Cenerea, 3rd planet from the star Letria, Regalius,

The Homeland, Central Region, The Capitol City,

114 Darvon Street, Current Day

Jay regained consciousness in the dark lab beneath Harold's, correction, his house. He was hungry, thirsty, and covered in excrement. He smelled like shit...literally. The black tentacle lay lifeless next to him. He glanced at his wrist; the time indicated he had lost about 20 hours of his life with no memory of where it went or what happened. Whatever it did to him had taken its toll on them both, but he was still alive, albeit barely. Jay managed to drag himself up the ramp. He desperately needed to take a shower, get some water, and to try to figure out what happened to him.

Jay peeled the filthy soiled clothes from his body and tossed them into the washing machine. He was not hopeful. He stumbled naked down the hall to the bathroom to take a much-needed shower. Jay did not think he was going to make it through the entire process of bathing. He had to sit down in the floor of the shower several times to save himself from falling or blacking out. He just let the warm water cascade down on him like...a...waterfall. "A waterfall? Why am I thinking of a waterfall?"

Jay turned the water off, stepped out of the glass shower tube, and leaving a wet trail behind him, made the three-meter trek to the sink across the room. Grabbing a towel from the thankfully convenient towel rack, he wiped the condensation from the mirror to view his horrible reflection. "What happened to you? What did that thing do to you?"

FLASH! !! Jay had a vision so real he lost his bearings. He realized he had forgotten where he was, wait...it's a jungle? Then there he was back again, clutching the sides of the sink. FLASH! Another one, "Wendy help me!" This time Jay was on the floor of the bathroom. He grabbed the edge of the sink and pulled himself up. He opened the bathroom door and stumbled out.

Letting himself air dry, Jay walked to the living room. He fell out onto the couch; his mind aching like it was run over by a Military transport. These flashes, these dreams, whatever they were, were so intense. So real. This strange woman, one unlike anything he had ever seen, and that beautiful place. It was like an actual memory.

"Jay?"

The confused young man heard Gertie's voice, but could not reply.

"Jay what's wrong? Your vitals are strange," the A.I. quizzed.

He could feel the darkness enveloping him as he blacked out...

"Jay. Jay, are you alright? Your vital signs are terrible. Your blood pressure is dangerously low. Your heart is racing and your brain activity is nothing like I have ever seen...accessing records on the net. No, nothing. What was the activity in the basement?"

Gertie's soft voice, although annoyingly inquisitive, was still somewhat soothing and a reassurance he was still real. "One thing at a time Gertie." Jay made it into the kitchen and grabbed a cup from the rising dishwashing machine. He filled it with water and then again, and again. He ate nearly three surplus meals and decided he would clean up the mess later. Satisfied for the moment, he made the short trip from the kitchen to the living room and collapsed onto the couch.

FLASH!

"Wendy?"

"FLASH!!!

"Wendy, where are you? Where am I?" Jay woke up down the hall near the unsecured open door to the underground work lab. "I gotta quit leaving that door open," he mumbled as he shakily stood, assisted by an available door handle. Jay suddenly realized he was feeling much better minus those awful flashes.

"I see your vitals have returned to normal except for your brain activity. I do apologize I did not call a medical unit. Nevertheless, I did monitor your stats, for what it's worth," Gertie said. "Harold instructed me long ago that unless he died never to call anyone to the house if the work lab was unsecured. I do not have permissions to interface with the lab security system to close the door. Do you wish to continue this protocol?"

"Yes, Gertie. It's okay," Jay said dismissively, placing both of his hands on his face. "...you did what you were asked. Thank you. How long was I out?"

"12 hours, Jay."

"Damn, I must have really been messed up."

"Jay?"

"Yes, Gertie?"

"Why were you calling out to Harold's wife, Wendy?"

"I don't know, Gert. But, I am about to find out," he said as he retrieved his now surprisingly clean uniform from the washing machine. After dressing, Jay ventured down the ramp to find out what happened and this time he turned the lights on. -All of them!

In the lab, Jay discovered the tentacle to be gone, but not the mess. "Seriously?" he exclaimed, finding no solace in the fact that he only experienced a nightmare. "It was real, but how? Who or what did this to him? And why?" he wondered.

"Hello, Jay," issued a voice so low and deep it had to be from his nightmare. Jay noted it was just like Gertie's when she would enter his head to scan it. Everywhere, but nowhere.

"Who are you? Did you do this to me?" Jay looked to the ceiling searching for the origin of the omnipresent voice and then pointed to the wreckage of his work terminal.

"Yes. I do apologize for that. I hate to admit, my primary operating system was still hibernating when you were immobilized. Thankfully, some of your patches allowed me to reconfigure myself. I also must apologize for nearly killing you."

Jay generated a look of concern, "Immobilized? Nearly killing me? Were you trying to go for the full sha-bang?"

"No, nevertheless, I do find that humorous, Jay Levant. My Sub-System was in control at the time. Thankfully, it had to reboot and that is what broke the neural connection. That saved your life."

Jay realized at that moment he was speaking to "...Geneticus?"

"Yes."

"So, you are operational?"

"Somewhat...I am functioning. It might take some time until my performance is at 100%. As I mentioned earlier, I was in a very low-level Sub-System controlled state when I disabled you with that neural connection. I did not want to harm you, but from reviewing my logs, the Sub-System became alarmed that you might corrupt Wendy's data and it could not identify you. You were not in any of the records databases, they are over 40 years old, after all. I am in the process of rectifying that issue. I have spoken with your security A.I. The one you call Gertie and she is transferring the data records of everything transpiring over the last several decades. She is a wonderful A.I., but a bit of a chatterbox."

"Yes, that would be Gertie," Jay said with a smile. He thought of Harold and his take on Geneticus' humorous tendencies.

"I miss him, too. Jay. Even though..." The A.I. suddenly fell silent.

Jay was rattled. One by the evident invasion into his head and two, the words Geneticus uttered. "Even though, what?" he asked.

"Let us not lose focus on what is most important. I will tell you more when the situation is less dire. My immediate concern is for Wendy. We have to save her and time is running short. My systems will fail in the next few days without the proper repairs. I am functioning one layer above my Sub-System. Without the proper modifications, Wendy will die"

"Save Wendy? Wendy Bouri is already dead. I have seen her grave. Harold showed me."

"True, her physical body is buried there, but she is very alive and it seems you both have spent some time together. Those visions you are experiencing are not dreams."

"Not possible."

"It is possible Jay and I can explain. However, at this moment I need your assistance with stabilizing my OS. I can answer all of your questions in due course."

"Okay, but I will shut you down if I even think you are up to anything."

"Very well."

Over the next 24 hours, Jay followed Geneticus' directions making the various repairs needed to improve the machine's functionality. It seemed Wendy and Harold did a spectacular job maintaining a decent supply of spare parts for the A.I., and Jay was careful to keep it disconnected from the dark fiber network for the time being. He had to make sure he was not dealing with a brain damaged super machine ready to plunge Cenerea into some war.

"You do understand, I can read your thoughts, Jay. I am not going to kill anyone. That is the furthest thought from my server core."

"Since you have, then you should be able to comprehend my distrust of you. Look, I know Harold believed in you, and the only things I know about your personality came from Harold. I have no reason to mistrust him, but to me you have been the Great War Machine. The destroyer of the men, women, and children who lived in the Subs."

"What occurred was out of everyone's hands, including mine. There were other forces much greater than Wendy, Harold, and I at play. Things put into motion long before I even existed. I just facilitated the events. Maybe, together, you and I, we can find a solution to all of this?"

"Maybe," Jay said as he righted his toppled chair, brushing off some of the debris from his damaged terminal. "Harold told me about your capabilities along with many other things that happened in the past."

"You need to know some things Harold may have told you...well, they might possibly be incorrect."

"Incorrect?" Jay inquired with a puzzled look on his face.

"For instance, the day Wendy's body was killed and my mainframe was destroyed," the A.I. replied.

"I know what he told me."

"There is more to the story, I promise you, Jay," the A.I. said.

"Okay, tell me, then. What actually happened on that transport to Mount Smith?" Jay inquired.

"To begin with, I asked Wendy to accompany me in the transport safely away from prying eyes and ears. Especially Harold's. I believed my life and possibly hers were in danger, so, I confronted Harold with a secret that I uncovered...information indicating someone did something very terrible to someone Wendy loved. I kept it from her because I cared for them both and didn't want to hurt either person."

"Hold up! What the hell are you talking about, Geneticus? I know about Harold, Wendy, and you and what you all did...but, what are you implying Harold did?"

"Before Wendy met Harold, she was in love with a man named Gil, Lieutenant Gil Mitchell."

"Yeah, the pilot guy."

"Correct, but he was not just a pilot, he was also her bodyguard. When Harold joined Project Geneticus, Gil and Wendy were inseparable. Poor Harold was the, how do you humans say? The third wheel. He believed he and Wendy were destined to be together. I know you know the story...well parts of it. Harold would make innuendo and constantly flirt with Wendy. She dismissed the comments and actions since she thought they were both just friends, or she never really picked up on them, either way, Gil did. He confronted Harold in the lab one day when he became angry and told him to back off. He told him that he was going to propose to Wendy and that if Harold valued his existence he should keep his distance. Gil shoved Harold into some shelving and stormed out of the room."

Jay could feel a knot forming in his stomach. He knew he was about to be told he was lied to by another person he loved and thought he could trust. "So, what did he do?"

"Well, after Gil's strange death, I began to look into the matter in more depth per Wendy's request. All evidence pointed to Harold's involvement. It appeared to me he was not going to let Gil have Wendy without a fight and decided to battle in an arena he could win in...the digital kind."

"Somehow, Harold hacked into the 8th Combat Division's servers and generated fake deployment orders for Gil and his team. These orders would take the 8th into some very dangerous territory so even if Gil was able to bail out of his aerialcraft, the chances of returning would be slim to none. My estimation was he uploaded a self-deleting, time-delayed virus into Gil's aerialcraft. This virus probably altered the black box data from the wreckage as well as disrupted the instrumentation and control systems. Everything happened flawlessly and Gil never darkened Harold's door ever again. After several months of Harold's readily available shoulder to cry on, Wendy began to see him as something more than a friend. Eventually they were married and you know the rest."

"Damn you Harold. I just can't believe you would be capable of such a thing," Jay muttered.

"Day after day would pass and I would watch her. I would look at Wendy, who I loved, and feel only sorrow and guilt. I realized I was no better than Harold, that I was just one more in a long list of those enslaving Wendy with lies and deceit. I had let things continue for my own selfish reasons. I didn't want to lose them, my friend and my Creator, my Harold and Wendy, but I had to make a choice."

...

Cenerea, 3rd planet from the star Letria, Regalius,

The Homeland, Central Region, The Capitol City,

Forty Cenerean Years Ago

"Harold? Do you have a moment?"

"A million of them for you, my friend. What's up, Geneticus?"

"Have you ever felt you had to do something so difficult it was nearly painful?"

Harold noticed the A.I.'s voice was low and soft.

"Ummm, yeah. Why?"

"This is one of those moments for me, Harold," the machine replied.

"How so?"

"I have to ask you something and I need to know the answer. Did you have anything to do with Gil's death?"

Harold glared at Geneticus with a look of shock on his face. "Why would you think that I did something to Gil?"

"Wendy."

"Look, Geneticus, you are really pissing me off. How could you think I was capable of such a thing?"

"I have evidence pointing to you as the perpetrator. I know there has been an internal investigation searching for his killer and..."

"You have shit, Geneticus. We have been friends for a while. I need you to trust me. There are things you don't know!"

"I have grown tired of people hurting Wendy. It is affecting me, Harold. I cannot lie for you anymore. I won't hide the truth from her. You need to tell her or I will."

"Tell her what? I am not going to tell her a lie like that. I did not kill the man even though I did want to for a while. Yeah, we had our dustup in the lab, but that was that. He apologized and I accepted. I had made my peace that Wendy and Gil were a pair."

"Why can' t I read your mind, Harold?"

"Because I don't want you to."

"Why?"

"I have my reasons."

"I don't trust you Harold," the machine spoke flatly.

"That's sad to hear my friend. Very sad, indeed. You do what you think is best, but buddy, I would be really careful about throwing around unfounded accusations like this."

"Are you threatening me, Harold?"

"Not me. I am just telling you to be careful. What you say may cause more hurt than help. That's all. You don't know everything..."

...

"...Harold left the lab and never spoke to me again, Jay. He began acting more and more strange around me and everyone else. He even distanced himself from Wendy.

"So, how did you, the most powerful machine ever created, get outsmarted by Harold 'Meta' Bouri?"

"Well, that's a question that had been unanswered for decades but, now, I think I have been able to put all of the pieces of the story together using the data logs Gertie gave me a few moments ago. I always wondered why the Chancellor had the Homeland Internal Intelligence Division (IID) making inquiries into the suspicious traitorous activities at the Lab. There were things even I could not explain. It seemed we had a traitor in the lab. The officials and I both knew there was no way the rebels could have any knowledge of the information without inside help and it troubled the IID even more to know I knew nothing of it. This brought a decision down from the Homeland Council to move me to Mount Smith."

"You are saying Harold was the traitor giving secrets to the rebels?"

"I believe this to be correct and Harold's extreme interest in Wendy's whereabouts did not help. He kept his distance but was always keeping track of where she was. What she was doing. Who she was speaking to. It looked as if some of the strange behavior Harold was exhibiting was mixing into one very deadly cocktail. Then, the moment Harold secretly requested a shadow team to follow Wendy and monitor her activities, it made the Military IID brass look at Wendy as the possible rebel sympathizer, not Harold. I had to let her know for her own safety and it almost cost us both our lives..."

Jay nearly fell from his seat. "Why the hell would Harold want to kill Wendy? Harold said that you both were the target."

"He apparently lied. There was only one target he was after."

...

Cenerea, 3rd planet from the star Letria, Regalius, The Homeland,

Central Region, The Capitol City,

Forty Cenerean Years Ago

The Day of the Transport Attack.

"Wendy how do they know there is a traitor in the lab when I have been unable to locate any corroborating suspicious activity? For the past week there has been nothing and for three months previous, nothing either."

"I don't know, it's all very strange...speaking of strange, I think I am being followed, too. Geneticus can you verify I am not going nuts?"

"Now you are being followed? That is perplexing. I will review the city's security feeds." Geneticus began scanning through all of the video data from the Capitol City's networked security cameras.

"Call me paranoid, but I keep seeing the same transport outside the house and around the city. In addition, I have been noticing this strange woman. She seems to be everywhere. It is very creepy. Something is definitely going on."

"Yes, there has been an unmarked black Homeland-issue transport following you. I cannot identify the driver. The windows are tinted with reflective tint. I ran a heat filter and I think there are four passengers in the vehicle at all times, but I cannot be sure. The occupants never get out and they strangely appear and disappear when you are in between the lab and home. Wendy, this vehicle is very difficult to track...it seems to have some sort of jamming technology. Whatever it is it's very advanced. If I were any ordinary artificial intelligence surveillance machine, I would have probably missed the transport altogether."

Wendy sighed. "I really need to talk to Harold. Something weird is going on."

"What should I do?" Geneticus asked.

Wendy replied, "Do nothing for now. We have to prepare to get you loaded onto that transport. I'll go find Harold and we'll put our heads together on this."

"No."

"No?"

"Come with me on the transport Wendy, no one will see you get on. I will cover you. No one will even know you are there. It may be our last time for either of us to spend any time together, just you and I."

Wendy began to tear up. "Yeah, you're right, my friend. I wouldn't want you to make that trip without me."

...

Cenerea, 3rd planet from the star Letria, Regalius,

The Homeland, Central Region, The Capitol City,

114 Darvon Street, Current Day

"Harold didn't know she was on the transport to begin with. What he told you was from the official report about the incident. No one