Triplicate #7

Seasons in the Abyss

My name is Gabriel McGuire and I think that I’m dead. The truth is I’m pretty sure that I am. Remembering what happened the last few months, my reunion with my first and only true love Jenna Dimonte, finding out that she had betrayed me, that she worked for the people who had infected me with a deadly genetic weapon called Triplicate, saving myself by invading the facility that held my cure and killing her fiancé in the process, the ultimate reconciliation and then this, following the man who ordered the attack on Jenna and her friends to a strange facility-seemingly ancient and very alien-cut into the side of a mountain in northeast Nevada, well, I know now how it ends, and there is only one possible fate for me. I’m dead.

This place that I’m in now, I would rather be anywhere else. It’s dark here, too dark even to see my hand in front of my face. Come to think of it, I can’t even feel my face. I can’t feel anything at all. I can’t hear anything, and I can’t speak at all. I can hear my thoughts as if they were strange voices. I can’t move, I feel like I am floating in place, waiting for something to retrieve me, anything at all. Most of all, I want it all to end. I don’t want to feel the pain, both physically and emotionally. I don’t want the responsibility. I don’t want the power.

I thought that I was invincible; I had technology that was at least eight thousand years more advanced than anything on Earth. In each cell within my body, I had a molecular-sized "computer" that controlled and enhanced all my physical attributes as well as giving me new abilities. I could absorb and recall items at well. They would be reformed from the mass around me and in my body. The cells of my exposed skin could capture the miniscule matter within the atmosphere, harness it and reform it at the molecular level to anything that I needed. The responses would be practically instantaneous, if I thought of it.

My body was immune to most things. I found out the hard way that it had no defense against Triplicate. Sure, my enhanced immune system was able to stave off the Triplicate, but I almost lost my race to find the cure. Once I had it, though, I would never be threatened by Triplicate ever again.

In the end, I was overwhelmed, jolted with cattle prods that were meant for cattle that were approximately ten tons in weight. I was pretty sure that the cattle on Earth normally didn’t come in the ten ton range. I’m not sure how many times I was hit with those electrical volts, but they would have charred any living thing on the planet. I survived, however I was beaten. My body couldn’t keep up with it and it was all I could do to remain conscious. It would take hours for myself to recover from that brutal attack.

Never mind that a friend of mine, an ally of mine, Aphrodite Sambonis was in the company of the man that I thought I had already killed, the man who led Anderson Industries’ subsidiary, Anderson Research and then destroyed it, my true love’s fiancé, Louis Gibson. I couldn’t do anything to save her. I couldn’t even stand up. I never got a good look at her, thankfully. I couldn’t bear to see the look in her eyes as I lay there unable to help her at all.

They threw me into a cell that had way too much security associated with it. The floor was grated; the walls and ceiling were chrome with various nozzles and lights attached. When the door was shut behind me, I couldn’t even see the seams. I was trapped in a cell that I knew was filled with very bad things.

In my head, I could hear a voice. It was soft and childlike. It was a whisper at first. It tickled when it spoke, like when someone gently blows on an ear. I couldn’t make out what the voice was saying, at least not at first. Then it became louder, just enough that I could make out what it was saying.

"The end," it said. Over and over it said "the end."

That did not help out my already waning confidence.

1

I tried to sleep. It was the only thing that I thought could help my body recover from the overwhelming attack that was unleashed upon it. I curled up in one of the corners, closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing.

I could hear the pounding of my pulse in my ear, in my neck. I could feel my heart racing, much higher than any human should. My hands were shaking, not as bad as they did when I was infected with Triplicate, but still they were shaking. I couldn’t control them at all; I couldn’t calm myself enough to make them stop.

In fact, I couldn’t calm myself down at all. My blood pressure must have been through the roof. Every muscle in my body seemed to be shaking involuntarily, like they were permanently charged. I tried to grab a hold of myself, maybe if I held on tight enough it would stop. I desperately wanted my brain to tell my body that it was okay, that I could relax, but that didn’t seem in the cards, unfortunately.

So there I sat, in the fetal position, in the corner of a cell that was surprisingly dark. In fact, I couldn’t see anything at all. I tried to put my hand in front of my face, to see if I could actually see it. No luck. I managed to hit myself in the nose, though, before I could see it. In fact, I didn’t see it, and my night vision wasn’t working at all. Whatever they did, they really did a number on me. I began to worry.

I started taking deep breaths, inhaling for three seconds, exhaling for three seconds. I had heard from some places that when the body is asleep the inhales and exhales are three seconds long. Many forms of meditation are based on the 3-second rule as well. In fact, it was said that you could trick your mind into thinking it was asleep if you kept it up long enough. That was exactly what I wanted it to think.

I was in the corner, my back against the wall. I knew which wall, and since I was still in contact with it, I knew where I was in the cell. In front of me, along the wall to the left of me, was the door out of here. If there were a bright light anytime soon, it would be the door opening. I wanted it to open so badly. I wanted to be out of this cell, free to pursue my life.

"The end," the small, weak whisper of a voice said to me. I tried to shake it out of my head; I didn’t want it there anymore. This wasn’t the end, this couldn’t be the end. I wouldn’t let it be the end. But I couldn’t calm down; I couldn’t control my heart rate or my blood pressure. Truth be told, my mind was wandering, I couldn’t keep a single thought in there for more than a second or two. Thankfully, too, because the thoughts I was having were not so good.

I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate through the shaking, through the random flow of thoughts, through the emptiness of this chamber, the darkness, the artificial silence, through the lack of anything. I was in a void, one that I wasn’t sure that I could get out of.

Fear started to creep into my mind. For the first time in a long, long time, I was scared. In my whole life, I had a bit of control. I had a wild card to my advantage, a secret that no one knew about, abilities that could easily save me from just about anything. Now, that secret was taken from me. My advantage, the only advantage that I had, had been stripped from my being and thrown away. I had lost total control of this situation, and I was scared. I was scared I was going to die. I was scared that I was going to fail.

I was going to let down the fifteen billion people that were counting on me. I wasn’t sure why they sent me back; it had been eight thousand years. Being on Earth and remembering Terra, to be honest, Terra was an improvement, a big improvement. It was bigger, it was cleaner, and it was more peaceful. The evenings on Terra, the Salvation Nebula, a breathtaking blue and red cloud that every single night without fail covered at least a quarter of the sky, decorated them. You couldn’t see anything like that here, unless you were in the desert and you were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the Milky Way. Terra was far, far away from Earth in just about every aspect except for humanity. It was a bigger, better place.

So why would they send me back? I guess everyone loves a mystery, but that never really sat well with me. How would the Powers That Be not know why we had left Earth? Were the records really lost when we arrived there? I doubt that. If they were, why did we remember where we came from? Maybe I was just a product of the conspiratorially dominated times, always looking for the dark reasons behind action, but I thought I had a point. Why send me back to find out the reasons for our leaving-or expulsion-from Earth when I had no way of getting back to the future to report my findings? I doubted the high and mighty ideals that I was told. Why would it matter, eight thousand years after the fact? Truth was it didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter.

I remember the moments before I left Terra. Three others were in the hangar with me. One was named Dr. Greg Martin. He was the project manager. For the life of me I couldn’t remember the name of the project, though. Greg Martin seemed like a nice guy, from what I could remember. He was my doctor, he was the person who delivered me and was the one that determined the extent of my mutation.

Ah yes, my mutation. I was never quite sure how to use it effectively, that’s why I haven’t used it at all. When it was discovered, they took the initiative and created a specific training regimen that would enable me to come back to this specific point in time. All tests had resulted in very erratic results. The regimen was used to ensure the successful jump back to the time they needed me to go. It was primarily comprised of the induction of almost a coma-like state in which the necessary instructions would be placed into my head subconsciously. I wouldn’t have to do a thing, when I arrived at Earth and landed my craft (which would have been taken care of automatically) I would be placed into that state and the rest would take care of itself.

Dr. Martin was the one who developed the subliminal code that would be given to me upon my arrival. I was his pride and joy, he most important achievement in all his years of work. No one would ever know of it, though. When it was determined that I was a mutant with special abilities, I was classified at the highest level. Hardly anyone knew that I existed.

He was also a good friend. Not once during my entire childhood-I left Terra when I was eleven for the four-year flight to Earth-did he ever treat me like a lab rat or an experiment. He went out of his way to try his best to explain everything that was happening to me. He also went out of his way to ensure that I grew up as normal as I could. I played with other children, although never for too long. I got to see movies; I got to do just about everything. Heck, he even took me to our equivalent of amusement parks. Let me tell you, those parks makes the ones out there now look like a kiddy ride.

I could tell, though, as the time grew closer for me trip that he lost more and more control over what was going on. When I was eight, with only three years left to go, I was introduced to Commander Michelle Chase. She was my instructor. She was also one of the three that saw me off that day.

She taught me what I needed to know. I learned about the implants that I would receive before my journey began. I learned about their capabilities and their shortcomings. She taught me basic forms of hand-to-hand combat, although that would be included on the implants themselves. She taught me what it was like to be a soldier, what it was like to have people depend on you and on your mission. I learned about honor from her. We grew close; she came to know me better than anyone alive, even Dr. Martin. She looked upon me as her own child, and she was the closest thing to a mother that I ever had. Our relationship, though, was more like that of a brother and a sister. She was my older sister.

The training became much more intense at the end. She pushed me to my breaking point on numerous occasions, both mentally and physically. She instilled a sense of invulnerability in me. If I could take what she dished out, I could take whatever anyone else could possibly give.

A week before I was to leave, I was given the bio-molecular computer implants. It was a long, grueling and painful process. When they had entered every single cell in my body, she showed me their potential. She hurt me, hurt me bad. I watched in amazement as I didn’t feel pain and the wounds healed quickly. An example was a stab wound that she reluctantly gave me in the chest. Not only was it difficult for her to penetrate by skin but also my internal organs, I didn’t bleed from the wound at all and all the discomfort I felt was a bit of tightness in my chest as the wound healed itself quickly.

The next time we sparred, I completely dominated her. I was quicker and stronger than she could ever be. I anticipated her every move and countered it before she had a chance to complete it. At eleven, I had become a soldier. She was proud of me.

That wasn’t the only thing, though. We would talk at great length when we had a chance. We would discuss just about everything we could think of. Most of the time, though, we wouldn’t discuss my mission. A part of me didn’t want to leave her, and I’m sure a part of her felt the same.

We would go to a special part of the complex that I lived on. The complex itself was about the size of Rhode Island and served many different functions. In its boundaries was a mountain named Skylight. We would take a transport to the peak, which was only about five thousand feet high, and watch the stars come out. We would talk and talk and talk.

She was a very sad woman. She had been married once. She even had a child. They were killed, though, in a fire at their house. She wasn’t there to help, she was on assignment halfway around the world. When she got news, it almost broke her. She threw herself into her job and her career, but it wasn’t enough. She was empty inside, full of love that she couldn’t, that she wouldn’t, let go. I think that I helped her out with that a bit.

Her family died about three years before she was assigned to me. I could always feel the weight of her sadness. When I left, that sadness had dissipated some. It was still there, at least some of it. I gathered it would always be there in some way.

When I left, she felt a new sadness. This time, though, she was able to say goodbye. I think it helped her a bit when she found out that she would always be with me as well. Her brain patters were programmed into the bio-molecular computers and were molded into an interface that I would always have with me. I would have her with me always, and that gave her some comfort.

The third man there watching me go was something of a mystery. He started making his appearance with about three months to go. Thinking back (or ahead) he reminded me of one of those Men In Black that has permeated itself on the consciousness of society. Granted, the MIB’s are forever associated with the UFO mythology. When I think of it, I’m from a different planet, and by the strictest definition of the word, I’m an alien. I’m human, but alien as well.

This man-I never knew his name-would watch everything I did. He was dressed in black, although it wasn’t a black suit like everyone wears here. In the future, uniforms were primarily a set of coveralls. Surprisingly, they could be made to be very formal. His set of coveralls were very official, very dignifying. Seeing him on the street I would think that he was a government official or some kind of intelligence agent. Yes, even eight thousand years in the future, we still have state secrets. Granted, the place I come from is peaceful and most everyone gets along with everyone else. Still, there are the occasional troublemakers and every once in a while there is something that goes on that doesn’t have to make it’s way into the public record. I was one of those secrets.

I figured that he was my caseworker or something like that. He was assigned to watch over me and the project I was associated with to ensure the success of it. I always felt uneasy around him, though. He was big, well over six feet tall and very menacing to look at. He wasn’t someone to mess with.

Like I said, I never knew his name. I didn’t want to get to know him, not at all.

Why was I remembering the moment I left Terra and headed to Earth? I couldn’t quite figure it out, but I had a nagging feeling that it meant something, that I was trying to remember something.

Maybe I just wanted to go to a place that was far, far away from here. God knows I wasn’t thrilled with my current predicament.

The voice, though, the soft whisper in my head started to build again. I could feel it’s now familiar tickle in my mind as it began to speak. "Gabriel," it said softly. "Gabriel!" it screamed.

As the strange voice screamed, the cell erupted in white light. My eyes were open, which was probably the worst thing that could have happened. My body recoiled from the light and my hands went up to shield my eyes, but it was already too late. Like the initial flash from a nuclear weapon, the light burned my retinas, my corneas, everything that was essential to eyesight. The pain was excruciating. I couldn’t remember pain like this before.

Strangely, I knew immediately that my eyes were destroyed, but I continued to see that bright white light. I screamed more out of shock than anything else. I could feel my eyes tearing up.

I tried using my forearm to block the light, but even though I had covered them, I still say that white light. The pain was continuous as well, a light so bright that I couldn’t stand to look at it.

The light was also generating heat. I could feel the ambient temperature of the cell begin to rise. At first the temperature jumped a quick twenty degrees, but then the rise began to slow. Still, the temperature rose. It became warm, then it became hot, and I began to sweat.

The sweat streamed into my eyes, adding to the pain. I couldn’t think that was possible. My eyes felt as if hundreds of tiny red-hot needles were piercing them and nothing I tried could bring about any relief.

The sweat dripped into my mouth, but I found that the taste was different than that of my tears. My tears were more metallic. Blood. Oh God, I was bleeding from my eyes. All the while, the temperature continues to climb.

The voice returned to me then. It tried to comfort me; it knew what was going on with me. The voice was gaining strength, and it was definitely female. I knew who it had to be, it had to be Jenna. It just had to be her. We had connected again and somehow she was trying to help me through this. "Concentrate," the voice said. "Concentrate on your eyes. Heal yourself." The voice was stronger with each word it spoke, but I still couldn’t tell whose voice it was.

It didn’t matter. I knew who it was, even if it wouldn’t reveal itself. She was telling me to fight, to fight through this. Dammit, I would! I wouldn’t let them win; I wouldn’t let them hurt me. I concentrated, I thought about every single cell in my body working to fight the pain in my eyes, to fight the damage caused by the bright light.

I began to feel a difference. The sharp, burning pain in my eyes started to ease and was replaced by a strange tingling sensation. It was working! I was forcing myself to fix my eyes.

I pictured Jenna, I could see her holding me in her arms, looking down at me, saying, "Fight this, Gabriel. Fight this will all your heart, all your soul. Leave nothing for them to hurt." I wouldn’t let them hurt me, not today, not ever.

It had to be her that voice. It’s the only thing that it could be. Slowly, my eyes worked to repair themselves and I sat back in the corner holding my knees against my chest. Maybe it was symbolic for rallying my defenses, maybe it wasn’t. I knew that I had reached a breakthrough of sorts. Whatever they did to me, I could recover from. That’s a liberating feeling.

I’m not sure how long I sat there. I’m not sure how hot the cell got. The temperature never staying constant, it was always increasing. It was well over one hundred fifty degrees, that much was sure. I had stopped sweating a long time before that, but since I couldn’t judge time in this pace, it didn’t really matter that much.

It’s true what they say about heat, it saps away all your energy. I was focused on my eyesight, making sure that my eyes would function again, and I think that I actually succeeded in repairing the damaged retinas. I was able to shield my eyes against the ferociously bright white light, so much so that I was soon able to make out the shape of the room again. It took all my strength, not only physical by also mental, to accomplish this. I was tired, very, very tired. I sat in that corner, hoping that it would soon end.

I had no energy; all my reserves had been tapped. I was sitting in a dry sauna; all the moisture in my body had been taken from me. I had to conserve my strength because I knew it was only going to get worse.

Then I felt a drop of something on my forehead. Then I felt another, and another. I looked up, my eyes still a bit painful to see with, and I got a drop of it in my eye. It didn’t burn or even hurt, and that was a relief. A drop fell into my mouth. It was water.

Was it raining? Surely not, I was in a cell. The drops became more frequent, starting at a trickle, then drizzle, and then a light rain. I was being sprayed, that had to be it. Water, though, was what I needed. I opened my mouth to catch as much as I could.

The rain was a welcome relief from the heat. As I was able to drink some of the water, the cool, refreshing water, I felt some of my strength returning. I didn’t want to drink too much and risk getting sick, but I still needed more.

The water was increasing in pressure. I could feel it now turning into a stream, into a few streams. All the streams originated above me, at least one from each wall. I was being hit from all sides by streams of water.

I was careful to drink only enough. I tried to open my eyes, to see where the streams were coming from, but the streams were hitting my eyes, so I kept them shut. Then the streams stopped. I could hear the remaining water trickling down the walls.

The temperature had returned to a more normal level. I was thankful for that. With my strength returning, with my body gaining control of itself, I was confident that this wouldn’t be my end like that voice had informed me. Then I heard a very metallic click from originating from the floor below my feet. Some kind of machine had turned on. I could feel a small vibration beginning below me, the floor shaking rapidly side-to-side. Slowly, it began to increase in violence. Before I knew it, I could hardly stand up straight because the cell was shaking so badly. I tried to steady myself, but I couldn’t. I was being tossed from wall to wall. Sometimes I would fall. Each time I thought that staying on the floor would be the best way to make it through this, but each time my whole body would be tossed around the cell, smashing into walls, smashing into the floor. I got up only to be thrown about the cell again. Soon, I had no idea which way was which. The only thing that I was sure of was which way was up and down. Down was the violently vibrating floor.

Then, much to my dismay, the water came back on. This time, though, it wasn’t the refreshing rain it was, it was a powerful stream that slammed me in the back and threw me against the wall. Added to the vibrating floor, the jet tossed me around like a rag doll. Soon, though, it stopped and I struggled to collect myself again, rising to my feet. A new jet of water struck me in the face sending me backwards into another wall. The back of my head ricocheted off and I fell again. I tried to push myself up, but a stream from the ceiling hit me again, sending me to the floor.

It was too strong to fight against in my weakened condition. Another jet of water hit me in the shoulder. More and more jets of water came from nowhere and wreaked havoc upon my already weary body. I could almost feel the bruises starting to swell all over my body. I couldn’t think of any way it could get any worse.

That’s when it gets worse. Whoever designed this cell was one of the worst humans imaginable, I thought to myself, as the whole cell seemed to start to shake. For a second, I thought I was in an elevator that had started its ascent. It flipped violently, turning upside down. I fell from the floor to the ceiling, landing with a thud and a separated shoulder. Thankfully, the water jets stopped their bombardment and the vibrating floor ceased it’s shaking.

I reached down as deep as I could and mustered the strength for a desperate punch against the ceiling (floor). I figured that since it was the ceiling, it wasn’t as reinforced as the floor. I heard the bones crack in my hand, though, when I connected with the steel. I didn’t dent it in the slightest.

The cell turned again, and I fell against one of the walls, compounding my shoulder injury more. I moaned in pain. The cell flipped and I fell again, this time injuring my hip. I figured that I dislocated that as well.

If only I had my strength, I could get out of this. If only I wasn’t stupid I wouldn’t even be in this situation. I had a chance to avoid this, I didn’t have to come down into the facility, and I could have planted a listener or something like that. I didn’t need to be down here.

The cell finally stopped. I couldn’t move, it hurt way too much. For being supposedly indestructible, I was having a very rough day.

2

I was curled up in the middle of the cell in the fetal position again. I had lost all track of time; I had absolutely no idea how long I had been in that cell. I couldn’t even remember when the cell stopped moving, when the heat returned to normal, when the water stopped. I felt like crap. I was sick and I wasn’t getting better.

My body had been overloaded. I wasn’t sure how much more that I could take. If I had a breaking point, I was close to it. I would keep going, though, as far as I could. I believed in myself, that was I fighting the good fight. I had to keep on fighting. I couldn’t fail.

Then I thought of Aphrodite, of Goddess. How did she get into this? How did they find her? Maybe I was being naïve, but she had been placed into protective custody by the FBI, by people that I trusted. I’m sure it wasn’t their fault that this happened, Gibson, or Rakal, or whatever he’s calling himself at this moment, he had his connections, his power. I’m sure if he needed to, Aphrodite would be his. She was, in fact.

I can’t think straight, not now when I’m remembering what happened or back then when it happened. It’s hard being alone, and that is what I am right now. I’m in a dark place, a place of nothingness, no emotion, no stimuli.

I wonder if everyone who dies has this happen, a period of time when they are able to reflect on their life in total solitude, to see every single mistake and failure, every victory and moments of bliss. Maybe I was different because my memory was absolute, I could recall-usually-every single detail about an event that I was witness to. Granted, I wasn’t a total master of my own abilities. I hardly remembered to use them. Hell, I never used by only natural ability, the effect of my mutation. I could travel backwards in time-and only backwards-whenever I wanted. It wasn’t accurate, that much was for sure and I only did it once. That whole process was more clinical than natural, hypnotic suggestions and instructions were implanted into my subconscious in order to successfully return to the optimum time to undertake my mission. I didn’t do any of the planning or training for that, it was all run in computers and by doctors that I never even met. Dr. Martin was the only one that I had contact with.

I’m sure that with a little bit of practice, I could do it. Hell, I even thought of it when I was infected with Triplicate. I could go back to the time just before I was infected and I could avoid that entire thing.

Then I thought about it more and realized that it wouldn’t work. I didn’t change when I went back in time. What I mean is that I didn’t revert to any previous condition. I got infected with Triplicate and I was stuck with it. I might have been able to go back and stop me from being infected, but I wasn’t sure exactly what would happen from that. No one knew.

"Don’t go back and interact with yourself," Dr. Martin told me. "No one can be sure what will happen if you do."

What he meant, I wasn’t sure of. Time Travel wasn’t a reality until I was born, and only then it was a freak mutation that caused it. I guess they tried to clone me, but the ability didn’t take. How they were able to determine that, I don’t know. Frankly, that stuff boggles my mind.

But I’m dead, so I might as well start thinking about it. I have all the time in eternity.

I have thought about the future when I go into the past. I will never know what will happen to my timeline, whether I succeeded or failed. They’ll never know, either, if something happened. If it did, everything would cease to be, at least everything that was. The new future would be instantaneous, I think, and no one would remember ever sending me back.

Maybe there will be a story somewhere about me, claiming to be from a future that is incomprehensible, and why I came back. Maybe they’ll read that eight thousand years in the future and know that they did it, even if they can’t remember it.

Maybe my being here right now dooms everyone. That thought has popped through my head on numerous occasions.

I’ll never know what happens in the future, what the true consequences of my traveling back are. I don’t really want to know, either.

Dr. Martin and I would sometimes talk time travel theory. We weren’t sure exactly what would happen, but we came up with some good ideas based on what we had already seen.

When it was determined what I was capable of doing, we did some field tests. I would go back a few hours, a day or so. That was difficult enough, and I had to be placed in a semi-trance to accomplish it. When I appeared in the past, though, I was the only one there. What I mean is that I was the only ME there. I never saw myself when I went back.

From that, Dr. Martin suggested that everything changes once I do my traveling, at least on the timeline that I was one. At that moment, when I arrive in the past, there is an instantaneous change in the entire universe. If there is another one of me there, it is replaced. Me, the time traveler, is the only one there at all. Everything starts anew from that point in time. But how is the future changed? Does it still exist? Does that timeline continue or is it blinked out of existence? Is it a parallel universe, or am I in a parallel universe?

Maybe that original timeline, the one that was alive and well before I took my first jump backwards, still continues on no matter what. If that happened, I guess no one will know if I succeeded or failed. Or maybe they would just think that I failed.

Perhaps, though, that timeline, the original one, is the only timeline possible, and it is molded by my events. Whatever I do alters everything and everyone forever. That is an enormous amount of responsibility on my part, and let me be perfectly honest, that responsibility weighs down on me. Maybe not anymore, since I’m dead.

One other thought is that whenever I jump back I create an entirely new timeline, totally independent of every other one after my arrival. For the most part, all of them have the same history. That is until I arrive and things start to change. Common history between the timelines ends-at least as far as my involvement is concerned-ends at the earliest moment that I had entered the past, that being about thirteen years ago or so.

I didn’t know, though, and I couldn’t be certain of any of them. The only truth that I had was where I was at any given point in time. I am confident that the universe shall unfold as it should, no matter what I do or when I go.

"Gabriel." It was that voice again, still nothing more than a whisper, but at least it was something that I could hear, that I could understand. "Gabriel."

I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t get my jaw to work the way it should, I couldn’t get my vocal chords to do what they needed. I tried to concentrate on the voice, but I was having trouble even doing that.

"Gabriel, it’s starting again." The voice ended abruptly, replaced by blinding lights. These lights began to flash, slowly at first but they were speeding up. My eyes were better, at least I could see a bit out of them. I couldn’t open them fully, though, these pulsating lights were too intense, they hurt too much. I closed my eyes, but that didn’t seem to help.

I wasn’t sure what they were trying to accomplish. I knew that I was being tortured, my body being thrown through intense sensory stimulation. Now, what were they trying to see, if I was epileptic? I could tell them that answer without this.

The lights when from being just white to all sorts of colors, every color I could think of. The lights were making me nauseous, dizzy. I didn’t think I had anything in my stomach to throw up, but I felt like I was soon going to find out.

Then something hit my arm. I could tell it was small, and I knew it hurt. It seemed to be cold. Another and then another hit me, all of them with the same amount of sting to them. One hit the back of my head and was lodged in my hair. I reached around and grabbed it, feeling it melt in my hand. Hail, I thought to myself. This is not good.

The bright colors continued their sick, sadistic dance as the small ice pellets began to hit me. First it was my arm, then my head, then my back, my legs. Soon, these small little ice pellets were hitting me all over. They weren’t doing too much damage to me; it was more an irritant than anything. All they did was sting, and then they began to itch. Soon, my whole body seemed to itch.

There was nothing I could do, though. I couldn’t scratch my entire body once, and when I did manage to find relief, more ice pellets came. I was itching all over. This was torture.

I tried to stand. I figured that if I found where the ice pellets were coming from, maybe I could prevent it. I was met by a much larger ice ball in the right shoulder blade. The impact was tremendous, sending me against the far wall. I was still in its sights, whatever those were, and was hit in the back again. If I didn’t know better, I could have sworn a couple of bones broke.

I fell to the floor of the cell again, landing on one of the ice balls. It was the size of a baseball. I couldn’t stay there, on the floor. I had to try something, I had to save myself. I stood, only to take an ice ball in the solar plexus. All the air left my lungs and I fell to the floor gasping for breath. I tried to get up again, pulling myself up using the only handhold that I was able to find. An ice ball shattered my wrist.

When I fell to the floor again, whomever it was that was shooting me with ice balls didn’t wait for me to get back up. One after another, all landing at different parts of my body, the ice balls impacted me. More and more of my body became bruised. I couldn’t fight it, so I just laid there and took it.

In high school, one of my teachers, and for the life of me, don’t ask who it was because I don’t remember, told me that adversity builds character. It’s how we deal with the pressures of life that defines us, molds us, creates our true self. Our true nature rises to the top when we need it the most. I hope that my teacher was wrong, because I was broken.

I stopped caring right around the time the ice ball crashed into my forehead, busting me wide open. My own blood ran into my eyes. The pain was excruciating. I just wanted it to end, all of it to end, I didn’t care how.

Every bone, every nerve, every muscle in my body hurt. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t see straight. I was tired, I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was done. I don’t know how long I put up with it, but it wasn’t long enough.

Finally, the ice pellets seemed to stop, but the damage had been done. I was done. "Gabriel," the voice said again. "You can’t."

I can’t what? What was this voice telling me?

"Live. Save me." It had to be Jenna. It just had to. If she was talking to me, that meant that I still had a chance. It was all I needed to keep going.

I heard a hissing start. I wondered what it was, but then I felt it. Water was being sprayed in a mist form, covering everything. Soon, I was soaked. That was god, because my body was in desperate need of water. I could feel a little strength return to me as I was able to take in some water.

The temperature, though, was dropping rapidly. It was getting cold, very cold. I could feel the water on my body starting to turn into ice, covering me with a light coating of ice. Soon, the mist turned into sleet, which was covering me even more. If this didn’t stop, I would be completely covered with ice soon, frozen. I didn’t know if I could survive that.

Well, I did. I survived it enough to know when the temperature was turned up in the cell and the ice was starting to melt. I was falling in and out of consciousness, unable to remain coherent at all. I was fading away, helpless at the whims of whoever was controlling this cell.

The heat began to rise higher and higher. They had done this to me before, sucking out all my strength. It was doing it again. This time, though, I couldn’t fight it. I just didn’t have anything left in me.

The cell turned into a sauna with the humidity and heat. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I closed my eyes, hoping that it would all stop, that it was all a dream, that I would wake up in my bed, where I was back in high school, before this started, before it all started. I just wanted it to be over.

I closed my eyes and passed out.

3

I awoke in a dark place and tied to a chair. I didn’t seem to be anywhere, though. My feet didn’t touch the floor, but yet my knees were bent as if they were. I looked around and couldn’t see anything at all, just black.

I thought I was dead. I wished I were dead.

"Oh, you aren’t dead, Gabriel, not yet." It was Jenna. She came up from behind me and slapped me in the back of the head.

"What the hell was that for?" I yelled at her.

"That’s for failing me, Gabriel."

"I haven’t failed yet."

"You were captured, you were tortured, and now look at you. You’re dead. You’re here in the afterlife with three of your biggest failures."
"I’m not dead," I responded, not quite believing that myself.

"Why can’t you believe that, Gabriel? Are you so invincible that you can’t be tortured to death? Are you so strong that you can’t lose? You are as vulnerable as anyone, as everyone."

"So why are you here?"

"Because your failure killed me, too."

"No, that’s not possible. I talked to you just a few days ago. You were safe. You seemed content."
"I haven’t been happy, let alone content, in eleven years, ever since I met you. You’ve been nothing but heartache and disappointment for me, Gabriel. I fell in love with you, and then you left me. You failed me then. Then you came back and killed my fiancé-"

"He was going to kill me."
"That doesn’t matter. He was my love, the first one that I loved since you destroyed my life, and what do you do? You kill him. YOU KILL HIM!" She slapped me. A part of me didn’t blame her.

"It was me or him."

"It seems that I made my choice, doesn’t it?"
"It appears so."

"Must I go on?"

"Enlighten me, Jenna."

"After you get done destroying my happiness, you destroy my career. That project was my life, and because of your selfishness, you destroyed that again."

"I had to do it."

"You could have died and saved everyone the heartache. Just think of the problems you’ve caused Aphrodite."

"Aphrodite?" That brought me back to when I saw her being brought into the facility. I tried to struggle against my bindings.

"Don’t bother, Gabriel. No one can get out of this. You are here with us for eternity."

"I can’t accept that."

"It doesn’t matter if you accept it. You honestly thought that you had a chance to pull all of this off, didn’t you? Your arrogance led you to believe that you were actually a hero, a person that could rise above and take charge, didn’t you? You thought that you could save us all, DIDN’T YOU?!"

"I had a mission."

"You had a choice, and your choices killed us all!"

"No, they didn’t. Not everyone dies."

"They do now, Gabriel." She slapped me again. If I’m dead, and this is where I am going to be for eternity, then I must be in hell.

"And what did you expect to find in the afterlife, Gabriel?" It was a new voice, it was Michelle. She was gone, she was taken from me, destroyed…but she was only a computer program, wasn’t she? She was a digital replica of herself. To my surprise, this digital replica had arms, legs, a torso, a head, and a pissed off look in her eyes. "Time has no meaning here, Gabriel. You failed, you doomed us all."

"No, that’s not possible. I couldn’t have killed everyone, I was trying to help!"

"We should have never trusted such a potentially devastating mission to such a weak person as yourself. Our mistake, reinforced by your utter failure, has doomed the human race." She was wearing a white dress that hung off her body and seemed to flow back and forth from some wind that I couldn’t tell was even there. She was pointing at me, the dress draping off her arm as that finger burned a hole through my chest. Her eyes were like fire, piercing my soul. But I couldn’t have failed, and she couldn’t be there. I didn’t know why, but I was sure of it.

"We are all dead because you failed!"

"I DID NOT FAIL! I was sent back to observe."

"Wrong! You were sent back to act."

"I acted when I could."
"You call those futile attempts actions? They’re more like circus performances. You are a one man three-ringer, a human blooper reel."

I struggled against my restraints to no avail. I wouldn’t be able to break free, but what would I do then? Would I attack the two women that had meant the most to me? Would I lash out of them for pointing out the obvious? I did fail, I didn’t get anything I needed to accomplished. I got the people closest to me dead. I was a failure.

My struggle against the restraints ended and I sank in my chair. "This is the reason why, too. Look at yourself, Gabriel. Look at what you’ve become." Michelle was circling me with hatred in her soul. Jenna was staring at me with disappointment in her eyes. I couldn’t bear to look at either of them. Michelle continued her verbal assault. "Now you are just feeling sorry for yourself. You’ve quit all your life, Gabriel. You’ve quit at precisely the wrong times. When you needed strength, you didn’t have it. You are a failure."

Jenna walked up to me and straddled me, sitting on my lap, looking at me. Her face moved close to mine, her lips just millimeters away from mine. I could smell her hair, it smelled like strawberries. Her arms were around my shoulders, her eyes locked on mine. He nose was rubbing oh so slightly against mine. Her lips parted and she licked her lips. She started to run her fingers through the back of my hair. "And to think I was falling in love with you again." She grabbed a hand full of my hair and pulled my head back violently. She started to hiss. "To think I could ever love something as pathetic as you." She had fangs and she was about to take a chunk out of my throat. Michelle, observing this from a distance, began to laugh.

"Consumed, literally, by the love you could never have. This is perfect." Jenna slowly leaned in to take out a chunk of my neck.

"STOP!" It was a third, it was Aphrodite. "What are you trying to do?"

"We are destroying the failure."

Aphrodite was wearing what could only be described as a toga. She had an olive wreath on her head, and she seemed to be glowing. She started walking towards the three of us.

"Get off of him, you monster," she said, "I claim his soul."

"You have no claim to his soul, Aphrodite. He has to pay for his failures."
"He has already paid for them more times than you can ever imagine. He will not suffer at your hands for things that are out of his control."

"We are dead because of him. He must pay the ultimate sacrifice."

"And what is the ultimate sacrifice? He can give his life, but there is another after that. He can give up his soul, but he will still be saved. Is the ultimate sacrifice a person’s life, a person’s soul? No, it isn’t."

"Then what is the ultimate sacrifice?"

"Not allowing oneself to love."

Michelle seemed disappointed. "That’s it? That’s the greatest sacrifice of all, denying your true feelings for the sake of something else." She turned to me and smiled. "He has gone his entire life denying himself that which he so greatly wants, someone to love. He left you, Jenna, because he had a mission, a mission that only he could carry out. He took your hopes, your expectations, and your burdens with him and he did his best. But you don’t see what the truth is. He’s already dead, he has been for some time. You can’t kill someone who is already dead." She stopped and turned away from me. I heard something and saw Aphrodite’s arms move, like she was pulling something out of her belt. Michelle started to smile. Aphrodite turned back towards me, this time holding a small silver dagger. "But we can try."

The three of them started walking towards me. This had to be a dream, it just had to. I fought against my restraints again, getting absolutely no headway. If I wasn’t dead, then there still was a chance, no matter what these people thought.

Luckily, I freed my right hand, ripping it through the ropes that tied it down. I quickly grabbed my left hand and ripped it out of the ropes that held it. I stood up and the three them stopped.

"Look, I don’t know who you are or where I am, but I am not dead, and I have not failed. I won’t fail! I’ll never give up until my last breath leaves my lips!"

I was dizzy, so I sat back down. I closed me eyes for a second and then reopened them. In front of me was a fifty-foot drop onto the floor of the facility.

4

Maybe I should reset the scene for everyone. I was in a cell, being hit with lots of different things, like heat, cold, ice, water, noise, things like that. I was to be overwhelmed, my senses taxed to the point of breaking, and I did break.

Then I passed out and had a dream about failure. I knew it was a dream because Michelle was there. If I had failed, she probably didn’t even exist. Why would she come back and complain about something that would never happen to her? Why would she remember a failure of mine if she did, in fact, exist in the first place? I could have understood Jenna or Aphrodite being upset in a situation like that, but my failure would-could-alter the future as much as any success I would have.

That being said, it was still disturbing to see Jenna try and eat my neck! That’s a different story, probably for a psychiatrist or someone like that, right? That has nothing to do with the situation that I found myself in right now.

I was strung up about fifty feet above the bottom of the cavern, directly above the cradle for the strange egg-shaped craft that had come in there. Below me, in a platform seemingly constructed over that cradle was Louis Gibson and the mystery man. Also on that platform was a table, and Aphrodite Sambonis was strapped down on it. Besides that table was a bunch of medical instruments, each designed to cut.

Me? Like I said, I was strung up. I looked round and saw that my wrists and my ankles were each clasped with chains. Each chain running from my four limbs were connected to a separate winch upon the topmost level. It appeared as if I was to be quartered.

I thought to myself that I probably looked terrible. I felt pretty bad, but that was getting better. I don’t know how long I was out, but it was long enough to get strapped in to this most amusing contraption as well as recover a bit. The good thing was that with each bit of strength I recovered, more was soon to come. I would recover soon, but would it be soon enough.

The cavern was deserted, except for a handful of technicians. They were removing the last of the equipment. The place had already been almost completely abandoned. They were gone, for the most part. I did, though, see some igniters in a bag near the feet of the mysterious man. I guess they were going to blow the place after all.

I had a clear shot. I wasn’t strong enough to break out of my chains, but I had enough moisture to hock one on Rakal, or Gibson, or whatever his name was. Man, I wish they would keep one name, it makes everything a bit easier.

My aim was perfect, right on the top of his head. He patted his head, then he looked up at me. He smiled.

"Good, you’re awake. We’ve been waiting patiently for you Gabriel. I was afraid that you wouldn’t wake up." He crossed his hands in front of his chest. "That’s pretty immature what you just did. I expect more from you."

"Expectations are a bitch to live up to sometimes," I said, my voice still very scratchy. My whole body ached when I talked. I didn’t want to see what I looked like, either. I was a mess, I could tell.

"Well, since you are a captive audience, I think that we should get the show on the road, don’t you think?" He picked up a scalpel and reached over to Aphrodite, who was unconscious.

"Don’t you lay a hand on her, Gibson. This is our fight."

He paused and looked up at me, he had a large smile on his face. He put the scalpel on the table and nodded towards me. "Very well, we will postpone that part of the show for the time being. I think that we need to have a talk as it is. If I kill her now, there would be no reason for you to talk." He looked down at Aphrodite and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "She is so lovely, too." He ran his fingers down to her neck. I could see that red mark that I noticed back in October. It was still there, much more pronounced. He turned his attention back to me and clasped his hands together. "I have such wonderful sites to show you this evening. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long, long time."

I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, nor was I anxious to figure any of it out. It would seem, though, that Gibson had every intention of asking his questions, putting on his show for me. I was a bit worried, to be honest. "So let’s get it over with, Gibson."

"Fine, let us get started. I think a little question and answer period would be in order before I tear you apart, body and soul."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Just start."

"What is your real name?" He looked at me like a cop would to someone who he knew was guilty. Whatever Gibson was looking for, I was sure that he was confident he would get it out of me. That alone made it easier to deal with him.
"What do you mean?"

"I doubt that Gabriel McGuire is a real name. I’m thinking that it’s a cover for a different identity altogether."

"Well, you are mistaken. Gabriel McGuire is the only name that I’ve ever known."

"Are you sure of that, Gabriel?"

"Yes, I am sure of that."

"Okay, I have so many questions to ask you, so I mustn’t get hung up on something so trivial."

"Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too."

"Next question: Where and when were you born?"

"The date and location that I remember is, well, to be honest, I don’t remember so good. Your cell did a number on me."

"I’m sure it did. You look like crap, did you know that?"

"I know how I feel, and I can’t possibly look worse than that."

"Maybe. Never mind. Since you don’t know when or where you were born, I guess I’ll go on to my next question. You know, though, you are being very unhelpful."

"I am only telling the truth."

"You better, because if you aren’t, your precious goddess goes to meet her god." I looked at Aphrodite, lying there helpless on the table, strapped down, unconscious. I wanted to help her, I desperately wanted to help her. The only way, it seemed, was to play this stupid game with Gibson. That meant I had to play.

"Fine, what’s your next question?"

"What is your relationship with Jenna Dimonte?" It was only a matter of time before she was brought back into this.

"You know what it is, Gibson."

"That’s Rakal, Gabriel. Please, in your own words, what is your relationship with her?"

"We went out in high school. We broke up and I saw her again last October." For the most part, that was true. "You know that much, don’t you?"

"Yes, I do indeed. I know all about what happened in October. I’m more concerned with what happened after October."

"What else do you want to know?"

"Did you ever love her?"

"You should know the answer to that question, too. If you know anything about me and Jenna, anything at all, you must know."

"Yes, yes. You are right, I do know the answer to that question. Here’s another for you. Do you still love her?"

I paused. I didn’t know how to answer that question. He was her fiancé, until I killed him. Or at least until I thought I killed him. "I care a great deal for her."
"Do you love her?"

"I don’t know."

"Fair enough. It’s hard just to fall back in love with someone after they try and kill you, isn’t it Gabriel? Look at us. Our relationship has hit a dead end, all because you tried to kill me. I’m getting past it, though, I’m working hard with numerous therapists." He started chuckling to himself. "Here’s a good question: Why were you snooping around Anderson Research three and a half years ago in Memphis?" His almost pleasant demeanor evaporated, replaced by something much more cold.

"I was looking for answers."

"What kind of answers?"

"Answers to questions."

"What kind of questions were they, Gabriel?"

"Oh, lots of different kinds of questions."

He picked up a knife from the tray and pointed towards the still Aphrodite. "The more you fool around with this, the more likely it is that she’ll die a slow and horrible death." He took a deep breath and turned all his attention towards me. "You have no idea what is happening, what chain of events have been started. Your refusal to cooperate will mean nothing in the end of it all." He couldn’t be more wrong.

"You want to know the reason why I was there in Memphis that night? You really want to know the truth?"

"I asked the question, didn’t I?"

"I was looking for meaning to my existence. The reason I am who I am was in Memphis that night. I asked the question ‘Why am I here?’ You know what the answer I got was?"

"Enlighten me."

"Here it is. The answer is that I am here to stop you. No, not stop you, defeat you, destroy you, end every single hope and dream that you have."

"Is that so?"

"I won’t let you create a race of super humans with Triplicate. I will fight you to the bitter end."

"Well, the bitter end is now, and you are chained up nice and tight." I was chained, and even though I was regaining strength with each passing second, I was still too weak to do anything about this. I couldn’t break free, I couldn’t save Aphrodite. All I could do was try and stall him long enough so I could gain back enough strength to break free. The numbers had been evened out tremendously, and it was almost a level playing field. I knew I could beat Gibson, I had done it before. If I could get a shot at him, I could do it. I could save Aphrodite. "I would never let you get a clean shot at me."

"I could take you down right now if I weren’t chained up. Why don’t you let me down and we’ll see."

"Are you mad? I would never let that happen. No, this is how it is going to end. But you still haven’t answered my question. Why were you in Memphis, why were you drawn to my research?"

"I knew it was the reason that I was on this Earth. I knew that it was the answer I sought."

"Hmm, I guess I’ll just never understand your motivation. I thought at first that it was Jenna, that you were so infatuated with her that you came looking for her. Oh yeah, did you know she was there with me that night, in the limousine? She didn’t see you, of course, but I don’t think that it would have mattered. She was a part of the program, she knew exactly what was going on and that nothing could disrupt our research." Was it true? Was she there with him then, or was he just saying that to get under my skin? It was working. Aphrodite was right, when it comes to Jenna, my head just isn’t right. "She knew the full potential of what we had discovered, the possibilities."

"You tried to kill me with it."

"True, I tried to kill you with it. I still don’t know why it didn’t succeed. That’s for a different time, I guess. This substance, Triplicate, it’s the most remarkable substance in existence. It can be anything you want it to be, anything at all. If you want it to be a narcotic, it will be the most effective narcotic ever. Hell, if you wanted a non-addictive narcotic, it could be that, too. It’s the universal joint of chemicals. If you need a cure for cancer, this is it, whatever cancer you have. Whatever your imagination can conceive, Triplicate can be molded to fit it."

"It can rewrite genetic material, can’t it." I knew the answer to that one first hand.

"Yes, it can do that as well. I am the man I am today because of its special gifts. And you are right; I have enhanced a few of my friends to help out my cause. My friend here," he pointed to the mysterious man, "he has benefited from its gifts."

"And those babies in Michigan?"

"They were an experiment, human beings conceived with and gestated to term by triplicate alone. We are still waiting to see the results of that experiment. I am confident that things will go very well with that one. I was personally involved with the construction of the Triplicate and the conception of the fetuses. They are all my children, my Triplicate children. But I digress. Why are you so interested in this? Why are you trying to fight what I’m doing? Surely it can’t be because you think it’s wrong, or immoral. I’ve known you to do some immoral things, like murder in cold blood."

"It’s what I’m supposed to do."

He stared at me for a few heartbeats. "Well, I guess dying here tonight is what you are supposed to do. Still, I just don’t understand why."

"You don’t have to understand it."

"Fine, fine, whatever. I guess we should get the show on the road." He reached back and slapped Aphrodite hard across the cheek.

"Stop it, you bastard. Leave her alone! She can’t hurt you." I was trying to get free, but the chains started pulling tighter, as if they were asking me not-so-politely to stop fussing. I did.

He looked up at me with a wry grin. "You really have no comprehension as to what is happening. I almost feel sorry for you and your ignorance."

I saw Aphrodite starting to move on the table. She was having trouble coming out of whatever she was under and she was terribly groggy. She looked up at me, and I smiled down at her. She started to cry. "I’m sorry," she mouthed to me.

"So am I," I said.

"Oh, how touching, two friends sharing a moment right before their deaths. I wonder, since the two of you were friends back in high school, if there was ever something between the two of you. I wonder if Jenna ever knew of your feelings for each other."

"You’re delusional," I told him, but he wasn’t listening.

"I wonder if she ever suspected that you were cheating on her in high school, Gabriel. Were you cheating on her with this tasty little dish here?"

"Shut up."

"It doesn’t really matter, does it? It’s not like you were married to Jenna. Hell, you left her anyway. An affair could be as good a reason as any."

"Go to hell."

"You first, Gabriel." He looked down at Aphrodite again. "You are a beautiful creature," he said softly, loud enough that I could hear, though. Maybe my hearing was returning to normal.

"When you tried to kill me, Gabriel, you actually did me a service. You forced me to look at my operation, how I was conducting my business, who I could trust, who I couldn’t. You forced me to make so many decisions, so many terrible decisions. It was your actions that forced me to go at it alone, to get rid of Anderson Research and Anderson Industries. It was you that forced those assassinations.

"But that was fine with me, loose ends only come back to bite you in the ass. I had been bitten once…never again. I consolidated my efforts, my business holdings, my production schedules. Surprisingly, it only took me about a month to make the plans needed to sever all ties with AR. I would take what I needed and destroy the rest. It worked, too.

"With those loose ends cut off, I looked at me and you. There was Jenna, there was the Sambonis’, and there were those two FBI agents, Whitaker and Trammell. I could take care of the Sambonis brothers without a problem."

"What?" I shouted.

"No!" Aphrodite was upset, but she seemed to be drugged and completely in a haze. She couldn’t do anything about it.

"Yes, that’s right. Your two brothers are dead. Soon, you will be joining them. Surprisingly, they didn’t put up a fight. I was a bit disappointed."

I couldn’t do anything except struggle against my chains. They tightened up on me.

"They died slowly, too. I bled them to death over a period of five hours, keeping them alive long enough to teach them the lesson that they never learned."

"No," Aphrodite whimpered. I needed to help her, but I couldn’t, not yet. It was killing me to see her like this.

"And they were screaming, crying, fussing like little children. They thought they had all the answers, that they were the bad boys in Detroit, the ruler of organized crime. They were pathetic excuses for common hoods. They had no business living." He looked up at me and winked. "Don’t’ feel bad, though, Gabriel. They died cursing your name. They both hated you more than you can ever know."

True, our relationships had recently soured. It wasn’t me who forced them to work for Anderson Research. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can’t be responsible for everyone. Nor did I want to.

"I was going to bring their heads here to show you that I am not serious, but I decided against it. I figured that was way over the top. Rest assured, they are dead." Aphrodite closed her eyes, but I kept mine open.

Gibson nodded towards the mysterious man who made his way off the platform and over to the stairs. He climbed up the three levels to the main door. When he was in position, he nodded to Gibson, who nodded back. "Now it’s time to see the gift I brought you, Gabriel." He snapped his fingers and the door opened. I couldn’t see it, but in y heart, I knew what was going on. I heard footsteps from at least three more people, and when they were in my view, my fears were confirmed. There was Jenna being drug into the chamber, down the stairs, by a pair of Sweeps. The mysterious man walked behind them, making sure that she arrived safely.

My head sank when I saw her. She didn’t look at me, but I could tell that they had roughed her up. Her normally perfect skin was covered with bruises, her left eye was swollen shut. Her clothes were ripped as well. She seemed to have put up a fight, but in the end, it didn’t matter too much.

"She remained loyal to you until the end, Gabriel. You should take some solace in that. You broke the spell that I had over her, the spell of love. And I truly loved her, make no mistake about that. I loved her from the first moment that I laid eyes upon her."

The table was big enough, so they put her next to Aphrodite. The Sweeps methodically tied her down to the table. She looked up at me and I started to cry. I didn’t want this to happen to any of them, especially her. Now, the two women that I cared for the most were tied up on a table below me, awaiting their execution, while I was trapped like an animal in a cage. My strength was returning, but I still couldn’t do anything against the chains.

I think what was helping me was the moisture in the air. My body could absorb water in from skin contact or directly from the air itself. The air was filled with molecules as well, my body could use them, recombine them, and they redistribute them throughout my body, restoring damage that had occurred. Sometimes, it was a long process, like it was now. My whole system had been immensely disturbed, taking this long to recover-recovering at all-was a miracle.

Whatever it was, it didn’t really matter. If I didn’t get out of this somehow, and do it soon, bad things were going to happen. Really bad things. I just couldn’t stand by and watch them die. I just couldn’t do it.

Jenna was tied down. The two Sweeps took up positions near the stairs. The mysterious man was standing on one side of the table, next to Aphrodite, Gibson was standing next to Jenna.

Jenna looked so sad. She tried to look at me a few times, but she couldn’t hold my eyes. I didn’t want this to happen, I didn’t want any of this. I couldn’t let them die.

Louis Gibson looked up at me, then down at his two captives. "I think it’s time for the festivities to begin. First and foremost, I want to do a little bit of a recap of what’s been going on. Granted, I won’t tell you everything, Gabriel, because that would be just plain stupid. I’ve seen enough movies to know that is a bad idea. I think that you have a right to understand just how complex this situation is.

"To begin, I should say that I know just about everything there is to know about you, Gabriel. You see, Jenna here was very forthcoming as far as her interrogation was concerned. After a bit of persuasion, she told me all about that chat that you and her had back in Michigan a couple of weeks ago, when you spilled the beans to her." I closed my eyes. It makes sense now. He knew that I was powerful, that I had abilities. It’s the only way. He was able to devise a plan to counteract them. That’s how he was able to capture me.

But another thought flashed in my head, one telling me that it didn’t make sense. The timing was wrong, all wrong.

"Even though she believed it, Gabriel, I am not sure that I believe it. I mean, come on, who is going to believe that you are a time traveler from eight thousand years in the future? You look way too human for that, even if you claim you are a human. She told us everything, especially about your little computers that you have in your cells. I don’t believe that one, either. I believe in a lot of things, Gabriel, but what you’ve told her, well, that’s a different story.

"I started to think that she may be right, though, when the trap I set for you worked like a charm. If she was right, the electrical prods would overwhelm you but not kill you. They sure as hell did that, didn’t they? You looked pretty overwhelmed to me. But hell, I could have withstood that punishment. Anyone could have, if they had the right preparation.

"She also told me the story you told her. What a yarn! The Earth is decimated, humanity is forced to leave and relocate on a distant planet, and then all of a sudden you’re born with an ability to travel backwards in time. The smart guys of your time suggest sending you back to see if you can stop the expulsion from Earth and here you are. That’s a hell of a story, Gabriel. I think I read that one before, though, in some cheesy 1950’s science fiction pulp novel.

"How can you honestly think that any intelligent being can accept a story like that? Especially when you threw in your ability to absorb and reform items? That, my friend, is not exactly what I would consider reality.

"The trouble was, I was starting to think that there may be something to that. I remember when we had our little to do back in Warren. I remember watching your face heal before my eyes. I remember thinking that it couldn’t happen, not like that. But what Jenna told me about you made me think that it might be true. It was an easy answer, and who would make up something like that?

"Then reality hit me again. I knew who you were. You had to be one of the originals, just like me. You had to be one of the first Triplicate children. Not all of the original fifteen are accounted for. It was the only explanation that made sense, that was real enough. Of the fifteen originals, there are only five surviving. I am one of them. My friend here is another. I know of the whereabouts of two others. That leaves one unaccounted for.

"The ten that died all suffered extreme side effects. In essence, they all went psychotic. Most of the ten killed themselves. Some of them had to be killed. One of the crazies got away, though. And not, I’m looking at him.

"I did a blood test to prove it, too. Sure, I looked for those little itsy-bitsy computers in your cells, but they weren’t there. I did my genetic tests and sure enough, I saw the effect that was common to all the Triplicate children. You’re delusional, Gabriel. You’re insane. Triplicate was the cause. You didn’t grow to be like I am, like my friend here. You came out bad, and now I have to put you down." How can that be? Maybe it was just the effect of what Triplicate did to me when he infected me. I knew he wouldn’t find the micro-computers. They never leave my body. If any of my cells leave my body, unless I specifically instruct them too, the micro-computers revert to cell material. They are undetectable.

How could he think I was one of the original Triplicate children? I don’t understand it fully, but it doesn’t matter. Maybe my cover wasn’t blown after all.

"Jenna did tell me about the rose. What a touching story that was. I don’t necessarily believe it, but what the hell? If you can do that, more power to you. If you are from the future, sent back to stop me, then, well, I’m honored. It’s nice to garner attention. It’s not like you’re going to win, and you know it.

"So, anyway, even though Jenna is a firm believer in your story, I still have my doubts. You’re clever, though, I’ll give you that. Twice we’ve thought you to be dead, and twice you’ve proven to be a pain in the ass. Third time’s a charm, so they say.

"But where was I? Oh yes, loose ends. See, Aphrodite is a loose end, but she’s here. So I consider this one officially tied up. Jenna is a loose end, probably the most potentially dangerous loose end of them all. Yet again, here she is. She’s tied up, too. Then, there were Aphrodite’s brothers. They are dead, so I am pretty confident that I can consider them tied up as well.

"In case you are wondering, Gabriel, they are indeed dead. I killed them myself." He walked a bit around the table. "Who else is there? Oh yes, the FBI agents. Unfortunately, Thomas Whitaker met his demise while he was trying to guard Aphrodite. He didn't put up a particularly strong fight. I was disappointed with that, I figured that a federal employee would be better than that." He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well. He did manage to get off a warning to that other agent, Trammell or whatever her name is. We couldn't get to her. No one would believe her story, though, that's for sure. Don't worry, we'll find her and get her."

"Is there anyone else that I've missed? You've always kept to yourself, fought you fight as a sole warrior, doomed to failure. Now, everyone that you entrusted with your fool crusade are dead or close to death. Your ultimate failure, Gabriel, is to them. You took their lives from them, used them to your own end, and couldn't even protect them when they needed it most. You are pathetic." He walked over to Aphrodite and touched the strange diamond-shaped mark on her neck. "Do you even know what this is, girl?" He looked up at me. "Do you have any clue, Gabriel? Do you know what this mark means?"

I didn't say anything. I tried to fight, but I wasn't making any ground on the chains. They weren't pulling as hard, though. That was a good sign.

"I didn't think so. This mark, it's as much a part of this whole thing as Triplicate is. It's a pity that you'll never know the truth about it, Gabriel."

Something popped into my head. I heard the conversation between Gibson and the others. They mentioned something, a group of people the others referred to as failures. Could this mark identify them? Could everyone with the mark be failures? It was a card I had to play. "They are the failures, aren't they?"

Gibson looked at me, shocked at first but more seemingly amused. "So you know of them, do you? I'm surprised you haven't tried to find them, enlist them in your crusade. You and they are fighting for the same thing…survival. Don't worry, the Hunters will find them all and destroy them. You'll be destroyed, too. That's one more thing you'll have in common."

"You won't be able to find them all. The cells are too well hidden." Key words are essential to the art of convincing someone you know more than you actually do. Drop one here and there and they'll be eating out of your hand. Louis Gibson would be no different than anyone else.

"The Hunters are more than capable enough to find them. It is what they were born to do, so I anticipate that they will be more than adequate for the task. Besides, I have my own people on the lookout as well." He looked back at Aphrodite. "The question is, little one, were you initiated into a cell? And if so, where are your friends."

"She didn't give away any information, Rakal. I don't think she knows anything about the Failures." Finally, the mysterious man contributed something to the conversation.

"You're probably right. We've had our eyes on her ever since we went into business with her brothers. I'm sure we would have spotted something unusual." He patted her lightly on her cheek. "Too bad, too. It would look very good for me to eliminate a cell by myself." He returned to his position next to Jenna and returned his gaze at me. "So, now it's back to the entertainment this evening. You see before you two of the last three remaining allies of yours. Since you are the guest of honor at tonight's party, you get to make the ultimate choice. You get to choose who dies and who lives."

"What?"

Gibson laughed. "Don't you get it? One will die, one will live. The choice is up to you. Oh yes, and you can't choose yourself, you're going to die no matter what."

"You sick bastard!"

"That's not polite, Gabriel. Come on, hurry up and choose. I have a plane to catch. Choose which one lives and which one dies."

Great.