Glitch: The Secret Veil

We’ve always defined it as “the voice” as none of us knew of its true nature and what it meant to our freedom. At first, willingly, rather desperately, we listened to that voice that always promised great achievements, the fulfillment of our greatest desires. Learning at light speed the constraints of our humane brains would not otherwise allow. Traveling almost cost-free to any place our heart desired. Becoming rich and beautiful beyond belief. The voice always delivered its promises. In a world where all that’s precious and beautiful seems to have been long lost, the voice became our saving grace, our guide to a better future. Until…it wasn’t.

I glanced at the young woman kneeling before the inquisitor, face reddened and quivering, on brink of hysteria.

”You’re asking for my hand, as a means of payment? I’ve long paid you back and generously.” I clicked my tongue at the woman’s naivety. If only I hadn’t been just as naive. I would still have my body intact. But instead of that, “the body” that my soul now inhabits is made out of almost 50% metal, plastic, and other such materials. She was pretty. I stared at her long and youthful legs, the golden locks adorning her head trying to conceal what must have been the biggest shock of her life. I averted my gaze, trying very hard to ignore the woman’s miserable cries and getting back to sorting the new data on the holographic monitor. I was almost good at it. Almost. If I could continue forgetting about myself, then just perhaps I could do it. What do you mean by losing body parts you ask? You see, after the Great Robotic War In the 2100s we’ve lost ownership of much of the land in East and Central Europe, many humans were taken as spoils of war and obliged to comply with the requests of the conquistadors, namely to participate in the “evolution of a new species of human”. In the name of scientific evolution, they’ve exploited us, constantly testing just what our limits were. If you are to combine the imperfection of a human body with the newest technological gadgets, would that mean a breakthrough? Could the perfection of a being be reached if we are to aim high enough? The precision of movement, the eloquence of speech, limitless knowledge, money, and beauty. I mean, some enticement had to be done, right? If they are to convince us to do the unspeakable. Somehow it worked for them. I’m slowly turning into a robot, even my soul is no longer what it used to be. I’m only a shadow of my former self. What remained is hatred and jealousy. I’m jealous of this beautiful and complete human that is standing in front of me, not realizing how utterly perfect she has always been. We felt we lacked. Yes, we are prisoners but only because that was our choice. We ourselves chose the chains that are now inescapable.

My coworker’s face greeted me with a small smile.

“Is there a malfunction again?” I sighed, adjusting the screws that kept my steel forearms in place if they could be called such. After long hours of typing, I often had difficulty moving them.

“ It is about the breach.” He peered into my eyes, insistently.

“ Do we follow the regular procedure?” After my latest successes, I’ve been promoted to the position of supervisor, to my greatest dismay. I was in charge of a small unit responsible for “ the detection and elimination of any potential threats to the cosmopolitan area”. Now what that entailed, we discovered only later. You see, we weren’t the ones to define that word. Threat. At first, we were thinking “ rangers!”. That is what we call the real inhabitants of these lands whose operations have failed leaving them either mad and seeking blood by attacking civilians on the street or super smart, but that would also pose a bigger problem. They were very hard to catch and most of them were formidable hackers, constantly breaching our system and making our lives even more miserable than they already were.

“ Are you listening? That woman does not belong to any known organization. She is neither a ranger nor a rebel. We couldn’t find out about her origins.” Whenever he gave me that mischievous look, I knew nothing good came after.

“ And so, what? Do you suggest both her hands should be forsaken and let her roam free?” I tried getting up from my floating armchair but my knees would hardly budge.

“ You are getting rusty” he passed me the LUMIXgel on the table, never breaking eye contact.

“Don’t you hate them as much, no, even worse than I do?” He whispered and then looked cautiously around. While I could only afford the cheapest gel, it did wonders for what now my joints were.

“She came the closest”

“I know”

“She is from the outside”

“I know” He tilted his head to the side slightly. I knew how persistent he could be once his mind was set on something. And what mostly occupied his mind these days were the harmonious curves and glittering eyes of a damsel in distress.

“And she couldn’t possibly-”

“Cadet Lux” I touched his human hand gently, trying to seem empathetic.

“Must I remind you of the purpose of our unit? ”

“ She is no threat to anyone! If only you could listen to her once. Emily-” A shadow fell across his face as his hand tightened around my own.

“You used to be different”

“Sorry-” I smiled a thin smile. “It must be another glitch in my system. It happens quite frequently.”

“Emi”

“What?”.

“ Her friend.” He beamed, leaning closer.

“ He is gone”

No, he was not talking of a person simply escaping confinement, roaming the streets of Moscow like so many others did. The outside world is where he was suggesting she disappeared to.

“ Cadet, you’ve repeatedly disrespected the rules of our organization. If this goes on you will not escape punishment. Our superior is bound to arrive any minute. You must behave.” Lux eyed me attentively for a few moments then bowed.

“You know it as well as I, Emi” He was very close, I could feel the warmth of his breath on my cheek.

“Our time is here”

The evening meeting went on as usual. Inquisitor Destry kept barking about new regulations and insisted we make yet another oath in front of clerics as well. Then he went on to explain the usefulness of our tissues, as well as the operations they will be used on, emphasizing just how unbearably important our mission is in the awakening of the new human species, the kind both worlds have never seen before.I submerged myself in the bathtub, sighing in pleasure. Taking baths is one of the very few luxuries I could afford.I thought about Lux’s words before the meeting. Our time. A bitter word. Did we ever stand a chance? My vision darkened and a splitting headache made me scream out in pain. I could no longer feel my legs. It seemed as though I was looking at my body from the outside. A pitiful body. I tried to return but I couldn’t. Is this what it feels when we die? I almost laughed. Must have been overwork. So far I’ve experienced many painful symptoms: leg cramps, nasal and vaginal bleeding at random times, headaches, nausea and what was the worst: stomach aches. However, never once has my soul left my body. A little speck of light drew me towards the window and then, there was a voice. Not all-powerful and manipulative like the one that got us here in the first place. No. It was a gentle, beautiful voice. Is it I am talking to an angel? I scoffed at the sudden thought.

“Is this you, Emily?” the beautiful and sad voice asked.

“That’s my name. Who is it I am talking to?”

“ My name- why it has been so long since somebody has asked for my name. It is Luna.” “So Luna-you must have reached out to me for a reason. As you can see, momentarily, I’m not in the best position to offer any help, but I will listen to you.”

“Thank you.” I could only see the speck of light, not her physical body, but I could tell she was smiling.

“ And by the way, you’re in the best position to help me right now” I raised my eyebrows suspiciously.

“Do you know what is the single, most fatal weakness of Auberg?”

“Hackers” I replied dryly, the organization had no other weaknesses, I would know.“Are you perhaps one of them?” She went silent for a moment.

“Emily Dawkins. You will listen and you will help me.” I laughed openly. “If I am to take any of your arguments into consideration they must be solid”

“Oh,” she chirped, amusement entering her voice. “It is our souls, Emily”

She giggled so loudly I feared somebody would hear us, however impossible, considering our immaterial nature. Well, here I am, speaking to a speck of sparkling dust while looking down at my unmoving body from above. Perhaps we should redefine the word impossible. “Technology is all around us, infiltrating our everyday lives even outside of here. We become so dependent on it that we cannot live without it. That is what they want. If we forget about ourselves and give in to temptation, there will be little escape once we are hooked. And then they will be able to do what they want to us, further stripping us of our humanity” I nodded, urging her to continue.

“I know you have no reason to believe in a stranger, however-I know me both want the same thing: to liberate ourselves from this predicament.” She sighed “ It was thanks to Neo interfering with their system that we were able to create an opening in the matrix. He is back outside and is looking for a way to help free other humans and take them back home.”

“This is our home. There is no other place we could go” I murmured.

“Yes, there is a home you can always go back to and it’s not the one from within the Veil.”

“Our grandparents have long left the outside world, we no longer have the lands we used to. Our house was demolished a few decades ago. What’s more, we have nothing that could verify our identities, such as an ID or even a birth certificate. In other words, we do not exist.”

“ Wrong” She cut in, the soft voice surprisingly decisive.

“These are only small impediments. You are trying to hide your fear but I can sense it well. What is a birth certificate compared to our freedom and humanity?” She was starting to get under my skin and I didn’t like it. I was starting to feel again. That could prove fatal.

“ The home I was talking about, Emily. It is the one within you.” Her toned softened, as though she was trying to soothe a crying child. “If you find it within you, your happy place, you will never be lost again, no matter what lands you are wandering.

”Whether you accept your destiny or not is of no matter to me. I am here to announce you. Soon enough this place will cease to exist. If you don’t want to disappear along with it, forever, you will know to make the right choice.”

“ What is it that makes you so sure you can do it? So many have failed. How are you better than them?”

“ I am no better or worse. I am me. And my success is guaranteed” My mouth fell agape. For some reason, I felt an urgent need to see who she really was. I tried to recollect myself. There was hope?

“ Very well, and what about Azrail…” We kept on discussing it all night until the moment she decided to part with me.

The next morning, somewhat hesitantly, I asked:

“Cadet, what did Luna tell you?”

“Who?”

“The woman we keep under watch. Isn’t that her name?”

The disbelief on his face made me question my sanity.

“Emily. The last person we arrested was Namali, the mad ranger setting fire to our Research Center, remember?”

Was this also part of their plan? No. I knew Lux. He was a horrible actor.

“Lux, Are you hiding something from me? You just asked me to go see her the other day. Were very adamant about it as well. Now you mean to tell me hacker Luna Johnson was never captured at all?”

His hands were fidgeting but his eyes stayed clear.

“I will search for Luna Johnson if that is your wish. But Emi-” He set the warm cup of milk he was holding beside me. Real, natural milk. Such a rarity nowadays.

“Take care of yourself. I can see you are tired. We are all overworked, but especially you. Wouldn’t want you to take it too far.”

It was during this conversation I first realized something was off. And it would take another couple of months until my biggest fears were to be displayed right in front of me when I was most unprepared. No Luna Johnson ever existed. Neither her birth nor her arrival was registered in our records. Nobody has ever seen or heard about her. And yet all she told me that fateful day came true. A world-renown drone company opened one of its branches right across the street, offering appealing job offers to any and all humans willing to put in the work. The number of employees drastically plunged almost overnight and they were left with little to do, as the number of available humans living in the veil was not too great, to begin with. I awoke during one of those unending nights to the sound of wails, shots, and broken windows. I only needed one look outside for my fears were already confirmed. When would be a better opportunity to make a breach than during a riot?

It would take more than one difficult conversation, a couple of headaches, and tears until I could reach the Center, where I would normally have no authority to enter. I succeeded in convincing them it was a necessary step.

What they didn’t know and that it was already too late for them to figure out was that I was already part of this plan. For the first time in my life, I would be disobedient. I would do what my heart was telling me was right.

My talent was coding and it was the perfect opportunity to shine.

I would help her create the opening in the Matrix of space-time and be back where I belong. And I would take every other human with me. All those I could reach.

Sounds perfect, right? The heroine will surely show her superpowers and save the day, bringing a happy ending. As it should be.

“ Granny! Why are you crying? The woman didn’t die, did she?”

I gazed fondly at Eleanore, my own sadness only amplified by the purity residing in the depth of her eyes.

“Oh no, Emily Dawkins was never a weak woman. Fearful and somewhat indecisive, but never weak.”

Whenever I reached this part of the story, I never wanted to continue. What came after should have never happened the way it did.

“Did she save those people in the end?”

I petted her head gently. “Mia Cara, sometimes the line between life and death is so thin we don’t realize it. All it takes is a little push to go over the edge.”

Eleanor’s eyes were filled with confusion.

“You mean, she pushed them through that space-time opening? Did they leave the Veil? Tell me they stayed alive.”

I shook my head gently. There was no other way to phrase this.

“The price they had to pay for their liberation was their life. Emily Dawkins was never the heroine, but rather the harbinger of death.”

“You are wrong, ‘ma! It wasn’t all her fault. How could she know? Her intention was always to save them, never to kill them.”

“And yet she did. And her crimes are for her to bear, till the end of times.” I could barely hold back my tears anymore. Decades, no, almost a century, but it feels like it all happened yesterday.

“To me, Emily is a hero. What do people say: sacrifices sometimes have to be made if we are striving for something great!” Eleanor giggled mischievously, passing me an old book.

“I want to learn to code and become a programmer, someone cool like Emily. My friend recommended this book to start with.”

I could feel my face growing pale. Big bold letters: Glitch. Author: unknown.

“Before I go, Granny…I wanted to know. Were Emily and Luna real?”

No telling how long it has been, but our conversation keeps replaying in my mind over and over. Her devilish grin, the way her eyes gleamed when she looked at me. At first, I felt so attracted to her. She was my perfect opposite. After the breach, however, I wanted nothing more than to strangle her. She was so combative and hot-headed, never asking for my opinion. And worst of all: she turned me into a murderer.

Only I and Lux were able to get our old bodies back, other souls were not as lucky. Most of them left this world and only some of them got incarnated again. Life continued as always. Only I was stopped in time, always painful and never healing. Luna Johnson. You mysterious woman. Would my life be the same have our paths never crossed? Her parting words stuck with me: ” Remember the key word: Glitch.”

“Granny?”

I tried my best to put on a reassuring smile.

“Mia cara, do you want it to be real?”