The Only
The Only
Beep Beep Beep Beep!
Sam awoke to the noise of the alarm bot as it came whirring into his 10 x 10 cell and he slowly opened his eyes as he sat up on his cot and glared at the alarm bot as it was still making the irritating noise. In a flash Sam had the thing smashed under his fist against the wall as it's bits and pieces fell to the floor and a view screen popped up on the wall behind him and a Serpentine face appeared. "Sam? Why do you do that? Every single time one of those things goes into your room, you crush it." Sam turned and glared at the Serpent. "Sheila, for the last fucking time, if I wasn't caged like some freak I'd probably answer you." He turned towards a corner of the room and walked to it and sat down cross-legged. Sheila just watched him and like a ritual Sam locked his hands together and closed his eyes as he ventured into the dark recesses of his mind to block her out. Sheila sighs and shakes her head. "If you'd only let me help you I could get you out of there." Sam doesn't respond and enters his mind as he opens his eyes he sees a field of green grass and a small log cabin not too far from him. He sits down and a small catgirl joins him. Sam looks over and tries to make an effort to smile but fails. "Sorry Karly, I can't smile but it's good to see you." Karly smiles at him and hops into his lap and asks him "Anything new besides being stuck in that cell?" Sam shakes his head and lets out a sigh. "When I had discovered a way to find different dimensions I didn't think that I'd be treated like an animal or some test subject. The furs of this dimension I'm in have never seen a human before." Sam stared out at the field and feels Karly curl up against him. "Sorry to hear that Sam." She says as she begins to purr to try and calm him.
In reality, Sam was sitting in the corner and completely oblivious to the world around him. Sheila noticing this turns off the view screen and shakes her head and turns to her assistant. "Why the hell did they assign me this...this fur-less bastard?" Her assistant, who was an older male panda, shrugged at her question and replied "Probably because you are the best of the best in psychology." Sheila just slumped slightly. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Kyle, as the panda's name tag read, chuckled lightly and went over to the observatory and looked down at Sam. "Where do you think he is Sheila? He sits there for hours, weeks, months, and sometimes years on end in there. And yet he completely oblivious to us and anyone around him." Sheila walked over and stood next to Kyle and replied "I don't know. He's different than us yet he acts just as savage as an animal. As if his instincts are primal and not...logical." Kyle looked at Sam's hands and the way he positioned himself in the corner. Kyle thought to his self. What if I were to try and enter his mind using an old technique my grandfather showed me? Sheila looked at Kyle and asks "What are you thinking?" He shakes his head and heads for the door to the cell Sam is in. "I'm going in." Sheila looked after him in horror and fright. "ARE YOU INSANE!? She yells after him but it was too late as Kyle had already entered the cell and locked behind him.
Sam felt another presence in his mind and he wasn't pleased with it but it didn't enter very far before it seemed to ask for permission to enter. Sam was reluctant at first but then looks down and audibly says "What the hell. Might as well come on in." The presence entered and Sam saw a old panda walk into his field. Sam glared at the panda and motioned for him to sit next to him. The panda got near and seemed skittish to sit next to him but sat down anyway and looked at Karly and gasped. Sam looked at Karly and then back at the panda and asked "What? Never seen a cat-human hybrid before?" The panda shook his head and replied "I'm surprised you let me into your mind, Sam." Sam seemed to try and smile but again failed. "What's the use Doc? I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of being tested on, and I'm tired of my existence as of late. And as I said to myself earlier...Why the hell not?" Kyle nodded and remains quiet for a few seconds before saying "I can understand why you come here. Its quiet, it's beautiful, and it's a piece of your home world." Sam nods and Karly looks at him and mouths "What the fuck?" Sam shrugs and looks at the panda. "I'm glad at least someone understands. Others have mentally, physically, and emotionally beat me to the point where I don't think anyone will remember me at all if I ever make it home." Kyle looked at him and asks "Do you mind continuing your story?" Sam looked back at the panda blankly. "What story?" Sam asks. Kyle chuckles and responds "How you feel. How you wish for home. And anything else you may feel about being here." Sam nods finally understanding. "Ok then I'll start at the beginning. I was just a kid when I took to science. I learned fifteen different computer languages just by the age of five and I was able to do astrophysics by the time I was twelve. I graduated high school when I was thirteen and I entered college and was a star student but a few coincidental encounters with the wrong people had me thrown out with a bad reputation and a bad transcript."
Sam pauses and continues. "After I was thrown out I couldn't find a college that would take me in with my new reputation I had earned myself. So I began to work on the project I had started at the college I was attending but I had to start from scratch since my original findings were destroyed by the college personnel after I was thrown out. I had found the first inklings of other dimensions and I knew that I was on the verge of one of the greatest discoveries made by man-kind. The first dimension I had found by accident and it wasn't what I was looking for. The second one I found was your "home" and I thought it would be the best pick out of all the rest my computing program had found as your "home" had correlating similarities of my own. Then the person I thought I could trust, the person I had dedicated my life to had betrayed me and said that the discovery was made by one of the leading scientists of the world and I was left with nothing. Not even a home, not even one cent of my discovery." Sam looked into the distance and picked up the memory and brought it in front of them all as they watched from Sam's eyes what had happened. "I actually came here to die and be forgotten but it's been like what thirty years here and I haven't aged one bit. When I crashed on your world I was surprised I even survived the landing. After everything I've been through I still don't know where my strength or where my invulnerability comes from." Sam paused before asking "Is that what you wanted to hear from a dead man?" Kyle obviously shocked by Sam shakes his head and replies "I...I never thought that you were such a brilliant young man. I'm sorry for the things you've had to endure. I now have something that could set you free from this facility and you can go and do what you want with your life." Kyle stood and walked away and disappeared from Sam's mind.
END OF VISUAL MEMORY 25765