Chapter 23: "Does it help if I smile?"

"That's okay, just get it all out. Just like that. Just try not to get it on your shoes." Asha said, patting Cerise on the back as she vomited into a receptacle extending out from the elevator wall. They were about three minutes from their destination and from her experience in the matter the vomiting was only going to get worse from here on out. Asha handed Cerise a new pill and a bottle of water as she wiped her mouth.

"My head... feels like it's being crushed..." Cerise squeaked out between coughs. Noting her new personal change of policy she grabbed the pill from Asha and tossed it into her mouth.

"Happens to everyone. Give the medication a few minutes to take effect." Asha stated, checking her own shoes for any excess sick. It was actually reassuring that Cerise had turned down the pill at first. Anybody who just trusted a pill shoved into their face by their boss was just asking for a murder or two pinned on them, among other things. After a few minutes and a couple more dry heaves by Cerise, the elevator came to a smooth stop.

"I forgot to ask, but you wouldn't happen to be averse to horror movies would you?" Asha asked, bending down to make eye contact. Cerise contemplated this for a second between heaves.

"No, not really... I... have a sister... that really likes them... she used to drag me to all of the midnight premiers." She choked out, taking swigs of water between breaths.

"Good, follow me then." Asha said, the doors to the elevator opening up to a long darkened hallway. Cerise pulled herself together and followed Asha, leaving the elevator behind them.

As they made their way down the hall Cerise noticed that on either side of them were windows of frosted glass. Each one filled with some sort of orange substance. She couldn't tell what the substance was, but every window was filled top to bottom with the stuff.

"Do you know the story of how this city was founded Miss Nadir? I suspect they still teach it in schools." Asha asked, noting Cerises shifting gaze.

"Yes ma'am. The original founders Boris Mahone and Telio Valka began construction shortly after the first capital ship crashed in 2641. Boris went missing not long after during excavation of the capital ship, leaving Telio Valka to become the first mayor." Cerise answered, giving herself a short flashback to elementary school.

"Good, well put. It happens to be untrue. See, out of the two Boris was always the one trying to advance science beyond human limitations while Telio was much more interested in attempting to create a functioning society here on Liberum." Asha explained, approaching a door on the far wall. She pulled a wire out from behind her implant and placed it in a slot so small Cerise had mistaken it to be a misaligned bit of tile.

"While their motives were different their goal was the same. The continuation of the human race at all costs. The ships nav computer was buried under the rubble of the bridge, and with it the location of Earth. When they finally reached it though, it had been destroyed beyond repair and with it any chance of returning to our species' home. Fortunately, they found something else." Asha continued, twitching a bit between each sentence.

As the doors opened, a wave of intense heat rolled out and over Cerise. A dense greenish fog filled the chamber in front of them like a wall. As the fog began to leak out around their ankles Asha moved into the doorway, gesturing for Cerise to follow. After a moment of somber deliberation she did. Asha waved away the fog, pushing further into the chamber.

"Mind your step. He gets it everywhere." She said, pointing towards Cerises feet.

"Shut the door. You're letting the heat out."

Cerise froze in place, still mid step. As she let her foot come down it hit something somewhat soft. She looked down at the orange streak forming behind her heel as it reformed into a knobby looking orange root.

"The room is still at a steady hundred and two degrees." Asha commented, placing her hand between Cerises shoulder blades and guiding her forward.

"My... Roots are cold. Shut the damn door."

Asha waved away more of the fog and brought them to a stop. Cerise couldn't see it, but she could feel the heat rolling off of something in front of her. A smell like rotting wood and musty basements filled her nostrils.

"Cerise Nadir, I would like you to meet Boris Mahone. In the mycelium, as it were." Asha said, keeping her hand firmly planted between Cerises shoulders. Something stirred within the fog.

"Hello young lady. It's good to finally make your acquaintance."

A face, or the remains of a face emerged from the fog. Stretched and twisted in more directions than Cerise could count, it moved in closer until it was merely a foot away from her own. The mass of orange roots behind it acted like one sentient organism, twitching and creaking endlessly with each movement.

"You seem a bit on edge. Does it help if I smile?"

The face twisted up the sides of the mouth into a lopsided sneer. The bottom lip began to rip with the added tension but was quickly stitched back in place by more roots. Cerise instinctually stepped backwards but was held in place by Ashas hand.

"No it doesn't, now stop trying to scare her." Asha answered, pulling down hard on one of the roots.

"I wasn't trying to scare her. I was scaring her. Let me have my fun once in a while would you?"

'This isn't exactly what I was picturing as the big company secret.' Cerise thought, grimacing as another wave of smell rolled over her. The face pulled away and rose high into the air, far from Ashas wrathful grasp.

"I didn't expect it either but here we are my dear. Asha, I've set Harvel in motion. Shouldn't be long before he gets back under the streets. You're set to pull Limerick back any time you like. Harkova still doesn't know where they are, though don't think that will last. They're well informed."

"Limerick still hasn't initiated the contingency. I'd like to keep him there for a little longer just in case." Asha responded, her nose nearly imperceptibly crinkling. Cerise was for the most part just trying not to vomit again.

'Harkova? They're private security. What could they have to do with this?' Cerise thought, holding back another retch.

"Oh, she didn't fill you in on our situation? One moment."

A tendril shot out from behind the fog and wrapped itself around Cerises head. Before the scream could leave her mouth her mind went completely blank. Images and information rushed through her mind in an unrelenting torrent. From the centipede attack, to Dibbuks fall, to Harvels predicament within the bathroom, all of it flowed freely throughout her mind.

Then, the images continued. She saw more and more memories of past failures. Bodies piled like sacks of potatoes in search of the one that might be able to freely integrate with the eukaryote as Boris had. Thousands, no hundreds of thousands of attempts made over the centuries to find the one that could... that could... That could what?

'What was this all for? That many lives sacrificed end over end for what?' She thought, wiping the sweat from her forehead. The images stopped, leaving her mind swimming in all of its new information. Questions bobbed up and down within the ocean of memories in Cerises brain. The tendril pulled away from Cerises face, leaving her panting, her vision shifting in and out of focus.

"Peace. Peace in a chaotic world. That's what they've all died for. I am going to finally bring peace to the human race. And Harvel is the sole key to that. I've chosen you Cerise. I know that when the time comes to act you will understand what needs to be done."

"Why? Why would you choose me? I'm not a Meadows. You've only shown yourself to them so far." Cerise asked, looking up at the contorted face of Boris Mahone. She was panicking. She'd never implemented a mental policy for this.

"Oh, it wouldn't be any fun to tell you that just yet. But, Cerise, you are very special. You will play a very important role in our play here. Keep that in mind."

"That's quite enough for one day I think." Asha said, pulling Cerise away from Boris' root system. She ushered Cerise out of the door and into the dim light of the white tiled hallway once again. As she stepped across the threshold Cerise looked back and watched Boris' eyeless sockets disappeared into the fog once more. The door shut, various locks sliding into place as Asha and Cerise began walking towards the elevator.

"Keep. That. In. Mind."

"How, big is..." Cerise tried to find the proper words, "He?" She finished, glancing around at the windows lining their path. Boris hadn't shown her the scope of the eukaryote.

"Large enough that if he or it dies a large portion of the city will most likely collapse. At least that's where our data points. It is older than we even know. Older even than Boris knows. At least, that's what he says anyways. He's never steered us wrong in the four hundred years we've worked along side him." Asha explained.

"What part am I supposed to play in all of this?" Cerise asked, assuming Asha was as informed as Boris would be.

"I don't know. Nobody within my family has been privy to his final plan. The deal Tilio made hundreds of years ago left us in the dark. That's just the way it's been from the beginning. Whatever part you have to play is a mystery to me." Asha answered as they approached the elevator.

Cerise contemplated this for a moment. She wasn't that special was she? She'd only ever worked for corporation after corporation, doing the dirty deeds that needed to be done. She didn't have a strong moral compass, or a special way of looking at things. The math didn't add up no matter how she calculated it. Something about this, apart from the world changing implications, was making her wary.

"Do you think he's going to betray you?" Cerise asked, taking her seat next to her boss.

"Oh yes. I'm counting on it." Asha answered, a little smile forming at the corners of her mouth. Cerise considered this as the elevator began it's smooth ascent, but there was something else on her mind. Something else uncanny about the last ten minutes.

'He was reading my mind before he even touched me.' She thought, hopefully to herself.