Karma: Retribution by Thaddeus Knight - HTML preview

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Harry remained quiet for a long time as he sat by the lake, watching the reflection of the clouds ripple across the water and it took all that he had not to end it right there by his own hand.

He thought about it and fingered his machete several times in consideration.

Everywhere he looked, he would be reminded of the faceless horrors committed against his fellow man by some vindictive alien intelligence. 

 The entire arrangement was enough to make Harry sick. Guilty or innocent, people ought to be punished by themselves, and if not themselves, then by their own kind not some sadistic entity gleefully torturing people according to what it thought they deserved.

 The entire affair left a bad taste in Harry's mouth, and nervous energy filled his body such that his fists were clenched and muscles tensed. He could feel the tensions build, and no matter what he did, it remained. 

“If those fuckers at the lab aren’t prepared to do anything about this, I will,” Harry thought to himself.

The sun set for the evening, and still Harry had not moved from the dock. He stared into it, willing it to burn into his irises.

He wanted the clarity of the light to illuminate the darkest recesses of his being. He wanted an overwhelming sense of peace and sincerity. He couldn't be God, but he needed the clarity of the divine more than anything else in the world. He needed serenity, because everything around him had been moving towards a slow decomposing spiral for years, and Harry was very, very tired.

At this point, Harry was confronted with a revelation, and a question.

 “I wonder where the sun goes when it sets in the Prison Space?”

He thought about the question for some time. It seemed possible that the sun could simply be a programmed digital phenomenon; nothing more substantial than a bit of code put together for the sake of engendering familiarity and comfort for the prisoners.

Then Harry shook his head; that was the old paradigm. If it were the case that the sun was simply a bit of code, then it would also be the case that the entity was a bit of code. There may have been parameters around the entity's existence, but to be certain, it showed a degree of free will in its operation.

“No,” Harry thought, “Al was right; there is a world out there beyond the tree line.” I could get lost for a while, but what would be the point of that? I need to find a way to get out, or I need to find a way to prevent others from being sent here.”

With that, Harry stood up on the edge of the dock, and let out a long sigh.

Sometimes in life, there were not very many attractive options, but in order to move forward, one of them had to be embraced, so that new options might arise at a later time.

He collected his   rifle, and made his way back to the dormitory. The first thing he noticed was   the massive hole in the wall near Rob's former cot was absent, but the drops of blood had remained.

He had been through war. Harry solemnly reminded himself of this fact, and set about collecting his personal belongings with a purpose.

He focused on keeping the absolute essentials with him, and leaving everything else behind.

He packed up a bag which reminded of him of when he was in the service - 70 lbs of weapons, food and essentials.

He set fire to each of the buildings, so that should the scientists ever managed to figure out what was going on, they would receive one final fuck you from their last remaining prisoner - then he began making his way toward treeline on the far side of the lake.