The Split

Chapter 30

Washington D.C., 2085

The pink figure appeared in front of us by hologram, its image shimmering. A small drone popped out from somewhere on the ceiling, passing through the hologram of the figure before hovering in front of us, just a meter away at eye level. A blue beam of light shot out from the bottom of the drone, covering our face as we were forced to squint.

"Captain Cyrus Miles, designation: CIA Task Force, identity confirmed." The voice came from the pink shape, "Neural Interface detected. Scanning.... Scanning... Interface damaged. Registration number 37621. Access granted."

The door opened and we went through. It sealed shut behind us, and the door panel changed from green back to red as it locked. Luce sighed with audible relief and let go of his gun, letting it hang from its strap loosely by his side.

We looked at each other.

"Well, no way to go but forward right?" Luce asked.

We nodded and continued our journey forward. Passing door after door, I sensed Cy's frustration. We had lost count of the doors a while back and the hallway seemed to stretch on indefinitely. After what had felt like hours, we went through a door to find a longer hallway with a larger door, almost three times the size of the previous ones. The pink figure appeared in front of us again, suddenly taking on a more human tone.

"You have found us, welcome back Captain Miles."

The door slid open and we walked into a large circular room. The space was massive, on the scale of the throne room where I had first encountered the entity. We moved through the room onto a circular walkway, ringing around the sides. At the edge was a guard rail. We walked towards it and looked down. The room went down for thousands of meters, surrounded by levels of walkways, indistinguishable from the one we were on. We could barely make out the bottom of the expanse, and felt dizzy looking that far over the railing.

"What the hell is this place...?" Luce muttered looking around wide eyed. The sound of moving machinery and torches cutting through metal echoed from below. We followed the source of the noise to see mechanical arms working independently on various items, all impossible to see from our height. The middle rows of walkway were covered with the machines carrying out their tasks.

"Hello Cyrus." A man's voice rang out behind us. We turned around to see the pink figure on a screen descending from the ceiling. All around the top walkway screens appeared into view, all bearing the image of the mysterious shape.

"What are you, and where am I?" Cyrus asked, I could hear the strain and edge in his voice.

"The question is not what I am, but who I am. Walk with me." The other screens on the floor went blank, as the figure hopped to a screen a few meters to our right. We headed towards it, it moved with us around the ring as we walked.

"Okay, then who are you?" Both me and Cyrus were filled with intense curiosity as we watched it move from screen to screen.

"I am General Eisenhower, the 34th president of these United States of America, or more accurately an intelligence programmed with an artificial consciousness of General Eisenhower."

We paused for a second stunned, before continuing ahead at a slow pace.

"You're the one behind this? You're the one who keeps appearing to me?"

"Oh no," he responded, "Not just me. I was merely chosen by the collective to speak with you, in an attempt to avoid... Confusion."

"What's the collective?" Luce inquired, speaking for the first time since the shape had appeared.