A Question of One - Six Being the Answer
Number
2, a man of medium height, slight of build, with black hair, and a hawk-like
nose, sat in his black spherical chair drinking Darjeeling tea. He had his feet
up on the desk and looked a picture of relaxation, as he watched the scene of
the central Piazza on the wall screen. Citizens were promenading round the pool
and fountain, the Admiral and his Flag officer sailing their battleships in the
‘
The over-sized red curved telephone began
to bleep disturbing Number 2’s peaceful elevenses. Placing the cup and saucer
on his desk he picked up the phone.
“Number Two………….yes sir….. he can
be difficult..... well he is different
from the others I grant you, he is most capable, ingenious, resilient, strong
both mentally and physically which has been proved by his continued resistance
and defiance of The Village……. yes there have been times when Number Six has
been useful to us….. I understand sir………… But help us in what way?..........sir
if I may protest, he is far too valuable”…….. Number 2 continued to listen to
the almost maniacal voice of Number 1 who informed him of the current crisis
developing. Apparently Number 6 was the only person, the only individual, who can
help bring such a crisis to a satisfactory conclusion. That is why Number 6 is
so valuable, why he has been selected, able to face any element of danger, to
survive by his wits, to defeat the opposition against all odds!
“Sir if it has to be, then it has to be”
said Number 2 with regret in his voice “………yes sir I realize there is no room
for failure……… but surely to bring order out of chaos, then perhaps Number
Six
is not the man. Perhaps if I could advise you………. yes sir I understand that I
am not indispensable.” With the telephone call terminated Number 2 replaced the
telephone upon his desk and reluctantly picked up the blue ‘L’ shaped telephone
and put a call through to the Control Room.
“Supervisor” said Number 56, a tall young
man with light brown hair, dressed in a plain blazer picked up the grey ‘L’
shaped telephone.
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“Number Six is to be taken over to the
island and incorporated into the Time reflux experiment ” Number 2 instructed.
“Number Six!” exclaimed the Supervisor in
startled surprise “when?”
“Tonight” ordered the voice of Number 2.
“Things must be desperate! Mind if I
check?” asked the Supervisor sternly.
“It’s not your place to check!” barked the voice of Number 2 “tonight,
Time Reflux, initiate immediately. Have a medical team standing by to prep
Number Six, and the powerboat to take him over to the island.”
“I hate to see him go” offered the Supervisor.
“If he gets it right, you will see him back
here, and sooner than you might may think” Number 2 replied.
“Just as long as he doesn’t arrive back here
before he goes!” said the Supervisor quietly to himself.
“What was that?” asked Number 2.
“Nothing” said the Supervisor.
“You have your orders, see that they are carried out!” Number 2 ordered, who was also sad to see Number 6 go, and yet he had his instructions!
In the cottage of ‘6 Private’ Number 6 was in the bathroom preparing to retire for the night. The housemaid emerged from the kitchen carrying a cup of hot chocolate which she took into the bedroom and placed on the bedside table. Emerging from the bathroom Number 6 met with the housemaid, and they bid each other goodnight. Sitting on the edge of the bed he picked up the brown cup and saucer and drank the hot chocolate, and replaced the cup and saucer upon the bedside table. He removed his blue dressing gown, and climbed into bed for a restful night’s sleep. The drug in his chocolate night cap took almost immediate effect so that he slipped quietly into oblivion within moments of his head hitting the pillow. A few minutes later the door to ‘6 Private’ opened, three men in white coats entered and went straight through to the bedroom. A tall gaunt doctor wearing thick black rimmed spectacles, carrying a black Gladstone bag checked the cup making sure its contents had been drunk and then checked the patient while the two orderlies prepared the stretcher. From his medical bag the doctor produced a scalpel, pair of forceps and two clear plastic containers, each holding a small electronic implant. The doctor handed these to a medical orderly, then leaned over the subject scalpel at the ready, and making the first of two incisions in the subject’s lower left arm. Two electronic implants were inserted, and the two incisions dabbed with a sterilising fluid and cotton wool, then three paper stitches to hold each incision closed. While the doctor cleaned up, two orderlies dressed the still slumbering Number 6 in his grey piped blazer, burgundy turtle neck jersey, beige trousers and deck shoes. The subject was then placed onto the stretcher, covered in a blanket, and carried out of the cottage, and placed into the Red Cross trailer of a waiting ambulance at the rear of the cottage.
Number 2 turned off the wall screen and paced
the floor of his office, the oversized curved red telephone began to bleep he
picked it up.
“Number Two……….yes sir Number Six has been
prepared for the experiment……. The subject is being taken to the Island now. If
I may say sir I have read the report of the latest attempt in the Professor’s
experiment. It resulted in several blown circuits and an electrical fire, and
that was before full power could be achieved. The subject died in the attempt
which was probably just as well. I just think we are taking a terrible risk
with Number Six, if the Professor gets it wrong again……yes sir I realize the importance
of the experiment.”
The phone call was terminated. Number 2 pressed
a button on the control panel of his desk, and instantly the scene on the wall
screen changed to that of the large laboratory within the island complex.
“I wish to speak with the Professor” he said
to a white coated lab technician.
The lab technician slowly walked from the
bench where he was working and into a small office from which the tall, white
haired Professor Strake emerged.
“Professor I trust that all the gremlins in
the system have been eliminated, and the Time Reflux-Actuator is set and ready
to be activated, trusting there will be no problems this time” Number 2 asked
“I can give no guarantees Number Two” the Professor
told him in a heavy German accent “all I can confirm is that every circuit,
every component, every mechanical unit, and mathematical calculation has been checked,
and triple checked. The result being that the Time Reflux-Actuator is on the
top line.”
“Very well, but I tell you Professor, we
can ill afford another mistake. Nothing, absolutely nothing must go wrong this time, otherwise we shall both pay
the forfeit!” Number 2 warned.
“What makes this next subject so special?”
the Professor asked casually “no-one ever bothered about all the previous
subjects.”
“The future success of The Village lies with this man. Number One needs him to complete the difficult task that lies ahead of him, and he cannot do that unless you get it right, for all our futures!” Number 2 explained.
A Mini-Moke towing a Red Cross trailer made its
way through the night time Village, its pair of headlights gleaming in the
darkness, on its way to the slipway where the power boat was waiting.
Number 2 picked up the yellow ‘L’ shaped telephone and put a call
through to the Control Room.
“Supervisor…yes sir I have the ambulance on
the screen. The powerboat and crew are standing by.”
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“Good, but hold the powerboat I shall be
going across to the island myself” Number 2 ordered.
“You Number Two?” queried the Supervisor.
“I need to be there, so take care of The
Village in my stead.”
The unconscious body of Number 6 had been placed
aboard the powerboat when a second Mini-Moke arrived. Number 2 alighted the
taxi and rushed out of the darkness and aboard the boat. The crew cast off the
bow and stern lines, the helmsman started the twin diesel engines and opened up
the throttles, the powerboat moved away from the slipway and powered itself
across the choppy waters of the estuary on its short journey towards the island.
It skimmed across the waves in a wide arc as she rounded the island,
disappearing to the far side, then slowed on her approach to the short jetty
where a doctor in a white coat, a nurse, two medics, and two security guards
armed with Uzi 9mm and AK47 assault rifles, in blue overalls and white helmets,
gloves and boots, and despite the darkness, dark glass.
The powerboat came alongside the jetty, two
crewmen leapt ashore from the boat securing the bow and stern lines. Two medics
carried the stretcher ashore, the subject still oblivious to what was taking
place about him. Last onto the jetty was the figure of Number 2, who was
greeted suspiciously by the doctor.
“Number Two, I was not informed of your
presence here” said the doctor.
“Where is the Professor?”
“You will appreciate the Professor is much
taken up with his Time Reflux-Actuator, making final checks, last minute adjustments”
the doctor reported.
The
procession made it’s way along the wooden jetty towards a pair of large steel
doors.
The crew cast off, engines revved,
and the powerboat disappeared at speed into the night, to take position on
coastal patrol duty.
The pair of steel doors opened, and in a
body the procession entered into a corridor and walked along to the steel door
at the far end. The door slid open into a vast open chamber of the complex. There
was a laboratory, and side offices, a steel staircase led up to a gantry where
the control room and the Professor’s office were situated. Electrical equipment
was everywhere, high power electric cables snaked their way from electrical
switch gear cabinets to other operational equipment and control consuls.
Technicians worked feverously checking all systems, replacing corrupted drive units,
checking computer links, software, all systems and back-up systems, everyone
working together to make sure that the Time Relux-Actuator was on the top line.
Number 6 was carried on the stretcher into a
medical examination room by the two medics, accompanied by the doctor and
nurse. While Number 2 was escorted to by the two armed security men to the control
room. Security was the watch word, and armed guards had been positioned at
strategic positions within the chamber, and throughout the whole installation.
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Standing at the hand rail of the gantry
Number 2 looked about the large chamber, in the centre was the large, strange
looking piece of equipment, the very core of the Reflux-Actuator that attracted
his attention. The machine consisted of three semi-arced electrical conductors
of equal spacing set around a concaved steel circle set in the floor. From each
of the conductors, electrical cables snaked across the chamber floor to large
grey electrical switchgear cabinets. The power for the Reflux-Actuator was
supplied by a small nuclear reactor, heavily shielded and built into a hill on
the far side of the estuary. Everything that took place within in the complex
was supervised by the Professor, the mastermind behind both the Time
Reflux-Actuator, and the General a fifth generation super computer. Number 2
was led into the Professor’s office.
“I take it” said Number 2 closing the door
“that all is ready, and that you can certify a successful result this time.”
The Professor, a white haired man in his mid
fifties, dressed in a white coat, looked up from his slate computer “I will
tell you, as I have told those who have gone before you Number 2. The Reflux-Actuator
works perfectly. The project has had several failures I admit, which have
mostly been due to the poor quality of subject matter. I have pleaded with Number
One time and time again, but he would not listen. Now it seems immediate
success is demanded of me, so equally I trust that I may rely upon the latest
subject matter?”
“I can personally recommend him. He is a
man of a different calibre, resilient, quick thinking, strong both mentally and
physically. He is very capable, and at his best when under extreme pressure”
Number 2 informed the Professor “but you can surely understand my having doubts
in your process. Your success rate has hardly been one hundred percent, in fact
it’s hardly been one percent. If we lose this man…….”
“I have already explained that it is not my
fault!” the Professor growled “the subjects I have been forced to work with
have hardly been first-rate. Both their physical and mental capacity I have
brought into question many times. But my protests have fallen on deaf ears!”
“Herr
Professor, you may be surprised to learn that your protestations have not gone
un-noted, and at the very least the subjects, no matter their mental and
physical condition, have allowed you to continue with your experiments, and
thereby to perfect both your technique and the machine.”
The Professor
looked hard at Number 2 with cold eyes “You
brought me here to continue my work. Please permit me to do so!”
“Ser goot Herr Professor!” Number 2 saluted.
“Where is the subject now?”
“He has been taken to the examination room to be resuscitated and then he’ll be given a medical” Number 2 said.
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“And the General?” Number 2 asked, about to
follow the Professor out of his office.
The Professor looked at Number 2 “You have
not met with the General, follow me.”
Descending the steel staircase they crossed
the chamber floor, a steel door slid open and they entered the General’s
office.
“The General” announced the Professor with
pride.
The computer room was impressive, there
were rows of computer banks and servers all linked to the CPU or the brain of
the General which in turn was linked to a number of terminals, and of course
the Time Reflux Actuator.
“The General can make millions of calculations
in a matter of minutes. Its memory storage is probably one of the largest of
any computer in the world, and has the capability of repairing itself without
the need of human intervention. It can up-date and upgrade itself automatically.
It has a voice, although we keep that muted! If the General is developed
further, the next generation will have the ability for free thinking, no longer
reliant on human programming; it will programme itself utterly and completely.
The furthest step being that one day the General will become self-aware and
then…….” said the Professor displaying the computer with German pride.
“And yet someone will still has to switch it
on!” quipped Number 2.
The Professor felt insulted by Number 2’s
reduction of the General “If you will excuse me, I have a few final checks to
make before the activation the Time Reflux-Actuator.”
Number 2 made his way to the medical
examination room, while the Professor consulted with two technicians. In the
medical room Number 6 was beginning to regain consciousness. Slowly he sat up
on the examination table and swung his legs round.
“What the devil’s going on here, where am, what
am I doing dressed?” barked Number 6 in defiant anger.
A nurse jumped out of her skin!
Number 2 as he entered the examination
room “Don’t worry nurse, Number Six is like this all the time, probably what
makes him such a good man!”
“Why is this man still dressed?’ asked a
doctor appearing at the door “have his clothes removed at once!”
Number 2 looked first at Number 6 then at
the doctor “Should he not be dressed then? I thought if he was dressed in the
correct attire he would merge into The Village without attracting too much
wanted attention.”
“He cannot go through dressed, it doesn’t work
that way. He must be as naked as the day he was born” the doctor said.
“Hang on a minute, no one is taking my
clothes, and I can assure you that I’m going nowhere!” was Number 6’s
instinctive and defiant reaction.
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“If you choose to be difficult about this,
it may not go well for you. Leave him to me doctor its time for his briefing
anyway” Number 2 said “And what do you mean naked, he can’t suddenly
materialize naked!”
“Briefing, what briefing?” growled Number 6
with suspicion.
“I thought you said he was at his best
working under extreme conditions, he’ll find a way. What about his medical?”
the doctor asked.
“The man doesn’t need a medical,
there’s nothing wrong with him, the man’s as strong as an ox, anyone can see
that, eh Number Six!”
“I might have guessed! Don’t you people
ever give up? And what’s this so called briefing all about?” Number 6 began.
“Don’t you ever get tired of being hostile?
Because we do, so why not let us cut a deal, then we can be rid of you, and you
get to leave this place. I take it that you are still as keen as ever to leave
us?” Number 2 offered.
Number 6 thought for a moment, it would do
no harm to listen, it might even buy him a little time “Is that why I was
brought here. Where is here by the way?”
“You’re on the Island, in a large complex independent
of The Village. I shall be quite frank with you Number Six, now is the time
for…….”
“All good men to come to the aid of the
party” added Number 6 with a smile.
“Something like that, well at least for
some mutual co-operation at any rate” Number 2 began “you see The Village administration
is reaching a crisis, has reached a crisis, which needs to be brought to a
swift and satisfactory conclusion. Thus ensuring its continuation, and that of
its community, and its citizens, authorities and I dare say you Number Six. Everything depends upon
certain actions and developments taking place in the very near future. In less
than twenty-four hours in fact” Number 2 said looking at his watch.
“You expect me to help you? You’re out of your tiny little mind. The Village
can go to hell as far as I’m concerned!”
“And you with it?” suggested Number 2 “now
let’s get on. You are in an installation where scientists and technicians have
been carrying out experiments in time travel and through those experiments the Time
Reflux-Actuator has been developed. It was not my wish to see you brought here,
however you are the selected subject most likely to succeed, in a matter of
administrative crisis. I am authorised to grant you full release to anywhere
you desire to go upon the successful completion of the mission. In a nutshell
we are going to send you back to the village!”
Number 6 was taken to the briefing
room, and what Number 2 explained to him would have been more in the line of
Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke, and Einstein, they would have had a field day! Number
2 laid out the mission detail by detail. The Professor explained the intricate
workings of the Time Reflux-Actuator.
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“Time Reflux…..you’re telling me that you’re
preparing to send me back in time?” Number 6 asked.
“Back to The Village at a time in 1967 when
the administration was close to reaching a democratic crisis.”
Number 6 thought for a moment “You
surely don’t mean Fall Out, I won’t do it!”
“You’re hardly in a position to stop us are
you my dear chap. What we offer is.......‘Fall Out,’ what do you know about
that?” Number 2 asked.
“Fall
Out’ Number 6 began “a matter of democratic crisis in The Village back in
December nineteen sixty-seven. ‘Fall Out’ led to the
evacuation
of The Village following the trial of three prisoners. I’ve read the file you
see. One was a un-co-ordinated youth Number Forty-eight. A “late” Number Two
who rebelled against the hand that fed it, and one other, an individual who vindicated
the right of the individual to be individual, a man of steel who eventually,
and with a little help from his friends brought down The Village.”
Number 2 looked most favourably upon Number
6 “You see how well versed you are on Village history. You are the perfect subject for the task in hand, you know all about it,
and will fit right in with the community. You see only he the former Number 6 as it were, is the only one who can help us.
We need him today as The Village had need of him back in nineteen sixty-seven. You
are to go back to The Village on a specific day, of a specific month, and at a
specific moment.”
“Well seeing as you have gone to so much
trouble, how do I get back there? Do I walk, or do I swim, depends if the tide
is in or not I suppose” quipped Number 6.
“Don’t worry, we have laid on some
transport for you. There’s no need for you to get your feet wet, not in the
least.”
They returned Number 6 to the medical room.
“Now if you would be so kind as to
remove your clothes, time is short, well for some of us at any rate As for you,
you will have all the time you need!” retorted Number 2 with a smile.
“Why do I need to remove my clothes, have
you got my old ones for me?” asked Number 6 reluctant to disrobe.
“You cannot go through with them on. You
have to be naked, something to do with the electrical field generated by the
human body” said the doctor returning to his patient along with two orderlies.
Number 6 disrobed and stood there dressed
only in his birthday suit “Now where do we go?”
Number 2 handed Number 6 a white gown to
cover his modesty “December nineteen sixty-seven.”
Number 6 putting on the white gown stepped
forward.
“Shall we go?” asked Number 2 walking to the
door.
Number 6 did not move one step “Give me just
one good reason why I should go along with this hair brained scheme of yours,
which quite frankly I find utterly absurd.”
Number 2 opened the door “Absurd is it? Guard.”
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An armed security guard entered the medical
room.
“On my order” said Number 2 “terminate
Number Six!”
The security guard brandishing his Uzi 9mm
machine gun locked and loaded, he would not need to hear the order twice.
“Well Number Six, is this reason enough? If
you don’t go along with us, I will give the order.”
Number 6 stood there looking at the guard
and down the barrel of the Uzi.
“Well?” asked Number 2 who could wait no
longer.
“If you are on the level about this time
travel, what is stopping me from using this given opportunity to escape once
and for all?”
“There is no escape you will still be a prisoner
in The Village, but at a different time that’s all” Number 2 said smiling smugly.
“I might not come back, with what I know
and could tell them, I would be the wonder of the age. Why they might even
offer me ultimate power, inaugurate me as Number One” Number 6 suggested.
“You have to get there first” Number 2 muttered
under his breath leading the way through the door.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Yes.”
“Well?”
“There is nothing you can tell them.”
“Why not?”
“Because they already know it!” Number 2
informed the prisoner.
Number 6 looked at the armed security guard,
and thought of rushing him, but realised that he would be dead before he could lay
hands on the man “Very well.”
“Good, we must get on, time is short. We
shall have to continue the briefing as we go” said Number 2 leading the way out
of the medical room
“So I just turn up in The Village back in December
nineteen sixty-seven and simply announce myself do I?” quipped Number 6.
“You announce yourself to my opposite Number
Two who is in possession of the recognition code name which you will use to
identify yourself to him as Enigma” Number 2 told him.
“And they have all this equipment back there
in nineteen sixty
seven
do they?” Number 6 asked looking at the Time Reflux Actuator.
“Hardly, but they do have the Enigma file” said Number 2 seeing the Professor ahead of them “when you get there make contact with Number 2 immediately. Give him the recognition code Enigma, he will help you to do the rest.”
“Help me do what?”
“To bring Number Six back to The
Village” said Number 2.
“Not a one-way trip then?” said Number 6
pulling at Number 2’s arm.
Number 2 stopped and turned “You have two implants in your lower right
arm” Number 2 informed him.
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Number 6 examined the stitches on his left
lower arm.
“We took the liberty earlier tonight when
you were sleeping” Number 2 explained “the one is your return ticket, the other
is for your counterpart Six.”
“And Number Two, your counterpart, will
know about these implants, and what to do?” asked Number 6 watching the Professor
walking towards them.
“No,
you will tell him, and we will activate the two implants from here” Number 2
told him “ah here’s the Professor.”
“I foresee one difficulty” said Number 6.
“Only one?” smiled Number 2.
“What if my counterpart doesn’t want to
come back to The Village? He could be a very difficult fellow, untrusting at
the very least, he may not go for it!” Number 6 suggested.
“You make it sound as though you are
describing yourself Number Six. Like you, he will have no choice in the matter,
just as the rest of us have no choice!” retorted Number 2 “well Professor are
we ready?”
“I am ready. The General is ready, and the
Time Reflux-Actuator is ready, all systems and back up systems are on the top
line. Is this the subject?” asked the Professor.
“This is Number Six, he is to be given
every chance of succeeding with his mission” Number 2 told the Professor.
“For his own sake” smiled the Professor.
“For everybody’s sake!” retorted Number 2.
“Well we must get on, we do not have all
the time in the world as some might suppose” grinned the Professor.
“Tell me Professor, how shall I arrive in The
Village? Not in a police box I presume!” quipped Number 6, trying to make light
of the matter.
The
Professor looked puzzled “Police box? What has a police box got to do with it? You
will be placed on the concave disc in the Time Reflux Actuator, then enveloped in
a protective membrane. The semi-arced conductors will then create an electrical
field of monumental power, and it is this that will send you hurtling back in
time.”
“Will it hurt?” Number 6 asked, in a casual
yet sarcastic manner.
“Hurt my boy, hurt. The pain will be
excruciating!” the Professor replied “Number Two, if you would accompany me to
the Control Room it is time for us to proceed.”
Number 6 was led out into the chamber by
the doctor and two male orderlies “Take off your gown Number Six, then crouch
down upon the centre disc.”
Number 6 looked about him. There was no way
out, the cards were too well stacked against him. He had faced the unknown
before, but this……. Removing his white gown he stepped naked between two of the
semi arced conductors, and crouched down on the centre disc.
“Achtung, achtung!” boomed out the Professor’s
voice from the Control Room “everyone to their positions. Clear Reflux-Actuator
core,
safety goggles to be worn while the Reflux-actuator is in function mode, bring the reactor to sixty percent capacity and release the Guardian.”
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Everyone in the chamber, except for Number
6, quickly retreated to positions of safety. A pair of steel doors opened,
through which the membranic mass of the Guardian entered the chamber. It rolled
across the chamber floor towards the core of the Reflux-Actuator and the
crouching naked body of Number 6, either guided in some way, or of its own
volition, as though it knew what was expected of it. The Guardian roared its
blood curdling roar, Number 6 was about to spring out of the way, but it was
too late! He screamed and clawed at the membrane as it began not to suffocate
him, but to absorb and envelope him completely.
Looking out through a tinted observation
window of the Control Room, Number 2 looked down at the core of the Reflux-Actuator.
It was a compelling sight which repelled him at the same time. A remarkable
sight, the way the naked body of Number 6 was struggling inside the opaque membrane
of the Guardian, reminding him of an embryo in its womb.
“Time coordinates are locked into the
memory of the General, Reflux-Actuator on line, all systems are green” said the
Professor as he received constant reports through his head set, this while monitoring
dials and indicators in the Control Room “bring the reactor up to one hundred
percent” he said into a microphone.
Number 2 could only stand and watch. He saw
it was all out of his hands, and now in those of the Professor along with his
team of scientists and technicians.
“Reactor at seventy percent” boomed out a
disembodied voice “eighty percent…...ninety….. reactor now one hundred
percent.”
The Professor looked at Number 2 “You are
hoping that all previous experiments have not been for nothing, that this time
it will work, other wise it will not be so many happy returns for our friend
here.”
“Something like that Professor. He’s too
good a man to be wasted” he told him.
“And it’s both our necks on the block should
we fail this time?” grinned the Professor.
“Time itself will soon tell” Herr
Professor.
The order was given.
“Activate the Reflux-Actuator…..engage” the professor said.
A technician pressed a large red button on a control panel. There was a sudden deafening clap of thunder, and blue electricity arced between the three semi arced conductors, at the core of which was the Guardian. Protected by the membrane, the enveloped body of Number 6, found it confining yet not a suffocating experience as he had been expecting. The arcing electricity continued growing more powerful, more intense. Then came the shocking and excruciating pain that made Number 6’s body tingle from head to toe, he gritted his teeth against the electric shocks. The pain seared his body, he screamed, screamed, and screamed again, just as the Guardian roared in agonizing torment, both beings locked together by the pain they were forced to share and endure. A final clash of thunder filled the chamber, and in a blinding flash of white light it was over.
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