Slam!
The force of the
impact shot right through the thick oak door, causing Kinobius to recoil in
pain. The muffled shouts and grunts of at least half a dozen men gave a
moment's notice before each impact.
Kinobius pressed
himself against the door.
Slam!
One of the hinges
was coming loose. The others would soon follow. How many more impacts would it
take? Would it be minutes, or just seconds, before the guards pushed into the
room? The window was an obvious possibility for escape, but it only took a quick
glance to see that the prospects were not good.
He'd let it happen
again. The fear. Kinobius still hadn't learned to control it, and it always
took him from one impossible situation right into another.
That kind of fear
was normally constructive. It meant he was afraid of the right things. But
Kinobius wasn't in training. He'd come here to satisfy a personal vendetta, and
the impossible situations were very unwelcome.
Slam!
The hinge pulled out
another centimeter.
Was there a ledge
going around the outside of the tower? He hadn't noticed a ledge, but he might
have missed it. Positive thoughts! Good.
Kinobius focused on that, careful not to let doubt or fear creep in.
He ran to the
window, leaning out where he'd broken through the glass several minutes before.
Sure enough, there was a ledge. There was actually a series of ledges, spaced
about eight feet apart, all the way down the tower. They weren't big, but they
seemed substantial, and that's what mattered.
Slam!
Metal clanged to the
ground. That hinge had fallen out completely. He brushed glass off the window
sill, and knocked the remaining shards of glass out of the frame.
Slam!
Kinobius stepped out onto the ledge. He was careful to think confident thoughts, but pretending not to be afraid wouldn't work for long.
Slam!
The door broke open, and the shouts of guards was no longer muffled. Kinobius was already out of sight, shimmying his way around the round tower wall. The guards would head straight for the window. They would see him if he didn't get around the wall far enough. He crept along the ledge faster, and watched the window he was leaving behind. His stomach filled with dread as he anticipated seeing a guard looking out and seeing him.
That dread was all it took. Impossibly soon, a head popped out of the window, looked down for a moment, then turned straight toward him.
Why couldn't he control it?
"He's outside! Climbing down!" The guard shouted.
He'd been seen. No more scooting around on the ledge. He needed to climb down as soon as possible if he was going to escape.
Or...
Keep climbing up. Maybe he could still get to Indle in the highest room. It was why he'd come here after all. Kinobius wouldn't sleep properly until he'd tasted the satisfaction of killing Indle.
Yes. Do it. Climb. And stop thinking. You'll ruin everything by thinking.
Maybe scooting around the tower a little further was a good idea. Better to move out of sight and leave some doubt as to whether he was climbing up or down.
Kinobius reached up to the next ledge, holding tight to pull himself up. A bad thought crept in. What if the ledge crumbled?
It didn't. Static objects wouldn't change that easily. Bad thoughts mostly just affected dynamic objects. People were basically just dynamic objects. He pushed away the bad thought anyway, and focused on climbing.
He didn't have far to climb. He'd already made it almost to the top before being cornered in that room. So he only needed to climb a couple more floors. Kinobius focused. He climbed one, then the other. He only needed to shimmy across the ledge to the window. Indle had better be there. He would be there.
Shouts came from below. Kinobius looked down to see archers drawing bows. They wouldn't miss. Kinobius knew they wouldn't miss, so they wouldn't miss. Unless…
He looked up again, and thought about the wind. He chose to fear it, which was easy, being so precariously perched on such a high ledge. The wind blew stronger in response. He pressed tight to the wall and kept moving to the window. Arrows clattered against the wall several meters away, carried away from their target by the wind. A small victory, but a significant confidence boost nonetheless.
What would he find at the window?
Stop thinking!
Would he be able to get inside?
Don't!
Kinobius eyes were locked on the window as he drew closer. The anticipation was terrible. It was his greatest enemy, and he didn't know how to fight it.
Closer.
Kinobius grabbed the outside of the window sill.
Who would be there?
Bad thought! Too late!
He pulled himself in front of the open window. Indle stood inches from him, eyes laughing, mouth crooked, dressed like a feudal lord, sword in hand.
Like lightening, Kinobius reached in the window and grabbed a handful of Indle's tunic. He pulled hard, but Indle already had a firm grip on Kinobius' shoulder. Indle's sword arm was drawn back, ready to thrust a shining blade into Kinobius' side.
It was too late. Kinobius couldn't stop it. The sword pierced cloth and skin and flesh, pushing between ribs and into vitals.
Kinobius was robbed of breath. The pain wasn't what it should have been. It wouldn't pass the limit he'd set. But it was sharp and awful.
Indle let go of his sword, and shoved Kinobius away from the tower. Kinobius tipped backward and, not surprisingly, saw exactly what he feared and hated most. Indle gloating. Indle smirking. Indle triumphant.
The falling sensation was sickening. The wind rushed past. The blade still on fire in his side. Kinobius hated it. He hated it. He'd failed.
He spoke the words as the ground rose up with terrifying speed to slam into him. The words that would save him from that awful impact. "Terminate. One. Two. Three."
The world around him disappeared. It was replaced by the metallic bulkheads of his small quarters on the warship 'Swift Justice'. The ship-wide vibrations of engines and machinery were not quite enough to drown out the sound of Kinobius' heavy breathing.
Kinobius was essentially paralyzed for the next five seconds. It was a safety measure included with the Daydream software package. It kept him from moving while in the dream state, and gave him time to adjust to his surroundings once it was over.
The paralysis began wearing off. Kinobius leaned forward against the straps in his chair. He quickly unbuckled himself, and fell forward into a heap on the cold metallic floor. His eyes burned, producing tears of rage. He slammed a fist against the floor again and again.
The hatred ate at him. He wanted to crush Indle, somehow, in some way. Daydream wasn't meant to satisfy fantasies. It was designed to train soldiers to face fears and fight through impossible situations. But it was also the most realistic virtual reality available. And it was the closest he could get to what he wanted.
Daydream worked through the brain's ability to produce dreams, and then kept the user fully cognizant during those dreams. The dreams could be hyper-realistic, because the software used his brain and his memories to create the experience. The experiences were more persistent and logical and rule-bound than typical dreams, but they were still generated in a similar way. If Kinobius feared something would happen, it often did happen. He was too emotionally invested in the idea of killing Indle. It meant that he had the chance to face Indle in almost every experience, but it also meant that his brain never let him win.
It wasn't working for him. He'd failed well over thirty times by now. And each time, his hatred for Indle had grown stronger.
Daydream was no longer an option. There was only a last resort.
Kinobius would kill Indle in real life.
He'd certainly
trained himself for it long enough.