Dysphoria: Rise (Hymn of the Multiverse 6) by Terra Whiteman

Author:Terra Whiteman [Whiteman, Terra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shatter Star Press
Published: 2019-01-29T22:00:00+00:00

The seventh was reparation.

Talyse, I’m so sorry.

I should have died with you.

I will make this right.

The eighth, and final, memory was peace.

I was decidedly broken by my handlers after four consecutive interrogations where I stopped the prisoner’s heart in the beginning of each session. After the fourth mercy-killing, I rose from my seat and tore off the blindfold, looking through the large window at the audience. I locked eyes with a surveyor woman. She didn’t look like the invaders or other Nau researchers; too pale, with strange-colored eyes, but she wore a surveyor uniform.

Her expression took me by surprise. A surveyor had never looked directly at me before. Her gaze was one of pity.

I hung my head and closed my eyes as the guards came to yank me away. The war was all but over and the invaders’ thirst for blood ran dry. They would give me a swift execution.

But something happened that evening. The guards had thrown me in a windowless cell, however several hours later they returned me to my room. Their actions and body language showed reluctance.

I stayed locked up in that room for good. A guard brought me meals twice a day and the room was furnished like a laity’s house. It had a large window with a perfect view of the ugly city, and I kept the curtain drawn most of the time. I was isolated for two rotations around our sun.

Again, reluctantly, they brought me a journal and writing utensils after the first few months. Then came stacks of books. Every fifteen days they would collect the books and leave more. What were they doing? And why?

My answer came two years later, when the door opened and someone entered my room. The sight of another person in my environment was so jarring that I initially backed away from the door. But then I saw the person and froze in confusion.

It was that surveyor woman from the last interrogation.

“It’s time to go, Sapphire,” she said in perfect Aurican. If not for her appearance I would have sworn she was a native.

“W-Where?” I stammered.

“Somewhere a lot nicer than this dismal place,” she said, sweetly.

Could it be? Was there really something after this?

I took a step closer, cautiously. “Who are you?”

The surveyor smiled and headed for the hall. “My name is Aphasia, and I will be your mentor from now on.”

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