A House Called Aurora, Gloria EKX [books for men to read .TXT] 📗

a thousand of them, I never got used to the crashes. But I was not an ordinary person.

Silently fighting branches and matted undergrowth, I let my thoughts drift back to The Sliver and The Deep: that sweet chamber where all external energies are removed, and all internal voices silenced. Peace. A world of my dreams. Release. The closest thing to death me and my fellow Associates could hope for. And the sole means with which Titan Universal could control their near immortal army of Associates.

I pushed aside a thorny mass of branches and stepped into a wide clearing. The unfiltered sunlight and wild grass were a welcome relief to the vines and roots I’d been negotiating in the thick jungle. I straightened myself and touched the locator to get my bearings. Excellent. Seven hundred meters, it couldn’t be far from where I was standing. A voice, muffled by distance, came from behind me.

“I’ve got a strong signature. This way. She’s close.”

The Synths. They must have doubled back. They couldn’t be more than thirty meters away. I sprung into a sprint, covering the clearing as fast as I could, heading towards the wall of jungle at the other end; I had to get there before my pursuers caught sight of me. There was no end to the accurate and even self-guided weapons in this dimension, and the Sniffer was only a few minutes away. I wasn’t afraid of death, but terrified of capture and the next four hundred years of torture and confinement. There’d be no Deep, no rules in an illegal detainment facility, only madness.

X:Aurora HomeConnect> Here! Over here!

A TelSpeech. A message sent straight to my brain. I could hear it. As clear as day in my mind. I stopped. I was told they hadn’t developed TelSpeech in this dimension; they’d been too focused on war and a myriad of other criminal activities for centuries.

X:Aurora HomeConnect> Here! Over here! To your left, quickly - they’re almost through the tree line.

X:Ellen> Who is this?

X:Aurora HomeConnect> I’m Aurora, a friend. Quickly now! No time to waste!

I pivoted hard to the left twisting my ankle. I stumbled for a few steps. For another, that sprain would take weeks to heal, mine healed before I had taken three more steps in the direction the voice had advised.

X:Ellen> Where?

I Tel’d to my new “friend,” panicking.

X:Ellen> You're leading me directly to them.

X:Aurora HomeConnect> Trust me, please. I will deliver you from the hands of these synthetic humans. Please wait.

I stood breathless, hopeless, and waiting for my demise. No way I could get away from them now.

The air in front of me shimmered and a sound like a generator hummed through the air. Less than five meters from me, a house appeared. An old modern, square built, two-story house stood covered in vines and moss that turned what parts of it that weren't glass green.

X:Aurora HomeConnect> Come inside. I am open to you.

Aurora’s voice spoke crystal clear into my mind. Looking forward the sturdy metal door slipped into the wall, to reveal a dark hallway beyond.

2

Aboard The Titanic

I came to my senses. Ignoring fear, and with no other options, I ran to the door. As I crossed the threshold into the hall, the door closed behind me, slid from within the wall with a smooth thud. I stumbled and almost fell on what I now saw in the dim light were the vestiges of what used to be carpet that had seen better days.

“Come, I’ve prepared a room for you. Down the hall,” Aurora spoke audibly for the first time. “I’ll bring up a light.”

I could still not identify my phantom savior. Aurora spoke in an old English accent of sorts, but her TelSpeech was different to what I was used to, more like an artificial intelligence than a human.

Behind me a light flickered to life, I turned toward it briefly when I noticed several odd instruments and paintings in the room to my right. Wanting to explore further, I ignored my lighted path and stepped inside. The owner seemed to have a fascination with ships. Well, the same ship.

"You are curious my dear, aren't you?” commented Aurora.

I stood in silence as I continued to examine the newspaper clippings and glass cases full of small artifacts. Painting after painting and dozens of old pictures of this large unfamiliar ship.

“My original owner was very fascinated by that ship. The Titanic. He said that it taught a lesson that history should never forget. I suppose this is a testament to that. No matter, come, you need a change of clothes and a place to set your things.”

X:Gloria> What about the Synths chasing me?

I spoke using TelSpeech. Upon instinct I clutched my backpack tighter. It contained the artifact that I couldn’t go home without. I didn’t yet trust Aurora. There had to be a catch to her motivation to save me. There was always a catch.

“My dear, you don’t have to worry about them. And please you can speak freely here,” Aurora spoke audibly again, as if through the walls somehow.

I didn’t move as a realization hit me, “You’re one of those AI Smart Houses, aren’t you?”

“Yes, dear. Forgive me, I thought that was obvious.”

“It’s just where I’m from, they're outlawed,” my remark was off-handed, thinking of Albert, my neural smart assistant, who was temperamental and at this moment not speaking to me.

“And why is that, dear?” Aurora queried. I didn’t answer. Didn’t want to spook her.

Although smart houses didn’t exist anymore in the dimension I was born. I had seen enough movies, and read enough magazines, to know AI smart houses were famous for becoming loopy over time, even to the point of murdering and terrorizing their owners. I wasn’t sure how much I should reveal about myself.

I turned back to the newspaper articles, hoping Aurora wouldn’t notice the change in subject, “So many people died on this ship. Seems like a miserable thing to build a shrine for.”

“Yes, not enough lifeboats,” Aurora responded, almost regretfully. “Humans