19th July 2355, 9PM
It’s time to put an end to all of this. I am certain that Sergei’s existence is useless. Rather, his existence would be detrimental to the development of our civilization. I have put in a lot of work to restart the civilization, I am not going to let it go to waste.
I went to have a chat with Minerva yesterday. I could see in her eyes that she didn’t have any remorse for her actions. It was expected, she was deeply attached to Sergei. People do all sorts of stupidities when they are emotionally involved with someone. I did too. I was saved because I kept my assumptions in check and took appropriate precautions. She looked at me furiously as I entered the cell.
She said in a demanding tone, “You should release me immediately or Sergei will make an example out of you.”
I smiled at her as I sat down on my chair, “You do realise that you are a prisoner here I hope? Moreover, Sergei isn’t in a position to make an example out of anyone. Please, take your seat.”
“I will not. I demand to be treated with more respect. You have no idea what Sergei is capable of.”
“I think I know what Sergei was capable of. Currently, he is just capable of taking care of his basic necessities.”
To this she started laughing hysterically. I thought she was mental and waited for her to stop. After a while, she stopped, wiping tears from her eyes with her fingers. “You will get to know what is the truth soon enough.”
“I will be very clear. I don’t have a lot of time. I wish to go to Sergei’s clone manufacturing facility and destroy it. You and Sergei will tell me the location one way or the other. So, are you going to co-operate?”
“I have no idea about any such facility.”
“Alright. If you say so.” Saying this, I got up from my seat and went out. I asked the guard outside to restrain Minerva and tie her to the table. I walked towards Sergei’s cell. Something flashed in my mind. Minerva knew Sergei was held captive even then she laughed when she heard me. I understood they had perfected the cloning process. Was there a probability that we had a copy of Sergei? There was only one way to find out.
The purpose of restraining Minerva to the table was to create an image of her in similar position and then simulate torture. I would have preferred the actual process but it was deemed too barbaric by the others. As I entered Sergei’s cell, I saw him lying on the floor with one hand under his head and the broken one on his chest. I intentionally banged the door close. Sergei got up with a jerk, startled by the sound. I was smiling at him. I said to him, “Please, take a seat. What you are about to witness next requires you to sit down.”
As he sat down, metal clasps appeared from the armrests, backrest and front legs of the chair and arrested Sergei’s chest, arm and his legs. The wall in front of the chair converted into a huge screen. Sergei gasped as he saw Minerva tied to the table surrounded by automated bots specialised in surgery. Minerva was trying to wriggle herself but the efforts seemed futile. Sergei turned his head to look at me, “What the hell do you think you are doing?”
“Just what seemed necessary. You give me the location of the facility now, she gets off that table alive and unscratched.”
“There’s no way I am going to do that.”
“We will find out, isn’t it?” And I nodded to commence the procedure. I knew whatever was shown on the screen was a simulation but Sergei didn’t. He looked disturbed but not afraid. I knew that was going to change. The bots started with the nails first, the forefinger of the left hand, slowly ripping it out. Minerva screamed out in pain. Sergei looked on. He was more hardened than I could have imagined. The bots went on till three more fingers and then I asked them to stop. It had apparently, no effect on Sergei.
I raised two fingers and on cue the bots started phase two. They started inserting needles in regions that induced great pain but wouldn’t affect the organs of her body. She screamed out as they pushed in their needles into her muscles. I kept watching Sergei’s reactions. He twitched only a little. Apparently, he knew the ins and outs of physical torture. I was getting bored. This was no fun till I was the one doing the scarring and that too in reality.
I signalled for phase four, a dreadful one, at least for the viewers. The bots approached Minerva with scalpels, wipes and antiseptic fluids. Sergei tried moving in his seat a bit. Clearly, he was uncomfortable now at the anticipation of what might happen. The bots started at the ankle of right leg, made a small incision and started peeling off the skin. Minerva’s painful screams filled the whole cell. Another bot started at her waist, Minerva screamed even louder. Sergei jerked at the chair violently but could not budge it even a bit. He shouted at me trying to break through the metal bindings, “Stop it, stop it NOW!!! I will tell you whatever you want to know. Just leave her alone.”
I raised my hand and clenched it into a fist. The bots on screen stopped with their scalpels. Few nurse bots entered and started tending to the wounds. Everything looked so realistic that for a moment even I believed what was happening on the screen to be true.
“You should have taken the option before itself. Whatsoever, I am putting up the map on the screen. Mark the location. I’ll make travel arrangements.” I observed anxiousness on his face. To assure him, I said, “Minerva would receive the required medical attention. Unlike you, we do have some ethics.”
I turned my wrist and swiped over the dial to bring out the laser display. (The laser display was one of our inventions, like a touchscreen but the content is shown with the help of laser beams. Placing the finger anywhere causes an interruption in the beam whose information is sent as a signal and the associated task is carried out.) I tapped on the display to bring up the map on the screen, enlarged it. Then, I turned to Sergei and motioned him to go ahead and mark the position of the facility. Interestingly, he had the coordinates memorised and pointed out without any hesitation. Something was off. Then he looked at me with a blank expression.
“Thank you.” I said and left his cell. I knew something was not right but couldn’t take a guess. I made a plan to take a long walk with Husky.
To be continued…
Chronicles of Tomorrow: Echoes from the Future 