Sanctify

Jenna had walked into a cold room filled with capsules of sleeping people. It felt like walking into the refrigerated morgue filled with familiarity. Memories she couldn’t access but remained at the bank of her thoughts. She noted their information but didn’t dare to touch anything. She noticed their times being relatively similar and stopped at the one that seemed to be the apex of the rest. To be precise, Jenna froze when she saw a younger face of her own in the capsule. Long black hair pulled back and still growing, so it seemed, the younger girl was completely still, despite breathing at a much slower rate. Her heart continued to beat, though she remained in her coma.

Hearing voices, Jenna turned to see a young woman in a white lab coat enter, followed by Hayden. The lady stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide with excitement and, so it seemed, tears. Hayden noticed Jenna’s expression and explained, “I found her in one of the rooms up there. She got really excited.”

Jenna turned to the lady and asked, “Are you Dr. Evelyn Egas?”

“Call me Dr. E. Dr. Egas was my father, everyone just calls me Dr. E,” and then she added, “You must be Jenna, the seventh and final Shadow from your Origin.” Dr. E smiled appreciatively, “You are quite the creature.”

Hayden scratched his head and then asked, “Wait, do you two know each other?”

Jenna shook her head, “No, but in theory, my Origin was the pet product of Dr. Egas, her father.”

Dr. E nodded and added, “Well, not his pet product, but more of his pet project. My father loved her until his dying day. My mother did, too. And here I am, carrying on his work in his place. Finishing his business. Tying up the loose ends. Solving the –”

“This is my Origin?” Jenna asked, her eyes back on the young face of the woman in the capsule.

Dr. E nodded, stepping forward, Hayden following, “This is Noriko, your Origin. Well, this is her now. She’s been comatose for forty years.”

Hayden frowned, “I thought it was impossible to freeze someone and expect them to come back to life later?”

Dr. E nodded in agreement, “Right, which is why my father and his team of scientists found a way to slow the heartbeat and induce a comatose state that allowed the body to grow at a much slower pace. This way, it is 100% possible for the subject to return to regular function-ability when woken.”

Jenna nodded, “So she is still growing.”

“Yes, she is!” Dr. E smiled proudly.

Hayden frowned and asked, “How old is she, technically?”

“It’s been about forty years and, to add that to the age, but divided by the molar mass of the quantitative equivalence of –” she stopped, scribbling a mad series of numbers before she looked up and reported, “20! Riko is 20 years old this year, roughly.”

Hayden smiled but Jenna stated, “We have research to do. Lady May sent us.”

“About time, too,” Dr. E nodded.

Jenna frowned, “What do you mean?”

“You don’t know?” Dr. E asked, amazed. “The entire organization has put the Shadows into overdrive, hoping to find the source of all of the viral attacks. It’s amazing because there are so many people hunting for Sanctus and yet, he still slips through their fingers.”

Jenna nodded, “So he was behind all of this? Funny,” she added, “I didn’t think he could take things this far.”

“Ah, that’s because he’s using someone else to do his dirty work. Someone who is very well connected to the system already, having built it up,” Dr. E continued, quite sassily.

Jenna frowned and looked to Hayden, who shrugged. “Similar to the backdoor program that was installed in case something like this happened?”

Dr. E nodded and sighed, touching the glass fondly, “No doubt the cyber attacks were meant to get to sleeping beauty, but they won’t if we don’t connect her to the system.”

“Why not?” Hayden asked.

Dr. E replied simply, “Because she is asleep. You’ve walked into the catacombs of the most notorious thieves and monsters kept by Remedium when they served as the science department of TriVerse. Where the asleep are alive but lifeless; or so it seems. Unless we connect her to an outside system or it is time to wake her, she will stay asleep. Her mind is in dreamland and firmly lodged there.” She walked over to the capsule and removed a small black object. “Recognize this?”

Dr. E tossed a Blackphone to Jenna, who smiled, “Nice.”

Dr. E nodded, “I created the first one and then modified all of the others that they sent me to my advantage. Keeping technology off the market is hard, but it’s worse when the tech is illegal and way more advanced than most suspect,” she smiled sweetly.

Jenna nodded and smiled, “Has she seen this?” she asked, eyeing the phone before eyeing Noriko.

Dr. E nodded, “I show her from time to time. But I block the signals so Diem can’t get to her.”

Hayden and Jenna froze, noticing the name. “So, you know more about the virtual attacks,” Hayden stated.

Dr. E nodded, quite happily, “Yeah, she used to babysit me. That is, until I got into college. Then, she was just a friend. She even had a kid with her lover that she had to put up for adoption. When braniacs have kids, everyone wants them.” Dr. E sighed, looking fondly at Noriko and her eyes turned sad. “She went off the deep end a bit after Topher was murdered a couple weeks before their wedding.”

Jenna swallowed, unable to swallow those words. The missing puzzle piece that held the secrets of the past stood before them and Lady May sent them straight to her. Something about the situation felt strange but Jenna knew she had a mission and Lady May gave it to her without saying a word. Somehow, everything matched up.

Jenna turned the phone over in her hand and noticed a small alert. She frowned, “Another viral attack just hit. They’re getting closer together. Any ideas about this, Doc?” she asked, looking at Dr. E.

Hayden turned to Dr. E as well and she nodded, “It’s got to be Diem. It’s been her call for Noriko. She sent it out every once in a while and then more often after that. She’s never been so active,” Dr. E added, frowning, “She swore off the grid after Riko disappeared and then, well, she’s been out of reach for a while.” She looked at Hayden and then smiled, “I’ll get you her address. Maybe you should bring her in,” she turned to Jenna and winked, “I’m sure she’d love to see you.”

Hayden looked for approval from Jenna but she only shrugged. She returned her attention to the girl in the capsule. She wondered why she felt so strongly about being around her and whether or not she would know the eyes behind those eyelids.

Michel sat in his room, listening to the sounds of the room and space. He had to figure a way to get a message to the outside and yet, the eyes of the woman behind the glass haunted him. As much as he hated humans infused with technology, Uncle had shown him a sight he never wanted to see again. But as much as he hoped to forget it, he couldn’t. And, with a sigh of disgust, he walked to the door and opened it. Rayner stood on the other side.

“You need something?” Rayner asked rather gently.

Michel shrugged, “I want to check out the cyborg again. It looked interesting.”

“Liar, you hate technology that does that,” Rayner retorted, but stepped aside anyway.

Michel stepped past him and Rayner followed. Michel moved easily and quietly, but he knew better than to try to get away. There was no way Rayner would allow that. So Michel chose to stay quiet, not wanting to give anything away. He understood psychology and used it, often, to get what he wanted, but Uncle’s hold over Rayner was very strong. So, gathering intelligence until he had enough to make a move was what he was simply forced to settle for.

They walked through the dining room and he stopped at the door. He could hear the machines revving on the other side and sighed. He stepped through and noted the immediate temperature change. He hadn’t noticed it before, due to taking in all of his surroundings, but he noticed it now. The chill in the air made him thankful for his all-purpose clothes.

He walked over to the centerpiece and stopped. Michel swallowed and whispered, “Why would he do this to you?”

“Are you interested in my girl?” Uncle asked from behind and above him.

Michel didn’t move as a floating seat lowered to his side, Uncle seated comfortably on it. Michel didn’t make a move. Instead, he replied, casually, “I pity her.”

To this, Uncle scoffed, “Don’t. This is the best thing I’ve done for her. Don’t you see?” he added, happily, “I’ve freed her!”

Michel shook his head. “You’ve shackled and chained her down. Where is the freedom in that?” he added somberly.

Uncle reached forward and touched the glass rather intimately, “She is my masterpiece. There are two kinds of people in this world. People who can be integrated and updated, and those who cannot. She, much like her original test group, is one of very few left in this world who can be. She is magnificent,” he added in awe.

Michel shook his head, “She looks like she is in pain.”

“You have much too soft a heart,” Uncle stated and he moved away to monitor another area.

Michel leaned forward and whispered, “I’m so sorry.” He swallowed and jumped when her eyes opened. She stared straight at him and her eyes widened. Her pupils dilated and he noticed a series of monitors flashing from her sudden brain activity. He frowned and reached out to one, hoping to read it but Rayner grabbed his arm mid motion.

“You don’t want to interrupt that,” he stated softly.

Michel noticed Rayner’s watchful eyes on Uncle as he dropped his hand. Without fail, a very familiar series of waves and numbers, codes and equations, shot from the capsule onto the screens and into cyberspace. This happened five times and she stared at him the entire time. And then, when it was over, her eyes closed, as though fatigued, and fell back into her sleep-like state as her eyes closed.

Michel frowned, “What was that?”

Rayner replied dryly, “She’s searching. She’s searching for it.”

“For what?” Michel asked, raising his brows.

“The Haven,” Rayner stated and Michel suddenly felt his breath catch. Like clockwork, everything fell into place and the cogs in his brain started moving. The fit was perfect and it wasn’t pretty. He was not looking forward to working out his master plan to getting out.