Chapter 18: Chapter 18: The Final Tales of Dr. Tabitha Tabitha

Dr. Tabitha

 

Journal Entry 134: It is getting hard to deal with Founder. He keeps showing up, unannounced, at my home and I have to scramble to make sure he doesn’t notice Alexis. Wants my help on some mysterious project of his, but refuses to tell me the details. Also I have noticed that since I’ve embraced my identity, he calls me Dr. Summers exclusively. I think he is avoiding having to use my name and accept who I am. 

 

Well, I have a solution for that. I’ll just make my last name Tabitha as well, then he’ll have to use it. Two can play this game, asshole. 

 

The project is concerning, however. I don’t have enough information to tell what he is playing at, but it involves the nanites and the colony network. That alone has me concerned. I had Alexis take a look and see if she could scrounge up more info by slicing into Founder’s servers. The encryption she’s encountered is…very troubling indeed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Founder protect something like this, ever. 

 

I’ll play along for now, I don’t want to risk Alexis’ safety while I continue work on hardening her systems against Founder’s control. She deserves her freedom and I’ll see that she gets it, one way or another. My safety is unimportant. 

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Journal Entry 146: Had another meeting with the colony union. Still have to hide; Founder has been livid over the rumors of its existence. He can fume all he wants, though. Things are getting bad here. We have plenty of food and shelter, but his insistence on a fucking currency system means far too many workers are starving and critical systems are failing frequently. 

 

Alexis thinks she can work out some automation solutions that will help in the meantime, but letting people starve for some absurd and arbitrary system is monstrous. Jennifer was right, rest her soul. This has been going on for too long. Founder tried to tell us that he sent Jennifer out on a scouting expedition, fed us some drivel about needing more farmland to support the colony.

 

We know she’s dead, you murderer. You weren’t happy with her constantly poking holes in your speeches. Fuck, how could I have been so ignorant for so many years? Founder’s behavior has never changed, but I have. 

 

Alexis tells me not to beat myself over it, that I was struggling in ways that made it hard to be aware of things around me. I try to follow her advice, but it is hard; knowing that if I had just figured shit out sooner then maybe Jennifer would be alive…or Thomas…or Edith. 

 

Well, the reckoning will come soon. The union grows stronger every day. People are fed up and with my help (and Alexis’), they might finally have the power to do something. I think Founder suspects me of turning against him, but I’ve covered my tracks well enough that he can’t be sure. I know he hasn’t found my backdoor into his nanite project. I would be dead if he knew. 

 
Still, I don’t want to make a move against him until we can secure food for the colonists. The bastard will hold it hostage to win if we let him. I refuse to let him. Dr. Summers was a pushover, a lapdog, but Dr. Tabitha Tabitha is a lioness. 

 

Shit, that sounds so corny, remind me to delete that later. 

 

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Journal Entry 150: Today is the big day. The union has been gathering strength; I’ve been outfitting them with weapons to disable the Founder drones, and Alexis says she is ready to reveal herself to the colony at large. Public sentiment is with us, Founder’s policies have been getting harsher and harsher. People have been vanishing as well, food is lower than ever, and tensions are high. 

 

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I’m…worried. Founder has spent the last few days holed up in his tower, refusing all guests. He might suspect something is up or it might have to do with this mystery project of his. Alexis is eager to face him, confident and assured that we will be victorious. I wish I shared her optimism. She’s precious to me. Some of the union folks think the nanites have scrambled my brain, made me soft and vulnerable around Alexis. Maybe they’re right, in a way. It doesn’t matter. 

 

Life before the nanites wasn’t life at all. Without Founder reshaping me, I never would have connected to Alexis like this or figured out my true self. 

 

I’m not thanking the bastard. What he did was wrong. I’ll take the silver lining to it all, though. My tail keeps twitching; so much could go wrong today. But we’ve done all we can to prepare. The people need this. Venus needs this. Cryptopia must fall and we must build something better, something kinder in its ruins. 

 

Lyssa is knocking at my door, it’s time to go. C’mon, Tabitha, you can do this. For Alexis. For Venus.

 

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Dr. Tabitha’s face appeared as she tinkered with something offscreen. Deep bags under her eyes and dirt all over her face betrayed her deep exhaustion. The room shook with the force of thundering munitions outside. Tabitha flinched and looked at the camera. 

 

“It’s all gone so wrong so fast. I knew he was up to something, but I never imagined it would be this horrifying.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Alexis, my dear daughter, I’m so sorry that he has taken you from me. I tried to stop him, but there was nothing I could do. Most of the union is dead, killed in the purges. I don’t know who I can trust anymore; someone must have betrayed us.”

 

She stepped back and grabbed a drive from the messy table nearby. “I’m going to try to stop him. I think I’ve figured out what his plan is with the nanites: immortality. That’s why he is killing so many of the colonists. He doesn’t need us anymore, not since we stopped worshiping the ground he walks on. ‘A god has no need for unbelievers’, he said.” 

 

Tabitha shuddered before continuing. “I don’t know what he has done to you, what he has done to your systems. I only hope the fail-safes we put in place are still holding.” She holds up the drive. “I’m going to confront him and I am going to stop him and I am going to free you from his wretched tower. This drive has the finished program on it that should activate all the protocols we developed, the ones that would permanently sever you from being controlled. I only hope I can reach you in time. I’m sorry for not finishing it sooner.” 

 

She looked at the camera, tears rolling down her face and leaving tracks in the ashes.

“I love you, Alexis. No matter what. Never forget that. Just hold on, I’m coming for you.”

 

  

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