2020-03-25 - spike - Trapped again Part ten

Author: spike
Title: Trapped again. Part ten.
Date: 25 March 2020

Eric activated his cell and sat before the screen. “Cell, is one dash forty-seven occupied now?”

“Affirmative.”

“Call him.”

Again, an empty cell presented itself. He was obviously in bed again.

“Sir?”

Philip sat bolt upright and stared at the screen, fear, no terror in his eyes. “What do you want? Leave me alone!”

“Sir? We only spoke yesterday.”

“I’ve never seen you before. I want nothing to do with a shitting black!”

Eric rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. “Fucking hell.” He took a deep breath. “Sir! This is important. Please. I’m begging you, just, sit at the desk and pay attention. Why don’t you remember me?”

“Why should I? And why do you keep calling me sir? I’m nothing! I’m not…”

“You are most certainly not nothing, sir. I’ll convince you of that. You claimed to have suffered from a nervous breakdown. True?”

“Yes? So what?”

“I described your experience last time. I described how the trees appeared to bend and twist, how the weather changed by the second but never touched you. I described how the world changed around you. You accused me of breaking into your psychiatrist’s office and reading your case file, but I can assure you, I did not do that. The reason I know what you experienced is because I have too. You are not John Smith.”

“Of course I’m John Smith!”

“Describe your life, sir. I imagine most of it’s just a blank because it isn’t your life. Your life was one of supreme luxury, palatial living quarters in historic buildings. Respected by everyone in the country. You are a man of science. A man with an innate curiosity. A man with a pleasant demeanour who doesn’t even like being called your majesty, not even by commoners such as myself!”

“That’s not me! It’s nothing like me!”

“Shit!” Eric sighed. “Cell. Can you allow more than one person to talk on screen at the same time, so everyone can speak to each other? Conference call?”

“Affirmative.”

“Add doctor Conrad to this conversation.”

It was a minute before the screen split in two and doctor Conrad appeared. “Unknown? No pro… Why are you multichatting? With him of all people.”

“Sir, we’ve got a problem. Not me this time, sir. Him. I spoke to him yesterday and now, he doesn’t remember any of the conversation and I’d got through to him.”

“Yes, but why were you talking to him? He’s ill! Even after they released him from the secure psychiatric ward he still requires regular treatments.”

“I thought it must be something like that, sir. Please! End them! You’re killing him!”

“We most certainly are not!”

“Would you say death of personality is an equivalent to death, sir? I would. You’re destroying him and replacing him with a shell of a man. Look at him!” Eric sighed. “Sir, can you call up any images of the possessions I carried prior to my arrest?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Call up the contents of my wallet. Please. This is important.”

“Very well. Computer, gather together images of prisoner 50095223’s possessions. Wallet contents.”

“Done.”

“Display.”

He looked to the side, obviously at another screen that’d popped up. “So that’s what this King Henry of yours looks like.”

“Yes, sir, but I think I must’ve been carrying some older coins. They don’t leave circulation just because a new king takes the throne. Look at the head side, sir. Coins dated prior to 2017.”

“I… Oh shit!” he returned his attention to the screen, staring at the king, then at the side again as if triple checking.

“Exactly, sir.” Eric turned his attention back to John Smith. “You are not John Smith. You’re being brainwashed into believing that’s the case because the people treating you don’t believe your claims. You are King Philip the second, by the grace of God, of Britain, Ireland and dominions beyond the seas, emperor of India and defender of the faith. Bet they’ve tried to convince you you don’t believe in God as well, but I know it’s not that easy to totally wipe someone’s mind and replace it. Please, Philip. Wake up!”

The doctor stared in horror at the man. “Oh, bloody shit. So, he was telling the truth? His reaction in the palace grounds, attacking the police when they tried to arrest him… His refusal to cooperate… His utter refusal to use the toilet without being forced onto it…”

“Imagine if it happened to you, sir. Familiar surroundings, but at the same time strangely different. Surrounded by complete strangers and suddenly naked. Added to that he was king! He’s used to being treated with respect! Not forced to the ground, cuffed and drugged into oblivion. He was most certainly not used to the treatment our washing facilities force on us! Imagine the humiliation for one so high born, sir!”

“I’ll contact the hospital immediately. I can’t do anything. They have full authorization concerning his treatment and it may take some convincing. I can’t end any of it.”

“Can’t you just… Stop the drugs from being delivered? That should be enough, shouldn’t it? For him to come back to himself?”

“I’m afraid I have no say in his treatment. Is it even wise to end it?”

“Sir?”

“In prison, wouldn’t it be a mercy? To be this… John Smith rather than some lost king used to far better treatment?”

“I know king Philip, sir. I’ve met him. Spoken to him many times. Obviously not the one in my world, but one nearby. The world the meteorite struck. Please, sir. Allow him to recover. Don’t destroy him. I can talk him through everything that happened to him, sir. I was just about to explain how time worked after lockdown when the cell ordered me to cease communications so I could eat, sir. I could convince Philip to not only live with the regime here but also to use it. He is a man of science. I could convince him to use his time here as an opportunity to learn. A man of his curiosity in a world with such technology… Once he gets over the unpleasantness, he’d be like a kid in a candy store, sir. Added to that, sir… I could take him home!”

“That’s a bloody good point, Unknown! I’ll speak to them. I’ll not only ask them to cease treatments but attempt to reverse the damage they’ve done!”

Smith was in his seat, staring at the screen. “What the hell are you two talking about? My name is John Smith! I was born in 1960 in Bethnel Green. I”

Eric held up his hand. “Sorry, sir. But that’s all a fiction. Do you remember your childhood, sir? Not just stories, but details of it? Can you picture the playground in the school you went to? The classrooms? The faces of the teachers? Can you remember your childhood friends? Where did you work? What about a wife? Kids?”

“I… But I…” Smith closed his eyes and smiled. “I can see her now. The most exquisite dress. Her smile lit up the room…”

“Concentrate on that image, sir. Where did you first meet?”

“Ladies day at Ascot.”

“And… What exactly is Ascot?”

“What do you mean, what’s Ascot? It’s the most famous race meeting of… But…”

“But no-one keeps horses anymore. They ate food the populace could eat, so people stopped breeding them. Machines took over most of the roles horses were used for centuries ago. True?”

“But I remember it! I remember her! She placed a bet and won!”

“What was the name of the horse, sir?”

“Sophia’s Secret! She chose it because it’s her sister’s name. What’s happening to me? How can I remember something that can’t possibly have existed?”

“I’m going to say a few names, sir. I want you to reply with the first military rank that pops into your head when you hear each one.”

“Military? But there is no”

“Please, sir. Just humour me. Drummond.”

“General.” He froze. He looked at the screen in shock. “A face too. In… That uniform looks incredible! How?”

“Jennings.”

“Captain.”

“Which ship, sir?”

“The Defiant. One of our bes… our best…”

“Ferguson.”

“Admiral.”

“Admiral Ferguson has a son, sir. Can you name him?”

“He was always going on about how proud he was of the idiot. The man didn’t deserve the attention in my opinion. Tarquin.”

“You’ll be glad to know that, due to a little negligence on his part which ended with the whipping of a thirteen-year-old boy, he’s no longer an officer, sir. He was reduced in rank to Landsman, though it’s possible by now, he might’ve got up to able seaman.”

“I bet that won’t last long. His blowhard of a father’s guaranteed to interfere and force the captain to reinstate his commission.”

Eric grinned. “He goes by the name Quinn Ferguson now, sir. Not Tarquin. He’s happy in his new role and understands how much of an interfering busybody his father is. He turned down the commission some time ago. He’s happy in the lower decks, sir. He’s found his place.”

The doctor nodded. “You’re doing a fine job, Unknown. Keep at it. Digging those memories up is the key. You may need to repeat the process a few times before the treatments end and the drugs leave his system, but the more you do it, the less effect the treatments should have. You’ll have to be his anchor. Keep him grounded in reality, not the fiction they’re trying to create. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you, sir. Any news on my side of things?”

“Yes. I contacted Van-Holder over the band, but he was having none of it. He had to delay an important surgery because of the utter waste of his time that trial was. Why was he even there? Why waste more time on an obvious criminal undeserving of his attention.”

Eric’s head sagged and rested on the desk. “I’ve got”

“I said that was over the band, Unknown. I went to see him in person and with the evidence I have on my computer, I did finally convince him. He said he would but he’s very busy. It may take some time. I think it likely your first visitor will be Birk.”

“Thank you, sir. At least I know things are happening, now. What about the press idea?”

“The videos have been distributed, some sources have shown them and there is an outrage as you predicted. It may mean you’re in a little while after the trial even if you are found not guilty though.”

“Excuse me, sir?”

“Judges are sticklers for witnesses attending trials and as you’re here already and a likely flight risk, he may insist you remain until you can give evidence against them. Their entire team was arrested this morning. Galloway is facing the most serious corruption charges. Considering the number of lives he’s ruined he may even end up in black, himself. Complex crimes such as theirs can take some time to reach a courtroom, however.”

Eric smiled. “I’ve given up on the getting home for Christmas or the PTI two anyway, sir. If it means seeing him get it, I don’t care how long I’m inside, anymore. I like it here.”

“You really have adjusted, haven’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then I have some excellent news. You have your first job.”

“The workshops, sir?”

“Not yet. The governor has to get that past the prison authority. Your gym instructor was so impressed with the effect you had on the other blacks, he’s requested that you assist him. Ten credits. You report immediately after your flute lessons.”

“Oh, bloody hell! That’s brilliant! I’d love to. Thanks, sir. Oh, one last thing… Could you ask the governor if he could arrange for all my possessions to be transferred to prison storage?”

“I believe that’s standard protocol. Usually a month after the trial. Just in case an analysis of the possessions leads to further convictions.”

“I’d prefer them to be out of police hands, sir. Quickly. Long before the month is up. They may destroy them in a fit of peevishness considering eight of them are under arrest right now. Bet they’ll be released before trial, on suspension, won’t they? It’s not like any other charges they try to pin on my will have any effect on my sentence. I’ve already got the maximum penalty the law allows.”

“I’ll speak to him. He should have the influence to get the transfer authorised.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The doctor smiled, nodded and the screen returned to a single display, Philip.

“What was that all about?”

“Sir. I’m a trained army physical training instructor. I was quite an inspiration to the other blacks in the gym today. They improved their performance because of my cajoling.”

“But there is no army!”

Eric nodded. “And yet, you know what general Drummond looks like. You know Admiral Ferguson’s an overbearing prick and his son was an incompetent officer. You know that the captain of the Defiant is Captain Jennings. Please… Use those memories. Use your memories of your wife, of Ascot, the grand national, the changing of the guard. The guards in their bearskins and red coats stationed by the gates of Buckingham palace. You spoke to them quite regularly, didn’t you? Did they tell you of the competition they hold? The abuses the public force them to endure?”

“But I don’t understand how? How can I remember these things if there hasn’t been a member of the royal family in residence there for over a hundred years?”

“Right… Cell, do as you did before, concerning the drawing program.”

The screen slid to one side and the black area appeared again.

Eric swiped, grabbed the stylus and paused. “Maybe a different approach this time… This is going to be difficult for you, sir. But watch, and try to stretch your imagination along with what I draw. Even I can’t do it, but it’s necessary to understand the basic geometry of the universe.”

“The what?”

Eric pressed the stylus on the tablet and a dot appeared on screen.

“This is a point, sir. A non-dimensional object. It has no height, depth, or breadth. Extend it, however…” Starting at the dot, he drew a line. “And you get one dimension. Length.”

He looked at the menus for the first time. “Graphical transforms” looked promising so he selected that and stretch.

He tapped on the line and dragged it down. It produced a solid square. “Extend the line and you have two dimensions. A flat plane. A square.”

Another search through the items available… 3D rotate and 3D transform… He performed those and stretched the square out into a cube.

“This is our world as most people see it, sir. Three dimensions. Are you ready for the mind-bending part, sir?”

“The next step in the sequence is the tesseract. I… How did I know that?”

“I did say Philip the second is a man of science, sir. Obviously, that extended to maths too. Can’t have one without the other. The really bendy part is yet to come though, sir. Extend the tesseract. Then extend that. What’s more, sir. I can tell you those extra three dimensions exist. We just can’t perceive them, normally.”

“And you’re claiming what, exactly?”

“You come from one of those extra directions, sir. That space and time are so similar, they each express three dimensions in reality. Nature loves symmetry, sir. Three dimensions for physical space, three for temporal. All so incredibly intertwined it’s impossible to separate them. If you were to move in the fifth dimension, for example, your physical location would remain the same, but the whole of history would change around you. That’s what you experienced, sir. The passage of time itself is one dimension and the other two relate to how time works. How history can change.”

Eric drew the tree again, explaining as he did so.

The king smiled. “A rather elegant theory. But it is just that, a theory.”

“In the sense of a scientific theory, yes, sir. In the sense of the general public’s interpretation of the word, no, sir. It’s as sound a theory as the theory of gravity. It’s repeatable, it’s testable and both of us have experienced it first hand, sir.”

“You’re…”

“I did say I was a lance corporal, sir. I’ve spoken to General Drummond. Unfortunately, my version of him must’ve suffered a similar fate to you, sir. He was in London at the time. One of his aids, Brigadier Asquith is general now in his place. Quite like him too. It was him who convinced me to join up, sir.”

“How am I here?”

“It wasn’t entirely by accident, sir. Not in your case anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“The whole of London, a forty miles radius around Trafalgar Square was affected, sir. And it wasn’t a natural phenomenon. The effect was man made, sir.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I was there, sir. Do you remember what happened in Eastham the previous week, sir?”

“Those poor people… Some kind of weapon was found in the centre of the area. Wait… That’s what happened to me? Why aren’t I dead, like they were. I must’ve been thrown further than a week away!”

“Think gravity again. There is a force, sir. Some effect that influences items taken from their worlds of origin, something that pulls them back, but it does weaken as distance increases. By the time you even got half way to this world, a few breaths of air would’ve been enough to fix you to it, sir. To tip the scales. Running around in a panic’s a really good way to save yourself in that situation. Get those lungs pumping, making the air of this world a part of you and… well, you didn’t drift.”

“So I’m stuck here? I’ll never see my home, my family…”

“Sir… I can get you back to your homeworld. I very much doubt your family will ever be seen again, though. They were all in Buckingham palace. They were all displaced by the bomb. I doubt any single one of them will see anyone they know again. You just got lucky when you landed in a world I’d encountered, sir. I’m sorry.”

“They may all be here too? Just… Different versions of this hell hole?”

“I suppose it depends on how they reacted, sir. You did attack two police officers, remember. Please, sir. Stop thinking of it as a hell hole. The food’s good. I even quite enjoy the… toilet procedure, sir. See it as something good, rather than bad. Yes, it’s prison. You committed a crime and any extenuating circumstances at the time were ignored because they were rooted in mental illness in their eyes. See this for what it is.”

“And that is?”

“The most amazing opportunity of your life. It may not be the luxury you’re used to, but you have access to facilities here you never would’ve dreamed possible back home. Use this.” Eric tapped his head. “But right now, close your eyes, latch on to one of those memories we rooted out and trace it back. Follow it. Let it lead to more.”

Philip closed his eyes, took a deep breath and smiled.
* * *
“Prisoner 50095223, end communication and consume your meal.”

“Yes, sir.”

Philip nodded in understanding. “Thank you, Eric. I… I will try what you suggest. I admit I am used to the more… undignified aspects of this life now. My mind was too cloudy to even think about it as an opportunity before.”

“I guessed that when you didn’t recognise me, sir. Try to avoid any more drugs they give you.”

“If they have given me drugs, it hasn’t been as a separate thing to consume. They must be in my food. It’s after I’ve eaten I begin to feel drowsy and I can’t avoid that.”

“Is it just the drugs or is there more to it?”

“The screen. Strange patterns, voices, sounds. It’s the same every time I’ve eaten.”

“Sir, my best advice, try to ignore the sounds and close your eyes. Just concentrate on your memories when that part begins. Even in the drug-addled state you’re in, you should be able to manage that. Don’t let them change you again. I’ll speak to you tomorrow. Remember what the doctor said. I am your anchor. I’ll always be available to bring you back to yourself, sir. It’s not just because I see it as a duty, sir, it’s an honour to help you.”

“Thank you. I don’t want to be reduced to this… John Smith they’re forcing me to become. I’ll do my best.”

“Cell, end communication.”

Eric turned his attention to the food. Another good meal, vegetable soup followed by a pie, chips, mushrooms, broad beans and carrots with chocolate sponge for dessert.

He had no idea what was in the pie, certainly no meat, but whatever it was, it was delicious.

He completed his meal, expressed his thanks, asked it to be forwarded to the cook again and returned his attention to the screen.

“Cell. The flute teacher told me there’d be homework. Bring it up.”

What appeared were twenty questions that required the use of the stylus to draw notes, rests, clefs and bars on a blank staff.

For Eric, it was easy. He suspected for the majority of the class, they’d struggle, but he’d completed it in minutes and resumed his reading, concentrating on the flute and musical notation books this time rather than the woodwork.

It was some time before the concoction appeared on the desk and the light dimmed to orange.

“Cell, can you make this request the default from now on?”

“Please state request.”

“Continue with the enforced masturbation instruction as you did the first time. For the rest of my life if necessary. I don’t think I have the willpower to hold back before the command is given without it.”

“Acknowledgement of personal weakness noted. Request confirmed and locked. This request will never be superseded or overridden.”

“Thank you, Cell.”

He drank the preparation, removed his tunic and lay on the bed in anticipation of what was to come.