Chapter 8: Dead People Can't Bomb A Building

"Alright, we know that there were only 5 people with us inside of that building when it was bombed," Rogue F concluded.

"5 people that we know of," I corrected him.

"Er, yes. And so, it was Alpha Q, who was with you when the explosion happened. Yttria K, Neo X, Foxtrot K, and Torque J were all together somewhere in the garage, fixing some gear and transportation," He noted, circling a location in a map that I had drawn not moments before.

"And where were you, Rogue F?" I taunted.

Yes, we were supposed to trust each other for we are all each other has left, but I can't help but be suspicious.

"I was just around this corner, heading to the same direction you were in," He pointed.

"Why was everyone late? We decided on meeting at 21:00," I wondered.

"See, that is the big question. Why were they all in the garage, while we were being led to a trap that might have killed us, and possibly did kill Alpha Q?"

"You don't think...," I trailed off, knowing that he knows what I am contemplating.

"It might be," Rogue F sighed.

"So where are they now?"

"I have no idea."

It might be useful to say now that we are at a dead end. Still, there were further details to examine.

"Viviane Miller had a plan to Project Holocaust as a last resort to when mankind fails. Surely, she had a back-up plan in case someone tries to sabotage this project," I said, thinking it over.

"She's dead, love," Rogue F said, looking at me as if I was crazy.

"So?"

He looked at me in disbelief, "So? Dead people can't bomb a building."

I stood up, grabbing a broken-screened tablet from my bag. It was one of the things that I packed that survived the explosion.

"What's the tablet for?" He asked, standing up and walking towards where I was typing a code into the tablet's settings manual.

"If I'm right, and I usually am, we can access RAYA's files from here, if we just know the correct password," the tablet pinged, showing a screen list of categories we would soon browse of RAYA's files, from the most known, to the ones full of codes and dirty secrets.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked. Why would he be the one hesitating this time?

"No," I answered truthfully, "But I'm sure that I need to know the truth so we're gonna do this anyway. If you have any objections, there's the door, or don't participate altogether. Either way, I'll be fine."

"I'm staying."

"As you were and always will be, right?"

"Right," He said.

Rogue F grabbed my face softly making me look at him, "It's good that you finally know it, Phoenix X."

"You've only told me a thousand hundred times," I whispered. Though the words were full of sarcasm, they sounded tender enough to be sweet.

Is that a good or bad thing?

"So," I exclaimed, diverting my attention back to the screen, "RAYA sorts their files in categories of keywords, some may even duplicate. We just need to find one about Viviane Miller."

"There," He pointed to her name in the list.

"That would make sense, except RAYA got hacked a few years ago and they moved her classified files to a more specific category, with no duplicates and a password to protect it. Unfortunately, Ultimate Z never revealed the information," I said, stopping and putting the tablet down.

"So that's it? We're at a dead end?" Rogue F sat down.

"Not exactly, we just have to think about it. But we have to get it right since we only have one chance in this. Once we find the right category, a file would be under her name, specific enough to tell us what's in there. We can only input the password once. Get it wrong and the systems send an alert to RAYA HQ."

We went quiet, both of us thinking of the right keyword and the right password.

"How can Viviane Miller set off a bomb when she's cremated and spread in the pacific ocean?" Rogue F asked, breaking the silence.

"Viviane was a genius. She planned all of this to happen, from creating RAYA to Project Holocaust. Are you really that much of a fool think that she didn't have a plan to dodge death?"

"She's dead, Phoenix X. We saw her die, we saw her body getting cremated, we saw her ashes being scattered into the ocean!" Rogue F shouted, "Are you really that much of a fool to think she could've dodged death?" He grabbed my shoulders, making me look him in the eyes and stopping me from saying a word.

I shut up, suddenly realizing how dumb all of it sounded, how impossible someone could've dodged a sure death.

Viviane Miller was dead. I saw her die, I saw her body getting cremated, I saw her ashed being scattered into the ocean.

But that's all it was, a body.

Viviane Miller's mind was the most valuable thing to her. What if her mind was the only thing she can save?

"What?" Rogue F recoiled in shock.

I realized that I had said that last bit out loud. Surely it sounded insane, right?

"Her mind wasn't like ours, Phoenix X. She wasn't modified, she was perfect, all the way through her death," He reasoned.

"If she was perfect, she wouldn't have died that way."

"So how are you going to explain that a dead, mad, woman bombed a building?"

I shrugged, "She stored her mind in RAYA's mainframe, the system kept her mind alive for her to know that people were trying to sabotage the project."

"Are you saying that she is RAYA?"

"That's one theory. The other is that she and RAYA are the same. Viviane Miller always wanted more than what she can store, she wanted to know everything. What better way to do that than to become one with an AI?"

"This is mad, Phoenix X. You are insane." Rogue F said.

My stance flickered hearing that word. I gritted my teeth, pushing that feeling of hopelessness down, "Insane enough for this to actually be true?"