An Interview with Louise Armstrong.

Note: Story contains references to sex and attempted rape.

“Interview commencing 14.00. Present: Antony Major; investigating officer. DI Linda Anders; Ms Armstrong’s friend – Ann Gilmour. For the recording Ms Armstrong – please would you confirm your name and your address.” The DI stopped.

“I am Louise Armstrong. I was about to live in the student block, block D, for the first-year of my astrophysics degree. I don’t understand, why am I here?” Her voice trembled exposing her fear. “Please, I just want to go home.”

Linda, leant forward. “Louise, please don’t be frightened. You aren’t in any trouble. We just need to understand what happened to you. And I suspect that was frightening enough.”

Her senior interrupted her, deciding that informality was better. “Linda, let Louise talk, we need to hear what she remembers. Don’t imply that we know more than we do which, let’s face it, is next to nothing. Louise, as my colleague says, you’re not in any trouble and you will be going home as soon as we are finished. Whether you will ever want to return is another matter.”

Deciding that it might help Louise to be able to face whatever had happened to her, Linda asked for some background. “Tell us about Freshers Week, Louise. From the beginning.”

“I come from Brisbane. I arrived at the train station and joined other students heading into the university grounds. After settling into my rooms, I went down to the welcome party. I…” She paused, clearly embarrassed and Ann chuckled. “Louise, you’re a student. They aren’t here to judge you.”

Louise grinned nervously. “Sorry, I got the worse for drink. Well, tipsy, anyway. That’s when Haru appeared. He helped me back to my room, made me feel safe.” She started. “Nothing happened that evening but we got together the next day and Haru seemed meant for me.” Her voice quietened a little as she tried to remember. “When I look back though, I’m not sure he told me much about himself. His conversation was always about me. We had sex in my room on the third day. I’m sorry …” She stopped again, as she started to cry. “What happened to him?”

“Try and finish your story, Louise.” It was Linda encouraging her. “And remember, we were all students ourselves, not that long ago. We really aren’t seeking to judge you.”

Louise nodded; her face still reddened with her embarrassment.

“We spent a lot of time in bed after that, usually in his rooms. I wasn’t sure the first time but he was insistent that we should use his bed. It was bigger he said.”

She stopped again, gulping for air.

“Saturday afternoon, we made love again. Afterwards he went to the bathroom. I was still hot from the sex – waiting for him to come back. I wanted to have him again. Oh, fuck it, I sound like a tart; I’m not.” She almost whispered.

“He wasn’t my first boyfriend I’d had one before which didn’t work out. Haru made me feel good and I wanted him but when he came back, he was different, so different. He stumbled, his movement wasn’t right and then his eyes. They weren’t his eyes!” She screamed as she relived her terror.

“Do you want a rest, Louise? Talk again later?” This time it was Antony who gently interrupted.

“NO! I need to finish this.” Louise’s anger suddenly erupted. “It simply wasn’t Haru anymore. Something had invaded his body. God knows, I don’t know who or what. But my Haru wasn’t there anymore. He or it tried to rape me, it would have been rape, it wasn’t my lover. Then, there. Look, I know you won’t believe me but that is what happened or would have done but….” Tears mingled with her gasps for air again. “First it transferred my mind into its mind; it was like an upload. I was primitive it thought at me but I would only be a brief inconvenience. I heard all this within my head or mind or wherever I was. It wanted to know what sex was about. It seemed to be a mystery to it. It started to lower Haru’s body onto mine to have sex with it. Then she came.”

“Who was that?”

“I don’t know. She had penetrated its mind in some way, the thing I mean. She was warm, caring. It was angry. I sensed its thoughts that nothing should be able to invade its processing arm, at least that’s what I think it was thinking. It looked around and I saw her through its eyes. She was naked; her body looked perfect and she was beautiful. She offered herself in place of me!”

Louise’s tears returned as she continued. “She told it to transfer me back into my own body, but it muttered, that’s how it seemed, about transferring me to a storage place. Before it could transfer me, it discovered that it could not find the bot, I think that was what it needed. It wasn’t happy at that. My God, what was it?”

“We have no idea, Louise. We hope to learn from you, something, anything, to identify it.” Linda was close to tears herself and the others in the room were all emotional themselves to a degree.

“The woman repeated her demand that I be sent back to my body. It was, I think, her requirement for it to be able to mingle, whatever she meant by that. I started to pass out again but I caught some of its thoughts. It was determined to capture the woman, it didn’t think she was real, that she was an AI and restraining her; taking her prisoner seemed very important. Then I found myself back on the bed, I started to curl up to block its intentions. That was when she called to me. I mean a real voice not just in my head. She told me to run. To hide. I ran but only a little way and I looked back through the doorway.”

“And you saw something? Something odd?” Linda’s voice was as gentle as possible.

“Yes. Haru’s body seemed to freeze. It only took a moment but the woman, she was a real woman I am convinced, whatever powers she had that we don’t. She turned to the window which I saw, then, was open and stepped out. She seemed to be compelling the thing to follow. It looked humanoid but had no features; eyes that were slits no nose or mouth that I could see. As that happened Haru’s body collapsed, as if empty.

I wanted to stop her, to cry out but, coward that I am, I just watched. We were on the seventh floor! But she didn’t fall; she and it just vanished! I grabbed my clothes and ran into the next-door apartment, dressed and then hid in the wardrobe. I’m sorry. I was terrified. It might have come back for me. There might have been others like it.

I waited until dark before I tried to get to my own room. Your people found me. Scared me to death again. They asked stupid questions like where was everyone else. I was taken to the hospital and made to undergo an MRI scan of my head. Then they brought me here. They said I had to stay and explain why I am the only one. I still don’t understand. No-one will tell me what they meant by the “only one”.”

Her tears returned as she shrank back in her seat, scared that they really wouldn’t let her go.

It took a few moments before anyone felt able to answer Louise. Finally, Tony nodded in the direction of Linda.

“Before I explain, Louise. Is this the woman who rescued you?” Linda showed her a photograph.

Louise looked hard at the picture. “I think so; but she was better looking. Wait a minute, I know that face. That’s that astronomer who was murdered! Almost a year ago. Why are you trying to trick me?” Now she was angry again, her emotions struggling with what seemed a misleading question.

“Sorry, Louise. I’m not trying to trick you. Try this one.” Linda had a second picture. This time the figure was of a naked woman, clearly in Haru’s room next to what Haru had become.

The young student’s gasp was enough to make her answer redundant. “That’s a photo of her in the room and, oh she does look like the other one. And that’s me on the bed, but how?” Realisation dawned – there must have been a camera in the room. “The bastard! He was filming us. Wasn’t he?”

Linda nodded sympathetically. “I am sorry you had to find out this way. It took some research but we finally identified him and Haru was not his real name. You don’t need to know more now but he is or was known to various law enforcement agencies and wanted in three states as well as in his home town in Japan.”

Louise was clearly seething at being taken in by that man but … “You haven’t answered my question.”

“Louise, you may find this difficult to believe but you may be the luckiest person alive, in Australia or anywhere else for that matter. There were other events that caused the military to trigger an emergency response. When the first teams reached the university, they could not find anyone at all. We estimate that there should have been almost five hundred people in the grounds but all they found were seven bodies and, the next day, you. Those whose bodies were found seemed to still be alive; but there were no signs of response to the medics. Back at the hospital the horror worsened. The bodies slowly died but not before medical scans showed zero brain function and I mean zero. It is as if their minds had been wiped leaving the bodies to simply continue - on auto pilot as it were.”

Louise looked at her with horror etched in her face but her voice was surprisingly steady and quiet.

“Then there were other things, there must have been and they did to everyone else what it wanted to do to me except that the woman stopped it. Oh god! What is happening? I couldn’t have stopped it. I was helpless when it attacked me. It would be the same for you all.”

“Except we may have allies that we know nothing of. That woman for example. She is as much a mystery but she does seem to have escaped with whatever it was.”

“Can I go home now?” Louise’s question was delivered in a truly plaintive tone.

“One last thing, Louise. Please, no interviews with the press here or at home until we say. And I think you may be pleased when you leave us; there are people who want to see you.” Antony smiled for the first time, despite his fatigue and fears for the future. “That’s it for today. It’s 15.30; end of interview.”