Mind Over Matter

Chapter 19

Mark

The door opened into someone's office.

"Where did you guys come from?" he asked surprised. I looked behind us, and the door we came through was gone. "Why aren't you in uniforms?" he asked suspiciously. I noticed that he had the number 51 on his uniform. "We..." Alex started, but the man ran to the phone on his desk. Alex ran over too and grabbed it out of his hand. "Clam down," Alex said, "We just want to know where we are." "Your in Area 51," the man replied, "Where did you think..." Alex quickly pulled out a gun and shot him. "Why did you do that?" I asked. "It was set to stun," he replied. "Oh, OK," I said, "Is Area 51 bad?" "Very," he replied, "Be ready to fight, do you have yours?" "Yes," I replied, pulling it out. I set it to stun. We opened the door, and ran down a hallway. "We need to get deeper into the base," he said, "That's probably where the machine is." "Come to think of it," I said, "This looks familiar." Yes, I was here. I remember. "Follow me," I said. I was in here when they were controlling me. I go through a door. It's a hallway with a metal door at the end. There's a keypad next to it. What was the password? Hmm... Password... I start typing. 5178862635401945. How did I remember that? I grin. The door opens. There's three guards, but we shoot them. We walk in, and I go up to another door and push a button. It's an elevator. We walk in, and the door closes. Oops. I remembered. There was a camera up in the corner. "Dang it!" I said. "What?" Alex asked. Then, the elevator started going down. Fast. It hit the ground and we were both thrown to the floor. The door opened to reveal a dark room. We walked in, and the door behind us closed. Great. Just great. We were locked in.

Carroll

I keep running. I see an elevator. Seems like a good way out. I push a button, the door opens and I go in, still carrying Don. As soon as the doors close, I realize there's a camera in the corner. Dang it! The elevator drops. Fast. When it hits the ground, it's so sudden I'm thrown to the ground. Don moans in pain. The door opens, and I walk into a dark room. The door closes behind me. Then, I realize there's someone else in the room. The room is big. "Who's there?" I hear them ask. It's Mark. "It's me, Carroll!" I yell, "Is Alex with you?" "I'm in here!" Alex replies. I see them on the other side of the room. "I can't see!" said Mark. "I can!" I said. "Can you light the room up somehow?" asked Alex. The perfect time to go back in! I close my eyes.

I'm at the desk again. I immediately clicked on Senses. Then, I clicked on Vision. There were four subheadings with boxes next to them, just like Touch: Normal Vision, SuperSense®, SuperSense+®, and EyeLight®. Normal Vision and SuperSense® were checked. I checked EyeLight® and unchecked SuperSense®. I closed my eyes.

When I opened them, I was back in the dark room. I didn't notice anything different, but apparently they did. "Whoa!" Mark said, "Cool!" I guess my eyes sent out light beams or something. Mark and Alex started looking for a way out. I looked at Don. He was better than he was a few minutes ago. I guess if he's not used to pain, then when he does feel it it's even worse. I looked at the little flashing lights in myself. There was a hole in my stomach and hip now too. I thought about that virtual place in my head. It was cool, like a manual override for my functions. I liked it, because when I was in there, it felt different. I felt different. I felt human. I wondered about my creator. I wondered if things would have been different if I had known her. Maybe that wouldn't be a good thing. Maybe I wouldn't be in the agency. Maybe I wouldn't have the friends I do. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't be who I am today. Just maybe.

A few minutes pass by. I looked toward Alex. Suddenly, everything went black.

Mark

Carroll falls to the ground, and behind her, is Don, holding a gun. It was pointed at her. "Why'd you do that?!?!?" I asked. Then, he pointed it at me. Oh no. This can't be happening. "Step away from Alex," he tells me, "He's a traitor." I think for a minute. Alex doesn't say anything. "So let me get this straight," I say, "You're threatening to shoot me, and you're saying he's the traitor?" "He's not arguing," he replied. "You didn't answer the question," I say, "Why are you threatening to shoot me?" He's silent. All at once, I jump to the ground and pull out my gun. He fires, but it misses my head by about an inch. I fire at him. He falls to the ground.

I get up, and turn around to see Alex smiling. "Good job," he said. Whatever. I shoot him too. I have a choice. I can trust Alex, or Don. Don tried to shoot me, for not choosing his side. Alex, on the other hand, didn't argue. Maybe it was a test. Maybe their both traitors. I push the idea aside. Then, I notice something. There's still light, even though Carroll's unconscious. Alex opens his eyes, I guess the gun didn't work that well on him. He looks at me. He gets up slowly. Then I realize, he's looking at something behind me. Suddenly, I whirl around, throwing a punch. I hit somebody, knocking them out. I don't pay attention to who they are. There's a door open now. We both go running through it, and it closes behind us. It's dark. I hear this humming noise, sort of like a small motor. Suddenly, the lights come on. There's a metal box, about 6 cubic feet in volume, in the middle of the room. Casper is standing right behind it. "Well well," he says, "Congratulations gentlemen, you've found the Ender's Box."

Carroll

When I wake up, I'm in some kind of laboratory. I sit up, and I see a woman doing something at a computer. I don't think she knows I'm awake. Maybe I can escape. I start to move. Then, she turns to look at me. I freeze. "Oh good, you're awake," she says. I look closely at her face. It's familiar, too familiar. It's her. My designer. Not her. She had to work here. She couldn't have worked at our agency or something. "I haven't seen you in awhile Carroll," she says smiling, "How've you been?" "What do you care?" I ask. "I'm your designer," she replies, "Why shouldn't I?" "You work here," I reply. "You don't like this place?" she says. "Well, my friends obviously don't," I say, "And so far you haven't left a good impression." "Oh Carroll," she said, "You don't remember?" "Remember what?" I reply. She frowns. "What did they do to you?" she asks. "Nothing," I reply. "Do you remember me?" she asks. "No..." I reply. "How can you not remember your sister?" she asks.

Mark

"Ender's Box?" asked Alex. "Well," replied Casper, "It was either that or the Apocalypse Device." "You should have named it the Ender's Device," Alex said sarcastically. "Shadow said you had a sense of humor," Casper said. "So what's this Ender's Device for?" Alex asked. "Ender's Box," Casper said, "And it's for destroying the world, obviously." "And why would you want to do that?" I asked. "You're still here?" said Shadow, walking in through the door. "Last I checked," I replied. "'Destroying' is kind of exaggerating it," said Shadow, "More like controlling it." "And you put my powers in there," I said, "Why?" "Because," he replied, "It's fueled by power, of course." "Fueled by superpowers," said Alex, "Scary." "So if you're just planning on taking over the world," I said, "Why is it called the Ender's Device?" "Ender's Box," he corrected me, "And because if all else fails, it can do just that, end everything."