Shields

Chapter 12: Realizations

When I woke up in a tube with an IV in my arm, I was completely confused. The last thing I remembered was that I had kissed Narian in the simulation and went into the restaurant to have dinner, and then woke up in a strange lab staring up at Achmetha, who looked amazed, just before Narian smacked him in the head with a fire hydrant.

I wanted Narian to explain everything to me, but I was still confused about what had happened in my strange simulation. I could tell she knew nothing though, because when I asked, she looked completely confused. Then she sprung the bad news on me and I decided I needed to sit down.

I collapsed on the steps going up to the computer area and heaved a breath, trying to sort through my thoughts. I might actually obey any orders they give me. I thought biting my lip. And what about Thomas? What if he's in a simulation to? What if... What if he becomes like Hamilton was?

I realized I was blurring the lines between reality and my simulation and I forced my mind to stop thinking like that. Narian put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. "We'll get him back, Dem. I don't care what they do to him, we'll get him back. You can just wear earplugs around them or something, that way you can't hear their orders. We can figure this out."

I nodded slowly. She was what I needed, I knew. If I didn't have her, I wouldn't have any reason not to fall apart. She made me stronger when I needed her most. She was brilliant and kind and yet, she was just as much a Secret Service agent as I was; which meant that, deep inside, she was also calm and calculating too. Maybe that's what I loved most about her; the fact that she was impossible to navigate, impossible to predict or understand fully. I knew that she let me in more than most people, and somehow, that comforted me too.

"I need to see what happened while I was in simulation and I need to know how long I was in there."

"Dem, you've been in simulation for a year, at least. That's a lot of footage," Narian pointed out.

"I know what I'm looking for, Nar. Just give me a little while, and make sure that Achmetha stays out." I noticed his fingers inching toward the fire hydrant and I nodded toward him. "Smack him with that again or something."

She purses her lips. "After this, I want some time alone with him. I would have busted you out sooner, but..."

I stopped her with a quick kiss. "Narian, you did fine. What I saw in there, whatever Achmetha was feeding my brain, I need to know if it's true."

"Dem, he wasn't feeding any information to your brain. Six months after your simulation started, it was either hacked or something else happened, because Achmetha couldn't control anything from here. He was just a viewer. Anything you saw, someone else fed you that, or else your brain took over your simulation... personally, it was probably hacked."

I turned that over in my head. "Knock Achmetha out again and put him into the simulation thing. Keep it off, though, just lock him in."

She nodded and snatched the fire hydrant out of Achmetha's grasp, slamming it into his head again. His eyes rolled back into his head and fluttered closed. Showing surprising strength, Narian lifted Achmetha's unconscious form and dropped him unceremoniously into the simulation chamber, closing the lid and locking it.

"What's next?" she asked, turning to me.

"We need weapons, but first, let's look at that footage and see if you can tell me what you understand about it and what never actually happened."

"Okay." She followed me up to the control center area and pulled a chair in for herself. I typed in a few commands on the computer and pulled up the footage of my simulation, fast forwarding it to when Narian rescued me and Alven from Julius. We watch the video together, sitting there for at least an hour, analyzing the footage, skipping the unimportant parts. It's amazing how quickly a week or more of my life goes by on the footage. It's almost as if time was cut in half while I was in there.