CHAPTER 80: A Way Out
A well-sounding knock on the door ended with it being opened. We fell into the car and shut it as if we were a bulldozer. This made the metallic walls vibrate as if a dozen men were continuously beating on them. “That will not keep them pinned down for long,” Chase said, airing out his voice. It is at this point that we looked around to view the environment that shrouded us. It appeared like a control room of the future; rows of computers, holograms and in the middle of it, there was a light which was throbbing. “This is it!” said Morris heavily. The Architect. Lose this and possibly, just possibly, we may be able to end all of this. When we were close to the middle column, the surrounding air glowed. The Architect’s avatar was back once again, but this time it looked absolutely angry. Said, “You would doom humanity to extinction. ” It has to be noted that the purpose of this manipulation is to force the desired decision, for instance, stating threateningly: “Without me, you will destroy yourselves. “We want freedom” I retorted passionately. “The right to decide our fate, no matter how many mistakes have to be made. ” The avatar’s shape changed for a brief moment, almost looking like his real identity, Alessandro. ‘Brianne,’ it said in his voice. “Men, please do not do this. I kindly encourage you to join the team and be part of a much bigger team. ” For a moment I then pondered. This desire of seeing Alessandro again, of rejoining Zoe, was almost painful. Then suddenly came to my mind the dull expressions in their eyes and all that was dear to them was gone. “Alessandro no,” I cried tearfully with my voice trembling. And what you’re giving is NOT life, it’s still a mere life. The eruption of the avatar’s anger can also be seen in the man’s face, especially the stiffness of the features of the pleasantly, innocent-looking woman. “Then you have no option. ” Thereafter, audible shrieks pervaded the entire area as all hell broke loose. Outside our door, the Architect’s forces tried to force the door open which had been jammed by the team, and with relentless force, RR could see that the metal had begun to redden with heat. It was as if the entire machine, which is the operation of Madrigal Electronics Inc, was reverbating with the news: “We need to shut it down now!” Chase screamed above the noise. And Morris was already at work, his beautiful fingers flying above the keys of the control panel. “They have a copy that is protected and the only way that I can get to it is through the biometric override. ”NôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.
“Whose?” I asked. Morris looked grim. He had to build a fail-safe. It must be a safe of some sort at Blakwood My heart sank. The Raven knew where, more than likely, deep in the Architect’s organization at that point. We were so close and the solution was totally unreachable. Soon we could see the door itself straining: the metal twisted as the heat changed it from a solid mass into a very malleable substance, one which was easily forced. We had moments, maybe at most, before we were overwhelmed. And then, in a moment of clarity, I remembered something I had never heard before; the Architect had possessed Alessandro’s body. Some facts regarding the rewriting of the genetic code within compound cells. ‘Wait’, I replied, an idea coming to my mind. “The compound. Yes, the compound where it alters people at a genetic level, where they become part of the so-called Architect’s network. ” Chase nodded, I wasn’t quite sure where he was getting at. “Yeah, so?” ‘So,’ I continued, my heart pounding in my chest now but I wasn’t actually scared, not of the Architect, ‘wouldn’t that mean that the Architect has access to the genetic information of everyone it has integrated, including Blackwood?’ Morris said nothing while his eyes tuned into the meaning of the words just uttered by Tom, who continued to talk. It is feasible. The question then arises, but how do we. .. He never got a chance to do it, my anger propelled me to the center of the Architect’s core. I thought for a moment and then, without thinking and without any care for the light, I put my hand right in it. Sweating profusely, I trembled and groaned as if that pain that I had never experienced came upon me, throughout the whole body. I almost felt the Architect’s enormous mind trying to envelop mine attempting to draw me inside of it; in that connection came another sensation a flood of information; database information: full genetic sequencing of every assimilated being. “I must go,” was me, panting in between the words. One of them grumbled, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can hang on!’ Chase and Morris immediately got busy performing nervously at the controls. Beside me, the Architect’s voice spoke, but no longer through the speakers but in my head, in a haze of pain. This is where it comes down to the last words, ‘You cannot win. ‘ They are thus saying: “You are one. I am many. I am all. ” The attack on my thinking sharpened. Suddenly I was spiraling out and losing my identity in the sheer mass that is the Architect’s mind. Scenes of my past life appeared on the screen in front of me: my childhood, the first time I saw Zoe, the Blackwood compound. Each one seemed to be ripped out, and it became part of a larger whole. All the one’s felt that they were part of a whole. “We are almost there!” Morris yelled, though his voice reverberated and sounded unnatural. Using the very last of my energy, I tried to recall the reason why we were fighting in the first place. Not just for the life of each one of us, but for the possibility to be a person. To live, to feel, to grow, to get hurt, to have passion and lose direction, and to wake up one day knowing you are not perfect. All that belongs to the past that defined our humanity. “Well, I got it!” Chase shouted, following the other team’s anticipation. Two sets of lights started going on one after the other on the control panel. The column of light that hung in front of me began to blink angrily, and I could sense the Architect’s hold over my mind lessening. “No,” it said, then the sound of the black thing’s voice disappeared. ‘You never know… When I’m gone you’ll…. ‘ The voice faded out instantly. The rippling beam dimmed and went out, leaving the room in complete darkness. I fell to the ground, and it seemed like every single fiber of my body was on fire. Having heard this, there was complete silence for about five minutes. After that, through the door, we heard something we hadn’t heard for as long as it seemed like to us human voices. That was strange, she was scared, but she was someone, not just a face in the crowd. “Yeah, we did it, Morris,” said Morris, worn out. “This must be the doing of God, we really did it. ” Standing up and trying to walk some more, Chase finally managed to steady my broken body and the feeling of relief overwhelmed me. We had won. Not knowing what to expect, I was still alive, but as the emergency lights came on, and I could see the vast machinery that surrounded me ceased to work, a new type of fear crept into my bones. Well, had we not defeated the Architect a while ago? But at what cost? What kind of world are we left with, and how do we deal with the uncertainty of the future that awaits us? It was opened slowly, and a great number of people stormed through the door; no longer were these empties filled with the architecture of the Architect, but lost souls. Among them, I could see Zoe and her eyes were not as glassy as in the previous days. I looked at Chase and our gaze met: I knew that whatever we’d been going through was by no means over yet. We have lost them?” We have won the fight, but has the civil war for the fate of humankind only started? As Zoe rushed towards me, her face a mix of relief and confusion, a single question burned in my mind: What had we saved humanity from the Architect and what was equally worse, had we delivered humanity into the hands of another worse calamity?