DESPERATE  MEASURES

PART FOURTEEN:

It was, without a doubt, the most miserable night he'd spent in his existence. Way before

dawn, the little structure of fronds had collapsed atop him into a wet heap. He just lay

there on his back, fronds piled over him, waiting for the storm to end. He didn't remember

it lasting so long the first time he'd been through it, but then he'd been in his cozy shelter

with his books and his music. Also then, Brianna had been in the cave-like place by the

waterfall and would be dying within two days. No, a wet night was a price well worth

paying for the knowledge that she was safe, that he could see her, healthy, whole, come

first light.

When the rain stopped, he pushed back the fronds and sat up, watching the last of the

scudding clouds pass quickly across the moon. A breeze was still blowing and, soaked

through, he shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. Then it dawned on him that he

had shivered. He guessed that was what that shaking was that had run through him.

He'd never felt the like before. Perhaps it was nothing more than a memory Maximus

had of being cold? The General had spent that night in a cave in the snowy pine forest

Sid had arranged as part of his programming experience. That made sense and he tried

to dismiss the thought.

But he shivered again, harder this time. He felt...odd. This taking another character's programming into himself was affecting him in more ways than he'd expected. But there

had been no way to test it beforehand. He was a unique being, uniquely created and had

done something never expected in getting out of his movie. Then he had...changed...evolved

...and was no longer the same as he'd been in Virtuosity. He was...more. And now he had
taken into that 'more' the programming of possibly the most vitally powerful of all the characters. Nothing even remotely similar to it had ever been done, ever could have been

done before.

They had the same ultimate source, the two of them, a very human source who had only

been pretending to be nanotech. But Sid simply WAS nanotech...wasn't he? Did it matter

that his source was not? Did it matter that he had infused into his very being another
aspect of that source, an aspect almost overpoweringly human? Another shiver took him.

Damn! Why couldn't he stop the blasted things!? He knew he'd not been constructed to

have bodily responses to temperature.

He scooted a bit, settling his back against a palm, closed his eyes and waited for the dawn.

He'd be all right. He was still just adjusting to the new programming. That was all. With

his eyes closed, though, Maximus' memories played across the inner screen of his lids,

sliding in and around and through his own memories until he began to lose touch with

which were his and which the General's. He thought he'd understood Maximus, had

calculated the level of the force of his personality, his will. Only now was he beginning to

realize he had possibly vastly underestimated the force of the man. The new programming
was like an oil slick, spreading through him, coating his wiring, the very fiber of his being

with its presence. And the source of Maximus was joining unexpectedly with the source

of himself. He could feel it growing stronger and a vague feeling of...unease...began to

creep into his mind. His head hurt. His head had never hurt before.

Maximus awakened and went fishing with his rudimentary spear in the shallows off his
cove. After he'd eaten, he made his way around the headland, intending to go to the pond.

He noticed the finished shelter, giving it a wide berth, figuring Sid and Brianna must be

inside as the door and shutters were still tightly closed. At the pond he rinsed the seawater

from his tunic again and swam for a long time, then floated on his back, the sunlight warm

on his face. Not wanting the couple on the beach to come upon him, he chose to put on his

wet tunic rather than lie on the flat rock to dry, then set off to explore the island some

more, hoping to discover other sources for food.

Brianna smiled to herself. She had made the shelter alone and made it well. The night-

long storm was a great test for its sturdiness and it had withstood grandly. She, of course,
realized that Sid had known she would not accept a completed shelter from his hand; she

was, however, surprised that he had understood that and had been wise enough to let her

do it on her own.   That was not like him and she was puzzled by it. His behavior all

yesterday afternoon, in fact, had been entirely puzzling. She had decided that he must

have found some way to download Maximus' programming into himself, but...in the long run...just what effect would that have on him? It did make her rather uncomfortable to

think he had memories of making love with her. That was definitely not something she

wanted Sid to know first-hand. But if he did now have 'the Maximus chip', that would be

part of it. If only, she sighed, if only that still mattered to the General himself.

Unaware that Maximus had just passed by, she opened the shutters and door to let in the morning light and the breeze off the sea. Using the small propane stove Sid had brought,

she boiled water and made oatmeal for breakfast, taking it outside to watch the waves

while she ate. There was no sign of either Maximus or Sid anywhere about and she wondered where and how they had each passed the stormy night. An image of Sid flashed on her inner

eye, his hair blowing, his torso glistening with sweat as he unloaded the crates for her,

looking at her from time to time with that that odd look of grateful relief. She shook her

head. The salt air must be rusting his gears. Then she remembered that last cool look of Maximus' just before he'd left her and headed into the jungle shortly after their arrival.
Finishing her oatmeal, she turned her head, looking toward the direction of the pond,

wondering if he might be there again this morning. She would never forget watching him

on the rock, stretched out to dry in the sun. But she knew, too, if he had been aware of her presence, he would have frowned and disappeared quickly into the jungle. Still, maybe he

was there?

She cleaned her bowl quickly and headed down the path toward the pond. When she arrived, though, there was only a slight wetness still on the rock to show that he had come and gone.

She had changed yesterday into a pair of red shorts and a cream-colored tank top she'd

found in one of the cartons Sid had brought. Now she slipped them off and dove cleanly into

the water, swimming where Maximus had swum as her only connection to him, berating

herself as a fool for caring so much.

Dressed again, she looked across the water at the semi-cave beside the waterfall. Sid had

been almost too obvious in his desire that she stay away from there. It was not a very

appealing- looking place, though she figured she might have resorted to it for at least one

night had she not been able to find other shelter. It had a roof and 3 walls and was above

the water level. But hadn't he mentioned something about spiders? Oh, well. It was a moot

point now anyway.

Leaving the area of the pond, she ambled slowly along, not really needing to search for

food, but noticing where more mangoes grew, and where a small spring fed into the pond.

She found the remains of an eaten mango and thought Maximus must have been along this

way since Sid had no need to eat. Maximus. His name still made her insides clutch with

longing for him. No one had ever been so tender with her, so utterly gentle. Then Sid had
ruined it with his jealous rage. She stopped, pondering that. That was it! She'd never

formulated the complete thought of that before. Sid had acted like a jealous lover. He had!

But that was... before...he'd downloaded the Maximus chip, before.... Her mouth dropped

open. Had Sid, as purely himself, had he already felt something for her? He was such an

odd being that one couldn't go on his behavior, not really, to know what was happening

in his mind. And it was when he'd found her and Maximus sound asleep together that he'd

sent them here. Well, dog that he was, he was barking up the wrong tree if he expected

her ever to return any feelings he might have for her. She chuckled as she walked. The

thought was entirely absurd.

                                                (King Protea)

The morning was lovely, fresh and clean after the rains, and she paused to study some of

the more unusual tropical flowers along her way. Her way? And where would that be?

She  was going  nowhere in particular.  Perhaps it  was only in some slight hope of

encountering Maximus that she continued her walk anyway? What then? What if she did

find him? He would not be glad of it. Still, just knowing he was out here somewhere kept

her going.

Sid opened his eyes, startled, confused. What had happened to him? He'd been...gone. Or

some such thing. The last he remembered he'd been sitting against the tree, but now he

lay on his left side, his arm tucked uncomfortably beneath him. He didn't remember falling

over. Sitting up, he looked at the sky. It was obviously several hours later than when he'd

last looked at it. Had some inner system shut down for a while? Closing his eyes, he tuned

into his being. He felt somewhat better than he had earlier, rather like he'd observed

humans doing after sleep. But nanotechs did not require either sleep or rest, so it couldn't

have been something like that.

Using the tree as support, he hefted himself to his feet, standing there a moment until the

wobble in his knees subsided.   His lips felt oddly dry and he licked them, finding all

unbidden the thought of water coming into his mind. Something was happening to him and

he didn't like it. He would go to the beach and warp himself back to Emerald City, get

himself out of this place. Yes, that's what he would do.

He began to backtrack the way he'd come yesterday evening, trying to ignore a slight

buzzing sensation in his head. Everything seemed too loud...the birds, the insects, the very
rustling of the leaves. The sunlight hurt his eyes and he felt an uncomfortable ache and emptiness in the middle of his torso. He tried to hurry his steps, took a wrong turning and

ended on the edge of an  area of dense underbrush  so thick he couldn't make  his way

through it. Skirting along its edge, he felt a weakness start to spread through him. He was

on the verge of completely malfunctioning; he knew it. The beach! He had to get there

while he still could. But where the heck WAS it? He didn't recognize the area he was in

and his eyesight was getting worse by the moment.

It was then he turned towards a large grove of palms and saw something white and golden

at its edge. Brianna? Oh, gods...he'd forgotten about her for a moment! He couldn't go,

not without her. He tried to call her name but his mouth was so dry he couldn't get his

tongue and lips to work. So he held out his hand toward her. It was all he could manage to

do.

She had walked through the grove for some minutes, thinking of Maximus, and when she

came out into the sunlight again, was startled to see Sid standing at the edge of a section

of impassable undergrowth. She stopped, waiting to see what he would do, trying to make

sense of the odd expression on his face. Her startlement increased when he stayed where

he was and extended his arm in her direction. He looked for all the world like someone

who has been lost in a vast desert for days and days. His hand was trembling and there

was an almost desperateness in his eyes.

"Sid?" she said, not knowing what to do.

He tried again to say her name, failed again. Something was going on inside him. He felt

as though he were being taken apart into tiny pieces and being reassembled. He...hurt.

He hadn't understood, not before, what hurting was. He felt stretched and compressed at

the same time and it was quite simply unbearable. And then his capacity to see left him completely. Everything, already dim, blurred and then faded into blackness. He was being turned inside out.  He knew he was. Screaming. Yes, he was screaming but no sound would

come out of his mouth. His arm remained out toward her. He was sinking and she was the shoreline. BRIANNA! He screamed and screamed her name in the molten core of himself

where it found no outlet, no voice. Knees buckled, and he sank heavily to the sandy dirt,

and still the hand was there, still seeking for her.

Her eyes widened. Something was terribly wrong with Sid. For a moment she actually

thought he might explode. Then he fell to his knees and she broke into a run, dropping

down beside him.

"Sid? What is it? What's happening to you?"

He lifted his head, turning his face toward hers, and she saw the blankness of his eyes. Her breath hissed sharply inward. "Sid...you...you're...."

Desperately he tried to form words, a crack in his lower lip splitting wider with the effort.

His fingers found her arm. "H...help...me," he gasped.

He looked so entirely different. His hair, from his night spent in the rain, hung in dried

wisps about his face, some of them plastered by sweat to his forehead. That superior

confidence of his was entirely gone. He seemed lost, even frightened. "What can I do?"

she asked.

"B...beach," he stammered.

Yes, she had supplies on the beach. Perhaps there was something there that could help him. "Can you stand?"

He could, but only with her mostly supporting him, his arm around her neck as he leaned heavily on her with each step. She managed to get him as far as the pond when he collapsed.

He had taken her down with him as he fell and she scrambled to her knees, bending over

him. Nanotechs did not lose consciousness. They were not made like that. Yet Sid was unconscious. What was going on with him? She cupped some pond water in her hands,

dribbling it on his lips, wiping her wet palms across his face, but he didn't stir.

"What is the matter with him?" Maximus asked from behind her.

She jumped, not having been aware of his coming. Still kneeling, she tipped her head to look

up at him. "I have no idea," she replied. "Something's gone very wrong with him."

"Is he sick?"

"Sid doesn't get sick."

"He doesn't?"

"No, he doesn't. I can't explain right now, Maximus, but he doesn't. Can you help me get

him back to the shelter?"

Maximus knelt on one knee, lifting Sid in his arms as he stood again. Brianna thought

she'd never seen such a strange sight in her life as Maximus standing in front of her, Sid's

limp form cradled in his arms. In fact, she stared, mesmerized by the sight, until Maximus turned toward the beach. She hurried along behind him, her mind racing faster than her

legs.

"In there," she said, pointing to the open door of the shelter. Maximus lay Sid on the cot

and stepped back, surveying the scene as Brianna knelt near it, brushing Sid's hair back

from his face.

"Unless you have further need of me," he said rather stiffly, "I shall leave you to your

nursing."

She looked up at him, her yearning for him almost tangible, but "Thank you," was all she

said. He seemed awkward, ready to leave, and so she let him go. The door had been left

open and she watched him for a moment as he strode across the sand toward the headland.

"Maximus," she murmured, her voice breaking on the word, then she turned her attention

to Sid. 

ON TO PART 15

BACK TO LIBRISCROWE

BACK TO PART 13

BACK TO INDEX