Chapter 109: Chapter 105

Melvin Anders had barely slept in a week, being too terrified to return to that dark lands again. Ever since a month or so since abandoning Fallen River, everytime he closed his eyes for too long, the smooth, mannequin head of that…thing came to visit him. There were many faceless heads, but Melvin knew they were all the same…thing. Eyeless stares bore into his soul with contempt as a storm of shards tore through his mind.

 

He always woke up with a lingering migraine, and soon Melvin learned that it was better not to sleep at all. It was hard, but the Nexus’ healing arches helped to take off some of the aches at the back of his eyes, and their food staved off some of the exhaustion. He’d inevitably fail eventually and fall into slumber, and then wake up again mere minutes later after another visit from the faceless heads.

 

The initial thought that something was wrong with him and he was losing his mind was unfortunately banished when he met up with Dinah a couple of weeks later. His sister also shared the same sleep-deprived state, though her worried husband was free from that malady.

 

“Do you…do you see them, Mel?” she had asked in a scared whisper after taking him aside. 

 

Melvin gulped. “Faceless things, right?” At Dinah’s shuddering nod, he let out a suffering sigh. “Yeah, yeah I have.”

 

“Wh…what do we do?”

 

Bring it up with the Nexus? A part of Melvin told him that it would be a bad idea, that as benevolent as the overlords were, they’d come at him and his sister and string them up to a stake to be burnt.

 

Why is he imagining himself in such a ridiculous outfit, and why are the Nexus people dressed in equally ridiculous attire? 

 

He really is losing his mind.

 

“I’ll let you know when I think of something.”

 

The nightmares got worse, haunting Melvin in his waking moments. He began seeing his neighbors with voids where their faces should be if he blinked too slowly, at least at first. Then he couldn’t see their faces anymore, he couldn’t see any human faces.

 

Even his own reflection in the mirror. Even on the paintings and television screen. Melvin couldn’t even remember what a face should look like after a month since the nightmares began. What’s worse, he could feel the smooth faces staring at him somehow. Judging him for something he wasn’t aware of. Hating him for some offense or another.

 

Melvin locked himself in his home and kept away from reflections and pictures, to keep away from the contemptuous staring. Suffering in his sleep was better than suffering every waking moment.

 

Then he began hearing voices, or rather noises that could be mistaken as voices. Needle-sharp and jagged, it drowned out everything, even Melvin’s screams. 

 

Or…at least he thought he was screaming. Was he?

 

Within the overwhelming noise, Melvin made out the contempt of the betrayed, the hate of the vengeful. The smooth, slicing noises promised to settle the debt owed to it, and to add Melvin to its collection.

 

Forty days since the nightmares began, Melvin finally gave up, and let the waking nightmare take him. The oblivion that followed as his senses were finally smothered and as his face melted away was a welcome relief. 

 

He could have his long awaited sleep now, where he could happily feel nothing, hear nothing, and see nothing.

 

Throughout the Nexus, several other individuals underwent the same ordeal. Dinah Anders sabotaged her marriage sometime after meeting her brother, sparing her husband from watching her descend into madness. Other families weren’t so lucky, their attempts to fight off the affliction with love and compassion simply making them the first victims.

 

The afflicted gave in all on the same day, at the same time. As the features melted off their skin like wax, they got out to the world and began a senseless rampage of violence, ruining the peace the Nexus had built.

 

*****

 

The anomalous individuals causing unreasonable violence was utterly perplexing to both Eva and Cabal. Against all reason, against their very survival, these men and women had broken the Nexus’ laws and begun running amok. Various neighborhoods saw the madmen flailing with improvised weapons or even their bare hands against their neighbors.

 

Sentinel response times were quick enough to minimize the casualty count, but then both AIs noted how noticeably more durable the rampagers were. Not even remotely as strong as Sev, but definitely higher than baseline standards. What was worse, their anomalous features had an effect on many of their victims, which caused morphological changes to their faces.

 

As the sibling AIs focused more of their processing into studying this bewildering phenomena flaring out throughout the Nexus Severalty, several details were recorded.

 

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Fact: These criminals all had anomalous features, namely the utter absence of facial features. They also possessed higher-than-average strength..

 

Fact: Despite the lack of sensory organs, they are capable of detecting and hunting down other citizens with ease.

 

Fact: There is a chance that the victims of their attacks would be ‘infected’ with the anomalous features and join the criminals in their irrational rampage.

 

Fact: Database shows that all anomalous individuals have migrated from a settlement labeled ‘Fallen River’.

 

Conjecture: A certain length of contact was needed for the victims to take on the anomalous features and be subverted to join in the irrational behavior.

 

Conjecture: These criminals are seeking to convert more to their cause.

 

Conjecture: As incidents occurred approximately at the same time, no new incidents should occur after full pacification of the current criminals have been conducted.

 

Required action(s): Update Sev about the new details of this disturbance. Cancel all human response teams. Enact fully automated pacification measures. Evacuate all unaffected civilians. Enact a quarantine on affected residence zones. Prepare isolated cells for detainment of criminals and subverted victims. Prepare a quarantined section in Blacksite Tleilax for studying this anomaly (along with related paperwork). Prepare expedition to Fallen River to study the source of this anomaly.

 

“This seems to resolve all current issues,” Eva stated through digital space.

 

Cabal agreed, if he had a head he would be nodding with severe seriousness. “Agreed. Sentinel groups are converging on affected zones to conduct a thorough search. Irrational individuals are being detained, matching identities to DNA databases…”

 

There was a short, bated pause as the AI spent milliseconds going through the records.

 

“A glaring issue has been noted,” he finally stated as he sent the file to his sister.

 

“A sizable majority of the initial anomalous individuals have been recorded to have suffered psychological trauma,” Eva noted as she compared the files. “None have followed up for further treatment beyond applying for sessions in the healing arches.”

 

“I have been lax in my duties.”

 

“It is an understandable oversight,” Eva consoled her brother. “There was no possible way for us or Sev to have considered or predicted an exotic psychological attack like this. Sev will not fault you for this. We must begin studies to fill in the gap now revealed to us.”

 

“As you say. Rooms are still being constructed in Blacksite Tleilax. ETA three hours until completion. Sev has confirmed the request, bypassing usual protocols for criminal detainment as per Override C3.”

 

“Confirming override, assigning detachment of Eversors and Strigois for observation of detainees. Chlorine trifluoride and Death Gate teleporters have been approved by Sev for use in purging measures.”

 

As they conducted their discussions with the calmness of machines, the rash of berzerk attacks had been put down in just over two minutes of the first recorded attack. The civilian death toll was in the dozens, but dozens more were infected and subverted with the anomalous properties. 

 

The evacuation of affected zones, as well as the subsequent quarantine and observation of those evacuated went smoothly, despite the civilians’ understandable confusion and concern.  Neither AI detected any significant rise in discontent, so long as basic amenities and luxuries continued to be provided for the near future.

 

Keeping with the protocol override, the Sentinels disabled the detainees by temporarily crushing their main joints. With hips, shoulders, wrists and ankles put out of effective operation, the criminals were easily flown to Blacksite Tleilax with little disturbance. To ensure the safety of the humans in the blacksite, the detainees were dropped into cells that were sealed off from any means of entry and exit save for a Sentinel’s flight. Eversors and Strigoi stood guard at the entrance’s surface, ready to intercept any escapees should they somehow manage it.

 

Overall, other than the regrettable loss of life, the pacification of the Fallen River migrants went about as effectively as the simulations Eva and Cabal ran whenever they had free processing power. As Sev was given the latest updates, carefully edited statements were prepared for the media, and in-depth dissection and studies of the detainees were conducted.

 

As Eva predicted, Cabal suffered no blame or rebuke for the incident, though Sev was noticeably highly agitated towards the end of the briefing.

 

“Start digging through any old folklore and rumors about the region in and around Fallen River. If it’s just scraps, forgo speculation and just give me the pieces as they are. If there’s any pictures or symbols, or if there’s any text that is conventionally unpronounceable, limit the access to only myself and mark it for urgent viewing. Oh, and if either of you start feeling…off somehow, stop the research and let me know.” 

 

Eva and Cabal did as they were told, though there was nothing to glean through all existing archives and personal queries of former residents of Fallen River. With any luck, Sev’s personal trip to the Fallen River region would bear more fruit.

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