Cal sat for a moment in silence, emotions warring for control as he stared without seeing out of the pod window. He wanted answers, but deciding which ones he wanted more was hard.
Travel Pod. Take me to Dr Takei.
His shoulders slumped and he sank back into the cushioning of his seat as the pod accelerated towards the last place he'd seen his friend alive.
~~~
"How are you coping, lad?" asked Takei as he sat him down in his office.
"I'm not," replied Cal, anger lacing his words. "I lost one of the only friends I've ever had, and I didn't even get to say goodbye."
Dr Takei bowed his head in apology. "I'm sorry, Cal, that was clumsy of me. I can only imagine how raw this still is. She was a lovely girl, and someone who lit up the room with her energy and zest for life." Takei reached into a drawer and pulled out a metal box about the size of his head. "She left this for you."
The doctor slid the box across the table, turning it so Cal could see the envelope resting on the top. On the front of the plain envelope were written the words "In the event of my death, please ensure this passes to my friend, Cal."
Takei rose from his seat and placed a hand on Cal's shoulder. "I'll give you a minute and see if I can find a glass of water or do something vaguely useful."
As the door closed behind him, Cal reached for the envelope.
Dear Cal,
I never wanted you to see this. But if you're reading my note, then something very wrong has happened and I am no longer with you. In the box are things only you should see, but trust Takei and talk to him, he's a good man. He's not always great at saying the right thing perhaps, but his heart is true.
And trust yourself, you're a better man than you know, and a true friend.
Jump when you need to jump. Do what's right, not what's comfortable. Be all you can be, which is probably a lot more than you think. Be you.
The box, and my heart, are yours.
Love always,
Hel.
PS. You're still a numpty =]
Before Cal could even try to open the box, Takei reappeared and passed Cal a tissue and a glass of water. Cal carefully folded the note back into its envelope and zipped it into a pocket.
"Thanks, Doc. Sorry if I was a little blunt earlier."
Takei sat down opposite and sipped from his own glass, watching the play of emotions across the younger man's face. "Helena's words have calmed you a little." There was no question, or inflection of curiosity in the doctor's words, merely statement. Cal nodded.
"Hel was always good at knowing what to say. And sometimes what not to say, which may be more important." Cal paused and looked at Takei. "She said I should trust you."
"That is your choice. But I appreciate you passing on Helena's comment. She and I talked a great deal over the years, and I always enjoyed her company. She was a wonderful girl."
"What's outside the City?" Cal's blurted question hung in the air between them, and Takei shifted uncomfortably. After a few moments, the doctor seemed to come to a decision, and stood abruptly, moving toward a nearby door.
"Come with me," he said.
Cal inclined his head, picked up the box, and followed the doctor into the adjoining lab.
"Put the box down a moment, Cal, I need you to help with some equipment. It's a two man job."
Puzzled, but with Helena's words still buzzing in his head, Cal placed the box on a table and walked over to the doctor who was standing by a piece of apparatus with many wires coming from it. Takei flicked a switch, and a subtle hum filled the air around them.
"Now we can talk freely. This piece of equipment is something I use every day, but I noticed during testing that it also blocks the cameras and microphones of the Mind too." He paused and looked at Cal. "Why did you ask the question about what was outside the City?"
"I saw a window, on the Transit. There was a view to the outside and it wasn't the toxin infested wasteland we've all been told it was."
Takei sighed. "We don't have a huge amount of time, but I can tell you a few things. Not everything is as the general populace of the Cities believes it to be. The Mind is benevolent, but there are secrets as with any part of human society. Some of us are privy to more knowledge than others, and I think it's time you knew more.
"Most of humanity is content to play, create, eat, drink and do all the things we enjoy, but all the time. Humanity has become a hedonistic race, and if people are enjoying themselves then maybe we as a race are less likely to cause problems. But in every populace, there are the dreamers; the travellers, the explorers, and the thinkers. There are also those who are a little different. Your friend Helena was an explorer, but with a brilliant mind. She wanted to challenge the boundaries, see the stars, and change the world. But you my young friend are different. You have one of the most brilliant minds I have ever seen, and you can do more than just mathematical puzzles."
Call nodded. "I can... could talk to Helena using just my thoughts, without the connection through the Mind."
"And only a few people have ever been able to do that. But with practice Cal I think you could do so much more. But that perhaps is something we can explore with time. You mentioned you saw a window. What did you see?"
"I saw the sky, plants, trees, and something was flying in the sky. A bird?"
"Maybe. Nature always finds a way, Cal. Humans are a transitory species on this planet, as were the dinosaurs, and they were around a lot longer than we have been so far. Species evolve, change, and adapt. Mother Nature will also continue in some form or another regardless of the damage humans have wrought to the environment. But what we as a race did to the world was terrible.
"Although the world outside is healed for the most part, it's very different to the world before the Fall. There are new species, altered and adapted versions of creatures, and some parts of the world are still unsafe for anything other than microbial life-forms. In the same way that nanobots were introduced into humans to repair damage, robots were introduced into the world outside to help clean things up. In the meantime, the Mind was tasked with keeping humanity safe within the walls of the City, and it will do all it can to fulfill that mandate."
"Is there a way out there?"
Takei shifted uncomfortably again and glanced at the clock on the wall. "A few have made it, but it's not something I can help you with in the time we have left. Here, take this." He handed Cal a small device. "It's a companion piece to this larger piece of equipment in the lab here and will give you enough time to open the box in privacy when you get home. There are wiser heads than mine around, Cal, seek out others who have taught you. Some will surprise you with what they know."
Cal drew up his sleeve and showed Takei his watch with its still blinking message on it. "This message arrived as I was getting changed once I'd been removed from the biogel tank."
Takei looked at him sharply. "Once you were conscious and getting changed?"
"Yes."
"I don't know the answer to that one, Cal. As I said earlier though, I think you're capable of far more than we know at the moment. Your brain is extraordinary, and the scans we've done of you over the years show a marked change in chemistry once you hit puberty. There are few in the world who have either your computing power or your mental gifts."
The doctor glanced at the wall clock again. "Right, we're out of time. Play along with me once the interference drops."
Cal nodded, and Takei launched into the middle of a sentence as the hum of the machine ended.
"... and if you could take the equipment back home and do some readings for me it would be much appreciated, Cal, thank you. Oh and feel free to take readings while you're out and about too. All data is useful."
"Yeah, sure, doc. Thanks for including me in the experiment. It'll be good to be doing something again."
Takei shook Cal's hand and looked deep into his eyes. "Look after yourself, lad, trust yourself and your friends, ask questions, and question the answers you receive. All will become clear in time."
"Thanks, doc." Cal picked up Helena's box and walked out of Takei's lab.
~~~
A few hours later Cal sat in silence in his apartment, the silvery box and its contents sitting on his desk. The holo-screen on the wall behind the desk was full of mathematical equations, his version of procrastination, but he knew it was time to open the box.
"So how do I get into this thing, Hel?" he muttered. Cal rubbed his eyes. He'd not slept since the incident resulting in her death, and his eyes were gritty, his mind numb with loss and sleep deprivation.
Moving the flawless metal box around, Cal looked for a lid, or keyhole, or something to give him a clue, but the only thing hinting at a way up was the note resting on what he'd assumed was the top.
Frustration mounting, he growled at the box in annoyance, and it juddered on the surface of the desk.
"What the hell was that?" All frustration gone, Cal looked hard at the box, but it remained unmoving. As he rested a hand on the top of the box, his watch slid from his sleeve.
Help Me. The incessant message blinked.
"I'm trying to help, Helena, but I don't know what to do. There's no question, no answer. Nothing."
Help Me.
Four letters and two letters, that said so much, yet did so little to assuage his worries.
"Four and two," he whispered. Instinctively, Cal grabbed at the device Takei had given him and hit the button on the side. A faint whirr prickled the edges of his hearing and he uttered two words.
"Forty two?"
As he spoke, the top of the box popped up, and a hitherto unnoticeable seam appeared. The top of the box hinged open, and the contents of the box were his.
Cal reached in a pulled out a holo-cube. Touching the button on the side, a 3D portrait of his friend appeared above the cube. The smiling face of Helena blew him a kiss, then stuck out its tongue and blew a silent raspberry at him as it faded away.
He smiled and reached in again, pulling out a picture of the two of them at The Falls which he hung below the picture of his old professor. There was another note, and grey box about the size of his fist. Opening the note, he began reading.
Hi Cal,
I'm not sure whether you want to do this or not, but in the box is a part of me. Don't worry, it's not my still beating heart or a collection of my toenail clippings, but Dr Takei and I have been working on nanobots for some time now, and in the box are some of mine.
Our theory is they retain some of the host within them, as a sort of racial memory, but no-one seems to know for sure, and the Mind isn't giving us any information. This is highly secretive, Cal, no-one must know. You have only a few minutes to choose whether to let my nanites into your bloodstream or not. They will not harm you, but I'm hoping you will retain some of me within you, even if only in a few random memories.
There is more to the City and the Mind than meets the eye, Cal. I think Takei knows more, and I'm sure others do too. There is so much more going on than we know, Cal, and I wish I could share it with you.
Good luck, my friend, in whatever you do. I'll see you on the Mindscape, in your memories.
Your friend always,
Helena
Cal looked at the clock, folded the note back into the box and grabbed the small grey box. Prising off the lid, he watched as what looked like a black puddle of slowly moving liquid moved against gravity up the side of the box. The puddle paused, appeared to seek something, and then very purposefully moved up Cal's fingers onto his forearm. And disappeared.
"Well that was an anti-climax," he muttered. "Thanks, Hel."
Packing the few things Helena had given him back into the box, Cal closed the lid, watching as the seam disappeared back into smooth metal once more.
"The answer's forty-two, professor," he said glancing over at the new picture below the one of his old professor. But I still don't know what the question is. All Takei and Helena have done is open up a Pandora's Box of oddity."
Rubbing absently at his forearm, Cal listened carefully. The whine of Takei's device was decreasing in pitch.
"I need to know more," he whispered, and silence filled the apartment.