An Exercise In Logistics chapter/Episode 28

 

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 ‘Free Sea’. To the ordinary citizen, The Village was much the calm, peaceful, and tranquil place it ever was. However behind the scenes a crisis was slowly brewing, time was approaching when this laid back figure of Number 2 would be heavily involved in bringing about a satisfactory conclusion to the crisis. Also to be involved, although he did not yet know it, would be the lone figure of Number 6, who at this precise moment was sat in a deck chair watching a game of croquet being played out on The Village green.

    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.

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    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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