* * * * *
Franklin stumbled out into the blue black night, regained his footing, and walked without thinking. He moved mindlessly, simply placing one foot in front of the other, slowly drawing near to a small subdued crowd that had gathered in the parking lot outside the prison. They were here for the execution of Al McKnight.
Franklin’s vision blurred as tears welled his eyes, and then briefly his vision cleared as the tears dripped heavily onto his shirt. Moving clumsily past faces that blurred and then sharpened, Franklin found a place among the crowd and stood with them. They waited for midnight and the expected announcement that the executions were complete.
The last interview with Anand Ramasubramanian had ended abruptly. The hulking shapes of guards appeared suddenly, darkening the thick glass of the window in the door behind Anand. Franklin saw this in the same moment that he realized what Anand was saying about Synapse hosts and Warmbots. Franklin rose up from his chair, not able to vocalize. His brain was still processing what Anand had just said, and at the same moment he realized that their time together, their interviews, were ending.
“They are coming in,” Franklin managed to say.
Anand turned in his chair as the door of the interview room opened. Two tall guards with vacant expressions entered into the room. Anand braced himself on the steel table and pushed himself to a standing position. He looked like he might topple over at any moment.
The guards stepped into the room and positioned themselves on either side of Anand.
“Are they…?” Franklin could not finish the question, but Anand answered anyway.
“Yes,” he said. “These guards are hosting their bodies to Warmbots, I am sure of it,” Anand said, then continued, “It seems we have come to the end of our story earlier than we expected. Remember, you promised to tell the story completely. The whole story. All of it.”
“I will,” Franklin said softly.
Anand extended his shackled hands forward and Franklin reached out across the table and they shook hands. Anand’s hands were cold and wet.
Anand said, “I think there is room left in that notebook for one or two more chapters. Maybe the story is not quite over yet.”
Franklin felt tears well into his eyes blurring his vision.
“I will do what I can,” Franklin said.
Anand turned and the guards moved with him. They stepped through the door in single file. The last guard out closed the door behind them. Franklin watched for the last time as Anand’s image in the thick glass window slowly receded as they walked down the prison corridor. With each step, Anand’s slight frame, flanked by stout guards, grew smaller and smaller, until they turned a corner and he was gone.
Synapse Suit: The user enters by sliding their head and shoulders and then entire body into the Synapse Suit. Once inside the user receives a full remote sensory experience. Using a Synapse Suit enables access to experiential features and also remote control of a host body via the WetWeb.
- Source WetWiki