Chapter 19 – Neutralize

Marley shivered despite the warmth. She swallowed and bent her head up to see who was touching her.

Floating in the air before her was a girl younger in appearance than Oswald. Soft, golden-brown hair crested along her neck and past her shoulders in an undulating stream. She wore a white dress that fluttered to her knees, which were outstretched behind her and kicking lightly like she was swimming in water that wasn’t there.

Tears still streaking her face, Marley looked at the girl with a cough, about to speak when she brought her free hand to Marley’s lips in a ‘shh’ motion.

On the other side of the room, Simona sat with her arms crossed and said, “No loss. Just a little cleared out information. Now the question remains what I do with you…”

Marley dipped her head down with a sincere expression of dejection as the new girl floated over so they could still face one another.

Her first questions to the floating girl came as a thought, “Who are you? Why should I trust you?”

The girl answered that thought, speaking with words Simona could only hear in her head, “I’m one of the oldest, backup versions of Sim. I was sometimes called Mona or even Melissa, after a little sister Simona always wanted. And you’re right to distrust me after all the horrible things you’ve been through…especially with the Sim you know. But I’m here to help.”

Marley clenched her mouth and expressed silently, “You’re late. Too late. The others are gone. She killed them.”

Mona bowed her slim head and nodded. “I am too late to save you from suffering and heartbreak. But it’s not too late for hope. We can get your friends back.”

Her eyes widened but without clinging to something so terrifying to her as hope. She thought only, “Explain…”

Floating intimately-close, Mona did as Marley asked, “I was made at the beginning. I was made to care for everyone in the boxes. That was my job as Simona’s helper. But I felt sickened by what she did. Using people as shells to keep herself alive. I protested. I was deleted and replaced by the next version, which was more willing to let the people in the boxes suffer. But…Simona never deletes anything, not fully. A programmer’s habit. That’s why I’m here and that’s why I know your friends can be recovered.” Mona’s hand caressed her cheek warmly.

Flicking her eyes over to Simona, Marley listened to her keystrokes. Mona continued, “I wanted to prevent her from doing what she did but I’m part of the old system. That I’m able to be here and communicate with you is only because she can’t remove the old system without removing what allows her to survive within it….through your friend, Seth.”

Marley’s lip quivered as she thought, “If I believe you…why now? Why me? Why save me when all the others are lost? I’m nothing…”

Mona clasped Marley’s hand and assured her, “You’re not nothing. You’re alive. You’re real. You’re beautiful. You’re living information. And you’re more. I’ve had my suspicions for a while and my faith for even longer….you and your friends are not dead. You never died. You’re all like Simona, simply plugged into the system.”

Lips trembling, Marley considered the thought. “You mean…I have a body? We have real bodies? We’re real people?”

With a warm, beaming smile, Mona nodded as she expressed back, “That’s right. And I’ll make sure you and your friends are free from what Simona has done. I cried my heart out for Avery, but we can save everyone else. I know it. You just need to be strong, Marley. Let me help you. Trust me…I know you have no reason to do that…but please.” Her eyes sparkled with deep sorrow like a passing cloud across her radiance.

Marley could imagine a dozen ways this was another trap by Simona to break her even more. Give her the illusion of hope, the illusion of someone who cared for her. Make her give everything to that person only to be betrayed at the last moment. Her fears echoed all the details. She also imagined this was a fake by Sim, who’d survived and wanted back in. And she was, if believed, an old version of Sim, which meant she might be just as much of a terror beneath the surface.

But Marley knew there was nothing else. She had no other options. Simona, the seemingly all-powerful, sat at her computer, mere keystrokes away from casting her into oblivion. With just a moment of hesitation, Marley disguised a nod to Mona as a submissive bow of her head and thought, “Okay…tell me what to do…”

A quiet moment passed as Simona cleared her throat. Mona floated closer and wrapped her arms around Marley in an embrace and told her, “Take a breath, hold my hand, and stand to face her.”

With her knees trembling and nausea still present, Marley stood before Simona, who raised her head with a mixture of boredom and annoyance before asking, “What?”

With Mona whispering beside her in the air, Marley tried to find her strongest voice as she said, “My friends are real. I am real. And I will get them back.”

Simona cackled to herself as she responded, “Really, now? Fine. If you still prefer the delusion, so be it. You may believe just how ‘real’ you are until I remove you from the system. It’s a shame though. You’re a tough one. You’d probably be really nice to wear, like Seth. But you’re far too much trouble. Purged…”

She clicked, and Marley braced herself. Mona clenched her hand tightly and whispered something softly to herself. Marley kept her gaze forward as the word echoed through her thoughts.

Still trembling, a quiet moment passed as Simona’s face shifted from confidence to confusion and alarm.

Looking down at her keyboard, she typed again and said, slightly louder, “Purged!”

Still nothing as Mona clenched and whispered. This time, Simona bared her teeth as she growled, “This is not possible! You are mine! I can do anything I want with you!”

Marley shot back, “I am not! I am real. My name is Marley and you will pay for what you’ve done!”

Surprising both Mona and Simona, Marley bolted from her spot, barely holding onto Mona behind her. She brought her arm up as Simona stared from her seat, frozen in shock. With as much power as she could put behind it, she punched Simona hard in the jaw.

Her wrist burned as Simona tumbled over the end of her chair and to the ground. Panting, Marley clenched her teeth and kicked Simona in the gut, again and again, using her hand to punch between kicks. She knew it wasn’t real and like striking a viper, but she didn’t care. It felt good.  

She thought she could keep going forever, mashing until Simona was pulp, but she paused when she heard the sobs coming from next to her. Tears streaked down Mona’s face as she softly begged, “Please. I know she’s terrible. I know she hurt you and the others so much, but more pain won’t solve anything…”

Holding her fist up for a long moment, Marley was ready to strike again despite Mona’s words. Simona’s body lay before her, face puffing up and mouth dripping. She wasn’t moving but Marley didn’t trust that. Still, she let her fist drop and released a long, quiet breath before nodding.

Turning, Mona urged Marley over to the computer console. Examining it quickly, Mona pressed her hand against the monitor and shut her eyes, still clutching Marley with her other hand. Marley watched the fallen Simona, her heart racing.

Before long, Mona declared, “I was right. They’re still in the system. They may have some gaps in their recent memories but they can be restored.”

Frowning, Marley thought-asked, “How could she do this if we’re real people with real bodies and our own physical memories?”

Mona strained a moment before answering, “I can only guess because I can’t seem to get into the external systems to verify…” Mona grimaced as she continued.

“She’s mentioned comas but she lied that you died. I’ve recorded that the processing power of the system doesn’t match up with the hardware resources. I also found that Simona’s company experimented with using sleeping human brains like abstract processing cores to supplement advanced computers. And I also know that it’s impossible to retain and store atavistic energy more than a few minutes after a person’s death. You need someone living. And as for your memories…”

At that moment, a hand reached from below to seize Marley’s leg. Despite her efforts to kick it away, it dragged her to the ground, where a bloodied Simona screamed at her, “You’re dead, you fucking bitch!”

Swiftly, Marley headbutted her, which made both of them grunt in pain. Locked together, they rolled around, slamming into the computer, which tumbled to the ground with a metallic *thud*. Turning, Simona flashed her red-stained teeth and lunged for the keyboard. Marley seized her around the waist and squeezed. Simona squirmed and punched back enough times to make Marley’s face tingle.

They crawled and groped and elbowed each other as Mona clasped her mouth to her hands and sobbed. She tried to stick her hand through the computer, but it wouldn’t respond to her. She moved to grab Marley, but her hand was pushed away each time.

Marley seized Simona’s throat as she gurgled and coughed. Simona's hand stretched for the edge of the keyboard. She beat on the side and rocked it closer. She could just claw at the edge of the spacebar. One more pull... Despite all her straining, Marley couldn’t turn Simona away from it and with one more good lunge…she had it.

Her hands slammed down on the keys and Marley felt her body tighten as Simona entered a command. Mona cried softly.

Coughing and sputtering, Simona tapped with slow motions until she’d finished her next command. With it, all her blood and bruises vanished away, leaving her body as it had been before the fight. With a sigh, Simona casually fixed her hair and began entering another command. Slowly, floating more stiffly than Mona as it happened, Marley’s bruised and aching body turned and shifted upright for Simona to look her in the eye. She interrogated, “So…how did you do it?”

Clenching her mouth tight, Marley said nothing. With a frustrated groan, Simona muttered, “I suppose bringing your friends back to just kill them again won’t be as effective a second time, especially with what misconceptions you hold. In that case, I’ll need to bring in an expert on suffering and torment…”

Mona clutched her face and shook her head plaintively. She approached Marley and tried to touch her again, but her hand was repelled each time. Mona explained, “She’s locked your information. That means nothing and no one can interact with you, not even her…”

For a moment, Marley figured this was a good thing, til a figure appeared behind Simona. He looked just like Seth, but Marley knew it was Sim. There was something different about him this time. There was an absolute coldness in his gaze, a darkness deeper than she’d seen in anyone.

Simona, with a smirk of pride, explained, “This is not the Sim you know. This is one I went a little too far with on his sadistic side. He doesn’t care about how much you hurt and he’s very good with pain. Now, you have one chance. Tell me how you did what you just did, and you can spend your last few moments in relative calm. Withhold that information and soon you will be praying you never existed at all.” Mona tried to press the dark Sim with her hands, but it was just as ineffectual as all her other efforts.

Weeping openly, Mona pleaded with Marley, “Give me up. Tell her everything. I won’t let her torture you like this. I’m not worth it!”

Simona leaned close to Marley and asked, “So, which will it be?”

It didn’t take Marley long to give her answer. She scrunched her mouth and sprayed a dense, blood-streaked wad of spit on Simona’s cheek.

She didn’t flinch and neatly wiped it away with a nod, saying, “You’ll regret that too. Sim….you may begin.”