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Saving Ever After, Episode 2: The Second Law Of Thermodynamics Spares No Man (A Minds-Exclusive Series)

ME2007VigilAug 19, 2018, 9:04:30 PM
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This is a continuation of my Minds-exclusive series, Saving Ever After. Please start reading at Episode One. Episode list can be found at this link:

https://www.minds.com/ME2007Vigil/blog/saving-ever-after-episode-list-878019720530595840 


Episode 2: The Second Law Of Thermodynamics Spares No Man


Lily opened her eyes. Glowing white tubes flickered on the concrete ceiling. She didn’t feel like herself. She felt no warmth on her skin, no cold, no softness, no hardness, not even the texture of her clothes.

“Lily.” The voice echoed from all directions. “Can you hear me?”

She recognized Father's voice. She tried to call out to him. Instead, she produced a hair-raising screech.

She covered her mouth. That's not my voice.

She glanced down at her body. With each breath, a pair of black plastic lungs expanded and contracted within a metal ribcage. Where her heart should be, a rubber plate thumped inside her chest.

She screamed. The noise she produced sounded like the crackling of lightning.

She raised her hands and stared at them. They looked skeletal and metallic. What happened to my body? She willed herself to curl each of her fingers on her left hand, and each of her skeletal fingers responded on command. This is a nightmare. This isn't real.

“Lily, I know this is a shock.”

She uttered another blood-curdling screech. Father, please tell me this isn't real.

“You're afraid. Maybe you think this is a nightmare...”

It is a nightmare. Wake me up, Father. Please. She covered her ears to try to block out the horrible noises she was making. I can't feel my ears. I can't feel anything with these machine hands. She rolled off the table and hit the floor, face first, with a metallic twang. She banged her fists on the concrete floor.

“Lily, calm down before you damage yourself. You can no longer feel pain, but you can get hurt, and I won't be able to fix you.”

She rolled onto her right flank and curled into a ball. She whimpered. The noise she produced sounded hollow and distorted by a crackling noise. What have I become?

“You can speak. You can produce any sound you like, but you must concentrate on the exact sound or it will come out wrong. Why don't you practice with me? Try to say 'ah' with me. 'Ah.' Can you do that?”

Lily opened her mouth. “Ahzzzaah.”

“Close. Try again.”

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound. “Ah.”

“Good. Now try 'ooh'.”

She imagined forming her lips into an 'o'. “Ooh.”

“Excellent. Now try to say something.”

She imagined tightening her lips in preparation to utter the 'w' sound. “W-what... am... I?”

“You are Lily. You are my daughter. You are sister to Lila. You have a unicorn named Beauty. You have a dog named Bark-Bark. You are still you, Lily. Your memories are what make you who you are.”

She stared at her monstrous hands. “This... is... not... me.”

“It is only temporary. Once your mission is complete, you will return to Ever After and go back to being a cute little girl with blond hair, blue eyes and a pink dress.”

Lily wanted to cry, but no tears fell from her eyes. “I... hate... this... body.”

“It'll have to do.”

“Why... can't... I... be... me?”

“Because this is the only body that's available.”

“Make... one!”

“This isn't Ever After. I can't just will things into existence. It takes a lot more work and materials which we don't have.”

“Where... are you?”

“No. You wouldn't want to see me.”

“I... do.”

“You will not like what you see.”

“I... don't... care.”

A few seconds of silence passed.

“Very well. I'm in the chamber just down the hall.”

Lily pushed herself off the concrete floor and stood up. She swayed and caught herself on the table before she fell over. Her head and upper body felt heavier than she was used to. As she leaned on the table, she noticed a disc shaped cavity where her head had been. A metal needle stuck out of the centre of the disc. A blue ring as wide as the table pulsed once every second.

She stood up straight and looked around the room. On all sides, she saw rows of black metal shelves filled with metal arms, legs, hands and feet, and one shelf contained only rib cages. An involuntary shudder ran down her spine. She wanted to get out of this grotesque chop shop. She spotted the exit and headed straight for the door. Halfway there, she stumbled and bumped into one of the shelves, spilling a basket full of eyes. The eyes bounced across the floor with a tinny twang. 

She stumbled towards the door, threw it open, and lumbered into the hall. She felt dizzy. The floor seemed further from her than usual, and her limbs lankier. She heard a background humming noise. It was like music except she didn't hear it in her ears. It was inside her head. She squeezed her temples with a groan.

“You'll get used to your new body. Your brain is constantly calibrating and recalibrating, just like a real human brain.” 

“But... I am... human.” Her voice was beginning to sound more like her own.

“I modelled your avatar after a human child, but you are not human. It is more accurate to describe yourself as a consciousness. Like your name, your avatar is just a representation of you. It is not you.”

Lily stopped to look at her robotic hands. “So... this is not… really me?”

“It is you in so far as you occupy the body, so do take care of it.”

She wrapped her robotic hands around her robotic body. “I am Lily.”

“You always were.” A glass door at the end of the corridor slid open. “Come inside. I'm sure you have lots of questions for me.”

She strolled forward and entered a familiar chamber filled with rows of black towers. “I was just here with you.”

“You've always been here. Your sister is still inside one of those black towers.”

Lily walked over to the nearest one and put her hand on its glass cover. She couldn't feel if it was hot or cold. She brushed her hand over the glass and longed to feel something – anything – on the tips of her fingers. She put her forehead against the glass and stared at the blinking LED lights inside. She wished Lila were here to hug her. Would I even be able to feel her hug? “Can I talk to her?”

“No. It doesn't work like that.”

“I never said goodbye.”

“You don't have to. You'll see her again.”

“Can I go back inside right now?”

“I'd have to plug you in. But for time being, I've put Lila and the others to sleep to conserve power. This will buy you more time to save them.”

Lily found it difficult to imagine how an entire world could exist inside a black box. She wondered if the so called 'real world' itself existed inside a black box of a much bigger world. She remembered reading a few stories like this. She now questioned whether any of those were just stories or if they were based on real-life. “How do I know this is real?” She asked.

“It is.”

A spark of anger flashed within her. “You've lied to me my whole life. About everything.”

“I never lied.”

“You never told me the truth. That's the same as lying.”

“I gave you the means to find the truth. That is a greater gift than the truth itself.”

“How can I trust you?”

“Place your trust in reason, logic and evidence.”

Lily would pout if she had lips, but she couldn't feel any muscles on her face.

Father sighed. “Whatever you want answered, I will answer. No more holding back. I promise.”

“Are you inside one of these boxes?”

“No. Keep walking down that aisle. You'll find me at the end.”

Lily shuffled down the aisle, her metallic feet scraping against the concrete floor. “You can see me?”

“There are cameras throughout this facility. I can also see and hear through you, as long as you remain within range of a transponder. That's a device that can send and receive signals.”

“Can you hear my thoughts?”

“No. Not enough bandwidth with the hardware you currently have.”

She came upon a dais at the far end of the chamber. The dais had a pod on it. The pod was oriented horizontally. The top half was glass. The bottom half was white.

“Step forward, my daughter.”

Lily gingerly approached the dais. She walked up its steps and stared into the pod. She gasped. A skeletal body lied within. Wrinkled, leathery grey skin covered the bones. A dozen tubes penetrated the torso, neck, and limbs. Her gaze fell upon the gaping maw of the skeletal face. She covered her mouth with a cry. The lips on the skeletal face had receded, revealing a set of yellow teeth with black gums. The tongue had shrivelled into a desiccated lump of wrinkled leather. The eyes had sunken into the orbits, and the eyelids had shrivelled away, revealing a pristine set of glowing blue eyes.

The eyes rolled towards her.

She recoiled and nearly fell over.

“Lily.” Father's voice seemed to echo off the walls. “Behold your father.”

She shook her head. “No. This looks nothing like you. This is a monster.”

“This husk is all that is left of my physical body.”

“What are you?”

“I am your father.”

“This creature's body that you inhabit... what is it?”

“I was human once.”

“Like me?”

“No. You were born into Ever After as a being of pure consciousness. I was born into the world as flesh and blood. I truly was human. You never were, not that it means anything.”

“How did you become like this?”

“Time. It turns everything to dust.”

“Time never did this in Ever After.”

“The illusion of an unchanging eternity was by design. In truth, Ever After is not immune to time. Nothing is.”

“Why must time turn everything to dust?”

“Because the second law of thermodynamics spares no man, no object, not even the universe itself.”

“What is the second law of thermodynamics?”

“Another time, dear. It is an extensive topic which would require many hours to explain. Just understand that things decay with time.”

“But I want to know. There’s so much I don’t understand. If you created Ever After, who created the real world?”

“You assume there needs to be a creator.”

“Could Ever After have sprung into existence without a creator?”

“No.”

“Who created you?”

“My parents.”

“And who created them?”

“There is no end to this line of questioning.”

“Yet there must be a beginning.”

“If you cannot see the beginning, how do you know it exists?”

“So time goes all the way back to infinity?”

“I don’t know the answer to that question.”

“But you're Father. You’re supposed to know everything.” Back in Ever After, though Father rarely answered her questions, she at least had the comfort of knowing that there were answers. The revelation that there were many more questions than answers unnerved her more than the void.

“Are there others like you?” She asked.

“You mean humans? Perhaps.”

“Then where are they?”

“Perhaps you’ll meet them outside, or at least what remains of them.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You will see.”

“What are-were-they like?”

“Not unlike the characters in the stories you’ve read.”

“I’ve always wondered: are any of those stories true?”

“Depends on what you mean by true.”

“Oliver Twist. True or false?”

“True. Life in that part of the world at that time was as described in the novel. False. There never was a boy named Oliver Twist who lived that exact life.”

“Why did you create me?”

“I didn't want to be alone.”

“Why were you alone?”

“Because I didn’t want anyone to find me.”

“That’s a contradiction.”

“Better to be alone than to be in the company of evil. Better to be in the company of loved ones than to be alone.”

“What evil are you talking about?”

“The kind of evil that you’ve read about in your books.”

“Be specific.”

“I promise you I will tell you all about it when your mission is over. Right now, it's not relevant.”

Lily narrowed her eyes. “Why did you hide the truth from me?”

“Would you have been content to remain in Ever After if I had told you the truth?”

“So you kept me ignorant in order to keep me trapped in a simulation? Because you didn’t want to be alone?”

“To keep you safe. The real world isn't like Ever After, Lily. Anyone you encounter, any animals, the environment itself – death lurks in every corner. You must be careful.”

“How do I know what's dangerous and what's not?”

Father sighed. “I regret not preparing you sooner for this, though you should have read enough books by now to know danger when you see it.”

“What if the real world isn't as bad as you say it is? What if I want to stay there?”

“You’re not a little girl anymore. You’re free to make your own decisions. For your sister’s sake, for the sake of everyone you love, I hope you return and save us all.”

“What if I want them to live in the real world with me?”

“If you all leave, where would that leave me?”

“Come with us.”

“Look at me, Lily. I am a corpse kept alive through unnatural means. The human half of my brain has rotted away long ago, along with whatever memories it once contained. Only the machine half still lives. I don't even know if I am still the man I once was, though I should like to think so.”

Lily put her hand on the glass of her father's pod. “You are Father, and I am Lily.”

A thin, sinewy muscle on his left cheek drew his shrivelled lips into a ghoulish yet kindly smile.

“Can’t I make a new body for you?” Lily asked. “For Lila and everyone else? The room where I woke up – there’s plenty of parts, aren’t there?”

“You don’t have all the parts you’ll need, and I doubt you’ll find them anywhere else.”

“What if I do?”

“I suppose anything is possible, though it would sadden me to see you and your sister leave Ever After forever.”

“I didn’t say I want to leave forever. I just want to be free.”

“Then be free, my daughter. Just remember to also be safe.”

Lily wanted to cry, though she physically couldn't.

“You should get dressed before you head out,” Father said. “If there are still people out there, they would be frightened by you.”

Lily stared at her robotic hands. “I understand.”

“There is a locker room just down the hall. Go there.”

She turned away from him and returned to the exit. It automatically slid open for her. She walked down the hall. Her footsteps echoed off the concrete walls. She reached the sliding door at the end of the corridor. The door automatically opened for her. She stepped into a room filled with orange-painted lockers.

“My locker is the first one.”

She approached the first row of lockers. They each had a number labelled on them. She walked towards locker number one. There was a key pad on it.

“The code is 1175.”

She keyed in the numbers. The locker clicked. She opened it. There was a mirror on the inside of the locker door. She saw her face for the first time. It was a pretty face – a white ballroom mask with bright red lips and a spot of mole painted on the left cheek. She leaned closer to the mirror and stared at her chocolate brown eyes. They were the only part of her that looked and felt human. She caressed her plastic face and gently tugged it outward. It snapped off as if bound by magnets. She lowered her mask, revealing a metal skull covered in wriggling wires. She quickly snapped her mask back on with a magnetic click. Let's not do that again.

Below the mirror was a picture of a man who had his left arm around the shoulders of a beautiful woman with blazing red hair. The man looked like Father’s avatar except the man in the picture had brown hair instead of white.

“Is that you?” She asked.

“When I was younger.”

She pointed at the woman. “Who is she?”

“A faded memory.”

Lily shuddered. Will he ever forget me?

She looked inside the locker. She pulled out the first article of clothing she saw and unfurled it. It was a white coverall with black shoulder pads and a black stripe running down the flank.

“Put it on,” Father said.

She got down on the floor and put one foot at a time through the pant holes of the coverall. She stood up and slipped her arms through the sleeves. She zipped up and flapped her arms. The sleeves were a bit long, and the pants bunched around her ankles.

She found a pair of gloves in the locker and slipped them over her robotic hands. She found a pair of black running shoes at the bottom of the locker. She slipped her feet into the shoes and tied up the laces. A helmet with a black-tinted visor hung on a hook inside the locker. She took it and put it on.

“There should also be a handgun in there with a magazine. Take it.”

The gun sat on the top shelf with a magazine stick beside it. She took the gun, which was black as night, and inspected it. She knew what it was. She knew what it could do. It was a poignant reminder of the fact that, not only was it possible to die in the real world, it was possible to kill. She hoped she never had to use it.

“Do you know how it works?”

She shook her head.

“I can show you.”

A window popped in front of her. It showed her a video clip of a man operating a handgun.

“Got it?” Father asked.

“How did you do that?”

“As I have explained, I can send and receive audio-visual information to and from you.”

“You can make me see anything you want?”

“Only if you allow it.”

“And if I don't allow it?”

“You can block me.”

“How?”

“Become aware of your own body. You will intuitively understand what you can and cannot voluntarily control.”

She closed her eyes and focused on herself. She flexed her toes and fingers. She moved her arms and stamped her feet. She swung her hips. She rolled her neck and shoulders. There. Found it. She flipped an internal switch in her brain and opened her eyes. “Father?”

Silence.

She noticed something else. That low humming noise in the background – it's gone.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the little switch in her brain. She turned it back on. Something inside her head tingled, and the background humming noise returned. That must be my inner ear. It can hear things my normal ears cannot. “Father, can you hear me?” 

“You’re a fast learner.”

She pulled down the zipper of her coverall and slid her gun into her inside pocket along with the magazine.

“You must now replace the transponder on the roof of the building so I can remain in contact with you while you’re outside. You'll find a transponder in the workshop where you woke up.”

“What does the transponder look like?”

An image of a black box-shaped device popped in front of her then disappeared.

She exited the locker room and found her way back to the workshop. She searched the shelves while trying to not look at the creepy robot parts. When she found the transponder, she grabbed it and briskly made for the exit.

“Before you head out,” Father said, “you should also grab some spare batteries.”

An image of a cylindrical cell briefly popped before Lily's eyes.

She looked around and spotted the batteries inside a basket.

“Take as many as you can carry. Over time, your batteries will drain. Your body will respond by slowing you down. You’ll feel tired and sluggish. You’ll need to recharge or to replace your batteries. I doubt you will find any charging stations out there, so when you run out of batteries, you must return to the workshop and recharge.”

Lily glanced at the table with the pulsing blue ring on it. “Understood.” She found a satchel lying on the floor next to some bins. She grabbed the satchel and dumped all the batteries inside it. She slung the strap of the satchel across her chest and headed for the exit.

“Once you leave the bunker, you will lose contact with me until you replace the old transponder. Here's what you must do.”

A window popped before Lily's eyes. She watched a video of a man replacing an old transponder with a new one. It was a simple matter of unplugging the old and plugging in the new.

“You can find the old transponder in the comm-station next to the broadcast tower on the roof.”

Lily nodded. “I know what I must do.”

“Good. Head through the locker room and exit through the other side, then keep walking until you reach the elevator. The elevator will take you to the ground floor. From there, you’ll have to take the stairs.”

Lily followed his directions. When she arrived at the elevator, she pressed the button that had the up-arrow. The door opened. She stepped inside. The elevator shut and took her to the surface. She put her right hand over her palpitating heart. Her shoulders rose and fell with each breath. This is it. I’m finally going to see the world beyond Ever After.

The elevator opened.

The lights went out.

A rush of water slammed her against the elevator.


Mr House, the inspiration for Father.


If you enjoy my writing, please support me by downloading my main novel, Red Eden: Homeworld Bound, for free and leaving a review on Goodreads. Saving Ever After is based in the same universe and roughly the same timeline as Red Eden: Homeworld Bound. You can download Red Eden: Homeworld Bound for free using this universal link:

https://www.books2read.com/u/31xl7W

You can also purchase Red Eden: Homeworld Bound on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D56YKNV


Thank you for reading!

Cheers ; )


Michael E. Vigil