Alt+Control Chapter 39

“So that’s what you meant when you said that you had already become one with Chronos.” I feel nauseous. A computer that has to live off of a human, like some parasite… The barrier between human and computer broken, and made into some unholy creature. I bow my head, and retch, but nothing comes out. Bile burns the back of my throat. When I stop feeling woozy, I look back up and see Lukas watching me with quiet amusement sparkling in his eyes.

“Come now, I’m not that frightening, am I?”

“How could you degrade yourself like this? Let this computer leach off of you?”

“Degrade me?” he asks, his voice dangerously low. “Chronos has not degraded me. In fact, it has made me so much more powerful. No one can ignore me now! I could take away someone’s life if I wished it to, and I could save someone from the brink of death. I am practically a god! All of this, its all a game to me, where I oversee everything. A game where everything follows my set of rules.”

I shake my head. There’s no use to trying to speak with him. He’s absolutely insane. What would Marc or Gerad do in this situation? At the thought of Gerad, my mind flashes back to the image of Gerad bleeding on the ground after Lukas stabbed him. Gerad’s life slowly leaking away… I clench my teeth, and glare at Lukas.

“So what do Gerad and I have anything to do with this, Lukas. What pieces are we in this demented game of yours?”

“Marc was the treacherous knight, always side-stepping out of danger. Gerad was a mere pawn, only used to be sacrificed for the ultimate victory.”

“If Chronos was as powerful as you said, why didn’t you just brainwash him or something? Why did you have to…to…” I can’t bring myself to say it! I blink away tears that threaten to seep out. I can’t afford to lose it now.

“Because if I brainwashed only this part of his life, he would keep coming to find me. And after all that trouble I put into making this look like an accident, I can’t have someone as nosy as him poking around.” He licks his lips hungrily. “Besides, I’ve always wondered what it was like to kill someone up close, to feel their life bleed away.”

Something snaps inside. “You bastard! You sick bastard!” I scream at him. “Aren’t you human too? Don’t you have feelings?! Does killing someone have no effect on you?” The tears from before make burning paths down my face, and I don’t bother holding them back. I try to wipe them away, but my arms are indisposed, of course.

“Shush… I’m sorry, I overstepped my boundaries, haven’t I?” He wheels his chair over and gently cups my face in his hands. He lightly brushes away my tears. I don’t have any energy to shake him off. Besides, it felt…rather nice, actually, to be touched so gently…

“You came to find me to help save those people, right?” asks Lukas. “I know a way you can help.”

That snaps me out of it. “You, a killer, know a way to help people? Why should you prevent these deaths anyways? You’re the one making them.” I laugh bitterly. “What does a monster like you who tries to worm his way in by acting kind know about saving others?”

“I knew you would see through my act,” he says, and lets go of my face. He wheels his chair back, and starts circling me lazily, like a shark waiting for a chance to attack. “I am serious, though. I know a way to prevent all these deaths.”

I look at him skeptically. “How?”

He turns his wheelchair back towards the corner he was sitting in when we originally came. He takes something off the table and approaches me. In his lap, on top of Chronos, is a sleek laptop. The black of Chronos offsets the whiteness of the laptop. Loose wires dangle from a port.

“This is Chimera,” says Lukas. “Become a companion to her. Become someone like me, and you’ll be able to save the world. Become my queen.”