Devices

By Floro Alterra Pama

As KAT awakens, she is born with an intelligence unparalleled to anything known in existence. However, even with this gift, she is still left oblivious to the encompassing room that she is never permitted to leave and the mysterious man who comes and goes at will and teaches her everything about the vastness of the world that she is in and the wrong that has plagued it.

Devices is a science-fiction novel written with the design of exposing the harsh truths of reality and the dystopian path that awaits it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Jan 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543405996

Floro Alterra Pama

Floro Alterra Pama is a 17 year old Filipino author leading double lives as a student, who was born and raised in Cebu City. Becoming a writer was the last thing that he expected as he was encouraged by his mother and the complements of his teachers to be fearless in sharing his skill and unique perceptions on life to the rest of the world.

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Copyright © 2018 by Floro Alterra Pama.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2017919172

ISBN:                  Hardcover                     978-1-5434-0601-6

                            Softcover                       978-1-5434-0600-9

                            eBook                            978-1-5434-0599-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/12/2018

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

770539

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Birth

Second Birth

Humanity

The Light Of A Hundred Suns

Midnight

After The End

A Memory Of A Dream

Eden

For the world and all its wrong.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing the Science-fictional novel DEVICES has been arguably the single most arduous and tiresome enterprise that I have ever embarked on in my life. I can still remember the sleepless nights, the head-throbbing stress, and the expanse of time that I had to sacrifice in order to make my vision come to reality, but remembering why I was writing, and who I was writing for gave me the unshakeable will and drive to materialize what were initially just whispers and fleeting glimpses inside my mind. This is for all of the people who made me do the unthinkable, and to whom I would like to express my sincerest gratitude.

To my loving grandparents: Floro Eleazar, Go A Leng, Lola Terry, and Perla Pama How, for giving me the courage to transverse the unknown and for giving me the reason for seeking the best of myself.

To Raymond my Dad, for believing in my dreams, no matter how farfetched and unattainable they seemed.

To Hermie my Mom, who gave me the much needed push that would launch my timid and anxiety-full self into creating this book, and who helped me in every step of the way.

To Adrian my Brother, if it weren’t for him, I would never have even come close to imagining the thought that sparked my writing journey.

To my friends and family who gave me the inspiration to pursue this course.

To Nicole Borja, for her creative talent in designing the image of Sankofa.

To my English, Filipiniana, and History teachers for giving me the mental instruments and sight to see the world uniquely.

To the Xlibris teams, who helped me breathe life into my work and brought my thoughts from mind to earth.

Did man deserve his revelation?

Was humanity more than his mistakes?

Shadowed in eternal abandon,

To where was the heaven that did forsake?

A prisoner he was to history,

Arrogance was his bane,

For live he did in misery,

And live he did in vain

So the beasts awakened from the pillars of the earth,

For such was the glory of his shame,

In penitence they would witness the unholy birth,

Within the darkness that fell like rain

And who could have guessed,

How man’s fate’d be rest,

How his world would be undone?

By the wrath of a thousand Gods,

And the light of a hundred suns

BIRTH

From the moment when humans were born, they were exposed to a world full of curiosity. Although in their early days of birth, they may not have the capacity to understand spoken or written language, they keenly observed the world around them in the pursuit of understanding with the senses that were given to them by their creator. They saw lights, heard sounds, felt.

This was no different for her. However, she was not like any of us. She was not human.

Upon entering this world, she was already given the ability to comprehend the concept of languages, shapes, calculations, and an advanced form of thought. As she gained a fleeting sense of consciousness, those were the first words that she spoke. However, she spoke into darkness.

Then light suddenly started to pour in. Hazy colors began to accompany the light, along with an odd-looking shape. It seemed to have movement, and it seemed to be looking down on her. She then noticed more shapes blended against the background, and they were speaking.

Quickly!

The shapes appeared to be in a sort of frantic panic.

Do not let it overuse its energy!

She wondered if they were talking to her.

Plug in the backup supply!

Shut the convertor!

Quickly, quickly!

Just as she was obtaining a clear sense of vision, she started to drift back into darkness. She felt an overwhelming feeling that something was dragging her inward and that she had no other choice but to follow along. Little did she know that she was given the first gift that most of us receive upon existence.

Sight.

SECOND BIRTH

As she was pulled deeper and deeper into the darkness, she felt herself becoming lighter and lighter until she could no longer feel herself being drawn inward. Then the feeling stopped, and she was able to control herself again, but this time, it wasn’t dark. However, it was still empty.

There was nothing around her except for the strange silhouettes of structures amongst a barren landscape and what appeared to be the strangest thing that she had seen.

Looking upward, she saw a small yet distinct dot of light, this lonely entity in the canvass of blackness above.

She found herself staring endlessly into this strange thing, seeking the answer to what it was and trying to comprehend it.

Then a voice echoed.

At first she doubted its reality, but then when she heard it again, it was unmistakable.

The voice seemed to be voices, and the voice that she heard was prominent from the random choruses.

KAT? KAT?

Are you awake?

The voices sounded as if they increased every time a word was spoken.

In a sudden moment, a blinding light engulfed the entire surroundings. And before she could even react or clutch the slightest idea of what had happened or where she was being taken, she felt herself being lifted, but unlike before, she did not encounter the light feeling. The sensation was more forceful.

When the light began to slowly fade, she could make out the same similar shapes that she had seen, but this time everything was much more colorful and clearer.

Glyph.jpg   Upon awakening, she found herself once again in a different place. The room was lit with square yellow fluorescent lights embedded on a white-tile-plastered ceiling. The high walls which enclosed the area appeared to be made of concrete, with cracks treading down from top to bottom.

The room had tremendous space and was composed of two floors. The first had the environment of a library, for there were many showcases of oddities stacked upon the numerous wooden and steel shelves distributed evenly in the room. Everything from books to rock samples sat idly, well maintained and carefully preserved.

Such oddities would have been familiar to the most of us; however, she could only afford to speculate and observe what these many things were.

One which piqued her interest was an elongated object. Its base was made of wood, and on top of it were three vertical sticks with quadrilateral white pieces attached to them with ropes. In front of the object were two triangular white pieces similar to the ones attached to the vertical sticks.

To sate her curiosity, she clenched her muscles and gathered what strength she had to push herself from the inclined position, but when she lifted her body, all that was managed was a swift jerk. There was a resistance that kept her down, like someone was pushing her chest.

Then, she heard a squeak in the room. Evenly spaced tapping followed shortly after, which seemed to be getting closer and closer toward her until she saw him.

This specimen, she thought, was very peculiar. She was unsure whether or not this living bipedal protein-based organism was intelligent.

The specimen walked his way up to the second floor and reached for a wooden chair at the corner of the level. He then positioned it in front of her and perched himself in a comfortable manner.

Good morning.

She wanted to reply to this gesture, but like before, she was incapable of doing so.

I have been informed that they have successfully installed a number of languages to your processing unit in order for you to understand different forms of communication, English being one. So I hope it’s not a problem understanding me. Do not be alarmed if you find yourself unable to carry out tasks or gestures in any physical way. All will be explained in good time. My name is Franz Fackhoury.

What is a name? she wondered.

If you are wondering what a name is, it is a title given to a specific thing or object which we use to refer to it.

She was surprised to see that this specimen was able to answer her question without her even asking.

This organism is intelligent after all.

Franz Fackhoury was an old character. At first glance, he looked like he was in his late fifties; however, he was much older. His features and appearance were spared quite mercifully by time. In our eyes, he had the visual indication that he was a doctor or physician in some sort of field. Everything, from his black-framed glasses to his white lab gown, gave such an impression away so easily.

Like most physicians, he dressed himself formally with a white polo, a blue tie, black pants, and oxford shoes.

You are very fortunate, KAT. Not many, if not none, are born instantly with the gifts that you possess. He continued to speak, but she was too concentrated on her inner thoughts that she failed to follow what the man was speaking about.

She wasn’t sure if he was referring his message to her or not.

What is KAT? Is that my name?

When she returned from her inner thoughts, the man had already spoken further.

You have a lot to learn, and this is my first time trying to teach. So this is either fortunate or unfortunate for the both of us.

He stood up slowly then turned around and took a few steps toward that direction before he halted and held his wrist behind his back. He did every action in a calm manner. After a few seconds of silence, he took a deep breath and exhaled.

Where do I begin?

HUMANITY

Following an extended while of pondering, he pulled out a remote-like device from his right pants pocket and pointed it at the air. As soon as he clicked it, a large furrow appeared on the floor, and from it, a large screen surfaced, gradually scrolling its way upward.

A whirring sound proceeded once the wall-sized apparatus appeared to be fully visible. She was completely incognizant of what the enormous device was or what its purpose was.

I can only assume the number of questions running around inside your mind, and thankfully this can answer some of them.

He faced her and pointed at the device with an open palm.

We call this the Database Almanac. It holds a tremendous amount of information about, well . . . everything.

The screen quickly transitioned from the color of black into a bright, radiating white glow which was enough to light up a quarter of the room.

She was drawn toward the light like a firefly, its intensity like a hypnotic spell that demanded the command of all her senses to pay it the tribute of attention.

As the man continued to speak, he walked toward a leather-surfaced desk.

This device, for my sake, will hopefully make my work easier for me and easier for you as well.

He seemed to be searching for something that was located on the desk, fishing through the numerous folders and the