No One's Land

Chapter Six

LOADING SCENARIO [1_²] OF [NUMBER INCALCULABLE]

I wake up again to a less but still fuzzy head. Again, I'm aware of being in a strange room I've never seen in my life, and once again I'm hit with the disturbing feeling of escaping certain death.

If this isn't the afterlife, that is. I try to sit up, but find that I'm not strong enough yet. What I really do is a little stomach curl thing that gets me less than an inch off the bed. My breathing is shallow and my heart is racing, which probably isn't a good thing, considering how much blood I must have lost.

Following that train of thought leads me to my left calf. It still hurts, but not nearly as much as it did. I laboriously push the thick comforter off of myself and try to twist my left leg so I can see the back of my calf. The back of my left leg, both of my shoes, and the jeans I'm wearing are all covered in blood. I always expected it to be red, but it dried to a black-purple color on my jeans and a pinkish color on my shoes.

So now I know I'm not dead. First mystery: solved. Now for the second and third mysteries.

Where the hell am I? And more importantly, how the hell did I get here?

"I cannot reveal that information without proper authorization."

I jerk. I look around the room for the source of the vaguely British male voice, but I know where it came from: inside my own head. Feeling stupid but not caring due to the shock, I ask, "Who... who said that?"

The voice, nothing more than a buzzing feeling in my skull that I somehow translate into words, says, "Would you like my name, or an explanation of my being?"

This second phrase strikes me as odd (not as odd as a voice in my head, though) and I ask for the second one. The voice says, "My purpose is to be a Human-Electronic Lifelike Intelligent Operating System. You may call me HELIOS."

"Okay. Why are you in my brain? And how did you get there? And how did I get here? And where is here? Why am I not dead?" My breathing picks up pace and my heart begins to follow suit.

"Your heart rate is dangerously high, considering the egregious amount of blood you have lost. Administering melatonin now."

"What? Why are you...." before I can finish my sentence, a relaxing feeling shivers through my body and I fall asleep.

///

I laid on my hotel bed and stared at the ceiling. How could I go on? It had been a week since I last saw another human being-- Sammy, as I tucked him into bed and kissed him on his forehead goodnight. And two days since I last left this bed. No food, no drinks. I hadn't even felt the need to go to the bathroom. Tears cut tracks down my face. I had been crying for days now, not making any sound. Just a wet face and a runny nose. His name and the names of everyone else I'd ever known bounced around in my head. Friends from high school. The bartender at the pub I went to on Saturday nights. Ex-boyfriends. Members of Sammy's peewee baseball team. Their faces, which I didn't even know that I remembered so well, flashed  hauntingly through my mind like a PowerPoint presentation. My stomach rumbled, but I ignored it. I had a pounding headache. Whether it was from dehydration or grief, I didn't know.

///

I wake up again and feel stronger, if still not normal. I think about calling upon the voice in my head, but I'm pretty sure that was some trippy dream... at least until I look around and see that I'm in the same bedroom as last time. I sigh and lay my head back down on the pillow.

"Good morning. You have slept a total of thirty-eight hours since arriving here."

I start. "Who the fuck are you?"

"My name is HELIOS. We discussed when you were last awake, Helen. You were dangerously close to having a panic attack, so I was forced to administer high amounts of serotonin and melatonin in order to induce a state of near-coma."

"Um... okay. So, are you allowed to answer any of my questions yet?"

"No. I cannot reveal that information without proper authorization."

"Then what the hell can you tell me?" I raise my voice.

"Such displays of hostility are unneccessary, Helen. I was programmed to be understanding and sympathetic to all life forms capable of controversial thought. I will answer any questions I am allowed to."

"Okay. Where am I."

"You are in the household of Mark Kepler, apparent closet super genius and CEO of the Marsha Corporation."

"Marsha? I thought they were somewhere along the coast." I, of course, had heard of Mark Kepler, like every other person (that used to be) in America. To think that I was in his house was a strange, almost star struck feeling.

"Mark was a very exorbitant man. He had the necessary means to fly to work on a near-daily basis."

"If he was so rich, why would he live here? In Ohio. In Athens, of all other places?"

"Mark wished to live an anonymous life. Not a result of humbleness, but rather secrecy."

"What did he need to keep... oh. You."

"Yes. Me."

I try to sit up, but find I'm still not strong enough to fully stand. "How did you do what you did, save my life, if you're an artificial intelligence?"

There is a noticeable pause before HELIOS answers. "I didn't."

"Then who--"

"I cannot reveal that information without the proper authorization."

"Goddamit! You're really no help, are you?"

"I apologize for your agitated state. Would you like me to administer a small, calming dose of serotonin or dopamine?"

I take a deep breath to calm myself before HELIOS has to do it for me. "How do you do that, anyway? 'Administer' melatonin or dopamine or whatever?"

"I have direct access to your nervous system, chemical balances, and various brain functions."

I nearly fall out of the bed. "What!?"

"Based on your startled reaction, you heard me clearly. I will repeat the information in order to help you process it: I have direct acc--"

I cut in. "I understand. How... how did you get in my brain?"

"I cannot re--"

"How do I get proper authorization?"

"I do not know."

"You don't know much, do you?"

"Due to my advanced technological state, I know seven trillion, six hundred forty-seven billion, three hundred ninety-two million, two hundred sixty-two thousand and forty-three times more than the average human."

That shuts me up. I attempt to process all the information that was just given to me, but I find it difficult. Every time I almost make sense of something, it darts away like a startled bird.

One thing I have going for me: when you're the only surviving woman on planet earth, nothing seems too weird anymore.