Gathering

I had intended to find time to ask some questions without Louise around, but the moment never came. It got a little pressed for me to stay around long when I was clearly intruding by that point. I’d get another chance and if it wasn’t life threatening, delaying wouldn’t hurt things.

My return from shopping was interrupted by shouting from the far end. Approaching the Chapterhouse, I tried to get an eye on what was going on. It looked like something was happening at the Basilica, but I couldn’t really see. They drew a crowd whatever was going on. I looked down at my food. “Dammit…”

Leaning through the threshold, I waved quickly to Mrs. Lalonde at the desk. “Look after this would you?” I jumped back to the street trying to get a clearer sense of what was going on. “B?”

He switched over to projection, letting me get a transcribed version of the shouting. The first bit came in B’s voices hovering just at my ear as complete gibberish. I guess whoever it was wasn’t completely there or just crazed. Either option was equally concerning.

I slowly approached the crowd as something more sober came through. “Why won’t you fix it?! Open your doors!” Why would the Basilica’s doors be closed for anyone else? That was their entire existence. This was getting very strange.

As I got closer I could finally hear pounding. It was heavy nearly quaking echoes that shook the metal and concrete. “I’ve paid my dues! Every damn Monday and Friday I kneel before Sol!”

By the time I got to the crowd, I didn’t need B’s aid. I could hear him shouting, though it still amounted to the same thing. It did make me curious why the Basilica wouldn’t open up though. By having its door’s closed, it left everyone out, not just the one crazy. But he just seemed to be shouting and not doing much else. So I guess eventually, he’d give up. Or maybe that’s what they hoped for?

Unfortunately, the crowd made it difficult to pass through. I walked around figuring I could find an opening. But before I could, the shouting and flailing stopped. Once more I heard it again, that now familiar deep coughing. The crowd found it even more shocking and started to spread out. I could see it in their eyes the same thoughts as me. They recognized the coughing as a disease. Something was seriously wrong with the man. And like with the others it defied logic.

The thinning crowd at least gave me room to slip through. Once at the front, I could finally get a proper view on what happened. Like I figured, it was just the stranger out in front of the Basilica. And much like Louise, he looked quite pale and collapsed to the sidewalk. But unlike Louise, who recovered quickly, he still carried on his fit.

His hand clutched at his chest. An unusual stream of lights danced over the surface of his arm just below the skin. It looked like some reaction from the circuitry, but I’ve never seen such an error. Was it a result of the affliction?

While everyone found the sight more unsettling and scattered, I slowly approached. It drew me in like a siren song. Something that should be impossible was happening in front of me. I just had to know what it was.

Before I could reach out to his arm, it snapped with it extending separating plates to expose internal bio-circuitry. I could see the synthetic muscle throbbing under the plate and gels between wires and pumps. Normally, such augments would be difficult to damage thanks to the plating, but just one wrong touch and I could disable him.

It should only open like that if it’s in maintenance mode as far as I knew. Though I guess maybe a signal from the brain might be able to trigger, but I didn’t understand the specifics. Is what’s happening to him the case? Does he have an electronic virus? Though I’d never seen one that gave flu symptoms. What the hell is going on?

Not to risk more harm, I kept a safe distance from his arm and walked around to the other side. “Sir? Can you hear me?” He only continued to spasm in pain even with his arm lighting up like a rave. The cough ran deeper into his core than what I heard from Louise. It was so visceral that I thought I could feel it rattling me.

It was unnerving, making me even pull back from my magnetic curiosity. Would he recover eventually like Louise? The way that he wanted help from the Basilica made it seem like this wasn’t new. But this wasn’t normal and he understood that. The fear in his eyes read plain how much he wanted help.

I squeezed my hand fighting back against the nerves. I reached out to touch his shoulder. Seeing him shaking so much left me a little uneasy still. It might not have been the arm that was exposed, but I did wonder if anything else might upset some balance in him. I literally knew nothing about what was happening. But I still planted a firm hand on him.

All the coughing made it difficult for me to keep him steady. I had to rely on my jacket as a soft blue glow came from the sleeve. It braced him a little, even if it didn’t help all that much. Grabbing his shoulder obviously didn’t stop his coughing. Not that I thought it would. But maybe, I could talk to him now. Reach through the fear.

“Mister! Can you hear me? Hey!” Nothing seemed to be getting through to him. The pain completely took over him. When I moved in front his attention snapped. His eyes locked on to me. I couldn’t tell if fear or something claimed him, but the intensity increased whatever it was.

I caught a few shallow lights flash through his forehead as he jerked forward with his free arm. It caught on a bit of my jacket collar, but I pulled free. His grasp wasn’t solid. His eyes darted side to side uncoordinated. “I’m trying help, sir!” Pain groaned escaped his lips between coughs. How was he even moving well enough with that cough? “Damn…”

I pulled back to stay out of his reach. His size difference wasn’t as bad as the other guy that assaulted me, but that didn’t matter. It was never about size. I slowly strafed to the left, keeping out of a straight line.

And I was very glad I did as an unnerving burst of speed came out of him. There seemed like maybe a moment of lucidity, I didn’t know, but it focused him enough to jump at me. He missed.

A soft glow cast over my boots from under my pant legs as I sprinted after him. His collision with a corner of the Basilica cracked a bit of the marble artifice. I went for his arm once more, but even the head on collision wasn’t enough to slow him down. It did seem to clear up the cough though.

He swung out at me. I used the extended arm to flip over him. But his strength snapped free from my hand before I could go for the pin. He forced me to weave between fists as I repositioned him away from the building. Thankfully, his focus didn’t seem to come back with his health.

Once I had the room, I stepped back to bait a straight punch. Leaning to the right, my hand clamped down on his wrist with my sleeve glowing along with my pant leg again. I rose up sharply with a knee to the chin.

As I finished flipping back to safety, the violent stranger staggered back stunned. I didn’t like getting so rough, but maybe it knocked some sense back into him. He dropped to his knees looking completely out of it.

If I wanted answers I was going to have to wait. “Dammit…”