Eyes of the Oracle (part six)

The underwater bunker was simply beautiful. It seemed like the ideal place to work. All sorts of exotic fishes were swimming over the glass ceiling while people rushed around, looking busy amongst the respectable machines. As a matter of fact, the rush of activity was greater than an average workday. Something was going on.

Lo got out the car and slammed the door, without even waiting for Lisa. She hastily got out herself and ran after him. 'How rude!' she thought. The large group of people noticed them and immediately stopped what they were doing. A grand salute was made.

"At ease!" commanded Lo. "Report!"

A thin, frail-looking man with thick spectacles and unkempt hair ran over from the crowd towards them.

"Sir, Ike isn't dead, at least not yet. He is still emitting his energy every 30 minutes, the last signal was 2 minutes ago."

Lo nodded.

"Lisa, this is Wong, our chief scientist and head of research here. He is in charge of monitoring Ike's psychic balance and also, the other guy..."

"Other guy?" Lisa asked.

The crowd of people stopped running around all of a sudden and congregated in the centre of the room. There was a large buzzing sound, then flashing lights. All of a sudden, a large metallic cylinder rose up from the ground, in a column of smoke. Silence was maintained among the group, only the whirring noises continued.

"What's going on?" Lisa asked.

The two people beside her pretended not to hear her. She had been offended quite a bit that day already.

The cylinder's sliding door soon opened, and yet more typical sci-fi scenes occured. Dry ice fizzed out of the compartment, revealing a naked male body. On closer examination, Lisa was shocked to see that it was an exact replica of Ike! The fact that it was naked didn't seem to matter, it was the first time she had seen a clone!

"Yes, it's a clone," said Wong, once again another case of pseudo mind-reading. "Play the song please."

A rather smooth and deep sounding song soon filled the bunker. There was a hint of grandeur in it as well. Lisa had not remembered hearing the song anywhere before, but it didn't seem like a pop song anyway.

"This song is called Eternal Bond," said Lo. "Ike is actually the name of a character from the Nintendo game series called Fire Emblem. This is the theme song of that character. Damien Lee had actually chosen his name based on that, why? No one knows. But when Ike collaborated with Mindef, he proposed the creation of a clone, which has a copy of all his memories up to the point of activation. That's why as Wong said, he has been sending psychic energy to us every 30 minutes, it is for us to implant into the clone. So at any time, the clone can be activated and act in his stead. This is basically to prepare for a situation in which he is killed by Kin. If psychic energy isn't sent every 30 minutes, the clone would automatically activate. The other way to activate him would be to play this song, because it is 'his' theme song. Anyway, here he comes."

A small cluster from the group moved closer towards the clone, towel and hot water bottle on standby. After the song played for a minute or so, the clone stumbled out of the compartment and nearly fell on his face. The cluster immediately wrapped the towel around him and gave him the hot water bottle. Lisa, Wong and Lo also rushed over to the clone's side.

"Give me clothes!" demanded the clone. "We haven't a moment to lose. Kin has already imprisoned the schoolboy and is getting ready to kill him. My original body might already be dead. The idiot crucified me! He wants me to atone for my sins so I can return to heaven, he's crazier than ever!"

Lisa was disgusted. At what she wasn't sure, the fact that Ike had been crucified by a madman with the mindset of a terrorist, or the fact that Ike could create copies of himself and is practically immortal.

"Calm down, Sir," said Lo. Wong had just returned with some clothes. "This place isn't findable by Kin, and it would be quite a while before he takes out all the brains and thaw them for use."

Ike was hastily slipping into his clothes as he talked.

"No, I know how Kin is going to do it," he said. "Believe me, there's no thawing involved. He can practically activate the machine at deep freeze. And, it's essential he activates it at deep freeze in fact, that way, the neural connectors would still be fixed at the point which indicates suicide. He's going to kill the boy,then take his brain and activate the machine any time now!"

"But Sir! Your body hasn't even been checked for defects! And didn't Kin already trash you? You can't just run in there again and expect to win."

"I'll go prepared this time. Kin has mastered Silos Max, a devastating move, but it takes quite a while to charge up, you can all go whack him then."

Lo and Wong looked at each other, then both shook their heads.

"You briefed us on this before, Sir," said Lo. "Silos Max is the ultimate move and only those with the eyes of the oracle can do it. It warps all ten dimensions together and creates a disturbance so great that virtually all existance within its zone is nullified. If anything goes wrong, you'll be sending everyone of us to our deaths! This is not some RPG you know, and you barely even survived it."

Lisa was completely left out of the discussion, Silos Max? Machine? What machine is Kin using? And what kind of super kung fu move is Silos Max? It was pretty clear no one was going to explain it to her, all she could do was watch the argument unfold.

"You can't be so selfish! We're talking about the deaths of billions of people! Once Kin activates that machine, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and whatever disaster you can think of will occur all at once! We can say goodbye to small countries like Singapore, as a matter of fact all island nations and low-lying grounds."

"But if one of us is hit by Silos Max, not only would we die, everyone that knows us or is related to us somehow will also die. You know how many people that is? And the zone of Silos Max isn't exactly small. You send all the men of SOC inside and everyone in Singapore will die."

"I know that! I can SEE what will happen remember? But what about the rest of the world?"

"You're willing to sacrifice Singapore to save the world? I'm sorry, but this does not sound like the compassionate Ike I know. You're behaving just like Kin!"

Silence ensued after that. Lisa finally understood. Basically, the bad guy knew a very devastating move and the good guy needed help to counter that move. However, the good guy's allies are afraid of that move and are thus unwilling to help him. Now Ike was in a fix, what Lo and Wong said were true. He then began to suggest a very radical suggestion.

"There's a way..." said Ike. "All of us are connected to each other in one way or another. Silos Max works on the connections which have been etched into our minds to a significant extent. The limit would be acquaintances or maybe even distant unknown relatives. If one of you is willing to sacrifice yourself, I can cut off the connections on your Unity Chakra, such that you would remember no one that you once knew, and none of them would remember you exist. That way, even if you're hit by Silos Max, only you would die. If you survive, however, you'll be only connected to me and the divine via the chakra, you must start building your relationships all over again."

Silence was the king once again. Naturally, this wasn't a very happy choice either. No one volunteered.

"I'll do it..." said Lisa, as bravely as she could. Everyone turned to look at her in shock.

"But...you'll forget all your friends...your family..." stammered Lo.

"My family left me, my friends don't care for me, why do you think I wanted to kill myself in the first place? My life has already ended before Kin came to find me, I don't mind putting myself at risk if it is meant to save the world."

Ike walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You're a brave woman, Lisa," he said. "I'm sorry I called you a failed Christian. Rest assured, even when the whole world has forgotten you, God will never abandon you."

The rest of the people in the bunker were still in stunned silence. Lisa wasn't sure whether they were admiring her bravery or just shocked at the sudden turn of events. Ike turned to Lo and gave him some orders.

"If neither of us returns within the hour, send the evacuation order and have all Singaporeans move to underground shelters ASAP. Likewise, send the signal around the world and see what the countries can do about it."

He then turned to Lisa.

"This time, I cannot fail. I am counting on you Lisa. When you see Kin doing something like striking a pose, shoot him. He would not be able to do anything about it when he is charging up Silos Max. I will brief you more on the details later, after I have performed your severance."

Ike once again took Lisa by the arm and dragged her towards the car which Lo had driven in.

"Sir!" Lo's voice sounded from behind them. The two turned around to see the whole group of people in the bunker giving them a salute.

"Save the world, sir!" they all chimed at once.

Ike returned the salute, but otherwise hurried on into the car, dragging Lisa along.

"Raise shades!" he commanded once the two of them have settled down.

"Ok Lisa," he said. "I'm going to perform the severance now. Are you ready?"

Lisa nodded.

"Ok, close your eyes and imagine the colour purple."

Lisa did that, and she felt Ike place his hand on the crown of her head. Immediately, the purple colour in her mind shook and shattered violently. She heard unholy sounds, screams and wails, then she saw melancholic colours appear. There was a sharp pain in her head, and she let out a cry.

"Ok," said Ike. "Open your eyes now. Can you remember your family and friends? Or anyone you knew, other than me?"

Lisa tried to remember, and realised she couldn't! All her memories of relationships have been erased. All she could remember was her job, her home, and the encounter with Ike and Kin. She couldn't even remember who were the people she met just now.

"I...I don't remember!" a strong feeling of loneliness suddenly crept inside her.

Ike nodded, but didn't make any further comment.

"I blocked your view so you can't see anyone in the outside world. It is essential that you don't see anyone, for there is a risk that they may know you and may reconnect their unity chakra with yours. I'll be driving this car with the shades up, don't worry, I can do it. We'll head directly to Kin's lair."

With a vroom and a whoosh, Ike stepped hard on the accelerator and drove off, towards the final battle.

To be continued...