‘Of course,’ Aboubakar muttered, his words dripping with sarcasm.
‘Now, just so that you know, you’re not going to have to sit here doing nothing but stare at the walls day in and day out. There is a task that you need to perform while you are in here.’
‘And what might that be?’ Aboubakar asked, his voice heavy with scepticism.
‘I’ll show you.’
Mr Wang took a remote control out of his pocket and pressed a button. With a subtle hiss, the wall opposite Aboubakar’s bed opened up, and the parted wall revealed a large television. Mr Wang then retrieved a wireless video game controller, walked over to Aboubakar, and handed him both items.
‘We have a very long, very involved video game we need you to play. If you go at it for eight to ten hours a day, you should be able to finish it in two weeks. I must add that you have to complete the game in order to be let out of this room; your success at playing it will determine how soon you can leave this place.’
Aboubakar took the remote and the game controller from Mr Wang with wary hands, staring at him with an expression that was both incredulous and suspicious at once.
‘That’s all? You want me to sit in here and … and play a video game all day?’
Mr Wang smiled.
‘That’s right. On the remote, you hit that button to open the TV cabinet, and this one to load the game. If you get tired of playing, you can press this one to switch to Netflix and watch a few shows or a movie. However, I will remind you again that finishing the video game is your priority while you’re in here.’
Aboubakar stared at the controller and remote for a while, and then glanced up at Mr Wang.
‘That’s really all I need to do?’
‘Yes, this is the only thing you are required to do. You can start right now, in fact.’
‘The nurse is bringing me more food and water?’
‘She is. She’ll be back shortly. This is all you need to know for the time being, so for now I will bid you farewell.’
Mr Wang smiled and gave Abou a slight bow, and then turned on his heels and headed out of the room, shutting the door with a quiet click behind him. Aboubakar stared at the screen for a while, perplexed by these strange circumstances in which he found himself. Nonetheless, there was nothing he could do at this moment but cooperate, so he loaded up the game.
Outside, Mr Wang, Mr Ma and Ms Fang were watching him on a screen on the wall, fed by the security camera.
‘There, that was quick,’ she remarked.
‘So this game, this will allow you to map out his brain and start the process that will allow us access to his mind?’ Mr Wang asked.
‘Yes sir,’ she answered. ‘Part of his mind, at least. This game has been specially developed for that exact purpose. After he’s played it out, we’ll have a pretty good start laid down in terms of getting inside his mind.’
Mr Wang clasped his hands together, clearly pleased.
‘Wonderful! Well, the sooner the better. Mr Ma and I are very, very eager to see what’s inside that mind of his.’
‘I’m sure you are, sir. We are as well.’
‘Yes, yes. Good little scientists, you all are! Well, you are prepared to handle this on your own from here, yes? Mr Ma has some very pressing concerns elsewhere in the world, and an important banquet to attend with other board members in Bangkok on the 31st. We’ll return here early in November to check on progress.’
‘We should have made good inroads by then, sir. I’m quite sure of it.’
‘Excellent! We will see you then, Ms Fang.’
PART NINE
30
WILLIAM
21st September 2020. A remote mountain cabin near Graeagle, Northern California, USA
Aurora was here. William could feel her, hear her, smell her … and taste her. Despite the tantalising closeness of her presence, though, the sense he wished to indulge above all others was inaccessible; his eyelids stubbornly refused to open. That, however, did not matter. Her presence, her soul – that glorious comet, that dazzling blaze against the darkness of everything – shone with a neon supernova fervour behind William’s eyes. He could not breathe, so utterly entranced was he by the aura of her presence. Elation washed over him, and he lost himself in a feeling of weightlessness, as if he were levitating. And then, amidst these sensations of bliss and ecstasy, there was the electrical thrill of her skin against his.
‘My love … finally, finally, finally,’ he whispered through semi-paralysed lips.
‘William, my warrior poet. I’ve been waiting for you … I’ve been waiting for so long.’
‘Let’s stay here forever, lass. Don’t leave me again, please don’t ever leave me again.’
She laughed, and the ripple of that glorious timbre drizzled over him, the sound shattering into a million shards the sarcophagus of glass in which he had been entombed.
‘I never left you, my warrior, never. I’ve been right here, by your side. Right here, always and forever…’
Then, lurching; an abrupt, sickening sensation.
Falling.
Plummeting.
Accelerating.
Hurtling earthward.
Terminal velocity.
Impact in seven, six, five, four…
‘No! Nooo!’ William screamed as the ground rushed to meet him with its irresistible solidity.
Death in three, two, one, zer—
The instant before impact, William awoke with a violent start.
‘Aurora … Aurora…’
The whisper crept from his lips like a sluggish insect emerging from the dank shadows of a rotting log. Aurora was gone, and no trace of her presence remained. Reality came rushing in with the terrible force of a collapsing skyscraper, and as William came
