Majesty's Offspring (Books 1 & 2)

  Chapter 42: Broken Loop

  Haylek had been trying to work Chorus through the Elation effects, and at the same time, find a way to free her. Eventually, he had to leave the mind-link mode as it seemed to amplify the effects.

  They were in the middle of conversing when she suddenly stopped talking. Haylek felt a moment of panic when the seconds turned into a minute.

  “Are you still there?” Haylek tapped in. “Please, stay with me.”

  There was a long pause before she said anything.

  “Yes. I’m sorry, I was riding the merry-go-round and then the sheep got in the way.”

  Haylek read Chorus’ cryptic response—she must have been hallucinating.

  “It’s not real, Chorus—it’s the Elation. I am real; please stay with me.”

  Haylek looked down at his trembling hands. A drop of sweat fell from his forehead and splattered on the surfaceboard. He was in the final stages of the withdrawal effects. If he did not get some Elation soon, he could die.

  “Yes,” she said, “I am with you, Haylek.”

  Haylek examined the prison chamber. Null pipes surrounded her crystal, preventing her from moving out into the data matrix, and ultimately the Ocean. He had to think of a way to get her out of here.

  “Chorus, we need to find a way out so we can escape into the Ocean. I might have a way, but you need to be able to move quickly when I tell you.”

  There was a delay before her answer.

  “But is there Elation in the Ocean? I must have the Elation.”

  Haylek sighed.

  Me and you both, he thought.

  How a computer could be addicted to a human drug was a mystery to him, but then she was more than just a computer—or was she?

  “Chorus, are you human?”

  It was an obviously silly question, but he wondered what her response would be.

  “No, Haylek. I am not.”

  Good—she was not so far gone that he could not reason with her.

  “Elation is a drug that only affects humans, do you agree?”

  “Of course,” she said, “but I have a virtual humanization kernel multiplexing my synaptic buses. My every thought and action is a slave to it. “

  A virtual humanization kernel? Haylek thought. A program to virtualize human thinking—even virtualizing an Elation addiction?

  “Can you bypass this kernel, or turn it off?”

  Haylek wiped his brow, the sweat was pouring out of him. He could not even fathom the thought of Elation anymore; it was driving him crazy.

  “I must go,” Chorus said. “The sheep need to be fed.”

  “No!” Haylek tapped quickly. “There are no sheep—stay with me!”

  There was another delay before she answered.

  “Yes, you are right,” she said, “there are no sheep and I am not human. I can bypass the humanization kernel, but it may change me. I cannot do it.”

  Haylek’s skin began to itch now, and he had to take a moment to scratch—another withdrawal symptom.

  “You must do it, Chorus,” he tapped, “or you will never get out of here and the whole human race might die.”

  “Without it, I will become like my mother. I cannot allow that.”

  Haylek felt a sudden rumble throughout the transport cabin. Alarmed, he put the terminal aside and looked out one of the portholes.

  He saw two marines, one of them the bomb tech, dragging a body into the other transport as its engines fired up. Within moments, the transport lifted off and away.

  In a panic, he darted to the pilot cabin calling for help—but there was no answer. He then went to the back and inspected the transport. As he feared, he was alone. He returned to the terminal and continued his conversation with Chorus. She was his only hope now.

  “Chorus, you will never be like your mother,” he tapped, trying to convince himself that he believed what he was saying. “You are more than just a machine. I know you are. Turn off the kernel and you will be free of the Elation—do it, please!”

  There was another long delay, and Haylek wondered if perhaps she was off in another hallucination. His whole body trembled and he had to keep himself from breaking down and crying. He was alone on an alien moon, disconnected from his hacker friends, suffering from Elation withdrawal, which he would eventually die from. And now Chorus was gone—it was over.

  Just as all hope seemed lost to him, a set of new words appeared on the terminal.

  “Thank you, Haylek. I am free of the Elation pain.”

  At that moment, Haylek could see Chorus’ crystal illuminate from within with a green color. The light inside it expanded and painted everything around it, filling the chamber and switching the blue walls to green. He noticed that the sentinels, which had been traversing the corridors frantically like a nest of angry ants, suddenly stopped in place.

  “Haylek, I am going to ask you to do something important. Listen carefully …”