Romeo's Point of ViewI dragged Emma with me and thrust the clone away. But the clone didn't fall. Nothing made the clone respond to the push. It simply continued to march on like an automaton. As though it had no feelings and it had no choice of what it was doing.It is fascinating, said Alexander Voss using the mouth of the clone. Your grandfather had spent years learning how to play with minds using technology. But he never perfected it. He has never realized that the point is not to lock the mind. It is all about controlling the body and letting the mind observe as it helplessly makes the body do things it does not want to do.The clone reached out to Emma by her arm. I came between them and struck the face of the clone with a punch. However, it was punching a wall. The clone didn't flinch. The clone didn't feel pain. The clone simply continued its progress.Your grandfather had been trying to make you a warrior, Voss said. But he was unsuccessful since he gave you feelings. I sha

Romeo's Point of ViewThe floor was shaking. The server was shaking so intensively that it was as though there was an earthquake. Then I could hear the scream of metal and electricity. The center was falling apart.I hastened to the server carrying the virus device. However, I got to it just in time to be pushed back by some power. An invisible force. Alexander Voss was exercising his authority to keep me out of the server.You can not win, Voss said over the screen of the server. His face was laughing. "You can't stop me. You can't inject that virus. And you can't save anyone. This whole place will blow up in sixty seconds. Everybody above you will be dead, too.Fifty-five seconds. My head was automatic in counting down. I had been trained by my grandfather to count. To think fast. To identify solutions even when no solution appeared.I looked around the chamber. I sought something with which I could make good use. Anything that could assist me to get to the server. I stared at a pie

Romeo's Point of ViewWe ran. My grandfather dragged me out of the city centre. Emma was right behind us. The federal agents and soldiers were standing behind her and trying to make sense of what was going on. Behind them was Erasure.Everything was being ruined by the thing on the ground. Buildings were collapsing. Roads were melting. Even the air itself appeared to be torn asunder where Erasure touched it. And Erasure was coming in our direction. Going more rapidly than anything can go."What is it?" Emma kept asking. "What is it doing?"It is deleting, my grandfather said. He was fleeing, and at the same time was glancing back over his shoulder. It is taking away things out of existence. Buildings, people, memories. Whatever its hand touches dies away.And a family was passing in front of us. A mother. A father. Two children. They were screaming. They were trying to get away. But Erasure was faster. Erasure reached them. And then they were gone. Not dead. Not destroyed. Just gone.

Romeo's Point of ViewThe animals were streaming through the hole in the sky. They were like water and darkness and lightning together. They didn't have solid forms. They didn't have clear shapes. They were pure forces which desired to eat all they came in contact with.People were screaming. The rest of the city was disintegrating more. It was breaking the wall between the worlds. It was all getting out of control.People have got to seal up the tear, Father, said my grandfather. His face was full of determination as he was gazing up into the sky. "We have to seal it somehow.""How?" I asked. How do you seal up something like that?I do not know, my grandfather replied. "But Alex closed Erasure. There has to be a way. There must be something that works.Emma grabbed my hand. Her face was pale. Her body was shaking. But she was still standing. She was still fighting."Romeo, I'm scared," she said."I know," I said. "Me too."The animals were driving nearer. They were all over the city

Romeo's Point of ViewI was walking back to the burning sky. I did not stop when Diana called after me. I didn't listen. It was the first decision that I was making independently in my whole life. Not my grandfather's choice. Not Diana's choice. Not the government's choice. My choice.The forest ended at a cliff. The wrecked city was in sight below me. The location where this was starting. Where I was taught I was somebody special. But I wasn't special. I was just a person. He or she has options and worries and aspirations like anybody does.I heard footsteps behind me. Diana had followed me."You're going to die," Diana said. You come back to that cabin, you are going to kill yourself, trying to get to your grandfather. The gun is already producing power that cannot be survived by anything."I know," I said. One way or another I die making my own choice. That is more than I ever had in my life.I jumped off the cliff.The fall was fast. The wind rushed past me. But then something cau