The Day I Fooled Death – Part 7

He did not have much hopes about his own security. His foremost thought, was that he would have to find out about Kathleen. Was she here? And if she was, was she considered dead? All kind of half baked scenarios were coming to his mind, to try to resolve this conflict. He was lost in this jumble of ideas, when a discreet knock was heard at the door. Richard’s mind did not acknowledge this until the knock was repeated. He said quietly: “Come in.”

The door opened slowly, just enough for a head covered in a mop of tangled sandy blond hair to appear in the opening. A shy voice asked: “I hope that I am not disturbing you, Mr. Thanatos asked me to help you with anything that you need.”

“Please, do come in. I have a lot of questions, that needs answers.”

With this the door opened further and a mousy looking young woman walked into the room. She carefully closed the door behind herself, and seated herself uncomfortably on a straight back chair. With a bashful smile she asked him: “What can I do to help you?”

Feeling a bit more confident than usual, in face of the shyness of his interlocutor, Richard asked: “First, you can tel me your name.”

“It is Sonya.”

“Good, this is a first step. Do you know what will happen to me?”

“I do not have any idea, but I am sure that the research committee will make the best decision for all involved.”

“That doesn’t sound too reassuring, but it will have to do for now. Do you know if my friend, Kathleen McNamara, is here?” Richard mentally crossed his fingers awaiting the answer.

“Yes, she is currently in debriefing, prior to her assignment to deprogramming.”

A surge of relief entered into Richard’s heart. “Does that mean that she was…, his one of the test subjects?” The relief was of short duration.

“She was one of the test subject. She did not survive the transfer from earth.”

“But you said that she was in debriefing, how could this be so if she is dead?”

“There is no such thing as dead around here, when one of the test subject returns here, after completing their larval phase, they are automatically debriefed prior to their return to earth to start a new cycle. I don’t think that they can survive the transfer.”

Richard leaned forward from his couch. “Can I meet her? I would like to talk to her again.”

Sonya smiled, it lit up her face. “I don’t thing it is permissible, but I will try to arrange it. I have some friends in the debriefing staff.”

She quickly stood up, having lost some of her shyness. She walked to a large armoire, standing against the back wall of the room, and opened its doors. In it stood a computer terminal. She turned back to Richard.

“I think that you are familiar with this. We use technology that is compatible with your period so that the subjects coming through here are not disoriented too much. You can log in with this name and password.” She handed Richard a piece of paper.

“You will be able to find a lot of answers to your questions, in here. I will now try to arrange a meeting with your friend. I will see you later.”

She quietly left the room before Richard had the time to thank her. He dragged a chair in front of the terminal, and booted it. He logged in the system and was surprised that they were using a standard operating system, and some commercial applications from earth. He quickly found his way through the system and delved into the history of this project.

Richard was awed by the scope of the operation, they had roughly two hundredth of one percent of the earth’s population as subjects, about one million souls. Of these, at any time, about ninety percent were on earth. Leaving around one hundred thousand people being processed for debriefing and deprogramming. During this period lasting from six months to a year, these people “lived” in the continuum bubble. At any time, a population the size of a small town was resident.

Richard was so engrossed by his findings, that he did not hear the door open. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He looked at the owner, and tears of joy welled in his eyes. Kathleen was standing beside him. They looked at each other for a long time. No words needed to be exchanged to explain their common feelings. After what seem to be an eternity, they fell into each others arms and kissed with a passion that brought comfort to their soul. None of the shyness that normally controlled their behavior remained. They knew that they mutually desired each others, and finally acknowledged it.

After a long time they reluctantly separated. Through the joy of their meeting, Richard could discern some pain in her eyes. He brought her to the couch and they both sat down with their arms around each other. Richard brushed an errand strand of hair from her face. “Lets talk about it…”

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From 7/2006: The Day I Fooled Death

The Sass