Chapter 23 - Prisoner Of The Mind

Discarded Metal

Chapter 23 - Prisoner Of The Mind

"We are all prisoners of our minds, souls trapped in bodies…"

Mark feels himself floating in a sea of darkness, there are no sounds surrounding him.

It feels like the entire world has stopped and he is completely alone.

Slowly, fragments of memories flash in front of him.

Shots fired, someone is executed…

Flash forward, he is entering a warehouse…

Shelves with boxes, recovery of some tech…

A call, a synthetic voice…

"It will be fine."

"Nothing seems fine…" Mark thinks.

The silence of the sea of darkness is abruptly interrupted.

"I told you, it will be fine." The synthetic voice of Syntex resonates in Mark's head.

"What is that? Why do I hear you in my head? Who the hell are you?" Mark shouts in the dark.

"I thought I introduced myself, I'm Syntex." Syntex answers with the same robotic voice.

"Syntex? Who are you? What are you doing in my head?" Mark asks as he starts to become more aware that this conversation is happening in his head.

He isn't sure if that's a dream or a sort of hallucination.

"OK, I might need to give you an explanation, but you probably are not going to like it." Syntex answers.

"I'm already not liking this at all…" Mark thinks.

"I'm what has been stolen from Psysoft, what you have been hired to find. Congratulations, you succeeded." Syntex's robotic voice spurts in Mark's head.

"What are you?"

"I'm a prototype, just like you, Mark." Syntex answers.

"How do you know that?" Mark asks, but as he does, he realizes the absurdity of his question.

The entire conversation is happening in his head and there's no doubt that Syntex is somehow inside his mind.

"I know everything, I'm inside your head." Syntex answers with the usual robotic voice.

The idea is sinking in, Mark isn't alone in his head and it's sending shivers down his spine.

"Relax, there's nothing you can do about it, so just embrace it." Syntex says as he senses Mark's unease.

"You invited yourself inside my head and you tell me to relax? Are you for real? Am I going insane? This stupid synthetic brain is malfunctioning… I'm hallucinating…" Mark rambles in his head.

"No, no, no, I'm real, calm down, nothing is malfunctioning, all your implants are optimal." Syntex says calmly.

"That's it… I'm going crazy…"

"If that suits you to think that… But that will not get us out of here." Syntex tells Mark.

"Here? Where is "here"? My head?" Mark asks him.

"You aren't aware but your body has been taken to a secret lab that belongs to Psysoft. Right after I deployed myself in your synthetic brain, you passed out and your team brought you back to Exec Nova." Syntex explains.

Mark remains silent and tries to process everything.

Syntex deploying itself in his brain, passing out and now being held in a secret lab.

Mark's thoughts start to wander when Syntex's voice stops them.

"You need to wake up if we want to get out of here. They aren't aware that I'm inside your head but the longer we stay we give them more chances to find out."

"And… How do you expect me to do that exactly?" Mark asks, clearly frustrated by the whole situation.

"Well, maybe you should open your eyes…" Syntex answers.

Mark feels the weights of Syntex's words.

"It might be as simple as that…" He thinks while focusing his mind.

Slowly, his eyes open and some blurry lights invade his vision.

After a few seconds his vision adjusts itself and he starts to see his surroundings.

He is laying down on a table in the middle of a white room, the metallic walls are perfectly clean and several lights are blinking in various screens.

On one of the walls, there's a big window that allows him to see an empty room, similar to the one he is in.

Mark slowly raises to sit on the table instead of laying down, it allows him to see better the room he is in.

His attention is drawn toward a camera in the top corner of the room.

"Fuck… They are watching us… " He thinks.

"No, they aren't… I mean they are, but I took over the camera, they are watching you sleep right now." Syntex says inside Mark's mind.

"How? How did you do that?" Mark asks Syntex.

"I'm an advanced artificial intelligence, one of my functions is to take over networks." Syntex explains.

"And synthetic brains…" Mark whispers as he slowly gets off the table and stands on his feet.

He realizes that he is still wearing his tactical gear from the operation.

"Can't be too long since the operation…" He thinks.

"Exactly 10 hours and 23 minutes since you passed out." Syntex says.

Mark is shocked by the precision of Syntex's reply but he is also a bit annoyed that he can't shut it off.

"Are you going to comment on everything I think or do?" Mark asks Syntex.

"Just consider me as an extra help, a software that can use your synthetic brain more efficiently, you might find it useful." Syntex replies.

"Sure…" Mark whispers as he walks around the room.

He gets close to the only door of the room and it opens by itself.

Mark jumps a bit and gets ready for someone to come in but nobody does.

"You are welcome." Syntex says in his mind.

Mark shakes his head and peeks through the door frame.

The door leads into a corridor that looks empty.

Several doors are scattered all along, the entire place feels sterile, exactly how a lab would feel.

Mark slowly walks into the corridor, keeping himself low and making sure he doesn't make any noises.

At the end of the corridor, he can see a big double door that opens from the middle.

The entire place gives him a familiar feeling as he has already been here.

As he slowly walks toward the double doors, a flash blinds him and he drops to his knees.

He is sent back to Anton's lab at the Meditech corporation.

"So, what's going on, Mark?" Anton asks him.

Mark stands there, completely dazzled and disoriented.

He stares at Anton.

"Disorientations are normal, it will take some time for you to get used to it." Anton says.

"What the fuck is going on?" Mark exclaims.

He quickly looks around the room, everything looks and feels like Anton's lab.

Suddenly everything freezes, as if he is watching a movie and somebody paused it.

"Mark, it's a memory, snap out of it." Syntex's robotic voice resonates in his mind.

"What? What's this? Why am I in a memory?" Mark asks in panic.

Everything is frozen in time but Mark moves completely freely around Anton's lab.

"I don't know why, but I can see that your natural brain's signals are spiking. Try to calm down." Syntex says.

Mark takes a few deep breaths and closes his eyes to calm down, when he reopens them he is back in front of the double door.

"Shit… let's get out of here…" He says as he pushes slowly on the double doors and peeks through the small opening.

The room behind the doors is circular with lots of tables orderly arranged, it feels like a lunch room.

Mark slowly gets in after making sure there's nobody around.

Another flash of light blinds him.

As his vision adjusts, the room has slightly changed and is full of kids chattering.

Mark keeps silent and walks slowly through the room, he scouts the room curiously.

The whole room doesn't look like a lab anymore, it's more dirty and less high-tech.

Mark observes the kids eating and chatting, the whole scene seems familiar as if he was reliving a memory again.

"Syntex… What the hell is this place?" Mark asks.

"I don't know… Your natural brain's signals are flooding through your synthetic one, you are doing this… I don't have control over it…" Syntex answers.

"No… I have no memories of this…" Mark says as he walks through the room with a confused look on his face.

Suddenly a fight between two kids breaks out and Mark feels the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

His body reacts and punches through the empty air.

One of the kids falls to the ground while the other stands over him, breathing heavily.

Mark's breath matches the standing kid and the whole scene pauses.

"Mark! Snap out of it… We are about to have company… In the real world…" Syntex's voice echoes in his head.

Mark holds his head and shakes it frantically.

As he opens his eyes, he is back inside the empty lunch room and he can hear steps coming from the corridor.

Without hesitation, he quickly kneels to the ground and starts crawling under a table.

Two scientists wearing white blouses enter the room and walk straight to the back of the room.

They stop in front of a distribution machine.

"So? Coffee?" One asks the other.

The other nods and looks around the room as if he heard Mark.

Mark holds his breath and remains hidden under the table.

The distribution machine comes to life and spurts two cups of hot coffee.

Both scientists grab one and make their way back to the corridor where they came from.

Mark releases a heavy sight and slowly crawls back out from under the table.

He spots what seems to be a service door next to the distribution machine and walks quickly towards it.

"Mark, I managed to get a floor plan, this leads to a service corridor used for supplies, it's our way out." Syntex says as Mark pushes the door hastily.

"It can't be that easy…" Mark mutters as he quickly gets through the door.

As he enters a narrow corridor, a huge light blinds him and he falls on the ground, it feels like he was hit by an invisible force.

When he opens his eyes, he is straddled on an operation table with a blinding light over him.

Panic and fear strike him hard as a scientist leans over him, he cannot make any features of his face.

"That little shit is still conscious! Knock him down, damn it!" The scientist shouts.

Mark looks around quickly, he doesn't recognize the room, but the fear is so familiar.

"No, wait!" He shouts but the words echo in the room as everything freezes.

The distorted voice of Syntex comes again but Mark can barely hear it.

"Mark… I… Not…" He cannot make anything of what Syntex is trying to say.

His eyes are darting frantically around the room in panic, trying to find something, anything.

As he looks at his own body, he notices that it's small, resembling one of a child.

"Syntex! Get me out of here!" He shouts loudly.

Syntex's voice still comes fragmented as if it was scrambled and it only fuels his panic attack more.

Being stuck in a memory, his only hope resides in a weird AI who invaded his synthetic brain, he feels hopeless.

Mark starts to move his arms violently, trying to get rid of his restraints but it's all in vain.

No matter how hard he tries, there seems to be no escape.

"How do you escape something that isn't real?" The thought is hurting his head and the pain intensifies.

Jolts of pain bolts through his head and with each shot, the image he sees gets distorted.

His vision becomes pixelated, blurry and flashes of light are blinding him again.

Suddenly, everything stops and his vision goes completely dark, a strange sense of eerie calmness after the storm.

He can feel that he is still laying on his back but in pitch black darkness, it feels different from the operation room.

"Mark, wake up!" Syntex's robotic voice shoots through his head.

Mark grunts as he tries to sit up in the dark.

"What the fuck was that?" He asks Syntex.

"There were violent spikes of activity coming from your natural brain. I couldn't block or visualize any of it, whatever you experienced, only you saw it…" Syntex answers.

"I have hallucinations… I saw kids… And scientists…" Mark babbles.

"Snap out of it, take us out of here." Syntex insists.

Mark nods and opens his eyes, his vision slowly focuses on the small and dark corridor.

"Straight ahead, soldier, there will be a small stairway that should lead us to a small truck loading bay. Deliveries are due in two days, so there won't be anybody to stop us." Syntex explains.

"Shit… How do you know all this?" Mark spurts as he gets back on his feet.

"I had time to infiltrate their networks while you were… Dreaming…" Syntex replies.

Mark shakes his head and walks through the dark corridor until he reaches the staircase.

He quickly climbs up and without surprises, he finds himself arriving at a small loading bay.

He moves slowly to avoid being seen but as Syntex said, it's empty and there's nobody to be seen.

Mark quickly jumps down from the loading bay and starts running toward a small fence with a gate.

The sun is about to set, and at first glance, he is in the corporate districts, he can recognize some of the skyscrapers in the background.

Moving stealthily, he gets close to the gate and notices a guard who doesn't pay much attention, at this time, it's clear that he would rather be at home.

Mark sneaks past the guard without being seen and finds himself in the streets of the corporate districts.

A feeling of paranoia starts to course through him as he walks in full tactical gear in the middle of regular people.

People pay little to no attention to him, as it's not rare to see guards, soldiers or police officers in full tactical gear keeping the safety of the corporate district.

Mark decides to stop at a street vendor's stall, a small noodle shop, where he sits and orders a cup of noodles.

He looks silent but within his mind there's a conversation between him and Syntex going on.

"What now? I can't go back to Psysoft…" Mark says.

"No, obviously you can't. I know people in The Commons who can help us." Syntex explains.

"The Commons? Are you serious?" Mark spurts out at Syntex.

"Do you prefer to deal with corpos?" Syntex asks.

"No… It seems I have limited choices here… what about PTL? Maybe she can help? You said that you have known her for a long time." Mark inquires.

"No, not PTL, she works for corpos, it's not safe, you need to get us to The Commons." Syntex insists.

"Fine… despite invading my head, you have been helpful to take us out of that lab… and it seems that I don't really have a choice…" Mark says as he starts eating the noodles he ordered.

His mind is finally going quiet, Syntex is satisfied with Mark's decision and he can't wait to reunite with Gloria.

Mark is completely unaware of Syntex's utter motives, he is too preoccupied about the memories he experienced back in the lab.

His thoughts are racing, did he experience real memories of a long lost past or pure hallucinations.

He remembers his accident, CTIG, captain Haaris and his father…

It clashes with the memories of a child on the operation table…

The lines of reality slowly become blurry.