ASBO-Boy: Gwen's conversation with Helix, Part 1

“I will see you soon, Helix.” She said politely, standing up.

“I know, Doctor Gwen.” Helix replied. “You will come back the day after tomorrow and we will talk again. Our usual topic. Amongst other things.” (From Helix)

Gwen pressed down her skirt with clammy hands and looked at herself in the mirrorred surface of the elevator. On the display, the numbers plummeted into the minuses. Her hair was slicked back and tied into a bun, her face blank and expressionless. It wouldn’t work on Helix, it never did, but it worked on the other drones who worked in the facility.

The doors opened with a cheery ping. Beyond, the draft from the vents was blowing down the exposed stone walkway that connected the lift to the only room on this level – Helix’s chamber. Her shoes made sharp noises on the steel walkway and the reinforced door sighed open up ahead, the pistons within it hissing away excess pressure. Beyond she could see the glass box and her small chair. Worryingly, nobody had figured out how he could read people’s thoughts; it might have happened after the Battle of Dyfatty or he could have had the ability all along. Gwen was about to set things in motion that had to be protected and that demanded from her the utmost self-control.

“Good afternoon, Doctor Gwen,” he beamed at her. His tattered costume looked more than ever like a child’s pyjamas – they reminded her of –

“Malady.” He muttered.

Gwen managed to maintain her expression and silence her anger in an instant, but it was just enough for Helix to notice. He smiled.

“Secrets Gwen? From me?” His mood shifted and he tut-tutted. She sat down and took out a pen from behind her ear.

“What did you dream about last night, Helix?”

“This and that. Saw a new one this time, younger – one of the newest ones. He wets the bed. His dreams scare him. Mine don’t. He has secrets too – he’s seen something he shouldn’t have.” Helix broke into a patter of tuts and chuckled.

“What’s his name?”

“Omen.” Helix sat down with his legs crossed in front of the glass, put a hand against it and closed his eyes. “I want to know why you’re asking about dreams Gwen, they’re just dreams after all.”

“They tell us things about you, Helix. We want to know all about you.”

“You want to find them all, don’t you? Like a good little shepherd, rounding up the flock. Looking for the fallen. Shame about poor Seraph, eh? He was always a good boy.”

Gwen tapped her pen on the clipboard and watched as Helix changed again. He began to sob, she watched his shoulders rise and fall while she fought to control her pulse.

“I miss him.” Helix blubbed. “Why can’t I see them? Why aren’t they in my dreams?”

“Helix. Can you tell me any more about your dreams?”

“There’s only the sound of the sea, lapping against the walls, eating away at the roots. They’ve seen it, they’ll all start to see it soon. You can’t keep us all locked up, we’ll find the secrets – the things they don’t want us to see. 715, she speaks to me. She speaks to us all.” Inbetween sobs Helix swayed back and forth in front of the glass. His eyes rolled into the back of his head. Gwen, throwing caution to the wind, dragged the chair closer to the glass.

“Who is she?”

“One of the damned. Voices in the dark. We all speak as one.” He slid forward, panting feverishly, exhausted by whatever was tormenting him. Suddenly, his head shot up and he looked straight into her eyes and said one word, “Pantheon.”

“What?” She stammered.

Helix’s eyes swam in and out of focus and for a moment, Gwen thought he was going to have a fit, but he just shuddered and began to laugh. “Helix – what?” She demanded in a rushed whisper, her face inches away from the glass. But when he looked up she could tell he’d changed again. He didn’t know – he couldn’t remember. Calmly she sat up and pretended as if nothing had happened. Helix shrank away from the glass.

“Gwen.” He muttered, his voice small and distant. She knew she wouldn’t get any more out of him today.

“Yes, Helix.”

“When I get out, will there be people waiting for me?”

“Yes, Helix.” She thought about the hoards of soldiers and assorted Others assembled with the sole purpose of suppressing him and putting him back in his cage.

“Not them…” He muttered, “My friends. Will Vue and Core be there? Or Seraph, with his beautiful white feathers? I want my friends there.” A sharp, angry tear fell down her cheek and onto the page on the clipboard. For the first time in a while she felt sympathy creep in amongst her feelings. It felt warm, sickly and unwelcome, but they were united, Gwen and Helix, in this one wish to see them all again, as they were, just one last time.