Chapter Two

 

The doctors and techs are unsure of what sent the old man of the group to oblivion. It shouldn't have been the cocktail, it was only injected into the teenager. It shouldn't have been trauma, the nurse only wrestled with the youngest.

 

Dr. Troy walks into the staff side of the glass,  a cup of coffee between his palms. His hands shake slightly, but he's tough. He's old. He prefers to keep his emotions in check. "What did you two see?" he inquires.

 

The younger of the two observers, Joshua Smith, is the first to answer, "What should we have seen?"

 

Dr. Troy makes a half smile. Maybe these grunts are smarter than they look. "You understand the nature of this business is research," he begins, "And these specimens need to be researched. We aren't sure what's so different about them. However, we intend to find out."

 

The older grunt, agent Breen, asks, "Do we know why they were moving together like that?" The old man chain smokes his third cigarette in half an hour, quite obviously shaken by what he saw. 

With the agency for twenty years and the closest thing he had ever seen to that was some off worlders in a hive mind. But for off worlders it was normal.

 

The doctor shrugs, "They might all just be addicts," his eyes cast at the patients, "Addicts with latent psionic abilities, but still just addicts. Every one of them has altered brain chemistry. The source normally is drug abuse. But only the youngest one has a history of that particular kind of drug." He points to the teenager with tubes and electrodes hanging off him, "He was in a state of deep delusion when he was wheeled into St. Mary's. All we could get out of him was lyrics from a Beatle's song."

 

"That doesn't explain what we saw," answers Joshua, "No amount of drugs is going to make you part of a hive mind. And I know that's what we saw."

 

Dr. Troy shoots Josh a glare. The glare gives him a sinking feeling. That 'my phone's meta data and internet history is going to be monitored until the end of time' feeling. "You saw nothing," says the doctor in a low voice, "What you saw is a form of psychosis. That's it. You'll be relieved of duty in fifteen minutes. Go home. Get some sleep."

 

Breen and Josh snap to involuntarily. Their military training kicks in, "Yes sir." After the doctor leaves the room, Josh turns to Breen, "I know you brought in the old one," he starts in a soft voice, "That man died because of us. Can you live with that?"

 

"Josh," He says with a cold look in his eyes, "You're going to have to get used to that here. He's not the first and he won't be the last." The old man runs his fingers through his thinning hair, "I know you never saw combat. I know you were a desk jockey when you were in the service, but you signed onto this with the knowledge that this kind of thing can happen." Breen snuffs out his smoke as the next shift walks in.

 

They exchange papers, orders are handed down, and the two now relieved observers part ways. Josh heads to his small apartment. The world seems gray around him. A little magic has left the world. The old man that passed had something special about him. And now it's gone forever.

 

His huge dog greets him as he sets foot in his home, "Hey boy." This dog deserves a yard to run around in. It must be like an eight by six cell for the canine.

 The off duty agent moves toward his fridge. It's nearly empty. Just lunch meat and bread. In the freezer is a large untouched bottle. The first swig bites. It bites him hard. Ten minutes later that warm feeling spreads from his stomach to his outer extremities.

 

His mind swims. Images from the day flood through his vision. When he drugged Zach. A feeling of regret washes over him. What have I done to that poor guy? What kind of life is he going to lead? A vegetable. A lab rat.

 

Half the bottle is gone within an hour. He tries to stand up, but the blood rushes to his head. The world goes black. The corner of the coffee table catches his head on the way down. His vision fades to emptiness.

 

Eventually Joshua finds himself in a place he's never seen before, but it's familiar to Zach and the boy. Still dressed in his attire from the physical world. He can see the sleeping mountain in the distance. A large entity is at the foot. It looks like an amalgamation of three men. A mix of appendages and eyes. Hexapedal, but only for a moment. The thing seems to split away from itself, a part of it runs toward a gaping hole in the mountain and disappears.

 

Josh is no stranger to dreams. He knows he's safe. The man takes steps toward the mountain, a mix of walking and gliding. He had never gotten flying down but this halfway has always been close enough. As he comes closer a deep rumble emanates from the mountain, "Very old."

 

The Duo is still at the foot. Amazed at what their counterpart has done.

 All three of them had wanted to opt out for so long, but when the chance finally came their feet stayed planted. The mountain seemed to go back into hibernation, waiting on the next old tired soul to plunge into its maw.

 

The soles of the agent's shoes click across the ground. The gliding stops. The stranger in a strange place thinks to himself, 'This is different...'

 

As the thought flows from his mind and into his surroundings, Duo picks up on another entity behind them. One half asks, 'Who are you?' While the other asks, 'Why have you done this?'

 

Josh's eyes go wide as he realizes half the features belong to the man he abducted earlier that day, 'I'm just doing what I'm told.' A real fear in his voice. He realizes this isn't a dream. This is something else.

 

At the realization that the new man is who the Duo thinks he is, a red aura of anger and an underlying feeling of futility pulse out. They know the only power here is over the spirit. The problems this man caused are completely physical. The Duo turns its back on the agent, 'We have nothing to say to you.' They move toward the next breathing hulk. It seems to be kin to the first, but of a different make.

 

Before the Duo is too far away for an ethereal shout to be heard the agent exclaims, 'I'm sorry!' Mid stride the thing stops. Instead of turning, the eyes simply shift to be the back of its "head". Josh's stomach turns at the sight. But he pleads his case, 'I saw what happened. I didn't want anyone to die.'

 

The eyes are focused on his. Words flow toward the agent, 'Then why? Why have you done this to us? Why?'

 

Shame is spelled out on Josh's face. It's obvious and almost painful. Emotions are amplified here, 'Your government fears you,' he starts, 'They fear what people like you can do. They fear that you just might be able to rally people together. That you might be the new guard.'

 

The Duo is confused, 'We have no desire to control. We have no desire but to be free. Free us.'

 

Joshua's eyes look up at the Duo. A chance of redemption. 'If I can,' he starts, 'What will you do with your freedom?'

 

The combined eyes of the teenager and Zach look toward the next mountain. It seems to be metallic. Whole. Un-excavated. They point to it, 'We will bring that to our world. We have a method.'

 

The world around Joshua fades. He shoots up in a sweat. The bottle spilled on the ground and the bull mastiff fell asleep near it.

 A blinking clock says that it's four in the morning. Work in an hour. His head is splitting, but he's worked through worse.

 

He walks into the non-descript government building he's employed at. It's still the three day observation of the new patients. His job is reduced to guard duty at this point. Breen is already in the room, "You're late", he states as Josh puts his suit case down. "You can't keep coming in here hung over," A sense of experience behind it, "I almost got s**t canned over it a decade ago. The higher ups do not like it."

 

Josh holds his blood shot eyes, "Understood." He pulls the seat out and begins passing the time. Thinking about what the dream version of Zach told him. What did he mean? What was that second mountain's purpose? What the hell was the first's? He's still on the fence about trying to free them. Or even getting them transferred to a place where they wouldn't be sedated at all times.

 

The younger agent looks down, reading over his notes. The older clasps a hand on his shoulder, "You know why we do what we do, right?"

 

Not sure what to say. Josh gives a blank stare and a small nod.

 

The older man looks frustrated, "No you don't,'' he pulls a piece of paper from his brief case. "Remember Waco?", pointing at a picture of a burning compound from the nineties, "Remember all those people that died? It was because of people like this." Breen exhales, "It's just too dangerous to let them go free. The agencies have a lot of blood on their hands from those days. Before we had an idea of what we're dealing with."

 

Josh searches Breen's face, "And what are we dealing with?"

 

"Usurpers," he answers, "these people have silver tongues. And they don't like the way things are run. No one from the outside looking in does. But we have to maintain the status quo. We have to keep the balance. If tomorrow people knew they could be like this, what do you think would happen?"

 

Josh shrugs, "World peace?"

 

Breen stifles a laugh, "No," he flips over to another page. This one shows a picture of some nameless conflict in the third world. "Quite the opposite," he points at the way the soldiers in the picture seem to move as one, "Seem familiar?"

 

"Marching in lockstep," Josh starts, his voice low and accusatory, "And being a member of a hive mind are two different things."

 

 

Hours pass. Josh mulls over the new information in his head. Shouldn't we have a choice? Shouldn't they have a choice? The Desert Eagle strapped to his thigh is seeming mighty friendly. He catches himself eyeing the side of his colleague's head. He imagines a gaping bloody hole. Half way through his shift his mind is made up. These people... Or this person as the case may now be, deserve freedom just as much as anyone else.

 

"Breen?" Asks Josh. Breen turns his head to the sound. "I'm sorry," the heavy butt of his gun connects with the older man's temple. Breen sees stars. His lights are out.

 Josh slowly gets up and moves to the door, sticks his head out and sees a technician standing at a terminal, unaware of what has just happened. "Hey man, can you unlock the door for me?" Gesturing to the room with the two patients, "I forgot my keys and cell phone in there."

 

The tech must be new. He doesn't know Josh has no reason to be in there at all, "Sure thing." The tumblers move into place and the door opens. The tech walks in, attempting to help Josh find his phone.

 

The young man has his back turned to Josh, a quick blow to the back of the head knocks him out. He's bound and gagged for good measure. The now renegade agent quickly begins to dismantle the contraptions hooked up to the two bodies. 

A needle pulls out of a vein in one of their arms. The pain must have been enough to shock them back into the physical plane. Zach's hand grabs Josh by the wrist, blood trickling down. The two voices say in unison, 'Thanks,' as the owners of the voices pull themselves up and out of the hospital beds.

 

Surprised by the persistence of the hive mind, Josh stands with his mouth agape. The Duo quickly explain, 'It should wear off soon, we can't be One here for long.'

 

Joshua Smith snaps back to reality, the training from his military days kicks in and he goes on auto pilot, "Follow me." He swiftly walks from the room, toward the nearest exit. The facility isn't very big. The agency has been under budget for years.

 Surprisingly the administrators haven't figured out something has gone wrong yet. Their idea was that security cameras were obsolete with the advent of smart phones. That only works if everyone carries one. And Josh swore to never let a telescreen sit in his pocket.

 

The three emerge under a half moon. Bright enough to see, dark enough to hide. Josh leads the escapees to the nearest field, and then to the nearest woods. They march through those dark woods for hours without saying a word. They come upon a cave, it seems to be vacant. Josh looks behind to check, making sure the others are still on his tail. "This is as good a spot as any," he throws his suit case down on the stone floor, "We'll keep heading north in the morning."

 

Zach is disoriented from the severed link, but glad to be back in his own skin. He turns to the teenager, "I forgot to remember your name."

 

The boy looks up the couple inches height difference to make eye contact with Zach, "I'm Thom." The boy, exhausted, falls back against the cave wall. His eyes are closed and he's asleep before his rump hits the ground.

 

There is real animosity between Zach and Josh. The side of his neck that was pricked still hurt. His pride hurt worse, "You put me in there and then you got me out. We're even."

 

"I suppose we are," Josh states, "We're also both wanted now." The sound of a chopper over head rings through the night. It could be for them, but the solid rock of the cave protects them from being discovered. "I was in a place last night", Josh's eyes stare out from the mouth of the cave and into darkness, "Was that really you?"

 

Zach is unable to recall all the details. But he does remember the agent intruding, "Yes, and we were there first. That's not a place for suits like you."

 

The renegade agent shrugs, "I've been there before. I had never seen those mountains, though. Or watched something dive into one. But I've been a dreamer all my life."

 

"That's surprising," mutters Zach. He moves from his upright position to a lying one, a rock is his pillow. Soon he's back in the world without government, without prisons or hospitals. Without a need for any of that. He finds himself a part of the Duo again, staring in the direction of the new mountain. The one made of metal.

 

The two see the foothills in front. They look like veins of silver, raised from the ground. Some kind of pulse runs through them, like some kind of blood. 

The Duo lays a two thumbed and many fingered hand on the vein. An electrical pulse runs up their arm. Images they don't understand flash through their eyes. Ancient symbols. Schematics.

 

This mountain seems to be more awake than the last. It quickly focuses on the one in the foreground. And then the eye moves to something trailing in the background. The Duo inquires, 'What are you?'

 

A garble of information pulses toward them. The sheer force knocks them back. Vague humanoid features of the mountain seem to be slightly amused at their reaction. The next blast of information is somehow quieter. Less complex. Still, they have to strain their minds to understand, 'I am information. I am the block from which knowledge is cut.'

 

Internally the two look at each other. Surprised, but not dumb founded. It made sense. In some way. The Duo saw an opportunity here, 'May we carve a small portion out?'

 

If computers could laugh that's what happened. The Duo falls to their knees, holding their head. Writhing. It's too much. Simply too much. After what feels like an eternity, the cackling softens, 'You may.' Before them a great chisel materializes, 'Lesser beings would have depersonalized from that. But I see you have the power of Three.'

 

The Duo takes the knife in their hand, 'We were three, we lost an old one earlier.' The Duo walks to the foot hill. Mathematical symbols that even a college professor would be dumb founded by cover it. They take the knife and begin carving, slowly pulling the knowledge from the stone.

 

'There is a third yet,' the god of information states, looking across the expanse toward its brother. A small human figure tries to look small and inconspicuous.

 

'He's not with us,' the Duo pulls a piece of metal from the vein. It seems to be shaped like a large spool of wire. Millions of tendrils on either end. The things seems to be alive. Tendrils reach out to the Duo, fusing with them. A cold sense of knowledge flows over the two. Both practical and profound. As the first end fuses and merges, the other end stretches toward the mountain of Consciousness. It finds Josh, and the other two hear a cry of surprise before they feel Josh's mind flow to them over the cord.

 

'He is,' Informs the mountain before it slips back into its deep sleep.

 

With the task of the night done, they drift back into the physical realm. A permanent connection, not unlike the merge but close enough to be useful, remains.

 Zach is the first to wake up. He meditates far into the morning. Eventually Thom's eyes open. Judging by the position of the sun it's now late afternoon.

 

"That was interesting," Thom says in that familiar morning haze, "What time is it?"

 

"Close to four," replies Zach, "Wake up the G man." He gestures toward the sleeping man in business attire near the mouth of the cave.

 

Thom grips the agent by his shoulders, trying to shake the man awake. After a few moments he realizes it's no use. He seems to be drugged somehow. During the shaking Thom noticed raised lines under Josh's suit. "The hell is this..." as he unbuttons the front of Josh's shirt.

 A pattern of raised lines spread across his chest and presumably down the rest of his body. At the sight, the other two feel a warm feeling in their own chests. An intricate geometry of raised line, and an invisible tether between them.

 

Josh wakes up with a deep gasp, trying to push some invisible terror away before Zach and Thom forcibly subdue him, "It's ok, it's over, you're back." After several minutes of calming the ex agent down he finally relaxes. Without opening his mouth a blast of information hits the other two. The same schematics that were on the vein.

 

"Does this mean I'm a part of your freak show now?" Josh asked, trying to cover up his fear with humor. Even Tesla couldn't handle the knowledge from that old god.

 

Zach stretches out a hand, "Looks that way."