Cross My Mind

FALLING IN LOVE

Back at Shadrach's apartment, Reece has requested an encrypted computer so she can allow MEDULLA to decrypt the files she has copied from the servers of the experiment. Although her Department building has been burnt down with all the computers in it, Reece has made sure that she made MEDULLA to zip the entire folder and store it in a secure cloud drive.

Having reconnected with MEDULLA, she made it access the encrypted computers that Shadrach has provided her with. Apparently, Mila and Garba are being transported to Texas right now because Lockwood and Baker were afraid she may release the data she stole from them because they refuse to do as she demanded.

On the other hand, they are betting that The assassin will find and kill her. MEDULLA started decrypting the files and Reece followed Shadrach to see what he called the most incredible creation in the field of robotic technology. He has been ranting to her about the incredible details that are on the project and the amount of time he has spent in furnishing the machine he has called the boldest attempt at perfecting the first of its kind mechanical replica of the human body.

At first Reece was skeptical about what exactly Shadrach is talking about but sooner realized that he is talking about a robot. According to his description, he has spent the last four years designing and building a realistic Humanoid robot that has mechanically and structurally similar bodily parts as humans. As she watches him go on and on about how the details of the robot’s body closely resemble the anatomy of the human body.

Reece followed Shadrach to his special laboratory where he used a combination of different biometric identifications, including fingerprint scans, voice recognition and retinal recognition scans.

“What exactly have you created Shadrach, this amount of security just to protect a robot seems excessive to me, Jesus Christ! you created an entire high security safe just to keep it safe.” She said.

“You’ll see, it will blow your mind completely Reece, you specifically, I am sure of it”.

The man pulled a heavy reinforced iron door and walked into a room that has blinding white light shining. The walls of the room have been decorated with reflecting white tile, giving the entire room a surreal ambience. Reece stepped into the room and followed Shadrach to the center where a piece of fabric has been used to cover a table with the shape of something similar to that of a human underneath it.

“Is that….it?” Reece asked and with a reassuring nod and wide smile, Shadrach responded.

“Yes, this is only a part of it”. He responded as he pulled off the piece of fabric, unveiling the torso of a humanoid robotic body.

Reece walked to the table and observed that the body has a shape similar to that of an adult human man, with a rubber like skin used to cover it’s plastic body. She bend her head near it to have a closer look at the details. Shadrach picked up the arm of the humanoid robot and peeled off the rubber skin, exposing a transparent plastic casing covering the entire arm. Inside, Reece can see an incredible detail of thousands of wires, strings and springs interconnected all over the arm.

He went round the table to the other side and asked her to turn round the table to the other side where he also peeled off the rubber skin on the head of the robot, exposing a transparent plastic casing that is hollow and empty inside.

“Where is the brain? I don’t expect the processing unit is somewhere else in the body, given the amount of details this thing has” Reece said while she continues to study the robotic body.

“my job is to build the body for NASA, a separate group of researchers would be tasked with development of the mechanical processing that will control the body in due time. This robot will be able to carry out any physical work a human being can do and more, it would be able to lead and assist astronauts from carrying out dangerous repairs aboard the space ship as well as dangerous space walks, it will replace the divers who perform dangerous underwear repairs in the ocean. The opportunities are limitless”. Shadrach said.

Just when the two are starting to get into the discussion about this nee robot that Shadrach is building, MEDULLA interrupted them with a call notification.

“Akihiro is contacting you mother, should I patch him in through Shadrach's phone?”. MEDULLA asked.

Reece looked at Shadrach who is currently confused about how the artificial intelligence has not only accessed the secure system in his laboratory and used the speaker in the person research room to send his notification but also suggested to connect a call through his phone, indicating that it can access his phone whenever it wants to.

****(Back in the unknown Island)****

Akihiro has been trying to reach Dr. Mallory Reece for a while now, he has been dialing her number for the last three days to see if it would go through so that he can convince her on behalf of Lockwood to not release their secret to the press since they are releasing the last two survivors of the experiment as she ordered. Just when he was about to give up trying to reach her, he was shocked to have her phone ringing for the first time in three days of trying.

A few seconds later, the phone was picked.

“I know this is you Akihiro, what do you want from me now?”. Reece said.

“It is not what you think Reece, I didn’t have anything to do with it, I also didn’t believe Lockwood is capable of doing this to you but Baker is the one poisoning his mind. I know i am not a Pius and good person either but I will never try to have you killed. Believe me” he said

“I know very well who you are and what you have been doing to the innocent People. Why are you calling me?”. Reece pipe out angrily.

“I want to let you know that Garba and Mila are safe, nothing has happened to them and they are currently in Texas about to be sent home. Mila is a United States Citizen while Garba would be sent back to Nigeria”. He said.

“So you are just trying to protect yourself and you Wicked employers” she said.

“I cannot argue otherwise on that! We are what we are”. Akihiro said.

Reece sighed heavily and said. “I understand what you are trying to do and I appreciate it, but also know that we are also what we make of ourselves. Don’t go on rationalizing your intentional criminal actions”.

The call ended and Akihiro pocketed his phone, walking back into the meeting Jefferson Lockwood, Senator Baker John, him and the two military men were to have. Upon entering, he noticed the expectation on the faces of Baker and Lockwood.

“did you get through to her?” Baker asked inquisitively.

“I have, although my tracking system couldn’t track her location at all; she must be using a secure custom built phone. She also sounds satisfied with the news of Mila and Garba having been transported to the mega Building in preparation for their release as planned. I took the liberty of Letting her know the nationality of Garba as a way of trying to get her to let her guard down and stay longer on the phone for my tracker to work better, but she got the hang of what I was doing and ended the call immediately. We can only try to buy time until your assassin gets to her” Akihiro said looking at Senator Baker John.

Furiously, Lockwood turned to the Senator and said.

“I don’t care how much it cost, call your Secret service guy and have him send two more assassins after her, and remind them that we not only want her dead, but as well be assured that the files she stole from us are permanently destroyed”.

“Relax Jeff, the asset that has been sent to clean up the mess you have created is one of the best that the secret services use. He will deliver you Reece’s head on a stake if you want” One of the two Military Guys said.

“Shut it zippy, I did not ask your opinion and I don’t care if you are an admiral or not. My reputation and everything I have is on the line here” Angrily responded Lockwood.

“He is right Jeff, we cant send another one. That is not how the secret services work and I have just been given the profile Agent Stone, he really has an outstanding track record of clean and tidy missions successfully completed without any problems. We should just relax and let him do his job”. Senator Baker said.

Jefferson Lockwood asked the rest of the men to go back to their rooms and let him rest.

****(In the Mega Building of Neuratechnologies somewhere in Texas)****

Mila has just woken up from an incredible lucid dream that she cannot believe even for a dream. She turned on the lights and a blinding brightness filled the room she is in. A rectangular wall of glass, a projection screen, a glass ceiling and an air conditioner mounted on it makes the room incredibly familiar.

“ I thought we were leaving on a bus, must have been cancelled or something” Mila thought.

She finished taking her bath, dressed and went to the dining area where she met Garba seated and already eating his breakfast. She walked to his table and sat opposite him, admiring his beautiful blue and brown eyes.

“Morning Mila, how was your night?” he said with a gentle, polite and loving ambience around him and the smile on his face.

“Morning Garba, I can see that you are enjoying the food”. She responded.

With a sip of apple juice, Garba finished eating and said.

“I had a dream last night, it was actually a memory flashback. I have them almost regularly but the one I had yesterday was particularly different. I am not sure how to tell you this but I have a quite tragic childhood and one of the memories haunt me in my sleep everyday. But yesterday for the first time, I had the same dream but with you. It went from a nightmare to a dream I can honestly I enjoyed having. You helped me in my most vulnerable situation in the dream and I just want to say thank you, my perspective has been changed forever”.

Mila sat there with a spoonful of cereal in her mouth that she could not finish chewing. She feels a strange connection of familiarity and love towards him, but even more so, she knows exactly what he is saying because although not the same dream as the one he is describing to her, she had the exact same dream the night before.

She was reliving one of the saddest and painful moments of her life. Unlike Garba, she is not haunted every night by her memories, she has the occasional flashbacks and currently suffers PTSD from three events she has experienced in her childhood.

The previous night, all the three events showed up in a nightmare, although the dream was lucid and she knows she was dreaming, it didn’t change the emotional impact reliving the moments have on her even if it was in a dream. However Garba would show up at each of the moments to save her in the most caring way possible.

At first, listening to him telling her about his own version of the same kind of dream she had last night made her want to tell him about her own dream, but she later decided she would not.

The two sat staring at each other in the eye and admiring how beautiful the other person is, in that moment, Garba came to a surprising realization.

He is in love!!