White, Water

Imagine, if you will, you’re a ball. If you were a ball, you’d be lucky if you had any awareness at all, but how would having awareness truly serve a ball? A ball doesn’t serve much purpose outside of the rolling or bouncing it was designed to do. Now, imagine a newly aware ball being plucked out of the ocean, sopping wet, and bounced around in a dryer for a few hours. That’s akin to how Ando felt when he started to regain consciousness on the plush leather couch in the office of the woman sitting across from him.

“Have you been following the science dailies, Mr. Ra,” the woman inquired.

For his part, Ando was still disoriented from having the black bag taken off of his head. The light seared his eyes, causing him to wince in pain.

“Specifically—the cascade event that was reported in the Antarctic,” the woman continued.

Ando’s dried lips curled into an involuntary and painful pucker.

“Water,” he pleaded.

“While those in the science community are in quite an uproar over this ‘cascade,’ Those-On-High have managed to keep the media from reporting on it.”

“Water, please.”

“Certainly. Still or sparkling Mr. Ra,” the woman inquired. Apparently, this is what she did. Ask questions. Lots of questions.

As Ando mustered the strength to sit upright, the world in his physical line of sight began to realign itself. Instead of two women in front of him, he now only saw one. Instead of eight armed men in the room, there were now three. Don’t question the math. Things don’t always make sense when you’ve been abducted and beaten.

While his vision was improving, the loud buzzing in his head hadn’t gotten any better. It was already quite severe before his captors started beating on his head like a drum. The throbbing made it hard for him to concentrate.

“—or sparkling, Mr. Ra?”

“Wh-what?”

“How do you like your water?”

“Wet?”

“Yes, of course—what ever was I thinking,” the woman responded in clear annoyance.

As Ando responded, he realized his response wasn’t the brightest. This realization forced him to wince in pain, not because of the likely broken ribs on his left side, but because he missed his chance to make a good first impression. For the woman who sat in front of him was nothing short of beautiful. This caused him to audibly laugh out loud.

“Apologies, am I missing something,” the woman inquired.

“No, just my childhood trauma rearing its ugly head again,” Ando responded in a casual yet annoyed tone.

Although he couldn’t be sure, Ando could almost swear that the woman sitting in front of him was glowing. To be fair, it could also have been the head trauma he had recently suffered. Her skin was absolutely radiant in the ambient blue light of the room. Everything was immaculately positioned from her posture to her hair. Not a strand was out of place.

Her skin was supple and smooth. Her lips, full and perfectly painted. She had a small mole on her neck where past lovers have most assuredly—

“—drink.”

“What,” Ando asked.

“Your water,” the woman gestured toward the glass of water on the table in front of him. “Drink.”

Puzzled, Ando couldn’t for the life of him recall it sitting there before the woman pointed it out. Was he losing his mind? After a brief pause, Ando took the glass in his right hand and turned it up towards his lips. As Ando gulped the water down, he kept wondering to himself: How long was it sitting there in front of him. How long was the table sitting there?

“Are you with me now, Mr. Ra,” the woman asked. “Refreshed?”

And just like that, Ando was lucid again. Wholly aware of the world and all of its wonders. He could see, hear and most importantly think clearly again.

“Yes. Yes I am,” Ando replied. “A slice of cucumber would’ve really set it off, though. Maybe a fancy umbrella.” Ando sometimes went for simple humor when he was nervous. It seldom garnered the response he was seeking.

As Ando finished his water and his musing, he placed the empty glass back on the elaborate glass table in front of him. The table sat on a plush white rug. On the other side of the table, which sat on the white rug, was the woman with all of the questions, dressed in bespoke white raiment’s. She was quite obviously fond of white. Platinum blonde hair. Even the pupils of her eyes looked like white diamonds, only the faintest blue shimmering in the light. Draped around her neck was a heart-shaped locket that was just barely visible between her bosom and her blouse.

“If I could ask a question,” Ando started.

“Certainly,” the woman assured.

“Who are you,” Ando asked.

“Again, my name is Anna.” As she spoke, Anna uncrossed her legs and crossed her right leg over her left before leaning back in her chair.

“You said ‘again’?” Apparently, Anna did not like repeating herself.

“Yes.” She sounded pissed.

“So you had already told me your name?”

“Yes,” Anna responded, trying her best to hide her annoyance. “May I continue?”

“Yes, my apologies,” Ando said as he leaned back on the couch. “Where were we?”

“The Cascade Paradox.”

“I thought it was an event. They’re calling it a paradox now?”

“Welcome back to the conversation, Mr. Ra,” Anna responded wryly. “’They’—as in, many of those in the scientific community—refer to it as an ‘event.’ My—colleagues, and I—refer to it as a paradox of sorts.”

“OK—I’ll bite. What is it,” Ando inquired with the enthusiasm of one who has grown tired of their lover’s advances.

“Lights,” Anna boomed. On cue, the lights in the room dimmed again and a brilliant blue light began to fill the room directly above the table where Ando’s glass rested. In a few seconds, a rendering of the planet and its geographic makeup was being projected above the table, spinning brilliantly in silence.

“A few months ago, a series of—abnormal—energy signatures were picked up in the Antarctic by one of our satellites. One of its primary functions is to look for anomalies—topical, thermal, atmospheric, etcetera. Should the satellite detect anything, its job is to immediately begin recording everything it can. Depending upon the magnitude of the event, this satellite can autonomously launch probes to gather additional data from the ground. The probe can assess the situation and gather petabytes of data without ever having to put a human life in danger. Are you still with me?”

Seemingly distracted by the brilliant projection which animated everything Anna had just said, Ando managed to respond, albeit not clearly, “If we could get these in class, our renders could be done so much more efficiently. How much did this table cost you exactly?”

“Yes, well. After a few days of ground-based testing, a probe determined human exploration was safe, and created a list of personnel best-suited to perform further ground-based research.”

“So you’re A.I. ran the show for about a week before any humans were around,” Ando inquired.

“That is correct,” Anna affirmed. “Our ground team was on site for about a week before the energy signature—changed. It happened precisely at these coordinates—,” Anna pointed at the projection, and in doing so, the projection zoomed in to a remote patch of uninhabited terrain. “This energy signature started off as a seed, and began expanding exponentially. As it expands, everything it touches is essentially—unmade.”

“And you see that as a paradox,” Ando pressed. “I wonder why that is?”

“We lost contact with our team and our probe well over a month ago, but we were able to salvage their work. We received data bursts every hour on the hour until we lost contact. What we think—is this energy wave—or cascade—is rewriting the structure of the planet and everything that inhabits it on a molecular level. Because we can’t see into the energy field, we don’t know what caused this?”

“Or, perhaps, who,“ Ando quipped.

“Apparently you’re the right man, after all,” said Anna through gritted teeth. “You have something we need if we are indeed going to stop the cascade from spreading. Give it to us, and you can be on your way.”

Leaning forward, Ando pushed his glass towards Anna before speaking, “You are pretty.”

“And you are stalling.”

“Stalling,” Ando asked while feigning shock. “Why would I be stalling? Nobody knows where I am, so I’d only be dragging out whatever this is, right?”

“Where is the briefcase, Mr. Ra?”

“It’s safe, apparently,” Ando responded. “I don’t think I’d be alive still if it weren’t. More water please,” Ando demanded, nudging his empty glass further across the table.

“I tell you that the planet is being destroyed as we speak, and your response is to demand more water,” Anna asked, almost in disbelief.

“Respectfully, I grew up in a place where people did some pretty horrific things for a few extra water credits,” Ando retorted. “Armageddon makes me thirsty. And being abducted.”

With a roll of her eyes, Anna circled her hand in the air, gesturing for more water.

“Being assaulted—" Ando continued to enumerate.

Within moments, a small service bot quietly wheeled out the dark recesses of the room with a fresh glass of water, deftly exchanging Ando’s empty glass for the full one. The bot then pulled a small slice of cucumber and a paper umbrella from its innards, plopping them into Ando’s glass before giving a cheeky little curtsy and silently wheeling back off into the darkness.

“Cute,” Ando said as he swirled the contents of his glass before drinking.

“He likes you,” Anna professed.

“Pardon?”

“The Servo-Bot seems to fancy you.”

“How do you know if ‘He’ likes me,” Ando asked inquisitively. “I mean, it’s A.I.—not a human being.”

“I’m quite certain he hates me, the little bugger. I can’t quite stand to revert him to before he had a personality upgrade, though.” For a moment, a smile washed over Anna’s face. And seconds later, it was as if it never happened. “The briefcase, Mr. Ra—do you have it, or no?”

“I’m not sure if I’m prepared to answer that?”

“And why not?”

“Because you had me captured and beaten, for one. Not the greatest way to start off a relationship,” Ando retorted. “And to be honest, I’m not quite sure if your intentions are—good.”

“Point taken,” Anna replied. “Though, you’ve all but admitted you have it, or at least know where it is. Twice.”

“Good point,” Ando responded.

“I could threaten to put a bullet through your skull if you don’t comply,” Anna countered.

“True, but that isn’t your game,” Ando replied. “Maybe the goons in the corner, but that’s not your style.”

“And how do you know this,” Anna inquired with genuine curiosity.

“I’ve had a lot of people chasing me, most of them trying to kill me,” Ando began. “But, you’re the first to sorta ask for the briefcase without trying to kill me. If you intended to kill me, I don’t think you’d have wasted the water. Which leads me to believe you aren’t with the other guys that have been chasing me. I don’t think you’re with I.N.C., either. I’m just trying to figure out your angle.”

“This is why you’re stalling,” Anna inquired.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Ando replied flatly.

“I told you, the planet is dying—”Anna motioned to the projection of the cascade growing in real-time.

“Yeah, we’ve been killing this planet for generations now,” Ando interrupted. “Whatever set off this—cascade—it seems like a human problem.”

“Exactly, which is why I want you to help me.”

“Yeah, but—I’m not convinced that you’re actually human.”

“Clever, Mr. Ra,” Anna responded with a smile of amusement. “Let’s put our cards on the table, shall we?”