The Outer Rim | Book One: Far From Home

Chapter 2 Revelation

It was dark and cold, the room barely lit by a few lamps and the glow from several monitor screens. The cool metal of the table pressing into my back, the rough ropes keeping me pinned and rubbing at my exposed skin. It was an all too familiar feeling , one I had experienced hundreds of times. I didn't struggle at this point, already knowing it's too late, but when they had come for me... well... someone is missing a few teeth now.

A shadowy figure sits nearby behind the monitors, wires trailing from the computer down to the floor, then up along the table where they connected to the back of my head, burrowing into my flesh and connecting to my implant.

There was a clicking of keys, the figure typing away at the keyboard. I braced myself as best I could, waiting expectantly for the pain I knew was to come.

It took me by surprise, just like every other time, burning hot pain shooting through the wires and slamming into my skull, making my vision go white. I screamed, my voice high pitched and hoarse as what felt like a thousand snakes crammed their way into my head and started writhing around, biting at my brain and squeezing it in their coils!

My body thrashed, back arching, eyes bulging, arms pulling at the ropes that kept me bound, skin rubbing raw and breaking. I couldn't stop screaming, not even when my mind retreated in on itself. I could hear my own voice, distant and unfamiliar, my body simply reacting to the pain that coursed through it.

Then it stopped and I fell back down to the table. I was breathing hard, panting, sweat coating my body. The heads up display of my neural implant was going haywire, flickering with static. Errors popped up by the dozens, only to be minimized as warning messages appeared, trying to get my attention.

I glanced at one, the message telling me that I had sustained injuries to my arms. I knew it was right, I could feel the warmth oozing out of me, hear the soft splash as my blood dripped off my arms and pooled on the table.

There was the clack of keys, and I tried to get myself ready, tried to brace for it. It did not help. I left the table again, crying and thrashing, pulling against the bonds that kept me there. The pain was so much worse than before, like someone was taking a hot, iron poker and branding my brain. Again, I screamed. Higher, longer, till my throat was raw, pleading and begging for it to stop.

My HUD flickered wildly, the heart beat monitor in the upper left corner rising and falling rapidly. More errors, more warnings, all of it overloading my senses. My anti-virus popped up, warning me of something, but the pain was too great for me to pay it any attention.

I tried to hide, slinking back into the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind. My body fell limp, no longer able to sustain the energy needed to struggle. My screaming had ceased, yet my mouth remained open in a silent screech.

Finally, it stopped, but I hardly noticed, having retreated so far back into my psyche. I tried to think, to comprehend what was going on, but everything felt fuzzy and distant. I wasn't seeing things correctly, it was as if I was looking through a screen, watching the world through someone else's eyes. I heard things too, voices, people talking. They were far off, muffled and unintelligible.

I closed my eyes, wanting to just rest for a moment, just a single moment, the voices and noises around me slowly fading.

My eyes snap open at the sound of screaming and I find myself standing in a crowd. Snow fell all around us, a giant Christmas tree beautifully decorated right in the center of what looked to be a plaza. Reefs and bows decorated lampposts, twinkling lights hung from every building, along with other festive decorations.