Myth Gods Tech - Omnibus Edition: Science Fiction Meets Greek Mythology In The God Complex Universe (9 page)

She
picked up my phone, the one she had borrowed and waved it around
like it was something disgusting. “This emits that frequency, in
specific intervals. The infrasound also matches the eye’s resonant
frequency, creating visual hallucinations.”

I leaned
in, my arms splayed through the hole. “Wait, are you saying this is
just a hallucination? I almost died yesterday!”

She sighed. “I don’t know. Of course it’s a hallucination,
because the damage you-” She stopped. And gulped.
“-
We
experience
is not real. The Erinyes tears through stuff and breaks things,
cuts your flesh and rips out pieces, but the only damage is what
you inflicted on yourself during the chase, cuts, scraped elbows,
impact bruises, twisted ankles.”

“
So… She will hunt us to death. That’s what you are saying.
There must be more than that.”

“
There is. The science stuff is pretty
straightforward-”

“
If you say so,” I interrupted.

“
-but, the rest is bordering on witchcraft.”

I pfft
again.

She
tapped her keyboard and showed me a row of selfies of various
people, myself included, that had the hazy glow in the shape of a
face next to them. I just stared and was lost in thought at the
magnitude of this.

“
All these people, have been ‘touched,’ by the Erinyes. I
looked them all up, they all have something to regret about
themselves, something tragic in their past, just like
you.”

She
paused for effect and she looked into my eyes.

“
They are being tormented by guilt. Then, the unholy part
comes in. People have noticed the Erinyes showing up on photos, and
they have begun making speculations about it. Urban legends.
Creepypasta,” she said, checking my face to see if I was
following.

“
I’m sorry? Whatpasta?”

“
Creepypasta. It’s the internet’s spooky legends. Videos that
make you crazy, chats that are haunted, the Slender man in the
photos, crap like that. The point is, that people actually believe
in those things because they sometimes become viral.”

“
So you are saying that because other people believe in the
Erinyes creep…”

“
Creepypasta,” she added helpfully.

“
Creepypasta, I get to see her and get chased around every two
hours,” I said exasperated.

“
Precisely. It’s a demon reinforced by idolatric
beliefs.”

“
OK. You’re nuts. Bye,” I said, and stepped out of the van and
into the street.

Chapter
34

I was
walking with a quick pace towards the bus stop. My phone was
ringing. I ignored it.

Prodromos drove the van next to me and spoke to me through
the window as I walked. “I need one more thing from
you.”

“
Of course you do. You are a nutjob,” I said, suddenly
regretting I hadn’t brought Billy again with me.

“
Hermes is instigating this for some reason. I need your
father’s access card to get into the R&D lab and see why they
are doing it,” she said, having to speak loudly over the
engine.

I kept
on walking as if avoiding a clingy ex-boyfriend.

“
I’ll go to a church for the next appearance. The Lord will
keep me safe. Jesus won’t allow idols into his domain.”

I showed
the way with my hands. “Got it. Jesus saves. Go to him
then.”

We got
past a pedestrian who was staring at us, so she hesitated a bit but
then whispered, “Please bring me that access card so I can figure
out what’s happening.”

“
Whatever, you crazy lady.”

She
picked up speed and drove off, then I stood in the bus stop’s
shade.

I
exhaled through my teeth, and muttered, “Unholy
creepypasta…”

The old
woman sitting on the bus stop crossed her chest and muttered stuff
at me. I turned my back to her.

Chapter
35

I had
stolen the phone back from Prodromos. Well, stealing is a word that
does not apply when it’s already something yours.
Repossessed
then.

On the
bus, on my way northeast, I was slapping the inactive phone on my
palm. I had taken out the battery, we don’t want any more of those
megahertz or whatever coming out of it anytime soon.

It
didn’t make sense. Let’s accept that what Prodromos had said was
real for a moment. Why would a huge tech company like Hermes
Information Technology ship out a phone that triggers
hallucinations? I was certain my father didn’t know about any of
this. My daddy was perfect and I was his princess. Maybe someone
had added the stuff without the corporation knowing? It wasn’t
unheard of, it had happened before. Those back-doors by hackers or
whatever. Deppy would know better.

Even so,
what was there to gain? Scaring people to death? Spreading
creepypasta? It’s not like it would help with sales, that’s for
sure.

I was
staring at the road, people getting on the bus, getting off, the
same procedure, over and over. My destination was far away. I had
decided to go to the temporary headquarters of Hermes, a big
building in the Silicon Valley of Greece, in Gerakas. The town was
under Penteli, a beautiful hill filled with antennas that kept
getting torched by arsonists. For some reason years ago, a few tech
companies had set up shop there seeking cheap office-space, managed
to stay afloat and attracted new ones. Hermes, my dad’s job, was
staying there until their skyscraper in downtown Athens was
ready.

I was
tapping the veil phone and biting my lip. I had to check it out for
myself. This thing would mess up with my life if it went on.
Prodromos might have been a religious nutjob, but her observations
made sense in a way. It wasn’t her fault that this whole situation
was crazy to begin with.

I
checked my watch. Still had plenty of time.

I
imagined what it would be like if I hadn’t, and Erinyes showed up
for me in the middle of the crowded bus. What would I have done?
Climb over people? Yell for the driver to stop? I’d look
insane.

Was
I?

Two
buses later I stepped off at Gerakas. The place was nice and green,
the roads were freshly paved and a silly self-driving car that
looked like a soap-bubble was zooming down the road. There were
open spaces of unused land right next to beautiful modern office
buildings. An international ad agency had a brick-red building with
a cursive typeface logo on it, and some smaller computer security
companies touted their sleek presence. It was a wild mix of country
houses and big office spaces.

I hung
my schoolbag on my shoulder and walked towards Hermes
HQ.

Chapter
36

“
Mahi?” my
dad said, coming to get me from the front desk security. He hugged
me and looked into my eyes. “Everything OK? Weren’t you supposed to
be at school?”

“
Nai, one of the teachers was sick so they let us go early. I
came to bring this to your department,” I said, showing my inactive
veil phone.

“
Alright. What about it?”

I
shrugged and took on my most innocent face. “Dunno. Doesn’t work.
Figured you’d wanna know.”

My dad
took me past security and we went to the R&D department. On the
way I put on a wide-eyed face on to cover up the attention I was
giving to security measures. Father was swiping his card on every
other door, cameras were staring down at us all the way, the
security men were looking bored but capable, not like the public
sector. I hadn’t decided yet if I was actually gonna help
Prodromos, but I wanted to see what was happening here. As we
walked, my dad was moving me along the way, opening doors and
pointing down busy corridors.

We got
to a computer lab that was a mess. It was the equivalent of a mad
scientist’s lab, filled with computer parts, phones, testing
devices, monitors, and I kid you not, a robotic arm that was
welding one of those green electronic plaques with precision. It
wasn’t one of those big ones they had in car factories, but a
smaller one for petite electronics. It was bright
orange.

We got
close to a young man in his early thirties, and dad introduced us.
“Dave, this is my daughter Mahi. Mahi, this is Dave, head of the
R&D for the veil project.”

Dave
stared at me for a second, obviously interested. He took my hand
and kissed it lightly instead of shaking it. I smiled at him. He
was the kind of geek who had confidence, not those
socially-challenged ones. “Enchanted, my lady,” he said, with a
slight bow.

“
Dave is a Tolkien fan,” my dad explained.

Dave
took my veil phone in his hands and said, “Oh, you are one of the
beta-sneezers? Right, it suits you of course. Popular, young.
Attractive.”

“
Any more epithets and we are gonna have to sit down and
discuss dowry young man,” my dad said in mock
seriousness.

I
slapped his shoulder and blushed. “Dad! Stop that!”

“
Right,” my dad said and resumed business. “My daughter says
it stopped working. Can we take a look?”

“
Of course,” Dave said and got down to tearing the phone into
pieces with a pair of thin screwdrivers. His motions were
methodical, precise.

“
Hey, I have to get back to my office. Mind if I leave my
daughter here with you? She can tell you how she likes the phone or
not,” my dad said, one foot already out the door.

“
I will defend her with my life,” Dave said and brought his
fist over his heart.

What. A.
Nerd.

I
smiled, brought a chair and sat next to him.

Very
close.

Dave
opened the phone, examining it with some instruments. His gaze fell
on me and went back into his work a thousand times per
minute.

“
What’s wrong with it?” I asked.

“
We’ll see. Can’t see anything malfunctioning
really.”

“
It just stopped.”

“
Yeah, it might be due to a manufacturing error in those early
prototypes. We’ll sort it out before the major release. So tell me,
did you play around with it? Did you like it?”

“
Sure, its handy. My friend used most of the new features, she
really liked it.” I took on an innocent tone of voice. “Sometimes,”
I said and paused to drag his attention towards me, “Sometimes I
can hear this buzzing in my ear, and like some sort of pressure on
my eardrums.”

“
Aha. Well, it’s not supposed to do that,” Dave said, and I
studied his features. I couldn’t tell if he was lying or just
horny. I wouldn’t pass any detective exam anytime soon. “It must be
a prototype issue, I’ll send a memo.”

“
Ugh huh. And the camera sometimes gets these smudgy glowy
parts.”

“
Smudgy glowy parts,” Dave repeated, deep in thought. He had
pieced the phone back together and was pressing the power button.
It started up just fine.

“
Here, let me show you,” I said, grabbing the phone and
putting my face next to his, propping the phone high for a
selfie.

Click.

I
half-hesitated, and then brought the phone closer for both of us to
see the picture. I had taken a pose like all the other social-media
selfie ladies out there, and he had just smiled and presented his
good cheek to the camera. We kinda looked good together, to be
honest.

And to
my right, a hazy face. A smudgy glowy part.

My heart
skipped a beat and I checked my watch. “See, here, it’s smudgy,” I
said.

Dave
cleared his throat and grabbed the phone from me, turning it off.
“Yeah. Well, it might be from the prototype. Nevermind that,” he
said and presented me with another. “Here, take this
instead.”

I took
it. I checked my watch again and stood up, losing my balance and
falling over him. Dave propped me up and smiled at me.

“
Thank you. I better go say hello to my dad and head back to
school,” I said.

“
School is important. Lemme know when you are done with
school-” he cleared his throat. “-Lemme know if there’s any more
problems,” he corrected.

I smiled
and said, “Will do.”

Then I
walked as fast as possible out of there, smiling innocently to
security, trying not raise suspicions and not to stare at the
countdown on my watch.

I was
fidgeting with the security card in my pocket that I had swiped
from Dave. Teenager or not, I wasn’t an idiot. I wouldn’t endanger
my dad and his work for some crazy conspiracy nut who wanted to
break in, no matter how spot on he seemed to be about most of this
stuff. Family comes first. Prodromos had gotten in contact with me
because she needed something from me, not because she was my
friend. People on a crusade tend to get others in trouble. If I was
gonna help get to the bottom of this, my father would not be
involved. Besides, my dad was in the Marketing Department. His card
accessing the R&D department late at night would raise
suspicions, whereas a card from the R&D itself doing another
sleepless night just before a major product launch would make more
sense.