2036 (Part One)

Part One

Martin Chu Shui

Copyright © 2018 Martin Chu Shui

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

All characters, events and locations in this book are the author’s sole imagination, and any resemblance to the real persons, living or dead, real event or real locations re purely coincidental.

Prologue

A guy is inside an enclosed room, and there are two slits on the wall; one opens to the inside, and the other to the outside. When a piece of paper is pushed through the in-slit, the guy’s instructions are to find a shape-matching piece of paper from a pile of paper inside the room and then push it out through the out-slit. Despite the seemingly random squiggles on the paper that don’t mean anything to him, by following the instructions, he performs his duty perfectly.

The squiggles on the paper are in fact questions and answers written in Chinese, so from an outsider’s viewpoint, this guy is proficient in the Chinese language and capable of understanding and answering questions in Chinese. It’s called Chinese Room in artificial consciousness terms.

Part One

1. Underground Car Park

Olivia walked hurriedly along the street among high-rise buildings in Sydney’s Central Business District. She had just finished a psychological appraisal session with a corporate client. She typed impatiently on the Ixis sticking to her wrist, still not seeing any taxis coming her way. Looking up and staring at the mid-air traffic, Olivia sighed; Friday after-work rush hour.

It was May, supposedly the cooler season for Sydney, but the last time Olivia felt cool outside of permanently air-conditioned buildings was over fifteen years ago when she was still in high school. Sydney’s winter season seemed all but completely disappeared; the temperature hovered around forty degrees Celsius during the day and merely dropped to around thirty after sunset. However, it was not too bad at the moment. Thanks to the unseasonal stormy weather during the last few days, the city had cooled down quite significantly. As a result, city dwellers had flocked out to enjoy the rare cooler outdoor experience. Olivia found it fascinating to watch their facial expressions. They took such pure enjoyment from such a basic and simple activity. It was so contagious that she decided to forget about trying to get a taxi and just walk home.

The dirty streets, lit by pale streetlights and the illumination from advertising signs, felt deserted, despite crowds of people everywhere. Her best friend and roommate, Zoe, would be back this weekend from her months-long business trip in Africa. Olivia had promised Zoe that she would pick her up from the airport. She would also like to organize a gathering with their friends from their university era, Ava and Sophie, a sort of welcome home party for Zoe, but the question was where. None of their apartments were ideal, not only because they were too small, but also because of Ava and Sophie’s boyfriends. They could try their usual venue, Rose café, on the ground floor of the tallest building in Sydney, a trendy place one must be seen at. They could also listen to popular band Glass Box’s live performance there, but to be honest, she was getting a bit tired of it recently. They needed to find somewhere new, something exciting. Olivia couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a face-to-face meeting with either Ava or Sophie; based on their regular phone conversations, they were quite involved with their so-called boyfriends and always extremely busy during after-work hours. Although she would never get involved with the kind of boyfriends her friends had, Olivia did envy them from time to time. She felt lonely, particularly during the past couple of months while Zoe was not here…

Olivia was completely immersed in her own thoughts. Lifting up her gaze, she suddenly realized that she was almost home. Just then, she noticed a young homeless man who sat under a closed shop-front doorway. He stared at her with an intensity that worried her, particularly when the young man suddenly stood up and moved toward her very fast, in a manner that was really worrisome. Olivia couldn’t help but break into a run, quickly leaving the scene.

Olivia was quite fit due to her regular exercise regimen, and this was her territory; she knew every corner of the streets like the back of her own hands. Her apartment was only a few blocks away, so while running through the crowd, Olivia was not panicked at all, even after seeing the young man was running after her.

After turning around a street corner, Olivia stopped, looking back; the homeless man was nowhere to be seen. She breathed out in relief and turned, walking at a more leisurely pace toward home.

Olivia bumped into someone. It was like running into a brick wall. Olivia felt pain in her shoulder. Before she was able to see whom she had bumped into and well before she had opened her mouth to apologize, a large hand covered her mouth; a bag was hurriedly pulled over her head.

The man’s grip was so strong that Olivia was unable to struggle at all; all she could manage to do was tremble continuously. Olivia’s mind went completely blank. She’d never had such an experience in her whole life, and she couldn’t think at all. She felt like she was being dragged off the street into a nearby building, then she sensed that they were inside an elevator and moving downward for a while. Finally, she was dragged out of the elevator and the bag over her head was removed.

Olivia blinked her eyes a few times, focused on her surroundings, and found she was in an empty parking lot. There were five thugs around her, all tall and big. They looked like military guys with short haircuts, but they were wearing casual civilian clothes. She felt like her limbs were frozen, unable to move at all.

Look what we got here: a human girl. I haven’t touched a human female for a while, the shortest thug said.

Although the initial shockwaves were still humming through Olivia’s body, she was surprised that she had actually calmed down a bit; at least her body had stopped trembling. She examined the thugs more closely; the other four thugs were taller and bigger than the one who had just spoken, and their faces remained emotionless. Olivia was sure she had bumped into one of these guys.

There was nobody in sight, just a couple of cars parked in the far corner. She needed help, to alert someone to her situation, so without one moment’s delay, Olivia started screaming at the top of her voice with all of her strength. After a while longer, Olivia stopped, feeling exhausted.

None of the thugs tried to stop her. The shorter thug spoke with a grin on his face while the others remained expressionless. I like your screaming; it turns me on, but you’d better save some energy so we can have a good time together.

Watching the evil grin on the thug’s ugly face, Olivia felt scared and desperate. Please, someone, hear me and come to my aid, she thought. Then she screamed again, but at a much lower volume and with less energy. Finally, she collapsed on the ground and sobbed helplessly.

You can scream the whole night, but nobody will come to help you, the shorter thug said. He seemed in no hurry to do anything except stand there and enjoy himself, as if watching a show.

Please don’t hurt me…I don’t want to die… Olivia begged as she sobbed.

Keep begging; it turns me on even more than your screaming. I won’t hurt you, and I guarantee we’ll have a good time together, said the shorter thug.

By now, Olivia found that she was able to think again. There were reports about a series of murders of young women in the past few months, but they had all happened in the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. She would never have imagined that this could happen to her with so many people on the streets. Looking at the large knives on their belts visible through their open jackets, Olivia knew the truth: she would not survive tonight.

It felt strange even to herself after realizing her fate, but Olivia actually calmed down completely and felt relief. She was no longer scared. Closing her eyes, she could see Leo’s face in her mind: his kind eyes, his witty jokes, his lovely grin. Olivia could even sense a trace of sadness on his handsome face, as if he didn’t want to see her so soon.

Leo, I miss you so much. I’ll see you soon, Olivia murmured. Then she heard a calm voice.

Let her go!

Olivia was shocked. It was Leo’s voice, but that was impossible. Was she imagining things because she was facing her own death? Olivia was afraid to open her eyes to find out the truth. Even if it was only her imagination, she wanted it to last as long as possible. It gave her some comfort in her desperate situation, even if it was only a delusion. A few short moments passed, but nothing happened. With great reluctance, Olivia forced herself to open her eyes. She saw