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Energy-Crisis (mini-ending)
Myself, Rah, Brad and Peter along with two other CoreTEX Interns, landed on a ring that seemed to serve as a catwalk or scaffolding around what appeared to be the physical manifestation of the stream of consciousness. From a distance it looked like flowing water but if you focused on a moment in time, you could see individual streams of people’s lives. The stream seemed to originate from below us because the flow of consciousness headed upward as far as the eye could see. People working, people playing, people getting married, people sleeping but a great number of them were just sitting watching TV or their phone or computer. What were they watching? When I first started investigating the energy crisis, I thought they were watching the Internet. But no, they were watching their own memories through the eyes of a doppelganger; their consciousness is being hacked to create negative energy. I reminded the group to maintain as close to zero energy as possible. The sensors will detect a change in energy and probably send enforcements. “Only Earthlings should have access to the CoreTEX, therefore, whatever we are looking for will be external to the stream. I am guessing down…” I said as I plunged downward- literally surfing. I felt more comfortable flying next to the Cortex then I did on my jog this morning. However, it was different being outside the manifestation. When flying inside, I could feel the rush of emotions over my skin as I passed each consciousness. As if for a moment I was part of that human’s life. I had forgotten the sensation on my real skin and remembered that’s why I stayed inside the CoreTEX for so long. It was the first time I felt a part of another person’s life. I was engulfed in the moment and probably not my most alert when pulses of greenish light much like futuristic gun fire rang out from the virtual background. I had only made it a few hundred feet in my strong downward swoop when one of the pulses struck my shoulder. “No!!!” I could feel Rah scream both in my head and my heart. I could hear alarms go off as I free-fell for some time. Long enough to hear the sound from four alarm speakers crescendo then fade. I hit the bottom level landing in a shallow puddle of green-grey ooze. “Stop. Rewind. Play.” These three simple commands rewound my fall avoiding my messy splash down. I retouched down on three points and thought to the others, “I am okay.” I felt a sense of relief from the group that I was okay, but I could hear Brad think, “We have company.” “Just play with them. Keep away from them and don’t do any real damage- yet. And whatever you do- do not remove their skin. I’m onto something…”, I said. “And how does one fight an alien?” Peter asked. “Like a Monk!” Rah said, raising his hands in defense to block a green pulse shot at him from an alien whose skin was already gone. Rah’s Light energy blocked and deflected the Dark energy. They began playing keep-away with the aliens by only generating enough energy to keep them occupied without getting hurt themselves. I wiped the green ooze from my hand onto my pant leg. It was a very disturbing texture, almost intrusive. I floated above the floor cautiously rebalancing my energy with each movement along the exterior of the stream of consciousness to prevent from being detected. What I found was what looked like a giant human dendrite attached to the CoreTEX. The thin membrane reminded me of a bat wing stretched over an area of the stream with hooked ends that held on to its host like the life-sucking alien leach that it was. I followed the ends of the alien dendrite in order to determine the hack’s source. The connective tissue coming from the dendrite increased in size and changed from a soft human-like tissue very similar to brain matter to the hard bony exoskeleton of the Dark Creature we encountered in the office building. This was not a single alien but rather an alternate steam of consciousness, one created by the aliens to hack our consciousness. I found myself standing at the base of literal good and evil. One stream, the human CoreTEX, represents free-thought and the potential good in all humans the other is pure evil sent to rob us of our freedom and our energy. “I found it!” I said at last. “Hurry, I am losing energy.” I could hear the falter in Brad’s faith. “Remember the Kiss?” I said. Rah took it as a question for him and answered affectionately, yes. However, it was more like a directive and the memories of the moment alone in the janitor’s closet began to play from Rah’s perspective in the undefined background around us just like it did in The Lab. There was the moment of close breath in the dark, then the actual kiss that released new and old emotions in all of us. Sensing the increase in positive energy and love I thought aloud for all to hear, “Will you marry me, Rah?” He blasted more energy than ever allowing it to pass through his body and focusing its exit point as the center of his hand. It was so much energy it had to be released. He screamed, Yes!! The alien is angered by the blast and releases a battle shriek of its own. The group begins blasting aliens with love and positive energy, this time with intent to overpower the Dark energy, about three-fold. “Move to me,” I said and the group of four was instantly sucked into the stream of consciousness and transported to my side. They began blasting the dark alien tower while I reached into the CoreTEX and extracted a huge double bladed axe. The axe appears to be ancient with a blade crafted of a blue crystal that glows the same bluish white color as our positive energy. The axe shimmered in a beautiful blue light that begins to react to the alien structure sparking electrical explosions at anything negative. I could feel the energy in the blade increase in strength as I swung downward severing the soft connective tissue just below the alien hack. I fell to my knees both in pain and loss of energy. I had that sense again that something was going to happen. “Execute: Mother Code” I said as I fell unconscious next to the severed cortex. My hands landed as if grabbing for the end still connected to the CoreTEX. Rah looked over his shoulder. He was worried for just a millisecond. He recognized this as negative energy and corrected his equilibrium. “I love you,” he said quietly at first then aloud, then louder. He yelled positive affirmations while battling the alien tower and the additional reinforcements, “I love you, I believe in you, I have faith in you. You can do it!” The positive energy gave the group additional strength and energy to fight in addition to shrinking the Dark Creatures. When the human CoreTEX was severed from the alien leech, all of humanity cried out, it was a beautiful tone and perfectly on pitch; however it was the deepest tone of bass the human ear could possibly detect and the depth of pain, suffering and despair was felt by the whole planet. Empowered with the Mother code, human consciousness within the CoreTEX did exactly what it is designed to do and grew new dendrites. The severed end of the human CoreTEX connected to me at the center of my abdomen. The same bluish white light was seen traveling through the almost transparent tubing pulsing from my body literally feeding it Hope. Rah swooped down and retrieved the ancient glowing axe stopping only for a moment to kiss me on the forehead. The eternal connection between parental opposites in a perfect union around a child for the future; the circle had been complete and balance restored once again. All of humanity sang out in a single, beautiful note that carried so long that it became a vibration. The vibration carried the band of five through battle. I honestly do not think it stopped but it could not be heard anymore. It simply became part of humanity. Rah completed the final blow causing all of the lost memories that had been funneling into the alien cortex to manifest in the air and enter the axe. He placed the axe back into the stream of human consciousness replacing all of the stolen memories. Rah retrieved a locket from the CoreTEX and placed it around my neck. It was an unknown shinning metal forged in the shape of a heart with a three dimensional blue infinite energy inside that radiated as the ancient axe had. He kissed me this time as I held what seemed to be a newborn child. “Aww, you’re going to be a great dad,” I said.
By Lea Nunamaker5 years ago in Fiction
Dawn's Red Sky
https://www.pikist.com/free-photo-sdjxs Craig watched the last wisps of gun smoke rise slowly into the air. His little band of survivors had been fortunate this time, but there was still losses. Mitch lay on the ground, unmoving. His freckled face would not light up in that devil may care grin again. He was only a kid, but the constant struggle for survival had aged him, and everyone else, fast. Several others had minor injuries, but no one else had died today. The would be attackers all lay dead. Running a hand through his brown, filthy hair, Craig looked at his band of fighters. Lack of food and sleep, and above all the constant need for alertness and caution, was taking its toll on everyone. “All right, everyone, load up and let's head back to base.” “What about Mitch?” Kurt asked. “His body stays,” Craig replied. Unhappy murmuring echoed around the group, but no one opposed Craig. Somehow he'd managed to keep everyone alive and safe despite the odds. These days, that counted for a lot.
By Margaret Draper5 years ago in Fiction
Bucket Head
The world was in a time of unrest, a statement that could probably fit any time during or before our historical record. People felt that the system was unfair and needed to be balanced bringing true equality to people. This feeling was felt in every section of the population, creating division based on race, gender, country and anyway a person could identify or separate themselves.
By Robert Pierce Fichtner5 years ago in Fiction
Stray
Terror only comes in brief jags now, but when it does it splits my head. Panic flashes like a strobe light. It isn’t the knowledge of death, but the manner of it. When it comes, I would like to feel human. But I’m a trapped animal – less – a bacterium shifting through the bowels of the earth.
By Adam Brooks5 years ago in Fiction
Into the Grey
The old man sat on the stoop beneath the awning of the abandoned house, gazing down at the photograph in his weathered hands. The photo was four by six inches, and had been folded and unfolded so many times that the creases had become translucent, and were in danger of tearing. Two horizontal lines and two verticals divided the photo into nine sections, and the resulting pattern resembled the tic-tac-toe game that the children used to play. The old man allowed himself a small smile that reached from his dry, cracked lips up to his colorless eyes. With the delicacy of handling a precious artifact, he folded the photo once more and placed it into the heart-shaped locket that hung from a fine chain about his neck. He tried pressing the sides of the tarnished silver together with his thumb and forefinger, grimaced, then reluctantly used his other hand to close the clasp with a quiet click. He rose from the stoop with a painful deliberation, and when his knees had stopped their protestations, he picked up his bag and made his way down the silent street.
By Christopher Abel5 years ago in Fiction
The Mid-Hills
THE MID-HILLS Ruthy-Ru In the heart of the hills far north of a northwestern city, an old woman sat playing dice on a slab of ancient granite before a crackling fire. Her home was a warm and inviting place where many had paid long and eventful visits; from this World and Others, many of the locals were heard to say over a few beers at the Clear Lake Tavern.
By Jeffrey Harris5 years ago in Fiction
Gertrude
Once upon a time there lived a young warrior named Gertrude. Her friends and family called her Trudy and they all lived in the kingdom of Salvonia. Gertrude was not a princess, but she was the grandniece of the king, who took a special interest in her after her father’s death in battle against the Journes. King Mallory saw to it that his favorite niece received the best training from the finest warriors in the kingdom including the Salvonian captain of the royal guard, commander Trangg. From the time that Trudy was a little girl, she knew that her chances of being a real princess were unlikely and that such a distinction was for her more attractive and fragile cousins. Alternatively, she decided to excel in the ways of the warrior and perfect her fighting skills with weapons and hand-to hand combat. She had trained to use swords, daggers, and even large battle axes but her true passion was for the most glorious weapon she had ever seen - the morningstar. This tool of destruction had a handle attached to a chain, which was linked to a heavy spiked ball. The chain could be removed to convert the weapon into a mace if needed. Her late father had desired for her to wield a spear as he did, but there was something about the morningstar that captivated Gertrude. It was more difficult to use than a sword or spear, but trained day and night for months after she reached age 18. By the age of 20, she was a skilled warrior, but because of her nobility status and her gender, she was always protected from actual combat with the Journe forces.
By Steven Allen5 years ago in Fiction
heart-shaped locket Diana(2)
India-1885: Amelia Harper, a beautiful English woman, in her early twenties She came to Madras, the capital of the southern Indian capital, from England, as a teacher at home to teach children.Little did she know that the Indian National Congress Against British Colonialism was formed the same year she arrived. Under the administration of the East India Company, the Indian subcontinent, beginning in 1757, came under the direct rule of the British Empress from 1858 onwards, with riots erupting in 1857 against the East India regime.Tens of thousands of people from the British middle class came to India to 'develop' industry and education. According to the 1861 census, there were a total of 125,945 whites in India. Of which 84,083 are white ‘common people;’,There were 66.000 white soldiers and 130.000 Indian soldiers to hold the subcontinent of India and 350.000 soldiers as junior kings who ruled many parts of India. In the UK.Amelia, a middle-class woman, has many women in her family who have long been involved in the business of educating upper-class families. Amelia has a very progressive policy of her own. Amelia was one of the women who contributed to the spread of the idea that women should have the right to vote in the UK.Before engaging in ‘political’ ideas, Amelia was sent to India or. When Canada, one of the British colonial countries, was thinking of sending an educational train to Australia,Amelia got a job in India on the recommendation of a native woman in India. The new culture and the new environment overwhelmed Amelia. Many cruel customs in India;The plight of women made her angry. She could not do anything against them. She longed to return to England.When her relatives heard that the British were living with in India, they advised her to marry a British man in India.She didn't like it. Time flew by. Her job was to pay a new way to Amelia, the love of William Harrison, an army chief who often visited the home of an army officer. Amelia's husband is not a colonial pervert. She will be treated very cruelly by caste, religion and ethnicity.He heartily admired some of the British administration for trying to benefit the common people, but he was the military commander who saved the colony.Although he understands Amelia's 'welfare thinking' in chronological order, he does not want his wife to go out and do it.There were servants for various kinds of work in their house. Her great-grandmother ‘Thomas Borna Do’ for poor children in the east of London;Amelia, who had heard of teaching at a start-up company, said she too could teach poor Indian women.After their marriage, he moved north due to his promotion;Amelia treated their Indian servants with love and taught English to their children.Time moved on, and she had four children, one after the other.She raised a baby girl and three boys as filming specials for the paradises she got. When the first girl was ten years old, her grief was unbearable when grief came and she died.She prayed day and night that she would not have a baby girl. She was saddened by the failure of her expectation.For many months, she was confined to her home. At that time a baby girl was born to a young couple who became their cooks.Amelia caressed and kissed the fairy-like baby. She named him Diana.Amelia treated the baby with love. She forgot her grief at the child's laughter.For the poor servants who were treated as downtrodden and oppressed, little Amelia, the cook's child, was a wonderful English woman. Amelia's sons grew up. The first two sons were sent to England for higher studies, under the supervision of Amelia's family in London.Five-year-old last son James; Only then in India. In the garden, he runs and plays with two-year-old Diana.Many English cynics in Amelia watched in disgust as the English boy played with the Indian maid.Amelia in their racism; Not paying much attention. At that time, many political changes were taking place in India. By Nivedita , a white woman who was invited to India by Vivekananda in 1898 as his niece; Many changes took place in the education of Indian women. Was already going on Amelia's last son, James Avan, was sent to study in England as usual at the age of eleven, according to British custom in India.She enjoyed teaching Diana the solitude of Amelia, who had sent her three children to England. Amelia and her husband came to India every two or three years to spend the spring vacation with their parents, and Amelia and her husband moved to London.Diana, beyond the identity of being the daughter of a servant, grew up knowledgeable and beautiful, in the warmth of Amelia. Her maternal grandfather, according to their caste custom.When Diana reached puberty they decided to marry her. Diana was almost thirteen then.Amelia and her husband prevented it. Diana's mother told her father that it was cruel for her to have a child and marry her.Amelia prayed that Diana, who was forced to marry at a young age by her mother and father, would become a teacher. Many political and social changes began in India at that time. Mohanlal Gandhi came to India from South Africa.Annie Besant, an Irish white woman, was making many progressive changes in India. Annie joined the Indian Political Party and focused on the advancement of women.World War I began in 1914. Countries such as Britain, Russia, and France fought alongside Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Italy.The Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey), which ruled the Mediterranean at the time, joined the German alliance. Amelia's eldest two sons are also closely associated in the UK.The eldest son finished his studies. The mother told her father that she had decided to marry the girl she studied with and stay in England.The second son had just begun medical school.The third son had come to India in mid-1917. British-Indian soldiers were actively involved in World War I.Tens of thousands of English and Indian youth were recruited for the war.Amelia's husband, William, was an army officer. His son was expected to join the army. The third son, James, nineteen years old, came to India and went for military training a few months later.Upon completion of the training, he was sent to the fierce battle between the British alliance and the German alliance in the territory of Mozambique.World War I killed thousands of young people. The United States joined the British Alliance in 1917.The war was raging. Amelia prayed to God for her son's protection. World War I killed millions of young people in many places. One of them was James, son of the Amelia-William couple,Within two months of going to the battlefield, he was defeated by the enemy in a battle with the enemy in the region of Mozambique;When the news came, Amelia could not bear it. She cried as a mother who had snatched away billions of young people.In the absence of her son, she did not want to live for a minute. She left India and came to England to see her two sons.She knew in that look that he had failed her. Her husband was one of the British military officers in India.And she, too, was in danger of leaving India and coming to England by sea. The enemy's navy was spread over many parts of the Indian Ocean.At the same time, the issue of marriage talk to Diana saw an intense phase. Later, while Amelia was weeping for her dead son, James, Diana ran and fell at Amelia's feet, screaming. ‘My family is going to kill me,’ exclaimed the sixteen-year-old girl.‘Did you refuse to get married?’ Amelia asked as she hugged the beautiful young woman.Diana cried for a long time without answering Amelia's question.For Amelia, Diana began to understand that marriage could not be the only reason for her depression.‘Diana, what’s the matter?’ She asked as she hugged Diana sympathetically. Diana belongs to an untouchable caste in the Indian caste system. There is no room for such comments in Amelia's humanity.Diana, very reluctantly took Amelia hand and held it to her stomach, and in the midst of the cry ‘James baby, your grands In the middle of the cry ‘James baby, your grandson is growing in my womb’. For a moment Amelia felt the world turn upside down. In front of her, she saw this beautiful young Indian woman carrying her heir intruding.At the thought of Amelia, the happy smiles that flashed across James' face came and went during his stay in India. On the day James went to war, Diana's grief from loneliness was understandable.Amelia's instinct made it clear that James had been in love with Diana since her birthday and from an early age. She did not think that the love that came when Amelia hugged Diana to forget the tragedy of the death of her only daughter would turn like this.The son of a British high ranking officer is the boyfriend of an Indian woman who serves them ?.At that moment Amelia could not think of anything smoothly. Diana's family is sure to kill her honor if she tells Alia's husband William the truth about Diana - James what will happen? William was a very good man. But he was one of the highest-ranking military commanders of the British Empire ruling India.Will Amelia drive Diana's family out of town? Amelia cried alone all night thinking of her husband and her beloved son's baby.Amelia orders Diana not to tell her mother or father anything. In a hurry she asks her close friend for help.The truth about Diana doesn’t say it all. She only said that Diana's life was in danger from her family because Diana wanted someone her father did not like.Amelia knows some Indians who would not hesitate to kill her if their daughter did not do what they wanted. Her chief duty was to save Diana. Amelia told her friend that if any English-speaking Diana was admitted to a nun's monastery, she would be able to educate poor children there. Diana was sent several hundred miles from where they were.Her parents were the first to let others know about her. Amelia knew it was as if her loss was the big thing. However, the parents knew that Amelia had told the other servants that their daughter had gone to their owner's house in the distance.Over time, Amelia was relieved when her parents, who knew nothing about Diana, began to tell her that Diana had married her where she had gone. Beginning in 1918, an outbreak of the deadly Spanish virus caused tens of thousands of soldiers to die. The virus also spread to the general public. World War I was raging. Not only the war veterans, but the deaths of civilians and the economic crisis showed signs of ending the war.Six months after the death of Amelia's wonderful son, Amelia was overjoyed to hear that Diana had given birth to a beautiful baby girl at a nunnery. But how to tell her husband about Diana? She had no idea how he would take it.When the war ended, her husband was about to retire and he told Amelia that they would both be living in England with their sons. Amelia does not want to leave her granddaughter Jane and Diana in India. By the end of the war she had planned to tell him about Diana and her granddaughter anyway. She was waiting to beg him to take them with them anyway.Amelia's family was hit by Hitler's bomb on the day they tried to leave London, killing Amelia at home.Jane and her husband had gone to a Labor meeting for the liberation of the colonial countries; They escaped because they were not at home. After the end of the war in 1942. The news of the death of forty-year-old Diana came as she was making preparations to go to India to show her eldest son to her mother Diana.The tragedy of not seeing the mother who gave birth to her haunts Jane. Jane's desire to have a baby girl named after her mother turns to bran when their next child is born a boy. When her eldest son was born in 1970, Jane was amazed to compare the child to a photograph of her father, James Paul, in print. The baby was Diana's father, David Maston."Your grandmother told me many stories when I was growing up. Can you name my mother, my great-grandmother, if you give birth to a baby girl?" Jane begged her grandson.Many girls born in England in 1997 were named after British Princess Diane, who died prematurely at the time. Diana's father asked his wife, "Can we name our baby Diana?" She did not know her husband's geography. She did not need to tell him about it. But the beautiful name agreed with me.When he is little, he remembers his beloved grandmother, the beautiful Diana. For Diana's twenty - first birthday, when he tries to serve her favorite vegetable dish at home, Logan, who was there, has no idea of his love for his daughter.She doesn't even know the reason for the change in her face when she saw him and the embarrassment that followed. But early in the morning of the next day, Diana hurried to the university without telling her father.Love Logan and Diana who came as a cook? This question struck a chord in his mind.He came to Diana's University the next day because he had a recent court case. The restaurant owner, who had arranged for Diana's birthday party, inquired about the world with her friend. Logan is not a cook. Sinekitan of his son. Logan is a medical student who came to London in 1983 as a Tamil refugee who had lost everything due to the genocidal action taken by the Sri Lankan government against Tamils in Sri Lanka.He also said that he was the son of a Sri Lankan university doctor who came. Also, when Logan accidentally came to the store to see his friend, he told him that Logan had come with his son because there were not enough people to send those who had placed orders outside.But. He could not bear the thought of Diana running away from home early in the morning for fear of what would happen if she found out she was in love with a cook. ‘My tradition begins with an Indian religious woman, my great-grandmother Amelia lived against caste and ethnic differences.Grandmother Jane and her husband fought for the liberation of the colonial countries through the Labor Party. I dedicate my life to the cause of human equality. Your maternal relatives have no right to question your search for a future spouse. You know that I have no other pleasure than to associate Logan and you; I just told you and ran away '; Told Diana and kissed her daughter! When he arrived at his room, he hugged Logan, saying, "I love you, Diana." Logan is unaware that the 1918-2018 history of their love affair is the reason for Diana's kiss. In a few more seconds, when they fall in love, Diana can tell it to Logan.
By Zarinabanu Zarinabanu5 years ago in Fiction
Locket of the Wastes
Entry 1: Coming to on the ground I never would have expected that I could see such a bright light. The light lilted like the voice of an operatic singer and became so bright that I shut my eyes again. I didn’t know how long I had had them closed before.
By Sagan Marlowe5 years ago in Fiction
The Void
I have always heard that fear is paralyzing. That the sensation floods your body, rendering you immobile, all the while your heart is racing. Your breath catches in your lungs, and your stomach drops heavily as if laden with rocks. Your muscles tense, adrenaline courses through your nervous system, and you tremble. At least that’s what I’ve heard. I could not remember the last time that I experienced it, perhaps I never had.
By Morrigan Crowley5 years ago in Fiction
Wonderment
The moon is swollen and brighter than usual. Her pale, quivering light creates elongated shadows between the crevices of the buildings below. A boy stops and looks up. He can’t see me – he is wearing his mask – but I hold my breath all the same. Stepping back from the window frame, my sleeve catches on a shard of old paint. It tugs briefly then snaps free. The sensation sends a shiver through down my spine.
By Cara Thurlbourn5 years ago in Fiction
