“Indulgence”

“I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.” – Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein,” 1818. Retrieved from: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/4836639-frankenstein-or-the-modern-prometheus

Dr. Popov finished editing the recording for your mission after he murdered you. He could barely contain his tears as he watched the video over and over again, touching the screen, still not sure if he would be able to join you when you went to where you were finally going.

Keeping you perfectly preserved, he would spend quite a bit of time with you, posthumously, talking to you, fondling you. He wanted so much for you to be alive again, but to do that would violate your wishes, and though he didn’t know if he would ever see you again, he couldn’t bear the thought of betraying you now that you were gone. His only hope was that Sergei would be able to make the flight to deposit the zombies he had in his basement, and get back alive, because in order for all of them to get to space safely, Sergei had to perform surgery on him, and Dr. Popov needed him to do it quickly, before he lost his nerve.

Near the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Northwestern Montana, Sergei was to fly and drop off the crate of the sub humans Dr. Popov created with his experiment gone awry. Paul was among them, but retained some of his consciousness, so he wasn’t entirely lost as this drop off in Montana provided him with a means to escape.

The rest of the zombies were trained to infect and eat people, the same basic formula as in all the post-apocalyptic stories of the 20th centuries and onward. It was the same, and the Russian scientist predicted by Nostradamus was real (1). His name was Dr. Xzavier Popov – mad scientist, terrorist, kidnapper, and murderer.

As Sergei made the deposit, he encountered a group he suspected was law enforcement, but it turned out it was a local militant group that seemed to be supportive of his cause. It was someone who claimed affiliation with American Intelligence, and though Sergei was fully aware that AI didn’t actually exist, he created it, his curiosity got the better of him, and he found himself talking to someone who claimed to know a person named Daniel Thipp, a name Sergei knew very well. Making arrangements to meet Dan later, Sergei returned to Russia to give Dr. Popov his operation, to complete his own transition so when the time came, Boris would fulfill his final mission.

Boris, the little boy who stuck you full of needles when you screamed on the plane. Subdued, he underwent another of Dr. Popov’s successful experiments and is now entirely a computer, to be left behind on Earth when eventually everyone chosen to relocate to space has left the planet. Boris will not age, and will not die, he will serve as eyes and ears to the command center inside the space vehicle, which was near its construction completion.

Boris’ final mission was to implant Dr. Popov, Sergei, and everyone else deemed worthy enough to make it to space inside the computer chip in your heart. Once this was done, you would be put to rest until which time you were programmed to reawaken; in space, to give birth to thousands of souls.

There would, of course be someone chosen to assist you with creating a species of capable vessels for the essences of all these chosen, expired, transformed humans to then take over. That process of selection still remained a small task that Dr. Popov and Sergei would both make the final decision on for you. Paul would have been a likely contender, had he not put up a fight. Sergei was aware of your brother, Jim, and suggested it to Dr. Popov, but the idea died a swift death after discovering the horrors your brother committed throughout his life, after your family fell apart.

The next likely choice would be someone they already had their eyes on, but they would not be able to make that choice just yet, it had to be done at the last minute, as the one they chose would have to be the perfect example of an imperfect human; one who believes blindly in their passion and follows their heart. A person like that couldn’t know what fate would behold them, because if they did, they would surely be an opponent instead of an ally.

But where would they find such an unlikely friend?

WILL BE CONTINUED