Jon looked at Shev and Shana36, reflecting as he did so that Jorl’s experiences in the simulation appeared to be quite different from his. However, nothing in Jorl’s words had lightened their mood.
‘Isn’t what Jorl said true?’ he asked the pair. ‘Minus the wine cellars.’
Shev gave a wan smile. ‘Yes, I think the journey is nearly over. But from what I read in there it wasn’t just the conditioning of a few individuals that the cosmic ray burst wrecked – it was also the guidance mechanisms of this ship. We’re out of control.’
“Out of control.”
Had those few words sealed all their fates, Jon wondered.
Only a short while ago they had thought themselves reasonably safe in some large building somewhere in a normal reality. But the truth was they were inside some structure of unknown dimensions and properties that was hurtling through interstellar space to some distant star system. Did fate have any more cruel tricks to play? he wondered; trying to push the black tide of despair back down into his subconscious.
But one thing was certain. Surely seven people would not be enough to change the situation in any meaningful way. If they had any chance of saving themselves they would have to have more allies. They would have to go back into the Educator.
He decided that he had to give the women a recuperation period and not ask them to accompany him; besides, they might suffer from the same problem as his Shana and not be able to get into others’ minds.
He told the men what was needed and immediately Jarm said that he couldn’t do it. Jon did not argue: the last thing he wanted was someone panicking in the depths of the Educator. The other two accepted his plan, though with obvious reluctance and equally obvious grim expressions.
He crossed to what he hoped was the original Shana and hugged her. ‘Here we go again.’
She responded by giving him his first kiss in the real world.
It was better than he had imagined it to be in the cave of shadows.
Soon the three men were in the almost palpable blackness of the Educator. Once again there were no softly glowing polyhedra: it appeared that the time for their second lesson was not nigh.
They visualised the Stasis Room and they found themselves looking at the Educator’s schematic representation. Like the ghosts of mythology, their minds hovered above the pods and their comatose inhabitants.
Jon sent a thought into the network: Get ready – On my comm…’
But his thought was cut short by an urgent message from Jarz.
Jon – we’re not alone! Someone else is in here with us!
Jon sent his mental probes in all directions as that message’s import became clear.
Then he felt it.
It was as if swimmers some distance from the shore had felt something immense and powerful pass not far beneath their dangling feet.
This was not another one of his band. This was not Jarm or Shev.
The identity of the intruder was not long hidden.
In the darkness a great face appeared, much larger than Maroun’s had been.
It was the strong face of a heavy-boned man with a firm powerful jaw, heavy brow ridges and eyes that projected a chilling radiance.
And then the face smiled.
A smile that was the quintessence of pure terror.
They heard his voice in their minds and although there was no sound, could not be any sound, it felt as if their whole being was being shaken by the power of that voice, a voice that was the embodiment of two massive landslides colliding at the bottom of a valley.
You are brave men, the great face said, I, Korok, admire that. Only courage and fortitude separate us from the beasts and you have much of that. But it will not be enough.
You can’t be Korok! was Jon astounded reply, he died five hundred years ago!
Again that terrifying smile.
The version of me made from meat and water is long gone. But my mind, all that was my essence, was digitised and uploaded to the operating system of the Fatal Scimitar. No – I AM the operating system. The Maroun you saw was merely a representation, a shadow play. But I am no puppet. I am Korok and as of now I bring an end to your plans. You will contaminate no more of my soldiers. We will arrive at our destination before long and when my warriors awake they will deal with you in the manner most appropriate to your treachery. Now begone!
And instantly the men’s eyes opened as they were flung out of the Educator with such force that Jarz tumbled off his couch.
After that shock they stood or sat in complete dejection, oppressed with a feeling of utter helplessness.
Jarm said over and over and over again: ‘We’re all going to die,’ until Jon crossed angrily to him and shook him into frightened silence.
Shev stared at Jon. ‘It’s easy enough to shut him up but what exactly are we able to do here? We’re trapped in a vessel of a size we can only guess at with no way of knowing where we are.’
Shana12 suddenly looked up, her face suffused with excitement. ‘Jon! I know what the High Official Generation Room is!’
He glared at her, his taut nerves fraying. ‘And how does that help us; you know, right here, right now?’
‘It doesn’t.’
‘Then please be quiet Shana.’
Jarz suddenly spoke up from where he had been sitting, crumpled up on the floor.
‘We have to go back in.’
‘Into the Educator?’ Jon demanded, ‘No, no, Korok said we wouldn’t be allowed back in.’
Jarz looked at them all, one by one.
‘What’s the alternative? If we can’t find our way around this vessel and somehow seize control of it we’re finished. As Jarm said, we’re all going to die. Once the rest of Korok’s army wakes up it’ll be over for all of us. We’ve got to find out where we are on this ship thing.’
‘I can’t ask you to do that,’ Jon said, looking down on the smaller man as he lay huddled on the floor.
‘You don’t have to,’ Jarz said and stood up very slowly. Suddenly he seemed a taller man than he had been before he had sat down. There was determination in his face. Jon was struck, not for the first time, how different this Jarz was from his equivalent on the Hill, once Korok’s control was removed.
‘I choose to go in.’
None of the others tried to stop him and they watched, almost reverentially, as Jarz lay down on the couch and carefully put the headset on.
At once his eyes closed and his face went blank.
But not for long. Suddenly his face twisted with fear and he cried out in a voice much louder than anyone had thought possible for him: ‘No! No!’
Then his body arched until only his feet and shoulders were on the couch. Then he bent the other way so his arms and legs were pointing almost directly at the ceiling.
And so it went on, with opposing muscle groups being stimulated into ever greater contractions. Desperately they tried to hold him down but his tormented musculature was too strong. Each clonic spasm was greater than the previous, eventually sending the women spinning across the room.
Then there was the dreadful sound of bones snapping under the strain. Jarz gave out one last tremendous scream and then all was silence.
The survivors lay where they had been thrown across the room or where they had collapsed near Jarz’s corpse.
Eventually Jon raised his head and stared at the body.
That was our last hope, he thought, Korok has won.