How to Become a God

Common Ground

"What about me?"

Samantha's last words were a desperate plea to Diana for a way out. She wanted a way to end the perversion of her life's work. Trying to look away, Diana busied herself by pulling on her stun glove to a snug fit. The rest of her equipment, the echo-thought and Persona, fit securely on her belt, and Diana looked solemnly into the empty capsule, wishing for more. It was surreal to be out in a grassy field putting on experimental gear to fight a lunatic bent on brainwashing the world. Diana could barely hear Howard yelling at her to evade the incoming soldiers.

She knew in the back of her mind an unconscious spy and a distraught engineer were more of a burden than help to maneuvering about the base. Also, Samantha and Paul had already done their part by disabling the main satellite dish and awakening her. As of now, Lars' mind control should be scattered and limited, giving Diana a small window of opportunity before the broadcast system could be repaired.

Diana held Samantha close and comforted her, "There, there. It will be alright." Patting her on the back made the sobbing turn to hiccups.  She felt frail yet heavy.  Gently pulling Samantha off her, Diana held her by the nape of her neck and then gripped it hard. Suddenly, Samantha's eyes opened in surprise, and she uttered something unintelligible as her limbs shook violently. Her body fell limp, and Diana ran.

"What about me?"

While she sprinted, the same words ran through Diana's head as he fled back into the compound. Diana thought about the aftermath of the mission, "How will I escape? The guards are mercenaries, not slaves. They will keep working after I destroy the machine. Am I expendable? Will they just leave me?"

"Yes."

A cold voice dripping with anger ripped through her conscience. It was Lars.

"You morons damaged the amplifier.  I can't control the entire world yet, but if I focus it to smaller location, it works just fine."

"What are you trying to do?"  Diana said as she whipped her head around, searching for danger.

"Just wanted to have a heart-to-heart with my only secretary before I fire her.  Did you know we at least share something in common?"

Diana clenched her teeth, letting the silence suffocate the corridor.  Lars continued regardless," We both killed the same person."

The hallway melted back into the field, and Diana was watching through a purple haze.  She could experience all five sense but not control them.  Immediately, She knew she was living a memory of mind controlled subject of Lars.  The mindless drone stepped out its jeep and stumbled to Samantha and Josh.  Diana could closely see Samantha's back rise and fall erratically.  She was stunned.  The shock from the glove had not been enough.  Diana tried to scream and flail as the drone reached its gun.  Diana could feel the cold steel recoil in her hands, ripping the life out of Samantha. A bright muzzle flash filled her vision. A trail of white smoke drifted away from the barrel. The burnt smell of gunpowder mingled with the harsh scent of iron.

Speechless, Diana wrested away from the vision and fell to the floor.  Tears streamed into her eyes, and her arms quivered as reality came back.

"Sharing is certainly caring." Lars cackled.  His voice felt like a whip against her ear. "Now, let's see how you review how you did it."

Diana revisited the moment she tried to end the engineer.  She was worried about being caught and knew she had to do it.  At the same time, she wanted to conserve the charges on her glove.

"Necessity does not excuse you from guilt, especially if you do it half-assed." Lars chimed in, "The best part is that you could have saved them both.  Ran away and carried them.  I'm too busy securing this place to have noticed insects running away.  You could have been a hero.  You could have given her mercy.  Here's a fun fact, you set the discharge to 72%. 76% would have been fatal.  Instead, you failed as a secretary and a spy.  Personally, I liked your way better.  A moment of tenderness and comfort mixed with betrayal.  You made me remember what it's like being down here with all of you.  It just has the personal touch a god does not have."

Shaken, Diana was frozen with disgust, fear, and anger at Lars, but she knew that-

"You feel the same about yourself.  You know what they say about soulmates finishing each other's sentences.  However, you're not really my type.  I've got an idea. Why don't we run through her final thoughts? I had to dig hard through her memories to find it.  Was she oblivious or did she know?"

Suddenly, Lars went quiet, and Diana felt a sharp pinch as a jolt ran through her hand. From her wrist, Howard weakly chided, "No rest for the weary. We've got a madman to stop, a world to save, and a martini to drink later.  Quick, put on your echo-thought."

Diana fumbled with her belt and put the earphones on just as Lars' voice returned.  His voice was swept away into a crowd of meaningless chatter.  Howard's interface appeared transparent and shaky, and Diana could begin to see her reflection in the reflective black face.  Howard faintly typed on his screen, "Hey, hindsight is 20/20, but you did what you thought was best and that's sometimes all we can.  In my eyes, you are still a spy, and you can stop him.  I can tell that he's scared.  I can feel it in my bones.  Don't let him scare you."

A small voice snarled, "Even the computer left you."

Diana ignored him and ran.