by GoozX
Jonathan Reynolds watched the three-dimensional images taking place around him, warriors from another time being tested to their limitations. Not only skill, but honor, intelligence, craft and, most importantly, logic. How they deal with their new surroundings and memory loss.
"So who's the magician?"
One of the men, subject Marv Velo, seemed to be not only looking at but talking directly to Jonathan. Amazing, he thought. No one has ever been able to look through the VR sim. How can a mind from another generation be able to?
Pressing invisible buttons in front of his face, an endless stream of words passed by his head. Very interesting. Mr. Velo will be one of the men to perfect this very technology, bring it to new levels never thought of in his time.
"Put him back in his cell. He is of no use."
"But sir, he has been able to do what no other man has ever done."
"I spoke, Jonathan. That means you listen."
He said nothing. The boss stared at him for a moment. Jonathan finally nodded his head and reluctantly pressed another button. Velo's hologram slowly disappeared, and he was returned to his cell, mind and body.
"Who is remaining?" the voice said, seeming to echo throughout the room.
"Subjects Christopher, Glover and Hearn."
"Very well. Status for each?"
"Christopher, Tobias. He has been relatively stable. Somehow, his desire for a woman from his past has been able to override the chip's commands. He is experiencing what would be known as a perfect dream, which should be impossible. All the presets have been overridden by his mind, yet he feels no pain. His brainwaves have also yet to be affected. Possibly a chip malfunction of some sort."
"No, the chip is fine. I overlooked the building of each to make sure no one would foul up."
"Then..."
"His superfast metabolism. His brainwaves are out of sync with that of the chips. He is thinking on a much higher level. His mind is strong, very strong. If I didn't despise him, I would be impressed. Return him to his cell. Next?"
"Glover, Peter. He seems to be acting somewhat normal. He has overridden the preset of being followed and stalked. In fact, the preset black widow/madame killer is buying him drinks, catering to his every need."
"He is the luckiest man on the planet. I knew him well."
"What?" Reynolds asks, curious as to why all detailed files on Pete Glover and his powers seem to have been deleted sometime ago.
"Nothing important," the boss says, and his mind drifted back to another time.
Pete Glover stood over two bodies, both men dead. The little guy was furious, his hands shaking. Two people he obviously cared much for were dead. A shock of electricity went through Glover's body, and emotions overtook him. A hand grabbed into his head, knocking him out. A tall figure loomed over his fallen body, stabbed a syringe into a pulsating vein in his arm, taking out blood. A few moments later, the man injected the blood into his own body. Glover was tossed off a building, the one death that not even luck could apparently stop, hundreds of feet of free falling, hard pavement below.
The man snapped back into reality and said, "Return Glover to his cell."
"Okay, sir. Hearn is the only one left."
"Danny boy. How has his reaction been?"
"He was unconscious for a good portion but then woke up, feeling very misplaced and freaked out. The sim worked fine: he was scared of everyone and everything. I would say that he failed miserably."
"I see. Return him to his cell, and shut down the program."
"Sir? I mean no offense, but what was the point of this? Shouldn't they be slowly taught both our time and trained accordingly to their power levels?"
"Jonathan, m'boy, when you live as long as I do, you learn the true meaning to everything. Sometimes some rules have to be broken. Now take a break. You deserve it."
"A break? But--"
"No buts. Just take some time off."
"Yes, sir."
Reynolds exited, leaving his boss alone in the main control room. He pulled out a small three-dimensional disk and entered it into the hard drive. Words appeared all around him.
"Scan subject Hearn and download all files into subconscious."
Fin.
"Excellent. Return memories to subjects."
Fin.
"Deactivate chips."
Fin.
"Release cell doors."
Command: cell door release. Fin.
The boss smiled to himself, not noticing that Reynolds had ducked behind a booth. The boss pressed a button on his belt and slowly disappeared into thin air.
He slowly reappeared in his office, a huge, oval-shaped room decorated with pictures, mainly traditional art. He walked over the seal of the United States of America, which was proudly represented within the floor's carpet, and sat at his desk. He smiled, knowing that everything was going as he planned.
On his desk was a small American flag and a name plate that read: "Dr. Charles Elias Walker -- President of the United States of America."