“I’d forgotten about that,” Hawthorn said.
“Thanks for caring,” Arowana said snidely to him.
“Iris,” he said, “why did you think she’d tortured you? Why’d you think she’d cut off your finger?”
Arowana closed her eyes. She still remembered that it had happened, yet she still could not quite remember it happening. There was a distinction there: the difference between watching it happening to someone else and experiencing it herself.
“I don’t know,” she said, opening her eyes at last. “I have no idea.”
“You thought it was going to happen,” Hart said, “so you imagined that it did.”
“So I’m going mad?”
“No. It’s the database.”
“Which means?”
“Think about it. That database isn’t knowledge gained through experience. It’s available at the flick of an eyelid. You can discover and understand things you can’t possibly have knowledge of otherwise. That makes it difficult for you to differentiate between reality and fiction. The database is bleeding into your brain, Iris. I’ll bet you’re not sure any more which are your memories and which are from the database.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Arowana said.
“Is it?” Hawthorn asked. “You’ve told me before that you access the database without meaning to. Why is it such a stretch to believe what she’s saying?”
“Because I don’t want to,” Arowana said, thumping the table with a fist. “Because if I accept what she’s saying, it means I’m becoming what Securitarn wanted me to be. I’m losing what I am and I’m becoming their tool.”
“I don’t think you’re losing you,” Hart said. “I think you’re merging.”
“I don’t care what you think. You may like to keep going on about how much of a genius you are, but you don’t get to tell me what I am.”
“Iris,” Hawthorn said, “what if it’s worse? Your brain’s not designed to accept all that raw information so, potentially, it could be unsure what’s real and what’s not. But that wouldn’t explain why you’re experiencing things that don’t happen.”
“And what could possibly be worse than being turned into Securitarn’s weapon?”
“I think you’re degrading.”
Arowana did not answer, for she had not expected him to say that. It was something she had, in the back of her mind, herself considered; but saying it aloud made it real.
“I’m not degrading,” she said softly as she rose from the table. “I’m still me.”
“Iris,” Hawthorn called, but she did not answer. She walked from the mess hall and went back to her room. She would not lose who she was. She would not let Securitarn win. She was Iris Arowana and she would remain Iris Arowana.
Reaching her room, she sank onto the comforting bed she had not seen for so long and drew out her notepad and pencil. When setting up the markers, she had been working through all the data she had taken from Securitarn. Due to everything that had happened since, she had fallen behind in her work. If she wanted to stay sane, she needed to finish her studies.
For the next few hours, Arowana worked in silence. If there was an answer to be found, she would find it. If she couldn’t, she would likely just imagine that she had; and that was the most frightening thought of all.
Also available by the same author in e-book and paperback:
Dinosaur World books:
Excavating a Dinosaur World
Dinosaur Fall-Girl
Dinosaur Plague Doctor
Ike Scarman & the Dinosaur Slavers of Ceres
Dinosaur Prison World
The Dinosaur That Wasn’t
Awfully Wedded Strife
Tales of a Dinosaur Prison World
Deities of a Dinosaur World
Return to the Dinosaur Prison World
Nikolina Finch & the Dinosaur Utopia
Of Stags, Hens & Dinosaurs
Dinosaur World Gladiator
Dinosaur World Massacre
Dino-Racers
Dinosaur World Unscripted
Christmas on a Dinosaur World
Utara the Savage
Sheriff Grizzly:
Book 1: Sheriff Grizzly
Book 2: The Horse Thief Honey
Book 3: The Coyote Colt Kid
Book 4: Joins the Circus
Book 5: The Haunting of Athelstan Swift
Book 6: The Santa Claws Showdown
Book 7: The Kangaroo Claim Jumpers of Crumbling Gulch
Book 8: Gets a Reality Check
Book 9: Bets Against the Card Shark
Book 10: The Hairy Walrus of Truespire Peak
Book 11: The End
Book 12: In the Afterlife
Knights of Torbalia gamebooks:
The Return of the Stolen Jewel
Into the Massacre
March of the Demon Trees
The Thief of Tarley Manor
The Class War
The Haunting of Past Wraiths
The Hunt for the Adulterous Bard
A Peacock in the Den of Foxes
Attack of the Demon Trees
The Slave Scandal of Torbalia
Miscellaneous gamebooks:
Lost Treasures of a Dinosaur World (300 paragraphs)
The Underworld Horror (300 paragraphs)
Sheriff Grizzly: The Good, the Bad & the Grizzly
Sheriff Grizzly: The Wild West Dungeon Adventure
The Christmas Adventure of Sam and Klutz
Operation WetFish: Vengeful Justice
Operation WetFish: A Wealth of Sin
Dinosaur World: The Forest of Fiends
The Temple of Death: The Villain’s Gamebook
Hero Cast trilogy:
Book 1: The Villainous Heroes
Book 2: The Heroic Villains
Book 3: The Forge of Heroes
Jupiter’s Glory:
Book 1: The Dinosaur World
Book 2: The Pirates and the Priests
Book 3: The Obsidian Slavers
Book 4: Just Passing Through
Book 5: The Virus of Gangrene’s Scurvy
Book 7: Eyes on the Prize
Detective books:
Detective’s Ex
One-Way Ticket to Murder
Who Slew Santa?
The Curse of the Genie’s Detective
The Woman Who Cried Diamonds
The Murder of Snowman Joe
The Murder of Loyalty
The Prostitute Butcher
The Santa Worshippers
Betty Stalks a Biker Cop
Dinosaur Frontier:
Book 1: The Lightning Angel
Book 2: Lightning Strikes Twice
Book 3: The Law of Ceres
Book 4: The Silk Caves of Ceres
Operation WetFish, Vampire Detective:
Book 1: The Power of Life and Death
Book 2: Chasing Innocence
Book 3: The Hunt for Charles Baronaire
Book 4: Christmas on the Kerb
Book 5: A Necessary Evil
Book 6: No Comment
Book 7: Fear and Ecstasy
Book 9: Happy Families
Book 10: A Step in the Right Direction
Book 11: What Money Can’t Buy
Book 12: ‘Tis the Season
Book 13: The Power Trip
Book 14: Trust and Betrayal
Book 15: A Gathering of Minds
Book 16: The Pain of Life
Book 17: The Happy Place
Book 18: The Terrible Truth of Barry Stockwell
Book 19: The Apex Predator
Book 20: End of an Era
Book 21: He Who Kills the Killers’ Killers
Book 22: Bad Day at the Office
Book 23: Death of the Dream
Book 24: Out for Blood
Book 25: Reckoning
Bo
ok 26: Pillow Talk
Book 27: For the Greater Good
Miscellaneous:
Holding the Nuts
One Week to Love: Speed Dating of the Gods
The Trojan Ant
Gauntlet of Daedalus
The Faerie Contract
Token Love
Sleigh Ride Slaughter to Saturn
Have Imagination, Will Travel
A Mermaid’s Odyssey
The Captain’s Bombshell
Visit: https://www.facebook.com/OperationWetFish for news, illustrations, previews and short stories.