grunted, but didn’t say anything.
“I’ve broken stronger men than you. I want you to know that, so you will think of it as the pain continues to swell.” The man was cold, like a stone with a voice.
Marci hiccoughed. “Please stop,” she said, pleading with the feed.
The slate couldn’t help her. Her fingers stopped at the velvet surface of the screen, as much as she wished and longed for it to open a portal to him. Her stomach tied into knots. The evil spider-like man administered methodically, coldly to Ramone and Ramone submitted. He seemed defeated, though his face looked like granite. What was he thinking?
After dry-heaving into the toilet, Marci left the bathroom, but not before taking a supply of tissue along. For the tears.
She avoided the eyes of the other passengers, who undoubtedly saw that hers were red-rimmed. Eyebrows rose and some looked a question at her as though to ask if she was unwell. For the most part, they kept their faces fixed on their own slates. Marci scanned the first class passengers, hoping to spot someone who knew her pain. Maybe someone else was watching this feed. Someone looking around the cabin, alarmed as Marci, confused and possibly frightened.
Resuming her seat, a howl in the earphones startled her and she poised the slate before her nose without fastening her seat-belt.
Fighting the clenching muscles of her throat, she gasped. The sound came from Ramone! Had he been broken?
“You know what I’m here for, Mr. Ramone. Relinquish the plans and you can return to your normal life. To your fame. To your mundane job. To your lovers.” The man wiped a tool with a white towel and placed it back in a case. Ramone whimpered.
“I’m not a fool,” Ramone said, finally. His voice was a raspy, hoarse whisper. “I’m seen as a threat. Kill me now. Be done with it. There are no plans.”
“Tsk tsk tsk. You cannot lie to me. I’m fully versed in you and your history. ‘Brilliant Engineer Creates Link Between Nano-machine Camera and Optic Nerve!’ ‘Nano-Engineer Holds Keys to Entire Network of Linked Cameras and Instant Video Web-Feed,’” he recited mechanically like he was reading the headlines and not just recalling them. “And all the other headlines and your developments. In fact, I owe my very livelihood to you. Without you, I’d be rotting in a prison somewhere. You created my niche. I should call you father.”
“You’re insane,” Ramone spat.
“That’s not the way a father should talk to his son.”
“If you think I’d develop a counter-measure and then let the company have it, you’re insane. There are no plans,” Ramone said.
“I can let you bleed to death. Or I can staunch the flow with this,” the creepy bastard held up a hot iron.
Ramone’s cheek twitched.
Elliot, he had said. Who is he? What does he have to do with Ramone? But Marci couldn’t see the answers on the screen.
“Kill me. There’s nothing. I have nothing!” he shouted, straining against the bonds that held him strapped to the top of his desk.
Marci cried silently, but her mind made the connections. Ramone created the nanocameras. And now he was being accused of making something to counter-act the cameras. And the company wanted it. But why not just kill him? Why torture?
More than anything, Marci’s skull felt split open, her mind touched by an electrical field. Never before had the system felt oppressive. Nor had she felt trapped beneath a microscope, a prisoner watched by anyone who wished to see her. She’d felt free. And safe.
A black hand seemed to creep across her shoulder, tightening its grip like a vise, fixing her to the seat beneath her hip bones. The invisible cameras that accompanied her, which she had never seen but knew were there, became sinister and evil, tiny devils robbing her of moments of introspection and meditation. She almost looked around, wondering where they were exactly and if anyone cared to watch her.
Something was happening. It was
“I’ve broken stronger men than you. I want you to know that, so you will think of it as the pain continues to swell.” The man was cold, like a stone with a voice.
Marci hiccoughed. “Please stop,” she said, pleading with the feed.
The slate couldn’t help her. Her fingers stopped at the velvet surface of the screen, as much as she wished and longed for it to open a portal to him. Her stomach tied into knots. The evil spider-like man administered methodically, coldly to Ramone and Ramone submitted. He seemed defeated, though his face looked like granite. What was he thinking?
After dry-heaving into the toilet, Marci left the bathroom, but not before taking a supply of tissue along. For the tears.
She avoided the eyes of the other passengers, who undoubtedly saw that hers were red-rimmed. Eyebrows rose and some looked a question at her as though to ask if she was unwell. For the most part, they kept their faces fixed on their own slates. Marci scanned the first class passengers, hoping to spot someone who knew her pain. Maybe someone else was watching this feed. Someone looking around the cabin, alarmed as Marci, confused and possibly frightened.
Resuming her seat, a howl in the earphones startled her and she poised the slate before her nose without fastening her seat-belt.
Fighting the clenching muscles of her throat, she gasped. The sound came from Ramone! Had he been broken?
“You know what I’m here for, Mr. Ramone. Relinquish the plans and you can return to your normal life. To your fame. To your mundane job. To your lovers.” The man wiped a tool with a white towel and placed it back in a case. Ramone whimpered.
“I’m not a fool,” Ramone said, finally. His voice was a raspy, hoarse whisper. “I’m seen as a threat. Kill me now. Be done with it. There are no plans.”
“Tsk tsk tsk. You cannot lie to me. I’m fully versed in you and your history. ‘Brilliant Engineer Creates Link Between Nano-machine Camera and Optic Nerve!’ ‘Nano-Engineer Holds Keys to Entire Network of Linked Cameras and Instant Video Web-Feed,’” he recited mechanically like he was reading the headlines and not just recalling them. “And all the other headlines and your developments. In fact, I owe my very livelihood to you. Without you, I’d be rotting in a prison somewhere. You created my niche. I should call you father.”
“You’re insane,” Ramone spat.
“That’s not the way a father should talk to his son.”
“If you think I’d develop a counter-measure and then let the company have it, you’re insane. There are no plans,” Ramone said.
“I can let you bleed to death. Or I can staunch the flow with this,” the creepy bastard held up a hot iron.
Ramone’s cheek twitched.
Elliot, he had said. Who is he? What does he have to do with Ramone? But Marci couldn’t see the answers on the screen.
“Kill me. There’s nothing. I have nothing!” he shouted, straining against the bonds that held him strapped to the top of his desk.
Marci cried silently, but her mind made the connections. Ramone created the nanocameras. And now he was being accused of making something to counter-act the cameras. And the company wanted it. But why not just kill him? Why torture?
More than anything, Marci’s skull felt split open, her mind touched by an electrical field. Never before had the system felt oppressive. Nor had she felt trapped beneath a microscope, a prisoner watched by anyone who wished to see her. She’d felt free. And safe.
A black hand seemed to creep across her shoulder, tightening its grip like a vise, fixing her to the seat beneath her hip bones. The invisible cameras that accompanied her, which she had never seen but knew were there, became sinister and evil, tiny devils robbing her of moments of introspection and meditation. She almost looked around, wondering where they were exactly and if anyone cared to watch her.
Something was happening. It was
Similar Books
