Light Rays Coming Out of the Computer Ch. 05

"It's getting worse, isn't it?" the Motherfucker asked. Freya had to stop and press her hands flat against the table, they were shaking so bad. "Are you hearing them now?"

"Yes," Freya said, her voice tight with strain.

"Why don't you put that down for a moment. I've been looking into that drug you asked about, and I've found some... interesting information."

"Do you think you can make it?"

"Quell is not a new compound, actually. It's derived from an older chemical called Quetiapine, more commonly known by it's brand name Seroquel."

Freya covered her mouth by reflex. "Oh my god, do you have some?"

"Well..." The green light dimmed. "I do. But."

Her eyes widened with each second of his pause, until they could widen no further. "But?!" she exclaimed.

"Freya, what do you know about schizophrenia? Beyond that you suffer from it, and that you experience several of the classic symptoms?"

"A lot of people do, not just me."

"Yes, quite a lot. In Green Mountain City alone, there are approximately 4,753,000 recorded cases of schizophrenia."

"Ok?" Freya shrugged uncomfortably in her clothes. The suit he'd made for her fit well enough, but she'd been sweating heavily under the stress; the peanut gallery had been extremely active of late. Wearyingly active.

"In the time before I was created, there were hundreds of studies done on the roots and causes of schizophrenia, and the general consensus seemed to be that there was no consensus. Hundreds of underlying factors in genetics were identified as possibly leading to schizophrenia, in addition to causes in early childhood. Do you know what Hypoxia is?"

"Oxygen starvation," Freya said, mechanically. She surprised herself with how quickly she remembered that, given how long it had been since she'd looked into joining one of the extraplanetary mining outfits.

"Near enough. Cerebral Hypoxia in the infant and toddler stage is shown to have a direct link to the appearance of symptoms of schizophrenia later in life. How can you make a shot for that? So many different causes were identified that, eventually, schizophrenia came to stand more for a nebulous cloud of overlapping symptoms rather than a singular, hard diagnosis like, for example, Tetanus. Several parts of the brain were identified as playing a role in schizophrenia. The hippocampus, the basal ganglia, the cerebral and prefrontal cortex. It's extremely wide spread."

"Quell is too good to be true," Freya said, shaking her head.

"Well, you're half right. Let's approach this from another angle. The current population of Green Mountain City is 41,187,695. That means that schizophrenia affects just over 11.5% of the population. That's quite a jump up from pre-Purge times, where it affected 1% of the population."

Freya chewed on her lip. "Is it because... we're women? And women... are more likely... to..."

"Just the opposite," the Motherfucker said. "Men were almost one and a half times more likely to develop symptoms than women. Even ignoring that, how do you go from 1% to 11.5%?" Freya shook her head. "Lets try this. By all accounts, Quell is as accurate as advertised. Everything I can find points to an 87% efficiency in the management of schizophrenic symptoms. That leaves a 13% void. 13% of 4,753,000 is... drumroll please... 617,890, which is 1.5% of the total population."

"I..." Freya's lips worked in quiet frustration. "What does..."

"Let's assume for a moment that either Wolbachia, widespread radiation, or some other external factor caused an increase in schizophrenic diagnoses from 1% to 1.5%. A big leap, yes, but not an unbelievable one. A number roughly analogous to the amount that should have been born with schizophrenia. Given the success rate of Quell and the raw numbers I've found..."

Freya exhaled loudly in the pause. "You think I was given schizophrenia."

"Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to distinguish between naturally occurring and induced schizophrenia. I'm not even able to prove it was induced. Not yet, anyway. I'm still looking into the manufacturer, AstraChem. Their idea of 'product testing' and 'good documentation' leave a lot to be desired."

Freya stared down at the nearly completed Synth torso, and quietly processed. The peanut gallery was absolutely silent.

***

"And then I push what?"

Freya pinched the bridge of her nose and grimaced. "Slash, type the word execute, and then L, the numeral four, D, G." Kerr hunted and pecked at the control terminal. Roxie smiled as Freya opened up her torso cabinet, and Freya shuddered. She never liked leaving the Synths on when she worked on them, but the Motherfucker had been adamant.

"L... 4... D... G..."

"There we are." The male Synth smiled and looked around. "Oh yes, that's nice."

"Whaddya think," Freya asked, not looking up from Roxie's innards. "How does it feel in there?"

"Very strange. Very strange," he repeated, modulating his voice down a bit. "Very strange. There we are." Sounded more like There we ahhh.

Freya stared down at her pants and shook her head vigorously. "Whoa, what is all of..."

"Oh. Yes," the Motherfucker said. "I replaced part of Roxie's processing suite with a prototype."

"Well you could have told me," she barked. "The only reason I'm in here is to see what's goin' on with her speech." Roxie frowned and looked over at the Motherfucker as Freya began to pack her back up.

"Nothing is wrong with your speech, Love." Roxie did not seem placated by the Motherfucker's answer.

"Hey," Freya said, touching her ear piece. "I'm not alone right now."

"Who is calling you?" Kerr said, his brow furrowing.

"It's my..." She turned and looked at the Motherfucker, who regarded her flatly. "It's..."

"How are you even getting a signal down here?" Roxie and the Motherfucker looked at each other, their expressions unreadable. "Did you tell someone where we are?" Kerr said, panicking.

"No," she said tersely.

Kerr would not be placated. "I thought you had this place on lockdown," he screamed while turning toward the Motherfucker, who merely raised his eyebrows in response.

"Kerr, I wasn't-"

"Damnit Freya!" She winced as he shouted. "Who were you-"

"I wasn't talking to anyone!" she screeched. "I... hear voices..."

Kerr blinked. "...You're a skitzo?"

"Hate that word," Freya muttered, looking down and away. "I'm a fucking human being, not some... subtype to be looked down on and disdained."

"Oh Christ," Kerr said, backing away and covering his mouth. "You said 'We all are'. I thought you were just exhausted."

"I was," she said, her voice breaking. "Kerr please."

"I could've learned to deal with that thing between your legs," he said, already shaking his head as he backed toward the door of the mini-fab, "but this is..."

"Kerr, please!"

"Fly me outta here," he said, turning away from the crying woman to address the Motherfucker directly. "Anywhere will do. I'll sell that flying hunk of junk on my own."

"Please! Just listen!"

"You know what, just... don't," he said, shaking his head at Freya as he stepped out into the hall.

Freya turned and ran over to grab the naked Synth by the shoulders. "Give me the green one," she pleaded.

The Motherfucker's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Please!!"

He nodded slowly, and behind her, the fiberglass cover over the miniature centrifuge in the corner popped open. Two sealed vials, one yellow and one green, sat inside it. Freya scrambled across the room, pulled out the green vial, and grabbed a hypodermic needle from the drawer below.

***

"Kerr!" she screamed, as she ran out into the debris pile. "Kerr!!"

"Leave me alone," he yelled over his shoulder, as he continued to walk away.

"Kerr wait!"

"Whatever you're gonna say, just save it. I-" Kerr roared and spun, striking Freya across the cheek with the back of his fist. The thin, purple-haired woman twirled as she fell to the ground, bleating, as he fumbled to remove the needle from his neck. "What the fuck was that," he screamed. Freya twisted onto her back and crabwalked away from him. One cheek already swollen, the other merely puffy from tears. A thin stream of blood ran down from her trembling lip. "What did you do to me!?"

Freya's bloodshot eyes widened in fear as he staggered. She scurried through the dirt away from him, but by his third step he was already woozy and ranting incoherently. Roxie stepped past her, snaking her arm around Kerr's shoulder just as he began to slump. Her face was grim as she fought off one final defensive flailing, and slung him over her shoulder.

"I'm a monster," Freya sobbed, as she sat in the dirt. "I'm a monster."

"If it makes you feel any better," The Motherfucker said, squatting down next to her, "it was your questionable morals that intrigued me about you in the first place." Freya shook her head as she broke into a heavy cry.

***

"Never thought would be missing crazy ship AI."

"Awww," said the male voice with the accent she'd never heard. "Are you not enjoying my company?"

"Is barrel of monkeys to be kidnapped," Anya said, grinding her teeth. Ashley shook his head, still smarting over having his ship hacked right under his nose.

"Two minutes," he said. Both of them wore a sour expression as they trudged down into cargo. Being prisoners in their own home for ten hours had had a dampening effect on the good mood they'd been in when they set out that morning. "I see that you're armed, Ms. Adamovna. I expected no less of you, but I thought it was important you know that I know." Anya grumbled under her breath, her grimace deepening. "Brace for impact." Ashley grabbed one of the nylon handholds to brace himself. Anya did not.

The Artemis touched down, slightly rougher than usual. Ashley nervously checked the terminal again. "0.2 sievert," he said, as he opened the loading bay door.

The air was still swirling as the turbines wound down. The crazy Synth from before and another man were standing twenty meters away, unphased by the swirling dust. Twenty meters beyond them, Freya and Kerr sat on the hood of an ancient looking magcar, except with wheels, shielding their eyes.

"Hello," the man said, as he and the Synth stepped forward. Ashley and Anya shared a confused look, instantly recognizing the voice of the man who had taken over their ship. Ashley looked around at the desolation, trying to figure out where he might be hiding the hardware necessary to break through his custom encryption.

"You have two minutes before patience becomes untenably thin," Anya growled. The Synth smiled, her eagerness for a rematch plain, but the man held up a hand to forestall her.

"Now now," he said. "Let's all take a deep breath. Or at least, those of us that breathe should." Ashley snorted, and the Synth turned to regard him with the same predatory leer it had back in the store. "The reason I brought you here," he continued, "is because you two have a reputation. It would only have been a matter of time before you found my associates, and the results then would have been much more unpredictable." Anya grunted non-committally.

"As I understand it, you were hired for two purposes; to recover stolen merchandise, and to capture the perpetrators. Is that correct?" Anya grunted again. "Freya," he said loudly, over his shoulder, "Would you be a dear and come here for a moment?"

Ashley furrowed his brow as he watched the tall, purple-haired woman jump off the car and skip - skip - across the intervening space. "Hey Motherfucker," she said, as she neared the man. "I... um..." She looked at Anya and Ashley in turn without seeming to recognize them. "I was thinking," she whispered, barely loud enough to be heard. "I used to think you were a voice in my head too, but then I made you real. I..." She looked at Ashley furtively before continuing. "I think that means I'm God."

"You might be right," the man said, with a bit of smiling shock to his features.

"Hey," she yelled, turning back to Kerr, who was still seated on the hood of the dilapidated car. "He thinks I might be God!"

"What am I thinking right now?" Kerr yelled back.

Freya held her fingertips to her temples and squinted at him. "You want to have sex."

Kerr reeled, holding his hands up as if pressed against the inside of a bubble. "Am I thinking that because I was thinking that, or am I thinking that because you made me think that?"

"He's always thinking that," she said softly, out of the side of her mouth.

"If," the man interrupted, "you two are going to procreate, perhaps go behind the car?"

Freya turned to regard Anya and Ashley suspiciously. "Good idea," she said, as she slunk off.

"She was more..." Anya grumbled as she searched for the right word. "Formidable. When last saw her."

"She's had a rough couple of weeks," the man said.

"Are they high?" Ashley said, incredulously.

"I'm afraid not. More than that, though..." He turned around. "1812. Come here."

Kerr was already stripping out of his clothes as Freya got to him. Out of one of the shadows beside them floated the MacGuffin. Ashley's breath caught in his throat as he stared. The box had been painted in blue, white, and red stripes, and a meager speaker tinkled the notes to the 1812 Overture as it moved.

"What... the.. what the frell did you do to it?" Ashley cried. "That thing was priceless!"

"Freya wanted a toy," he said simply.

"Patience untenably thin," Anya growled. "What was point of bringing here?"

"For you to see, of course. The item is ruined, and the people are damaged."

"Not paid to make judgement calls," she said. She leaned as if taking a step around him, but the man held up a hand.

"What if there was an alternative?"

"Paid to bring back box and fugitives," Anya said, already eyeing up the Synth, who for her part looked just as eager to get another shot at the big Russian.

"They don't want this box back, do they?" the man said, looking at Ashley. Anya turned to look at him too. Roxie turned and jogged back over to the magcar behind her.

"It's worthless," Ashley said, feeling a pit grow yawningly large in his stomach.

"They want the priceless artifact. The one they paid a King's ransom for." He smirked as Roxie walked back toward them, carrying a simple brown box with a red button on top in her arms. Anya's expression soured even further. "And here it is."

Ashley swallowed hard. "Is that a fake?"

"And a damn good one too," the man said, "if I do say so myself." He reached over and pressed the red button, and the brown box made a tiny puttering sound as it began to hover in the air. "This will stand up to fairly serious scrutiny."

"And if does not?" Anya growled.

"Then you need to make them believe," the man said, his eyes narrowing. Suddenly, Ashley was less sure about which of the two of them was more dangerous, though he couldn't put his finger on why. "I've already uploaded footage of your dramatic assault on our compound, ending with the deaths of Freya Tollen and Kerr Shaughnessey, to your ship. You'll take this back to Ms. Maldonado, and you'll be very convincing. You'll get paid, and everyone goes home happy."

Ashley frowned and tapped at his wrist. The video log wasn't hard to find. A holoimage popped up above his arm of what appeared to be security cam footage. An explosion ripped apart a door, and seconds later, he and Anya burst through. The camera skipped to a different angle, showing Freya and Kerr fleeing into a back room, where they barricaded themselves in. The camera switched again, showing several seconds of the two fugitives crying and hugging before detonating a bomb, and the feed cut out.

"Satisfied?" he said, smugly.

"She'll be pissed that we didn't bring them back alive," Ashley said, replaying the video slower and watching closely.

"Am seeing third option not explored," Anya said, veins nearly bursting from her forehead.

"You fared pretty well against Roxie here two-on-one. How well do you think you'll do against two of us?"

At the end of the videolog, Anya sat on a table while Ashley pulled up the video feed he was currently watching, and they had a conversation he and Anya had actually had this morning. Word for word. "An," Ashley said, shaking his head.

"You're concerned that the knockoff won't stand up to muster, but think it through. If Ms. Maldonado sees through the ruse, who does she go after? You. You're going to do it now to avoid harm to your adorable little pet, and secondarily to yourself." Anya's face hardened. "But if harm comes knocking anyway, you then have no reason to continue lying to protect Freya and Kerr, which defeats the purpose. I don't want you coming back here, therefore I am motivated to go as far as is necessary to keep you away."

Anya looked at Ashley, and then stared at the knockoff MacGuffin for a long while.

*****

//Author's Note//

This is not the end, but it is the end for a while. There will be an epilogue for Light Rays that will take place after the events yet to come in The Huntress. If you are coming to this story later, do not proceed from here to the epilogue, as it will not make sense.