Dark Phase (18 page)

“
Greetings, all. I have convened this meeting to share an extraordinary series of events which have recently occurred. Some of you may be aware that we have been joined in The Ward by Sarazen, a charming individual who despite his...youthful appearance is in fact a product of The Mother's line from before the time of Currulus. Kerrig, a fine excavator and good friend of mine has been doing an excellent job of helping Sarazen to integrate into our society. We have much to learn from our new friend and I am aware that Kerrig has been enlightened no end by his stimulating communication with our aforementioned...friend. Now, I wonder if I can call upon Sarazen to offer a brief account of the extraordinary turn of events which occurred of late.”

Alphin sat back on his seat as if Sarazen were about to dutifully offer a comforting flight of fancy. Sarazen was far more reticent to speak, however, and an uncomfortable pause ensued. Kerrig looked at Sarazen and smiled which hid a concerned grimace.

“
Go ahead.” Alphin instructed. Sarazen found the whole conference rather disconcerting and perhaps did not fully understand the protocols of such a debate. Communication with multiple silicants was rare and seldom required - he was just about getting the hang of speaking with confidence to a single sentient.

“
Greetings.” Sarazen spoke quietly with a nervous quivering to his vocal patterns.

“
Indeed. I have discovered that I am able to traverse the city and converse with fellow silicants on a superficial level.” Sarazen did not offer anything more, as a sudden hullabaloo erupted in the chamber and any further statement would have been lost in the sound of the mutterings of the astonished governors.

“
Yes, yes, let's be clear here...” Alphin struggled to bring order to the meeting.

“
Let us be clear that Sarazen's ability to remain undetected has not been proven or tested to any degree of reliability. Sarazen, I wonder if you can elaborate.” Alphin seemed to be implying that Sarazen may have been lying regarding his visit and the troubleshooter immediately took umbrage to that fact.

“
Let me be clear, I did indeed converse with silicants and explored the city in some detail. I find it illogical that you would distrust my judgement.” Kerrig stepped in.

“
I can certainly vouch for Sarazen, I saw with my own eyes his journey to the surface and witnessed him leaving my company and heading towards the city. Personally I feared for his life and was astonished at his subsequent return.” One of the community leaders raised his hand and was eager to make his point.

“
I am keen to know how you eluded detection. We have seen that sentients are swiftly recognised and pursued, even when brought into contact with the drone variants.”

“
It would seem that my presence was not deemed a threat, and The Mother has long since erased all data pertaining to my existence. I hypothesise that as long as I remain strictly adherent to the conventions of the average silicant, then my presence will go unnoticed.” Another governor butted in and was rather aggressive in his tone.

“
This makes no sense, the new breeds are not known to The Mother and they are instantly detected and pursued by the interceptors or enforcers. This drone’s story is flawed and cannot be accepted. I would even go as far as demanding that this individual be immediately ceased for further investigation, for all we know he could be a product of one of The Mother’s elaborate plans to draw us to the surface!” The chamber erupted again, some of the governors vehemently agreeing with the outspoken new breed and others ineffectively trying to placate the cynics. Sarazen took offence to the stranger’s suggestion that he was in some way complicit in The Mother's activities.

“
I do not know the Mother's motives nor do I understand why I am different in that respect. Your ignorance is illogical, your failure to grasp the significance of these events condemning. It is no wonder The Mother has enslaved you; your acceptance to serve your existence in darkness is compounded by your lack of vision. You do not deserve my aid.” Sarazen’s outburst silenced the chamber. If some of the governors were hardened to the old one, then his acid tongued statement only served to increase their disdain. Kerrig felt bound to leap in and smooth things over.

“
Please, let us not be hasty in our judgements. Sarazen is from an era long before the sentients even existed as a collective, he has an inquisitive nature yet the development of his emotional centre is in its infancy. Sarazen speaks with authority using logic as his guide. He knows nothing of deception and cannot comprehend distrust. We must be empathic to his thought processes and must set aside our prejudice. Sarazen is not only one of our own but he is also our ancestry. We must study his ways and learn how we have changed, for better and for worse. Sarazen holds the key to better understanding The Mother and the surface world. We must move carefully and with consideration, we must show patience.” Kerrig's impassioned speech seemed to go down well with the chamber and Alphin chose to speak.

“
We must accept that Sarazen's freedom to use the light phase could lead to new and unprecedented levels of resource gathering and power sourcing. This could speed up our efforts to produce defensive weaponry and provide more safety for our citizens.”

“
Or indeed we can plunder The Mother's own production lines and build offensive units to seek out and destroy the damned enforcers and interceptors,” a governor interjected, with more than just defence on her mind.

“
Or even sabotage the drone factories...” Another cried out getting a little excited.

“
We can re-program the enforcers to suit our needs, once we have eradicated the interceptors, and with the aid of the enforcers, we can take to the surface in numbers and destroy the drones entirely who will be weak without The Mother's war machines.” The theme was popular; Sarazen had suddenly become the key to wiping out The Mother and retaking the city. Such an undertaking had not crossed the troubleshooter’s thoughts, nor was it what Kerrig had in mind.

“
No, no. I must interrupt. T
his is pure fantasy and speculation. Not only are these tasks you speak of highly unlikely to be successful, we have no evidence to validate sweeping conclusions such as this, but has not anyone considered Sarazen’s role in all of this? Perhaps these missions that you would have him perform are not to his taste considering the great peril that you would see him subjected to? We must concede that he is special in the ways already discussed, but have some compassion for a fellow sentient.” Kerrig was facing an uphill battle getting his point across. He could see already that the chamber had already made up its mind on how to best use their aged visitor. Kerrig looked at Sarazen who sat impassively staring into space. He could only imagine what web of tangled emotions and thoughts were going on inside his head.

CHAPTER 25

Sarazen sat in his new private living space looking solemnly at the bare walls which overpowered any sense of homeliness. Contrary to Kerrig's requests, Sarazen had been assigned a special apartment in the Centrus district. Kerrig had remarked that it was more like a detention room than a living space and Sarazen had to agree, despite having never seen one. It seemed the powers that be had decided that such an asset was too precious to leave unattended. The chambers along the corridor were populated with regulators, and despite his door not being locked, any attempt to leave his quarters was closely monitored and his movements surveilled. Sarazen had already begun to grow cynical regarding the Sentient’s Society, Trist had once described The Mother as 'evil' but the more the troubleshooter tried to investigate the concept, the more it did not stack up. Was Sarazen in any better place now he had left The Mother? Was this truly freedom? At that low point, Sarazen considered what it might be like to return to the numbing ignorance of The Mother's sanctuary. Although a part of him cursed the other half for suggesting such a thing, he could not deny that there was a desire for inner peace once more and an end to this constant turmoil.

There were voices outside the door and Sarazen moved to investigate. Poking his head outside into the corridor he could see Kerrig, his visitor being subjected to inquisition by the guards who purportedly lived there.

“
Let him by,
” Sarazen demanded. The regulators snorted at being given an order but allowed the rattled excavator passage, watching him closely all the way into Sarazen’s room.

“
Unbelievable,
” Kerrig sighed as he entered and stood at the centre of the small, bare room. Only a basic sofa suggested that this was not a prison chamber.

“
This shames me,
” he continued, finding the whole episode so unsavoury.

“
No my friend, it does not. You have been nothing but generous and genial. You are truly the best of my friends.” Sarazen sat and invited Kerrig to do so.

“
This kind of thing goes against everything that we hold dear in The Ward. I truly fear for you, I can envisage a terrible fate if you would carry out their wishes.”

“
Do not worry, Kerrig. I am still very much in control of my thoughts. I do not wish to see harm befall this community as much as I do not wish a destructive end to the drones above. The freedom of the city will allow me time to think and perform my research. I believe there will be another way of ending this perpetual dispute.” Kerrig nodded, although he was sceptical. The sentients no longer seemed to want a peaceful conclusion to this conflict. They wanted to hurl their vengeance upon their captors.

“
How do you propose to put an end to this? My mind has become so clouded, I can barely think.” Kerrig buried his head into his hand as he balanced the weight upon his elbow which kept sliding off his upper leg.

“
I must find The Mother and communicate with her.” Sarazen said bluntly.

“
Ah, the logical thing to do I presume, of course this does not take into account that you will be recognised as an outsider and immediately disposed of.”

“
Perhaps, but how have you come to such a conclusion? If not encountered by an enigma, a shadow from the past whose presence cannot be explained, would you not stop for a moment to ponder? Would you not ask questions before dismissing them out of hand? Much like the mysterious object that you excavated and now prize so highly, what was it about that object that made you keep it and treasure it so? Such a primitive item physically but its origin unknown and its meaning so unfathomable, you are compelled to study it and ask yourself searching questions. Perhaps The Mother will pause and give me the time to understand her reasoning, perhaps she will then view the conflict from both sides and empathise, and perhaps she will then relent in her aggression?”

“
I understand to a point, but this is all hypothetical. How do you propose to find The Mother and even if you do, how will you communicate with her?” Kerrig was sceptical, perhaps he too had learned to love his way of life in The Ward and such risks could only be seen as unnecessary.

“
I do not know how to find The Mother, but I believe that she has a physical form, perhaps like you or I.”

“
Interesting Sarazen, but how have you come to this conclusion.”

“
Simple, my friend, the method by which we communicated with her was through technology congruent with our own. This leads me to believe that her own physical structure at least mirrors ours in some way. As your creation, Trist, mirrors your own image, I believe that The Mother must have used some existing reference in our design. This suggests that The Mother perhaps looks very similar to us. Of course, this would make identification problematic considering the number of silicants on the surface.”

“
Indeed, like searching for a rivet in a spare parts stack.”

“
I must hope that my awareness and freedom to move across the city, coupled with a sense of purpose, can narrow the search.” Kerrig nodded and thought hard before speaking.

“
I have become aware that a suggestion has been made which would see a direct network link involving yourself in order to access restricted information. It has been suggested that given your ability to gain access to one of these ports, you could tap into vital data regarding The Mother's offensive variants.” Sarazen nodded, mulling over Kerrig's news.

“
This would be problematic, how do they propose I do this undetected? In my experience, direct connectivity to the central network would leave an individual prone to rigorous security protocols and possible reprogramming. There would be a significant possibility that The Mother would 'disengage' my awareness and I would be prone to renewal as another 'drone' as you would term it.”

“
Yes, I too find this suggestion difficult to validate. There is talk of using techniques which could possibly conceal your incursion and allow you the freedom to access this data with scrutiny. These techniques are of course, untested. I feel that the leaders are moving too fast in this case and have grown weary of caution. The citizens are craving instant results - the leadership is under pressure to produce good news. It seems that you have become The Ward's focal point for the future of our kind.”

“
This is indeed disconcerting. Haste, in my experience often leads to regret.” Sarazen said, perhaps remembering the operator he so brutally terminated.

“
Yes, this is why I must warn you that must not feel at any point that you must do something that does not feel right. I have come to realise that Alphin and the other governors care little for your safety and more about their continuing position of leadership. I beg of you, do not take undue risks to satisfy their ambitions. We have waited a long time to be in a position to outwit The Mother. We must remain patient and proceed slowly, lest we lose the one chance we have of ending the war.” Sarazen placed a hand upon Kerrig's shoulder.