3.

Many surprises occur upon this third moment of wakening. This place I am in is in a sudden state of disarray, well sudden in the fact that things were calm before sleep took me. There are others here, others that were not here before. It would appear that I have been found. I can only presume that those from the compound have caught up with me. I cannot be sure for I have yet to fully adjust to the new tattoos and I am unable to make any sort of connections that might allow me to automatically know what is happening for sure.

However, these new arrivals are fighting with the people who were already here, so something at least is not right. I quickly make it to my feet and move to join the combat, aiding those who had taken me in. Apparently, as it seems, I can fight and fight well, so much better than I could ever fight before. I have never been in a physical fight in my life, well not prior to this one anyway, well not any I could put up any kind of resistance. Must be one of the perks of those uploads I bet.

Dodging punches, kicks and the likes and throwing plenty of my own. There are just too many as it would appear and we, those who took me in, and I are not fairing all too well in general. We are outnumbered by at least two to one. My upgrades may have improved me, but I am not invincible. I can't go back to that place especially now with what I have already experienced in the short time since I escaped.

'Go, leave, we will be fine' she tells me.

I do want to leave, and I also don't want to leave. I need to get away, but they need my help. They came to my aid, took me in, gave me shelter and I want to return the favour. I hesitate for a moment though an opportunity does soon present itself. The hesitation does not last long, and I make a clean exit. What has just happened is something with which I am going to have to live with; good people punished, hurt, even killed ... all for me. I do not like leaving debts unpaid.

My upgrades have improved my stamina as it would appear, for when I make my escape from the fight, I could go, move fast and feel strong enough to keep on going. Go where now though that's the thing.

Three hours pass, immediate danger of capture has passed. My stamina may have been increased though I am still human, I am not a machine, rest is most definitely needed. I am hungry, haven't eaten since before I left the compound. I wander the streets of this quiet and almost vacant 'Star City' wondering as to my next move. It is a big place to get around on foot even with any kind of enhancement I have received. To be honest I haven't really had a plan beyond my initial escape.

'Hey, over here' calls out a female voice hiding in the shadows.

Initially I am unsure what to do at this point though after a slight pause I move towards her having used my enhanced sight to locate her perfectly. Am I being set up? Is this some sort of trap? Maybe this masking upgrade I have received is preventing me from making connections of any sort. It apparently hides my location, we'll see about that, I guess. I guess that is part of the point really, it would make it harder to be tracked, perhaps I am someone with whom others have been waiting for. What would you do if you were me?

'Hungry?' she asks.

'Hell yeah', wait! Is she connecting with me in some way or another?

It is as if she has indeed read my mind though I guess to look at me it probably be a safe assumption to make, me being hungry that is. She offers me a tuna and cheese sandwich. Wow tuna, I cannot remember ever tasting tuna this tasty or fresh before, never mind ever having a sandwich this fresh, and she just so happened to have it with her? It may only be a sandwich, but it is the best darn thing I have eaten in a long time. Being who and what I am there would not be very many luxuries coming my way.

'My name is Maggie.'

'And I am Dorian.'

All of a sudden it dawns on me, hitting me like a brick in the face. It is her, the face I see after the whispers come. What the hell? Apparently, she does exist. This Maggie person reaches out to shake my hand and when she does, I am caught by surprise once more. Her clothing has no sleeves, and her arms are tattoo less. There is no infinity tattoo, the most basic of tattoos and there is no branding, no identity tattoo along the lines of my 876-953/w. this is impossible.

I may not get to be that first complete individual of individuals after all. It appears that I am in the company of such a person. Then, if she is not connected to any collective, how has she got into my head? I can't help but think as to if it is possible to tap into someone else's artwork? Another question, can these tattoos even go under the artwork banner when each individual tattoo has a purpose?

'You are not from any sort of compound, are you?' I ask.

'Me? No. Both my parents had escaped separate compounds. They had me before they both were, let's say, returned to where they came.'

'So, who took care of you?'

'Ah, I've been around, I guess you can call me the star of Star City.'

'Star of Star City, I like that.'

There is the sound of marching not so far off in the distance.

'C'mon, let's go' she says grabbing me by the arm.

We take cover and I was sure that we were going to be discovered but we weren't. The marching came from compound officials or rather from those on protective duty, protecting those officials though however they didn't appear to be searching for anyone or anything in particular. She puts an earphone in one of my ears and plays me a song. She listens too.

Say it's true, there's nothing like me and you ...

I am not quite sure as to what purpose this is meant to serve but I have to save that this is a most pleasant experience.

'If you keep running, you will be caught. Your life may even come to an end. Things need to change from the inside or better yet, chance can come from prevention.'

'As if that will ever happen' I not only think but speak out loud in reference to change coming from the inside though prevention, well that has a very real chance.

'It has to happen, and I can help that change from the inside. We must incite change to make change, resistance is not enough. All my experience tells me this. Tell me, do you have a plan? You have made your escape so what now? Do you plan to just run forever?'

I don't answer those questions; I don't know how to answer them.

'I see' she continues. 'Things will get worse before they will get better. Find me and we can start that change together.'

'Find you? What do you mean find you?' though maybe that change or at least prevention has already begun.

'You and I forever, remember this, you and I forever, always and forever.'

Maggie grabs my hand then plants a kiss directly on my lips. She stands and then not only moves out into the open but runs right into a wide-open space. Before I can react to this or even think about reacting to this, she is taken by compound officials.

Now, dear friends, as you can imagine I find myself in somewhat of a pickle at this point in time. You see, I initially wanted to change things for me, and they did change, quite quickly too in fact. This Maggie person, despite having had those visions of her, we had such a brief encounter, one I will never forget and one which has completely changed my perspective.

Do I have a purpose in life now? One I am destined to have? If I do have a destiny, then who am I to deny it?

Hours passed and turned into days, days where Maggie constantly stayed in my thoughts and as I said it was such a brief encounter and a powerful encounter at that. She pulled my strings. It seems that she knew how to pull my strings. It got me to thinking, maybe my upgrades had something to do with that, maybe I had been programmed for change and Maggie is the catalyst for that change though what of the visions I had of her began prior to having received the upgrades?

As it is I do not yet understand all these upgrades. It is quite possible that I am being tapped into in some way or another. There is a connection between me and her; I am just so sure as to the how and the why of it. Is it artificial or even something created along the lines of a upgrade? She is a separate being right? But what if she herself is some kind of upgrade, a program of sorts, added just like a piece of technology, added to me just like a tattoo? I certainly hope that it is some other kind of connection. I had and have so many questions.

Whatever brought on that change is irrelevant now. Maggie was right and what I can only hope now is that it is not my death that has inspired you to read this or even brought this your way. Maybe you and I have tapped into each other in some way or another.

Programming or not, she inspired me to go bring about change. This of course is not an easy thing to do but together we can start a revolution. We can bring about change. We, not just in meaning myself and Maggie but meaning me, you, and everyone else who reads this, together we can do it, together we will do it.

As Maggie said, 'you and I forever', and I don't even know if she still exists.

4.

There is so much more for me to tell though there is plenty of time for more, an infinity of time. As a whisper once told me 'no one truly escapes', well I have. I may continue to hear whispers; time will tell but as with you? Can you hear those Whispers of Infinity?

If by some chance you are reading this and I am still alive, or have yet to be born, then you can count on the fact that if I haven't done so already then, I know I will find her, I will find Maggie. Things are going to change. You and others like you will ensure that. The question is 'are you going to be a part of that change?' Yes? Then what are you waiting for?

Be the upgrade, be the catalyst, be strong, be free and most of all be the individual you are and the individual you are meant to be, for when we sleep, when it is at its darkest, I am sure I am not the only one who hears the whispers, I am not the only one who hears the whispers of others. If you listen hard enough, I am sure you will hear my whisper in there somewhere, whether or not I have managed to pass it on.

Something else which has crossed my thoughts is that maybe you, my new friend, are stuck in time, a time where any and all this appears to be fantasy, I believe you may just be ... so believe me, this is no fantasy. Don't be stuck in time. You can still make all the difference. Be the upgrade. Are you with me? The quest, our quest has well and truly begun, whether you can see it yet or not. When you sleep tonight, will you hear the whispers? If so, what will they tell you?

Join me or sleep forever with those Whispers of Infinity ...