THE CONSTRUCT: In The End

PART SIX

'I don't know. Tell you what, I think maybe we should go for a walk, see if we can check on Steve and then just go with the flow ... see where it takes us.'

Nigel nods, follow's Josh's lead ... glancing back at the half-finished drinks left behind on the table. It may be simulated whiskey though it damn sure tastes good. The atmosphere in the carriage feels heavier now, as if the absence of Steve has unsettled something fundamental in the air.

The two men, they both move through to the next carriage, uncertainty shadowing their faces, but a shared resolve begins to grow between them. With cautious steps, they watch out for anything out of the ordinary, the clink of glass and the quiet hum of the train the only sounds accompanying their thoughts.

As they push open the door to the next carriage. This is unexpected. Both men exchange a glance, their nerves on edge, but press forward, compelled by a mix of dread and duty.

Somewhere ahead, a muffled voice drifts through the carriage, indistinct yet oddly familiar, raising the hairs on the back of Nigel's neck. The journey, it seems, is only getting stranger. The surreal encroaching upon the real, manufactured mixed in with actuality.

'Time is wasting gentlemen ... we wouldn't want your bodies found in a ditch somewhere, would we?' says he who Nigel has had a bit of runaround with, a killer who was and might not have been only to possibly be one here and now.

The speaker moves away out of view, not that he clearly was in view to begin with. There is a body lying where the voice had spoken from. Steve ... barely breathing but alive. Within seconds the body ... or avatar if it can be called that ... vanishes, much as what Una's had, not that Nigel was aware of her name at the time she vanished.

With all the unknowns surrounding the potential of what is and what is not, it is far too difficult to even speculate as to if these people are alive or dead in the real world. Josh may be more aware of what is and what isn't than what Nigel may be, still, how to proceed in this moment is as much an unknown as anything else.

9.

Back in a quiet, sunless corner of Nigel's flat, surrounded by wires, circuit boards, and old monitors flickering with lines of code, Nigel hunched over his makeshift workstation. He scrolled through endless scripts, chasing a vision that danced just beyond reach ... a train carriage suspended between the real and the unreal, a place where memory could be bent and reality re-written.

Fascinated with trains as it is, if there is one world he could create for himself, it would be of the likes of The Orient Express and in a world, he could possibly immerse himself within would be something akin to the great novel by a certain Agatha Christie. A dream, a wish, a possibly looking ever so possible, ever so achievable if only he had the finance and equipment to make it possible ... a good team behind him too.

The hum of his computer was the only companion, broken occasionally by Nigel's muttering as he tried to map out the rules that would govern this construct. Even then, he wondered if the simulation would ever truly feel alive, or if it would remain just a shadow of the world he sought to escape.

In those early hours, Nigel felt the weight of possibility and risk. Every detail mattered ... from the simulated whiskey to the unpredictable flickers of light. The whiskey more a nod to Josh Redmond, a mentor of sorts, a friend, and an ally who has been going out of his way to seek that desperately sought after funding so that a certain creation may one day become something of a reality.

He coded with a strange sense of anticipation, knowing that, in time, the carriage would become a stage for strangers, friends, and mysteries he could never fully control. The lines between creator and participant, between life and simulation, began to blur long before anyone else set foot aboard his imagined train.

'We have it' an excited Josh Redmond would tell him, coming to him with a bottle of whiskey in celebration, the very thing Nigel was working on simulating.

Nigel can often lose himself in his work, to the point he might even forget to eat so is his trance once he gets going, so this interruption is a welcome distraction. And knowing Josh, whatever it is he has to tell Nigel, Nigel believes it to be a this should be good moment with a hint of sarcasm.

'We have what?'

'Funding ... that's what ...'

'No way ...'

'Yes way ...'

'Wait a minute, with who?'

Nigel's initial excitement for there is sure to be a downside to this, and it is likely he is about to hear it.

'We'll have a laboratory, state of the art equipment, funding ... all we need to see this through.'

'From whom, Josh?'

'Lexington Corporation ...'

Josh was a little hesitant with declaring that part, still, this is much needed. It will surely see things through to completion.

'Aw man, anyone but them ... they'll rob us blind ...'

'Nigel, it's alright, they are on the level with this ... trust me.'

'I do trust you, but I don't trust them ... what are we in for ...'

'Twenty-five percent. We can work with this. We'll see it through good buddy.'

Any dismay or worry Nigel may have quickly dissipates with the thought that it may just work. His stern look of despair turns into one of pure joy and elation. His dream, his life's work ... this is going to be reality, a virtual one at that. And the two friends jump in celebration. That whiskey is certainly going to go down well.