Share
Reckoning
"How long have you two known each other?"
"Since we were kids. Ever since he... started everything. All of this."
Mirele... that was her voice... I was back with Mirele!
"I guess you two are close, then?"
"Very... we're engaged."
"You are? I wondered why you were always in here. I thought you were avoiding me... I didn't know he had a fiancee. He never told me."
That was... Candy! She was here... wherever here was... but I had left her at the orphanage.
"Well, yeah... why? Does it matter?"
"Uh... damn, this is so embarrassing. We got... close. Really close. I pretty much tricked him into it
Related chapters
My Shattered World Reckoning - Part 2
The room fell silent as Dr. Hansen told the others I was awake. Drat. No more spying. Of course, it wasn't like I could have stopped him from spilling the beans. I couldn't move at all. I waited through a long, uncomfortable silence, then I heard a fit of giggles. "Good grief, Mirele... take a breath, girl, you're turning purple!" "Toby... he's... oh my, I think I'm going to be sick." "No, just take a breath. Deep breaths, that's right..." While Candy tended to Mirele's panic attack, I heard the two sets of steps approach me. Something brushed up against my bed, on either side, then hands clasped around each of my hands. "Toby? Can you hear me?" Grandfather. I still couldn't
My Shattered World Reckoning - Part 3
I heard something a while later, something that woke me up. I got the impression that it had only been a few hours. Evening, maybe. My time sense was still trying to do its job even after all the long weeks of recovery, and I knew it wasn't the middle of the day.I tried to wake up, but the medication was too strong. All I could do was lay there and try to figure out what was going on."Toby... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I don't want to do it... I wish I couldn't... I wish... my dear Toby, please forgive me."The voice was so strained and broken, interspersed with hoarse sobs, I almost couldn't understand what he was saying. Despite that, I knew very well who it was. Grandfather. My poor, dear, broken grandfather. I felt worse for him than for myself.I had to do somet
My Shattered World At a Crossroads
I took the lift up to the observation deck, stepped outside, then looked around. I had looked everywhere else, she had to be... There she was. I don't know why I bothered to search anywhere else. More often than not, she was up here. Walking over, I stopped beside the bench, looking down at Mirele. In her long, flowing gown, she was a vision... but I couldn't bring myself to tell her that. She hadn't moved a muscle, hadn't looked at me, her eyes firmly fastened on the sunset. "Mind if I join you?" She shook her head. I sat beside her, looking out over the landscape. A year had passed since the tenth control key had been placed... and my nearly lifeless body had been dragged across the world to Central Control, where Dr.
My Shattered World The Glitch is Revealed
I hadn't worked up the nerve to go into Central Command for several weeks... ever since the one short look I had been granted at my future home. A clear, horizontal glass tank with life-support equipment protruding from either end. I didn't like the looks of it at all, and it gave me the shivers to think about what laying in that thing would entail, but I knew that I had no choice but to come to terms with the idea. This time, however, the place looked quite different. I saw my tank, covered in sheeting, just waiting for its occupant. On the other side of the server sat a second tank, very similar to the first one. "What's this all about, Grandfather?" I asked as I walked over to examine the second tank more closely. "That... well, I'd rather explain it all at once, when the others arrive."
My Shattered World An Unexpected Solution
As Grandfather started to fall, I caught him, easing him into a chair that Candy hurriedly yanked over. "Grandfather, you need to rest!" I insisted worriedly. "It's bad enough that I have to face the idea of spending the rest of eternity floating in a box. Losing you too... I can't. I just can't bear it!"He smiled wryly as he clasped my shoulder. "Toby, I'm not immortal. That is one difference... you will be integrated into the computer system, but you'll still be yourself. To a point. You're immortal as long as the network stays intact and your body holds out. The system is designed so that under the right conditions, you can communicate and interact with us.""Really?" Candy asked as I just stared in surprise. This was news to me."I told everyone this before," Grandfather said with a sigh. "Almost everyone, obvi
My Shattered World Keeping A Promise
We took the lift up to the surface of Central Control, then borrowed a transport to go down into the city. Aside from the night watch, we didn't tell anyone where we were going, or why. The city still lay mostly in ruins, but with the slow restoration of electricity, it was coming back to life. After so many long years of unrelenting, hellish heat, the people here spent most of their waking hours in the cool evenings into the wee hour of the morning. We walked a few blocks until Mirele found what she was looking for. I stared in surprise. "A chapel?" She turned to face me, taking my hands. "Yes. You made me a promise. Are you ready to keep it?" I smiled. "I keep my promises, so... yes. And we're already in formal clothes, so I guess... uh, you know your dad is going to give us hell when he finds out?"
My Shattered World Our Last Day
"Are we sure that we're sure about this?" Mirele asked in a small voice, looking into her tank with a grimace. She poked a finger at the odd construct that was designed to fit around the groin, taking care of that end of things while our bodies simply existed in the tanks, letting our minds run free through the worldwide network. I shrugged, feeling a bit uncomfortable in my short white robe as I watched the controllers and other staff complete final preparations. "I think so, and it's a bit late to back out now." She nodded, putting her arms around me as we waited. I closed my eyes and laid my head over hers as I held her, trying to etch this moment sharply in my memory. The feel of her, the smell of her short fuzz of hair, the warmth of her breath on my bare chest... I'd done the same thing with as many memories as possible since our elopement. I tried to r
My Shattered World My Wife, the Computer
"Toby?"Ugh, not this again. I was so incredibly tired of having to be woken up after blacking out.Wait... I was in a computer, so how the hell could I have passed out?"Exactly... you didn't pass out, you just lost your orientation. Now pay attention to me.""Mirele?" I asked."Duh, who else? There's no one else in here, at the moment, anyway."I couldn't see her, since I had no eyes, but all at once, I sensed her presence as I would have through the wires before we'd been dragged in here. I was so relieved... I was afraid that she would be fried like Lance had thought might happen."In case you haven't noticed, my father has a bad h
Latest chapter
- My Shattered World Final Thoughts... For Now
- My Shattered World It Hurts to Say Goodbye
- My Shattered World Reunions
- My Shattered World Voice to the Voiceless
- My Shattered World Memories
- My Shattered World Eyes for the Blind
- My Shattered World Ruling the World, 101
- My Shattered World Talking to the Outside
- My Shattered World My Wife, the Computer
