Cloud Cent Chronicles: Part 2 Chapter 1

 

A Misunderstanding

 

“This sucks. Why am I here? What did I even do?” “Heeeeeeeeeeeey!” The man shouted. “Heeeeeeeeeeeey!”

    This really sucks, the man thought to himself. And now my throat hurts. Great. He looked over to his left. There laid a stone wall blocking him from seeing anything. Looking to his left, he saw more of the same. Behind him as well. In front of him was a hard light wall. It shined a brilliant blue that would be quite beautiful if it weren’t for the fact that it was keeping him inside a prison cell.     

The Sergeants came for him the previous night. Mod block was dead silent. It had been for a while then. The man was deep in work. In thought. It was late. How late, the man didn’t know. Time never really mattered to him. Not much did. He was deep in his work, and that’s what mattered. The man was working on a new mod that a client requested. The man looked haggard. He didn’t care. People may judge him. He didn’t care. Then there was a deafening bang as the door was brought down. 

    “Shadow Vi,” one of the men who poured through the door yelled, “you’re coming with us!” The man, Shadow, thought about fighting back. He thought about shouting for help. He thought about quite a lot of things in the brief seconds before he was hit in the head with some kind of blunt object, he couldn't see what, and subsequently blacked out. When he woke up, he was in a prison cell.

    Shadow got off of the uncomfortable bench he was on and paced back and forth in his cell, waiting for something to happen. An hour later-or maybe longer or shorter-Shadow never was good with time, something finally did. A man walked up to the hard light wall and shut it off. A thought passed through Shadow’s mind. He knew he had two options here. Either go with the large guard, or make a break for it. He decided it wasn’t worth it to resist. After all, Shadow knew that he didn’t do anything. This all had to just be one huge misunderstanding. He had nothing to be afraid of.

    The guard turned Shadow around and touched the side of his neck. Suddenly, Shadow went stiff. 

    “Follow,” The guard said. And so Shadow did. They must have installed a mod in me, Shadow thought to himself. Despite working in a mod shop, Shadow actually didn’t have any mods of his own. Mods aren’t permanent, but they are a pain to remove. Only an expert can help you get them out. And with expertise comes expenses. Any shoddy mod doc can install a mod, albeit not always a quality one, but not just anyone can remove one. Shadow was always afraid that he’d regret a mod he got later in life and would have to fork over a ton of credits to remove it. Shadow rolled his eyes and did what he was told, not that he had a choice.

    Shadow quickly recognized the type of mod that was put in him. A pseudocognative rec board. Most people just call it a control chip, but those people wouldn’t be quite right. In reality, the mod allows someone with the corresponding mod (a pseudocognative con board) to partially control the first person. Shadow had installed plenty of the mods during his time apprenticing on mod block, although he had never seen the mods used in this way. Normally, his clients get them to...spice up the bedroom. The controller doesn’t have full control of the controlled, only the extremities, but it must be enough to keep prisoners in line, Shadow supposed. 

    Shadow was guided through dank, narrow, dimly lit halls. All around him were people in cells identical to his own, three people per cell. Some people laid on the ground, barely moving. Others licked clean plates of...something. Shadow didn’t want to think about what it was. Shadow swallowed hard and continued on his way.

    Eventually, he stopped moving. Before him was a set of large, ornate doors. Wires ran visibly through them in an entrancing pattern, twisting and turning as they made their way toward the other end of the door. It glowed a brilliant green. It was such a contrast to the dimness of the rest of the prison. The guard who led Shadow here tapped something on his wrist, swinging the door inward. Light flooded through the opening. It reminded Shadow of a story he read once where once you die, you are led to these shockingly bright gates and you are faced with all the sins of your life. Shadow was pretty sure he wasn’t dead-after all, his heart was beating far too fast to be deceased. Shadow’s eyes adjusted to the light. In the bright room sat one large desk in front of a wall of windows. At that desk was a man whom Shadow recognized. 

    “Hello Shadow. We need to discuss your crimes.” The Leader of the city said. 

Everyone knew the face of the city’s Leader. He’s the man that makes everything possible. He keeps the lights on. He keeps the water flowing. Everything that people in the city have is thanks to him. He’s the most loved man there is. Personally, Shadow was quite ambivalent towards him, as he was with most things. Still though, when you meet someone as famous as The Leader, you want to make a good first impression. Shadow tried to fix his dark black hair fruitlessly. His mod was still active.

    “Oh yes, my crimes, of course. Ready when you are. Except...I’m sorry, I’m afraid I have no idea what we’re about to discuss.”

    “Of course you do Shadow. The whole city has been focused on your crimes for a while now.”

    “They have?”

    “Yes.”

    “Oh. And what crimes exactly are they?”

    “Two counts of murder and conspiricy.”

    “Oh I see...Wait...WHAT!?!?!”

    “The Mod Block suicides, or killings rather. We know that it was you who killed those poor people. And then you tried to frame it as a suicide.”

    “That’s-” Recently, two people had committed suicide on Mod Block. Or at least, that’s how it appeared. Shadow recalled watching a special on the news where some crazy journalist accused the government of fabricating the suicides and that the government actually had both people killed.

    “Don’t try to deny it. We have all the evidence we need right here.” The Leader tapped a spot on his desk and a video began projecting out. It was shot in first person. Shadow watched in horror as a man walked up to someone and shot him, point blank, in the temple. Next, the man strangled someone. As the man arranged the body, he passed by a mirror. The face in the mirror was Shadow’s.

    “You’ve been caught on video, I’m afraid.” The Leader said, sighing out the fakest sigh Shadow had ever heard in his life. “We were able to retrieve the footage from the camera mod in your neck. Normally, the footage is wiped completely after 24 hours, but you know what they say: nothing is ever truly gone. A result of our digital age.”

    “That video’s fake!” Shadow shouted. “I don’t even have any mods! Besides the one that you shoved in me!” 

    “Why lie Shadow? I have the digital imprint from you signing the waiver when you received the mod.” The Leader tapped another point on his desk, bringing up a copy of Shadow’s medical history, except that on this copy, it said he had a mod. 

This isn’t just a misunderstanding, thought Shadow, I’m being framed. Shadow thought back to the interview about the deaths. That guy must have been right. And now here I am. Why couldn’t he have just left well enough alone? He had to go on air and stir the pot, and now here I am! DAMNIT!

“I’m afraid the people of the city want justice, Shadow.” The Leader icily said. “An eye for an eye they say.” Shadow started panicking. The logical part of his brain knew that he couldn’t brute force his way out of the mod they installed in him, but he had to try something to escape. What did he have? He could speak. He decided he would start with that.

“Wait!” Shadow sputtered. “If you execute me, it’ll have to be public. As you said, the people want justice. And I’ll talk. I’ll tell them what you’re doing, that you’re framing me!”

The Leader looked amused. “Shadow,” he spoke gently, “I said the people want justice, not the truth.” So he’s just dropping to the facade, thought Shadow. “As long as someone pays for these crimes, the people will be content.” The Leader smiled.    

Crap! Ok, what else, what else. All I can use is my brain, but what use is my brain without my body!?

An alarm started blaring. The windows behind The Leader were suddenly blocked by hard light constructs. Shadow could hear the door behind him slam close. 

No! I'm not dying here. I can't! But what can I do?

Shadow looked up and saw the same panicked look that was on his face appear on The Leader's.

What? Is this not him? Then...what’s going on!?

Shadow heard the door behind him open and saw The Leader shoot up. The guard to Shadow’s left raised his wrist at the door...or whoever was in the doorway.

"Identify yourself! State your number now!"

"How did you get in here? How do you even know of this place?" The Leader sounded genuinely impressed. "This is suicide. You know that, right?" The person didn't answer. "Quite frankly, you'd make a fine Sergeant. What's your name miss?"

"What were the names of the people you killed, because I know damn well that it wasn't Shadow. What were the james if  the two that you murdered. If you can tell me their names, I'll tell you mine."

Oh God, why does she know my name?

"Kill her." Before the guard could move, a beam hit his chest and he fell to the ground. And just like that, Shadow was free.

Okay. Okay okay okay okay okay. What now? Shadow turned around and saw a woman standing behind him, wrist raised and pointed at The Leader. The Leader, meanwhile, smirked. Even though the laser was pointed at The Leader, Shadow noted that The Leader seemed to be in complete control. The woman was faking confidence well enough. 

"Shadow...I'll make you a deal." Shadow looked back at The Leader. Before he could finish, the woman shot. The blast bounced off of seemingly thin air and landed on the ceiling. "Ha, you like it? Invisible hard light. Shadow, listen to me. We both know that you're nothing more than a scapegoat. You didn't kill these people. Personally, I still maintain that no one did, but precautions have to be taken. Point is, scapegoats are easy enough to come by. Take her out and I'll let you go. We'll call this one big mistake."

"What? Oh come on, you don't actually believe this crap, do you? He brought you here to kill you! I'm trying to save you!"

"And say she does. Say you escape with your life. Do you really think that's the end of it? As far as the world would know, a serial killer would have escaped prison. You would be the most wanted man in the City. With me, you can just go back to your life. What do you say?"