Unison (The Spheral) (61 page)

When my father turned seventy-eight, I begged him to stop transports.  This was the year he died in the old tunnel. He acquiesced, only because Mother wouldn’t let up until he did. Four days after he agreed to stop the transports, Mother frantically knocked on my cabin door.

“He’s gone! I knew he wouldn’t listen! He’s such a stubborn old slock.” She cried. “We have to find him, Damon. I don’t want to lose him.”

Mother and I caught up with Father about three kilometers past the mouth of the tunnel. He had  three passengers with him.

“Damon will continue the transport,” Mother said. “Come back with me now.”

“I’m okay.” He continued to walk.

“Stop with all the heroics!” Mother said. “No one can save this slocking world.”

“I’m no one’s hero. This is something I must do.”

“What is driving you to do this? Why do you hold on to your secret? It’s worse than poison. It’s slowly killing you inside,” Mother said.

“Can we discuss our private business on the way back? I have passengers to transport.” Father walked off, and we followed. By the time we made it to the trainlets, he was weak. I helped the passengers get settled in their trainlet and then returned to ours where Mother was setting the motion sensor alarm.

I assisted Father onto the sleeping bag. His complexion was pale.

“Why didn’t you listen?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine after a rest.”

“You’re coming home with me,” Mother said.

“No.” He lay on his back. “I’m not stopping.”

“This is a crusade you know you can’t win.” Mother kneeled beside him. “Now you’re going to leave us alone because you’re too filled with pride to concede defeat.” She cried.

“Our son is strong. He’ll take over for me.”

“I don’t want him to take over. I want him to be freed from everything that ties him to Unity.”

“If you really believe he’s lived before, you know he’s already tied.” Father faced me. “Continue Freedomline. Be there to lead the passengers.”

“I won’t have to be.” I sat beside Father and placed my hands over his head. “You’ll be there for them.” I closed my eyes and waited for the energy to heat up my hands but nothing happened. “Why isn’t it working?” I stared at my hands. “It worked for Tyrus and Master Franklin.”

“Maybe I don’t have any life left in me,” Father said.

“You did, but you gave it all away and kept none for yourself,” Mother said.

“I’ve lived long enough. Before I left Unity, I never thought I’d make it past my fiftieth year.”

“I can’t do this without you, Father,” I said.

“You can’t…or you won’t?”

As I was about to speak, Mother glared at me to keep my remark to myself. “I will, Father.” I held his hand.

“There’s something I must tell you, and I hope you won’t hate me.” His eyes filled up with tears.

“I can never hate you,” I said. “You gave me a life I never would’ve—”

“I helped create the scourge.”

“How?” Mother asked surprised.

“The scourge isn’t real,” I said.

“It’s very real. The curative signal sent to the implant causes tumors to grow in the brain. When I found out, I shut off the transmission, but the Overseer overrode my decision and used the scourge to explain it away. It was then that I discovered the disease was originally a fabrication—a clever way to keep Unitians from wanting to leave.”

“Why did the Chosen continue using the nonessential pulse?” I asked.

“For any nonessential who failed to succumb to the curative signal. The Overseer liked to be thorough.”

“Oh, Torrin.” Mother ran her hand through his hair. “All these years—the guilt you carried all alone.” She cried. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t help comfort you.”

“It’s not your fault. I was naive. As a scientist, I believed my work would serve humanity, but I soon realized very few purple sleeves were loyal to the Sacred Oath. And a few dead Unitians were acceptable to the Overseer if it meant his vision of Unity could be achieved.”

The last sentence triggered a buried memory from my first incarnation, along with the strongest vertigo I ever experienced.

“That’s why you can’t give up.” Father took my hand. “Please…don’t give up on—”

I rolled on to my side and curled myself into a tight ball. My stomach felt like a bomb ready to detonate.

“What’s wrong, Damon?” Mother hurried over to me.

I took slow, deep breaths, trying to keep myself from vomiting. “Water.”

Mother got me my canteen, and I slowly sat up and drank.

“Did a new memory just awaken?” she asked.

I gazed at my parents who loved me, but I doubted whether they still would after I revealed to them what I’d just remembered, what I kept hidden from myself for eight incarnations…until now. I would’ve preferred to remain silent, but the words escaped from out of my mouth. “In my first incarnation…I was the Overseer.”

OVERSEER

FIRST INCARNATION

A
fter I shot Kai, my escape from Unity was interrupted when Danielle surprised me in the lobby.

“Master Damon.” She bowed. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“A good night's sleep was all I needed.”

“You had me worried last night. I would’ve stayed until the morning, but I had to work early.” She noticed my backpack. “Are you going on vacation?”

“Camping. I always relax better under a starry sky.”

We walked to the crail stop in front of my building.

“You surprised me last night,” she said.

“In what way?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard a purple sleeve speak as openly as you. I was starting to lose faith in the Corporate Hierarchy, but the way you talked to me last night—it made me believe in the Sacred Oath again.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

“It’s the truth. All of Unity would be better off with you as a Chosen. I’d even elect you for Overseer if I had a voting privilege.”

A crail stopped in front of us, and the door opened. I hesitated as I was stuck somewhere between my grief over Flora and a moment of inspiration. One conversation with Danielle is all it took for me to believe I could make things better for the Unitians. If I succeeded, I’d be absolved of Wade’s and Flora’s deaths.

I kissed Danielle’s forehead. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“We’ll continue this later.” I pointed to the open door of the crail. “You can have this one. I forgot something in my loft.”

“Enjoy your vacation.” She smiled and left.

Before contacting Unity Forces, I wiped my finger prints off the plazer I’d stolen and placed it in Kai’s carryall. I then connected his holologue to the transmission towers feed. Two Unity Guards arrived to question me while a search and retrieval team gathered evidence.

Garrison, the leader of the unit, kept his gaze fixed on the optic of his motion camera as he talked to me. “For audio/visual identification, please state your full name.”

I stared directly at the lens and answered without hesitation. “Master Elect Damon 1300-333-1M.”

Garrison bowed to me in a way that seemed forced. “Congratulations on winning your nomination,” he said with a trace of disinterest and looked back into the lens. “Why do you believe Master Kai 1277-103-4M, a man of the highest honor, came here with the pretext to kill you?”

“I don’t make this accusation without merit. I—”

“Upon close inspection of your loft, there are no signs of struggle, and you’ve suffered no injury. Is this statement correct?”

The younger guard leered at Garrison and then shook my hand. “I’m Steven. My partner and I are here to help you get through this ordeal. All these questions are routine, and if you’d prefer to do this a little later, we can accommodate you.”

“I appreciate your consideration. This has been the most traumatic and saddest day of my life. I respected Master Kai, and Harmony is working in tandem with the curative signal to combat my grief over his self-destruction. I’d rather finish this up today, so I can take some time off to heal.”

“We understand.” Steven glared at Garrison. “Don’t we?”

“Of course, we do. I only wish to resolve this in a manner that works best for you, Master Elect Damon. Can you please tell us the purpose of Master Kai’s visit?” He peered back into the optic.

“He wanted to destroy Harmony.”

“Destroy? Why?” Steven asked.

“Kai thought Harmony’s real purpose was for mind control, and he came here to force a confession from me. When he didn’t get the answer he wanted, he threatened to destroy the towers to free the Unitians from my alleged control.”

Steven eyed Garrison as though concealing something.

“The towers were fried a little over an hour ago,” Garrison said.

One of the guards searching my loft overheard our discussion and handed  Kai's holologue to Garrison. After he examined it, he yelled out to the guards in the room, “Return to headquarters! We found what we’re looking for!”

Steven bowed to me. “My sincerest apologies for any inconvenience our questioning may have caused you.”

“If you can think of anything you might have forgotten, please call us,” Garrison said. “You will no doubt be rewarded for the heroics you’ve displayed here today.”

“We can take you to a curate if you’d like,” Steven said.

“I’d rather be alone.”

They left, and the evidence I planted on Kai was accepted without any further investigation. For my treachery, I was awarded a seat among the Chosen. Five years later I became Overseer for my campaign promise of identifying the COR frequency and turning off the stun on the implant. Shortly after I won, I ran tests on volunteers and learned that the frequency was only present in my brain. I kept it a secret and later told the Chosen that COR couldn’t be harnessed by technology. By then, I was well-respected and no one cared, even though the stun remained. All I had to do was promise each Unitian a few more extra credits a week, and that was enough to satisfy them.

I entered the immediate-care wing of Unity Hospital and approached the desk.

The receptionist stood and bowed. “Honor to meet you, your Lordship.”

“What room?” I asked.

“I’ll take you there myself.” She led me down a hall, and I entered Danielle’s room. She was diagnosed with the scourge four weeks after I was inducted as Overseer.

“Will she awaken?” I asked a nurse who was tending to her.

“I’m sorry, your Lordship. We’ve done all we can for her. The disease has progressed too far.”

“Forward all her medical files to my secretary.”

“I’ll do that now.”

“I’d like to be alone.”

The receptionist and nurse bowed and left me alone. I gazed at Danielle who was my first Overmaiden. Unlike Flora, she stayed with me through my late hours and never questioned my long periods of absence.

As I took Danielle’s limp hand into mine, I was overcome by ambivalence. I liked the respect and honor that came with being Overseer, but I felt unchanged underneath. Unitians were kind to me because of my title rather than for who I was. Danielle was with me because she caught a glimpse of who I truly was during our mystery date. She believed I’d help save Unity, and I believed I had. I never had the chance to ask Danielle if I lived up to her expectations; she died three weeks later.