The Lightbreakers of Orpheus [13]

A Sci-fi story serialised in flash fiction chapters (hopefully, each works as a stand-alone).

Previously [12]

[13]

“Stop! It hurts! Mommy!”

The light is pain.

“It hurts, Mommy! I’m scared!”

The light is terror.

“Mommy! Where are you? I want to go home! Mommy!”

The light is your enemy.

Do you understand? The voice asked.

Do you understand? It repeated.

“Yes,” the boy replied. He knew, if he’d keep his silence, torture would go on. They didn’t call it torture. They called it “training and adjusting”. Mark43 knew it would repeat every day. The sooner he gave into the pain of the light forcefully blinding his eyes, and the sooner he’d reply approvingly, he’d get released from the straps binding him to the surgery table. Every day his vision blurred, until he slipped into complete darkness. The surgery, and implanting the microbionics into his brain killed the light in his eyes completely. It was replaced by thermal images, a vague reminder of what colours looked like. When he turned sixteen, he became a soldier. He was ready. He knew the right answers. The light was pain. The light was the enemy. The light was terror. Don’t trust the light, the voice said, and Mark43 replied yes.

***

“Mark, open your eyes!”

“No!”

“Why not?”

Mark kept his silence. Anouk cupper his face.

“Mark, can you see something? Can you see the light?”

“The light is my enemy,” he grunted in reply.

When the Gravediggers rescued them from the ruins, and they stepped into the bright morning sun, Anouk noticed Mark’s reaction. He shielded his eyes. Just for a few seconds, but still.

Covered in red dust, they sat in the half-collapsed hospital, where the Gravediggers took them to be examined by Doc Benton. Derek had some minor injuries. Sophie sat nearby, observing Anouk and Mark.

“You’re not a Lightbreaker anymore. Do you believe me, Mark?” Anouk asked caressing his dirty face.

“Yes.”

“The light is not your enemy. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Please, open your eyes, Mark.”

Anouk stared into his blue eyes, slowly opening to her.

“What do you see?”

“You,” Mark replied, eyes wide to the revelation. He saw a blurred image of Anouk. The light revealed it. The light gave her to him.

Anouk embraced him tight.

“He can see, Mommy!” Anouk explained, when Sophie got up to intervene.

Doc Benton did a round of tests, and confirmed it.

“What an amazing recovery! From what I’ve heard, these guys shouldn’t ever be able to recover their vision,” Doc gave a quick chuckle, “but knowing the Rebels, they had outdone themselves, pumping these poor lads with chemical cocktails beyond reason. They’re making super men without a clue how it’ll play out in the future.”

***

Doc took Derek into a dimly lit hallway of the abandoned hospital for a private conversation, while the others changed their dirty clothes.

“You don’t seem all that happy about his recovery,” said Derek.

“It might make your girl happy, but his recovery is useless to us. Derek, they destroyed your home. The war must be stopped.”

“And how?!” Derek snapped at Doc.

“With the help of your Lightbreaker. As I suggested, you fix the biomechanics, I install them back into the guy’s brain, and…”

“Are you an idiot?! What can one Lightbreaker do against two giant armies? We couldn’t stop the war even if we had a thousand Lightbreakers on our side!” Derek bellowed.

“Shush! You only need one Lightbreaker to create a diversion. It takes one domino to make the whole row fall…”

“This is not a game!”

“Derek, we must do something. How long will you avoid the war? Never thought you’re such a coward!”

Derek grabbed Doc by the front of his shirt. Both men stared at each other with contempt for a couple of seconds. Then Derek released him.

“Never thought you’re such an idealist,” he said.

“I’m not,” the elderly Doc straightened his collar after Derek released him. “I don’t want to lose everything I hold dear. This place is all I have left.”

“Should’ve guessed. You’re interests come first, as usual,” Derek shook his head, and marched back to the others.

---