Thrive in Catastrophe Chapter 78

He was sent to a special maglev vehicle and arrived at the torture force headquarters. As he walked into the building he found the air was not nearly as cold and damp as he had expected. The lights along the hall were bright and warm, and the air contained a nerve soothing agent that lowered one's defenses.

He saw the sign above a cell reading "interrogation room'. Seeing this Xiao Yan is struck with the fact that he was in the darkest force inside the s.h.i.+re. Even Mark had called General Xia the 'brain killer.'

The men did not bring Xiao to a cell, instead they escorted him to a bas.e.m.e.nt office.

An officer stood in outside and saluted them, then he slowly opened the sliding door.

When Xiao stood at the entryway, he couldn't help but be startled.

The room was full of muted and warm colors, completely different from the stark décor of the other military offices. There is a parlor sofa, a rustic tea table and even a pot of sunflowers on the desk in full bloom. the artificial sunlight allows them to maintain a perfect posture.

A figure in a military uniform is facing Xiao Yan. He holds a mug in his hand and the scent of coffee spreads through the room.

This is the great General of the torture force. At the moment all Xiao can discern is that he has dark brown hair and a strong straight back. His long and elegant fingers wrapped around his coffee mug. There is a comfortable ease about him.

The soldiers stood next to Xiao Yan and waited.

"This is not a prisoner trial. I just want to chat with Xiao Yan, you can leave."

"But you... Xiao Yan's body has the x virus in his body..."

"So he can forcefully and strongly break my head off and take it away from s.h.i.+re?"

General Xia finally turned around. His eyes were big and bright. The lines around his grey eyes crinkled into a smile, but Xiao feels that he is not actually laughing, it is just a mask. There is a sharpness dwelling at the depths of his stare, as though he can instantly pierce through someone's mind.

There are no secrets before him.

He is the youngest General in the s.h.i.+re at 31 years of age.

The soldiers left the office after receiving their orders.

Only Xiao Yan and Xia are left.

"You are quite different than what I had imagined." He thoughtfully touched his chin and looked at Xiao Yan with a playful expression.

"I am just an ordinary person."

"Ah, someone with you brain interface rate? This is the same brain speed as Heine Burton. When he transferred from the Academy to the Special Forces, it caused quite the raucous."

"I heard about it."

"The cause of that incident was Renault's brain. I heard that his subconscious was boundlessly dark. Although Heine successfully withdrew from his mind, Shen Bing, suffered irreversible brain damage. Before Renault defected to the Surge his contributions to the s.h.i.+re were numerous and admirable.

"I understand." Xiao Yan swallowed.

"Don't be nervous, lt. I didn't want to conduct this in a typical interrogation room, because I wanted you to be more at ease. I will personally ask your brain so as to avoid traumatic disturbances to your thinking thus preserving the integrity of your consciousness structure. Even without damage, the human brain is very delicate. This is especially true of researchers like yourself. The more complex one thoughts, the more vulnerable their mind is."

"Thank you, sir."

Xiao carefully used the word 'inquiry' as opposed to 'interrogation'. Although it is essentially the same thing, to Xiao they have completely different meanings.

"I will ask my adjutant to monitor today's inquiry. I will retreat if you show any signs of discomfort."

"I understand, sir."

In ten minutes everything is readied and Xiao Yan is injected with a nerve stabilizer. This will keep him calm and reduce the chances of rejection of the inquiry.

Xiao Yan and Xiao's neuron's docked and he entered the outer edge of Xiao Yan's mind.

____

Heine walked into an austere office s.p.a.ce. A man with white hair sits on the sofa playing chess.

To all five senses the man exudes elegance. A dignified frost spreads across the man's brow, revealing a stern disposition, but there is an extraordinary presence to him.

"h.e.l.lo." Heine straightened his back and saluted. Then his hands fell behind his back as he looked in front of him with an indifferently.

"There is no one here, you can call me father."

Admiral Sharif raised his head and his toughened military eyes softened.

Heine is silent.

"I haven't played chess with you for a long time. The last time was when you were ten years old."

Heine still said nothing.

"When I heard that you were in trouble I begged Ervel to save you. I regret not doing more to stop you from entering the Special Forces in the first place."

"I have never regretted it, sir."

There are no emotional fluctuations visible in Heine's gaze. Hi facial features are similar to to Sharif, but more attractive and refined.

"I am very grateful to that young researcher, but we are soldiers, and reason must always prevail above emotion."

"You deliberately led me here, so you could hand him over to the torture force."

"Sorry, child. I had to do this. The army cannot afford another Renault."

"Liar. You say you are thankful to him for saving me and then forget his name. Also, he will never be like Renault, because he sees through the ruse of eternal life."

After that, Heine quickly left Sharif's office.

Sharif closed his eyes and pressed his forehead. "This kid..."

The liaison officer came in. "You, you don't need me to close the pa.s.sage and stop the colonel!"

"No, let him go. I have to make sure that the young man has no connection with the Surge organization. Otherwise all that trust that Heine has placed in him will become a wound that no virus can heal."

General Xiao has entered Xiao's mental troposphere.

This s.p.a.ce is extremely vast. Data is intertwined with various thoughts and flows through a vast ocean of ideas. This shows Xia that Xiao's thinking is not only logical but holistic as he finds most of his memory fragments located here.

"I have entered your thoughts Xiao Yan, please remain relaxed. Now we can start the questioning. The first question is a baseline. Tell me about your impression of your father."

Xia sees a memory of a child lying in bed while his father describes the myriad forms of marine life. The image is of a gentle looking middle aged man with a soothingly smooth voice.

"Very good, memory presentation is normal. Now the second test question, your ideal."

General Xia sees a beautiful blond woman in front of him. She is wearing an academy uniform and her skirt is short, revealing attractively curved legs as she walks. Her smile is bright, warm and inviting.

"I must say Lt. you have very nice taste. The last test question--the first time you saw Colonel Burton."

Xia is suddenly in an enclosed s.p.a.ce. Through the window he sees Special Forces fight off the zombies. Through the chaos, flashes Heine Burton. His movements are quick and smooth. Despite the rapidity of the events, each action is isolated and clear. Even his eyes are detailed, calm yet full of killing intent. The memory is so distinct, that Xia feels he will be beheaded as he stares into those focused cold blue eyes.

"It appears your memory of Colonel Burton is quite vivid. These test questions are protocol. I will tell you now, that no matter how private the question, I hope that you can be honest with me. As long as it is not related to the Surge, no other person will ever know. Now, please tell me the details of your confinement with the Surge."

General Xiao feels an intense coldness and then he hears a firm heartbeat as Xiao's fierce determination steels his mind.

No matter what happens, these guys can't get my brain! I will only think about problems I want to solve! If my brain is to be used as a weapon to harm Heine, I choose to end it all!

Xiao's finger pulses on the trigger and General Xia's heart jumped, then Jane Wallace stops him.

This is the first time that General Xiao has given thanks during an inquisition. This fool researcher almost blew off his head.

"Tell me Xiao Yan. What happened after you were taken by the Surge?"

All the conversations he had when he was with the Surge rolled through, including Jane's bold advances. If it were not for Xiao Yan, General Xiao would have never had the opportunity to feel the kiss of Jane Wallace in his whole life.

Although they were in different units he wished he had never heard of Jane.

Now...He knows how Jane makes Xiao's heart sigh, how he sets off waves in his moods... He feels the tip of his tongue brush against his lips as they kiss. For the sake of his psyche a red faced Xia skipped ahead.

The real highlight is the appearance of Valentin. This is the behind the scenes 200y old leader. Every word that Valentin spoke to Xiao Yan is carefully recorded. This is very important information to the s.h.i.+re.

"Xiao Yan please tell me candidly if you considered joining Valentin's research efforts after his proposal that the comet virus can grant eternal life?"

This is the most critical question. No one in this world can lie to this man.

General Xia sees Xiao Yan desperately jump from the aircraft without any hesitation.

His mind runs on a carousel of chaos.

Hahh! I am out! I am free! See you later you s.h.i.+ts!

He sees Jane follow him out as Xiao is hurtling to the ground. Then he watches as Xiao uses the zombies to get rid of Jane.

"Lt. Tell me why the zombies did not attack you."

Xiao Yan casually synthesized a 'marker virus' when training at the special mission headquarters. This virus renders him 'invisible' to the zombies. He has completed his research. He has stabilized the virus 'Sharon'. General Xia swallows his shock, since they are connected, if his mood s.h.i.+fts too abruptly it will affect Xiao Yan's thoughts.

Xia understands in this moment the import of this researcher and why Gordon and Ervel are so concerned about the young ensign.

"Lt. I am entering your subconscious. Please do not act aggressively toward me. I promise we are reaching the end of the inquiry."

The general hopes that the young man completely trusts him and will not resist his intrusion. He needs Xiao to completely accept him, otherwise his brain could be injured. Xia crosses through the troposphere and enters Xiao's subconscious.

Once again this remarkable young man exceeds his expectations. His subconscious is unusually soft and calm.

In sharp contrast to all others he has interrogated, this part of Xiao's mind is broad and bright. There is soft sand under his feat, and glittering blue above...a lush forest. As an expert tin torture he hopes that he will not project his own consciousness into Xiao's and be expelled or killed. He slowly and carefully spreads his thoughts and sifts through the sand of this special world.

Here he finds Xiao's most precious memory and Xia was at a loss for a moment. In the eyes of Xiao's he sees the madness and perseverance of Heine in such intensity that he felt the memory press into him.

Suddenly everything collapses. The water above him evaporates and the sand dims into nothing. Xia found he was no longer in Xiao's subconscious.

"What happened?"
The General turns to his adjutant. This is not a consequence of Xiao rejecting his presence. It was as if Xiao's consciousness had suddenly disintegrated. The first suspicion the General has is that there has been an interruption in the connection.

"Sir, Xiao Yan's neurons are not responding!"

"What?" Xia tears off his connector and walked up to the adjutant.

The display shows that Xiao has no brain activity.

"Did the system malfunction? Is it no longer connected to his brain?"

"No... it's his brain... it's...stopped thinking..." The adjutant mumbled, at a loss of what to say. He looked at the General with a severe expression.

"Terminate the connection!" Xia pushed aside the adjutant. He ran several system checks and attempted to re-dock with Xiao's neurons, but there was no response. "Could there be a problem with the nerve stabilizer? Could you have miscalculated the dose?"

"No! You emphasized to me several times how important this procedure was. The dose was checked several times!"

"So what is happening?" The General stops to think. "Try to jumpstart his neurons!"

The adjutant adjusts the neurological intervention protocol and micro stimulated Xiao's brain. The weak current can activate pathways through subtle positioning; it is often used to awaken vegetative state subjects.

But Xiao Yan shows no response.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on?" The adjutant's back ran cold.

They had used all their methods to awaken Xiao Yan. Not only did he not gain consciousness, his brain readings were near zero.

"He has enough activity to maintain the most basic parts of his physical systems, such as respiration...other than that... he shows no activity at all." This was the first time they had encountered such a situation. Even under deep anesthesia a patient is not so unresponsive. The current situation is almost equivalent to Xiao's brain just disappearing, though it is clearly visible on the scanner display.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on..." Xia holds his head in desperation. "I was so careful not to disturb any sensitive areas to avoid a subconscious resistance...there was no risk of harm to him...the nerve stabilizers are not the culprit..." he trails off helplessly.

The adjutant swallowed with difficulty, "Sir...we..."

"Notify the medical force to come here quickly! If we hesitate, he may go into respiratory failure, then there is nothing we can do!"

Heine arrived at the torture force HQ to see a medical unit carrying an isolator into an aircraft. Heine's body grew weak and swayed inexplicably at the sight. He rushed up to the craft as the hatch closed.

"Burton... Colonel Burton..." The medic responsible for the ambulance showed a surprised expression.

"How is Xiao Yan's situation?"

After learning that Xiao's brain was unresponsive, Heine fell absolutely silent. The air thinned and the medical force felt the oxygen pull from their lungs.

The news spread quickly to Gordon and Ervel. A half hour later and they showed up at Sharif's office.

Xia is there reporting the situation to the Admiral.

"General Xia, you are positive that you did not find any information implicating Xiao Yan?"

"I did not Sir."

General Xia did not mention Jane's actions toward Xiao Yan, since the admiral's questions were framed to include Xiao Yan's actions and not Jane's.

"Then we have to give everyone a reasonable explanation for what has happened." Sharif's looked past Xia to see a sneering Gordon and a cold faced Ervel.

Xia turns toward Gordon and reports the situation in a calm tone. "Xiao Yan's state is not related to the inquiry in any way. I am sure of this."

"But he cannot wake up. Any mistake in the link could result in harm. This is why I didn't want to turn him over to the torture force. And I helped you distract Heine Burton!! Now, how am I supposed to face the Academy and the Special Forces? Xiao Yan is not just any researcher! He not only saved Colonel Burton but possibly the live of the entire Special Forces. Today we were supposed to go over the plan for the X-2 models. If successful, it could have increased our special forces numbers several times over."

Gordon did not say a word, since Ervel has said everything there was to say.

Sharif's eyes hung low and he said nothing for a long time. "I believe that General Xia had no problems during the inquiry procedure."

What?" Gordon was stunned. He rushed up to the desk.

"He may just be a lieutenant but he has developed an antidote for the chemical attack on the special forces. He saved them from certain death. He saved Heine Burton! Colonel Burton is a beacon of hope among the special forces. If he had died...what kind of effect that would have! The entire force looks up to him. You feel it is too incredible that he escaped from the Surge! So the only way to escape your suspicion is if we had found him dead? You planned to suspect him unless he was dead!"

" Major General!" Sharif's voice lowered to a dangerous pitch.

Ervil quickly grabbed Gordon's waist and dragged him out of the office. "I think you need to get some fresh air and calm down."

Sharif let out a heavy sigh. "Our enemy has set off a very large wave. Right now we need to concentrate our efforts on waking Xiao Yan up. We need him and not just for the sake of the special missions or the Academy of Sciences."

"I am sorry, sir."

"You don't need to be sorry, you just need to carry out your duties."

"No...Sir...General Gordon is right. Xiao Yan has a very flexible mind, perhaps there are some things that only he can do."

"Then we can only pray that the medics will be able to wake him up."

____

The medical team is conducting a comprehensive evaluation of Xiao Yan's condition. None of his organs are damaged and his brain is clear of any lesions.

Heine stood in front of the isolation chamber quietly watching Xiao Yan.

He appeared as though he were deep asleep in an unreachable world.

Heine's palm spread over the gla.s.s and then his fingers clenched tightly into a fist.

"I need Xiao Yan's blood sample."

"What?"

Although the staff was busy, there had been no progress.

Heine went directly to the holographic screen and pressed in a command. Xiao Yan's blood was automatically sampled and Heine grabbed the small tube of blood and walked away.

He walked into the Central Academy of Sciences and pa.s.sed through several rows of research labs. All the researchers felt the air crackle and a storm brew through the halls as Heine pa.s.sed by. They pressed themselves against the walls of the pa.s.sage in avoidance of the man who seemed ready to erupt into a destructive force of nature at any time.

Ervel's office door suddenly slammed open and the liaison officer jumped at the motion, quickly moving to press the alarm.

"Colonel Burton... I am sorry..."

"You should be sorry, but I will not take you head just yet."

The liaison officer tensed at Heine threatening words and Ervel gestured for him to leave the room.

"So why is my head still attached?"

"I want to verify that Jane Wallace gave Xiao Yan the x virus."

Heine set Xiao Yan's blood sample on the desk in front of Ervel.

Ervel's eyes narrowed and he immediately stood up.

He personally a.n.a.lyzed the sample.

"This is the x virus, but it seems there is a virophage. This suffix virus is affecting the function of the x-virus. It can cause the x-virus to affect certain parts of the body, such as the heart, the bones, and even..."

*****I want to say thank you to those that have helped with my computer situation. I am so grateful...you have no idea...it is so sweet and I really really appreciate it. I wanted to get out more than one chapter to express my grat.i.tude, but...well obvious reasons....though I am...well...I shouldn't promise anything...

Also, I made a mistake when I said that Xiao's Sharon virus was permanent when he left Jane with the zombies. It wasn't at that point. I a.s.sume Xiao injected it shortly before being kidnapped.

...And we meet Heine's dad! Actually it wasn't that exciting but...well there he is...Daddy Burton. Also Xia and Xiao is really close so I am sorry if any typos confuse the two.******