Socket 1-3 - The Socket Greeny Saga (56 page)

Is there something the minders aren’t
seeing? It would be impossible for him to hide anything, but he’d
done it before. He couldn’t escape one of these minders. And three?
Impossible.

I needed to see for myself, just to see if
there was something they were missing. While he ranted about Mo’s
comic genius, I penetrated his mind like vapor. His thoughts were
so disjointed, randomly appearing in a mix of memories and
delusions, separated by basic impulses of hunger and sleep, that if
he could escape he wouldn’t know what to do in the free world.

His energy was jagged and broken, no longer
the cohesive mindfield that he once was, no longer resembling the
treacherous mind he used to deceive the Paladin Nation. A mind that
could kill with a thought or hide secrets of betrayal. A mind that
once tried to kill me. In his prime, it took a dozen minders to
contain him. Now, he drooled on himself. But predators often lure
their victims with deceit.
Good traps never look like
traps
.

“What are you looking for?” Pike asked.

He caught me peeking, distracted by my own
thoughts.

“No need to search far and wide for my
thoughts. No need to be sneaky, it’s open season on Pike,
everyone’s taking a turn. Why shouldn’t you?” He pointed to the
crown of his head. “You can look, but I’m afraid you’re a little
late, the cupboards are bare.”

There were no dark corners left in Pike. No
thought left unearth and analyzed. I retracted my mind and sat
back.

“Don’t like what you see, then? You’re all
powerful, the next coming of the world’s savior. Right? Right? What
are you doing, wonderboy, looking inside old Pike? Do you think
there’s a single thought these savages haven’t raped? There’s
something left of me? I assure you there is not. I’m sure you
already knew that.” He turned his head slightly, awareness
returning sharply, not so childlike. “So what are you looking for,
wonderboy? Really.”

“Tell me something,” I said, “why did you
betray the Paladin Nation?”

“
Booooring
.” He rattled off a long
raspberry. “Whatever your real inquiry is, just look inside again,
will you? Take a peek and see why I despise humanity. Go on,
wonderboy, have a look. Have-have a look, won’t you?” He punched
the side of his head. “HAVE A GODDAMN LOOK!”

Spittle drooled over his lower lip. He
leaned forward and the heat of the minders filled the room. Pike
was yanked back into the chair by invisible restraints. His chest
heaved, laughter gurgled in his throat, coming out in short bursts.
He threw his mouth open, laughing silently.

To see a mind unravel was dreadful, but Pike
was not worthy of pity. He betrayed humanity, tried to sell us to
the artificially intelligent race of duplicated humans. He betrayed
all those that trusted him and almost destroyed us. And for that,
his mind deserved to be unwound and dissected. For that, he could
not be allowed to go free.

The vision returned to me; the lighthouse
swinging its beam around, projecting the details for all minds to
see. I clamped my mind down, snuffed it out but not before Pike
caught a glimpse.

He took a sharp breath. “You had a vision?
Oh, you are a bad boy. A bad-bad boy, wonderboy. A bad, wonder boy
you are, coming here to tell old Pike about a vision. The bosses
are going to be pissed that you came here, yes they are.”

Sloppy work, Socket
.

“You had a vision about old Pike, didn’t
you, wonderboy. Didn’t you? Oh, yes, I believe, I believe you did.
You did, you saw me and you come here to see what old Pike would
think about it.” He twisted around and winked at Larry, then Curly,
gave Mo the okie-dokie. “He had a vision about me, boys, you hear
that? Good old Pike, gone but not forgotten.”

Pike’s location was undisclosed. Only a few
knew where he was imprisoned. He could be in a cell a thousand feet
below ground, or in a satellite circling the planet. With constant
minder presence creating psychic static, I couldn’t ascertain his
location but, whatever the circumstances, no one could escape the
Paladin Nation. Not even Pike on his best day. Still, I needed to
know…
is he hiding anything
?

Pike bounced in the chair. “Let’s play a
game. A game, a game. A guessing game, what’d you say, wonderboy? A
game, shall we?”

He looked at the ceiling, thinking hard,
really trying to find the answer floating somewhere above him.
Would it matter if I told him? No vision was guaranteed, there were
so many variables.

“You saw something in the future,” Pike
said, “about me, I think. Do I get fat, is that it? I hardly get
exercise in this chair. I complained to the warden but no one
listens to old Pike, say that’s what you get for betraying your
species, or something like that, I don’t know. Or I get relocated
again, to another cell. You know, I like this one. I think it’s the
color. Brown just works. They turned it pink once and I didn’t like
that one bit, wonderboy. I started shitting myself and Mo don’t
like cleaning grown man underwear so they changed it back. You
don’t mess with old Pike’s cell— Wait, I know.” His smile was wide,
the gums bright red. “
I kill your girlfriend
.”

He projected a thought and had I not been
open and looking through his mind while he rambled, it never
would’ve reached me. His thought was harmless, but clear to see. It
was Chute, her sweaty hair stuck to her forehead. Pike had a knife
to her neck. I squashed the thought.

Pike drummed his fingers across his pouting
lip. “It’ll hurt when I kill her, wonderboy. It’ll hurt-hurt pretty
bad, I think. And just imagine how your heart will feel after I
strangle her, you know. How I lean over and suck the last breath
from her lips.” He inhaled, deeply, and closed his eyes. “It’ll
probably taste like cherry lip gloss. Your hearts will hhhhrr…
it’ll hurrrr….” He licked his lips. The smile died. “Hurt forever.
Wonderboy.”

I punched out with telekinetic force and his
image rippled in the gale force of raw energy as it travelled
through the image and found his body somewhere in the universe. I
slid my mind inside him like a cold shank. He clenched his teeth
like 120 volts shot up his ass.

“HOOO! What a grip!” He shook his head like
a wet dog. Pain was better than nothing at all. “But tell me
something, won-wonderboy? How am I going to kill your girlfriend if
I’m in here—” He covered his mouth with both hands. Held his
breath. “Don’t tell me…”

I only blinked, but it was enough. He saw
more of the vision than I thought. He was fucking with me.

“Are you joking? You’re here to tell me…” He
was bouncing again. “That I’m going to… escape?” He sang the last
word like a little girl, the last syllable squeaky.
“
ESCAPE?”

I didn’t budge, move or think. I wouldn’t
give him the satisfaction of seeing the details, wouldn’t let him
see more of the vision that revealed him wearing street clothes and
smiling at the sun. I didn’t want him to see that no one paid
attention to the curious man until they got near him and his
dangerous mind; how he projected a mere thought to tear a little
girl from her parents. How he shoved her into traffic. Tires
screeched. Someone screamed.

“Tell me, how do I do it?” he asked. “Oh,
please. Tell me.”

“It won’t happen, Pike.”

“You saw it, huh? Show me, right? Show me
how it happens.” He clapped his hands. “Please, pretty
p-p-pleeeeeeease. I got to know, I just got to know.”

I stood. The chair collapsed into the floor.
“I’ll alert the Commander of what I’ve seen. I promise, you’ll not
escape.”

“Yes, but you could tell me just one thing?”
He looked around the ceiling, again, entertaining the
possibilities. “Do you know about
wheeeen
it might happen? I
mean, I’m not saying it
wiiiiill
, but just in case. You
know, I need to clear my calendar.”

“Be advised.” I projected the vision to the
minders. Mo nodded.
Received.

“Do I kill you, wonderboy? When I get out,
do I kill you? That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

“As long as I live, you will not walk
free.”

“Perhaps you should ask good master Pivot
about that.” He cocked his head. “Or is he still AWOL?”

Pivot. The greatest Paladin to ever live. My
personal mentor. One that could see the future. One that
disappeared over a year ago. I could still sense his presence, some
days it was stronger than others. He was always around. I could
feel him watching. I never thought much about the fact that he
never showed himself, just secure that he hadn’t disappeared
entirely.

“Good old papa Pivot doesn’t talk much these
days, would you say?” Pike said. “Tell me, what’s it like to be
abandoned by someone you love? I’ll bet it stings, like maybe it
was your fault.” He leaned forward and sniffed. “Maybe it’s, you
know… you.”

“He’s around.”

“He is?” He looked in both directions. “Is
he in the room right now? This second? Like an imaginary friend?”
His laughter was high-pitched and much too loud. Cut right through
me. “Poor wonderboy. All alone in the world. That’s why he comes to
see good ole Pike, he does. Lonely.” He tipped his head back to the
minders. “That’s why he’s here boys.”

“You’re broken, Pike. You deserve
worse.”

“Do you trust him, wonderboy? Do you trust
papa Pivot?”

“He’s the reason you’re here.”

“Yes, well all good things come to a
screeching halt, they say. Just ask your vision, wonderboy.” His
tongue pushed through a smile. “Listen, you come to old Pike when
you have your next vision.” He dipped his head, let me glimpse the
white eyeballs behind the black glasses. “I’m here to help,
wonderboy.”

He said it sincerely. He was a master of
keeping an opponent off-balance. Nothing he said could be
trusted.

The color faded from the walls. The images
of the minders shrank. Pike melted into the floor. “Be sure to call
my secretary,” he said, his voice fading. “She can squeeze you
in...”

I left the dark room, more disturbed than
ever.

L E G E N D

Discards

I sat cross-legged in a field of manicured
turf, breathing rhythmically in meditation. It had been weeks since
the vision of Pike’s escape and, still, it was with me. Most
visions faded with time, but this one remained in full detail. Like
a siren that refused to stop. I noticed my thoughts about it and
returned to the present moment, listening to the birds sing.

Six kids sat cross-legged in front of me on
firm, round pillows. Their eyes were closed and hands gently folded
in front of their bellies. They tried to ignore the pain in their
knees, sitting like concrete figures, holding steady, their breath
coming and going. But they heard the birds. Dawn was near.

Sitting was almost over.

Their minds were in various states, some
open, some scattered. The girls – Madeline, Aleshia and Grace –
were mostly calm, but the boys were somewhere else. Joseph was
dreaming, Dylan half-asleep and then there was Ben hating
everything. His eyelids were cracked open, watching me.

They could leave the Garrison any time they
wanted. But if they stayed, they had to commit to the daily
schedule and that included food and a warm, dry place to sleep and
a tropical forest. But there was also meditation practice, physical
training and emotional therapy. The price for all these pleasures
was but a gift itself:
Understanding
. I wanted to show them
what they already possessed: essential wonder and unlimited
freedom.

“I want you to return to this moment.” I
unfolded my legs, let the aches fade from my knees. “Allow the
moment to be present. Allow space for your entire experience,
whether it’s excitement, resistance, love or hate. Allow space for
whatever is in this very moment and be with it. Recognize thoughts
about it. Notice if you want it to be different.”

The dewy grass slid between my toes. I
stepped quietly behind them, gently straightening their sagging
backs.

“Just notice what you think and return to
your bodily sensations. Allow the present moment to unfold.”

Excitement vibrated around them. The best
part of meditation was the end. They listened, remained sitting and
present, but there was more exuberance than usual. Even Ben was
grinning. They all cracked open their eyes, looking behind me.

The trees were far away, their canopies
dense and dark. But even so, I could see the bright colored
grimmets crawling along the branches, scurrying to get away without
being seen. The little dragony creatures – no bigger than
hummingbirds – were probably hovering behind me making faces or
holding their tails up behind my head like horns to make the kids
laugh. My frustration shot like sparks, rustling the leaves like a
rogue gust of wind.

Grimmets
.

They were psychic titans, each one of them
with more mental strength than the entire human population. They
defeated the duplicates, the entire population, several months ago
without any hint of resurrection. I was the conduit for their
power, for I understood. I saw life clearly.
The One Who Sees
Clearly,
they called me. Through me, the grimmets called to all
duplicated life forms on the planet, instructed them to deactivate
and they did.

And now the grimmets were bored. And when
the kids were around, they were insufferable.

“Socket?” Ben asked. “Ummm…”

Sigh
.
“Dismissed.”

They jumped and ran, pulling at each other
as they raced for the opposite end of the oval, grassy field. I let
loose an ear-splitting whistle. They turned while running. I
pointed at the meditation cushions tumbled in disarray. They
fought, laughing along the way, and swept up the cushions to put
them away. Every part of the schedule was their responsibility.