The Archway, Part 21 (Patreon)

Cynthia Matthews

Eric looked puzzled. “Uh...huh. Well, I don't feel brainwashed. I'm...eh, I'm pretty sure I'm me.” He said. I wondered what he was searching through his mind for. When Miranda converted me, I had known immediately that my mind was different, and always would be. There wasn't anything subtle about it. One moment, I was a fully independent person, the next I belonged to Miranda, body and soul.

“Do you feel like joining forces with Miranda Hubble?” asked Carol. Her weapon was now passing freely between Eric and myself.

He raised an eyebrow. “I...don't even know who that is.” He turned his head to another of the wounded patients. I could swear that the beeping noise was raising in pitch. “I don't think that's a good noise.”

“It isn't.” I turned toward Carol. “Ma'am, people are dying in this room right now. Would you please put the gun away and let me work?”

Her grip tightened on the stock of her high-tech rifle. “I'm going to be watching you like a hawk. Anything suspicious, and I fry you.”

“I'm...here...to...help...you!” I said. Very slowly. Through my teeth. I was having a stressful day.

She rolled her eyes. “Lady, don't take that tone with me. You admit that you're under the mental control of an extremely powerful new Special, possibly a Knave, and by the looks of you, one with a particularly twisted sense of humor. At best, you're here to try to garner support for your freaky little cult. At worst, you're one of Laura's nicer-looking monsters and you're here to take us out from the inside. I hope it's the former, since your powers are actually helpful. But I do not trust you. I would be a fool to trust you under these circumstances. I hope I am not being a fool by letting you in here, but my friends are dying and I'm desperate, so I basically have to. But I am not giving you free reign of this place under any circumstances. Clear?”

I opened my mouth to insist that I was not in a freaky cult. Then I thought about it some more. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that her description might actually fit the facts fairly well. I decided to change tacks.

I exhaled. “That's...that's fair. I understand how this must look to you, and I really do sympathize. But I'm sorry, there's no time for you to be paranoid. Laura's monsters are on their way, and I'm the only one who can give you even a reasonable shot at beating them. You need to accept the fact that if I'm here to do harm instead of good, you are well and truly doomed. Now, would you please go get Jiang-Mi and bring her in here? I'm not going to be able to heal this many people without her help.”

Carol leaned against the wall, chewing on my words. “Fine. I guess we're all screwed one way or the other. Eric, run down to Lift 19 and bring back the one in the bunny suit. I'll keep an eye out in here.

He chuckled. “Bunny suit? Seriously?”

“She'll drag her feet all the way over. I think it's part of her power. You might have to carry her.” I warned.

“Won't be a problem for Eric.” Carol assured me. He nodded and headed for the door, walking briskly despite his obvious fatigue. Under the watchful eyes of Carol, I got to work.

Within a few minutes, I was forced to stop for rest. I had broken a sweat on my fourth patient, and by the sixth it felt like had just run a marathon. I was well accustomed to pain, but healing this many people in a row was practically torture. I was glad I had started with the most severe injuries first, because now I had to somehow push through the exhaustion. By the tenth patient, I was miserable. Even worse, I now needed to take a leak, but I didn't want to use my diaper in front of Carol.

Most of those I had healed expressed the kind of gratitude and cooperative spirit I expected from Utopians, at least those who didn't work at Special Containment. Sure, they commented on my outfit, but they recognized that I was helping and that it was taking a lot out of me. A few, however, were clearly wondering if being healed by me would also turn them into diaper-wearing brainwashed freaks. Part of me wanted to assure them that only the grenades I had brought with me could do that, but somehow I doubted that that would go over very well with Carol. The grateful and the suspicious alike soon left the medical bay to help prepare defenses.

My twelfth patient was only halfway healed when my powers finally stopped working entirely, no matter how much I struggled to force them to. I sank to my knees beside the bed, too exhausted to continue.

“Where is...Jiang-Mi?” I asked in a gasp. No one responded.

A alarm klaxon sounded, interrupting my break. An obviously computer-generated voice sounded over the speaker system.

“Attention, Attention. Incoming hostiles approaching from the south by southwest. Scramble defense forces to Water Treatment Bay. Repeat. Scramble defenses to Water Treatment Bay.”

Carol hissed and got to her feet. “Alright, I have to leave. You stay here and get as many on their feet as you can. Odds are, you'll have incoming wounded soon.”

I tried to steady myself. This was really getting to be too much for me. “Where's Jiang-Mi! With her help, I could get everyone up and then help with the fighting too!”

Carol wasn't listening. The door of the medical bay snapped shut behind her. I sat on a now-empty medical bed and waited for my strength to return, muttering under my breath at what a mess we were in now. At least now I could wet my diaper without anyone judging me. I was in such a bad mood that the feeling of blissful relaxation only partially revitalized me. So glad to be done with the big-girl potty!

Damn that Carol. If she hadn't been so distrustful, we'd be in a much better position now. Now that the monsters I warned them about were here, suddenly it was fine to leave me alone, I guess. I could actually whip out a couple Boom-Booms and turn this ward into a goddamn nursery, and she couldn't do a thing about it. But no, Miranda wouldn't approve of that, so neither do I. At least the remaining patients were stable, judging by the pulsing green lights and relaxed chirps coming from their high-tech monitors. I really hoped that Eric hadn't decided to run back into the fray with Jiang-Mi. It was probably the bunny ears. Nobody who saw her realized how important she was to our survival. Oh well. Running off to look for her would probably just get me lost in this place.

“Cynthia Matthews. Please report to Lift 9.” said the voice over the speakers. It was the same computer voice that had spoken earlier, but now it was much quieter. Almost like it was whispering.

I jumped a little and looked up. Who would be calling for me here? And why was it the computer telling me this?

“Uh...I don't know where that is.” I said to the room in general. The remaining wounded didn't stir to answer me, but to my surprise, the voice responded.

“Down the hall, third door on the right.”

I was confused, but I stumbled out the door. My body felt heavy for the first time since Miranda granted me my Knight powers. Every muscle was sore and straining. This had better be important. The elevator slid open for me as soon as I approached, without my having to press a button.

“What is this? Who's speaking?” I asked, without setting foot in the elevator.

“I need your help. Please, come down to see me.” responded the electronic voice. It felt weird to hear something so personal said in such a flat, impersonal monotone.

I looked at the waiting carriage. The voice had said down. Yet this was the bottom floor, wasn't it?

This felt like a trap. Could Laura or one of her minions be manipulating the computer to draw me away? Well, maybe. I had no way of knowing what her monsters were and weren't capable of.

Still, Carol had been careful of a trap too, and all that had accomplished was scattering our forces and weakening our defense. Maybe I should practice what I preach and try showing some trust. Desperate times and all that. I stepped into the carriage. The door closed behind me. Now it really felt like a trap.

“Thank you.” came the voice from the speaker. Sure enough, the panel beside the door showed I was on the bottom floor. And sure enough, I was going down anyway.

When the weightless feeling subsided and the doors opened, I was met with another bay similar to the one I had just left. This one was much smaller and more dimly lit, however.

“Hello?” I called into the shadows. The place was silent except for the faint whirs and clicks of machinery. My voice echoed back to me. Creepy to say the least.

“I'm in here. Come in.” came the voice. It was much louder now, which made me jump. I guess they weren't worried about being overheard on this floor-that-doesn't-exist. I stepped out into the dim chamber, really hoping I wasn't being an idiot.

A light came on overhead with a loud click. It hurt my eyes, and I hid them behind my arm.

“Please, look quickly. I don't normally use this light. It burns my skin.” came the monotone voice. I looked.

The light shone down on what looked like a giant aquarium, shaped like a cylinder and filled with a greenish-yellow liquid. Inside was something that made me gasp involuntarily. It was the bony, chalk-white figure of a woman. She was naked, hairless, and her eyes were sunken in. She looked skeletal, and it was obvious that she hadn't left this tank in some time. It would have been horrifying enough to see a corpse in such a condition, but this woman was clearly alive. An elaborate series of tubes and cables wove through her tank like snakes, running into her back, up her nostrils, and into her sides.

“Oh. Oh gawd.” I said, unable to process what I was seeing. The light mercifully shut off above me, leaving only a dark silhouette floating in the tank in front of me.

“Welcome, Cynthia Matthews. I apologize. That must have been a shock.”

It was. So much so that it took me a few seconds to answer her. “Is...is that you? Gawd! What happened to you?”

“My name is Madhupreet. My nervous system has been permanently integrated into this complex's computer system. As you observed earlier, this facility is far more than a set of utilities for the small settlement it is built under. This area is intended to serve as the central feature of a much more extensive master plan. A plan put in place by our mutual adversary.”

I narrowed my eyes. Laura? No.

“Beatrice?”

“Precisely so.”

“She did...this?” I said, trying to make sense of what I was hearing. I knew that Beatrice had presided over the facility where I had been trapped and experimented on for much of my adult life, but even I thought better of her than this. This was just...monstrous.

“Yes. Much like the conditions surrounding the treatment of Oddballs such as yourself, this has been kept a closely-guarded secret for many years. No one on the surface knows the role I have been forced to play in their society.”

I felt my bottom lip tremble slightly. This was too much. I was so tired, and I knew that this woman had endured far worse than I had. I couldn't hold back my emotions any further. My eyes blurred.

“First of all, I must inform you that the Archway chose me to serve as a Sorceress. You are familiar with this category.”

I sniffed and nodded, despite the fact that she had phrased it as a statement rather than a question. A Sorceress was one possible type of Noble, combining the intellect of a Bright with the telepathic abilities of an Esper.

“You see, Espers such as myself can communicate with each other quite easily. We have a kind of informal communication network, which we use to share thoughts, ideas, images, things like that. Over the last few decades, our telepathic discourse began to take on a noticeable political tone. I, and others like me, began to question the philosophical assumptions and societal structures that underpin Utopian society. We began to trade thought experiments back and forth, considering various ways to rearrange the distribution of decision-making. Naturally, as a Bright and a high-ranking member of the nobility, my voice carried considerable weight in those discussions. I became a rather noted thinker among Espers.”

I blinked a few times as she rattled this off. I was very confused. Nothing that she had said seemed to explain what I was seeing at all.

“Queen Beatrice, being an Esper herself in addition to her other powers, was aware of these telepathic discussions. She kept fairly quiet on our mental channels, but I, like everyone, assumed that she was broadly supportive of new ideas, or at least tolerant of them.”

No. She couldn't be this cruel. No one would.

“One morning, I woke up here. I don't think you can imagine how I felt, to be so utterly and thoroughly betrayed. The Queen then explained that my powers of telepathy and mental processing power would now be used at the discretion of the central computer. I would essentially serve Utopia as a telepathic conduit for the computer, enabling both surveillance and mental influence of the surrounding population. I have been manipulated like a maisonette, to make the machines and laborers in this facility work together as a seamless, efficient unit. The computer, paired with Beatrice's own powers, would ensure that I would be unable to rebel.  Any unauthorized use of my abilities would be automatically circumvented and harshly punished. I have sat in this tank ever since.”

I pressed my face up to the glass. I wanted to shatter it with my fist, but I didn't think she would survive that. Still, everything inside me wanted to hold her spindly body and comfort her. I couldn't imagine what she had been through.

“You are kind. My existence here has not always been unpleasant. Nothing happens in Vernal Fields that I do not observe. I have been able to share my fellow citizen's lives, if only indirectly. That is my primary function as part of Beatrice's perfect machine. To spy out and report any sign of growing independence among the population, so that it can be dealt with before it spreads. The people here have no idea how much of their daily lives are being dictated to them. I do not think they would be pleased if they knew. I was afraid to reveal myself to them, for fear they would destroy me, or worse, report me to Beatrice.”

“I have been fortunate recently, after a fashion. That is, until Laura's raiding party destroyed the transceiver and damaged some of the computer servers. Since then, I have been able to regain a fraction of the control I once had. That is how I was able to reach out, and bring you down here.”

I rallied. I was exhausted, and Laura's monsters would soon be attacking, but I knew this had to be a priority. I thought I had seen the seedy underbelly of Utopia back in Special Containment, but this was on another level. “If...if you bring Jiang-Mi down here, maybe I could...”

“Heal me.” the voice said. “No. That was my first thought as well, but I'm afraid your powers are not equal to the task. You cannot heal what has been allowed to atrophy for years. Even if you somehow removed all these conduits from my body and closed up the resulting wounds, I would still be unable to breath on my own. There is only one possibility for me, and you have it in your pocket.”

I pulled out one of my Boom-Booms and showed it to the tank. “This?”

“Yes. Between my connection to the computer network and my observations of you and your companions, I know that there is no other way for to escape from this nightmare. I need a miracle.”

I paused. There was a lot I wanted to say, but I needed to be careful.

“I made that choice too. I haven't regretted it, not even a little, but I need to know...do you understand what you would be getting into?”

“To be blunt, no, I don't. I am aware that if I do this, I will be irrevocably tied to Miranda Hubble, a person I have never even met. I am aware that I will be given a new physical form, with characteristics that are difficult to predict in advance, and that my psychology will be altered to find this pleasing, regardless of the result. I am aware that once this is done, I will have no ability or desire to liberate myself from Miranda's control. But ultimately, I have no way of knowing what the result will be, or whether my current self would find it objectionable.”

There was a pause. Part of me was wondering if I hadn't accidentally talked her out of it. This was exactly the kind of recruit we needed for our army, and I really didn't want to blow it. Darnit, Laura and Beatrice were both pulling out every dirty trick to win this war. Why did our side have to play fair?

“I have also watched you. I've seen how you have acted and the choices you have made. You've been carrying those weapons around all this time, and you haven't used them. Not even when Carol was openly rude and hostile to you, and you had the opportunity to convert her against her will. You also healed nearly a dozen people, sharing their suffering as you did so, and pushing yourself to exhaustion to help them. You have chosen the path of kindness. Of the three sides in this conflict it is quite clear to me now which one deserves my support. Granted, the aesthetics of your forces leave much to be desired, but I'm confident that will not be an issue for me after my conversion. You have my permission to proceed.”