Day 122 - Babel - Chapter 18 (1165 words)

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BABEL

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 18

The pain had gone entirely now, disconnected from Susan as she was dead a pronouncement he knew internally to be true from the way he had felt himself die as she felt it. She receded from him like she was falling away from a great height, disappeared out of sight and out of mind, out of his mind at least.

The group was hiding under whatever cover they could find, a clear view of every angle was available to them as they could share what they were seeing so that all could know the same thing. There was a man on the roof of a building nearby, there was a few hundred or more Babel between that building and themselves and there were no more shots. A plan formed, one that occurred to them all because it had been implanted in them, they knew that but it still seemed to each and every one of them as sensible and the best course of action.

Thirty four people broke into a sudden sprint towards the Babel lined up in Quay street, the individuals that had the furthest to run also had the most cover to dodge among and seek shelter if shots would ring out again. There were no more bullets though and thirty four bodies slammed together at various intervals in the following seconds from when they broke cover to split up and hit the crowd.

There were now sixty eight people connected and Looped in to each other, and they hung in the space between being a silent unfazed stillness to being a connected Looped in person that had the connecting thoughts and feelings of sixty seven other people who were alive and the latent memories of two who were dead. The exchange took seconds, like it had on the ship above the Mountain in the Gulf, and then that was it they were real people again.

The strategy changed and the pairs all split up, pacing themselves at arm's length from each other but holding the outstretched hands together. They all did this silently at the same time, an eerie ballet of arms and twirls that cascaded into a Mexican wave like sensation of hundreds of thousands of people all moving together. The Sixty four Looped individuals broke away from each other and they touched a person each, spread out in all the directions they could manage and the link began.

The Loop opened up to everyone all together, a white light rush of memories falling down into the collective, the feelings, the thoughts, the fears, the hopes and the nightmares of three hundred seventy one thousand, nine hundred and eight one individuals spliced instantly into the Loop and then they truly moved and thought as one. The clarity of mind was astounding to George who was now one in almost a million, and when they moved beyond the borders of where they were, when they caught the stragglers in the south, connected again with countries overseas, he would be one in billions all talking directly into each others minds.

It was chaos, but it was also order. When he thought about it, he could not comprehend it, but if he thought about a spot, a place a time or a memory it came to him ready packaged and delivered as if it were his own already. It was transcendent and at the same time plain, it should have been so much more than any one person could possibly have handled, but no one's brain imploded, no one tried to gouge out their own eyes. Instead the new found ability came naturally to them, like walking and talking that a baby learns innately independent of our efforts to teach them something the already are ready to do.

In less than three minutes the entire area was Looped in, and the Babel, the poor unfortunate souls that were cut off from language and connection to others in a meaningful way, were now communicating on a level previously unknown and inhuman in scope. Victor was shoving his way through the crowd when the Loop connected through it, and he saw the veil fall from Babel's eyes and hands reached out for him, holding him still, as many people as could crowd him were there instantly, the gun melted into the distance, the detonators taken from his hands before he was even able to consider the triggering of the switches.

It happened too fast, the voice in his head started screaming at him after he was captive, unable to move he screamed and kicked back, but it was like fighting water. The Looped had perfect and complete connection, there were no surprises and the movements could be seen from every angle and every mind that could think of an option for what he would do, what they could do to counter it, was thought out and made a reality in the exact right time. The Looped had changed from zombies to a chess computer, all moves and permutations were thought out and analysed in the group.

Philip was still down on Quay street, and he moved his arms to touch Victor, though they were not his actual arms they were the arms of a Looped individual named Henry who was standing next to the captive Victor, they worked together to press the flesh of the assassin and bring him into the loop, but there was nothing there, no reaction and they did not join the loop.

Victor was unreadable, he was one of the Few, the former Babel knew that there were people capable and there were not many of them. They were immune to the Babel, so maybe they were immune to the cure as well. If the aliens were targeting them with the Babel then... no.

WAIT.

WE DID NOT.

Every single Looped person heard that, not a feeling and not a vague direction they needed to follow, this was a direct statement for the first time there was a voice, though this could not be heard in a out loud voice kind of way, this was still a voice that inserted the words, the actual statement from their hosts, that they did not bring the Babel.

That stopped everyone as they processed the new information that the Babel was not related to the aliens, or at least not according to their version of events. With over nine hundred thousand individuals in the Loop now there were tens of thousands that immediately connected the conspiracy dots and the thoughts raced about that this was a lie.

NO.

WE DID NOT.

WE CAME TO HELP.

Then the voice went away, it had said too much and would not speak so directly again, there were rules for this kind of thing, and they had passed perilously close to them already. This sensation was now back in line with the previous line of communication, through hints and subtlety rather than the handing over of answers or questions.