Endless War (Complete)

Chapter 28 "Journey to the End"

As I walk out of the cavern system with the two soldiers and James at my side I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I know I must leave, but at the same time I know it would be safer for me to stay. I figure that we could travel to the dome together and separate once we are in view of the dome. Until we reach the dome we all remain quiet, James seems to be happy that we are headed back to his home. I didn't realize that the subterranean cavern was so near one of the domed cities.

"We are here." I look at the female soldier. "Please get him to his father."

"Yes sir." She nods her head. I have already been in both of their heads, she will take the boy directly to the president, then get them both out of the presence of any members of the Tutelary.

The two of them walk away towards the main entrance of the the Dome. The male soldier and I walk around the perimeter and continue on toward the doorway. Sure enough there is a tiny little door, I turn to the soldier and nod, "We will hide under the brush here until nightfall, that should give the others enough time to complete their mission."

The soldier and I make ourselves comfortable. "You know I have a name." He nudges me. "It is Josh, and the female, she was Sally. You think that we can't handle ourselves, but we can. We have the same training that you have. Just because we still see the un-chipped people as aliens doesn't mean we are the enemy. You can talk to us."

"Sorry, Josh, I have thought about addressing the two of you formally, however I do not play well with others. I always end up pushing others away and revealing too much. I prefer the quiet." I sigh, and turn to face the city.

I can feel Josh, he is happy. I see through his eyes, he is with his father, deep within the city. The city slowly begins to light up as the sun begins to set, the center of the city is a massive building that rises up to the apex of the dome. From the center of the city the buildings slowly step down in hight, until the outskirts where the buildings look more like a wall of homes. Well really with how far away they are I think that they are mansions.

The mansions lay on grand estates with streams and rolling hills, covered in trees that would never live in the desert that surrounds us. Then there are the walls, with passageways within that lead to living spaces where people do nothing other than maintain the wall and keep the atmospheric dome working, it is not a glass dome but more of a force field designed to protect those within. When the domes fall all of this will parish, of course it should have never been built. 

I wish that they would have never gone to these measures to try and save the world. In their minds they were right, it had to be done, kill many to save the human race. The problem is the humans they saved are living too long, preventing the natural cycle of life. This must be done. Right?

I shouldn't question, that this needs to happen, but I also want to be guaranteed that I will survive. I want to go back to Grim.

I feel a hand press on my inner thigh, I turn to see Josh, encroaching on my space. "We have a few hours to ourselves, why don't you make yourself a little more comfortable and we can pass the time more pleasantly." His voice reaches a strange octave, he is trying to seduce me.

I don't have the mental tasking to cast off his advances, as I am trying to sense where the system is within the dome. I have to find it. I am frozen in place as the system opens itself up to me. I am seeing flashes of the task I must do, yet at the same time I can feel him removing my clothing but I cannot stop him. I try to push the system out of my mind but it wants me to see something.

Though I feel sick with this man touching me, I have no choice but to run the program. If only it were Grim out there, I know I would be safe, but I can't go there. I left him behind for a reason.

"I know you are distressed at the moment but you are not in any danger. You can see the boy has been reunited with his father, he will now be able to access the presidential escape route, that you will be entering through. It was actually built so the Tutelary could come and go as they pleased, but when the president found it one day they told him it was for his safety. They are cunning." The system streams images of the horrors that the Tutelary have been responsible for over the decades.

I thought that all of the people that live under the dome lived like royalty, but it is only the Tutelary that are living lofty. They own the mansions but the regular people live to serve them. They are fed and well cared for unlike the soldiers and the Fallen, but they are no more than servants, they only think they are free. They think that The Fallen are a threat, that is why they remain within the dome, they believe the Tutelary is giving them protection in exchange for their eternal servitude.

They seem happy though. I wonder what would the system do if I decided to abort this mission and go back to Grim.

Suddenly my head is flooded with hundreds of faces, "This is why you need to do what we are asking. You are not our first. One thousand years, that was all we needed. Your mother and Sharon were not our first attempt to end this. This program was designed to keep you confused as to your mission. You have been told many different plans, and planned several on your own. We are sorry for this but the human mind can tell stories that do not truly exist to explain unrealistic circumstances, to keep their thoughts safe."

"We didn't realize that what we needed was not the program, but a strong mind able to override the soldier chip, so that the program would stand a chance at being discovered. Every year these events have been set in motion, and every year they have failed for the past nine-hundred and sixty-five years. The soldier program is ever evolving to prevent it from being hacked, that is what we have been attempting to do, to hack the soldier program. It is un-hackable, but your mind was able to override the program, somehow. This is what allowed you to discover the program."

"We made one-thousand of these chips and only forty-five remain, the soldier program continues to become more stable and will soon control every aspect of the host, making them nothing more than what your friend thought you to be, a cyborg. Unable to deviate from their program and able to remain in action for twenty years."

"The system has been programmed to learn, and has been learning. That is how we know you are our only chance. We need you."

I agree, I know this must be done. Soldiers are no more than cattle for body parts to extend the lives of the Tutelary, and weapons of mass destruction, inflicted upon the Fallen. The Fallen, that name truly suits them. They have fallen to the lowest of the low, their lives are meaningless to the Tutelary, as are the lives of the soldiers and the servants.