waking lives in a SR Unit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know about the SR Units?\u201d Dan asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course we do,\u201d Bern replied. \u201cWe know of<\/em> them, that is. Not how they work. All we know is that the Khyta soulborgs send their prisoners through countless simulations in those machines, and measure how they respond. They analyze their thought processes, their emotional reactions, everything. Their logic is that if they can document enough reactions, enough free-willed choices<\/em>, then they can cover every possible creative spark a brain can come up with, and duplicate it. They can make their own brain. Then they won\u2019t need Mariedians any more. They\u2019ll be immortal, unkillable, their collective minds hidden away somewhere in some vast computer network. You\u2019d be able to destroy their bodies, but they would just download another version of themselves into a new body and keep going like nothing ever happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike I said: soulborgs are unnatural.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut\u2026\u201d Dan paused a moment, trying to keep up with what Bern had told him. He didn\u2019t know what half the terms meant, like \u2018computer network\u2019 and \u2018download\u2019. \u201cThey can\u2019t do that, right? Become\u2026 immortal?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNah,\u201d Bern said. \u201cIn my opinion they\u2019ll never be able to, but that doesn\u2019t stop them from trying. They\u2019re close, mind you. They\u2019ve pushed the boundaries of science far beyond anything we ever imagined. Just the fact that they can keep the project running at all is incredible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re trying to analyze the minds of hundreds of thousands of Mariedians,\u201d Bern said. \u201cNot just in the SR Units, but outside, also. They have to account for what the prisoners are thinking and feeling when they go in<\/em> the units, otherwise their data would be all wrong. That\u2019s hard enough, but just considering the logistics of keeping all those prisoners healthy and happy is staggering. The food they use alone could probably keep the whole resistance fed for a year.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHappy?\u201d Dan repeated. \u201cWhy would they need to keep us happy?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bern shrugged. \u201cProbably so that you don\u2019t want to escape,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can only guess, but that\u2019s the best reason I know of. We do know it\u2019s a manipulation game with them: keeping the prisoners right where they want them emotionally, so that they can get the results they want in the SR Unit. We\u2019ve freed a few prisoners who say they lived in constant fear or pain; I can only assume the soulborgs did that to see how the results differed from a normal person. Most of the prisoners we free are happy with their lives though. They don\u2019t even know they\u2019re in a prison.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan thought a moment. That made sense. If the soulborgs were measuring their mental and emotional responses to different situations, then it made sense that they would need a few Mariedians with different circumstances than the others, to make sure they got the full spectrum of possible reactions. Dan was instantly grateful he had been one of the normal ones. It also made sense why Dan had experienced scenarios which made him afraid, sad, or angry: the soulborgs were simply testing his responses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan looked down at his gloves. Something didn\u2019t add up. \u201cWhat about these?\u201d he asked, holding them up. \u201cI could escape with these. Why would the soulborgs give them to me, if their whole goal is to keep us in our cells and in SR?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI assume you got those arms when you went up against the Barrier?\u201d Bern guessed. Dan nodded. \u201cIt was the same way with Steve. They had captured him when he was just a kid, so he could still remember bits and pieces of the world outside. Not enough to really understand, but enough to know there was something out there. They had wiped the rest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey wiped his memory?\u201d Dan said. When he was young, parts of his memory had been erased, so he knew the soulborgs could do it. However, that created a question which for some reason, Dan had never thought of before: if the soulborgs could wipe memories, why didn\u2019t they remove Dan\u2019s memory of being rescued? He would have continued his life as a happy prisoner, unaware of reality. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t they wipe all of his memory?\u201d Dan asked. \u201cYou know \u2013 erase everything about Isadora?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey can\u2019t,\u201d Bern said. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t wipe the whole thing, just bits and pieces. The Senry tells us that after a certain age, you can\u2019t wipe a mind. Not permanently anyway. I suspect that\u2019s why he could remember some things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnyway, Steve knew enough to know that he wanted to get out. He tried using his gloves many times. He said he used them to break the SR Unit, pulling cords from it and stuff. He even tried to get through the wall to where the Shaft was. Dented the wall a fair bit, but never broke through. He found out his gloves could go through the Barrier pretty quickly, but that didn\u2019t do him any good. He couldn\u2019t reach anything, and the rest of his arm could never go past the Barrier.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bern sat back, observing Dan\u2019s arms. \u201cSo why did the soulborgs give you those? Probably because they didn\u2019t give you as much advantage as you thought they did. The most you can do is break the SR Unit, and after doing that a few times, Steve got a new one where everything was behind the wall, where he couldn\u2019t get at it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan didn\u2019t say anything. He glanced at his gloves, the powerful metal glinting dully in the light from the window. Maybe regular gloves would give him no advantage, but with what NT9 had done, Dan knew otherwise. He knew he could tear down the walls themselves if he wanted to. He almost wanted to go back to Isadora, just to try, just to escape. Almost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo you were that little kid,\u201d Bern mused, shifting his gaze to the ceiling. \u201cThe first one we got out. Yeah, I remember you\u2026 preoccupied with the sand, weren\u2019t you?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan nodded. \u201cThat was me,\u201d he said, a bit blankly. Bern had really been there. He was really talking to one of the people who had helped him escape. It was still a little hard to believe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou said they captured you again? The soulborgs?\u201d Bern leaned forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan nodded. \u201cDarren and I were shot down,\u201d he said. \u201cI woke up later back in my cell.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDid you ever break out again? We bombed that place plenty after that; I\u2019m sure we got the power generator more than once.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou did,\u201d Dan assured him. \u201cThe Barrier kept going on and off. That\u2019s actually why I was summoned: I got out and RR found me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRR?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe\u2019s the soulborg who was there. I always called her RR. I don\u2019t know what her real name is.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProbably a string of meaningless numbers and letters,\u201d Bern muttered. \u201cSo,\u201d he said, \u201cyou got out. Were you able to find out what level you were on?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe bottom level,\u201d Dan answered quickly. \u201cI kept running until I hit a wall, and the ceiling was gone above me. The hole just kept going up and up\u2026 but I was definitely at the bottom.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHmm.\u201d Bern leaned back again. \u201cI ask because there was this plan a few years back. Never executed, because it never worked like it was supposed to. The idea was that we could launch a cyber attack against a prison block and shut down all the Barriers. Let the prisoners out and start some sort of prison break. The Khyta soulborgs have so much programming embedded in everything that it would actually be fairly easy for them to overlook a single tiny virus. Until things stopped working, obviously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a good idea, but the soulborgs had defenses on everything, and the coding was so far advanced beyond what we were capable, that we were never able to shut down so much as a camera. The most we could do was get the generators to send spikes of energy to specific Barriers. It made them flicker, but that\u2019s about it. In the end it was the bombs which took them down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe still use that virus though, for the exact reason that people like you exist.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan looked up, interested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe soulborgs have captured plenty of people who know about the outside world and want to escape. So we decided to leave them a trail. Every prison block has service tunnels connecting every level. They\u2019re narrow, hot, and full of electrical wires, but they\u2019re the only way out if you\u2019re escaping. The soulborgs have no cameras in them, and won\u2019t be able to track you. The only trouble is that the entrances are impossible to find\u2026 unless you know where to look.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A slow smile began to creep across Dan\u2019s face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe set patterns of flickering Barriers, sequences pointing to the service entrances. If you follow those and look at the base of the walls, you\u2019ll eventually see a small metal panel which pulls away easily. Worm your way in, and keep going up. If you hit a dead-end, backtrack and take the first branch, then start going up again. Eventually you\u2019ll hit a giant vent set in the ground. Push that away, and you\u2019re out. As long as you don\u2019t interrupt any systems, the soulborgs won\u2019t know where you are. We regularly make high-altitude passes over the prisoner blocks, hoping to see anyone who\u2019s made it out. Stick close to the wall where the cameras can\u2019t see you, and we\u2019ll drop in and grab you. Then you\u2019re out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Excitement was beginning to rush through Dan\u2019s veins again. \u201cSo there\u2019s a way,\u201d he said, almost to himself, \u201cthere\u2019s actually a way to get out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell,\u201d Bern said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan looked up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI mean, none of the prisoners know about it. We can\u2019t exactly communicate with them. The most we can hope for is that by keeping the generator down, some of them get out, and out of those, some are curious enough to see where the trail of flickering Barriers leads.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHave any gotten out that way?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bern shook his head. \u201cNot that I know of,\u201d he grimaced. \u201cIt\u2019s the most we can do though.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat if you let the soulborgs capture one of you, and then break out? Couldn\u2019t you spread the word that way?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bern shook his head again. \u201cWe tried that,\u201d he said. \u201cThe soulborgs are too smart. They\u2019re careful with the rebels they capture. They know that if we have so much as a second with another Mariedian, we could tell them enough to \u2018damage them beyond repair\u2019 as the soulborgs put it. They keep us in an isolated block, so even if we do break out, we can\u2019t get to the other prisoners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Damaged beyond repair.<\/em> That was what RR had said to Dan. That must have been what she had meant: that he had learned too much, and that his desire to escape was interfering with the data from SR. But had she really been about to kill him? Would she do that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDan!\u201d Gideon appeared in the doorway. \u201cWhat are you doing? We need sleep, now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan got up quickly. \u201cI\u2019d like to know more,\u201d he said, as Bern got up too. \u201cAbout Isadora, about the resistance, about what\u2019s really going on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLooks like you have a job to do right now,\u201d Bern said, nodding towards Gideon, \u201cbut when you get back, ask if you can be sent wherever I\u2019m stationed. I move around a lot, but it shouldn\u2019t be too hard to track me down. I\u2019ll tell you everything you want to know.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThanks,\u201d Dan said, moving for the doorway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bern waved, and then Dan lost sight of him as he stepped out of the building and Gideon shut the door. As they ate, Dan had a clear view of the street outside and the wall beyond through the window he sat next to. It wasn\u2019t long before he found himself, food finished, staring out of the window, only dimly aware of Gideon and the others talking around him. He became so absorbed in the soldiers … Continue reading Chapter Thirty-Eight – Resistance<\/span>
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