I felt my body shaking and there was an intense pain jolting in my shoulders. I heard banter and opened my eyes slowly. It was Boris. He looked at me and hugged me tightly. Bob said, “Oh my God! Did she wake up?”
Boris let go, looked back and said, “Yes. She is awake now.” Nadia came close to me and said, “You scared us. Your heart stopped for a minute. The screen went black and we couldn’t see or hear anything. We removed the tube from your mouth and stopped the hallucinations. Then your heart started beating slowly, but the screen stayed black. That was twenty minutes ago. We tried every way to wake you up.”
Boris had his head down and didn’t say anything. I said slowly, “Did you see me in the lab and heard what Sara said?”
They all looked at each other with a puzzled look and said, “No. When Boris wanted to leave, we woke him up and your heart stopped.”
I tried to raise myself up, and Boris helped me and stayed holding me tightly by my waist. I said, “We need to go to the Intelligence compound. To Project Merge.”
Bob said, “You can’t. None of us can.”
Boris looked the other way and shifted his head down. I said, “Why can’t we?”
Bob said, “Yesterday, there was an order released to everyone by the Triangle and Intelligence compounds to have and control their own defense. They released an ulterior mechanism for defense, robotic machines.”
I looked at them horrified and whispered, “It’s beginning.”
Boris kept his head down and didn’t say anything. Nadia said, “They have over two hundred machines now in the Intelligence compound, and a two hundred more at the Triangle compound. We had no idea they were building such an army. But why?”
I looked at her and said, “Because they think humans are full of flaws and machines are not. They are programmed to perform certain tasks and their margin of error is low.”
They all looked at me shocked and Nadia said, “None of us understand why they need such a number. Who are they defending against? Our world is so small and humans are slowly becoming extinct.”
I looked at the bed covers and said, “Are we the only ones left?”
She said, “Yes. No one else survived the destruction.”
I said, “How does anyone know that? Earth is so big, and we don’t have air planes or direct access to satellite’s data because our technology and man power is limited now. What about a group of people that disappeared almost three decades ago who tried to explore other places for survivors? Why have they never came back? Did they all die?”
She said, “Lina, I don’t think there is anyone left. We would have known by now.”
I said, “I’m not sure. It seems impossible to even think like that.”
She said, “Boris. What do you think?”
Boris looked at her and said, “I’m not sure anymore. I can’t believe this was all happening without us ever noticing. As for other survivors? I don’t know. Seems possible if Lina thinks so. We can’t be the only ones left.” Boris was talking slowly and in a low voice. I said, “Are you ok?”
Boris looked at me and said, “I don’t feel well.”
I said, “Then maybe you should rest. I think we all need to rest.” Boris nodded his head in agreement. I tried laying down and Boris laid down too. He smiled and kept looking at me.
Nizar hesitated for a bit and asked, “Umm, Lina?”
I said, “Yes Nizar.”
He said, “Did you find out the plan?”
I smiled and said, “It’s too late now. But Sara is gone.”
He frowned and said, “Oh.”
I said, “Project Merge has been creating and testing these machines for years, but they have been controlling my mind to stay silent and be their puppet of defence.”
He said, “Why you? Why not Boris?”
I looked at Boris and then to Nizar and said, “I’m not sure?”
He said, “His results for the aptitude test were exactly like yours. They kept him here and took you to them.”
I raised my body up but Boris stayed laying down. I said, “I don’t understand. Why me?”
He said, “We have no idea why they chose you over Boris.”
Boris said, “I think they wanted a puppet too in charge of the Red compound.”
I looked at Boris and said, “What?”
He said, “Unlike you, I was aware, but I was limited by what I can do because I had other controlling powers working against me. I tried to find out what they were trying to do, but I couldn’t. All I noticed was you collecting data from each compound and digging for random information. It’s like you were collecting information on how people trained, defended, attacked and responded to danger. That’s why you were in the training sector most of the time.”
I stared at him and he looked at me. I couldn’t believe what I have been doing. I did this. I collected the data for those machines to be human like. I did it all. I was never aware of what I was doing.
I said, “How long was I doing this for?”
Boris said, “I noticed this three years ago, but in the past year you were here daily training and collecting data.”
I said, “Why didn’t you stop me, or even question me?”
He said, “I was not in a position to do so. I was pressured by a direct order to leave you alone and never question what you were doing.”
I said, “Where did this direct order come from?”
He said, “Our leaders.”
I said, “Why?”
He said, “That guy that came earlier to your room and I had to respect his presence, he was one of them. He was mostly surprised you were alive and wanted you locked up in the Triangle compound on a direct order by me though. I have the power in this compound, but I don’t know if I do anymore because of what’s going on. They believed the Intelligence compound had traitors from within. That traitor was Dana via you. I wasn’t going to allow it anymore. You are under the Red compound’s protection and they have to get rid of me to reach you.”
I looked at Boris dumbfounded by what he said. He stared waiting for me to say anything and then I said, “You protected me even if I did all this?”
He said, “You were just their puppet. I noticed it from the day you married that idiot.”
I said, “How did Sam die?”
He said, “His heart stopped. He had a heart attack.”
I said, “Heart attack?”
He said, “Not everyone handles pain the same.”
I said, “Pain? What pain?”
He said, “Sam was in love and wanted to marry someone else, her name was Sara.”
I said, “What?”
He said, “Yes, she was a year older than us. She died though from mutated genes. They couldn’t help her, and it devastated Sam. They chose you because you resembled her a lot, but it was too much for him.”
I said, “How didn’t I know?”
He said, “They might have been controlling you before you went to the Intelligence compound. General John tried to sooth his nephew’s pain, and Ellen and the others used you for their motives.”
I stared at Boris and he looked to the other side and I said, “Why didn’t you stop it?”
He said, “Stop what? Any of this? What happened ten years ago? I couldn’t.”
I said, “Why didn’t you try?”
He said, “I just couldn’t, but I knew from someone that this would happen.”
I said, “Who?”
He sighed and looked away.
I grabbed his shirt tightly and said, “Tell me now or else!”
He said, “Or else what?”
I said, “Kill you!”
He laughed and said, “I do have direct orders to kill you. Many people want you dead, but …” I interrupted him and said, “Tell me now Boris!”
He hesitated and finally said, “You.”
I said, “What? You’re not making any sense.”
He said, “The day before they told you about your results and departure, you came to my room. We were close friends for the past two years in training, and somehow you knew where everyone is going to end up at. I don’t know how. You told me that someone has to know what has been going on. At the time I didn’t understand what you meant. You told me to promise that I will always help you no matter what. It was never your fault and you are too weak.”
I looked at him and I had no idea what he was saying. He said, “You said one more thing.”
I let go of my grip on his shirt and said, “What did I say?”
He said, “I was the only one you trusted in this world.”
I stared at his eyes and somehow I knew he was not lying. Everything he said was true, and he did all this because I told him years ago to help me. He knew this will happen, but he couldn’t do anything.
I stared down at my hands and started crying. Boris hugged me tightly and said, “I didn’t want you to go, but they used you because they found what made you weak and used it against you. Also, they wanted us separated because we are too smart and physically capable of killing them and stopping all this from happening.”
I looked at Boris and said, “We can? We don’t kill.”
He said, “How did you kill Dana then?”
I gasped and said, “How did you know?”
He said, “For the first time in ten years, you contacted me after Dana told me the story. You were scared and said Sara was controlling you and I have to help you stop her. I told you to calm down and not do anything stupid. After about a minute, your voice changed and said that you must kill Dana and then kill Sara. Dana can’t know what the plan is and you have to be stopped by getting rid of Sara. You were very contradictory.”
I said, “But Sara is gone now. Why can’t I remember any of this?”
He said, “Like you said, they planted Sara in you to remove chunks of your memories permanently and feed you new ones that aligned with their plan.”
I didn’t say anything. Boris looked at me and then the others. He finally said, “Many things happened in your life and Sara was getting rid of anything that was a threat to Project Merge’s plan. None of us knew what was going on. I just thought you were adapting to the change, and your personality changed as a result and forgot everything. Forgot us.”
I said, “Did I forget my parents too?”
He said, “I don’t know. But you were in the girl’s sector of the Alliance building before me. So I don’t know and you never told me.”
I looked down and I couldn’t speak anymore. I laid on the pillow and cried slowly. Boris got off the bed and walked out of the room. The others stared at me, and then Nadia approached my side, sat next to me and said, “I think it is time for you to rest. Nothing can be resolved now with your condition.”