“Did you come to tell me about it?” I ask loudly.
“Oh, thank you for reminding me. I’m here to make a call.”
Call? To Zeus? He turns to a phone next to my bed. He lifts the receiver and presses a button for the lobby. “Good evening, I’ll order a suitcase to transfer an avatar… His size?” He looks down at me and says, “180 centimeters. Build? Bigger than medium but not bulky.”
My jaw drops at his words. “Are you taking me to the Avatar Auction to sell?”
He places his finger on his lips.
“Come on, did you get consent from Zeus? Did he allow selling his avatar? Are you sure? I’m his favorite avatar,” I say. He puts the receiver back and bursts out. “You know it well. Are you truly admitting him as your bodylord now?”
“Of course not. He’s my foe. I’m his foe. Whatever he does with my father or his father, the fact doesn’t change. He bought my soul and controlled it as he liked.”
“You’re missing a point.”
“What?”
“He didn’t do anything with your decision. Relax your brain and think about it.”
“Relax? How can I relax at this point? I’m going to be sold from one man to another. And I’ll lose my life! No, I’ve already lost it! It hasn’t been mine for a long time!”
Suddenly his large hand covers my mouth. He looks down at me so intensely, that I cannot help but, encounter his deep black eyes. Those seem turning like black holes and make me focus on the move. I close my eyes slowly and my heart moves to a slower rhythm. My body is much more relaxed. It’s been a while since I calmed down myself like this.
He removes his hand and asks me, “How did you feel when you knew you were someone’s avatar?”
It made me nervous that I cannot do anything not only physically, but mentally as well. The first moment when I knew that I was a possession of someone else, I felt lighter as if my burdens were not mine anymore. I lost Cooper and Hera’s family. I also felt some responsibility for Amelia, Cine and Moon and Safire as well.
If my body and mind aren’t mine, I can excuse that it’s not me but, my bodylord who did not save them. He intended them to end up like that. Whatever I did, it might not work because my master was blocking every possible way to save them. My effort was all in vain. I could change nothing myself.
Bullshit. I knew it was bullshit. It’s all bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit! Zeus used me, for sure. But, he didn’t control my life. It was me from the beginning who decided erasing my past to protect my dad, sacrificing myself to protect Cooper and visiting Hera’s tent bar to feel the warmth. Except for going to the mental hospital to meet Amelia, I cannot find anything that happened without my decision.
The decision. It was the key. That’s the proof that I own my life.
I feel guilty for my life, that I almost gave up my life and the responsibilities, attributing them to one man. I even feel sorry for Zeus, that he had to be the subject to be blamed just because he bought my soul. I even thank him for allowing me to have my own life, even if he could mess up everything. He let me live my life. That was the answer. I live my life. Not anybody else’s. I don’t know what he is going to do with me but, I feel that everything will be fine as long as I remember that I am the lord of my life. It won’t change whoever buys my body or soul. What I have to do is holding this truth.
“You are sleeping?”
I hear Poker Eyes and half-open my eyes. I smile at him. I even want to kiss his lips after having my life back.
“Roger. Please don’t,” Poker Eyes says.
I laugh. “Take me, sell me and trade me! Whoever buys my body or soul, I’m the lord of my life!” I shout at full volume.
“Is your avatar sane?” says a man who looks like a hotel butler. “Wait, sir, isn’t he…?”
I don’t hear his words and fall in a sleep, giggling.
CHAPTER 42
I’m running a stairway to a prison. They kept him in a high tower. They advertise it as an STT tower that reaches Magnetosphere.
How many prisoners did they keep here? People who questioned their government? People who tried to tell outside about the country? People who tried to escape the country? Yes, the defectors. They had to lock them up because their gene was so stubborn to be fixed with some gene operation that inserts genes of obedience or lifelessness. One of the main works for MTT Generals is to catch defectors and return them back to the country. Leaders were afraid that they would raise their voice up about their experiences in NTTs’ district.
Sad. It’s just sad that the group of stupid people has grown this powerful.
Sick. Sick that they still believe they are doing perfectly well to hide the NTTs.
I reach the middle of the tower after running on the millions of winding stairs coiling around the thin tower. It’s still higher than any mountain.
I bark at the door with a mark D-0. It indicates the prisoner’s trial is dated today. I howl once more. The door opens from inside and a female keeper steps out. She looks around before looking down on me at my bay.
She steps backward, startled. “Why is a dog here?”
A male keeper inside sticks his head out to see me. “Isn’t it a dog from Siberia?” He turns his head back to an old computer screen. “It suits here. It’s freezing all day.” He’s wrapping a thick quilt around his body.
“So it is a Siberian Husky.” She squats to confront eyeball to eyeball. She looks into my crystal eyes, fascinated. I am a beautiful dog, I admit. But sometimes being bewitched by beauty can delay your work. I won’t let this interrupt my way. I chin down and hold between my teeth what I’m wearing around my neck.
“Access permit?” She reads it. The male stands up from his chair and comes near to me. He crouches in front of me and touches my scarf.
“White scarf… He’s a dog of a high official.”
“Really?” She pulls her hands from me quickly. “Sorry sir.”
They stand up and step aside for me to pass. I walk slowly, turning my head around to contain everything in my eyes. To remember the affront he had to bear.
“Come here, quickly.” I look up at the voice. “Don’t see ugly things,” my dad says, sitting on a sponge which might have been once wrapped in a mattress inside bars. Don’t they have a bed to lodge a trillionaire?
“I’m just a cockroach in their eyes. Closer.” He coughs. “It’s so cold. Let me share your warmth.”
“You want to enter?” the female keeper asks me, leaning forward. I nod at her. My eyes stop at her clothes. She’s in red and white stripes. It looks thick compared to my dad’s as thin as a sheet of paper.
“They aren’t allowed to share anything. I could survive, thanks to them. If I had no one to talk to, I couldn’t forget the coldness and I’d be dead by now.”
But I stare at the keeper’s face for some moments. She’s familiar. Bushy orange hair tied into two under ears, auburn eyes and chapped, dried lips gnawing keratin. And her curious eyes looking at mine.
“She’s practically a prisoner as well,” father says. “Her brain’s bleached so she doesn’t remember who she was. But they thought she could make trouble again so, they made her a keeper of this prison.”
Prisoner? What did this young woman do? She looks stupid as hell.
“She was a student with a brain once, packed with theories of every timeline. Now her head is vacant.”
“…Amelia?”
“You remember her?”
“You know me?”
“The dog just talked!” The male keeper walks to me, briskly, with his finger pointing at me. But he soon covers his index finger as if he finds it rude to a BTT’s pet. Or maybe he noticed I’m in my dog avatar. I look at the keeper and my dad, then turn my head to the shocked girl.
“What are you doing? Open the door and get him out! It’s Judge’s order!”
CHAPTER 43
“It must be easy if you told us earlier you’re a dog of the Justice Judge,” Amelia complains, carrying my dad
by one shoulder coming down the staircase.
“It’s your fault not to see the diamond button on my scarf. Gemstone buttons are his symbol.”
“How can I know? I haven’t seen him!”
“He must be real rich to stuff his dog with language gene,” the keeper says, supporting another shoulder. My father laughs. “He can also read and write.”
“Please shut up, prisoner,” I say sharply to prevent him from losing any more energy. His voice sounds rough as if he smoked dozens of cigarettes. His condition is bad while his face does not show a hint of sickness. His lips are sleek and lively, his blonde hair shines, his cheeks bloom, and his eyes sparkle. None of them reflects his tiredness. It’s a flaw of the youth gene. No one believes you’re sick. He’s been locked in the freezing, filthy prison for half a year. He rarely ate the foods they gave him just like Amelia refused all meals in the mental hospital. I walk down the stairs swiftly with my four legs and look back to check that they don’t stop. Amelia and the male keeper are walking as quickly as they can but, way too late. It’s an unexpected delay. My plan was just to teleport with my dad after entering the tower with my original form. But, Noir said no. He wanted to keep it secret that I am son of Zane Quicker, the CEO of the Avatar Auction. So, I quickly found a dog avatar which has no TT gene.
“It will give extra fun,” he said. Fun! That’s what he pursues. But, that was not all. If I was not in my handsome Husky Siberian avatar, Amelia would not look into my eyes that deeply and, therefore, I would miss a chance to notice her.
When Bacchus brought my dad in MTT I could not believe my eyes. How did they know he was hiding them away? Did they have evidence? Now I know. They might find her before she joined the Cosmo.
I halt and turn back, noticing the footsteps stopped behind me. “What are you doing?” I ask, looking at them sitting on the stairs. “I asked for a rest,” dad says. “Come, you need to rest, too,” he says and leans on the shoulder of the male keeper, who’s leaning his head on the tower, sweating like a man under the sun. My eyes meet Amelia’s as she was looking at me. She is sweating as well but, looks like enjoying this situation.
“So, what’s your name?” she asks, learning forward.
“Husk,” I answer curtly.
“Husk?” She giggles. “The Judge has no naming sense at all.”
“Do you have a better name for me?”
She ponders over it shortly. “How about Thunder?”
I puff a laugh. “That really sounds like a dog.”
“Isn’t that your purpose?” She stands up. “Husk, how did you become a dog? Can you ask your master to take me in as well? I can be a lovely cat for him.”
I don’t answer, just a bit surprised by her seriousness and cleverness. How did she know I’m not a dog? There’s no way she could know about avatars.
“What animal does he like? Hamster? Horse? Bird?”
“Cockroach,” I answer. “He may be interested in saving cockroaches or hunting them.”
“What are you saying? Save and hunt?”
“They are just the same to us. Come on, squeeze your energy and carry him. The gate’s almost there. I know you’re faking your tiredness.”
“You found out?”
Of course. Who would like to go back to the choky cell?
“Husk, please take her,” the male keeper says, “I don’t know whatever she did in her district but, unless she killed a person she doesn’t deserve to be locked forever even as a keeper. She’s, she’s smart.”
“Of course,” I say. “That’s why she was locked.”
“What?”
“Was that my charge?”
I hold up my front leg to stop their questions after hearing Noir’s voice calling my name. “Yes, Judge.”
“Cine Moon arrived. Is Zane ready?”
“Yes, Judge.”
“Alright… did you meet her?”
“Yes.”
“Can you take her safely without hurting the keeper or destroying the tower?”
“I cannot promise.”
“Please minimize the damage. I don’t want any noise before the trial, although, most officials in the tower are here to see the trial.”
“Okay. Just one question. Is it okay to take the keeper with us?”
“The keeper? Isn’t he a BTT?”
“Yes, but he seems like a stupid one to pity NTT prisoners.”
“What a jerk! I like him. Take him with you.”
“Yes, Judge.”
“What was that, dog? You called me stupid?” the keeper says with an absurd look. “And who said I’ll go with you?”
“He wants you. Are you going to disobey Judge?”
“Of course not. I don’t want to be a prisoner.”
“Then put your hand on my back. No! Not my head!” I snarl.
“Okay… you heartless dog.”
“Others too, bring me your hand.”
“Are we going to teleport?” Amelia whispers.
“Yes.”
“Oh, I can’t believe it,” she says, bringing her hand to my back. Her hand is shaking with an extreme excitement. “Don’t tense your body. Relax and you will have less TT sickness,” I say. She nods and closes her eyes to even out her breathing. “Yes, like that. Now keeper, you see where I’m seeing, right?”
He closes his eyes as well to focus. “Yes. I see a ballroom.”
“That’s my room in the Avatar Auction. Teleport.”
“What? I can’t, I can’t transfer out of the country.”
“I have my General badge with me. Go on.”
CHAPTER 44
Once I wake up, I touch my face and body to check I am back to a human form. I was a dog in the dream. No, Zeus was a dog. He was in his dog avatar.
Inside a coffin, no, the avatar suitcase is tranquil. What I can hear is only my own heart pounding. Amelia was saved. She looked healthy. What Zeus was doing was not hunting us but, to hiding us away. And his father was captured by Bacchus while he was transferring Amelia to the refuge called Cosmo. Oh, Zeus, how could you hoax me this perfectly? You’re the meanest crook!
It seemed like he was not originally from STT. He called Zane Quicker his father. He must have been born outside of STT after Zane Quicker escaped the country. What else do I know? Trial, he still didn’t show me why I must be present in the trial. What is my real role? Isn’t it a trial of Zane? He will be judged in front of BTT officials. Should I stand there as a witness? What is going on? What can I say in the courtroom? Just that moment, I hear some noise coming from outside.
“Is this him?”
“Is he here?”
“I want to open this, please. I’m the closest person to him.”
“Who said that? No one knows his favorite but him.”
“Of course I’m his favorite. He even tells me about his dreams.”
“Okay, everyone, don’t fight. Let’s just ask him.”
My mind has gone mad! I’m hearing their voices! I must have been delivered to the trial, not to Cosmo where my friends are supposed to be kept safely. If only my theory is correct.
“I’ll open it then,” says a voice that resembles Moon’s.
I feel his fingers touch the zipper around my feet.
“No! No!” says a voice resembling Hera’s. My suitcase shakes right and left and up and down as they jostle and tow.
“Get out, foreigner!”
“Moon, don’t be rude!”
Now I’m sure, it is a voice of Safire, the boys’ mom. I hear someone clearing his throat. I notice who the person is just by hearing this. “You really love General. But you can’t really compare your closeness to mine. I’m the only one who has slept and showered with him together. See? I’m the most intimate person to him.”
It’s him. It’s Cooper! I bite my lips not to voice a hooray.
“But you didn’t marry him.”
“Oh, Hera, you don’t need to marry your idol.”
“I don’t idolize him like the boys.?
??
“Everyone, will you give the eldest person the honor to open the zipper?”
My eyes widen at the voice. I didn’t expect him to be here with the others. Zeus said he sent him home safely with his soul. I had no choice but to believe him. So he, fortunately, lied to me. Zeus you cute chump! And I finally feel the zipper opening up from my feet. While he does it slowly, I think which expression I should put on my face. Shocked? Puzzled? Thrilled? Smiley? Composed as if I knew everything? But as the zipper passes across my face and I face them, I have no choice for my facial expression. Scared. I momentarily stopped breathing at this daunting view of nine men of the same face. Not only face. They have the same height and build.
I slowly raise my body with my eyes fixed on them. I feel those eighteen eyes follow my movement. But not one of them notices that I am terrified. Nonuplets? No, each of them still has different figures. This is as if they are reproduced eight times. Or possibly… “Robots?” They all burst out at once and stun me. Wrong? I swallow and take a look of each of them carefully. They are still laughing. Two of them snicker, looking at each other, one next to them chortles, covering his mouth, the other hoots, looking up at the ceiling, and the next one is releasing a bright giggle. “Hera?” I stretch my arm to him. “Is it you?” Everyone stops laughing and focuses on us.
The nonuplet whose twitter resembles Hera’s, steps forward, and bows gently and speaks fluently in our language, “Nice to see you again, General Cine Moon. I’m Cosmo, butler of the Avatar Hotel.”
CHAPTER 45
Cosmo. That was not a place. “It was how Zane Quicker hid you away.” I realize. “He put you all in robot avatars!”
“We are not robots, General,” says one of them. I know him by his voice. Cooper. “Cosmo is a real person with genes of duplication. That’s why we all look the same. Oh, General.” He steps back as I embrace him as tightly as I can. “It’s you. It’s really you!”