((Alright, as a preface to this, my third story...I wanted to mention something. The event that happens toward the end of this story is, I know, a fiction - an alien attack in Rome has not happened in months, and I know it....but I HAD to write this anyway There was a recent alien attack in Old Athen, so pretend all of this happened the same day as that alien attack; around mid February. Oh, and if ya like it, pleease comment The Nuli loves comments, makes me happy, hehe. Anyway, please enjoy the story ))
I was resting....having drifted off to sleep....Lying on the mattress, the brilliant suns that illuminated this world setting below a horizon that, from this altitude, was formed entirely of clouds....Clouds tinted with that omnipresent notum dust that formed the cornerstone of life on Rubi-Ka.
My days had settled...my world was clear. My nights...weren't as lucky. My dreams constantly kept me in doubt as to what I would be when I opened my eyes, greeting the brilliant vistas of Jobe not as rational Opifex, but as a creature of diseased and warped science....but fortunately, each and every day I wake up to that familiar pale grey complexion, characteristic of my people.
But tonight....my dream was different. Dreams are by their very definition, the tossing and turning of an unsound mind, a mind lost in a place where it has never been, and never will be. But to some, dreams are the representation of the future...of the past....of different possibilities, of different regrets and accomplishments. A mishmash of the human condition, all at the mercy of REM slumber. Things you see, things you do, things you know, things you never knew, things you wish you never knew....And sometimes, things that don't feel right, or feel out of place. And earlier that day, while buying several new frames for photographs for the Council of Truth offices....I got that feeling.
Something was missing. But what was it? What could I have forgotten in my time here...? Over the past few months, it seems like there is nothing I can't remember. And remembering hurts. But this was something I'd overlooked....something small. Something that needed to go into one of those frames. A photograph.
A piece from my past....A piece of something that I knew was still out there. And that night, I could see it....lying alone on a cold, metallic floor...matted in dust, in a corner of a city where nobody would ever expect to find it. Where nobody would look...
Rome.
I had memories of that city...the most beautiful part of Omni-Tek, clean and orderly. The streets paved with what seemed at first glance like a type of rough marble. Neat and orderly trees, like green feathers, poked along the city's streets, softly illuminated by the glow of the city's streetlamps. The skies above Rome were blue....beautiful and pure. You would never think a city like Rome would hold the things it does....the worst parts of Omni-Tek.
Omni-Med, at first glance a bastion of medical expertise and healing....Their offices are in Rome, but its good intentions begin to pale as you look inward, at the monstrosities it has generated as an entity. Biomare, formerly an Omni-Med laboratory, has generated still-untold horrors...Including the one that raped my eyes and my dreams. There's a lot more to them though, than just Biomare. And honestly I do not know how deep the rabbit hole goes with them; maybe this is one of those cases where ignorance is bliss.
And then there's Omni-Reform, occupying the other half of Rome. The propaganda machine, the part of Omni-Tek that convinces you that a corporation can, indeed, be your friend. They are the ones responsible for the faintly glowing messages etched into the city's walls...floating above the streets, telling you, reassuring you, that you are looked out for. And in all honesty, you are; security within Omni-Tek is top notch, and as long as you play by the rules you will be alright. But the real reason Omni-Reform is such a stain comes from what they do when you try to play by your own rules...And I've seen the results.
The two demons of Omni-Tek...all in one place. And I knew it's where I had to go. Seeing that photograph in my sleep, the one I knew had to be in my office when I was to get it finished...was like a splinter in my mind. I couldn't get rid of the thought...that nagging, demanding thought.