Someone was holding his hand. And talking, but not the same person who had spoke before. Not even the same electronic styled voice of Jaja Swag. A human, a young woman. Not someone he was familiar with but the voice was soft and calm.
My eyes. I donât want to open my eyes to more madness. I..woke up?
He had finally found Carissa after months of silence, he had respected her but she had covered her own tracks well enough for him to finally resort to professionals who found her within two weeks.
Liam had experienced...something. A presence, a powerful being had forcefully entered his mind and given him a message directly. There was no direct hostility, only warning words.
The words were still there. Burned into his mindâs eye like an afterimage. He could recall them even if he didnât want to.
Stay back. Danger.
Ideally, a message from Carissa or something else. In front of Carissaâs final bastion aptly named Last Refuge had received both a threat and a warning from a being of power.
Calm. Liam. Remember to breath. Remember Carissa. She needs you.
And finally he assumed he had woken up inside a secure medical facility to yet wake from the experience. All in all, he was dealing with his current reality quite well.
Sheâs dead. Why did he mention her? An Ocean God? There are no gods. Not on Belphus. The god sent the message? Why?
Liam spoke the last name. He had been given three names, four if you counted the Uni-Clone designation. Laci, Mike, Carissa and someone called Veronica.
âLaciâ spoke Liam so softly the name was akin to a breath of air. She had died, a long, long time ago. Some type of accident.
It had taken a few years for Carissa to open up to him about it. Her first real friend when she was a teenager. Heâd personally read the official report of her death but didnât dig into it further, some random road accident which was sad but not anomalous.
No. He was more interested exactly why one of the old model Uni-Clones creations had appeared in what he was assuming was either a vision, an unconscious part of his mind working overtime or something else.
A Mark 1 KZ. The initial clone series which had issues with control. Too much independence even with augmented control devices installed inside their heads.
Each one was designed individually to serve out a custom-work contract for a set duration of years. Indentured servitude. And a limit lifespan, less than human but so close. Strange.
When he had firmly established his own grip on reality he would petition The General to provide him with further information or even reach directly out to Uni-Clone himself.
Liam had even met the founder of the cloning company a few times, mostly in passing because he didnât like her extravagant approach. She was either good at putting on an act or her natural state was an extrovert.
The fact she appeared decades younger than she was meant to be had led to rumours she was in fact a cloned copy of her original self implanted with illegal memory tech and fast grown to maturity.
All of which had nothing to do with his present situation, he was used to paying for proxy companies to do his own work for him. Perhaps something to him to work with.
He was drawn back to the teenage friend of Carissa who had died. He had been sent two messages, one was from a force which had burrowed into his mind. The second was Carissa was safe, but this was somehow related to her dead friend.
âLaciâ¦â said Liam as he lay on the bed. The sheets were pure comfort, pristine against his skin. His clothing was barely covering him, there was no weight of any mechanical monitoring objects attached to him.
His body was light, a little weaker than he expected but he checked there was no IV drips connected to his body. Nothing.
No electronic noises of medical equipment measured out to emulate the sound of a human heartbeat. Nothing. A different room, with similarities. He wasnât trying to second guess himself but he was the same as anyone else with the spread of horror stories regarding CAMPIN technology discovered lost in the mountains or in an abandoned hidden research site.
People who wanted the tech to sell it found their minds, souls and pure consciousnesses had been stolen to satisfy an insane artificially built program designed to build a mining corporation from scratch.
One more sign the previous experience had been a simulation of some kind. The imagination of someone who had assumed what type of medical treatment was owned by the wealthy and powerful on Belphus.
He doubted even his mother or his siblings would want to listen to Jaja Swags electronic voice but his younger sister might have. She was into popular music, still young enough at fifteen to like it.
The only one who turned up at the wedding was escorted by a private security company when he and Carissa had married. She was surprisingly emotionally mature for her age, calling out to a woman and calling her sister.
Carissa had liked her but her work and dreams had eveloped her and they had fallen out of contact. Single-mindedness mixed with sheer determiniation to succeed were highly attractive qualities, at least to him.
Get a grip Liam. This is reality. I need to assume Iâm now in reality. But the message from the male Mark 1 KZ clone was reassuring. Carissaâ¦.no. A bad dream. Something from my unconscious trying to settle me.
This time he wanted to reassure himself, at least for a few moments he wasnât inside a simulation or another coma induced dream. Obviously his brain was suffering minor trauma or his head had suffered an injury at some point.
A paranoid man could have assumed Carissa had poisoned him with a mild airborne toxin custom designed for him alone because he had slighted her in some way. Nothing lethal, not her style.
She held onto grudges or slights to her person, even insults and she was a close genius with an extreme background in biogeochemistry, genetics and ocean based cybernetics.
No. She was happy when she met me past her security fences. Ecstatic even. This wasnât her. She could make me have lucid dreams and induce a temporary coma but not on this amount of detail.
Not CAMPIN either. Not their style. Too basic.
His hand was lightly squeezed as a smooth plastic gloved hand enveloped his own. Her hand was smaller than his, fingers slim and delicate.
This wasnât her. Liam was the same as Carissa and in general disliked being touched by strangers but he wanted answers. He needed to reassure himself this was real, he needed a genuine human presence. Anyone at this point. It didnât matter if the medical staff were male or female.
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Emotionally he was simply suppressing himself, heâd managed to stay under control when meeting his ex-wife, the only woman heâd ever truly loved but he was a human being, not a machine.
Sorry Carissa.
He closed the grip on the slim gloved plastic hand of the woman holding his in rapid succession to indicate the was awake. With his other hand he pushed it on the side of the recovery bed and managed to push himself up a little. His body was sluggish and his movements were slow so he let go of his grip and fell back into the bed.
He kept his eyes closed, holding onto the sensation of the hand in his. Try as he might he wanted a human connection, even as he was betraying his ex-wife by touching another woman.
Since when did holding the hand of a female medical operative in a hospital become this strong for me? Did I become too obsessed? Is this my love for Carissa? An obsession?
He released his grip and opened his eyes, taking in a deep breath of scented air. The air was custom-made but there was no strong stench of disinfectant. No private medical facility would dare to offend their clients by putting patients in rooms smelling of sterile medical supplies.
The air was a mixture of strawberry and lavender. Sweet to taste and sharp judge on the edge of his tongue. No mint. So either he had breathed in mint when he had been unconsciousness or dreamed it.
âEmergency Recovery Nurse Shena Reporting. The client is awake. Can you communicate? We need a medical neurone brain scan and a rejuvenation team on this ward. In twenty. Counting. There was an error with the monitoring system, we have traces of illegal access to a mindscape.â said the medical professional with a mask on her face.
She didnât have a mouthpiece under her white mask covering her face. She was older, mid to late thirties with traces of crowâs feet by her eyes.
Her hair was cropped short and blonde with tan skin. Not his type in any shape or form, he had always preferred those with red hair like Carissa.
...What am I doing? This isnât an a corporate board meeting.
Blinking his eyes a few times Liam wasnât clear on what exactly he had experienced in the first place. He had been awake but this was different. His vision wasnât grey for one thing.
The second was a female figure with a sterile white plastic gloved hand resting on his own giving him a gentle squeeze of reassurance while she talked to someone outside of his field of vision.
He gave her a smile, a genuine one. Her words had reassured him, even though it was only a little. Liam understood he wasnât being overly paranoid, his unconscious mind had been taken under the influence of something outside.
She squeezed his hand again before she shook her head and returned his smile as her eyes creased.
The same shimmering blue energy field was surrounding them which happened earlier with the Mark 1 KZ clone. The one who wasnât real. His mouth wasnât dry and he wasnât hungry this time around, yet another sign this was real.
His heart skipped a beat as he immediately considered he had either experienced a vivid waking dream inside his coma state or a simulation. The sensation earlier had been entirely real from his perspective but he had been isolated, inside a single room with only one person talking to him.
All valid signs of CAMPIN level technology or a side-effect of going through an anomalous experience. There was no way he could verify either aside from the basic security protocols his family had insisted he put in place.
The best he could do in this situation was to establish his surroundings, not try and second guess himself and focus on his immediate priorities. He searched the room for any signs of anything immediately odd but nothing caught his eye.
Liam was sitting close to upright on his recovery bed with the nurse again as she supported his movements wordlessly.
She didnât speak any further and instead began her work of checking various machinery placed around him. There was no electronic Jaja Swag this time to welcome him back to consciousness and only a plain pristine bare ceiling above his bed. No sign of any wander window.
He considered what the female nurse but he had been paying attention to the ceiling. Unless there was meant to be a wander window and someone had deactivated it.
Inwardly sighing he coughed to draw the attention of the nurse and squeezed her hand back with as much strength as he could muster. He used a little more force than he had wanted to and he experienced the nurse draw back a little at having her hand squashed.
His strength and vitality was returning and his body was responding better even after a short time. As it should, he was wealthy, even by the standards of Belphus and minor genetic health boosting treatments were common on his level.
Given he was twenty-eight years old, took care of his physical and mental health with both treatments and the finest medical care and exercise programs Belphus could offer he was healthy.
His words came out clearer. There was no difficulty talking as there had been the first time he had awoken. Instead he was revitalised, full of energy and his intentions were entirely clear.
âNurse Shena. Sorry, Recovery Nurse Shena. I need two favours. An immediate one and the second is relatively minor. Calling up a number. I need confirmation this is an emergency suite. You donât need to talk. Iâm not trying to get you in trouble with your superior. Nod. Please. I..lost someone close to me recently and I want to make sure sheâs safe.â said Liam.
After he had pushed himself up he was aware his condition was rapidly improving. He hadnât expected the expression on the face of the female nurse though. She was more surprised of anything than concerned.
Nodding her head she turned and made a quick hand gesture to the closed entrance to the room before she pointed at the ceiling and cupped one hand to an ear.
Of course Iâm being watched and monitored. Either I did something to provoke response or The General organised this for my own protection and safety. Rumours of DWPF hidden facilities but nothing concrete. High access, limited information and an armed force to rival most. Not to mention influence and power.
Liam smiled and pushed himself up further as he began to to swing his legs up to the side. This time there were various mechanical noises as whatever sensors and equipment had been monitoring his condition reacted to his movement.
His families influence was strong, even in this place. They would have found out about him and applied influence or authority to get someone on the inside to check on him.
âGood. I owe a man called The General a debt of gratitude if I didnât pay him and his private army a decent fortune for their services. Back to basics. My name is Liam Acqua of the Acqua Family of Belphus. Iâm twenty-eight years old, divorced and recently found the last location of my ex-wife Carissa. All in all Iâm healthy, alert and prepared to be discharged from this site. I need you to call someone. Or if anyone in my family happens to be outside or watching this Iâm prepared to make a deal. All I have, all my inheritance claims in exchange for one thing. I need power. Genuine power, not purchased or borrowed.â said Liam.
He swung his legs off the medical bed, once the nurse had detached or deactivated the machinery which had been attached to him. Liam was aware of the little games his brothers and sisters liked to play.
If he was stuck inside a hospital theyâd keep him there as long as they could while claiming his inability to manage his own business assets. The fact the nurse Shena hadnât made a second request for medical treatment and not another single person had stepped through the door to his room meant he was being tested for his response.
âI need to get dressed, an ultramarine style summer suit will do after a quick visit to the bathroom. Iâm sure my health checks were completed when I was unconscious and given how I appear fully functional and mentally ready Iâm fine to leave. Wouldnât you agree emergency nurse Shena?â said Liam.
He had paid Corvinius Defense Services a substantial sum of money for their services. His family had frowned on the marriage though but by this point he no longer cared.
One of the few benefits he had when he had effectively privatised a large part of the oceans of Belphus was the wealth and authority it gave him, not quite as much as his family held, but a decent step forward. He didnât need borrowed power or influence.
âNurse Shena, you will escort me out of this room and accompany me out of this facility. Iâm going to build something which I should have done a long time ago. Weâre going to create the Acqua Foundation and Iâm going to find a special person and give her all the support she needs. Even if we need to explore all the oceans of Belphus.â said Liam as he forced his body to obey him.
His legs were a little bit shaky and but it didnât matter by this point. Heâd leave this place, settle the final bill with The General who owned Corvinius Defense Services and build what he truly needed.
His own organisation. One to rival others across the world Belphus.