Augmented Earth

Augmented Earth - Chapter 11 - First Mission

Izzy smiled.

"You remember the woman who tried to stab you?"

Prince sat up straighter, and his face hardened. "Yes, how could I forget her?"

"We believe that she was part of a State controlled organisation. We just call them 'The People in Black,' because they always seem to wear black clothes in real life, whereas everyone else wears grey."

"Yes, I have seen these people," Prince exclaimed "Who are they? What do they want?"

Izzy laughed lightly, and made a calming gesture with her hands.

"We don't know who they are, we rarely see them. I, myself, have only seen them a few times over the years."

"Really? I've seen them regularly since I came to the City," said Prince.

Izzy was shocked. This truly must be an important man if those people had been watching him that closely. She continued with her explanation.

"OK, well, the People in Black clearly have the ability to live outside the augmentation, but we believe the woman was not a full member, just someone they were using to try to kill you.

"You see, there is no reason for them to know that you have the ability to turn off the Device, so, if they could kill you in the augmented world, you would have died in the real world too."

Izzy paused, but Prince, although he had a thunderous expression on his face, seemed content to let her continue.

"We would have been concerned that your survival would have tipped them off to your having the nanites, but your dramatic entrance into the ballroom, and extended recovery time should have put them off the trail.

"Now Prince, have you stopped to consider what might have happened to her?"

Izzy watched a look of shock, followed by a guilty look, followed by a look of compassion cross Prince's face before he looked at her to answer. Izzy relaxed even more in his presence. This woman had attempted to kill him and, even though he was angry about it, she could tell that he was worried about what had happened to this stranger. He was the right man for this job, someone who could inspire and lead people.

"I ... I hadn't really thought about it," said Prince. "I mean, she got stabbed in our fight and she appeared to die, but I guess I assumed that she was OK in real life. Now, with what you have told me, I'm not so sure."

Izzy nodded and continued to educate Prince.

"She was in a completely different location from you in the real world, but she believed in her soul that she was really there with you and was really fighting with a knife. In the real world, there may have been something like a knife beside her that she picked up and thrashed around with for a while before stabbing herself, or there might not have been. Either way, the result was the same, her heart stopped, and she would have died."

Prince swallowed, hard.

"You mean, I really killed that woman?"

He looked at Izzy's face and could see a look of concern cross her features.

"Prince, you did what you had to do to save yourself. You had every right to kill her, but no, you didn't kill her, the System did that."

Prince knew that Izzy was right, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had caused someone's death, even though they were somewhere completely different when it happened. He began to feel his anger bubbling up again, although this time it was directed at the mysterious People in Black that had put him in this position where he had had to defend himself, with disastrous results."