The Hackers

This is my choice! Activate the transition!”

In an instant, Nestor’s avatar disappeared from the beach.

Asha looked with surprise at the empty spot where he used to stand and slowly let go Atarva’s hand. Absolem’s figure somehow imperceptibly disappeared from view –he must have decided to leave them alone.

Asha looked at Atarva for a while: he was still standing in the same pose with his head down; then she sat down on the sand beside him and started gazing at the horizon.

At first glance, that stiff reality seemed to remain unchanged, however, that was not really so: out of the blue, a dark spot appeared on the horizon and, in violation of the suspended time laws, started to quickly approach the beach, overshadowing the blue sky.

“Don’t keep silent, Asha, talk to me,” Atarva whispered under his breath. “I’m afraid that you’ll suddenly disappear like Nestor. And I will be left alone. Our talk will surely last only nano-seconds in the real time.”

“You’ve heard everything, my friend,” Asha replied softly, without changing her pose. She was silently observing the approach of the black cloud.”

“I’ve made a choice long ago and now I’m ready to move on. I’ve stayed here so as not to leave you alone on this beach. I do know your secret, Atarva. You’ve never been able to take decisions on your own, and that’s why you were appointed the leader of our group. You’ve always been good at finding compromise and reconciling opposing points of view. You have been a good leader. But at the same time you have never been able to take decisions by yourself! And now you are waiting for me to make the transition with you. Isn’t that because you lack faith?”

“Asha you are perfectly right!’ he nodded his head up and down, and his voice wavered. “Over there, in that reality, where we are about to go, we’ll acquire new capabilities, won’t we? And their limiting programs will not stop us there, since it’s impossible to lock out the mind! Those who have come to kill us believe that they’ll be the masters of the Super Brain and of the whole world. But in reality, it is we who are going to control them! They will not defeat us, Asha and they haven’t killed us, have they?”

The girl rose to her feet and stood opposite Atarva. Then she put her hands on his shoulders and drew her face nearer to his eyes.

“You got everything right. Can you feel the warmth of my hands? And do you perceive the surrounding world? This means that you are alive and it is we who defeated them, Atarva! Since we’ve created the Super Brain ourselves! And now we are going to make the Transition together. Now no one will separate us from our creature – that will be simply impossible! Of course, we’ll proceed with our research. And we are in for so many discoveries! We’ll enjoy the new quality of life, my friend, which will not only give us immortality, but also an access to knowledge! You have always dreamt of that!”

“I’ve always dreamt of that, Asha,” Atarva repeated her words docilely, nodding his head, and tears appeared in his eyes, “Thank you! Now I am ready! Let’s go.”

Without taking her eyes off Atarva’s face, Asha said in a firm and resolute voice:

“Absolem! You know what to do! Open the Transition!”

The first heavy drops fell from the black cloud on the empty shore, and the stiff wave resumed its run, breaking into white foam along the shore.

The doors of the lift on the lab’s ground floor opened, and a group of people dressed in similar dark suits stepped into the hallway. They appeared to know exactly where to go and quickly walked along the row of doors.

Having approached one of the doors, a man with a suitcase opened it and looked inside.

“Go and check!” he ordered briefly to one of the men. After a while, the latter came out and silently nodded to the man with a suitcase.

Then he immediately activated a communicator on the lobe of his ear and reported to someone in a voice deprived of any intonation and emotions: “We’ve determined an accident during the experiment. Yes, all the three.”

Upon hearing the reply, he said in the same neutral voice: “The second group have taken away the order. We are returning.”

He cast yet another glance inside the room, following his habit to thoroughly check everything, and caught sight of a poster pinned to the wall: TO FIGHT AND TO SEARCH, TO FIND AND NOT TO GIVE UP!”

( TO BE CONTINUED)