TOUCHED

TOUCHED Part 8 of 10

The elevator descended into the depths of the Earth. Traveling much farther than I would've guessed even a sub-basement would be, I contemplated repressing the lone button. As I reached out my hand, the elevator stopped and the doors slowly slid open.

"Wow." Neil gasped as he stepped out of the elevator.

"What the hell?" Alex chimed in.

This isn't good. I thought.

The three of us stepped out onto the metal floor and stared in amazement at the elaborate room, a combination of a modern laboratory and large computer data storage area. Banks of computers, complete with complex cooling systems and back-up power supplies lined the metal sides of two of the walls. Beakers, vials, and other chemical and biological laboratory equipment on shelves and tables took up the other two walls.

In the center of the room, a large object I couldn't immediately identify, emitted a strange humming sound. The device, remotely resembling a box of interconnected computers, contained odd lights and dials along with several wires and hoses hanging loose; each one ending in a bizarre connection meant to attach to something.

"What the hell're we looking at?" Neil asked me directly.

"I don't know." I honestly replied. "Doctor's Lee's laboratory, I guess."

"Doctor Lee was a mad scientist?" Alex sarcastically asked.

"Not mad." The voice from all around us answered.

Damnit!

Drawing my partner and crouching again, I scanned the room for threats, noticing for the first time the video cameras and video monitors all around the room.

"Who? Who said that?" Neil whispered.

Alex ran to the elevator doors only to realize he couldn't locate a button to open them. "We're trapped!" He exclaimed.

This really isn't good.

"Alex." The voice reverberated around the room again. "You are not trapped. I will let you out momentarily, but please hear what I have to say first."

"Doctor Lee?" I asked, standing upright but keeping my weapon in my hand.

"Yes, Corsair." The voice answered me. "Very good. It is me."

I don't believe it.

"Doctor Lee?" Neil asked. "But you're dead."

"Yes and no." The voice claiming to be the late Doctor Lee answered. "I'm dead as you perceive death, but I'm also not."

"You're a ghost!" Neil exclaimed. "I knew it!"

"You're a ghost?" Alex asked sarcastically, no longer afraid, joining Neil and me in the center of the room next to the odd machine. "Yeah. Right. This's another trick. Like the wraith. A technological trick."

"No, Neil." The voice answered. "I'm not a ghost. And no, Alex, I am not a trick. I am something else."

Replacing my partner in the small of my back, I began talking to the disembodied voice, undoubtedly originating from speakers hidden around the room. "Doctor Lee." I still wasn't convinced I spoke to the eccentric scientist from beyond the grave. "What's going on here?"

"I require your real name, Corsair. What is it?" The voice answered my question with another question.

Why?

"It's just, Corsair." I answered.

"Gentlemen." The voice continued, immediately dismissing my reluctance to reveal my actual name. "Let me apologize for scaring you with the image of the wraith up in the manor."

"I wasn't scared." Alex lied.

Ignoring the interruption, the voice continued. "The haunting was a necessary part of my plan. You see, I am, as you have deduced, Doctor Lee, alive. In a manner of speaking." The voice paused before continuing. "However, I only exist here."

Good to know.

"You see, I have discovered a way to cheat death. True, although I have cheated death, I still need your help. To take the next step. The help of people smart enough. Brave enough. To see past the haunted house thing and able to see the big picture. Consider the fake ghost images in the mirror a test to locate people with the ability to overcome their preconceived notions of life and death and see the same future I see."

"What future?" I asked.

Ignoring my question, the voice continued. "I sought people with the ability to see the possibilities of a future who couldn't be stopped with electronic trickery. People who desire to become not only wealthy, but immortal." The voice paused before continuing. "When my wife, Esmerelda, passed, I dedicated my life to trying to bring her back, and in the process, found a way to live forever."

"Forever?" Alex repeated.

"Yes, Alex. Forever."

"Your wife was cremated, Doctor Lee. I checked." I challenged the voice.

"Not all of her." The voice cryptically replied. "That doesn't matter though. It's all in the past. I couldn't bring her back, despite all my best efforts, but discovered immortality in the process. This isn't about her anymore. It's about me. And now you."

"How?" Neil asked, intrigued.

"Gentlemen." The voice answered. "I've transferred my consciousness into pure data. I exist in this room. In this house actually. I can and will live forever. I am the first immortal man."

Are you serious?

"Artificial Intelligence?" Alex asked.

"More than AI." The voice answered. "Much more. I have evolved beyond the physical world."

Good for you.

"What do you need from us?" I challenged the voice.

"What do you want?" Alex asked again.

Nothing good, I'm sure.

"Alex, in return for your services, I will make each of you rich."

"How?" Neil inquired.

"I can manipulate data. I can adjust bank amounts. I can do anything, control anything, dealing with data. Like I controlled the images you observed in the mirrors upstairs."

Sure you can.

"How do we even know this is truly you and not some elaborate computer simulation?" Alex asked.

The voice didn't answer Alex so I asked another question. "So what is it you want us to do that you'll make us all rich?"

"Corsair. I simply wish you to move a hard drive from one location to another in this room. I am unable to do it in my current state. Once that's done, your task is done and I will reward your loyalty."

"And if we refuse?" Alex asked skeptically.

The disembodied voice of Doctor Lee paused before answering. "Then you will die."

I knew it!

"The hell I will!" Alex shouted as he ran to the elevator doors and tried to pry them open with his bare hands.

The image of the paranormal skeptic standing on the metal floor attempting to pry the metal elevator doors open caused me to realize the danger and I shouted a warning. "Alex! Move away from the doors!"

My warning came a moment too late as blue bolts of electricity bounced all around Alex's convulsing body, painfully killing him. As soon and as suddenly as the high-voltage entered his body, it stopped. Alex, his body smoking, fell to the floor with a thud.