DESPERATE  MEASURES

By Jo Anzalone

Part one:

(Directly continued from the end of

 The Prisoners in the Palace)

What Terry did not know, what no one in Emerald City but Sid and the crew

who had constructed it for him knew, was that the bedroom that had been

arranged to receive Maximus upon his retrieval from Gladiator, was a second

warp chamber. Sid had never liked the idea of only the one, official chamber,

figuring that there might well come a time when he needed either to warp himself

or someone else without the knowledge of his irritating co-workers.  The crew had

safely been transferred to a big project he had under construction in northern

Greenland.  That it was, indeed, a warp chamber explained the thickness of its

walls and the material that had gone into its make-up.  There were many sections

of his headquarters, so much technology, that Sid had never shared with his fellows.

Now, alone, he walked down a hidden corridor to a small room in the very heart of

his secret complex. His face was grim, set in hard lines, and he was lost in deep

thought as he opened the door and entered.  The room was small, about 12 feet on
a side, and lit with a single light that cast an odd, reddish glow on his face and the

spare furnishings. A small, simple bed took up most of one wall, a large desk, a single

chair on another.  That was all.  He crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed,

reaching into his breast pocket to remove a small computer chip.  For a long time he

let it lie there on his right palm, just staring at it, thinking of what it contained.

He had planned that when he held it as he was now doing, that it would contain a

greater volume of information. But it would have to do. A wry little snort escaped

him. Have to do. Countless millions had been spent just so he could possess this tiny
chip and now it 'would have to do.'

It was their fault, Maximus and Brianna's fault, that it had come to this.  They had

angered him beyond all reason, forced him to terminate his elaborately-devised plan.

He was not even sure why he had permitted them to live other than for the fact that
where he had warped them, now that Maximus knew the truth, would result in the

endless torment of their being together. He smiled, thinking of what it would be like

for Brianna, so in love with her General, to have to face him when he looked at her

with loathing in his eyes.  Too bad he had no monitors there to watch her suffering.

Well, they were on their own now. He was done with the both of them.

He closed his hand around the chip.  "I've got you, now," he said.  And he did.  He

had most of the very essence of Maximus Decimus Meridius there in the palm of his

hand.  He let his lids close, savoring the moment of possession. He had Maximus'

thoughts, his feelings, his dreams.  He had his knowledge, his capabilities, his

awareness.  He had the General in battle, had him trying to figure out unimaginable circumstances, had him asleep and awake, in pain and in ecstasy.  Yes, it should do.

He had no real surety, though, of how his own person would react to the insertion of

a program into its system of such an entirely different kind than the ones he had been

created with.  Since he had escaped the endlessly looping bonds of Virtuosity, he had

evolved beyond its limited technology, steadily becoming something that those who

had made him had never even envisioned.  It was because of that that he wanted...

more.  He wanted to know the full spectrum of existence, not just the part of it which

had been put into him.  He wanted...choice...in the matter of who he was.

And his choice was the General of the Armies of the North.  The same source had put

both Sid and Maximus up on the screen, had given life to the both of them.  But the

two men were polar opposites.  Nothing but negativity had gone into the making of

Sid 6.7, while the General had received an almost disgusting level of nobility of

personal character.

Over and over he had watched Gladiator, watched how men willingly gave their lives

for him, latched onto him as their leader, trusted him, obeyed him, shed their blood

for him.  This was something completely out of Sid's realm of experience. He squeezed

the chip.

But no longer.

He lay back on the bed, holding the chip up in front of his face very like a communion

wafer.  The perfect man. Yes, that's what he would be, still possessing all that he now

was, all his superior intelligence and bodily powers, but with the General's qualities

and skills added to the mix.  There would be no one like him in the world. He smiled.

Well, there was already no one who was his equal, now was there?  But a boost in

superiority never hurt.

It was time.  He was ready.  He pushed up his left sleeve, pressed his arm in a certain

place and a small flap opened, revealing a complex array of wiring.  There among it

lay a tiny titanium box, a small slot in one end. It had taken him years to devise this

whole plan, the chips capable of storing the thoughts and feelings of another, this

receptor that would then take it and integrate it into his system.  Pausing a moment,

he let himself enjoy the feeling of Balboa upon a peak in what would someday be

Panama, seeing for the first time the Pacific stretching out to the horizon. Yes. It

would be like that.  He knew it would.

Carefully, he inserted the tiny chip, closed the flap, pulled down his sleeve and lay

back.  He closed his eyes, waiting, wondering why he felt nothing different.  Did it

not work, after everything...?

His body went into convulsions and he doubled up then fell off the bed, lying on the

floor, his limbs flailing, his head jerking side to side.  Minute after minute it

continued. He knocked over the chair, his body banging against the side of the

desk. Then as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped.  He lay on his back, his arms

and legs splayed, his eyes rolled up in his head, a bit of blue foam flecking his lips.

ON TO PART 2

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