He felt everything. Every incision, every inch of the doctor's fingers underneath his skin. He didn't take anything to soften the pain, he liked being awake for this. The procedure used to make him want to pass out, but he could now withstand the writhing burn near his spine. He still wanted to die during the procedure, though. Which is why he had to be awake.
— We're done for today, sir. I would recommend that you take some days to rest before working out, or else we'll have to do this again.
— It won't be a problem this time, Thompinks.
The doctor sighed and walked away.
— You know where to find me, sir. Just make sure you stay well hydrated.
— That I can do.
Arcturus laid on the operating table for some half an hour while his wounds healed. He felt so powerful, a wound like this would take weeks or months to fully heal, but now he could be up and running in mere minutes. His technology was working well. HIS technology.
His mind wandered for a brief second and everything around him melted away. The dimly lit operating room turned into a red landscape that surrounded him and turned like he was inside a twister, with no distinction between left and right.
— Stop it.
The spinning stopped and he was back in the headquarters of Apex Technologies. He got up and dressed slowly but with intention. He was wearing a tight-fitting plum suit with reflecting patterns that made the illusion of a solar flare dancing on the fabric. The technology did not get a chance to become popular in the 2030s, but he was hoping to change that now.
He got up and started hobbling towards the exit, trying his best to regain his pace. By the time he got to his office, he was walking upright and with synchronized arms and steps. He was back in control.
He glanced at the corner of his office and saw the gargoyle statue overseeing the whole room.
He sat down and started working without turning his luminescent gaze again. He spoke.
— I saw the red waste again. We need to work harder.
His speech seemed aimed at the gargoyle, who made no effort to reply back. He tapped a button on the screen in front of him.
— What news of the earthworm?
A voice popped up from his computer.
— The police has confirmed the death of Leon Diaz-Abbatini. They have ruled it a suicide and no further investigation is being conducted.
— Of course. And where did they find him?
— A man named Raul Montante, his assistant, found him in the Tepoztlan hacienda. He did not report much about the scene, but the scene was discribed as "lamentable".
— An earthworm through and through. The question is…did he burrow underground?
— There is no record of Leon Diaz-Abbatini burrowing underground or hiding in any holes.
Arcturus sighed. It can only be so good for now. He turned the terminal off.
— What do you think? Is it just a husk or is he really…
A notification popped up on his screen. He played it.
— An employee was sighted leaving on the train to Mexico two weeks ago, the day the body was discovered.
— One of ours??
— Yes, Natalia M. Senior Cognitive Psychologist. ID R-1029. Do you want me to play the feed?
— Do it.
Arcturus saw the long-haired, brown woman boarding the train with a small suitcase and a satchel on her. He did not recognize one of the many employees, especially of that department. But he knew immediately: Leon's schemes were starting to unfold.
— Call the clean up guy. I have a project for him.
In the classroom — …And so, the AI God was defeated by the bravery and ingengenuity of humankind.
The kids all looked at Natalia with incredulous faces, like they were about to burst out laughing. Some of them still communicated with each others with their hands, but soon stopped.
— I know, I know.
— See? This is why we don't learn anything. All those history files are full of ridiculous stories like that. They either paint the past like this utopia where everything was going well or skip any of the interesting details. If everything was going swimmingly, we wouldn't be in this mess right now.
In the past two weeks, Natalia had gotten to know her class much better. Paloma had regained her confidence and would often go into tirades against the lessons, to the chagrin of some of her classmates. But they were all more engaged and she was trying to find ways to improve the lessons.
— It's true. The lessons do focus more on recounting the events with a…particular perspective.
— What are we supposed to do with that? "Don't build an evil AI god"? Everyone knows how dangerous AI can be. The people of the ancient times sometimes seem painfully…stupid? Careless?
— Well, that wasn't SO long ago. I was alive when Oculus was around, even if just a child. Leon would be able to tell you all the details.
She felt a pain in her chest. No he couldn't, not anymore.
— Your professor Leon…
She corrected herself.
— All we know, all we need to know, is that your generation left the world as it is now. It's up to us to clean up your mess now. And the best way is probably to NOT do what you did.
— Yeah, you clearly cared more about documenting everything that was going on than about doing something about it.
— Documenting was seen as doing something.
— And see where it got you.
— They're right. We should be teaching the classes, not the Returners.
Natalia didn't take an issue with that anymore. She understood the kids were rightfully upset and would often paint with broad strokes. But she saw an opportunity.
— Perhaps…why don't you teach the class?
The room fell silent.
— I am a Returner. I missed 10 years of this world. I've read many records of it, of course, but you were here for most of it. What was it like?
She saw some jaws drop. One of the kids made the hand gesture for asking to be woken up.
Paloma spoke first.
— Is this a trap?
— How could it be a trap???
— All the teachers are always telling us about all the things we need to learn, but they never have anything useful to say. If we could skip class…
— I never said anything about skipping class.
— Oh…
— Wait, though. …What would you do if you could skip class?
The classroom erupted into a cacophony of boisterous ideas. Natalia struggled to focus. Ignacio wanted to go to the mountains, Daniela wanted to paint, Paloma unsurprisingly started listing all her technology projects.
— How about we try that? Next class, we start taking turns presenting about what you're all interested in?
There was a noticeable deflation in the in the room. She, once again, said the wrong thing, and, once again, had no idea why.
— That's not what you had in mind?
— Well, no offense, Miss Natalia. But…this place is so boring.
— I can't have you skipping class. Principal Lopez would find out immediately. And we do have to cover the syllabus.
The energy stayed at ground level. Before long, the bell rang and Natalia stood while everyone left. Everyone, except, unsurprisingly, Paloma.
— I'm sorry, I can't just let you guys do anything you want…
— Nobody ever does…we'll just keep doing the mind-numbing readings until the world burns down…
Paloma packed her bag and left, making a point of how she was dragging her feet. Natalia knew by now they were making a show of their disappointment because they trusted her. They would be back full of excitement by next class, but she needed to be careful not to lose control of the classroom the way things were going.
Unless…she thought a little longer about what they were saying. These kids did indeed know more about the world in the last 15 years than she did. How did she know that what she was teaching them was accurate or even relevant?
She kept pondering the question all the way back to the house. It was the first time she was able to be lost in thought on the way back, she had finally adapted enough to know her way back, and she was now present enough to allow her mind to wander.
She thought of the last 5 years. Of the lightspeed pace of waking up and having to catch up on the missing 10 years of her life, how everything felt just as fast-paced as before that, when everyone was preparing for the Yosemite-C.
It had been a while since she had been able to think of the past freely, not with a goal in mind, and she decided to bask in it. She thought of her found family, she thought of calling her dad, but it was not Thursday. She thought of her biological mother and the Days of the Hum. She had been repressing all those memories, like…
She knew immediately what she would be doing if she didn't have to teach the lectures. And she went ahead and did it.
---
The Hacienda
It was the first time she was back since the time with Monty. The Hacienda looked like nobody had lived there in decades, not in days. There was something very homely about it, though. She made her way to the basement, back to the lab.
She allowed herself to take it in, this time. An indescribable force pressed all around her chest, threatening to break her, but she focused on her breathing and closed her eyes. She steeled her fists and firmly planted her feet. She rooted herself in the moment and managed to avoid a TDS episode. Clearly there was more to this than just Leon's passing, but she needed to know…why?
She started walking around the lab, inspecting the many workstations and trinkets on the tables. This is where Leon's team must've worked many years ago, Monty among them.
She imagined what it would've been like to be a part of that team, instead of the Austin team. She closed her eyes and…felt like she was being watched.
— Hello???
The feeling stopped. All the feelings stopped. She could only notice the racing of her heart, like there was a big surprise around the corner. And so she decided to dig a little further.
She found one of Leon's journals on a table. He always preferred to write his thoughts by hand. But these thoughts…
— "It is all meaningless", "dirt upon dirt upon dirt", "I wish I could stop existing already".
Her chest tightened. She remembered her mentor being prone to episodes of depression, but all these notes…they were pages upon pages describing a miserable state of mind.
— It seems Monty was right, it was suicide…
Her gut immediately told her otherwise. "The binder".
She thought of the binder she had left in the satchel the day she arrived. And that strange book that came out of nowhere. She hadn't given it any thought in the past two weeks. She turned and ran for the door, that's when she heard a ruffling in the distance. She was being watched. She looked around the room but found no one. But she was sure of it…the Hacienda held a secret and whatever the answer, the key was hidden in the binder.
---
The Codex
Back at the house, she looked for the binder everywhere with no luck. Had she misplaced it? Did she leave it in the train? Did Miss Paola move it while cleaning?
She looked frantically until she decided to ask Miss Paola.
— I haven't seen it. But you'd do well to clean up that room more often.
She tried to go to sleep and ask Monty in the morning, he wasn't back yet. She started wondering if what she saw was real…the book manifesting out of thin air--no, growing into being. And the words Leon left behind…he couldn't have done it. He wouldn't have. Not if he specifically brought her to Cuernavaca. Was it a call for help? Monty was convinced it was a sick joke from a sick man…but that is not the man Natalia knew.
Granted, much of the work they did together was during the starting phase of the Yosemite-C. Natalia must've been 20 years old, so 7--17 years ago. Because of the time dilation in the YC, the memories are blurry. They were some of the few people who would go in and out. But the Leon she remembered…he was hopeful. He was kind. She hadn't thought of that time in so long…it was so painful. Was that what broke him? Was the failure of the Yosemite Continuum project what turned Leon into a bitter and resentful person? Was it something that happened inside the YC?
"Understand what I cannot, go where I will not, forgive whom I could not.".
— What was it that you couldn't do, Leon? And why me, all the way from Austin? You had so many apprentices working under you…I was surprised you remembered me.
But a man who could not forgive…that is a man who remembers. A man who remembers all too well.
The next day, she rushed to ask Monty before they left for school.
— Ah, the binder? Yes, I have it. You left it the day you arrived and I figured you didn't need any more reminders of that man. Or whatever cruel game he was playing on you. I left it in the teacher's lounge.
That is all she needed. She snagged the binder off of Monty's hands and thanked him. He seemed taken aback by her newfound excitement.
It was time for her class and she had a new show-and-tell planned.
— So I can't take you out of the classroom…but what if I bring things to you?
— What kinds of things.
— Mysteries.
She got the binder out along with the mysterious conch. The kids feigned disinterest, but they were all looking at her and the items she put down in the middle of the circle.
— You said the lessons didn't have anything new to teach you and that you didn't know what you could do with it. So how about a puzzle? This binder was the thing that brought me to Cuernavaca from Austin. It was left behind by your Professor Leon. As far as I know, it's the last thing he left us.
The wonder was palpable. All the students were leaning in, as if a relic was laid in front of them. She knew it: The students also knew a different side of Leon. He couldn't have been that twisted man Monty described.
Paloma, just as Natalia expected, was the first to leap forward.
— So these are just standard pages.
She flipped through the binder, uninterested in its contents.
— But this is a sea conch. I've seen many of them, but we're nowhere near a beach. Why leave a conch shell behind?
— You tell me.
Other students started joining in. Some looked towards Natalia as if to ask for permission.
— You can take the pages out, just be careful with them. And look at them in groups of 2 to 4.
The students regrouped on the floor and stared studying the pages, they would swap pages when they were done and move between the groups. Paloma was with two other students, describing the physical characteristics of the conch and all the details she knew about them. The students were more interested in her explanations than the actual object.
— These notes…they seem to be detailing the advancement of the Temporary Dislocation Syndrome. And how it's not as common in Cuernavaca.
— Tha'ts what I was thinking.
— But these other notes are talking about the climate catastrophe. They detail reforestation efforts, communities that have sprung up and found ways to be resilient.
Natalia hadn't even looked at that section.
— And here…it talks about the billions that are still sleeping. It talks about the communities that have been torn apart. It says a bunch of things about if the Yosemite-C is still running and if…they can still be considered to be alive.
The room fell silent. Everyone knew of those left behind, but would never talk about it. If the wave of the Returned wasn't a big enough of a shock to their livelihood, their food stocks, their homes, the trauma they had processed…roughly 2 billion people were estimated to still be sleeping in the pods. "Sleeping", hoping they would some day wake up.
And if they did, would they be able to welcome them in? Or would it take down the fragile ecosystem they were just beginning to build with the Returned?
— Do you…have people who are sleeping?
The student nodded. There were tears welling up in her eyes.
— My mom.
— "My brother". Another said.
— Grandpa.
Everyone seemed to have someone or know somebody close to them that was sleeping. For years they had feared, they had hoped, that those missing would wake up like Natalia and the others did. But they had not. And they had no way of bringing them back with their current understanding of the technology, not without risking a shock to their nervous system that was likely to kill them. But the efforts to bring them back were stalled almost everywhere. Waking some of them up would open the floodgates that were sure to overwhelm communities across the world. Those sleeping were the best kept secret.
— Well, I don't. And I think they should stay there.
Everyone looked at Paloma in disbelief. She was prone to saying things that shocked people, but this was uncharacteristically cold of her.
— People…come back wrong. No offense, Tich. You're the first person not to be some weird automaton. Although you definitely were at first. Weird? That still.
— So perhaps others could return to normal too.
— Nah, don't think so. And more importantly, I think I figured out this conch thing.
— I think so too, I found a note here that says--
— Nah, hold it, Shoshanna. I'm about to make magic happen.
She impishly rubbed her hands together, brought the conch to her mouth and blew on it.
Just like before, the conch started glowing and some vines started to grow from the back. Shoshanna quickly rose to lower the blinds with a smirk on her face, and left the classroom in darkness save for the dim light the conch and the vines were emitting.
The light could be seen in the eyes of every single one of the students as the same book from before materialized in front of them.
Palome stood with a cocky expression as she now held the book in one hand and the conch on the other.
— Mycellium overgrowth. It takes the breath, the haliatus or whatever, and feeds some fungus that are laid dormant inside the conch. They were probably bio-engineered to produce this book-like growth. It's very…complicated, if you ask me.
No one else was talking. It really was like magic.
— You already knew???
— I know it's possible and being done in some places. Professor Leon told us about his research. I doubt he made this on his own. I also doubt he was able to use it much. Because…of his elbow problem.
She gestured by raising her elbow and her hand towards her mouth.
— What's in it?!
Ignacio asked Natalia.
— Sadly, I don't know. The pages are all blank.
Everyone rushed to open it and examine the book. They would take turns to flip, smell, and even taste the pages. Paloma stepped back, proud of her work.
— Good trick, Tich. I have to say, I disrespect you a little bit less.
— I realized you were right. You do know more about some things than I do. But I know a whole lot of others.
— We'll see for how long. Should we meet up at the lab after school?
— What? You know about the lab?
— I put a tracking device on you on the first day of class. I hope you don't mind. I do it with every teacher. They only work for like 20 meters or so, but I was curious yesterday, so I followed you to the Hacienda.
— But that is in Tepoztlan, you must've had to ride the tram with me.
— You are SO oblivious. Most teachers get rid of the bug by day 2.
— So you were the presence I was feeling…
— You were feeling a presence? Maybe I'm not so interested after all. Good luck, Tich.
But Paloma was there with her on the tram, sitting at the other end, reading one of her mangas. Natalia was truly inmersed in her thoughts to not have noticed.
They got to the lab in the Hacienda and this time, Paloma was free to peruse and look around as she pleased.
— Check it out! This place is all rubbish!
— There's a lot of valuable things here, we just need to look around.
— "I wish I could just stop existing, even if just for a moment". Really valuable stuff there, Tich. It feels like we're raiding the room of one of my classmates.
Some of Leon's notes were…indeed very dramatic. But she knew there had to be more here.
— Oh, look at this. A fake wall.
— Fake???
— It's…the same mycellium trick. Only different. You can have mycellium take a number of different properties. This right here looks surprisingly similar to the material of the walls, but it feels different. See? This is part is sleek and this part is grainy. Now we just need to find out how to open it. Do you have the codex?
— The…conch?
— Yes, yes.
Paloma blew into the conch and the book manifested again. It would vanish after a couple minutes if not interacted with or if the connection to the conch was severed.. Or wilt, more than vanish.
— We need to be careful not to use it too much. It takes a lot of energy for those poor mushrooms to create something this big again and again. Did the professor leave anyhing for you to feed them with?
— The conch came with this…container.
— We'll need some agar to fill it back up. No biggie. Now…let's see if this works.
She pressed the book against the wall, and the wall started to come undone as bits and pieces of it separated themselves and moved away from where the book had touched them.
— This is beyond my paygrade. Something useful there for you to teach me, Tich. But I think the mycellium in the wall don't like the type of mycellium in the book or something. I was hoping it would work.
They moved inside the newly opened room, which was completely dark. They tried to make their way around it. They stumbled upon a wall but Natalia was no longer sure which were real and which weren't.
— How big could this place be?
— I doubt the lab stretches on for much longer. I don't think Professor Leon could've built a whole compound underneath the Hacienda.
— We need some light.
— Maybe we don't.
She opened the book to the single page with the codex-like image and set it on the ground. It started glowing and another illustration bled around the second page. Natalia moved closer to get a better look.
"Compakins" the page read. It showed a multitude of beasts and some sort of animals around the pages. Quite fantastical, they reminded her of the alebrijes that you could find in many stores around Cuernavaca. Animals or mixtures of animals that were carved out of wood and painted with colorful palettes and patterns. The page was quite detailed and lively, despite being blank a minute earlier.
— What's a compakin???
Natalia flipped the page over, only to find the next one already had an illustration on it.
— "Constantino Milagro Codice del Sol". That's a mouthful.
The page showed some sort of tiny crocodile with a flower on its back. It looked friendly, Natalia felt a warm feeling inside her. Like she was thinking of an old friend.
— This…looks familiar. The term "compakin", I've heard it before…
But where? The name, the image…everything felt so familiar, so nostalgic. She closed her eyes to try and focus…and the TDS took over her.
She was floating on what she expected to be the red wasteland, but it wasn't. She was here. Floating inside the lab, holding the codex where her hands should be. She could feel it guiding her somewhere…back, so she moved out of the room. She didn't have to move her body, there was no body to move, but she could feel herself floating around, she could feel the codex.
And she could see the lab as it once was. Not the abandoned mess it was today, but pristine and working. There were tubes filled with colorful liquids and the walls were painted over.
She followed her instinct and reached the room where they had found Leon's body. She moved past it. There was a wall that was now open and she moved without issue to find a spaceous room…with a spring in the middle. There were drawings and symbols around it. She floated closer and she saw something under the water. Some…egg, it looked like. She approached it and tried to drop the codex to inspect it, but couldn't, so she moved the codex in contact with the egg and--
She opened her eyes to find herself back in the dark room. Her body with her once again, and Paloma with a dumbfounded expression next to her. The egg--it was on her hands, bigger than a bowling ball, the book nowhere to be found.
— It just…turned into an egg.
