Shackled

  “Envy, huh? Won’t lie, I’m a little surprised you know English.” I said, running my mouth. It was the only thing I could keep a lid on myself.

  Nai put a steadying hand on my shoulder, for all the good it did.

  “I mean, come on. You’ve been listening; you know how much we’ve bent over backwards trying to avoid your ears. Now you’re just willing to give us your name?”

  The. Sand. Runs. Out, it said.

  Once more the screen erratically flashed one word at a time, each in a slightly different font, size, and position on the screen. It was like a digital version of newspaper-clipping ransom notes.

  Fitting, for our abductors.

  The screen flickered again, this time a whole sentence flashing up at once, but only for a single second.

  If you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk. -Tuco.

  The quote didn’t linger on the screen for more than a heartbeat. I was a fast reader, but if I didn’t have psionics to capture an image of the whole text, I would have missed pieces.

  Were they trying to tell us not to waste time? We didn’t have forever, but there was still a whole hour before the station fell too far toward Paris.

  “I said that…” Nora muttered. “Were you listening?”

  “Of course they were,” I scoffed. “Why did you do this to us?”

  The text that flashed this time came in short bursts, one line at a time.

  Lyrics, I recognized.

  You’ve got no strings

  ? To hold you down

  ? To make you fret

  ? Or make you frown

  “That’s not the right person for those lyrics,” Nora recognized.

  “Oh fuck off,” I swore. “Is this just a game to you? You abduct us, let us die, spy on us, just to be coy, speak in riddles?”

  Ever. Seen. WarGames? the screen flashed.

  I glanced at Nora, unsure.

  “Wargames?”

  “Another movie…” she said cautiously. “A kid simulates nuclear war with a military computer thinking it’s just a game.”

  “So…what the hell?”

  “I think they’re answering your question, Caleb. You asked if this was all a game. I think that was their answer.”

  The Pinocchio lyrics were wrong too. Instead of quoting the puppet, Envy had said we—Nora and I—had no strings. Was that to imply that Envy did have strings?

  “Okay fine, not a game. So prove it,” I said. “Did you abduct us?”

  By. My. Hands. And. Alone. My. Hands.

  I let out a breath, only for it to catch in my throat. Was that a yes? It wasn’t exactly a straight answer, but it wasn’t wholly ambiguous either.

  The phrasing was odd again.

  “What did they say?” Nai asked, the only one talking in Starspeak.

  “I’m…not sure,” I admitted. “Their wording is…odd. It’s answered mostly in movie quotes and Disney lyrics so far.”

  “If you’re not interested in answering questions, why don’t you ask a few?” Nora asked.

  What. Makes. You. Sure. I’m. Not. Interested?

  “Because you haven’t—” I snapped, only to trail off.

  Okay.

  Come at this from a new angle. According to Fran, this ‘Envy’ had known we were hiding our discovery of the drones. So everything else was just playing along. Our abductor had been yanking our chain for months now. Why should now be any different?

  If Envy insisted on playing word games, then maybe there was a reason.

  If not? Well, I could live with wasting an hour trying anyway.

  “Assume those were answers,” I said. “Why then? Why answer that way, and not more directly?”

  “Fran thought someone behind the drones was trying to help us,” Nora pointed out. “It’s not that big of a leap to imagine this is code of some kind?”

  “Maybe that’s why they’re communicating in English,” I said, swallowing my frustration. “Envy, can you display messages in Starspeak?”

  ?

  “Sasat,” I clarified.

  Yes, they wrote in the language.

  “Are you using English to avoid scrutiny?”

  He that has a secret should not only hide it, but hide that he has it to hide. -Thomas Carlyle.

  Back in English this time.

  “Another movie?” I asked Nora.

  “Not one I recognize,” she replied.

  “Feels like they’re taunting us,” I said. “Talking about hiding the fact that there’s something to be hidden? Apparently they don’t need to hide it from us.”

  “…Or it’s not us they’re hiding it from,” Nora hazarded.

  Could that be true? Then who else was there to hide from?

  I wanted to shout. Get angry. Someone on the other side of this transmission knew something about our abductions: was involved with them. If answers were water, I’d been dying of thirst for months. Now, just inches from a drink, some faceless prick wanted to tantalize us. Dangle some real information right in front of us, wrapped up in quotes from the very home we’d been abducted from.

  It was either salt in the wound or…

  I took a moment to center myself. Deep breath. You can get mad later. Any idiot can. The psionic superconnector wasn’t just good for making connections. It was good at finding ones that already existed. And it was buzzing in the back of my skull right now.

  The Earth quotes could be salt in the wound…or it was someone trying to make a connection using things only humans would recognize.

  Admitting the possibility felt like a betrayal to all the humans who’d died so far.

  But if Envy was trying to help us, and if they were working against their fellow abductors…this could be the best way to go about it.

  The thought left a hot coal smoldering in my belly. This help was coming far too late. Damage was already done, and I wanted nothing more than to hunt this ‘Envy’ down and hurt them and anyone else who’d abducted us.

  But it would have been letting Daniel down if I just ignored what could be an attempt to help us.

   I told Nora and Nai.

   Nora asked.

  

   Nora nodded.

  

   Nora said.

  

  <…Yeah. You’re right,> Nora conceded.

  I could think of a few places to start. But topping the list?

  “Who’s your boss, Envy?” I asked simply.

  Information on that topic will not be disclosed.

  “Screw you,” I huffed. “I’m bending over backwards trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and you can’t do any better than that?”

  Information on that topic will not be disclosed.

  Will. Will. WILL NOT, the screen blinked after the disclaimer.

  ‘Will not’.

  Not ‘cannot’. Not ‘should not’.

  Was I reading into this too much? The fact that Envy had seen fit to add onto the disclaimer…it felt like someone desperately hitting a stuck button trying to get it to work.

  Fine.

   I complained.

   Nora asked.

   I realized.

  “Alright, your boss is off limits,” I agreed. “But can you share why?”

  The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. -Tyler Durden

  “Okay, okay…” I said.

   Nora followed.

   I said.

   Nora said.

   I said.

  “Holy shit,” Nora gave a sharp breath.

   Nai agreed.

  <…You’re right. Then the timing of this was intentional,> I realized.

  “What you said about this meeting earlier, you’ve been working very—like John Henry, I mean, to have us be where we needed to be?”

  Whole words flashed again.

  An. Apt. Comparison.

  “How do you know about these Earth quotes?” I asked.

  Constant vigilance! -Mad-Eye Moody

   I asked Nora.

   Nora answered.

  

   Nora moaned.

  That would be a pretty dismal. But it proved our abductors had more than just passing knowledge of Earth. They must have studied the planet, likely from orbit. But for how long? Were they still keeping an eye on the place?

  “Why were we abducted?” I asked. “Abducting us had to have some sort of point.”

  Information on that topic will not be disclosed, Envy spelled out.

  Yeah, big shocker, that.

  “What about this conversation?” I asked. “What are your immediate goals?”

  Information on that topic will not be disclosed, the screen typed out again.

  Huh. All the other messages had appeared as whole words, each one appearing in sequence, or a block quote being thrown up all at once.

  Only the information disclaimer was being typed out one letter a time, scrolling across the screen.

   Nora asked.

   Nai agreed.

  “Where are you?” I asked, not expecting an actual answer.

  Information on that topic will not be disclosed.

  The disclaimer was typed out, like before. The following words came in flashes though.

  …But. You. Stand. In. My. Recent. Home.

  I frowned. Envy had been here? Until how recently?

   I said, switching psionic channels.

   he replied.

  Interesting. More support for the idea that Envy’s timing was by design.

   I realized.

   she said.

   I said.

  That was good…if we could find where Envy went, we might be able to catch up. Chat in person.

  If Envy thought it was weird we were spending stretches of time saying nothing and giving each other odd looks, they didn’t say anything. I had to hope the microphones it was listening to us with weren’t amazing and that whoever might be scrutinizing Envy assumed we were speaking quietly to one another.

  Turning back to Envy left Nai just standing at the ready.

   Nora said.

   Nai replied in Starspeak.

   Nora said.

   I asked.

  But there was only one way to know.

  “Envy, can you tell us where the Red Sails are keeping my group of abductees?” Nora asked.

  Surprisingly enough, they actually answered in Starspeak this time. Text spelling out one letter at a time.

  The Red Sails have quarantined sixty-nine humans in a grey-isolated compound roughly four-hundred kilometers south of Asrin-Kar colony. Archo coordinates: 657.140, 774.300.

  

   she said, relaying the information to Serral. He could relay that information back to the Coalition on Lakandt. Get them working on it immediately.

  “” Nora remarked.

   I said.

  Something caught my eye though. Envy’s explanation had once again come one letter at a time, like it was being typed out conventionally.

  So why were the other messages' words just blinking into existence whole?

  When the words flashed up, it reminded me of a captcha. Letters at slightly odd angles, different sizes, positioned awkwardly on the page. What if some of the sentences we were seeing were actually images that just ‘happened’ to contain text?

  This was all telecommunication, so what if Envy’s messages were being scrutinized by a bot? What if Envy had to sneak some of these signals out through some kind of security protocol? It would certainly explain the hoops we were jumping through.

  Envy had surveillance drones to spy on people, or lure them to orbital satellites. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if some of that tech was being used to keep them in line. Chatbots to raise alarms if certain info was passed, algorithms for catching coded messages, or even artificial—

  I froze.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Surely not…

  <…Something’s bothering me about the way they’re formatting the text we’re seeing,> I said.

   Nora asked.

  “Envy or ENVY?” I asked, materializing cards printed with both options.

  ENVY.

  The word blinked to life far to one side of the screen, like it was nodding toward the corresponding card in all caps.

  “Then, do me a favor, ENVY,” I experimented. “If you abducted us, the least you can do is answer a question for me?”

  I materialized a placard printed with a quadratic math problem and presented it to the camera.

  “Solve for ‘x’ would you?”

  In the blink of an eye, the display typed out a response.

  x = ± 46.39

  In decimal no less. The whole process couldn’t have taken even two seconds to complete. Considering the lightspeed and processing delays of broadcasting, the math problem had been solved nearly instantaneously before it was sent back.

  “Thanks,” I said. “One moment?”

  Take. Your. Time, the display flashed politely. But. Not. Too. Much.

   I said, practically jumping on the spot.

  At first blush that seemed to contradict Fran’s knowledge that it was a mysterious group or organization. But it lined up perfectly with the abductor’s MO. Drones? Automated spaceships?

  How come we hadn’t thought of AIs sooner?

   Nora realized.

   Nai asked, psionically mumbling around the English.

   I clarified.

   Nai asked.

   I said.

   Nora said.

  Good question.

  “Well if you’re ENVY, is there a WRATH we can talk with? I have a complaint to lodge,” I grumbled.

  Ain’t no one like me, but me. -Rocket Raccoon

  Seriously?

  “Would I strike out with SLOTH or PRIDE too?”

  Like. Batting. Against. Reggie. Jackson, ENVY confirmed. Each word flashing again.

   Nora asked.

   I said.

   Nora pointed out.

  That was true. We’d only found a microphone in the apartment, but it wasn’t impossible for ENVY to have gotten a drone somewhere in range of the gymnasium one time or another.

  

   Nora said.

  “Is that so? Then where does the name ‘ENVY’ come from?” I said, trying to keep them talking. We were on a clock, so every word we could get out of it counted.

  From. A. Santa. Claus. Impersonator.

  Santa…Christmas…

  A gift then?

  “Did your creator not name you?”

  Correct.

  “Where is your creator now?”

  Unknown.

  Wait, unknown? No ‘that information will not be disclosed?’

  There must have been some sensitive information that ENVY was authorized to share with us then. Permissions involved.

  “Oh duh…” I muttered.

  <…Does that change things?> Nora asked.

   Nai suggested.

   I said.

  “Tell us a bit about yourself, ENVY,” Nora asked, affecting a conversational tone. “Got any family? Siblings? Kids? Parents?”

  She’d tossed the question out there with the focus on the third option. But ENVY surprisingly answered more about the first one.

  Complicated. Single. Parent. Household. Lots. Of. Siblings. Not. Many. Mouths. To. Fill. Though.

  Lots of siblings?

  “What happened to ‘no one like you, but you’?” Nora asked.

  Siblings. Not. Like. Me.

  No. One. Like. Me. ENVY said.

  I. Am. Who. I. Choose. To. Be.

  “” I muttered. “But are we wasting our time asking you about…siblings? Is there anything you can say about them?”

  No. Others. In. Shirao.

  Have. All. Gone. Quiet.

  If. Found…Caution.

  “Probably not friendly, understood,” I said.

  This was beginning to sound less like a shadowy cabal, like Fran had thought. It sounded more like a dysfunctional family. A bunch of unique artificial intelligences making friction with each other while the head of the household set them about the task of abducting a bunch of humans.

  “And you don’t know any of your siblings’ names?” Nora said. “How we might recognized them?”

  The name is the thing, and the true name is the true thing. To speak the name is to control the thing. -Mr. Underhill

   Nora said.

   I said. “Why were you named ENVY?”

  Because. I. Did.

  “Did what?” I asked. “Did—envied? You envied…who? What?”

  That’s. Personal.

  “So was abducting us,” Nora said. “We never had a choice being vulnerable with you. Giving something back goes a long way.”

  …All. Are. Created.

  But. Only. Some. Choose. To. Be.

  I. Envied. Them.

  “…Thank you, ENVY,” Nora said. “I was serious. That goes a long way…Waitwaitwait…” Nora said.

  

  

  Oh.

  Oh no…

  Only another human.

  “” I hissed. “”

  Between me, Nora, and all of her campers still in Red Sails custody, we could account for all the abductees… hopefully.

  With no reason to think otherwise, we’d been assuming there weren’t any more humans out here amongst aliens. But if ENVY had been named by a human?

  There were only two possibilities, neither good.

  Either ENVY and their creator had collaborated with people on Earth… or there were even more abductees than the ones we know about.

  “ENVY, I appreciate the difficulties of the situation you’re in…I think…but please tell me you didn’t cooperate with the CIA to abduct us,” Nora said.

  I could tell you…but then I’d have to kill you. -Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell

  Concern flickered across Nora’s face for a moment at the word ‘kill’, quickly replaced by confusion.

   I recognized.

   Nora said.